plawren53202

I fish mine 4-5 days a week (slowing down now with the colder weather), and it sounds like yours is exactly the same. Add in the additional challenge that mine got hammered this spring and summer with anglers (not a lot of catching, but a lot of fishing). I'll throw out a few random observations. --There is a little more structure or cover there than might first meet the eye. From first glance mine looks barren. However, there are: (1) an inlet pipe on one side where the subdivision storm sewer runs in, and there are some football-size rocks under water (can't see them), I'm sure to cut down on erosion where the water flows in; (2) a very slight drop off in many cases, about 15 feet out from the bank (depending on water level)--it's not really even a "dropoff", just a place where the slope of the gradual drop gets a little steeper for a couple of feet; (3) there are a few little nooks in the bank where, when the fish come up shallow (and sometimes they get SHALLOW), the fish will park in them; (4) there is a spot where the pond narrows, and the wind frequently blows in that direction--it's not really a point, but the spot where the narrowing occurs provides a slight ambush spot when the wind is generating a little current past that point. Also pay attention to where water flows into the pond, and hit that especially during or just after rain or significant snow meltoff. Yours will be different, of course, but I'm just throwing out examples of the kinds of "structure" or "cover" I have to look for in this environment, versus much more obvious places in the big lakes I fish. I highly recommend taking some time with a heavy Carolina rig or jig to drag the bottom as thoroughly as possible, feeling for possible rocks or other structure. --To me, it seems like the behavior of the largemouths in my pond is different from lake largemouths. They're almost more like spots. It seems like they roam a lot more, when they're actively feeding. In particular it seems like they roam a lot on that "dropoff" I mentioned above. I will 45 degree cast swim jigs, swim baits, or squarebills across that dropoff when it seems like they're active. Same goes for that pinch "point" I mentioned above, though they'll set up rather than roam there a little more, But they won't park on that spot like a typical largemouth parks on a log or under a mat. --When they're not active, they park in one spot. Most often this is in the deepest part of the pond, which is simply the bottom of the bowl out in the middle. With a little work and the right baits that part is in casting distance at my pond, though I can't reach it with lighter baits like a Ned rig. Heavier bottom baits like a jig, most T rigged baits, a Neko rigged worm, or drop shot will all work. Vary depending on water clarity and weather (clearer or colder, go with more finesse-y presentations like the drop shot). --Like the above poster said, pay attention to where the baitfish are. In warmer days this year, especially mornings and evenings, the "structure" those baitfish utilize is most often the bank. This requires some care in fishing water that shallow without spooking the bass cruising up there in inches of water. Weightless T rigged fluke is a good one. Also helps if you can find places to actually cast up on the bank and drag the bait into the water, eliminating the splash. During warmer months these bank cruisers will hit a topwater early and late; I caught quite a few this year on a size 75 or 90 Plopper, as well as a frog or Pop R in stiller water. --Pay attention to what they have to eat. In my pond it's mainly bluegill and baby bass. My color choices reflect those. Soft plastics that combine green pumpkin and light blue ("Bream" in Yum Dingers, Moon Juice in Strike King products, "Neon Bluegill" in KVD 1.5s, Blue Craw in Z Man) are standby colors for me. Don't overlook the baby bass either. Other day I caught one with a tail sticking up out of his throat, pulled it out just a little and sure enough it was a baby bass. --As the water is getting colder now, here are some things that have worked well for me. Jerkbaits have been great lately. I think they excel at getting those cruisers in colder water. Vision 110 Jr or the little Lucky Craft (forget the model number) in clear or reflective patterns (sunny) or sexy shad (cloudy). A Red Eye Shad in the cold water classic craw red does well. I fish it yo-yo more like a jig, and it casts a mile so great to get out to that deepest water when they aren't as active. A tungsten head jig (heavy weight to cast far/get down deep, but small profile) along with a low action trailer like the smallest Zoom chunk, has been my latest go-to. --When in doubt, downsize. My strong preference during warmer months is to throw something fun like a swim jig or squarebill. But the old reliable fallback is always Ned rig (original TRD or TRD craw) or a 4" Yum Dinger wacky rigged. When the pond was getting hammered this summer I saw a LOT (almost entirely) of big, loud, flashy baits--white or chartreuse spinnerbaits, white buzzbaits, etc. Small and slow is always the fallback for me. Hope this rambling helps. This is a meaningful topic to me because it took quite a bit of time to adjust from some of my lake bass/more "normal" pond bass thinking--and God knows I still am far from having this mastered.

So, disclaimer to my post: I'm terrible at flipping and pitching. I've watched every video on YT, read every article I can, and inevitably every time I try it I'm going to end up with an awful bird's nest or spend the time making about 5 or 6 foot pitches. Because of this, the idea behind the Lew's SP really appeals to me. The idea of a spool that requires a lot less momentum to get it moving/get the bait moving seems like it would help me. Normally, I feel like I have to loosen the spool tension so much to get any distance at all that then a bird's nest is inevitable. Unfortunately the list $199 might be a little out of my price range at this point. So, are there any other reels that have a similar concept, lower mass spool for lower momentum required to get it moving--and that are maybe a little less than the Lew's? I feel like flipping and pitching is the one major hole in my arsenal that I need to learn, and I really like the idea of these reels to help.

The most frustrating thing for me is getting that first or second bite. If I can get one or two bites, then I can start to put together a pattern, and then the bites seem to come much more easily. Pay super close attention all the time, because you need to glean as much info as possible from the first bite or two...what was I doing, how was I moving the bait, how deep do I estimate it was where the bite happened, was it on the fall or while retrieving, all that kind of info. I won't sit in one spot too long until I get that first bite or two. Until the first bite, I will move all around the pond, trying a couple different baits in each spot. Maybe a moving bait and a bottom bait in each spot. No bites after 20-30 minutes, then move to a different spot. That's why I like having several combos at my disposal, so no retying. In colder water (now), maybe a jerkbait and a Ned rig in the first spot, no bites, then maybe a lipless or a swimbait and then a drop shot in the second spot. And so on. Finally, the key for me on ponds is noticing tiny little details that may be where fish are holding. Especially, the less features in a pond, the tinier the details may be (and my subdivision pond for instance is a nearly featureless bowl, so I really have to pay attention to the most minute details). Things like one football size rock that I feel with a jig bouncing the bottom that is mainly mud, or the slightest change in contour where a gradual slope drops off just slightly quicker for a foot or two. This is what I mean when I say "dissect" a pond. Now, if I find that one football size rock, and I don't get a bite in 20-30 minutes using a couple of different baits, then I move on. The good thing is, in a small pond, when I do manage to put together a pattern, it seems like nearly all the fish in that pond will be on that pattern that day. But there are days, like yesterday, where you just never get that first bite or two even after a couple of hours of working hard at it. Those are the days I go home mad and feeling like I lost the competition with just myself LOL.

Hey man, I really feel for you and your post hit a nerve with me. I'm going through a rough time myself, wife recently filed for separation, financial troubles that led to it, yada yada yada. So fishing for me is not "just a hobby" at this point in time, it really is something I heavily depend on to get a little peace and distraction in my life. So if I go and don't do any good, I have a tough time getting into the mindset of "just enjoy being outdoors." Plus it doesn't help that I am very competitive, with myself, when it comes to my hobbies. I study the greats a lot and measure myself against them. So even when I'm just fun fishing, I'm still basically fishing a tournament against myself. Also like to practice at tournament speed for the real ones. I think you're thinking on the right track, but I would actually steer toward keeping the combos. On the ponds I fish, they're not huge and I know the fish are in there somewhere even if I'm not catching them that day. So on those days, I really slow it down and try lots of different presentations, different speed presentations, different location in the water column, different colors, and so on. And I usually have just a couple of hours tops to pond fish around town, so I don't want to spend a lot of time retying. It may be silly but I will take up to 6 combos with me to a pond (e.g., yesterday, jerkbait combo, lipless combo, jig combo, Ned rig combo, small swimbait combo, and drop shot combo). Totally different than where I lake fish in the boat, where if one pattern or bite isn't working, I can just run to a different one (like from backs of creeks to main lake points). There's only 2 or 3 "patterns," tops, in the ponds I fish. And the fish have to be in there somewhere. Of course, there are some days where because of weather conditions or other factors they just aren't biting, period. I don't resign well to that fact, and I'm going to make sure I get super surgical about it and try everything possible before I resign to that conclusion. Yesterday was one of those days. Here's one good part about it...I think that fishing this surgical level of dissecting spots is something a lot of boat fishermen don't do because it's too easy to just run around the lake. I've heard kayak anglers talk about this same thing, how they have to learn to really dissect a spot rather than just keep running somewhere new. I think it's really good to have both skills, dissecting one spot if needed, or knowing when to pull the trolling motor up and run and gun from spot to spot.

Last winter was the first winter I actually made half an effort to fish through the winter. Years past once the temps hit below 40, I just hung it up until spring LOL. So suffice to say fishing winter temps is still new to me. My question is about best time of day to fish a pond near me. The pond is pretty small (about 2 acres), doesn't get very deep (my guess is the deepest part of the pond is 7 or 8 feet deep). Water is pretty clear most of the winter, 2-3 feet of visibility. Largemouth (ie, not smallies). Because this pond is small and shallow, I'm sure it has some wild temperature swings and is affected by sunshine or cold nights much more than deeper bodies of water. During warmer weather low light periods are typically best here, like you might expect, early morning, late evening, cloudy. But I'm wondering if during the winter, it might be better on sunny days to fish this pond during the warmest part of the day (mid afternoon when the sun is the warmest before it starts to go down and get dimmer). The last couple of times out it seemed like the fish bit better either at the end of my outing in the morning (closer to noon) or the beginning of a late afternoon-to-sunset outing (again, during the warmest part of the outing). Just wondering what others who fish these type of ponds through the winter have experienced. TL/DR: wondering if I should fish a small pond during the middle of the day during winter.

Not replacing just for replacing's sake, or because I've read or heard anything...I want to have a dedicated jerkbait combo, for several reasons including wanting to keep it strung up with lighter line than I typically fish on my Fury 733 combo. The Fury 733 combo is a great general cranking/treble hook/Whopper Plopper/walking bait combo for me, so I'd prefer to keep 12# on it. I am envisioning a bunch of scenarios in the future where I'm going to want my current Fury laying on the deck with a crankbait, and a jerkbait rod laying on the deck with a jerkbait. So, if I'm going to add another combo, I'd rather add one that's 100% right for jerkbaits rather than 90%. I suspect that the 7'3" of my Fury is a little too long for the ideal jerkbait rod. Plus, although the 733's "MH" that's on the light side of MH works pretty well, I like my 703 spinning rod's true "M" just a little better for jerkbaits. Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'm going to comb through the sales right now and see what matches up with these suggestions. I'd probably have already bought an SLX but it seems like everyone (certainly everyone with Black Friday sales, like TW) is out of the SLX in the 6'10" M.

I'm throwing a jerkbait enough and liking it enough that I'm ready to get a devoted jb combo. To date I've been throwing it on my Dobyns Fury 733C and Lew's Tournament MP. This setup has done pretty well, but...I've heard the preferred setup is a M rod with a fast tip. I was throwing a smaller jb (Lucky Craft Pointer SP) on my M action Dobyns Fury spinning combo today, and I really liked the way the M action rod handled it, so that convinced me to take the plunge. Based on my (limited) experience so far, and everything I've read and watched on YT, here's what I think I want in a jb combo: --Around $200-225 (tops) budget --M/Fast rod --I think I want something 7' or just under, like 6'10", based on what I've heard/read...but open on that, my 7'3" Fury doesn't seem inappropriately long (and that includes fishing it from the bank a lot) --I think I'd like to put 8 or 10 lb line on it (Sufix Advance; I'm just not a fluoro person, but that's a different story), so I'd like a reel that will handle that size line--I'm going to be throwing mainly Vision 110, Vision 110 Jr, and comparable size Lucky Crafts; I've heard several people say to use 8 or 10# line if possible, lets the bait get deeper and have better action --I'm guessing a 6 or 7:1 reel is good So, please let me know your recommendation for a rod/reel in my price range; and if I'm headed down the wrong path on any of the specs, please let me know that as well!

Bingo, these are my colors along with a chartreuse, "bluegrass" (blue back, chartreuse belly), black back/pink belly, and black back/chartreuse belly. That monkey milk is deadly in stained to clear water especially with some sun, and I like the pearl when there is some cloud cover. I have put quite a few crappie in the boat on these getting back into crappie fishing this summer. I usually rig them on a 1/8 oz. jig head. I experiment with different colored heads, and I like the crappie jig heads that have the sickle hook. We usually use a Lew's 9 or 10 ft long Wally Marshall Crappie pole and tightline the jigs. I'm not sure how well they'd work for bass. I'm sure you could catch a few on them. They are pretty small even for dink bass. And the tail has a very precise movement that I think is better suited for crappie: that little thin tail is designed to just barely quiver when you're holding the jig still in front of a crappie. I've been catching them this fall by using the Livescope to put one right in front of a crappie sitting on a stakebed and then hold it as still as possible. It's a little different action than what I'm accustomed to fishing for bass. Strike KIng has a similar jig body, the Mr. Crappie Joker, that has also caught quite a few for me. It is similar to the Baby Shad but instead of the one tiny thin tail, it has three thin tails with a little ball on the end. Same principle, hold it super still and let the tails jiggle, but the three ball-end tails have just a tad more action than the Baby Shad. Maybe this would work a little better for bass? Same colors, except there is a pearl with chartreuse tail that I really like in the Joker. Having said all that, go for it. When the bass are in a super finicky mood, the same super still jigging approach could work on them...but I'd definitely use a bigger head than my crappie jig heads if I was targeting bass.

Thanks for the responses! Is it ok then to throw one without a ring if the JDM ones don't come with one? Seems like the darting action would be a little better with a ring, but like I said I'm fairly new to jerkbaits, so I don't know. I don't necessarily have to have one on there unless it hampers the action not to have one. And galyonj, I get it...this morning I was out for a short time on the pond, just one bite on my first color (a sexy shad). Switched to something a little more translucent for the last few minutes I was out and it was like someone flipped on a light switch. So there is some benefit to the color ADHD thing sometimes.

New to Megabass baits....but I've really been doing well on the 110 and 110 Jr. the last couple of weeks. On one of the 110s I recently bought, I just realized there is no split ring on the front eyelet. My other 110s and 110 Jrs. all have a split ring on the front eyelet. Is this just a mess up on the part of MB? I can easily put a split ring on there (though I'll have to order some of the oblong ones they use because all I have are normal round ones). Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to mess something up that was by design, if I put one on.

Yes.

That's interesting, I have one and abuse it to heck and back in my bank fishing bag. It gets tossed around, dropped, and generally beaten up and I very rarely have any escapees to neighboring compartments. IDK, maybe I'm just lucky. I have noticed that I have to be a little careful to make sure it's sealed shut, as a hook sticking up for instance may prevent it from latching fully. But it certainly seems to perform well given the amount of abuse I put it through.

The key on punching baits for this situation is getting as much motion as you can while managing the little appendages that can get caught up in the grass. Under cleaner situations my preferred creature bait is a SK Rage Bug, but for punching heavy grass I like the SK Rodent. It has a similar design and action but not the smaller appendages, and is designed for punching heavy grass or other cover.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I have loaded my bank bag accordingly. Thankfully my "cold" water here is still in jerkbait/lipless range, so I'm enjoying it for now. I'll be prepared with the dragging soft baits now as well as it gets colder.

As I was swapping out the summer baits for winter baits in my bank fishing bag, it dawned on me that my preferences for cold water baits lean heavily toward winter-appropriate reaction baits: flat sided squarebills, lipless crankbaits, jerkbaits, blade baits. Granted I've only been making a sincere effort at winter fishing the last couple of seasons. So that leads me to ask: what slow-down/non-reaction baits do you use in cold water? I do throw a jig with a slow moving trailer (like a Zoom chunk), and a Ned rig. Anything else I should be throwing when the reaction baits aren't doing the trick?

Logan S, thank you very much for the thoughtful response. Super helpful.

This past year I started fishing tournaments (local club tournaments). It has been a blast, but lots of learning to do as well. The biggest thing to me has been learning the art of a gameplan or strategy for a tournament day and how that has to add on top of the pure "fishing" decisions like what to throw, what pattern to fish. I also, when I have a day or 4-5 hours of fishing time alone, try to practice under a mock tournament scenario (e.g., plan a route of spots to try ahead of time, try to fish at tournament speed as much as possible, and dealing with adjusting on the fly). This past weekend that led me to the question about how much time to spend graphing. I'd love to be fishing MLF or Bassmaster Elites and have 2 1/2 days of practice. Taking ample time to graph different areas would be much easier. But this past weekend for instance, I had a half day that I was doing one of my mock tournament runs. I hadn't been bass fishing at this lake in a few weeks and I knew the changeover from fall (back in the creeks gorging on shad) to winter (going back out deep again) was just starting. Ideally I'd love to spend a day graphing some deep spots to get an idea of whether they're there. But if this was a typical local club format, where I had 8 hours day of game, and no practice beforehand, how do you manage that? I'd hate to be fishing shallow all day, and find out later the fish were well on their way back out deep. But at the same time, with only just the one day, the thought of heading out deep to graph for any significant amount of time would have made me nervous as well. Yet I hear things like Jonny at Fish the Moment talking about how he graphs for 4 hours before finally landing on them deep. I guess I don't have enough confidence in my deep graphing skills to bet the house on that. Even in my little half day mock run this weekend, my initial guess at a pattern was off. Three weeks ago I was catching them shallow on rocky banks relatively close to deep water, and they were hitting a spinnerbait. This weekend I didn't get a bite on that pattern. Thankfully I didn't have to adjust too much, as I finally found them (late) just a little deeper on main lake points, hitting a jerkbait. As I think through all of this, it makes me wonder if the reason that it seems like most local club tournament guys I have fished with or met are bank beaters. They just don't have spare practice time to look elsewhere, and if you're going to pick one pattern to gamble on, flipping laydowns or grass might have better odds than graphing deep with no time other than "game time" to be out there looking around. Thanks in advance for any thoughts from you experienced tournament guys on this. This strategy part has been by far the most interesting part of the tournament experience for me.

I fish our highly pressured subdivision pond a lot. On one level it seems like there is not really any logic to what works; sometimes super finesse like Ned rig or a slooooow drop shot works for me, other times a pure reaction bait like a wide wobbling KVD 1.5 or a big bold bluegill pattern swim jig. My natural tendency for a body of water like this is to go ultra finesse, but I am often surprised at how something very opposite can work. The best logic I've put together to try to explain what works is, in my experience, most people who fish a body of water like this tend to use the same things all the time. During Covid lockdowns (round 1 anyway ?) there were hordes that descended on our pond and it seemed like (the non-bait fishermen, anyway), used one of about three things: a white spinnerbait, a purple curly tail worm, or a white buzzbait. No matter the water temperature, sun or wind conditions, recent weather changes, etc. , So I think above all, it's throwing something different that the fish don't see AND is appropriate to the conditions and season. In particular I've had good results all year changing with the seasons. For instance last couple of weeks the temperatures have really made a turn toward late fall/winter temps. I pulled out some of the baits appropriate for this time of season, that wouldn't necessarily fit into "finesse" categories. Vision 110 Jr. jerkbait, red craw Red Eye Shad caught several for me last week. I think a lot of these seasonally-appropriate baits are things the fish don't often see (no one at this pond throwing jerkbaits, swim jigs, soft swimbait on an underspin, weightless fluke, etc.). So they're not strictly ultra finesse baits (though those can certainly work).

Add me to the category of people who have, use and catch fish on baits in all price ranges. For me all I care about is what puts fish in the boat, and also value. On one hand, there are plenty of baits I have great results on that are very cheap. Yum and Zoom plastics; Booyah frogs; Cotton Cordell lipless baits; Pop-Rs; etc. All of these are great baits and have caught many fish for me. For instance the Yum Dinger has probably caught me more fish this year than any other lure. I use them not necessarily because they are cheap, but because they work well. Being cheap is a bonus (albeit one I very much appreciate). Thus these have great value for me because they are cheap but they also work, whereas something that is cheap but doesn't work is not a value. Others I would consider middle of the road. Red Eye Shads are a good example. I pay a few bucks more for them than, say, the Ozark Trails lipless baits, because I want the far wider range of great paint jobs; and they consistently perform like I expect them too. I also factor in the chance of losing a bait, for instance I seem to snag a fair number of lipless baits so I'd be less likely to invest in a "top of the line" one. Spinnerbaits and buzzbaits are similar. I have found that sometimes the Walmart bargain box ones don't run strait, don't climb to the surface quickly enough (buzzbaits), or fall apart, etc. So I see value in spending a little more than the bargain box, but at the same time, someone would really have to demonstrate the value in a more expensive spinnerbait than War Eagle/Strike King/Nichols/etc. And I have a few really expensive baits as well. I have a small box full of Whopper Ploppers because they work. I started really working on jerkbaits this year. Sure, I can catch fish with a Strike King, but I've found the value in a Vision 110 or 110 Jr. because they dart and stop on a dime unlike any other I've tried. That would mean little, of course, if I hadn't caught fish on them; but I think I've caught fish every time I've thrown one. Unfortunately, the only way I know to perform this analysis is to work through it yourself. Certainly reviews, forum posts and other sources for other peoples' opinions can help, but ultimately you have to try them for yourself and make your own cost/value determination. I'd recommend getting a basic supply of cheaper baits, like Ozark Trails, or maybe the middle of the road ones like Strike King. Then as you find types of baits you particularly like or use a lot, you can start to experiment with more expensive stuff and see if there is "value" there for you. I didn't run out and buy Vision 110s right out of the gate. I tried one after using a few cheaper jerkbaits. I instantly recognized the benefit (for me) and thus the value. Wish I had a shorter/easier answer, but at the same time, this process is enjoyable and is part of the fishing journey.

You guys talking about crappie fishing, that strikes a chord with me. Earlier this year my dad got a camper at Kentucky Lake. The KY Lake crappie fishing is currently a mere fraction of what it used to be in the "good old days." As a result I've been working all summer at learning how to fish for them on the Livescope...my poor dad has little hope of learning it at this point of his life LOL. I've finally started to get a clue about it, last weekend for instance we put a good number in the boat, with quite a few over 1 lb...but the bummer is, I am not a fan of that style of fishing. AT ALL. Having to be surgically precise with the livescope and drop a jig right on their nose. Spending all morning or afternoon hunched over the screen like an evil scientist. Just not my deal, but I sure do enjoy seeing my dad's face when he sets the hook on one of these, or says "I haven't had that much fun in years." That ties in to my bass style as well. I'm glad to learn the term "pattern fisherman," I think that fits me. I would much rather be burning the trolling motor throwing a spinnerbait or crankbait and covering water. Once I locate them and have some confidence there's fish in the area, I have no problem slowing down and throwing a jig, a shaky head or even a Ned rig. But I hate the feeling of throwing one of those with no confidence that it will work.

That's exactly what I'm talking about...can't imagine those doing real well in clear water. That's almost the exact color I've been catching the dinks on in my 1.5' visibility subdivision pond. My bass fishing time at the big lakes like KY Lake is limited because it's my dad's boat and he is a crappie guy ? so I just didn't want to use up my limited bass fishing time throwing something in futility. The good responses in this thread combined with my recent results here at home mean the jerkbait box is definitely going with me next weekend.

Just curious what your rationale is for wanting to throw these baits on a spinning rod? Not doubting that you have a good reason, it would just never have crossed my mind to throw these on anything but a baitcaster.

Well, that is what prompted the question. But fooling a couple of dinks in my subdivision pond is a little different matter than fooling Kentucky Lake 3 lbers LOL.

My perception is that people generally think of jerkbaits as a clear water bait. E.g., just finished watching a KVD video on *** where he said that is the primary consideration whether he throws one. Most of the water I fish varies from stained to muddy. I wouldn't think about throwing one in muddy water. But stained water, it seems like there is some value to it. It's still producing sound and moving water, and most of the manufacturers have bright colors that don't seem like they'd be great in clear water. For instance I have a pretty aggressively colored sexy shad-type 110 Jr (I think it's the Table Rock SP color) that has done well in my subdivision pond (stained water, 1-1 1/2 feet of visibility). So I'm wondering if it will be worth throwing similar color jbs on the bigger lakes I fish that tend to be stained water as well. I'm a recent convert to jerkbaits, so wanted to see if I'm nuts and should just stick to throwing them in clear water.