Jon P.

you could always try an offset wide gap hook as a trailer if you have weedlessness problems. personally, living in Montana, all the lakes are rock and gravel with a smattering of milfoil bed so I've never really had to deal with snaggy cover. if there is no light bass cant perfectly pinpoint your bait by sight, so they will just plow the area that they heard it. imagine what it would be like fist fighting someone in the dark, you cant see them, so you swipe at the areas you hear noises coming from.

you're going to want trailer hooks on the jigs to improve your hook-up ratio. the bass are much less accurate at night when it comes to attacking, so the trailer hook helps

recently, while on my favorite local pond, fishing my favorite jerkbait, on my favorite rod, I was having "ok" luck. the bait in question was a leland lures trout crank in brook trout. the pond I was fishing was very clear with a hint of green and not a hint of brook trout. so while I was still catching the bass i still felt i could do better if I a few in some clear baitfish colors. so, i was wondering if anyone knew how to 1. remove paint from a lure, 2. whether to use spray paint or airbrush on a lure, and 3. if ugly lure eyes can just be chipped out and replaced

if you have crayfish in your local lake bass will move shallow at night to hunt them, they will listen intently for the tell tail thumpthumpthump of a swimming crayfish. as far as full moon vs crescent i would definitely side with full, the added light increases the bass's chance of locating your lure. for lure choice i would go with rattling jigs and noisy top-waters. all in black for a better silhouette with trailer hooks on the jigs also, always use the red light option on your head lamp, fish don't react to it nearly as much

try either a popping frog or a heavily weighted frog stuffed with lead shot to better plow through the crap on the surface. the key is to create enough commotion so that the bass can locate your lure through the weeds. a punching rig may also work, but I wouldn't place any solid bets. also see if you cant get your hands on a thai jumpfrog lure, they make great commotion even through the thickest cover.

every year i take a trip to the local tackle shop and buy as many lures that I'm not comfortable with throwing while staying under budget. sometimes I'll invent some new weird rigs while I'm at it just to try an invent something new. now once i get out on the water I set a thirty minute timer and fish one presentation every thirty minutes, resetting the timer each time. if i stumble on to something that works well i will make note of it and refine it in the future. this same tactic also works great for figuring out lure colors. (P.S. only once has any one of my homemade bass rigs ever turned out well, and it is a best kept secret)

at least he was polite

"HOT d**n" "HOO LAWDY" "HOO ****" *gibberish* and the classic, "hwoop!"

once while fishing near watch hill in Connecticut a gutted pig floated by looked like something out of a horror movie

if I buy one pack of z-man baits they can last me a whole year, provided I don't snag up. note: my biggest bass of the prespawn so far was 4 lbs. on a Z-man finesse worm in junebug color rigged on a shaky head.

the most important thing with fishing in low light conditions is profile. the bass cant see color well but he can see shapes. and if it looks like food it is definitely food to him. also, bass try very hard at night to find food, and any food that they notice can and will be eaten.

if you want to get into bassfishing for the sport of it I would not recommend live bait. I would recommend a jig (in black and blue or craw colors) with a Z-man trailer. as they are cheap, long lasting, can be fished easily, and catch fish all year.

I think the force that drives us to fish is the same force that drives bass to spawn. the ice melts away from the lakes, the water warms up, and both the bass and us take notice. the little males build nests, while we leave ours, and the big females put on the weight while we put on our favorite fishing caps. then something magical happens. the water hits the magical sixty five degree mark, and both fish and fisherman feel an uncontrollable urge, to hit up the spawning flats. but on a more serious note, I don't believe that it is genetics. I believe that if we begin fishing at a young age, say four, and learn how to catch fish we gain an instinct for it. sort of like how children raised by wolves learn to eat meat and bite strangers, but with fish.