logan9209

I went to my favorite point around 7am and left around 9:45am this morning. Grant it, I was only there for almost 3 hours and I did get there late, so I guess 3 wasn't too bad. I was too late for poppers. Normally I have a bigger window, but it started warming up quick and the bass didn't want it. I switched to the Yum Dinger black/blue flake (pre f2) and caught 2 hand length and one 2lb. It had been so long since I caught a 2lb that I thought it was maybe a 4 so I took a pic of it. Then I weighed it. I'm still thankful for it, but I should have weighed it first. All that by 8:30am. After that I couldn't even buy a strike. I threw a 10" ribbon tail red shad, a watermelon red flake tube, a watermelon blue flake tube (both were 3"), a Bomber model A foxy shad, and a green/ white Yum Dinger F2. Oh I also threw my brown swim jig with a june bug Smokin Rooster, but quickly got reminded that the point isn't a good place to use b/c reels. I need to get a machette to clear out some limbs and the weeds by the bank. I seen 3 or 4 bass swimming close to the bank, so it could be just a matter of not throwing what they wanted. Or, they could be just not interested in feeding. I don't know. It's been along time since I have walked away with less than 7 bass from that point. I forgot to mention that I did try the Anaconda. Darn thing scared the crappie out of one bass. It will get better soon. Sometime within the next 5-10 days we're supposed to drop back down to the middle 80's for the high. The bass should go back to work then.

Rage Craw!

LOL! Thanks, Big-O. Just when I was feeling pretty good about that 6lb you have to go and get those. Seriously those are nice hawgs. How close together did you catch them?

Drop-shot, light weight t-rig, and c-rig are great choices for this heat wave imo. Unfortunately, I'm not a numbers guy (unless I got to my favorite point). Slow, dead, or deader is the key. Now swim jigs...well, I have gotten away from them for some reason, but I need to go back (thanks RoadWarrior). That doesn't mean that other things won't work at all. Yesterday morning I had a small bass follow my bream colored double willow (bream painted) spinner bait. I didn't get a chance to go after it because my wife wanted to go somewhere (the disadvantage of living at the lake). Naturally, my lake may not be like your lake. Mine is spring fed and has no creeks running into or out of it. It is also 85% shallow, less than 4 feet, and 95% of that is run over with weeds, some sort of matted nasty smelling substance.

Does it have any submerged weeds or trees growing partially over the lake? If there are anything that provides some sorta shade or ambush points then you'll more than likely find bass there. The bass are there it's just tough to make them bite. I got so used to catching very small bass lately (less than half a pound) and the other day I see one and lightly tossed a black trick worm a foot behind it. Next thing I know I'm hauling up a 6 pound bass. I haven't seen anything over 3 pounds since January. So you never know. If you're not a night fishing person then try from about 5:30am-10am or 7:30pm-9:15pm. So far they have taken Senko (or alternatives), trick worms, poppers, spooks, craw (finally!) and lizards. Treat it like winter fishing. Take it slow and when you think you're going too slow, go slower. They don't want to work for their meals during this heat wave. So if the "bait" is dead, dying, or just moves slow the bass will go after it. Also, in some ways you have to treat it like spring. Sometimes you have to make those bass mad so they will strike to kill and not to eat. In other words, you might have to make several casts to the same spot and sometimes the bass will just plain get tired of seeing the offending object and strike it. On the flip side, the young bass are evidently suffering from heat stroke or something. I have caught them when I know they have seen me but if I just lightly toss near them but a tad further away from me they will still grab it. Maybe the hotter than usual water is frying their brains. And they are all (the young ones) up by the bank. There's massive amounts of weeds by the banks at my lake.

LOL! I wish they would let us swim in and get our lures. But due to liability and insurance (or maybe that's just an excuse) if we get caught swimming or boating we run a risk of getting evicted.

Last summer I had just got into fishing and quickly gave up on bass fishing and started fishing for bream. I didn't know then what I know now. On my lake summertime bream fishing is really good, but I get so bored with it. I still fish for bass, just not as many hours put into it or I split my hours between early morning and late evening. I got one yesterday minutes before a severe storm hit.

Oh good. Didn't mean to sound snotty or anything, but there was a guy a few years ago pulled 25 bass from my lake and left them to rot on some guys porch w/o letting him know. He got in serious trouble from the landlord and the game warden, but stuff like that really irritates me. If you eat them then that's fine. But to mount them would be the same as killing deer just for the horns and leaving the carcass on the side of the road (used to happen a lot near my parents' land).

I generally fish most of my worms on an 1/8th ounce and the areas of the lake that I can get to are no deeper than 7-8 feet deep. Most areas are 4' or less. So the drop rate isn't a big issue for me. I got the U-Head at wally world. They had a slot for U-Head Shaky, but was out of them (they are horrible at stocking). I believe they was also out of the 1/4 ounce U-Head finesse. They did have some other jig and swim bait type hooks, but I will have to get them later.

Great Job! I have the $5 Berkley scale too. I got tired of people telling me that my bass wasn't the weight I thought it was. Now they can't argue with me. Please don't mount it. Take a pic and measure the length and girth. The "mounted" bass you get back will last longer and the real bass will still get to live. There's an eight pounder I caught back in the first week or two of January. Some one else came behind and caught one the same size (not sure if it's same one) they took it to be mounted. I put mine back so it could get bigger and either me or someone else could catch it again. The other person basically senselessly killed a good fish.

Wow, great catch. I started to have my doubts that my lake had any until I pulled a 6# a few days ago. It made me happy. Now if I can get one that beats my personal best. Great Job!

I was going to quote ghoti but everyone had the same basic idea, which reminded me of another way I seen on YouTube(?). Basically, you shove a drop shot weight into the tube and push it all the way to the top. Then you run your hook t-rig, but making sure the hook goes through the loop/ring thingy. Like this: So, I'm getting answers about the tube jig, but what about the first question regarding the Arkie U-Bolt U-head?

LOL! Wouldn't want to be a victim of that (I usually keep a 10-15' distance anyway), but I know some I would like to see that happen to.

I am notoriously bad about buying a lure or terminal tackle and then researching it. I bought this today in 1/8 ounce round head. Is it better than using a loose weight? Also, I was looking at tube jigs, but couldn't find any that were weedless. If I'm working around a lot of weeds and stuff, would I be better with t-rig, tube jigs, or weedless tube jigs for tubes? These I didn't buy.

Okay. Maybe I can finish the reply without a storm knocking out my power. I finally caught a bass using a Zoom Speed Craw. I've had those for darn near 3 months. What's that got to do with a c-rig you ask? It just so happens that my craw was on the end of the pre-rigged c-rig. So, I'm happy on both accounts. It's funny too. I caught the bass right before the storm got too close. And I came in here to post about it (trying to race the storm). I was almost done and the power got knocked out. That was at 7pm and it didn't come back on till 1am. I know, there are people (half a million) without power through out parts of the U.S. and with this heat I feel bad for them.

Bluebasser, I have yet to be able to do the around the world casts. You're talking about the one that KVD does in "Pitching to Heavy Hitters", right? I can't seem to get the swing of it (pun intended).

I'll do that to my fishing buddy, George, sometimes. He's quite impatient so after 2 or 3 cast to a spot he will move to another. I go to his spot with the same lure and catch one. Or, sometimes he assumes that if he misses a bass then he won't be able to get him again. I'll go back after it and land it. He gets irritated and I know that it sounds mean, but I'm trying to show him that some times you have be a little more "stubborn".

Once again, I was of the understanding that the bullet weight was for punching through heavy cover like weeds. Don't get me wrong, I would rather listen to the people on here than to some I've run across. However, in a way it seems that you have to get a general consensus of other fishermen/women and then find what works for you. The only hit on a c-rig that I've ever had was when I was using 8# test with a 3/16 ounce bullet weight, bead, and swivel on a ml spinning gear. The draw back to using a lighter rig like that is that you can't really get a feel for the bottom which is half of the reason for using it to begin with (the other more important half is the semi floating lure).

I was under the impression that the weight moving somewhat free would cause it to hit your bead which in turn would create a clacking noise. So why would anyone peg the weight on a c-rig? I have one of those pre rigged c-rig and all i have to do is tie the line to one end and the leader with the lure to the other lure. But the weight can still slide around about 1"-1-1/2". I'm not knocking you for it (except it does damage the line), I'm not understanding the logic behind it.

Right now I'm still learning to use various hard baits. I'm not sure if I can pick a number 1 go to bait for me, but here's my list of lures I use when nothing else seems to be working. Zoom Trick Worm black: has caught me a 20lb cat, an 8lb bass, and (just yesterday) a 6lb bass. Heddon Zara Spook bullfrog: Not so good in the evenings, but at my favorite point I can rack up 4-6 in an hour (that's good for me). NetBait Salt Lick red bug t-rigged weightless: many bass have grabbed it as soon as it hits the water. Zoom Lizard pumpkin seed, pumkinseed/chartreuse, and watermelon: Although I haven't tried it since spawn was over. Darn near any soft plastic that is black/ blue flake. Yum ribbon tail red shad: for some reason the bass won't touch the Zoom version of the same type/color. Zoom Brush Hog (the one w/o the twirl tails): 50-50 I can pull a rabbit out of the hat with it. Xcalibur poppin' image Bill Dance Pop-R: not as good as the Spook but it works. Nothing of mine seem to work for more than an hour at a time. And none of them are super consistent. I may get one bite in an area and not get bit at all in another area with the same lure. I'm still working out the kinks when it comes to the Rage Tail Smokin' Rooster and the Anaconda. The Anaconda is so darn heavy that I'm having issues casting it. At the moment my honest opinion is that they aren't any better than any other soft plastic I have and they don't seem to last quite as long as the others either. Being better or not could be just an operator failure (more than likely). The black/blue flake Rooster has caught me a couple and it's really cool watching a dark shadow come out of nowhere to chase it (when swimming it). Or even better, watching a little dink inhale it after twitched on the bottom a couple of times.

The reason why white works at night is because the "color" white actually reflects light. In art they tell you that white and black aren't really colors because black is all the colors absorbed and white is all the colors reflected. IMO they are colors, but whatever. So, if there's no artificial lights and it's so cloudy that you can't see the stars or moon, then black would be the optimal choice. If there are lights then white will work. Hope this helped.

I have a tendency to fish jigs fast also. I'm not sure why, because I fish with soft plastics a lot and I generally take my time with them. I didn't realize that you could put a small trailer on a big jig and a big trailer on a small jig. Gotta try that some time. I love swim jigs because you can treat them as a regular jig by letting it drop, twitch it, rest, twitch it, and then start swimming back to you.

Thank you all. It means a lot coming from everyone but especially Big-O.

Oh and yes he was fine. As soon as I gently put him in the water he shot off.

Okay, so it's not the size of Big-O's bass, but for me it's gorgeous. I pulled this 6lb (I weighed it) about 5-7 feet out from the bank. I didn't know it was there and was really trying to go for a smaller one that I did see. Of course, a black Zoom Trick Worm saved the day yet again. Like I said, I thought it was the small one (1.5 pounds or less) so when I went to set the hook I just about jerked the rod out of my hands. I quickly got him off the hook, grabbed my stuff and fast walked back to the house where I woke my wife up to show her and my boy took the pics.