BassFishingMachine

Crankbaits, Weightless Straight tail worms, Walk the dog baits. I find an important aspect when fishing clear water is using the most natural colors imaginable. I also find you cannot be as laid back when it comes to working the bait as you can get away with being in slightly stained or muddy water. Remember the fish's vision is as good as it can be in this water clarity, so you really have to work that bait well. Good luck.

Ok, I'm going to come out and say it, I'm not a big fan of Cavitron buzzbaits, I find the bait tends to roll on its side, and I also find it to be too quiet for my liking (the blade didn't kick up much water, thus this made it quiet). When I'm fishing a buzzbait I'm not looking for a quiet bait, I'm looking for a bait that kicks up alot of water, and makes some decent noise, and the cavitron doesn't do this for me. I much rather prefer throwing a booyah buzzbait, as I've had great success with them, they run straight for me, and the blade kicks up more water. Obviously I am not saying the cavitron doesn't catch fish, even though I have yet to hook into anything on one, all I am saying is it doesn't meet "my" requirments for a buzzbait. I have a right to my opinion no? Then again maybe I just got a faulty cavitron. Ps. I do love Megastrike scent though!! ;D

Im going to answer this question a little less specific, as I think this will be more useful. 1. Willow Leaf Spinnerbait 2. Topwater Walk the Dog bait 3. Jig aka Jig-n-pig (with a trailer) 4. Suspeding Hard Jerkbait 5. Topwater Popper 6. Hollow Frog 7. Soft plastic Frog 8. Soft plastic worms, Both Ribbontail, and Straight tail 9. Soft plastic Creaturebait 10. Jitterbug (yeah I know this is being specific, but its a must have! ) (Works great at night, but not limited to this) 11. Buzzbait (overcast/dusk/night time) 12. Black/blue Chatterbait w/ a trailer (overcast/dusk/night time) 13. Crankbait

Im am not too experienced with shaky heads, but I believe the difference between a pegged texas rig Vs. Shakyhead rig, is the shakyhead rig keeps the worm floating in a fairly straight angle, due to the head of the weight usually being in a "stand-up" allowing position. A bullet weight on the other hand, due to the shape of it, might fall over alot, causing the worm to fall over with it. While as the shakyhead will stand up straight more often, keeping the worm standing straight. This is all just a guess of mine, but seems correct to me. The difference in action IMO, would be when you slightly twitch the rod tip while using a shakyhead rig, the very end of the worm barely wiggles while the worm remains in a "standing" position. While as if you did this with a pegged bullet weight, I'd imagine the worm would most likely be in a slightly "lying" position, maybe a inch or two off the bottom, but not nearly as straight as a shakyhead rig. On the other hand, who knows wether the standing position is better then the lying position, I guess its all up to the fish on each pariticular day. Guess, you could figure the standing position is something different, and throw this shakyhead tactic into the list of "Things the Fish Haven't Seen" or "Rarely See". And from what I've learned fishing, these two lists work magic for me.

I have been doing pretty well with black/blue original chatterbaits rigged with a Hulagrub as trailer.

My opinion on the original chatterbait is the action of the bait and hits it gets are better then any other chatterbait I've used. Although it is made very cheap(though it doesn't sell cheap :-?), and the hook is pretty crappy. But the action is great.. so I still use them, but I only use black/blue and only fish with them at night. Its not a bait I'd like to rely on due to the crappy quality, so I limit my use of it to a hour or 2 during the dusk/night.

I always have thrown single willow leaf spinnerbaits with some good results. But I recently bought a double willow leaf spinnerbait just to try something a little different. So my question to you is, when do you choose a double willow over a single? What is the advantage/disadvantages? Just trying to find a general idea of when I should choose the one spinnerbait over the other. Thanks for any help 8-).

Oh yeah, ragetail chunks work great. Ragetails and Pacas are my favorite chunks. Ragetail is my all time favorite chunk for swimming though. For just standard jigging its a tie between paca and ragetail.

Glad its working for you, because it doesn't work for me. :-/

Ok, here is my question to you fellow striper fisherman. I have a pack of white sluggos and they came in a pack of like 6 or so, anyhow I hear the blacks are the best to use at night, so I was thinking of taking one of my white sluggos and using a black permanent marker on it to make it black. Would this work out? Or would there be sometype of effect with the bait giving off a bad scent due to the marker scent or what ever?

Can't even find anything about the 8inch kut-tail on yamamoto's website. Have never seen the 8inch, you sure they actually make them that big? Don't mean to doubt you, but you sure you didn't buy a knock off of the kut-tail worm or something? I have made a few searches for a 8inch kut-tail worm and haven't been able to find a single word about it, as if it was never made. :-?

Hey, as of recently I have started throwing alot of crankbaits with some good results, previously I would never dare tie on a crank as all I'd catch would be the bottom, or nada. Anyway, as I've started using them I have found out they are not typically a bait I can keep in my plano for a good period of time, what I mean by this is, I have snagged up with them a real good amount of times. I am learning not to throw them around thick lillypad piles, but even when I bring them through stickpiles I have been getting snagged on occasion. So my question is this, is there a way around getting snagged with these baits? Other then not fishing them around stickpiles or cover entirely? I know thats where the fish are most likely going to be holding, but I can't afford to be buying 5-7dollar cranks every week due to losing them. Is there a way to just get snagged less often? I have also been having a hard time determing whether a fish grabbed the bait, or if I am caught on a branch, this has usually turned out in me setting the hook on the branch, and thus losing another crank. So any opinions from you guys? Or is the crank pretty similiar to a jig when it comes down to "life expectancy"? I have no problem replacing 1.50-2.00$ jigs, but this 5-7$ a crank is too much, I have a few lucky craft cranks but I think I'll be fishing them strictly in waters I know have alot less cover, and the fish relate to open water due to the lack of cover.

My second largest bass fell to scumfrog popper frog. The color was dark green. http://www.ritzcamera.com/graphics/products/4-43/473070043.jpg the same exact frog behind the black one in the link. And he took the frog about 3 feet outside the pads in open water. I pretty much fish it with a occasional pop or two, then try to get it to walk-the-dog if I can, and give it short-long pauses. But I usually prefer the original scumfrog.

I like fishing em weightless rigged weedless with a size 3/0 hook. I pretty much just cast them out, let them fall while paying close attention to line movement to indicate a hit. Then if nothing happens I'll give the bait a little twitch, then pause, then a jerk, and pause, another twitch and pause etc, all the way until the bait is back at your feet. I have also done pretty well lightly pitching/flipping them on top of weed mats, and then just kinda twitching and pausing them along. The bass blow up on them just like a frog, right through the weeds and all. For colors I like greenpumpkin for clear, and lightly stained water in sunny conditions or overcast. For real muddy water, or dusk I like pink.

Yeah, junebug will work at night too, but I prefer black or black/blue. And yes, you can use a spinnerbait with a colorado blade, that is actually preferable at night. BUT the skirt of the spinnerbait should be either black, black/blue, or any other dark color that will create a silhouette effect.

Fall: In the fall I do well with soft plastics, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and jigs. Occasionally a frog. Winter: The only thing I can catch em with in the winter is a small suspending jerkbait. My favorite being a rapala husky jerk in the smallest size I can find, I find the fish to go for very small baits in the winter. I believe the rapala husky jerk size I use is like 1 1/2inch. I fish it very slowly, jerk jerk, 8sec pause, jerk 6sec pause, jerk jerk 10sec pause.. etc. I have tryed jigs in the winter, but have never had any success.

Black/blue Chatterbaits with a black/blue hula grub as a trailer work great at night. Black jitterbugs also work great at night. Anything that gives off alot of noise or vibration and is black or black/blue will work good at night IMHO!

Get yourself a scumfrog and your hook up ratio will greatly increase.. trust me, I been there done that. Remember to give the fish a good 3secs with the bait in his mouth before you give the hookset.

I spent in the 25$ range for a striper plug.

12inches!?!?!?!?!? You lucky sob!!!!!!! > :'(

This one is my pb, 5lbs 5oz. Fell to a black/blue jig w/paca chunk trailer ;D.

This one I didn't have a scale with me, but I estimated the fish to be in the 4lb range.

No prob, good luck out there, oh, and whats the regulation for you guys? Here in NJ they got to be 18inch or above. Very hard to get one like that >.

Shallow Crankbaits, Wakebaits, and Jigs.

Ah, the hook through the tail thing is a preference, although from the way I have seen it, I find it like 30-40% of people hook through the tail, and 50-60% go through the lips. I have no experience rigging through the tail, so I can't really say much about it, but I can say that I have always been successful going through the lips. The best leader size for gulp I'd say is 20lbtest. I like to use Seaguar fluoro in #20 (20lb test). 30 is usable but 20 is preferable. And for where you should fish for them everywhere you listed is correct, although you missed Inlets, and rivers connected to inlets. I find when fishing Jettis the fluke tend to hang about 3-8feet off the jetti, although you certainly do catch them further out from the jetti then this, alot do hang close in. (Try the saltwater gulp swimming mullet, or shrimp on a jighead around the jettis you won't be dissapointed.)