BassFishingMachine

I use a cheap pair of polarized glasses that I bought for 20bucks at Rite Aid. They work pretty decently. There has been times on spawning season where I can see the bass 4 feet out from the shoreline with the glasses. Mean while my friend is standing right next to me as im pointing to the bass and he is telling me he doesn't see it. Although I usually do not where these glasses until the weather is in the 80s (when the bass are commonly fairly close in)

Hey, im just wondering whether a white buzzbait would be a good choice during these cold months. Ive been trying to find a general list of baits that will produce fish in this cold weather other then rapalas, and spinnerbaits. Will a buzzbait produce strikes in the cold weather, maybe if retrieved slow enough? Or is a buzz another bait you packed away for the winter?

For spinnerbaits I would buy a white booyah spinner. During this time of the month white/silver/gold are the best colors IMO.

I did pretty good, didn't get any hits with the x-rap but caught 4 on a white booyah spinnerbait. So atleast I can go back to work happy now that I got a good day of fishing in . Biggest was 3lbs the others were two 1lbers and a 2lber.

Ok, I know during these colder months the bass start feeding generally on baitfish such as shad etc. So rapalas, luckycrafts, spinnerbaits work well now because they give the appearance of a baitfish. But what about baits such as the houdini shad, and other soft "baitfish like" imitators, will they work in the cold months also? I have seen a soft stickbait made by YUM with a fishtail on the end of it, and I wondered weather that would be a good choice now too. Also I have heard of smoke and white senkos working good in the cold weather. So what do you guys think? Are soft baits like these a good choice in the cold? Or is sticking with spinnerbaits/rapalas a better idea? And if softbaits like these are a good choice, do you fish them as you would fish a rapala? Or do you fish it like you would an average senko? Let me know what you guys think.

Ok, tomorrow I get a day off of work, so I expect to make good use of it by getting a good day of fishing in. I Haven't been able to fish lately due to work, work, and more work , so I want to make the fishing trip the best of it. Today it rained pretty hard, I think we got about 2inches of rain or so. So tomorrow the lake im planning to fish will be flooded and the water clarity will be very muddy. Also it is pretty cold around here during this time of the month, and the water is pretty cold too. Do you think a silver x-rap will work in these conditions? Because that is the lure I was planning to use. You see about 2 weeks ago I fished there with the x-rap and had some pretty good hits (a nice one around 4lbs jumped and spit the rapala :'() So I was hoping the lure will produce strikes again. But I just wanted to check up with you guys on how you think the lure will perform in the muddy/flooded condition of the water. Is this lure a good choice to go with in these conditions? If not what else do you have in mind?

Im the type of fisherman that likes realistic pattens in the colors I choose from lures to softbaits. For example, rapalas I will often choose a silver/black pattern or a gold/black pattern, even a blueish/orangish pattern to represent a bluegill. For lures that suppose to imitiate a frog, like a hula popper, buzzfrog, hollowbody frog, I will go with a natural frog color. Greenpumpkin, watermelon seed, chartreuse, green with white belly, etc. For soft baits such as rubber worms I like the brownish colors probably the best, but I will also use other colors that I find look natural, like cinnamon brown, redshad, camo, motor oil, pumpkinseed, greenpumpkin, watermelon seed, (I believe darkgreen colors work very well in rubberworms, they can imitiate so many things, from dying frogs to a juicy nightcrawler, next time you use greenpumpkin look at it in the water, the color almost changes into a naturalish appearance IMO of course) Overall browns/greens/silvers are the top 3 colors that catch me majority of my bass.

That is what it seems like im doing when ever I tie on any bait that dives to a 2-3feet depth. The lakes where I fish is all weeds and leafs on the bottom. So when I use a lure like a rapala x-rap its very hard to fish it without picking up some garbage. I don't understand how you guys fish these deep baits. Do your lakes have rock on bottom and thats all? How do you avoid picking up the weeds/leafs? It really gets to me too because this time of the year shallow baits stop working well and im forced to "clean the bottom" with x-raps and suspending jerk baits. Is it just me going through this? Or is it something you just have to deal with? And its not like it happpens rarely, it happens 6 out of 10 casts, what am I to do!? >

Ok, I ran a search on this bait and alot of people say its a good bait. I just bought one today and went to the local pond to give it a shot but wasn't able to get a bite. I was fishing it with a fast 12 inch retrieve, and then a instant pause, then repeat. But no hits. Can you guys give me some tips on how you fish this bait that produced strikes? Maybe a steady retrieve with no pauses? or a slow retrieve with no pauses? How do you guys fish this bait?

You have any striped bass down there? If so rig up whole clams and just let the pole sit a hour or two. (Also you should use "clam wrap" to wrap the clams around the hook, this way the clam doesn't tear off the hook easily) I tryed this summer 2-3 hours a night with whole clams, but all I caught were some skates, and a couple dogfish. Although last year I hooked 2 decent ones right off the beach with the clams, so maybe 2006 just isn't a good year for summer striper ;(.

I have never used these traps in freshwater. But in saltwater I use them constantly. Just incase you ever want to catch your own saltwater bait here are a some tips. If you want to catch killies use fresh broken up crabs, spider crabs, rock crabs, blueclaws, doesn't make a difference. Fish carcuses will also work, but crabs is the best way to go. If you want to catch spearing, a can of either sardines in oil or jackmackerel is the overall best, again fish carcuses/crabs will also work. I am clueless about using these traps in freshwater, but I have alot of experience using them in saltwater, im just giving you these tips so you know how to use this trap in saltwater. Also the best areas to use the traps in saltwater are in shallow water 1-4 feet deep, on top of fish carcuses lying on the bottom, on the sides of docks in water only about 5-6feet deep tops, small beaches, near any type of big pipe, and in areas of seaweed (1-4feet deep). Its rare to catch these fish in any water deeper then 6feet usually, so if your using the trap in saltwater I would not put the trap in anything deeper then 6feet. (By the way, bread will also work in saltwater but I would only use that as a LAST RESORT)

By this I mean out of every softbait/lure etc that you have, what is your most used? Regardless of the time of year/fishing situation. Mine would have to be a 3inch GYCB or YUM senko.

Ahh, ok, have to add size 3/0 gamakatsu hooks to my list of things to buy now. I haven't had much luck with the 5inch worms here in NJ, but I think when spawning season comes a 5inch senko will intimidate the nesting bass and will end up working very well.

I like to use Gamakatsu offset shank hooks because I find them to be extremely sharp. So if you can recommend a specific size Gamakatsu hook that would be appreciated. I have been using size 2/0 and they don't seem to be big enough (in my opinion). I also have size 5/0 but I use them for buzzfrogs and they seem a little too big for the 5inch senkos. (I don't know they're "easy to see" when rigged in the 5inch senko, so I think this might cause less hits" Im guessing the right size hook to use for the 5inch senkos would be either a 3/0 or a 4/0, what size would you guys say?

Sea Bass? Hmm I don't fish for Sea Bass, but I do fish alot of salt water. From what Ive seen Sea Bass hit small peices of blood/sand worms and will also hit small peices of clam, the rig they use for sea bass is similiar to a porgy rig. Here are some rigs used for sea bass from my belief. http://www.thefishingline.com/fishing10.htm I have barely any experience in fishing for sea bass, but I have played around with porgy/ blackfish. The baits/rigs I have listed are what Ive seen people use while catching sea bass/porgy. Anyways I hope my comment helped you and good luck out there. Also if you haven't already noticed this forum/website is mainly about Freshwater Bass. But if you want to talk about Sea Bass I would consider posting in "Other Fish Species" And yes they are bottom feeders, so I wouldn't bother with any type of lure for them, live bait is probably the best way to go, unless of course you can find sometype of Gulp bait that works well, such as the Gulp Sandworm (which I have never tryed).

I find all topwater frogs work the pretty much similiar. Such as a Yum Buzzfrog and a Zoom Horny Toad, they both give the same general appearance/water stir-up, and both draw strikes. I have caught equal amount of fish on both of these baits. Especially with hollow frogs. If your fishing a hollow frog over real thick cover you think the fish actually even sees the bait?? No, the fish just knows something is disturbing the water above it, it might get a small view of the shadow the bait is creating but I think thats about it. So for fishing over real thick cover the only thing I think you have to be concerned about is the hook up ratio of the bait and the amount of weeds/water it stirs up. Scumfrogs seem to have a good hook up ratio in my opinion, im sure all hollow body frogs will get hits, its getting the fish on the hook thats the hard part.

When the water begins to become cold I usually put away my softbaits and use rapalas. So that is my recommendation to you, try rapala lures, particularly huskjerks. Also the colors I suggest are shad, golden shiner, and perch. These work pretty good around the lakes I fish in these colder months. And the lakes im fishing have the same fish living in them as you listed. The only difference is im fishing in Nj. But good luck out there, and give rapala huskyjerks a try, you'll be surprised how good they work when the water is cold.

Hmm, were you pausing the lure at all? If not try a 4-8 second pause every so often. If the fish attacks it on a pause it will most likely get hooked. The only reason that comes to mind for me when you said you missed all them hits is because the fish is attacking the bait while its moving and just basiclly missing it. Ive noticed sometimes the fish just isn't in the mood to chase a bait and will often miss the bait and not bother trying a second time to catch it. Usually in this case a slower retrieve with many pauses is the way to go. They say when the water is beginning to become cold the fish doesn't like to use alot of energy to catch a bait, the fish is in search of a easy meal, not something thats hard to catch. So next time this starts happening to you again, try constant pauses, I can almost guarantee you'll hook more fish.

Hmm.. My weirdest catch has to be well... this fish is hard to explain. Have you ever seen that fish on the animal planet or discovery channel, it attaches to the belly of a shark and follows it around, kinda like a leech. Anyways I actually caught one of those things. I was fishing a gulp on a jighead off a jetti and the thing actually hit it. When I brought it up it was the weirdest fish ive ever seen. I literally could not tell what side the fishes head was right side up. What I mean is I could not tell what side of the fish the top of its head was on. It was one weird looking fish. It had a suction type thing on the one side of it, that kinda resembled a plug port or somethin. (Which made me think that the side with the suction thing was the right side of the fish. Anyway I never thought I'd catch that type of fish, but it just goes to show you, you never know what your going to catch when fishing in the ocean . Here is a picture of it.

Fluke, Weakfish definetly , also striped bass is pretty tasty too.

Am I the only guy here who buys a worm that looks most like a "worm"? Haha, brown cinnamon, theres no other senko color that imitates a "worm" quite like the brown cinnamon color. Try it.

Ive been using the Yum Buzz Frogs lately, and I have had many hits with them. Try a buzz frog or some type of topwater. Also, I have heard bass move in close during the fall. And just yesterday I caught a nice 3lber, about 4 feet out under a weed pile. So yeah try a buzz frog within 4-8 feet off the shore. Its been working for me. I believe as long as the weather stays around 70+ degrees a topwater frog imitation will produce strikes.

The lakes/ponds I fish do not have salamanders living in them. So should I just not bother with using salamanders then? I figure if the bass never seen a salamander then it would be a dumb bait to try. But maybe im wrong. Give me your opinion

greenpumpkin, greenpumpkin w/gold flk, pumpkinseed, red shad, cinnamon brown, camo, and black w/red flk

Hey, I was wondering when is the right time to use a bulletweight with a weedless rigged worm? Here in NJ the areas I fish are only about 1-3 feet deep. (I fish the shoreline). Anyways I have never caught any bass with a bulletweight rigged bait. I have only tryed the bulletweight about 3 times. But never to any success. I usually just weedless rig the worm without any weight and I catch bass like that. I don't know but when I bulletweight the worm, it sinks real quick and to me it looks like a bass would like something that sinks a bit slower. I don't know maybe its just me, help me out and give me some tips on the right time to bulletweight baits. I have seen many people bulletweight their bats and catch fish, so Im wondering what im doing wrong.