Sphynx

This is one of the colors I want to add to my arsenal this year, we got a bunch of yellow perch and I'm willing to bet it works as well as anything else I have used over the years.

Woah man...that's over the line, I gotta call a penalty on that, 2 minute minor for alcohol abuse!

Congratulations, I love jig fishing, it tends to get big fish and while you can learn the basics in an afternoon, it takes a lifetime to master!

Rat-L-Trap, 1/2oz, probably something reflective or bold in color, given stained water probably gold or red this time of the year.

We're all the hero's of our own story hmm?

Largemouth is on a 6th Sense Divine Hybrid 3/8oz jig in PB & Smoke Smallmouth is a tie, I caught a pair of fish weighing the same amount, one was on a Rebel Pop-R in Sexy Shad, the other was on a Dirty Jigs 1/2oz Super Matt Brown Skirted Tour Level Football jig.

You could argue that short term a reduction in participation is great for us, but looking at the big picture, if the folks who you see that hate us outdoorsman end up being in the majority it becomes a serious question whether or not we will continue to be allowed legally to pursue our outdoor hobbies. Outside of that, I do not own the waters I fish, and I have no right to tell others to not participate, if they want to fish, they have every bit as much right as I do.

I'd fish that for sure, anywhere I'd use a chrome blue back I bet that'd do nicely.

Seems that a number of less lethal options exist for tournaments these days, on private waters it's a different thing, there's a management component, but then again I'm not there, don't have any data to suggest that the mortality here is any higher than other tournaments, or not, and can't really give a strong opinion.

I'm with @PhishLI on this at least as far as the "it will happen on my schedule" thing, I'm going this company a favor because they screwed the pooch, and it will cost me money to do so, you don't decide when I do it, and any attempt to do so would shut the whole thing down, and I would be enjoying my new MegaBass rod happily.

I dunno if it applies anywhere else this way, but during the fall feed on the Columbia I can absolutely slay the smallmouth with nothing more than a bag of Zoom super Flukes, typically I split the colors and fill it with the pearl, something like a baby bass color, and a sexy shad color, and a bigger size pill bottle (the orange or brown ones with the real pain in the ass lid) with a half dozen or so hooks, and a few small sinkers/swivels, in my kangaroo pouch on my hoodie goes the scale, pill bottle, Zoom bag and a small roll of 6 or 8lb Maxima Ultragreen, back left pocket carries the pliers and a small Cabelas diamond stone hook file, grab my spinning rod and we're cooking with gas, I regularly put up 50+ fish days in a 2-3 hour session doing this, and it weighs basically nothing, that time of year is great...the rest of the year I typically carry a Cabelas/BPS Advanced Angler backpack, been serving me for years and it just won't quit.

I believe the saying "No good deed goes unpunished." Is reasonably applicable here.

I like a variety of lures for this, but if I can get away with it I prefer a buzzbait or a Rat-L-Trap

I try not to pre rig, mostly because reading the water is a critical component to the process for me, I get out there and run down the checklist, sunny/overcast? Still/choppy? Clear/stained? So on and so forth and will usually end up with 2-3 lures for top of the water column, middle, and bottom, from there it depends on how familiar with the area I am, if it's a totally new spot, I go straight to a search bait like a Rat-L-Trap or something, then will shift to something slower if I get the feeling that it's just not going to work, if it's a very familiar spot I'll probably aim something a bit slower at the usual suspects like a jig, then switch out to a moving bait if that doesn't work or if I have exhausted my supply of high percentage spots. I really don't have a system per se, just work off my gut feeling and trust that my instincts are well honed enough to get me bit...kinda like the guitar and improvising solos, I don't really have a process, I just trust my instincts and it usually works out if I stick with it and change things when they feel wrong.

Basswood is what I use, I don't use anything that big, but I'm sure you can find some pieces that big.

No sir, there's whole fields of those, and others who have lost a good deal more than I have, that is a title for them.

I got shot twice, and hit by 4 explosives with the largest being a 3,000 pound car bomb, jumped out of planes, helicopters, carried hundreds of pounds up and down mountains for a year, then because I'm stupid I did it a second time just to make sure it was a bad idea, broken bones, been blown off lumber loads on a flatbed, it's safe to say I've got a few aches and pains. I do what I can, I have to frequently take breaks, can't offer any real solutions to how to make it hurt less, but it might be of some use to know that you certainly aren't the only one.

My stomping grounds for the last few years have been terrible for whopper ploppers, frogs, and buzzbaits, and that really hurts my soul because I love those lures. I think I have caught less than 5 fish total on the three lures combined in the last couple years, hopefully that will change this year, but we'll see.

A lot of the "common knowledge" about fishing in water like Toledo Bend in the spring kept me from catching a lot of bass, for a little while there I was hell bent and convinced it was a deliberate attempt to keep me out of some good old boys network or something. These days I'm thinking it's just that most folk haven't seemed to realize that if your seeing as many fish in that chocolate milk water getting caught off jigs as you do (and BIG fish too) then they must not have as much trouble seeing as we would expect.

The bass don't have a fridge, so they kind of have to feed when they have the opportunity, probably a reasonably large population, lots of competition for food works out well for us, also in rivers something I learned fishing for trout on a flu is that they tend to be much more decisive than lake fish, because that food is moving on down stream and there's not time to think too long about it.

Fluke on the surface works very well as a topwater, and I have caught them on a fluke at the surface in Louisiana in spring with the chocolate milk water that is common this time of year down there, so I'm not sure visibility matters if your creating a commotion on the surface, they'll find it, but I definitely agree if you have really small bait visibly being fed upon that the Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap in the small sizes is a killer, I'm sure other companies make comparable options, but I'm pretty sold personally on the Bill Lewis ones and haven't really found a huge need to explore them.

This time of year as the bass are cruising to feed up just before the spawn I find them to be more or less indiscriminate feeders, craws are always a safe bet, turn over a few rocks along the shore of whatever water body your fishing and you'll get a pretty good idea what's natural for your waters, also anything bluegill this time of year seems to attract special ire, and that grows as they start to bed, speed craws, vile craws, sweet beavers, there aren't many "bad" choices out there for craws, and I really like flukes this time of year, zoom super flukes are a particular favorite, keitechs and exoswims are favorites for me in paddletails, usually some form of shad color and a bluegill/green variant, as long as your fishing wherever the bass are along the prespawn journey, I've always carried green pumpkin of some sort, and black of some sort and I catch fish from pacific to Atlantic coasts, from the Mexican to the Canadian borders.

I like the $1 Walmart spinnerbaits, they catch fish and they are fantastic for exploring new fishing holes, sure you might get a couple of them hung up doing it that way, but it's $1, and by the time you figure in the bullet weight, hook, and whatever soft plastic you put on it's basically as cheap and much less bother.

This time of year tests my patience regularly, they'll be feeding great and on the move to shallower water for spawning, then a front moves in and cools everything down, sometimes they pull back, but how far? I tend to lose them for a while and fishing sucks until I figure out how far back out they went, but the good news is that the spawn is just around the corner.

Good advice in that senko article, as to the magic secret of how to catch more? Simple, spend your whole life learning and if your lucky you might learn a few things along the way...not unlike trout fishing in that regard. I'd say a pack of 4/0 hooks, a few 1/4oz or so bullet weights, and a bag of green pumpkin, and bag of black/blue flake senko's and you'll be well on your way. Flip it in around sticks, rocks, and grass edges and you'll probably be catching them in no time.