The Bassman

I'm constantly checking my hooks. When I get on a run of fish throwing my lure it's frequently because I'm not paying attention to my hooks. A quick point touch up makes a difference. My right index fingernail is always white from doing so.

I fish trebles barbless, singles barbed. My reasoning is twofold; 1. For my safety. I'm pulling trebles out of me pretty regularly especially with smaller bass. 2. Makes finessing a hook out of gills a lot simpler. Blood vessels still get lanced sometimes regardless.

I've been doing well lately with a bait usually reserved for the colder months. The vegetation is down in most of the ponds I fish from recent treatments so it lets me put moving baits back into the rotation. @Team9nine got me onto this a few years ago, a small Johnson Thinfisher with upsized hooks. Lots of fun to fish and very effective. I also use the 1/4 oz. version as well.

Just looks like a fatter Zara Puppy with a different name. Maybe it's so effective you'll say "boyoboy!".

I find that the only impact from time of day is my own comfort. Many an early morning outing has started slow and gotten better as the day progressed. I was out today between 10:30 and 1:00 with bluebird skies and did real well. In Fisherman had an article this month that pretty much debunked traditional thinking.

Indiana lays claim to the world record rock bass, a 3 lbr. caught by a kid in 1969. Not sure if that still stands.

Lack of wind moved me away from reaction baits that had been so successful the past few days. Wacky rig kept me busy enough, though with these being the best of the bunch.

Here's a tip FWIW. I'm guessing your weeds are down like mine from HOA spray schedule. I've started throwing of all things my mini blade bait and have absolutely mopped up, including some good ones. Enjoy the fro-pas for now cause the heat's coming back.

Well, as long as you put it that way I guess we can still be friends.

A 2500 is a total mismatch for an ultralight rod. 1000 would be perfect. I have a JDM 6'4" light and my 1000 is perfect.

I get what you're saying. I've been using braid for years and the few times I use mono I feel like I'm fishing with a bungee cord. And that's with lower stretch Sufix Advance.

The little bit of gardener left in me enjoyed this stand of pond pickerel I came across today.

I think I'll stick with my central IN ponds where all I have to deal with are muskrats that tunnel under the bank and create a walking hazard. I've got a friend in central FL that lives on ponds adjacent to the St. Johns river. I always was a little hesitant to walk around them because of all the eyeballs and nostrils sticking up out of the water.

I'm a painter by trade and have found that denatured alchohol and a clean rag works great.

Enjoyed a great morning of top water action, this 4 lbr being the biggest. Had one bigger shake off (of course). Caught them on an old Zara Puppy that I bought from a cheap generic Pradco bin at Wal-Mart years ago. Also caught several on a well worn Teeny Pop-R.

This is the time of year that I need to condition myself to using leaders. Knots and fuzz balls sound about the same going through the guides.

They've done well for me this season. One tip worth mentioning; Being elaztech the legs are quite durable. That said, they do develop micro tears after several fish which seems to affect their kicking action. Whereas Z-Man worms last for dozens of fish, I find that I need to trade these out more frequently.

Had a lively afternoon finesse wacky worming bass. (Thanks to @Team9nine for reminding me how effective this technique is.) As a side bonus I picked up a couple of seriously big hybrid 'gills.

Seems to me that this guy had a lot of character to not pursue this. Could have made him well off if it was validated. FWIW I've hooked a lot of bass in odd places when they were clearly striking my lure.

I can't imagine it making me any more addicted than I am already but I can't sleep until I hear Randy Blaukat's latest rant and hear Richard Gene go woo.

Don't know if you're joking, Dwight but what you said speaks volumes. The whole cholesterol and fiber thing is actually 180 to the truth. I'm not a keto freak but I've learned a lot recently. I won't start expanding the details but a little research is really eye opening. FWIW I enjoy eggs and red meat without fear now.

This thread reminded me that I need to super glue a Missle 48 that's starting to tear after a dozen or so bass from this afternoon. Shrink wrap really helps when wacky worming. I try to set baits aside before they go flying into the water. Better yet, I mostly use elaztech. I just happen to have a lot of plastisol baits laying around.

But without the hooks they make great cat toys, albeit expensive ones.

I found that screw locks in spite of their hassle with elaztech do a much better job of keeping the GOATs in place. Z-Man's one usable hook, the Chin Lockz doesn't retain the head of the bait like their smaller hooks do with finesse baits.

Thanks @Catt but all of my fishing is in relatively shallow ponds so my focus is mostly from surface down to just above the bottom so baits need to be neutral to slow sinking.