nieten7642

Hey guys and gals! I was interested in getting your thoughts on good follow up baits. I know often you want to slow them down a bit, but not necessarily always, right? What do you folks like to follow up with if you get a bump or "swim by"? I am just getting re-acquainted with bass fishing (since late last summer), and alot of what is buzzin' around in my head is still theory since I am waiting for my waters to thaw. Late last summer at Lake Michigan I was fishing a watermelon Chatterbait and got a swim by from a huge largie. Followed my Chatterbait right up to the boat. It was Laborday weekend, late evening (about an hour before dark). I didn't even know about follow-up baits then. What do you think I should have followed up with? Thanks!

LOL... No, that's a good point. I was only trying to "walk-the-frog" because of the baits I have seen walked, that's a lure I happen to have. I just saw Ish do it so I thought I would be able to do it too. YEAH RIGHT! It didn't look all that un-natural to me, but I see your point about frogs not swimming that way. What about an injured frog? Hmmm... It just looked cool to me. That's part of fishing too, isn't it? UPDATE: I picked up that Lucky Craft Sammy this morning and tried it out in my neighborhood pond (with no fish in it... d**n!!)... and I was "walking-the-dog" on my first attempt!!! It was SO easy once I had the right bait I guess. I may try to "walk-the-frog" again some day, but for right now I am just going to keep having fun with/improve upon "walking-the-sammy". Thanks again for all the advice! Josh

Thanks so much, guys. I really appreciate the suggestions. I can't wait to get a Sammy and try this all out now. You guys are the best! Josh

Are you calling me a jerk? Just kidding. Gotcha. Then do I jerk to the point of snapping the line tight, or just shy of that... you know, ensuring that there is still slack in the line, just a lot less of it? I guess what I am asking is are my jerks supposed to actually tug at the bait itself or just the slack line before the line becomes tight? Tight or just shy of tight? Does my question make sense?

Excellent advice. Thank you. Just to clarify, when you mentioned "maintaining the slack line" and "slack line is the secret", do you mean keep some slack in the line at all times? Or do you mean keep the slack snugged up at all times? I know that the lure needs some slack to have the freedom to walk, but should I be tugging on slack line or snugged up line? I am not quite clear on how to "maintain" the slack line properly. You said I should be hitting the slack line, but then you said I should snug up the line? Then would I be tugging the snug line... or the slack line? Sorry for my confusion. I tend to overthink myself into confusion sometimes. :-[

Thanks for the support and the tips! I will try them out. I was planning on getting a good hard bait like a Lucky Craft Sammy and trying my luck out with this. The SPRO frog may not be the easiest bait to walk, but I have seen it walked before. Maybe I should learn on a Sammy and then try it on the frog when I get a feel for it? Thanks again!

Hey guys! Having a little trouble with something: I am re-acquainting myself with bass fishing as of the last 6 months. I am LOVING it! I am trying to learn a lot of new stuff that I don't remember encountering when I was a kid. One such item is the "walk-the-dog" retrieve. What is the trick to this? I am having no luck at all. I have been trying it with a SPRO bronze eye frog, but I get nothing but a straight "chug" action. I saw Ish Monroe do it with this lure, but clearly I am no Ish Monrow. No side to side movement at all. I am using a 7 foot MH action spinning rod with 10 lb. mono line. I know the guys I have seen do this retrieve have usually been using heavy braid line. Is that my problem? Any tips to learning this retrieve? They make it look so easy on TV, and I am starting to feel like an idiot not being able to do it. I am fairly coordinated, but can't seem to get this down. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! Josh

[table][tr][td]Just look in your backyard, one of the best smallmouth rivers in the state runs right through the center of Nobelsville.[/td][/tr][/table] The White River? Really? Around here it has a pretty bad reputation for being disgustingly dirty and stinky, but it is a nice fishery? I had no idea. I've kayaked it several times, but never fished it. Perhaps I should try. Thanks for the tip!

LOL... Sorry, brat. Didn't mean to offend. I actually didn't say Ohio fishing stinks myself. I just heard announcers on the fishing show say it regarding a pro from the "Ohio River Valley" area. In fact, I think he was fishing The Rock in Missouri (might be mistaken about that) and he himself said he wasn't used to catching so many bass. He acted like a kid in a candy shop at that tourney the way he was catching fish. It was great. Just made me wonder if there really was something to this whole "bad fishing" in Indiana and Ohio thing. Wasn't sure why this would be the case, but just wanted to make sure. I am actually more concerned about Indiana than Ohio anyways, since that is where I am from.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Great information there. I will check out that Indiana Bass Federation site for sure. The lake I grew up on was Chapman Lake in Warsaw, Indiana (http://www.chapmanlake.com/AboutLakes.html). I could easily have gone all summer and not caught a single keeper. Sure, I there were a lot of things I could have done better (presentations, locations, etc.) and not having a boat with a motor certainly had something to do with it I'm sure, but all summer? That's pretty rough. Don't you think? Even for a kid I wasn't THAT terrible of a fisherman. As a youngster I preferred throwing topwater baits (buzz baits, jitterbugs, etc.), but I often threw spinner baits and medium depth crank baits too. Didn't do as much with jigs and soft plastics though when I was young. LOVE them now, though. Caught my 4 pounder finessing a white 4" Power Grub with no weight in that strip mine lake I described earlier.

Thanks for the warm welcome, Road Warrior! Nice Smallies!

Hey guys! I am new to this board and was wondering if some of you would give me your feedback on something. I have just recently gotten back into bass fishing again. I fished quite a bit as a kid/teenager, but quit when I was about 16 years old. Never had much success as a kid. Never really had a great mentor to learn from, but had a lot of fun with my younger brother. I am now 34 and just became obsessed with bass fishing again. Caught about a 4 pounder a few weeks back in a privately stocked lake. IT WAS AWESOME! I need a boat now. My question is this: I frequently hear that Indiana is not terrific fishing for largemouth bass at all. I also heard on a tournament I was watching on TV recently some comments made about a pro from the "Ohio River Valley" area and how he was not used to catching many bass where he was from. Is it a myth that the Midwest is worse fishing than the South (Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisianna, Texas, Mississippi, Arskansas, the Carolinas etc.) and then again in the North (Boundary Waters, Minnesota, Michigan, etc.) or is there a reason fishing seems worse right here in the middle? How did Indiana and Ohio get such a bad rap... if they did? Do Indiana and Ohio anglers just stink? Another related question... If fishing is indeed worse in Indiana, how far do I have to go and in which direction before it gets a lot better? Missouri? Tennessee? I would love to not have to travel for forever for some amazing fishing. Thanks in advance guys! Josh