Koikus

I just read some of those, and I appreciate your efforts very much. I'm new to the forum also, but hadn't made it that far back. Thanks again.

Oh come on Avid! I highly disagree with that statement about a true bass sportsman. Gimme a break dude. That's IMO totally ridiculous. I consider myself to be a true bass sportsman and I always use a net unless, on very rare occasions, I forget to bring it. I've lipped many many big bass through the years, but the net just saves some wear and tear on my hands which are really important in my line of work. I'm not fishing for money, glory, or fame, but for the sheer joy of boating good bass.

Personally, the only damage/holes I ever see with the bass I catch in my small lake are those that have been made by being on a stringer. The punctures from hooks obviously heal up very well. In my earlier days of fishing, I used to string up all the good ones in order to get an impressive picture. However now days, we immediately weigh the big ones, get a pic, then promptly release them. The latter tactic takes up more room in the fishing photo album, but saves the bass from having an extra hole in its lip. Truthfully, we RARELY catch a bass with any hole at all in it's lip even though we have to presume many that we catch have been caught before.

I second what RoLo posted for sure. For subsurface, I enjoy a Cordell Ripplin Red-fin. If that doesn't work, I'll throw anything that goes deeper whatever that might be....depends on what comes to mind at the time...such an inexact science-keeps it challenging and interesting. Many great posts on this topic.

This is a hilarious, but very legit, topic, and as everyone has said-it happens to all of us, novice or not. I've found that after respooling my baitcasters, the previous drag setting I had is way too loose for the new "sitch ee ation". I like to attach a hook/lure on the boat or tree before getting out on the wa-wa and give it a good solid hook set to help me see if the drag is set wrong. That's a lot better way of accurately getting a true feel for how the drag will perform on a big fish as opposed to just stripping line off the reel by hand which I've been guilty of doing countless times. It's a little more effort, but well worth it. I have a hard time resetting the drag while a lunker is on.

I've got to echo John's post previous to this one. Nothing's been mentioned, that I've read, about what type of trailer you're using with the jig. I prefer Uncle Josh's pork frog tails,after all, they feel and taste more natural because they are! I have rarely had a good bass (that I'm aware of-had to add that qualifier) spit my jigs out in less than a second. In fact, in my humble opinion, good bass tend to hang on to a jig-n-pig longer than most other lures, second only to soft plastics. They may not hang on as long as with soft plastics, but in the warm months, I find the hits on a jig-n-pig are so easy to feel....when I feel it, I set the hook...bam!!

There's some hilarious posts here, I'm still laughing, but many good points made as well. If I had to summarize and give a very big broad generalization, I'd say two of the the most effective actions from a lure that's produced bass for me is when the bait is falling or making no movement at all after whatever type of retrieve you're doing at the time. Regarding your question about how you know when they're in a negative mood, I'd have to speculate that's when ya ain't gettin' no bites, or when they throw the bait back at you in disgust.

WOW WOW WOW is all I can say. Beautiful bass there, Chris!! Hey, I really appreciate the info you gave about getting replicas; thanks so much. My simple brain would never have thought of using fishing line cut to the girth and lengths of the trophy.

Rocknfish, you post a really good question here. When it's hotter than a firecracker outside, I've caught good bass shallow along weed lines, but I think more often than not I find them in one of two places very generally speaking: Hanging very close to shallow wood cover or suspended at least 8-15 feet deep along steep drop offs.

I'm very spoiled to fishing one of the hottest bass fisheries in this part of Oklahoma. It's a small lake and to be honest, I really don't know the total size in acres. I'll put it this way, when we fish this private lake, it takes us apx 5-6 hours to work all the banks at a slow pace. Yes, fairly small private waters is definitely that cat's pajamas for me! ;D

I've had the same trouble myself. I'm sure you're fishing it "weightless", so....maybe think about a spoon in those areas or perhaps a Buzz Bait? Those have blown me away in the past with their ability to ignore the weeds. I like the Silver Minnow the best in the Spoons....they helped me win an amateur tournament once about 16 years ago or so in the type of weeds you described.

PETA people might think about rechanneling their attention to the humane treatment of people. Think how much more good that might do for our old planet. I say, "Leave them deer alone", not be confused with "Leave them kids alone" for you Pink Floyd lovers like myself.

Ya know, that's a really good question. I spent the last 20 minutes trying to find specifs on that question, and I had no luck. The one site I thought might have the answer was a pay deal. Sorry I can't help (yet), but I did try for you anyway.

BR: Heed the advice above...they're all good. I liked XT's entry "A lot of stuff comes into play other than the fact than it is you making the presentation." Listen, attitude makes a whole lotta difference in this deal, trust me on that. I struggled with the same thing when I first started getting into bass fishing. Don't be so hard on yourself!! I'm thankful the waters I fish are stained enough so I can't see the fish at all cause I would probably get really discouraged if I knew just how many lunkers ingored me. Hang in there dude.

I've struggled with this situation myself. Through the years I've found that sometimes I can hook a good bass way underneath the school for some reason. It just depends on how deep the water is where the shad are located. I've generally had best results with any lure resembling an injured shad such as a twitching and dropping a Slugo or similar soft pastic finesse baits like that. If the shad are located above deep water, I usually have caught the smaller bass shallow and the best ones at least 6-15 feet under the surface. Earlier this year, we did well casting all around the shad with spinners and pork trailers. My buddy caught a 9 pounder in a big school of shad that way, but they were only in about 4 feet of water.