Bankbeater

There is no sabbatical, if the bait doesn't catch anything it gets retired. The only time I stop using a bait that works is when I only have one left and the manufacturer has stopped making it.

I use a variety of brands, and weights. Most of the time I do not have a trailer attached because I want to try and make that spinner bait look as tight and compact as possible. Spring and fall is when I do the most catching, usually in some sort of vegetation that is starting to die off, or just turning green and starting to grow.

Nice catches!

I was on the water Friday about 7:15. I got off around noon. I caught one dink about 7:30 and after that not even a bite. I'm thinking the fish have more sense than I do in this heat.

I never have any luck casting at bait balls. I would have cast out past the shad and reeled the bait back in off to the the side from the school a bit. Maybe there were some bigger bass waiting to feed on the smaller bass.

I like summer for catching, but winter has to be my favorite season. If the water is not frozen over I can go out and fish and have the lake to myself most of the time.

Baby bass, watermelon seed, and pearl white.

Growing up I couldn't stand vegetables now I love them. I read somewhere that your taste buds change when you get older. I'll eat pretty much anything except Brussels sprouts.

I've been keeping logs ever since I got back into fishing, and there is no way I'd ever remember the details of each trip. Besides the usual information, pictures let me gauge the size of the forage in the lake compared to the bass.

Right now the water levels are dropping in some lakes around here so the grass is closer to the surface. I've been fishing a clear Spook over the top of the vegetation. If there are large clumps matted on the surface, I work a popper between the mats, but if all else fails I will fish with a clear Tiny Torpedo.

Nice looking bass! Good job!

I'm going to say around $225 to $250. I did purchase a new reel that I have yet to use, a couple of reel replacement parts, a bunch of size 6 and 4 hooks, a few baits, and new pair of split ring pliers.

Small reel, light whippy rod, line is 6# or less.

I start out the trip fishing with 3 bottom contact rigs. One bottom jig, one Texas rigged, and one spinning rigged up for finesse fishing. Most of the time, this will change depending on what happens when I get to the water,

I fish with them mostly in the fall and spring when the bass are wanting to chase. I work them past brushpiles, and any submerged vegetation that I can find. I'll burn the bait back for a while and then slow it down. I keep doing that until I get it back in.

Most years around here the bass want to chase baits from ice out until late spring. Around the middle of fall or so they start wanting to chase again. In summer you have to draw them out of the cover, or punch the baits down to them. Last fall my top 3 were stickbaits, spinnerbaits, and jigs. Most bass were caught in the deeper parts of the lakes and ponds. This past spring it was spinnerbaits, plastic worms, and stickbaits. I had my best luck fishing in dead lily pad beds. Fishing summertime, Jigs, jerkbaits around 3" to 4" in length , and inline spinners caught the most bass. I was fishing them in and around vegetation.

Sometimes private lakes aren't so private. It depends on the owner of the lake and their willingness to let people fish on the property. I fish a lot of pressured water and the bass will start to recognize certain things that turn them off. It may be the bait, it may be the presentation, or it may just be the amount of boat traffic on the water.

I cleaned my round reels some years ago. I started taking the reels to a local baitshop after I bought some new low profile reels. I started cleaning them again when the shop started charging $40 per baitcaster and $30 per spinning reel. One thing that I did was to take an old Revo apart and mess around with it to get familiar with how the parts fit together. Also, the forums here on BR were a source of assistance when I had a problem a few years ago.

I'd start off by fishing the grass. I'd also keep using what you have been catching them on and throw some crankbaits and lipless crankbaits into the mix as well. You might try fishing with different sizes of the baits that are working. Sometimes around here the bass will turn up their nose at a 1/4 ounce crankbait, but choke a 1/2 ounce version in the same color.

If it's only three months old I would contact Daiwa.

I found this Rapala Deep Diver 90-7 in the mud yesterday. The hooks are rusted off, but the paint looks to be in good shape.

If your using a Bitsy Flip, then you will need to trim the weed guard back away from the hook a bit, and sharpen the hook so that it is sticky sharp.

Some good tips in this video, thanks Glenn.

Crappie will go after shad and small minnows on the surface around here. Bass usually make a bigger splash than the crappie.

I would change locations. You may have caught all of the bass out of that one location that were willing to bite.