The Bassman

Azuma Wake-Z has been killer for me. I also do well with light spinning and discontinued 04 Sub Warts that I found on E-Bay. Smaller fish for the most part but lots of fun.

It's a big reason why I don't fish them. Small neighborhood lakes I fish have surface vegetation everywhere. Like you said it doesn't take much to keep these baits from working right. A swivel only defeats the intended function of the lure by allowing the whole bait to spin. These are best used where you don't have to deal with vegetation. Weed edges are real hotspots, though as long as you can stay out of them.

I agree with this. I'd rather miss a fish than gut hook one. I see this problem with beginners regularly because they don't sense the strike.

Can't remember how many good sized bass took a topwater with little more disturbance than a bobber going under.

I've caught creek smallmouth by casting where I just walked.

This. ^^^^^^^ These guys have it right.

Had a chance to get out this morning for about an hour and a half before an eye dr. appt. Got on a real good wake bait bite with this one being the biggest. Didn't have my scale but felt like 5 lb. and change.

Here's a different one, muskrat runs. Quick way to sprain an ankle. I have to disciple myself to never cast while I'm walking. I fell in one last fall and really messed up an already bad knee.

My fishing roots come from wading creeks for smallmouth. Knee and ankle problems have made it much more difficult the past few years. Shorts and sneakers would suffice in the water temps I fished in. A cheap vest, med light spinning gear, and a few small buzzbaits, paddletails, and jigs and I was all set. Very much miss those outings.

I'm using the Wake-Z a lot lately and it produces some really nice bass. It's on its third season and as many sets of hooks. Still going strong except the bluegill color is now more shadlike. Can't speak for their other cranks.

I'm like Rodney Dangerfield when he said that he was looking for the fountain of middle age.

I see the occasional cat I catch as a bonus. I have to remind myself to carry my grippers when fishing one pond in particular. Their mouths can really clamp down on a hand.

Even though it seems a bit large for wacky rigging I'm finding that a Kahle hook is getting me higher % hookups. A side benefit is that they don't seem to gut hook.

4.76 a good bass? Well, to quote Fred Sanford; "Is a bullfrog waterproof?"

Small inline like a #0 Mepps is always good. One of my favorite methods is a bit unorthodox but deadly during the spawn. I'll take a tiny #12 hook and a very small soft plastic (lately I've been using this tip of a Z-Man finesse worm) and just lob it at rods length. Fun to watch it disappear as it hovers in the water. Gets big males on about every cast.

I had some excellent outings with chatterbaits last season. Not so this year. Why? Probably because I've barely fished them. Our thought processes have far greater impact on our success than a particular lure does.

The tempo has picked up here in central IN. since restrictions have eased. Went out to eat with my son for the first time in months. Another thing I'm noticing is that I have the ponds I fish pretty much to myself. We had a stretch about a month ago when the weather got nicer that things got crazy. Bored, confined people finally have other things to do.

Nice smallie. Looks like 3-3.25 lb. BTW you gave me a sore neck. lol

So did I, except they were skeeters.

Megabass Dark Sleeper and Z-Man 3" Slim Swimz have caught me a lot of bass including some good ones in the 4-5 lb. class.

The biggest question I have is why certain ponds I fish have suddenly and precipitously dropped in fish size and production while others continue to yeid both size and quantity.

The closest I would want to get to Detroit is Lake St. Clair.

Caught a big one (9-10 lb.) the other day on a Fat Ika. The one thing that indicates to me that it's a cat is how swiftly they take a soft plastic. Hard to tell at first with hard baits, though.

I find that buzzbaits run best with as little trailer as possible. I like to remove the skirt and use a small paddletail like a Z-Man 3" Slim Swimz. Keeps the lure real light on its feet.

Sounds more like a couple of ponds I fish that suddenly declined for some unknown reason. Post spawn females are stressed but not that stressed.