ArkieHawg

Here's what the latest report from up there said... "Bass are biting fairly well on soft plastics, spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Top water lures and flukes are working well early in the morning." That was weak, so I got the old reports off my website from this time last year, here they are... "Spotted bass and crappie have been caught in 25 to 40 feet of water, with most of the larger fish being caught near the outside of brush piles at 25 to 27 feet deep. Jigging spoons fished vertically and nightcrawler rigs have been the most successful bait for these fish. The deep water trolling bite is good in 30 to 40 feet of water over submerged structures. Reef Runners have been working well to catch walleye and spotted bass during the day. Schooling white bass are biting spoons and have been seen in the back of creeks. A split shot with a nightcrawler has also boated bass near the bluff ends and drop offs." "Walleye and bass are biting on crankbaits trolled deep, jigging spoons fished around brush piles and nightcrawler rigs during the day. Most are being caught 30 to 50 feet deep. Bass are also biting well at night on jigs and plastic worms."

We fish some of the clearest, deepest lakes in the country here in Arkansas with Lake Ouachita, Degray Lake and Greers Ferry Lake. We fish them all at night during the summer, and the key to success is deep water, specifically open water humps with 50'+ water on all sides. Ledges also hold fish around 25'-30' at night. We don't waste any time with spinnerbaits. You can catch good fish all night in these spots with just about any plastic in Junebug, lizards and brush hogs work best. A 1/2oz Finesse Jig in Junebug with a Junebug Rage Tail Craw catches more fish than anything for us. Study your lakes contour map and locate some humps near the main river channel or a deep creek channel and post up on it for the night, they'll be close by you can bet!

Also might try a Carolina Rig on the slopes/drops. creature baits, lizards and worms all produce good fish. Size in the summer is a non-factor in my opinion. Saturday my best fish (5.5lb) came on a carolina rigged baby brush hog. My partners biggest bass this year came in at a hair under 7lbs and took a carolina rigged zoom super fluke on a 4' leader.

One of the lakes I fish regularly is located in a chain of 3 manmade resevoirs all of which are part of a river system. The river feeds a much larger lake (40,000 acres) to the NW, this lake is held by a dam which feeds the lake I fish (7,200 acres). Downstream of the dam is a 4-5 mile stretch of clear, cold, moving water which opens up into the lake. The water temps below the dam hold constant in the upper 50's year round. As it nears the lake mouth it holds around 70°-75°. These waters are loaded with trout and striped bass. Will Largemouth Bass hold in these cold, shallow waters? I know that this area will have the most oxygen, and plenty of food, but I have always assumed the water was too cold for them? Am I wrong in thinking that? Would they be more apt to pile up at the mouth where the cold water meets the warm lake? If LMB could be in the area, what approach do you think would be best to entice a strike? Any input would be great! Thanks.

My tackle seems to grow with each trip to the water. Its crazy really, but I always seem to need something...ha. First of all, many of the most effective baits in my bags can't be found at Bass Pro. You would think they would carry everything for bass fishing but they don't. I have different must have baits for each season and for night bassin. WINTER * Spro Arkushad - Red/Craw (Late Winter) * Jigging Spoons * Strike King Itza Bug Hair Jigs * Jackall Squirrel - Deep diving suspending jerkbait SUMMER * Football, Finesse, Swim Jigs - Natural Colors * Rage Tail Anacondas (Tx Rig) * Zoom Magnum Lizards (Car Rig) * RI Skinny Dippers * Rage Tail Craws SPRING * Megabass Vision 110 Jerkbait * Spro Fat John * Big Bite Baits Kriet Kreature (Car Rig) * Zoom Magnum Trick Worm (Wacky Rig * LC Sammy * 1/2oz Razorblade Spinnerbait FALL * LC Pointer * Jackall SoulShad * Chatterbait YEAR ROUND * Zoom Magnum Trick Worm in Watermelon Candy rigged on a 1/8oz Shaky Head Jig - Catches fsh all day, everyday, here in Arkansas.

I have the Revo SX, Curado 200e7 and the Quantum Smoke, and I also use Duckett rods. I prefer to throw carolina rigs and texas rigs with the Curados over the Revos. The Curado doesn't have any problems in windy conditions like the Revo. I fish rigged plastics quite a bit on windy days in open water, and the Curado doesn't miss a beat, and doesn't require any adjustments. The Revo will give you fits trying to throw it into the wind if you don't make adjustments regularly. I like the Revos for Jigs, Spinnerbaits and Topwaters. I use the Smokes for Cranking.

Ended up getting the Smoke for $164! I must say I am pleasantly suprised by this reel. I ordered the 150PPT Model, 5.3:1, and it is feather light. The reel is smooth, strong and looks pretty sharp. I have just started getting it broke in good, so I'll let you all know how she holds up!

The insert on the tip broke pulling in a fish and the third guide from the tip broke last week on a hookset. Like I said, maybe I just had a lemon? A few terribly rough rides over memorial day weekend could have contributed to the guide break, although all my other rods made the same rides. Never had a single problem with my Cumulus or Crucial Rods. Im not poor mouthing Shimano, 3/4 of all rods/reels are Shimano...just have hit a few bumps with the Cumara.

I just got a new Quantum Smoke 5.3:1 last month. I paired it with a Duckett Micro Magic rod, making for the most lightweight combo I have ever seen. I gotta say, I absolutely love the reel. All of my reels are Curados and Revos, and I forced myself to live a little and try a Quantum. I'm glad I did. The Smoke is powerful, smooth and its distance rivals the curados. I've fished it about half a dozen times without a complaint. Oh...and it looks bad a** too!!!! I also was torn between it and the Lew's Tourney Pro Speed Spool, but I was looking for a lower ratio, and at the time Lew's only offered a 6.4:1. I was able to get a new Smoke in factory sealed box for only $164.99 on ebay with free shipping, so that made my decision even easier. Lew's will be releasing a new 5.4:1 Tourney Speed Spool model on June 20th. I ordered mine last week Good luck!

I purchased the Shimano Cumara early last year. I paired it with the Shimano Curado 200e7, and fish plastics with it. The sensitivity is incredible, HOWEVER, I have been extremely disappointed with its durability as compared to several of my far less expensive rods. I had the rod about 3 months before I had to have the tip replaced. As we speak it is at the rod shop having one of the guides replaced. I expect more out of a $240 rod. Maybe I just got a lemon, who knows.

First of all, excellent choice on your new "hobby". Let me warn you, what may start as a hobby, will soon snowball into an obsession! I started out much of the same way as you have, just about 20 years earlier. For years I stocked my boxes with baits for every species in the lake. But I found that to be successful in fishing, you should really focus most of your attention to one, maybe two species. I like to occasionally fish for Stripers and Hybrids, and in the Spring I like to Crappie fish from time to time, but the other 355 days of the year I bass fish. Any tackle I have for the other species stays at home on the shelf the majority of the time. Here's what I would recommend you look into to get things rolling: Learn to throw a baitcasting reel. Invest in a good starter casting reel/rod (Shimano Citica/St. Croix Mojo Bass combo is a good choice, only about $200 for the combo new) and spinning reel/rod (Abu Garcia and Pflueger make good combos for around $100-$150). One of each will suffice until you get going. Develop a passion for plastics! Worms, Creature Baits, Crawfish Baits, Lizards, Frogs...all catch fish, all the time. Learn to fish a Jig. Swim Jigs, Football Jigs, Finesse Jigs...You can just about always catch em on a jig when all else fails. Study bass behavior. Develop an understanding of their annual patterns and what they relate to in their underwater world. Learn how weather affects them, water temp, fronts, pressure, wind, rain, etc. Here's what I'd recommend for your tackle box: 3/8oz to 1/2oz Spinnerbait Square Bill Crank Lipless Crank Deep Diving Crank Jerkbait Topwater Baits (Spook or Sammy) #3 to #4 Worm Hooks #4 Swimbait Hooks Power Swivels 1/4oz up to 1oz Tungsten Egg/Worm Weights Zoom Flukes Reaction Innovations Skinny Dippers Zoom Trick Worms Zoom Brush Hogs & Baby Brush Hogs Rage Tail Craws Rage Tail Anacondas 6" & 8" Lizards Senkos 5" Grubs I catch 90% of my fish each year on these baits. I have probably 10 times this number of baits, but these produce the most fish. Hope that I could help! Good Luck!!!

My fishing partner recently upgraded his electronics to a Lowrance HDS7 with Structure Scan and Side Scan. We have fished probably a dozen times since he had it installed, but I don't think we are really using it to its full potential. I have an HDS5 (No Structure or Side Scan) on my boat, and have somewhat figured out how to adjust the basic sonar, but still have a very small understanding of how to determine what is what on the returns. We fish mostly clear reservoirs, with high surface clarity unless there has been a good rain. When we set the surface clarity to high, the sonar returns are really weak, almost non-existent. When returns are made, they are hard to decipher. VERY rarely do we see arches representing fish, when fish are present. Some times it displays flat lines which I assume are fish?? My question is this...what settings would you recommend for the Sonar, Structure Scan and Side Scan for Clear Water (Med-High Surface Clarity) with depths of 12' up to around 35'?? What should I set the frequency to? Clarity? Noise? Contrast? Could the HDS5 graph on the bow interfere with the Structure Scan/Side Scan on the Console unit? Can both independent units be used accurately at the same time? Thanks alot for your help.

TOPWATER! Always keep the topwater baits handy. Sun goes behind the clouds, grab it! My favorites- LC Sammy Zara Spook

So far this Spring, its really depended on the lake I was fishing. Most all the lakes I fish are big, deep and clear (depending on the rain of coarse). But so far, here's my top 5: #1 - BBB 6" Kreit Kreature (Green Pumkpin/Red) Carolina Rigged - Best bait for quality fish, one over 6lbs and several over 5lbs. These have replaced Brush Hogs in my boat. I fished Brush Hogs all last year and never caught as many BIG fish as I have with these. I have actually ran out of Kreatures, put on a Brush Hog the same color and never managed a single strike. #2 - Megabass Vision 110 Jerkbait - Best quantity bait, 76 fish this year, 16 on my 1st trip with it, 19 on my second. #3 - Zoom Magnum Trick Worm (Watermelon Candy) Wacky Rigged Weightless #4 - Zoom Shaky Head Worm or Zoom Trick Worm on 3/8oz Skip Gap Jig Head (Green Pumpkin) #5 - 1/2oz Razorblade Spinnerbait (Silver & Gold Leaf, Shad)

I throw a pink wacky worm (magnum trick) in clear to lightly stained water on cloudy days and do pretty well.