Bird

Sounds spoken from experience. This thread is killing me, lol.

Hah, smart man. My wife is an highly educated woman, attorney and stock broker and said the wise are buying up. She claims fear always staggers the economy and this health epidemic will be short lived.

Unfortunately this is a media haymaker, story lines for even the novice. BUT because of ease in which we can gather info in a techno world, in this case very negative.....many are in a frenzy playing Ostrich. This will have a major impact on the global economy, though short lived in my opinion, mid June. Everyone will be impacted in some form. The wife and I personally have lost several thousand in non refundable trips to tropical destinations we had planned for end of March and we weren't the ones cancelling. It'll blow over.

I have a bunch of Jerkbaits, likely throw them more than any other bait over a course of a year. I know I have Rapala and Luck E Strike. Prefer suspending and on an overcast day, I'll throw shell white with orange belly the entire day, tiring but deadly. Plus in clear water you can actually see the white disappear in fishes mouth. Great thing about Jerkbaits, hookup rate is outstanding.

That bass wanted that frog.....great fish.

I hear ya'.

Well you got me there.

Spooks and whopper ploppers are fantastic but if your talking high in the water column......Jerkbaits for me all day.

Nah, not an oddball. I much prefer a 6'6 on ML for those little hooks.

Just trying to to get a general consensus of particular baits that some of us adore and some of us simply don't waste the time. I have my confidence baits and won't stray from but like to dribble with new techniques, maybe from a pro, maybe from a member here. But can say after many hours of non productive fishing, moving on. No way am I applying that your technique is not justified, just having some fun. For me personally, # 1 would be hands down the Chatterbait, I love and use more Z-man than anything but detest the chatterbait, give me a spinnerbait, chatterbait gives me a workout though. I'm trying to love the Neko rig but every technique I try in its place produces fish " Ned " . What have you found that simply eats up time ?

Yeah I know, should of had a camera man, I suck. Lol

I was very surprised today by bass aggression, caught 8 on Jerkbait and 1 on weightless Senko, water temps 50*.

Yes, all the lakes he was referring to had public access. AND your right about briery creek, a great fishery but best carry an extra prop or 2.

Talked to DNR officer over the weekend about the various lakes in our region and was fortunate enough to actually be talking to he that does the shock studies. It was actually educational and what I found in our discussion was the gin clear lakes were the ones that were producing more citation specimens compared to stained water lakes and some were surprisingly small state park lakes. Guessing one theory could be, clearer water, tougher bites. Any other explanation considering equal fishing pressure.

I've been fishing all winter with several skunks and several 1 fish days. Fished a lake yesterday with water temp of 48* and in 4 hours, managed 1 fish on a TRD tube craw.......just think, it only gets better from here.

Water temps really don't fluctuate that much, more gradual. We've had an incredibly warm March " 70's H 50's L " and water temps are still in the upper 40's here and the few fish I've been catching are sluggish and feel like ice. Longer days and water temps into the 50's increase productivity.....for me.

You are correct as I'm retired and find it next to impossible to fish every day with the above responsibilities. I also watch the weather closely and won't fish on windy days, get chores done instead so I'm free on calm days.

Just about every lake I fish, I can Google the shock study and usually see bigger fish then I'm catching.....grrrr.

This dissolved memory after 15 minutes tickled me. You go trying to yank my lips off, fondle and kiss me, take my pic with my mouth spread wide open screaming THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT......I'll forever remember that.

Good catch. Fished for 6 hrs yesterday on 60acre lake and caught one small LM on Jerkbait. Never had another bite but had to bail on any finesse offering due to wind.

Been fishing since a small child. Had the river on one end of farm and very large farm pond, fished all summer for many years. BUT didn't become a true bass fisherman until I ran into a semi pro in the late 70's at the county fair, still remember his gold hydrosport. We talked fishing all evening at the fair so next morning he came over and literally slayed the farm pond, I was speechless and the quantity and quality of fish he caught was unbelievable. I was using beetle spins and nightcrawlers and he's throwing huge spooks and frogs with explosion after explosion. He looked at me and grinned and said " I'll get you there son " lol He gave me one of his tackle boxes fully stocked and a shimano baitcaster. He's old now and battling diabetes but we still fish together occasionally and he still catches big bass.

Spinnerbaits are in the fisherman's hall of fame. I only use 2 colors , white and chartreuse with a trailer of choice, tandem willow for me. A large majority of my big SM and LM have come by way of spinnerbaits. Throw them over submerged timber, shallow coves and have them moving forward when they hit the water, prefer casting reels. Don't give up on them.

Wonder what hook ? Offset ? VMC maybe ?

Sunline is my preferred Flouro but have yet to exceed 12# but only for casting reels. I won't let Flouro get anywhere near a spinning reel except the last 8 feet.

The big fish hit big baits theory is true more often than not but my only DD bass came on a 4" culprit worm. Still much prefer targeting bigger fish with much less action vs boating dinks all day but let to many hours pass without cooperation from the big mouths......I become a dinkster.