everythingthatswims

Something I haven't dabbled with much at all are the old school wakebaits. Seems like 99% of the time they are used in bone colors. Cotton Cordell Redfin, Storm Thunderstick, Bomber Long A, etc. I have been playing with them lately and I feel dumb for not having used them before, they get bit and are a presentation that I can tell will get bit in many of the places I fish. You will be seeing photos of fish with these baits coming from me in the near future. Who all throws them, tackle preferences, conditions you look for, etc?

Pretty strange world too

VMC makes those boxer heads too but I bet trokar hooks are better. My favorite swimbait head by far, and the 3.8/4.8 keitechs fit them perfectly. I fish them on a fast action MH rod with 15lb fluoro.

I never saw it or even hooked it, but I'm sure it was swimming around on the point in front of me for a couple hours at Milford Lake. Needed it to be 2lbs 11oz.

Your favorite lake/river is one of my favorites too! I have no idea what water levels are like, but I can almost guarantee you can catch smallmouth dragging a ned rig on the bottom if water is low enough to fish and somewhat clean.

Judging from what I've heard about the location you have listed, it is worth putting up with some snow

When was the last time you caught a smallmouth down there?

Gonads is what they said in fisheries class

I have not gotten the touch of knowing how to retrieve a swimbait through a group of (deep) suspended fish with any consistency. Line size, jighead size, retrieval speed, cast distance, and other factors contribute to where that bait is coming through the water. I can count it down to the depth they are at, but knowing where the bait is during the retrieve is a whole new can of worms If I sold a kidney and bought panoptix I could just watch my bait go through the school

My fishing partner and I ended up winning the small tournament we were fishing, we had 13lbs and won by a 5 pound margin, fishing was tough for most of the day. We made a good call on our starting spot, a huge school of fish was feeding on the point, there was a 30 minute window where every cast yielded a hookup, and when you netted the fish, the graph lit up with the others that followed it to the boat! Problem was, the air temperature was around 20 degrees, and with a steady breeze, it made things pretty difficult both physically and mechanically. Luckily, I had opted to spool 2 spinning reels with Berkley Nanofil the night before. I'm not a huge fan of the line, BUT it sheds water really well, and doesn't absorb any water like a normal braid would. This means you can fish somewhat unimpaired by ice when air temperatures are below freezing. This is how the morning went; cast, hop the 2.8" keitech back to the boat, hook up halfway back to the boat, attempt to adjust the drag during the fight, probably not succeed due to 2 pairs of gloves and numb fingers. Net the fish, try not to slip on the sheet of ice on the boat carpet from netting previous fish while heading to the livewell. Try to open the livewell, realize you have to put the fish back in the net (which is already frozen solid), use two hands and pry the frozen livewell open, put the fish in the box, then shove your hands in your pockets with hand warmers for a brief moment before you have to grab the net for the other guy! Let me tell you, culling with no cull tags was not a fun experience. Had it been a little warmer, we would have caught many more bass without all the hassle, but it didn't matter in the end. We caught fish throughout the day, but only made one upgrade of about an ounce. I need to learn how to "damiki rig" for smallmouth, there were a lot of them suspended that would only slap at a jigging spoon, and wouldn't eat an a-rig.

How can you tell the one is a "domestic rainbow"? Looks like a male that has been in the creek a while to me. Nice fish!

One of the coldest days I have ever fished! Wind was blowing 20 and gusting to at least 40 at times, air temps in the 30s. New PB for the year @7.3lbs, she was only 21.25" long, super chunky fish. Catching a big fish on a big bait is a heck of a time! Hoping to find a couple half her size tomorrow.

Sounds like buzzbait time to me

Most of the time, 15-25' is where I target "deep" largemouth. In clear water during the late fall and winter, I catch them much deeper than that. I have caught many bass in the 30-40' range on blade baits and jigging spoons, my deepest (largemouth) bass was on a 1/2oz blade on the bottom in 50'! All of the bass I have caught in greater than 30' were relating to baitfish. I have only caught fish (largemouth) deeper than 30' *not* relating to bait one time. One of my best days on a local WV lake was spent catching largemouth on the bottom in 40' on ned rigs, also in cold water. The bass were sitting in Christmas trees that I helped the DNR sink.

Surprised there isn't more talk of cold water cranking. Only certain baits will work, but if you have water that is cold and anywhere between 1' vis and 5' vis you have a shot at some really big bass with a crankbait. My favorites are a shad rap and wiggle wart when it is really cold. Those baits will work in warmer temps too, but they are some of the few baits that will work once water dips below 45, a spro little john is good too if the fish are being a little more aggressive. HAVE to find rock to tick them off of. Rip rap corners are excellent.

Spread the word, I don't mind! Don't really have a name for it. We just call it "the rig".

This is chirp, and brand a brand new transducer. Those are just 10-14" smallmouth and rock bass mixed together. I have gone back over and over, they LIVE there! Bigger fish look like arches. There is a chance that is a school of crappie, but I don't think it is.

That picture isn't a bait ball, those are fish sitting on the end of a point. Fish under bait are pretty straightforward, the bait will usually look like a big cloud or blob, and gamefish are usually below them and look like arches, or small blobs. If the cloud is broken apart into smaller clouds with gamefish marks in between, it's game time!

I have heard some crazy things about when the water level fluctuates on Milford. No matter how good the body of water is, nothing can overcome bad conditions. Glad you guys were able to salvage your weekend!

Really depends on where you go. Some big teams in the south do the tryouts, but most schools do not. At WVU, if you have a boat, you can fish, and I think that is pretty standard across the board. You just have to have access to a boat. If you want to be able to compete at the collegiate level, you are going to have to put some time in. Look at the amount of time an average college athlete spends practicing. Time on the water is 100% the most important thing. College fishing is a blast, I would highly recommend pursuing it!

I noticed in the promo vids that they don't show hook sets, just fish eating the bait. Can't be a good sign

They love the ol crank. Hardest thump in fresh water

In the tournament I fished at clearlake, each bass over 5lbs had to have its own weigh bag

Worked my butt off for one bite today. It was a gorgeous fish, but man was it slow out there. Air temps was 35 when we launched, and mid 40s when we got off the water at 2pm, Water temp 64. I definitely would have stayed longer but had to make it to an exam. I fished shallow, deep, and in-between. I am pretty convinced they just weren't eating today, at least not while I was there! However, after fishing tirelessly all day, I missed this fish, made the same cast and had it pegged for at least a full second after it swam my bait away from the log, and it returned to the same spot to eat again on the third cast. I really don't know what was going on out there today

Like a miniature version of them, yup!