hoosierbass07

Walmart. But I went to Menard's later and found some mild crates cheaper than Walmart! lol.

I've not done any night before unless you count 9pm to 9:20pm night fishing. When I go fishing in the evening, either in my kayak or bank fishing, I try to head home by 9:10pm. Anyway, I went bank fishing at a strip pit pond/lake this evening. I has three nice fishing piers. I've fished here since last year and I've caught bass from the bank but most were on the small side. So this evening I'm fishing and decided to stay past 9:30pm. It was around around 10pm and I was using a zoom trick worm Texas rigged and I ended up getting more bites and caught a nice sized bass. Not a giant but a lot bigger than the ones Iv'e been catching during the day and evening hours. Maybe a pound and a half. I didn't try it but I also go the feeling top water would have brought some action too. Anyway, do the bigger bass come out at night once the sun is down? My one catch tonight has me very interested in night fishing now! I also had some more and more bites the later it got. Oh, and that bass was throat hooked. I did have the barb crushed down and I tried that one technique where you go through the gills on the side. Even though it was getting darker I could still see the hook and manged to go through the side and get it out. I'm pretty confident now I can get more hooks out from the throat. I put the bass back in the water and held it and it did swim off. I figure it's got a better chance of survival with the hook out than it would have with the hook in. And finally - I'm becoming a big of Zoom trick worms!

I bought a milk crate last month and finally got around to buying a PVC pipe today and some plastic ties. So here it is! I put tape on the lip of the rod holders so they won't scratch up my reels. I can't wait to try out. I might cut slips in the pipes so my rods can slide down and stay in place but I'm going to try it out first before I do any more cutting. Most of my fishing is done on strip pits so there's not much wave action so I don't think I need to bungee my rods down.

I feel like I just opened up my eyes this evening to something new! lol. I went to a new pond I never visited before with my kayak. I loved it. It was a small strip pit pond with high banks so there was hardly any wind and lots of angles I could move paddle to so I could get out of the sun. I caught six or seven small bass on a Texas rigged plastic worm and was getting a little tired of catching small bass like I usually do. So I decided to cast out away from the bank about fifteen feet. I've done that before but I usually cast out, let my lure hit the water, wait a few seconds, close the bail, and start working it back. I decided to do something a little different. I cast my worm out, let it hit the water, and kept the bail open and watched my line closely until it stopped sinking. Then I closed the bail, moved my rod up a little, opened the bail, and watched the line sink even more. Then I repeated and watched more line sink. So as I was moving it toward me a little I think it was getting deeper and deeper. Now here is what is cool - when my lure was right beneath my kayak, I reeled it up and it took around fifteen seconds of casual reeling to reel my lure back up to me. I have never had my plastic worms or any other lure so deep in my two years of bass fishing. I spent the next hour casting my worm out and trying to get it deep. I did catch one small bass doing this in deep water but no other bites. Still, I had fun working it deep. It's hard to believe but Iv'e never really used my Texas rigged worms like this before. Now I feel it opens up a whole new area of bass fishing. Not only bank and shallow fishing but deep water fishing too! I can't wait to do more deep water fishing. Now I'm wondering - how do you work Texas rigged worms in deep water? Slowly move it with the rod or slowly move it with the reel? Or pop it up and down a little? Also, what works best - a straight tailed worm or curly tailed worm? Also, is deep water where jigs work the best? I'm no lover of weedless jigs but I'm willing to give them a try again if they work good in deep water. Thanks!

I don't pay attention to light or heavy hooks. I just buy the gamakatsu hooks I find in Walmart - 1/0 to 5/0 in round bend and wide gap. I use six pound to 10 pound mono. I choose the hook based on the soft plastic I'm using. If I found decent hooks in the local Walmart and gander mountain that I could get in light wire and heavy wire hooks I would probably focus on those. But since Walmart and the local gander mountain only carry regular gamakatsu hooks I just buy those hooks.

There's a book called Fishing With Confidence. The author talks about all the "conventional wisdom" we hear in bass fishing and how a lot of what people say contradict what others say. So more or less - what they say is 99% BS just to sale stuff or make them sound knowledgeable. As for your question - I'm not sure.

Nice looking kayak!!!

When I visited the Indiana Outdoors show in February I talked with some Indiana tournament fishermen asking about their tournaments. We got to talking about soft plastics and two of the fishermen said soft plastics in the bass will eventually kill it. It will cause its stomach to bloat up or something. Anyway, that's the first I heard of that. I believe it. I never did and don't throw used plastics away in the water. Who throws used stuff in the water anyway?

Soft creature baits! I caught 99% of the bass on worms and lizards. But when I try to throw soft creature baits - nothing.

Three Shimano Sahara reels, on Symetre, one Shimano cheap one from Walmart that I forget what it's called and one Daiwa Lexa. My one baitcaster is a Shimano Chronarch. Funny thing, I bought the Chronarch last summer when I was still a newbie to fishing. I quickly realized how much easier spinning reels are to master. I didn't use the Chronarch much at all last year because my spinning reels could do all I wanted. This summer I decided I want to use my Chronarch a little so I got it out and this time put it on a cheap Abu Garcia six foot six inch rod and to my surprise I can cast half way decent with it. I even put on a light weight Strike King KDV crankbait and I could cast it using twelve pound line almost as good as I could using my spinning reel using eight pound line.

Spinning reels are from Mars and Baitcasters are from Venus. Or is it the other way around? I do want to say I love how spinning reels look. I love how the line comes off the spool and then close the bail and then wind in the line perfectly. I love watching the bail go round and round. My five Shimano and one Daiwa spinning reels are like works of art in my eyes equal to the greatest paintings from Rembrandt and Monet.

Have you checked out Wilderness Systems kayaks? I have a Ride 115. It has two hatches. I don't use them much but they seem to be pretty well made/solid. I will warn you though the Ride 115 is a heavy 78 pounds.

I like spinning reels far more than baitcasters because you can cast very light lures to heavy lures (within reason) with a spinning reel. I have four or five spinning reels all with six to ten pound line. I have one baitcaster with twelve pound line. If you use 4-10 pound mono line I would stick with spinning reels. But if you want to use heavier mono line I would go with a baitcaster. I think baitcasters are made for heavy line. Of course you can use heavy braid with a spinning reel. One of the biggest drawbacks with baitcasters is backlashing. I never get backlashing with my spinning reels unless some weeds are clogging up my rod eyes. But with a baitcaster you always have to pay attention to how you cast. Using a baitcaster is sort like walking a tightrope ten feet above the ground with no net. Another thing is cost. You can buy a decent spinning reel at low cost. But if you want a decent baitcaster you have to spend more money. Cheap spinning reels can work. Cheap baitcasters - junk.

This is only my second year fishing as an adult and I've been trying to read and study up on bass fishing since I started fishing. One thing I've noticed - there are lots of "wives tales" out there, even so called "studies" by "university student PHDs" and end the end they are still "wives tales." Only thing that is almost a fact - soft plastics (worms) are the a great all around producer of catching bass because so many people have confirmed this is true, including me. Everything else should be taken with a big grain of salt.

If you are looking for a spinning reel check out the Shimano Sahara reels. I have two of them and they are my go to spinning reels for bass fishing. I'm really impressed with the Sahara reels.

I have two Sahara spinning reels and one Symetre spinning reel, all made in Malaysia. The quality looks pretty good to me. In fact when I bought a cheap shimano spinning reel just to play with I made sure it was at least made in Malaysia and it was. I figure if it comes out of the Shimano Malaysian factory it must be at least half way decent. I'm not sure where my Chronarch baitcaster is made, japan I assume.

I guess my rant against the Hobie Mirage peddle kayaks is not really against those kayaks, it's more about not seeing enough paddle kayaks on TV. I see them plenty on Youtube. But it would be nice when a fishing program features a kayak they don't always go to the peddle kayaks. They need to show how effective paddle kayaks are on small and medium ponds. They are a blast to paddle around and fish from. At least my Ride 115 is fun to paddle around. I would love to see more bass fishing programs on TV featuring paddle kayaks, both sit-on-top and sit-inside. And enough of salt water fishing, show me some fresh water pond fishing from kayaks! I still think peddle kayaks should be in their own category in fishing tournaments.

This is my second year bass fishing but I will admit I feel like a newbie. Last year I was bank fishing. This year I've been out on the water my kayak and so much more area to fish is open up to me. I'm a little overwhelmed. I feel like I'm learning to bass fish all over again. Anyway, I've been doing most of my fishing at a couple of strip pit ponds. I went out Sunday morning (9am to 12pm) and really noticed how much grass grows under the water. I worked the bank and did not have any luck. I only worked the bank. I did not see any big bass hanging around the bank though. I did see some small bass and junior bass hanging around the bank, but not big ones. Now I'm wondering - do big bass like to hang out in the grass during the summer? I don't have a fish finder on my kayak yet. So, how do you work the grass? Do I pick an area and simply work it, fan casting, then if nothing bites move to another area with grass? Can Texas rigged or split shot worms and soft plastics be used in the grass? Can I simply cast out a spinner bait and reel it in through the grass? What's the most effective way to fish the grass? Thanks

I love listening to the birds while fishing.

What kind/brand of kayak do you have and do you enjoy using it and fishing from it? I'm in the market for sit in kayak.

Can the Jiki rig be used in shallow water, so a few feet deep or is it best used in a little more deeper water?

I'm not really envious. I guess I would like one but not sure I would buy one even if I had the money. But I think the sport of kayaking fishing would do itself a favor if they started putting more paddle kayaks on TV. Almost every dang minute I see kayaks on TV it's a peddle and they push it like it's some kind of great envention. To be honest, those peddle kayaks look like they should be at a resort at Disney World. Maybe there are some shows on TV that feature paddle kayaks. If so I've not seen them.

Am I the only one who thinks those Hobie Mirage peddle kayaks are rather overkill when it comes to kayak fishing? I was watching the Extreme Kayak fishing tournament on NBC Sports a few days ago and of course they showed a Hobie Mirage kayak. That thing looked more like a full fledged boat and not a kayak. Whenever I look up local (Indiana) kayak fishing tournaments I usually find pictures of their tournaments and of course I see a few Hobie Mirage peddle kayaks. To me those things look very funfair and should either be in their own class or banned. I also wonder if those peddle drive kayaks will hurt the sport in the future. If people, like me, who are just starting in kayak fishing, turn on a kayak fishing tournament on TV or go to a local event, and a good number of the competitors are in peddle drive boats, how do think I'm going to feel? I have my $600 or $1,000 kayak but to compete I need to spend $3,000 for a Hobie? Really, Hobie should be in their own class. No offense to Hobie Mirage owners, but those Hobie's just don't look like a kayak to me and should should not be competing against others who paddle their kayaks.

Yeah, I was going to start a new thread on how I think that Hobie Mirage kayak looks more like a full fledged boat and not a kayak. I'm getting tired of turning on kayak fishing tournaments on TV and seeing all of them in peddle drive kayaks.

I throat hooked a small bass in ealry spring and could not get the hook out. I tossed it back I the water but felt bad. I think it was someone on this forum that said - get over it, fishing is a blood sport and those things happen. I try to keep that in mind. I figure I could make up for it by simply following the law and buying my fishing license every year, practice leave no trace fishing when I'm bank fishing, and trying to get the hook out quick and releasing quick when I catch a bass. Really, I think it's part of fishing and happens to almost everyone who fishes.