Alan Reed

Wife and I went out last night at Cypress lake. It was a peaceful night on the kayaks but not much happening with the fish. This lake has been a challenge so I brought the depth finder and tried dropping my lure down on the little humps and bush piles on the bottom. I hooked one that was under a downed tree on a TX rigged worm and this fish took me for a ride. It was everything I could do to keep the pole in my hands. After a bitI had enough and tried to reverse the the direction of the fish so I could start reeling and broke my 30 lbs braid. Not sureit was a bass likely a Cat but it was fun while it lasted. But that was it for the night. One highlight of the day was that I won the ZMan and Bassin YouTube give away.

Fished for about a hour tonight a little before sunset through awhile after at the pond near the house. The bass were not active at all. Only caught 1 on a Ned Rig and was a very light bite.

Got out last night after work. The bass were biting good. They were out in the deeper water hiding in the Hydrilla. None of them were huge all between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds but they were aggressively feeding.

Fished one of the lakes at Atterbury. Very slow day. The bass were on there beds. Was able to pull one off with a green pumpkin jig/skirt with crawfish trailer. Other fish were visible around submerged timber suspended a foot down but didn't take interest in anything I put in front of them.

Went out both days over the weekend. Saturday my 15 year old step son caught his new PB LMB at 2.5 lbs. He was very excited to make this catch. Which is really good to see because I don't see him get to excited about much of anything. Yesterday my wife wanted to go fishing for Mother's Day. With the storms that rolled in overnight and through the morning the fish were all tucked up very close to cover and the day moved on into the evening they started to move out more.

Pick up a new spinning rod to compliment my bait caster for those light lures today. I got a BPS Carbonlite 6'9" Medium Light fast rod with a Shimano 2000FE reel. Going to try to get out tomorrow afternoon and then the wife wants to go fishing on Sunday.

Once you have this data collected, how do you use it?

I have been going through exactly what you are right now. This is my first year to try serious bass fishing. I watched videos like many have suggested so I had some of the basics. Then I went out a started putting it into practice. I went out and as many have suggested to you I began fishing with a Texas rigged worm. First time out I caught a 3.5-4 lb bass and a second slightly smaller. That gave me a feel for what I bite felt like. I then went out several times and struggled to even get a bite. I would have people move into the same area I was and start pulling in fish. One week I went over 15 hours without a single bite. I was very frustrated. I then decided to go to a small pond nearby that I felt I could get some confidence catches. I was very specific about where I was casting (most were actually pitches) and I walked away that night having caught 7. Since then I have been back out and started to understand where the fish are and began expanding my lure selection. Moved into fishing a crawfish on a jig like I did the Texas rigged worm right at the edge of the grass at the shoreline and caught a couple and didn't get the hook set on a few but at least I was attracting fish at that point. Whenever I was out I would try to watch what others were catching fish on. I noticed at one lake in an area with lily pads, and grass in the water ther were catching bass on a white fluke and a white tube. So I went out and bought a bag of flukes. Yesterday I was in a similar situation sunny middle of the day lily pads and submerged timber. First cast I had a bite. I started mentally keeping track where the fish were in relationship to the lily pads a timber. I finished the day catching 17. My point is and others will say the same thing. It is a process. Every cast has a purpose. Learn from the ones that don't catch a fish as well as the ones that do. Where was the fish sitting? What was your retrieve like? Take notes that you can reference and use in those similar circumstances. Another thing to note is you don't catch fish by throwing the longest cast you can out to the middle of the lake. Unless a boater is fishing a ledge or a submerged structure, they are always pounding the banks and the structure which the majority of the time is along the shore line or at least very close. Take your time enjoy the process.

I feel like a fisherman today not just a guy that went out and fished. i was on the large body of water of Maskatatuck Wildlife Refuge for about 5 hours before the storms rolled in. I got 17 LMB in, 2 threw the hook and 1 got in the weeds and broke my line. I was fishing a White Zoom Fluke on the edges of weeds, lily pads, and over the top of submerged timber in 4-6 ft depth. Visabilty was 2-3 ft.

No I haven't tried the Ned rig. I saw your post and ordered them off Amazon this morning. I'll give it a try once those get in.

Went to a lake I just haven't been able to figure out at all last night. My step son got a bass within 5 minutes on a top water frog coming across some underwater vegetation in an area the wind was blowing into. Had a couple more bites but never got hooked up. My wife got one crappie at the inlet to that same area. I was blanked, there was no interest in anything I had on the end of my line.

Tried a new pond near the house tonight that I recently heard people say holds some big bass. Also figured a smaller body of water would give some confidence because the fishing has been rough. The water had 2-3 feet of visibility. Started with a jerkbait and I could see the bass were interested in the noise it was making but once they came up on it they tuned away. I then tried a jig in the rocky areas I could see the bass located around. Again they were interested in the disturbance the jig was making but when they saw what it was they turned away. I then tried a Texas rigged green pumpkin with a chartreous tip dinger worm. Now I had their interest and started catching them. Caught 7 of them pitching out to the edges of the rocks and hoping it back to shore. They were all in the 1 pound range but at least I was able to make some good adjustments and caught some.

Not sure why my report from yesterday is showing up as quote from someone else.

I appreciate the response. Your explanation makes sense, and goes along with the research I did over the Winter. I suppose I need to look at it in two categories, search baits and then the other baits once I find the fish. And then within those two categories, there are the different options. but have to find the fish first. I forgot to answer your question about which lakes. Yesterday I was fishing Eco Park (Off Highway 7), caught some good size ones on Cypress couple weeks ago (Junction of 65 and 11 almost to Seymour), Live about 5 minutes away from Grandview and Grouse Ridge. Those are all smaller and close to home but I want to learn to fish Lake Lemon as a bigger lake.

This time of year is not great for ribbon tailed worms , when the water is cold less is more in terms of action on a lure. I fish three or four baits before the fish spawn , jig with a trailer that has little to no action , jerk bait clear colors in clear water , solid colors in off colored water , a rattletrap in red craw , and a Ned rig or grub . Start with horizontal presentations like the jerk bait or trap , no takers go to the jig and Ned rig . Places to fish this time of year, any 45 degree bank close to a bank protected from the north wind . Wood cover holds fish this time of year always pitch a jig at any wood that you see as it usually holds fish in cold water. As the water warms fish will move progressively shallower . Once the water hits 50 pick up a spinner bait and a crankbait like a shad rap or wiggle wart and you will light them up on shallow flats or weedlines before they move into spawn. You were probably fishing to fast this last trip out , they wanted a slow drag on the jig where I was fishing. Where do u fish at . I know the Columbus area well . I appreciate your input, below is the link to a previous post I had put up. So this is where I was directed to fish with a Texas Rig to become really good at it before moving to all the other lures. So is this other post wrong? I have the other lures but I have put them away for the past couple weeks after the previous post suggest keeping it simple. Which direction should I take?

Nice fish, looks like everyone had a good time.

I know I'm new to fishing but today was a frustrating day. Went to a new small lake close to the house. As advised in another post I was fishing Texas rigged 7 inch curly tail in black, motor oil, and green pumpkin. I tried points, shallows, deep, around downed trees basicly every thing I could find for 4 hours and got nothing before the rains came.

What lake were you fishing?

Welcome from and hour south of Indy.

Welcome from an hour south of Indy

Really wanted to get out and fish today after having to get projects around the house completed this weekend. I walked outside after work and I couldn't believe how the temperature had dropped.

Haven't spawned yet. Been really weird year. I was down in Alabama two weeks ago and they were just starting to move up for the preapawn. Coworkers buddy down in TN said they haven't started yet either.

I live down in Columbus and have seen water temps from 63-70.

It sure was. The first one was a fighter. Jumping out of the water trying to through the bait. Had a really good hook set on both of them but need to work on the timing because took me more than one try for both of them. But when I got them set there wasn't anyway they were getting off.