DitchPanda

Let me say that I love fishing anytime..mid summer...mid winter thru ice. But like everybody I have times that I prefer. My favorite time of year to fish is spring when the water temps are high 40s to high 50s with stained water and overcast conditions. Love throwing a trap or spinner bait catching those prespawn fattys. What about you guys?

Your welcome!

I grew up outside of Houston and moved to Iowa almost 20 years ago. Welcome aboard.

For you guys that built your own version of the jackhammer fire craw skirts what skirt tab colors did you go with? Looking to do some experiments

Yup...last Tuesday high of 23 and 8 inches of snow. This Wednesday...61.

Exactly...and once I get it dialed in if the weather holds up ill often times back off on how many combos and options I take with me. Its not uncommon for me to have 4-6 combos with me. When I'm dialed its 2...those are the days I live for.

I like to believe I'm versatile...that I can be a finesse and power fisherman at the same time adapting as needed. Some guys would say that's junk fishing but I think that's fishing the conditions. I guess I'd really call myself a pattern fisherman...I like to figure something out and then duplicate that in other similar setup areas in the lake or pond I'm on.

Well I'm like you I want the bad news first and save the good stuff for last! Misses: Honestly I don't have alot of fishing misses this year...only one that comes to mind is lack of smallmouth at my local lake. Caught probably 20 last year and only 2 this year. Otherwise I dealt with the same covid strangeness but it wasn't near as severe for me as for many others. I've managed to stay covid free thus far...my job never shutdown and financially we took a %10 pay cut for 3 months to weather the storm then went back to full pay...lastly our fishing was never off limits so I was able to get out even more than normal I'd say. Hits: Well there was a lot of these for me. First we had a long open water season as we had ice out the first part of March giving me an extra month on my open water season. This only happens once every 5 or 6 winters so that was welcome. Second, I caught several pike from my local lake along with some white bass and a couple nice smallies. All these fish got in over the past several years from flooding and they are a welcome addition to my usual largemouth, crappies and bluegills. Lastly, I had a good year for numbers if bass...not my best year but far from my worst. The awesome thing was size...I caught lots of 4s and 5s...3 6s and a 7. With this craziness going on all I can say is I have lots the be thankful for.

I get where your coming from on this but in my neck of the woods I can't say this. Does it get hot? Sure...not miserable but up around 100 with some high humidity. Does it get cold? Last winter was relatively mild and we still had a week or so of -35 to -40 windchill. Can't really dress for that...its just to cold period.

I'm fortunate in this respect...my current job is rotating shifts. I work 12s so its only 7 on every 14 days so I always have weekdays off. That means I get alot of prime time during the week when everybody else is working. It would be hard to go back to Monday thru Friday.

This is the time of year I dread most. We are marching towards ice up then we will warm up several days then get cold again...lather rinse repeat. I wish it would stay warm so I could open water fish or stay cold so I can ice fish........Rant over.

Location is the deal..of course timing and presentation are also important. Bait type and color are somewhat important but much less so in my opinion. Location is paramount in my mind...I don't care what,when and how your throwing the best looking bait of all time...if you aren't throwing them WHERE they are you ain't catching em.

I will also throw out the it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert on something. By my calculation I should be an expert bass angler 2 or maybe 3 times over! Am I an expert? No way. But I study, research, tinker and fish hard. I believe I am a good angler...on my best days slightly above average. But far from an expert. I can say with some certainty that my job involves alot of problem solving and trouble shooting...which both skills have benefited me greatly while fishing. I think this is a hobby where you can take it as easy or as serious as you want..to get better its not the hours you put in but the work you put into the hours. As far as experts go yes I believe they exist. Rick Clunn is an expert bass angler no doubt in my mind. Even younger guys like Brandon Paliunic or Jacob Wheeler..they just get it.

My first go to soft plastic that I relied on heavily for bass was the cheap 4in renegade worms from.wal mart in motor oil color. I remember them being less than $2 for a pack of 20 or 25 back in the early 2000s .

I find it extremely tough to catch them with bottom contact lures when the bottom is covered in leaves. I also dont have much success with chatterbaits or spinnerbaits in cold clear water.For your conditions I'd try weightless flukes and suspending jerkbaits. Heavy emphasis on jerk bait. Drop shot with a finesse type worm shot work as well. Swim jig should also still work at that temp...just change up the trailer depending on what your currently using for one.

Knock on the DT flats I heard back in the day was the bill breaking or pulling out of the bait. The entire DT lineup had that reputation but they seem to have corrected that issue. So now with the better glue or epoxy they use and incorporating the more durable bill material they should be an improved bait. I also personally prefer a line tie in the bait not the bill.

I've heard the complaint about the shadow raps having weak hooks...I've caught largemouth up to 5lbs and have yet to straighten one out.

I have a high tolerance for pepper type heat but that nose tingling effervescent heat you get from things like ginger or horseradish can really get me. As far as siracha goes my old lady loves it...I don't find it spicy at all it just tastes like raw garlic with red food coloring to me. For the record I like garlic and cilantro..was just making a point! You are correct the anti garlic cilantro people are wrong.

For spinning I used Pflueger for years but recently have been using a Daiwa more and more...the next spinning reel I buy will be another Daiwa. For baitcasting I've got several different brands but my two go too brands are Abu and Lews. For rods I prefer Dobyns for spinning and St Croix for casting. This said I believe all major companies are making quality stuff at almost all price points. You can get into great spinning or bait cast combos for $200.

I agree with this. I do slot of cold water bass fishing..seems like when the water gets under mid 40s there ability to fight diminishes slot. Smallies seem to handle it better than largies but there is still a drop off in pulling power. I caught several last week in cold water...fight for a few seconds then its like reeling in a paper bag.

What are your water temps? What have you been throwing?

Oh man forgot about that one. My dads other favorite growing up...I should get a bottle.

That's funny. That's like telling somebody I like garlic and if you don't your wrong and your mouth is broken. Some people like cilantro and some people think it tastes like soap...neither is wrong. I've tried scrambled eggs and then tried it with Tabasco. I can feel the heat but get very little flavor difference. If I was looking for heat then Tabasco is perfect. I want heat and extra flavor...I don't get it with Tabasco. If you like it that's cool...its the most famous hot sauce ever for a reason...just doesn't do it for me.

The shadow rap has been my favorite jerkbait since it came out. The shad didn't do much for me.

I agree that you want some heat but think you should get some flavor out of it. With Tabasco all I get is heat. I'm looking for heat and some flavor.