justin apfel

I'm going to SML around August 15th. I go every year and I have had success on 10 inch weighted worms and a few here and there on jigs but I've never really done great there. During this time of the year what should I fish at SML? And more importantly where? I know it's a huge lake and I know there is plenty of structure there...Should I focus on deep water rocky points, hard structure like trees, vegetation (if I can find any), or docks?

No I haven't been able to get out to back bay this year yet but I heard the city just stocked it with I think 1500 bass. That number could be wrong but I did well in there last year so it's definitely worth a try. And yes it is definitely making a good comeback

Fish in Virginia beach have been schooling up on bait balls. I've been doing really well on Lake Forkagic Shads fishing them weightless on a 4/0 wide gap through the bait balls. I've been catching 1-3 fish off each bait ball pretty much

Haha I know I need a scale but I know it doesn't seem big in the picture but it was around 26 or 27 inches with a sizable girth to it. I have caught plenty of 6,7, and 8 pounders that have been weighed and my previous big bass was 9.5 which was also weighed before I lost my scale. The other day my friend caught a 7 pounder that I guessed almost spot on before he weighed it with his electric scale. I can look at fish and put a good estimate on them within ounces. Trust me I know it seems like I'm a teenager who just gets over excited and over estimates fish but I'm not the person to do that honestly. If someone was with me to take a better picture you would probably say differently. I'm not insulted at all because I know so many people that day a 3 pound bass is 5 or 6 and it annoys me, that's why I don't do it haha. Thanks for the constructive criticism and yes I will definitely purchase a scale soon. Just haven't felt like spending money on a nice one lately

What type of trees are on the lake? If they are cyprus look for ones with ones that have a wide circumference of roots. These roots provide a lot of cover. If they are other types of timber look for changes in depth and points that the trees are located like Chris said.

Oh and the first picture was pretty much taken to prove the Lake Fork frog trailer hooks work. It was the only thing that hooked that bass and I've had that happen a few times. Definitely improves hook up ratio.

I've been catching some nice bass lately on frogs and I was killing some time fishing in a neighborhood pond and caught around a 10 pounder (the second and third picture) on a Lake Fork Magic Shad. No one was with me so I had to do the awkward self picture. I've been fishing frogs and swimbaits a lot lately and I've been successful. Bait balls are appearing and bass are blowing them up. Locate the shad right now and you're good to go.

Another thing to do is wear certain colors. I know some pros wear baby blue to match the sky and others go for a light green color to be almost camouflaged. Also try to be a subtle as you can when working a bed, stay in one spot or your boat and cut off the trolling motor when you are locked onto a bed. Try to look for beds pretty far away, if you can don't get right on top of the bed because the fish will get spooked and it is a lot more likely that you won't catch them. Good optics are another great thing, I have Costa del Mars and this is the first season I have fished with glasses and I have noticed a tremendous difference. This spring I have found that berkley havocs pit boss works really well for bedded fish; use it with a light weight and put it right in front of their face, but make the cast subtle...if you can pitch to the bed for control of your cast so you can just slip it in the water gently. Good Luck!

Frog bite is on big time in Virginia Beach right now. Averaging around 10 hits each time I go out. Other than that, fish are keeping close to cover. I fished the Newport News reservoir lately and the fish I caught were on Missle Bait's D Bomb. I was hitting them off trees and got most hits on the initial drop.

I'm getting them on wednesday so I'll post a picture by this weekend. And I have a frog fishing montage coming soon shot with a gopro 2. I'll post that as sometime after this weekend and I will be using the trailer hooks for half of the video to see if there is an improvement in hook up ratios.

After watching as many videos as you can,definitely go out in your front/back yard and set up targets at different distances, I used my dogs bowls as targets and it was really pleasing to hear the loud "ding" everytime I got it. This will improve accuracy which is what pictching is all about. As for flipping, just do the same thing at shorter differences since flipping is for when you are pretty close to cover you want to hit hard.

Again I haven't fished the NW river too much but I do fish back bay occasionally. I believe they are the pretty much the same type of waterway though. In back bay white is the color; white buzzbaits, white jerkbaits, white everything. I would definitely have something white tied on to a pole or two when you go. Other than that I would try green watermelon red flake. I think I remember having luck on that color when I went a year or two ago. Just experiment when you go, but have confidence in white. Hope this helps

Tackle warehouse usually has promos and sales. Check there before anywhere like bass pro

I've had a lot of days lately where the fish are not being as agressive toward frogs as I'd like them to be and they end up either missing the frog and not coming back or just hitting the tail end of the frog. I believe these hooks will increase the number of hook ups in general. And if this doesn't work I am going to try cutting the legs back a little. The spro legs are long, but I think that gives the frog a lot of action. I would rather add something that can be taken off than cut something that can't be put on. Do you guys trim the skirt legs on frogs?

My dad is looking at buying a Nitro Z7 Sport, what do you guys think? We were wondering how it is to fish out of and how it compares to the regular Z7.

I agree with 200racing, next winter maybe get some christmas trees after christmas and throw them in and mark them on your gps. As for right now when the drought is occurring, listen to gobig; subtle depth changes, points that extend out from the bank, or channels in the lake if there are any.

Yes it is far deep enough for bass boats and sport boats. I've seen people wakeboard out there and everything. You just have to stay in the channel and you're golden

Man that looks deadly. Have you given it a test run yet?

Do they sit nicely on the frog hooks or do they slouch down? My biggest question is will the frog remain weedless or pretty much weedless with it on?

Has anyone used the new lake fork frog trailer hooks yet? I just ordered a few packs of them on tackle warehouse and to me they look like they will do great.

Yeah I've heard good things about them and I was just at bass pro yesterday and I looked at them. They are actually only around $7 for a pack of 5 3/0's. But I decided just to stick with my owners haha. I'll try them eventually.

I'm not positive, but I would say on average it's probably around 5 feet. It gets pretty shallow toward the bank, and I believe there is a pretty deep channel in the middle. I wouldn't take my word for it but it isn't a very deep body of water.

When you're texas rigging (Or fishing any soft plastic), depending on the size of the worm, you want to go with owner hooks. I just recently switched to Owner and I definitely have noticed a big difference than anything else (besides Trokar which is around $10 for 3 hooks). For a 6 inch worm I would go with a 3/0 or 4/0 hook. I used to only use 2/0 hooks for 6 inch worms, but now I believe they are a little too small. Also just because you are not hooking these fish does not necessarily mean they are small bass. Bass, big or small, will take lures slowly and they won't always get the whole lure in their mouth right away. Watch your line and give it 2 to 3 seconds and then set the hook. And in the summer or on hot days in the spring you may want to wait a second longer because they aren't going to be as aggressive at this time as they are in 70 degree water. The biggest thing is to not get as excited and just be calm and wait a second longer than you do, it will increase your hookup ratio tremendously. And another thing to think about is how you set the hook, straight up is the best way...to the side is not as effective.

The NW River is kind of a tough body to fish. There is a lot of laydowns and cyprus trees. In the late spring, early summer I would use creature baits and senkos around the cyprus trees. The roots provide a lot of good cover and shade from the summer heat and it is usually a great place for bass to ambush prey. Let us know how it goes.

Is this by the honeybee country club? And no I have never fished Lake Smith, but I definitely would like to go sometime. I have a kayak as well and I fish a lot of places like harwood mills and there are tons of good neighborhood lakes around my house. I really have one friend that fishes with me so let me know if you would like to go sometime.