TriStateBassin106

So I lost a jig fish today for the first time... hooked onto a solid 2lber and he shook it right at the bank, the fish hit it on the fall and I tried to set the hook as hard as I could, can anyone give some tips on how to improve hook up ratio with jigs? Should I spread the weedguard out or just pray that the fish doesn't jump lol, anyone struggle with losing fish on jigs?

So at my lake the bluegill are very light in color for some reason, I'm guessing this is because of the low visibility from algae blooms, the other day I caught some of these little guys to get a better look at the color on them, all the same pretty much. Would using bluegill colored lures work in this situation? Do the bass even see the bluegill? Or do they feed on them via lateral line? Should I continue to use darker colors to stand out or try to find colors that look like these bluegill?

J I G S I G S

You don't throw Green pumpkin when it's sunny?

My ponds are loaded with fish in the 14inch range like this one, average fish usually weighs over a 1lb, definitely at least over 200+ fish in the ponds plus any fish fry from the spawn means there's a big supply of baitfish and fresh water fed from creeks.

The title really says it all, This question always intrigued me, so far this year at both my ponds near me I've caught fish in the triple digits of various sizes. these ponds aren't very big. Maybe a bit bigger than 2 acres probably 1 and 1/2 if we want to be conservative, Now both these ponds are Creek fed and have fountains in the middle, there's a big population of baitfish (shiners alewifes bluegill) in there which I'm guessing the bass keep in check. Do the bass breed like crazy in ponds or am I just catching the same fish over and over lol.

2020 isn't showing any mercy to you poor folks down there in the Gulf Coast. Please stay safe Tom!

Awesome thanks do you know what sizes do the Rapala Husky jerks use? I have a three trebel size firetiger pattern I have to replace hooks on aswell because pike kept attacking them this spring lol. Could be a discontinued pattern?

I currently have size 4 on it I use for my squarebills, the ones on it originally were smaller and round bend.

Found it on the ground the other day at my lake, hooks were rusted beyond belief and I temporarily replaced them with some KVD elites, what would be some good hooks to actually replace it with?

Happy ending to this thread, finally caught some fish and managed to use my new scale for once.

When the sun keeps coming in and out of clouds on the water do you guys worry about your colors for soft plastics? This might sound like a stupid question but it's always intrigued me... Let's say I'm fishing a lake with a moderate stain in the water, it's sunny out and I start with a green pumpkin color, next thing you know clouds come over and the sun pops in and out occasionally but remains hidden by the clouds. Would this count as low light conditions? Would I change out to a darker color like black n blue or just keep fishing green pumpkin? I'm sorry if the question is rather confusing but it's always intrigued me.

Last bass I got last Tuesday, bite has been dead since.

We have a big population of golden shiners in a lot of lakes and many people like throwing gold colors or shiner patterns. Some lakes have gizzard shad including Lake Hopatcong but I wouldn't know what patterns to throw in there.

Brutal fishing the last two weeks. Currently on a 3 day skunk streak, taking a break for a couple days to recharge. I fish pressured public park ponds but usually do pretty well, we got heavy rain last tuesday here in NJ and the runoff and nutrients ended up in the ponds and now there's an algae bloom in most of em, air temps are struggling to make 70 degrees right now, been throwing the kitchen sink at em but they won't bite anything including anything finesse. Welcome to club struggle my friend.

Yes, I learned that the bass are the pickiest creatures on this earth and nobody can predict them. Also practiced my pitching game and realized that the bass fishing will eventually pick up soon. They gotta eat eventually.

Thanks for the responses guys. I went out today but still got skunked, guess the fishing is just tough right now, glad I went though!

I want to go but i'm very skeptical based on the conditions, It's beautiful outside right now but my Bassforecast app is saying it's poor, I know you shouldn't put your judgement into what an app says but the fishing has sucked recently and I don't know what to do lol.

When weather or temp instability effects ponds like that do the fish get spooked? Do they suspend? Or just have lockjaw?

Fishing has dramatically gone down hill the past week. We got heavy rain last sunday which raised some of the water levels but since has gone back to normal and the temps are finally in the upper 60s, I fish ponds here in the Northeast United States specifically New Jersey and it's been the same results at all 3 ponds I fish. They won't hit anything, jigs on the bottom are no good, Moving baits no good and the finesse bite has also been brutal. Should I keep trying or just give up for now? What is causing the fish not to bite?

He wasn't my kid lol but I asked him if he was deadsticking the worm and he said he was using it actually for catfish, so I took the advice and deadsticked my jigs and slowly crawl it along the bottom. No bites but I think it's the fact that we got heavy rain and we're in a transition from summer to fall.

New Jersey lol, I got a nice one Wednesday after the rain though, pitched a pitboss into the flooded bushes.

Bite is dead beyond belief, my ponds got raised from heavy rain and I can't get a bite anywhere, kid caught a nice 2lber today on a nightcrawler right infront of me and I was livid, temps have barely reached 70. Water temps are still around the 70 degree mark.

I live in NJ where we have no shad and none of those bluegill colors worked for me this year. besides sexy shad the only color i've gotten bit on is Tennessee shad and Black back chart. I've had luck in it in Stained lakes around here in Jersey, some ponds I fish have that green algae water which is a solid green, chart black back works well in those situations.

This question has lingered in my head since I started throwing around my KVD 1.5s and Rapala DTs in the same color this year, it seems like Sexy shad can imitate almost anything and be used in most conditions, it can give off a flash or solid color at will and the chart stripe does wonders in dirty water or overcast days.. caught many good fish on that color this year alone and if I had to fish with only one color of crankbait forever it would be sexy shad. Do you guys like the Sexy shad color on crankbaits/hard baits?