Sword of the Lord

The Bullet is working.

I don't think there's any magic formula to tell you if a body of water has big bass unless you actually catch one or see one caught. Just throw your line in the water, and if it holds bass and you catch one or see them in there, there's the possibility of a big one. If I'm catching bass at a body of water, I'm probably not going to stop fishing it. If all you're catching out of a pond is real skinny dinks, I wouldn't have any hope for a big one unless someone has recently put one or more in there from elsewhere. Sometimes a pond can't support bass with a proper and abundant food source or the proper cover to ambush and feed well.

You're always going to want to adjust to the bait. A slow fall.

Use your beat up Texas rigged Senkos and Senko style baits on a wacky rig when they get to be too bad (unless it just completely tears obviously). You get more use out of them and I've found that since they're even softer and more flimsy at that point they have even more action to them.

Which I don't understand. All of the bass in my 3 regular ponds are slender with an occasional exception. There's a plethora of bait fish and frogs, and there's a bunch of weed lines and beds. I don't get it. I'm always fat. Beer and meat does that.

It's essentially been fall fishing conditions in my parts since the beginning of August. Very unseasonably cool. Bass are all shallow. Most of my fishing holes you can see them literally at the banks.

What kind of hook are you using?

That's why I was curious. I know there can be a false spawn in the fall.

One of my catches from today looks pregnant?

I don't understand why it required me to have a signature before I could do anything.

I finally got a Bullet. I took it out earlier this afternoon. I did everything I'm not supposed to do. I used a spincast reel (10 Stren mono) and threw wacky rigs on the mono. Caught 3 in the 45 minutes I was at the little pond down the road. Small sample size, but no lockups and casts a mile. I used a 6'6" M/F Lightning Rod. The bass didn't seem to care about the reel or the mono on a finesse tactic. I spent 15 minutes burning a spinnerbait to test out the retrieve more than anything. It's FAST. Didn't catch a fish on the spinnerbait, but then again, I've gotten exactly one spinnerbait catch out of this pond in 4 years. They just don't work in that little hole. Also, it's really not that heavy. Balances out on a rod.

I feel you. Hate cranking. Any other bait.

I'm not much of a leader line person, but recently I've been using fluoro leaders and I like it. So I have a question. If I'm using 30lb braid, which is usually the diameter of 8lb mono, is it fine to use 12lb mono or fluoro leaders off of that? Will it work fine?

This has got to end. Where can I donate and protest?

You won't catch them where they aren't located. It's that simple. I've caught almost all of my bass shallow all summer long. My biggest come deep, but they're a real grind to catch. Throw Senkos and inline spinners and you'll catch bass and boost your confidence.

Anyone ever have LMB who literally don't fight at all? I've hooked into LMB that left me thinking I was pulling up a snag because it's dead weight. Get 'em out though and then they go nuts.

That's different lol

Is your wife fishing in the tournament or is she out there having fun? You may be stressing yourself out and trying to do too much, trying to be too perfect, so you can place well rather than simply fishing because it's a great hobby.

Yeah. I'm not really buying that. Frogs are a huge food source at this pond.

The Dingers just haven't been the same for me. Texas Rigged they're OK, but their Wacky Rigged action is terrible coming from Senkos.

Another day, another skunk. Tried Senkos, Trick Worms, spinnerbaits and inline spinners, and a Whopper Plopper. Various different colors and techniques. About 5 miles of river fished over the course of the week. Nadda, nothing. I just don't get it. The water is low. Maybe that plays a part, and why I will not use a crankbait because it will be one and done. I'm actually shocked that I only lost one Texas Rig and one inline spinner. I have not struggled anywhere else this summer. My worst day anywhere else was one fish, one time. Next worse is 4 fish. Maybe I've been spoiled.

Where I'm at in Pontiac I can just about cast to the other side. It's only this river giving me fits. Interestingly, my best day and any time I do catch here, was and is largemouth. Never see smallies.

Usually bank, sometimes wading. It's pretty low right now.

Is anyone here from Pontiac, IL or the surrounding area, or anyone else who is familiar with the Vermilion River? I keep trying this river in town, all over the place, but it's a huge piece of crap! I can go to just about any pond or lake in a 50 mile radius and have a good day, but rarely do I even get a fish out of this river. One day back in April of 2014 provided my best day ever, though. It was near the Mill Street dam. I caught around 40 of them in a few hours, as well as my PB of 6 pounds. Never again have I had success here. I'm lucky to catch a single bass. Right now I'm sitting at one 12 incher in the last six outings. So, if anyone is familiar and could offer tips or good spots in town, or can simply confirm that it's trash fishing so I can stop wasting my time, that would be much appreciated. The river is so close and sometimes I really don't want to travel to a pond or lake, so it would be nice if this river could actually work.

I've never heard of stitching. My 4 years of total bassin' is showing. Personally, I'm still at the stage where I don't really care about the size of the bass I catch. I just love catching them. Anything from 6 inch babies to 4 and 5 pounders makes me a happy man, more so the latter; but I won't go out of my way and limit my bait selection and areas fished looking for big mama. As far as wormin', I pride myself on my skills. Plastic worms and stick baits are my confidence baits. My absolute go-tos. I'm patient by nature. It seems I have a sixth sense in just where to throw them too. I'll drag, pop, twitch, whatever is required. Totally kill using worms and the like.