bigbill

My only problem a few years back was a pickerel he had the whole CRANKBAIT in his mouth. Every time I tried to remove the trebled he snapped his mouth shut. He tried to bite me. I finally got it out and released him. I carry a mini carpenters wooden box I made that holds my scents and surgical long needle nose pliers.

Fish parallel to the weed line. I throw topwater weedless baits in the weeds. I don't like to punch thru causing a ruckess I like the sneak attack. Top props, prop bait, floating cranks, floating worm, timber doodle. I let the timber doodle fall into the weed pockets. If I'm fishing parallel to the weed lines I toss a deeper running bait and slow reel it letting it bounce off the bottom. Adjust your bait colors to the water conditions. Fire tiger, citrus, chartreuse could be your freind.

The heat of the summer, A split shot rigged worm. Looking for cover helps too if your fishing 9am to midday. My best times to fish are from early am dark till 9am, at 12 noon, 5pm till dark. The fish put the feed bag on during these times because in the changing light conditions the basses eyes adjust to the changing light conditions faster than the bait fishes eyes do making them easy prey. At 12 noon the plants give off plankton which the baitfish feed on. The baitfish are more vulnerable at this time.

Confidence?..I'm not sure if I have any. I have continued to hone my skills to perfection with most baits and presentations. Don't get hung up with one bait for too long. If it isn't working change presentations. They change baits. What killed then yesterday may not work today. It can be a color thing too. Change colors. Skill is more important than confidence to me anyway patterns change. In fishing the same places what was hot last year might not be hot this year. Throw something different. We're like a baseball pitcher try the change up pitch. Confidence? I have no time to think I just fish. Confidence to me maybe is using the best fishing line I can buy. Excaliber Silver Thread Copolymer Line. Dont ever panick on a tough day, regroup and stay going forward. Finding the correct pattern along with the right presentation will load your boat. It not confidence it's faith in yourself with your skills.

It depends on the age of the fish. My 6.1 lb bass in my pic gave my bait a tour of the dammed river. She was very full of energy. My PB of 10lbs felt more like dead weight but it had some fight. She was old. my best battles are my 6lb to 1 1/2 lb bass and any size pickerel up to 32". i did land a big salmon. My three hot spots get fed off the same lake during the winter run off. The first spot on the river that's dammed gets fed with trout and salmon when they stock the lake upstream. The third spot is another larger body of water that's dammed too. The fish are mostly healthy and fighters.

The inline spinners work great in rivers, streams and lakes/ponds too. Mepps, panther Martin's, joesflys ext.

Get out there, cast it out and just twitch it or slow reel it. Be ready for the hard strikes.

I had a 13" bass take on a 12" culprit worm. He bit the head. Does size really matter? I still say big baits = big fish. I purchased the largest bull frog that bog baits offers. The jury is still out.

I keep plastics in there original bags. But I use new zip lock bags for used plastics. I don't put salted plastics in any of my hardbait tackle boxes. My hooks don't trust anymore.

I have a 99 wrangler but my most dependable jeep is my 55 cj5.

I thought we were going bank fishing. I was new on my job. My co worker was a wise azz and the bosses friend. The over head crane was 3" short on the lift to put a 400# sheave(pulley) on the elevator gear box. I told my co worker to unhook the crane and I'll pick it up and put it on. When I was done I was the talk of the place. No one ever bothered me. My job before this the ones incharge would scream at everyone. My new boss tried it with me. I told him the door opens to the inside of this room and he'd never make it out. It got quiet fast.

I was a one month in the springtime trout fisherman. When the stocked trout were gone so was I. I maybe got out once or twice for bass at a big lake were we rented a boat. I found out my ultra lite fishing setups with 4lb test wasn't working. My cheap $6 Wal-Mart reel was good for trout but the bass ruined it. The bail and drag were toast. The bubble pack Wal-Mart quantum reels were a big step up for me anyway. I switched to Excalibur silver thread line and still use it today on my fin-nor and OKUMA spinning reels. The bottom line is we need good, decent equipment. My pb10# was caught on my Shakespeare rod and quantum reel 8# test Excalibur silver thread copolymer line.

Teasing the bass??

During each recession jobs can be tough to find. I took my chainsaw and cut firewood to sell between jobs I kept busy. I fixed tractors too. It pays to find another nitch for income besides your 40 hours per week job. I still did firewood part time while working a full time job. It felt good to have a backup plan.

Joesflys in firetiger apache at dusk. Years ago as I kid I fished with a 4" uncle Josh white pork trailer on a plain hook. I could see it being pulled every which way in the low light.

When it's tough fishing and you used up all your skills go firetiger in color. If your spot is deep go deep with firetiger. I refused to go home skunked one-day. I threw everything in my tackle box twice but I didn't throw the bomber crank in firetiger. One bass hit it. I landed it and went home. Never give up. I do regret staying with crankbaits and not switching to plastics. Time to change up the baits. I know the bass are there.

What type of line do you use normally instead of mono? I do understand the rubber band mono. i switched to a coloplymer Excaliber silver thread line, less stretch.

Years ago I purchased a orange colored off brand spook on clearance. Of course one early morning it was slow so I tried it. After fan casting and landing 5 decent bass I'm hooked on the orange color. Now I'm trying to find the orange color. I ordered some orange model spray paint along with some spooks so I can paint them. I now found a Zara spook in the orange color number 13 in Thailand on eBay. For the $4.00 in shipping I ordered it. We can get pretty desperate when we look for a certain bait color. We just gotta have it. I even bought a Topnocker to paint orange too. Have you ever gone bonkers to find a certain color bait? Ever notice the orange colored belly on your Crankbaits catch more fish than the none orange colored belly? i figure since I'm recouping from my knee injections I'd like to get my baits in order.

I been using the copolymer Excaliber silver thread line for almost two decades now. It's less stretch over standard mono. No more lost fish due to line breakage.

All of a sudden our lives come together is we stay working. my last job ticked me off many times but I thought about the money I was making, laughing all the way to the bank plus my family I had at home to support. Then I cooled down. I started there at 35 yo.

I'm fishing off a low bridge I'm about 3 to 4' above the water. I can see about 75 yards to the opposite shoreline. It's mostly submerged weeds with Lilly pads to my right. A 20' wide open channel that's 9' deep in front of me. To my left it's more submerged weeds and scattered pads here and there with a small iland. I have a really good view as to what's going on. I'm watching a really big bass in the pads to my right. She has her dorsal fin out of the water while she's chasing bait. Now I cast my Topnocker past her and pop it near her. All of a sudden she slaps my bait on the side of her mouth. I thought she missed it. I froze and seen her do a 180 turn and inhaled it. She actually thought she stunned my bait. The fight was on but she dove in the thick weeds I lost another Topnocker. My judgement was off I made too far of a cast for a fish this big. So they will slap our bait to stun it first. Remember to freeze it where it is. She does come back. I've seen this before thinking OMG I missed it but I didn't.

Each job I changed I moved up the ladder with experience and pay. I lost many good jobs due to recessions. My last job I hit it like you with all my experiences I could fabricate and build anything mechanical. I worked for a top ten engineering group in the world. I was happy for 19 years. I rode the wave to retirement. My point is time flies brother. Before we know it were planning retirement.

I have there charger for about 25 years now. I also use there jumper for equipment. I only buy there products.

One guy I meet fishing everyday swears by live minnows. We're fishing a drop off in the submerged weeds. His live bait against my keeps timber doodle size 0 silver blade white grub split double tail trailer. We had doubles together then the timber doodle out fished live bait. Another day different guy same place using a yellow grub against my mister twister dragon fly. The Dragon fly out fished the grub. I split shot rigged it and dropped it in every open weed pocket. Then pulled it up like a hatching dragon fly. I haven't used live bait in many decades.

Bravo