BassFishingMachine

Anyone fish any small ponds in Jersey from the bank recently with much luck? I'm in Union county, and hit a couple small ponds with no luck what so ever. I slow rolled a spinnerbait and didn't get a touch, and than I tried hopping/crawling a jig w/chunk trailer and no luck. Water felt really cold.... I'm guessing from all the snow runoff we had lately.

Think a black/blue chatterbait would be worth a shot? The color black/blue should be fine fished on a sunny day if the water is really murky right? I mean I know black/blue shines best on overcast days/night, but how about during sunny conditions if the water is chocolate milk?

Hey guys, I've been doing "fairly" well fishing my small local ponds from the bank using small jerkbaits, and mini rattletraps lately. But after all this rain you have to think the water temps are going to really drop. Will that make fishing pointless? Won't they stop hitting all together due to all this rain/temp drop? Anyway, is it worth heading out, are there any specific baits you would use seeing as how the water is going to be pretty cold again? Or would you just stick to what was working before the rain (small jerkbaits and lipless cranks)? Please don't say to use jigs, I can never get them to bite jigs this time of the year, come mid April and on jigs are my favorite thing to throw... but this time of the year I just don't do good with them, and have 0 confidence in em. Oh, and I haven't been on this site in awhile... striper plugging is a hell of an obsession... :-X

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

Hey guys, I was thinkin of pickin one of these Tru-tungsten swimbaits up. Dicks is selling the tiny one, and I was considering buying it. I will be fishing small ponds/lakes with shallow water from the bank. So I was going to primarily use the bait as a wake bait. What do you think of this bait, any good action, and does it produce well for you as a wake bait? Thanks for any info guys!

Has anyone tryed this tiny crankbait? I've added one to my trout box of spinners lately, and it has recently caught me a beautiful stockie trout (fish was in the 4lb range). Any of you guys have any luck with this lure? What do you guys catch with it? I'm thinking of giving it a try around March when small suspending jerkbaits seem to work really well.

They both look like knock offs to me.

If your looking for incredible action, you can't go wrong with ragetail chunks or paca chunks. Though if theres a cold front going on and the fish are real sluggish/slow, the "less" action given off by a yum chunk may be the key. Once the water becomes really cold and the fish really slow down, yum chunks and other "less action" trailers are all I use.

Hey guys, I used to be real skittish at going anywhere since I am terrible with directions. But seeing as how I recently was given a GPS for my birthday I've really been able to check out some new spots. In fact today I checked out Rockaway River which is around an hour ride for me, and caught my first small mouth, the fish was only about 4inches in length, but still a small mouth! I went there to do some trout fishin, and didnt catch any :-/. Though I lost count of how many nice sized trout jumped within 3 feet of me..the jerks just wouldn't bite though.. Anyway, back to the point. I'd like to check out a river/lake/pond that has a good small mouth population. I don't have a boat and will be bank fishing, I'd prefer a smaller acre pond/lake since this would make it easier to bank fish, but I suppose all will do. Know that I am strictly a catch and release guy, so don't get the wrong idea. Thanks for any info, I wanna stick a few good size small mouth, I hear they fight better then largemouth.

Exactly. I cannot answer this poll, they are 2 different baits entirely. This is like asking what is your favorite spinner, and then listing between rooster tails and terminators.

Well this is another subject that I can't seem to get off my mind lately. Heres the deal, while trout fishing (mainly during the fall/winter periods) for the stockies. I always run into a guy using a tiny crankbait, pretty much looks like a regular fat bodied bass crankbait but instead its extremely small, I'd say a hair under an inch in length...about the size of a lima bean. Well he tells me he does extremely well with it, and I've heard other people talk about him and how he was hooking up when no one else was. Just was curious to know if any of you guys have tryed tiny crankbaits for trout, and how have you done with them? Do you fish them the same way as a trout spinner? Meaning just a steady/slow retrieve? Or is it more of a twitch/pause/retrieve type of thing? I plan on picking up one of these tiny crankbaits (if I can find one) and giving it a try this season. Is there a specific brand that you would recommend? I believe I've seen some tiny yozuri cranks somewhere or another, but knowing yozuri they'll charge me 8.00$ for one...

Hey guys, its that time of year agan, when they stock some nice 14-16inch rainbows in a few of my local lakes for the Fall/Winter stock. I've done well fishing with other spinners such as Rooster Tails and Mepps, but figured I'd try something that looks a little out of the ordinary. This Vibrax Minnow Spin is pretty much a small rapala body (minus the plastic lip) and a trout spinner blade attached. Have any of you guys tryed this lure for trout, and how has it worked for you? I bought the silver/blade one with a rainbow trout pattern body rapala. Picked this color cause I figured maybe where these trout were raised they had a chance at seeing/eating an occasional baby trout that somehow becomes unfortunate enough to sneak into their tank.

The ragetail plastics are simply incredible, I have yet to use one that hasn't really impressed me, and I'm not a guy who gives compliments for nothing. As far as the ragetail shad goes, try using the black/red fleck one around dusk and into the night. It has caught me some quality fish. I use a 4/0 EWG gamakatsu, and it does the job. Really don't recall the bait ever messin up on me. I still think Big-O should come out with a white ragetail chunk though!

Thanks for the replies guys, I don't have any steel leader, but wouldn't that deter bass from hitting due to visibility? I do have some 40lb Fluoro leader material I use for striper, should I give that a try, and you don't think it would deter bass?

Hey guys, its that time of year again, when the pickerel bite is really good, and the bass are scattered around here and there in a certain lake I fish. Only problem is sometimes the pickerel will really devour the bait and I end up snapping off on the hookset. I've also had alot of misses. I'd like to know what size hook you use for the 5inch Super Fluke, and what you recommend on doing for solving the issue on snapping off on hooksets due to pickerel teeth. The hooks I've been using are 4/0 Offset Shank Worm Hooks (not extra wide gap). And the line is 10lb fluoro. As always, thanks for any help!