JLindsey

I spent a few hours yesterday working shallow cover with nothing to show for it except a few chain pickerel. I made one last cast along the edge of the lily pads when it got too dark to see my line and just about got my arm ripped off. I didn’t have my scale with me but she felt like she was pushing five pounds.

Caught a new PB yesterday - 3lbs 10oz. Took me two hours standing in the rain just to find the one fish, but I haven’t been catching much besides dinks and pickerel lately so I was over the moon when I landed her. I was hopping a little black and blue ZMan micro finesse jig with a TRD CrawZ trailer through the pads.

She’s no giant, but still my biggest of the year so far. 3lbs 3oz Happy Easter!

Cuz they don’t make a cool WHIZZZZZZ noise, duh

On a few of the lakes and ponds I fish, I’m limited to one or two spots. I work those areas with two, three, four lures, catch what I can catch, then pack up the car and head to the next body of water. I’m there no more than an hour and a half. On lakes where accessibility is less of an issue and I can walk the bank, I carry two rods - one with a moving bait, one with a more stationary bait. I find a fishy-looking spot, fan cast, move and repeat.

This is certainly my most interesting catch lately. He’s not hooked - just hitched a ride on my stick bait. These little guys are all over the lakes and ponds near me. Google tells me they’re probably red spotted newts.

The trout guys in my area don’t get it at all. They hear the word “bass” and tilt their head like a puppy dog. Might as well tell them you’re trying to catch leprechauns.

Hit a new-to-me pond today that’s more than a little out of my way, but I found decent incentive to go back real soon.

Breaking off doesn’t trouble me so much. What bugs me is seeing nightcrawler cartons and dead minnows all over the bank.

I had a great day yesterday throwing Fat Impacts in the Bluegill Flash color on a 1/8oz VMC swimbait head. I’ll try ‘em weightless next!

Thanks guys, I’ll definitely check the guides for cracks. Normally I fish a lipless on 10lb braid, but I got lazy today and didn’t feel like taking a third combo out with me. Lesson learned.

After only ever using spinning gear, I finally bought a baitcaster. I spent a few days getting comfortable with it, and finally fished it today. In 45 minutes or so I caught two small bass and a good sized chain pickerel burning a Keitech just under the surface. I learned a LOT today and I’m feeling very accomplished.

Twice today my line snapped while casting a 1/4 oz lipless crankbait. I was using a 6’6” M/F spinning rod spooled with 6lb fluorocarbon. I tied the crankbaits on with a palomar. What gives? Is that line too light? I throw plenty of other 1/4oz lures on this outfit with no issue, it’s only lipless cranks that have me making these 100 yard casts. It was windy today - maybe my line is wrapping around my rod tip and I’m not noticing? This happened a few times last year as well, again, only with lipless crankbaits.

The bait monkey is out for blood. I bought my first baitcasting outfit the other day (a MH/F Lew’s Mach I Speed Spool combo), spooled it with 14lb mono, and took it out and got comfortable with it. Being able to cast it without backlashing got me real excited and eager to try some more new stuff out. I went back to Dick’s after I got done fishing last night and bought an Abu Garcia Vengeance paired with an Abu Ultra Max, which I spooled with 40lb PowerPro. Now I need some new stuff to throw on these, don’t I? I picked some stuff up in Dick’s and hit Walmart on the way home. Keitech 3.8” Swing Impact FAT in bluegill flash 2 packs each of VMC Swimbait Heads in 1/4 and 1/8oz 2 bargain bin Yo-Zuri 95F Minnow jerkbaits 4 cheapo Jawbone spinnerbaits a mess of clearance Cotton Cordell Spots and Bill Lewis Rat-L-Traps in various colors and sizes a handful of 3” Creme Spoiler Shad prerigged swimbaits in various colors Then there’s the Tackle Warehouse order I placed - a Berkley Big Game lip gripper/scale for handling toothy critters, a mess of Rapala X-Raps and floaters, some Rebel Pop-Rs, some Beast Coast swimbaits, a Berkley Choppo, and some Plano boxes. I’ve been doing a lot of crappie fishing lately too, and I feel silly using the 4’6” Shakespeare rod I keep in the car, so I also bought a 6’ Quantum Xtralite combo and a mess of small jigheads, grubs, tubes and tiny Creme swimbaits. Can you tell I’m REAL excited this season?

Northeast PA guy here! I’m up in the Poconos. Welcome!

I’m a fairly new angler, so the list of techniques I have tried is probably shorter than the list of stuff I haven’t. I just bought my first baitcasting outfit yesterday and now I’ve got a whole new world of stuff to explore this year. I’m probably most excited to try out frogging, working a jig around timber, and throwing big swimbaits.

For what it’s worth, you’re not alone. On larger lakes, I want to cover water and I get frustrated trying to work a jerkbait slow enough for those cold water bass. On ponds, there’s often slop on top and hydrilla on the bottom, and my jerkbait gets fouled up on every single cast. It’s maddening. I’ve caught some decent fish on the cold water lures I’ve come to rely on (spoons and blade baits), but I’ve really had to work for them. The jerkbait guys make it look like a walk in the park. Learning to fish them effectively is definitely on my to-do list.

Do what I do! Pick a style of lure you hardly ever throw (say, crankbaits for instance) and go out and buy a ton of them. Then put them all in a box, and never fish them.

I catch plenty of bass on small lures, and not just dinks either. I throw 1/8oz KastMaster spoons, small inline spinners and 3” grubs on a medium spinning rod with 6lb fluoro. If big bass and monster pickerel aren’t “supposed” to eat small lures, then it sure seems like nobody told them about it.

I’m absolutely garbage at fishing soft plastics. I have a really hard time maintaining contact with them. One of my goals this year is to force myself to fish more T-rigged worms and start developing a “feel” for them.

There are a few lakes stocked with rainbow trout near me, so I keep an ultralight combo spooled with 4lb mono and a box with some small spinners, spoons and panfish jigs in the trunk of my car at all times. This guarantees that I won’t catch any trout, but I WILL catch the biggest chain pickerel in the lake.

I got a wild hair up my caboose in Walmart this afternoon and decided I’d get set up for some trout fishing. 2x Thomas Buoyant spoons, 1/4oz 2x Thomas Eel spoons, 1/8oz 2x Blue Fox Vibrax, #0 10x Blue Fox Flash, #1 2x Mepps Comet Minnow, #1 2x Mepps Aglia, #1 dressed 3x Panther Martin, 1/8oz 2x Rooster Tail, 1/8oz 8x Acme Kastmaster, 1/8oz 4x Strike King Bitsy Minnow, 1/8oz 20x Johnson Beetle Bou, 1/16oz 6x Johnson Beetle Spin, 1/4oz 3x Berkley Atomic Teasers, 1/32oz 3x Berkley Atomic Tubes, 1/32oz 2x Rebel Crickhopper 1x Rebel Tracdown, 1/8 oz 36x Trout Magnet E-Z Trout Floats Also picked up an extra pair of split ring pliers, some terminal tackle and a couple small Plano boxes. So, uh...I guess now I should try to find a trout stream, huh? ??‍♂️

Seconded. I just bought a Spiderwire bag yesterday (the kind with only one shoulder strap) and I’m very impressed with it. It’s got dedicated pouches for pliers and sunglasses, which I like a lot since those are the two things I reach for the most. I’m a big (read: wide) fella, and the strap extends far enough to fit me very comfortably. It was $35 at Dick’s, but I would’ve gladly paid twice that. Heck, I might buy another one just to travel with.

Caught my first walleye today! One 17” and one 18”. They’re good fighters; I’m excited to get back down to the Delaware and catch some more.

It’s been awful slow here, but I finally, FINALLY figured out these cold water bass. On Wednesday I caught the fella pictured here and I was absolutely over the moon. I’ve only been bass fishing for a few months, so to me any fish above two pounds is something to write home about. I couldn’t wait to catch a few more. On Thursday, family obligations and a cold snap both meant I couldn’t hit the water. But Friday I went back out to the lake, VERY excited...aaaaand the lake was frozen over. Heck and darn.