Koz

I bank fish primarily in the same 8 lagoons and for the most part my standard approach is to start off with either a T-rigged Senko or Dinger, Booyah Pad Crasher, or Whopper Plopper 90. Which one I start with usually depends upon the time of day and/or weather conditions. For example, in these lagoons I almost never get hits on the frog or Plopper 90 if it's really windy that day. If the fish are biting at that point I'll start throwing bigger baits like the Whopper Plopper 110 or 130, a big buzz bait, or a jig and craw setup. If the fish aren't biting that well I'll throw a Beetle Spin, small chatterbait, jerkbait, or Ned Rig. Occasionally I'll throw a crankbait, lipless crank, or a bigger swimbait but those have never been good producers for me. If the bite is slow that day I'll invariably go through whatever is in the 4 trays in my tackle bag, but my emphasis is always on those first three baits.

Thanks for the offer. We may take you up on that sometime. We usually come up to your area a few times a year for travel baseball tournaments.

Do you hook the beaver through the tail? Does it try to bite you? Doesn't the big splash scare off the bass? Sorry - couldn't resist

If any of you are in the path of the hurricane (even inland) I have two words for you - GET OUT! Last year Hurricane Matthew hit our area of South Carolina and seeing that it was a category 1 storm at the time and I live 10 miles inland and we are somewhat protected by a barrier island (Hilton Head) and the fact my parents (who lived a few more miles inland) refused to leave I rode out the storm. The storm hit in the middle of the night and I could hear a lot of wind and rain. I couldn't see outside because I had installed the metal hurricane shutters on the house. The next morning I went out and most of the trees were blocked with trees and debris and the lagoons had overflowed and covered many roadways. But that wasn't the worst part. The highest winds of the storm missed us but hit Hilton Head. And when the storm did hit it had increased to a category 2 hurricane. Let me tell you, a measly little cat 2 hurricane does a lot of damage. The Island was closed to residents for a week. To this day they are still doing cleanup of downed trees on the Island. Hurricane Harvey is projected to be a lot stronger than Matthew. Don't even think twice about it - get out of town to safety.

We're in the 99% totality area and there's 11 minutes to the eclipse and.... it's cloudy and raining out! But we'll be fishing this evening.

We have fished Lake Murray and there are not gators there, but it's a 3 hour dive. I'm not sure about the Santee Cooper lakes, but we're going there this fall and rent a bass boat for the day. Close to home we mostly stick with lagoons that we can bike to, Today the heat index dropped below 100 after 6 pm so we went out for a bit. My son wanted to go to the one we call Baby Bass Lagoon to try and catch the big channel catfish we have seen in there. He came up empty and I managed three dinks. Headed to another we call Hidden Lagoon because it's off in the woods and 99% heavily wooded except for two small casting areas. I had picked up some Zoom Flukes today and gave them a try for the first time. Third cast and pulled one that was probably just over a pound. The fish breached a few feet from shore and as soon as he hit the water an 8 foot gator came barreling in to shore and stopped 3 feet from the bank. We high tailed it up the bank and released the fish in another spot. Some days we can fish there and the gator will cruise on by and other days he let's us know that we're in his territory. Weather forecast cools down next week. I can't wait!

Yes, we have a lot of gators and they are in most bodies of water in our area. We nearby fished Jarvis Creek Park on Hilton Head last month and the gators were calm until we caught something. Then they went into a frenzy and were slamming into the concrete fishing pad. We left when that happened and the gators went up on that pad. I called the town and they said they would have the bigger ones removed because they were very aggressive. The only time that the town or the local critter removal companies will remove alligators are if they are really big, show extreme aggression towards humans, or eat someone's dog. The only exception is if a local business purchases a gator removal tag (which is hard to obtain) and that business is willing to pay for the removal. If you're not familiar with the Hilton Head area, we have very strict laws and covenants regarding the local flora and fauna. The Island was built with restrictions and safeguards to protect the natural surroundings. For example, when most people build a house they clear the land and plant trees afterwards. Here you need to submit your building plan and show which individual trees you would like to remove in order to build your home. Heck, we don't even have street lights, lighted signs, or backlit signs. So removing gators just because they show up in a neighborhood is impossible in this area. Again, I don't mind the alligators in the daytime when I can keep an eye on them. But in the high grass and wooded areas at night it's just not safe. We can hear the gators thrashing and feeding in the nearby lagoon at night and if you shine a flashlight you see the orange reflection of their eyes. Creepy. I'll wait until it cools off a bit to fish again.

Our primary fishing locations are the lagoons of a defunct golf course. In just 5 years trees and foliage have overtaken these lagoons. When you look at historical satellite it's amazing how quickly these went from open lagoons to being nestled in the woods. That being said, fishing in the dark with lots of alligators around is not an ideal situation at these lagoons. There are too many areas where they can covertly stalk you (some do that in the daytime as well) and there are not always quick escape routes should one try to ambush you. So for me and my son it's not worth the risk. The other thing that's been depressing lately is that even when the weather is somewhat bearable, by the time early evening rolls in and I have time to fish that's when the thunderstorms also roll in. We're still under a heat advisory this week. Cooler weather can't come soon enough.

I bank fish and bring only one rod so my usual routine is to fan cast the area 3 or 4 times and if I don't see any fish or get any strikes I'll try another bait. I change baits 3 or 4 times and if there's still no action I'll relocate to another spot in that lagoon or move on to the next lagoon. What I find a lot of times is that when I'm standing up and bank fishing I'm more impatient and I tend to change baits and move around. If I'm in a boat or have my portable stool in a shady spot I'm more patient with the bait I'm using and less likely to move around. What I find ironic is some of the posters in this thread probably have hundreds of lures and baits and fish just one or two of them. For me if the fish aren't biting I may end up going through most of what's in my tackle box that day.

I'm bummed out that it's just too fricking hot to be out fishing. The heat index has been in the low 100's for weeks now and for the next few days it will peak at 108 each day. There's no relief in the mornings with the humidity being at 100% at the start of the day, dropping to the 70's by the afternoon. We can't bank fish at night because there are just too many alligators around. For the past month we've tried to gut it out, between biking to our fishing spots and working the banks it's no fun being drenched in sweat. With the high humidity I'm worn out by the time we get home. That's too bad because I've really enjoyed fishing with my son this year. While a lot of the country is going to cool down soon, we still have hot, hot weather for another month. Even in October we're in the mid 80's but thankfully the humidity is lower. I can't wait for the cooler weather. Speaking of humidity, I think it has got to me reel. The chrome on the crank of my Pfleuger President is all pitted and the crank feels brittle. I'm going to contact Pfleuger and see what they say about it.

I'm sure some of the pros on this site might consider is sacrilegious, but the other week when I was at Bass Pro I picked these Bass Pro Perfect Worm Jigheads: http://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-perfect-worm-jighead The bullet head is molded with the hook.

No hits on the Ned Rig for the past two days so I went back to Yum Dingers and larger Trick Worms and the bite was back on. But the past few days the air temperature has been cooler and we've had longer periods of cloud cover than the previous weeks. BTW, "cooler" is a relative term. It's been 84-86 degrees and the heat index is 96-100. Normally it's 90 degrees plus with a heat index above 103. As for the size of bass caught on the Ned rig, most of what we have caught is 1.5-2.5 pounds which is good for the small lagoons in our area. Interestingly enough, we have one lagoon that we call "Baby Bass Lagoon" because all we have ever caught there are dinks. But we have not caught anything on the Ned rig at that lagoon.

What's more important to you - catching a big bass or just catching bass in general?

My middle schooler loves to fish so we're out there 4-6 evenings every week during the summer. But school starts next week and the fall baseball season starts a few weeks after that so we definitely won't be fishing as much. That's kind of a bummer because in the next month or so the temperatures and humidity will finally be bearable.

When you're first learning to fish for bass or going to a new lake for the first time what to throw and how to throw it is usually decided by what type of cover and structure you are fishing and in part by time of day and weather. But for me it's mostly cover and structure (keeping in mind that I bank fish 99% of the time). So as noted in a post above, the articles on this site are a great resource to learn about those types of things. After that your familiarity with a specific body of water will come into play. For example, on some lagoons where I fish the bass just kill the Whopper Plopper. On others I can't get them to hit it. But in those same spots I can throw a frog and they will hit that. So that always plays into my decision of what to use that day. I'm not a pro like other guys on this site, but I'll give you the same advice I gave to my 11 year old when he started fishing. Learn to fish a Texas rigged Senko type bait. Learn to cast it to specific targets rather than just cast and retrieve. You'll catch fish and learn a lot about fishing for bass. Then throw a Ned rig. After that learn to fish frogs and jigs. Spinnerbaits and chatterbaits? To me - and I'm sure someone will blast me for this - don't require as much in the way of technique so I left them off my list. But they bring in fish as well. There are a ton of other baits and techniques, but for most a Senko, frog, and jig are all you'll every need to catch a bass. You may not catch any record breakers with the T-Rig Senko but when you learn to fish it correctly you'll have a lot of fun and get your fair share of bites.

I may pick some up next time I'm at Dick's or Bass Pro. In the meantime I still have some chewed up Dingers and Senkos I can use up. I got in about 10 casts before my lightning strike weather alert went off tonight and landed another 2.5lb on the Ned Rig tonight. Definitely not trophy sized, but in the small, gator filled lagoons we fish it's a good size. It beats getting shut out or landing only dinks.

You can always attach an IBobber, Deeper, or a similar castable, portable sonar device and map the bottom of your pond. I've done it on some lagoons with an iBobber and although it's tedious it has paid some dividends. I was able to find where some of the drop offs are and casting in those spots has led to more catches. I can't speak for Deeper, but with the iBobber there are some limitations. For example, the range is only 100 feet or so. Second, if your pond is shallow you're not mapping a wide swath and the info it gives you is a lateral view of what the iBobber passes over. You also need to remember to take a snapshot photo of what it maps and save it's location. It would be fantastic if you could stitch together top down views to create your own topo map using the iBobber.

Reading this forum opened my eyes a bit and got me to try a Ned Rig in this hot weather. So far the results have been fantastic. Part of the equation, obviously, is having an idea of where to throw your line in the first place. But a big part of it seems to be downsizing the bait your throwing in the hot weather. For me, unless it's the exact right moment in the early morning or near sundown most of the fish seem to be ignoring my bigger baits (jigs, Whopper Plopper, Chatterbaits, Dingers, and Senkos) but they crush the Ned Rig if I get it anywhere near them. Pick up a pack of Ned Rig jigheads and put half of a Dinger or Senko on their and see what happens.

It looks like most of the fish are nervously thinking, "Back off dude. I don't want no trouble." Nice video.

I've seen a lot of posts on here talking about the Ned Rig setup so I went out and bought Z-Man jigheads, cut a Yum Dinger in half and gave it a try this afternoon. On the second cast I pulled in a 2+ pounder. On the 4th cast I caught a 1+ pounder. That was a pretty darn good introduction to the Ned Rig! After a few more casts I switched it up to my Pad Crasher and then a jig. Why change? I was getting greedy and looking for bigger fish. Of course, I caught nothing for the rest of the hour I was out there. But I'm now a fan of the Ned Rig and will throw it in some of the other lagoons we frequent. I'm pretty sure this is now my go to bait in really hot weather. Thanks to everyone here that suggested it.

I had a Pfleuger Trion that I passed down to my son and bought the Pfleuger President (40) for myself. I absolutely love that reel. Smooth as silk and a great price.

I'm lucky to have 11 good fishing lagoons within 2 miles biking distance in the community where I live. We regularly pull out 2-3 pounders and the largest this year is 4.5 pounds. My gut tells me there are 6+ pound fish in there that we just haven't found yet. Heavy woods surrounding these lagoons make it hard to access much of the shoreline. Within 30 minutes driving distance there are hundreds of lagoons but many of these are in other private, gated communities. Others are in deeply wooded areas that are hard to access through the trees and foliage. But once the cooler fall weather comes we plan to bring a machete and a saw to some of these places and cut some access points along the banks and throw a few lines to see what's in there. Although we've fished a few other areas in SC we stick to our home field most of the time. It's convenient and we know there are decent sized fish in there.

We fished this afternoon and although I managed to catch a few two pounders I had to fish really, really, really slow. I hate that. Both were on a Booyah Pad Crasher but each time I tossed it and just let it sit there for 20-40 seconds along or under overhanging trees and this fish hit it. I had zero strikes when I walked it. My son caught one about the same size tossing a trick worm and he just let it sit on the bottom. In the mornings and evenings the bass are more likely to hit a moving bait or make a reaction strike. But for the rest of the day fishing slow is the only think that works down here. The fish are literally and figuratively testing my patience.

Hampton Lake is a private, gated community in Bluffton, SC. At 165 acres it's not a big lake and you can't put a bass boat on it but they have boats and kayaks that you can use. They stock the lake with Tiger Bass, Striped Bass, Copper-Nose Blue Gill, and Shellcracker. Hilton Head Island is just over the bridge, Savannah is 30 minutes south and Charleston is an hour or so north. They are also putting in a second lake in that community. I'm in the market for a new home next year and Hampton Lake is near the top of my list.

I had something like that happen this summer on a big swim bait as well. I couldn't figure out why a small bream with a tiny, tiny mouth hit a big bait. Maybe it was territorial and trying to nip a fin to chase it off rather than looking for a meal.