bagofdonuts

couple more crawfish eaters from the cypress knees. caught same afternoon as one above.

Caught this girl yesterday, full of eggs. She looked liked she was ready to bed.

I've been down there a few times, early but not surprising. I don't remember where I read it, but in Florida dropping water temps is what triggers spawning activity.

This, and go ahead and tie a couple feet of leader and a hook with a lizard on it. Cheapest sonar ever.

When the water temps really drop the bass on my home water seem to move to the dense woody cover, perfect for a jig.

if you come to little rock. go by sports academy, they often have good deals on rods, and their H2O series rods are really good for the money. I also think you'll like the diawa tatula reel that has been recommended above.

i usually do the best after the second good cold front. cold water sinks and drives the shad onto shallow flats. at that time i'm still fishing relatively fast...spinner baits, swim jigs, buzz baits, square bills all in shad colors around vegetation is the key here. look for schooling bait fish and the bass usually show themselves crashing the bait. when the water temps cool significantly a slow rolled spinner bait or chatter bait is hard to beat. i don't really get a true jerk bait bite till mid winter.

its fall buzz bait time down here. lost count sunday on number i caught on a white buzz bait in the dying pad stems. Caught six on consecutive casts at one point. as soon as it hit the water you could watch them wake up on it from ten feet away. crazy fun. we just got two days of cold rain. so i'm going at them again tomorrow.

I tie everything, then retie pretty often. only use snaps when trolling for crappie and that's not very often. Though, I'd bet your break offs are pike.

Dang Catt. You need to stop lipping those bowfin.

Changing my recommendation. Although I like the chigger craw, I've come to the conclusion that the zoom z craw is the best t-rigged craw I've ever used. Compact, nice swim action (but not too much), well designed head and hook slot, and flat catches them. Its super versatile as a jig trailer- easy swim action and good flipping trailer, and compact for skipping, comes in two sizes. Tons of colors. Think I need to just get a zoom shirt and hat and fish nothing but z-craws and ol monsters.

isnt a spook and a sammy basically the same thing, just two different brands of walking baits.

you learn something everyday. thanks

If you like the longer antenna look, try the crazy legs chigger craw. its a really good texas rigged craw. haven't used it as much as a trailer, but i'm sure it'd work.

Do it. You should have lots of opportunities to wade a creek and fly fish for smallies up there. One of the funnest ways to fish in the summer. Lot like bow hunting is to deer hunting. You have to get closer and be more stealthy in your approach to catch a big one. Makes you a better angler all around, you'll probably learn some new knots, become a better line watcher. I would get a 6 or 7 wt rod and matching line for bass fishing, some tappered leaders, and a handful of flies. Some instruction on casting would help keep you from developing bad technique, but once you get the hang of it, its not that difficult.

The last one looked better. I don't really care if they get rehooked in the side during the fight. Its a bit harder to do from the shore, but if i see one is barely hooked i'll often give them line in hopes they get another hook in them.

jewel makes a ball head finesse jig that looks similar

Seems about once a year i hit my trolling motor on an underhanded cast and get a bad one. I keep thinking someone needs to come up with a trolling motor mount that is flush with the bow when deployed. with all the fancy stuff on trolling motors these days that seems like an easy one or maybe I'm the only one this happens to.

65 lb braid will usually slice right through the pad stems.

I would think versatility is your friend for a kayak and I have that exact rod. Probably the most versatile rod i have- any moving bait, top water, even makes a real good square bill rod, light texas rig, light jigs. It'll do it all. I really like mine and i paid more than double that price.

i think we hijacked the latest pics thread. but who cares...football starts this weekend!

Get the mustad fastach heads and put whatever hook you want on it.

I really like them. Don't limit yourself to just craw/beaver baits. Clint Davis just won the forest wood cup dragging one rigged with a big worm through brush piles.

There's one stuck in the face of the fish on my avatar.