Sphynx

Yeah, I don't use them for bass, but I catch trout with them pretty frequently, I see no reason that they wouldn't work just as well on a bass, I just never get around to them. My favorite is whichever the fish are biting, obviously...lol, on a serious note, I like ghost colors with a bit of flash in them, something like a Rapala Ghost Minnow or thereabouts, more often than not the winter conditions I end up fishing are pretty clear water, often the most clear of any time of the year, I like to think that the fish can see and hear them a pretty fair way off, and I want the bit of light to catch the shiny part, but I don't want to throw something they see really well at them, the idea being to make them come take a look, I like the KVD jerkbait, and the Rapala Ripstops, I would be happy with either if I were forced to choose, it I'm glad I don't have to lol

Well, not one of my better days all told on the fishing front, hooked up on 3 fish and every d**n one came off within sight of the bank, then to put the icing on the cake UPS has delivered a fairly large order to someone who did not pay for it, I can say that they are not likely to enjoy the way this ends unless they play by a very strict set of rules, I guess to end on a somewhat positive note I saw maybe the biggest crawfish I ever saw in the wild today, bit red for the time of year I think, but here he is.

The fall bite is linked very heavily to baitfish, senko's scratch a certain itch for fish, but if they are keyed in on shad, or minnows of any sort really they want a bait that imitates this, I find spinnerbaits to be absolutely killer this time of year, and I have caught probably 30 fish in a crankbait the last 3 or 4 days, total of maybe 10 hours actively fishing, so give that a whack too, you might do well to look up Glenn's fall videos. YouTube is a fantastic resource, generally speaking I find natural colors are especially effective this time of year, whites, silver/gold, green pumpkin, and ghost colors, look for pockets, and places bass can pin baitfish against the bank or other hard structure.

Fall is baitfish time, so any lure or presentation that imitate shad are my go to, swim baits, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, flukes/jerkbait, for topwater I like buzz baits and whopper plopper for moving options, cigar style and poppers for something a bit slower. If things are really tough and the fairy wand has to come out, it'll sport a Ned rig or a drop shot with a baitfish imitation.

Grabbed another good fish tonight, but I'll be damned if he didn't munch the squarebill on the first cast and the old curse held up, still, no skunk on this 45 minute excursion.

I have had days where there is no soft plastic at all left after just one strike, smallies are especially prone to this I find, they jump and thrash and off goes your fluke or trick worm and that's when it can be cost prohibitive, I find myself using a lot of elaztech baits because they seem to stick around a lot better, but traditional soft plastics can be irritating and expensive if you go through enough of them.

Depends on how many you go through, buying a pack of Keitech baits a couple times a year is one thing, when your burning through a pack+ per day several times a month, or even per week? They get cost prohibitive.

Well...when was the last time you fed one of your frogs? Bet if you fed it once in a while it'd poop...

Pattern held overnight, hooked up with 6 more this morning, making 9 hookups in the last 12 or 13 hours here, all on the squarebill, had a proper river monster bend out the front hook on my KVD 1.5 Silent, gave me quite the show and spit it maybe 5 or 6 feet out, what a rush. Pretty sure I have an extra treble somewhere in the truck, if not I'll cannibalize one from another bait, because shad colors flat aren't getting bit, dumbest thing ever since to the best of my knowledge this river has 0 bluegill and 939292884929292939488493 shad in it, but if they want cake, let them eat cake, currently the bite has died out, fish still busting about 200 yards out, ducks and geese are singing up a storm for me, and the coffee is tasting especially good this morning, a man doesn't get too many days like this in his life, think I'll light up a pipe and make the most of it, it'd be perfect if it weren't for the smoke from the fires...as it is I'm telling myself it's fog lol

This was about the best end to a rough day I could have asked for, had a truck breakdown resulting in about 6 hours of lost work, but when I got it put back together I get a blowout win from the Mariners, the Longhorns, and this guy, complete with an impressive acrobatic display and probably the hardest fight from a bass I've ever felt, these guys make largies look tame by comparison.

Bass have always been hard to catch for the weekend warrior who doesn't spend all day thinking about fishing like most of us, and it isn't like fish don't get wise to seeing the same lure day after day, you can only get dragged off your comfy rock pile or log by a senko so many times in a month before you stop biting it, anglers who don't experiment and stay ahead of the fish are absolutely going to fall behind the curve and not catch many of them.

Caught me a new PB tonight, wish I had brought a scale, but he absolutely goes 3# for sure, got him on a squarebill too, which I've never had any luck with ever before, so that was pretty awesome, bluegill color in a silent KVD 1.5, think they may see some more play this fall for variety.

Well then grasshopper, lesson one, your going to take your share of skunks, enjoy the journey, pay attention to the guys here who know more than me, because I could have benefited a ton from them if I weren't so pig headed, I saw footage from a Bassmaster Classic one year where a top pro caught a single fish, it was a big d**n fish, but all day, single fish, if a guy who feeds his family can manage only one in a day, there's no shame in getting skunked for those of us who are "normal people"

There are biologists and ichthyologists who could explain the particulars better than I can, but the pertinent part is not every fishery is going to be capable of growing monster fish, also, a 3# river smallmouth for example will blow your mind with the fight by comparison to a 3# largemouth who has lived its whole life in a lake, that being said, if a TX trip is in your future, Sam Rayburn or Toledo Bend would serve your turn, they are both high quality fisheries, as is Lake Fork. And probably several others, got some solid lakes in that part of the country.

I hate these sorts of questions because I always feel like I'm cheating on the rest of my tackle... 1) Jig - If I could fish only one lure for the rest of my life, it would have to be a jig, every PB I have caught has always been on a jig, they are far and away my #1 confidence bait. 2) Spinnerbait - First bass I ever caught was on this bait, it is an enormous confidence thing for me, it's also in my opinion the 4x4 of the fishing world, jig it, cast and retrieve, yo yo, grass, wood, rocks, search bait, you name it the Spinnerbait can do it. 3) Walking bait - this is a bit of a cheat for an answer, because there are tons of options here, but some kind of a walking topwater option be that a frog, cigar style, balanced popper, something along those lines. I think that going from prespawn until the beginning of winter I could get it done with these three, if we added a 4th bait for winter I'd add a jerkbait to the list, but out of those listed I still think I could manage year round to get fish on those 3.

Awesome read, walking a frog is an essential skill if you ask me, walking one in the wind brings its own challenges and that's the bit I'm trying to work on when the fish won't cooperate, gotta learn to enjoy the journey and remember to slow down and control what you can control at times and let the rest go.

It also has the benefit of giving the fish some experience in what to watch out for from anglers, better they learn life's hard lessons from someone who will release them than one of the anointed trout paladins you mentioned...welcome to the forum OP!

I have a vice and tie many of my own trout bugs, never got too much into streamers, but I don't think it'd be hard to figure out a few simple patterns, most of my "streamer" fishing for trout has been restricted either to Woolly Buggers or Clouser Minnows, both of which catch bass too, I know this because many's the time I hooked a nice trout only to discover his mouth was shaped wrong and he was green or bronze. The snags are the reason I generally don't like to use craw patterns and bottom presentations with a fly rod, it isn't as simple as a conventional set up where you just pop a leader at the knot and go on with your day, I do enjoy it a lot for the visual appeal, it's a very methodical and regimented way of fishing, either that appeals to you or it doesn't. I also however am attracted to flies for bass due to space considerations, in order to be prepared for an average day on a body of water with conventional gear, I have to pack along a spinning rod, and a baitcasting setup, an entire backpack full of crap, covering everything from bottom bouncing, mid water column moving/search style baits, topwaters, on and on and on...it's great fun, but it takes up a crapload of space. Fly gear is much more space efficient, 3 boxes of flies, popper/topwaters, a streamer box, and if you want a bottom/craw box, one rod, a reel, couple extra spools with different kinds of line on them, a vest, and I'm cooking with grease. All of this takes up much less space on the truck and that means more than you could imagine to me. Casting a fly rod is ridiculously easy, in fact the number one thing I see people pooching with a fly rod is adding too many steps to the cast, they want to move things that don't need to move and generally overcomplicate a very straightforward process. They are always putting the cart before the horse as it were, and lots of people who have been at it even for some time often prefer to use a specialized cast to prove to some imaginary audience that they are a virtuoso caster when a basic cast, or even a roll cast would have done just as good or better, I don't understand why they do this, maybe they have some kind of unresolved psychological thing that mom or dad didn't pin enough of the grades they got to the fridge or something, who knows, but I do know I detest fishing with those sorts of people, they are the sort who lead you after gear you have no use for to talk about with your pinky out raised while sipping some fancy tea at your rod club, no thanks,

I ordered the Friday before labor day, was supposed to ship out today ground but it hasn't, of course it's going to be heading through all those wildfires to get to its destination and I trust those guys to watch my box until it can be safely sent and reasonably expected to arrive in one piece on a predictable schedule.

I'm currently using one of two rods, a 5wt or an 8wt, space on an 18 wheeler is limited so I have to TRY to limit just how much crap I bring along, both rods are Orvis Clearwater series, with Clearwater reels, I wouldn't call these rods the cats meow necessarily, but they sure feel a lot nicer than nearly anything else I have put my hands on in this price point, and it has a vastly better warranty than the ones I thought felt a bit better, on the 5wt I am running Scientific Anglers Mastery MPX WF5F, I have the included Clearwater WF8F on the 8wt. I have precisely 0 experience with anything other than floating line, which does just fine for streamers in the typical trout stream setting, but I find it makes fishing streamers or bottom presentations a headache at best and a lot of non PG words at worst when fishing anything deeper than maybe 3 or 4 feet in depth, which means eventually I will need a sinking line of some sort or other, the more similar the casting characteristics between the two lines the better as I see things, this of course does not mean sacrificing a lines primary function for the convenience of not having to alter my casting more than the minimum though. I also own a Cabela's Prestige outfit in a 5 weight using the included line which is better than I had any reason to expect, and a 5wt Reddington Vice using another Cabelas line, which I enjoy immensely but leave at the folks so I don't have to shuttle a bunch of crap when I am off the road just to go fishing. As far as bass specifically I eventually want rods and lines designated for them,a rod that is a jack of all trades is truly a master of none, but it doesn't have to happen all in a night, the journey after all is at least half of the fun

As near as I can tell, options are effectively limited to topwater poppers/deer hair/sneaky Pete style bugs, or streamers of one sort or another...I know there are technically craw/shrimp style flies but I don't think that is an arena a fly rod really shines in, I currently am running a 9' 8wt Orvis Clearwater combo, have seriously considered picking up a St. Croix Mojo Bass 8wt in the 7'11" length to make accurate casting tight to cover a bit easier, I also think that in most cases, a bit of a splash on a cast is only going to help you unless you drop it right on the fishes nose, then you might spook him, of course he may get mad and try to rip the rod out of your hands too.

So, out of those who use a fly rod for bass, which lines do you prefer and what situation(s) do you prefer them in, being deliberately vague, I am in the market for a new line or two and am curious what you guys are using, when a given line is preferred, that sort of thing.

Most days, little fish need love too, and all fish are welcome to my offerings, now I've never tagged a fish larger than 4-5 pounds, but honestly I have noticed that after a certain point the fight becomes far less entertaining and there are plenty of 4lb fish I have dragged in that just sat there like a log, 2-3lb fish seem to be the sweet spot for big enough to fight hard and fit enough to do it for extended periods of time, so I'm quite happy to play with them all day...smallmouth are another thing though, dunno I ever caught one that knew what quit meant, they won't quit wiggling and thrashing long enough to take the hook out and release them usually, so bigger is better when they are on the list of available fish

Most Walmart locations are subject to local ordinances with respect to overnight parking, that said it's hard to tell a customer pickup from an employee one if all your doing is sleeping, I'm a trifle more noticeable at 13'6x70ftx8'6" but that's my problem not yours, as to rest areas most states these days are going to a 10 hour maximum for the truck parking side, can't speak to the 4 wheelers restrictions, but I'd bet you'll spend many nights as long as your not showing your arse before anybody with authority said a thing about it. Idling your vehicle will have a supremely prejudicial effect on your ability to fly under the radar as it were, if you keep the truck off, nobody will look twice, this includes lot lizards/pickle park attendants, but does not always apply to burglars and thieves, I dare say your a clever enough fellow to figure out how to deal with them in a legal but effective manner.

Managed to squeeze in an hour after work, it was warm, bluebird skies and the usual gusty gorge winds, just because I am obstinate and enjoy frog fishing so much I tossed a frog at the for about 15 minutes and had several missed blowups, it was choppy enough that I figured they were having a hard time finding it, because they'd blow up within a second or two of hitting the water, and miss by a margin of 6-12 inches, not having any other topwaters handy I started tossing a ned rig at them and managed 6 landed fish and 8 hooked fish in the next 45 minutes safe to say these fish are entering a fall feed up with the cooling temperature and boy is it a welcome sight. All of the fish except one were around a pound, pou d and a half tops, the kicker was probably 2.5lb and considering the average size of smallmouth around here I consider it a respectable fish, he was giving my new Mojo Bass MF spinning rod a workout and the Shimano reel performed with the expected excellence...I am very tempted to finish upgrading my reels to Curado DC's but I feel obligated to buy a Tatula Elite to compare to my DC's before pulling the trigger...I am very happy thusfar with these rods/reels, undeniably an upgrade from my Lews American Hero combo's.