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I made the long journey this morning from Vermont to one of my favorite fall fishing spots in New Hampshire. The forecast for the day was chance of showers with a high of 50 degrees ( I don't think it ever did get above 45). I was on the lake and making my first cast at 11 am. Within minutes it started to pour. It wouldn't stop raining until 4 pm, an hour before I left. My game plan was simple. Go to the best spot on the lake and never leave it. It is a rather large offshore rocky hump I am very confident in this time of year. It consistently has been a good late fall fishing spot for me. I targeted 15-40 feet fishing a silver buddy. I was mostly making long casts and slowly hopping it back to the boat. I did catch several fish "videogame" fishing. I would mark a fish on my down scan and drop my silver buddy on their head. I caught several fish doing this. In 6 hours I caught 10 smallies and 7 largemouth. The average size was good. My biggest smallies were 4-1, 3-11, 3-4, 3-3, 3-2 and 3-2. The biggest largemouth were 4-0, 3-9 and 3-0. The biggest 5 fish went 18-9. It was a cold rainy day. I glad I toughed it out, it was worth it. At only 17 inches the 4 lb 0 oz largemouth was a bit fat. Looked like he had been eating well. Lunker smallmouth of the day at 4 lbs 1 oz I have all day to fish tomorrow. I will be going somewhere else and hunting trophy largemouth with a jig.

Got out on a local lake this afternoon - water temp went from 54 to 45 in 9 days. Jerkbait was hot today - clown color shined in the slightly stained conditions. A-Jay

Yeah,..I fish alot of clear waters Trick is to continue any cadence that got their attention to begin with. If you get anxious and "react" to the strike that has yet to come because you see the fish coming. The fish will most likely swim up to it, check it out, and swim away. If you just continue working the lure, as if there's no fish getting ready to attack it ,...it just might. My old fishing buddy used to drive himself nuts with this (what I call) "clear water anxiety" he'd get so amped up, that every fish that showed any interest, he'd freeze waiting for the hit, that never came. It took me so long to break him of this, even though he'd be watching me catching fish, and he wasn't. He would try speeding up the lure, or letting it sit, slight twitches,.. etc. All he really needed to do was to close his eyes for a few seconds (once he saw a fish coming) and just fish the lure the way that drew the fish's attention. And that finally worked. It took me a while to just ignore that a fish is about to hit when I first started fishing all these clear waters as well. And I understand all too well the difficulty of seeing a huge bass about to hit and not hinder my retrieve. Its not easy, its actually a very tense moment, exciting as well. But if you just imagine there is nothing going on, and just continue your retrieve, thinking she's not gunna hit, she might. At the least thats how I've dealt with the clear water anxiety As far as the bait available you mentioned,.. that very well may be the true reason why the bass were just checking your lures out without a hit, they could be keying in on the present baitfish's size, scent, color, and movement. With that being said,...Your retrieves very well may have been right on, doing what is needed in clear water. And you did nothing "wrong" at all,.. But what I call "clear water anxiety" ,....is a real issue with many anglers that aren't used to water you can see thru down to 20 or 30 feet. Watching a 8 or 9 pounder heading for your lure isnt an easy thing to watch, and continue a "consistent" retrieve. It takes some,..ok,.. alot of nerve, and a ton of patience. Even watching a nice 4 lber about to strike can hype up most anglers that aren't used to clear water.

Only issue with these posts is that lakes without shad behave MUCH differently. I wish articles and posts would address this to anglers when they prepare for fall fishing.

Here are some action from hawaii

Let's look at some of the similarities between the two & how to use these similarities to locate bass during both. Pre-spawn: the bass are coming out of the cold winter, the water is warming up, their metabolism kicks in & they become aggressive feeders. Early fall: the bass are coming out of the Dog Day of Summer, the water is cooling off, their metabolism kicks in & they become aggressive feeders. Pre-spawn: as the water warms the bass move to the shallows (back of creeks) where the bulk of the food source is located. Early fall: as the waters cools the bass move to the shallows (back of covers) where the bulk of the food source is located. Spawn/post spawn: after the spawn & water temperatures are steadily rising the bass start moving back towards deeper water. Fall/early winter: water temperatures are drastically dropping, shad are dying off, metabolism is slowing, & the bass are moving back deeper. Now think about this a minute! Do y'all think the bass would not use the same breaks/break lines to move from shallow to deep during both spring & fall?

I've got quite a bit of use on them now since I have 4 and all but one of them jumped straight into the starting lineup. They've been very impressive so far. Very smooth and solid feeling and they cast a mile. I've been using 1 to fish a Whopper Plopper 90 and it will launch one out of sight, which has been important in the clearer water I've been fishing them in. I used one for flipping a little when I first got them and it did just fine there as well. They also come with some nice rubber/silicone grip covers (although the grips are fine by themselves). I think they're going to be exactly what I'd hoped for (and what the spinning version is already known as), a dependable, workhorse type reel. I've become pretty biased towards Pfluegar though I guess. I've sold nearly all my Shimano reels and bought Pfluegar or Okuma and been very happy with the decision. My only gripe so far, they only come in a 7.3:1 retrieve speed. Most of the smallmouth in this video were caught on it.

Lost count of how many largemouth bass we caught today on a homeowners association pond where my in-laws live. I never see anyone fishing here and today finally found out for myself what a gem it really is. The only one I bothered weighing was 3 lbs even. We lost 2 that were bigger, naturally. We used the 1/8 & 1/4 oz. cabin creek salty spider parts all day. We also caught 1 smallmouth, 2 big bluegills and 2 decent sized perch. The saddest moment of the day is here.

I haven't kept track of the exact recommendations, but on your other recent thread ( With which reel would you treat yourself? )...you had MANY recommendations that just about covered most of the higher-end reels from the major manufacturers. On that thread, you also had some very sage advice from member "bassbassontherange" about what to expect from higher-end reels: Now you have a new thread with the added parameter of "robust, light reel with distance." Taking your additional criteria into consideration, I predict that you will most likely get the same recommendations on this thread as the other thread (since most higher-end reels indeed try to be robust, fairly light, and have good casting qualities). SO, my recommendation for you is to, given your $350-400 budget, purchase either 4 or 5 (depending on whether you can catch the periodic sales), BPS Pro Qualifier reels in the various gear ratios. You will have a battery of excellent, serviceable reels that will give yeoman service for the next few years. Sometime down the road, perhaps there will be technology advances that will then make the next purchasing decision easier... AND, since I ran a FIVE-YEAR test on the BPS PQ and reported the results on this board, and own 6 of them myself, I have indeed taken my own advice...

Go to Turkey Lake right by Universal Studios. It is part of the Orlando Park and Recreation department. It is a limited access lake with boat rental trackers donated by BPS. The rental is only $25 and only T/M power. The lake has big bass and a variety of structure, vegetation, and depth changes. It is a natural lake with a input stream and exit creek. You will need a rental reservation on line for the boat, although you can fish from shore free. I have fished it at least 8 times and always caught fish of various size up to 8 pounds. It is the best rental deal in the country. Only 8 boats a day allowed on the property, all catch and release and no live bait. Don't miss this opportunity if you have a chance to go. There is a contour map on line which helps in your prep.

3 down . 1 more to go !

It doesn't hurt anything. I have seen a noticable gain in distance and easy of pitching and flipping jigs though.

I don't think the circumstances are lining up for the bills..but you never know, that's why they play the games.

Aww man that bites,...lesson learned ,.never grab the line with a nice one on.

it goes on a jighead, rig it like this,...Half way down the tail, as it curls under insert the jigs hook and push up towards the head, As to leave the swimtail under the jig. I had some of these back in the early 90's but forget what company that made them,.I wanna say arkie, but not sure.. Mine were a very dark brown color and worked well on gravel bottomed flats with slight weeds for smallies

Hello CrustMono. Here is a pic of what i think you have. They supply most of their batteries with dual posts. You should be able to install the ring end terminals onto the threaded posts on the battery. If they are not the right size go to your local auto parts store and purchase some that will fit both your wire coming from the trolling motor and the battery post. You can cut off the old ones and crimp on the new ones. Another option is this battery terminal adapter. It makes it easy to wire extra things to your battery neatly. .

Looks like a cross between a plastic shrimp and a craw? Looks like it's probably a home brew.

I guess that was my indirect way of saying "No, I'm not a big fan of River Monsters". I don't think Hunt For Big Fish has been on tv since Larry lost his son suddenly a year or two ago. You can still get on Youtube and watch it, the guy is an animal. Not taking anything away from Wade's accomplishments, he has some incredible patience (or at least appears to from the shows I've seen), to go weeks on end without catching his target species but keep after them.

Nice Job ~ That was a very respectable bass right there - Might want to bump your gear up a notch or two. Congrats A-Jay

I stand up for my grandma.

I stood up for my mom & dad. I also stand up for Stitch and myself.

I'd have to take this rod, that rod, and the other rod.

It is when you say they, "move to the back of creeks" in the fall. Shad go back in the creeks for plankton-rich water as you know. Thus, it would seem the advice always given is to go way back into the creeks, but for lakes without shad, that migration is not happening. Baitfish do go shallow and in many instances on the lake side shallows or coves nearby main lake spots. But to keep posting (not just you, but posts in general) that bass are migrating to the "back of creeks" doesn't make sense. I just think of all the fall fishing I have experienced on lakes without shad and if people are to assume the big bass are going to the way backs of the creek, they are going to be surprised. We know some big bass will prefer shallow grounds year round and there is no doubt that they can be caught in a creek with fresh water coming in and possibly livelier weeds in the fall, but it is misleading to assume that is the best place to fish in the fall. They will end up fishing the back end of the creeks in the fall and miss all the big bass on the lake side, adjacent lakeside coves, flats, and points.

Nope. #2 Gammy Drop Shot hook, Avid AVS63MLXF, 2500 CI4, 6# Tatsu.

I've seen him catch electric eel, piranha , sting ray, arapaima, tiger fish, lamprey, musky, sturgeon, and a few others that I can picture but can't name.. yes, alot of them have been catfish but that's because there are so many different unique species of catfish that inhabit the rivers around the world. and all of them were awesome ? Lol . So i don't know how it's a bad thing. He can only catch what exists.. The point of the thread was to asked who likes the show ? I don't know why we start talking about someone else .

Actually, I did in this video:

They do in much of the water's I have the opportunity to fish Catt. Certainly doesn't mean they always bite but it can at least make them a little predictable & every once in a while, easier to find. Easier being a relative term. I'll also say smallmouth, especially in Larger bodies of water, are SERIOUSLY Nomatic . . . so I would not apply the same approach. A-Jay

I finally had a great few hours and it turned out a Spinnerbait was the right tool for the Job, I just had to make multiple casts/pitches to get it to pass by cover at several angles, bump it and run, and they wanted a smaller profile, I used a gold bladed Strike King single Hammered "Mini King with a black/chart skirt. Good call, I started realizing that the fish were all tight to cover since I went early in the morning, and I then decided to take a Junebug Stick bait, bite it down to 4", make an MJ rig with a small Gold Colorodo blade? Jig Spinner blade and pitch it to cover with a 3/16 oz weight, fish it almost like a shaky rig, then reel it super slow...Caught some bigger fish up to 4lbs. Heading back tonight and I will get a picture of the green water, It is truly gatorade green not sure how else to describe it. I am working on getting a picture, I tried to match the water color the way you first mentioned as soon as I saw the color. I usually always try to match the water color/Bottom color etc. but I can't get a trap through the water since it is full of slime, not the kind of weeds you can really snap a trap from unless you have a really strong work ethic. I did try to throw a Floating Bill Lewis Trap since others suggested the trap and I never use them in the ponds thinking they are too much, but I still have not had success with floating traps. The hooks foul all the time and they are hard to run into stumps and bushes since they lack any balance. They won't touch the suspending traps either, but they were killing the MJ rig which is basically the same priniciple as a spinnerbait only a senko with a blade attached, I started doing better pitching it with a bullet weight pegged, 4" piece of a Junebug worm, and small blade on the back. Half the strikes came on the fall, rest came as I started reeling. The bigger Fish seem to be tight to cover since the water turned at all times, but I am hoping I can catch something much bigger than 4lbs, I may just try pitching some plastics to good cover and hit every inch. Talk about frustrating, I had 2 fish break the water right at my feet while Wading that were easy 5lb plus but I still have not managed to figure the biggest fish out. I know these ponds have double digit fish, Just not going to give in and use a Shiner but it's getting tempting. That MJ rig is really good when it works. Thanks again for the suggestions, The green water must be an algae bloom which has caused the bottom and even mid level water to have a slime in it, which makes fishing lures almost impossible and they won't hit topwater which I just don't understand if they are breaking the surface?

Ya IPT is more important to me than gear ratio. You want something with a high IPT for topwater, pitching and flippin'.... however Aaron Martens is one of the best in the game and he uses high Ratios for everything.. and I absolutely agree with him.. why not buy all fast reels and slow down your retrieve? I'm done buying slow reels... 7's and 8's for me from here on out.. people like 6's for cranking.. but I prefers to slow myself down and speed up as I please... higher ratio equals more control heres a link to what im talking about

Recent acquisitions Some Reels: a spinning patriarch on sale from Cabelas, a Tatula 100 on sale from ***, and a third one I can't discuss: Two rods, a 7' Aetos medium spinning, and an older HMX 7'0" Heavy MF. They have that one listed as telescopic, but it's not, as I had suspected after looking up the model number: Aetos+Patriarch, together at last for about $250, shipped (A particularly aesthetically-pleasing combo I have wanted for awhile): And...it's not a new purchase, but Fenwick also sent me this 7'5" MH-F new gen Aetos caster on a warranty claim for a last-gen Aetos that I got in their recent online summer clearance sale, and managed to break by hitting a table after having it only month. Yes, you heard that right: I bought an older model on clearance, broke it, probably my fault, and they replaced it with a new model, just-released and more expensive, free of charge:

I dont put to much thought into jig trailers . I have used a lot of different ones and have not found one to be special .

Let me say that there's no such thing as "pink" in bass fishing, the correct term is ------> bubblegum.

At tonight's WS game the crowd, players, coaches, umpires and announcers all stood up and held a sign with a hand written name of who they "Stand up for" in the fight against cancer ..I thought it was very moving to see. So, with the moderator's permission I would like to start a thread here.. I'm standing up as I type this to say "I Stand Up For"..My Ma, Dad and Brother Who do you Stand Up For? Mike

I took the day off and got out after sunrise. I caught several smaller bass on the Pop R and the morning bite ended. I went home and had a sandwich and went back. I was halfway around the reservoir without a bite and I hooked into this big gal on a white spinnerbait. The old cheap BPS Uncle Buck brand spinnerbait. 6.75 lbs. It doesn't get me into the monster bass club yet, but it's bigger than the 6.5 I've been stuck on for a decade. I will continue my quest for an 8, 9 or 10 pounder.

No , it was just a road trip .. Me and a friend went and both purchased one . So we saved forty dollars between the two of us . . LOL .

This is what I use. I work in an injection molding shop so we have dozens of these kicking around. Just slowly close them around the middle of the split ring and voila, open sesame.

Very sorry for your loss, bud. I'm 47 and lost my mother last year abruptly to a stroke. Was very difficult. You will get thru this. I promise. Remember her, cherish her memory, think of her often as I know you will. Hang in there and may the Cubbies win the series for her!!

We went out for about 2 hours on Friday we got 4 fish and one nice one but they were not as active as a few days earlier.

Kind of a relief to know that I'm not the only one that hated that! I have never liked tip light or neutral balanced rods. I prefer mine just slightly tip heavy. Do not like the feel of tip light on the cast.

Went to Yellow creek yesterday. Was looking to catch Dinner tomorrow. So was crappie fishing, single poling. Targeting brush piles, Single stumps would mark them on the Side Imaging and then go back and hit them with a Ky rig or for the younger bunch a Drop Shot rig. Caught dinner, along with a few bass and yellow bass. Hooked into one fish, I set the hook using 4 lb test line 7ft ultra lite spinning rod. When I hit the fish, Moved it about a foot if I was lucky. Then it left Ms heading to the Tn state line. Never turned it or even slowed it down. Seen giant schools of baitfish, some would swarm the 19ft Lund and be 30ft wide or better. Seen lots of top water action from around 7am up to 11 am. Almost pulled out the Zara Spook I had in the rod bot. But had a feeling if I did that crappie fishing was over. Marked a few spots that looked good but did not hit them. Water temp at the State line boat ramp was 63.6 degrees. When I loaded the boat up at 3:30pm it was back up to 67 degrees. Pete

I bought a Minn Kota trolling motor from Grandpa Pidgeons . Drove a hundred miles to and from to save twenty dollars .

Right away for me. If I buy any new bait, plastic or even new color, I wanna try it right away.

Don't add anything that will become rancid like vegetable oil. I have used glycerin as a lubricant for decades. Adding about 1/2 teaspoon per gallon zip lock bags, place the soft plastics in the bag and shake to mix the worms with the glycerin. If you want to add scent then add a few drops of pure anise oil to each bag. Tom

Texas Rig Jig-N-Craw Spinnerbait/buzzbait/trap

Awesome!!! Those are some great fish!

Awesome catchin

Awesome fish!!!!!!!!!

Awesome. Thats great

Impressive - nice work!

A State Trooper pulled an 87 year old lady over for speeding. As he looked at her drivers license he was surprised to notice that attached to it was a conceal weapon permit. Taken aback, he couldn't help but ask if she had a gun in her possession. She replied in her crackly voice that she indeed did have a 45 automatic in her glove compartment. The trooper then asked if she had any other weapons to which she replied that she also had a 9mm Glock in her center console. The shocked trooper asked if that was all and the little old lady held up her purse and replied, "Well, I do keep a 38 special in my purse." Finally the astonished trooper asked, "What are you afraid of..?" And the little old lady smiled and replied, "Not a Freaking thing."