beardown34

XO concurs.

Awesome!

it's annoying that bass don't read the rules and behave like they're supposed to. 32 degrees this morning, so time to go slow right? so i try a 1/4oz jig with a chigger craw -- nothing, not even a bump. then i switched to a red/white chatterbait and bang, 4 fish in 30 minutes. like i've said, even if i would have gotten skunked, something just makes it less disappointing to get skunked with a search bait, as opposed to a slower presentation. at least i feel like i covered a lot of water. i do clearly recognize that this approach stunts my growth as an angler, by falling back on presentations i like more, or have had more success with, versus forcing myself to try new techniques. the first fish is about as big as i've seen in this pond. what do you guys think of the health of the second fish? it seemed to have a disproportionately large mouth, compared to its skinny belly. it fought pretty hard, and didn't seem particularly unhealthy. do you think it's a healthy little guy waiting to fill out? or a hungry one that is not eating well in the small pond?

this will be my first year experiencing the spawn, so I want to make sure I don't miss it -- is anyone in northern Illinois seeing any bass making beds yet? is it way too early?

Caught two tonight. One on 5/16 spinner and one on 1/4oz jig with blue speck chunk jr. But man, fishing on a cold and windy night is like spankin it with sandpaper. I'm still gonna do it to get the payoff but it's a struggle.

Yowza, yanked this girl out yesterday. What a beauty. It wasn't my intention to stick my fist in her mouth, but I didn't have pliers with me and she swallowed the red white chatterbait pretty far.

Fyi I saw and loudly heard two bass jumping and feeding at topwater last night. I didn't think it was warm enough yet for topwater fishing but I'll have my buzzbaits with me next time!

Western suburbs folks, get out there now before the cold weather comes! The bite is definitely on. Got 3 in 20 minutes on a swim jig and a undersized jig + jr chunk. Plus at least 3 more taps that I missed because I wanted to see exactly how long the fish were going to hang on before I could set the hook on them. The answer on those three? Not very long

nice one standman. what size spinnerbait? any plastic trailer? and how are you working it?

wow nice ones slonezp and MarkH024! i on the other hand have my man card to hand in. i tried out a new residential pond i found on google maps. about 250 x 150 yards. tried a dirty jig swim jig + keitech easy shiner that i got from evilcatfish in the fleah market -- action looked nice but no hits. tried a 1/2oz lipless crankbait and a 3/8oz squarebill, both of which i found to be too heavy for that pond. finally before leaving i tried a spinnerbait from a company which can't be named but still got no love. on the last cast, my mind was already wandering towards what i was going to have for breakfast when i got a bump maybe 5 feet from shore. i gave it kind of a wimpy half hearted hookset and had him on the line for 2-3 seconds, only to see him spit the hook just as i was raising the line and going for his mouth. he splashed off in the mud and went merrily on his way. looked like 1.5# or so, but after being skunked all week, i would have been happy to have her! members (+) refers to the amount of "reputation" points you have, for people liking your posts. i thought winter was for snowblowing in the blissful absence of family ??

so what are we supposed to do, spend time with family?

burtle1 - i'm strictly off the bank, and i use a snap on the end of my line too. every once in a while i will carry a second rod (usually with a trigged worm on it), but usually it's just one rod, so i like the ability to switch lures quickly. i only use the snap part of the snap swivel though. i pull the swivel off and save it for tying short leaders to R-bend spinnerbaits. i used to use duolock snaps since i didn't need the swivel part, but i find that the tiny little arm that sticks out (at the top of the picture below) loves to snag onto grass and pond scum. the enclosed snap from the snap swivel is much less prone to this.

Northern Illinois folks .. are we still supposed to be fishing more slow presentations with the recent cold air? Slowrolling spinnerbaits, slow yo-yo lipless CBs? I tried out a squarebill CB today just because I want to learn to use one and it looks pretty cool, but am I wasting my time with the squarebill until it's more consistently warm? So far this year, since my first bass on Feb 27, I've caught: - one on 3/8oz jig with a pit boss (which frankly seems oversized for these residential ponds) - one on an XR8 X-rap - two on 3/8oz chatterfrogs - one on a 5/16oz war eagle spinnerbait - one on a 4" havoc subwoofer swimbait - two on a 4" big bite super shad swimbait Last catch was 3/13. I've caught an incredible amount of pond scum, definitely a limit's worth! Considering I only get about 30 minutes 2-3x/week, it's hard to balance using presentations I need to learn to use, vs using presentations because they're appropriate for the time of year and weather.

Thanks for all the input. Maybe it's because it's still in the 40's up here in Northern Illinois and the bass are sluggish, but man it's hard to sit on the banks and get skunked while waiting for a weightless senko to sink. For giggles I jerked the Senko a couple times and it actually gives a pretty cool action. I know it goes against all the advice about just letting it sink on slack line, but lord that's hard to wait out. It's completely backwards thinking, but for some twisted reason I would rather get skunked using a search bait like a chatter or spinnerbait, than a slower finesse presentation.

thanks tbone -- that's actually the reason this idea came to me. in the first post of the senko FAQ, there's an article titled "Keeping Senkos Simple". the author says this about wacky rigging: "One of the major differences (at least when I use it) is the addition of a little added movement. Very rarely do I ever allow a Wacky Rigged Senko to hit the bottom. The exposed hook is very easily snagged. Instead, I allow the bait to fall for a number of seconds (which will be determined by water depth), stop it just prior to hitting bottom and then bring the bait back to the surface." i guess my understanding of how most people seem to fish worms is to cast, let fall, and then impart any variety of maneuvers sub-surface, kinda like what you described. what i'm trying to achieve, is since i've yet to develop much patience for finesse fishing, and if it is true that the fall is where the money is at in terms of getting bites, and since the fall on slack line seems pretty dummy proof (just let it fall!), i was hoping this would be a reasonable way to make finesse fishing more high yield. as you all know, sometimes it just takes building some confidence in a strategy before you are willing to have more patience with it. i'm sure your strategy works for you. but look how many different nuances there are to your technique! for a beginner, i'm just wondering if literally just casting, falling, raising, and repeating would work.

Quick question or two about Senkos (or fill in the blank whatever stick bait you prefer). True or false -- the majority of bites occurs on the fall. If true (which is what seems to be the case based on most people's articles and thread posts), when fishing in shallow-ish water (15-20ft max, like the residential ponds I fish), it is a reasonable strategy to cast, let it slowly fall to the bottom, deadstick for a bit, and then raise/reel it back all the way to the water surface before letting it fall again? I mean all the way back to the surface, not just raising your rod tip from 9 to 12. I am new to all this, and finesse fishing is agonizingly slow for me, but this would seem like a way to K.I.S.S., as opposed to overworking a worm (shaking, hopping, etc).

How are you naperville area bank beaters doing? This wind is kind of annoying. Sure makes the trees on the banks hungry for fishing line.

looks like this lunker

first cast today caught this on a Sebile 1/2oz lipless crank. their advertising is true -- this DOES catch fish! baby bluegill? then nothing until the last 2 casts of the morning, when i went back to back with a big bite super shad swimbait on a bitsy flip 3/8oz jig. i keep meaning to try the Sebile jointed swingtail minnow, but i look at all the pond scum (on and below the surface) and i never end up reaching for it. the other day i went back to back with a chatterfrog, and that seems to pull through/shake off the scum fairly well.

caught one my biggest bass, and my 4yr old was nice enough to take a picture of me. this is what i found on my phone AFTER letting the fish go! btw this was with a 5/16 war eagle spinnerbait that i found earlier that day for $1 at walmart. they were listed as $5 but rang up as $1!

OK.

absolutely -- on a bright and non-windy day i gotta think at least some of the footage will be mildly entertaining at the least maybe i can see where that buzzbait that got snagged on the aerator last year is! as far as drop shotting the camera, i would think that with the float pack stuck on the backside of the GoPro, the camera would still be facing downward for the most part. maybe if i drop shotted it with like a 3 foot leader, and set the camera to widest angle, i could still get some reasonable footage even with the expected wobbling side to side of the camera.

Thank you all for the prompt input. Let me represent my question more accurately. I see that many of you do not find this a necessary endeavor. I'm asking more from a standpoint of, has anyone done this before, and do you have any tips on how to do this more effectively? I don't currently nor will I ever fish in tournaments for money, so my perspective will never be the same as a lot of you guys. I'm just trying to learn more about my body of water, so I can understand more about locating structure and how fish relate to it. Even if it doesn't help me catch more fish at this pond, at least I can use what I learn about what I see below water to become more effective in other bodies of water. Thanks Jeff -- the water is pretty clear, from what I can tell. But because I'm only on the bank (no kayaking here), I really can only see out maybe 15-20 feet. I was thinking of doing this on a very bright, non-windy day.

I fish small subdivision ponds. The smallest one is ~ 250ft x 200ft, according to Google Maps. I would guess less than 20 feet at its deepest. I know it holds bass -- I've caught one already this year, and several in the 12-18" range last year. I'm not looking to "cheat", but considering I usually only get 30 minutes at a time to fish, I'd like to maximize my fishing outings. I was thinking that getting some underwater footage would help in that endeavor. This pond does have an aerator in the middle that hasn't been turned on for the season yet, so I figure I should probably do this before it gets turned on and makes the water too choppy. I'm not looking to invest in a $300+ Aqua-Vu type device. I have a GoPro and am just thinking of ways to use it without incurring much more cost. Considering the pond is fairly shallow, I was thinking of attaching a floating backdoor like this and casting it out. With the floating door, I think the GoPro will consistently orient itself in the water like this and consistently face downwards. Then I would cast in different areas of the pond and slowly retrieve the camera back. I think it might be a little trippy at first trying to view the footage from a bird's eye POV, but at least it would provide me some information about what lies below. Ideally it would be nice to drop-shot the GoPro and drag it while suspended a foot or so off the bottom, but I don't know how I would easily/feasibly do that and still keep the camera pointed in a consistent position (whether it be facing forward or down). I know many of you have the skill of "seeing the bottom" by dragging your lures and feeling what's down there. I sadly do not possess that skill as of right now. Thoughts?