king fisher

I fish a lake where the locals including the guides all fish small paddle tail swimbaits, finesse spinnerbaits, and weightless 5 inch Senkos. These lures work well for them, and I have seen times when the only way to catch a bass there is to downsize. The baitfish are small so many times a small profile is what gets bit. I went there one day and the wind was blowing, big waves, the water clarity was under a foot, and the bass were in scattered weeds and reads. I thought the conditions screamed big spinnerbaits, and chatterbaits. The guy I was with said those don't work here, that I should fish small baits. I had been with him before and knew he might be right, but wanted to try some power fishing first. He was shocked to find out bass love 3/4 0Z spinnerbaits in those conditions. I didn't try any chaterbaits, becasue I didn't want to risk loosing a Jack Hammer to a gill net, but I'm sure they would have worked. I'm convinced there are no lures that will not work under all conditions in any lake. Some lakes have certain lures that work most of the time, and people start believing nothing else works. Especially when it comes to finesse presentations. A person doesn't get bit one day so they downsize line and baits. They start getting bit every cast. Do they try to upsize and see if that will work later or the next day, No they keep using the finesse tactics. The next time they don't get bit they downsize more, this goes on until they are convinced larger power fishing lures don't work ever. Bass are bass no matter where you find them. I start off fishing the conditions, and will change to the local favorite if that fails. Sometimes I get a told you so, and other times I get told I can't believe what just happened I must be very lucky. I rarely get told that what I tried makes sense. Like most things in life, logic will take a back seat to beliefs every time.

The impossible to screw up a Senko Rig.

No, but I'm going to.

I used up one pack of worms last weekend, so I replaced what I lost, and somehow ended up getting enough for free shipping. What a deal.

I'm on and off the Bait Monkey wagon, faster than a rock star checks in and out of rehab. One day I'm only going to replace a few baits I lost, and the next day I'm looking at custom glide baits. Right now I am in recovery, but it only takes one You Tube video, and I'm right back to spending like a politician with a surplus in the budget.

I fish a lake in the middle of the mountains in the state of Jalisco. On a busy weekend, there could be 5 sport fishing boats. There will be about 10 commercial fisherman in small boats 15 horse motors, commercial fishing on most weekdays. The commercial fisherman are gone by 10:00 AM. and some days I can have the lake all to myself. The last time I went there I was launching my kayak and a kid came up to me and said there was a fee of $10 a day for my kayak, and another $10 a night for camping. I don't know who gets the money or how much they pay the kid to sit there all day, but I'm sure most days he collects less than $30 and many days he wont see a dime. The commercial fisherman don't pay a fee, and I think the money goes to them. The launch is not maintained and wouldn't even be considered a launch in the US. I don't mind paying and would still go if they charged $100 a day, It was just seemed odd to get charged anything on a remote lake in the middle of Mexico. The next time I go, I will give the kid an extra $10 tip. It never hurts to get on the good side of a local resident.

Don't do it. The Bait Monkey moved to Japan and is living the good life. He gets an angler to buy one Zillion then you are hooked. I was so happy with my less expensive reels, then I bought a Zillion, and now I check the price on Digikita daily. I cast just as far with my other reels, I catch as many fish with my other reels, I am now obsessed with smoothness, which doesn't help my fishing in the least, but gives me a warm feeling all over. Warm feelings don't catch bass.

It will also improve your backlash removal skills.

The answer is very simple. The skinny one on the left is a male, the other two are females. You left them in the same tray and nature took over. Keep them in separate trays and you wont have a problem.

Every year, right before the king salmon run started on the Nushagak River, the Native corporation which owned the land along the river would have all the guides get together for a meeting and a barbecue. One year I drove myself and three other guide to the meeting. There was some water in the bottom of my boat, so as usual I pulled the plug to drain the water while making the run up river to the meeting. Normally I would hold the plug in my right hand while running in order to not forget to place it back in the boat before coming off of step. For some reason I didn't abide my my safety rule, and set the plug down on the bench seat while I motored to the meeting. We pulled the boat up on the bank through the anchor and jumped out to say hi to everyone, and get a burger and hotdog. About half way through the meeting one of the guides from a different lodge yelled hey Tim you need to get your boat. The boat was completely full of water, and the tide had come up. The current was strong, and the anchor couldn't hold with the boat full of water. I got to the boat before it washed to far out in to the river, and had to bucket gallons of water out of the boat while all of the guides on the river, laughed and ate hotdogs. Of all the times to make that mistake, I picked the very worst. Every year after that, I always had someone ask if my plug was in my boat. Everyone but me always got a big laugh out of that. That was the first and only time I ever made that mistake. After that I always held the plug in my hand while running the water out.

I don't fish soft stick baits often, but when I do it's a Senko

I would weigh it on a questionable scale, take only one lousy blurry picture, make sure no one else gets a good look at the bass, then eat it. That way anglers can argue about it for a few decades.

I have seen the pictures of your tackle. I hate to be the one to tell you, but you have more than a few.

My next question would be would Zell Roland fishing in the same boat as me, catch more on a stock Pop-R than I would catch fishing a tweaked Pop-R or Pop Max? Angler skill will always trump equipment, but when will the magic lure make the difference when skill level is near equal? I have a whole box of topwater baits. Should I buy more expensive ones, or should I simply throw a worm when they wont hit the ones I have? I have good hooks on the baits I own, so they are not part of the equation.

What brand of rope, was it a cheap knock off from China, how long, where did you buy it, how heavy was the weight, what color of white is it, and does it work on bass?

I was watching a Tactical Bassin video today on topwater lures. I didn't own a single lure they were recommending. They catch many bass on the lures and all of them looked like they could be the magic lure that would turn a skunk into an epic day. The Bait Monkey was still sleeping luckily before he woke up and I broke out my credit card, I realized with the exception of a couple novelty lures they were discussing, I already had similar lures in my box. They went on and on about a certain popper, but I already have a box full of poppers, same with buzz baits, they couldn't say enough good things about two buzz baits I have never tried. My question is, if I bought the new lures, would they work better than the ones I already own, or how many times does a bass angler crush them on a certain bait thinking it was the only lure that would work, when in reality there were dozens of similar lures that would have worked just as well that day? Taking it a step further, how many times does a certain technique crush them, making an angler believe that only one technique will work. Example would be slaying them on a deep crankbait, when a C Rigged worm would have worked just as well. Same goes for not catching them. How many times does an angler assume because he didn't catch them on one lure, there must be another lure that would have crushed them, in reality the angler was simply in the wrong spot. I believe this happens often, and with the exception of spinnerbaits on the Tennessee River, most of the time a location change may be better than a lure change. Short version of my question, if they don't hit my Pop R are they going to crush a Pop Max? Because anglers don't like to take a hot bait off to experiment, how often are they fooled into thinking they have the hot lure, when almost any lure fished in a similar manner would work just as well?

I'm all for being quite and I'm sure there are many noises that spook bass. I always try and be as quite as possible, and make long casts. I also believe bass can't run and hide every time they hear a noise that spooks them. Bass are very in tune with their environment. I'm sure they know when your boat or kayak is near them no matter how quite you tried to be. Tolling is an excellent technique to catch bass. If a bass is terrified of every sound we make, why would you be able to literally run right over the top of the fish with your outboard, then catch the same fish 30 yards directly behind your boat? I believe they can hear you, and may get scared, but they wont completely freak out and stop eating every time they hear a scary noise.

Best. Detecting a bite. Worst. Getting bit.

Diawa J Braid 8 in gray. May not be popular, but works for me, and the price is lower than many other braids. I don't understand why a black lure shows up on the surface better than any other color, but in order to make a line less visible you need to color it black. I think a lighter line such as gray is less visible to a bass looking towards the sky. Looking down black may be less visible, but the techniques where I fish braid I'm not concerned about the bass seeing my line anyway.

Best - removing a backlash Worst.- having to remove a backlash

Best - buying tackle. Worst- using it.

I start to consider changing line after I break off more money in tackle than a large spool of line costs, I will go from considering to actually changing my line after I break off a giant bass.

If you are ever on vacation in Puerta Vallarta, stop in at Vallarta fishing center. They are very limited in bass fishing gear, but have a great selection of saltwater tackle, and excellent customer service. They will give you the straight scoop on the local fishing, what charters to use, and where and if the fishing from shore is any good. If the manager recommends a certain location or time it is truthful information. He gave me the location of a secret bass lake, where I have landed multiple DD bass. His wife landed a 12 pound bass there, on one of her first days bass fishing ever. I asked him where she caught it, and the next thing I know he is telling me how to get to the lake. I am eternally in his debt. I highly recommend going there if you ever get a chance.

I own four Diawa Ardito travel rods. I put them in my checked baggage, and as a carry on. I use three of them every time I go bass fishing even when I don't need a three piece rod. Sensitivity is equivalent to my Tatula.