AverageAngler

I agree, if it's near cover there is a higher chance it's a fish you want. In open water I find that when it's just one noticeable blow up 9/10 times it's a carp but if I see commotion and multiple small "blow ups" it's usually baitfish getting chased by something.

I like to fish it three ways: 1. Big pintail or fintail swimbait trailer and slow rolled with gentle rod twitches in colder waters 2. Smaller pintail or fintail trailer and fished fast over grass with some pauses and aggressive snaps in warmer waters and in fall 3. Crawfish trailer rigged horizontal fished slow over grass with some aggressive pops in the fall and during the bluegill spawn in summer. The craw trailer keeps the bait up in the water column so I either go heavier or fish it slower to compensate. White and baitfish colors are great but where I live I have more success using black and blue and bluegill/perch colors.

The fact that American companies rip off of jdm soft plastic molds goes to show how effective they are. I find that most soft plastic baits catch fish but the designs that jdm companies offer definitely catch fishermen more, including me. Not sure if it is confidence but in pressured waters the softer design and scent that a lot of the jdm baits provide have gotten me more bites, and the swim impact fat and vision 110 are the benchmark that all other baits in that category try to replicate.

Sometimes if they are biting but not fully committing I will downsize my bait. Clearly since they are following there is some sort of interest there so making small adjustments is usually the ticket to getting the fish to react properly.

I went to Mount Desert Island last week for a family vacation, had an absolute blast. The ponds on the island were surprisingly productive and I was able to land several good quality smallmouth on a variety of lures. My main producers were a dropshot and a tube (the classics) fished on the rock ledges surrounding points and the edges of emergent grasses with a topwater or weightless swimbait. My largest went 19" and the average was 14.5". On Thursday last week I left the island and hit a bucket list spot in the Penobscot River. I did quite a bit of research and decided on launching in Greenbush and fishing the islands with the kayak. What an amazing fishery... In 6 1/2 hours I landed 28 bass but could have landed 35-40 fish. All beautiful smallmouth bass that were intense and aggressive. With crystal clear waters I could see teams of life swimming around in the submerged logs, eelgrass, and boulders and it seemed that in some areas every cast was a bite. I had to work a bit to find the right areas but once that was dialed in I could predict very well where they would be. I started early-mid afternoon and fished until dusk, with the first half of the day dominated by tubes, dropshots, ned rigs, and jigs. After 5pm the wind picked up and after a short break the second half was dominated by a minimax bladed jig and a whopper plopper. Nothing of major size (except for the lost 18 incher on a bladed jig) but the average was a good 13-14". Some 16" fish especially at the end but overall it was so much fun and extremely rewarding seeing my efforts get some sort of payback. 19” on a tube. Some Penobscot fish.

Fat bass alert! I got out twice this week, once on Thursday evening and once last night. The Thursday session was tough but I landed one on a frog and one on a spinner bait. With the string of difficult outings I decided that it’s finally time to sacrifice the sleep and commit to a full night session, and boy was it worth it. I didn’t get the numbers I was looking for(lost a few on weak hooksets due to being disoriented at night) but I caught four, with one of them being my third biggest bass ever. 20.7 inches and 5.78lbs. For how heavy she was the body was really stocky, but that’s why I love this river so much. They get so fat off the abundance of forage in this area. The other three were landed on texas rigs and a whopper plopper. Not as much surface activity as I thought I would see but they were predictable as to where they would bite; open patches in the choked out weeds and casting parallel to the emergent grass on points yielded all the action.

To piggyback off of this, I've noticed that if the day has a lot of outside activity - birds flying, deer wandering, groundhogs hogging, the fishing is actually pretty tough compared to an active day in the water - birds diving, fish blow ups, turtles, etc. Maybe it's because on tough days I tend to look around more but idk. It's occured to me on many occasions that on the toughest fishing days I have a video on my phone that I look back on and it's some incredible nature sighting.

This sounds like a great origin story for a lifelong fishing obsession, "My grandpa told me it could have been an award fish, and the rest is history," or something like that. lol.

I felt this way on Sunday when I fished in the morning. Probably a bit early but with the cold rain that happened something definitely felt different since the morning bite "cooled off" and the fish were way less aggressive. Water temps were 69 degrees when I first launched at 5am. 75 degrees in the evening. Life happened to me on Wednesday and I had to take a couple of days to recuperate and gather my mind. I had a free Sunday so I went out twice. Over 8 hours I managed 3 fish and lost about 10. Some lost fish were from a bit of lost mojo but most were definitely because the fish weren't committing as much as previously. The post-cold front was felt strong. I caught two in the morning on a swim jig only after 3 lost fish on a whopper plopper and 3 bigger ones on the jig before sticking the dinks. Lost another on a frog and I packed it in to get a nap in before the evening session. The evening session was on a new stretch of my favorite river, and the bite was DEAD. I landed my first bite, a healthy 2.5lber on a smaller frog before sticking and losing one quickly after. Nothing for two hours before missing 3 bites on a whopper plopper right at dusk. You see the woosh and feel the weight but for some reason they didn't connect. Time to change the hooks. While the fishing lacked the nature was absolutely stunning though, tons of turtles, loons, ospreys, and a mother deer walking with her fawn. So cute! Such cool pics!

That one BamaBass video from years back is one of my favorite youtube videos of all time and perfectly showcases how a bass can be anywhere ready to strike. Burning the frog back and an almost 10lb bass just goes airborne for it right at the boat.

Awesome, thank you! I will update this thread in a few weeks after my trout excursion, hopefully these tips will help in the trek for a nice fish.

I find that the only lures I won't "fish" all the way back to the boat are a popper and a frog, mostly because I spot cast them to high percentage areas. I find that I do get bit occasionally while burning the frog back to the boat - just like a buzzbait. Those always get my heart pumping.

I wonder if the leadcore would drag down a crankbait like a rapala or if it's more suitable for a spinner. Thank you for the video! Thank you for this information. One follow up question, does the euphotic zone align with the same depth as the thermocline?

This is exactly what was causing my line twist. When I tied on the bugger I noticed I was twisting less, but the poppers would knot me all the way up. I guess I should cut the legs down a bit to see how much better it will be. Thank you so much! Unfortunately I would have to use the men in black neuralyzer if I were to tell you the exact location, but a hint is that it's part of the concord/assabet/sudbury watershed(one of them but I won't say which one haha). I first learned to fish there as a kid and it holds a lot of great nostalgia for me, the only issue is that over the years a lot of the shoreline access has been made difficult by fallen trees, and it's a drag bringing a kayak 15 minutes into the woods but I do it on occasion...

I'm going to have to ask you for tips on how to manage line twist on the leader because goodness gracious it was twisty last night! I still got the casting and playing the fish down but line management has always given me issues. I ended up retiring the rod after an hour but I landed three beautiful bull bluegills on a small popper and a bead head flashy bugger. I really want to do some small water fishing this winter however but that is a different topic for another day. The pond I chose normally has fish basically jumping in the boat but last night the fish were definitely more lockjaw, my fly bites were only when I had it completely motionless which was unusual. What made it more interesting was when I switched to my frog setup the fish wanted it burned over the top. Fishing is so confusing sometimes! Four bass were caught with three on the frog and one on the fluke. My biggest went 19" and ate the frog a whopping three times, each strike was intense with that addicting "SPLOOSH." I can never get enough of it. Almost a pin fish, congrats on the toad! What's crazy to me is how even waking up this early in the summer by the time you're on the water you missed the sunrise.

In around a month I will be going on a family vacation to Acadia and I hope to bring home some trout one day to smoke up outside. I understand there are native brook trout and stocked lake trout in some of the deep lakes, but the water will be warm - my guess will be that surface water temps will be in the upper 70s by that time, and the fish I want to target will be deep. I will be bringing a kayak with a fish finder but have no means of deep trolling which I know is effective in the lakes near me. I am open to the idea of using live bait but since I am not very familiar with this style of fishing I was wondering what is an effective way to tackle this situation?

New schedule at work means I lose my three day weekends, not ideal but I do get some extra hours in the day. Did an evening trip to my favorite river system last night and did pretty well. The water was low, muddy, and warm in the low to mid 80s. All perfect conditions for finesse? I usually hit the edges pretty hard but with the lack of clouds and wind I decided to try targeting the deeper channel and I had some good success with a dropshot and 2.8 inch swimbait. I lost a 3lber off of the brush pile I located on my fish finder but was able to land another 3lber and two dinks with another biting but not commiting. Before I headed to the shallower open area I hit the bridge pilings nearby and landed one and lost one on the swimbait. When I reached the shallows the wind picked up a little bit, only by 2-3mph but that was enough to trigger a feeding window. I got one on a whopper plopper and then two more on a bladed jig. I lost another on the bladed jig and at that point I got tired and wanted to go home. I might go again today to do some fly fishing on the kayak; it's been a while since I've done that. While my spring was humbling but informative, my summer so far has been lights out compared to what I have caught in years past. This forum and all those that comment here have taught me so much and I am extremely grateful for all of y'all.

No exactly lmao, sometimes I just have an extra long tag end so I can cut off the weight and reattach after I untwist the line instead of retying. The weeds and snotgrass around here are the reason why I love the dropshot so much and can't stand the ned rig. For how effective it apparently is I just can't get bit to save my life.

I always see people talking about how good the dropshot is for deeper water, but I love using it in that 6-8' range in the summer time, such an underrated lure for that shallow-mid depth. Cape trip this weekend, managed to piece together some real fun trips. Saturday I went out twice, once at first light and then again before dinner. I got out at 4:20am and struck out for two hours before the action started. I went back to the place where I had the 17 bass day a month ago and found the water to be completely covered in algae. A major bloom must have went on recently and it definitely changed my approach. I targeted thick isolated cover rather than the boat docks and bluegill beds I had so much success on from the last trip. I never managed to figure out a pattern and really had to grind out each bite but I ended the morning with 6 bass - a 15" on a frog, a 19" on a brush hog stuck in the thickest tree I could find, two fish on a karashi, one on a fluke, and one on a bladed jig. Some schooling, some lurking, and some hiding. The evening session was wild, I had two hours before dinner and hit up the local pond. On my first cast I had one come up and eat my bait right next to the kayak, nearly dropping my rod in the process. I landed 8 fish with most being on a black and blue/watermelon red bladed jig, approximately a 16lb bag and a 4lb kicker. Each fish was strong and had some nice thickness to them. The whole place was like a two foot deep weedbed at its deepest so I was a little surprised at how productive it was. Sunday first light I went to a new kettle hole pond, my biggest foe. I always struggle at these places and can never figure them out, and unfortunately this session was no exception. I really wanted a summertime smallmouth bass however, so I persevered and managed to catch a pretty 17 incher. The bite rivaled that of a striper blowup, peace and quiet interrupted by absolute mayhem and a near heart attack; I was shaking for ten minutes after I released her. I also lost a good 2lbs lmb on a tube when he dug into a submerged tree but made up for it with some dinks off the deep part of a dock. Later I went to a different pond before the rain started and caught 4 on a dropshot in that 6-8' range a few feet off of a half submerged tree, and then went out for 30 minutes before sunset at the shallow pond from yesterday and got a dink on a topwater. Lots of different spots and varying degrees of success this cape trip, and it was a true blessing to experience it all.

The pad crasher jrs are 2" compared to the 2 1/4" of the kaera. I see them go on sale both online and at Cabela's all the time.

Went out Friday morning and Sunday afternoon this weekend. Fished from 4am-9am at a new spot on Friday and had a blast tackling some bass on topwater. It was ironically like a light switch as soon as first light came out the bite died and it was a grind to get the last few fish. 8 bass and 2 picks in total but 5 bass were in the first 40 minutes. I also spent around 10 minutes of that trying to get my trebles out of the net. Sunday afternoon I tried a new spot in the three rivers I like to go to but I wasn't really feeling it too much; the sun was really high and hot and I felt like the shadowed areas weren't fishy enough for me. The water seemed a bit high and muddy too so I made an impromptu switch to a smaller pond that would have been impacted by the previous rains a bit less. I made the correct decision thankfully as I landed 5 bass all on topwater in a little less than 2 hours out. I missed a ton of hooksets too as the bite as weird. They only bit when my lure hit the water and sat there or was twitched once or twice. I fished my whopper plopper like a prop bait and that was the ticket for the bigger ones. I also got two on a popping frog tight to cover. Overall a fun weekend. Hitting the Cape this next one, might get some saltwater action in.

That's wild, what an aggressive strike!

I think you completed fishing with the double frog rig. Absolutely wild.

A lot more experienced anglers have pretty much answered the question here, but I guess I'll add my own experience with the popper. I find it most effective when I just k n o w that there is a fish in a specific spot; I already covered enough water, and this spot looks way too fishy to not have a fish in it. It's the best lure to work painfully slow since it moves sideways more than it does forwards, and the bites are often destructive. Thanks to this thread however I'll have to try fishing it over steep drop offs close to shore. That sounds really fun.

Gosh I wouldn't be able to go more than two hours without going crazy if I limited myself to only one lure, especially if someone else is killing them on another lure(I love the bladed jig). Kudos to you for the patience.