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.

Thanks gatr52. That's a term that's not used around here. I appreciate the info. So technically a laydown is cover, not actual structure.

Hey, cpvenom, I caught a channelcat on a topwater also! This was several years ago, and I was throwing a Rapala Ripplin Red-Fin. I hadn't even moved the bait yet, and WHAM! I thought I had one BIG BASS. That was one fight I'll never forget and a suprise toboot.

Well Craw and I have a lot in common there. I guess some people would call it not being versatile and others might say I'm just "stuck in a rut", ha ha. At times I suppose that's true. Once I was fishing with a buddy and he was catching the heck out of 1-2# bass on a weedless spinner. I started throwing a brown jig-n-pig, and he scoffed saying "that just looks like a big clump of weeds". Well, 30 minutes later I had a 5 1/2 pounder in the boat. But honestly, if they're just not interested in the jig or whatever I'm throwing, I'm not afraid to switch baits.....usually.

I'm going to show my ignorance here, but what is a "laydown"? Never heard of it. Thanks. Sorry I forgot to ask that in the last post.

My experience with electronics and big lakes is quite limited. But what I enjoy on the small lake I fish as far as STRUCTURE is concerned is what I call the "mud flats". I target COVER in those areas which are sunken trees and limbs. We've had great success with these areas. I also enjoy very sharp dropoffs, especially during the summer months.

There's some excellent feedback here to get you started no doubt. I agree that this bait is not mystical in any way. The best teacher for me with the jig is experience and practice. After a while of catching bass on this lure, eventually it will become second nature to you, I promise. Every day is different. Some days they'll smack the bait pretty good, and other days, ya really have to watch your line closely for those more subtle strikes as mentioned above. Yesterday they were smacking it hard, and I pulled in a couple of 4 pounders caught near wood only 3 feet down.

Very interesting subject. I don't use fancy electronic equipment because I fish a fairly small lake. In my lake, I consider a "suspended" bass to be one that's hanging out in depths of at least 10 feet and not by any particular structure that I can actually feel. I've seen the lake when it was about 15 feet low, so I have a good understanding of what is and isn't down there. On July 4th this year, I caught two 5.25 lb bass, a 4 lb, and a 3.75 lb on a jig-n-pig jigging up and down very slowly. All were hanging out in water at least 10-15 feet deep. I know the lake well enough to confidently say that they were not on any structure at all other than a slow declination in depth. The many dinks we boated that morning were all shallow(less than 6 feet in this case). Oh, my partner caught a 5.25 lber also which made three of the exact same weight that day. Don't worry, they're all still there, lol.

I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments on this subject. I have to be honest, when I hook a big bass, I start getting the hawg in as quickly as possible. I just don't like waisting time. What has helped me with doing that is confidence in the equipment, the hook on the lure, and the line I'm using. When I first started bassin, I was so afraid of getting my line snapped....well I was using a closed faced spinning reel back then (gasp!) and the drag systems on those suckers weren't very reliable back then. I usually hold the rod at about 45 degrees unless she starts getting into heavy cover and then I lower the rod and put my thumb on the baitcaster's spool as I raise the rod way up hopefully just long enough to get her turned around. Honestly, when I'm fighting a big bass, I just respond instinctively by having done it so many times.

Well that all depends upon what time of year it is. If you could narrow down the question a bit, then you might get more useable replies to your inquiry. When visibility is low, I generally do best on dark colors. That's about all I can say without knowing more info.

basspro48 said it all. I wish I was that versatile. When the fish are obviously aggressive as evidenced by their fast and hard pickups, I then feel safe to start moving it a bit faster with lots of jerks then short drops, then jerks, then drop, etc. When they're slow in their pickups, I will just work it slowly across the bottom....nothing fancy there. During some spring seasons, I've had superb results by throwing a Slugo with no weight on, especially during the week right before the spawn begins. In that instance, I like to let 'er drop and occasionally do the twitch twith, long pause retrieve. I hope that makes sense.