BigAngus752

I've had three recent outings where I found shad stacked in the backs of coves. I caught zero bass by fishing THROUGH the shad. I caught numerous bass by using a lipless or spinner on the outside of the shad. The bass were all waiting on the perimeter either for stray shad to pop out or for their turn to rush in and eat. I caught bass after bass 2-5ft away from the bulk of the shad. Usually near a grass line or some kind of cover.

That’s a house cat, but his name is Bob.

What is so magical about fluorocarbon?

@Mbirdsley gave a good definition. Slowly cranking so your bladed jig thumps along just a few inches off the bottom. This technique is also outstanding for seeing my face light up when I set the hook on an enormously heavy fish only to be dejected 1.5 seconds later when I realize it's a stupid catfish.

That's awesome! Piebald is much more common. I just looked it up and a true albino is 1 in 30,000. What a blessing you get to see her in person.

Wow! That's a rare girl!

The only thing close to a lucky charm is my wife. She occasionally comes out with me in the summer so she can lay out on the back deck while I fish. She will even fish a little (and catches everything in the lake on a worm)...anyway... Every single time she's out with me I'll be talking to myself like I always do. I'll say outloud, "There should be a fish right next to that" and she will be watching as I make a perfect pitch or cast to that exact spot and I immediately hook up. Then she starts talking about how amazing I am and I should be a professional fisherman. This happens one time EVERY time she's out with me. I tell her stories of casting into trees 10 feet above the water and getting my boat stuck and breaking off five lures in one trip and catching everthing except a bass but when she's with me I can call a fish on a spot and I'll catch one. Seems to only work for one fish though....maybe if I had five wives I could catch a full bag?!

It WILL cause rust issues on many hooks. Ask me how I know. ?

This is my biggest problem. Water temps are dropping again and everything is just perfect to get back out but every single day is windy. Not just "it's a pain to stay on the TM" windy but "nope, gonna die" windy. I will burn a vacation day if it just becomes safe for a day.

^^^that's good stuff^^^ When you say "standing timber" I'm picturing the manmade lakes that I fish that have coves with fields of trees in them. I can be in 25 feet of water and have trees ten feet above my head in all directions. @scaleface is absolutely right. Look at the season, water temps, conditions, etc. to determine where the fish will be and then fish the trees in those areas. "Newer" lakes will have trees with branches. I struggle mightily to fish those like @scaleface said. I fish a very old manmade lake that the trees are mostly nothing but giant, 40 foot tall trunks with no branches. Those are much easier to fish. The guys that fish tournaments (and place in the tourneys) tell me that they tend to view the trees as a stump and fish the base. They don't have a lot of luck with bass suspended in the limbs 15 feet above the bottom but they pull giants off the 'stump' with jigs and carolina rigs.

My gosh that first one is gorgeous! I'd love to have that in a tank in my living room and just watch her swim...

Is this normally clear water that had gotten muddy? Or is the water always one foot visibility? If the water is always that “stained” you can ignore it. The fish don’t know it’s stained. Dead-stick a Ned rig and you’ll catch fish...but you still have to find the fish...

I had today (Fri) and Sun set aside for fishing but after going out for 4hrs this morning I’m done for now. The weather has turned awful for fishing. Near record high temps have brought the water temps up 7-8 degrees. We were KILLING them in the backs of coves and at pinch points with schools of gizzard shad. That has all stopped now. Cold front and cold rain on Tues. hopefully that gets the shad back shallow again.

I'm also in Illinois and the two lakes I have fished in the past week are both at about 54-57 degrees. Here's what has worked very well for me the past two trips: -Baitfish are in the backs of coves in 2 to 6ft of water. If I can find a weedline with any green left in it on the bank near the baitfish I am catching multiple fish by running a lipless parallel to the weeds between the vegetation and the shad. The bass come out of the weeds and hit my crank. Caught numerous bass this way. -Pinch points are amazing right now. If I can find a pinch point with baitfish I am staying there and catching bass with a lipless, squarebill, or some luck with a bladed jig. This has put my catch number into the double digits on a lake that 7 or 8 bass is a good day. -Rock or rip rap. For some reason rock/rip rap was a really good all summer long. It continues to be a decent bet. Try something moving and if that doesn't work slow down with a jig or T-rig plastic. Can I make a suggestion to you? I don't mean any disrepect and I'm just trying to help. If you want to catch fish don't ever ask "what should I throw" again until you ask, "where can I find the fish right now"? You can buy the most popular, magic lure in the world but if you are throwing it on a main lake point in 15 feet of water when all the bass are chasing baitfish in the backs of coves you won't have much luck. Meanwhile I have half-a$$ rigged the cheapest Walmart stick worm but I'm in the right place and I'm beating the skunk. Good luck!

Those are just summer teeth. Pretty common here in central IL.

This is an actual text conversation we had yesterday. She was leaving work to head home and sent me a text to let me know. I'll let you know in advance that she drives a lifted 2dr Wrangler that I built for her. Wife: Your dream woman is on her way home! Me: How did you find out? Wife: She's with me. We're on our way home to give you everything you've ever dreamed of. Me: Bull$&!t. That Jeep won't tow a 21ft Skeeter bass boat. I don't know why she's married to me but I'm sure glad she's got a sense of humor because I couldn't live without her.

Love the Ned and Bitsy Bug ideas. That's exactly what I would be carrying. Let us know how it goes! Just remember to hold still until you're bored out of your mind and then drag it half an inch...ugh...

These two things are important enough to me that I frequently use fluoro or mono leaders with my braid. I really don't care about the "can fish see it" debate because these two things are enough for me to do it. If you showed me a study proving unequivocally that bass can't see fishing line and showed me a poll of every fisherman on Earth who agreed with the study I would still tie a leader on my braid when fishing a football jig on rip rap-covered causeway (or many other examples).

No! Not yet! Keep up the moving baits. Lipless cranks, squarebills, bladed jigs. Once those stop working (prob below 45 degree water) then head for the Ned. And you should still have a frog tied on when the water is 50 degrees if there is any kind of green vegetation still visible.

Just be patient. We were catching NOTHING at 60. Now it’s 55 and its on like Donkey Kong.

@Siebert Outdoors has a sale on tungsten weights. 10% off his already excellent prices on tungsten. I will warn you that I just bought all the remaining stock of two different weights in one of the colors/styles.

If you are buying TRDs then you are definitely overcomplicating it. Buy a bag of ZinkerZs for the same price as a bag of TRDs. Cut the ZinkerZs in half. You have now cut your cost in half.

Love the ZinkerZs!!! I make sure I never have less than 5 bags of Coppertreuse ZinkerZs at all times.

Yum Dingers would have caught 70 bass at half the price....?

I am also in Illinois. You must be far north if you have water below 50 degrees. I’m central and our smallish lakes are still high 50s. Generally when the water is 55-45 I’m using moving baits like lipless, squarebill, bladed jigs relatively shallow and near anything that is still green or near rock/wood. At about 45 degrees I put away everything but the Ned rig. I have great success on a slowly twitched Ned from 45 degrees to ice. I’ve broken thin ice to throw a Ned and caught bass.