IndianaFinesse

And sometimes the fisherman. I have very limited experience with frogs, but if I am missing to many bites down sizing often helps them get the whole thing in there mouth. Before ever using a frog the first thing I do is trim the skirts up about an inch, and bend the hooks up and out a little so they aren't angled into the bait. But even with these two modifications my hook up ratio is only about 70%

I accidentally catch a lot of bass while deadsticking a Ned rig. I'll be moving along when I get a phone call,(remember the geico commercial about moms calling at the worst times?) so I shut off the trolling motor and forget to reel my line in. Often times a bass caries my lure off during the phone call, so I'm holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder and trying to fight the fish at the same time as talk. It sure makes a funny picture. Many of my biggest bass have been caught while incidentally deadsticking a Ned rig during a phone call (preytorions pb was caught while deadsticking a trd while talking to his mom also)..

That looks like something I'll have to try. Do you like the smaller pad crashers and what is your favorite size of finesse frogs?( it still seems strange to have the words "finesse" and "frogs" in the same sentence)

For the cranks I would recommend using your glass rod, moderate action rods tend to hook and hold fish better when using baits with treble hooks.

I heard that tackle warehouse is going to have a promotion going on the new Tubez right after I-cast!

Because it's a cheap filler that people will buy.

I mostly use them as a search bait, so I retrieve them fairly quickly. Usually I steadily retrieve them so they are just ticking the tops of the weeds, occasionally stopping or speeding up to trigger any followers. As far as trailers I keep it simple and either use a fluke or a Keitech fat impact depending on the targeted depth (the Keitech keeps it a little closer to the surface) and how much vibration I want. Recently I've been trying the new chatterbait freedom and really like it, you can make it entirely weedless, the hook-ups are better, and the hooks are easy to swap out.

I don't have much experience with chatterbaits, but I tend to pick them up when the water clarity is average in the 2-4 foot range or if they have been seeing a lot of spinnerbaits/swim jigs recently. I have been fishing a lot the past few days, pretty much dawn to dusk. The fish are definitely on a frog bite, I've been getting them over vegetation in as deep as twelve feet of water in the morning and skipping docks later on. Since Friday I have caught a total of about a hundred bass, and quite a few over fifteen inches. I tried trolling for walleyes on Saturday morning with crawler harnesses along a twelve to fifteen foot drop, but the only thing I caught was a bunch of big bluegill.

Sure you can, but your hands will be mince meat by the time the fish lets go.

Had something similar happen to me during my first tournament. Three of my five bass were just barely keepers, fifteen inches on the mark. It turns out the guy measuring them measured with the tail flat instead of pinched like most people do, plus his board was a quarter inch shorter than ours, so he disqualified them. Talk about embarrassing, having most of your fish disqualified during your first tournament no less. Sorry about the tourney, hopefully next time you can go out and win it. The photograph and release tournament guys thank you.

My I-cast wish of a ned rig do-it mold came true! I can't wait until barlows gets the new mold in stock, plus the new baits z-man is releasing look awesome, especially the tube. There goes my savings for a new topwater rod.

My only absolute with fishing, is that I am going fishing!

two days ago I got out for two hours right before the thunder storm moved in. I tried my new spro bbz-1 rat in morning dawn out, and it caught eleven bass out of the sixteen total. I was surprised by the number of smaller bass that ate it, the smallest was only twelve invhes long with six over fifteen inches. fishing parallel to docks with submerged vegetation in six to twelve feet of water. Yesterday I fished for five hours in the morning and six hours in the afternoon. I caught 31 bass, most on a spook in the morning but about a third ate a trd skipped under docks later on. they were in the same areas as yesterday. And this morning I got out for four hours, but I decided to try and learn how to use frogs. I caught 13 bass, all on the frog. About half of them ate it while walking it parallel to a weed edge in twelve feet of water, and the rest were while skipping docks. the dock skipping with frogs was fun, my two favorite ways to catch fish (except buzzbaits) all in one.

Nope, didn't even know bassresource had a commercial.

Late winter, 38-45 degrees: Suspending jerkbaits, blade baits, hair jigs, and the ned rig. Early pre spawn, 45-50 degrees: Suspending jerkbaits, jigs, and the ned rig. Mid pre spawn, 50-55 degrees: Suspending jerkbaits, jigs, chatterbaits, ned rig. Most lures will work during the pre spawn period. Late pre spawn, 55-60 degrees: Chatterbaits, square bills, jigs, rattle traps, etc. Spawn, 60-70 degrees: Ned rig, jigs, lizards. Post spawn, 70-75: Ned rig, jigs, topwater. Summer, 70+ degrees: Topwater, jigs, t-rigs Early/mid fall, 70-55 degrees: Spinnerbaits, crank baits, chatterbaits, swim jigs, topwater. Late fall, 55-45 degrees: Suspending jerkbaits, ned rig.

You would need to make the pole in at least 122 fish increments for my 2,953 total fish to be in that range.. Most were largemouth bass, but also a a little over five hundred white bass. But although I catch quit a few bass (mostly thanks to the ned rig) many of the bass are smaller, with this years average bass measuring only 12.6 inches long.

It really depends on weather you think line visibility matters. Some people swear that you have to have a leader to catch bass, others catch lots and even win tournaments on straight yellow braid. Use one if you think it matters, if using a leader boosts your confidence, then by all means use one. I personally base it on water clarity, how thick the cover is, and how fast i'm moving my bait. I tend to use a leader on slower moving baits that aren't fished through much for cover, and use straight braid when using faster baits through heavier cover. And if the water clarity is under two feet, I don't use a leader on anything. But I have caught bass on jigs in open water with five to six feet of visibility, so I really don't know how much it matters. I use them under some conditions (mostly to boost my confidence) but you will get a different answer from everybody so do whatever you think is best.

luckily I haven't caught any geese, but I have caught more than my fair share of angry snapping turtles, two ducks, and had a heron chase my spook. I'm really glad I didn't catch the heron, that size of bird would be hard to pin down and keep still enough to unhook it. But those snappers are the worst, especially the one that had my last trd in its throat. Normally I will just cut it off to save the turtle (and my fingers) but I didn't want to lose my last trd, so I had someone with a heavy duty long sleeve shirt and leather gloves pin the thing down while I reached down its throat with a pair of needle nose. That was no fun at all.

When you do use trailer hooks, what size do you use?

Thanks guys! It turns out I just found a place with the morning dawn color, and I am looking forward to trying it out soon. I will try to remember to post how I like it, sorry I asked so many questions that must have seemed pretty obvious to you but thanks for helping me out anyways!

Next time you are looking for a new rod, check out fishing factory outlet. The only thing they carry is deeply discounted equipment, usually at least forty percent off plus weakly specials like 20 percent off orders over 40 bucks. For example, I picked up my villain for just under fifty bucks last fall. When someone tipped me off to FFO, I felt like a kid in a candy store when I first looked at there site. Since then I have never bought a rod or reel from any other store, except when I have a gift card. It doesn't make any sense to me why I would get a full price (or nearly so) rod instead of getting a similar rod for much much less. Sure, an avid x is a better rod than a villain and they have the same msrp, but is the difference worth 150$?

Have any of you guys tried the chrome silver color of the Spro rats? I was going to get morning dawn, but dsg is out of every color in the 40 size except silver. So I was wondering if it was worth waiting until they get some more in, or does the difference in color matter that much?

I bet you still enjoy using your custom made ml rod built on an avid x blank though.. But I agree that you don't really need nice rods for the Ned rig, Ned proves that with the insane number of bass he catches on his synergy. Even though it certainly isn't necessary, I am still going to enjoy use my villain.

No official start time, as long as you don't fish on the previous day? Sounds like I would be out there at 12:01am. sharp to get the most possible fishing time in.