Clark Stewart

My first choice would be a rage tail shad which is topwater or the space monkey - not a big bait but it sails through the air - I think it compacts itself in flight. Second choice (or third?) would be a big bite baits kriet krieture in 6inch size - it's like a ringworm and a brush hog had a baby. More action than a brush hog and with a 1/4 oz sinker it will sail through the air - even weightless it works pretty well.

Shy of a depth finder you're pretty much on track. Points are easy as are weeds. a generally steep bank will remain steep in the water and so on. To get a feel for what's out there without a depth finder I'd recommend a DD 22 crankbait and start hauling water. If you snag in the middle of the pond you've got brush. If you're pulling up salad you've got weeds. If you're bumping bottom at a steady retrieve then nothing you've probably found a ledge or shelf. Also any pond that has a lot of rock or boulders on one side generally has the same type under the water in that area. Any deep search bait is probably your best bet. Hope that helps

Don't even get me started on Al! I have plenty of salt of the earth yankee friends whom we go back and forth about our accents, but his voice makes my ears bleed. Not to mention that according to him walleye are the only species on earth. His "bass fishing" segment usually lasts about a minute and a half before his talking about his great northern pike and OH MY GOD if he calls my bluegill anything but a bluegill I pee myself. Rant complete. That is all.

daddy needs a website

This has probably been covered a thousand times so I apologize. I've got enough random senkos to fill a 5 gallon bucket. Rather than try to organize them by color or what have you, I'm thinking of just dumping them in a bag and when I know I'm gonna fish with some, grab a handful and go. Does color make that big a difference to you guys? It seems to me that the action is what attracts not how close it matches the hatch.

I don't operate a boat well enough sober to try to do it under the influence.

all of the fish I've caught this month - inlcuding my avatar were caught in less than 5 feet of water. Most closer to 2 feet! People will tell you that you can't catch bass in shallow water during the summer. Obviously I disagree. Not all bass follow the typical summer pattern - if that were true we'd all be bassmasters. As long as cover is available with forage they'd stay in a bathtub. Another thing I like about summer shallows fishing is that if you can find shade you'll find a bass. An old man whose pond I still fish told me during a 95 degree day down here in Bama that "I like the dog days - it puts the bass in the same spot I'm gonna be - in under a shade tree." That quote still catches bass for me.

It's been my experience that any plastic will do on a c-rig. I prefer worms/creatures with a lot of action. You'll be reeling a c-rig slowly back to you so you'll want something that has some action to it. Just my preference. Any worm you have confidence in texas rigged is an excellent choice. I'm about to try the rage shad on a c-rig. Also a senko wacky rigged to see how it does.

Is there any other way? J/K. To me that's the most logical way because the whole point of a c-rig is the allow the lure to move naturally off the bottom. What better way to keep a lure off the bottom than one that floats. You're on to something as this is my favorite type of C-rig. As a matter of fact I have one of those giant black/blue 3x iguanas on a c-rig right now. Just waiting for the next night tourney I get to fish to put it to use - it's a great big bite bait for after (hopefully) you get your limit! Good luck with it!

Hey folks, Got my 1oz bottle of mend-it this afternoon. Cost 14.00 all told. I have to say this is great stuff! I've attached some pics of some rage tail shads that had fallen in battle. The one pictured is nearly beyond repair, and I'll honestly say that this was not a perfect fix but it is probably still fishable at least one more time. It was torn nearly in half and the tail was ripped. Had I not had a bottle of mend-it coming I would have had to toss her. The last 2 pics are of another shad that had a hole nearly all the way through but was "mended" to near perfect quality again. I am unable to rip it apart with my fingers after the fix. One caveat: They mention in the FAQ on their site that if you have a huge tear (kinda like mine here) that putting mend-it in it could make it split more. That's exactly what happened to mine. When it's that bad you need to be very careful how much you're bending it when you drop the mend-it in because this stuff DOES RE-MELT THE PLASTIC! Best advice is to flip the lure upside down and shove the applicator in from below and flip it back over to let it drip in the tear. Hope these help. This has already saved me at least a dollar. Maybe 2 if you think the first shad is fishable! I've posted these to photobucket to save space and headaches for the mods! http://static.photobucket.com/flash/rss_slideshow.swf?rssFeed=http%3A%2F%2Ffeed743.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fxx72%2Fclarkvstewart%2FMend-It%2520Pics%2Ffeed.rss Sorry for some of the crappy pics - cell phone camera.

You'll miss a lot of fish for sure but that's with any topwater bait. I have been catching mine in the manner you're thinking about trying. Cast it. Let it drop to bottom and sit for about 10 seconds. Then start slow rolling it back in. I've caught every one of my bass including 2 3-3.5 pounders this way.

It's designed to be used on the top, but all that plastic makes it impossible to float on its own. Matter of fact I've never fished a frog shy of those that have the 2 hooks pre-rigged that floated. Don't worry about it anyway. I've caught more bass by letting it sink to the bottom and sit there for 10 seconds before burning it back to the boat. Same with the rage shad - it'll sink which is where I get a lot of strikes - remember that these baits are also deadly when the topwater bite is off. I've yet to catch a bass fishing the shad on top. But every time I've been out with one and let it hit bottom before slow rolling it back in underwater I've caught a 3 pounder.

All good advice - and x2 on the just plain not hooking em. I lost a bunch today but did get this one on my lunch break. Caught 2 on the shad the other was 1.5lbs. Got a bite on the anaconda but didn't connect. That things is NOT weedless.

I like the black/blue swirl the best, and my PB was 4lbs on a 7inch black senko/blue glitter. That thing is huge!

Welcome to the club - these are my new favorite baits. My first time out yielded a 3lb and my buddy's first time yielded 2.5. They're great. I use a 5/0 ewg hook, but I'm about to switch to a keel weighted owner twistlock 5/0 just for giggles. The trick with these things is not only slow down your hook set, but you've got to texpose these things! There's a ton of plastic for your hook to get through. I'll push mine in until the hook is all the way out the other side. The shape of the bait helps because the hook lays flush against it. I've yet to snag anything like this yet. Hope that helps. Also we both caught our best on these while casting the bait out and letting it sit on bottom for about 10 seconds before slowly bringing it back in like a subsurface bait. If you don't get popped on top then try this. No more than 10 seconds or so on bottom because these things have zero action when they're not moving. I think we got bit because it sounds like a brick hitting the water and they come to investigate and find a dying shad dropping to the bottom.

I've been to smaller tourneys where Marty Stone was at - he's known to cry a little. It's for reasons like this and Aaron Martens that I prefer FLW to BASS. With FLW you still have big names but they can just as easily get spanked by my wife's uncle who's a mechanic 5 days a week! As for helping get back in a boat I'd freak if I fell overboard and another boat tried to help me get on my boat. That's what they put the motor switch on the motor itself. I don't know. I just get a visual of my head getting crushed between two boats. And for some reason Travis Tritt is singing in the background about not loving anymore or something

My wife told me that her uncle may fish a 12 hour, 7p-7a tourney up in North Alabama this coming saturday - that if he didn't have a partner he didn't have a partner he wanted me to fish it with him. We heard this from his wife who said he keeps flip flopping over whether or not to fish it so we don't know about partners or lakes or anything. That being said how would you fish a 12 hour tourney? It sounds awesome to me for this reason. You could catch a quick limit and then spend 8 hours culling for the big bite. I'm an optimist but confidence is what our sport is all about. That being said i don't think we'd have trouble finding fish to cull. But how would you guys fish it? Seems awesome to me. I feel good about our odds as he is a semi-pro tourney guy. He's fished stren and flw for years and got a few invites to no boat on the bass tour. I've learned a lot from him.

this will get moved i'm sure, but since I'm here... I know that barometric pressure plays it's role but i've had good success lately fishing while it's sprinkling during a shower or when a storm is just leaving or approaching. Be careful obviously but I caught a 3.5 the other day while I was soaking wet.

I agree. It's way more fun to keep your mouth shut in the midst of adversity and then prevail - then soak up the admiration. I'd rather get crapped on and come out on top then be on top and ***** and moan to stay there.

maybe i'm giving too much credit to a bass but I've often witnessed the same scenario. For me it almost always happens when I'm fishing something steady with no variation in direction like a buzzbait or spinnerbait. I've noticed that several times when it's nearly at the bank that it gets smashed. My theory is that they're so in tune with their environment that their lateral line picks up not only the bait but also where the bank is. I wonder if they get more aggressive because they're trying to catch the bait before it reaches land and safety? I've personally witnessed a bass tailing my brush hog on the surface from about 3 feet behind it. I thought it was just a bunch of grass caught on my hog until it changed direction about 5 feet from the bank. I've also noticed that this has never happened to me in a boat - i wonder if that's because they don't know where the boat is as opposed to the bank which doesn't move. Call me crazy but that's a theory.

i just bought some anas and 2 more packs of shads - my fav bought a three pack of owner twistlock 1/8th oz 5/0 keel hooks i'll report my findings

hehe guess that pretty much covers the bases

I've got a ton of these things but I don't have much confidence in them. I know that primarily they're used for flipping and pitching, but the pond I fish doesn't lend itself to this type of fishing. There's slop all over the bottom that loves to turn your jighead into a plow. Anybody know of any other techniques for these things. They just look too good to sit in my box waiting for a trip to the river that never happens!

very nice thanks!

Anybody know where I can find a nice chart or group of pics of the types of common aquatic vegetation. I don't know about the stuff and I've been wondering what I'm fishing. I saw some coontail and duckweed on google images, but without knowing what's out there I don't know what to google!