Lottabass

It's that time of year in Iowa!

Line diameter is important. Use it to help control the depth the lure will run.

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Couldn't get anything going with a horizontal presentation in shallow water. Water temp was 55, cloudy, good south spinnerbait breeze. All the good ones came on a jig n blade in 8 fow. Caught many good bass around this old sentinal tree. It sets just a few feet from a creek channel bend.

This is a good book with lots of information. I read it and was overwhelmed trying to work all that info into my fishing. Same with all the YT infomercials out there. I admit I'm not the saltiest french fry in the bag. Fishing experience, instincts, and awareness will catch you a lot of bass, I think.

Glorius weather, great fishin'! Water temp at 55. Nabbed 4 over 4 on swim jig, the rest on a spinnerbait and Frittside.

All good advice here, Katie. However, I would ask the bass what they will bite as they will provide the ultimate answer. Here is a good example of not listening to the fish; I love frog fishing and I have spent many hours fishing a frog in the wrong places at the wrong time, but I kept doing it because it made me happy. The memories of past success and stubbornness have been my downfall many times.

Water temps dropping below 55 and into freeze up is the best time of year to fish here in Iowa. When the deer start rutting the big bass start eating.

YES I CAN!!!!!!

@Swamp Girl Love the scenery photos. Love the location photos. Love the fat bass photos.

It looks like your shoreline is weedy or semi-weedy, enough to make a treble hooked lure difficult to fish. Water temps here in Iowa are in mid 60's and I have caught all I can handle on horizontal presentations. Swim jig or fluke will work in weeds. Instead of a buzzbait I use a buzz frog, like a Scum Frog Bigfoot or a Spro Flappin Frog. Of course the bass will tell you what they will bite if you are listening, and I know you are! I can see you now, sliding your canoe silently up against the bank, shooting that Bigfoot into that space between the weeds and the overhanging branches, and the wake it makes as you gurgle it back....and then one of your fat four pounders gets ticked off and wacks that rubber sucker and I hear you squealing with joy! I ain't with you but I can see you.

Savor this time of year. All glory is fleeting. They couldn't keep their lips off of a spinnerbait and plopper today. See the beaver?

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The best anglers I know try not to make the same mistake over and over again; instead they strive to make new and interesting mistakes and to remember what they learned from them. Got some good 'uns today! 3/4 oz Trickster, green skirt, white head, red eyes, pink cheeks, and black eyebrows. 🤪

@Swamp Girl "However, those days are done." They are Katie, but God gave us memory so we can have roses in December. Being a crone and a codger, we are getting closer to Heaven every day, but we are pretty darn close on the water! Love the video! A canoe with guns, love that too!

I think if a bass misses your bait, or if one blows up on bait, that is a catchable fish and I do the same as you, or get a stick worm or a jig to that spot. That fish is caught, he just doesn't know it yet!

"I think Swamp Girl is the most successful catcher on this forum! She is leaving the rest of us in the dust!" Katie catches more bass, and good ones, than anyone I know! She does it in a short Maine season, too!

Congratulations, Katie! 1,424, WOW!

@Swamp Girl YOU are so blessed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A year that everyone admires! We hold our breaths anticipating your reports and being astounded by them!

The more you can make it deflect, the more fish you will catch. If I'm blind casting it is to find something to hit. If I find something to hit I will hit it many times from different angles. Then move on looking for something else to hit. Rinse and repeat. One of the cool things about crankbait fishing is when the bass takes the water off your bait. When this happens I say "I just got whooshed!". You hit something, pause it, begin reeling again, and your bait "disappears" for a second, then you feel it again. That was a bass! Happens a lot with bladed jigs, swimming worms, and swim jigs too.

I'm gonna get one. It's funny how knowledge can outfish a secret lure every time.

@jitterbug127 If you are a "terrible" fisherman then you only can improve! Some TOP NOTCH advice from the commetators here!

Snagged 17 bouncin' a squarebill and spinnerbait off wood in the shade. Beautiful time of year to be fishin'!!!!

Use a spoon in cold water for near vertical fishing. If too brushy for spoon I've used a heavy weedless bass jig with a spinner blade attached, kinda like a Little George.

Big, heavy spoon.