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Wasn't actually planning on fishing today, I was home for the weekend from school but had an hour or so of free time before I needed to get on the road and decided to take my kayak out. I made a good choice! Yesterday was my first time fishing a wiggle wart, I was on a power plant lake with a ton of fish so the bites were guaranteed. I guess I learned enough from that to put it to use in the cold muddy water today! She went 7.01lbs and was a very healthy fish, I've never had one fight that hard in the cold. I really did think I had a carp for quite some time until I saw the fish!

Today my middle son came by early this morning and fixed our car while we went to late church. Got home in my truck and he had gone fishing out back and , before long, we saw him coming back. He had caught a big fish about 25 feet from where I caught my PB. His fish weighed 8.2 , and was slightly over 24 inch. He caught it on a watermelon seed zoom super fluke. It was an extremely heavy bodied fish, but the pics really don't do it justice.

Caught this beauty this holiday weekend.

This website has hands down made me a better angler. @Glenn you have put together the best resource center available and the members go out of their way to share wisdom. From members sharing their top secret fishing holes to divulging details on techniques, baits, etc - I have attained lifetime skills that I get to pass onto my children. Just wanted to express my gratitude

Since the beginning of the year, for the most part, the lakes I fish have been iced over. However, over the past couple of weeks it has warmed enough for the water to reach a liquid state. I visited a small 55 acre lake today that stays fairly clear so I don't have to worry about cold, muddy water. The last time I visited this lake in December I managed one over 4 lbs and a 5 lb 11 oz fish in 42 - 43 degree water right before it really became cold so I thought I would give this lake another shot. When I got to the ramp the water was down about 4 feet and I needed to walk through a few yards of muck to get my jon boat down to the water. I decided against that and started to leave to find another place. As I circled I noticed that the low water levels had decreased the distance to reach some of the deeper water from the bank so I thought I would try a little bank fishing. I parked and grabbed three rods, two with jigs and one with a jerkbait, and followed the path through the brush to a spot that looked promising. Within 5 casts I had the third fish below which I didn't weigh because it looked to be maybe 2.5 to 3 lbs. After about 10 more slow casts of my finesse jig, I landed my second fish which weighed 5 lbs 4 oz and is shown in the first two pics. I was casting beyond the tall tree to my left in the second and third pictures for both of these fish and then dragging my jig slowly back to the bank. The water out there is typically 28 or 29 feet, so today it was probably only 25 feet and the water just this side of the tree would have only been 18 feet. Since I didn't take my boat out I didn't get a read on the surface water temperature but I suspect it hasn't broken 40 degrees yet. I managed to catch one more fish that wasn't picture-worthy before I left.

Went today for 4 hours first real trip of the year here in southern Ill. Buddy caught one just under 2 pounds. And I caught 2 with one just over 2 pounds and this 6 pound stud. Smaller fish on chatterbaits and the big one here on a h20 express lipless crank.

I'm a strong believer in 'showing them something different, but I put more emphasis on on other things. As an example, my favorite body of water is less than 100 acres and the two most often used lures are plastic worms and lip less cranks. To be more specific, green pumpkin worms and chrome Rat-L-Traps. I use those two baits over 50% of the time, but I'm still showing them something different. The difference is my presentation and differences in the bait itself. By going larger,or smaller, offering something with a different action (Red Eye Shad, or a paddle tail worm). or just a difference in presentation (different speed, or angle of presentation, swimming vs. dragging, pumping the rod vs. reeling it back steady), I'm showing them something different. As for natural vs. unique, I opt for natural to start and if I determine that the fish are aggressive (active) I'll switch to something different. That's when I want my offering to stand out the most. Bass don't have long term memory, but the do, instinctively avoid repeated, negative responses. A fish that's been caught on a rattling crank a few times in a short period, will avoid one because of the repeated negative experience. Similar to a fish that's inhaled a falling leaf a few times. After that it will ignore them because nothing positive resulted from previous attempts.

I have quite a bit of success with the 110, 110 +1 as well as their topwater baits. YMMV A-Jay

We catch 100's of bass every year on all white spinnerbaits in the early spring. Out of a pit that is 90 acres. Any fish that is over 18 inches has a tag or gets tagged when we catch it. We have caught the same fish multiple times a year on the same baits in the same spots. Dont think we've caught the same fish in the same day but I know we have in the same week. Some fish get caught more than others. Last September I caught a 6+ that when I caught it was the 3rd time it had been caught that year. Twice out of the same cove. But on the opposite end of the spectrum I caught a 7+ that hadn't been caught in 6 years and was a 6lber when it was caught in 2011 (we estimated that fish at nearly 15 years old). When I caught it, it was literally as far away as I could have from the previous catch site. Fish are similar to other animals, some are very aggressive and careless while others are cautious no matter the circumstances. Both of the fish I mentioned were caught on slow moving bottom baits not reaction style baits. So I'd like to think that presentation is the #1 factor, followed by location, action, profile, and color. I don't buy into the 15,00 different colors offered by bait companies. But to sum it up I think what can "condition" fish to baits is the presence of anglers not the baits themselves (bad boat positioning, loud noises on bank or boat, rainbow casts that result in large splashes etc.) All over 5# and all were tagged. The big one is the 7 I'm talking about

Not often enough! ?

He says they are delicious and he doesn't care how much they cost. He just wants more. So get out there and buy more expensive baits.

Megabass baits are the top of the line, like Steetz rods and reels and the G. Loomis line of rods. It really boils down to confidence. Do you have confidence that the Megabass baits will produce more strikes? The fish really don't care about the bait's brand or price. If you can use a parallel bait to the Megabass bait and it produces strikes and catches the bass then you stay with the lower cost bait as you will have confidence in throwing it. On the other hand, it you are a serious tournament fisherman and want any perceived advantage over the other tournament guys then you go with the higher priced baits as you will have more confidence in them attracting bass than the lower costing baits. (Even though many guys on this site suggest you change the treble hooks on some of the higher priced baits) I caught my two eight-pound personal bests on a Senko and a KVD Strike King 1.5 Squarebill Sexy Shad crankbait. And if you look at the lunker pages in Bassmaster Magazine you can note the baits the guys and gals are using to catch those big ladies and they are right off the shelf, nothing fancy or on the high priced end of the spectrum. Confidence. It boils down to, as usual, confidence in your baits, rods, reels, line and techniques.

A spool of Stren mono or P Line CXX costs less than 3 cents a yard. Both the CXX and Stren in a 6,8 or 10 pound class make fine leader. Keep your quality fly leader material for its intended use. You will be better off.

Yes sir. Lots of thump. Throw them deep and yo-yo them back.

The cost of new boats is increasing which in turn, props up the used boat prices. Used boat prices increase in the spring as well. Buying in the fall might be a better option

Today, I caught my first 5 lb'er for the year 2018. I hope there are more and bigger fish to come. I give more detail in the thread below.

Holey Land 2/17/18 6:30-Noon Blue Bird Sky W/T 74* Water Stained No Current Picked up Rick in Weston and we drove up 27 to the Palm Beach Line. We had the place to ourselves. Once in the water we went down the East canal all the way to the east bend. Rick started with a HB Frog, and I started with the Wooper Popper. They were not having any top water action today. I switched to a U-Vibe and on the first cast had a bass. Soon we were both throwing plastics and both catching at a constant pace. You had to fish slow and most bass were caught deep along the bottom. We drifted about a mile and a half, and then motored to the big lakes. We fished the big lake and then called it quits. We finished with exactly 40 fish, and several mudfish. If you threw back in the pads you got nailed by Blue Gill, and Brim, aggravating little guys! I have not been out there since the killing of the boater by target practice nuts cases. I am happy to say there was no shooting anywhere out there . The FWC must be enforcing the laws. Great job guys! A nice day of fishing with good company.

Lure wraps?

I have been using Mister Twister Keeper hooks successfully for 25 years for just about everything plastics related. They have caught me hundreds (thousands?) of bass. I see no reason to change now.

What a rough life he lives.

1. Yes. Try fishing a highly pressured public pond in South Florida from land and you will quickly learn how smart bass can be, especially +8 pounders. 2. Both have their place and time that they do best. 3. Depends on what mood the bass are in. Sometimes I will use a attention getting technique if the bass are very active (to get reaction bites), other times I use a slower technique or a technique that I know most people are not using in the areas I fish (difficult to catch bass).

I think they are worth it, especially the Vision 110 series....If you're a color junkie like me, there's well over 100 different colors in the 110 series alone so you can always find something to match what you're looking for. Nothing is magic, but they are extremely well made products and I don't mind paying a little more for that. 'Worth it' is up to the individual...But if the question is "Does the quality/value match the price tag?"..IMO the answer is definitely yes. This video is pretty cool in showing how their baits are still hand assembled, QC'd, painted, etc...I have no connection to MB, just a guy that likes their stuff.

I was inspecting a stormwater retention pond last month and this pond was located in the woods with only a narrow dirt path down one side. I forgot to clear the path first. I was so intent on looking at the deficiencies I was seeing within and along the pond that I did not notice the alligator hiding in the brush along the bank. Luckily, he heard me first. I was only 7 or 8 feet away when he went crashing into the water. He was only a 7 footer, but that's still big enough to grab your ankle and drag you into the water. I finished inspecting that facility, went home and changed my undies, then hit the next stop

Sorry for your losses. I had just turned 19, 4 weeks into college, and was going to live life like most college kids. I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. While having to quit college, go through chemo and radiation, really sucked it woke me up! Life is way too short to stress, get bent out of shape, worry about things out of your control. There's only 2 guarantees in life. Death and taxes. So after coming out on the winning end of my battle with cancer, I told myself life is way too short! While it would be fun to run around like a wild mustang and live the single life, do whatever I wanted whenever, and party like there's no tomorrow. There's the finer things in life. I won my fight in 2003, married my wife in 2006, my son was born in 2010. With my treatment kids were a roll of the dice, my son was 9 weeks early and spent 52 days in the hospital. Nothing has ever came easy for us 3. But we're on the right side of the grass and enjoying life. Enjoy the new boat, enjoy the cigar, enjoy the drink, and order that rod. Life's too short order 2! ?

As soon as there's open water (usually 1st week in April or so) and until the hard water season (usually the last week in November), my mission is to go every day. However, I can't realistically pull that off. So between un-fish-able weather and life events, I'm often on the water 2 or 3 days a week. But when the weathers stable & bites on - it's quite a bit more. Mid-summer calls for night ops which is actually a lot easier for me to pull off. As for waters fished, I'm in an area with a ton; most pretty close. So I rotate through them depending on the weather & wind direction - seems to make a difference. A-Jay

Don't forget that the Bait Monkey loves you, too.

I personally wouldn’t recommend the Pop X, which is a finesse-type popper at 2.5”. I had to mail it back due to some quality control issues and they handled things quite well. However, at that price point, I wish I didn’t have to go thru that hassle for one little expensive lure. I hear great reviews on the Pop Max, so maybe that model will restore things

I’ll study google maps before heading to a new spot. But it doesn’t show what’s under the water. So yeah, I’ll drag a football jig around pretty aimlessly to get a feel of whatever is down there. You wouldn’t believe how many awesome ponds I see on Google maps I see and can’t fish because there’s no access

The alligators are a huge concern in my areas as well, especially this time of year when the initial warming occurs and they are hungry after being idle most of the winter. The other day I saw half of a Blue Heron in one of the lagoons I drove past. We also have a number of lagoons with grassy and woody vegetation surrounding the banks. Sometime I bring a machete and do some pruning to clear a spot, especially in areas where I need to clear not just around the bank but also a path for quick egress in case a gator gets too aggressive. My buddy usually brings a handgun when he joins us fishing in these types of lagoons. Most alligators will leave people alone or sometimes annoy the heck out of you by chasing your bait. But I've had enough close calls in the past year that I am overly cautious. As I get older I'm less and less inclined to fish these overgrown areas. It gets to be too much work, especially during the heat of the summer. Luckily we have hundreds and hundreds of lagoons in my area and even the ones with clear banks are usually fairly low pressure. Later today I'm off to Sgt. Jasper Park for a few hours and heading to some of the lagoons deeper in the woods. I'm hoping to find enough clear areas to fish. We'll be taking our bikes so we can cover a lot of ground.

A $20 Popmax has accounted for more fish the past three years than all other baits combined. The math is pretty simple on that one.

Try sniper, there's a big difference. it handles almost as easy as mono, especially in the 12lb and 14lb range. also, spool half your spool with mono then add the floro on top. will save you some money and handle better.

I try to make it about 4X a month, but it turns into about 2 due to volleyball tourney's and whatever else life throws at me. I've been in a funk since my dad died last spring and it seems a little less important than it used to. Besides that I was really on a roll catching quality size fish for a few years, but I didn't catch any big ones last year. My last really good fish was 2 Novembers ago and it was a new PB. At least I got to show my dad that pic. Got skunked yesterday after a week of 60-70 degree days. My first skunk in more than a year, even in COLD water. Not a single bite in a pond.

Most of you guys know darn well that if the SPAM filters change your post to "Another Site," it is because of just that: SPAM. Would you prefer our site to be littered with spam, or useful information? Agree or disagree, we work very hard to keep this place full of unbiased information from everyday anglers, not some sponsored pro. It's not just one company, either. There are several. I have not handed out any warnings, but I will if side stepping the filters continues. As far as a shallow running bait in the conditions the OP describes, I like a Luck Craft LC Wake, in the larger size.

As stated all Flouro is not created equal. In regards to fishing, Its the very definition of you getting what you pay for. I use 100% Flouro (Sniper or Shooter) on every combo I own except 2. Yes, a quality line is more expensive and there is a learning curve and useing a conditioner helps. However, Once you master the nuances of it you'll understand why it's as popular as it is. Mike

Without getting into the psychology, game theory or fractal models, going with the most mentioned bait in this query probably wont lead to "using something different". This is not to say that the 6th sense isn't a good bait or won't work well for you. In addition to the original LC RC1, the Combat Crank, and Aska do well for me early in the season (as well as most other times).

I fly fish a fair amount and, other than trout fishing for pressured fish, seldom use tippet even on my fly rods. That said, it will be fine.

Reread @WRB original post and break it into sections. Then think about the basics. We always forget about the basics. Where is the restaurant? Where is the forage? Why is the forage where it's at? Did the restaurant move down the block? So, the forage is there but why aren't the bass? Well, maybe they are still waiting for the restaurant to open or sitting in the lobby waiting to get seated. The wind to pick up, the sun to come out. Cloud cover. The moon. Drop in pressure. What is a route? Simple, it's a break. Simpler, it's an area where 2 or more different things come together. What is a den? It's the safe zone. Simple, it's cover and/or deep water, deep being a relative term. I think it's wise to learn the habits and patterns of all the fish in the ecosystem, especially the bait.

I respectfully disagree with this. My Frog Rod is my highest dollar rod and also my longest and heaviest with the most back bone. I throw a frog deep into some pretty gnarly areas and a lot of times I'm "steering* those bass outta there. I want a darn good rod with darn fast reel.

Well got a call last Thursday my boat is in. I will be picking it up on Saturday 2/24.....I'm super excited

X2. Dorado, I think the vast majority of members agree with your assessment. It is nice, now and then, to let Glenn and the moderators know how much we appreciate their support for this site. And also all of the guys and gals that give information and secrets without anything in return.

I like a 7'5" rod, but I do a lot of my tournament fishing as a co-angler so I prefer the shorter rod because I'm dealing with power poles, outboards, consoles, etc. in my way.

Did a little offshore fishing this morning. Gorgeous day. Got this grouper and three Spanish mackerel, including a really big one. ...oh, and this massive nurse shark.

Growing up in North Carolina I fished with spinnerbaits and senkos all my life. Anything past 7 feet was uncomfortable for me. Fishing deep was not just a weakness, I blocked it as an option. Moved to California with deep, clear and heavily pressured reservoirs. I was a fisherman out of water. I remember not catching bass for an entire season. I was so frustrated I didn't fish for 8 months. After receiving tips from a local tackle shop and trying a new lake I caught my first fish. I felt like I won the classic. I've been improving deep water skills since. There's no substitution for just doing it. I told myself even if I don't catch anything I'll still learn. Next is improving punching.

Ya really want what no one else is throwing? Bill Lewis Echo 1.75™ Full Bodied Sound: with a Low-Knock & High-Rattle

Sounds a lot like a discontinued Rick Clunn Thunder Shad. I've got a bunch in bright chartreuse/purple back. Made of cedar with a subtle wobble. No rattles, but my best tournament ever was fishing one in water dirty enough to plow. Remember, bait fish don't get louder just because the water is dirty.

The top bait is a 6th Sense Crush Flat X75 squarebill ~ This is the bait you've described - look it up. Killer bait - at least for me. A-Jay

Went out to New Orleans City Park yesterday and saw a ton of fish on beds. Still very skittish and hard to get em to bite, but had a blast sight fishing. Caught the 12 inch male off the bed, flipped back in with my next cast, and this little female came from about 10 feet away and walked all the way to my sinking baby brush hog.

Make it a specific dark alley, explain that you won't be wearing pants, and that if they want the price they need to refer to you as "The Alley Cat" followed with a pronounced purring sound. From that point on, speak of yourself only as the third person as "The Alley Cat". Actual conversation about seriously selling stuff aside, you can run with this as far as you want to make things awkward. Explain that you'll only accept exchange of obscure foreign currency like Icelandic Krona or Chik-fil-et sauce packets. Require they wear bathing caps. Refer to them as "The Rooster". If you're going to make it weird, go hard.

UPDATE: So I just signed on to view my claim and it looks like it’s been approved for the full insured amount! I was very surprised to see a resolution so quickly after hearing about some of your personal experiences. I was expecting a long, drawn out process so I was relieved to see this today. We’ll see how long the check takes to arrive. I appreciate everyone’s input on the matter and hope that anyone who may have to go through this process in the future receives the same, favorable outcome I did.

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