FishDewd

Well... clear and calm for my location lol. It's never totally without wind here, but I fishing a shady bank and bringing it across a little debris field back to the bank. This bass was apparently tucked under something just a few feet off the bank. I just got lucky and made him mad enough to bite it I guess!

I do generally fish dawn or duck avoiding the hottest times of day. I use a combination of power and finesse tactics most of the time. I always have at least one pole rigged with something that moves, usually a crankbait, sometimes a spinner, occasionally a jig of some sort. Been trying swim jigs lately. I ended my slump streak on the last outing with a nice little bass on a spinnerbait. Not a giant, but pretty good for this particular location. I do use texas rigs a lot too though because it's a technique that I struggle with and I'm trying to get better with it. Once I can get better at it I'll probably move on to fishing flukes and jigs more often.

I only pull out line initially to test the drag, but I might also do it if a fish got snagged on something, that sounds like a valid reason to me to do that. I don't see why one would so that to "make the fish seem bigger" since you can hardly pull line out and not have it noticed that you're doing so. That'd be what my generation calls "epic fail".

I have a Fuego is a casting rod which is 8' Heavy/X fast that I primarily only use when I am drifting fast rivers farther north. Idk about the 7' version, but mine balances very with several of my reels. It's a good, stout, lightweight rod and it definitely a keeper for what I paid for it (about $45).

This was actually a pretty clear, calm day. I was more or less just testing it out since I got for about $2 on sale at cabelas. I think what got me the bite was that I was gently twitching it during the retrieve to make it more erratic since there wasn't much chop.

Gorgeous! I hooked into a huge alligator once by mistake when I was a kid at our lake house, fishing in the little cove down the hill near the boat ramp. I hooked it using cut finger mullet that one of the neighbors had given me iirc. I had it on my line for all of 5 seconds before it chomped my lightweight mono in half and swam off. I had been fishing for catfish anyway. I was definitely underequipped, all I had for a pole at a time was a 5' light uglystick with a Zebco 33 reel lol. About pulled it out of my hands. I'd love to try fishing for gar again now that I have more knowledge and much better equipment. I know of several spots around here that are loaded with decent sized longnose (I think based on the coloring when they come up) gar.

I'm not gonna BS on it... there are some big bass out there! Personally I've never seen any over a pound in my area, but I have gotten a bite or two that I know was well over a pound and lacked the skills/timing to hook it. T=You know it's there. So keep trying and pull that hawg out of the water!

I've had the alberto knot slip a few times, but only when I experienced a bad snag and I was basically attempting to break the line anyway. It's funny though... most of the time I manage to tie it in such a way that it slips just before the leader breaking strength. I have no idea how I manage to do that but it happens every now and then! Then there are times when I tie an alberto so perfect that it's nearly as small as an FG knot. Case in point, this one. My own modified version of the alberto after some trial and error: That one shouldn't slip!

Lol well that's the plan! I like this little spinnerbait a lot.

Snuck in a session this morning before work. Hit a lake at about 6:45 and started with a topwater popper. Casted it way out and started popping it in. Had my first ever hit on the popper on a pause. Bass came up and just gracefully slurped it down without a splash. I had a lot of slack so I reeled in and side swept it. Missed! It was just too far out I think. Oh well. Ran a swim jig for a while. Managed to launch it into a tree. Lost it. But I will go back with a lure retriever and hopefully get it back. Picked up my lightweight spinnerbait rod and tossed around a little Booyah crawfish/perch colored 3/16 pond magic spinnerbait. On one retrieve when I was about to pick it up out of the water I felt that wonderful tick, pull, pull from a bass. Reeled down, set it and got 'em! He's not big but I'm proud all the same. Ill take it any day!

Ah in your picture it looked more green but that's a cool pattern for sure. I found the half barbed wire as "half wire". They seem to have all of that they just called it a little different than they may have before. Thanks though, I hadn't gone through all of those options and I'm seeing stuff I would like in a jig now that I've figured out what all the stuff on there is. Yesterday I picked up a 6th sense divine jig that was on sale at Cabela's. Normally I wouldn't spend $4.99 on a jig, but it really impressed me with the colors, not to mention the head design is amazing. Pretty good perch imitation, so I am using it as the basis for what I'd like in a jig. If it had some white on the bottom and black on top it'd be pretty much perfect.

I've been looking at swim jig heads and tabs. I am wanting something similar to what you have here with the black striations in the threads, but I am wanting a little different colors scheme. The main prey items in the water here are perch (bluegill, possibly yellow perch, other sunfish species), as well as crawfish (ours tend to be mud colored or develop a lot of red when mature). To start with, I am wanting to go for perch patterns. I looked through fishingskirts.com and most of the the boss heads come in a 4 pack which is great because it means I can make 4 slightly different patterns to see what the bass like best. Do you have a source for those black striped skirt tabs? I looked through their tabs and don't see any that quite match what I am wanting to do with the striping.

Nice Glenn! You deserve it bud! Thanks for all you do for the bass community for duffers like me lol. Keep it up and grow it even bigger!

As someone who worked for years in rehab hospitals, he'll have a rough while getting to where he feels normal again, but I know he can do it! My prayers go out for him having a speedy recovery, and I'm glad all went well in the surgery.

Oh that's right I was using a round bend that day... yeah I ought to try that again with an EWG.

Lol if I had an extra $50 I'd slip it to myself. But I don't. Which means I'm out of luck, and so is the groundskeeper. I basically did that a few times ago when I went there, but I used a 3/16 weight. I have some 1/16 tungsten weights though. Problem I had with it was that it kept sliding off the hook whenever I went to set it. I don't like to peg the bait to the hook eyelet either with toothpicks so that's not really an option. Too hard to change baits and I'm afraid it will damage the knot.

Yeah I was seriously considering doing that... but it's a public park so idk if they'd allow me to do that. Guess I can ask the ranger guy who drives around in the golf cart if it's cool for me to do. If needs to be done pretty badly.

@Drew03cmc This water is usually pretty clear. Even when it rains it's still fairly clear, very rare for my area to see water like this. I'll take a pic of it next time I'm out, but I am nursing a bad finger injury right now that is keeping me from a rod and reel for a few more days at least (spider bite on my index finger). Anyway, around the edges all the way around is fairly shallow where I can see the bottom. Lots and lots of cover ranging from grass mats, reeds, sticks, etc, to actual section of large tree roots that branch out. I have found a shallow end but unfortunately it turns into thick woods really quickly and is basically impossible to navigate down by foot. The banks in general have tons of trees and shrubs so it's not the easiest place to cast out over either. But if I could, I feel like that bank would be a little honey hole with all the cover it has down there. Maybe from 3-8' deep on this bank until it diverges out to the deeper water 30' out or so.

@Drew03cmc I often go at sun up to a lake I like a lot and that's usually the first thing I do is try topwater. But they don't have any interest in the whopper plopper lately. Then again mine is just the 90 and the lake is 80'+ deep only 30 feet off the shore so I think it's just too small to bring them up from the depths. Also been trying a popper along the shore since it holds a lot of structure and debris, but not sure I am working it properly cause it doesn't displace much water. Might be the wrong type too, idk. It's a bass pro XPS that has great color contrast but a smaller mouth. I might something more like a hula popper to be real effective there.

I've tried it a few times but too many snags to actually fish it. Plus it's a "no feel" presentation a lot of times which I struggle with. I have fished a variety of places and have been trying new spots that others have told me about, including some that are in the middle of nowhere in subdivisions and whatnot. Some really small and shallow ponds too. But I am yet to find somewhere that is not pressured and I think that's what I need to really get the hang of techniques that are new to me so that I can figure out what I'm not doing right.

I don't catch a lot of bass but usually I don't go 10+ sessions without catching something. I haven't gotten anything for at least that long lately. I've been focusing mostly on techniques I'm not too confident in lately. Texas rigs primarily. I get bites from something but the more I fish it the less I think what I get bit by is bass. For me it's really becoming a matter of unless I am using a dropshot, a crankbait, or a topwater, I can basically expect to not catch bass. It's been like a curse for me lately. No matter what I throw I just cannot catch one. It'll be places I know there are bass cause I see others catch bass in. I had the same bait as someone else a few weeks ago: a simple roostertail that's actually made it into In Fisherman magazine as being good for bass and catfish alike. They caught 5 bass with it, I didn't even get a bite using it. I see others catch them with plastics and jigs... I don't get anything with them. I don't get what I'm doing wrong. I probably miss a lot of bites cause I don't get line watching very well and rely on feel (I don't have polarized glasses half the time I can't see my line) but it seems like at some point I should get something by luck. Senkos just simply do not work for me at all... about to write them out of my arsenal completely cause I have no faith in them. First bass I ever caught was on a senko but I believe it was just dumb luck at this point cause I get little to no interest in them whatsoever when I fish them now. Watched a ton of videos on flukes and whatnot so I am hoping some kind of swimbait like that will produce for me on the next outing. The weather here is tough and I know the bite is slow in this temp but dang... I just wanna catch one! Lol. I love being outside and all but it's really starting to bother me that I cannot get a hook up to save my life. Just wanted to vent a bit... sure others have had this issue too.

Oh I see what you're getting at... I'll try that. Thanks.

That's a really good idea but I think this particular area might have too many snags on the bottoms to try that. Maybe I can rig one that way without a worm hook in case I lost the bait. That way I can just sacrifice a plastic and treble without losing the more expensive worm hook. Might give that a go. I do agree it's probably a perch though.

I'm the opposite I don't fish topwatwer unless its calm. Usually morning or evening. I've done well with my 90. Im 4/4 using aside set.

I haven't tried a bunch of different squarebills, but I've gotten pretty good at working them and know what they're doing under water, so I definitely have confidence in them to some degree. When the squarebill bite is on they're a lot of fun. I mostly have KVD 1.5s, but I also have 1-2 larger 2.5s as well. I try to keep them light or natural colored cause I feel that matches most water conditions pretty well. Also I have one that is somewhat perch colored. The most productive one for me so far has been one that is mostly white with a touch of yellow on the side, silent. I also have a Berkley perch imitator that rattles that's done well, I feel this one works better around cover that the KVD just that's just my opinion. The KVDs tend to sometimes get the front hook stuck on the line for some reason, the Berkley it seems to happen less. Also in my arsenal is a Rapala BX Brat that dives deeper than the KVDs at 6'. It's a green perch color and has a totally different action that the other ones. I throw it sometimes but I have less confidence in it than the others so far.