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Thought the Ol' Monster bite had slowed, guess it was just the junebug red color. Bought some more Ol' Monsters today in red bug color and they loved it, at least these three did. It's gonna be a good fishing weekend, I can just feel it! ?

I've looking forward to fishing today after working all week but forecast called for t-storms all day. Got some more lures in the mail from my DSG order last week. Forecast kept changing, and I figured I'd tie on one of my shiny new lures and make a couple casts at my usual spot. Third cast with favorite striped bass topwater lure and this little guy whacks it! Feisty lol No other blow-ups on topwater so I decided to go to my trusty yum dinger and caught these guys: That was my last worm in that color, and after I lost it, I decided to clean up some garbage some inconsiderate people left scattered. I keep an extra plastic bag in my car and try to make it a habit to pick up some litter every time I'm out here. This quarry is on private property and people come out here to drink and take a dip in the water, often leaving bottles, cans, and other trash. As I was picking up the last bit of trash in the area I was fishing, I saw some fishing line with a t-rigged worm laying on the ground. Hook was rusting, but the plastic worm was in good condition and the same color as the ones I've been having so much success with recently. Figured I'd rig it up and fish til the rain finally came. Proceeded to catch a few more fish before I had to leave. Anyone know what kind of worm this is? Been fishing senkos and yum dingers exclusively but I'll have to pick up a couple packs of these? PowerBait? Sorry about the long post, this gloomy weather inspired me.

Caught my PB Pumpkinseed this morning while fishing for bass. This guy nailed my Chug Bug.

With all due respect this is one statement I have an issue with. In my opinion there are technique's that do require an angler to have a certain level of skill to catch a bass. Granted catching a bass on a 2 trebled crank or a 3 trebled jerkbait where the fish more times than not will hook themselves does not require much skill. However, imho hooking up with a frog, or punching though 2 ft of hydrilla, or working a craw through submerged grass, or skipping a jig under a dock with a baitcaster does. If no skill level is ever required to catch a fish, then a great number of posts on this site wouldn't be worth reading. Mike

Always wear clean underwear. Never dance when drunk, you will never dance as good as you think you do. Stop and smell the roses unless they are along a busy highway. If you have a friend who can't keep a secret, don't tell him where the bodies are buried. Never pay a bill until the 3rd final notice. Don't bet on the Jets this year. Shoes bought at a gas station are probably not the best quality.

You don't need 500.00 rods and 300.00 reels to catch a fish. You don't need boxes and boxes of different lures of different types or colors to catch a fish. You do need to keep learning regardless of how good you think you are. Always remember, tounament anglers are people too. Mike

Slow down!

Make sure the little ball in your whistle flows freely. When it's really windy and feeling a dropshot or tube is difficult, switch to a Carolina rig and a finesse lizard and drag it. The strikes can be so hard, the fish hook themselves. This has saved many a trip for me.

Always check your line for nicks or abrasions and knot damage. Use premium sharp hooks and check the point as you check the line. Learn to set your drag and back it off when storing the reel. Feel your line, don't rely on your rod to telegraph strikes. Check your rod guides for damage using a cotton Q-tip. Skin hook soft platics. Use line conditioner. Tom PS, the above tips are timeless.

I use grips, spreaders and hemostats....and @geo g, I throw all back unless there's someone close by that's wants to take it home to eat. No indication that they have been the disaster that was predicted

The Ned Rig does catch decent sized bass. it was a tough day on a local lake. Catching dinks, until this guy hit. he was 20 inches long and 4lb. 8oz.

Maybe the older I get the more I think about things from all angles. Those baits might not have high value in the collectors world but the one thing that I keep thinking about is this; If you keep them, at some point In time they will hold a heck of a lot of sentimental value In that they were your daddy's. Those types of baits have the highest value of all. Just my opinion.

That'd be a great question for another topic I've got a bunch of reasons, but I'm more interested in learning why folks use lighter braid in case I need to adjust some tactics. Your info was good, thanks! ...probably on sinning tackle...

55lb is awesome with a canoe. I had one on my 16' Grumman aluminum canoe. I've got a 30 on my kayak, but would like to upgrade to a 45 with infinite speed adjustment rather than 5 forward and 3 reverse speeds.

For me, the cover goes on for long distance transit; regardless of the destination. Specifically, I'm looking to keep the following off & out of my rig; big fat rain and all the road dust, grime & nasty grit that comes with it, Dust - long dry dirt & especially gravel roads are good for this, swarms of mashed & partially pulverized insects of assorted sizes, colors & dimensions, and pretty much anything & everything else you can possibly think of that can & does end up in an uncover rig on the highways & by ways of America. A-Jay

My first experience with braid was 10 lb on a spinning rod and loved it. I then tried 10 answer 20 on a casting set up. Was then given a 30 lb to use and it felt like rope and I sacrificed casting distance. Truth be told, I seldom am in the weeds and mostly on flats and droppoffs. Last Fall I went for strippers and was bringing in 35 inch strippers on 10 lb Braid had great luck. I believe the biggest bass on my lake this year was just over 6 lbs. I have Never had an issue with it digging in......so simply stated, it is my comfort zone and I can always bump it up if needed. Side note, I have yet to use FC leader bigger than 15, and often times tie directly. Hope this helps

Find the bait and you will find the fish.

Certainly don't trash them, there's plenty of good baits in there that will catch fish. Even if you don't want them you could trade, sell, or give them to someone else to use.

Along the lines of what Catt said. Successful fishing is like hunting. If you go around the woods, blindly firing of shot after shot, you may hit something. If you learn about your quarry; where it eats, what it eats, how it gets to and from where it eats you can reduce all that effort or at the very least, put it to use where you're likely to contact your prey. Find where the fish call home, what they eat, and if that forage doesn't pass by their 'house', how they get to their food and back home again. Location. Without finding it, you'll be doing a lot of casting and not much catching.

Just when I thought I was done buying for a long time .. Gander mountain said otherwise And then some other stores had to get in my way on the drive after work I'll be done after I buy a couple plopper 110, jackal lures ,

Wear a Life Jacket while in manually propelled craft, and a Life Jacket & Engine Kill switch lanyard while the operator and on plane in power vessels. Tell a responsible adult where you're going, when you're coming back and who to call if you don't. Make sure they have a good description of you, your boat, tow vehicle & trailer (if applicable). Carry a quality hook cutting tool you can effectively operate with your weak hand only. And try fishing a SK Rage Bug on a Greenfish Tackle Creeper Head. A-Jay

When in doubt, set the hook

15-16 yrs old going to high school. In 3 yrs your interest may be very different, based on the fact you have limited budget and may not have an experienced mentor to teach you the basics, relying on what you read can get confusing. Without knowing your current fishing and boat handling skills or what tackle you may now have makes it difficult to advise you where to start. Suggestions; Bill Murphy's book "In Pursuit of Gaint Bass" has some good bass behavior info. Don Iovino's book "Finesse Bass Fishing and the Sonar Connection" is a good resource on finesse bass fishing. Glenn's how to vedio's are excellent tutorials. US Reel 180X spinning reel on eBay @$40 is a good finesse reel. Dobyns new Colt series rods @ $80 are a good choice. Gary Dobyns likes to support young anglers, so give him a call. Good luck. Tom

Received a couple more lures from my DSG order from last week. It's a mix of my freshwater and saltwater lures. Love these Skitter Walks for back bay striper fishing. Maybe I'll try them out at my local pond and see if I can get a bass on it. Still waiting on those Whopper Plopper 110s.

Prioritize and remember there are needs and there are wants. Not all the techniques discussed on this board will be relevant to you and your situation, location and access to water. Starting out I would not buy any technique specific setups with the exception for a worm/ jig rod. These will give you the most milage. Guys on this board will bend over backwards to help the novice angler. Goodluck and welcome aboard

Catching is a lot more fun as far as I'm concerned. Catching more fish, bigger fish and bigger limits. It's hard work and I fail a lot. On the days I don't feel like working hard, I stay home and/ or pursue easier ways to have fun. I get where you're coming from though. Last time I was out on the water, I met a dude back at the ramp. He fished all day in the heat, beating the banks, caught a few dinks, and had "fun". Apparently learning to fish structure and use electronics is too much work and- more importantly for him- would take away the fun part. That's what he told me anyway. Whatever floats his boat. Bill Murphy put it very well IMO. "" People who take fishing in stride generally don't do well. Fishing is fun, but the real fun is the end result. It's like an artist who truly enjoys his work; once the painting is done, he can stand back and look what a beautiful thing he accomplished. He may call the whole event fun, but during the time when he's painting he's intent, he's thinking and he's working hard. ... Successful bass fishing is hard work, thought, intensity, creativity, ability, intuition, and all the human elements, but it is really too busy for most people to call fun. If you took the casual angler and demanded everything out of him that you demand from yourself, then you would ruin his fun because you'd take away his ability to relax.""

Hey guys! Just wondering what you would say your biggest tip / trick would be in regards to bass fishing. Just wanted to see what you guys would say for other people as well for me come at below!

I bet we've all caught something strange and possibly unintended. This was a while back. I was fishing a dock with the sun going down. I was fishing a pink worm on a jig head. All the flying creatures that target flying insects were doing their thing in the air. As I neared the end of my retrieve, I yanked the line up to swing the jig back to me to make my next cast. Because it was getting dark, I misjudged my grab of the jig. As the jig and pink worm swung away from me, a bat came out of nowhere and went for my jig. There was enough light to see that at the very last second it changed its mind probably realizing it wasn't a bug but as it tried to maneuver away, the jig's hook got hold of it's wing and caught it. So there it was, flying around like a kite on a string. Fortunately, it wasn't solidly hooked so it was able to free itself without my help. I was relieved because I didn't want to deal with an animal that might possibly have rabies. Share your strange catches.

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

Respect our resource....be a line watcher too.

Be willing to put in your time on the water and not make excuses about why the fishing is hard. Find solutions to why the fish are not biting as well, and change the way you fish until you start catching fish well.Learn from every single fishing trip you have and understand that fishing is a sport where you will learn for a lifetime. Above all, always make your fishing trips fun and don't take fishing too seriously, its just fishing.

I use Megastrike but what is really strange, I just bought some Colgate toothpaste today in the 6 oz size, in the fresh mint. Sure enought, the flip cap fits. I don't think I have ever bought Colgate. Don't tell my wife I tried the toothpaste cap on the ms.

LMB certainly may shoal, that is they often stay together in groups of similar sized individuals, but I don't believe they literally school, which involves coordinated swimming in the same direction. Check out the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoaling_and_schooling

Again, you'll be hard pressed to find a better combination of head/skirt/hook options and prices than you will with Siebert.

Tighten the drag.

Swings are free White and black covers most top waters Greenpumpkin and Black/Blue covers most plastics Don't use a heavy wire when a light wire will do. Removing a gut hooked fish through the gills Pull up your anchor before motoring away If you miss on a top water, throw the wacky rig If your not loosing lures, your not taking enough chances, or your technique needs work

Very excellent advice. Place your bets now. I'm betting drmevo is going to choose the casting with the handle on the same side as his spinning reel. ?

Understand what structure is, how to truly identify it, interpret it, and then fish it effectively. Understand what the predominate prey species in your lake is and how that species relates to structure with each season...morning, noon, and night. Understand that next after location is timing; just because you don't get bite does not mean the bass aren't there or you tied on the wrong lure.

Brunette for a Blond!.......just kidding, I like the original version. I could not afford the Blond

As far as natural size is concerned, I remember seeing all different sizes mixed together when I was growing up in Wisconsin. I recall one time we turned over an old rowboat that was upside down along the shore, and under it were about 30-40 crawdads, all different sizes from about 1½" to near 5". Those we found in the stomachs of bass we ate were usually on the smaller end of the scale. Same was true with the ones I saw while teaching scuba classes in the gravel pits in SW Denver metro area - various sizes seemed to be mixed randomly. So I figure bass just pick the size they prefer from the smorgasbord. I don't have any comment on color. The ones I saw while diving were about 20 feet deep in murky water, so color was a bit uncertain - they all looked mostly gray-green in that water.

I can remember catching my first fish and where . It was a chute off the Mississippi river . I caught a sunfish with a bobber and worm . I remember how brightly colored it was and when Dad said it was a sunfish I actually thought it was from the sun . Its one of my earliest memories , maybe three or four years old . I was just at that spot a few minutes ago , looking things over .

I think this might be a false dichotomy... I'm betting that almost every professional angler (with the exception of a rare few) are in the game mainly for the fun of it. Competition can be fun... That's why we have softball leagues - and even people who play frisbee golf and weird stuff like that. Personally, I've never fished a tournament... I doubt I ever will, partly due to the cost and time. But, I do find the idea of trying my skills against others, having a measure of your success (at least if you fish enough tournaments to 'norm out' variance), and to be challenged to try new things that, in my current, lazy angler state, I'm content to let just be the subject of posts on here. So, I fish solely for fun. But I bet that's what's ultimately at the root of the experience for all but the most competitive, successful anglers.

Because of the heat my normal day is first light till about 10 °clock! We are also dealing rain, lots of rain! Yesterday we got 2 1/2" in 35 minutes but not long enough to cool anything off, just turns it into a sauna!

Cat Clam and on a different occasion, a stray line with a catfish on the other end that was still alive. Better known as my mother-in-law

Wow! Experienced guys on here could write books on your question, but fortunately I'm not one of them so just a couple of thoughts. First, remember that bass have no idea of the cost of your rods and reels. All they recognize is that something is in front of them that is food, threat, or disturbance. You'll get a lot of recommendations and, from my experience, these guys are pretty good ... OK, really good, but they are not you and their personal situations may not be similar to yours. So really read what they tell you in their responses. As a generic example, I can't afford a lot of their recommendations and I have had unpleasant experiences with some of the products they highly recommend but I still study each recommendation IF it is accompanied by reasons why they like a product. Don't read the articles on this site. STUDY THEM. There are terrific articles and videos; in fact, you may be overwhelmed by the amount of info if you don't take the time to think about what they say and determine what applies to your situation. There are forums and articles related to beginning fishing techniques, equipment selection, and tournament fishing. Keep in mind you can't do it all at once so try to focus on a couple of techniques with which you may want to start. It takes time, patience, and practice to acquire the skills attained by some of these guys. A final thought before I get off my soapbox. In my opinion, there are lots of economical tackle configurations, but what you buy is not nearly as critical as learning what to do with it to become successful. So ... pick their brains. Ask how they would use a particular rod/reel combo. Find out not only what they recommend, but how they use it. Don't be afraid to personal message (PM) them. I've never been rebuffed or ridiculed when I sent a PM. Seems that they are much more effusive when they can talk to you one-on-one. Now I yield the floor and wish you good luck! Hope this helps!

Megastrike, but I would pay a dollar more if they put a flip top cap on it. I have a bought three or four different brands of toothpaste trying to find one with a cap that will fit.

A few decent ones from the past week or so.

Senko Sen as in the Japanese currency Yen k as in a called or swinging strike o as in Oh my, I can't believe I'm posting this SENKO