Preytorien

I have a Clarus rod. I have been very happy with it. The quality is great and for cranking it seems very capable. I'm not sure of your setup but I've used it with a Sahara 2500FD reel and Sufix 832 and had great success with cranking. The only problem I've had is that with the spinning reel's ratio it tends to wear my arm out after a whole day on the water. Using it with a baitcaster should see excellent results.

I'm in need of some basic advice. I see pretty much every bass angler counts a spinnerbait among some of the most productive lures ever made and they've ever used, however, I've not been so lucky in my albeit short fishing tenure. I guess what I need to know is when and how to fish them. Give me the basics. I know I could probably find a book's worth of information on here, but certainly someone here has some basic quick-start tips for having some spinnerbait luck. Here's my setups in case anyone wants to really get down and dirty with the details.... 7ft BPS Carbonlite Rod/Baitcast Reel combo - Sufix 832 50lb braid - rod is X-Fast. Reel is 6:2:1 ratio 6'8" Shimano Clarus rod with Fast action with a Shimano Sahara 2500FD reel - Sufix 832 30lb braid reel is 6:2:1 but has 10" more line collect per handle turn so it seems very fast to me 6' generic rod with a Pfleuger Trion GX reel. Medium action rod. P-Line CX Prem flourocarbon 10lb test. Reel is 5:2:1 retrive I have an assortment of spinnerbaits. A mixture of dark skirts, bright skirts. Gold blades, silver blades. Colorado and Willowleaf blades.....kind of an assortment of everything. I just don't recall anyone ever telling me how to fish these things or when to throw them. Therefore I have had no success, likely because of my lack of knowledge and confidence yet I hear many anglers swear by their time tested track record, I'd like to take part in some of that success. Help!!

Welcome! The folks on here are very helpful. I guarantee you'll up your game with their wisdom, but don't forget to offer your words of advice as well, we all can use any advantage we can get.

Excellent news. Congrats and thanks for the word of wisdom.

I love froggin too! I've used pretty much all kinds of frogs, even a little 99-cent version from someplace. I've had at least some amount of success with them all. Particularly I've been having luck with a little Matzuo frog. It's smaller than the Spro's and definitely smaller than the KVD's. I've had good hookups and they squeeze water out pretty well. I've never had to bend any hooks out or anything.

I've heard the opposite of what most here are posting. Carp eat from the bottom mostly, vegetation, algae, and such, and in the process can inadvertently suck up freshly laid eggs from a spring spawn. Add to that their constant roiling on the bottom causes dirty water. Additionally they compete with other fish for food resources and given their general size it's likely they eat much more and therefore dimish food resources faster. A friend of mine is a homebuilder and he says that a local DNR officer said that ponds 5 acres or less that introduce carp will usually see a decline in fish populations year after year due to stunted spawn results. He's got a pond on his own property that frequently floods since it's next to a river. In the spring when we see the carp rolling around he calls us up for a carp catching excursion.....I guess even the DNR guy doesn't want them in his pond. In this article see page 6.....I know it's for Indiana (my state) but it can probably be applied most anywhere. http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fishmgt.pdf

No not really. When the summer evening fishing is slow, I can still rely on my good ole' Jitterbug for a good fish or two.

Throw those buzzbaits. They'll be good for fishing if you're unsure of what's underneath the water. Besides, it's a great summertime lure. But I also agree with the above comments that a frog would probably also light em' up.

I use a small zip tie wrapped around my Senkos. I was having the same problem, now I don't. Use the smallest zip ties available, and try as best to match your zip tie to your Senko color. Seems to work for me and I've had good success with it.

I have had an allergy to fish/seafood all of my life. Admittedly that was when I was much younger. My mom has the same allergy and gradually as she aged it got so much worse that now doctors are afraid it would kill her. Since I've shown many of the same signs when I was younger, I am all too cautious to try it again. However, that doesn't stop me from catching them!

Congrats. Looks like a fun day!

I've surprisingly had good luck with the super cheap Matzuo frogs. I think I picked mine up at a department store. I prefer the smaller sizes than larger. They may not walk as well as some more expensive frogs, but I've had excellent hookups and weedmat effectiveness. One thing though, these do need the water squeezed out about every 10th cast.

About 10 years ago I had just gotten my first baitcaster. Nothing expensive and I had 15lb mono on it. Went to a large reservoir and was "fishing" with it off of some docks in about 20 feet of water, it was more practicing than fishing. I decided to put a 1oz spinnerbait on it and gave it one heckuva almighty cast. When I did, somehow a backlash formed (either before the cast or during it) and instantly stopped the line. Well, according to the laws of physics, that 1oz lure was enough weight to jerk the rod/reel right out of my hands and plunked it deep down in 20 feet of water. That left a bad taste in my mouth, and I just now started using a BC, albeit with a tighter grip and better reel.

I've always used snaps just because they're easy to swap out lures. Pretty much everything's been said in this thread, but like I posted in another thread ......an old timer once told me that with all the blades, clackers, rattles, and whirls our lures make, he's pretty certain a fish won't look at that "contraption" barrelling through the water and politely refuse to bite because I have a tiny little snap on my line.

I've always used snaps. Depending on the lure I might use snaps with swivels. I've found that it's more valuable to be able to quickly change lures than to worry about the fish being spooked. I fish with seveal people, about half who look at me and my snaps sideways, and others of us who swear by them. I've not noticed any hookup difference between us. It's more of a preference I think. An old timer did once tell me though that considering all the metal, whirly blades, clackers, and rattles on our various lures, that he couldn't imagine that a simple little snap would be the thing that drove the fish off. He's my grandfather and he outfishes me and my expen$ive gear every single time with his little cheap-as-you-can-buy rod and reel setup....which include the shiny gold snap swivels

Having the same issue here in Central Indiana.....consecutive days in the high 80's and many in the mid 90's......the bass have all shut off. Based on the posts and articles, they're deep, rill deep, and are tight to cover. I've tried everything, especially the recommended deep and slow finesse....still nothing. I think we're just out of luck until the cooler evening temps start to allow the water to start cooling again. The ole' dogs days of summer......bleh

Those are some nice smalls......great job!

Above are my two cents' worth. I know the frusturation though. I'm really going through a dry spell this summer and trying every technique in articles and forums on this site with no luck. Just keep the line in the water, you can't catch em otherwise!

Hey guys, I've got a pond I fish in a neighborhood near here. It's in a small neighborhood. It usually produces pretty nice fish and it is a fun place to go on the days I can't make it to the lake. It's got (as far as I know) only bass and bluegill in it, that's all I've ever caught out of there and all I ever see. Since the post-spawn dog days of summer, the fishing has quite literally completely come to a halt. Where I used to be able to successfully throw about anything during spawn and just after spawn, now it doesn't seem to matter what I throw, nothing bites, literally nothing. I've tried everything the forums and articles on this site recommend. I've tried topwater at dawn and dusk, and kept the fishing slow and deep during the day. I've tried varying retrieve speeds. I've experimented with every color in my box. I've tried rattles, non rattles, shiny, deep diving, shallow running, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, cranks, swimbaits, weedless frogs, finesse worms, jigging, swim jigs, senko worms, wacky rigs, carolina rigged, texas rigged, even scent vs no scent, quite literally EVERTHING in my tackle box/bag system. There seems to be nothing that will trigger a strike of any kind. As you can see below, it's not a large pond. The middle island is about 150x150 feet. There is a small bridge at the top of the island with about 6 pilings in the water. Fishing around these isn't any more fruitful than anywhere else. The two small white dots in the middle of the water are fountains. I've tried fishing as close to them as I can get without actually hooking the fountain itself......nothing. Around the edge are some very small groups of weeds, the water there is about a foot deep. In the spring they're a hotspot, but now they seem to be void of life. The overall depth according to a resident who moved in before the pond was dug some 17 years ago says the water isn't any more than about 10 feet deep in the deepest part. It's relatively clear but not so much that I'd consider water clarity a hinderance. Those "pointy" pockets at each corner are pretty shallow and you can usually see the smallest bluegill in there meddling around, but I've never caught a single bass out of those corners. So guys, here I am, ready for all of the wisdom you can dish. I can't catch fish here, and with my wife about to have a baby, this is about the closest spot to me that I might be able to break away for a quick line in the water when things at home slow down. Here's an aerial picture of the pond attached.....help!!!

Awesome job. I got my first jig bass this year as well, but it certainly wasn't a 6 pounder! How I would've loved that!

I don't know about other states, but here in Indiana a DNR agent told me that any body of water that has public access (not private ponds), including even the smallest pond in shopping centers are required to have fish in them to control mosquito populations. That was several years ago so I'm not sure. I know a lot of retention ponds have good fish in them but they're sometimes shown to have pesticides too. I was talking to a neighborhood association president I work with and he said their neighborhood stocks their pond once a year with yearling bass and bluegill at a ratio of 250-to-1000. Since then we've pulled many 3lb bass out of there with some rumors that a couple of lucky guys have pulled in 6lb+ bass, and kids are regularly wrangling with 8-10in blugills. As long as the population is kept in check it seems that the required stocking is working in favor of us fishermen.

I've got some of these. The colors work well around my area (Indiana), especially stained but not muddy water. But like mentioned above, they seem to tear easily. But hey, I'll take a torn worm for a nice battle with a 4+ bass anyday! Good luck

It's useful, but only slightly. I like it to keep up with high school buddies that moved, or maybe a childhood friend that I left behind when our family moved. It's great for that. It's become a lot more helpful too since a lot of fishing gear manufacturers post new info and tips on products, contests, etc. I've found it's all too easy to waste time on it, so I keep my "friends" as just people who are family or close friends. Just another way to keep informed. But it's largely unneeded. I tend to err on the side of if they're really my friend, and I'm really their friend, unless there are extenuating circumstances, it's just as easy to place a phonecall or plan a fishing trip.

Yea, I've never seen any issue with the Vendetta. We were fishing an old strip pit and my cousin (owns the Vendetta) snagged something, likely an old piece of quarry equipment, and pulled and pulled on that thing the wrong way (bending his rod) and never broke the thing. It snapped his 20lb flourocarbon before any problems with his rod. He's been using it for 6+ months now with not a single issue.

The Tour is pretty exciting to watch. My wife gets irritated when the multiple showings of it fills up the DVR, they're hours long each. I've done many 100+ mile rides and they wear me out. I can't imagine doing one every day for 21 days. I've had my fair share of run in's with drivers, including a concussion from a driver who apparently didn't see the stopsign. Usually I keep my rides out in the middle of nowhere, but I do have about 2 miles in town here to get to my house. Most of that is neighborhood roads, but that 3/4 mile that I'm on the main road seems to be the fastest place in town, they race by me, many times only to be stopped by the light a few hundred yards ahead. I've seen many middle fingers, swearing, spitting, even a beer thrown at me. Just remember, these cyclists may look silly and may irritate us (yes even I get irritated at them), but remember.....they're someone's son, a little girl's dad, a taxpaying citizens, and in many cases like mine, fishermen....just like you. Stay a couple feet from them and be courteous. We are required by law to use the road too, we can't control that. So just take a deep breath, wait for that oncoming car to pass then smoothly likewise pass us. One last thought, I live in a pretty "cycling friendly" area. A particularly hurried gentleman decided to take matters into his own hands and severely injured a cyclist by running him off the road into a fencerow. The judge wasn't very sympathetic to his "I was in a hurry" and his "on the way to the hospital" excuse they found to be a lie and found him guilty of attempted vehicular assault, attempted vehicular manslaughter, and reckless driving.......that landed him in prison for 28 years. Wasn't really worth that extra couple of seconds he would've gained eh? From the news I read, those kinds of sentences are getting more and more common.