Shad_Master

At the bottom of this breakfast lies a big, big man

my mistake

Texas Christian University - Wacko, Tx - they got there by spanking the University of Texas in the Super Regionals - and they are not done yet - this is a double elimination tournament

My guess is that you have some kind of virus or malware - you may want to check with somebody lots more knowledgable than me to check it out and see what can be done if this is the problem.

I've heard it said that here in Nebraska - on a calm day you can fly a cast-iron kite - four foot rollers on big lakes are common - however, I have an aluminum boat and don't consider myself that good of a boater - so for me 20 mph is starting to push it, but have fished with guys with bigger, fiberglass boats in 40 mph. Most of it depends on your boating skills

Good catch - take out a loan if you have to and stock up!!!

A few years back I was going to be fishing a tournament with lots of visable brush piles - stopped by BPS and saw crank baits in the bargin bin for $1.99 each - bought one in every color, 'cause I didn't care if I lost 'em at that price. Still have all but one in the takle box and have caught fish with all of 'em.

You have to be careful with this - there is a pond near my home that sounds similar - arrived one day to find the firetruck trying to extract a wader who was stuck in the silt/muck on the bottom.

I tend to use moving baits (chatter baits, spinner baits, crank baits, etc.) to find the fish (cover water) and then switch to a soft plastic to work the area. The one exception is when fishing visible brush piles - I will generally always use either a soft-plastic or a jig. P.S. ran this through spell check - hope the grammar is okay

I stumbled on to a pattern a couple of years ago on a lake that is infested with blue gills and large bass - when I felt a light tap and saw my line moving I would wait - then when I saw the line change directions, I would swing. What I believe was happening was that the BG's were swimming away with the bait and the bass were taking it away from them. If I let 'em swim away, often they would drop the lure and I would keep on fishing.

No such thing! It might not bite you - but it would still give me a heart attack if it showed up real sudden like.

A finishing nail works good, too.

Apparently so - at least before the law was passed - now it is all good

I personally find that fishing jigs in the grass like you describe is less successful than fishing them around rocks, brush or more open banks. When trying to get in under the matt, I will usually go with a T-rigged bait (worm, beaver, speed craw) - but I find the jig gets hung up too easily in the grass. If you do fish grass, be sure you don't work them too much - just shake 'em a little like you are hung up while letting it sit on the bottom. Works some times.

If it ain't your casting wrist what are you whinning about? No really, what a bummer - hope it works out for you

Can't really be much help to you but glad you asked the question. I did my first serious swim bait fishing two weeks ago and was surprised at the number of hits I got and totally frustrated at not catching a single one. I was throwing a Storm Wildeye Shad in Arkansas Shad color that I had modified with an orange and chartuse marker and a Berkley "somenother" in a chartruse blue gill pattern. Got lots of followers on the Berkley but no hits. I'll be watching to see what info you pick up. Thanks for asking.

This was a tough one - I voted "plastics" but jigs are definitely a close second with CB's right in there. Really have gotten a way from throwing spinner baits recently but it used to be my goto.

No prob there bud - that's what a forum is supposed to be Bass_Akwards is right though - there are a lot of good articles here to help you figure it out Tight lines!!!

Don't know about these particular hooks, but a couple of years ago I was fishing with a guy who had about 8 or 10 good sized bass come unbuttoned on him - I kept asking him if his hook was sharp and he kept saying they were "brand new hooks" - finally I asked to look at his hook (a BPS brand) and saw that the "point" was really like the nub on a factory sharpened pencil rather than a long tapering point. He switched to a 'gammy' and never lost another bass. Be sure to check the points before trying 'em.

It would appear that every question that could ever be asked is now covered in some article or previous post - sort of cuts down on the value of the forum doesn't it. In response to pspbass - I have learned that one of the best techniques this time of year is to fish submerged brush piles with a T-rigged speed craw, worm or a jig. This is tough fishing but can yield some awsome results.

http://www.divinecaroline.com/22323/99603-i-m-arrest-what-fifty-bizarre

I don't think you can go wrong either way and can't really think if a situation where one would be preferable over the other. After thinking about it a little more - there is a tendency for the little "hook thingies" to tear off of the Ultravibe in really heavy cover - so in that case the Chigger Craw may be a better option.

If the water moves up into the buck brush - fish it with worms and jigs - anywhere there is a runoff comming into the lake, fish that particularly hard - another pattern you might check out is the "grass carp pattern" - last year while fishing in a situation like you describe, the carp were cutting up quite a bit in the shallows - after struggling for a while we discovered that all of the wallowing arouond was churning up stuff and the bass were hanging around to pick it off - by fishing around the edge of the carp wallow, we were able to start picking up some pretty good bass.

Another thing to consider when doing all this trying to "match the hatch" stuff for bass is that the lure looks different in the water than it does out of the water and fish will see it differently than the fisherman. I firmly believe that color does make a difference, especially for lures like jigs and worms and such, but not so sure that applies to cranks, spinners and such.

I remember reading an article when these first hit the market that they are best thrown on bait casters with braided line. That's the way I have always done it since then.