bp_fowler

Had a day off today finally, slept in. Took the canoe out for the first time in a while. It was raining steady and I got soaked completely through within about 10 minutes of being on the water. Caught an even dozen fish, unfortunately no big girls. Used a combination of Texas rigged craw, DT6, and an under spin. Still no luck with the Buzzbait.

@Bluebasser86 Nice job! Some more hardware to add to your collection.

First, a there are few things to consider while fishing from the green side. Before I leave for a fishing trip I will attempt to find depth charts for that particular Body of Water. I will also check it out on Google earth, and the local weather forecast for that area. If I have the time I like to get eyes on the place beforehand as there’s often little details that photos and maps don’t show. This can tell me a lot about the ease of access. More on that later. The weather obviously plays a big role. Wind speed and direction can help me choose what lures I use, which bank I want to start at or target. I’m not going to go too far into this as this has been beat to death already. Next is the terrain and vegetation. This is where that ease of access I mentioned earlier comes into play. It can matter a lot because the easier the bank is to walk, the more water you can cover. The more water you can cover the more fish you can put your lure in front of. At a well maintained public lake or pond you maybe able to walk the entire perimeter of the body of water, while at the other end of the spectrum something like a strip pit pond deep in the backwoods, you may only be able to fish from a handful of spots which means I’ll usually spend more time picking apart everything within casting distance. The vegetation/terrain can even affect things like what clothing and footwear I’m wearing. For example if I’m going to have to hike over rough terrain to get where I’m fishing I’m going to wear hiking shoes and pack light. Maybe only one rod and a fanny pack with extra lures and/or soft plastics in a zipper baggie, a handful terminal tackle in an old film canister, and some spare line. On the other hand if I’m at the nice public pond I’m probably wearing street clothes, tennis shoes and I’m bringing all my gear/rods, although I may leave most of that in my vehicle and I can run back there and grab what I need when I need it. Now after all that comes the actual fishing part. I will always try and approach as stealthily as possible. When I first started out I don’t take this that seriously but after seeing giant bass take off from right next to bank more than a few times, I learned my lesson. This is why it helps to fish like during hours of darkness or at least low light. Not because I believe they necessarily bite better but because it’s harder to throw a shadow and spook the fish. I will still use slow and deliberate movements while close to the bank. I will make a few casts from a distance in order to check the immediate area around where I’ll be standing on the bank. I have on several occasions caught fish this way. Granted depending on the vegetation/terrain you may not be able to do this. If there is any obvious cover/structure within casting distance I try and target that first. Next I’ll make casts parallel or as close to parallel to the bank as possible. If there is another linear feature such as a weed or shade line I’ll cast along that as well. Lastly I’ll fan cast around an area before departing. Usually this will be approximately 3-5 casts depending on nearby vegetation which may limit where and what direction and/or angle you can cast. Also if I’m carrying a second rod with a follow up bait I’m might use that here. After that I’ll move stealthily to the next spot, if possible no further down the bank than I had previously presented my lure. Often times I have no clear path along the bank to my next spot. That means I’ll have to repeat the process from the top. Speaking of which the times that I do best are the times that I’m able to stay mobile and cover water from the bank. The more you can do this, the more potential fish you can put your lure in front of, which in turn means more strikes. It’s a numbers game really.

@Swamp Girl That bass is a…

I think you’re right, looking back at other 5s that I’ve caught she compares favorably. First two are from the crappie hole and the last two were caught at AEP.

First time out since returning from my trip to Canada. Decided to do some nighttime fishing at the Crappie Hole. A young family was there fishing the prime spots so I moved to the eastern bank where historically I’ve struggled. Managed to pick this one off of a laydown with a big single Colorado Spinnerbait. I’m guessing at least a 4 maybe a 5 but I don’t know for sure since I lost my scale over the side during the aforementioned trip up north.

I just returned from Canada where I spent the week fishing the McGregor Bay Area of Lake Huron with my dad and younger brother. We had a pretty good trip, especially my brother who is brand new to bass fishing. Beginner's luck or maybe he just hasn’t developed any bad habits yet. Last year it was very much a finesse game, as Tubes, Neds, and Drop Shot account for the vast majority of my fish. This time it was the opposite, most of my fish were caught with the vibrating jig or cranking depending on the cover. I did manage to pick off a few fish with finesse jigs but that ended up being a tiny percentage of my fish overall. My brother caught most of his on a tube, while my dad threw the Spinnerbait and nothing but the spinner bait. Anyways, here are some of the highlights. Dad and my brother with their respective best fish. A 5+ LMB for Pops and a 4lb Smallie for lil’ Bro. Obligatory Pike pics

I know you’ve fished some of the same waters as me so maybe you’ve been there before? It’s called Clear Creek and it’s just south of Lancaster.

Decided I wanted to try and catch some smallies today. Asked around and got some intel on a creek about an hour away and decided to give it a shot. Turns out the guy was right there smallmouth present in the creek. I waded a good distance up the creek and caught a cool dozen. I used a micro jig with a craw trailer. Working outside bends with rocky cover seemed to be the ticket. Most were this size. This one was the biggest of the day. Random LMB dink. Caught 3 including the big one around these rocks on the right.

I’m out of reactions for today, but this 100%.

I have. Not by accident but purposely with an empty canoe just to test the limits of the canoe’s stability and my own ability to get back in if it were to happen. The good news was that it was hard to tip and nearly impossible to capsize. In fact I was much more likely to get dumped with the canoe floating along without me right side up in the water. The bad news is that it is much harder to climb back inside than I thought it would it be. I ended up doing it by holding onto the near gunwale with one hand and reaching for the yoke on the far side getting my chest/shoulders over the side then kicking hard and flipping the rest of my body into the canoe. It took some practice to get comfortable with. But the best advice I got was to try it, and I’ll encourage everyone who fishes out of a canoe or kayak to do so. Better to figure it out in a controlled environment than in an actual emergency.

I see what you did there. Weirdly enough despite growing up an hour away I’ve never fished the “Big Lake”. Alas, to scratch my Smallmouth itch I’ll be traveling to Huron again in a couple weeks. I’ve noticed that sometimes fish from certain bodies of water just fight harder than the same species from others.

I’m with you on this one. I went from catching zero bass to catching many bass with jigs and the difference was not the color of the jig or trailer but my comfort level with bait casting gear and the resulting improvement in casting accuracy.

Like the LMB in your pond, those are great looking fish. You’re giving me a serious case of Smallmouth envy. I wish they were more decent smallmouth spots near me.

You know I usually follow the GPs and browns for clear water and the black blue for dirty/stained water. But as it happens there’s been a few times where for whatever reason all I had were black blue jigs while fishing clear water and they caught just as many fish. 🤷‍♂️

@Bluebasser86 that lake looks like it would be a blast while simultaneously being extremely nerve wracking especially since you’re fishing a tournament.

He’s good kid, didn’t give me any pushback about it. I’m grateful that he’s not a knucklehead like his old man was at that age. 😅

My boy came up to visit and we did some fishing. Unfortunately the fish didn’t cooperate. Didn’t do so hot in terms of numbers or size. But hey we got some quality time and had fun and that’s what matters. I caught mine 50/50 between a jig up shallow or the drop shot over the ledge. He caught all his with the tube. Here’s the highlights if you can call them that.

If I landed a 15 pound bass in my neck of the woods they’d probably erect a statue of me in the town square. Like the OP I’m mostly fishing from a canoe, and you just don’t have the same amount of leverage that you do on the bank or standing on a bass boat. That being said if I got lucky enough to keep it out of weeds/wood then yeah, maybe.

Yes. Just like we have a circadian rhythm so does wildlife.

Went out this morning with the intention to do some jig fishing. I only really started using them late last year. Once I learned to pitch accurately I had some success. That was from the bank however and it’s tough to pitch from a seated position in a canoe. so today was more about practicing my pin point roll casting and skipping with baitcasting gear. Happy to report that I did okay. Caught 13 with 11 of those being jig fish. The two outliers were caught with the Mayor which I used to fish a couple shallow flats. Nothing huge but a lot of 12-15 inch fish. Biggest fish was one of the two below I didn’t measure or weight them so more just of an eye test. Caught 3 in a row (including one of the bigger fish) on the outside weed line on this point. There rest were caught along the drop-off adjacent to shallow flats.

Touché. It’s not my favorite way to fish, but still better than the skunk. 🦨

I think everyone else has already mentioned a lot of the high % stuff like shade, cover, current, night and/or early morning. The only one I didn’t see was bluegill beds. If you can find those there’s usually a few bass hanging around the periphery. Works for me in Ohio.

I’m truly blessed to have so many options and opportunities. I could probably go an entire season and not fish the same body of water twice. The angler in me says I would have more success if I stuck to one and learned it inside and out. …but I’m having fun doing it my way.

Vey slow foggy morning for me today. Fished a new to me pond with very clear water. So clear in fact I could see the fish look at my tube and wacky rig then turn their noses up and swim away. Drastic times call for drastic measures so I rigged up a finesse worm on a drop shot. Proceeded to sight fish bass using the drop off as a highway. Caught seven. This one below was the biggest.