bp_fowler

Jigs, specifically casting jigs. I do alright on swim jigs and football jigs. Drop shot. Not only have I never caught a fish I’ve never even gotten bit. Topwaters, all varieties. I keep throwing them though because I want so desperately for them to work because they seem like a lot of fun. Strengths? I guess I would say it’s my willingness to go places that other shore based anglers fear to tread. I believe it has put onto fish that that I wouldn’t have caught otherwise.

Happy birthday! @ol'crickety

I ask because my bar is set pretty low, as long as it’s above 50 degrees and it’s not thundering and lightning out, I’ll be out there. I know some folks will only go if the barometric pressure, temperature, prevailing winds, and/or phase of the moon indicate the fish will be biting. What about you? Do you only fish when conditions are favorable? Or do you ever go fishing even when the conditions are not optimal for catching bass?

I would say I have the opposite problem. I can’t catch diddly squat on a hard jerkbait but I do pretty good, including 2/3 my biggest fish this year, (the lone outlier was with a swim jig)on a fluke.

Yes. I mean that literally, as in this is my first year bass fishing seriously.

Certainly some valid criticisms here. I guess I just have a soft spot for the things. I got my start in bass fishing with t-rigged senkos. My very first bass and my PB were caught using them. For a while they were the only thing I fished.

Okay, I gotta ask, why all the hate for senkos? I thought they were a staple bait for bass fishing. Please don’t beat me up too much ?

Previously when I had fished this lake most of my fish were caught in two locations. The first is a point next to the where the primary feeder creek empties into the lake. This is also where I got my one only bite of the day while casting across the mouth of the creek towards some cattails and bushes. The other spot was towards the lower end of the lake adjacent to the dam. This was one of the few areas on this lake where the weeds were patchy enough for me to get a lure in there. The water is murky and that didn’t change much with the rise in water. There were other spots that I fished but they had not been productive in the past so I’m not sure why I thought they would be now. Actually I know why, normally the weed line is pretty thick and broad. So broad in fact that even if I bombed it out there with all my might I could just barely get past the outside edge of the weeds in some places. I figured since the water was up I might be able to pick off a few swimming above the newly submerged weeds.

We’ve been getting slammed with rain the past week or so here. I gave it 24hrs since the last rain and went out to one of my fishing spots ( a 63 acre reservoir) for a few hours. When I arrived I observed that the water had risen considerably maybe close to a foot. I remembered that folks say bass follow rising water. So I proceeded to fish around the new shoreline which had previously been surrounded by milfoil from the bank out to 25-30 yards at the furthest. I also tried to pitch in and around the newly flooded cover. Unfortunately besides one fish that I hooked but came off. Skunked. So is it true that bass follow the rising water? Or am I missing something here?

I swear you catch what have to be some of the most aesthetically pleasing fish I’ve ever seen. Beautiful fish!

Yup.

With fluoro it seems like it gets damaged pretty easily. At least the way I fish (and snag) it does. So I end up replacing it a lot. I started putting mono backing on my bait caster and braid on my spinning reel to help defer some of the cost. I’ve also had a knot like you described on spinning setup and I had to cut it. After that and having to retie my leader I lost maybe 12-18 inches. This was with braid that was only about month old. So it could be something that happens as a result of line twist regardless of how old the braid is.

I don’t own a boat, and if I’m lucky I might get out on the water 1-2 times a year on a buddy’s boat. So I’m ground pounding 99.9% of the time when I’m fishing. The first thing I would tell you is that the easiest places to access from the bank are also going to be the most pressured. So a big part of keeping it fresh for me is getting off the beaten path. My wife often teases me by saying that I don’t go fishing, I go hiking with occasional fishing breaks. The other thing is it makes me constantly evaluate and reevaluate my gear. After all you can only carry so much. So a lot of time is spent on the thoughtful selection of gear and tackle so that I can pack light and maximize efficiency. It can also challenge you in a different way than fishing from a boat can. I’m not saying that boat anglers have it easy by any means, I’m just saying that things you normally don’t think about on a boat become a big deal on the bank. For instance a big thing for me is casting. A lot of the time because of vegetation or other obstacles you must make casts at weird angles from awkward and unnatural positions. Last but certainly not least is I simply enjoy being out in nature. I grew up in a city. Not a big city but a city none the less. As a boy if the was a small clump of woods or a creek few and far between as those were where I grew up you could bet I’d be nearby climbing trees or trying to catch crawfish. Being out there just always made me happier and at peace.

^^^ This is what I carry just about every time I go fishing. If I wanted to expand to 5 rods my list would differ slightly from the OP based on the conditions I see most. I would add the following rods to my current two in no particular order: 1. H/F casting, for punching/frog 2. M/M casting, for the various crank baits 3. M/M spinning, for treble hooked top-waters & jerkbaits

Took my nephew fishing yesterday, we’d been getting pounded with rain the previous night and early that morning. But I figured it’d be fun to get him outside. Of course we didn’t do great, only a few dinks but we fun.

Weeds have been popping up more and more as the summer goes along. I don’t have a frog set up, so I’ve used the following as kinda a 1-2 punch. Swim Jig has been good in the weeds for me this summer. Experiment with different weights as some will come through the veggies better than others. If the swim jig is a no go my plan b is weightless Texas rig, usually a Senko but you can us whatever worm you have the most confidence in.

Yes. Trick Worms, Ribbon Tails, Pit Boss, Jerk Shadz. Swimming them over the tops of and through shallow weed beds.

I think it’s all relative. I rarely get skunked and I catch fish that are decent size for the part of the country that I’m in. Am I a skilled angler? No. I’m able to catch quantity and quality because I fish the same bodies of water multiple times a week. So I’ve learned a lot through trial and error. I’m pretty sure that most of you on this forum could fish circles around me even on my home waters. I believe that a truly skilled angler is able to break down a body of water they’ve never seen before and catch numbers but also have a better than average chance at catching the biggest fish in there.

Line twist perhaps? I wacky rig a lot and I’ve never had that happen to me before.

@ol'crickety that was the first one of the day and also the biggest of the bunch.

Managed to get a couple hours of fishing in between storms today. Caught a few lil guys.

The first was 3.5 lbs and the other was 3.42 lbs so pretty close. They were caught at different spots on the same end of the pond. Makes ya think ?

The Crappie pond delivers again! Starting to wonder how many 3+ lbs fish can be in a body of water smaller than some people’s back yard.

Follow up question: many of you mentioned Yo-Zuri Hybrid. Is this better than the P-Line? Or is it more of a preference/availability thing?

I went with to the local B&T today with the intention of buying some 8# fluoro. However when I got to the line section of the shop I noticed that all the fluoro line was gone and in its place was a bunch of P-Line co-polymer stuff. The lower comparative price vs fluoro piqued my interest so I started doing my homework on it. I read up on what it is and how it’s made and all that. What I ask about here is folks’ real world experiences with it. If you use it, what do you use it for? P.S. I’m not trying to start a big debate over what line is better just want to know the pros and cons of co-polymer