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Lunch break today near a pond.Thought I'd give it a try.15 minutes later this was the result.She bit a 4 inch GY senko in watermelon.Absolutely incredible fight with 8 pound test.I helped the drag by stripping line off several times.The fish was nearly symmetrical at 21.5 inches long,and 21 inch girth.Extremely heavy bodied fish.Weight chart says between 8-9 pounds.Thank you Lord!

What's wrong with a guy trying to put food on his table and clothes on his back? It's not like he switched to "JoeBobs Low Stretch Fluoro" He just has another big name brand on his resume. The best thing about it is you, as a consumer, can buy any line you want no matter who peddles it.

I couldn't let a little cold and snow stop from searching for those giant January bass that have been caught. They were hitting like it was spring time. Didn't get a water temp but would say 38-40 maybe colder. Had to keep breaking ice chunks off the guides. This is north of where I have been fishing recently. Caught 6 bass 1 pickerel and lost a few . Big pickerel bit my swimbaits tail off after catching a couple bass on it. Another dose of snow expected tomorrow.

No doubt that looks like a great water to present a jig but using a Texas-Rigged Plastic & Skirt combination is also viable & effective option; especially from the bank. Comes through cover well and having the ability to mix & match weight size & skirt type and color makes it very "customizable". Here's the rig, from the main line to the hook: -A bobber stop - A small bead to keep the knot from slipping through the weight.( if needed) - A tungsten bullet weight of your choice - a Boss Punch Hub - this is placed inside the skirt collar - The skirt of your choice - A parasite clip (optional, but does help prevent the plastic from sliding down the hook) - A Quality hook - pictured is a 5/0 Owner wide gap plus EWG hook (#5139 - very stout, I love this hook) - Your favorite soft plastic - pictured is a Power Bait Beast The Strike King Slither Rig is also an option & it's essentially a pre-made version of this rig. You'd simply add bobber stop and the hook w/plastic bait. A-Jay

Thanks everyone for your comments. Here is the bear all finished. Hootie

SO...You got sumhin agenst "JoeBob's Lo-Stritch Floro??"

Well, after I carved the bass, I decided to try a couple more just to see if I could really do this. I believe I'm getting better, and I am really enjoying this. Something interesting to do in the off season. 7 degrees here in Cincinnati this morning. Hootie

My newest combo. Dobyn's extreme HP 745 and Daiwa T3 SV. Going to use it for frogs.

I agree, considering the WHY in some instances is the hardest part of bass fishing in my opinion. But yet still alluring. Up here? There arent many big lakes where bass are the top predator, or only predator, for that matter. Pike, pickeral, and various trouts, will fill up a finders screen with deep water haunts just as much as a bass will. Only way to determine what you see on a finder is to catch one, if you can,.... some of these species will, and do, not only colonize the deeper waters, but will mix in together as well. To say that what you see on a finders screen is bass, is a very difficult assumption, as these fish will harbor these "deep haunts" while either inactive, or targeting specific forage, which again, is a difficult assumption alone. Due to the fact that there may be a couple dozen different forage's to choose from. Insect's such as hellgramite's, mayflies, skeeter larvae, etc. etc. etc, to suckers, dace, chubs, herring, alwive, shiner, shad, crayfish, eels, and so on. Keying in on the correct forage maybe a dauntless task, and these deeper fish, usually drive most bass anglers nuts trying to figure out "what's down there?",... From NH's lakes region, Maines big lakes, Quabbin, and many other large waters in New England. Most bass anglers stick to the shorelines due to this difficult deep structure entity. "Some" will venture out with a dropshot rig, or carolina rig, jigs, and swimbaits, All seeking that magic spot on a spot that harbors those chunky deep water bass, be it smallies or largemouth, but most,... give up frustrated. I am stubborn, and over the years of being so, have found a few tricks, tips, and hints, that dont "always" work. But pan out on a 50/50 basis if im that lucky! Maybe thats why Im such a "jighead and grub guy" as this is my bait of choice to initiate the first hit. Many of these predatory fish will hit it, be it, reluctantly, or with reckless abandonment. And much like Rick Clunn, at that moment, the why doesnt matter,....its more the "what is on the line" right then. And that right there, is deep water structure bassing up here in a nutshell. There's alot of doubt, considerations, and anticipation, until you finally see what you've hooked. And if it is a bass? then comes the why.,... Only,.. that thought doesn't arise until my next cast, as the lure dissappears into the depths once again. Anxious for another tummy filled smallie that pushes the PB issue. Affirming another deep water haunt that holds them during a "easterly" breeze, at that time of year. Science, art, and why? up here? To me, only follow's trial and error, and much of it at that. Then I can start picking apart, or put together, the science, art, and why. I wonder how much success Buck Perry would have enjoyed employing his theories up here, that would have panned out as bass. Trolling spoons, over deep structures up here? many salmon, and laker guys do catch some smallies, and some largemouth. But they also get pike, pickeral, rainbows, and their quarry as well.

Everything you'd expect, and a couple you wouldn't For bass, crankbaits for covering water fast, casting and trolling. I also use Spoonplugs, mostly for trolling. For slower presentations, of course jigs and worms get the nod. Then seasonally, you know about jerkbaits and blade baits. I'm going to add swimbaits into the mix next year. It's not so much any specific baits as everything you read about can and will produce. It's more focusing on finding specific structural elements and then figuring out which ones the fish use regulalrly, where they make contact, and how they move on those features, both shallow and deep that becomes the key. With enough time and catches, you will figure out exactly where your best chances to catch a fish are most days and can then "milk run" multiple structural elements in a day, only focusing your time and efforts on known productive ones. That becomes the payoff for all the time and effort placed up front to figure it all out -T9

You do realize that without sponsors, there are no fishing shows on TV, actually almost no TV at all, no BASS tournaments, no Bass Resource! and no NASCAR, There wouldn't be newspapers, magazines and very little internet. There sure are a lot of "whores" around aren't there.

I think, to keep it simple: You, I , We, are are not going out on the water blind, shooting from the hip. If we bring a little bit of knowledge with us and gather additional information along the way, we already know why. For example, before heading out, we look at a topo map or a map card on the graph and get a general idea of where we need to fish based on what we have learned from BR or Saturday morning fishing shows. Common stuff like points and coves and wind blown shorelines. Show up at the lake and I can now determine water clarity wind, light conditions, and water temp before I've even started to fish. Visual cues like the slope of the shoreline as it enters the water, is the shoreline rock? Mud? Man made? Does the shoreline make an abrupt change. Do I see trees/stumps in the water? Do I see shadows? Do I see current and/or current and wind breaks? Now we can start fine tuning based on what we see on the graph and the information we have unconsciously collected up until that point. Thus, we already know why. Remember "Change is good"

I am going to give jigs a more serious try this coming season and am looking for some advice on what weights to look for. My thought process is as follows; Bass most often hit a jig on the fall, so having one that will give a slow fall is a plus. If I am fishing from the bank then I am going to be fishing shallower waters, so a lighter jig will give me a slower fall but will still make it to the bottom in a reasonable time frame. I will be mostly fishing wood and open water with grass on the bottom, like these spots below: Right now I have a Siebert 1/4 Dock Rocker that, with trailer, comes in at 1/2oz total weight, and for a larger profile lure, a Zero Gravity jig, with trailer, at about the same same weight. For deeper waters in my kayak or when fishing pads or heavier cover from the shore there is a ton of good info on larger jigs out there, but before I stock up on the lighter stuff I would love to know if I am thinking in the right direction.

We were pounded by snow for 8:00PM until 8:01PM. I'm hoping to tunnel out later to check on the neighbors.

Years ago spoonplugging was somewhat popular on the Great Lakes, not only for salmon, but for, smallmouth and pike. The thought process was to use spoonplugging as a location tool only, and once the fish are found, to switch gears and cast or jig for them. Aside from having the correct boat and equipment, Fishing structure on the Great Lakes, and in my case Lake Michigan, is no different than fishing structure on a 300 acre lake. It just takes a little longer to get from spot to spot

The tide coming in and out is creating a current, so it will fish more like a river during those times, and the stronger the current(like spring tides, etc.), the better it will position the fish. We have a similar situation on river run impoundments like the TN river lakes. Basically, there is no current unless the dams are pulling water. During the times when there is no current, the fish tend to suspend off of structure, but when the current is running, the baitfish and predators pull into the eddys (feeding/holding stations) and there tends to be a good feeding spree, particularly near the beginning of these periods. In a tidal situation, you have the current coming in, and then you have it going out, in the opposite direction, so there will likely be structures that fish better on an incoming or outgoing tide, you just have to find the ones that create the best eddys adjacent to the current itself, and the fish will tend to hold there as an ambush point. Those types of places will not produce much without current on them though, the fish will tend too pull off and suspend or go inactive, especially in a situation where they are programmed to the tide movements every day. Those are even more structured than the dam schedule on the TN river impoundments! Eddys/feeding stations are anything that breaks the current, it could be a point or small protrusion from the bank that water flows around, an island, a grass bed, an underwater rock, a dock, there are many possibilities....but the best ones will be in some way related to structural elements and access to deeper water, deeper water being a relative term depending on the area you are fishing and other variables like season and water color, etc. The access to deeper water gives the fish somewhere to pull off to when the current isn't running, this is the basics of how fish work, they tend to follow rising water and they also tend to follow falling water, and they like to be on the leading edge of either one-leading edge of rising water=first to feed, leading edge of falling water = not getting stuck somewhere, to them.

A few cool Rebel baits.

A-Jay

This conversation is probably one of my favorites on the forum, and I can't credit enough of you guys for your remarks and insight. It's a reminder that there are some really bright fellas on here, and a lot I would love to spend time on the water trading ideas with. It's hard to quote just one person on here, but Francho's recent comment about science and art is spot on - and in bigger terms than just fishing. I think that ultimately becomes the allure for so many of us in our careers, hobbies, passions, etc because in fields where the two combine perfection becomes a completely impossible, yet inescapable pursuit. This is how we become addicted. To quit waxing philosophical and return to the discussion of the "why", I view it as piecing together a puzzle that will always have pieces missing. You're never going to know EVERY detail or create a true control, so finding perfect "why" solutions consistently (and especially on different bodies of water or under difficultly conditions) is extremely difficult. We know that food, mating, comfort, and safety are dominant factors, but getting them all figured out at once is really f'n hard, if not impossible. Realistically, I think a pursuit of understanding "why" is a general necessity as an angler superseded only by the understanding that most of the time we're only going to figure out parts of the puzzle and hope it's enough to be productive.

Imagine where the fish you get at the grocery store or restaurants came from.......... I'll take a local river fish over store bought any day

Fight him for it.

As he said.

I think it is funny when people get mad about people changing sponsors. I mean isn't it possible that there is more than one good line/lure/rod/reel/boat company out there?

I liked brian needham story on men and women challenge about giving to kids. my cousin no longer travels and fishes tournaments just mainly fishes lay lake in Alabama where he lives. he knew I was starting to get serious about bass fishing and gave me 5 to 6 hundred $ worth of plastics he didn't use anymore. I passed it on to 3 grandsons as well and son and neighbor kid. filled several boxes. you should have seen the look on there faces. priceless!! anyone who is helping and teaching kids in my book are HEROS .well done for all those responding to brains challenge!

Impressive list. More like a whole Library though. A-Jay

Only ended up with 1.5 - 2" in the Memphis area. But enough to freak out all us southern drivers, lol. Seriously tho, roads were pretty icy yesterday when I made the obligatory milk & eggs run.

Wonder if BPS has bought BASS now, probably not but I wouldn't put if past them.

I just emailed Berkeley to get the scoop on what's up I'll post up what they say if I get a response.

3.8" Keitech SIF

Buck used bass as his example fish because he felt they reacted most dramatically to weather and water conditions and exemplified local and seasonal movement patterns, but he always said if any other species "got in the way" so much the better. For example, in "Spoonplugging" he covers salmon fishing on the Great Lakes. He also enjoyed saltwater fishing, but his approach was always the same. These northern fisheries where bass aren't the top predator became a somewhat controversial issue when the Lindner's and In-Fisherman capitalized on the fact that in some waters, bass couldn't really follow this deep water behavior. Still in other waters they are out there mixed in as you state. I think Buck would just say 'catch them all!' Can't too in depth because I'm trying to type this on my phone ? But Buck wrote that current is treated as a breakline. When you have no current, those breaklines would be eliminated. However, with current, fish would now have breaklines to move, follow and feed along, and even better, in the case of your downed trees, that would be a 'break on a breakline' scenario where fish pause and stop on their movements, and where you should expect to catch fish. -T9

Ya thinking in the right direction! My suggestion would be pick one manufacturer for now, Siebert jigs are excellent. My initial thoughts are 1/4, 3/8, & 1/2 oz jigs; two maybe three different colors in each weight. Black-n-Blue, Green Pumpkin, & Black Neon. If ya wanna go A-Jay's route go with something like V&M's slip-n-jig in the suggested weights...less pieces to buy!

These threads always make me smile. It's very amusing to see the I drive 70 miles an hour in 15 feet of snow with the windows down, in my speedo, without the heater being on all the while blindfolded and have never had a wreck, crowd come out in full force. Pavlov would have been Impressed. I will now go back to my Winter misery. Seven (7) inches of this white crap and counting.........Winter sucks.

Now I am worried that there is something wrong with me as I have never noticed Powerbait to have much of a smell at all.

@Team9nine & @MFBAB maybe we'll have a few more with the proper definitions!

I'm all for giving gear to kids but I'm more into giving time to teach them.

Yeah I think Tim was right behind him in that video saying just the opposite. If I am thinking of the right video. As for the T-wing and knot issue, just quit using those leaders and it won't matter.

Hey,If I could make a living doing that I would.More power to him.

I know Matt Allen does it because he firmly believes in "the fish can see braid" theory. I remember he said his justification for 15ft leaders for cranking was that he didn't want the braid going by the fish as they are looking at the crankbait coming towards them. Seems a little nitpicky to me but he claims he's experimented and found there is a difference. More power to him. Personally I tie 8ft ones pretty much out of laziness so I can retie as much as I want throughout the day without pausing to tie a new leader.

A man got to do what a man got to do. Who cares what Bill endorses. I like him but I am only going to buy what I think will work for me.

All are reservoirs. Right now it is pretty durn cold. But you could fish if you wanted. It stays pretty mild for lows this time of year. Usually around freezing. The lakes never freeze except in some shallow protected areas. And only when temps reach real low which is pretty rare. Thank you. That may be the way I have to go unless I get a blank and machine a mold.

You're using 6'> leader? A knot that passes the level wind Should be less of an issue with the t wing

All my knots go through my zillion sv tw just fine

Yeah when I hooked mine the loon skated across the water and dove on my paddle tail that i was throwing over a school of shad, and I tried popping it free and when I did the leader snapped up close to his bill from the looks of things. The heron scooped up a spook and I knew then and there it was gone and I thought about pulling it to me but i was worried jerking him out of the air might be too hard on it and couldn't figure out what I would do once I got him there so I cut it off. I felt extremely bad for the birds in both situations. Someone needs to start a "What to do when a bird takes your lure" thread.

It's goose & duck weather...goose momma & duck under the blankets!

Y'all think reading that will make winter pass easier? Wrong! Now y'all gonna wanna get on the water to apply what ya read!

Like most things I like to pursue, it's a mix of science and art. With practice comes skill.

Go For It ~ A-Jay

Going OT, but back then, I think "why" in regards to a lot of environmental questions was simply unknown. Not that they didn't want to explain why, but they actually didn't know. That said, Buck did always say that every time you caught a bass, you needed to ask yourself "why" that fish was there (more in relationship to how he got there though). Technology now allows us to dig deeper and get answers to a lot of these questions, but back in the 1950s and 1960s when much of Buck's theories were developed and shared, they didn't have readily available and affordable things like personal underwater cameras, tiny radio transmitters for telemetry tracking, lithium powered micro batteries and transmitters, etc. They barely even had depthfinders - lol. I don't think they could explain a lot. Instead, they used angling as the means to identify "what is," and then fit the explanation to the result. What else could they do? What amazes me is how well some of these theories still hold up 60 years later. I have to admit I get a big kick these days watching all these GoPro anglers, offering a host of explanations for why they're catching fish in their videos - "They're feeding on crawdads in the rocks, and my bait is a perfect match," or "The wind is blowing into this pocket stirring up the invertebrates and piling up plankton, and the shad are following," even, "These rocks are holding heat and making these bass more active," yada, yada, yada. Did you cut that fish open and see what it was feeding on? Do you somehow see these schools of baitfish in the water you say these fish are feeding on? Did you take a temperature gauge and test this rock heating theory out? In a way, things haven't changed 60 years later -T9

I was just in BPS and can confirm the Pit Boss is now in the powerbait line as well. On on another note, has anyone fished one like a swimbait? Pretty crazy action and the bass around here go crazy for it. 1/4 oz pegged weight and a Texas rigged ewg hook and you're good to go! My fav color is sapphire blue.