plawren53202

Bass (like all fish) need two things, food and oxygen, so in the summer you need to figure out where those two things are in the body of water you fish. Focusing on oxygen for a minute, cooler water holds more oxygen, so look for where there is cooler water. That could be just (like others said) meaning early in the morning and late in the evening or night. Could be water that is cooler from being deeper. If you're a bank fisherman that could limit this one. It could be cooler because it is shaded--docks, weeds, wood cover, trees on the shore. Also weeds have another thing going for them, they generate oxygen through photosynthesis. Cooler water could come from an inflow of water into the body of water like a creek flowing in. I let the cover I'm fishing and the other situational factors dictate what bait I am using. All of the things you mentioned can catch fish in the summer, or they can get you skunked. My experience is that generally (always exceptions) the fish tend to be more active early and late, so things like chatterbait or spinnerbait would tend toward those times. More sluggish in the heat of the day, so Senko or split shot rig during those times.

Last evening I took my 17 year old to the creek I've been fishing for smallies to celebrate Father's Day. The fishing has slowed considerably as the summer heat kicks in, he and I both peppered the trees with lures as we for some reason lost all ability to cast accurately, and we got chased from two holes by snakes. But we laughed our butts off the entire evening. It was a great Father's Day.

Been using KVD on the copolymer on my baitcaster this year. I can't detect any line weakening. It definitely seems to help with casting distance and also, could be my placebo perception, but seems like backlashes have been a little easier to pick out when regularly using it (just as I say that I'll get the mother of all birds nests next time out LOL). No experience using it on braid, though it says it works on braid as well.

Rats...I thought I remembered hearing this before, and last night I was at the store and almost bought a pack.

I used to fish a buzzbait quite a bit but what I like about the Plopper/Choppo is that it makes essentially the same sound as a buzzbait, but because it floats I can vary the retrieve more. Slower steady retrieve, steady retrieve with occasional stops, or chugging it like a popper. Yesterday for instance I was getting a lot of strikes on the pause during a slow steady retrieve. Having said that, the old reliable buzzbait has been providing similar fun for 40 or 50 years.

More so missing on taps. But also some on line moving-- this morning I was mainly relying on line watching, the "bites" were more often line starting to move sideways or sudden slack during the fall. I had a few that I connected with on those enough to feel solid weight or even see the flash of the fish (clear water in this morning's pond) but then they would let go or come off, which is the main thing that had me thinking about hook type.

Here in my neck of the woods in MO, topwater season is finally underway. Just for the record, I think my absolute favorite way to catch fish is on a Whopper Plopper (or Berkeley Choppo, I have a couple of those as well). I'm a late comer to the Whopper Plopper party, never fished them before this year. I think I thought that the dinks in places I fish the most wouldn't hit one. But I recently gave the 75s and 90s a shot, and the dinks do hit them--and have been pounding them my last couple of trips out. This morning I was on a Plopper bite until past 10:00 a.m., which I had never done before. Bright sun but the wind was putting just enough chop on the water and white/bone kept working until darn near 11:00. I spend so much of my time throwing a spinning rod using finesse baits on the high pressure/dink-filled waters I usually fish--nothing better for a change of pace than the toilet bowl flush on a Plopper and throwing it on my baitcaster.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I think from the sounds of it my main issue is dinks in all the places I have been fishing a wacky rig. Don't know if I said something in original post that sounded otherwise, but I'm using a sweep or reel into them "hook set," definitely not like a T rig or jig. Sounds like the O ring is (as I suspected) mainly for worm preservation and wouldn't increase hookset. The VMC Ike Approved hook is a circle hook, with a thin wire weedguard. The Mustads I have been using are more of a wide gap but still supposed to be for wacky rigs. I think I'm going back to the VMCs for a while. But I think most of my misses have been little guys grabbing the ends of the worm.

I'm in a major love/hate with the wacky rig right now. On the one hand, it's been super successful for me since mid-spring. I fish a lot of places (bank fishing) that are heavily pressured and dink city, so the wacky rig has been perfect for these settings. I have caught a lot of fish on a wacky rig this year … but ... It seems like my hookup percentage is worse on a wacky rig than any other bait I throw, by a fair margin. I've caught a bunch on it, but I've missed a bunch too. For a while I was using the VMC Ike Approved Weedless Wacky hooks. Recently switched to the wide gap weedless wacky hooks by Mustad, thinking the wide gap might help. It didn't seem to. But...I don't know if it has anything to do with the hook, either. It seems like a lot of my misses are fish that are grabbing the ends of the worm, where obviously there is no hook. Maybe these are all dinks and bluegill that I couldn't hook in any case. But it seems like I get more of this than if I'm throwing the exact same 4" Yum Dinger except rigged weightless T rigged rather than weightless wacky. Also, for whatever reason I've not tried the O ring option. Does this help with hookup percentage, or is it primarily to keep from losing as many worms? Obviously the hook sits in a slightly different place in relation to the worm when using the O ring, so I could picture that it might help...or I could picture that it has no effect at all, especially again if fish are just grabbing the ends of the worm. Just wondering what other people's experience with this is. In any case I'm going to keep throwing the wacky rig, it has absolutely become my go-to finesse option. Just as good as it's been to me this year, I would love to convert some more of those nibbles into landed fish.

Here in MO, it seems like the beginning of reopening combined with the onset of real summer heat has just started to slim the numbers. Still waaaay up from pre-Covid, but it does seem a fraction better lately.

After my bad experience with BPS being out of everything I needed the other day, I went to a local mom and pop place yesterday. They were loaded with stuff, and I haven't been in there in a while but every time I go in I am impressed with the selection of stuff they carry for a local shop. Big stock of 6th Sense, Reaction Innovation, Spro, and other premium gear in addition to more common stuff (like row after row of Zoom baits). And to top it all off, they had a 20% off all fishing gear for Father's Day sale going on. Lesson learned, need to patronize the local businesses more. And, they had a Daiwa Revros combo for $49.99 (plus the 20% off for Father's Day). Considering I recently got new M and ML spinning combos, I had absolutely no need to buy one, but maaaaaaan did I have to fight hard to not. And the Bait Monkey was telling me every possible reason why I needed to get one "just in case."

During summer mornings and evenings, pond bluegill can be great for topwater action. The Rebel Crickhopper already mentioned works great for that. Also a popper fished on a flyrod can be a blast. Honestly in my experience the cheapy Betts poppers they sell at Walmart work just as well as anything you can get at a fly shop (although you can branch out at a fly shop with lots of grasshopper and cricket imitation flies, foam beetles, etc.). If you can't use a flyrod, it's super easy to do a float n fly rig on a spinning rod by just putting a float a foot or so ahead of the fly to give it some casting weight.

Good luck. I was in there yesterday. My little guy has taken an interest in fishing so I needed to get a couple of essentials for little kid bank bluegill fishing--hooks, split shot, and bobbers. The St. Charles BPS was completely out of split shot of any size, only hooks they had in under a 1/0 were some red ones, and they had just a couple of bobbers left. Granted, I recognize that my purchase needs fell right in line with, I'm sure, the majority of Covid newcomers to fishing. But...while I was there I also wanted to grab a Loon size 90 Whopper Plopper. Good news there, they had any color you wanted in the size 75 and 90, so long as it was bone. ?

I'll add on to the Daiwa bandwagon here. Admittedly my experience is very very limited, but I literally just got (as in two days ago) a ML Aird X rod and Daiwa Regal LT reel (1000 size). I wanted a ML setup to fill in the gap between my M and UL spinning combos. After fishing for one session I am very impressed with both the rod and the reel at around the $50 price point. Especially the rod, paired with Sufix 832 the rod is extremely sensitive. Also very light compared to other non-prime rods I have owned.

The rod and reel arrived, got it spooled up with the Sufix 832/Advance. Tonight I took my little guy out fishing. Most of it is pulling in bluegills on an ultralight (he's little), but I did take the new Aird X/Regal combo out with me and threw a weightless Yum Dinger for a few casts. I only caught one dinky bass, but my admittedly limited first impressions: (1) this combo casts a country mile. Even with the smaller 1000 size reel, it was really sending that weightless Dinger soaring; (2) the Aird X, especially loaded with 832 braid and in a 7'0" ML configuration, is an incredibly sensitive rod, especially for the money. I was actually having trouble because I was feeling every tiniest bluegill nibble and wanting to set the hook on everything. I would never have expected this level of sensitivity at this price point; (3) the Regal feels like a really solid reel, very smooth; (4) the grip and reel seat on the Aird are a little different than what I'm used to, in a way that's hard to describe, but I think once I get used to them, I feel more connected to the rod blank which should only help sensitivity. All in all, based on one very short test drive I think this is an extremely impressive combo for just over the $100 price point total. I am predicting that I am going to really enjoy getting into a bunch of creek smallmouths on this setup. And, based on the high level of sensitivity I also think this is going to make a great crappie rod for when I'm out crappie fishing with my dad.

More update: Haven't worn the Shady Rays fishing yet, but wore them on my drive home from work this afternoon, in bright sunshine. Take it with a grain of salt because I've only ever owned cheapie sunglasses, but...these seem to be a much better product than the cheapies I've owned in the past. They feel really solid on, but what really impressed me was the clarity. They seemed extremely clear for what I'd expect for a $40 pair of sunglasses. Can't wait to get them out on the water now.

I'm reintroducing myself to the world of crappie fishing in addition to my bass pursuits. My dad just got a camper at Kentucky Lake and a new Bass Tracker. Although we'll be doing some bass fishing, his main interest is crappie. When I was a kid (30+ years ago) we did a lot of crappie fishing at Kentucky Lake but essentially none until recently. My dad has appointed me to get us up to speed as quickly as possible. My first trip down a couple of weeks ago I did get us on a few fish, at least enough keepers to have a family meal, but still trying to feel my way through the whole minnow/jig/jig tipped with minnow issue. I have asked around a little on a couple of crappie boards but raising that issue there is like stirring things up between the Hatfields and the McCoys. So I'm sure there are quite a few bass fishermen on this site that also do some crappie fishing, so interested to get your thoughts on which you prefer to use. Of course you see everything on YouTube, but in particular I have been watching American Crappie Tour episodes. My thinking is I usually get the most useful bass info from watching tourney anglers, so same should hold true for crappie. It seems to me that the majority of them are using jigs tipped with minnows. That's what we used my first time out, Bobby Garland Baby Shads in a variety of colors tipped with minnows. Or is it just like so much in bass fishing, "it depends" based on time of year, the particular lake, and so many other factors?

Update since everyone provided such good feedback on my question. While kicking all this around I ran across on YouTube an ad for Shady Rays glasses. As much as I would usually be hesitant to buy something from a YouTube ad, when I looked at them they seemed to be a decent product. With a "first time customer" discount my pair came to $38 including shipping. I got the basic polarized black/smoke lens wraparound style. They offer free replacement for any loss or damage. Also came with a nice microfiber bag that doubles as a cleaning cloth. They arrived today. Though the ultimate test will be out on the lake in the heat and sweat, my first impression is that they are at least as good as any of the other glasses I looked at in the $40 range (or a little higher, like $60 Columbias). They fit well, feel solid and definitely cut through glare. I'll be anxious to try them out on the water, but for first impressions I'm fairly impressed for the price.

Funny you posted this, I just ran across this concept for the first time. I went to the YouTube channel for the guy who first came up with it, and he's got lots of classroom videos but I gave up on trying to find one that contains the basic breakdown of the concept.

Apparently based on the crowds at my local fishing spots, and the bare shelves in any local store, 2020 is National Fishing Year. Ugh. ?

For whatever reason, I had never fished a tube. With my recent new branching out to creek smallmouths, I picked up some tubes to use for them. Used them for the first time on my last trip to the creek. Both green pumpkin and an orange pumpkin color (forget the name) SK Bitsy Tubes worked well. But I also caught a few largemouth on them. In fishing them, it seems like they can do a really good job of imitating both a crawdad and a bluegill. But for some reason I only hear about them mainly in association with smallmouths. I'm sure the answer is yes, but anyone using tubes for lake/pond largemouths?

Well, I guess I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in dealing with this headache. After fishing in the gunk last evening, tonight I thought it might be a good idea to give the two combos I was using a good cleaning. ??? especially in and underneath my baitcasting reel. Holy cow it took about 10 qtips to get all the gunk out. Common sense would have said to call it a night last night rather than keep fishing in the stuff but they were hitting a Whopper Plopper and it was my first consistent topwater bite of the year. No way I was leaving that to go home.

Thanks everyone for the responses...the white/black is kind of what I expected because it doesn't seem that a fish looking up at the bait and silhouetting it against the sky would be able to distinguish much other than that. The reason for my question was yesterday evening I was out at the pond. I'm a late comer to the Whopper Plopper party so the only color I had in a size appropriate for the fish in that pond (a 90) was white. When I first started throwing it there was still a little sun hitting spots on where I was fishing, but I kept using it as it got darker, until just before dark. It seemed to work well in both lighting conditions, which got me thinking about this question.

Just wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on how they pick colors for topwaters. I get that color is probably less important for topwaters than other baits. But while I feel fairly confident in picking starting colors for nearly all other baits (from there, letting the fish tell what color to use of course), I have heard wildly differing strategies for picking topwater colors and don't have a clear handle on it. So, what factors do you consider--water clarity, time of day/light level, type of bait, other factors? I'm thinking in particular about topwater baits with a "body," particularly a Whopper Plopper but also a walking bait or a popper.

I don't know if the actual name for them is cottonwood trees, but that's what everyone I know here in Missouri calls them. They're the trees that shed this cottony thready pollen stuff that clumps up and collects on the surface of the water. I don't remember it being this bad in years past but for some reason they're just awful this year here. The stuff collects on your line during the retrieve and then, as it builds up, it clumps up in either the rod line guides or, on my baitcaster, in the line guide on the reel. On my spinning rod a lot of it sneaks by and just collects on the spool. Once it got so clumped up in the line guide on my reel that when I went to cast, the line couldn't pass through and it caused a massive backlash. The worst thing about the stuff is when it gets wet and clumped up, it is very hard to get off of the line. It's like I almost have to pick away at individual fibers. Tonight it was so bad that it influenced where I fished on the pond; I fished in a not as productive area because it was on the opposite side of the pond from where the wind had blown all of the cottonwood stuff. Anyone else dealing with this? More importantly, anyone have any magic tips for getting the stuff off of your line or otherwise keeping it from collecting in the line guides or on the spool?