PennBass

I used to use those waterproof plano boxes, BUT even though it keeps water out, it also keeps water in. So if there's a little drop of water and you close that lid, you can guarantee that the hooks in that compartment are gonna rust. I switched to Flambeau with the blue zerust dividers, and there's no signs of rust so far.

Ok thanks for the info! How would a bite usually feel? Would it just be weight on the line when you go to jerk, or should I watch my line?

What's a good cadence to work the jerkbait at? Slack or semi-taught line? How well would a MHF casting rod work, and how far should I move the tip?

Didn't go today but will try a suspending jerkbait next time!

Temperature drop is around 10 degrees, pond is 2 acres in area. There was a brief period of warm rain + thunder last night: would that also factor in to changes in bass behavior?

How would these conditions effect fish in a shallow (1-5 ft) pond?

I use a rod for the exact same applications you listed: Daiwa Tatula 6'10 MH. Casts lures from 1/4 - 1 oz. no problem and has amazing sensitivity. If you look around online you can find some for a decent price. One of the things I like most about the Tatula is that even though it's a MH, it weighs in at only 3.9 oz.

In open water where the bass can actually see the underbelly of the frog, picking more natural colors may be beneficial. However, because I fish frogs mostly on top of thick mats/weed clumps, the bass have no idea what the frog looks like, so really any color works in those conditions

The Spro BBZ-1 Rat I lost last year is still hanging off a branch above my favorite pond. Ice wasn't thick enough to retrieve it this year, and every time I see it I get a little sad inside.

+1 about "releasing" earlier in the cast. Also, keep in mind that spinning rods rely on more of a snapping motion to cast the lure, while baitcasters benefit more from a smooth, fluid motion.

Lost a lucky craft pointer on the first cast on the schuylkill last week, followed in quick succession with a spro aruku shad and a storm twitch stick.

Went to a small pond today and got skunked. There were a few good-sized bass just suspending in about a foot of water just off the bank, and they just slowly swam away when I tried to catch them. They haven't started spawning yet so they weren't on beds or anything. Weather today was great (but not for fishing); bluebird skies and very sunny. Not sure if this has any correlation, but I could see schools of bluegills suspending in shallow water motionless. How should I go about trying to catch these bass?

All I use is a stick, some 50 lbs. braid, and an assortment of dumbbells.

+1 for Chronarch CI4+ and Dobyns 703C. Love both of them.

Tufline of course

Sorry for the confusion guys. By pre-rigged, I mean that I just rig plastic lures up with the hook and tuck it away somewhere so it can be easily snapped on. As for why I use prerigged plastics/snap swivels instead of retying and/or taking lures off the hook, it's mostly to make it easier to change baits. For example, if a worm isn't working, instead of taking it off the hook (and potentially tearing it with the barb) and finding the original bag, I just take it off the swivel, and attach another prerigged plastic. Also, because I have limited space in my bag, I usually just take a small open-design tacklebox filled with prerigged plastics on fishing trips, instead of bringing 10 bulky bags full of plastics. The problem I have is that I store all my prerigged plastics together, and that causes the colors to bleed together.

I'm pretty lazy so I use snaps, and since I change spots every few minutes, it's bothersome to take off my bag every time, open up a box, take out plastics, rig it up, put the lure I was just using back, etc. I'm all about efficiency

As a bank fisherman, I keep all of my tackle in a drawstring bag and don't want to take too much time switching lures. As such, I often pre-rig my soft plastics before a trip, storing them in a small tacklebox that I can carry around easily. However, all the colors end of mixing together, and my method is less than ideal. How do you guys store pre-rigged plastics? Are there any methods out there that preserve the original color while also being easy to access? Thanks

I tried it out on my spinning setup. You sure do get a lot more distance (5-10 yards?) out of your cast, but if there's anything that can rub against your line, you'll snap off. If you accidently hang your lure in a tree, consider it gone because it'll break if you look at it the wrong way

Maybe because of my limited budget, I've always used mono for plastics. Even though I can't feel strikes as well, I'm able to detect most of my strikes by watching my line. I've used braid before, but I found that because of its non-stretch characteristic, I often rip the hook out of the fish's mouth. Mono on the other hand gives a lot more room for error and my hookups have been fantastic.

I'm not convinced on the hype about red hooks, but I've caught basically every bass in my pond by using a Red Shad trickworm.

Yep, I think all Z-man products float. If you want one of their baits to float really high, one trick is to stretch them out before you rig them up. The color might fade a little, but stretching them out allows more air to be trapped in the bait and makes them float like a bobber

White Ice and Watermelon Gold Flake work very well for me in all conditions. Bubblegum produces when the water is really stained, and it's also easy to see strikes.

I bought one of them NorthStar Compact Series spinnerbaits from TW a while back. Even though it's 1/2 oz, a lot of the weight is hidden behind the head, giving it the size of a 1/4 oz. bait. The weight design also helps a lot with casting, and it doesn't helicopter at all. Highly recommend.

Nice! Is the interior solid or hollow? I'd like to see how it holds up to being fished-- the lip looks like it might have some problems down the road.