jwo1124

I am looking to get a rod to use for wacky worming, shakey heads, soft plastic jerkbaits, and tubes? Is a ML too flimsy? I will most likely be using this rod in fairly open waters and not throwing into pads, weeds, or timber.

I know this may not be the most "professional" way to find if there's fish. But you could just go to a local tackle shops, get yourself a dozen or two of nightcrawlers, and just go pond hoppin' one day and test the waters. SOmetimes the fish won't bite lures, especially if the ponds are small and you spook them. This way you won;t waste your time, or think theres no fish in ponds that are holding fish. Even if you just get sunfish, that's a sign that there are probably bass as well since they are related and share the same habitat.

I am looking to see if there are any Bass fishing clubs/organizations in or around Northeastern MA. I am located in the suburbs outside of Boston, and am looking to hopefully join a club as a non-boater for recreation and tournament fishing. I am 22(23 in a month) and I am currently a college student. I am a long time passionate angler, and have been involved in the sport of fishing since I was a little kid. I fished my first local Bass Derby at a local pond when I was 12. I enjoy *** types of fishing, but Bass fishing was my first and biggest passionate when it comes to rods and reels. Up until now I have always just fished local ponds from shore or from a small aluminum row boat for fun. I am looking to take the next step and start fishing lakes and resoviors and enter tournaments just to see how I do. Fishing is a huge passion of mine and I'm getting bored of fishing the same old ponds from the same old spots on shore.

The town I fish, which has several decent ponds uses a spray once or twice a year to kill off "unwanted" weed growth. They say that residents around these ponds that are in heavily residential areas with houses right on the pond the weeds are a nuisance and that birds get trapped in them and die, and they use an example of when some guy ran into one of the ponds after a soccerball unable to swim and he got caught in some weeds and drown. As awful as that may be, no one thinks of how the weed kill off will affect the fish/fishing. One of these ponds, which I fished my first Derby when I was 12, used to have lush lily pads all around the peremeter of the pond. Now in the summer the lily pads are patchy and most are brownish. There is a lso a lot of dead brown grass floating around all the time in the ponds they spray. Another case of man trying to play God. People shouldn;t be swimming in shallow weedy ponds, that's what the beach is for. Enjoy the pond for its uses, fishing, conoeing, kayaking... I guess I could understand if this was a large populated Lake with recreational boating and swimming being a main activity. It would make sense to kill of dangerous weeds that could harm swimmers, but these are small comunity ponds that should be left alone to thrive and maintain themselves. If the community wants to take any action, they should start with a pond clean up. I was fishing a couple weeks ago at the pond I was talking about, and the shoreline is littered with trash from empty soft drink cans, alcohol containers, empty chips bags, plastic shopping bags, a couple shopping carts...it's a shame that people treat natural resources like that

Thanks Rod. I have a MH spinning and it is VERY stiff. It feels like a jackhammer in my hands when I'm using a spinnerbait. I didn't want a similar experience when Cranking.

I have a choice between a ML 1/8-5/8 or a M 1/4-3/4 for a cranking rod. Probably going to go with a Lighting Rod since I can pick up two for less than $80. Keep in mind I'm talking spinning for now. I was thinking ML for the softer action when dealing with treble hooks but the M will let me fish larger 3/4 oz. cranks and topwaters. Plus I really don't think the stiffness of a M power spinning rod will be that big of a problem. Any suggestions?

I have seen these rods before online, but just actually took some time to look over them and read the reviews. Without a lot of cash as a student, and a strong addiction to fishing, bass, stocked trout, salty stripers, stocked salmon, I'm pretty much fishing all year round for different stuff. Needless to say, I have to stretch a beer budget. I like to carry 2-3 rods with me when fishing for bass, a couple for trout and salmon, and I currently only have one striper rod which is really all I need to plug with. I'm sure these rods aren't top of the line, or top quality, but for $18 how bad can they be for tossing topwaters, jerkbaits, and cranks. If anyone has any comments on these please share....Gear Snobs need not respond

I picked up about a dozen Norman cranks in various models at Dick's in the beginning of the season and I believe they have a diagram on the back of all the packages that shows you how to tune the bait if it isn;t running correctly.

I caught my biggest Laregemouth on a wacky rigged wave tiki stick and caught my second biggest LM on a White Booyah Spinnerbait.

I know this topic has been hit on more than the drunkest girl at the party, but I need some solid advice on what type of rod to buy for crankbaits and jerkbaits. I own a couple store brand glass spinning rods that I use for my crabkbaits and jerkbaits, and to be honest they work great. They are sensitive enough that I can feel my lure hit the bottom or an object under water, they transmit vibration decently for a glass rod, the mod/slow action is great for chucking lures, and keeping hooked fish from throwing the hook or tearing the hook out like stiffer/fast action rods can do. But I have heard anglers preach that graphite is much better in every arena, and skip the glass and just use a lighter action graphite for crankbaits. I'm looking for a good spinning rod I can trust to throw my crankbaits, jerkbaits and topwaters on without worrying about the rod being too stiff and tearing the lure away from the fish. I would stick to the rod now, the pnly problem I have is that the rod doesn;t list lure weight ranges, so i just have to approximate which lure ranges are fishable based on other similar rated rods. Thanks.

I have posted about this rod before, but I have to ask again if anyone else had used these rods and would like to hear their thoughts about them. Now I know most guys here use higher grade rods, but as a student I don'thave very much money to spend on gear. I had purchased this rod because I wanted a glass crankbait rod, but I needed a spinning rod. I bought the 6'6" ML and for only $20, I bought two. Now I have not used high end gear, but for a $20 rod this rod is very good in my opinion. It's great for cranks since it has a moderate to slow action, I can't rememeber ever losing a fish on these rods due to throwing the hook and I've caught bass, salmon, trout, and pikerel. It has a great action keeping constant pressure, but not too much pressure on a hooked fish without tearing the trebles out. The rod is way more sensitive than you;d think when you think of a glass rod. The tip is sensitive and you feel the lure bump structure and you can always feel a strike. For $20 I think everyone should go out and give them a try, even if you hate it donate it to some kid who just started fishing, but I guarentee for most casual anglers you'll hang on to this rod, even if just for a back up. I just wanted to see if anyone else has used or owns this rod.

I noticed a lot of guys advocating X-Fast rods for baits like spooks and other topwaters. Do you have any problem yanking the hooks out of the mouth since its an extra fast action. I though a more forgiving moderate action would be better for the trebles. I know the extra fast action helps to work a topwater or a jerkbait and bring it alive, but don't you lose a lot of fish with such a stif rod and trebles.

The other day I was fishing a weightless vibra tube like a jerkbait and I was killing the fish. I also caught one one a senko rigged and fished the same wasy as well as one on a Zoom Fluke Jr. I think my go to bait is definately going to be a soft jerkbait from now on. The action the bait gives off is like no other lure.

I agree that these fishing simulations are entertaining on days when its impossible to get out and fish. Although, the gameplay and realism of these games definately needs to be worked on. FOr the most part the graphics to these games are good, and the depth of the games are decent as far as lure choices gocasting fishing the lure, etc. But what really grinds my gears(TM Peter Griffin) is that once you hook a fish it's impossible to land it. For example, when plaing Sega Bass Fishing Duel you'll notice that not only does it seem like it takes forever to reel in a 2 or 3 pound bass, but also, you'll notice that these average sized bass will consistently break 10 lb. test. I don't know about the rest of ya'll but it's never taken me any longer than about 45 seconds to land a bass, and I have never been broken off and I almost always am using 6-8# test. Granted I fish small ponds and my average bass is around a pound, 3-4 lb bass shouldn;t be snapping you off consistently like they do in the game. I'm sure they are just trying to make the game challeneging, which is good at first, but it gets old fast and really takes the fun out of the game. I love fishing more than anyone I know, Aand I refuse to play the game because I get so angry. I found a link to some fishing games for you http://www.gamestop.com/Browse/Search.aspx?N=139+170 Also check GameSpot.com and go to other sports games, they have a few other fishing games as well. Warning: I also own Rapala Fishing, and I don't know if it's just a defect in the game I purchased or its consitent in all of the games but the game will not allow any of the crankbaits to dive deeper than 1foot. Really annoying. I'm stuck using topwaters and the Countdown minnow the whole game. If anyone knows how to fix this or has had this happen let me know. Correcttion: the game I meant is Fisherman's Challenge, not Sega Bass Fishing Duel, I apologize.

I don;t wanna seem like the black cloud overhead, but in my expereience, fishing video games are awful. I own Sega Bass fishing Duel and the Rapala Trophy fishing games for PS2 and I dont find them to be fun at all. That's just me though, you can probably pick both of these games up cheap, or rent them first to see if you like them, but fishing games are very boring, and there's just no comparison to real fishing.

first off I didn't dismiss him as an angler, and I'm sorry if I was mis informed, but I was almost Positive that on the lunker city web site they make a claim that The Fleck Weed Wader spinnerbait won him the classic, perhaps it was another bassmasters tournament. I hardly think my post was ridiculous, since it is just my opinion which is no worse than yours. That's my honest perception of him. I mean watch Charlie Moore Outdoors on NESN and you'll see that what I said is true and he only uses the same few lures to catch fish with. And the only pattern he fishes is beating the bank. I'm just saying 90% of the people on this forum could do the same thing and have their own TV show...I guess people really bite on his personality. And I doubt he is a coke head, I'm just trying to illustrate how he acts, a mile a mintue, all flushed all the time...he should probably get that checked out By that way...is that Charlie in your avatar...

Its sad, but like with anything great, it must come to an end. Its a great story of actually recovring the fish after its death, almost like God planned her to wash up on shore and be noticed so they could pay their final respect...uncanny.

I remember growing up my mom was big into fish and always had an aquarium. At one point we had two oscars, and it was fun at feeding time watching them slurp up little goldfish. They got too big and dirtied the tank up too much with their urine so we gave em back to the pet store, which I suggest anyone do with any pet they no longer want. Do not release it into the wild, or even sadder, which I have seen, throw it in a bag and leave it in traffic. I saw a smooshed cat in a burlack sack once in the middle of a city where I fish. The pile of road kill sat in the middle of a street for over a week. Its a said state of affairs in humanity these days.

There is nothing like the battle that raids in my head when the alarm clock goes off at 5:30 am. The sun hasn't even awoken yet for its morning cup of coffee, and there I am lying in bed contemplating on whether I should actually get up and get ready, or give in to the part of me that is screaming to go back to sleep. Mostly every time I find myself in this situation, I take the former route and drag myself up and over to my clothes I had laid out the night before. Soon enough last night's anticipation and excitement rises and shines with me and I feel like I did the previous night when I was thinking about the awaiting fishing trip. I use the phrase fishing trip loosely, since for me it just means driving 20 minutes to a string of city ponds where I fan cast from shore hoping to trick our slimy scaly friends into attacking a lure. Although I may not be heading out on the fishing expedition of a lifetime, every monotonous drive to the same few fishing holes seems to regain its novelty each time. The anticipation of finding out whether or not today is going to be a great, good, fair, or horrible fishing day seems to be one of the main factors that motivates me to get up while its still dark out and make the, what seems like endless, commute to my liquid destination. Even though most days go as the time before went, with a couple scattered tugs on my line and the resulting one or two pounder, some times I will have better days, and some days I would donate an organ to science just for a one pounder to bite. I try to tell myself that even if I don't catch a fish, just being out in the sun, which is a luxury in the life of an angler since we have the same mentality as postal carriers, that I'm still a winner. Well, anyone who has gotten up at 5:30 on five or six hours of sleep on the weekend and drive close to a half an hour, to beat the banks of the ole fishing hole knows that that is just a load of manure. At heart all of us who hold in our hand a fishing pole and in our hearts a dream to catch the big one, knows that being out and becoming one with nature is great for the kids and the old retirees, but for us, its all about that slime on your hand after you release that tuckered out fish following a brief but exhilarating battle between man and beast. Just a little piece of my fishing expereience I wanted to share, I'm sure many of you have felt this way before.

thanks salamander. What part of mass are you from. I live on the north shore and do most of my bassin pond hoppin' and casting from shore. I wish my experience was more of on the water in a boat trolling around so I could enhance my skill, but I'll take what's available for now.

You got to meet Charlie Moore...that's pretty cool. Just to meet any celebrity is great, but a pro bass angler is even better, that's if you're into bass fishing of course. I enjoy the Charlie Moore show, but then again I enjoy any fishing show and don;t have too much bad to say about any of them. I can see why some people say they don'[t like him, since he's a mile-a-minute loud mouth who won't zip his lip for a second. To be honest, I know that he won the Classic back in the 90's, but IMHO he doesn't come off like that great a fisherman, more like a dumb jock with a fishing rod. Anyone from New England who's seen his show on NESN can attest that the only "pattern" he know how to fish is banging the shoreline with 3 maybe four lures. In all the episodes I have even seen, and I've seen A LOT of them, he uses a Chart. Weed Wader Spinnerbait, a SLug Go, and a Wacky rigged "Spanky. All of which are Lunker CIty products. I have seen him use a clown color jerkbait a couple times, an inline spinner I think once, and a Lip less crank a couple times. It doesn;t seem like he's that fishing educated since all he really does is troll up and down lake sorelines and cast and crank a spinnerbait. Plus, he hardly catches big bass, most are dinks, and when he does catch the big one, its liek a 2lber that I could pull out of a small pond. In his defense though, I think the show is aimed at the Joe Six Pack who really has no fishing knowledge and is more for entertainment than education. He seems like a coke head though, I mean the dude is as red as the skirt on a bleeding bait series spinnerbait, and he's always wired...maybe he just like his coffee strong though... :-/

The last time I was at Dick's Sporting Goods, which must have been a month or so ago, I noticed that they were selling, or at least carrying, a lot of spinning combos that were under the Field and Stream brand name. They had two different types, one was the more expensive of the two, and I think they were from $40-$60, those are just estimate, but they weren;t very expensive. I was thinking about picking up a few of these to try out and keep as back ups or for permanent use depending on how well they fish. They were IM6 and IM7 graphite respectively, meaning the more $$$ one was 7. I was looking for a couple inexpensive jig/worm rods. Has anyone fishied with these or know anyone who has fished with these? I'm not sure if they even still are carrying them, but I would like some feedback if anyone has anything. Thanks. -Joe

I know that the plastic worm is one of, if not the best bass fishing lure in history, but I have never caught on to the trend. I like hardbaits. I don;t know why but I would much rather use a spinnerbait, topwater, or a jerkbait over a soft plastic anyday. I think it is because I really don;t have the patience to "work" a soft plastic or a jig. Thats just me though. Plus, when I am fishing from shore, I tend to fan cast and cover as much area as possible, and for me this means horizontal presentations. I feel plastics and jigs, aside from the carolina rig, are more "pitching", "target", or vertical presentations that are more object oriented. FOr example, pitching a worm or a jig to a fallen tree or a dock. I like chucking and winding. I'd probably have better success if I could slow down and finesse better, but it's just not my style. I'm glad you added in with the soft plastics though. This shows newbies not only that no one man's opinion is gold, but also that some anglers have different styles. Also, and I'm not too proud to admit it, I think another main reason why I am not big on palstics and jigs is because, fo rme at least, these are the hardest lures to "feel" why you fish them. I meanyou could fish with a wet noodle and feel a 1/2 ounce spinenrbait or a crankbait pulling through the water, but I think it take s alot of patience, practice, and focus to really master worm and jig fishing. And I think it's patience or focus that I just don't have right now. Also, I have fished with compostie and glass rods alot, and its impossible to fish jigs and worms correctly or effectively on these types of rods. I think I may just have to go invest in a higher end graphite jig/worm rod and make up for lost time.

I have been shore fishing for bass, as well as other species of freshwater fish that reside in ponds for many years now. As a younger child I always opted for livebait, since it was easy and produced fish. Nowadays, I have switched to lures, rarely using livebait;usually only when I wish with an inexperienced angler such as my younger brother. With years of experience of fishing udner my belt, and the awareness of new anglers constently signing up to bassresource, many of which are probably shore bound like me, especially the younger ones, I have put together a list of lures that are a must have for shorebound bassers. 1.Topwaters-I have had good luck with poppers, though I am sure Walking the dog type lure will produce, but I have yet to utilize them enough to speak of them. You can also place buzzbaits, Frogs and Toads in this catagory since they are a species of Topwaters. When I say frogs I mean the floating hollow style like the Dean Rojas frog, and when I say toad I mean the soft plactic type that needs to be riged on a worm hook. Buzzbaits are good in the summer and early fall, and can be throw around moderate cover where the standard popper would get snagged. Frogs and Toads are great since they are virtually weedless, and can really get into the tight heavy cover where lunkers live. Buzzbaits are best when the bass are aggressive enough to chase this thing down and smash it whether its out of hunger or its just annoying the heck out of them. 2.) Spinnerbaits- I have probably had the best luck bass fishing from shroe while using a spinnerbait. It may because I usually only bass fish in the warmer months, beginning my season up here in chilly Massachusetts around the second week of May(whatta ya know; look at the time) Spinenrbaits are great since they can be worked around cover where other types of baits will get hung up, they cover a lot of water, they are very attractive to bass, and most importantly; they are one of the best producing bass lures ever made(Just Ask Jimmy Houston) 3.)Jerkbaits- FLoating or suspending depending on the day or time of year, or in others words, the mood of the bass. These baits are great in shallow water, they have a great action that looks like a wounded bait fish, and they can be worked around moderate over and even over submerged cover without too much worry about getting hung up. Just don't throw them into the heavy nasty stuff. 4.) Shallow crankbaits-One might say, "Why do I need jerkbaits and shallow crankbaits, they are both shallow running minnow imitations?" True, but cranks have a different wobbling/wiggling action where as jerkbaits dart around like someones eyes who just drank too much coffee. Cranks also have a different profile, similar to that of a panfish rather than a long, slender minnow. I like to focus on baits that dive to around 5 feet. Depending on the location where you fish, and the depth of the water there, you may need a medium or even a deep diving crank. But for my intensive purposes, I like 3-5' divers. I use a 8' around the boat ramp though. These are just the top producing lures I have had the most success with shore fishing for the bucket mouth. I have also had luck tossing a wacky rigged senko type worms, as well as Tube jigs, though the tube jig darts around a lot and can hang up in timber or rocks since its hardly weedless at all. Don't limit yourself to just these lures though, I'm sure there are bass where you are fishing, this list of lures will put them on the hook. They have proven themselves to me to be great shallow water lures that produce fish. I am certainly no Bassmaster, just an passionate amateur angler like most of the Joe's on this site, so don;t take my word for gospel, but know that I am not blowing smoke when I say these lures have worked very well for me, and I am confident they will catch you bass next time you are bank fishing around the shallows. Another tip, if you can, attempt to fish around dusk, since this is when most of the bigger fish will lurk into the shallow areas and swim in the open preying on the smaller fish. But otherwise, anytime you fish, use your knowledge and seek out the spots that look liek they will hold bass: vegetation(oxygen producing, shade, cover for safety and ambushing) timber/logs/tress: cover, ambush point, rocks, docks, boat ramps, shady spots in the summer time. I mainly wrote this article in hopes to show younger/less experienced anglers that you don;t need every single lures that's manufactured to catch bass. Success will come from more experience and knowledge more than more "stuff". At the same time, don;t limit yourself to the bare neccessities of fishing, find that balance where you have enough gear to fish almost most situations competently. Don't seek perfection, because there is no use in chasing the unattainable.

I fish a small farm sized pond(it isn;t a farm pond though) and it has a lot of moss in it. This makes it useless to throw most types of lures like jerkbaits, cranks, spinnerbait, and basically anything that goes below the surface. Once in a while you'll luck out and your won;t reel in a bunch of green stuff, but most times you spend 5 minutes picking moss off the hooks before you can cast again. I started using topwaters a lot and hI have had decent results with a popper and a buzzbait when fishing from the shore. When I take my small tin boat out I also supplemnt by tossing wacky rigged worms around lily pads and timber. As for the time of day when to fish, I have never had a good experience fishing early morning, but I have had a couple really good nights bass fishing around dusk. It's true, that the predators get more active at nightfall, not to say fish won;t feed during the day if something comes along, but it's at night when they "turn on" and actively hunt. Hunting with the cover of darkness is smart for a fish(or any predator since they will waste the least amount of energy hunting prey that can easily see them and flee. Try going to the pond 2 or 3 hours before sunset. Once the sun has moved below the horizon, but there is still daylight for about 30 minutes, the fish should be active. I would throw a spinner bait with a colorado blade. The spinner will have the profile of a fleeing bluegill and the big blade will help the bass feel and locate it. On a personal note, has anyone really had a great early morning fishing experience? I think I', gonna stop wasting time, gas, and hours of sleep and just start fishing at dusk and a little into the night. This is because I shore fish.