The Budget Angler

I fish between classes sometimes. The trick for me is to already have everything tied. I don't bother much with slower baits (jigs, senkos, etc.) because I just don't have time. Depending on the time of year, I'll throw a fluke, a swimbait, or a crankbait. I usually keep moving to make sure I cover as much water as possible, especially this time of year.

Yeah, I caught that on a live mosquitofish when I was 8 and trying for bluegill. I'd be happy with a 7 or 8 pounder this year because I got a 5 last year.

Prespawn is starting in the ponds around me in NC. Caught my first two bass of the new year yesterday on a white spinnerbait with a black and white trailer. I was using a senko, too, but I watched several fish follow the spinnerbait a few times and then getting scared off by the worm. This is the year I break my pb, I can feel it!

Just got a big football jig today wish me luck

Any last advice before I head out tomorrow to a spot I know has a 6-7 lb bass?

I primarily use a 6' ugly stik baitcaster with a Lew's speed spool (needed a new combo and they didn't have a 6'6" or 7' in my price range). My top lures are texas-rigged plastics (flukes included), crankbaits, and swimbaits. Those are my go-tos but I use whopper ploppers, frogs, chatterbaits, jerkbaits, and whatever else the bait monkey made me buy. I try to fish at least once a week but I usually make it out two or three times. i should also note that most of my water is chocolate milk, so I don't know if water clarity has anything to do with color selection. The biggest bass I've caught recently was 19.5" and thick with eggs (yes, caught in the spring). Would it be worth going back to that pond even though it's hard to fish? I should also add that I have access to a Lew's 7' American Hero if that ups my chances

I fish everywhere I can. I have three ponds near my school (one that supposedly holds bass up to 12 lbs), falls lake, Jordan lake, Shearon-Harris lake, Gaston, a 60 acre lake that shall remain nameless, a friend's farm pond that holds 2 DD bass, a gin-clear pond that holds a fish I guess to be 7-8 lbs (and a giant catfish), and any other spots I can find. The pond that is most accessible to me as a student doesn't allow boats or wading. It sucks because there's an entire flat I can't get to as well as one entire side of an island that is inaccessible. I've seen good fish in there during the spawn (biggest I saw was probably 5) and heard rumors of people catching DDs. Primarily a shore angler. I have a raft, a belly boat, and a kayak, but I don't get to use them often and I can't catch as much with them. I fish lakes, ponds, spillways, and anything else.

I've gotten decent at bass fishing. I know what lures to use and where bass hang out. I've caught a couple of decent fish and seen plenty of others. But somehow, I want to get to a point where I can catch fish over a pound. The biggest I've caught in the past few months was 1.35 lbs. Decent fish, but nothing spectacular. I'm not asking for DDs, but maybe some 3-5 lb fish? Does anyone here routinely catch LMB that are in that weight range? If so, what makes the difference? Any help is appreciated!

For me at my spots, water temps are still fine for mornings (>55 F). However, I have noticed a more consistent bass bite in the fall. Whereas in the summer the hottest part of the day can be impossible for fishing, the hottest part of the day during the fall can still produce fish. I went out a few days ago at 3:30 pm when it was windy and partly cloudy and hit a topwater bite. I agree with others when they talk about overnight lows, but I also personally have to remember that water temperatures do not fluctuate as quickly as air temps. This is especially true if your spot is pretty shallow.

Ohhh, is that when I go to Walmart for some new line and walk out with egg sinkers, a rattletrap, two squarebills, a pack of creature bait ned rigs, and a bag of flukes? Yeah, he's one to make the budget angler break his budget.

My dad loses his rods all the time. We were fishing on a river in March up in MT, and my dad thought it would be a good idea to stand on a log out over the water to get a better casting angle. Well, he turned his head, his weight shifted, and the log underneath him splintered. Because he wasn't expecting it, he dropped his fishing pole and somehow completely submerged in 2-3' of water. Eventually, he was able to find it again, but he looked like a drowned rat. Another time, we were out on the raft. He had two rods set up, one was with a lure and one was with a piece of corn for carp. He got the rod with a lure snagged, and right as he was trying to unsnag it, something bit the corn. Without thinking, he dropped the lured rod and whirled to set the hook on the bait. The lure rod shot into the water quick enough that both of us missed it when we lunged for it. The irony? We had found that rod, in the water, on the other side of the lake. We had just cleaned it up and made it usable. Ashes to ashes, I suppose.

I have no idea what that means

I use little soft swimbaits all the time, but I've gotten interested in the the jointed hard baits recently. How do you guys use them? Are they worth the buy? What time of year and situation? Thanks!

September is a notoriously tough time of year, but I start having fishing withdrawals if I don't get out there. I'm lucky enough to have about a 5 acre pond right behind my school, a 2 acre pond in front of it, and a 3.5 acre pond across the street. Friday is the day when I don't have one of my classes and it gives me a couple of hours before chemistry. I chose the big pond and tied on a chatterbait. Nothing. Maybe one bite. I made all the way to the far end of the pond and it started pouring so I had to turn in early. I dried off in the truck and pulled some nasty shirt out of the back to wear into my chemistry class. 1 boring lecture later, I was back outside and figured "why not?". I grabbed my rod again, tied on a senko, headed out to the small pond, and immediately had an 8 inch bass nibble it when I first dropped it in. A few minutes later: this fish. Just under a pound and really skinny. I fished my way around the rest of the pond and then drove to the big pond again and caught two more fish and lost a third. The fish were really feisty, and even though they were small they fought pretty well. But, the leaves are just starting to turn and the hurricanes are starting to blow through, so fall is on it's way.

I'ma be honest, sunglasses are so easy to lose that I just buy the $5 pair at Walmart and use those. Someone was trying to flirt with me one time by asking what brand my shades were because "they looked expensive". I kinda chuckled and watched their face fall when I said Ozark Trail. The pair I currently have are a non-mirrored blue, and they work just fine.

The spot where I got my PB was public and well-known but it had a reputation for being fishless (apparently every few years there was a sewage leak). In the years after the cleanup, as people started fishing there more often, nothing would bite a lure. You had to net the crawdads, mosquitofish, and freshwater shrimp and use those as bait. I fished that system for many years after I caught my PB, and it never produced a bass of that caliber ever again. I heard through the grapevine recently that they just had another sewage spill. And so the cycle repeats... Pressure has a profound effect on the feeding patterns of fish, and these fish got significantly less active and aggressive. I've got a couple of spots up north that spew out some absolutely monster trout. 18" Brooks, 30" Browns, 24" Rainbows. One is a tiny creek that people walk by without thinking to fish. One is only accessible by one bridge or by knowing someone with property on the stream. The other is a private pond on a ranch. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the best spots are the ones that are hard to get to or hard to fish. All the fair-weather anglers turn back just before they get to the good spot. And those that do get there don't get there often and respect the fish enough to ensure they live on and grow extra big for the next adventurer to catch them. One of the spots I mentioned above I would fish 2-3 times a week for the entire year except Dec-Mar when even I wasn't crazy enough to brave the ice. I never over-pressured that system, and I'd catch a handful of giants every year. If you're the only one fishing your spot, the only thing fishing a lot will do is allow you to hone your skill on those specific fish. My PB brown is still out of that spot, and every time I go back, I know exactly where the fish will be. TL;DR Yes, fishing pressure can affect the fishing on any given waterbody. However, it's unlikely for one person to cause that much pressure. But even if you do overfish a spot, it just gives you an excuse to go out there and find more!

I never fish spinnerbaits. They break too easy and I just don't catch fish on them. I have better luck on on in-line spinners, but I'd rather just use a chatterbait. Maybe I'll give the Dobyns a shot and see if they turn my luck. Could I get them at Dick's, Walmart, or Academy? I try to avoid Bass Pro because I usually leave there with a negative bank account balance.

Wait, you guys use weight with your flukes?

I don't fish jigs a lot but I fish plenty of senkos. I always set my drag loose because if you are getting bit by a HUGE bass, it won't move when you set the hook and your line will break. I like to apply side pressure to the fish because it moves the bend to the backbone instead of the tip and allows you to put more pounds of pressure on the fish (one test I saw showed it going from 1 to 5 or six). The video below (even though it's for fly fishing) explains what I'm talking about. Also, it could be the rod you're using. I was using a 5' spinning rod and kept losing fish until I started using a longer, stiffer rod. That's right: you gotta use a little blue pill on your setup. That being said, I still lost a fish today. It sucks, but it happens.

It takes a lot of time. I moved to the South from Montana a couple years ago and had to become reacquainted with bass, which I hadn't targeted much since I had lived in CA. I rarely caught a bass that first year. I think I literally caught less then a dozen fish that year. This year was different. Starting in March, I started figuring the bass out a little better. April brought me a fish that was a high 4 or low 5. It took me hundreds of skunks to get that fish. So, keep trying. Try new lures, new techniques, new spots, and really develop your fisherman's brain. Seeing as you're in Texas, you'll be landing DD bass before you know it. Tight Lines!

Can you link those studies? I've always been interested in bass spawning habits. The only reason I would ask about a second spawn is that Bama Bass on YouTube carefully chronicled the growth rates of the Largemouth in his pond and found a brood of young bass that were physically too large to have been hatched that spring. He then deduced that they had been born in the fall and had spent the winter eating and stuff. I can't remember which video it is but I'll try to find it.

I'm a college student without a boat, so as long as a rod doesn't break and I don't lose too many lures, I can stretch $10-20 for a month. I fish at least once a week, usually two or three times, but I also don't fish tourneys or anything. That $10-20 doesn't include gas for the truck, of course...

I noticed this too... All my fluke fish have been way shallow (2-3 feet) so I was wondering if they were staging again or not

After all my worrying and fretting about what to throw, I went out to Falls of the Neuse today and hooked a chatterbait fish first cast. The rain we're getting were pushing them shallower and making them pretty aggressive. I only had 15 mins to fish and I ended up catching a nice sized fish and losing a big one.

Here in NC the weather is beginning to cool (slightly), and I've been doing decently well flicking flukes into shallows and cuts in the pond behind my school. I know that Southern fish can sometimes spawn twice, so is that happening this year? If so, when should I look for fish on beds? More importantly, when is prespawn? Or are we just moving into the Fall crankbait season? Either way, do I focus up shallow or out deep? What lures? Should I break out the chatterbait again? Tight Lines!