captaininsaneo

7 in powerbait MOTOR OIL worms are my go to bait. I am confident with motor oil in all but the murkiest of water, and i all seasons.

I just got a camera phone this year, and have been taking pictures of all noteworthy catches. I then email them to myself, print them out, and have been posting them on a cork board in my room. On the picture, I also write size of the fish, structure/cover, date, time, lure, and location.

red shad is my favorite when the water has more color. I also have great luck with them at night.

the water is still pretty cold. I would look for those bedding fish if i was you, and my best catches from bedding fish have come on a Yum Wooly Hawgtail in natural colors. I have never tried any size but the 3 inchers because they work! Good Luck and Tight Lines Captain Insane-O

Even if it was a female, and she was full of eggs, those eggs are going somewhere. These fish naturally NEED to release their eggs and the males naturally NEED to fertilize them. Most likely you will spot her sometime when you check, if not dont worry. There may very well be another nest you missed, she probably retreated to deeper water to recover from the fight.

my home lake, Rough River/Lake. It is the toughest lake to fish, with nearly no cover, but i taught myself how to fish under those conditions. Now i go to other lakes and catch fish consistently

ok, some conflicting info... so use a Pop-R in a pop-pop- stop with 5-10 seconds between, but also dont give them time to look at it, 5-10 sec is plenty of time to turn up their nose and run. what gives?

I have tried topwaters with little success in the past, but I think im chosing the wrong times and places. My best luck has been a hula popper at night, just dragging it real slow with the occassional pop. Now, when the sun is up, what is the best time/season to fish topwaters? How do you know when/how to fish a prop bait, a spook, a Pop-R or even a buzzbait. I know frogs are primarily for heavy cover but i hear they also work in open water. At what water temperature does the topwater bite really start to pick up? Share your wisdom!

spinnerbaits are always good in any sort of wood cover

its a contact bait. bang it off of wood, or when the water gets a bit warmer burn it on top. Chucking and winding usually wont do much, it takes some other sort of action, even ripping it through weeds like a rattle trap

I would like to be the first to say that I really respect Avid for his response, or even responding at all. It took some beans to just flat out say "nope," and well I dont agree I really respect his honesty in response. Now back to the post, I really like this "fishermans prayer" that I ran across in a book by the famed Uncle Homer: "I pray that I may live to fish, Until my dying day. And when it comes to my last cast, I then most humbly pray: When in the Lord's great landing net And peacefully asleep That in His mercy I be judged Good enough to keep." short, sweet, and to the point.

I cant tell you how many booyah spinnerbaits I have broken after just one fish. Terminator is the best quality, but you pay for it. IF i was just messing around somewhere, not really going for a lunker or in a tourny, wal mart baits are fine. in any other case, forget it.

Arrow down= good, arrow up= bad. Thats about all I know. This months field and stream had an article that said when barometric pressure is on the fall that bass tend to prefer shades of blue in soft plastics, anyone had experience with something like this? Does the fishing actually get that much better on lower pressure days? Do you even pay attention to it?

2 words. Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong casts. lol

two very important details were left out, water clarity and level (rising, falling or stable?) Either way, I would definitely get back in those coves, find the warmest water, hopefully they have snapped out of that cold front pattern. Shakey Head worms would probably be my choice, only because they are a confidence bait. Also some TX rigged lizards (color depending on water clarity but most likely something in a more natural color). Any time you are in wood, its hard to beat a white/Chart spinnerbait if they are active enough, but these are more likely to work as the day goes on and the water heats up even more. Also, definitely have a rod with a crawfish colored crankbait tied on like a wiggle wart.

generally i work them very slow. i dont do much with the reel, just jerk the rod tip and a fluke (atleast the ones by zoom) will go straight up and fall very slowly and seductively. most of your strikes will come on the fall, and its usually a very light bite as the bass simply slurp in your bait. I have also heard of people using super flukes almost like a topwater. At high speeds you can almost "walk the dog" with them, and then all of a sudden stop, and use that seductive fall to your advantage. Hope this helps.

I am also extremely curious about wacky wormin'. Not so much the ring part, but more when and where you use it. I have heard that a favorite worm is the Zoom Trick Worm. What colors do you like, and do you fish it like a fluke or what?

my vote is a grub. no luck with that, try a fly rod. nothing more fun than smallies on the fly.

red hooks give off more flash in shallow water, that would probably be the only appeal. and while you may be correct about red vanishing after 12 ft, it begins to disappear long before that. so depending on water clarity you could be using an "invisible" hook only a few feet from the surface, another advantage.

"i use the 7 inch ones for STRIPPER fishing." bassmaster6 I was unaware you could fish for strippers, haha, just kidding.

not that roostertails will not work, because they definitely will, but with the amount of cover you are describing i think you are much better off with some sort of soft plastic. Depending on the weather wherever you are, these fish are most likely very tight to that shoreline cover, or spawning backed up to it. Get a pair of polarized sunglasses, and try to look for some fish. Regardless, a plastic worm or lizard TX rigged, or a creature bait like my new favorite the YUM Wooly Hawg Tail will produce. Just take your time and fish slow. Stop your retrieve occassionally and let the lure rest on the bottom while you shake it in place. No matter how tough fishing gets, never abandon soft plastics all together, especially in heavy cover.

The usual plan during/right after a cold front it VERY slow. Jigs crawled across the bottom, and shaken around cover. Also a fluke is very effective with its seductively slow fall. A couple of twitches and a looong pause, and repeat. Generally i dont work the bait all the way back to the boat as fish are really tight to cover in times like these.

White or White/Chart. spinnerbaits are by search bait. A "pearl" (white) zoom super fluke or fluke junior is great fished like a jerkbait, a white grub is extremely overlooked, and a white trick worm rigged wacky style will kill them most anytime. There are also some other great tips on here. I have never tried a white jig, white senko, or all white crankbait, but will probably invest in them for after this coldfront.

rooster tail hands down. No matter what the kid does there is a chance he will catch some sort of fish on every cast.

Hawgtail, never heard of the hawg craw. that was my mistake originally, i apologize.