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I had a few free hours today so packed up one combo consisting of a Daiwa Tatula 7’0” Medium Fast spinning rod and a Daiwa Procyon 2500 loaded with 20lbs Super 8 Slick Power Pro in timber brown with about 7ft of 8lbs Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon as my leader. I recently created a small “GO” box that I could just throw in the car when I want to get away for a while. In it are some topwaters, jerkbaits, crankbaits, and finesse baits including marabou jigs, shakey heads, and some 2/0 worm hooks for stick baits. Today was testing day, and the lures yielded positive results. The intent for the next couple of weeks until Labour Day is to take only one rod and reel combo along with my “GO” box to water that I’m familiar with in hopes of catching both quantity and quality fish. I think it will help me learn to fish baits that I use a lot several different ways in hopes I can learn more about what makes them effective in various conditions. I arrived and the lake was like glass. My first spot had an area comprised of a sandy bottomed beach area with a solid inside weed line which sat in about 2’ of water; visibility for me was about 10ft from my casting location. I selected a lure that I haven’t used all year, a size 10 Rapala Skitter Pop in frog colour. I proceeded to fish the area for about 30 minutes and caught a total of five keeper bass, the biggest pictured below which came in just under 3lbs. I tried a Zara Spook in the bone pattern to see if the big ones wanted something different but it only seemed to interest all the smaller fish. From there I headed to spot #2, a fast water location which contained a rock and gravel bottom in varying water depths ranging from 3-7 feet. I made a few casts with the Spook but there was no interest shown. I tied on a sized 1.5 Strike King KVD Square Bill in the natural red craw colour which I had success with earlier this year at this location and it produced fish but nothing over a pound in size. I was a bit disappointed but the lack of results provided just as much information as the success I had at my first location. Off to spot #3! I arrived at my third location which consisted of a sandy beach area similar to spot number one however this time it was bordered by small rocky point off to one side which tapered down into the weed bed. The area was adjacent to a pier which I could stand on to cast to the outside weed edges of weed flats which sat in 5-6’ of water which were on both the left and right sides of the pier, with the area directly in front of the pier consisting of broken rock structure. I tied on the Skitter Pop and caught quite a few smaller fish, nothing over 12” in size. By this time the sun was up higher so I figured that the topwater bite would be done. I tied on a Rapala Shadow Rap Shad in the yellow perch pattern and walked onto the pier to cast to the weed edges mentioned earlier. My first cast yielded a 2lbs fish and for the next hour I proceeded to hammer the smallmouth on that jerkbait with the biggest fish coming in just under 4 pounds. All of the fish hit on an aggressive retrieve and really gave my setup a great workout. I didn’t get a chance to visit the four other locations I wanted to hit today so am hoping to get to them on Wednesday. The spots are perfect for trying out some crankbaits and finesse lures with docks sitting in 4ft of water with some rock and weed cover scattered nearby. Here’s hoping the weather cooperates and the fish are on those patterns when I get there. Cheers, and have a great day everyone.

Finally something for me to report. I got quite abit of adventure this morning. It was pretty cloudy with chance of drizzle today. I told myself it might be a good fishing day today so I went out to a park 1/4 mile from my house. I lost WP110 in first cast to grass, I told myself I can come back with my kayak to retrieve that lure so I broke the line. Switch to another rod. I got first bite from pretty good size bass on storm stick jerkbait with excitement of not catching anything bigger than 6-7 inches for the past 3 weeks I locked down my reel and there you go the bass and my lure was gone. Tried different jerkbait in hope of catching that same fish but end up lost that lure to the same grass as my WP110. Switch to Chatterbait from siebert in bluegill color swam on top of weed with in a couple cast got a decent size bass hookup and land him. Came back home to get a kayak and found out I lost my iPhone somewhere after taking picture with that bass. Drove back to the park with my kayak, found my iPhone on the ground and also got two of my lures back. Now time for me to go to bed.

Micheal, The great thing about being a beginner fisherman is every day is an easy opportunity to break your PB, especially if you have the bug. Nice catch. Had about 15 minutes to fish before work. On the last cast grabbed this solid bass. Was 5 minutes late for work but well worth it.

Polarized sunglasses. If I ever forget them, I have that same feeling you get when you don't have your wallet or cell phone.

Scale. Actually I was doing great before I had one. Now all my 5 lb-ers weigh 3 lb or less.

Went to the bigger pond today for a couple hours. The walk there turned from about 45 minutes to only about 15 minutes. I knocked on a door of guy that lives right around the corner and ask permission to cut through his yard to get to the pond. He said yes and thanked me for asking. That being said, I was getting skunked today until I tried to pitch to spot right next to a very small tree that was about 2 feet from the bank. My line draped over one of the lower small branches of it about a foot off the water my Ol' Monster made it into the water and almost immediately this pound and a halfer hit it hard. My first oops bass...lol! So happy that the 2 ponds in my neighborhood are within a 15 minute walk from home. I'm really gonna be a fishing fool now...lol! ?

Got on some decent brown fish this weekend on a mid-lake hump. Spinnerbaits, drop-shots and wacky senkos did the trick.

I knew the town I was working in today had a nice little city lake so I took a setup with a few lures in my service van, and hit it on my lunch break. This small but nice bass fell for the T-rigged senko.

Go back and get her.

Given the usual & current market price for a quality tungsten weight, which runs in the vicinity of $6-7 per ounce or something close to $100 a pound, I probably should have an armed guard 24/7 on my terminal tackle bag. Or at the very least have it booby trapped with some kind of Improvised Explosive Device. . . . A-Jay

My daughters first outing in a few years yielding her a couple 2.5 pounder..... Glad to have the family all on the same page

lol.

Caught a great one on a private pond today, came on a Chartreuse/Black back 1.5.

This past week I was in Bemidji, Minnesota, for the BASS College National Championship. It was an awesome experience for sure. In addition to competing in the event, I got to take over bass nation's snapchat for the first day of the event, received some cool new products, and met several pros (including Jordan Lee). The fishing on the lake where they had the event (Bemidji Lake) was not exactly something I am glad I drove 1300 miles for. We placed 44th out of 90 teams with 5 fish for two days, a total of 9lbs and change I believe. That alone should be a statement as to how tough the fishing was. Tough fishing doesn't bother me, it's the fact that we were so crowded, that when you fished something, you would probably be the 5th-10th boat to do so on that particular day. There was one area of about 5 acres of water, that I guarantee 30 boats were sitting on during the 2nd day of the event. My partner and I found good fish in practice, and had 4 good waypoints that we knew held fish. On the first day of the event, right after blastoff, there were 4 or more boats on each waypoint! And this is shallow water flipping/frogging! A few boats did put together some respectable limits, and they surely earned them, especially the leaders who pretty much blew it out of the water, even with only 4 fish on day one. I am looking forward to competing at these events in the future, hopefully we will have a little more room next time, feeling crowded is the worst way to fish a tournament IMO. I will say that there are some PHENOMENAL fisheries in Minnesota. Every place we heard about had nothing but good reviews from other anglers (aside from the lake the tournament was held on). My partner and I fished Cass Lake, about 10 minutes down the road from Bemidji, and it was absolutely stellar all three times we went there. Shallow water, heavy vegetation, up close and personal with heavy rods and straight braid, it was a blast! You would pretty much have 12-14lbs within the first 5 bites you had, the fish up there are built like footballs! There were also thousands of crawfish all over the bottom, the water had about 10' of visibility so you could see them scurrying around when the trolling motor spooked them. Here are some pictures of some Cass Lake studs!

Yes. I have a couple shallow lakes lie this. Look for any change in bottom contour, or creek inlets. Also look for a breakline formed by two differing species of weeds.

The beauty of a true Texas Rig (sliding bullet weight) is that it allows the fish to pick up the bait without feeling the weight. The downside to using it in weed or brush type cover is that the weight and bait often separate catching the cover in between. The normal way of eliminating this is to peg the weight. What you are finding is that, rigged that way, the bait is falling nose first whereas with a belly weighted hook, or weedless on a slack line, the attitude of the bait is different. It's horizontal. That is more than likely why you are not getting bit. The fish prefer that look. There will be times when they prefer the vertical fall of the pegged weight and I would suggest the next time the belly weight isn't working to give it another shot.

Weeds don't get too thick for bass, they just get too thick for fisherman. When there is weed everywhere, they could be anywhere. If the boat cant navigate your dead in the water. I hate that when it happens, and its not uncommon in our Florida waters.

Are you talking about the fishes anus?

Thought this might be fun for you smallies chasers. https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=!ALSOaLuoEOHlmqo&v=photos&id=4D3138F637BA3320!11795&cid=4D3138F637BA3320

Hey everyone, my name is Tom. I have a renewed interest in fishing a couple years ago (I'm 41 now), after taking my dad out on a snakehead fishing trip for his birthday. I grew up mostly panfishing from the bank, but lost interest in my teen years as I got into sports seriously and none of my friends fished, so neither did I. I'm now addicted to topwater action after using frogs and poppers to get SH, which I got my first last year. I have 2 young boys (4 and 7) that I'm starting to get into fishing, right now it's just a worm and bobber on a push button rod. But I want to be able to take them bass or SH fishing one day, and knowledgeably teach them the techniques and use the right tackle. So now as I'm investing more time and resources into fishing, I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

So far you've shot down every solution and tip offered for fishing heavy, matted weeds. I guess you should find another lake to fish.

Even when I fish every day it still doesn't feel like enough.

Color expression in crawfish is regulated largely by special pigment containing cells (chromatophores) located beneath the exoskeleton, and color is normally a function of two factors, developmental stage and the environment. Most crawfish species are generally greenish or brownish as immature animals and begin to take on the characteristic colors as the approach maturity. Color manifestations is intensified in sexually mature individuals. The aquatic environment and diet also influence color. Individual specimens of crawfish vary in color from the normal population. Color variants are almost endless with respect to degree and/or pattern of expression. Molting is the periodic shedding of the old exoskeleton (shell) and takes place with each increase in size which can be 4-6 times a year; once the crawfish reaches maturity the molting process stops Each individual crawfish will vary in color before, during, & after molting!

Watermelon and green pumpkin, you don't need more, maybe black and blue to complement.

You need to go online and look for crayfish in your area and the various color stages they go through, there are thousands of variations and since crawdads are transported to every state from southern states you need to look at crayfish from those states. For example in California we have only 1 native crawdad the Signal crayfish that is very dark brown with a white spot on the claws that gives it it's name. Colors vary as it molts and grows from dark green to almost black with some orange on the underside of the legs. This crawdad is indigenous to San Juaqine delta area. The southern swamp crayfish is very common in SoCal and varies from light tan to dark red depending on the ecosystem and growth phases from molting to water chemistry being acidic or alkaline. You can drive yourself crazy trying to match the crawdad hatch. After 60 years of jig fishing I am convinced high contrast colors work good and black with bright blue, Browns with green purple and white with dark green charteuse work everywhere. Just match 1 of the skirt colors with the predominate trailer color, this gives you 8 combinations with 3 jig skirt colors. Tom

If my boat leaves the dock my lab is in the passenger seat.

While looking to get bit on any surface presentation, I'd encourage you to find a different location that's less than 30 ft deep. If you look through all the reports here, going back many, many years, there aren't a whole lot of bass caught on the surface in 30 feet. Not saying that it can't or doesn't happen, but you'll stand a much better chance of success if you're in 8-10 or even less, especially with 4 ft of vis. Something shallower but near some deeper water might be a good place to start. Just say'in. A-Jay

been a great week of fishing, top water and spinner baits have been the deal

I imagine you're going to get a lot of responses to this from folks far more knowledgeable than I so I'm just going to make a few general suggestions and hope they help. 1. You can indicate how much you want to spend to help them give you suggestions. It also helps them if you can describe the type of fishing (bank/boat/, river/lake, types of lures you prefer) in which you will be engaging. Makes a world of difference in the tackle which might be appropriate for you. 2. You might want to use the Search function on here to look for inexpensive outfits. This topic appears frequently so there is already a lot of good info available for about any price range. You can also check the Beginner articles here for existing info. Lots of good stuff there too. 3. As you read recommendations, always remember that what works for one guy doesn't work for the next guy. A 6'4" guy may love a reel that you can't even wrap your mitt around! 4. Beware the guy that says, "All you need is .... (fill in the blank)". He may be right, but he may have different requirements, a different budget, and probably a higher skill level. ALWAYS look for a recommendation that is backed by the rationale for the choice. You want to know WHY someone likes (or dislikes) a specific product. 5. My personal opinion is NEVER buy a rig you haven't actually held in your hands!!!! As you read the recommendations, make a list and take it to your local retailer(s). Then choose from the rigs you can actually hold and manipulate. There are a lot of good manufacturers making quality products and, with help from the guys here, you will find what you need. Good luck!

Plano 3741 deep waterproof?

110's are awesome! Should be in everyone's tackle box....

Good cork is hard to come by nowadays. It's a natural material and will always have some pits. Elmers golden oak wood filler is what you want. It sands easily 250-400 grit.

I run the lightest I can get away so I am deep in the lighter weights. I don't punch so a couple.5, 3/4, and 1 ounce are seldom used. I have also doubled up 1/8 weights for some extra knock

Bullet weights Tungsten: 1/16-1.5 oz Lead: 1/64-1/4 oz Drop Shot Tungsten: 1/8-1/2 oz Dozen at least of each!

I carry about a dozen each of weights from 1/16 to 3/4 ounce and a couple each of 1 and 1.5 ounce.

I'd have to say braid too. Hasn't hindered my hook ups, if anything it has increased it. Knots are easier to tie, it's very strong and it holds up well. Never thought I'd pay that much for fishing line, but I'm glad I did. One more thing I never thought I'd need are Zoom Ol' Monster 10.5" worms. I'm sure glad I bought some. They have been what most of the bass I've caught wanted. Out of 16 bass I have caught, since I started bass fishing, I've caught 13 on the Ol' Monster. Best $4-$5 I've ever spent on bait/lures. 9 in a pack. All are pretty beat up now, but I still have one unused one left. Gotta get some more soon. Gonna even get some Magnum Ol' Monster 12" worms. They gotta be at least as good if not better.

OK, back looking at this thread. Wolf Run lake, OH has 2 trout species, Rainbow and Golden, LMB, channel cats, bluegill and crappie. My guess is the OP was seeing trout feeding on insects or small baitfish. Based on that and the fact you have spinning tackle you might want to try using 1/4 to 3/8 oz gold Kastmaster spoon early in the morning as both bass and trout will strike it. Bass near dams tend to stay around prominate structure features like the spillway, any solid concrete pillars, or anything that creates some shade. Transition areas where the dam meets the soil and any close bye points. All those features tend to give baitfish a place to hide. The rocks are good for crankbaits but difficult to present effectively from shore. I would also try a smaller surface lure like a Splash-It in Shad colors, fish it fast so it splits lots of water. Lipless crankbait like a Yo-Zuri 3D prizim Shad can be effectively fished around the dam and is a very good falling lure on pauses. Your best bet using spinning tackle is a slip shot rig and use 6 to 8 lb mono leader, 1/8 oz cyclinder weight, size 1/0 #5133 Owner down shot hook with MMIII 6" curl tail Roboworms. Fish the Slip shot rig around any points you can get to after the sun is up and the top water bite is gone. Good luck, catch some bass! Tom

Umbrella. Yes, the kind that fits on your bass boat seat. Never thought I would need one but use it when it is hot and the sun is out. Looks funny but it works!

The last 2 weekends we have crushed them. Flipping and punching last weekend and caught 51. This past weekend we mainly finessed on a different lake and caught well over 100. Nothing big, lots of 13 and 14 inchers but it was a blast!

Use Loctite Super Gel glue, forget the keeper.

A roll of sanitary paper :.............

@A-Jay, @Finesse Wayfarer, and @geo g hit a couple great ones for me. Never ever would have considered that I needed a hoodie on the hottest summer days. But, now that I have them, I don't go out without. I don't do the buffs so well, but a summer-weight long-sleeve hoodie is just the ticket. And the plug knocker is another great mention. Most cranks don't work their best unless they spend a lot of time in the wood. I didn't have the nerve to throw them into the wood until I had the confidence that I'd be able to get some of them back.

These are some of mine: "O" ring wacky rig tool (Makes baits last so much longer and tool makes it easy to put them on) Neck Gaiter (No matter how much sunscreen I applied I would always get a sunburned neck before I got one of these) Kayak (nuff said)

We took one of our Pugs out with us when we lived on a private lake. He jumped off the front of the boat. I heard him bouncing off the bottom of the boat. Thankfully I shut the transom TM off. He came up and his eyes were bigger than they already are. That was the end of his fishing career. My dog which I got last year is a Great Pyrenees and he hates water and getting wet. He's about 110lbs of pure muscle and there's no moving him when he locks up the breaks, so I don't even try.

Here's a couple of videos that should help:

What I want to know is why the rest of the smallmouth you caught DIDN'T have one...

THREAD of The YEAR NOMINEE ~ ! A-Jay

May get a chance at some smallies later this week, but for now, it's more small lake hopping for the time being. About 40 in 2 hours today on 2 different lakes. Sunny, hot and calm, so had to work for them. Rain in the forecast for later in the week, which would actually be nice. Might energize the fish a little.

Shimano Exsence - Megabass Destoryer Addermine