Bass-Addict

How long are we talking, like an entire season? I don’t understand how literally everyone who bass fishes uses lures, yet there is apparently this enormous learning curve. So all of these guys spent years before they were able to catch fish? I have no problem with devoting myself to learning and putting the work in, as like you said it’s an enjoyable process, but I still want to catch fish and the season is short enough as it is. Right now with live bait I catch every time I go out, and I have a blast. I want to learn lures but I still want to catch fish. So I’ve been doing both. Hopefully I don’t have to abandon catching to overcome this curve and I can gradually wean off of the live.

Yeah that’s what I figured based on how productive life minnows are. I have some locally made ones called Big Joshy’s in smoke shad and chartreuse, 2.75”. I was just trying to throw them at the dam but I’m not sure I had enough weight on them, only 1/8. What size do you use for heavy current? What are a few others that are fairly easy to get the hang of? I feel like if I have 3-4 to rotate that’ll be enough to get me started. For smallmouth?

I guess what I’m asking is, are whopper ploppers among the easier baits to use?

That is precisely why I’m committing myself to overcoming the learning curve, live is just a hassle across the board. No doubt significantly more effective, but like you said getting a proper presentation in a moving kayak with live bait is next to impossible, and anchoring at every spot you want to work over is impractical and inefficient. Just with what little lure fishing I’ve done so far I can already see how much more water I’m covering, it’s night and day. I can now hit every piece of fishy water I see, and most importantly I can cast turn em burn em cranks and top waters through current and breaks while zipping past them without stressing. I’ve started with cast and retrieve lures as this feels like the easiest place to start. I got some strikes on my whopper plopper yesterday, and it was an awesome feeling! Seeing the explosion is pretty exciting. Am I going to be disappointed when I get into other baits and find them more of a challenge to learn, or is whopper plopper not necessarily any easier to use than other styles?

Book or online tutorial/vlog? Thanks!

Even in a kayak? What is the big advantage of 7’ over 6’6”?

What’s your personal preference?

So you think 6’6” M is prob going to be best for my needs?

Is there any disadvantage to a 7’ rod over a 6’6” in a kayak or otherwise?

Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense. Whenever I run into something like this I assume there is something under the surface of the water we can’t see that makes the spot preferable.

Ah gotcha my bad, emphasis on the river. Yeah that makes sense, smallies prefer fast moving, cool water (green trout) so while they can certainly be found in lakes and large rivers like the Ohio they are much more abundant in the smaller tributaries where they thrive, not to mention mostly at the top of the food chain.

As I said in my OP, I’m not fishing big rivers. Exclusively creeks and small rivers no more than 100 yards wide.

See I thought those whirlpool like systems were not good targets, at least when I’m fishing with live bait, as they prevent you from getting a good presentation and kill the bait quickly by spinning it around and sucking it down. I guess I’ve always avoided them and stuck to the current seam, letting the bobber float right down the line. Is this not the ideal method, should I be burning a spinnerbait through those eddies or working a soft grub off the bottom?

What exactly are eddies, is that a current break and how big would you say is larger?

Yeah I would imagine most of the country at one point suffered the effects of agriculture and development of farmland, especially the flatter, rural Midwest. I look at the protected wildlife areas I float through and imagine what the country was like before Europeans arrived, the Native Americans had abundant resources and wilderness all to themselves, nature operating uninhibited and as it is supposed to. I would kill to experience that.

Yes I completely skip muddy areas, which is typically where lay downs and wood structure are. Rocks, rocks, rocks! Smallies love rocks, which is a shame because a lot of Ohio rivers have been tainted by agricultural runoff from all of the farmland, destroying the rocky bottom and habitat for crawfish that allows smallmouth to thrive. Thankfully I’m still blessed with some pretty excellent smallmouth fisheries, they’re just not quite as good as they probably were at one point. I wonder if there is a way to terraform and line the riverbed with rocks to reinvigorate some of that environment?

Interesting, I’ve never caught a smallie on a lay down or overhanging tree roots. That seems to be largemouth/rock bass territory. It’s either rocks or current for me, the best obviously being a combination of the two.

So I used to think it was all about working the current seams exclusively, but since I’ve branched out to different waterways (all creeks and smaller rivers no more than 100 yards wide) and fished harder than I used to, I’ve noticed the bigger fish seem to be tucked up against rock banks and not necessarily right up in the froth. In fact I’ve honestly caught them in completely still water with no current in sight, which makes me rethink the whole ballgame. These conditions have been so productive that I no longer skip any sort of rocky structure, whereas there are some areas with current that are either too dangerous or impossible to stop in in a kayak or unfishable due to a lack of any good breaks/slack water. Am I missing out by not throwing a good top water, swim bait, or spinnerbait into the actual current itself or are they mostly on the seams in ambush mode? I still try to work every bit of current I come across but sometimes the current breaks are inaccessible, however if it’s worth casting into the actual current itself I’ll start doing that. Anyway, hit me with any knowledge you’ve got! I love learning about this and it has become a real passion, it’s all I do in my free time.

Lol I’m trying too, not trying to be difficult I’m just hearing diff things. J Francho says his net is 17” yet it’s listed on Frabill’s website and everywhere else as 11.” I just have an excess of equipment that I can’t use from overbuying hence why I’m deliberating over everything I get now, not because I’m crazy haha ?

I’m just not sure why no one seems to be able to answer my pretty basic question.

It says bag depth only 11” as well. Is this really deep enough for a 19” smallie? How much does it really stretch?

Interesting. Are they really imperial inches? If not why does it say 11? Sorry just trying to figure out if these nets are all mislabeled.

Did you not read what I wrote? I did check Frabill’s site, it only offers the 11” deep one. They either shortened it or no longer offer that version.

The bearclaw? It literally says 11” deep on both the link you posted and Frabill’s website. Are you sure, can you link me to the one you have? Because that looks like the most solid one-handed net.

It says bearclaw is only 11” deep. Is that deep enough for bigger smallies, can’t they flop out?