Bazoo

I was practicing in the yard with a new to me reel the other day. It didn't take long, and I had about the worst backlash I've ever had in my life. I tried a bit and there was no use, so out came my trust Case XX pocket knife. Not much prettier than a freshly spooled reel.

Here's a couple pics of the other day before the lake closed up. Yep, that's the boy, he's a trooper. He'll hang in their and fish in cold or rain both. Ice is almost all the way gone, it was 60º and raining today, and we fished and got soaked!

We sent to cabelas the other day and there was some bass (ish) fish in the tank. I can’t figure out what they are. Some of them, but not all have bulging eyes. there was a largemouth in with them that I would guess to been 5+ Lbs. So these would have been 8-10lbs I’d guess. The jaw did not go past the eye. I did the best I could getting pics. But I n ow the pics ain’t great. Fixed pics, I forgot I have to use direct link here. My boy loved it as much as I did!

Money isn't everything. Got to have time for yourself and the things you enjoy. For me, that's Guns, hunting, fishing, knives.

NICE, have fun! Definitely give away some caps while you're there. I'd try to find some hand made lures or lures that are quite obscure/old. Ya might get in on some serious fishing while you're there. Maybe get into those 20 pounders... man!

Power, confidence, research, luck. I rarely do anything finessy, I am a power fisherman. I go to my confidence baits, and I use them for hours without a bite but still have confidence in them. I research new lures and techniques and try those a lot too, as well as researching my quarries habits, which helps in coaxing them into biting. Sometimes I get lucky

I appreciate this conversation. I just picked up a pack of the bps hellgrammites from Cabela’s to try. Not something you see (the lures)around where I’m from, so I’m hoping they’ll work well for me.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm thankful it isn't that cold around here much. Going to be in the 40s this week so we might do some good. Worst part when it's icy like that is there ain't much chance of finding lures!

It's been in the 20s and teens here lately, but I still hit the lake with my buddy. We were standing out there a few days ago in 15º and fishing a patch of open water. I was using a spinning reel with braid and a baitcasting reel with mono. I tried a bitsy spinnerbait and Texas Rigged Fluke. Next day, I learned that mono does better when the water is freezing to your line and guides. I had a horrible rats nest in the braid the second time out; cleared it when I got home. I tried a spinnerbait and a Texas Rigged Zoom Speed Craw this day. My boy, who is 4, fished with us a while that day! Man, he's a trooper. The wind was blowing pretty good and we kept snagging on the edge of the ice, but we all had fun. Fast forward a few days and it never did get warm, but today was high 20s. We couldn't find any open water on the lake, so we started hitting up some other areas and found a creek that was still flowing. Much more pleasant than the other day. There was only a few places of ice on the creek. I used a beetle spin here, gave an orange square bill a few casts. Didn't catch anything during these outings, but we had fun. Bank fishing on all occasions. So, who else will fish in low temperatures as long as the water is open, and are there any lures or techniques that are better for these conditions, or do you just use the same things you would when it's 40º?

I've not used mine yet, but I see the hook hangs freely. I'm thinking if I add a piece of tubing to the loop on the body before I put the hook through, similarly to the way you rig a trailer hook, it might help with snagging some. Anyone ever try this?

I appreciate the comments, especially those about river fishing. I don't fish a lot of rivers, but my fishing buddy does. When I've been out, I've been sort of lost. I've been wanting to figure out some river specific techniques or lures. Not that bass are that much different there than on the lake, but just having some idea helps with the confidence bunches.

My wife got me a couple of these for Christmas. Mine are 3/8 oz Willow Leaf Single Spinner in colors grey/orange and yellow/black. I've never used them before. Is there anyone here that uses them with success? I am mainly a Largemouth Bass fisherman, but if they are known good for other things, that's good to know too. https://www.hhlure.com/products/the-original-h-h-spinner I'd guess they'd be similar to a Beetle Spin. Do they snag bad? Beetle Spins seem to snag more than spinnerbaits, but since the H&H is jointed at the hook and not at the wire/head, I'd guess they would be more snag resistant. Thanks for looking. Merry Christmas All!

I had a few minutes at the lake earlier. The golden crank works on bass too. https://i.postimg.cc/Bby1CqnC/8-FE525-E1-3-EF8-4-DBF-B9-BE-F5-C4-C5-BC03-B7.jpg

I have a friend who picked up this vintage box at a thrift store. He poked at it for a while but finally decided to gift it to me since he got tired of seeing me drool over it. I didn't have a large box before this one, and it's perfect for the overflow that won't fit in the tackle bag I normally use. I love vintage stuff like this. I reckon it takes me back to my childhood.

I think 25 yards or more is a long one. 15 yards or so is where my accuracy starts to fall off. When bank fishing, on the lake, I often will lob a distance cast out there with a spinnerbait or crank. 40 yards or more would be what I consider long distance. With a heavy lure in the yard, I've cast 60 yards... but I can't do it consistently without backlashing. I can however, cast a weightless Texas Rigged Zoom Lizard on a baitcaster. With that, or with anything else 1/4 ounceish 25 yards is what I consider a long cast. I practice much more for control and accuracy than distance. Me and the boy, who's 4, often practice casting together. I have an old lawnmower tire we move around the yard and aim for. Him with his little Zebco, and me with a baitcaster with an old spinnerbait on. I practice overhand, side, underhand roll casting, and left handed. Left handed is hard... so is casting to the right when you're right handed.

I'm what most would call a minimalist. Not truly because a real minimalist wouldn't have as much as I do. I primarily use: Spinnerbaits Spit'n Image (Hedden, need to get me a vintage Bill Dance one) Texas Rigged Zoom Lizard, Fat Albert Grub, Senko/Yum Dinger Medium use is: Popper Squarebill or small/medium cranks Buzzbait Beetle Spin Frog whopper plopper I do use, but more sparingly: Swim bait lipless crank ned rig various plastic worms/paddle tails/creatures jig jitterbug jerkbait fluke deep diving crank curly tail grub on a jighead tiny cranks Rooster Tail chatterbait shaky head Carolina rig I have a tackle bag that holds 2 3600 sized boxes, with a pocket for soft baits. Most everything I have will fit in that. I do have a larger tackle box for overflow. So I have extra packs of worms, extra spinnerbaits, some extra hooks and sinkers, along with anything I find that I don't use. For me, I most always try something I'm not so confident with to build technique and confidence. Either first, or if the confidence baits fail, last. I also try new areas of the lake that I'm not familiar with, or not good at, either every trip or every other. I enjoy learning new techniques and lures. I read here a lot, and I also read a short stack of old fishing magazines I have.

Thanks for the info.

I know... The H2OX mark on the belly is a dead giveaway. Thank you though. I might not have known. It does have a nice wobble to it. What made that spook different from all the others?

I got this pretty little crappie the other day: On this gold crank bait I found the day prior.

Been finding a few. Does anyone know what that tiny crank air is?

I cast my own bullets, and even have my own cast bullet website (bulletmatch.com) though I haven't gotten into making lures yet. Incomplete fill out will most likely be due to a too cold mould temperature. If you have a mould with a lot of detail, and or your want super crisp corners, adding 2%Sn to the melt will lower the surface tension and help fill out as well. Using beeswax for flux instead of paraffin will also lower the surface tension and aid in fill out, for the first few casts after you flux. Having the hooks heated a small amount, even if you can get them to 100º vs 60º, it'll help keep them from sucking heat from the melt, which in turn will help fill out.

I wonder if could find those locally... I know the Academy has some Owner hooks on the hook wall. I do like the look of that. It'd let the body have a bit more action.

Thanks for sharing Tennessee Boy. I'll have to dig around and see what I have that will work. I think I have some 2/0 Gamakatsu EWG, though I prefer regular offset worm hooks over EWG anywhere I can get away with them. Our local Academy was out of the Gamakatsu 1/0 worm hooks whenever I've been over the last month.

It is a standard worm hook. It was Eagle Claw hook as thats all the 1/0 I have currently. I didn't have any issues hooking up. I had him hooked deeply in the roof/sidish of the mouth about 1.5 back. Wasn't in the corner or something just barely.

All of my larger sized hooks are too long for the grub. I was using Eagle Claw 1/0, as it's the only 1/0 I have currently.