everythingthatswims

Yeah I fish them on a medium action with 12lb line... My MH with 17 or 20lb will bend the hooks if I set it hard. You don't need a heavy hook for smallies though do you?

Bitsy flips have such awful skirts I can't stand them. Baby Boo jig with a zoom ultravibe speed craw as a trailer kills smallies (largemouth love them too!)

Get a couple s-waver 168s, (replace the hooks!) probably perch colored for you or one in a shiner/herring color if you have any silver colored baitfish. And for some odd reason the "lite trout" gets hammered even though it doesn't look like anything (trout aren't yellow haha). 17lb or 20lb fluoro would be a good choice, and make sure you have enough rod to set the hook! Smallies love the 168, I caught my PB smallie @23" on one, and plenty in the 12-16" range, little smallies will hammer the s-wavers, don't worry about not getting numbers because you will slay them.

Should be biting very well. I crushed them on a wakebait (Mattlures Hardgill) yesterday evening

Trout tend to school up and "swim laps" in ponds/small lakes where they are stocked. Most of the time they will follow the first drop off/shelf of some sort, which is usually pretty close to the bank. Many people make the mistake of casting their powerbait rig too far out. If you find a point to cast off of that rocks because it will concentrate the fish when they have to swim around the point. Just leave your bail open and let them eat it, it is nearly impossible to not gut hook them when using this set up so don't do it if you are a C&R guy...I even tried tiny circle hooks, gut hooked roughly 2 out of every 3 trout.

Big swimbaits because no one throws them here . There is a highly pressured place I fish that in the summer, you can't catch anything over 2lbs no matter how finesse you go, 4lb fluoro drop shotting a 4" finesse worm would probably spook them, you can see schools of 3-6lb fish (I have seen one or two in the 7-8lb class) cruising around, toss a senko way out in front of them and they do a 180 like the senko will kill them if they swim closer. But go fish a big ol' wakebait early in the morning and it's like every single big fish in there hasn't seen food in the past week!

Some serious antler traffic in VA right now, on Thursday I watched a 6 point sprinting after a doe. Finally whacked my first deer this year with a bow as well. I am set up next to a trail that crosses a small river, I can see the smallies boiling from my stand when they chase shiners...I'm so conflicted while in the stand !

I shoot my dad's old bowtech from '02 I think, it kills deer just as dead as a brand new bow. Main thing with newer bows is that they will shoot smoother, faster, and quieter. I think as long as you get a bow that has good reviews, there shouldn't be an issue (same as the Shimano-Abu-Lews-etc. argument haha). People will argue this way and that about broadheads too but as long as it as sharp and you put it in the boiler room, the deer is gonna die.

Spent a couple hours at a teeny little 1 acre pond today to see what the bass were doing. We got slammed with a big cold front so I figured they wouldn't be doing much. To my surprise, I did very well! Threw three baits, an s-waver 168, a small shad rap, and an x-rap. Swimbait won today, 5 on the s-waver, biggest about 3lbs, none on the shad rap, and one 12"er on the x-rap. This was the biggest one that I would say went 3lbs respectively. Don't laugh at my silly photo Here is another one

I fish for those days when the stars align, the bite is on, and I'm on cloud 9. I can forget about everything else in the world for a day and just focus on chasing those slimy critters that I love so dearly!

I'm glad I don't fish for those trout! The ones I catch fight very well

Some times I fish a river and think I have caught variety, then I go to the beach for a week and realize what variety is! Nice fish!

They are eating cranks and jerkbaits right now

"THE HUT"-Small Private Lake "The Point Where The Giant Lives"(followed by "I get first cast!")-Reservoir that shall not be named "Striper Cove"-Lake Anna "White Perch Dock"-Lake Anna "Slab Dock"-Lake Anna "Stair Steps"-Trout Stream "Alaska"-North Fork Rivanna River

I only had to read the OP once to understand it, I'm getting good at this!

I am struggling in a similar pond right now...choked with weeds, crystal clear, and the fall transition leaves the fish wanting something other than what I whacked them on in the summer. I have landed some on x-raps if the water is deep enough to fish the bait without getting grass on it, and if you can spot patches of bottom without grass, toss a finesse jig and drag it through there. Spinnerbait was working 2 weeks ago, but they quit eating them. Good 'ol weightless trick worm should get them as well...I just hate fishing that rig

You may have your spool tension/brakes set too tightly. This causes the bait to continue swinging in the direction of the cast rather than going in a straight line while casting

Those darn west coast trout eaters.....

Gotta pay to play!!!

If fish funk was going to hurt me, I would have been dead a long time ago.

Did a little bank fishing with my brother and a friend on a reservoir near c'ville on friday. We landed 18 bass in about 3-4hrs, only in the 1-1.5lb range but it was fun. Roughly 50% on jerkbaits and the other %50 on 7-8' cranks and squarebills. Flipped a lot of trees but only landed 2 on jigs, fishing moving baits on the edges was better. Tried a chatterbait too but no love.

Looks like a 6 to me, your hand just makes her belly not look as big. Nice fish!

My summer job was located about a 1/4 mile from a pond choked with lily pads and full of frog-eating bass, so those fish definitely saw me a few times in the early morning hours. I have fished before school a few times but last time I did that I lost a swimbait and got skunked....not a good way to start off a Monday!

Why not???

That one on the power plant lake too?