IndianaFinesse

For bluegill the best bait I have found is a lindy little nipper jig in 1/64 ounce size tipped with a wax worm. Another thing you might want to try is white bass fishing. Most guys don't like them, but I think they're a blast. They school by the hundred and are extremely aggressive, so it's not hard to catch ten to twenty an hour once you find them. The best tactic for them is to cover water quickly throwing a white roostertail until you find them. There favorite areas are rip rap points and wind wind blown shorelines. Most people don't eat them, but I think they are just as good eating and much harder fighting than crappie.

My four favorite lures for bed fishing are the strike king bitsy tube, trd, four inch lizzard, and the z-man crawfish. But bed fishing isn't as easy as some people think, my pb took me a frusterating four and a half hours to catch( it was on the bitsy tube).

I would recommend a seven foot, medium power, fast action rod as a good compromise for the techniques you listed. Fishing factory outlet has the Abu Garcia veritas for fifty-three dollars (plus free shipping) instead of the retail price of one hundred dollars that you might want to try. They also have a Abu Garcia orra S30 for forty dollars instead of the retail price of seventy dollars. If you would prefer a reel to match the veritas's color, ffo has a pflueger supreme for sixty-five instead of the retail price of one hundred dollors.

I agree that it would probably work, but I would definitely recommend using the weedless shroom-z around all the brush. And because the bass run so much larger there I might try using ten pound or twelve pound line instead of the usual six to eight pound. I would also recommend using a medium power rod instead of a medium-lite to match the line. I have used the weedless version and can tell you that the weed guard is not very stiff, it is only two thin wires. It is flexible enough that a fast reel set is all that's needed.

This spring has been so warm, it's looking like it might hit the normal spawning temperature a month before it usually does. I was wondering if the bass will spawn at the temperature they normally do or wait for the right day light length?

Don't know, I was planning on trying the river that feeds into the lake yesterday, but they were biting so well on the lake I didn't end up trying it.

Zoom trick worm or Z-man finesse worm-z. The nice thing about the finesse wormz is that it never gets torn, a nice change from going through one or more bags of worms a day.

They were holding in two to twelve feet of water on rip-rap points. Just get a one eighth or one sixth ounce white roostertail, cast it out and let sink to the bottom, and reel it just fast enough to keep the blade turning. The trick is to keep moving until you find them, if I don't get them in the first five to ten minutes I am moving. Sometimes I will use a two inch white curly-tail, but the spinner usually works better.

Wanted to let you guys know the big Indiana bass site is up and running again. It's a great site, written by a fellow Indiana bass/crappie fisherman.

Which online site has the cheapest do-it molds? I looked at Barlows tackle but was wondering if there were any other places with even better deals. I'm looking to start pouring mushroom head jigs to use on the ned rig. I've tried the finesse mushroom-z heads and like them, but would like to find a cheaper option.

Where are you guys catching crappie and what is your favorite bait in fifty to fifty-six degree water?

From my limited experience line color doesn't matter much unless you are fishing in extremely clear water. Line size, however does seem to affect the number of bites, sometimes dramatically. My personal favorite is the new Gliss Monofiliment. It has the sensitivity of braid, no memory, floats, and is smoother than braid. It even casts farther than nanobraid without the abrasion issues. The only downside of gliss is that it sometimes slips at a leader knot if put under sudden pressure, unless you glue it. And although it is substantially more expensive than mono, it is about same price as braid at 14.99. But use whatever works for you, everyone has a different opinion.

I got out today for a few hours on Heritage lake, the white bass where biting like crazy on roostertails, and also got twenty-two largemouth between one and four pounds on the ned rig. The water temperature is fifty-one degrees here.