Paul Roberts

While it could be a resident fish on that brushpile, for however long, it could also be a "personality trait" -likely both. There have been a few studies with marked fish that have shown that bass, and other fish, are individuals. And some few are highly "vulnerable to angling" and others at eh other extreme have been dubbed "immune to angling". I've found that I may make recaptures on the same fish, a year or two apart, and not always in the same location.

Don't know how much it really matters. But... for nearly all lures I've gone with translucents and reflectives in high vis conditions, and opaques or fluorescents in low vis/aggressive conditions. With topwater's I like chrome, and translucents in high vis; And white or chartreuse bellies in low vis. I may also change size of lure.

Krazy Glue!

Only thing I can add to all the above advice is... the wind, which may be affecting your detection/timing.

Agree 3 fish is a small sample to judge your hook-setting, or the fish's behaviors. At any one time, some fish may be aggressive, others less so. You may not be doing anything wrong exactly. Your questions may be more about your own comfort level. Jigs can be a challenge this way, at first. Not bc they are difficult, but bc they don't load your rod by pulling back. It's easy to feel "lost", which means, you don't know what's gong on at your lure. That is, until you get to know how to be in control of that "nothingness". Good that you have experience with soft plastics already. My suggestion is you give yourself time to get familiar with what fishing a jig feels like, where it is in the water column, what you are bumping into with it, and what fish feel like. Some suggestions to expedite things: -First, I wonder if your rig may be a bit powerful for such a light jig in terms of feel/detection. A finesse type jig would likely be better on a M power rod, and not too heavy a line. If the rod is too powerful/stiff for the lure, it won’t load on retrieve, making detection too critical. This may or may not be an issue depending on the rod and the line. If the line is too thick, it’ll hamper detection too. This may or may not be the case, but you'll know when you get the rod-line-lure right. -Second, when you retrieve, keep things simple at first. I'd suggest starting with a simple swimming retrieve by just reeling, and not moving the rod at all. The reason not to move the rod is so that anything that comes up that line… wasn’t you! It was the bottom, a stick, a weed, a rock, a fish. Reel slowly until the lure starts bumping things. If you hang up too much, retrieve a little faster, go to a lighter jig, or fish a tad deeper. Add triggers by accelerating your reeling, a turn or two. Stop reeling to let the lure fall. But, do not move the rod, let the stuff "down there" do that. You can add rod motions as you learn to be in control of slack line in your retrieves. -Try casting to objects and substrates you can see, and play around with that to familiarize. Then work a bit deeper, out of sight, familiarizing with how long it takes to reach bottom, and what the jig, and line, feel like coming through the water column, and bumping things. First you have to have mindful control of your tackle, and this takes proper tackle and experience. The fish will be your best teachers, and jigs will get bit; You can count on that more than with most lures out there.

One summer, back in the 80s (way before I'd heard about big swimbaits), I experimented going big with my lures, throwing smaller musky lures and 13" worms. I broke several pond records for myself, and a then PB on a 6" Swim Whiz/Believer. I came away feeling that it would be tough to go too big for LMs. As to the OP, weedless inlines... I don't have any, and agree the Keeper Hook "kept" nothing in terms of my plastic baits. The Aglia #3 and 4 are staples for me, in clear water, esp in cold water before the dense weeds are up. The treble does collect soft veges, but those spinners can come through harder veges if I am deft with them. The blade will stop on the obstruction and allow the hook to then slide over it, esp important with wood. I recently went to a double hook, but haven't caught on them yet. To keep line twist down, I've always modified them by bending the line tie up, off "in-line" (see pic). I think it helps some, and doesn't affect the action. Those simple Aglia's, fished well, seem to be one of those lures that don't give many wrong signals, that say just enough to get fish to bite. It's the only non-jig type lure I've caught carp on. Great bass lure, except when pike and pickeral are around!

There are laws in place, usually good general guidelines with some management know-how behind them. Follow them, and you have every right to keep fish for the table. In my mind, there are much better tasting fish than bass, esp in the fertile waters I fish for them in. Walleye, yellow perch, crappie, bluegill, and trout top my list, and I'll usually take a few of these home when I catch them. I release my bass.

I would say, off the cuff, anything on a jig head. Tough to beat hair. But, that would preclude those times when the rig matters more. So, maybe a soft plastic, possibly a 4" finesse worm, or grub/worm thingy. Hi, Dwight. What do you like about the TailDancer?

Easy! Every hour is a whole new world.

Alewife

"The Spawn" is first. "Development I: Coming Into The World" (explores the first year of life) is next. On deck are Development II and III (explore adult life), although I may end up combining them. They should all stand alone just fine, as well. Since the OP asked about print: I still think the IF "Handbook of Strategies", and "Critical Concepts" series are requisite. Another interesting read not already mentioned is Bob Underwood's "Lunker".

WTG! Video was fun to see too.

Wow! WTG! Congrats.

Well... howdy, Roger! Already sent you a PM. But... glad to have you back. And... haven't we already covered everything?? :))

Congrats! That's a tough number to beat up North. Pre-spawn, post-spawn, 23" says plenty. Curious: What happens when you drag an image from your desktop into the post? It must be re-sized first: I make mine 800pix wide.

Enjoy... both of them!

Thanks, Andy. It could have been MUCH better. I tried RW's chant to calm that wind, but for some reason it didn't work. Yes! Bought it new in... ~'84? The rod is also that vintage, a prototype a Berkley rep gave me. It was a pistol grip but my wrists couldn't handle it, so I lopped a handle off a small downrigger rod and made my first long-handle casting rod. Also in the boat with me was a Skyline M spin rod I bought new in 1981 for $65; A lot for me then. Both outfits are GoTo's to this day. In fact, all my fish on this outing were caught on those two outfits. Viewers on my channel will comment on my vintage or "retro" gear. I respond, "That's not retro, that's just my stuff!" When my buddy commented on them in the boat I told him both rigs will go with me to my grave. I have big after-life plans you know. :))

Got an invite from a buddy, our UPS driver up here and one heck of an outdoorsman. I'd spend a day in a boat or hunt camp with him anytime. And did. We hit a local high elevation canyon reservoir hoping for a jerkbait bite. It's a steep sided water plummeting to 100ft quickly. ST was 52-54F and 50F at 10ft. When the wind came on strong ST's eroded to 51-52. Fished those steep sided shorelines where there was large chunk rock. Predominate prey we looked for in the main lake were schools of smelt, evidenced by sonar and wounded smelt floating near the schools. Smelt were mostly in 20 to 100fow. We caught our fish where smelt, and structure, met inside of 20ft. Seemed to be few fish any shallower. But... the wind made it hell on us, despite a drift-sock and Spot-Lock. Too much of the time, when the wind kicked up heavy, we weren't actually "fishing", despite lines in the water. Kinda had to hope the fish would hook themselves. Caught a couple in between blasts in the main lake, then as the whitecaps grew we headed for a cove. But the NE wind came down the pipes of that cove too, flushing the pontoon boats out of there. We found a lee below a big cliff, creating a big eddy, and started marking fish. I thought stocked trout, but some, at least, turned out to be smallmouth. We then spied a point bar with the wind blowing on it, set the Spot-Lock on, and whacked 4 right away, on a jerk and a small swimbait. Then the troll motor batteries went, and with it our boat control. So we called it a day and ran back on whitecaps. Very cool outing. Awesome lake. Just before the blow... Wads of smelt. First fish in the boat. A good one for this lake.

Females will lay in more than one bed. Males will most likely not re-bed, unless it is early in the process and they still have energy to do so. Males caught repeatedly (the one's unlucky enough to bed by the ramp) may not return to a bed. Once worn out, they abandon. Not all males spawn every year. Apparently, spawning takes a toll on the males.

Been "turbulent" here too. AOK though. Nights are short now. Sun is high. A couple years ago we got 40" of snow on May 19th. About a decade back we got 68" in 3days! Both were gone in a week. That 68er had 80F temps following. I'm at high elevation so, those numbers are extreme. But... spring has sprung, life will go on... with a bit of turbulence. Agreed a bit more turbulence than "usual".

another site:

In a float tube... never enough! I need more pockets.

Gorgeous replica's. My!

Thanks, lib. Others in the past have commented on red crayfish in their northern waters. @J Francho posted such a scenario from Oneida Lake, NY. Two species that can be notably red-orange are the Rusty Crayfish, an invasive native in the upper Ohio River drainage. And the Red Swamp Crayfish, an invasive native in the mid-south states; Probably the one in @Catt's post. The ones I've seen here, so far, are brown-ish or green-ish. The two species most common in my waters can have orange tipped pincers and leg joints, at least in fairly clear water. Big old ones, down in mucky bottoms, can be really dark, near black. I threw a red crankbait a few times this spring, but caught on a baitfish color. BTW: That Pit Boss in "Big Texan" is a favorite of mine too. I'm always looking for craw patterns with pale bellies though. Here's a pincer I recovered from a 4lber just last week, that took a "Dirt" (brown/olive back) colored Ned grub.

Good luck with it.