Shad_Master

Thanks

Jt and Huskerto, what size hook are you using on your drop shot?

Welcome to the world of bass fishing -- I don't know my geography enough to know where diamond valley lake is, but I have a friend that moved to northern California fromt the midwest -- while here I introduced him to bass fishing and he got "hooked" and would often raid my boat to get Senko's while I was at work. After moving he got connected to a bass club and started fishing club tournaments where most of the competitors were throwing swim baits - he called me and got a website for ordering some Senko knock-offs and used them on his next tournament -- he weighed in over 38 pounds and came in 4th in his second tournament. My suggestion would be that while learning, you can't go wrong with Senko type lures and then build from there.

I can't say I know the whole answer to this, and I have been learning swim jiggin for the last year or two. But the guy that is teaching me the most says that they work best when the water is clear to slightly stained and the fish are spooky and don't want a lot of disturbance in the water like you would get with a spinner bait. Now I haven't figured out how to ask which they prefer yet and I'm still experimenting, but I do know this technique works and plan on continuing to learn.

My 15 year old son has an "eagle eye" and can spot a lure hung up on a brush pile from 50 yards away. Every time we go fishing, he points out all the lures that are in the water and we collect them - he has been doing this for years. Most of them (jigs, spinner baits and bettle spins) are too rusted to do anything with), but we always take the hooks off the crank baits and put them in the dish washer (we have this little basket thing that you can put them in to keep them from flying around in there) and let them run through the normal wash cycle with Cascade. Then we put new split rings and hooks on 'em and use 'em. A couple of years ago, I checked the BPS catalog and he had "collected" over $70 worth in one year.

If you get a Magellan Sports Trac - invest in a battery company, 'cause they eat 'em :'(

I don't know if I have ever caught the same fish twice in one day, but a few years back I used the catch the same fish every night -- I know this because it was a private pond that no one ever fished except me and by the end of the season that little guy's mouth looked like swiss cheese.

Ive had this on my computer for a while - I may have even gotten it here -- even if so, it seems to fit with the thread: Reasons why English is so hard to learn: 1) The bandage was wound around the wound. 2) The farm was used to produce produce. 3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. 4) We must polish the Polish furniture. 5) He could lead if he would get the lead out. 6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. 7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present his present. 8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. 10) I did not object to the object. 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 13) They were too close to the door to close it. 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present. 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. 17) The wind is too strong to wind the sail. 18) Upon seeing a tear in the painting I shed a tear. 19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friends? Let's fact it English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple or pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinepig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same thing, while a wise man and wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out they are invisible. And speaking of computers How about when you want to shut down your computer you have to hit start?

Way too much time on your hands, you need to go fishing

If I was going to suggest one that won't work, it would probably be the blade dancer, but I have talked to some locals at a lake near the Berkley headquarters and they do report good results with 'em. The reason I asked the question in the first place was to see if there really is a lure being sold that won't catch fish -- what it seems like is that there are lures that don't work for certain people, but do for others.

When my son was 6 I hired a guide to take us fishing on Table Rock - I told him I didn't care if I got bit but wanted to be sure that my son caught some fish. He set him up with a drop shot rig - this was the first time I had ever seen one and at first though the guide didn't know what he was doing. But we all caught fish and had a great day. After that, I would always set my son up this way and it helped him build his confidence. Then we moved to T-rigged and finally spinner baits and cranks. You might want to give it a try.

Thanks for all the replies, but what I thought seems to be comming through -- it ain't the bait, it's the fisherman. We all seem to have certain lures that "don't work for me", but work for somebody else.

You may want to try a CB that runs a little shallower or try using a higher pound test or even mono. This will keep the bait up and avoid the gorilla snot. If there is not much cover in your lake (brush piles, grass, etc.) CB's may not be your best bet.

For me it just provides a little extra movement and vibration in the water, which I hope will attract the bass' attention. My goto worm is the ZOOM Vibra-tail -- I have caught tons of bass on these things after first buying them 'cause they were cheap. Sometimes the tail gets caught in the grass and will pull off, leaving me with a straight tail worm that will also catch fish. So go figure.

Crankbaits can't be collector's items and fish catchers -- the bait monkey has decreed that you must bounce 'em off rocks, grass, brush piles, etc. if you are going to catch fish consistently -- this means you are gonna lose some. There are some things that you can do to cut down on the losses, the bow & arrow technique described above works (sometimes) and cutting the front of the treble off also works (sometimes). But for the money, some of my best bites (and consistent bites) have come from crank baits -- If you can't afford to lose 'em -- don't use 'em.

Well that may be true, and the only fish I ever caught with a jerk bait was snagged in the back. I know there are lures that I can't catch 'em on and lures that I use but others can't catch 'em on. But what I am really asking, is there a lure that makes it all the way to market (on the shelf) that just won't catch 'em?

In light of another thread in this forum about "least favorites" I have been thinking -- is there a lure on the market that just won't catch fish -- I don't mean that you haven't caught fish on it, I mean one that just won't work. Lots of people make fun of things like "the flying lure" or "walking worms" and even chatter baits. But somebody else will swear by them. I guess my question boils down to: is it the lure or is it the fisherman(woman)?

If you ain't hittin something you ain't fishin 'em right -- you've got to be hitting the cover (or the bottom) in some way. Also, don't get caught in the trap of just chunkin 'n windin --make 'em dance -- stop and start. etc. Feeling a strike on a CB is a great experience - do'nt give up on 'em.

83% Dixie -- some of y'all must of got the wrong answer.

Thanks stringjam I will look for it -- sounds interesting.

Well now, I disagree there T-rig -- these little baits will catch bass under the right conditions -- they are certainly not as predictable as the larger lures and more likely to pull up a blue gill or cappie, but they will catch bass. Why don't they have new lures? -- not a clue.

This is a debate that will probably rage on for as long as this forum is up and running. For me the question boils down to what do fish see under normal circumstances -- grass, weeds, rocks, trees, etc., etc., etc. -- and lots of stuff that we wish they didn't like beer/pop cans, plastic bags, and yes, even line (ever snagged any while fishing?). Stringjam, can you tell where this "scientific study" was done, who did it and where we can see the results? If there is "proof" out there, then I may change my mind -- without it I think this is just a debatable topic and each person has to make up his own mind.

BTW - hope you are not garduating from medical school - sorry, couldn't help it

GULP! :) 'nuf said!!!

Last year I was fishing in a small, heavily pressured pond where there was lots of grass. Fish had been biting pretty regularly on worms, chatter baits and spinner baits - I decided to try a Baby 1 minus and fished it like a Rat-l Trap (crash it into the weeds and then jerk it out) I started hitting bass on almost every cast. I was using a grey/white color in very stained water.