bigbassin'

Fishing Coosa Chain or TN River? Or smaller lakes?

Anchor trolley was the single biggest addition I ever made to mine to catch fish. Allowed me to easily fish points and creek mouths effectively. Windy days on grass flats there was no comparison, drop anchor and cast 5-6 times, pickup anchor for 30 seconds, then drop and repeat all the way across the flat. Allowed me to fish a lot of days I otherwise wouldn’t have since I didn’t have to fight the wind the whole time. Just be careful dropping it in a river, learned that the hard way and took a nice swim.

Describe your typical water body? Lake/river, clear/stained, deep/shallow all dictate which I’m going to pick. If you’re fishing points on deep reservoirs, the T-rig, C-rig, and Dropshot cover you in most situations. If you’re fishing grass you may never throw anything but a t-rig. Around docks or shallow chunk rock a ned rig or wacky could be major players. Each setup is just a delivery method to fish the particular plastic based on your situation. Think of rigging as a way to fish your desired structure/cover rather than what to do with each individual plastic. I.e. nothing will beat a Texas rig in the grass and getting into a laydown, Carolina rigs excel fishing dropoff/shellbeds/chunk rock, wacky’s do best for me on strictly vertical cover or culverts. Ned’s do best in smallmouth water along current seams for me. IMO the best way to go about it is pick just one setup at a time and fish it for the whole day. Start with what you know, a Texas rig worm, and go around fishing all sorts of different cover/structure and pay attention to what you like and don’t about it. Then do the same all the way down the list until you find ones that work, and equally as important, the ones that don’t work for you. Then rinse and repeat with the different plastics. For example I never have any luck fishing a weighted t-rig or wacky fluke, but tear fish up weightless on a C-rig. Experimenting and time on the water will teach you what to use.

Haven’t logged in for about 5 months decided to hop on and saw this. Very sad to read both him and Catt have passed on this thread. Condolences to both families and I wish them the best. Always thought both of them seemed to be true anglers and outdoorsmen, strive to be half as accomplished as either. Really going to miss their perspectives and knowledge targeting bass.

Got rid of my 14’ Jon Boat almost 2 years ago now and have been religiously watching used bass boat prices since then. Plenty of access to wading plus work and other hobbies, I’m not dying to get back into a new (to me) boat and associated cost, however if the price is right I’d absolutely jump at one. Market in my area seems to have flooded with used boats at about 1/2-1/3 what people were asking just a month ago. Almost all of these boats are between 1995-2007. I know the motor can be a roll of the dice pending hours, maintenance, etc. at that age, but is there any age limit on a fiberglass hull? If no signs of damage/transom rot, does that mean the hull is good to go regardless of age?

This right here is the best way to land any bass over 2 pounds from the shore, anything smaller I’ll just flip in the air. Over the 2 pound mark I’m probably getting mid shin and going to lip it if it’s 5+ or get it under the belly in that 2-5 pound range. I don’t like dragging them on the bank since I’ve heard it can cause them to get infections, but if it’s on a rattle trap I will probably drag them rather than sticking my hand in its mouth.

You can find some interesting folks out there, most of which don’t appear to be sportsmen enjoying the NF.

The moving baits are where you see the most crossover. Swimbaits, topwaters, flukes, hard jerkbaits, and spinnerbaits are a staple in every saltwater box. But anything you throw for bass will work in the salt. My pb redfish came off of a weightless white trick worm. Lot’s of guys catch good trout C-Rigging ribbon tails around oysters. Chatterbaits and rattle traps get thrown. You can even find videos of guys pitching jigs and soft plastics just like they are bass fishing for reds and snook, although this is definitely not a common technique.

Shoot me a dm if you head to Florida, I’ve kayak fished Panasofkee, Istokpoga, and Toho. Don’t mind giving you areas and techniques.

To me a hard jerkbait is a clear water, rock and laydown lure. Flukes will get thrown in any clarity but chocolate milk and I’m typically throwing them at grass or lily pads. While I will dead stick a fluke, I’m typically keeping them moving within 2’ of the surface. On a jerkbait I may just pull and reel, pull and reel just like a worm. Or I may do 3-5 twitches then a 3 second pause, hit will come on the pause or on the first twitch typically.

I’d agree it sounds like you had to much food and not enough hungry mouths. I’d try a lipless you let get below the bait ball, then a popper. If neither get hit, move on.

Any and all cranking or preferred depth range/tactic? You’ll want low gears (5.x) for deep, standard gears (6.x) for wakebaits down to 6’, and I like high speed (7.x on lipless) to recover line quick after snapping it through grass. If I’m picking just one, it would be a 6.x gear ratio.

I had a guide that exclusively fishes the Kissimmee chain (there might be better big bass fisheries out there, but you’re really splitting hairs at that point) tell me he’s lost count of the number of 10+ pound bass he’s seen caught in his life, but he assumes over 20 a year. Only 3 had over been caught on artificials off his boat. He also stated almost all came out of the 2 month window leading up to, and during, the spawn. In other words, a guy that fishes 8 hours a day 270 days a year, on one of the top bass fisheries out there, was still only getting it done consistently at just the right time and fishing live bait (a tactic most bass anglers don’t use). Like it’s been said already, right place, right time, right tactic, proper gear setup, and you’ll still need some luck to make it happen. It takes a whole lot of time to figure out the first four and to let the fifth work out on its own.

I’ve got to say I’ve never heard of hover strolling. Guess I need to check that out.

I more or less stopped paying attention to new tackle over the last few years, just saw these for the first time. Curious how people fish these. Looking at the design I’m assuming it’s a dead stick bait where the wings help slow the fall? What do they do that a regular fluke doesn’t?

We’re the spots introduced in the last couple of years or have they always been there? How big of a lake? Speaking to Georgia, the state has had an issue where basically any lake that has them has little in terms of largemouth, and the lakes that at one point held smallmouth no longer do. Could just be the spots out producing the largemouth. If it’s a smaller lake, I’d imagine the way spots tend to be more pelagic and chase down bait could result in reduced food supply. If they aren’t been kept to minimize the food chain impact, then there may be too many mouths to feed and not enough food to allow the bass to grow to their full potential.

Been on again off again with fishing for probably the last 2-3 years. Went fishing maybe 8 times total last year (mix of on the boat, wading, and shore fishing). Took out the boat Saturday and was ready to go back to the ramp within minutes of getting to the lake. Basically just gave my Jon boat away Sunday. Only took it out 3 times last year so that was just the last straw. Yet I’ve been thinking all week about wading a set of shoals I found on the map that’s about a mile hike from the road. I used to love fishing. These days I like the thought of fishing but love the act of exploring. When I think of all the fishing memories I’ve enjoyed from the last few years, there’s an aspect of remoteness or difficulty accessing the location mixed with no one else being out there. And so at some point in the next month I will take a rod to those shoals mentioned above, but I may just take a couple of casts and then hike back to the truck.

Never fished it but heard it’s tough. Looks good on the map though.

50’!?!? Those are some deep bass! No help on the topic, but very intrigued on the depth you’re fishing. Played around on a mountain lake the other weekend that gets to about 350’ max depth, didn’t find any fish or bait looking out to about 35’, may need to slide out a little further.

I agree with this. Even if I’m taking my whole tackle bag I’m still just taking 1 rod bank fishing. 1 MH bait caster, 1 pack flukes, 1 pack swim baits (either going to be rage swimmers or Big EZs), 1 pack worms, couple hooks and weights. Can shove all of them into my pocket.

I can only speak to the 3 in Florida, but no surprises there. I think the words been out on Headwaters for a while, interesting to see Orange make the list. Heard pretty frequently it’s possibly the best lake in the state, also heard you may need to fix a broken window or two and replace anything you had in your glovebox after a day of fishing.

Disneys fort wilderness? You’re kind of in between the spots I know of that would sell shiners, but the marina at Toho is probably 30 minutes away and sells them. Bitter’s is probably 45 minutes away and will definitely have them along with all the tackle you could ever want. If you go to Bitter’s don’t buy any of their jitter craws to punch with, use on beds, or my favorite, use as a jig trailer. Your thumb will hurt from all the bass you’ll have to unhook afterwards. A lot of Ace hardwares in central Florida, or Farm & Feeds will sell shiners and tackle as well but it’s not a guarantee that they will have any in stock or that the particular branch carry bait.

Those are some studs! I’d think a couple largemouth in one year like that with how far north you are is quite an accomplishment! Rage swimmer is always a good choice, have one tied on pretty much year round. Maybe worth trying in the future, I’ve always found rattle traps and flukes to be the most effective lures on schooling bass.

I only peg the weight if I’m punching. Otherwise I don’t see the advantage.

I seem to see more turkey bow hunting content out of California than other states. I’ve still got to get one with a shotgun before I attempt it with a bow. I believe you’re correct, seems to be a lot of 2 blade mechanicals from what I’ve seen rather than a fixed tip. 10% actually seems pretty good compared to looking at Florida or Georgia, although I’d imagine your pretty decent at it if you’re trying with the bow.