Paul Roberts

Hi, @.ghoti.Thanks. I know I can't change an action via guides. I'm also not trying to duplicate older rods. And... the last thing I want is a soft blank. I'm trimming blanks, at both ends. Been talking with someone at Batson, and it starts with the right length and power blank, and trimming from there. Looks like I have to go longer yet.

I just looked into them. The weight and weedlessness could be useful in my waters too.

Bassman, curious... What do you like about the DS in cold water? Does the tail move? Does it have to?

Guides I ordered did not come smaller than 7. So I ordered 6s of another type. I guessed at tip sizes and missed on one blank. I am trying to slow the actions.

Dunno. They sure hit lures well. I assume they will feed, if not too preoccupied and/or out of position to feed. When males are on beds and guarding, they generally don't feed; It's not the priority it seems But this doesn't mean they won't feed, if given the chance. They are opportunistic but opportunities for cost effective feeding aren't all that frequent for bedding bass. I video'd a guarding male attack and eat a large water spider that happened across the surface above his bed. Looked like a purposeful feeding strike to me. I also found a dead, distorted, young painted turtle in the bed of a large tending male (w/swim-up fry). The turtle looked to me like it had passed through a gut. In fact, here's a pic. You can see the fry too. So, that male had been tending that bed for a good two weeks, and the turtle appeared at swim-up (Day15). What do you think? Did he eat that turtle? As to females, I think they feed right up to, and right after, spawning.

So far this winter I've ordered from Mudhole, Jann's, Getbit, and Barlow's. Only trouble has been shipping times (mostly pre-CV19). I've been modifying actions on blanks and ended up needing to re-order guides, twice! The 10-day waits have been rough. Just ordered from Barlow's though and, by tracking, that pkg is moving along! Phew!

I hear you! But, I'd want my dang lure back! :))

Well... we don't have gators here. But we do have grass carp, and occasionally I'll foul one. Ugh! "I want my lure back!" I shout. Sometimes, luckily, I just get a giant scale. Other times I have to fight them out. Why is it though that I most often stick them with a finesse rod! The other day, I came into a BIG fish. Thought it was a grass carp. But, it was a large cat, about 28" worth, and, yeah, it took a Ned grub on a finesse rod.

Yep - Check this guy out. I wouldn't want to bass fish with such a rig, but... it shows how to achieve super accuracy.

None here. My waters are shoreline and float tube. And I'll be the only one out there in <50F water. I consider it safe. Did lose some good water this spring to an ornery landowner whose closed right-of-way to that public water.

I'll mess around with them and report back.

This is pretty much an average year, historically. But, it's been a little while since we've had a "normal" year. A string of years early thaws that had me fishing open water in February. Miss that!

Thanks. Hmmm... No other use for them. So, I'm going to take a Dremel to them. See what if I can resurrect them.

Thanks, A-Jay. Wishing you... a heat wave. It's coming... It's just taking its sweet time this year. Once it breaks things should play catch-up pretty quick. I finally got out for my first outings, and water temps are at seasonal norms, despite a late ice-out.

SM's, LM's?

Yeah, it looks like the hook eye is probably getting bound up. The ones I tried fishing with had the paint cleaned off the eye. Will try to modify these blades to see if I can free them up. Otherwise, it's on to another brand.

The ones I got were from Jann's and they have a little bar to affix the jighead to. I did bend the blade up, looking at a Chatterbait I had with me. To no avail. Guess I'll need the split ring ones.

I put together some bladed jigs, wanting to have a smaller hook gap than what's on Chatterbaits. And they didn't work! Oddly, the blade barely vibrated. Can't see what's wrong, except the Chatterbait blades are very thin metal. The ones I bought were much thicker. What blades would you recommend? Thanks!

Well... there's a lot to it. Others have touched on the major factors. Here's my most recent shot it:

Varies with water body, or more accurately, the land that surrounds those waters. Geology (rock types) underlying the water has a great effect on productivity. Some types are rich in, others nearly devoid of, nutrients or nutrient supporting materials that support food chains. Infertile waters, usually very clear, are actually helped, biological productivity wise, by incoming nutrients from agricultural and urban runoff. Then, too much of a "good thing" is a bad thing. Too much sediment causing "muddy" water can make much of the deeper areas of a water body uninhabitable, at least by creatures the size of fish. And over fertility causing excessive plankton blooms and rooted plant growth can develop oxygen issues in the extreme seasons, summer and winter. I'm guessing your waters have plenty of fertility, due to geology and/or human land-use, so do best without excessive run-off what's called "non-point source" pollution.

If they are leaving the beds when you cast, my first guess is that they have not received eggs yet. When they do, they'll likely stay put. They get progressively more aggressive as the brood develops. Fishing pressure is another likely issue. It shouldn't make them entirely uncatchable though, unless you are clunky about it. As suggested above, don't let them see you. Mark a target fish, then get out of sight for a good 10minutes. Sneak back and cast, without them knowing you are there. Cast beyond and to one side so that your cast doesn't alarm them. I like weightless, or lightly weighted soft plastics for a lot of my sight-fishing: worms, tubes mostly. One really deadly technique is to swim a swimming worm (ribbon-tail) slowly above the fish. Everyone lets it fall to the bottom and fish get jaded to that. I personally don't fish to males. But I will fish to females. So I like to ID what's going on at the site, then back off and make an approach plan. Hope this helps.

Sounds like Ned's favorite jig head color for his Ned Rig: red.

Aha! So it is a TX thing! My craws are all brown or green. Many, actually come out of winter hibernation, black, having been down in the muck and leaves for some time. I've never seen a "red" crayfish -that wasn't boiled. Gold black back! That's the one I just painted red! Do I need to go out and buy some gold/blk again??? :))

Good thread. I have never been a "red" guy. Like tbone, I've been a natural colors guy in spring mostly. And I've always used chartreuse as my "light bulb" color. And I catch fish. In fact, in spring, everything seems to catch... something. But, I've been listening to guys like txchaser, and others, who seem to do better on red. I am curious how chartreuse stacks up against red. The vision thing I was talking about has to do with a change in visual pigments in fish coming out of winter. Nothing has been done on bass that I'm aware of on this. But trout and salmon were found to shift their visual pigments to better cover longer wavelengths (reds) as they come shallow in spring. Bass also migrate from deep to shallow in spring, although to a lesser extent. So... it's not only possible, but... mebbe... even likely that bass shift their vision capabilities toward the reds as they move into the shallows. Why is red hot so early? And then seems to peter out as spring progresses? Here’s my guess: Color vision is all about the ability to contrast objects against background lighting. Bass eyes peak in the red and green bc green maximizes light in green (vegetated) environments. And red is the contrast color, and one that “shines” in shallow water. Deeper waters tend to shift toward blues btw, which is the peak absorption for trout and salmon, and other deep water, and open water species. I’m wondering if red is so hot bc bass are coming out of “bluer” environments, and those red pigments are… novel, for lack of a better word. They then may become incorporated into shallow water vision after bass have been shallow for a while, diminishing its effect? Pure… reaching for straws here. The other good option -and one that must be reckoned with- is that the “red phenomenon” is a myth passed on over the years. I believe it started in Texas actually, and has since spread… all the way into MY tackle box in recent years. :)) Question is, do I want to spend the time to experiment with “red” this spring? Time rolls by fast this time of year. I do not want to be chasing a… myth. But, I hear experiences like txchasers loud and clear. Glad he’s out doing that and reporting it. I may just join you one year. This year? Hmmmm… I don’t even own any red jerkbaits. I did add some red lipless to the arsenal, and even, just this winter, painted an old chrome Rattl-Trap red with a dark back. It’s in the early spring box, ready to roll.

Cool. Interesting. I like those colors. Always liked red underside and dark top-side. The effectiveness of red lures seems to be a real thing. But, I've never been sold on the red meaning "crayfish". I suspect it may instead have something to do with fish vision coming out of winter. That's just a guess, in my trying to understand how fish could mistake... anything red, for a crayfish. Most craws aren't red, unless you boil them. And they don't rip through the water column like a lipless. Something else has to be at work there. If it were all jigs and chatterbaits, I'd be more open to the crayfish hypothesis.