the reel ess

I can't get into the place I usually fish late at night. But I can get there at 6:00 AM or stay late until sundown. I have observed that the night bite extends into mid morning. I don't observe that the night bite starts at sundown. I will get a few more bites in the evening than in midday. But I attribute that to low light conditions. I'll get more and bigger bites from before sunrise to about 11-ish. I'll go whenever I can, but morning is primetime for me in summer.

I've come to love this worm. I doubt there's one more versatile on the market. I have gone over a shallow, weedy flat throwing a spinnerbait and various topwaters and gone back with this worm and caught fish I didn't believe were there.

I got out about 6:15 this morning. There was already a bass boat at the +/-30 acre reservoir so I high tailed it to the other end. I fished about 3 hours with only 2 dinks to show for it. I was about 3/4 way around the place in my kayak and headed down the dam throwing a weighted T-rigged Strike King Ocho (Senko) on the pads and letting it fall. It fell off once and didn't reach the bottom. I felt the resistance and set on her. I knew it was good. But this fish was STRONG. It was my jig rod so the fight didn't last that long. 8lb. 0 oz. Really close to my PB. And that's why I get up at 6:00 and go through the dinks. It only takes one fish to make a trip worthwhile.

It's not sewage in the sense that it's straight from the toilet. It's treated enough to be deemed safe to return to the watershed. But I probably wouldn't eat the fish anyway. If it smells I probably wouldn't even fish there. I don't even like to fish ponds in cow pastures.

You should have taken the Trick Worms.

I agree with everyone saying use another brand. Big Bite and Strike King Ocho are what I have. Color is secondary. I just hook through the worm a little off center. This tactic also works well with the Zoom Trick Worm and Finesse Worm. I use a #1 Gamakatsu finesse hook. If you use a finesse or octopus hook, don't set it hard. Just start reeling.

I found this little gem a while back about 8' up in an old dock piling. I used my frog rod with 50# braid to snag it. I asked my buddy who fishes there if it was his and he said no. So it's mine. It's 6th Sense brand, bluegill pattern. It has awesome hooks and they're bigger than any other lipless crank I have. I caught one on it this past weekend.

I think the Booyah Pad Crasher is a good frog right out of the package. I still "tune it up" though. I did have one of the popping model that couldn't catch squat. I threw it away. But the standard has always been very good for me and they last a very long time.

Scott Martin has a YT video where he tells how he fishes the monster ribbon tail worms. He uses a 7/0 shaky head.

What I generally see is a lot of very average bass on or near beds and few big females. This leads me to believe most male bass don't grow much beyond the 2-3 lb. range, at least where I fish. of course, most people fall into the average range as well. That's why it's the average.

Best: Lipless crank (Academy house brand, specifically), frog (not great this season), Trick Worm, Speed Worm, Jig (or T-rig). The jig is not even an everyday producer. But when it is, they're usually quality fish. So one stays tied on. Hon Mention: Whopper Plopper Worst: chatterbaits, anything big for the sake of being big, original Spook. The Super Spook Jr badly outfishes the original.

The single best thing I ever did for my fishing is to join this board. Second is to watch tons of YouTube videos. There's no substitute for experience. But, when it's sleeting sideways, you can gain from someone else's experience. Well, he didn't take a boat. His arsenal sounds a lot like mine, except I take a kayak.

This time of year, I start with a topwater of some kind, sometimes as many as three. A Plopper or a Spook Jr. I'll also have a buzzbait/spinnerbait, a frog, a lipless crank and a jig/T-rig. That last one is a year-round lure.

Man, I have a 40 size Trion reel and I still only use it on a MH 7 footer. It's whooped some pretty good bass.

4". I bite off about 1/2" to rig a jig. But I want the entire bait for a T rig. ?

I get more bites on the Academy Store H2O brand lipless cranks. But I lose more fish on it, though they claim to have VMC hooks. I've been swapping them out with my Trap hooks. The H2O comes with straight shank hooks. The Trap hooks are an EWG style and have been for a while.

I just wake up.

I fish the pads a lot with some success. But they won't grow thick in deep water. So I'm usually fishing a shallow flat. Fish won't always be in a shallow flat. So it's possible they just aren't in there in numbers. But if the entire pond is less than 10, mostly under 5', it's a much more likely location.

The rule in SC is that you can access the pond from a public road or highway. I've seen it happen. But you can't walk through private property to access it. Presumably, you can't launch a watercraft.

I have a 10' Perception Pescador Pro and I consider it to be too short at times. I'd look into a tube if you want something that small. You don't want to buy something so small you don't want to use it.

When I first started fishing spinnerbaits I went into BPS and bought every size and blade combination of their store brand Uncle Buck spinnerbaits they had in white, chartreuse and white/chart. I still have a couple of those and they will still catch a fish. They must be 25 years old.

I like to keep things simple so I don't have to buy 10 of every bait. My favorite is a double gold willow leave 3/8 oz. in gold shiner pattern. It gets bitten even in muddy, cold water. The double willows are like a single Colorado in terms of drag, slowing the bait down. I have a few others, but rarely fish them.

I even fish double willow blades in the winter. I also have busted the skunk with a small lizard.

Weightless?

Or the smaller 4" finesse worm. This is actually my go-to when I can't buy a bite. I'll make a very light C-rig using 1/8 to 3/16 oz. bullet weight. I've been avoiding the skunk pretty well with a Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm watermelon/black flake. I got some fish to take it on top, weightless. I've gotten others to take it subsurface with either a 1/16 or 1/8 oz weight. It's just something they haven't seen much of. It doesn't spook them in shallow water like a hardbait or spinnerbait can. It's great in weedy areas. I've also used it on a shaky head. Caught a 6 pounder last summer with that rig, but nothing yet this year.