ICFishing

In my experience I have found wooden posts to be better as they retain heat from the sunlight longer than a metal post. So early in the spring when the bass are still drawn to warmer water they will likely hold on wood. Wood posts are also usually bigger, providing more cover. Wood also allows algae to grow, and baitfish feed on the tiny bacteria that hang around the algae, and bass feed on those baitfish. I have found seawalls to be good year round. The wall will soak up sunlight and they will sun on it year round. At one of my local lakes I saw a 5 pound LMB sunning on a seawall at 11 am in August in less than a foot of water when it was over 90 degrees out. With the seawalls I find it best to cast and retrieve parallel to them. Often I will sit only a few feet out from the seawall and cast along it. With docks I have always approached them slow and fish around the outside first, especially in clear water. Then slowly work your way all the way to the back as far as you can get a bait. If you have not established a pattern fish every single post on the dock until you figure out where on the dock you are getting bites, such as shallower posts, deeper posts, posts with weeds, etc. Once you figure out a pattern then you can move faster and cover more docks quicker using that pattern.

Welcome! I will use a Carolina when I find fish around deeper structure such as points, creek channels, humps, etc. that have grass. Grass has always been the key for me to throw a Carolina. I will make as long of casts as possible and work it slow, just like a regular Texas rig or a jig. Make sure the weight is heavy enough to stay on bottom. My go to on a Carolina is a Zoom Mag 2, Zoom Ol' Monster, or Zoom Big Dead Ringer. Any of those in Black, Tequila Green, or Green Pumpkin.

I have a few thoughts here that can hopefully help! 1. The Bullshad is a great bait for smallies. I have caught a ton of good smallmouth on the Bullshad in the rivers and creeks local to me. However, if you are after largemouth I feel like there are a few other baits I would check out. Not saying the Bullshad doesn't catch largemouth, because I know it does, but I personally have had better success on other baits for largemouth. If I were to only buy one for largemouth it would probably be a Jackall Gantarel Jr. or a River2Sea S-Waver 168. If you are fishing for smallmouth then I would stick with the Bullshad, even the Baby Bullshads work well for smallies. 2. When it comes to targeting larger bass is not always the baits you are throwing but the area you are fishing and how you fish it. I cannot tell you how many kayak tournaments I have fished where I was beat by people throwing a Ned rigged Z-Man TRD or a 4" Senko. I have caught several of my biggest fish in a certain lake on a Z-Man Chatterbait. In that same lake the fish wont look at any swimbait I throw even if it perfectly matches the baitfish they are feeding on. My advice would be to get a few swimbaits and spend some time with them on the waters where you fish tournaments. Fish the same areas you normally fish with smaller baits and cycle through your baits as you go. In each spot throw the swimbait for a while then switch to something that you know catches fish just to see if they are there. If fish are there, go back to the swimbait and fish around a while longer. If you do this a few trips and still are not getting larger fish on the swimbait then check out new areas in that lake or river that you do not typically fish and do the same thing, cycle through the regular baits and swimbaits. The most important thing though will be to take note of where the swimbait fish come from and how they bite. I have found that the bigger fish I tend to get on swimbaits are most times a little deeper than the fish I am catching on regular baits. If you figure something like that out, use that info to change how you fish the rest of the day. I have been on patterns before where I will fish a ledge and catch a few average fish then pull off the ledge into deeper water and throw a swimbait and find larger fish. Swimbaits may help, but you also may find that your simply fishing different areas or working baits different than those in the tournament who are catching larger fish. Good luck!

I have Luck-E-Strike Bass Magic, Berkely Hollow Belly, and Zoom Paddletail. I usually rig them on a 1/8 oz ball head jig from Bass Pro. Out of the three, I like the Berkely ones the best. They tend to last longer and I also like their colors. The Luck-E-Strike work, but any that I have ever bought have a very strong plastic smell.

Small fish are my specialty lol! When I am looking to just find fish, the first things I throw on clear lakes are: 1. Dropshot with GYB Shad Shape Worm in Baby Bass or Natural Shad - Work it slow around points and creek channels. 2. Any stickbait rigged wacky - Work it in the same areas as the dropshot, but also around shallow logs, rocks, stumps, etc. 3. Ned rigged Z-Man TRD in Canada Craw - Work it in all the areas mentioned above. A few things I know about my local clearer lakes are: Do NOT always assume the fish are deep. I have seen fish laying in 2 feet of water on a sunny day in August in a lake where you can see bottom in 25 feet. Fish SLOW! Especially if there are a lot of other boats and anglers. Fish in clearer lakes tend to spook easier because they can see better. Long casts and lighter line can help.

Id be interested to see @basser89 respond to this. I know he has caught more than a few solid fish out of several of those places. I have only ever fished a few places down there including Black Hills and Furnace Bay. I do have a few nice fish from Furnace Bay, biggest being 21.25".

I have used a Carolina rig for deep smallmouth before but every time I did, I found myself throwing a dropshot rig within an hour haha! If you want to commit to the Carolina, I would look at egg shaped weights, they seem to work well for me in rocky lakes. I find that a Carolina works best for me when there is grass, and if there is enough grass for me to throw a Carolina then there are not enough rocks to worry about getting hung up that often. If there are enough rocks that I am worried about getting hung up then there probably isn't enough grass for me to justify a Carolina, which is where I pull out a dropshot. Also, it's hard to beat a small finesse football jig for deep rocky lake smallies, they are like candy to them!

Depends on the rod and definition of small stream. Smaller streams with mostly smaller fish with the occasional 15" smallie id be using a 6'6" or 7' Medium action rod with 8 or 10 pound Seaguar AbrazX flourocarbon. Larger streams with mostly 8"-14" smallies with the occasional 18" smallie id be using a 7' Medium Heavy action rod with 10 or 12 pound Seaguar AbrazX flourocarbon. Depending on how often I am respooling (sometimes every week in the summer) I may put 12 pound Berkely Big Game monofilament on my creek rod to save a few bucks.

Yes absolutely a good spot! That said, there will be a sweet spot in those areas where they will typically hold and I rarely ever see that sweet spot being right under the falls. My rule is "edge of the white" meaning right where the edge of the white highly oxygenated water is turning right under the fall. They will usually be in the steady current right below the white water facing upstream ambushing prey that washes down over. I have had some amazing days tossing a Ned rigged TRD or a large wooly bugger fly in those areas. A stream like the one pictured typically wont have many larger smallies and will have a mix of native trout too in my area, so I like to take the fly rod for fun.

I agree with many on 6 pounds being the magic number, at least for Pennsylvania. There are a few areas on the extreme end of the spectrum, like Erie and St. Lawrence, that can put up big averages but outside of those places I am sticking with 6 pounds.

I do well fishing them on a 1/8 or 1/16 oz River Rock Baits Draggin Head. It has a screwlock on the front with a long belly weight and is weedless. They work real well for me working them like a tube. Another one I use is a Lifted Jigs EWG Ned jighead, primarily where I need a heavier weight or need to get it through some grass.

Here is my list in no particular order: 1. Spend more time with swimbaits. 2. Fish at least 3 new lakes and 1 new river (or 3 new river sections on a currently fished river). 3. Fish with at least 2 people I have never fished with before. 4. Help a random person again (last year I gave a guy a few senkos and TRD's because he wasn't having any luck and I was doing good). 5. Fish as much as possible with family.

Usually a "bump" for slow baits and a "Holy $#!^" or "Train!" for fast moving baits.

Spring time they will likely be holding on flats near the areas I circled, which are most likely areas that I think they will hold in winter and summer. Depending on when you are there they could be at any stage of spawn, so I would start around those areas. From pictures I see on Google it looks like fairly clear water so wear some good shades and move slow and keep an eye out, you will likely spot fish roaming around any sort of cover such as a stick, single rock, small patch of grass, heck I have even seen fish hug a beer can because that was the only thing on a sandy bottom. But also remember, if you can see them they have probably already spotted you so they will be harder to catch most times. If you are seeing fish though then you know your in the right area, make long casts with light line and work slow, not necessarily slow baits, but move slow yourself. When it gets closer to spawn they will be on flats near these areas I circled. Look for wind protected little pockets in the bank with a bottom containing sand and small pebbles, this is where they will spawn. Early spawn they will be moving back and forth between the circled areas and the flats, and then again in late spawn as they move back to those summer pockets. I personally think that creek dumps in near Long Island (right most circle) looks especially good. Another thing to keep in mind is current, anywhere a creek flows in there will be a little bit of current, focus on cover that is in that current or on any flat near that current. Hope this helps!

When the big waters get hard I either ice fish them, or switch over to fly fishing for trout in mountain streams. When I am not doing that I will organize gear, clean gear, tinker with lures, and this past year I got back into making jigs and spinnerbaits.