everythingthatswims

1" gulp minnows are great

Nailed it

I'm in the Outer Banks right now, I shark fished last night but we were plagued by huge rays the size of coffee tables. You should have fun with the sharpnose and rays if you can fish before the storm gets here. Get some heavy wire, good 100lb+ shock leader and use enough to prevent the shark's skin from chafing your main line. Kayaking a bait out or using a surf/paddle board is the way to go. Use circle hooks so you don't kill them, good luck!

Use a medium or medium heavy spinning rod with braid 10lb or heavier, baitcasters can get messed up easily in saltwater if they aren't designed for it, but most spinning reels are fine in the salt. Get some jigheads 1/8-1/2oz, some 12-40lb fluorocarbon leader (depending on how toothy the fish you target will be and what type of structure they are near), a tub of gulp 4" swimming mullet in pearl or chartreuse, and have a blast!

They smell like hydrilla sometimes but they still taste fine to me!

I figure 8 squarebills when they follow it in and I actually have caught some fish, you just gotta keep the rod out of the water. When my bait gets close to my rod tip I stop winding with about 3 feet of line out and swing my rod to the boat (or bank) to finish the retrieve that way if a fish grabs it I have at least a little line out. Doing that is crucial when wade fishing frogs, bass will come right up to you in the pads and catch you off guard!

I have had the usual turtle, frog, and bird encounters, but my favorite was when a huge 40+lb snapping turtle tried to eat my trout in a creek I was fishing, there is a huge root system that goes to the bottom in about 6 feet of water, and since the tree is still alive the roots are a great place to stand and fish from, turns out this turtle was hanging out in the roots and whenever I would hook a trout, he would come out and try to chase it down! Even when I whacked him on the head with my net he didn't give up, the crazy dude would even climb halfway out of the water and stare at me while I unhooked the fish! I finally hooked a 12" chub and let him eat it, then he left me alone.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rfrZS4h-pdg/UdogC9h7g0I/AAAAAAAAB0c/Fc0_qkBuBrs/s640/100_1809.JPG I fish a pond that has some gigantic hybrid bluegill, these fish were both over 12". We catch them on bass lures too, they will eat a superfluke like it's nothing. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CKQOzPTBR94/Udof1_-6k0I/AAAAAAAAB0E/Xq-MFq4tQaE/s640/100_1816.JPG

Jigs and frogs

Not a bass but I caught this big holdover rainbow this year, I pretty much only fish with flies I tie myself (when I'm fly fishing). I once hooked about a 7lb largemouth on my 3 weight but it jumped and spit the hook! Watched the same thing happen to my friend last year when we were fishing a trout pond at a Trout Unlimited camp, he was also using a 3wt for the trout, and when a 7-8lb largemouth slurped down his wooly bugger, he didn't keep her buttoned for long. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AsrCut7G7a4/UbVPYXlxMsI/AAAAAAAABuU/OJqJkB-7B5o/s640/2013-06-09 Also figured out how to catch these slimy critters on the fly rod.

Awesome! Have you tried fishing trout magnets yet? (you need to get some)

Found these at dicks today, they look perfect.

The fish in my avatar refused a 5" bluegill but woofed down an 8" largemouth...I have stopped using live bait for largemouth now though.

Bass should be fine. I have fished a pond that is intensively managed for bass, and they use blue stone.

I think it was probably just blue stone, it's an algaecide. My guess: Shad are pretty fragile creatures, so the blue stone could have easily killed it, and carp (and grass carp) are much more sensitive to blue stone than other fish, so that may have been what killed it. If the chemical was used with the intent of killing fish, I would think there would be many more dead ones floating around, and it would make such a mess that I wouldn't think the city would do that.

Not in muddy water haha

4" Dingers and T-rigged finesse worms with 1/16oz slip weights

In Virginia, we can stock private ponds with whatever we want, with the exception of some invasive species like common carp, grass carp, asian carp, snakeheads, etc (there is a list on the DGIF website) of course I'm not going to start dumping shiners into public bodies of water (most already have strong populations of them anyways) but in farm ponds and private bodies of water, I don't see the issue?

Fished a local reservoir yesterday (Rivanna Reservoir, 450 acres) from my kayak. Got up early and was on the water before sunrise hoping for some topwater action, unfortunately there were no blowups going on whatsoever. Threw a topwater for a while but got discouraged and figured the visibility had the fish holding on cover (fairy muddy, visibility 6"-1 foot) so I started flipping a jig (3/8oz Terminator black/blue with a 3.5" black/blue incredicraw trailer)...Took about an hour and a half to get the first bite, and it was only about 1lb, but I started to figure out the presentation they wanted and what type of cover they were on. Fishing picked up once the sun hit the water, but there were still no big fish to be found, everything I caught was under 2lbs. I was fishing laydowns in everything from 1ft to 10ft of water, working all areas of the tree, fished big boulders too. I caught plenty of fish, but the size just wasn't there. Some of the creek arms had better visibility, so I switched to a 1/2oz Boo Jig in the watermelon pumkin color with a natural colored pit boss for a trailer, hoping that the big bait would keep the little guys away. I was fishing some of the best looking cover I have ever seen, and each time that jig would stop on it's way to the bottom and start swimming away, I just knew it was a 3-5lber. Nope, just more dinks, they didn't care that the jig was half their size. So I have to ask, has anyone else experienced a day like this? Normally jigs will produce at least a couple fish in the 2-4lb range for me. I know the reservoir has plenty of nice fish, the biologist reports are excellent with many fish over 15", the biggest one they shocked weighed 9lbs. I didn't think the fish would be holding offshore in water that muddy but maybe I'm wrong? Usually there are at least a few fish on cover even if most of them are out in deep water....Any ideas?

Get the little guys out and put golden shiners in!

That's anadromous (migratory) herring in rivers.

You're joking right? You must have a bad hatchery (if they are planted fish) or you are cooking them wrong. Trout is one of the best tasting fish out there.

Gulp Minnows

Sounds like you need to get a light or ultralight rod, strike detection is a must if you don't want to gut hook them. When I drift power eggs, I only gut hook maybe 1 out of 12 or 15 fish, you just have to get used to how they bite. You can also drift baits under tiny floats, that way you can set as soon as they eat. The "steelhead baitholder" hooks by eagle claw are kind of like a circle hook, try those out and see if it helps. Good luck!

Carolina rig so the bait doesn't go into the grass. 15-20ft visibility is crazy!