CeeJay

You definitely must bring a natural color dressed up inline spinner. The inline, a plastic worm or senko-type (black is good), and a very small natural looking topwater. You can cover top to bottom. I'd love to fish that lake...challenges are what makes fishing fun, I believe. I'd likely also scale way down on the line size. Have fun

Tenkara looks fun too...

Many of my old favorite ponds/lakes had muck on the bottom as well. You can indeed use jigs and other baits on that type of bottom though. Scaling way down to 1/16-1/8oz skirted jigs as well as split shot worm rigs will work without getting buried in the muck. And soft stick baits like Senkos, weightless or barely weighted, can be worked on or just above the bottom with light twitches.

Well said, and thanks for defending the spinning guys I experimented with bait casting and stuck with it just long enough to get a feel for it. But in the end I just found spinning tackle to be the most comfortable and effective method for me to catch fish.

I've never fished for Walleye, but based on the bait colors used for them I'd say they are probably second to Crappie for the most brilliant and oddest color lures that work. Pro Crappie anglers are interesting in that some of them may keep 100 colors combinations of the same style bait in their boat. I used to subscribe to Crappie magazine (not sure if it's around anymore, probably is) and loved looking at all the tackle adds...definitely colorful

Night fishing is so much fun Are you sure it was a bass, did you see the fish?

Much appreciated I was able to talk my brother into taking a quick pic of some of my worms, and I'm surprised how much detail showed up in the photo. For those that don't know the top little ones are Creme Angle worms. I use a regular thin sewing needle to thread 4 lb test from tail to head through the body, then tie on the hook and the swivel. Even though I mainly use the little angle worm rig for bluegill, it's almost impossible not to catch bass. Second is Midget Crawler (usually rigged split shot or wacky), the bottom four are Scoundrels (usually t-rigged or wacky). If I had to choose only one of those three for bass, it would be the Scoundrel...rigged any way I can come up with and probably in black. No doubt other brands work as good or better for most people. But for me these are my worms

Yeah I've found them on clearance as well. Here's a few of my Creme worms and some of the weights and hooks I use:

Cool, thanks for that info. It's weird, sometimes I have a hard time getting past the way a certain bait looks to me...then read and watch how good they are, finally give them a try, and then become a convert. For example, way back in my early ventures into bass angling I once swore to myself I'd never ever use a spinnerbait, just because it looked kind of stupid to me haha...but then I broke down and tried one, and now years later it's still a top 3 lure style for me. Particularly for small lake largemouth. Limeturese baits... wow that's almost psychedelic

I often think I'm the only one who uses Creme baits. I like them all (scoundrels, midget crawlers, angle worms) and use some of their little panfish plastics as well.

Reel Ess - For some reason I feel silly using bubble gum colored baits Obviously they work, but I can't get over that color haha.

Not counting soft sticks like Senkos, etc. I have caught more fish on the ancient Creme Scoundrel worms (4" natural or black) than on any other. With all the plastic worms out there now, I'm happy with what I have. Edit - Forgot to mention I fish them t-rigged, wacky, weightless, or split shot.

Oh ok thanks. I'm looking at those Hera poles and they seem very, very nice. Like under 4.5oz for a 12 foot pole...wow that's light! I wish I had the cash at the moment (I'm poor haha) because I'd be getting one of those Japanese poles. Until then I'll make do with the cheaper fiberglass Good idea to store line in medicine bottles. The amount of tackle I bring out with me these days keeps getting more and more simple. I love having lots of tackle at home to sort through, but it's a pain to lug around much more than a very simple selection on a river bank.

Crickets and poles...I bet it doesn't get more simple and fun than that There was an article I read somewhere discussing various old techniques for catching bass on long poles...skittering (?), I believe it was called. Interesting stuff.

Those graphite poles on that site look great, lots of good info on pole fishing as well. Which model pole do you have if I may ask? It looks like they have a piece of braid secured to the tip for attaching line, which is a cool idea.

Awesome! Congrats on your new PB

Sorry I meant to say "non-American" rather than European...as those Japanese floats appear to be awesome as well. I need to restock some balsa wood and cane stems soon, float making provided me with many hours of enjoyment. Its fun to test them out and see how much weight is needed to balance the float. I never quite figured out a formula for that, but have a little chart I keep in my tackle box. I don't feel like driving into town to visit Walmart this evening...so I'll pick up my panfish telescopic pole tomorrow And I'm going to get the South Bend 10' bamboo cane rod as well....no reason not to haha.

That's really cool. At one time I perfected the roll cast...well maybe not perfected haha...but I could do it passably I suppose, the trees and brush forced me to Otherwise my fly casting was not very pretty to watch. Even without a fly rod now, I use casting bubble floats (and other floats, for nymphs and wets) on my spinning gear to toss out flies for panfish. And I'll definitely be using a new fiberglass long pole for dapping dry flies for bluegills near shore.

Oh yeah thanks, I have that site bookmarked, stumbled upon it while looking up floats on Google. European floats are extremely sophisticated, it's an art form really. A far cry from the round red and white bobbers. Here's another good one based in America with their own designs: http://www.bentleyfishing.com/products/Expert-Floats/index.htm

That's great. If I could afford the initial investment in supplies I'd be making my own rods without a doubt. My fly casting left a lot to be desired haha, but I enjoyed the experiences catching bass and bluegill, and even grass carp on the fly. I once had a mediocre quality 6'6" ft, 6wt fly rod that I would always underline down to 4 wt line for panfish and small bass. Great memories on the small lakes and ponds from back then... Unfortunately my old fly rods (I also had an 8wt bass fly rod that I didn't use very often, and one more that I can't remember) disappeared/broke/stolen when I took time off from fishing.

Hey Darren that's really cool how you learned some pole fishing Can you describe the floats he used? I'm curious, as I often use Euro "match fishing" style floats (wagglers, sticks, etc). Fun to make your own out of balsa wood too Now I mainly use Thill's shy bite floats as they're more easy to find. And yes, I'm very interested in the site you mentioned Yeah, I often long for those simple days as well....and what's more simple than a pole and float? Bluegill, rock bass and other sunfish have always ranked high on my "fun to catch" list...and a new long pole should prove to be a great (and fun!) way to catch them where I now fish.

A bamboo cane pole? I read about an old time angler who used nothing but cane poles that he cut and cured himself. Apparently the one piece homemade poles are a bit tougher than the multi-piece canes with metal ferulles. It would be fun making one for sure. From what I've read, the longer the bamboo cane is allowed to dry/cure the straighter and stronger it'll be. Unfortunately I lack patience

Awesome! Sounds like tons of fun. I still haven't hit up Walmart yet, I'm reading reviews of various poles online. I also read something interesting, which was that the line should be spiral wrapped around the pole and then out the tip eye guide...rather than tying strait to the tip eye. How do you normally rig yours? I'm also considering length...like maybe 14'. That way I can really reach out from the river bank. If I'm getting a panfish pole/bream buster, I might as well go all out and get a long one Apparently some of the brands have 17' poles(!)...that might be a bit awkward to use though.

Yeah same here. Looks like a nice spot to me.

Cool, yeah I'm heading to Walmart in an hour or two to see which long poles they have.