roadwarrior

the_muddy_man, That plan is too simple. Some days a slightly different profile or action is very effective when it seems the soft plastic you are using just isn't the ticket. Everything I'm suggesting can be carried in a little Plano box, including your Rapalas. Some days the Senko won't work but a Fat Ika, Kreature, Gitzit, Kut-Tail or Roboworm will. I carry them all plus hooks, weights and beads in a small little box that fits nicely in the back pouch of a fishing vest. Now, I understand simple, but you still need a couple of options.

Get a firm thumb-grip in the mouth of the fish. Using needlenose pliers, remove one barb at a time. Forget about the rest of the hooks, concentrate on one barb at a time. You should be able to remove the gnarliest mess in less than a minute. The fish will be fine. I never fish without pliers, clippers, a knife and a small towel. Standard equipment no matter where you fish or how you fish.

Raul, If BassResource ever puts a tournament together I want to fish with you, not against you. You da Man!

Technically the definition has to do with depth, not size. In a pond sunlight penetrates all the way to the bottom, in a lake is does not. A crystal clear pond might be 10 or 15' deep, but that same "pond" with stained water would be a lake. According to the Missouri Botanic Gardens: A pond is a body of water shallow enough to support rooted plants. A lake is too deep to support rooted plants except near the shore.

Wow! ernal, I hope you catch that monster. It's too bad those boys are taking out the 5-6 lbers, they could be caught over and over for years.

I'm all about structure in deeper water, not cover. I recommend points, dropoffs and ledges surrounded by deeper water or leading into deep water. Big boulders, rock piles and transition. Generally I prefer casting parallel to structure so your lure spends more time in the "zone" rather than fishing into the structure. Lures? I'm a big fan of lipless cranks and jerkbaits, but my strong suit is soft plastics. In water <12' I'll usually fish soft plastics weightless (Fat Ika and Senkos), in deeper water usually T-rigged (Kreature, Gitzit, Kut-Tail and recently Roboworms) or a C-rigged lizard. Shallow and early I have been having pretty good luck with the Bomber Square A, Norman Fat boy and Bagley BII.

Palomar Knot when I can, Trilene Knot when I can't (yes Raul, big lures with treble hooks). I sometimes use the Rapala Knot on small minnow baits, but I'm not comfortable with it on big lures (Pointer 128, Rogues, Husky Jerk). I appears to me that the bigger lures have plenty of action without the knot.

I fish live shiners for smallmouth on the Tennessee River. Here's how: Equipment: 7' spinning rod and high quality reel. Yo-Zuri Hybrid #4 & #6. Gamakatsu #6 Octopus Circle Hooks. #4 or #5 split shot. Bait: The biggest minnows you can buy, they cannot be too big. Rig them with the hook through the lower lip and up through the top. Don't put it through the head, the minnow must be alive to be effective. Replace dead minnows, they don't work. Approach: Position the boat so that you can reach the bank or within 5' or so (25-35 yards out). Cast at a 90 degree angle or straight to shore and fish upstream (never downstream) at no more than a 45 degree angle. It is important that you maintain occasional contact with the bottom, the current will dictate the amount of weight you will need. Bring lots of hooks and weights, you will get hung up...a lot! Depth & Structure: We fish both sides of the river and most of the shoreline as far as fifteen miles below the Pickwick Dam. Although current breaks, riprap, pools and big boulders seem to produce the biggest smallmouth, we also pick them up on gravel bars, near boat ramps, dikes and just about any transition. We do NOT catch smallmouth on mud banks or bottoms. We sometimes fish the channel drop, mainly in the late winter, near gravel bars on the inside of the river. The vast majority of our 5lb + bass are caught in 5-15 ft of water, smaller fish (bankrunners) are shallow. Current: Current is everything. We can fish with two generators open (~20k cfs) but the preferred water flow is 40-80K cfs. We have caught big smallmouth with some gates open (140-180k cfs), but it's hard to run the boat and the water tends to muddy up at the higher flows.

Put away the striper gear. Smallmouth bass on the Tennessee River, size is everything.

ernel, Wow! I like your pond. Those are fine fish. Your pictures have "The Blair Witch Project" effect, eery and very cool. Congratulations. BTW, Does your pond produce big fish fairly consistantly? Do you know when it was built or when it was stocked? Just curious as to about how old these fish are.

I've caught four 10lb bass, one on a public pond, two on a private pond and one on big water. All were caught on a six inch Senko. I catch lots of big bass on a variety of ponds probably because they are much easier to fish than big water. The biggest challenge we face is finding fish, bass are pretty easy to catch once you find them. Ponds narrow the search. The main consideration in catching big bass on small water is determining if there are actually any large fish in that water. You can't catch 'em if they ain't there!

My favorite colors are bright bronze with black vertical stripes. Like their cousins, colors are sometimes vibrant and sometimes light and dull. The water I fish is stained and relatively shallow, but even a small difference in depth, say 10', can have a dramatic impact on the color and brightness of the bass. They tend to grow bigger in deep water, too!

In-Fisherman is a multispecies magazine, but there are always bass articles in every issue. Probably the best article I've seen anywhere in a long time is an interview with Rick Clunn in the June/July '05 issue. Every issue features largemouth and smallmouth bass articles as well as catfish, walley, pike and trout. Techniques, rigs, patterns and scientific studies of fish and their habitat are all included. It's by far the most informative fishing magazine out there. Inside Line is NOT just a Gary Yamamoto promotional magazine. Sure, they usually have an article on fishing a GYBC product, but even that is very informative. Lots of indepth interviews with the pros and lots of helpful articles of particular regional interest. I prefer this magazine hands down over Bassmaster. Also, JT Bagwell (remember him?) is a staff writer for the publication.

#1 In-Fisherman #2 Inside Line #3 Bassmaster

Wow! Talk about different strokes for different folks, I've read many articles and seen several posts on this forum like Nick's "most strikes occurring after the lure has struck something". My experience has been 100% opposite, I can't recall EVER having a strike after hitting anything. I plan to take this good advice and put it to use. Are we talking rocks or timber or pilings or what? Anything? Everything? It seems to me that I read a piece written by Skeet Reese that he NEVER uses this technique mainly because baitfish do not swim around banging into things. What do you say to that? Just curious. I'm all eyes and ears.

I'm with you Bass-Brat. If I'm on the right structure or cover, a steady, do-nothing retrieve seems to be deadly. I don't even like fishing spinnerbaits, but have had some great days this year with a nothing retrieve (Thank you BassResource members!). The only retrieve that has worked for me with Bomber Square A and Bagley BII has been steady, sometimes a little slower or faster, but steady none the less. Same story with the LV500 (Lucky Craft Rat-L-Trap). I think it's all about cover, structure and speed.

Raul hit the nail on the head, as usual! We start smallmouth fishing on the Tennessee River in September when the bite picks up. The water temperature does not change at all until early October (usually). Right now we're at 89 degrees, by mid October we'll be either side of 85. It's all about light, current and bait activity...a complete circle. The fishing keeps getting better as the water cools, but that may be coincidental with light changes or probably a complimenting factor.

I'm not all over these worms, but like Raul said, if you want (need) to catch a few fish and you're not real particular about size, give these Roboworms a try. I was certainly surprised. To finish my story, I had to leave early that day (Sunday) so this is how it went: 15 casts, 6 largemouth bass at the end of the morning. They weren't big, but this hadn't been one of those days where everything worked either.

Nick just returned from a very successful smallmouth fishing trip in Wisconcin, pay special attention to his post. I would emphasize points, ridges, ledges and humps, especially in deep water or surrounded by deep water. If there is a breeze, concentrate on the windward side. Tackle: Medium power/ fast action spinning gear. I recommend lighter line, 6 lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid Ultra Soft. Small crankbaits, tubes, C-rigged lizards and Hula Grubs are sure bets, but you'll catch more smallmouth with live minnows fished on a split shot rig. This time of year smallmouth are easy to catch in Wisconsin, they feed all day long. The key there, as everywhere, is finding the fish. Once you do, don't be quick to move on, smallmouth tend to stack up and school together. Focus on structure and look for similar features throughout the lake. If you have trouble, slow troll your crankbaits and drag a minnow 10-12' deep on a bobber. When you catch a fish, stop and try your other lures in that area. Good luck.

Chris scores with the Fat Ika! I haven't been... It's soooooooooo hot here, the bass are generally deeper than I like to fish weightless soft plastics. If I'm fishing deeper than 12' I have been using weighted presentations fished very slow. The exact profile and action seems to vary from day to day. For most of the summer the Gitzit, T-rigged has been my most productive bait, but some days it's the Kut-Tail or Kreature. Last weekend I fished a Roboworm for the first time and it was killer or at least I caught a few small fish over a short period of time. Chris wrote about fishing 'em slow. Well, a couple of big bass and a monster catfish I've caught recently on the tube picked it up while I was deadsticking. Slow means letting the lure sit for a minute or two and just lifting it off the bottom. One long cast, if you think you're in the zone, can take five or ten minutes. Do you have the patience for that? It takes concentration, too. Bites occur when you least expect it.

I use the jig insert without a weed guard in relatively open water. For a weedless presentation I T-rig (unpegged). T-rigged tubes have been my most productive lure this summer.

Hey papadew! Where you been? Out fishing instead of here talking about fishing? It sounds like this last trip was tough. I like stained water but I hate muddy water. Give the Bagely BII with rattles a try, it's been working for me this summer. Regarding Yo-Zuri Hybrid Ultra Soft, yep I'm on the bandwagon...Still have a few thousand yards of the original to work through, but I 'll probably be Mr. Soft Formula from here on out. Back to Roboworms: I just don't usually fish for small fish, so that's why I hadn't used them. They worked big-time this weekend. If I were a tournament fisherman, I think I would spend about 80% of my time flipping and dropshoting. I don't like to fish either way, but I do think those two techniques produce more fish than anything else a guy can do. kbj3579: Thanks. I changed the title so it fit "General Bass Fishing" but you're probably right, "Tackle" is probably where this should have been posted. my mistake.

Some of the Western tounaments have been won with Roboworms, so about a year ago I bought the 6" Shakin' Zipper Worms, two bags in every color. Well, after finding out later, from Raul, that these worms were mostly used on split shot rigs, fishing for numbers not size, I never got around to fishing them. This weekend all I could catch were little bass and not too many of those. So, I've been carrying these Roboworms around in my soft plastic box for quite awhile, but never throwing them. I rigged up a purple Shakin' Zipper Worm on a 1/4 oz bullet weight, red bead and Gamakatsu 3/0 EWG. That's when the fun began. Five casts, four bass. Ten more casts, two more bass and a little better size. I was impressed, these guys woked well for me. Pretty good test conditions, too. Not much action on the Secret Pond, hot and getting hotter, the morning getting late (8:30). If you dropshot, you need to check these worms out. I'm going to use them a little more often. BTW, These worms are heavily impregnated with salt that doesn't wash off but is time released. The plastic is soft but durable, I only fished one worm! The company makes several worms, this particular one is ribbed like a french fry.

I recommend soft plastics on and around deep structure, fished slowly. I caught a couple of big largemouth (and accidently catfish) deadsticking a tube. Tubes are #1 for me right now, Kut-Tail a close second. I'm fishing both T-rigged, unpegged.

Well then, there you have it. Thanks Raul, I stand corrected. Kudos to nwgabassmaster, good job researching the topic. There seems to be a lot of people that had it all wrong.