plawren53202

I agree with the suggestions to slow down and go finesse. The baits listed in your original post are all moving baits--spinnerbait, chatterbait, crankbait, other than the lizard, which is a soft plastic but is a more aggressive soft plastic. I would suggest trying something you can go small and slow: Ned rig would be at the top of my list, followed closely by a trick worm on a shaky head, wacky rigged Senko, or a drop shot. Also might give some thought to trying a jig, fished slow dragged on the bottom, and you might want to consider a finesse jig or a mini like a Bitsy Bug.

I generally prefer to not use bait that can bite back and hurt me. ? The couple of times I have gone on fishing trips to Canada, I could never get comfortable using leeches for that same reason. No question the walleyes flat out munched them on both my trips. But I never got comfortable with hooking them. My very inartful and wimpy looking method involved using a minnow net to flip one out on the deck of the boat and pinning it down on the deck with the minnow net while I ran the hook through. I would expect baiting a hook with a centipede to look similar, if not worse.

The place I fish most often, my HOA pond, is highly highly pressured, and clear to boot. From my experience, lots of good suggestions already. I can't emphasize enough the downsizing advice. Bitsy Bug with a Tiny Paca Chunk trailer has been working great for me this year (black and blue, or okechobee craw). Zoom Super Fluke fished t-rigged weightless works well for me. This season I have had some success on lipless crankbaits, but small (like the 1/4 oz. Cotton Cordell spot) in colors I think they don't see often, like red craw or chrome sexy shad. A Booyah Pond Magic spinnerbait (single Colorado blade, and considerably smaller than a regular spinnerbait) has worked on a couple of occasions, right at dusk as it is getting dark or very overcast day. Judging by what I see a lot of other people throwing, I think the fish in this pond see a lot of buzzbaits, full-size spinnerbaits, and curly tail worms. I try to fish different and smaller than these. Also don't skip over the fact that downsizing also includes line size. When I find extra line laying on the ground around the pond, which unfortunately is not infrequently, it looks like rope. I fish 6 lb. on my spinning rod and 12 lb. on my baitcaster. I feel a lot better about the 6 lb. when the presentation allows. Finally, don't know if you're in a boat or on the bank, but if on the bank, don't underestimate the importance of stealth. I see so many people just march right up to the water's edge and start casting (straight out into the pond). On this pond, there is very little cover or structure so the bass often hug right up against the bank in mere inches of water. In the clear water, they can see people coming from quite a ways, and I think they have conditioned to be very spooky.

That's my memory, and certainly seemed to be the case yesterday. Contrast to my most frequent largemouth fishing these days, which is trying to coax picky overpressured dinks in a crystal clear pond to bite--it's like fishing a trout stream without the upside. Yesterday was a blast with longears divebombing my Rebel Wee R Craw nearly every time it hit the water. The one smallmouth I caught also hit my hellgrammite like a freight train the second it hit the water. Another question I forgot to include in my first post: what colors, particularly soft plastics, do people prefer? My gut instinct says in crystal clear water, natural colors like green pumpkin, browns, colors that mimic the natural forage like crawdads and small shiners. But I know sometimes there are color choices that defy logic, like fishing bubblegum pink and chartreuse for bedding largemouths, so just wanted to make sure I'm not overthinking it.

So I just rediscovered how much I enjoy fishing creeks/small streams after a 20+ hiatus. Used to fish a creek/small stream all the time at my grandparents' house, in my teens. I started stocking up on gear after watching lots of YouTube (thanks Creek Fishing Adventures)--light Lew's spinning combo, and a starter assortment of lures, hellgrammite soft plastic with jig heads, Rooster Tails, Rebel Wee Craws and Crickhopper, and some basic curly tail grubs/heads/jig spinners. Found a place and went for the first time this weekend. Rediscovered the joy that a 1 pound smallmouth fighting in current on a light spinning rod can be. Also caught a bunch of longear sunfish/bluegill, shiners, etc. This particular spot is between what I would call a creek or small stream. Pretty wide; deepest holes range from 3-6 feet deep, I'm guessing. Lots of current in places combined with long deeper holes. Very clear water, definitely spring fed. This creek is definitely going to go in my rotation of fishing spots from now on. So I'm looking to gear up a little more and thinking through what other lures would be good for smallmouths in this type of setting. Tubes? Small wacky rigged worms (4" Dinger)? Small swimbait like a 2.5 or 3 inch Keitech type? Others? I would love to hear what baits are your favorites for those who fish this type of water.

Last night I was out and there was enough surface activity just before sunset that I gave a topwater a shot for the first time this year. At some point in the past few months I had gotten a Booyah Toad Runner in one of the subscription boxes. Anyone who has used the Toad Runner, have you had any problem with short strikes? I had several hits, but they were all short and I was never able to set the hook. It almost seemed like the fish were targeting the "plopper" on the back rather than the frog itself. Granted, the bass in this particular pond run small, so that could be the reason. I would have tried a Whopper Plopper/Berkley Choppo but the only one I had with me was probably too big. That's why I gave the Toad Runner a shot, it had the plopper concept but in a smaller package. Just curious if this was due to small fish or is a problem with the Toad Runner. Just don't want to try it somewhere with bigger fish and still have short strikes. I like the concept of a frog and a plopper in one, but good concepts don't always make good lures.

For some reason cannibalism in the fish world is hilarious to me. Case in point, every frog I have ever caught on fishing tackle (and I have caught quite a few over the years) has been...on a frog. And I'm not talking about snagging them either, they were all going for a meal. At one lake I fish in particular, if I throw a SK Rage Toad into the lily pads during the summer, it's like the bullfrogs think I just threw in the last morsel of food on earth.

My "home" water, our subdivision pond, is heavily pressured and loaded with dinks. I have caught a bunch the past week with either a Bitsy Bug jig or the Z-Man equivalent (can't remember the name), black and blue with a black and blue Tiny Paca Chunk trailer. And ditto what someone else said above about being able to use your spinning rod with the Bitsy Bug, which is what I have been doing.

Many years ago, when I fished creeks all the time, my standard go-to lure selection was spinners (Mepps Aglias and Road Runners), Beetle Spins or curly tail grubs with a spinner added to the head, Rebel crawdads and crickhoppers, and a 4" curly tail worm in purple fire tail. That selection was good for the smallmouth and largemouth that lived in those creeks, along with bluegill, green sunfish and goggle eyes (rock bass). I don't fish creeks any more, but if I were going to, I would stick with that selection except that I would add a Ned Rig, swap out the curly tail worms for 4" Yum Dingers or Senkos, wacky rigged or texas rigged, in watermelon and perhaps junebug depending on water clarity, and add in some Bobby Garland crappie shad along with the curly tail grubs. Also, if you're wanting to catch creek bass, I would highly recommend Creek Fishing Adventures on YouTube. He actually just put out a video where he sits down and goes through his tackle selection, which would be perfect for your question.

Just this morning the mini version (1/4 oz. I think?) saved the day. Slow morning, but tied one on and picked up 2 or 3 on the grey/black shad pattern, so it defeated the dreaded skunk. The one I used came straight out of the bargain box on the bottom shelf at Walmart.

The local pond I fish the most has been crystal clear all spring, and it doesn't have any big bass, so I have been hesitant to throw a spinnerbait yet. Last night however when it got dark (sunset into dark) I tied on a black and blue mini spinnerbait (I forget the brand but I think it's the Booyah Pond Magic) and picked up four quick dinks in about 20 minutes.

Was going to respond with exactly this and then saw at the bottom of the thread. Any good suspending jerkbait will sit perfectly still when your retrieve pauses. Even a weightless fluke will still slowly sink when paused because of the weight of the hook. I'm not a huge jerkbait user (no real reason, I know people slay on them, just have never gotten into them) but I use weightless flukes all the time. Based on the suspending factor, I would say that a jerkbait is better in cold water. The other factor for using a weightless fluke is, of course, the unexposed hook. This is of course good if you need weedless, which is the primary reason I fish them so much, but not as good if you are dealing with tentative swiping fish rather than swallowers. Having said all of that, I feel like one of the benefits of the weightless fluke is the ability to vary the retrieve so much. I can span a wide range from super slow to pretty fast. But if it's cold cold water, I would not want the fluke sinking.

I'm no pro, so I could be totally wrong on this, but... As I sit here and try to think about it, I think that if I feel solid pressure I tend to set the hook right away (this would include when I see or feel the line moving); if I feel a tap tap tap, sometimes I'll give it a second or two and then set the hook. Taps are generally just with worms or other soft plastics; not typically a moving bait like a crankbait or spinnerbait--although just tonight, I was throwing a mini spinnerbait (Booyah Pond Magic spinnerbait) for little ones in a pond, they were tapping it in some cases...and I think I was giving them a second or so before setting the hook. I've been known to whiff on plenty, and to set the hook on logs, branches, rocks and weeds, so take that for what it's worth.

Thanks for the feedback...I have fished spinnerbaits lots of times in spring as well, I just happened to mention it here more in reference to the size and color as inappropriate for the conditions and size of the bass in this pond. Super clear water, and the bass don't get over a pound. I've thrown a Booyah Pond spinnerbait several times here, but a big (3/4 or 1 ounce) chartreuse double Colorado blade would be overkill. Also, I'm catching other fish here most days. My two best baits are the weightless fluke and a wacky rigged small Senko. Definitely catch more at low pressure times like early early in the morning. It was just this one bedding male that had me puzzled because he acted so differently than any bedding male I've ever fished in a lake or a less pressured pond.

Wow, I'm used to snark like this on other websites but haven't seen it on this site yet. God forbid I raise a legitimate point about the nature of the fishing pressure. I'll draw an analogy, if you were a trout fisherman fishing a stream and the stream was experiencing unusually heavy pressure from people throwing bass lures or other obviously inappropriate tackle, that would be worthy of comment. A consistent stream of heavy bass lures would no doubt affect those trout. Seems like a legitimate point. I didn't mention in my original post that a lot of these people are causing other problems too, like leaving trash, worm boxes, used line behind. The choice of tackle was relevant to my question. In a pond that doesn't exceed 4 or 5 feet deep, is small, and has crystal clear water, a bunch of people throwing oversize and overly aggressive lures from morning to sunset every day could be relevant to bass behavior and pressuring them too heavily. On what I consider to be a forum of educated bass fisherman, it didn't seem inappropriate to observe the choice of tackle. Unfortunately I can't find an option to just delete this thread, though I would rather do so at this point. Just went a completely different direction than I intended.

Was fishing my subdivision HOA pond this morning when I noticed for the first time some males on beds. This pond is relatively small, 3 acres or so; water this year has been crystal clear; and it is heavily pressured. It gets a lot of fishing pressure anyway, but this year with people being at home because of the quarantine (fishing is allowed in Missouri) it has been getting a ridiculous amount of pressure. I'm talking 4-5 people fishing it at any given time early afternoon until a little before sunset. It's kind of funny to me because I can tell the vast majority of these people don't fish much, lots of things like buzzbaits and 3/4 oz spinnerbaits frothing the water at 2:00 p.m. with high sun, no wind and bluebird skies in super clear water ?? I was focused on one bed in particular this morning that left me wondering how super heavy pressure like this affects spawning behavior. This bed was about 2 feet off the bank, about 2 feet of water, in an area that I know gets a lot of foot traffic and fishing pressure. (I was there at about 6:30 a.m., the quarantine crowd doesn't like to get up early to fish ?). There was a male guarding the bed, not big but average size for this pond (prob. 3/4 of a pound). I threw about 5 different baits at him. Weightless fluke, wacky rigged senko, tube jig, t-rigged craw, Ned craw. Tried both natural colors, and the obnoxious colors people throw at beds (bubble gum, chartreuse). Variety of presentations as well--cast past and drag across the nest, drop right on the nest, swim over the nest, etc. Covered the middle of the bed as well as the edges. I was surprised that the male just didn't have any interest in any of them. Not that he didn't bite or pick it up, but just didn't even turn to look at them. At points I had a craw just dancing in the middle of the bed, standing up and wiggling. I spent about 15 minutes experimenting with that one bed. It just got me wondering if spawning bass act differently in a super pressured area like this. Made me wonder if the high level of foot traffic and anglers constantly going by on the bank changed the equation. The whole thing was just weird. My experience with bass on beds in more traditional lake settings, something out of everything I tried would have finally gotten this male to pick it up, or at least pay attention. It was his complete lack of attention to anything I threw that really confused me.

So sick of the green slime in my subdivision HOA pond. Have been using my new Dobyns Fury/Lews Tournament MP three or four times now. The green snot is all over my line in the reel, no matter how diligently I try to wipe it off every so often while reeling in; and had to give the whole combo a good cleanup this morning. In particular there were gobs underneath the reel between the reel and the reel seat. YUCK!

Trust me, I'm not taking that for granted at all. Here in the St. Louis area, we have the opposite problem. Since fishing and other outdoor activities are an option, and so many people are either laid off or working from home, EVERYONE is giving fishing a try and every single place I go in the area, from my subdivision HOA pond to local parks and conservation areas, are PACKED.

Thought I'd check back in and close the loop on this one. Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions. I ended up getting two spools of Sufix Advance, 8# for my spinning rod and 12# for my baitcaster. I had Berkley Vanish fluoro on both of them. Spooled them up yesterday and took them out for a test drive tonight. So far from an hour on the water I am really impressed with the Sufix Advance. Casting distance was noticeably farther on both rods. In particular my baitcaster combo really shines with the Sufix Advance. And that's going up to 12# from the 10# Vanish fluoro that was on it. I finally spent a few bucks and got a good quality baitcaster combo (Dobyns Fury and Lew's Tournament MP) and tonight with the Sufix Advance on it, it finally locked in to everything that I hoped for it as far as casting distance, smoothness and castability. Unfortunately I can't comment on the stretch factor as compared to the Vanish fluoro, as I didn't catch a single fish on either combo at the crappy overfished public lake I was at. ? I did get a couple of bites tonight and sensitivity of the Advance seemed at least as good as the Vanish fluoro. Going somewhere else in the morning where I would expect to catch a few so hopefully I'll be able to weigh in on the stretch factor.

That's been my new plan, slowly working on trying them out. A 100 mile drive is not always doable for me, but most weekends at least. I have fished Perry County lake a few times, I can do alright there most of the time. Just tried Port Hudson Lake this past weekend; that one seems to be a challenge unless you have a boat or kayak (which I do not) to get out in the standing timber; casting out into it is a recipe for losing lots of good baits. I'm happy to hear feedback on any of the other Conservation lakes with a 100 or so miles of St. Louis. PM me if you don't want to post them publicly. I don't ever want to try to steal someone's honey hole, but always glad to take advice since there are lots of bad fishing spots to weed through.

That's my guess. The bummer is that the Wiggle Wart that was included is really nice but I'll probably never use it; it is a deep diver and I only fish from the bank so not much use for a deep diver. The Niko weights, I've never used them either but they are the ones with a skirt attached, and I do fish a wacky worm all the time, so I'll probably give them a try. Too bad the person who accidentally put the Wiggle Wart in didn't accidentally put a Jackhammer in instead.?

Seemed like it was pretty fast. I ordered late Wednesday night, order was shipped Thursday and arrived on Monday.

Cotton Cordell Spot lipless crankbait--not much over $2 at Walmart, they work nearly as well as any other lipless crankbait (hooks are bad, but for a beginner you can live with the stock hooks), and they are a great search bait for big bodies of water like reservoirs. They have a couple of different sizes, including a smaller one (1/4 ounce I think?) that would work well on light spinning gear--I have some in my creek box.

Just wondering if anyone has had this happen before, if it was intended or a mistake. Just got in an order of baits and line from TW. Not a huge order like I know some of you place, by any means, but not small--about $95; I've ordered from them 3 or 4 times and this was the largest order I have placed with them. In addition to everything I had ordered, the box had a couple of extra items in it--a Storm Wiggle Wart crankbait, and a package of Neko weights. I was just wondering if they throw in bonuses with orders, or if this was an oops?

My HOA pond is chock full of green slime algae. One bait I've found that works reasonably well in this is a weightless fluke. Granted I still need to pick a little gunk off from time to time, but nothing like a crankbait digging on the bottom for instance. Also a wacky work fished on a weedless octopus hook works pretty well too.