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Hello all, Wasn’t sure if this should go here or the General forum but a buddy of mine wants to get into Bass fishing with me and my fishing buddy this year and while I am not the most knowledgeable I am doing what I can to help him out and put him on his first bass. So my question is if you were were trying to get someone their first bass what (artificial) bait would you use? I’m thinking best bet would be a senko or a ned rig. Although maybe throwing a lipless or a spinnerbait would be easier since you would feel the bites better? What do do you think?

Thanks everyone! I told my fishing buddy she only needs to grow 10 more pounds and she will be a state record! This park recieves a lot of fishing pressure but not a lot of bass fishing that I’ve seen. They used to stock it with catfish for a derby and there are people constantly fishing for them, also they stock it yearly with rainbow trout and have a derby for the kids so I’d imagine some of those trout become bass candy and I know people bring shad for catfish bait and I’ve seen several swimming free so I think the bass kind of just do their thing.

Today was a beautiful day in Southern Ohio so after my class I went to my local park lake again to try and catch some more bass. Also today was the first time I got both my new setups out together to compare the reels. My two setups are a Daiwa Tatula CT with 12# mono on a 6’7” MH-F 13 Defy Black and a Shimano SLX with 10# mono on a 7’3” MH-F 13 Defy Black. The Defy may not be the best rod on the market but for $50 I haven’t found a major complaint yet. After the first couple casts I managed to bring in my fist bass of the day. About a pound and a half on a red craw lipless crankbait. A few casts later managed to hook into something huge. This time it jumped out of the water and I got to see it. A monster carp, he jumped twice and threw the hooks from his back. A little whike later I switched to a bluegill colored lipless and got thumped. Reeling it in I knew t was big. Was sweating and praying I would get her on the bank. When I finally got her on the shore I grabbed her and did a simultaneous fist pump! Got her unhooked and quickly onto the scale for a weight. 3.04lbs a new PB! A quick length at 18” and right back into the water, she kicked and swam back strong. Managed to catch one one more fish before leaving that was about another pound and a half. All in all I have found an awesome spot and have already had my best season yet and it’s just getting started! As far as the reels go they are both great reels, I would have to say the Tatula casts a little easier and is smoother overall but for the price I really like the SLX, I especially like the big reel knobs. The final picture shows the bait the big girl came on and the weeds these fish are hanging out in. Thanks for looking!

Update from my last post about figuring out a pattern. I revisited the same spot that produced my last few fish on Friday evening but this was after a rain and on an overcast day. I had 1 maybe 2 bites lost one and missed the other. Revisited today for maybe 30 minutes. We had a huge cold front move through the past day and some cold rain/snow. Water was up a couple feet but the sun was shining bright plus I wanted to test my new setup. So I tied on a Red Craw Lunker Hunt lipless crank and made a few casts and almost immediately hooked into this nice bass. Lost another huge fish which I’m pretty sure I’m snagging carp when that happens, could be big bass but whatever I am hooking is nearly pulling the rod from my hands. Anyway caught another slightly smaller bass that I didn’t picture but the key seems to be the lipless just over the grass on a sunny relatively calm day. The fish are still a little cold and don’t look to be quite into pre spawn yet so the best fishing is yet to come!! This will be my first real season going hard after the bass so I am pumped!

I started using just an old hunting backpack but it didn’t work out as well and it only had one main compartment so if you want the box in the bottom you have to take everything out to get to it. A real pain. This is Year I upgraded to the Plano E-Series 3600 Backpack and so far I like it. I can fit 4 boxes inside and a 1 gal freezer bag full of plastics in the mesh compartment in front. I keep my pliers on the outside a multitool in one of the small pockets and some spare line in the small front pocket. So far it’s working out pretty well.

Shortly after the first couple fish I managed to cast over a branch and ended up severing my braid and lost about 1/2 my spool. Luckily I didn’t lose it in the water but still, so I was gonna respool that reel with mono. I have used that site for most of my knot tying. I will look into the Albright for sure. Thanks!

I will look it up, I may not have used enough wraps when tying my double uni honestly. Ill look that knot up for sure though thanks!

Made it to the local park today, a place where I’ve caught decent bass in the pst but have had no luck this year. Made several casts in several places with no luck so I moved to a spot where I have caught hundreds of bluegills in the past thinking well that’s where the bait is surely the bass are close by. This spot is right next to the big fountain fountain so I tied on a bluegill colored lipless and flung it out into the lake. Retrieved it at a steady pace and only a few cranks in WHAM fish on! I knew it was decent because it was staying deep. When I finally got it landed I was stoked. Weighed at 1.85lbs which may not seem huge to some of you guys but most bass I catch are probably less than a pound and about 12” long so I was super pumped. Next cast a few cranks in again WHAM! This one felt huge. I start reeling it in and everything went limp. I realized my leader had pulled from my mainline ? this leads me to my first question. What is the best knot for tying fluorocarbon to braid? I usually use a double uni and it has worked fine when tying leaders on my fly line but I haven’t hooked anything larger and that is always mono-mono. So anyways I tied another lipless onto my braid made another cast into the same area and got hit again! Set the hook and the fish shortly threw it. After a few more casts I hooked into something HUGE it went limp shortly and I reeled in a huge carp scale. After several more casts and no bites I decided to change colors so I put on a big shad colored Clackin Rap and after a couple casts another Fish on! Reeled this one in and it was a bit smaller probably just under a pound and a half but I was still excited. Unfortunately I had to leave then but now that I have something figured out I will be back with a vengeance.

Gave the ned rig a try for the first time today. I guess the fish are still a lot colder than I thought, in a small pond only managed one fish but I had to drop the ned rig right in front of his nose. Came on a green pumpkin finesse TRD. They are slowly getting bigger!

Went to a local lake to try and get into some stocked trout. Ended up with 2 small largemouth on a chartreuse spinner. They were up shallow and were still pretty cold. Didnt see any trout caught by anyone but was happy to catch a couple couple bass too.

At this point it would be easier to buy a portion of the company I think lol

I’ll be right back...

I was told I had to give the ned rig a shot so I purchased the necessary equipment.

Took the new Tatula setup to the local park today to fling it around for a while. To those who recommended the Tatula, Thank You. This reel is so smooth, casts like a dream. I started with a small jig and it pitched it with ease, then to just test out the reel switched to an online spinner, still no problems. It’s spooled with 20# braid with a 12# flouro leader right now. Didnt catch any fish fish so I can’t comment on the drag just yet but just in the 45 minutes or so I used it, I loved it.

My PB to date, don’t know how much she weighed I’d guess 2-3lbs but it was the end of a warm front last February and I had just got my first baitcasting setup as a Christmas gift from my wife so on my lunch break between classes I went to the local park and was throwing an orange craw patterned lipless. Managed to catch 3 or 4 nice bass. When I attempted to swing one fish over the bridge the tip of my rod broke off. Ran to to the store grabbed a new rod came back and a couple casts later this girl hammered the lipless. Ended up catching 5 or 6 good fish that day in the span of about 2 hours. One of if not the best day I’ve had bass fishing. Ill never forget this fish but I hope I can top her this year.

This is the first bass I caught on a fly. It came last summer in a small farm pond. It was my first on a hand-tied fly too. I think this fish is more proof that some bass will eat almost anything rather than my amazing ability to put a popper together. I look forward to this season and adding many more fish to the list both on traditional gear and fly gear.

Well I’m gonna have to give a shot for sure then. I’ll have to make a trip to the store and get the stuff I need. I’m hoping to get out this weekend and get on some bass!

I can honestly say I have never fished a ned rig, and only really tried a drop shot a couple of times. I have read through a few threads about the ned rig but is it generally recommended to fish the ned rig to get the specific ned rig jig heads, or can you use any jig heads. I was thinking of just using one of my regular jig heads and just snipping a Yum Dinger in half and using that instead of the ZMan Finesse TRD. Will this accomplish the same thing essentially? Thanks for the replies, I learn more and more the more I visit here.

I love open water fishing but this was my first full season on the ice and only got out like 3 days so I still sorta wish we had some ice around.

Well an update to this, still haven’t figured out my Black Max issues, but I have got a couple new rigs. I puchased a 7’ medium action ugly stik rod, yeah I know they are cheap but I have owned a few over the years and I am hard on my equipment sometimes and have never had an issue with one. So before I go and spend $100+ on a rod I’ll make sure I’m gonna commit to these baitcasters. I got an older Curado 201B off of eBay and switched the Curado to the 13 Defy and put the Black Max on the Ugly Stik. Then I decided I would go with the majority and picked up a Daiwa Tatula CT 100, again not wanting to spend a crazy amount on a rod but wanting something a little nicer I went with a 6’6” Berkley Lightning Shock Rod. Haven’t got the Tatula out yet but I am absolutely loving the Curado. It is smooth and casts easily and most importantly the anti reverse doesn’t slip! ? I look forward to using these reels and winching in some nice bass this year!

It’s getting to be that time of year! Water temps here in Ohio are getting into the 40s and some small shallow lakes/ponds into the 50s and fish are gonna start moving up and getting active. My question to you, if you were going to a new location you’d never fished before, with water temps in the 40s-50s and you were stuck on the bank, where would you be casting and what would you be throwing? I tend to do fairly well in smaller ponds as the fish don’t have many places to run and hide, but when it comes to the larger lakes I struggle until the fish move up shallow during spawn and post spawn. Thanks in advance!

I was fishing a small pond today, just trying to get the first one of the year. Pitching a weightless craw let it sink to the bottom then slowly swam it a bit and it got picked up swimming towards deep water. Set the hook hard and was barely moving the fish as I lifted the rod to try and lift it over a patch of weeds the whole thing came off. I think my knot slipped as I have straight braid on that reel. So now there’s a big bass swimming around that pond with one of my 3/0 hooks in his face. I hate losing any fish and so far this year I’ve lost 3. Still haven’t got one on the bank.

I feel the same. My buddy is right handed and casts right and reels right. I told him it was wrong but he insists I am wrong. Like you said though, only a psychopath would cast and reel with the same hand.

I have essentially an identical situation with my local city park lake. Last year around the end end of February we had a warm spell of a week with temps in the 50s-60s with sunshine. So I threw a orange craw colored lipless around the bridge with the thought that the structure would hold heat and have the warmest water. In one two hour session I managed 5 really nice bass just off the bridge. Since then I haven’t caught a single bass out of this lake. As mentioned above this lake is mostly featureless, a few fountains one rocky point, some cypress and a couple big sycamores. The whole thing is no more than 5-6’ deep when the water is up. Only really “structure” would be the bridge that crosses it and the one rocky point. I habe fished all over it with lipless, spinnerbaits, Texas rigged craws, jerkbaits... Th bottom foot or so is thick mossy weeds. Last trip out with the Deeper Pro it measured the temperature at 51 degrees so it’s warming up quick. The water is clear but stained. During the warmer months i manage manage to catch a lot of bluegills on the fly in there. The other main main feature of the lake is it is full of ducks and geese the people like to come feed with bread so they are constantly in the way and being pests. Im at a point where I am stumped. I will follow the advice given above and continue to work the lake. I’d love to be able to figure this lake out.

I managed to get a video of my reel today. I didn’t show that the release wasn’t depressed but the drag is really tight and while snagged all I did was snap the line and then this happens. Edit* apparently it won’t let me attach the video. I compressed it down to size and it still says it is too large. I think it mght be working now. 83831F55-394B-4EE9-8594-20EB1C23F188.mp4