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Haven't posted on the forums in a while, not much to talk about during the winter in Connecticut, however I feel the need to share my experiences this evening. got out of work at at 5 and instead of loading my truck and heading down to one of the larger reservoirs with all of my rods and big tackle bag, in search of a ten pound fish via swimbaits, jerkbaits, and other more advanced techniques, I decided for a simpler evening. I left all my my rods and tackle at home except for my 7ft medium spinning rod, some 1/8 and 1/16 ounce shakey head jigs and a bag of my favorite worms, and headed down to the pond behind my neighbors property. It may sound weird but I can't tell you how relaxing and nostalgic it is to spend the evening at a small pond with nothing but green pumpkin worms. ended up pulling four 2-3 pound fish out in just over an hour. I may just be a really weird dude but it was pretty refreshing.

Yesterday I met up with my friend Brandon and fished from 4 until dark on a local pond in the Champlain Valley. A cold front had passed through the day before dropping the air temperature 10 degrees and shifting the wind form south west to north. As typical with a cold front it was bright blue skies when we arrived. The wind blowing 5-10 out of the north had some bite to it, it was chilly. I was dressed for winter and I was warm. The water temperature was showing at 55 degrees but we were under the impression it was reading warmer then what it actually was. I was excited to just get out there. I hadn't been out all year. Our fist couple spots were rocky points that dropped quickly into around 20 feet of water. I started off with a jig and my friend was fishing a crank bait. I had a fish hit my jig three times but couldn't get the hook set. I clearly saw it. Probably was around 2 pounds or so. I was disappointed to have missed it but was hopeful I would have more opportunities. After about half an hour we moved to another rocky point with some deep trees near by. No hits there. Onward to the next deep rocky point. Again we had no hits. We had been fishing an hour and a half with no luck, not a single fish in the boat. We came to the conclusion that we needed to make a move. We decided to fish an more spring like pattern. We went all the way to the northwest corner of the pond. Typically I have experienced consistent success fishing the northwest corners of ponds and lakes in the early spring. They tend to have the warmest water and get the most sun. Once we arrived with in the first 5 minutes we both had caught fish. Nothing big, I had landed one about 2.5 lbs. The area looked good not only was it the northwest corner but it also was were a brook came in, another text book spring spot. The two of us were catching fish on chatterbaits. WE both landed fish on either side of the inlet. It sure did feel good catching bass again. The wind let down a bit and was blowing maybe 5 mph at this point. Thinking to have found a pattern we went to another couple coves that had inlets that were in the northwest corner of the pond. The fish were there and they were slammin our chatterbaits. The action was good. It was very different then the first hour and a half fishing deeper rock points which to me is more of a winter/summer pattern then early spring. The last two hours of the day we consistently caught fish on chatterbaits. The final total of the afternoon was 18 largemouth most between 1 - 2 lbs. We did catch 2 fish about 2.5 lbs. I landed lunker for the day, a 3 lb 9 oz. It felt so good to be out on the water again catching fish and figuring something resembling a pattern in a short amount of time. I am so ready to get out there again.

I don't know, but it's probably a bbbbig watch, in fact it's a Boom Shockalocka! GGGGIAANT! watch!

My first R2S Bait. WolfyBrandon

Well after a few morning showers me and the girlfriend decided to go do a little fishin at my local honey hole. I was throwing a 1/2 oz zman chatterbait Alabama craw and she was throwing a zoom critter craw pumpkin with orange class and I'd say we had a pretty good afternoon!! I also have a video of her reeling in the big one she caught but it doesn't seem to want to upload.

The notables from the past few days..

I just picked up this years rod. I had it built this winter on an Avid blank, 6' but to make it a one of a kind, I had 3" added from a SCV rod just to make it a 6'3" LF for Crappie, Perch and White Bass. I had it balanced to a new Stradic CI4+ 1000FA. The complete outfit weighs in at 8.7 oz. Recoil Guides, and fly rod reel seat with cork center. It's not quite as sensitive as the elite blank but you can still feel every bump when dragging just the dead line across the gravel drive!!! lastly it is 100% balanced right at the line pickup when rotor is in it's rearward position. Last year I had the Legend Extreme built with the 6'6" MLF blank and precisely balanced to a 1000FG Sustain, using Recoils Titanium guides on it also. I like these guides so well I had two factory rods, both Legend Elites, striped of their guides and the recoils installed, what a difference they are truly indescribable and the only way one can believe the difference they make is to try them. These make a sweet light finesse spinning rod set for anything from Walleye and Smallmouth, to White Bass and Crappie. A few years back I had a special spinning outfit built by the same craftsman, it was special because I wanted a spinning rod built for Pike and Musky, but wanted to be able to use it for Redfish in the Gulf, and Snook and other species on the flats and canals of the everglades if I visit Florida. We used a MH casting blank in a XF action to get the speed and backbone we wanted as the MHXF spinning wasn't available, for bigger single hook baits this excells for bigger fish and works great with heavy spoons and Bucktails too!!! I had a Sustain 4000FD on it to begin with but sold it and went with the 4000FJ Stradic instead, I have not made it out for Reds and Snook yet but have landed several Northern Pike on it and a few Chinook and Coho Salmon in Michigan. I am truly blessed to have a rod builder that I have, the guy teaches rod building for a large custom tackle firm on the great lakes, and every time we get together on a project he still amazes me at all the fine details others overlook for eye bling instead of function. These are the spinning rods he has built me to date and I think next year I will build one more, on a Legend Elite 7'MF blank and that should cover everything I can ever imagine I will need. I have two custom casting rods he built on Legend Extreme blanks a MXF and MHM that also use recoil guides and the same cork patterns slightly different but with the same dark brown and natural cork to adjust weight for balance and just a touch eye candy and a touch to define my custom request to make them personal.

If one-pound bass are flying chest-high, better cross-your-legs for two-pound bass! Roger

There seems to be a lot of members that are not catching bass, some are just starting out and a few have never caught one. If that's where you are, then this short piece is for you. If you want to start catching some bass, follow these instructions EXACTLY, no modifications or adjustments. Equipment: Medium or Medium Heavy Power/ Fast Action spinning rod and reel. #6 Yo-Zuri Hybrid, Ultra Soft, P-Line or XL. Gamakatsu 4/0 EWG Offset Worm Hooks. 1 bag GYCB 5" Senkos, watermelon with black flakes (194) 1 bag GYCB Fat Ika (194) Place: A pond at least 5 acres in size, preferably with some bottom features or contour. Or, if you have access to big water, a well defined cove, not a bay. Whether you fish from a boat or the shore, you will fish exactly the same way. Method: Start with the Senko. Cast parallel to the bank, 10-15 yards off the shoreline. Let the bait sink to the bottom, count to 30 (as in 30 seconds) then move the Senko 6-12" with a slow horizontal sweep, allowing the bait to fall on slack line. Count to 10, then repeat. Continue all the way back, move ten steps forward and repeat. Fish the ENTIRE shoreline regardless of whether you see cover or structure. Fish two Senkos and if you are still not catching bass, switch to the Fat Ika and fish it until you lose it. Don't switch back and forth. Fish the Fat Ika EXACTLY like you fished the Senko. To make this testing fair, you need to spend at least one hour out fishing, two would be better. You can't hurry and you must stay focused. If you don't catch a bass after two trips or four hours of fishing, you need to find new water.

None here , but these are my first of the year, and first prespawn bass ever, and the stink is off . Just wish they were 5lb fatties. I don't even think these are big enough to get frisky . Caught them all on a Sieberts 1/4 oz Arky jig w/ A Rage Chunk .

Every lure in my tackle box Roger

For slop(backgroung of pic) Ill work a wacky 6" senko or 7" SK ocho on top with a perpendicular weedless hook. I use hydras ikas and salty core tubes as well. Its the exposed hook on the wacky rig that really shines with hook-ups.

I am not sure if any of you know of this little trick! But with Elaztech baits and on a Ned rig or a shakey heads is to pull on the plastic a number of times untill most of the salt comes out of the bait. Salt makes a bait sink and once you do this a number of times you take most of the salt out of the bait and now it will float! Now your Ned rig will stand up and not lay flat and on a shacky head that tail comes up also.

Spidey sense.

I usually rig it the old fashioned way , bury the hook in the worm. But i will run it through and back in several times to make a channel for the hook to go through. I dont wait to set the hook. I reel down take up the slack then set as soon as i detect a strike. As Paul Elias once said " A bass doesn't have hands, its in his mouth. Set the hook . "

LOL ~ Good One A-Jay

Thank ya sir

Well, here are my first unotable fish of the year...

Caught these two last week, the first was 5.86 on a red Santone Chatterbait. The second went 4.18 on the Black Dog ShellCracker G2, nothing doing when I was steadily retrieving it so I started twitching it and letting it float up for 1-2 seconds. On the second cast when I started doing that the fish swiped at it and missed it so I jerked the rod and he hit it again.

gulfcaptain, I'll not get into the politics of why y'all can not fish dock/marinas but its self inflected. As a bank angler I must accept the fact some areas will simply not be accessible because of terrain, surrounding vegetation, & weather. I have to take what is accessible & then formulate a game plan that is effective; I may have to run-n-gun or stay & play. Probably the #1 excuse I hear is "I can't fish structure because I'm stuck bank fishing". The first breakline is the waters edge!

All season long!! I love them in the summer to search points, just like in spring of fall, you can rip it off the bottom and let it fall yo-yo style or burn it over grass beds. If you're only using them in spring and fall then you're missing out, especially post spawn when the fish scatter and are hard to locate, fan casting a lipless crank will cover water and will pick off the active fish and possibly lead to a pattern if you notice fish coming off of wood or rock more often.

I agree wholeheartedly. Example: Last season we spent the day fishing for smallmouth, which is my No. 1 sought after species. we each had an internal tube jig head on two rods. One had the Yum "CrawBug" which is about as realistic a representation if there ever was one. The second had a plain, green pumpkin 3 1/2" tube. We fished both rigs all day long, both of us switching rigs on & off. I gotta tell ya folks, the plain tube actually out-produced the replica by a significant margin. The plain tube accounted for 11 fish....the replica 6. We repeated this experiment twice more last season. One of those repeats came really close to each other. The last was a repeat of my initial experiment. Not sure if this a valid trial to base any conclusion on or not, but I'm convinced that the main tried & true factors involving fishing success are still, and will continue to be, depth & speed control. All else falls considerably short of that. JMO!

Nice fish! I always live by the rule that a small fish is better than no fish, and no fish is better than staying home. I'd take those fish any day over being skunked! Also, if they're males they could possibly be getting frisky even at that size I believe. I caught one not much bigger than the ones in your pics the other day. It was cast after I had landed a chunky little female from the exact same spot, and I've been thinking maybe it was the male even though it was on the small side.

Want frog story? At a tournament yesterday on the Big O, we got a late start being boat #111 in the 5th flight out of 168. My boater asked if I had a particular place I wanted to start because I told him earlier I ALWAYS start with a frog regardless of the water boaters want to start at. I suggested a place I knew well, and knew the top water bite always seemed to be on a little later than others. I threw my favorite little frog in the middle of some Kissimmee grass and started walking it in place. After about 4 complete turns I stopped it, a fish boils behind it. I wait a few seconds and hit it again, it makes a half turn and that fish hits it so hard it pushed that frog 2ft in the air! My boater yells "throw something else in there real quick" I said no just wait. I moved it to the side once more and he took it down, the rod loaded up, drag went out and I set...2 1/2 lb. Later when it came time cull it I felt bad letting her go. I really did! We played a game that we both didn't know how it was gonna turn out that I just happened to win that time. Moral of the story...Sometimes you win the game, when maybe you shouldn't have. At least that's how I look at it. Mike

If Pete Carol followed that logic he would have given Marshawn Lynch the ball.

Posted this in the NE section but I'll put it here as well. Good one from earlier today.

Not as big as the hogs already posted but I also got my PB while bank fishing:

Went out today on a good little pond water was warming up fast there and it was an easy paddle so I figured I'd put. Fished a jig painfully painfully slow with a Rage Craw in watermelon color managed to land this fish being the first NH bass of the 2015 season it was a decent sized one too.

Come on Paul - are you trying to say you actually exercise patience while fishing ? I'm not sure that's allowed any more . . . A-Jay

the best time to go fishing is when you can. so if you have the time and means to go, then go. you will never know if youre going to have a horrible day or a day for the ages.

Well someone is awake! That's a boat lauch area, there are 2 boat launches & 4 boat docks. The area is well maintained, easy walking, & inspite of boat traffic excellent fishing. Most angler avoid it because the believe boat traffic, shore traffic, & noise spooks the bass. In high traffic/noise area bass become accustom to it all. Perch fisherman release shiners/minnows, tournament anglers release bass, all of which make these kinds of areas hidden gems.

You must have one heck of an arm lol, when I set the hook to hard my lure just ripps out of the fishes mouth

Do You Like Fluorocarbon Line ? Nope. Especially as a Leader - Mono works perfectly. A-Jay

As I often bank fish a community lake.. I cast & hook up.. 3, 15 to 18 year old girls approach me and begin dialogue... 1st girl says " did you just catch that ?" Me. Uh, yes I did.. 2nd girl says " it that a real fish ?" Me. Uh, yes it is.. 3rd girl says " are those real hooks ?" Me. Uh, yes they are.. 1st girl says "can I touch it ?" Me. Sure She replys oh my god, GROSS.. As I release fish.. Girl #3 says " what did you turn it loose ?" Me. I always do.. Girl # 1 says " what's the point, then ?" I finally looked at them and said " I'm quite certain you would not understand".. Girl #1 says " yea, I guess I don't" They thanked me and wondered off giggling.. Young girls are silly...

I said it before, and will say it again; if you're not catching the quantity or quality you want, it's because 1. you can't reach useful structure from the shoreline => in which case, find yourself another (smaller) reservoir. 2. or you don't know how to catch them => in which case, work on your fishing tactics- knowledge about bass, baitfish, structure, baits and presentations. Here's a 9-07 NLMB from walking the banks. *Post-spawn* fish btw.

We tore them up Tuesday with a straight east wind. The best time to go fishing is when you can

I spent three days out on a couple of different lakes this first week of the MI C & R bass season. It sure felt good to get back out on the water and putting a few bass in the net always makes me smile. Two days on one lake and the third on another. The water color & clarity difference will give it away as to which one is which. The ice went out on each a couple of days before I fished them. Water temps were averaging in the mid-forties and the fish certainly acted it. I had success on a squarebill, lipless crank, and a jig & craw on the first lake; and then light lining a tube on the second produced fish. Late afternoon was best. Starting out this year with a new video set up (Garmin Virb) and I’m still working on the editing deal. Seems it takes as long to edit these as it does to catch the bass. I’m hoping to get better with time. Forecast for the next few days is calling for rain and I hate to say it, snow – so I’ll have to wait a bit before getting back at it. https://youtu.be/R3yiIYPWCow A-Jay

I had some time to burn yesterday in the early afternoon so I decided to go the park which I consider my fishing playground. Lol!! Inside the hour I caught 7 bass and I managed to convince this beauty to take my offering. She went for 5.5lbs and measured 21"

They don't work at all. Don't mind the half dozen I have in my tackle bag or the one tied to my rod.

What rig are you looking to throw and what size baits and heads are you wanting to fish? Smaller say flashmob jr rigs and 3-4" swimbaits with 1/8oz heads then a 7ft H will work. If you're looking to throw larger size with the larger 4" baits and say 1/4 to 1/2 oz then you may want to step it up to something that can handle about 2oz. I throw 2 different rods, one is a Green *** 7'7"MH. I throw larger rigs but with 1/8oz heads and 3 1/2-4" swing impacts as well as smaller 3" dummy baits (CA can only fish 3 hooks). I use this one when I want a bit stiffer rod for say hoping it off the bottom or slow rolling it. Then I also use a 7'6"MH BPS Crankin Stick (old model) when they are wanting to eat it on the straight retieve. I like the softer tip to keep them pinned and helps keep from pulling hooks since I prefer to use smaller 2/0-3/0 size ball style jigheads. Feel it give the bait a better action. You don't want something so stiff you pull hooks when you get bit, but something that gets overpowered by the rig.

Here is my kayak I fish out of. I bought this Perception prescador sport for fishing in November. I am a tall, 6'4 250 man and wanted something that would be good for my size. I like it and get around in it very well. installed a rod holder and fish finder.

Thanks Roger - I have a lot of hours in that Old Town. It's helped me have a ton of fun and even catch a few fish along the way. A-Jay

Enjoyed your video Andy, nice bunch of hefty smallies from 44-deg water! Your boat is a Mean Machine. I dig that handy tool board & those vertical rod holders, that's good stuff you don't find on $50k bass boats Roger

Well it has been a looooong winter. Glad to see you out there catching some.

No, i would never intentionally kill or mishandle a big fish. i said "so long" b/c i put her in a friend's new pond that he is trying grow some big fish in. in her current condition, she is no good to me in the pond she came from. she has "topped out" in growth potential and just creates an unnecessary drain on forage that younger fish with more potential could be utilizing. this sounds a bit harsh but you have to make "tough cuts" like this to have a shot a real giant in a pond. however her genes are still good and i think and she probably has a couple of spawns left in her so hopefully her young will populate my friend's new pond where maybe one day, Lord willing, i'll be able to catch her 11 or 12 pound daughter. honestly, this fish will probably die within the next 2 years. big head, goggle eyes, big fins - all signs of an old fish.

The bass that get caught repeatedly are mostly blonde, are easily fooled and lean to the left.

http://flippindocks.tripod.com/ This is the club I fish in, Stout Rod Bassers of Niagara County.

I have to say I am impressed. I placed an order last night, They called me today to let me know that the item ordered was on back order and suggested another rod blank for less money. I have to say I have never had a company call me to let me know when something is back ordered. They were packing my order as we were speaking and it has already shipped. I think I've found my new rod blanks and rod building supply store.

Great thread! There is some great knowledge in here! Thank you to the major contributors on this thread John S., Big O, RW, JFrancho, etc.! I'll be reading these posts over and over trying to learn more about jig fishing to apply when I can get back onto the water.