JonB2

Bass will grab a bigger craw by the claws to dislodge their position, then suck them in tail first. That's why you see pincers sticking out of their throat. Speaking of a carolina rig, I need to run it again as I've had quite a few drops and feel the c-rig would change those to hookups.

I paddle and it is definitely challenging, frustrating at times and honestly...can be limiting. I use anchors, but am very strict on their use and where and when I deploy them. I'm a minimalist type angler, so many wouldn't go my way. I enjoy when it does come together as I will never get jaded always working to get on fish, but I like it that way. I don't run the normal kayak two-paddle; I use half of one and go canoe style.

Fished the home lake and it was pretty blah. Got there around 730, starting with a pegged power worm. After 3 drops, a lost fish and a miss...I switched to a jig/craw and hit a nice fish on my second throw. Had another drop on the jig there, before moving on. Hit my second fish on a t-rigged cleanup craw before losing another fish. Got irritated with the teaxs rig(I had unpegged at that point) and started throwing the jig again and landed three more fish, two good ones and a 13". After that, it really slowed up with another drop and a miss being it before leaving. Atleast size was solid...

That's because that was probably after Ned Kehde popularized it. If you read further, I believe Kansas bass anglers in the 50's actually created it. Now people put all kinds of plastics on ned heads and call them "ned rigs" which they are not. There is only one ned rig; anything else is simply a finesse plastic on a ned head or some variant.

I just flat out don't care and am right handed with right handed reels. Switching hands hasn't cost me anything, and I don't over worry while being a rec angler. Years of steelheading had me using both left and right retrieve, but not in bass fishing. Seems making things to fuss about just for the sake of it is common place these days. Good grief...sounds like paranoia.

What I was saying is, your largemouth have shoulders, but flat bellies; boxy shaped. Look at the smallmouth you catch, football shaped. That's all, there isn't anything wrong with that one bit.

The brown bass seem to be more aggressive foragers than your green bass since they always have fat bellies while the largies often have flat bellies from your ponds. Smallmouth typically are more active in feeding anyways as they swim after food over sitting in ambush. Largemouth will certainly chase though, if it's worth it. Smallies are just meaner overall lol

Works every time...bring an inexperienced woman or a kid and they'll get the biggest bass just because that's how fishing is! Checked out a new lake and dink city. Helped a couple kids at the launch by spooling up one of their empty reels with some 8lb hybrid I had on hand for leader, untangling the others mangled reel and giving them some worm hooks and senkos in a few good colors. After throwing off the dock to get the fresh line wet and manageable, I hooked a dink that I let the one kid reel in. I then tossed out the others twisted up rig not as far, handed it to him and seconds later "hey, I got one" and an 18-18.5" bass was brought to hand...never fails lol. Needless to say, those kids were wading out and firing around with vigor after that. The extra 30 min to load up was well worth it; good job guys.

Finally made a river smallie trip and it was tough, grinding put 9 fish. Started with back to back footballs on a 1/4oz jig/craw that looked like twins, then it was slow for awhile until I went up near the dam and fished the open flood gate whitewash. I had a fun flurry pop n' drop fishing paddle tails. No big fish, but as we all know...you don't need a big one to get bent with smallmouth! Felt great getting some HARD pulling brown bass again, and hopefully it gets better in future trips.

Fished a awhile today(9a-2p)and grinded out 5 good keepers from 16-18" and 5 dinks; also had three drops. Jigs took every fish aside from one miss on a c rig, but I was in the mood to fish jigs as they're my favorite. Fish are still on molting craws as a couple spit them up. A 3/16oz pumpkin/green flake with either a sungill or bama craw paca chunk took all the good fish. Dinks came on black/blue with a gp chunk. Bright and mostly flat with the ENE kicking up a bit now and then. Saw two bigger fish cruising shallow for the first time in weeks, and they were very near some late spawning panfish. I had to battle the now annoying loons like every trip here. Why do they follow me around? You got the whole lake!

Don't worry about catching bass to start or being a hero. Learn your tackle and the feel of it, learn how to work your baits properly. Work on casting accurately. Fish slower to start so you can get a few fish under your belt and your adrenaline pumping. I went from steelheading to bass fishing, and am way more crazy about bass fishing. Get a solid 7' MF spinning rod and MHF casting rod to start off with. They'll cover a bunch of techniques and baits, and you can branch out from there. Trust your gut and have fun with it. Good luck!

@BluegillsTightlines Right on, I like the pit boss a lot. It plain gets bit and will get good fish to boot. Nice greenie

Thanks for an honest, real report. I try also to post tough days as that's part of fishing. Good fish sir.

Those first two are sauger, blotches on the body, and your third fish is indeed a walleye...you can see the black mark on the dorsal. Your fish in question has no body blotches, but spots and barring on the fins; likely a saugeye which is a hybrid between sauger and walleye. You folks with sauger and spotted bass are lucky. We only have the basic largemouth, smallmouth and walleye in MI!

@TnRiver46 Great smallie by your buddy and I'm pretty sure your fish is a saugeye. Spots on the dorsal and barred tail. Walleye have a black splotch on the back end of the dorsal and white tip on the bottom of the tail. Cool fish.

@Swamp Girl You been able to try those new hooks yet? Curious how they'll fare for you.

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Fished for a few hours this morning per usual on Monday and it was tough. Kind of flat, then a little ENE ripple, then flat etc. Sunny out and warm, but not hot. I jig fished today for a break from the t rigging. Landed 3 keepers in the 15-16" range and two dinks. I lost a real good fish and man did she pull hard. She actually mowed standing weeds that floated to the top. I tried to keep her head down with a low rod, but she got up and out enough for the dreaded shake and slack line it was. Probably a 19-20" class fish. I started with black/blue bitsy with paca slim trailer in okee craw, but it got tore up and that fish coughed up a brown/bright orange craw, so I switched it up to a green craw bitsy and sungill paca chunk which took the rest of my bites. On the more productive shoreline, every fish had a bulging belly; crawdads for sure. Fished for around 3 hrs and had to get scootin', so an is what it be morning.

@Bajablast No problem, and trust me...you will like them. I put the pics up because ya have to have proof on the internet lol

My favorite all around bluegill bait is a 1" gulp minnow in smelt or watermelon-pearl on a 3-4mm tungsten jig under a bobber or cast and jigged. It gets big gills(panfish period) extremely well and often get multiple per minnow. I used only those all spring and had a great season until they hit the beds, which is when I went back to bass fishing. At one point I had bass thumb and "panfish hand" lol

@Swamp Girl I don't worry about being silly, hunches are real and a good thing. Not everyone is as in tune internally as others, but if you are; trust your gut feelings. They're primal, raw and often wise. I do the same as you, and have whacked a good fish or had a little flurry doing just as you described. Trust it, go with it.

@bishoptf I'd go with your gut to start in this situation, and simplify approach. If you're unsure, even with your minimal electronics, fish the brush you have a hunch on. Look for discrepancies with them. Some should stand out from others, and then you can hone in on the productive ones. If you get that "I just have a feeling about this spot", hit it. You may be wrong, but often strong intuitive pulls are for a reason. Good luck bro, you'll figure it out man.

There was a guy on youtube who went through a streak of no claw craw on a t rig and he had a steady run for awhile. I really think that appeal might be why a look like nothing true ned rig with the trd works so well. Slow fall with nothing specific represented, but several prey items interpreted by bass. Simple can be best, often.