bigbill

Fishing in the light rain is awesome but the heavy rain can stirr up too much bacteria and change the PH of the water for a few days. There's a pro and con to fishing in the rain. But i have seen bass catching frenzy's prefrontal, during the light rain and when the rain lets up for a while between rain storms. I think overall its the low light situation that causes the bass to feed more. The weather front also triggers something in there bodies too so they put the feed bag on. I have hit this frenzy a few times now and i have caught weird colored fish during this time too. They look like white/pink sunfish/crappies. Others that i have met fishing have caught these white/pink fish too. I have no clue as to what they are. I'm thinking its the frontal plus the moon phases that can cause this feeding frenzy I hit sometimes but not as often as i would like to see. I just can't nail it down as to when it happens. Its probably more complicated than i'm thinking it is. One time fishing from one spot from shore i caught 19 bass back to back. Another time i probably caught about 50lbs of bass, i lost count as to how many bass i caught. Another time me and my son caught doubles for an hour on mepps inline spinners. The inline spinners like mepps and joesfly's seem to be the best lures during this time with cranks second a close second. I swear the fishing is so hot a bare hook would work too. It can be non stop fishing, a bass per cast. My older brother always told me to stay going and the fish will turn on sooner or later, he was right.

Try bluegill and sunfish colored lures in the early am. I use a few different lures in the early mornings. I use a deep 10' diving rebel BIG Claw crawfish, a BPS Topnocker (topwater). I been using a norman thin "N" in bluegill too.

Here we go; I get dressed and put my shoes on the sameway everytime I get up early to fish. (3:30am) Then i'm very very very stealthy and make no noise when i'm at my fishing spot. I even got blackbears and bigfoot beat when it comes to being stealthy. Trust me i got bear and bigfoot stories too. :

First the eco system needs these turtles to survive. But i do hate it when there around because nothing bites. I have dragged a snapper in the size of my 15" tire on my jeep wrangler twice in one night. His legs were tilling the bottom but i got him in and let him go. At another place in CT we have one thats 4' in diameter because we can see him swim under the bridge we fish from. Another time I hooked him and he stuck his head up and my son thought it was a log. Then the log moved. I just cut my line because his head was that big. I didn't want to mess with it. BigBill Becareful when working your lures along the bottom the turtles sit on the bottm like rocks waiting to strike anything that swims by them. I was using a timber doodle in the weeds when it came out on the rocky point and a rock grabbed my lure. Of course i was going to lose my lure so i punished it(P1ssed). I really hate water snakes!!!!!!!

I have a complete air brush setup i got for christmas and i want to learn how to repaint my old lures with new hot colors and graphics. Who sells the best painting supplies or has the stencils for making the scales on the lures?? I need to learn how to do it too. BB

When i first started bass fishing i purchased around 6 or more different scents to test out. My first one was the orginal baitmate bass and i been using it ever since. I been using Yum & Riverside crawfish scents too. I did notice if i use baitmate bass scent and i change up sometimes to a garlic scent. On my senko type baits i don't use a scent on my first cast. If i get a strike and a miss one shot of scent is a definite hook up on the next cast. Becareful using scents from shore or with others closeby too because everyone around you will catch fish i proved that many times. One shot of scent covers the human and tackle box oders. BB

We use the lepord frog with the prop its a hot one here. I purchased a $3 off the wall brand spook because of its orange color. That cheap lure caught bass one day that was awesome...... This tells me and i agree that sometimes color matters and sometimes the frenzy is so bad the'll hit a bare hook. So "size" "color" and "presitation" matters. But my motto is; "big bait big fish"

I still have some new ones yet. I been buying up the discontinued culprit worms right now. I started fishing when the Creme worms were the only ones and watching Gadabout Gadis with his float plane and Jerry McKinnis fishing shows after all Jerry is the one who started all this bass fishing stuff we owe him for sure... Godbless them all. Enjoy everyday "fishing" I got so old so fast... ;D

I don't drink, its just diet coke. But i hope the lure police don't catch my lure going to slow or too fast? ;D TIP; WATCH OUT FOR SNAKES SUNNING THEMSELVES IN PATHWAYS AND ON ROCKS.

I'm fishing an old dammed river that flows off a large lake here were many boats are run daily. I recently noticed the oil on the surface of the water in the pond after a busy weekend on monday morning. At first it looks like a scent was used but there's no one there. Since it didn't go away like scent does i figure its the two stroke oil from the boat engines thats the run off from the lake into the river into my pond. There are no power boats on my pond at all. I know the oil isn't as bad as the gulf but it has to be hurting the wild life??? Any thoughts?? Do you think the oil can be hurting the fishing? A few years back we purchased a Briggs & Stratton 5hp four stroke outboard. Were kind of going green were we can. I figure we can eliminate the two stroke oil. I know this is a touchy subject but someday everything will be four stroke, even the dirtbikes are changing over too a little at a time. The two stroke oil is taking its toll on land too.

I'm fishing smaller ponds that were dammed so they used the water power in the 1800's. These are still flowing rivers. Since i have 3 or 4 places close together I go thru my favorite ritual of baits and move quickly to the next spot if nothings happening. I'm gunnin and runnin from shore too. If I had a small boat it would only slow me down. Its funny how one place will be dead with nothing happening while another place may come to life that was dead yesterday. The PH can change very rapidly i guess. BB

Fishing from shore is the same as from a boat only its backwards. You can also have good success too. Knowing the bottom structure like drop off's, deep holes, rocky points and were the changes in the bottom structures as is important too. I like the portable hummingbird fish finder. I use it more for seeing what the depths are than finding fish. You'd be surprsied how every guy fishing from shore will say what the bottom is like infront of us. The fish finder doesn't lie when it comes to depth. Once you know what the bottom structure is like you can adjust your way of fishing it. The downfall is sometimes we can't reach the fish that are breaking the surface. I seen one fish work over the lilly pads for a month or so just out of my casting reach. But fishing every morning and watching this fish i was very patient. One day it came close enough for a cast. I casted about 25' to the right of it and past it so i didn't spook it. I seren it make a pass and hit my topwater lure. After an awesome fight i landed a 30" pickerel. The fight was just to fast for a bass. At another spot the samething happened i watched a fish tearing up the lilly's and i got a cast near it as i had it in my hand there in the lilly's they were still be torn up. I had a 6lb 1oz bass in my hand but there was another big fish out there still. My point is in fishing from shore don't let it discourage you, we need to adjust to fish from shore remember its backwards. Plus when your lure gets near the shoreline slow it up and maybe pause just incase a fish is nearby. Take your time with casts too don't rush. This is whay i like to go early when no one is there and take my time and fish slow. As we get better at it the numbers of fish caught will increase. Now were are the bass feeding? There up near the shoreline ambushing the baitfish in low light conditions like early mornings and late evenings. The bass's eyes change faster to the different light conditions when the baitfishes eye's take longer to change. This is why the feeding frenzy takes place at low light conditions when the light changes. I'd like to hear more from shore fisherman here too. Maybe you have a trick or tactic you want to talk about too. Remember its not luck in fishing luck is at the casino. Its skill that catches fish. BB

If i wake up i thank god for he has given me another day to enjoy this world. My biggest thing is if i can make it to the shower and get dressed(arthritis) then i'm good to go. ;D But i have noticed how important how much a steady lure speed matters. We really can make mistakes by not making a perfect full circle on the crank.

Your right about big worms. I used a 12" culprit in shad color one night and caught a 13" pickerel. At first i was thinking what was he thinking? But then i knew i was on to something. So your going even bigger? I seen a snake going across the pond one night and i was counting the strikes it got and it got over 35 strikes as it went over the weeds.

Go pan fishing and watch behind the hooked panfish how many predators are following it. I have a place hidden in the woods with big bass. You can see the dark lines moving off in a distance that are big bass the place is full of 10+ bass. I hooked a sunfish on a rebel bee lure and started to reel it in when all of a sudden the big gal went for it as i pulled it out of the water. Trust me these bigger bass don't want a snack they want a meal. I purchased all blue gill and sunfish colored crankbaits. The norman thin "n" work awesome. Panfish colors for daylite and chartruese for low light conditions(dusk). Terry at TClark Custom lures made me some larger bass lures in panfish colors i'll have to post some pics of them.

Trust me there all over out there. We were circling a school of weak fish in long iland sound trolling and picking them off a little at a time when a clown roars right into the school and stands up and casts out and drove them down. My buddy who just got back from nam had his dads new boat out fishing anchored when a guy came up right against his dads boat. My buddy pulled anchor and moved and the guy followed him. He them bumped his dads new boat so my buddy moved again and again the guy followed and bumped the new boat again. Well that was it my buddy lost it and pull his 45 and told the guy to move away or theres going to be a hole below his waterline. I felt bad for my buddy since the war he isn't wrapped too tight but he got pushed. My brother was fishing on a local dock with about 50 other guys catching blue fish. A boat came in too close trolling and he hooked my brothers lure. The boat guy had words with my brother and the whole dock fired up and told the boat guy to come ashore. My brother had a 14' harnell custom rod and i could see his cast go farther than anyone elses. Plus my brother could press 175lbs barbell with one arm. He did cement work. Luckily the guy never came ashore. I have more stories but there worse so i won't post them. My job working for the engineering group put me on the road at times. I was going from the wilds in the green mountains in VT on weekends to the heart of new york city to work during the week. I knew already i liked it better with the wild animals in VT. I went from zoo to zoo.

I must be getting old(59 1/2) because i went out lastnight and used mostly topwater lures and i found myself off the mark of a perfect presentation. I mainly found my self not cranking the reel handle in a perfect circle so the bait goes smoothly thru the water making the perfect wake. I crank my mister twister top props very slowly giving the fish a chance to strike it with very little expended energy. I also used shallow floating cranks in the same way too. The only thing i seen were the fish making practice runs at my baits. The water level is very very low right now and i think the fish are on the edge(nervious) about it. The beaver isn't keeping up with his dam so the place is draining fast now. The crappies / panfish are on the beds i think right now. Getting back to my reel cranking its very important to make a perfect presentation when cranking the reel speed wise you need to practice with your hand making the perfect circle so the speed of the lure is constant and not intermitten. This is more important than you think. Trust me practice it and you will get more strikes. Bill

When i'm fishing and the snapping turtles show up my chances of catching anything is slim to none. I think the fish avoid the turtles and move away.

I been fishing one place for over ten years now. I've seen smallies only during the rain. It makes me wonder were are they the other times? I'm in a large man made body of water thats a flowing stream that was dammed up. I use the same baits all the time.

Smaller rebel crawfish crankbaits in chartruese or match the crawfish natural colors in your area. We also use joesflies short striker in the pools too. I try to bring it over rocks into the pools os i don't spook the bass by casting it into them. Remember the river bass are always hungry and the river bass are much stronger fighters because there swimming all the time against the river current. I'm not sure if any have noticed this or not. I've been told to fish lakes/ponds for bass during the spring/fall and fish the rivers during the summer for bass.

With your elbow when your in the shower run the hot water over it as hot as you can take it for a while. I do it all the time with my knees and back/hips trust me it works. I do it everyday so i can function. I also suffer from back pain all day long too i been also using a heat pad at night and now its much better too. I'm starting to fish everyday again.

Terry has also been here alot helping everyone out with tips on lure making too. I'll have to post pics of some of the lures he repainted for me and some lures he designed when i told him what i wanted. He made me some awesome sunfish cranks which are larger than any known crank. He also made me a larger sunfish popper too were the sunfish lays on its side like its wounded. I just used it today and it works awesome. Terry is the man......... 8-) I almost lost this sunfish lure today but i got it out of the wires(telephone pole) and out of the tree branch it tangled in next. Thank God i changed my topwater line to 14lb test just lastnite. I just didn't see the wires going across the water thru the trees.

I haven't fished past 9pm yet but i seen the guys using mepps inline spinners past that time. I know the bass turn on at dusk but these guys told me they turn on gain later on too. When i go out at 3:30am i use the BPS topnocker and i do switch to the rebel BIG claw crawfish crankbait that dives to 10ft. The crawfish crank caught my biggest bass so far(10lbs). Around 5am of course. two feet from shore. BigBill

A few years back Glenn gave me some advise on how to use spinnerbaits. I took a mann's hank parker 1/8oz classic spinnerbait and changed the skirt, added a trailer and changed the spinner to a larger size. Of course I caught many bass on it but one day right at the shoreline when i was about to take it out of the water a 30" pickerel ripped it off my line and its been MIA ever since. I have caught pickerel as big as 27", 28" and 29" so far between the bass. I have to admit I want bass too but what a fight the bigger pickerel are, so i enjoy them too. I may target northern pike soon too. I been hunting for a new state record in large mouth bass for over 10+ years now. I'm having a blast being retired and having fun no matter what bites. Here's a hint the bigger bass eat sunfish..... BigBill

Terry Clark (TClark Custom Lures) has been ill and closed up his shop. He needs some prayers. He's been a great guy to me and helped me out alot with painting my older baits and making me new ones. My prayers go out for him. I wish him a speedy recovery. Godbless BigBill I hope i posted this in the correct section mainly because he spent a lot of time here help us and i hope he comes back here to help us more.