Black Hawk Basser

Watch out, most of the time the punch line here is "But you fish for bass"

Bring on the ice! Got a new 24V lithium power auger and several new self-built rods to try out.

Bucktail is where it's at right now! As many of us know, it's so satisfying to catch a few on one of our own creations. A couple walleye and 4 little brown bass on a short river outing.

I think we've gotten ice thick enough for trucks about 3 out of the last 10 years. Some years it's been sketchy even for foot traffic. Very hit and miss.

I'm an avid ice angler. Definitely all-in. I make my own rods and have a tungsten ice fly retail business. I have a lithium powered electric auger, portable shack and use the same Helix 5 that I use in my boat. Sitting in a permanent shack may be the thing to do in Minnesota, but we barely get enough ice to put an ATV on the ice some years. I can honestly say I've never drank while ice fishing. Most guys I know stay mobile and move until they find fish. It is a lot of work, but for those who haven't done it for years, it is a totally different deal now with light weight electric augers, lithium flasher batteries, lighter & warmer clothing, etc.

I'm not a fan of sitting on my arse dreaming about catching fish for four months. You'd be surprised how warm you can stay. With today's specially designed clothing and insulated portable shacks, that stereotype just doesn't match the reality anymore. I will also admit that it does get a little harder to take the cold as I get older. I am also not Way North! Where I live is almost on the southern fringe of having safe ice every winter.

Bring on the cold, I'm about ready for ice fishing. Am I the only one who ice fishes on here? Seems like almost everyone from northern climates on here don't transition to the hard water but just call it a year until ice out.

Mathieu is totally overrated IMO. I can attest that Spags sucks, as I am an Eagles fan.

I recommend a 5" long stickbait. I seem to catch dozens of 4 inch bass on those every year and not much else ?

I live in a town with a 800 acre lake, and there is one shop that you could barely call a bait shop. They have old tackle stock from like 30 years ago when the original owner sold it to someone, who sold it to someone else, who sold it to them. They do have some bait, but I was told they buy the bait at retail from another sort of local shop and then resell it. Not a great business model, and I assume they'll be belly-up by the end of next year. Pretty sad.. The closest *good* shop is about 25 minutes from me. They have tackle, guns, kayaks, ice shacks, augers, lots of stuff. They also manufacture and sell tons of trapping items. My best bud runs the floor of the store, so I tend to make a trip every month or two. I also have a business relationship with them, as they sell tungsten ice flies that I tie and retail. Their prices are actually very competitive with any online retailer, so if they have what I want, I make sure to get it there.

I've been wanting to try the reverse rigged Fat Ika, but haven't bought a bag of them yet. Next year I will get some to try, along with a Pop Max since my popper game is really lacking. I relented and bought a Jackhammer this year. So far the results have been disappointing.

I tend to favor larger baits because that usually means you can fish faster to cover more water. I always follow the formula of starting aggressive and tempering back from there if that's what the fish seem to be conveying to me. To me, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to be poking around with something like a weightless 4" finesse worm from the get-go.

Most people fish hair jigs in early spring and then again in fall. I find that they work all year, although many other things will work as well or better when the water is warmer. I like bucktail and arctic fox tail hair. For weight, go lighter than 1/8 if you can help it. 3/32 seems to be about perfect for me. Black or brown are really all you need for colors. I don't go any longer than about 2.5" with a smallmouth hair jig. I also don't like a jig with hair that's too dense, especially with bucktail. There's just not enough movement when it's packed on too heavily. In my experience, less rod movement with a hair jig works better for smallmouth. Where I fish my hair jigs, when I get really 'snappy' with them, I catch more walleye and less brown bass. There are a lot of guys out there that make a good hair jig. The prior post mentioned a really good one. jensenjigs.com has some crazy (and spendy) ones. Looks like he uses a lot of ties with rabbit strips, which have kind of a cool undulating action on a steady retrieve.

No, I don't consider 15 MPH "windy". I wouldn't say to someone that today was windy if it was blowing 15 miles per hour. I said that 10-15 seems to be good for fishing as opposed to being calm. It's rarely ever calm here, too, especially March-April and October-November.

Well you are about the only person I've heard of saying that wind has made bass fishing worse for you. Here in the relatively clear lakes and ponds, it helps tremendously, if nothing else to shield your presence from the fish. I'm not saying I'm dying to go when it's 20 MPH+, but somewhere between 10 and 15 seems to help a bunch here, especially in late spring and summer.

Mahomes led the league in dropped interceptions last year. Stuff that could have gone wrong did not last year, and it has this year. That's the main difference. But also it seems like he hates being patient with the check-downs and stuff, always wanting to make the big splash play. He needs to take a page from Brady and Brees and find the easy completion sometimes.

It just makes sense. It ramps up the food chain, limits visibility so predators have a sight advantage over prey, and I assume makes our fake offerings less visible, thus appearing less fake.

Hit the lake Friday for a couple hours in the morning, casting and trolling quite a few different baits. Only thing that would commit were these nice crappies on a Flicker Shad Shallow. Decided the river may be a better option in the afternoon. After a brief period of cold rain, I hit a previously high-percentage spot on a S-bend with a combination of sand and rip rap with some good current seams and eddies. The result was 5 smallmouth, none worth a photo, and two nice eater walleyes. All on a coppertreuse TRD. Ate well all weekend!

Rabbit strips absolutely will pulsate at spinnerbait speeds. That's why I like using them, they impart a nice "wavy" action on a straight retrieve. Cool concept but I am not convinced that it will be an improvement on a standard spinnerbait.

50% isn't that bad for toads in heavy vegetation. I actually have a better hook-up ratio with hollow bodied frogs than I do with soft plastic toads. I do best in this emergent heavy vegetation scenario with a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm, but it typically doesn't elicit big bites quite as often as a toad or frog.

I don't even know if they're made any more but I think the Matzuo Nano Minnow fits that description well. It has a really subtle action. Lots of river walleye have fallen victim to mine.

Similar for me. I live in a very small town and the mechanic here used to be my neighbor, so he treats me right when I need things done, especially if I pay with cash if ya know what I mean.

Flicker Shads are also my top producer. If I'm trolling for crappies, I have one in the water all the time. The Blue Tiger pattern is by far the best I've used so far.

I built on an X Camo blank a couple years ago and it seemed legit.

I can't find a correlation in my memory to which time of day has been best. It seems to me that the time of day may affect where I fish, though. During summer in my home lake, I love to flip the docks. However, during early morning and late evening, or if it's real cloudy, bass tend to be roaming around instead of being tight to the docks. So, my best time of day there is right in the middle of the day when the sun is real high. But, this goes back to the 'sweating to death' point. I barely got out in mid-day this year due to the ridiculous humidity and lack of wind.