Mobasser

Agree! Green pumpkin is a gone for me too. I've given it a fair shot and it hasn't been good at all. Also, it's always good to try a totally new color which may not be in your favorites. You never know. It could become your best color next week.

I lean towards a Texas rig for weedy areas. Shakey heads have been tougher for me to fish in these spots.

I fish an older 7 acre qaurrey lake quite a bit. As DINK WHISPERER has said, look for humps in the main lake areas. I've found some by looking for weeds growing in these spots.Good sunglasses help. Also there may be some shelves within casting distance of the bank, which drop off into deeper water. Use a search type lure first.Crankbaits may work well. Then, fish these areas with a slower worm/jig to look for more or bigger bass. Qaurries can hold some good size fish

Another vote for Fenwick hmg.I like mine.

Buzzbait, jitterbug,jigs, and spinnerbait. All these are proven on night bass. Along with your Texas rig, should get it done

Since I fish more plastic worms than other soft plastics that's what I carry the most. Usually 2 bags roboworms, 2 bags zoom worms , and 1 bag 8" Mann's jelly worms.I also carry some strike king rage grubs, and some zoom chunk jig trailers. I know most will say green pumpkin has been their hot color, but it really hasn't worked that well for me. I lean towards grape and blue shades the most, and also solid black.

Borrowed my good casting rod, and made a birdsnest big enough for a condor to nest in. Bring your own stuff, or stick with your pushbutton reels!

My favorite rod for poppers and walking baits is a 6 ft pistol grip too. I like the storm chug bug- both sizes. When I want to walk a bait I use a Zara Spook. Do a search on Ozark basser Charlie Cambell. One of the best at topwaters fishing.I also use a pop r, and the river 2 sea popper from Academy.But, the Storm Chug Bug has been my favorite for years

Congrats! Nice fish

Yes. I think it's funny too. Most newer ones can be set up pretty quick. Not nearly as much of the learning curve there was years ago. Yep. It takes a little time to learn, but once you get it down , it becomes automatic Also , I still like mono line on my ABU reels. TrileneBig Game. I like how it handles on these reels. Don't see the need for braid/ leader setup.To me , that line seems to be made for for these reels.Plus, one knot directly to the bait.

Yes , it's true why they call Missouri the Show Me State.If your not sure what the weather will do just stick around, " well show ya". , ,

Scaleface, our weather has changed pretty fast too. All of a sudden were getting steady rainfall and temps dropping 8-10 degrees each day. The ponds near our house have risen a fair amount too. I think I'm gonna follow your lead here and cover more shallow water with a buzzer to start with then go back and fish creeks with worms/ jigs. It may be a decent fall after all.Lets just hope it last a while. We should be able to get some good shallow crank/ trap fishing too.

Catt, the reels my brother bought look almost the same as yours.He could already cast pretty well, but I spent more time picking out backlashes than fishing.I couldn't even use mine unless the cast control knob was tightened too much,which gave me no distance. After practicing, I gradually loosened the control, and got the hang of thumbing these reels.Because no thumbar, my brother developed a style of two handed casting, with the reel almost free spool setting. He got dead on accurate casting this way.How things have changed! Most young guys would consider them an antique now but at that time they were probably the best available.And, I'm sure they will still catch fish too

Yes Great thread! And I agree, Team9nine always has some good stuff to add.

Catt, when my brother came home from the service in 1970,he bought 2 red ABU 5000 reels, and gave me one.I still have mine, and it still works.My brother gave his to a friend who came home from the war in bad shape. He simply loved that reel- kept it super clean and was so proud of it. As far as I know, he still has that one too

Most of my silicone skirt jigs have a Arkie style head. It's been a standard for a long time. I also like round head jigs too, in lighter weights. I can fish with these heads most of the day. There are better head shapes for flippin or pitching into very thick cover.

A-jay and Catt. I started with the 5500c and red ABU 5000. Then went to the narrow spool 4600c. The Calcutta will be my next reel purchase. They really seem like the top of the line for this type of casting reel

I still fish 2 4600c3 round ABU reels. One is over 20 yrs old. They are workhorse reels. If taken care of well, they will last a long time. At some point I'll need an upgrade, and I will probably go with a round Shimano reel. I like round casting reels the best, and don't really care for mag brakes too much either. I think the C4 would make a nice reel

In Team9nines post, bass could possibly remember baits from 3 months ago. If this is correct, the fish that hit in June could know to reject a lure in late August.To observe bass over a longer period, in a natural environment, would be HUGE! We have cameras, divers, etc to observe fish for shorter periods in their natural envireoment. We've seen these things. But to watch how fish react for possibly up to a year with normal feeding habits, and with artificial lures? As far as I know, this hasn't been done yet.Being able to observe them in their natural surroundings, just doing their thing, would change fishing forever.

Agree Catt. How can you test anything without some control? Just setting up is control, before the test is even started. Performing an accurate test on how well fish can remember and reject certain lures would take a long time.

Yes, both have always been good

This is interesting too. The " trends" come and go.Now "froggin" is hot. Spinnerbaits are not used as much. Have bass become conditioned to spinnerbaits, or have they just gone out of style? Can they become conditioned to frog baits? Most are fished over heavy thick cover where a bass may not even get a good look at them.Hollow frog baits are not new, having been around for decades.This is simply a popular fad in fishing now.With certain baits, it's a " now or never " strike. I don't really think bass can become conditioned to this type of bait.Maybe on a small pond, if that's all you throw, on big lakes probably not.Fast reaction strikes are different.The fish don't have as much time to look these baits over.

Yes. In 1989 I caught a bass of almost 9lbs.A grape Mann's 6" jelly worm Texas rigged.Its the only fish I ever mounted. When the taxidermest opened this fish, there were 3 2" crawfish in her stomach- 2 were partially decomposed. Also, a 2" piece of plastic worm, no hook or line attached. Even with all this, that fish still ate my plastic worm.But, the big question is why? Was this just the normal feeding habit of this bass. Was she still hungry, or just being an opportunist? Obviously, she had eaten plastic worms before - at least once.But how much time elapsed between this?For all these years, when I look at my old mount I still wonder about this. One of the ultimate questions in bass fishing for sure.I too think the there are some things in nature that condition behavior too.

I used to read a lot of stuff from Doug Hannon. He stated that the one bait that bass can't seem to remember is a plastic worm. Myself, I believe this.Also this has been a good, productive thread, and as I've read through, the thing that keeps coming back to me is location.If your throwing cranks and the bite shuts down, being able to locate a new spot and catch fish, regardless of what lure you use, is the hardest part of bass fishing.Doing this quickly- especially in tournament fishing is what makes a winner. But all of this applies to the weekend fisherman too

I know green pumpkin is a favorite for lots of folks, but it's only been fair for me.Black/blue shades have worked best in worms. Jigs, I've done best with natural craw colors.