SoopaJig

now that i think about it, it does make more sense to just let the bait fall that to follow up with a different lure. we've just always seen people frog fishing on tv and they always throw a follow up lure and thats what we were thinking yesterday. thanks guys, there are things that you have brought up that hadn't even crossed my mind. Thats why i posted!

i don't use my thermometer all the time but i like to use it after big events. Like a couple weeks ago after the hurricane came through, or over the summer it was interesting to see how hot the water was when we got that heat wave. After that hurricane rolled through the water temp at my local pond was only 72. I was surprised it cooled down that much, i would have thought it would still be close to 80 degrees as the weather was pretty warm before.

yeah i'm definately guilty of lazyness here. I certainly could have had 2 rods rigged up, but i chose not too, as i didn't want to carry the extra rod around that day, and that probably cost me the follow up bites.

I think the thermometer cost me 10-15 dollars, it's been awhile. I'm sure you could look on their website and see what they've got. Look at petco and any other petstore too.

ahhh, so when swimmin a jig or spinnerbait fishing, you want to set the hook as soon as possible? We were definately waiting to feel the fish like you would if you were frog fishing. Also, i didn't mention it in my OP but were hopping the jig along to bottom that day as well, we just didn't get any bites when we went that route. The bites only came when swimming it. We were also following up by hopping and dragging the jig if the fish blew up on it and missed, we just never got a follow up bite either. Would it be better to have a completely different follow up bait rigged up on a different pole? thanks for the input!

I'm in the same situation as you and i use a digital aquarium thermometer i got from petsmart. If you want to spend a little more money you can go with one of those humminbird castable fishfinders that they sell at dicks or bass pro. -edit- I've never used one of those castable fish finders so i don't know if they're any good or not, i was just throwing that out there as an idea

so my uncle and i went fishing yesterday and had lots of action but had a lot of trouble hooking up on the bites we were getting. It was a cloudy, breezy morning with air temperatures around 70 degrees, and lots of fish were busting the surface. The night before a line of thunderstorms had rolled through the area, and the water was muddy. All of our bites came when we were swimming jigs with paca craw trailers just below the surface or on top of the water. We also got a couple of bites burning spinnerbaits just under the surface. We were having two problems; either the bass would blow up on the bait and miss completely or the bass would take the bait, we'd wait to feel the weight of the fish and we'd set the hook into nothing. We tried slowing down and speeding up our retrieves, and we changed colors twice. (we only had 3 colors of jig and spinnerbait, black and white and green) They didn't seem to like the buzzbait, I thought maybe it was too noisy? Were the fish just finicky? Was it just bad luck? Or should i have tried a wider variety of things? Maybe a wake bait? or rage toad? It's tough to switch up baits when they're going after what you have tied on, i kept thinking "ok the next fish i'll connect on" and it just didn't materialize. Now in hindsight i'm kicking myself for not trying a wider variety of things. It was a frustrating day. Any of your thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

Thanks for all your replies! I'll definately take all your suggestions into account. I'm still working on my hook sets when it comes to crankbaits. Sometimes my instincts kick in and i set it too hard. I'll also give the invisX a try. It and bass pro shops fluoro are two brands of fluoro i havent tried yet and they're both next on my list.

I'm currently usng 15lb Fluoro on my crankbait outfit, but i'm not a fan of it's stiffness or its memory problems when it comes to casting. I was wondering what would happen if i spooled up some braid and attached a 6 foot fluoro leader. Do you guys think i'd have problems ripping the hooks out due to the low stretch of braid? I'm wondering if the 6 foot fluoro leader and my glass rod will have enough give.

Herndon

Hey all! I've been fishing for bass (and every other kind of fish) since i was 5, i'm 26 now. Up until this year i typically only went fishing 1-2 times a month. This year i got bit by the bug and have spent nearly every free hour fishing. I've been reading this forum like crazy too! I love this site and hope to be active on it for years to come!

fishing related: Strike king caffeine shad, i love the action on that thing. never caught a fish on a soft plastic jerkbait until i got the caffeine shad.