Sphynx

I generally run on the same idea that most creatures will not predate often on anything that requires more energy to catch and digest than it will provide in return, either nymphs of aquatic insects are a great deal higher in calories than I had thought, or else they have found a way to make a "popcorn bucket" out of them and dredge up a bunch of them very rapidly, it certainly has provided some introspection on my approach to fishing

It might be helpful if you grab some bait holder hooks and a pack of nightcrawlers and hit the bluegill, they are about the easiest thing ever to catch, will help you learn what a bite feels like, and there's usually no shortage of them in a given body of water they are present in, it may not be a bass, but for some parts of this sport fishing is fishing, regardless of the target species...crappie are another good one to target if your local waters are tough to find bass in. Lots of good advice here, as to the whole not casting to the middle of the pond thing I usually agree, but if you are in a slow period and want a bit of an educational break from trying to locate fish rig up something weedless, like a Texas rig, and slowly work it back, see if you can begin to tell the difference in the bottom composition between you and your lure, definitely helpful to be able to use that knowledge when beating a bank to figure out what/when/where to throw a lure.

I learned that smallmouth bass will take a size 16 nymph imitation up to probably 2 or so pounds and that pike will too, this seriously blew my mind as I never figured a fish that size would waste its time feeding on anything that small.

Catching fish and getting kids involved in fishing ...sounds like a great plan to me

I fish leaderless as far as line to line is concerned, in most situations, having spent the last several weeks fishing in MN I have been using a steel leader because they got mean fish with teeth here in the great white north, and I don't like losing lures if it can be helped, I catch fish either way, and I can't say that I'd go back to messing around with leaders for any reason related to actually catching fish, but I will probably start using them again when I finally use up this spool of power pro and grab some of the nice Seaguar line as a way to increase the amount of time between having to replace line that spendy...usually I use about half (75 yards or so) a spool, which is tied to a mono backing and then use either a fluorocarbon or mono leader depending on what I'm fishing, mono is almost always my preference since it is much less expensive to replace.

Send me a link mate, I'll take a look

I do remember that my buddy Kyle who taught me how to fish for bass used to have a couple that had come down his family line, one was if the cattle are lying in the pasture we would not go fishing, he was dead serious about that, which being stationed in Texas was a bit of a problem seeing as it's the cattle capital of existence, the other had to do with a whippoorwill, something about its call being lucky I believe, those birds didn't live in Texas so it was not something I paid much attention to

I don't really consider one superior to the other, each has a place in my tackle box, and each catch fish when the conditions are right, in short, keep both on hand, never know when something as simple as using a fluke over a senko, or a senko over a fluke will turn on a school to bite...and a bag of soft plastics isn't really that expensive...one thing I will say that I like about a senko as opposed to a fluke is that I've never seen a senko get deformed by the shipping method the way fluke tails can, so they are less work, but a fluke is kind of the poor mans swim bait or jerkbait in my system, and it sure can be a lot of fun when that's what the fish want.

Many panfish in MN were spawning as late as a couple of weeks ago, not sure what they are doing elsewhere.

Pretty fish, if you are concerned about that trout it couldn't hurt to let the DNR in your area know about it and offer to make that part of your video available to them.

6th Sense Divine Hybrid

Had a 1-2lb smallmouth take that same fly the pike did this morning, he broke me off with some airborne acrobatics, but boy was he fighting hard and absolutely gorgeous...by God I'm going to land one of those things soon

I have a superstitious belief, a dry line is bad luck... Seriously though, I do wear my fishing shirt/hat/sunshield as appropriate for the weather, but that's why I bought them, so I'm not sure it counts.

So, haven't got a picture because I had no way to land him, but I took my 9ft 5wt fly rod out this morning chasing bluegill, have a 6x leader with a size 16 psycho prince nymph tied on, feel a little pluck, set the hook, and 5 minutes later I'm staring a very angry 2lb or so pike/muskie in the face, 6x wasn't nearly enough to land him on, and I couldn't gill him because he wouldn't sit still, had to get him with the ketchum tool, boy that sure was fun, I'm going to have to say I'm checking off one of my bucket list fish in exciting fashion...this gear is definitely not made for that lol

Went out again today, very stubborn fish, threw everything I had at them, and managed one little bluegill on a ned rig and a 2-3 lb largie on a jig, they weren't having any part of anything else, T rigs, square bills lipless, chatterbait, spinnerbaits, nothing at all was working, going to take the fly rod out again tomorrow morning.

I have very little problem giving out my "secrets" at a dock, chances are pretty good that I won't be fishing that body of water again for a long time if ever, and it doesn't hurt me a bit, I also don't believe in the idea that there is a single lure that is productive 24/7/365 on any given body of water...every time I go out the conditions are different and so is whatever I'll be throwing, so I don't really mind helping others when I can, what goes around as they say

Yes she does, we don't get to go together often due to work, and the fact that she absolutely is not a morning person, I doubt there is any force on earth that could make her get up to be out on the water at first light, but we do the evening bite thing, she prefers going after trout, and I haven't gotten her into a baitcaster yet, but we'll get there

Revenge trip this morning using fly gear going for bluegill, and I think I just won bass fishing lol

With the recent high temperatures it is very possible that the fish simply aren't eating, I don't think that bass communicate the way people do, it is also possible that whatever presentations you were using were not what they wanted assuming they were feeding at all, I typically find that when it is disgusting hot out like southern summer gets, very early morning and just at sunset are the most productive times, what were you fishing with?

Well, heard good things about fishing the Clearwater river below the dam up to the point where it joins the Mississippi river, had a nice hump getting down there, rivers were both real, real low, and very hot. Took a tumble and lost a shoe temporarily in the muck, so I said the heck with it and waded a big, managed one mammoth bite, no clue what it was but it absolutely demolished my big t-rigged worm, other than that I didn't catch a thing other than some mud and sand in my shoes and some hotspots, going to head down tomorrow morning again and take the fly gear and try to target some bluegill or crappie, not thinking that water is holding any bigger fish,just not deep enough and way too warm

I keep hearing about steel leaders, that an actual thing? If so is there a particular gauge of wire I'm looking for? These toothy monsters are messing with my head lol, while I'm on the topic, have you noticed steel/metal leaders to be a hindrance with bass at all?

Ok, being a bank guy I opted for the shallower diving version, slightly smaller, you swapping hooks out at all? I'm almost wondering if a similar strategy to how some guys swap out crank hooks for stout short ones would let me be a bit more effective on a 7' MHF rod...also assuming doing up a leader would probably be best, running 30lb braid on it at present

Depends on who's asking, if your reading this honey, I don't buy any jigs, because we agreed I have enough...lol On a serious note I prefer to pick them up in bulk if possible, on sale from TW or whoever has a great deal on them, I am fishing some sort of jig almost all day whenever I'm out fishing, excepting the early morning and the late evening...I go through enough that it's worth my time to keep some on hand.

Being bank bound I often have very few spots open to me, so I have adopted a method of starting small and getting more in depth as needed. I usually start by varying my retrieve, faster, slower, hop, fall, anything I haven't tried yet, after that I will try a new location if one is available, after that I will change baits, usually I start off going big, just because everyone else seems to immediately go finesse, then I go small, if I still can't get bit I start doing dumb things just so I don't get that "If only I had" feeling later on, topwater in clear water with no cover to be seen on a hot calm sunny day, or a spinnerbait that same day etc, sometimes it makes no sense, but it's definitely caught me fish

Learn something new every day, thanks for the tip!