Black Hawk Basser

You were spot on.

I generally leave the reel maintenance for the limbo period between late ice and ice out. There's usually a short period where the ice is unsafe, but still is present to prevent any open water fishing. Right now my focus is on getting my ice stuff out. It was around 5 degrees overnight here so it's coming pretty soon!

As mentioned, get a thermometer to test the actual temperature of the oven. It doesn't hurt anything to leave them in the oven for a longer amount of time to ensure they've had adequate time to bake - I've inadvertently left jigs in the toaster oven for hours, and they were fine.

This might be a little mundane for a beginner, but learning to fish a jig is something that is valuable everywhere you go, and during every season. I wish someone would have/could have taken the time to show me jig fishing when I first started. I didn't get into fishing them until I was years into bassin', and really wish I'd tried or been shown from the get-go. Practically, I think showing someone the ins and outs of crankbait fishing would be really valuable to a beginner. They work pretty much all year round if you refine bait choices and you'll catch a multitude of species with them. They don't require a lot of skill to catch fish, and they keep you busy trying lots of different speeds and retrieve styles. They are not one of my top choices where I am, due to vegetation, but I fish them whenever/wherever I can.

I clip it right to the split ring.

I use those Fastach clips and regular duo lock snaps all the time with most treble hook baits, and also chatterbaits. I don't remove split rings. I don't think it makes so much of a difference that you must do that. I've caught hundreds of river smallmouths in one to three feet of ultra clear water using cranks attached to snaps.

Awesome pattern. I love this one and smokin shad. The lemon shad is great for smallmouths and walleyes at my local river.

I keep it simple. 3/0 or 4/0 EWG on braid. If I want a little extra weight, I'll use a 1/32 or 1/16 Water Gremlin Bull Shot right above the line tie. I am almost exclusively spinning unless I'm frogging or jigging.

If you are out on a day where it's sunny and warm(er), I believe they will be shallow if the sun has helped warm up that skinny water. Bluegills are the main food source at the ponds I fish. I catch them through the ice all winter in 6-8 FOW. It stands to reason that the bass will be around them as well, at least when they're feeding. This tells me that I would rarely need to ply the deepest water, which is still only 12-13 feet.

I caught some quality fish last weekend on a 5 acre pond on a spinnerbait, and the water temps here are definitely colder. It has been near or below freezing overnight for a few weeks with highs in the 40's and 50's. Most of the fish were caught on the breakline between 2 feet and 7 feet. That is what I can add from my recent experience.

I expected there to be pike because they are always with musky my bad? They have stocked muskies pretty aggressively in this lake but I don't think it could sustain pike. Sorry that this is not on the topic.

There are no pike to speak of around here.

Never fear the size of the 130. I've gotten several medium sized bass on it. I bought mine so I could "cross fish" for bass and muskie in my local lake.

It is different every time. If I start with a high-confidence bait, I may stick with it for an hour, or least long enough to cover some key structural elements. If I'm second guessing myself right off the bat, I may change within 30 minutes. The main thing is that you are fishing where the fish are. No lure will work if you're not putting it in front of the fish. The first things I think of before even considering what to throw is to try to make an educated guess on where the fish may be, and what section of the water column they may be in(top, middle, bottom). Once you consider those factors, it can help narrow down what you should choose.

If I was forced to use just one, I'd go for a jig. I almost always try a spinnerbait, but it seems that they're either really on them or not at all. Why do you never change? It only takes a minute or two to switch it up.

I just think the bigger fish may forego their lazy and wary ways that they display in the summer in order to beef up for winter.

I'm a fan. They are great for hookup ratio. I can't recall having any issues with losing fish on them. I will agree that they do more damage to plastics than the average hook.

You should still be able to find them in shallower areas, but you may have to fish slower. The weather has been similar here in Iowa, and I've still been catching fish from the bank. I have definitely had to be a little more methodical with my retrieves, though.

I throw inline spinners at the local river a few times a year. They work well for smallmouth there, but other things tend to do better. I rarely throw them in ponds or lakes, but I probably should more often. Anything with a treble hook is a no-go for half of the open water season where I live and fish. There actually is a good walleye bite on them in my local lake around May that lasts a week or two.

I've had great success fishing a weightless Zoom Fluke in my local quarries. It's a good choice, since you can fish them as slowly or as aggressively as you want. I start near the top with a ripping retrieve, and temper back if that isn't working.

I got out this morning after a prolonged hiatus. It started out cloudy and flat-calm, and managed two bites on a purple curl tail worm. After a bit, the wind kicked up, which immediately made me grab the spinnerbait rod. My intuition paid off - nabbed a nice 16-17" fish right away. After another hour of fruitless casting, I finally got the bite I was there for. The one pictured went 20.75", on a single bladed, black Terminator spinnerbait. This was easily my best of the year, and probably in my top 10 biggest ever. I only ended up with 5 fish in 3.5 hours, but I'm ok with that.

No doubt - I never use them for anything that would be on bottom, or on a jig head of any kind, for that reason.

All crankbaits, some topwaters, and chatterbaits. If you don't use them out of worry that the fish will notice them, what do you think about treble hooks that are 4x the size of the snap?

The above may be true, but its really frustrating when those penalties are called in the last couple minutes of the game. The Lions offense had to sit there and watch those two stupid calls and couldn't do anything about it. At least the cryin Saints had several chances to win after they got hosed last year.

I definitely get the itch when the wind kicks up and there are some ominous looking clouds. If it's raining pretty steadily before I'm already fishing, I usually just don't go.