BassFishingMachine

I will usually downsize under a few different occasions. 1. If the forage the fish are targeting is small then a small size bait is what Im going to aim for. Although I do tend to break this rule. 2. If I know the fish in the general body of water that I am fishing is mostly dinks I will usually throw a small bait. I rather catch a whole bunch of dinks in a dink infested lake/river then get very few bites trying to find the 15% big ones out of the 85% dinks. 3. In the colder months (40-55 degree weather) I will usually always use a small bait. I have always followed the rule that in the cold months a small bait is the best bet, and the good results have kept me following this rule. The reason I follow this rule is because in cold water the fish's metabolism slows down, therefore IMO a small bait takes less time to digest. Who knows maybe Im wrong, but all in all the rule of small baits in the cold months has always paid off for me. 4. Fall/Spring. I really don't follow this rule too well, but I just thought I'd mention it. During the spring alot of spawning goes on, bass spawn, sunnies spawn, and if Im not mistaken crappies also spawn. So the forage tends to be the babies from the recent spawn, therefore a small bait is the ticket for matching the hatch. Come Fall everything from the past spawn is pretty much "grown up" so a larger bait tends to be the key to matching the hatch. Although I use large/small baits in the spring and large/small baits in the fall and I think the results are around the same. Who knows what the fish think, I guess if they're hungry they're going to bite.. regardless of what size the bait is infront of their face :.

Hmm, gettin bugs on the surface you say.. You sure its bass and not crappie/panfish or any other species of fish in that body of water? If it really is bass then I'd say topwater is the key. I'd try a slower topwater like a Pop-r or maybe a rebel "bee", "locus", or "grasshopper", you know something to try and imitate the forage they're targeting. If the slow approach doesn't work I'd try and find out what bugs there going for, the color/size etc, and try to find a buzzbait with that color. Maybe burning a buzzbait ontop real quick will draw a strike/reaction strike. If all else fails keep trying different baits, something is bound to work. Try lipless cranks, jerkbaits, maybe swimming jigs, super flukes, hopping a jig, t-rigged creatures and so on. Ps. If your fishing at night I'd stick with black or other real dark colors, the rule of matching the forage by way of color would fly out the window. UNLESS it was a good moonlit sky.

IMHO I'd put them away, who knows, they could be worth money some day. But if the bait works great for you and its an important tool in your arsenal I'd keep on throwing it with extreme caution... like I do with my Luckycrafts (too expensive to lose! :'()

I use super flukes a decent amount, work particularly well for pickerel, but I do get bass on them here and there. The super fluke Jr works really well on sight fishing, especially for dinks. I have never used the Zoom Fluke for freshwater, but I do know this style bait (fin-s) works pretty well in saltwater. The bubblegum or bubblegum ice color works great on a jighead for weakfish. Same with the 4inch fluke (I think thats the length) on a jighead for summer flounder aka fluke, I like White when targeting fluke. Majority of the time I'll tip the fluke on a jighead with a killie or spearing when targeting fluke, but they will work without any bait. Ps. When fluking I usually prefer a 3inch Twister tail grub in white, yellow, or chartruese on a jighead tipped with a killie or spearing over a fluke on a jighead tipped with killie/spearing...just a side note.

Amazing post, and this is becoming more an more the truth as time goes on for me. There is no "go to" bait for all purposes, the condition/type of cover/depth im fishing/etc, all determine what my "go to" bait would be..although I do wish I had a bait that worked great in all conditions 8-).

On a side note, try Netbait Paca Chunks or Strike King Ragetail Chunks. Im sure there Isn't a pork trailer out there that has better action than these..

I'd also try varying your retrieve speed, maybe your retreiving the bait just a tad too fast and the fish is missing the bait, or maybe your reeling it a little too slow for them and the fish is only swiping at it and not actually engulfing it. So I'd try varying the speeds of the retrieve. Its not that a fish can't catch your bait, I find fish can catch up to baits moving faster then anyone could imagine, but from what I have learned sometimes they want it slow, sometimes fast, sometimes just in the middle, and sometimes a variation of both, you have to experiment and see which is the retrieve there going for.

Been there done that HackFisher. I had a the same thought, that if I could find a worm that truly "floated" on the surface, I could walk it along and get good strikes. Only thing I ever found that actually floated with a hooked rigged in it was the Berkley Gulp Floating Worm..or atleast I think thats the name of it. The pack I bought was pretty stiff.. don't know if all of em are like that or not. But it would truly float with a hook imbeded in it. Although after a few jerks I believe it would sink, and you'd have to wait a few secs and itd pop back up on the surface. Never had any luck with it and after that I didn't bother trying any "floating worm" technique. Maybe if they came out with 1 that floated 100% of the time regardless of how you fished it then I might try it, but until then a floating worm won't be in my arsenal. And about the Doug Hannon snake, majority of what I hear about it is negative, I've heard it is made crappy and melts easily in the sun, I have heard the only thing thats valuable in the whole kit is the hooks, and majority say they don't catch crap with it. I have never tryed it so I can't give you my own opinion on it, I am just telling you what I have heard.

Yeah, you pretty much fish it with a steady retreive, no jerks no pauses etc, just a steady retreive, you can vary the retreieve speed and see what works best for you on each given day.

The local ponds I fish really don't have many crawdads.. I'll see maybe 1 a year if any at all. The jig works amazing for me, put the time in to learn it by fishing it, you won't be sorry. Wether theres crawdads or not in the water your fishing the jig will work.. I guarantee it.

Jigs, and Topwaters.

The stanley ribbit is pretty much the only soft plasic frog I use and I never use it with the bead it comes with. Never had any problems, but reading the responses it sounds like it makes it more weedproof, maybe I'll give it a shot next time, I definetly don't think its required though, as I have used them for awhile now without any bead with great results.

Hey, for the past 2 days now, I've run into two people who have been burnin lizards on the top with some pretty good results.. outfished me thats for sure. Just wanted to know if any of you guys have tryed this, or any tips/info on the technique itself? Also, what are some other good soft plastics to burn along the top? Only others I can think of are frogs, and ragetail shads.

Hey, I thought I read somewhere about the shimano stradic FI not being recommended for use in saltwater. Can anyone tell me if this is true or false? Has anyone used the shimano stradic fi in saltwater without any problems? Or does anyone know if using it in saltwater is a good idea or not?

Personally, I don't Think O'Neil knows his *** from his elbow... which is why I don't waste my time watching his show, stick to hunting O'Neil! I'll gladly watch City Limits, Bass Pros, Bass Edge (I think thats the name :?). But never O'Neil.

Hey, just wanted to find out some good soft plastics that work well weightless. Some of my favorite softplastics to fish weightless are: 1. 4-5inch GYCB or any other brand Senko/stickbait 2. GYCB Fat Ika 3. Yum Wooly Hawgtail 4. 5inch GYCB Kut-tail 5. 4inch Berkley Powerbait powerworm 6. Zoom Super Fluke (even though I don't catch many quality bass on it, its a fun bait to fish and catches me alot of picks) 7. Stanley Ribbit

1. Black/blue Booyah Baby Boo Jig 5/16oz w/ black/blue flk Senior Paca Chunk Trailer, Watermelonred Booyah Baby Boo Jig 5/16oz w/ watermelon red Ragetail Chunk Trailer. 2. Black/blue GYCB Fat Ika, Greenpumpkin GYCB Fat Ika. 3. White/Chart 1/4oz Booyah Tandem Blade Spinnerbait, or White/chart 1/4oz Terminator Tandem Blade Spinnerbait. 4.. Stanley Ribbit in Black, Watermelonred, or Watermelon. 5. Original Scumfrog white/black (the name of the color doesn't really fit it, its more like a white/black/green color combination) I'd love to add in a Jitterbug though in black, bluegill pattern, or frog pattern... :-/

Without a doubt a spinnerbait.

By "bass" do you mean all bass species?, or just freshwater bass such as smallmouth/largemouth? Do striped bass have different vision then largemouth/smallmouth?

I feel the same way. I have recently heard "walk the dog" style topwaters work well in the post spawn period. Well I tested this statement out and it proved well, now I definetly think "walk the dog" style baits work well during the post spawn, I don't know why, but they just do.

I have only fished the Power Hawg a few times and haven't had a hit on it. I have fished the Zoom Baby Brush Hog a good amount of times and I catch fish on it, so Im going to say I like the baby brush hog better, although maybe its just a confidence thing. As for scent, this is not an issue for me, as I can simply add scent to my baits with Megastrike, although I do like powerbaits scent and I believe it even works better then Megastrike, I rather have the better action which is imo the baby brush hog, and I can add the Megastrike just for a scent appeal in general.

My favorite is a LC Lv-0 Lipless Crank. The reason it is my favorite is because I fish from the bank in small local ponds, the depth im fishing is about 1-3feet, with the deepest part of the lakes being 5-7feet. Now with that being said, all lipless cranks I have tried will collect weeds or collect the crap along the bottom, unless of course I hold my rod up extremely high, and keep the bait going at a steady-fast retrieve.. which alot of the times is not only a pain in the ***, but also the fish tend to want a slower retrieve. I read a description on *** about the Lc Lv-0 being a shallow running lipless crank and that it is perfect for lakes with alot of weeds and shallow waters. This made me try it, and I was greatly impressed. I can cast this baby in 1 foot of water and somehow it stays in the "middle" level of the water. If I fish it into 4 feet of water it will swim in the 2foot range, if I cast it in 2 feet of water it will swim in the 1foot range. I can retrieve it with a steady/slow retrieve and it will stay in that middle level, allowing me to hold the rod at a more comfortable level instead of as high as I can keep it. Truly incredible bait, it rarely ever picks up any weeds.. and believe me the lakes I fish are weeded/leaf infested, so this is pretty darn impressive. Not only does it perform well, it catches fish, caught a good 2 1/2 and 4lber on it last time I used it, just plain out great bait. I definetly recommend it if the problem your having is weed/leaf related.

Yeah, I'd definetly consider bringing a spinnerbait past them, great reaction strike bait imo.

Hey, wasn't sure if this is where I post a question like this, if its in the wrong section sorry, please move for me. Anyway after understanding the general rule of color for freshwater bassin I tryed to bring the same logic over to saltwater as since the summer is arriving I'll do mainly striper/fluking until about September. I have been posting on a striper forum to try and gain some tips and tactics before I head to the beach and I am beginning to see based on people opinions, there is very little similarities between freshwater bassing and striper bassing regarding color rules, ways to fish a bait etc. What I mainly want to ask is, if it is true that bass cannot see a lighter colored lure well during the night, then why is it when I post a question asking which color to use on a topwater plug for striper at night 80% of the responses come back with either yellow/white or yellow/white as a 2nd option. Is the sight different for fish which are in the ocean? Do striper have better vision then largemouth? Anyone know anything about this?

Hmm.. truthfully I forget.. oldest I can distinctly remember is a pack of Rattlesnake Curly Tail Worms. (Or atleast I believe thats what the brand was called :-?)