KU_Bassmaster.

I have noticed that me and my fishing buddys' have different styles and confidence baits. My dad first started me out using plastic worms so I feel most comfortable using soft plastics. One of my other buddys' first started out using crankbaits. The other spinnerbaits. Needless to say when we fish together we are usually fishing differently to begin with and then switch over once we see who is catching them. We always have a good time having friendly fights over which is better. (It broke my heart to tell my crankbait buddy that I caught my 10.5 lber. in the picture with a crankbait..... ;D) I would say that just in the past 5 years I have opened my eyes and realized there is a time and place for all different baits and have become a much more versitle fishermen, but when the going gets tough I am always reaching for a soft plastic T-rigged. Do you guys have the most confidence in what you first started out fishing?

I had a day like that last weekend. It wasn't in a tourney, but at a 250 acre community lake. I went aroung to all the main lake points that lead into spawning coves. I could pick off around 4 keepers on every point. I was only out there two hours and caught 10+ keepers..............Then last summer I went to a lake on a Friday to prefish for a buddy of mine that had a tourney that Sat. I found an extremely productive pattern. They were haging around trees near the channel, but not just every tree. Full bushy ones that had many arms and branches. I thought I was basically giving him a gift and he should have no problem finishing in the money. Needless to say he only two dinks the whole day...lol.

You are more than likely going to have to use a soft plastic (lizard, brush hog, tube. worm, fluke, crawdad) or a jig. I did read in an article somewhere though that if you run the spinnerbait into the back end of a bass and then immediatetly cast back at they will more then likely strike. I haven't tried it, but it sounds like it might work. I have had the most sucess with plastic lizards.

10 lbs. 8 oz. caught two weeks ago. ;D

Not to do it...lol. I haven't had good luck with it. Everything always gets tangled, snagged, spilled, lost, etc. The only time I enjoy it is in the summer, at the Lake of the Ozarks, sitting onmy buddy's dock, throwing back a few cold ones, and hanging out with my old high school buddies.

I would say I check this site 4 or 5 times a day......I am addicted

I fished a fluke yesterday in 20 ft of water and it was very effective. Talk about waiting forever though. I would say each retrieve took about 5 minutes. I really don't like waiting that long, but it has been productive for me.

I went out today at two different lakes here in Kansas and seems like they are starting to stage. I caught two small bucks in a shallow spawning flat. I moved back out to the mouth of the cove on the main lake points and landed two nice 4 lbs. females. Found the same thing at the other lake to. For me personally, this is my favorite time to fish. It is still cold enough to keep the crowds away, yet warm enough for me to get out there.

Flukes are my #1 cold water bait. Seems like bass can't resist the fall and such an easy meal.

Looks nice. I fished out of new Stratos last weekend and was really impressed with it. I really liked the layout of it. That commercial about the E-Tec motor is pretty convincing. Let us know how it goes.

That's a good point. What I said I do above is what I do in the summer. In the spring I usually fish slower in the morning and then speed up as the day goes on.

If I am starting first thing in the morning I like to use a top water (buzzbait or popper). Then as soon as the sun is up for a good 1/2 hour I switch to a spinnerbait burned near the surface or a soft plastic jerkbait. Then I will go to crankbait. When the sun is high I will go to soft plastics and jigs fished around and in cover. Sometimes though. one bait will work the whole day. Crankbaits along a creek channel with structure seem to produce all day and all year long.

I have also read that when boat wakes stir up the bottom that bass like to hang out in the cloud of muck because it gives them a great place to ambush bait fish.

Palomar knot is the best around. I have never had a problem with a knot breaking or slipping. It's easy too.

Yeah thats what I always do too, but if you read the articles it says that is a misconception. I don't know what is the truth? Just thought I might give this a try next time and see if it is really true. The guys on the other message board said the hook comes out with ease.

Largemouth are my favorite to fish for. Smallies are better to catch.

I found this on another message board and it seemed like some useful information and thought I would pass it along. I have never tried it, but some other guys on the message board said they had and it worked. http://www.in-fisherman.com/magazine/articles/if2806_HookRemoval/index.html

The occasional crappie or walleye. Never a bass. I really don't care for freshwater fish either, saltwater is the way to go.

A single hook with live bait does more damage in my opinion. A lure with with treble hooks is generally a fast moving bait and is harder for a fish to swallow. A soft plastic worked slowly is also a lot easier for a fish to swallow. I don't believe I have ever caught a bass that swallowed a lure with treble hooks. Usually I am lucky to even get then to the boat (It's so nerve racking to have a lunker on a crankbait).

Mine wasn't while fishing, but in my buddy's 30 ft. cruiser. It was one of those when you have one foot in the boat and one foot on the dock, the boat starts fading away, you pull your groin, and go face first into the lake. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact it was at the Lake of the Ozarks, July 4th, at an extremely crowded gas station on the water, right in front of a restaraunt window, and I was dressed in nice clothes (we were going to dinner on the water). Probably the most embarrasing moment in my life.

"GO TELL GRANDMA!!!!!"

Big Bass Rich, good luck trying to fish and keep the grades up. I sure do struggle with it. I do really well in school between mid November through the first of March. The rest of the time I just sit in class, not really paying attention, and watch the clock and can't wait for class to get over so I can go fishing. I am usually out there until dark and by the time I get home I am too tired to study. I then say to myself that I can't be doing this, and then I go out and do the same thing the next day..lol. I also find myself reading Bass magazines and books instead of my Accounting and Finance textbooks. I would have to say my major is Bass Fishing with a minor in Accounting and Finance. ;D ;D

Yeah, I ahve seen that video. It really opened up my eyes. I didn't realize intil I saw that video just how sneaky bass can be. Like picking up your plastic and you don't even know it. I ttook that into account the fishing season after I watched that video and started setting the hook on any little tick. I would say I caught at least 25% more fish. I really like that part in the video when I pretty large turtle crawls up on a bed and the bass picks it up with its mouth and carries it away. It's a great video for those of you who haven't seen it and you should check it out.

I would take more time finding out where to find the fish and not as much on when to fish.

Just something interesting I saw on TV the other day. After the male has protected the fry for so many days, before he leaves he will eat a few of them. Just thought that was kind of interesting.