carlito77

Canadian here! I've never fished the Ottawa River, but I've heard that it's great for Bass.

It was around 80 at around 11:00am - water temp was 70 degrees.

I was at a lake this weekend and realized that when the early morning bite is over, I really don't have a very good plan of attack. I caught a 4 pound largemouth at around 9:00am but after that we were pretty well skunked. This is a short synopsis of our day: Lake depth: 8ft and under (in most areas) Conditions: Hot, Humid, and Sunny with some wind (occasionally strong gusts) Equipment: 1 spinning setup (15 lbs Power Pro braid), 1 baitcaster (30 lbs Power Pro braid) 7:00am - 9:45am Started off shallow, fishing pockets with a lot of cover like lily pads, and timber. Spinning Setup: Rapala Original Floater Baitcaster: 6" Berkeley Power Nightcrawler (black) Texas Rigged with a chartreuse bead and brass bullet weight. (Caught a 19.5", 4 lbs Largemouth with this rig) 10:00am - 12:30am We stayed shallow. I didn't catch anything during this time, but here is a list of what I tried. 3/8 oz chartreuse spinnerbait (combo blade: 1 willow, 1 colorado) 5" Watermelon Senko (weightless) Black with red flake Fat Ika (weightless, rigged tail up) 3/8 oz Jig with Yum craw trailer (blue) 6" Berkeley Power Nightcrawler (black) Texas Rigged with a chartreuse bead and brass bullet weight 3" white tube (getting desperate) Can anyone suggest anything else that I should have tried. It seems like this is happening to us every week. I'll catch 1 decent one in the morning, then it dies off in the late morning to early afternoon. Should I be moving out deeper? Slowing down my presentation? Speeding up my presentation? Using different lures? Any feedback is much appreciated

I was having the same problem at one of my local lakes and so I moved away from soft plastics. I tied on a rapala original floater on my spinning rod and a husky jerk on my baitcaster. I caught about 5 largemouth in the next 15 - 20 casts with the original floater. I was just twitching it just under the surface. When I threw the husky jerk, a small pike hit it on the first cast.

What does the basic bass membership give you?

Thanks Guys! You just saved me some cash.

Is it worth it to become a member (bassmaster insider). I was thinking about joining, but it is quite expensive if you live in canada. I think most of the info I need, I can find here, but if there's anything useful I may join. I like the idea of learning how to work specific lures. Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks

What happens if you go to a lake that has Pike and Bass. If I caught a Pike at that lake today, everything would be legal. What would happen if I accidentally hooked into a Bass. I would assume that as long as I throw it back everything is fine. I guess the regulations really don't apply if you're a catch and release fisherman. How can the authorities determine what you're fishing for. Where I'm from panfish fishing is open all year. I guess you fish for panfish all year, and if you catch a bass, as long as you throw it back, you are within the regulations. Just to be clear, this is not something that i would practice. the question was asked to me by a friend and I didn't know what to tell him aside from it being unethical.

I'm sorry but I have a really dumb question. On the knot link above it only shows the uniknot if you have an eyelet on one end. Do you just fold over the mono side to create an eyelet or am i missing something?

Thanks!

Cool!....Do you use a uniknot to tie the lines together? Or is there another type of knot?

Roadwarrior: With braid, your saying you need to tie 10 yards of mono directly to the spool with an arbor knot, then tie the braid to the mono line using a uni-knot?

Is there a general rule to go by when selecting the size of your crankbaits. For instance, the Rapala selection comes in so many different sizes for each lure. How do you know which size to use? I hear fishing shows always using size 10 and above but they look kind of big (almost intimidating for fish). Most of you will say the bigger the fish you're looking for, the bigger the lure. In the lakes that I fish, I'm targeting Largemouth/Smallmouth from 12"-21".

I usually use the hooks that have the right angle bend by the eye of the hook, with a pretty wide gap. I know that everyone recommends the Gammy hooks but there are so many different kinds that I get a little overwhelmed. I ussually fish Senkos and floating/swimming soft plastics. Any recommendations on hooks? Maybe a link to the product on the bps website????Thanks again!!!!

Hi, Here's a bit of a newbie question. Everytime I see a fishing show or read about Texas rigging, they always bury the hook to make it weedless. When I go fishing I always set my rig up the same way but I always second guess the concept and end up exposing the hook to make sure I can set the hook. Of course that takes away from it being weedless, and I end up getting snagged a lot. My problem is that I just can't understand how the bass can bite hard enough to poke the hook the rest of the way through the soft plastic. How does the fish actually accomplish this? Thanks