Clark Stewart

I'm pretty tech savvy, so my recommendation probably won't help a lot of folks on here, but if you have an iphone or ipod touch then spring for the After the Catch app by Paul Woods Software. I think I paid like 5 bucks for it. It will pull weather data at the push of a button for your gps location, and also plot your location on a google map. This is helpful when you go to a lake often you can see where you catch the most bass. It can be pre-programmed for different species of fish, specific lures, rods/reels and anglers. The more detail you put in the better the app will work later on when you're stumped as to what to throw. I've used it 99% of the time I've been fishing this year and I like it. It also lets you take a photo of the bass you just caught and allows you to enter the weight/girth lure and conditions on the spot. I find it easier and faster to simply take the picture of the fish with the lure hanging out of it's mouth and then fill in the details "after the catch". The app also lets you run a filter and reports for just about any piece of info you could be after such as "what lure caught the most fish" or "how many fish have I caught at this particular spot". Hope it helps, and it's all the more reason to get an iphone! Truly the greatest invention ever!

Hehe. You make me laugh monster man.

I didn't know that was happening, but I don't see *** listed on the sponsor page anymore - sad for whatever reason. I doubt that you'll get any more responses to this as the folks that moderate this place are too classy to 1)bash an ex-sponsor if something did go south, and 2)mention that there exists a reason why he's not a sponsor anymore. I'd like to know too just in case I might have reason not to shop there anymore, but again they won't sling mud. Sad sad sad

My wife's uncle fishes BFL out of Falkville/Hartselle - he's a Smith Lake guru. I'm helping him practice tomorrow for the BFL tourney on Weiss Saturday. I'll ask him where and what, and post back as soon as I can. This time last year we were fishing the backs of creeks using jigs mostly. Rock creek (don't ask me where anything is on that lake - I've fished it 3 times and it's so big I can't tell a creek mouth from the main lake) produced for us. Basically points and the backs of creeks would be where I spent my time. Any point you can find that goes from the bank out to 40 or so feet of water with brush on it at various depths will work. I wouldn't concentrate on the boat docks too much because the vast majority of them are floating docks hovering over super deep water - some with structure nearby some without. If you must fish a dock then find one with brush around it over ledges - the floating dock themselves this time of year aren't gonna draw too many fish since they're looking for warmer water not cooler. Don't be afraid of the creeks - they never really end - they just kind peter out to something you can't get a boat in, and I'm talking like miles back. Smith is beautiful, and incredibly deep. If you don't get a single bite you can at least leave jealous of the upper crust who retire there! I swear one of those houses looks like UA's president's mansion x2. You can see the lantern's on the front porch for miles. Wife's uncle has a friend who dives there who found a gas station in 90 feet of water with the pumps still intact. There was still some old cans of food on the shelves but he got nervous when he saw some of the fish swimming around the store - big big fish. Visibility is usually around 10-15 feet deep as I recall.

Remind me to swing by your trash can next time you break a rod tip

I think I might make that rod a frog rod where sensitivity doesn't matter! I don't have any other heavy action rods, but several if not all medium heavy rods that I guess I could use. One is an all-star 7 footer that might fit the bill. We'll see. Thanks for the tips

I know that's extreme, but now you're reading! I grew up on Weiss on the lower powerhouse lake but never started fishing it much until this last year. I've searched the world over, and Weiss just never gets brought up in the conversation about bass fishing, and I don't know why. All the tournament weigh-ins I've been to have been won with 12 pound bags! I've seen pics of a recent guy who caught a 12 pounder and several 7 pound fish in the past couple weeks so I know it has good fish. I've tried this forum, and the North Alabama Fishing Forum and nobody wants to mention Weiss at all. Literally 3 posts on the latter forum mention weiss! I'm helping my uncle practice up there tomorrow for this weekend's BFL tourney, and I don't know where to start. The lake has good depth variation, is only 1.4 feet down right now, and 52 degrees. It's got humps, holes, brush, docks, and creek channels galore. I can't figure out why it doesn't get any more respect as a bass habitat. My guess is Guntersville just overshadows it so well.

If I'm not mistaken Road wrote an article on how to get bit using this and a senko and no other lures. Search for it or maybe he will be kind enough to find it. Gist was: carry a spinning outfit and cast the fat ika parallel to the bank. Drag/sweep it slowly along the bottom. Cast slightly further out from the bank - like 3 feet. Repeat. Do this in a fan pattern until you're eventually parallel fishing the bank to your other side - like right to left. It's slow. It's painful. REALLY PAINFUL, but you will catch fish. Article was designed as a confidence builder for newbies but it still comes to mind when I get frustrated with a senko. I go into roadwarrior mode, and start catching fish! By the way, does anybody else think that Roadwarrior's avatar makes him look like Dr. Cox from Scrubs with a mustache? I'm just sayin' he's a pretty man, or as we say in Alabama, you've got a pretty mouth! sorry...

I've never done the heating a nail trick, but I'm sure it will work. I just cuss it long enough and eventually it will give up the ghost! Another tip. If you ever use one on a shaky jig they are deadly since they float up in the water to twitch. I recommend keeping some crazy glue handy to keep it from sliding off of a jig head. This is actually easier than trying to get a screw lock jig to bite. One more thing. I've never seen a bass yet who could tear one of those baits! They stretch to eternity so make sure you have a fish fully on before you cross her eyes. No joke my yellow lab loves for me to punch a nail through one and thread some line through it and tie a not, then cast it out in the yard for her to fight with me. Literally stretches 3 feet before snapping out of her mouth, but not tooth marks! Crazy...

I'm going tomorrow to fish Weiss Lake in Northeast Alabama to help my wife's uncle practice for the FLW (BFL) tourney up there on Saturday. I'm gonna try to build a little confidence in jig fishing tomorrow simply because Weiss has a bottom pretty much devoid of slop (the main reason I seldom fish a jig). I've got an old Eagle Claw rod that used to be 7'6" that I inherited from my late grandfather. The tip was broken when I go it so it's closer to 7'3" or so. It's a broom handle but still has a nice flex to it. Strange thing about that rod is that it has gold lettering that looks hand drawn that denotes the weights and types of line to throw. It does say "wright and mcghill on it" Was this thing a custom of some sort? Also has a hand drawn Eagle simple to the logo they use now. I don't know may be junk. I think Eagle Claw made better stuff back then I don't know. It's easily almost 30 years old but still feels like a quality rod. Just my opinion. Seems like a quality rod. I'm gonna swap out the reel for a 6.3:1 and spool it with 50# powerpro braid. That's 15# diameter line. Should I go ahead and put a 12 or 15# fluro leader on it, or will straight braid to the hook be ok? Weiss is always either muddy or stained. Never clear. As far as jigs go I'm open to suggestions. I bought a whole plano box full of custom jigs off of ebay in just about any natural color combo imaginable, so tell me what ya'll recommend as far as head shapes and weights. I just finished reading JoeS' writeup on how he fishes jigs and am stoked to try it out. I plan on using rage tail craws for the trailers. Maybe tip the edge of the claws with some chartreuse JJ's magic. I don't know. Any opinions are appreciated.

Check out my post in the "how do you store your plastics" thread in the tackle section to see just how big a rage tail junkie I am. Seriously I've got track marks!

I like the anacondas, but the thumper worm is better to me simply because you can swim it straight back to the boat and the tail has more action - well maybe just a tighter/harder action. The lobsters should be renamed to LobSTARS!

You'd think with all the free press I give you guys I'd get an endorsement deal by now! Ya'll endorse attorneys right? Maybe just a sticker and a retainer fee? I'm just sayin! In all seriousness Rage Tail plastics are my ultimate confidence baits. I started fishing them last summer and I've never owned a brand of lures in which I had absolute confidence that EVERY SINGLE TIME I GO FISHING I will catch at least one bass on a rage tail lure. Matter of fact I've never been fishing with them when I only caught one bass! ;D For all you newbies out there who don't know where to start don't hesitate to buy these lures. I started with the space monkeys and shads. The best thing I've learned about these lures is that skill goes out the window since all of these baits are designed to be pulled through the water - no more wondering if you're pulling it too fast or hopping it too far off the bottom like with a texas rig. Another tip: Go ahead and shell out the 12 bucks for a bottle of Mend-It! These baits are great but they may seem expensive at roughly a dollar a lure, but the packaging they use really does make all the difference. In one season I've saved easily over 100 bucks on rage tails by repairing them with Mend-It. The stuff literally makes them good as new. Oh, and seriously I'm done gushing! Try the rage craws or lobster on a carolina rig around rip rap. Deadly on Guntersville lake!

I'm right there with you. Last year was the only time I ever fished a jig - smith lake alabama and caught one fish in two bites. I know they're supposed to be great but all the places I fish are too mucky on the bottom, and I have zero confidence in them. May need to try roads advice

Good. I'm glad it worked out for everybody!

Every single bass I've caught down here this spring have that red patch. I've been fishing since the last week of February. I keep thinking it's the crawdads as anything that even resembles a craw right now gets raped in my favorite pond!

Whatever happened to fishn' hard's lure pass he started (least I think it was him?) I haven't kept tabs on it lately, but after mine failed miserably I got to wondering how his was doing? Anybody get involved in it?

I assume you're probably gonna want to fish Smith, Guntersville and maybe Wilson, Pickwick? There are crappie in all of those lakes, as well as shad, and bluegill. Not to mention craws as well. Last summer at G'ville I caught over 20 nice bass with an H20 Express deep diving crankbait in the clown color I believe (chartreuse with blue/green top i think) maybe that's called citrus or citrus shad too. Google the colors or get your basspro book out and look at that color range. The H2o brand from Academy (there's one in Gadsden where I'm at and I know of one in Decatur) I'm sure there's one closer to you, is a great crankbait. As a matter of fact that line of products is excellent for the price so long as you avoid their fishing line - it's crap! Any crankbait in the shad patter, or gold black back, or craw pattern will get you bit. The other guy's post about depths and specific crankbaits is excellent and I learned a lot from it. I would recommend finding a color that catches fish in your area then experimenting with the different brands until you find one you like. They are all so similar now as far as quality goes. That's not to say that a spro or rapala is not way better than h20 or bomber, but the state of the art today makes them all pretty competitive, so it's kinda hard to find a true dud these days. They all just work! Just look at the paint scheme for clues as to quality, and of course the hooks used. If you ever need tips on bait for the above mentioned lakes my family fishes tourneys there all year. Matter of fact my wife's uncle quit fishing certain tourneys at smith for several years because a lot of the losers up there started crying when he won every weekend. in his defense he fishes BFL every year.

I would either use a worm binder or the plano boxes. I use a worm binder for spinner baits! It's kinda ugly in there but all of the same color are in the same ziplock. As to plano boxes I have two of the dark smoke gray plano boxes from academy that are awesome for me. They have two compartments: One up top with it's own latches and one below with its own latches. You can pack a ton of plastics into two of them and still take up very little space. I've easily got 200 dollars worth of plastics (rage tails mostly) in those two boxes! Pics below: The sunglasses give a reference to how small these boxes are, thus why I LOOOOVEE THEM! I keep ALL of my tackle that I use regularly in an H2O brand backpack from Academy for about 35 bucks. It has: 1 spinnerbait binder in a side pocket 2 of the above plano boxes 1 3700 clear plano box 3 or so of the smaller plano boxes filled with cranks and several loose bags of plastics stuffed in compartments. I've easily got $500 worth of tackle in that 20 pound bag. It's barely comfortable enough to wear on my back fishing, but the real benefit is taking the kitchen sink with you on the boat without ticking off your co-angler by bogarting his entire deck! Another benefit to the plano boxes is taking a whole ton of plastics with you should you want to beat the bank without having to take the whole bag. Lately I've been carrying a 3700 or smaller box with swimbaits and the above box for plastics along with 2 rods for bank fishing my favorite pond.

That H2O bait is exactly what I was referring to! I have been killing them in a local pond fishing the 4" bluegill/sunfish pattern. To be such a cheap lure it looks great underwater! The only gripe is the finish isn't that tough, but for 8 bucks what do you want? A mattlure?! Another tip: When they quit biting that bait switch over to a rage tail lobster on a swimbait hook and slow swim it - I did this all day yesterday and kept the bite alive!

Size and color are the biggies for me. Right now in Bama they're eating crawdads like crazy so any orange/crawdad imitating trap is the way to go. Perfect example is the other day when I was burning the craw patter cotton cordell and my grandfather was fishing the same size brand but a silver/purple color and couldn't buy a bite. I caught 8 in 30 minutes. I have also been skunked before with other guys where I'm throwing a 1/2 oz trap and they're throwing 1/4oz in the same color. Retrieves don't make any real difference to me.

i'm too lazy to read the other posts so I'll throw in my 2 cents, and maybe touch a new perspective. Crankbaits and swimbaits are too different tools. Kinda like comparing screwdrivers and hammer to me. If the bass are actively feeding (i.e. summer weather) then I'll throw a crankbait until I quit getting bites. A crankbait is generally a reaction bait in that bass will hit it out of anger or whatever, and they don't pay as much attention to presentation or color, etc. They see a spastic object in their neighborhood and want to kill it. That's why you don't get too many soft bites on a crankbait. That's another reason a crankbait is a good lure for the novice fisherman because it's a chuck and wind kinda lure that doesn't require much skill to fish it. I'm not saying it's a less respected lure by any means - it's one of the most effective at the right place and time, but it doesn't require great effort to get bit on it. A swimbait shines when the bass are less active and are paying attention to what's in their face - thus the reason swimbaits are so dang realistic - they are designed to mimic prey as closely as possible. Swimbaits usually work best fished slowly, another reason crankbaits don't usually work that well in super clear water with finicky fish, or in cold water - they just don't look real enough when it matters to trick a fish into biting. Another example is in the wintertime when it's hard to get bit on a conventional crankbait, yet a rattle trap is deadly. Bass want an easy meal that stays a true course - a regular crankbait wobbles so wildly that I guess the bass think it's too much trouble to chase down. The tight wobble of a trap looks like an easy target no matter how fast it's going. Bottom line, this time of year I'm throwing traps to locate the fish, and then switching over to swimbaits or other slow moving plastics to keep getting bit. Screwdrivers and hammers! If you want the best of both worlds this time of year and maybe you should try a hard jointed swimbait. They can be fished slowly, or quickly enough to be a marginal fish locator, and yet be super realistic to get a cautious bass to bite. I've had a lot of luck this year with a cheap jointed swimbait that looks like a bluegill (or bream if you're up North!) I can fish it super slow, or burn it like a trap and still get bit.

Don't be afraid of a big swim bait. Especially if you have trout stocked in that lake! As I'm told (I don't get the luxury of trout in 'Bama) they routinely get over 8 inches long at an early age, and the bass will destroy them! Find a swimbait that most closely matches the trout and take off. Don't worry about losing numbers. I know that's an issue but you'll still be pretty satisfied by the number of fish you're catching so long as you're fishing the right area. Don't be afraid of losing small fish either. While some would like a swimbait to weed out the little guys - I once won a tournament by 1/100th of an ounce. My smallest fish of the night barely measured and it came on a swimbait that was twice its size!

Took a guilty plea yesterday morning, and with nothing scheduled the rest of the day I forwarded my calls to my cell phone and closed the office at noon. Went to my favorite pond and started throwing H2O Express swimbaits. After the action on those slacked off I started throwing rage tails. I started with a smokin' rooster, but (and I don't know if it's just me) but I had to reel it pretty quick to keep all the legs going, and the bass wanted something slower. Tried the Eeliminator next and kept getting short strikes and missing the good bites. I have GOT TO learn how to set the hook with a spinning rod! Got a reaction strike on a rage tail shad, and quickly learned it was just a fluke that it got bit yesterday. So I switched back to the swimbait and caught a couple more. When I switched back to rage tails I tied on a lobster and oh mama! I got strikes on every cast, but with my spinning outfit I kept jerking it out of their mouths! One bit my lobster so hard that it ripped it in half! This was not the typical effect of pulling it out of their mouth too hard. The bass literally swam up on it (I could see it) and bit it in half before I could set the hook. Felt like a super hard worm bite! While most folks rig those on a jig head, I swam it over grass and slop via a 5/0 keel weighted (screw eye) swimbait hook. Deadly! If you're not fishing rage tails by now then you need to log in and formally apologize to BigO! Do it. Do it now!

WOW! I cant believe you've never seen that! Every year I catch countless bass from early March to almost May that have very bloody tails, even anal fins. I fish in southern indiana, so I dont think its a southern thing. It's a spawning thing. I just started finding the red tooth patches yesterday, only on the bass from deeper water! :-? Every bass I've caught this year has had the red tooth patches - i thought that was a chasing crawdad thing? I guess gorging on the craws is part of the prespawn ritual? Doesn't have anything to do with nesting does it?