papajoe222

One of the lakes I fish has lily pads that extend out from shore 10-15yrds almost completely around the lake. In the summer, I'll watch, from just under a cast away,the pads for movement. If they won't respond to a frog or worm pulled over the tops of the pads, I'll give the spot a minute or two and toss a punch rig in there. I've been catching most of my big fish there doing just that. I'll slowly work my way around the lake stopping and watching. I may only catch four or five fish doing this, but when they are 4-5lb bass, I'm not complaining. I rarely see bass after the spawn is over.

I wrote an article years ago, here is an edited version. Although some anglers in the deep south are, or will be dealing with pre-spawn, many of us are dealing with winter conditions, or lakes that are iced over. You hear that bass are in a negative mood because their metabolism is slowed because of their cold water environment. Don't misinterpret this to mean that their activity level is neutral, or negative. Bass are cold blooded creatures and as such, still function normally under cold water conditions. Yes, they don't need to feed anywhere near as often as in the summer and their strike zone will be small, but their attitudes change just the same. Here's a quick look at the different activity levels and how to both determine and use them in your quest to catch them, regardless of the water temperature. The activity level of fish can be described as their willingness to strike your bait. A good way to judge that activity level is by the distance they will travel to do so. This is what many anglers and writers call the strike zone, or window. There are a number of factors that can clue you in on the fish’s activity level before you even get on the water and a couple of indicators to pay attention to once you’re out there. For simplicity, I'll refer to those levels as aggressive, neutral or non-aggressive and negative, or ‘I ain’t getting off my !$# for nothing attitude’. If the fish are aggressive, they will travel some distance to strike. If they’re in a neutral mood, they may strike your lure, but won't move far to do so. When they won’t budge, you most likely will have to hit them on the head or surprise them to get any type of response. The good news is they can be caught regardless of their activity level. It’s just more fun when they’re aggressive. Most anglers know that cold fronts will put the fish in a neutral or negative mood as will cold water and post frontal conditions can often times lengthen that effect. This is the simplest factor to recognize for most of us. Those clear, cloudless days can put a big damper on our outlook for success before ever hitting the water. Unstable weather, quickly falling water levels, low muddy or dirty water that is normally fairly clear and the spawn and immediate post spawn are others. Other, less obvious factors may also come into play including water temperature, oxygen levels and recent feeding activity. Being aware of these factors helps us in determining where the fish are likely to be and we all know how important fish location is. Bass relating to structure will venture some distance from it when feeding (aggressive), suspended off of it when in a neutral mood and possibly abandon it completely in search of some secure area when in a negative mood. Fish relating to cover will be at the outer most edges when aggressive, in ambush positions that offer some security when neutral and either extremely tight to or buried in the cover when negative . How do you determine which? Assume they are in a neutral mood and approach them that way. If the fish are there, they’ll tell you if they’re aggressive by the way they take your bait and where, or how they are positioned. Aggressive fish often take your offering completely in their mouths, hook themselves or explode on your topwater offering. Neutral fish will be subtle, their bite is often hard to detect, they’ll be either just barely hooked, or just swipe at your offering. If you don't get bit by changing presentations, after two hours on the water, you guessed it, they're most likely in a negative mood. You can assume the fish’s activity level by observing their positioning on the structure or cover with your electronics. Negative fish rarely show up on your electronics, or should I say the average angler won’t see them. This makes locating negative fish that much more difficult. If you approach fishing for negative fish knowing you may only get a handful of quality bites, you will be able to maintain the level of concentration to turn them into catches. By adjusting your approach you can take advantage of this and reduce the amount of fishless time on the water, plus take advantage of those rare times when they almost jerk the rod out of you hands.

If I'm not mistaken, Lake Simcoe is in Canada. There is a member's location map on the site that can guide you to any that may live in the area and you can PM your query. Not all members have their location listed, so leave this tread open and you may get a response from one of them. Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance and BTW, You're a lucky bloke to be able to travel across the pond to go fishing.

Welcome to BR. Hope you stick around. There is so much information and so many members willing to share what they know, you can spend all day on the site and never touch on the same topic. Part of the reason for that is there are a bunch of old farts here that, although they've forgotten more than they can remember, they are willing to share what little they can remember. Just remember that when you click on one of their replies, they have a tendency to be long winded and repeat themselves, so please bear with us.......errrr them. Welcome to BR OMG, Katie is Swamp Girl!!! Did she change her user name. Why am I asking you?

South in the winter, north every other season. I may head a little farther south in the early spring to chase some pre-spawners, but never more than 150-200mi. When they hit the beds here, I head north and do the same. Then it's back to my neck of the woods and summer.

YES Every morning I thank God for the new day and ask that I see another. For as passionate as I am about fishing, I only recall the dreams just before waking and they're never fishing dreams. I used to wake up under a tent, but those days are gone. Nowdays, I just get on Youtube and watch others catching fish. It actually makes it worse, but what the heck, we torture ourselves every time we get skunked, but still enjoy being out there.

Got a job at BPS for exactly that reason, the discount. The job only lasted a few months and I spent everything I made on everything from fishing gear to boots. Would have stuck around longer, but I got a line on driving a party bus. Bachelorette and girl's night out runs are much more interesting.

I was lucky enough to play baseball well enough to get me into college. I never had a coach until I got into HS. I was pretty much self taught though I did have a cousin that I played pick up games with that played organized ball. I learned plenty watching him and others. I'm a visual learner. The same thing happened with Bass fishing. I read as much as I could and back then there weren't many articles in 'Field & Stream' or 'Outdoor Life' geared to bassin. It was mostly trial and error, or watch and learn and not many opportunities for the latter. That all changed when I came back from Nam. A fella I served with from Tenn. would take me with him whenever we could get off base. That's when I learned about seasonal patterns and I started studying bass. Along came 'Fishing Facts' and BASS and local bass tournaments, my first boat and eventually Bass Resource. Never got anywhere playing ball, or getting past club tournaments, but I'm still active and enjoying both.

Went to WalMart in a nearby town and checked out the fishing dept. They had Rapala OG cranks for $2.50 &$3.00. my two fav. colors, Silver and Big Shad, too. Cleaned them out in one swoop. Mama wasn't too happy until I mentioned what they normally sell for. My guess is Rapala discontinued them. All the better. They could be worth something in the future, like next season!

Imagine how I feel as a Red Sox fan. He's still in H.S. so he's only going down to work out with the pitchers and catchers. Nothing official, but I'm excited for the exposure he'll be getting. There is some speculation about the H.S. draft, but he's still a year away, a little early to even think about that yet.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Even if the water is super clear, you'd have to go with a thick fluoro for it to make a difference. It may not cut as easily as braid, but that dosen't mean you won't loose fish and lures if a toothy one does a 180 with its mouth open.

Purple, although I can't see the red in it, is one. A black grape, fire tail worm has caught me hundreds of LM over the years and was the predominate soft plastic of my success in tournaments. Second, and I don't know if you all consider it one, is black. This is my fav for punching and night fishing. Last is a chartruse/red flake. Next to a GP tube, I won't go smallmouth fishing without them.

I don't look at the size of the lake first, I look for diversity in structure. Specifically, I'm looking for multiple changes in depth, be they, points, drop-offs, humps, flats and if the map shows bottom content, I'll look for changes from muck to sand or gravel, or my favorite, rock. A good trophy lake will have multiples of each. One of my favorite lakes, Lake Geneva, WI, has some structural elements and changes in bottom composition. That mix, along with a mix of cover makes for a lake that not only gives up trophy smallmouth, but some nice size toothy critters. That last factor is a benefit as the bass aren't at the top of the food chain and that helps in finding them. Oh yea, there is a well established forage base, too.

Both my daughters and their families will be moving to Missouri. My oldest this spring to the Springfield area and my youngest next summer to the Kansas City area. That means Papa and grandma will be moving. Although my area of interest centers around the higher populations, better health care options, I'm looking for an area that offers some decent bass fishing. I have fished Table Rock on a number of occasions, prefer smaller bodies of water (I got lost on TR after the sun went down one time). Any lakes within an hour drive of either city? I've been checking out some properties, but it'd be helpful to target a specific area in my search. TIA

This lake in the northwest corner of the state, is a good producer of both numbers and decent size bass. However, I haven't fished it for a few summers because of the number of tournaments it would host throughout the season. If anyone here is familiar with it, do you know if it still receives a lot of fishing pressure during the summer? I know there was a big tournament that used to be hosted the second week of July. The lake got a lot of media exposure and the number of tournaments blossomed when word spread.

The lake is fairly small, I'd say maybe 125 acres, but it's deep, 55ft. at it's deepest. My best guess is the meat fishermen depleted the panfish population to a point where the bass didn't continue to grow. That doesn't explain the absence of bigger bass. The big fish did change their location preference during the summer, opting for the heavy growth of lilypads over the deeper structure. I was able to adapt and still catch some. Now, even after ice-out, I can locate and catch smaller fish. It's been five years since I boated anything over 4lb. there. I doubt my inability to adapt to changes is the reason, but I just may have lost my touch.

Swamp Girl's topic on percentage of big bass got me to thinking We have a power plant lake up here that consistently produced 5lb smallmouth. Then, for some reason, the smallmouth population and the majority of big largemouth dissapeared. There's a natural, deep lake in northern Indiana where I know there were some bass over 6lb as I caught them on a fairly regular basis until about five years ago. There are only three houses on this lake and because of it's super clear water, the few locals that fish there only do so in the spring and late fall. That particular lake still gives up some nice largemouth and an occasional bowfin that fights harder than any catfish of its size. I have an idea there was a big fish kill on that power plant lake a few summers ago due to high water temps. and low O2 levels, but the other lake stumps me as it isn't fed by a stream and it isn't connected to any other body of water. Anyone have this happen to a lake they frequent?

Thanks everyone. I'm not stuck on going with Daiwa and I do have and use other reels. Hopefully there'll be a sale before the season up here and I can get a deal on one of the suggestions. I have a hard time justifying another reel purchase to the Mrs., but she swallows the pill easier if it's on sale.

News of this hit me harder than I thought. I pray that you and your family face this with courage knowing that the Lord has a plan, which culminates in us joining him. The journey there is different for everyone. Despite what you face, I pray your journey includes the love of your friends and family. You have mine.

Years ago I did an unauthorized tagging of big bass in my club's waters. There's maybe 80 acres of water in those pits. Not only did I catch the same fish on multiple occasions, the location was within ten yards of the previous catch during the same season of the year. One year, I caught the same fish in Oct. and again in April, completely different location. There was only 8oz. difference in her weight even though she was full of eggs. The first time I caught her she was 19in. the last time she was 23in. I think the odds of catching the same fish more than once are in direct correlation to size of the lake. A lake I fish more frequently is close to 1000 acres and I've yet to catch the same fish, as far as I can tell, more than once.

Thanks for the heads up, not looking forward to it. We could always give Glenn our phone numbers so he could contact us for moral support. Shoot, he's on the west coast...........if he calls at 21:30 his time, that'd be 23:30 my time. What was I thinking? Hang in there buddy, don't get lost in the cloud.

I’m not a big fan of Tatula’s T-wing, just dislike change, but I did get a set of their gears to convert a Fuego, which I may do again. I prefer not using my Sols or Alpha for cranking, but for smaller cranks I still use a Sol.

I prefer slower reels for cranking and it seems that choices under this are really hard to find. Add to that, I prefer Daiwa's and apart from a Fuego I switched gears in, I'm at a loss. I am in need of one as I retired most of my Sols. Any recommendations?

A quick ballpark guess would be less than 5% For me, it's 5lb. or 22in. as I don't always weigh my fish and bass over 6lb. are very rare in all but our power plant lakes. I boated 340 fish over 13in. last season (I don't log anything under). Only 16 of those were in the first group and of those only 6 were over 6lb. One 24in. fish that may have been over 6lb. I didn't count.

I put my line waste in a container I keep in the boat. It's the same place I put all the line my trolling motor picks up during the course of a day. I understand that shore anglers break off on snags and can leave some long sections of line out there, but I pick up more line from spots only boaters can be responsible for. That really gets my BP up 😠, even more so than the amount of trash I pickup floating. There is no excuse for leaving 30+yrds. of line out there when you get hung up. Don't want to ruin a spot (common excuse)? Sorry dude, you ruined it jerking on that snag for the last five min.