Fried Lemons

If you’re buying entry level then definitely spend more on the reel. Past that I believe the rod gets you more bang for your buck. There is much more to a rod than durability. If that were the main concern then ugly stiks would be one of the best rods on the market.

When I first learned about frogs they were a game changer for me, I caught my first bass over 5lbs on a frog in heavy slop. I’ll throw them as long as there is emergent vegetation or overhead cover. Once that stuff dies off I find other baits more effective but they will still get bit in open water.

Doubled uni knot has never failed me.

Got a few this past Sunday. All fish ate the citizen fished in heavy cover. upload image

For me the process used to go something like this. Buy new bait, fish it a while, realize I don’t like it that much, relegate to bin. Over time I learned not to buy into hype and to stick with proven baits that I know will work for my specific type of fishing. I have drawers filled with baits collecting dust as a reminder. That said I still love trying out new baits. I’m just much more selective than I used to be.

Awesome action shots.

I’d go big swimbait as they are highly rewarding to learn and are not widely used in Michigan I would imagine.

Those baits are not particularly heavy and can be thrown on a conventional heavy rod. Once you start getting in the 3oz+ class is when you need dedicated swimbait gear in my opinion. I would also suggest a good copolymer/mono at 15lb test. Too heavy of a line will kill the action on the small glides. I do not think 30lb braid is a good choice here. It is way too thin and will easily break if you backlash. Mono will stretch and keep fish pinned.

Make sure you can tie a good leader knot. FC is especially prone to breaking near line to line connections. Many will disagree with me but I prefer mono as a leader material. If you decide to go the fluoro route get a fluoro marketed as leader material and not main line.

How deep is your body of water? If it’s deep enough to develop a thermocline then early fall when the temperatures drop the lake will turn over. Fishing is usually poor during this period because poorly oxygenated water from the lake bottom is being forced to the surface. Once the thermocline has disappeared and oxygen levels have stabilized is when the expected fall bite starts happening.

Yeah I’ve been wading a few times this year. It’s been really difficult for me at least, none of the spots I’ve had past success at produced anything, not even dinks.

Fished Dickerson over the weekend. The plan was to start with a rat in the morning hitting shaded cover then transition to a soft bait as the sun got higher. I got a total of 4 blowups casting the rat tight to cover and deadsticking it with an occasional twitch. Later as the shade line receded I continued to catch by cranking it down and crashing it against limbs like a squarebill. Overall it was a blast to fish and was very effective at drawing fish of all sizes out of cover. Best of the day at 5.25. Dink of the day at <1lb.

Personally I would go with the 6'10, mainly because I have a harder time skipping with XF action rods. I like a tip that loads up so I don't have to impart much force.

Looks like a tilapia to me.

I learned that big fish can be caught on hot cloudless summer days in the middle of the day on big baits. It goes against all conventional wisdom I've ever read but I guess fish don't follow the rules. I actually caught my biggest ever bag doing this.

When I was first learning how to target bass I threw a weightless Texas rigged worm exclusively for about a year. From just that bait I learned about picking apart cover and proper hooksetting. It took me a long time to gain any confidence in reaction style baits.

I used to fish both extensively and the paddle tail swimbait has replaced both of them as my go to.

I've had a few trips where I broke a leader off and just tied direct with no change in catch rates. I only use a leader when fishing rocks.

Fished 9:30-1:15 at one of my usual spots, bluebird conditions. I hadn't caught anything over 3 from this spot in over a year so I wasn't feeling too confident. Caught a 3 and a 4.25 early on in 3 FOW, shaded timber. Feeling optimistic, I continued with the shallow cover pattern for about an hour with no success. I decided to saturate cast a particularly good laydown and on the 5th cast, I got smashed. A few casts later at an isolated brush pile nearby I got smashed again. I grinded my way back to the parking lot and managed to stick one more 2lber. I had a heron repeatedly follow me attempting to dive bomb my swimbait and decided to call it a day. There were a ton of people hiking the path today and more than once I got comments about fishing for turtles.

The weedless one is the Working Class Zero Citizen, line thru is 3:16 Rising Son.

Hit a spot around Dickerson I don't travel to much to test the waters. The water is usually too choked up with duckweed to fish anything besides a frog. I tried a frog in the thick matted duckweed for about an hour and caught a single dink. Moving north I was pleased to see that wind had blown most of the duckweed towards the south end where I was fishing. I switched to a weedless swimbait which I pitched around laydowns for a few fish. I missed 3 big bites, characterized by a tick followed by a loss of feel. I could see from the teeth marks the fish were completely engulfing the bait but for some reason I was not sticking them. On the return trip I switched to a line thru for better hookups. On my first cast I pitched next to a stump and as soon as I turned the handle this fish was on.

I go by the little falls reading.

The larger fish were likely carp. The bigger snakeheads there are conditioned to hide down in cover and not show themselves. I haven't seen one since they spawned in early July. The ones I see are too small for most frogs and spook easily. I've caught a few on weightless plastics thrown from a light spinning outfit.

That place is overrun with small snakeheads. I have yet to see or catch a bass bigger than 12" there this year but I see a dozen 4-15" snakeheads each time I go out. I suspect the combination of draw downs and proliferating snakeheads did a number on the bass population.

You may want to consult the guys at swimbait underground as there are definitely guys from your state who do well on the big baits. I fish a river that has a decent population of walleye/schoolie striper and a very healthy population of blues, flatheads and channels. I got into the swimbait game this year so I am not nearly as experienced as some but I will share my experiences so far. The only fish I catch on the river with regularity on swimbaits are the catfish. I catch them on big topwaters and jointed swimmers during prime low light conditions. Other times dragging big soft baits is also effective but the bait needs to be right in their face. Pay attention to the forage in your body of water. The stripers I catch on conventional lures are mostly keyed on small 3-4" minnows. I have thrown 7-9" baits around when I knew there was a bite happening with minimal success. I still believe there is a swimbait bite to be had, I just haven't cracked the code yet. Fish high percentage spots during high percentage times and you should get bit. Just temper your expectations and realize you probably won't catch as many fish as you could with a jerkbait.