BassFishingMachine

I didn't vote, I like Mike Iaconelli's show called City Limits, basiclly because he actually shows you with a great view, what specific bait hes throwing, and how/where hes fishing it. He will also change baits commonly and switch to relate to the cover/area he is fishing. I hate to see a the celebrity fisherman throwing the same bait the entire show, it just gets old. And I find all these celebrities are mostly trying to sell something which is why they're fishing the bait in the first place. I am not interested in buying new products, I watch the show to learn new techniques and tactics on the art of bassing, not to shop, if I wanted to shop I'd go to a store or a tackle website. I find Bill Dance does give some good tips every now and again, but I can't stand the how he fishes his private lake. I am not interested in seeing a guy catch fish after fish in some incredible lake that I will most likely never fish or rarely ever have the opportunity to fish. If I wanted to see a guy nailin em right after left with not much work involved I'd go to a seminar at a fishing show, you know the ones where the guy stands above the tank and every little bait he throws in that tank the bass engulf within seconds.. cmon lets face reality.. like thats going to happen in real life fishing.. The reason I like City Limits is because they fish in lakes that are nothing amazing, you see them work for the fish and you see them fail, it is more realistic. They are rarely ever trying to sell a product, they are merely fishing a lake and trying to catch a quota of fish displaying different techniques and commonly used baits while in the process. Although I also do like a show entitled The Bass Pros, I find this offers tons of techniques in real life fishing situations, they explain fishing different peices of cover and baits on fishing them, and every episode each pro goes in to detail about a specific bait or tactic and shows you how to work it. I find alot of the celebrity bass shows are more revolved around selling baits. They are fun to watch because its usually people catching fish left and right, but I rarely learn much from them.

Ah.. success today.. The small junebug Zoom U-tail Worm did the trick. t-rigged it with a 1/0 and 1/8ounce free sliding bullet weight, and just kinda hopped/paused twitched and crawled it. Well I flipped it to the side of a cement wall and a nice bass about 3 - 3 1/2 picked it up. What an awesome fight let me tell you, this fish gave me a great thrill. No bs, she must have made about 7 big jumps where she came either completely or 75% out of the water. With every jump she made I thought for sure she would come unbuttoned but I tryed my hardest to keep tension on her while in the air. She tryed to take me into a pipe entrance, around a bush, along the side of the cement..all over the place, but finally got her close enough to get my thumb on her lips and it was over. After that I was happy for the day ;D, and still am. Only other bass I caught today though was a dink, around some shallow lillys, but the fattie and the great fight made it all worth while. So all in all Zoom U-tail Worms in Junebug are definetly a bait to reach for after a good amount of rainfall. Thanks for recommending this jb_adams.. it really did the trick 8-).

Thanks for the advice all, knew I could count on you guys .

Largemouth 5.5lb, caught on a black/blue 5/16ounce Booyah Baby Boo jig with Senior Paca Chunk trailer in black/blue in a big laydown. My 2nd biggest 19 1/2 (No scale at the time of catch). Was caught on a Chartruese Original Scumfrog, worked calmly around the edges of lillypads.

No advice? :'(

After getting all that rain over here in NJ yesterday, the pond I fished today had a high water level and was a chocolate milk color. Previously before all the rain, the water level was low, and the weeds were all over the place, after the rain, alot of the weeds washed away, and I truly thought the higher water levels would make the fishing pick up, but I guess its not that simple. First I tryed flipping/pitching a black/blue jig w/paca chunk to lillys and stickpiles, not even a bite. Then I seen a few baitfish jumping here and there, so I tryed a storm chugbug in black/gold, no luck. Then I tryed a spinnerbait in firetiger pattern w/painted blades, and I managed a dink..so all in all I didn't get skunked.. but definetly not what I expected which was a great day. I did see two other fisherman doing "OK". One caught about a 2lber on a black powerbait bungee worm, and the other caught two about 1/2-1lbs on a purple Original Creme worm. Both fishermen were fishing the worm weightless. I don't own too many soft plastic worms in purple, but I do have a big zoom trick worm in pink which I plan to try weightless (any advice on that?). And I do have black bungee worms so I was also thinking about bringing them along. Was thinkin about fishing a tequila sunrise 7 1/2inch powerworm weightless, but it doesn't seem to me like a worm that would work to well weightless. Anybody have any advice on things worth trying in these listed conditions? Just a few more things to say to get you to know what cover Im dealing with, theres small lillypad patches all around, with some small duckweed patches around them, theres also a few stick piles which have weeds growing around them, and theres also a waterfall with quick moving water rushing down it (only do to the rain). There are also feeder creeks in the back of the lake, but I fished them before the rain hit, and it was pretty dead back there. So all in all, what tactics/baits would you try if you were in my shoes fishing this lake. Btw, this is a small local pond, and I am fishing it from the bank.

Not meaning to insult anybody or anything, but why do you guys bring up spro and snag proof frogs? He is asking about soft plastic frogs, not hollow frogs. A hollow frog and a soft plastic frog are two different types of baits. Regarding your question Arul, I have had similiar problems with the yum buzz frog. At first I used to love this frog and had great results with it, although as days came, I found I couldn't get the yum frog to work the same as it used to. The feet would barely paddle, it would constantly roll over, and it just had all sorts of problems. Maybe I got a bad bag, but I tryed other bags all with the same negative results. So all in all I gave up on the yum buzz frog, and never use it. I have tryed the zoom horny toads plenty of times as many people talk great about them, but for me I just can't get them to work right, and I rig them with the same EWG hooks as many recommend. I don't know, they just don't seem to paddle right for me, and they also tend to roll on their back a good 50% of the time from how I saw it. Ragetail toads I have yet to fish, so I will not say anything about them. I now use a soft plastic frog called a Stanley Ribbit. I rig these frogs with a 4/0 EWG Gamakatsu, and the feet paddle beautifully. They arise to the surface pretty quickly and I have caught plenty of bass on them, definetly my go-to frog for soft plastic frogs. Unfortunately they do tend to roll onto their backs on some casts, but alot less then any other frog I have fished. I'd say they roll onto their back 25% of the time. Which is pretty good if you ask me. As for frogs rolling on their back, I really don't think thats too much of a problem, as I don't think this effects the fish's decision on hitting the bait or not. I mean if you think about it, with the paddle coming from the feet I'snt that what the fish is targeting in on? And if not, with the frog constantly moving in the usual locations it is casted around/through such as lillys/weeds do the fish really get a good luck at the under belly of the frog? I believe the fish see the action of the feet paddling, and that is what they are striking at. Although I tend to be a perfectionist and am most comfortable when the frog is riding belly down. All in all I recommend the stanley ribbit, they even make a larger size if your interested, I have yet to try this size though. I doubt you'll be dissapointed with the Ribbit.

Hey, what baits you throw and tactics do you use during the summer? I find the fish are still in the "summer period", they definetly don't seem to be in the fall period around here. They seem to be extremely sluggish, and I can't get them to hit a thing. Let me fullfill you on the "terrain" im fishing. Alot of duckweed, some muck, alot of pad patches, some thick, some small and less compact, some stick piles engulfed in weeds, and a little bit of open water. I have tryed throwing spinnerbaits around the sides of pads in the open water spots, I have tryed flipping/pitching tubes through the muck/duckweed, pitching/flipping them to the lillypads, and the sticks. I have tryed fishing fat ikas pretty much everywhere, and I have tryed flipping jigs into "feeder creeks" thinking the bass might be in the water which is a little deeper (5-7 feet). I have also tryed bring a soft plastic frog over the weeds and around/over the pads. As to how this all went out, I caught a few small ones working a jig in a cove, and I had a few small ones on the fat ika. But the big ones are no where to be found it seems, and the fishin all in all is slow, like 2-3 a day.. not even 1lbers. I want to hook into some better fish, any tactics for fishing the summer months you can share with me? Oh, and I'm fishing small local ponds in NJ, so the biggest bass you see are 5lbs, maybe a 6 if your extremely lucky, most "quality" fish to me are 1 1/2 - 6lbs. ps. the water lvls at the lakes are extremely low, and there barely seems to be much movement hapenning in general.

I'd try slowing it down and seeing if that helps, if not I would even try speeding it up, I find sometimes this gets them to chase and hit the bait harder. But I'd also definetly change the stock hooks to a higher quality/sharper treble hook.

If the water is chocolate milk colored I will always choose the Firetiger color, otherwise I prefer silver/black, gold/black and any green mixed in with silver.

I rarely fish "senko" style baits because I find them to be extremely overused in the water I fish, but when I do, I find the senko to be the best action wise. The downfall to them is there about as durable as an egg. If I reach for a "senko" style bait, I will normally grab a GYCB, although if I find the fish to be alot less picky then average I will quickly put the GYCBs away and use a Yum dinger or Tiki stick. I will also use knock off senkos for color reasons, as Yum/Waveworm have some specific colors GYCB doesn't make (Or I haven't found). I believe on rare days a specific color works wonders. Although action wise... the senko seems to be the best IMO.

Hey, long time no talk everybody, been down the shore computerless for the summer, anyway let me get to my question . When is a tube a better choice over a jig for a flipping/pitching application. I find these two baits are very similiar when it comes to working each. I know tubes are a very productive smallmouth bait, but I rarely get the opportunity to see any smallmouth, as they aren't in the lakes I commonly fish. That being said, its pretty much all largemouth. So my main question is when do you choose a tube over a jig? Especially for flipping. The only difference I see in these two baits is the tube IMO would be best for rocky conditions as it would rarely get snagged in between rocks, unlike the jig.

Heres what I posted on previous "How To's" for fishing a jig. Hope it helps you. Yeah jigs are amazing baits. They catch alot of quality fish, and they will also catch alot of common size fish too. In my opinion if you want to learn to fish them, fish in some type of river where you have caught bass before. They tend to work great in rivers for me, once you get the hang of them you can fish them in more difficult places, like stick piles in lakes, and heavy cover. But I'd get a general idea for the hits, and how to work the jig before targeting the thick cover etc with them. Go to a river which you know holds bass, and get yourself a 1/8-3/16 ounce football jig, it can be cone headed too if you can't find the football heads, I like to use cheap jigs in rocky rivers because you tend to lose alot when they get stuck in-between rocks. So my favorite jig for the situation would be strike king bitsy bugs in 1/8ounce or sometimes even smaller if the current lets me get away with it. There are many colors jigs come in, but the best standard colors in my opinion for jigs, would be black/blue, any shade of green, brown, and black. For trailers I recommend using Yum Chunks, (2.75 inch for small jigs, and 3.50 inch for larger jigs), or Paca Chunks, match the color of the trailer to the color of the jig. For rigging the trailer, I prefer to thread the chunk onto the hook, like how this Kreature is threaded onto the jig head in this pic http://www.***/images/jig-trailer2.jpg Some also prefer to just hook the trailer through the center like this http://www.lakeforktackle.com/Images/MegaJigCutFromAd.jpg. Now for fishing them. Cast/Pitch or flip the jig out there, the best idea for casting the jig is to let it hit the water with the least water disturbance possible, a very "stealthy" approach if you will. If I can, I'll often cast the jig onto land and work it into the water, that to me is the most stealthy entrance possible. The fish tend to hit the jig majority of the time on the initial fall, or 10 seconds after the jig hits the water, so really pay attention when the jig first enters the water. Once some secs pass by without a hit, start slowly crawling the jig along the bottom. Don't just feel the rod, try and feel what the jig is doing down there, feel the rocks, feel the mud etc. When the jig bumps into a rock, let it sit for a second, then gently hop it over the rock, or make it make small hops, as if it were trying to get over the rock but failing. You have to think as if a bass is watching the lure, make him truly want it, try your best to imitate a natural crawfish, and remember crawfish are slow, and they do not swim, they walk along the bottom. So the general way of fishing the jig should be to let it enter the water quietly. Give it a long pause. Pay attention to it when it first hits the water because thats when the hit tends to occur. After it sat for a few secs without a hit, start to drag it along the bottom, or hop it if it needs to get over sometype of structure, frequently give it 3-8 sec pauses, sometimes even 10-20sec pauses will get hits... no I ain't kidding. You can also give it a real big hop, so it imitates the intial fall, which is what the bass seem to react best to. But majority of the time you should tend to be fishing it with short hops, slowly dragging, and frequent long to short pauses. Now for how to tell the hits. This is the subject when fishing the jig where alot of people have there biggest problem with the bait, they just can't tell a hit between a rock, stick etc. My solution to this problem is to let the jig sit perfectly still and feel it, when you get the "tap tap" you can be pretty sure a stick or rock didn't swim up and hit the jig while its sitting still . The hits tend to be either a tap or two, a feeling of mushyness or something alive on the end of the line rather than the feel of the bottom, the vision of the line moving a different direction, or once in awhile which I call the best hit you can have on a jig - they'll just pick it up and run with it basiclly giving off a hard tug. Pay close attention to the line at times too, sometimes you won't feel the hit and all you will see to indicate the hit is a twitch of the line. When you get a hit, set the hook hard and immediately, bass don't tend to hold onto the jig long for some reason, so you want to drive that hook into them as fast as the second they pick it up. I have only been fishing a jig since September, but I am addicted to using it now, it just catches so many quality fish and its so versatile its unbelievable, just a amazing bait that I can't get enough of. The jig tends to be a hard bait to learn once you start fishing it, in my opinion this is because you do not have any confidence in the bait until you have caught a fish with it, and any good fisherman knows you just can't work a bait you lack confidence in as well as a bait you are confident in. Once you catch a fish on the jig it gets alot easier from there on, so keep fishing it, and trust me, once you do learn it, your going to use it a heck of alot. I just recently caught my new pb on a jig, its a bait that every avid bass angler should learn if you ask me. Good Luck! . Ps. You can also search under "tips and tactics" on bassresource.com, and read a few articles about jig fishing. Very helpful information there. Googling about jigs for bass can also find you some good lessons on learning the jig.

Soft plastics killing the trout!? HA! Ban the friggin Cormorans, they kill more trout in a day then soft plastics do in a year. Just a bunch of jacks imo...

I like the pointer in the colder months. The Xrap on the other hand works best for me in the fall. I don't fish jerkbaits much at all, basiclly in the winter, and in the late fall, other then that I'm not a big jerkbait user.

Hey, I was fishing one of my jitterbugs today and I noticed if I tryed to retrieve it with a steady retrieve it would... how can I say this.. kind of "glide" to the side. This caused me to fish the bait with a pretty slow retrieve, other wise if I sped it up any it would do the "gliding" thing. Anyone know what the problem is, or any thoughts on how to fix it? Anyone else ever have this problem, or am I the only one?

I know saltwater Gulp works great for fluke and other saltwater species, but for Largemouth I don't think its anything great. Most gulp I'd describe as a bait that lacks action, but has incredible scent. Now for some fish species I find scent tends to be more important, such as fluke for example, now with Largemouth on the other hand, I find action to be more important. This is just my opinion but I have come to believe this throughout the years of fishing in saltwater and freshwater. So I'd say stick with zoom super flukes for largemouth and don't bother with Gulp. Now if your going for walleye from what I hear it works great, and I know for sure fluke love it. But I find the bass get lured into biting by action majority of the time over scent and Im almost positive the super fluke has more action then the gulp version. Good luck.

Yeah, thats definetly a technique that works well for me in the heat. The thick muck tends to hold alot of fish on those bright warm sunny days. Other then that I'll work jigs in drop offs, or in feeder creeks that have alot of shade. I find its not really a specific bait that works best this time of the year, but rather the search for shade. Where ever there is shade, may it be under thick muck, under tree tops, or right up against the side of rocks/concrete thats where I get most of my hits. So all in all I tend to find the fish in the shade...can't blame em, If I were a bass I'd be in the shade too with this heat .

I think it was on this forum that I heard this saying, the saying was supposably by Gary Yamamoto, and he said that he would rather fish with a trailer by itself then fish with a jig that is trailerless. So bottom line, always use a trailer. The jig is not too big for bass trust me, I fish in waters where the largest fish are 5lb-6lb, and a 5-6lb is not something you see often around here.. They make smaller size trailers and smaller sized jigs if thats what your worried about. Pick up some Booyah Baby Boo jigs, or Strike King Bitsy Bugs, great jigs and they have a small profile. But don't worry about large jigs being too big I've caught 10inch bass on 3/8oz big flipping jigs such as Booyah Boo Jigs. Also some good trailers are Paca Chunk, Ragetail Chunk, Yum Chunk, and Zoom Super Chunk. Recommended colors for jigs are shades of green/brown for clear waters, and black or black/blue for slightly stained - muddy water or in any other dark condition. Rattles for when water is real muddy or it is night. Try to match the color of trailer to the color of the jig.

Probably the Paddletail Tube, I bought the berkley knock off and couldn't get a hit with them, bait is a little too big for the waters im fishing I think.. If you mean what my best producer was this year though.. the answer is definetly the jig.

Hmm, looks beautiful, but does it float on its belly like its suppose to still?

My favorite LC is a Sammy, but the pointer is definetly in 2nd.

Zoom Baby Brush Hog, GYCB Kreature, Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver, YUM Wooly Hawgtail, I do well with them all.

I always thread the trailer onto the hook of the jig. This picture shows what I mean http://www.***/images/jig-trailer2.jpg. Although on pork trailers you can't thread them up the hook, you have to hook them right through the tip/middle. You can also do this with the softplastic chunks, but you have a choice not to, the pork chunk you don't have a choice. I personally don't like the action of the jig/trailer when hooking it right through the tip/middle instead of threading it up the hook of the jig, but thats just me. Oh and by the way, if your going to rig a trailer through the tip/middle instead of threading it, be sure to thread a peice of a rubber worm up the hook of the jig. This will keep the chunk from sliding up and down on the jig when hooked through middle/tip. Good luck.

Hmm, so what Im getting from this is your tired of catching the fish on softbaits and want to do some catchin on hardbaits. With all the lillypads you mentioned I'd try swimming a jig through/around them. If the water is clear, use a greenpumpkin or watermelon color, with a good swimming trailer such as a doubletail grub or Ragetail Chunk, I believe this'll imitate a frog or some critter swimming around the pads. I'd also even try rigging a softplastic frog as trailer on the jig, if you have to trim it in order to fit in on the jig do so, swim that around/through the pads. Another thing I'd try with the jig while using the doubletail grub or craw chunk trailer, is hopping/crawling it inside the pads, I have great results pitching jigs to small pad patches and crawling/hopping them all over it. I heard you mention the water is stained, so I would use a black, black/blue, junebug, or any other dark color, regardless of the color of the fishes forage, a bright color like a firetiger pattern, or chartreuse, or red I think would be worth a shot also. Another thing I'd try is a chatterbait or chatterfrog, swim that through/around them pads. I'd use a doubletail grub/swimchunk or softplastic frog as the trailer on the chatterbait. Something else I would give a shot is pitching a hollow frog to the pads, try and land the frog ontop of the pads and then crawl it off, like a frog which was hanging out ontop of the pad fell into the water, after it hits the water I'd give it a good 6sec pause because alot of the times the fish hits the bait directly after it hits the water. If the pauise fails I'd slowly crawl/walk it around the inside of the pads, I catch some quality fish with a hollow frog. Now I thought what I got from your post was you wanted to stay away from softplastics, but I thought I'd mention this tactic anyhow. A softplastic frog such as a Stanley Ribbit retrieved along the surface around/through the pads is deadly. I know your sick of softplastics, but everybody loves a topwater explosion 8-).