Pat Brown

The Stunna has made me a jerkbait fiend. I can't get enough of this bite y'all. Look at where a heron/snapping turtle got this buck bass on the cheek. He's still munching so I reckon he's gonna make it. Couple where my son and I doubled up on sunfish and bass at the pond after work before storm hit. Hoping to get on em' this weekend on account of my son's spring break!!! Tight lines BR fam!

Just cast a weightless t rigged green pumpkin senko at every shallow target you can see, let it fall on slack and watch your line....you'll probably have some solid success. That particular technique is about as sure fire in the spring as anything in life. I've also been doing quite well on a jerk bait fishing for post spawn and pre-spawn fish in the staging areas, but that's a little more nuanced perhaps.

Privately managed lakes? Not any around that I'm aware of. Here in NC they take money at public lakes for anyone who wants to fish. I just get the annual pass so I can fish when I want to at my local lakes.

I caught a six and a half pounder and a 7-pounder both in the same day on a weightless green pumpkin senko back when I had never caught a big fish and I caught my first large mouth bass ever on a black and blue Texas rigged Senko.... and back when my son was very reluctant to fish with me, he caught his first big bass and his first bass on a senko and I'd argue that bait made him commit to bass fishing like he has at such a young age by building his confidence. It has caught me big fish at bodies of water I've never been to when nothing else gets bit. It has a safe spot in my tackle box!

Caught my biggest fish all year on a humble Abu Veritas PLX 7'6 medium heavy moderate fast with a Daiwa Fuego 8 speed. The rod was 112$ and the reel was 80$. Caught two over 8 lbs and bank flipped one and it's still catching fish. I also do a lot of bank fishing and can't justify using something that deserves a rod locker inside of a nice boat storage compartment.

I think for me, the purpose of running and gunning is finding a good area. When you are in a good area that's when it's time to work it hard with lots of techniques and slow down. Sometimes you get lucky and don't have to run and gun to be in a good area. Just depends on how familiar you are with a body of water and of course conditions and the mood of the fish playing in your favor. Another thing to consider is that running and gunning doesn't necessarily mean burning featureless miles of bank for hours. It can mean studying maps ahead of time and fishing areas that you have determined will be high percentage spots given the season and conditions leading up to the day you fish.

I think sometimes you find when you're moving that you don't get bit and that's when you pick high percentage areas that you believe will hold a good number of fish and slow down and the only way to know that is by fishing a lot and listening to the fish on the day you're on the water. I think there are also certain conditions that necessitate fishing very slowly. I find that very muddy water produces very cautious fish that are not very likely to bite much of anything and I definitely feel that fishing very slowly and deliberately can produce in those sorts of situations. I also feel like if you're on a lake where everybody fish is fast all the time, fishing slow can be very very productive. I think on the water my rule is about 20 minutes with a bait and if I'm not getting bit I switch even if I'm moving around or holding still.

I just wanted to quote this particular reply because I'm rereading this thread right now and I feel like this particular reply is such an important part for me personally of successful bass fishing. I think the sooner that we as anglers can internalize that moving around and looking for active fish is the first order of business, the sooner we get that first bite that tells us there are fish around that wanna chew and that builds our confidence to the point where we can start to really get down to business. Fishing is all about momentum. You've gotta get that first bite. I recently watched a video on YouTube about tough days and one thing that really helped me was the angler on the video explained that they like to have two techniques ready to go for days like this. That pretty much always get bit even when fish don't want to bite. I think learning a few techniques like this is a really important thing to do if you have a lot of days on the water where you're around fish but not getting bit. Drop shot, neko rig, shaky head, Jerkbait, swimbait on a jig head seem like the ones that most people go straight to when they go an hour or two in high % areas with no bites. For what it's worth, I am currently trying to add drop shot, shaky head and jerk bait fishing to my arsenal this year for this exact reason!

I agree that when water gets muddy the fish push shallow but they are often what I call 'high alert' and swim away from any disturbances. One cool thing about sunny days and muddy water is the fish will sorta have a halo to them in the shallows and you can usually spot big ones long before you make a cast to them (if they're in 1-3 ft of water and you've got your polarized glasses on). Another cool thing about muddy water is that even though they are on high alert, it's harder for them to see stuff so easier to sneak up on them if you're not super loud on the bank and splashy with your bait entering the water I like a lot of bright color and flash in muddy water. I'm not a big 'dark color in muddy water' guy. Give me white or red or pink or something. I like bulk but lighter weight so slower fall and less splashing. Honestly try a 10" Red Bug ribbon tail worm or an 8" lizard on a very light t rig. Those are muddy water killers.

Yeah I think that the moving target aspect is part of what makes it challenging/interesting. Just when you figure them out, they change. From time to time I do get dialed in on a pattern and while they hold out...game on. Congratulations.

My son got a Damiki vault from the local tackle store because I told him you were very successful with blade baits. So your influence is far reaching and I hope to share with you soon a big fish he catches on it!

I like crankbaits, bladed jigs (spinnerbaits and chatterbaits), swim jigs, jerkbaits and small swim baits. Anything that lets me quickly check an area for active fish and horizontally cover water. I like to fish vertical presentations quickly in a similar manner. Playing with fall rate and trailer action and profile and working areas and targets faster than some.

Sometimes there's certain stuff I throw that basically only catches dinks and then there's certain stuff I throw out that doesn't get bit much at all except for generally bigger fish. Maybe your fish are being like that right now? I'm not a master of the Jerkbait yet by any means but I can proudly report it is now a confidence technique. I fished jigs and worms and crankbaits at my pond for 2 hours and caught one fish. Went back to my car and grabbed my Jerkbait rod (which I'm learning and building confidence in) and caught 4 fish in 10 minutes. I'm sold. Jerkbait rules!

When they're acting like that I like to throw a jerk bait or a jig of some sort and like @A-Jay said, make casts past the fish and bring the bait to them and stand much further from them. They will mostly likely reset in about 30 minutes and be catchable again.

20 lb Seagaur red label is the deal IMHO. I also use 15 but mostly 20 because I run into big fish on jigs in wood areas quite a bit.... I use it for all my jig fishing techniques.

It might be my favorite way to catch fish in the summer time when I'm burning bank and it's kind of windy. ?

Well... @Catt recommended I keep tossing that red lipless and tonight in front of a cheering audience that literally lined up to take pictures of this beast, I caught my 3rd bass on a lipless ever, my first fish on a red crankbait and my second largest bass of my life. I went to the pond with my wife and son after work today for a little line time and it was POPPING with live bait anglers and and dog walkers and people out enjoying themselves. Water was slick calm and bluebird skies. I paralleled the bank working my way down to the dam and on my fourth cast bringing my red 6th sense Quake lipless crank past the outflow I saw my line swimming left very slowly and felt very confused because I felt no bite at all. I reeled down and felt her load up and then the drag started to peel out of my Daiwa Fuego like a truck was attached to my line. I reeled this way and that convinced I had a catfish and then saw her hulking mass swimming in the clearer water just off the bank and realized I had a giant bass on. I played her carefully trying to avoid treble hook /jumping catastrophe and in a few moments I was holding her up while panting in front of a clapping crowd! My wife shot the pictures and we released her and she swam off happy as a clam. Beyond thankful to hold that magnificent creature in my hands.

The staging areas perpetually reload with pre and post spawners eager to feed and I like hanging out with them while the fish that moved up shallow do their thing until the water is too hot for it! Here in NC there are pre and post spawners to be caught through about November and then it's just about all pre. Bed fishing isn't as fun for me. Don't really have the patience for it.

Biggest I've caught on the 12" ribbon tail is a post spawn female off of rock in VERY hot water and she weighed 5.6. Also caught plenty of 10-12 inch bass on them! I like em T-Rigged on a #5 or #6 worm hook with unpegged weight (1/4 oz) on 20 lb fluorocarbon and a 7'6 heavy power rod. Some folks like them Carolina rigged on offshore structure which sounds intriguing!

Seems like I try and try and then I tie on a shad pattern and catch a fish. It's gotta be a confidence thing because I KNOW they catch fish. I'll keep trying!

On my ponds and lakes I SMOKE the live bait guys. Like heavy handedly. I almost feel bad. Catfish and stripers and sunfish? Totally different story. It's not cheating at all unless you're competing for money and it violates the rules. Fishing is for food for some folks and for fun for others and often both at the same time for many folks and if it's not for money in tournaments, who cares. The thing I don't like to see is folks gut hooking bass by fishing lazy with live bait but that's a whole different topic. EDITED: I agree with @TnRiver46 on his point and amended my post!

Ran out of space on the photo allowance for this post even after compressing then a lot but here are some fun pictures from yesterday. My first NICE bass on the Jerkbait and one of three I caught yesterday on the Berkley Frittside 5 in black chartreuse. My buddy got his very first bass on a jig and Jake got one on the Senko! Incredibly fun afternoon yesterday!

I have caught fish dragging, hopping and dead sticking jigs (however rate of fall seems more important overall at least for the fish that bite jigs for me), but this winter, a lot of fish were caught slowly swimming a jig. Gave me a lot more confidence in fishing jigs kinda like spinnerbaits or chatterbaits without blades on them. Sometimes I think the blades and noises are just instant signals not to bite. Caught some giants doing the slow swim.

Jake got a nice one when his old man dragged him outta bed for the sunrise big girl fest happening just below the surface at our small public pond! He got two smaller buck bass additionally. Proud dad!

I can't catch bass standing still so I always carry one rod around the bank but my car has a few different rods rigged up for different types of presentations. I tried carrying around 2-3 rods and fishing slower when I started bank fishing and it was a huge waste of time for me personally. I spent more time trying to keep my rods from falling over or getting stuck in trees than I did fishing. I usually cycle through my confidence baits and walk the bank casting high percentage areas near the parking lot until I find the first bite and that usually tells me what they want that day.