papajoe222

Without a doubt, blade baits are my go to after ice-out and will produce until the spawn as long as I change my presentation. I love 'em, right? Well............they're also the bait I loose most often. I'll sometimes go through four or five if fishing from shore and one or two if I'm out in the boat. I really don't fret over a lost lure here and there, but on those occasions when that lure is killing it and I loose the last one I have, I sometimes want to jump in that ice cold water to get it back. So what lure type do you have a love/hate relationship and why?

I was lucky today. I got out of BPS for less than $85 and all I went in for was a T-shirt for my grandson. Never did look at 'em though.

Wish I hadn't gotten one in four years! I get more than my fair share of over runs.Mostly when I attempt to add a few yards to a long cast with an unweighted plastic. Those and buzzbaits. I can teach someone how to use a baitcaster and they'll be ribbing me every time we go out together. As mentioned before, run the line between your finger and thumb of the hand holding the reel. You'll not only keep tension on the line, you'll feel bites on your soft plastics that you would have missed.

My starting strategy is erratic retrieve in daylight, steady at night or very low water clarity. Notice I said where I start. and I'm speaking of mostly hard baits like cranks and spinnerbaits. It also depends on the lure. A buzz bait works both ways, but is a lot easier to reel steady.

Every two minutes, a child is diagnosed with cancer. To show my support and to raise awareness and funds for research, I'll be getting my head shaved on Monday. Look for before and after pics (if you don't have a weak stomach) here sometime late Mon. morning, or you can see it happening on FaceBook as I'll be streaming it live at 10:30 central time. I should say my son-in-law will be streaming it 'cause my hair would be grown back before I figure out how to. Before and after pics can also be seen at stbaldricks.org I'm shavee #952317 Joe Cortesi

Thanks Lasher for breathing life back into this thread. BPS here I come. On second thought, I can order online and just have it shipped to my favorite charity.

If you don't need a stout hook, the JP tube hook with the clip on it is an awesome choice. It doesn't work, however, with an internal weight. When doing that, I like a hook with a good amount of wire between the eye and the initial bend for the weight to nest in. Any quality, stout worm hook will work with the bigger 4in.+ tubes. For any thing shorter, you'll want something like the Trokar RyneB mentioned. For tubes, I like TriggerX and Havoc Smash tubes for a long,skinny profile, but my favorite for flipping is a craw/creature tube. Absolutely awesome as a punch bait and you can load up the hollow body with scent, or add an internal rattle.

Hammered blades are good for breaking up the reflection and Colorado and Indiana blades give off a lot of vibration at slow speeds. If your spinnerbaits are double bladed, go with the small Colorado on the clevis and the big Colorado on the swivel, both in dark color and add a red or black skirt. I'd add a trailer like a Kalin's grub to give more drag to a bait with a Willow blade and still allow a slower retrieve. Don't worry too much about color combos in murky water. The fish will be relying as much on detecting vibration and water displacement as they will be on their sight and remember that natural prey doesn't change color.

The most important feature of the gear you use is your comfort level in using it.If you can match it to the task at hand, all the better. Pitching isn't just a presentation for jigs in heavy cover, so if you're pitching a spinnerbait under some overhangs, do you really need a super fast reel and 60lb. braid? I do recommend braid, or fluoro for pitching as the majority of time sensitivity is going to me a major factor in detecting strikes. Don't go out and buy a new combo until you feel comfortable with the technique. Once you are, you may find you do better with a shorter rod and a 6.3:1 reel.

Do your homework. Rising, muddy water will put fish in a survival mode. Security is what drives them, so look for big cover as they'll be tight to the best lay downs, boulders, etc. Newly flooded timber is another prime type of cover . Unless the only cover available is vegetation or newly flooded brush. I'd stick with those targets. Those fish won't be chasing down your baits, so you'll likely need to hit them on the head to get a reaction. With that water clarity. you'll need something to cover water and bang into the cover. A spinnerbait with an Indiana or Colorado blade is great for most any cover. Make it a black one and be sure to bump the cover with it. Same goes for a fat crank bait with rattles. It'll move a lot of water and deflect well off the hard types of cover. This condition and night fishing are the only times I rely on a steady retrieve.

Just like any lure style, lipless cranks have many variations, not counting color schemes. Changing the sound, or vibration or just changing to a silent bait of the same type can make a big difference in your catch rate. The other thing to consider is how you're presenting the bait. Rat-L-Traps are great baits, but sink like a rock when paused or allowed to fall. A Red Eye Shad doesn't have the tight wobble that the trap does, but flutters on the fall. Kind of like the difference between a curly tail, ribbon tail, paddle tail, or boot tail worm or grub. AS for what conditions call for which bait? There really is only one way to find out. The other thing to always keep in mind is the possibility that the fish just aren't reacting to a reaction bait. Only you can figure that out. That's one of the things I love about this sport: No Rules, just guidelines.

My advice to anyone is to use what works. CroakHunter offers valuable information as the spinnerbait continued to produce. Why switch? Often times it isn't the fish becoming conditioned to a particular lure or retrieve, the fish are holding tighter to cover, have moved deeper, or their strike window has shrunk. In those instances, changing lures, etc. isn't going to get you bit. If it does, it's likely that what you were throwing was being ignored.

Not disclaiming your findings croakhunter, but wondering just how pressured that pond is?

Looking to give my grandson his first baitcaster and have settled on one of these two in MH. Price isn't a factor as the Elite Tech is on sale. Just wondering if there's anything easily distinguishable between the two performance wise?

Sorry Koz, but although a bass' brain doesn't have the capability to reason or remember, the instinct you mention also encompasses survival and avoiding a lure that triggers that instinct is a natural reaction on their part. A bass reacts to its environment as it affects their survival. They don't choose to eat an artificial lure, regardless of size, shape, or color. They react to its presence under the current conditions. I've cleaned many a fish with an overfull belly that was obviously not hungry.

Welcome Newbe. As Scott mentioned, those are far from 'ideal' conditions as the fish will be in more of a survival or negative state. They'll be holding tight to anything that offers cover and slack water. A float-n-fly is a hair/feather jig presented under a float (bobber). It's a great way to discover slack water areas when there don't appear to be any.

I'm a strong believer in 'showing them something different, but I put more emphasis on on other things. As an example, my favorite body of water is less than 100 acres and the two most often used lures are plastic worms and lip less cranks. To be more specific, green pumpkin worms and chrome Rat-L-Traps. I use those two baits over 50% of the time, but I'm still showing them something different. The difference is my presentation and differences in the bait itself. By going larger,or smaller, offering something with a different action (Red Eye Shad, or a paddle tail worm). or just a difference in presentation (different speed, or angle of presentation, swimming vs. dragging, pumping the rod vs. reeling it back steady), I'm showing them something different. As for natural vs. unique, I opt for natural to start and if I determine that the fish are aggressive (active) I'll switch to something different. That's when I want my offering to stand out the most. Bass don't have long term memory, but the do, instinctively avoid repeated, negative responses. A fish that's been caught on a rattling crank a few times in a short period, will avoid one because of the repeated negative experience. Similar to a fish that's inhaled a falling leaf a few times. After that it will ignore them because nothing positive resulted from previous attempts.

Just a quick update: As of my last communication with BlueBasser, we have 20 anglers committed to the trip. We’ve narrowed down lodging to two resorts. Both have their own launch, slips, some cabins have a private dock and one resort has boat rentals and allows pets. If you’re on the fence, or thinking about making the trip, let us know as soon as possible.

A good braid in the 30lb. test range will work for all treble hook applications. If you’re concerned about tearing hooks out of the fishes mouth, you’re over powering the fish when fighting it. Set your drag correctly and use the rod to bring them in by pumping it up and reeling in the slack when you drop it back down. If you don’t think you can transition to doing that, Go with a quality hybrid like Yozuri. It isn’t the best choice for top waters if you’re working them slow, but will get the job done on most if you work them with your rod tip up.

The only area I see that may be a possible spawning area( depending on how big to is) would be that hump on the NW side that the road bed passes over. If the waters fairly clear and there’s a lack of traditional spawning flats.

If I knew a little more about how you plan to use it, I might be able to help you out. If you do a lot of punching heavy, matted vegetation, you might lean toward the heavy action Dobyns. if you mainly pitch, flip, or skip it'd likely be too much rod. I, personally, punch with a rod i built on a MH/F 7'3" Forecast blank that I cut down three inches. I use it for everything but football jigs.

Welcome to the forums. A spinnerbait has much more versatility than a crank in that it can be presented throughout the water column. Any individual crank is limited to basically one depth range. If you're fishing from shore, or some unknown part of the lake, you can start fishing the spinner up high, through the mid depths, or on the bottom. One downside is that you'll have is retrieving it at a constant depth, especially when first using them. When you catch a fish, you want to be able to repeat what you and the lure were doing. The downside to cranks is that they only run down to one depth and only stay there for part of your retrieve. Another downside for spinnerbaits is the amount of flash they give off. On a sunny, calm day, that flash is a turn off for bass. They both have different triggering qualities and which one to use in any given situation is based more on personal preference/confidence than any perceived plus or minus compared to the other.

If you're just starting out with the C-Rig, I'll make a couple of suggestions that may help. First is your main line choice; Base it on the type of bottom you'll be fishing. I prefer braid for its sensitivity and fluorocarbon for abrasion resistance. Second is the weight; Egg, bullet, needle, Lindy will all work. I prefer tungsten weights when I'm not at risk of loosing them. Third is your leader line; There is no doubt in my mind that a quality mono leader will get you more bites than fluorocarbon. It floats and even when using 6lb. test, the stretch isn't a factor. No, it won't float most soft plastics, but it won't pull them down to the bottom and the beauty of a C-rig is that it presents your bait just off the bottom. Lastly is leader length; Starting out I recommend keeping it short 12in.-18in.as it's easier to cast and detect bites than longer 2ft.-4ft. leaders.

Fishing structure can be accomplished using a variety of baits. However, if that structure is below 15ft. The number of baits that can be used narrows considerably. ’Deep’ is a relative term as it is determined by what depths are available. I mentioned 15ft. For a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that a majority of anglers rarely fish below that depth when deeper water is available. A C-Rig isn’t only a deep water presentation, but it is an excellent choice for deep water because it reaches and stays on the bottom without the angler working any harder to do so. In doing so, it transmits a lot of information back to the angler. Lastly, the bait used can be presented on the bottom, or well off of it by adjusting the leader’s length and material. A football jig can do all but the last, although at times it’s a better option. It is best presented when the location of fish is unknown and you need to cover a lot of real estate fairly quickly. It allows you to multi-task and catch fish in the process.

One of our club lakes was like that for years. A ton of fish under 12in. and the normal amount of big fish for the acreage, but no 2lb.-4lb. ones. A study showed that the abundance of small fish depleted the forage base so much that it stunted their growth and the only bigger fish that did survive were using the much smaller bass as forage. They did two things to eliminate those conditions. First they allowed the removal of fish under 12in. while prohibiting removal of any bass over 12in. At the end of the season, they added 400lbs. of minnows. Eight years later there was a good mix of small to large bass and a healthy, Minniow based forage base.