Bass_Akwards

I give this post 96 seconds before it's moved. Starting now. 96, 95, 94, 93........

All year round but starting just after post spawn is awesome! Bass just spawned and are just chilling near the cover. They might now want to eat, but top water drives them insane and they just can't keep off it. Best times to fish topwater is low light conditions in the morning or night when the bass come shallow under the protection of dusk and night.

Bwahahahahahaahahahaha! Timeless.

This is probably really stupid but my friend started fishing last summer. He thought everything was a bite as well. When we were at the lake, I told him to cast. Then I told him to close his eyes. Then i told him to reel his senko in verrrrrrry slooooowly. After he reeled for about 20 seconds I asked him if he could feel the Senko crawling on the rocks and stumps and bottom of the lake. He said "Yes." I then walked to the tip of his rod and lightly tapped the the tip with my index finger. I asked him if he could feel the difference between my light tap on the rod and the cover he was reeling over. He said "Absolutely." With his eyes closed again, I flicked his line with my fingers as he was reeling in and again asked him "Do you feel the difference between me flicking the line and the worm crawling over the bottom?" He again said "Yup." Me tapping on the line or rod tip is very close to resembling a regular soft plastic strike imo. Now I know not every strike is going to be a "tap" or a "tap tap" and sometimes the strike will be so subtle that even a good angler might not feel it, but that's not the point for this discussion. The point is, from that point on, he rarely had a problem distinguishing between a "normal" soft plastic strike, and the weeds/cover/structure on the bottom. What matters is that even really good anglers can once in a while think something is a strike, when it isn't, and even a good angler can once in a while not realize he/she is even getting a strike. A huge bass might suck that bait in with so much water, that the angler doesn't even feel it. Obviously theres no substitute for real life practice with actual real life bass, so keep her interested and out there on the water. I'm guessing somewhere between 5-15 more hookups with a soft plastic and she'll totally start getting it down to where she can really tell the difference between a bite, and not.

Do you remember catching the bass that got you hooked on bass fishing? Well let's hear the story! I have been hooked and re-hooked so to speak. I caught my first bass when I was 10 in a little lake near my house in the North Chicago Suberbs. I caught it on a live worm and a Zebco rod and reel. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I was so jacked that it took me all of a week after that to get the BPS catalouge and ask my parents if I could order some stuff out of it. I kept that 10 inch bass in a bucket and showed it to all the kids in the neighborhood. The bass died and I felt like a complete ***. Perhaps that's why I'm so into catch and release now. I stopped fishing at age 15 when I went into High School and didn't start fishing again until age 37, just a few years ago. I lived in Colorado for 8 years before learning there was bass here. I got re-hooked when I went fishing with a friend one night. I used a buzzbait for the first time ever. I absolutely never thought I'd catch anything on it. WRONG! I'll never forget that loud splash of my first buzzbait bass attacking that buzzer and the fight I had with it. It absolutely blew my mind and hooked me again, this time forever.

:'(Thats just not fair. :'(

Look for the obvious. Cover like weeds, sunken trees that stick out of the water, lilly pads, laydowns, rip rap, docks, all sorts of brush piles, rock piles and grass. Also, look for land features like points and fish them. Don't forget to keep an eye out for subtle or even obvious changes in the composition of the shoreline. Many times when a shoreline goes from dirt and plants to a bunch of big old rocks, you can bet that many times those rocks or terrain extend into the water. Bass love hanging out in such spots. Try to locate current as well, and use it to your advantage. This time of year it's a good idea to know where the flats are because it's spawn time. Flats are many times something you can see from shore. Look for nests and if you don't mind fishing for bedding bass, then go for it.

Gunna start fishing the shaky head. What's the best setup in terms of a great jig head and worm that's buoyant and really catches bass?

http://pennsylvaniaclub.com/photos/2008/work_week/p7hg_img_1/fullsize/bass_bed1_fs.jpg Many times the large rocks in this photo aren't there and it's just the bed. This happens to be one heck of a well protected nest.

I NEVER bump my threads but I just HAD to be the 100th reply. ;D

When you have a bad day or even a bunch of bad days, I wouldn't sweat it to much. Simply go look at the results of every day of the Elite series tourneys like the 2010 Bassmasters Classic and Clear Lake and the Delta and count the guys who either struggled or got SKUNKED. There's A LOT. We're talkin' about the best anglers in the world bro! These guys are on the best lakes, at the best times of year, with the best rods, reels, line, baits, boats, and side imaging/sonar/fish finders sponsers can give them. Not to mention they're some of the most experienced bass fishermen in the world and some days, the bass just own them. A slump can be good for you. It can really make you focus more than you have been. It also makes the times you ARE slaying the bass even better, and easier to appreaciate.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1158577137

Use baits with more sound and action and especially vibration. Also, if you have to fish a worm or a creature bait or a jig when it's dark because top water bites are off, be aware that at night, you won't be able to watch your line like you can during the day so you have to have an awesome feel for what's going on at the end of your line. If you feel a "tap" when fishig a big worm on the bottom at night, how do you know when to set the hook? It can be tough and it takes practice and feel.

The fact that I'll never get that 5 minutes of my life back is very depressing.

J-J-J-J-J I G S!

I have 2 questions. 1. I know different situations call for different techniques, but IN GENERAL are you a power bass fisheman/woman or are you a finesse bass fisherman/woman? 2. If you're answer is "Power," What's your favorite FINESSE bait? If your answer is Finesse, what's your favorite POWER bait?

What's the water temp in the lake? Has there been stable weather there the past week? What are the fish doing? Spawning? Pre spawning? It all makes a difference as to what you should be throwing and where.

Depends on the lake. I heard IKE talk about himself fishing lake Jordan in Alabama. He used a mid depth pattern fishing docks in 5-10 feet of water. All the docks he fished had deep water access. He used a "skip pitch" method with a Berkely gripper finesse football head jig, which is a flat head jig which is easily skipped under docks if you have perfected the "skip-pitch" cast He talked about how lots of times bass will use these docks as a feeding station coming in and out from deep to shallower water but you have to make sure you put that jig UNDER the dock or right next to the posts. He also mentioned that it's a numbers game, and you have to fish TONS of docks throughout the day to maximize your fishing. You might not get bit EVERY time but you'll get bit by the "right fish" when you do catch one. Hit a dock with 10-15 casts and move on to another one. Let the jig fall because the fall is key, if you don't get bit on the fall, hop it a couple times, if you don't get bit, re-cast.

Tilapia huh? Sounds very El Saltoish, but from the photos, it looks more like Baccarac. Maybe neither? Either way, if you told me I could catch that bass next week if I chopped off my left pinky finger, there's a high probability I'd go buy a scalpel tomorrow.

Amen to that Chris! Unfortunately for my fiance I have the same attitude as you do. Then again, one of the reasons I'm marrying her is because she thinks it's sexy that I go fishing 6 days/night a week from Ice out to Ice on. EVEN ON THE FULL MOONS!

Sounds pretty descent Chris. As far as catching no BIG fish, my stupid opinion is it's partially or mostly because of the moon phase. The 28th was a full moon, which can be a tough time to catch the monsters. From books I've read including In Pursuit of Giant Bass by Bill Murphy, the best BIG bass feeding activity does occur during full moon cycles, but by far the best time in the cycle is during a 3/4 moon phase. If you're fishing key outside structures a bunch, like i thought you did, Bill found that two or three days around a 3/4 waxing or 3/4 waning moon phase were by far the most consistant times of each month to intercept LARGE bass.. He goes on to say that if a 5 pounder is a lunker in the lake you fish and the lake record is 8 pounds, and you fished a structure the adult fish were using every day of the month, you probably would catch numbers of 3 to 5 pound bass any time there was a good pre frontal condition. BUT you might catch several 6 pounders and one over 7 pounds during that same pre frontal condition on a 3/4 moon phase! After 20 years or so of keeping records, Murphy says that 70% of all the 8 pound-plus bass he's caught were during full moon cycles and to get even more specific about 75% of all his 10 pound-plus bass were caught on either a 3/4 waxing or 3/4 waning moon phase. "A 3/4 moon phase represents a time when lunar energys stimulate a BIG bass to move away from their neutral holding positions and move to the outer edges of key structural features" What happens during the full moon or even a day before or after the full moon, is that sometimes the BIG bass feed so heavily during the 3/4 moon phase, that by the time the full moon arrives, the BIG fish may have already gorged themselves. Many times fishing a full moon can be like fishing the back side of a frontal system where the fish have already eaten and are satisfied. I swear I've noticed this fishing here in Colorado. Most of my "off nights" are on or right near a full moon. I've been commenting on this to my fishing buddies for 3 or 4 years now and they all thought I was nuts. After reading Murphy's book, I'm now convinced it's my fishing buddies who are nuts.

I just asked the fish "What's been fishinflip415's most successful retrieve with a jerkbait in cold water?" They had no idea.

Sup Y'all. 1. I really want to know everyones most effective retrieves when it comes to these three baits in cold water. (Under 60 degrees) Tell me about how long you swim the bait between pauses(if you even pause), how you swim the bait, and if and how you puase your bait etc. Be specific and give as much detail as you can. 1. Lipless cranks in a lake with no grass (slow roll? Jerks and pauses letting the bait sit on the bottom for a second? Swim it high in the water column? Other?) 2. Jerkbaits (long sweeps? Small jerks? Little twitches? Long pauses? How long?) 3. Jigs (hopping? Sweeping? long pauses? Other?)

Tear 'em up bro! I hope the barometer drops off the charts for you. Personally I LOVE pre frontal conditions with a nice overcast sky and little raindrops falling, but a nice sunny day before a front never hurt anyone. Please post your results when you get back from your trip and if you hit anything 8+ pounds, please get a good picture and put it up here. I expect a 10+ from you Chris so GET 'ER DONE!

This makes no sense. He said "you only have some fishing line and your wits." Doesn't this make it impossible to get a narrow stick, glass, stone, cactus apples, ants, or anything else? or anything to light a fire? "You only have your fishing line and your wits." Still lost here.