bigbill

It's almost the middle of the summer the heat has the weeds in full bloom. Don't let them choke you out. When I first seen how thick the weeds could be I almost gave up till next spring. Then I searched BPS & Cabelas for weedless baits. Here a few of my favorites, Mister Twister Top Prop. presentation, 1-2-3 pause, slow reel, longer pause. Mepps Timber Doodle. let it fall in the open weed pockets. Repeat. Weedless Plastics, worms, creature baits either split shot rig or Carolina rig, drop shot. Or just a plain worm weedless hooked. Crankbaits. pause over open weed pockets and twitch it so it rattles. Just enough so it stays in the open pocket. This is a great tactic over submerged weeds. what are your tactics for weeds?

I'm fishing from shore and noticed in fishing the same spots on small ponds and man made dammed rivers that were used once for water power in using the same scent the over and over the bass learn out scents. I figured this out when I switched from a bait mate bass scent and didn't catch anything and then I switched to the bait mate garlic. Then the action was on again. I carry my scents in a mini carpenters wooden box. I carry a variety of different scents. If you're in a boat moving around it may or may not matter. But for me changing scent flavors helps. Another thing I notice fishing from shore at the same spots is the bass learn our baits too. What was a very hot bait last year may not be next year. Change baits, change colors, change your presentations. Be flexible don't tied up to using one bait.

My favorite setup from shore is the 24" 1/8 oz Carolina rig with plastics. I fish in 9' of water max most of the time. I think the 1/8oz weight gives it the perfect rate of fall on the weed edges and open areas. It's in view more rather than a rapid fall. I add a clicker to my plastics, brighter colors in stained, to muddy waters, add a scent. Crank baits with loud rattles. Cast parallel to the catails. Fish early mornings, evenings.

Red apple craw, green craw, brown craw, fire tiger, chartreuse, silver Shad, bream, bluegill, violet, citrus. for brands I use bomber FAT A's, Norman thin N's. i also use the crank baits top water over open pockets in the submerged weeds. I pause and twitch it. Be ready but don't set the hook too soon.

If your active just eat right. I lost 60lbs in three months riding dirt bikes with my son. But I was on salads, big salads. I didn't give up my blueberry pancakes for breakfast at work. It was half a supper then on the bike till dark. My health was ok then.

In the light summer rain I like spinnerbaits, inline spinners, spinflys, besides cranks and top water baits. During the middle of the day I was using the joesfly 1/4" oz bass size in fire tiger Apache. The mix of chartreuse colors seems to attract them well. The strike king inline spinner with a silver blade and black buck tail worked ok too but in the low light a brighter color can work better. in the rain i like the inlines and spinflys. I stand in the middle of the drop off on shore and skip fan cast the whole area. I caught 19 bass and two weird pink and white colored fish. They had a sunfish or bluegill shape with a pink colored back and white sides.

First it's not luck in fishing it's skill it's knowing when to switch colors as it becomes low light in the evening. At twilight as the bite slows down go to a brighter colored bait. Fishing from shore as I mainly do it can be tough till you figure it out. A hummingbird portable cast out fish finder would help you out with depths, bottom structure and were the fish are. I look for drop offs, points, flats and transition areas. I use a 1/8oz 24" c-rig with senko type baits, brushogs, worms from shore. I use shallow cranks. Topwater, inline spinners, spinnerbaits. You can also use a spinnerbait topwater too. Holding the rod tip at 12o'clock letting the spinnerbait ride on top letting the blades slap right and left as it moves. Using a scent helps too. You have more fish there you just haven't fished it correctly yet. Let this spot be a learning curve for you. Once it teaches you what we learn works anywhere.

$400? Spend wisely. excaliber silver thread copolymers line. (It's the weakest link in your setup) okuma Expitor spinning reel. ($70) spinning rod length, strength your call. ($50 to $100) bomber cranks, red craw, green, green craw, brown craw, Shad. topwater selection, poppers, spooks, frogs, weedless, timber doodle, top prop, inline spinners, mepps Anglia, strike King, Panther Martin, joes fly. bizzbaits c-rig (senko) sieberts outdoors, jigs. buy a little of each bait. look for clearances, sales, holiday sales.

It's not always the certain lure that's not working. The color, the time of day can factor in with the speed of the presentation and the length of pause in walking the dog. Clear water conditions natural colors, stained waters brighter colors. A plus for me is the bait having a orange bottom. We can walk the dog or chug too fast. I do get rushed or excited to fish so I speed up. My mistake. i like to use spooks. I purchased a marked down producer brand spook in orange. One morning five casts five bass right away on it. For two dollars. Keep an open mind when looking at the clearance section. The orange color can mimic a goldfish or duck?

I mainly use one line it's Excaliber Silver Thread copolymers in clear or green. It's never failed me.

I want to lose 100lbs. Being Italian growing up on fridaynights was homemade pizza night. The left over pizza ended up in the cool oven for breakfast the next day. Cold pizza was awesome. seems my half sandwich diet is working. I cut my meals down by 75% too.

It's your setup with the spinnerbaits. For me tossing a plain spinnerbaits right out of the package doesn't work. But adding a blue glimmer skirt, with a Colorado or Indiana single or twin blades with a mister twister 4" split double tail white grub with a trailer hook plus one shot of scent works. The Sassy Shad or other senko type baits I use a 1/8oz 24" c-rig. You can let it fall on its own or twitch the rod tip as it falls. Make it free fall or take it to the dance. BizzBaits sassy Shad is good stuff it's affordable not over priced. It keeps me above the dollar menu at mickys. I fish from shore. When fishing a new place the hummingbird portable cast out fish finder tells me the bottom structure and dept. it shows where the fish are plus how to fish it. Glenn here taught me about spinnerbaits. I try to stick with each new bait and try many different presentations. Trust me all this stuff works. Stick with it and hone your skills. i wash my hands with big orange before I go fishing. I do not handle gasoline or oils after washing my hands. Our hands must be Oder free.

Here in ct one lake it's purple yellow or chartreuse tail. But move the boat to the iland and it's a solid black split shot rigged. Now a river that has been dammed in a few places for water power in the 1800's it's a green shad at one place and a red Amber gold flake in another. My point is colors can vary.

My local SA wasn't into fishing that much. The last time I was there they had a sale on shad raps. "Years ago" I hope that Dicks can change that. To promote fishing they need to go all out.

On gold rush Parkers grandpa John said it all. You need to have the motivation and drive for success and never give up even when we lose. Stay going. ive had many different jobs during my working carrier. I started out fixing lawn mowers at 7 yo. A car mechanic at 13, 4x4/truck repair by 15. Rebuilding machines by 16, CNC machine builder by 18, by 35 I was a lead engineering tech for the biggest elevator company in the world. I worked for the world head quarters engineering. I did welding and fabrication, support the r&d, product life testing, new product development. the funny part is I started out as a high school dropout. I had enough of school and wanted to work. At 65yo I'm retired with four incomes. I worked two and three jobs my whole life. Never sit back and think things in life will come to you for free. I worked for everything I have. In the beginning I was happy to have a P&J sandwich and a Coke to wash it down. Henry Ford wasn't that well educated. Look what he did for the world? Drive and Motivation = success, never give up. with each new job that came along so did the benefits and wages got better. be a pro bass fisherman. If you have the skills and the motivation. Overall do want you enjoy going the salary is the icing on the cake. You must be happy at your job. I had jobs I hated inbetween other jobs but I used them as stepping stones to get better jobs.

Pontoons too? im dying to go bass fishing.

Good company. i purchased a bushell scope back in '94. It was top of the line back then. I broke the screw head on the vertical turret with the bullet drop compilation. I hated to replace the scope with a more expensive model today. I called Bushnell service dept. a lady answered, a live person. I explained it to her. She said it's a discontinued scope but would try to cross reference the numbers. She found the replacement screw. I was happy so was my wallet too. Bb

How is everyone doing? i had two bad falls. I been crash dieting to lose as much weight as I can. Figuring my knees would feel better. I tore the muscle in front of my thigh. It doesn't feel like it's healing. I finally got to get my knee injected soon with that chicken stuff. Hitting the mid 60's it never lets up. im using a walker now. I'm thinking my walker needs a seat with a fishing rod rack? im jones' she to just get out and walk the dog. hope you guys are ok. Godbless Bigbill

I'm out of the line of fire this time. But I hate snakes. I was logging an area where I was told to get the job finished before the spring thaw or get out. The place is wall to wall copperheads. I gotter done while the snow cover was still on.

So you want a serious response? It's near the waters edge? Muskrat. Catch a panfish and leave it in front of the hole. It will come out and grab it. If it's a big hole be aware of a Bigfoot. He's trapping his next meal. Lol, lmao

The misses mentioned Arizona or Nevada to me. I'm thinking lake Meade. With all this rain in the northeast it's great for ducks.

I worked too hard to provide for my family. I never let them down.

I have severe arthritis and this weather is killing me. I didn't put the plow away yet.

Slow down. I retrieve my bait just fast enough to make it wiggle evenly(crankbait), or just enough to make the spinnerbait blade thump. I use a #6 & #8 Excalibur silver thread copolymer line most of the time. I have noticed that too heavy of a line will lessen the action. Next it's a shot of scent. Bass have a keen sense of smell. Is your tackle box clean? Again foul orders can linger in your tackle box.

Fishing from shore I find using the natural layout of the body of water matters to our advantage. Like where to cast. The color and size plus the speed. I know most of this we already know but I try to explain it to help the new guys to spinnerbaits so they can have success too. I use a Mann's 1/4oz Indiana gold blades. Blue glimmer skirt, with a 4" mister twister split double tail white grub trimmed to fit, with a trailer hook. My other set up is the same except for hot chartruese colors. I stay on the smaller size spinnerbaits too from 1/8oz to 1/4oz. The cheaper smaller spinnerbaits will work if I follow my setup with them. The blue glimmer skirt or hot chartruese skirts seems to be my snitch for my area. My biggest loss in spinnerbait fishing is the larger Pickerel try to rip it off my line, with success too. The closed eye spinnerbaits allows me to use a 6" steel cable leader. My first successful spinnerbait setup was a Mann's 1/8 single Indiana gold blade (i up sized one blade size for a tad more thump)) blue glimmer skirt with a 4" split double tail grub trimmed to fit. You can make this setup from any cheap spinnerbait. Remember to "skip" fan cast the area. Don't put your casts next to one another. Skip over casts. Try a faster line speed above the "sight line" where we can see it and a slower line speed so it's below the sight line were it's out of our sight. I prefer soft gentle casts when it enters the water. I cast past my targeted area and bring my spinnerbait to it. You can also yo-yo a spinnerbait too. By letting it fall and bring it up and repeat, etc.