IgotWood

Makes perfect sense. Noted...thanks!

I really appreciate everyone's input. I was out yesterday evening and bounced jigs off a bunch of cypress trees. Wasn't getting any bites, so I threw the old faithful , wacky Senko and quickly got bit. I matched my jig and trailer as best I could to the Senko I was using, and I generated 2 bites, both small fish, but still fun to lob that jig and feel it bounce of off every branch and root on its way down.

I have also been having some fun messing around with the Neko rig too. When I'm wacky fishing, and I know there are fish there, I stick a 1/16th oz nail weight in the nose of my worm and shake it along the bottom. It just look a bit different to the fish, and on a few occasion has drawn strikes.

I am just beginning to dabble in jigs a little bit. A problem I have is choosing a trailer. I fish from a kayak, so I am limited in the amount of tackle I carry. I have a couple questions; What dictates the size and style of your trailer? Some folks like large trailers, some like small, some like the Rage trailers which have a ton of movement, and some like trailers with a more subtle action. How do you choose? I also see that many folks like to mismatch their trailer with their jig skirt. How do you choose? So far, for me, I carry Rage craws, which seem very big on the jig, and I often cut them in half and have been successful. I also carry Rage Menace, and Havoc Pit Boss, both of which have a bit less movement. So far, the Rage craw cut in half have been the winner for me, but my jig bites have been far and few between.

My buddy and have used them for a while for winter time stripers up in CT. I never actually bought any. I'll ask him which ones he uses. We've caught dozens of fish on them before the begin to fall apart. They may be a saltwater grade rig. I'm curious too. I'd like to give them a try for LMB. I'll get back to you.

I have a job, and a family. As much as fishing is a priority to me, my wife is is never hesitant to remind me how much she hates it when I go. I typically get out once, maybe twice a week. I watch the weather forecast every day, and try to pick the best day. Because I fish when I can, and not when I want to, I normally won't cancel unless the wind is 25+, or thunderstorms (I'm terrified of lightning). I am happy just to be out on the water, so when the weather isn't cooperative, I do my best to enjoy my time on the water, keep my expectations low, try new techniques, and scout out new spots. Over the years, I have had many GREAT days during bad weather. But usually, they are just scouting days.for the most part.

@long island basser, you live in LI and don't striped bass fish??? I cried when I had to move from CT and leave my beloved striper surf Anyhow, I had a box of Siebert jigs arrive in the mail today. I have heard nothing but great reviews. They sure are solid. The paint, the hook, the wire on the skirt. Best thing about them is that they seem to be slightly cheaper than commercial jigs. I will give them a dunk tommorow morning for sure!

I can write a book on this topic.... To keep it short....I hate when anglers get close. First of all, I am in a kayak, and don't really have quick/convenient access to other parts of the lake. So when a boat or another kayak comes and starts fishing next to me, I have a major problem with that. Close for me is within 50yds. I was here first....go find another place to fish the other 500 acers of lake. When I finish my drift, and try to paddle back where I started, and you're sitting right there, I get really angry. I feel like a 50yd radius is reasonable. Basically, I don't want others to be able to see if I'm catching fish or not. I put in the time/effort to get on a bite....go find your own bite! The other thing that drives me crazy, is when I reply to the, "any luck?" question. I'll be honest and tell you if I got skunked, or if I caught a hundred...but PLEASE do not ask me where!

Usually, whether day or night, when fishing surface lures, you don't set the hook until you feel the line come tight. This is tough to do, especially during the day when you see the strike. I have been fishing my whole life, and still, I often pull it away when I see a fish strike. At night, you may or may not hear the strike, but keep your line tight, or semi-tight, and you'll know for sure whether or not to set the hook.

I'm new to the whopper. Wish I had tried it sooner! Have had several great days with it, and quite a few big fish too. One particular day, I was getting lots of attention with it, and a few light bites. It seemed the fish just weren't committing to it. I would immediately follow up with a wacky worm, and just about every time, the fish would strike immediately, and strike hard. Next time you miss a fish on the plopper, immediately put a worm on their head, and see what happens. Good luck! Where in western MA are you? I used to fish the Housatonic and the Hoosic rivers quite a bit.

A plain old un-weighted wacky rigged senko has been deadly for me this year.

Thank you again for the replies. So, I was able to track down a fisheries biologist for my region. He and I have gone back and forth a bit about the two lakes I have in question. He has shared some very valuable information which they have been collecting over the past several years, as well as some information I shared with him. Apparently, there are gizzard shad present, but they seem to isolate themselves in only certain parts of the lake at the times they conduct their electro smaples. They have collected gizzards in the 1-2" range (which is probably what I saw), and also in the 4-6". He also said that one of the lakes has a small, but sustainable population of crawfish. He said that they don't find large numbers of them, and that they seem to only find them on one side of the lake. He didn't say what species, but he did say that they tend to be enormous and, "look like lobsters". He believes that the main forage items for the bass are the thousands of ***" yellow perch that they collect each time they conduct their sampling. So now my question is, if the gizzard shad stay isolated, where will they be as the water cools throughout the fall? I tend to believe they will gather in the mouths of the several creeks on this lake..? Is this where and when they spawn? If there isn't an enormous abundance of them, will the bass actually hunt and follow their schools? Or just prey on the perch, and craws?

Thanks for the replies! They definitely looked more like that bottom photo. What do they do in the fall? I hear a lot of people talk about bass following shad up into the creeks in the fall. Is that true? When does that begin to happen?

I too am new to bass fishing. I started bass fishing this spring, and I owe huge thanks to the kind folks on this site for replying to many of my redundant threads that I've posted. I also owe many thanks to Glenn for his videos on YouTube. It takes a lot of time and effort for those videos between the recording, and the editing...not to mention their decades of time and experience on the water. Having said that, my time on the water has been the biggest and most invaluable learning tool for me, and without the information from the videos and the advice I've gotten on this site, my confidence on the water has resulted in a fantastic season. I hope it only gets better from here. I hope I can give back and shed some of my experience with new anglers in the future. Thank you all!

Nice fish! What color chatter?...if you don't mind me asking...

I have been fishing a local lake here in VA this season, and have never noticed any presence of baitfish. I'm sure has to be some kind of bait present considering the abundance and size of the bass, but I have never seen any sign of bait, and there are no reports of any bait on the fish and game websites. Yesterday, I saw a few small dead baitfish floating in the surface. They were about an inch long, and silver with a gray back. I'll assume the were some sort of juvenile shad or maybe alwives. My question is when do they spawn? How fast do they grow? And what other ways can I Identify them without catching them?

It's a bit tricky. For me, I have adjusted my reel the way everyone else does for a particular bait, but it still doesn't seem to cast well. I have to loosen it a bit from there in order to get a decent cast. It is a bit tricky, but I like the baitcaster way better.

I have owned several Daiwa's. None of them were baitcasters. They were spin and saltwater conventionals. The drag on all of them never made it through a whole season. I'm sure may folks have had plenty of good luck with Daiwa's, but I personally will never buy another one. I recently bought two new Lews Pro G's, and they are awesome! They cast great, and the drag is smooth as a baby's bottom.

Mouse

I'm really hoping this is a taste of what the fall will be like...

I don't even know where to start. I moved to VA this Spring, and had to give up my old fishing habits back in CT. I took up bass fishing. I has been a ton of fun. I have steadily been catching good fish over the past few months, but all I could catch on was wacky Senkos...not complaining, but it tends to get a little boring when it's the only thing you do when you go fishing. I took the week off from work this past week, and fished every day, and boy did I catch! Every day was better than the last. The best part of my week, is that I learned A LOT! I tried a whopper plopper, and caught several big fish, a 5 and a 6 pounder. I tried texas rigging some 8-12" abaits, which I had never done before. I caught a lot of fish on the T-rig. And today, I tried a couple of jigs. I have been wanting to try jigs since I started bass fishing. I splurged the other day and treated myself to a new Lew's rod and Pro G baitcaster, and it handles a jig very well. The fish today were all over that jig as soon as it hit the bottom. I dropped a good fish on the jig today. It's definitely a bit tricky getting them in the boat (kayak) on the jig. I also tried the Neko rig this monrning. I was into fish but had a tough time getting a bite. I screwed a small bullet weight into the head of my senko, and BAM...started catching fish right away! Tuesday, my buddy Luna and I hit one of our favorite spots. The bite was very slow. We were headed back in, and decided to have a few casts at a piece of structure along the way. Glad we did! Luna hooked up on a 6+lbs fish (his personal best), and just a few minutes later, I hooked up on a 6+ (my PB) (different fish...mine was tagged). From Tuesday to today, I caught 3 over 6lbs, 3 over 5lbs, and 5 over 4lbs....and dozens of fish in the 1-3lb range. I had a blast. It just seemed like everything I did this week was perfect. I won't forget it, and I'll be looking forward to a BIG and steady bite like this for a long time! The best part was the new baits and techniques I learned. I feel so much more confident going out on the water after this week. So much for those "dog days of summer"!

Thanks for the replies. I have a crate that I keep in the back too, but I only keep things in there that I don't reach for often because it is difficult to get anything in/out of it while sitting in the cockpit. I guess I'm gonna have no choice. I would prefer something a but more accessible, but I have and OK Trident, and if you've ever seen one, their cockpit layout is a joke. There is no room for anything, unless you don't mind having a pile of stuff in your lap and piled higher than the gunnels.

Hey folks! Who here fishes out of a kayak? I have been for a year now, and it is a total blast! I'd like to know how much tackle you bring with you on the water? I, for right now, fish soft plastics 90% of the time, therefore I've got bags and bags of baits that I carry with me. I am new to bass fishing, without buying any storage devices, I just threw my bags of rubbers into a ziplock freezer bag....which turned into 2 freezer bags, and the 3....ect... How much tackle are you guys bringing with you? And how do you store it? I don't need to be perfectly organized, but I've got to do something because I waste a lot of time digging through my freezer bags looking for stuff. Can anyone post a photo of their tackle storage systems? And maybe even their kayak layout with tackle staged to go fishing? I am getting ready to go out now. I'll take a photo of my boat and post it here just for laughs. Thanks!

Almost all of my saltwater rods are customs. If you have some time and money, you can really make your head explode, and you will probably wind up with a custom rod for each individual bait you own. However, many of the "off the shelf" rods today were customs at one point. Manufacturers built rods to the specs of their pro-staff, and then wind up mass producing them. And with the huge variety of technique-specific rods out there today, custom rods have become more of labor of love, rather than need. I personally do not have the need for a custom bass rod. Maybe at some point down the road if I get into fishing a less popular technique, I may have the need for a custom.

Lew's Custom Speed Stick, Soft Plastic Special! I bought one yesterday, and I love it! Feels great in hand, and handles many different baits, from unweighted worms, to chatters, and jigs. $119