jimf

Last year when my wife was with me and decided she wanted to try out this bait casting thing.

The documentary that @Paul Robertsshared with us talked about the staging areas bass use during the pre-spawn, and it got me to wondering about something that I have only guessed at. How long does it take a bass to adjust it's swim bladder so that it is buoyant at various depths? For instance, let's say a bass is wintering in 20' of water, and spawns in 4' of water, how long would that take for the bass to add the volume necessary to be buoyant at 4'? I know it takes some time, I just don't know if it is days or weeks. Closed swim bladders (bass) don't change quickly like that of fish with an open bladder (goldfish, carp), but I don't know the rate.

I can't drop a bait on a dime with a spinning setup like I can a caster, and I don't think I ever will. @Darren.I remember you being a kayak angler, does the kayak play a role in your choice or are you just a spinning guy because of the techniques?

Just curious, what ratio of time to you spend over a year say using one vs the other? I'm asking because I've noticed something about my fishing over the years - I'm more finesse now than I used to be. 30 years ago, I would say 100% baitcaster for me. Now I spend probably 1/4 or maybe a 1/3 of my time with more finesse presentations using spinning gear. My next rod/reel purchase will almost surely be spinning gear. I don't know that I'll ever get to the 50/50 mark, but I've gone from never using spinning gear to having it be a pretty significant part of my game.

It's actually a great question, and one you probably will struggle to perfect your entire life. Fast moving baits with open hooks - spinnerbaits etc., it's less of a guessing game than with soft plastics. Often the fish hook themselves, and you just need to bury it. Soft plastics are another story, but the "reel down set" advice above when you feel something is as close to a generally accurate response as you can get. With soft plastics there are just a variety of signals, from the "tap tap tap" feeling, to a pick the line up and run with it, to an almost dead feeling that is almost imperceptible. The latter one makes me wonder how many fish in my life I've had on and didn't know it. Lot's is my guess.

Not 100% sure, I assumed common.

I have been wondering now how quickly I will educate them. A co-worker who has lived in this area when they started developing it said that these neighborhood retention ponds are often connected, and almost always deep. He saw some of them dug out years ago and told me he wouldn't be surprised if it's 30+ feet deep. We do have two small ponds when you come in to the subdivision that has fountains in them, and I'm pretty sure those 2 are connected to mine. Definitely a carp that broke me off. Over the years I have actually gotten pretty good at fly fishing for them in the early summer, and that's when I will get one. The problem was I was using my little spring creek trout rod - a 3 weight with prob. 3-4 lb test tippet, and had no chance. I will target them with my 6 or 7 weight rod with some beef on the leader. You need to use small flies and a quiet presetnation with carp, fly fishing for them when they are schooling and slurping scum off the surface is the way to go.

Last September my wife and I moved, part of the draw of the house we picked was a retention pond in the back yard. It was kind of pretty, with ducks and geese and best of all, no neighbors! My wife was so happy for me to have a place to fish, but honestly I didn't think it would hold fish. I checked it out, saw a couple of little bluegill and figured ok, maybe I could go catch a couple of stunted gills from time to time. First month of the house and I never fished it. When I finally did go down to fish it, I did so more to say "Yeah, I have a house where I fish in my backyard" than really catch fish. Then I caught my first fish, a bluegill on a fly rod, and the thing was an absolute slab. I proceeded to catch several more, and also had something huge break me off. Turns out that there are huge bluegills, 10+ pound carp (I'm going to get one soon here), and bass. For example, last night I just walked around the pond, maybe 20 minutes, and got 4 or 5. I never guessed this pond would produce 4-5 fish like this in a 20 minute around:

Almost never.

I can't count past 3 when I'm fishing. Once I catch my fourth, I can't remember it was my third, fourth, or fifth. By the time I get my tenth, I can't remember if it was my fifth or twentieth. I caught I think 4 last night in the pond on my property, but it could have been 3 or 6. I can't remember. And since I can't remember it was probably not 3. I actually tried once to come up with a system one year and it was a giant fail. I just can't count when I'm fishing, unless they are in the livewell. Even then I've surprised myself, open it up and you ask yourself how 2 fish managed to get out without you noticing, or fishing alone who put 3 extra fish in there behind your back?

Paraphrasing from one of my favorite fishing authors, when you go on a fishing trip all you really have a right to hope for is that it's not awful. No major mechanical problems, no bodily injury, no major loss of expensive fishing equipment etc... Setting the expectations there, you allow yourself to be grateful for just about anything else, because you are out on the water. Zen stuff there, and it's taken me some time to get there, but I think I've made it.

I remember that B.A.S.S. patch your dad had, I put it on a jacket I think. Completely forgot about it until I saw that picture.

Specifically bass? I don't remember, it was sometime in my late teens/early 20's that I started targeting bass. I have fished for as long as I can remember, my Dad was one of those that almost looked at fishing as a chore to get dinner. Not that he didn't enjoy it, he did. But, if you caught your limit in an hour, you went home because you were done. There was no need to fish anymore. When I started releasing fish and talking my Dad about that concept, I think he wondered what went wrong with me. He's 82, and to this day he still can't quite get his head around that concept. I actually spent about 15 years through my 40's doing most of my fishing for trout. I have really recently come back to my roots so to speak, which is bass fishing about 2/3 of the time and spending the other 1/3 chasing a variety of species including carp, bluegill, walleye, and trout.

I will use some bigger stuff - 7" worms and 3/8 jig - but where I really agree with your comment is the parallel bank presentation. I fish alot of old strip pits with this type of structure and I found that technique works really well. I'll start with a spinnerbait or lipless and then move to a deeper running crank, or even fish the jig or worm like that.

Yep.

Not much, which is why I like to go fishing.

I've been in the same career (IT) for 30+ years. I actually chose it not because of pay, money, time off, fishing, or any other reason other than I liked it and because I liked it and was interested I became good at it. I'm guessing with any career of 30+ years, a lot of the luster has worn off, and now it's a grind. I keep plugging away, because I still like a little bit of it and I'm still good at it, but I can't imagine getting up and going to a job that I despised day after day. The benefit of my career has been choices. My choice for the past 22 years, and as long as they let me work there, has been a place where I make good not great money, gave me 5 weeks of vaca right off the bat, 40 hour weeks, flex schedule where I get every other Friday off, and a 6,500 acre campus dotted with little cooling ponds and crazy amounts of wildlife (including a farm of 70 or so head of Bison) that provide the best shore fishing around. The smallie in my avatar was taken out of one of those ponds on a lunch break, and that's not unusual by any means So my advice is pick something that interests you, that will give you the motivation to do the job well, and when you do the job well you might be able to find a nice little place that pays for the boats and vacations and still gives you time to use them.

I know for sure I hooked the same fish twice - a good 5# out of a golf course pond years ago. I landed it, released it, took a second to get everything in order and calm my nerves, made a cast back to the same spot (because sometimes they school) and I hooked another one that had absolutely no fight in her at all. Got her in and sure enough. And not right away, but I saw the same fish get "caught" twice within 3-4 hours. I've told this story here like 4 times so sorry if you have read it, but was out with some boy scouts on a camping trip and a kid caught a bluegill and kind of used it as bait for a minute when a big bass took it. Almost landed it but the fish broke off. I ended up fishing off of a dock at dark and caught the same fish - bluegill still stuck in it's gullet.

I'd guess 6. About six weeks ago my granddaughter came into this world and 7'7, and she was a wee bit bigger than that bass I'd say. I didn't hold her by the lip like that so I can't say for sure though. Nice fish!

3 that I use every time out, regardless of season are 1) Texas rigged Culprit worm, 2)Jig and 3) Spinnerbait.

Not sure about your neck of the woods, but here we have had alot of cold rain which has dropped water temps a few degrees. That turned the bite off from before the rain came in on Friday to after it left yesterday.

I think you are fine, and I would have said that without any data. Truck, bass boat ... probably ok. I just did a quick search to verify http://www.ford.com/resources/ford/general/pdf/towingguides/13flrv&tt_f150.pdf 5,500 pounds is the minimum trailer weight, and I'm sure that boat fully loaded is under that.

Main reason I have an anchor on board at all times, rarely do I use it to fish with. And I don't know if it would have helped, but I also always have an oar with me. If that isn't on your boat, then I would consider adding that as well.

Just relax, easier said than done I know. You will get better with practice, and really no reasonable person is going to be impatient or upset with you if you clearly are trying but just having a little trouble. If you are prepped and ready to go when you launch, then take your time and do your best and eventually it will become second nature. As far as the inevitable impatient jackass, just remember being a decent person and respecting others is way higher on the list of cool people skills than knowing how to launch a boat.

I had trouble too with it, had to twist down really hard to get it to come off.