Black Hawk Basser

I use Pflueger President reels for my UL rods, one a 20 size and one a 25 size. I have a 30 size Quantum Smoke that does 36" per handle turn. I imagine that reel in a smaller size would not be that much per handle turn, but I bet its close to that.

As mentioned, a buzz toad. My next choice for something without trebles would be a Live Target Sunfish.

I have skittered so many types of soft plastics on the surface; it really works well at times, even when its a craw or something meant to be worked on bottom.

I prefer double Colorado almost always, because that combo rarely fails me, and it forces me to fish it slower, which I think probably gets more bites. The lift that two Colorados gives also helps me stay above the weeds in my preferred, shallow haunts. I stick to either black/red or white for skirt colors. I keep it pretty simple for colors on these type of lures.

Cranks: Red craw, shad, firetiger, chrome Spinnerbaits: White, Black/Red Plastics: White, Shad variations, brown/blue, motor oil Jigs: Brown, black I recently watched a video from Nick Lindner saying that bass probably see chartreuse the same as white, and they see blue the same as black. So white/chartreuse and black/blue baits probably look just all white and all black to the bass. Our eyes perceive a heck of a lot more than theirs do. To me, that means keep it simple and you'll be fine.

What I do is not very sophisticated, but it seems to help me: I take a picture of every good fish I catch, then rename it starting with date, then time of day, lure and sometimes size of fish if it's really a good one. I try to capture the sky in the photo to show me what the light conditions were at the time. Example: 4-24-19 3 pm GrnPmknSenko 20" I then upload the photo to Google Drive, to a folder associated with the body of water where I caught the fish. Naming them with the date first lets me easily find the time of year I need to reference later. Inevitably, each year, I don't remember past details before I plan an outing, and these pictures give me a quick glimpse into what was working for me at any given date range. Not exactly what you're driving at, I know, but maybe others will find this to be a pain free way to preserve some info.

I do when it's overcast and at least mid-May(in Iowa). I feel like the "buzzer" type baits, be it toads, buzzbaits, whopper ploppers, Devil Horses, etc, have a tendency to garner bites all day. Major reaction bite baits. Not so much with walking/popping baits in my experience. Those are more of a timing deal, in my mind.

I use spinning gear 95% of the time. I only use casting gear when fishing serious slop. I should mention that I bank fish probably 75% of the time, so casting distance is important to me. I also fish for nearly everything that swims around here, so I like to have setups that are versatile. I don't have any problems hooking fish and keeping them pinned with medium power spinning rods. The only issue I ever run into is having a lack of leverage to keep fish out of cover when they head for a blowdown or thick weeds.

My favorite way to fish them is with a steady retrieve, with an occasional rapid turn or two of the reel handle, or a slight "stall" in the retrieve. Just something to trigger them. I have caught fish on them when working them like a jig, but I feel like that is defeating the purpose of using one.

I like the red craw Super Spot, and the Sexy Shad Strike King Red Eye Shad. The red craw super spot has been my best producer so far this spring.

Shad are not a primary forage where I fish, and I still find that white baits get bites. I fish a small pond often that's loaded with bluegills and frogs, and a white fluke is one of the best options for whatever reason.

You're right on the money with how I fish my local river. I rarely fish anything but small square bill cranks and X Raps. I do Texas rig a fluke once in awhile but rarely. I feel squarebills are a little aggressive for this time of year in Iowa but the small jerks like x raps and husky jerks work better right now. Addendum: I'm aware that I am probably missing out on fish I'd catch with more subtle tactics, but it's what I have the most confidence in and I also want to score the occasional walleye, which slam cranks most of the time here.

Lipless cranks (super spot is my fav), spinnerbaits, slow rolled swimbaits, and hair jigs.

I generally use a steady retrieve, but occasionally will make a couple really fast turns of the reel handle to create a burst of speed. That seems to work for me.

You're right, casting distance does decrease when the spool is low. That's why I use cheap mono for backing and fill the last 75 yards or so with the good stuff.

I'm beating a dead horse here, but man, it's hard to find a better bite window than when it's really windy, throwing lipless cranks, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits & the like. In my opinion, high winds+warm temps is 2nd only to a glass calm pond at dawn where you can really enjoy the topwater explosions!

I have had success fishing a jig with a Yum ribbed tube for a trailer. It wasn't my first choice, but I didn't have any "appropriate" jig trailers with me.

I paint a lot of jig heads. I do what most have suggested, I just use a heat gun and "swish" them through the paint inside the jar. I bake them in a toaster oven for at least 20 minutes at 350-375. The only time I ever have paint run on a jig is when I've applied way too much to it. I don't think excess time in the oven matters as far as running paint, because I've accidentally left my oven on for hours and the jigs were just fine. As with anything, practice before trying the "real thing". Try doing it with some super cheap jigs before you try with the more expensive styles for bass. One thing that I believe is crucial to having a durable paint job is to clear coat the jigs, especially large ones(1/8 oz or more). I use the Pro Tec 'clear' in a fluid bed; after the jigs have their coat of paint, I bake them, and then put on a coat of the clear Pro Tec, and bake again. It works well for me. Most of them come out looking great, and the lead will dent before the paint comes off.

50's? Poppycock, it's about 70 here now and will be about the same tomorrow afternoon. About 45 for an overnight low here. I guarantee it will be better tomorrow than it was yesterday, which is what I said to begin with...

I'd agree on the first paragraph, I'm also here in IA. I did pretty well last Saturday(Apr. 6) with a Super Spot. Then, we had days of colder temps again. I tried a pond yesterday with a friend; it was fairly slow fishing, in my mind due to the cold front clear-out conditions, and the water temps being much lower than they were a week ago. Around here, I'd guess they went from low 50's the previous weekend to mid 40's yesterday. He caught just one nice fish on a jig/craw, and I lost one on jig/craw. I did finally stick one with a #5 Shad Rap. With the next two days looking to be around 70 degrees for highs, I'd be willing to bet by tomorrow afternoon they will be a lot more active and looking to chase baits a little more.

I've also found that the offset hooks work very well for wacky rigging. Heck, I've even been too lazy to re-tie when I wanted to try for catfish and used an offset shank hook with a chunk of bluegill. Looks dumb, but I agree that fish stay hooked really well on these.

To me, fishing with a frog is fun, but I generally only do it when there is so much slop that I can't throw a regular popper or Sammy/Spook style topwater. I'm sure some guys are a whiz at it, but I miss way too many fish with a frog to justify fishing it when I can use other baits that hook up much better. I would say that here in Iowa, mid May is probably the earliest that I'd feel confident throwing one, and that is still a month earlier than any emergent weed growth here.

I'd be tempted to run a spinnerbait all along those edges of pads. Buzzbait or Whopper Plopper, as well. Chatterbaits shed cover pretty well and I'd also give those a shot. We don't really have lily pads around here, but other vegetation chokes out the shallows just the same, and I have a ton of success with those aforementioned lures on the edges of the slop. My preferred method of fishing is aggressive and fast, so the above choices would be my first. Of course, the heavily weighted plastics would work as well, that's just not my style unless I'm forced into it.

I use the Berkley Grass Pig Jr.

If you feel a "tap-tap", that could be the bass sucking it in, then spitting it out. Other than that, it's gotta be a bluegill. Also, I'm not saying that your hooks are dull, but when I made the switch to Trokar hooks, my hookup rate jumped dramatically. The days of reeling down and swinging for the fences are over for me. Most of the time, unless its a really thick plastic, I only need to give a good flick of the wrist to get them pinned. I do use braid all the time, though. With mono, that changes the scenario.