papajoe222

If the water's clear, a suspending jerkbait can be a good producer. Another would be a swimbait, slowly reeled over the top of any vegetation. The third one I'd go with would be a blade bait jigged off some hard bottom structure. The downside is, in the wrong place, you may end up catching only small fish. When you're after big fish, it's difficult to leave a spot, but that's exactly what you need to do for cold or warm water. If water temp drops into the 40s, switch the jerkbait out for a jig.

I love blade baits in cold water, They're probably my most productive lure up to the spawn. The last couple of seasons, I've been using them in place of lipless cranks in the summer, reason being they're much more silent. Now, you may laugh, but I hang the belly hooks on my lipless using two split rings (one below the other), as I feel it gives the bass less leverage to throw the hooks. I haven't done it to my blade baits, as I rarely deal with fish throwing them. Anyone double split ring either of these baits?

Stopped a BassPro to check out their reloading supplies and didn't see anything I use, so I headed down to the fishing section and walked out with a bag full of RageTails. I paid regular price, but it seems when they're on sale, I don't have the cash.

I use a C-rig from ice out to the end of open water fishing. Braid main line, 1/2oz. to 1oz. Brass or Tungsten weight, glass bead and ball bearing swivel. Leader is always mono and the longer, the heavier lb. test. Personally, I don’t mind a little bit of fraying as it forces me to check and re-tie all knots. I’ve tried fluoro, but I prefer the extra sensitivity and hook setting advantages of braid. A football jig is a viable alternative to a C-rig for those occasions when your weight is getting hung between rocks.

I fish a bunch of electric only waters,along with some that have a 10hp limit, out of my Tracker. It's equipped with a MotorGuide Tour Edition and neither of my depth finders are side imaging. If I were to choose one it'd be the TM with Spot Lock. If you're proficient with your current DF, upgrading will only give you a bigger screen and not much in the way of benefits over your current unit as long as you can mark way points. If for no other reason than having Spot Lock, the motor is going to be of more benefit to fishing your type of water.

For me, the depression starts when I put the boat up for the winter, that was two weeks ago. I keep a couple of combos ready to go at a moment's notice, but they likely won't see any action until ice-out. I try to keep busy with fishing related activities over the winter. I normally wait until after the holidays, but I've already checked and replaced hooks on all my treble hooked baits and I've put together three lots of baits I'll be selling come spring. At the pace I'm going, I'll be giving casting lessons at our local field house by New Years.

While reorganizing my tackle, I got to thinking about my assortment of topwaters and their colors. Now I'll be the first to admit that color is at the bottom of my list when it comes to choosing baits. I adhere to the general guidelines about color, except for my topwaters. I've read, heard and even recommend that color really doesn't matter, just throw anything with a white or dark belly. the reason being the fish are looking up and the underside of a bait and that is what they see. So why do I have frog patterns, orange bellies, solid chrome and all the other colors and combinations of my favorite walking bait, the Zara Spook? Two reasons; That bait can and does, call fish from a good distance away and not just from directly under it. From a side angle 15ft. away, a bass can surely see the sides of the bait. So if color can be an important factor with other hard baits, why wouldn't that also apply to topwaters? The other reason is that I rarely work a walking bait fast, so the fish gets a good look at it. As with other baits, if the fish aren't committing to a lure/presentation, I'll switch something. With me, it's usually cadence/speed or the size of the bait I'm using. Changing color is the last thing I will try, but it's the first when fishing on top. A switch to a frog pattern almost always results in solid hook-ups following explosive hits from fish that would only swirl at other offerings. This realization has me rethinking my view of the importance of color for other applications. Nah, I'm an old fart that is resistant to change and has too much time on his hands during the off season.

I have two pair of Costas. One pair with the glass lenses, the other has the polycarbonate ones. Trust me, the glass lenses are the way to go for clarity and seeing into the water.. They are a little heavier and if you decide on a big frame, the extra weight may turn you off to wearing them for long periods. For protection for physical injury you may want to go the poly route.

I retired at a fairly young age, took on a job with flexible hours that offered health insurance and fished more often. . With the added time on the water, I started targeting big fish. I was elated with the size of fish in the lakes and pits I fish and didn't concern myself with numbers. About the time Medicare kicked in, my grandson began seriously playing baseball . Travel, school and park district leagues have been keeping me busy during fishing season and my time on the water has dwindled considerably. Night fishing likely accounts for the majority of my fishing now and I'm back to fishing for numbers. If I can black mail the better half into spending our winters down south I'll be back to enjoying extended hours fishing AND watching/coaching the grandson.

Welcome to BR Hang around this site and you'll learn a lot. Best lures? All good answers/ Small and slow is always a good place to start, but sometimes doing the opposite of what is normal can be productive. I keep a lipless crank tied on a rod and will 'test' it when I've found fish to see if they'll respond to it. I'd rather use a faster presentation and the only way to find out if it works, is to throw one.

For a one day outing, I don’t spend a lot of time graphing. I’ll check points, humps and maybe a flat that I’d marked. I don’t look for fish, just something different on the structure, preferably weeds. Then i’ll break out the gear and begin fishing. For a multi-day outing, I’ll spend a little more time graphing so I have multiple spots to fish. Here again, I look for spots that play to my strength.

I leave them in the truck the majority of the time. The better half insisted I wear them when we're out together, well, until last year. I lost one while portaging from one strip pit to another. I didn't notice it, but she insisted I'd turned them off, because I kept asking her to repeat herself. Expensive mistake on my part. Now, she just yells, but she gets tired of doing that eventually and just keeps quiet. Silver lining. ?

It will balance the bait like the willow blade balances it, but it can be retrieved slower at the same depth with less flash. The idea behind switching blade styles is to alter the speed, vibration and flash.

A Rocket Shad is a great alternative to going lighter/smaller and is easily cast with a baitcaster.

Welcome to the forums. Matching the hatch can make a difference in bass fishing similar to finding what color will catch them when others won’t. Unlike trout fishing, that is rarely the case. Plastic worms and spinnerbaits don’t resemble anything in a bass’ world, but they will frequently be caught using them. Even shad shaped lures in oddball colors will, at times, produce results, so don’t limit yourself to only bluegill imitating lures. You will learn overtime, that it’s much more productive to use the ‘wrong’ lure in the right place (where the fish are), than to use the right lure in the wrong place.

A good rule to go by with switching blades is to go with the same size. 4.5 Willow=4.5 Indiana= 4.5 Colorado. As you change blade style, you’ll notice they get shorter and wider as you go from willow to Colorado. By using a similar size, the bait can run true. Too much resistance and the bait will run on its side. Switching blades changes vibration, flash and retrieve speed.

Thanks Always open to hacks like these. This one will save baits as well as keep them from sliding down the hook.

Well, my faith in people's honesty has taken a hit. I uncovered my boat to find my bow mounted DI Humminbird missing. Just the display, the cables weren't cut as the bracket has a quick release. I've been living here 40+ years and most of my neighbors have,too. My boat stays covered in my drive next to my house when not in use, so I suspect one of the locals. The downside is the deductable on my home owners insurance is more than the unit cost, so I'll be looking to replace it come spring. I had been considering doing so, but now I'm forced to. Whatever unit I end up with, I guarantee you that it and my console one will be coming in the house after every outing.

Fall rain can do one of two things to the water up here. A cold rain can drastically drop the water temp. causing the forage and the bass to move more and making it more difficult to locate them. A warm rain will also affect the water temp. but the only area where you may consider it a drastic change, is in the shallows. Check the air temp the day of and prior to the rainfall and then check the shallows when you get on the water. If you aren't sure if the water temp has been affected enough to cause a significant change, the shallow water will give you a good indication. If you see, or suspect the bait fish are still shallow and that is where they were before the rain. Things, likely haven't changed enough that the rain fall had much affect on the fishing. Just because it's cold on the day it rains, doesn't mean that the rain itself is cold. The air temp where the rain forms determines its temp. It can snow on a 45 degree day.

I'd go with the reservoir, mainly because it takes longer for all that water to cool down. A three, or four acre shallow pond can drop a few degrees as a result of a cool night or two and doesn't take long to drop below 50 from top to bottom. Once both bodies of water stabilize throughout the water column, I'd go with the smaller, pond only because once the fish find their wintering spot, you can locate it much easier and target it throughout the winter period.

I believe that it has gotten easier than it ever was. There is so much information available out there about the fish, forage, structure, migration routes, cover, etc. In years past, that information was difficult to find and some of the information one could find was counter productive. Your best source for learning was from other anglers, or trial and error. Yes, all that information can be confusing if you attempt to take it all in, but if the desire is there and he combines it with sufficient application on the water, I think an angler can go from novice to a competent angler in a a few seasons.

The only real drawback I can think of would be any line damage caused by crimping a split shot on to it. I do something similar when fishing water under 12ft. deep. I normally use a bobber stop between the weight and knot of my Texas rig and will just slide the weight and stopper up. The result is more like split shotting than a C-rig, but it accomplishes separating the weight from the plastic.

Given your location and the bodies of water you fish, bigger is a relative term and they are likely feeding more often in those ponds. Big fish need to take in more food than their smaller sisters. However, that doesn't always translate into feeding more often, no matter the season. I've found that their feeding periods are few and short in duration and they will expend as little energy as it takes. During the fall, they will likely do one of two things; Feed for a longer period thereby increasing their intake, or they may add another short feeding period. What factors into this is the forage. If it's plentiful (schools of bait fish), they have the option of going either way. If it isn't, the most likely scenario would be that they would feed for a longer period of time. That would be the case if bluegill, or crayfish were the main forage.