VTFan

This will maybe help me as well. I'd been thinking 'deep' as well although it didn't make sense to me knowing that bass are cold blooded creatures. Most of my fishing is in a small farm pond, especially in the cold winter months. I'll head for the shallow end my next time out. Thanks guys.

So, here in Virginia the water temps have cooled off quite a bit, not exactly sure to what degree since I haven't had my boat in the water in a couple months. I've been doing a lot of pond fishing and I must say the bite has all but come to a screeching halt...which I know happens this time of year. I land a stray bass every now and then but for the most part I'm getting skunked everytime out. Just wondering what you guys are throwing this time of year. Oh...fairly clear water by the way. Thanks.

NoCo 3 bank. Love it.

LOL!!! For sure!!!

Exactly, same here. That was all we had back in the day.

I've often wondered about this. I'm right handed, cast right, switch rod to left hand and retrieve with my right hand....with a baitcaster that is. Now, with a spinning outfit... I cast with my right and retrieve with my left. And even that is something I just learned how to do this year. I asked Timmy Horton about it when I met him earlier this year and he says "It's a feel thing", and "a muscle memory thing". We fishermen are a crazy bunch LOL!!!

I see some of the pros are even fishing barefoot in their boats, Ott Defoe being one. As for me, in summer time its Crocs. I don't use the boat that much in colder months but if I do I wear sneakers and when trailering the boat I put on a pair of hip waders. As someone else said, I don't relish the idea of digging a hook out of my foot.

We are fishing straight 40 lb. Power Pro moss green braid on most everything except Texas rigged worms, flukes, etc...(straight FC on those). Someone on here told me to try taking a black sharpie and blackening the last 6 ft. or so of the line before the lure. I did and it seems to work beautifully.

I've got 6 or 7 baitcasters and one spinning outfit and like someone else said, I used to carry all my rods and a big full tackle bag in the boat. If I was bank fishing I'd still carry that big heavy tackle bag and just a couple rods. Now I've gotten to where I carry one Plano utility box and only a couple rods regardless of if I'm on the bank or in a boat.

To be honest, it's been so long since I was on their website that I have forgotten what it was like before. Maybe that's a good thing.

Recently my brother caught a 7.25 lb. largemouth while jig fishing. The fish was hooked in the top lip making it very easy to get the hook out and no damage was done to the inside of her mouth. He said it took him a few minutes to land the fish and once in the boat and unhooked he quickly weighed and measured the fish and had his wife snap a few pics and got her back in the water. 2 to 4 minutes tops. He said he gently laid her in the water and could see her gills and fins moving and a few times she showed signs of swimming away but to his dismay she bellied up and didn't make it. He was absolutely sick at the sight and that was a few weeks ago and he still gets nauseated at the thought. He was shocked that she died seeing as how he was so quick to get her back in the water and there was no damage to her mouth etc... My opinion is that maybe her heart gave out from the exertion after being hooked. What love to hear what you guys think. Thanks fellas.

Thanks flyfisher, I hadn't seen this. I for one would hate to navigate that lake with nothing but a trolling motor. As for being open 24 hours, I'm with you even though I don't fish at night. I'm pretty sure the reason they don't allow it at Briery is the submerged broken off trees and stumps but not sure.

Well so I've been told by a couple of sources, Sandy River Reservoir in Prince Edward County, Virginia could soon be thing of the past. Apparently the County Board of Supervisors without any public input has voted to build a water treatment plant on the lake and sell the water to neighboring jurisdictions.....taking 6 million gallons of water per day out of the lake and banning all gas motors. This was even voted on and approved without the approval and go ahead from the neighboring jurisdictions who now say they can't do this. I for one hope they have to swallow that vote.

Now why didn't I think of the Sharpie deal?? DUH!!! Thanks guys!!

I've been using hi-viz yellow braid with a fluro leader on my spinning gear simply so I can see the line. Last week I had a giant bass wrap up in a laydown and break off at the palomar knot at the hook. FG braid to fluro knot held fine. I was thinking about going to moss green braid for a leader. Interested to hear your thoughts on this. Good idea? Bad idea? What connector knot should I use if this is a feasible idea? Thanks in advance.

I was having trouble with keeping tension on the braid too until I saw a couple videos of pros tying a loop in the braid and putting it over the reel handle and loosening the drag to keep a bit of tension on the braid. I tried it and love it. Gerald Swindle is one who uses this method.

I hate fall fishing. Nothing seems to work and it almost seems as though we have to think backwards, reverse our fishing logic...if that makes sense.

Not sure there is a particular technique that I once hated but now love. There are some techniques that I need to become proficient at for sure, drop shots and jigs to name two. I will add that I used to not be very good with a spinning outfit until I made a New Years resolution to master a spinning reel this year, casting right handed and retrieving with my left. The majority of my fish this year have been caught on spinning tackle.

Just wondering how many of you loosen your reel drags after every fishing trip?

Just bought a Lunkerhunt with legs already cut the length of the frog. Seems softer than other right out of the box.

Well I guess persistence does pay off. I FINALLY caught my first two bass on a frog. I had caught bass on other top water baits before but this was the first on frogs.

I have two WP's, one in chrome/black and the other in perch color. Both 90 size and I noticed last night that on has a deeper 'plop' sound than the other. That could come in handy I guess.

I actually tried this one. It seems very strong, just a bit bigger than the FG. Doesn't go through the guides as easily as the FG and makes a bit more noise. Otherwise it's great knot. IMHO.

I'm famous for digging through the bargain bins for cheap baits. If something looks good and it's cheap I'll try it. I'm not one to spend $20 on a bait when there is something that may look just a tad bit different but works the same and is cheaper. Bottom line for me is, if it catches fish then I like it.

At least for this year I have to say No. For some reason this year at our pond a weightless wacky has been the ticket all year. In past years it always seemed to be something different, one year a spinnerbait, the next a chatterbait etc... And it also seems that from year to year the fish don't want the same plastics. Hence I have a ton of plastics hanging on hooks in my barn.