WestMichiganBass

Me and a friend are in Sarasota Florida for the week and we can't find any body's that we can fish and the ones we find are all shallow and have know fish. Does anyone know of any small lakes or ponds in the area that are decent for fishing

Got to love northern Michigan

What do you guys think do you think these are the same fish? Me and a friend can't decide but I think they are. The markings behind the gill plate look identical to me.

Caught the same fish less than 24 hours apart in almost the same spot. Done it a few times with both bass and pike.

I understand that green pumkin and browns work well. I was wondering if you guys had any weird go to colors for smallies. I swear by a solid chartreuse tube and one friend swears by purple and one by blue. They seem to like those weird colors around here. I can catch more bass in clear ish water on chartreuse then green most days it seems

I've has quiet alot of sucess swimming jerk baits. I used to straight crank xraps on occasion because I liked the profile and action. I caught my personal best smallmouth straight cranking an xrap just to change things up. I've had more sucess jerk in and jerk bait but straight reeling is worth a try

I am curious what colors work for you guys for smallies. In my years of experience there is nothing compared to white tubes. Always have been and always will be my go too. Also chartreuse tends to pick up a considerable number of fish and is a close second to white. At times I find my self struggling to catch fish on other colors like black and blue or a crayfish color. What color works best for you guys?

A what? Never heard of one. I'll have to look it up

Looks like I need to try dropshotting never considered it but seems like a deadly technique in this situation. I've never dropshotted but I understand the basics enough to be able to do it (I think). Tips welcome

I went out today just to play around with a jig because it was windy and snowing just to see what it was like with the wind. Thw initial fall is challenging honestly. It will take practice to detect hits on the first fall. After that feeling a bite shouldn't be an issue.

It's just outside of lowell michigan. It doesn't have a name so it's hard to tell you which one. It's just southeast of lowell. A buddy's friends family owns it so I'm allowed to fish there

It's hard to feel a bait on slack line? I would say alot of places I fish have great water clarity so I like to fish mono/floro because I don't like messing with braid and leaders.

Thank you guys for the response. Some good information to consider. I've often been turned away from jig fishing in rough water because I can't watch my line on the initial fall but I'll have to not let the wind get the best of me

I've read multiple times that to be a sucessful jig fisherman you need to watch the line. What do you do when that's not possible when it's windy or rainy? Do you let it fall on a tight line? Or are these just not the time to fish a jig?

Many people mention throwing spoons, I've actually had decent luck there with spoons I used to throw spoons in their for pike because their are some monster pike in there. I've caught quite a few bass that way. I think I really need to drop shotting there I think it could be a deadly technique. I've heard hudlestons but I'm not ready to lose one of those to a big pike lol. There is no way to get a boat on it without dragging it a considerable way. Without a boat I am unable to really tell any of the bottem structure. Even though it's clear it's hard to tell.