BassFishingMachine

Anyone fish any small ponds in Jersey from the bank recently with much luck? I'm in Union county, and hit a couple small ponds with no luck what so ever. I slow rolled a spinnerbait and didn't get a touch, and than I tried hopping/crawling a jig w/chunk trailer and no luck. Water felt really cold.... I'm guessing from all the snow runoff we had lately.

Think a black/blue chatterbait would be worth a shot? The color black/blue should be fine fished on a sunny day if the water is really murky right? I mean I know black/blue shines best on overcast days/night, but how about during sunny conditions if the water is chocolate milk?

Hey guys, I've been doing "fairly" well fishing my small local ponds from the bank using small jerkbaits, and mini rattletraps lately. But after all this rain you have to think the water temps are going to really drop. Will that make fishing pointless? Won't they stop hitting all together due to all this rain/temp drop? Anyway, is it worth heading out, are there any specific baits you would use seeing as how the water is going to be pretty cold again? Or would you just stick to what was working before the rain (small jerkbaits and lipless cranks)? Please don't say to use jigs, I can never get them to bite jigs this time of the year, come mid April and on jigs are my favorite thing to throw... but this time of the year I just don't do good with them, and have 0 confidence in em. Oh, and I haven't been on this site in awhile... striper plugging is a hell of an obsession... :-X

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

Hey guys, I was thinkin of pickin one of these Tru-tungsten swimbaits up. Dicks is selling the tiny one, and I was considering buying it. I will be fishing small ponds/lakes with shallow water from the bank. So I was going to primarily use the bait as a wake bait. What do you think of this bait, any good action, and does it produce well for you as a wake bait? Thanks for any info guys!

Has anyone tryed this tiny crankbait? I've added one to my trout box of spinners lately, and it has recently caught me a beautiful stockie trout (fish was in the 4lb range). Any of you guys have any luck with this lure? What do you guys catch with it? I'm thinking of giving it a try around March when small suspending jerkbaits seem to work really well.

They both look like knock offs to me.

If your looking for incredible action, you can't go wrong with ragetail chunks or paca chunks. Though if theres a cold front going on and the fish are real sluggish/slow, the "less" action given off by a yum chunk may be the key. Once the water becomes really cold and the fish really slow down, yum chunks and other "less action" trailers are all I use.

Hey guys, I used to be real skittish at going anywhere since I am terrible with directions. But seeing as how I recently was given a GPS for my birthday I've really been able to check out some new spots. In fact today I checked out Rockaway River which is around an hour ride for me, and caught my first small mouth, the fish was only about 4inches in length, but still a small mouth! I went there to do some trout fishin, and didnt catch any :-/. Though I lost count of how many nice sized trout jumped within 3 feet of me..the jerks just wouldn't bite though.. Anyway, back to the point. I'd like to check out a river/lake/pond that has a good small mouth population. I don't have a boat and will be bank fishing, I'd prefer a smaller acre pond/lake since this would make it easier to bank fish, but I suppose all will do. Know that I am strictly a catch and release guy, so don't get the wrong idea. Thanks for any info, I wanna stick a few good size small mouth, I hear they fight better then largemouth.

Exactly. I cannot answer this poll, they are 2 different baits entirely. This is like asking what is your favorite spinner, and then listing between rooster tails and terminators.

Well this is another subject that I can't seem to get off my mind lately. Heres the deal, while trout fishing (mainly during the fall/winter periods) for the stockies. I always run into a guy using a tiny crankbait, pretty much looks like a regular fat bodied bass crankbait but instead its extremely small, I'd say a hair under an inch in length...about the size of a lima bean. Well he tells me he does extremely well with it, and I've heard other people talk about him and how he was hooking up when no one else was. Just was curious to know if any of you guys have tryed tiny crankbaits for trout, and how have you done with them? Do you fish them the same way as a trout spinner? Meaning just a steady/slow retrieve? Or is it more of a twitch/pause/retrieve type of thing? I plan on picking up one of these tiny crankbaits (if I can find one) and giving it a try this season. Is there a specific brand that you would recommend? I believe I've seen some tiny yozuri cranks somewhere or another, but knowing yozuri they'll charge me 8.00$ for one...

Hey guys, its that time of year agan, when they stock some nice 14-16inch rainbows in a few of my local lakes for the Fall/Winter stock. I've done well fishing with other spinners such as Rooster Tails and Mepps, but figured I'd try something that looks a little out of the ordinary. This Vibrax Minnow Spin is pretty much a small rapala body (minus the plastic lip) and a trout spinner blade attached. Have any of you guys tryed this lure for trout, and how has it worked for you? I bought the silver/blade one with a rainbow trout pattern body rapala. Picked this color cause I figured maybe where these trout were raised they had a chance at seeing/eating an occasional baby trout that somehow becomes unfortunate enough to sneak into their tank.

The ragetail plastics are simply incredible, I have yet to use one that hasn't really impressed me, and I'm not a guy who gives compliments for nothing. As far as the ragetail shad goes, try using the black/red fleck one around dusk and into the night. It has caught me some quality fish. I use a 4/0 EWG gamakatsu, and it does the job. Really don't recall the bait ever messin up on me. I still think Big-O should come out with a white ragetail chunk though!

Thanks for the replies guys, I don't have any steel leader, but wouldn't that deter bass from hitting due to visibility? I do have some 40lb Fluoro leader material I use for striper, should I give that a try, and you don't think it would deter bass?

Hey guys, its that time of year again, when the pickerel bite is really good, and the bass are scattered around here and there in a certain lake I fish. Only problem is sometimes the pickerel will really devour the bait and I end up snapping off on the hookset. I've also had alot of misses. I'd like to know what size hook you use for the 5inch Super Fluke, and what you recommend on doing for solving the issue on snapping off on hooksets due to pickerel teeth. The hooks I've been using are 4/0 Offset Shank Worm Hooks (not extra wide gap). And the line is 10lb fluoro. As always, thanks for any help!

Don't know about VMCs for freshwater, but they sure do make some nice saltwater grade trebles. Pretty much every top plug builder uses VMCs on their plugs in saltwater.

Someone said this on here awhile ago and to this day I remember it. The eagle almost went extinct because its claw's kept losing the fish!

Ok, first off I'm a bank fisherman who fishes small local ponds/lakes. The water I am fishing is not very deep, and it typically ranges from (3-7feet at most). Pretty much all the ponds/lakes I am fishing are covered with weeds, there is some open water available throughout the vast area of weeds, but for the most part the lake is covered with the stuff. I have tryed crawling/swimming lizards over and around the weeds, and I have caught 1 small bass doing this, but mostly nothing, I have also tryed crawling a yum wooly hawgtail over the weeds, and that has resulted in nada. I have tryed fishing at night with a black/blue chatterbait/trailer and have caught a fish doing that as well, but again it was a small fish and that was the only hit within 2 hours of fishing. They just aren't biting. I have also tryed throwing a weightless trickworm and it got a few sunfish bumps, but I didn't spend too much time using it. Oh, and I've also tryed using a buzzbait during dusk in the areas where I could pull it off without catching weeds....didn't get a touch. So what would you try? Would you target deeper water or such? The next baits I plan to try are fishing a senko really slow, and slowly fishing a t-rigged baby brushhog and a ribbontail worm. Thanks for any suggestions!

Well, I know some guys like to use the "spinnerbait trailerbait" which looks like this http://images.ebsco.com/lurenet/YBT483.jpg But I've also heard of single tail grubs being popular, and I have used them with success as well. The only thing is that alot of the times a spinnerbait without anything other then a trailer hook tends to work pretty good for me. Regardless, I was curious to know when do you choose to fish a spinnerbait with a trailer bait over a spinnerbait without a trailer bait? I suppose a spinnerbait with a trailerbait will give the bait a larger profile, so I guess if your trying to imitate a larger bait a trailerbait is key?

Im in the same shoes as you. I also bank fish and the lake/ponds I fish are primarily 1-4foot waters. For shallow cranks there is only one that works well for me, meaning not cleaning the bottom every cast, and that is the LuckyCraft Fat CB BDS 1. I adjust how high I hold the rod by where my bait is, you'll figure out what I mean when your fishing. As for lipless cranks, the Mini Rat-L-Trap works nice, and the Luckycraft LV-0 is a lipless crank every shore fisherman should own IMO. It is basiclly a lipless style crankbait with a lip, but despite how you fish it the thing seems to stay in the middle of the water column and rarely catches any weeds, it is a miracle crank for bank fisherman..truly unique. Unfortunately I have only been fishing shallow crankbaits since last year, so I have yet to try too many different brands, therefore the list of baits I suggested I'snt too long. I can tell you this though, the Rapala, Bagley, and Bomber cranks work nice if you have some access to fishing a few 4-6feet of water spots, but I wouldn't try them too much in 1-3feet of water. Then again, you have to try a few different brands for yourself, and figure out which ones you like.

1. GYCB Fat Ika 2. GYCB Kut-Tail 5inch Worm 3. Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver 4. Zoom Baby Brush Hog 5. YUM Wooly Hawgtail If your looking on opinions of colors, I find greenpumpkin, watermelon, watermelon red, black, black/blue, (GYCB baits only: cinnamon brown), and junebug to all be top notch colors.

The Berkley Shaky worm floats beautifully on a shaky head, but I doubt it would float a 2/0 or 3/0 hook. Hope this helps some..

I use Megastrike on soft baits, and YUM Crawfish spray on jigs. I don't know if the scent makes a big difference, but I guess its a confidence thing for me at this point. I have often used soft baits without applying megastrike (out of lazyness) and have caught plenty. Although I pretty much always use the Yum spray on my jigs, I don't know maybe I just like spraying that stuff... ;D

Well, I just got to thinking of lure brands that earned my trust. What I mean by this, is that they sell products that are geared more to catch fish, rather then catch fishermen. And you can always rely on their baits to be worthy of buying, and not having to wonder to yourself "Hmm.. this I'snt just some crap they thought would make a few bucks for em is it? Don't know if I should buy it.." But instead "Ah... this company never let me down, this must be something worth a shot." So what are some bait companies you trust to always make good stuff? Here are some of mine, and a description of why they have earned my trust. 1. Ragetail (These baits simply work, all this guys baits have great action, and come in great colors, and they all seem to catch fish. I believe the maker to be more concerned about whether the fish will like the bait rather then how the fisherman will respond when he sees it. I am highly eager to see the new baits this guy comes out with, they seem to impress me more and more than the next.) 2. Zoom (These baits are cheap, effective, and have never let me down. I can't say I use every bait they make, but they definetly make some top notch stuff. And I have yet to see them produce any baits I would consider a bait designed to catch more fishermen then fish.) 3. Gary Yamamoto (This guy's baits have definetly earned my trust for the most part. I know his stuff is good stuff and is geared to catch fish. But IMO I believe he occasionally makes something to just try and make a few more bucks rather then worrying about what the fish will think of it. Again this is just my opinion. Despite that majority of the stuff he makes I love, and I will keep my eye open for anything new of his.) 4. Netbait (These baits work great, and again...like ragetail.. I believe this maker to be more concerned on the fish's take of the bait rather then the fishermens.) 5. Luckycraft (Do I even need to explain this one... You get what you pay for, and Luckycraft may be expensive but their stuff is simply incredible, and has never let me down. At the price they charge it better work!) These are the 5 companies I trust most. A few other companies who I wouldn't say earned my trust entirely, but I definetly use and keep an eye out for their stuff are YUM, Berkley, Rapala, Yozuri, Waveworm, Terminator, Booyah, and Strike King.

I fish it weightless, for the most part I don't pay much attention to how the tail faces after I've rigged it. It always seems to have that wiggle in the tail kinda like a senko and I think thats what gets them to bite. I primarily use the 5inch size, and rig them with a 3/0 hook. It is indeed a great bait, though the sunnies love them, and they will rip the tail off on you. So if you run into a area of sunnies, move down a few. Also, these baits work nice on bedding fish for me, the slow fall infront of their face when they're on the beds seems to get em to open up that mouth. All in all, definetly a bait worth casting around, my favorite colors are green pumpkin and cinnamon brown. I will also use the 4inch size once in awhile. Though the price is high, majority of GYCB stuff is good stuff, definetly a brand I trust .