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The two words between catching bass and fishing for them is active and inactive behavior. Bass are like most predators and some people, the don't live where the eat. We go to the restaurant or market to find or buy food, we don't live in the parking lot waiting for the meal. Active bass are in the market or at the restaurant, not in the den. Inactive bass are in the den resting. The key to catching bass is offering them something to eat when they are hungry and active. Knowing the difference between inactive bass that are resting away from where they eat and active bass looking for something to eat will save you a lot of time. How bass are positioned on structure or cover and baitfish tells you if they are inactive or active. How they strike lures tells you if the are active or not. The location of the bass tells you if they are active or not. You could be fishing in the restaurant, but it's not open and no bass are there. You can be trying to get bass in the den to eat and they are not hungry. Trying several different lures isn't going to open the restaurant or interest the inactive bass. If you know where the restaurant is located, waiting for it to open is a better use of your time, then trying to catch bass that are resting. Spend some time on the water and learn where the markets and restaurants are located and whats on the menu. Active hungry bass are easier to catch then inactive bass. WRB

Is it that time of the year again? ?

My dogs are lacking in the intelligence department. One's old and lazy. The female is crazy and bosses the other two around. And my GP is basically a bull in a China shop in my house. I once met a dog that would open the fridge and get you a beer if you asked him. Pretty cool to see. He was a lab and they tend to be way smarter than pugs and GP's are stubborn and think for themselves. Sums it up right here.

I'm thinking retail is not a career path for @Chance_Taker4. You're totally missing opportunity to have some fun. Start with the spinning reel on a casting rod. Counter offer that $50 with $105. I mean, it's like fine wine and only gets better with age.

Bringing it back ~ Because its Gold. A-Jay

Without demonstrating value the system falls apart.

Found a spot within a spot the other day. Found a section of rock that ran about 20 yds and 5ft wide and when i could bring it the lenght of that i usually could get bit. Had 5-6 others crush the lipless but idk if they were swiping it or what. Ran a jig through there too and got 1 good hit. If i went off the edge and into the mud didnt get a nibble. pretty cool to find a spot like that. Buddy picked up 1 also. He is very new to bass. So tryin to show him the ropes. Pretty slow day. All good tho!

Many of our local waters are populated with the invasive, algae-eating, armor-plated catfish species known as Plecostomus (from the Greek for "folded mouth"). They apparently originated, like many invasive species, from home aquaria. It is pretty rare to catch one without deliberately snagging it with a weighted treble hook. But today this guy ate my lipless crankbait, or I assume he did, since, as you can see, he's hooked in the lip. Another surprise was that on the very next cast I caught another pleco with the same lure! But the second puppy was foul hooked in the dorsal fin. I found I needed a towel to hold these guys, because the tough overlapping armor plating opened and closed as they wiggled side to side, pinching my skin in the process.

I have to agree with @TOXIC on this one - though I don't exactly like fishing a stick bait. And @Darren. Don't even start . . . . A-Jay Apparently. A-Jay

No contest. A 5" Senko in color 297 (Green Pumpkin/Black Fleck). I have caught bass in every type of water from tannic in Florida to crystal clear in Wisconsin and Michigan and stained on the Potomac. I wrote an article for Yamamoto years ago and I came up with 78 ways to rig this bait. I never hit the water without it. Anywhere.

I have fished KY Lake a number of times but it's been a few years. Always in March/April. The bass will stage initially on the main lake points, then move to the secondary points, and finally spawn in the creeks around the buck brush. Never did any post spawn fishing but I would start at the secondary points and then the main lake points and go from there

I camp and launch at River Front Campground in Duncannon a lot, in fact I've fished that stretch from Montgomery Ferry down to the Statue since the late 80s. The other posters gave you great information so I can only add a little bit. As you were already told, the weather can really vary as can the river level but I will try to get you a good range of baits that should have you covered. Tubes, if you want to keep it simple you need to have only 2 color tubes to limit what you carry, those would be green pumpkin if the water is warm and by warm I mean above 52 and lower water temp you want smoke purple. Use inside jig heads, 1/8oz to 1/4oz depending on current, and then other baits for that time of year that I use with regular success are as follows. Hair jigs, not large ones but ones ranging in size from 1/16oz to 1/4oz, if the current is fast with high water the fish will hold tight to the bank around eddies and other slack water areas, a small hair jig or tube will work well. Jerkbaits are amazing if you have some water clarity which generally means a low flow and that could be the case depending on how the rest of the winter pans out. Don't rule out cranks either, I like one knocker lipless baits if the water is heavily stained, I like the rattlers when the water has some clarity, also shallow diving flat side cranks work extremely well, Rapala DT Flat 3s are good as well as a Bomber Flat A, and a shad rap is good if you don't have really fast heavy current. You got great suggestions, and I left out swim baits, but a 3" to 4" finesse swimbait fished on a slow steady retrieve or fished like a tube can work wonders, and if you have of the 3" Mann's Stingray grubs in avocado or green pumpkin, well those are killer as well, but having a combination of those things will have you covered.

Ned-1/16 Slider-1/8 Shaky-1/8 Grub-1/8 Also fish an ultra finesse skirted jig that I make that is 1/8 that is a killer in the spring when all the little craws are everywhere.

After 2 tough days I finally ran into them with my biggest sack of my life at 36 lbs by myself. location: housen depth: 1ft to 23ft Water temp: upper 50s did see 60 45 minutes before dark. method Carolina rig, football jig, and trap Don’t be afraid up upsize ??‍♂️

Floating monofilament on Carolina Rigs is a bit oversold, more theory than reality. Yes, there are a lot of variables like buoyancy of bait and hook used, etc., but generally speaking, mono and fluoro as CR leaders are more similar than different - they both tend to hang much closer to the bottom, following the sinker, than you might expect.

Went to drop a Slammer off for new paint at a friend's house last night. He had a surprise I'd forgotten I even asked for.

I've found and telemetry studies have verified especially in manmade reservoirs is there are bass that are highly residential and there are those that are nomadic. There are bass that are shore line related and there are those that are main lake related; both shore line and main lake have residential and nomadic bass. I tend not to target those that are nomadic opting instead to zero in on those the stay at home. Once you have found key structure where the residential bass live you have found structure that will produce year after year. While fluctuations in lake levels from year to year will change shapes of weed beds and weed line the bottom break lines/contour lines remain the same. Now with the living room found it is a simple matter of circling it with your electronics and a map in an ever widening pattern looking for the feeding area; with the kitchen located you must fall back on Structure Fishing 101 which states the following. Bass must have a visible path of breaks and break lines on a structure from deep water all the way to the shallows, which is where the bulk of food is available to game fish. As bass move along a structure they pause or stop at "things"breaks and break lineson the bottom. It is at such "things" that anglers can expect to make consistent contact with fish as they migrate along a structure. This is why a certain stump or flooded tree, dock piling or submerged rock consistently produces bass for anglers. Most of the time, such a spot is merely a break or bass stopping point on a structure. Find more such breaks on the structure, or break lines, or even the deep water sanctuary near the structure, and you'll catch more and bigger bass more often. There may be many structures, breaks, and break lines in a body of water. But only a few of them are so well related to deep water that schools of large bass consistently use them. Thus, the search for good, fishable structure can be a quick one, with often much of the work done simply by studying accurate contour maps of the water.

Yeah, I was going to question that one. Buck lived in Hickory, NC next to lakes Hickory and Rhodhiss, and likely developed most of his theories on those lakes back in the 40s and 50s. He also spent quite a bit of time in Georgia and Florida, and ultimately traveled all over the country fishing most every major body of water available. To my knowledge, there's nothing special about Kentucky Lake and Spoonplugging other than a few jamborees being held there in the late 90s, and it being a popular lake for some members of the TN club who mapped parts of it and named some of the spots. Tennessee had the largest Spoonplugging club in the nation back in those days, and Buck was actually going to develop a spoonplugging community near Nashville/Old Hickory Lake back in the 70s until his first wife passed away. Plans were scrapped and the land ultimately sold off.

Got out for a couple hours before winter decided to come back in a hurry. Glass to whitecaps in about 5 minutes.

One of our dogs is an Anatolian Shepherd. We didn't know that when we got him from the rescue place, we just thought he was a creme colored shepherd mix. After we accidentally figured out what breed he was, his demeanor made sense. Anatolians were bred in Turkey to guard herds of lifestock (not herd them) by living among them and fighting off bears, wolves and other predators. They bond with those they guard and are because often there aren't people around when they are doing their job, have to be self sufficient and make decisions independent of human interaction. This fits Captains personality to a T. He believes he is the protector of all of our family, our other dog & the cats, even if they don't want to be protected. He pushes his way to the front of any activity and has a need to know exactly what is going on at any moment. Fetch a ball? That is play for kids, he has a job to do, although apparently having his stomach scratched is part of his job description. You can tell him to do or not to do things, but unless the commands are coming from me, he will just look at you and decide for himself whether or not he wants to. Intelligent, stubborn and self sufficient, tough combination. While he hasn't figured out how to open a door like that robot dog, he does know that if he pushes or chews hard enough, he can get through anything. He gnawed the laces off an old plastic football for heaven sakes, lets see a robot dog do that.

Impressive for sure - But until that dog can do this - There's still room for growth. (circa 2005 - Sierra was a bit of a freak (insert wolf) & my wife's 5'9'') A-Jay

In today's 'fast paced' world of bass fishing a good bit of what is accomplished by anglers in the public eye is often credited in part to the recent 'advances' in electronics. With good reason in fact, as there have been some effective & useful gear introduced in just the last few years. That said, and the reason I chose to bring this most excellent thread back, revolves around it's title; "Active or inactive". With the advent of Xtreme Depth Sonar, Chirp, 360 imaging, SwitchFire, Dual Beam Plus, Mega Side & Down Imaging, Precise GPS, Smart Strike, Panoptix, real-time underwater 3D mapping; (much of which I do reply on most every trip), to date, and as far as I know, there's only one way to determine this most crucial factor - and that's to go fishing. There are occasions when we can 'predict' when & where it's going to happen. Sometimes we're right - sometimes we're not. In my experience, there's not a replacement for time on the water - especially one body of water. Where if & when one gets on them, by being there through the changes (and there are many) we have some chance of 'staying on or following' the bait & or the bass. But fishing a place once a week or only 2 or 3 times a month, can often make consistency a tall order. Despite it all - the Challenge & the Hunt is addicting. Clearly none of this is even remotely new or earth shattering information, I offer it as a friendly reminder that being in the right place at the right time is just as humbling as the often experience alternative. A-Jay

Dinks are on the big bass menu. If small bass are confortable feeding the big bass aren't there or inactive...fish deeper or move. Tom

Ya gotta understand these maps only show so much, to connect the dots ya gonna look for breaks/breaklines not on the maps. Ya gonna have to spend hours graphing the areas between those islands & the main channel ledges.

For those who don't know about ky lake, it is the furthest lake downstream on the Tennessee river. From Pickwick lake downstream, the Tennessee river flows straight north. Take a look at the map @Catt posted, I bet most of you thought the water flowed from the top of the map to the bottom, but its the opposite. Just downstream of Kentucky dam the TN river enters the Ohio river near Paducah KY. The Cumberland river takes a similar path to the Ohio. The Ohio flows into the Mississippi in Cairo, not long after collecting the Cumberland and Tennessee river. To say it has good current would be an understatement right now, they were pushing 240,000 cubic feet per second earlier this week

Ditto this ^^ Lighter weight for Ned because it's fished as a "no-feel" presentation.

A lake I used to fish a lot had a huge tree trunk that was still in the lake bottom. It was probably about 2' across, came to within a couple feet of the surface in 17' of water. It was broke off in kind of a bowl indention in the top and there was a bed in the top of that tree every year. I caught one of the healthiest looking fish I ever caught out of that very overpressured lake. It was in the middle of a cove and well off the bank while everyone else was on the shoreline looking for beds.

Bass will even spawn on top of stumps and laydowns . They do what they have to do . There are also two protective coves on the north of that map.

What do ya say uncle A-Jay GP Husky/Shepard babies? You're right, it's been a long winter.

Its going to take an awful long cast for me to hit a bedding bass .

The long winters here can wreck havoc on one's disposable income; especially if you're retired & it's fixed ! Let's just say that I may be approaching the National Deficit ~ The Bait Monkey is real. A-Jay

The solution is simple. I'm going to use a jello lure. Bill Cosby said it best. "There's always room for jello."

By setting up between the kitchen and the living room You will have 2 opportunities; coming and going Coming to the kitchen they are hunger Going to the living room they will stop for a quick snack

Finished up my battery box and set up my fishfinder on a cigarette plug. Plan on running my night lights on the power posts. Not waterproof but good enough for my needs. May also use it to run some aux lights on my bigger boat so I don’t have to wire them all up. Pretty fun to build and learn about wiring. Can’t wait to make more for family as gifts. Total cost was $40 but have sourced new parts and can get get it down to about $25 running inline fuses rather than a fuse block.

Don't ask me! I got skunked Tuesday on the Sabine River ?

This is where I would start & then zero in from there!

Was there the last week of April 2017. Fishing was pretty tough. Only reliable patern we had was in the very back of the pockets,and I mean very back, burning soft plastic jerk baits over top of what was probably nest guarders in the mustard weeds. We had better luck with the smallmouth on secondary points on football jigs. Highlight was my brothers 7 lb, 23.5 inch smallmouth. We caught fish but it was work.

Tatula sv tws. Can be had for under 150 on the auction site.

Yup. ...and us bottom-feeding cheapskates need folks who buy new boats and cars so can can buy 'em used at a fraction of the price later... I am dead serious about that.

What I think about the Favorite line of reels and rods... 1.) I think they are a marketing plow in order to support the YouTube group of fisherman known as the "googan Squad". For some reason they attract a massive fan base of followers who buy all their stuff. Most of the models from the Favorite line are in use by members of this group, and several are even named after them. 2.) I think they are overpriced for being the same blanks and parts that are used by multiple other manufacturers. 3.) I think I'd rather have one custom built than spend $250 on their best rod. That's what I think of Favorite in a nutshell.

Shhhhhhhhhhh don't tell nobody, spawns on in swla also

I spent 5 years living less than 2 miles above that spot. Contact two places for tackle suggestions. First is Riverfront Campgrounds. Believe me they know what that river is doing before the gauge does, they are at ground zero in Duncannon. Johnny was the man that built up the business. He carries some Penrod Specials ( custom grubs) and some other popular tackle in his store. I suggest rigging then weedles. Susquehanna Fishing Tackle is another great source. Mike, George and his family live on that water. Call and ask for some assistance. They are more than happy to help you and if needed they ship all around the country. Lastly check out Ken Penrod's Life Outdoors Unlimited. He has articles and fishing reports that detail what is going on normally. I know he uses the tubes from Riverfront Campground, and Mizmo tubes as well as Case plastics while fishing up there.

This is WAY better in the Sunshine ! A-Jay

Maybe a modification of that to: The effect of line diameter on strength for different compositions. Since it can vary by brand, even just different brands of mono can have differing breaking points for the same diameter of line. Or maybe do a comprehensive testing of knot strength with commonly used line types and tests.

Thanks for the reply ***atic. We're going out of Cypress Bend. I love to fish a jig and drag a rig but fortunately I'm versatile and will throw whatever it takes to catch em (if they're in a cooperating mood that is) Catt you are a great wealth of knowledge on the Bend and I appreciate guys like you that share your experiences with others. I learned to fish by joining a bass club when I was 19 and going to college I'm 46 now and I wouldn't be where I am today or know half the things I've learned without guys like you that help other fishermen learn the different techniques and relay all of the important information.

I've always felt it was no one's business what they spend on things, but themselves. They shouldn't have to explain or justify it to anyone. Worry about yourself, be satisfied with your decisions. Keeping up, questioning, or even raw jealousy of the Jones' stuff is pointless.

How bout June/May .

Southern boy here... season never ends! Since January 1 maybe $50 & $30 of that was a gift card from Dick's Sporting Goods I got for my birthday.

I posted this post already in "Other Species," but I wanted to post it here as well, because these photos, I thought, are pretty interesting. Well, actually it's these fish that are interesting. Many of our local waters are populated with the invasive, algae-eating, armor-plated catfish species known as Plecostomus (from the Greek for "folded mouth"). They apparently originated, like many invasive species, from home aquaria. It is pretty rare to catch one without deliberately snagging it with a weighted treble hook. But today this guy ate my lipless crankbait, or I assume he did, since, as you can see, he's hooked in the lip. Another surprise was that on the very next cast I caught another pleco with the same lure! But the second puppy was foul hooked in the dorsal fin. I found I needed a towel to hold these guys, because the tough overlapping armor plating opened and closed as they wiggled side to side, pinching my skin in the process.

I do whatever I have to do to back boat my partner.