Bankbeater

Yesterday we saw some deer standing in lily pads that we fished a couple of weeks ago. Lake is down about 2 feet from when we first fished it back in the spring.

I’m in the Midwest. We get slammed from all directions. I don’t worry about the direction. I worry more about how hard it’s blowing.

Summer is my favorite. The bass are stacked up in the submerged vegetation looking for shade and oxygen.

Same here. Back in March and April, I was catching bass on swim jigs, then in May I was catching bass on bottom contact jigs. Ever since the start of June, I can't buy a bite with a jig.

I always breathe a sigh of relief when I catch the first fish. No matter what else happens that day I know I've caught at least one fish.

We have vacation and sick time lumped together. The thing is the more senior employees, like me, get close to 5 hours of vacation time each week until we hit 384 hours. If I take an 8 hour vacation day during the week I'm only really using 3 hours of vacation time, because of the 5 hours I pick up. A couple of years ago I was taking off every other week during the summer because I kept maxing out.

About 20 years ago we experienced a horrific hail storm. St. Louis actually ran out of new windshields because of the amount of damaged vehicles. I was so glad I parked under our big tree that night. I only got a couple of dings.

I use 1/16, 1/8, and 3/16 the most. The only time I use 1/4 or heavier is on very windy days, and in the colder months to make sure the bait stays on the bottom.

I have been fishing a floating minnow with just a steady retrieve. I've been bringing it across the top of submerged vegetation and alongside mats on the surface. It has been catching bass when the shallow running crankbaits aren't getting bites.

Sorry to hear. I've lost two good lakes over the years because the property was sold. I drive by one of them every day.

I'd hit along the outside edge. I'd also look for thin growth or a bare hole on the inside of that mess. If those didn't produce any bass I would move on.

Hello and welcome to the forums.

I know my reaction time has slowed a bit, but the bass are working with me. They just pick up the bait off the bottom and start to swim slowly off with it. Maybe I'm catching old bass?

Are you sure the bass you're losing are hooked good? The bass around here have been biting but not eating. I have been letting them run with the bait for a few seconds to make sure that the hook is in their mouth. @Team9nine is spot on about the jumping. It's not the jump that throws the bait, it's all that head shaking that come after the bass has cleared the water.

In some of the local small lakes I fish, catching a bass is like firing a flare into the sky. People just come over and start fishing around the spot. After not catching anything, the other anglers will move somewhere else and I get back to boating fish.

The first thing I learned bass fishing was that no two bodies of water fish the same way. Just because a certain bait has been catching in one lake or pond doesn't mean it will work in every lake or pond.

Most of the local fishing spots around here open at 6 or 7 a.m. so night fishing is out. I take plenty of water and look for thick vegetation for the fish to hide in, and shade for me to get in.

Zoom finesse worm or Creme Scoundrel. I start off weightless and then add weight as needed.

I haven't found any lures since around the end of May. What I have been finding are rods. I found an Abu Garcia Hank Parker spinning rod and a Berkley Fusion casting rod on the same pond about 2 weeks apart. Both are in good shape, but you can tell they have been used. My wife asked me why I was bringing them home instead of putting them in the trash dumpster. I told her BPS Spring Classic!

I'm not buying it. At some point you are going to have to call tech support for this thing.

During the summer I catch more with a 1/8 jig with some type of craw trailer on it. Casting a 3/8 or 1/2 jig is a waste of time.

Fluke, Senko, and plastic worm. Weightless is the only way to go in the vegetation.

When I was a kid my dad and his friends would take me fishing and after about 6 or 7 hours they would be ready to come back home, I would complain because I wanted to stay and fish longer. They used to say "You'll be our age someday". These days my fishing trips are 6 to 8 hours long.

Happy Birthday!

I don't know about hydrilla, but it wiped out the lilypads in one of the small lakes I fish in.