softwateronly

Until the water is almost frozen, I do the opposite and set my schedule to be there before dawn if possible. I find big bass chasing in the cool/cold mornings and find it to be the most consistent bite of the year. I figure they have the greatest advantage over their small mass prey. scott

The 2 I'm using and the one I'm about to order; Raid Libero - went big on a bogo sale a couple years ago. Haven't been disappointed. DJ TB mini - Except price and no half ounce, this is my favorite because of the hook. Going to order the Northland Smelt; the half ounce 1/0 is a weight and hook that opens up more deepwater bottom crawling w/ 2-3 swimbaits. scott If you're looking for the thinnest wire hooks; cool baits and great lakes finesse would be my choices. I shore fish smallies near razor sharp mussel covered rocks that I need to lean on a little too much for those hooks.

Not really, but there are some. My water is clear, visibility between 8-12', and the end of my pier and boat lift sits in 11 feet. I look all the time. There are some bluegill hanging out there right now by the structure, but they're not grouped up consistently. 10-25' is my better water, but it might just be my lake or me because that's almost always my best water depths to target. If the water is calm, the days pleasant, and the nights cold, the shallows have the most volatile water temp fluctuations. Think early morning mist coming off the lake. My guess is they mostly prefer the more stable temps of deeper water or at least deeper water access during the changing seasons. That sounds like a good idea to me, but also check the open water adjacent. All those red circles for me were areas I never thought catchable bass lived. I've now learned differently. scott

MI changed to C&R only till late April about 10 years ago thanks to Van Dam and others lobbying. I hope MN will follow at some point because it's a game changer for law abiding conscientious bass anglers. scott

I get it. I fish a small weedy lake that ices over every year. Now that I've gotten better, spent more time, and "lived" on one body of water for 15 years I've learned that cold water bass fishing is my best time for big fish. Bass don't stop eating in 40 degree water, they can't metabolically afford to hibernate from november to april. This is my second favorite time to fish. That said, if everything I said about pelagic fish doesn't apply, the simple answer is for the OP to find the juvenile sunfish. Come ice out, I routinely find and catch healthy chunky LM that have thrived over the course of the winter. Since both prey and predator are cold blooded, the larger mass of the predator offers a metabolic hunting advantage, and that is most pronounced in their pursuit of tiny baitfish / yearling bream. Bass will eat and big bass need to eat more frequently and/or larger meals than smaller bass. Maybe give it another shot? scott

What do your walleye, sunfish and crappie eat? A schooling pelagic fish? If so, this might apply. scott

@August do you have gizzard shad? emerald shiners? I fish a cold area, natural lake with gizzard shad, and my bass relate to bait heavily this time year. I'm finding that the bait still migrates daily, nighttime seems to be spent in the cover of the weeds, then a move to more open water. My only consistent spots are the choke points between these two types of areas and they are most productive for the first few hours of daybreak and the last hour and a half of daylight. Mid day, I do more searching of the large 20-30' deep flats, hoping for birds or fish busting to clue me in. I'm not working with anything other than a flasher, so I rarely if ever mark fish, just bottom comp and depth. On these maps, I'm marking in yellow where I find bass ambushing shad at daybreak and nightfall and the red areas are where I'm finding shad eaters the further from night it is. The darker it is, the more time I spend throwing shallow. Now this doesn't hold true all the time, but it's a starting point for the shad eaters mid july till ice. Now that we're post turnover, mid column to bottom bouncing is my best depth range, though I still have no confidence fishing deeper than 30' down in a 55' deep lake. One other nugget gleaned, is I do better fishing the direction that the shad are migrating, meaning I sit in deeper water in the am and cast toward the nighttime haunts. Flip it at the end of the day. As the water gets into the 40's, I feel like some of the bass make a home at the "shallow" edges of the red or the deep portion of the yellow and don't travel as much. I agree with @TnRiver46 that a small underspin is a great choice. Heavy compact spinnerbaits, deep diving jerkbaits, deep cranks, A-rigs, and metal jigs do most of the damage for me. scott ps - side note; bass are probably always corralling bait in some ways in depths I can't see, but this is the time of year when a school of bass can pin bait dirt shallow and just go on a frenzy, some of the best fishing I've ever experienced. I always watch for signs, hoping

@WRB Megabass "borrowed" a version of this idea a few years ago, been a great bait for me.... scott

@FryDog62 I know this is old, but my man, this is a great recommendation. This time of year I have shad chasers on these large 20-25' flats that don't want a hopped bait, and this is a perfect antidote. I'm not in love with the dual trebles, but with some babying I only lost one dink at the boat that was my fault. Have you found a better setup? Single hook? short assist hook? scott

You seem to have everything covered. Maybe a longer bc rod; ie EMTF or Braillist, if you stay in the MB lineup, though I've never tried them. I fish braid to leader and would probably lean toward the EMTF, traps, blade baits, finesse jigs, free rigs, spoons, etc. scott

I'm not fishing with ffs, and have done really well with it this last year for both SM and LM. It's given me something slower to fish above them when they aren't willing to go down to the bottom. But, it's also deadly when bottom strolling too. Playing with weights and baits is a game unto itself, the smallest changes influence the action tremendously. Raid fish rollers, 4" and 6.5" and owner rangeroller jigheads are my most consistent but every combo I've tried, and I've tried dozens, has its pluses. I fish them on baitcasting, ML, M, and MH and reel set them. A snap or loop knot unlocks extra roll. Scroungers are good thing to have available if they're really active and chasing. scott

Works for me. A few times I've been able to get multiple fish from a school/wolf pack, but more often than not, I'm getting solo bigger girls. This was yesterday morning after 3 days of cold and rain. scott

@bulldog1935 put me on roro x27 spool and palm side bearings for my bfs rig and with pe#1 it casts everything it's supposed to with great distance and is rated all the way to 20g. Perfect for small spoons, hair jigs, t-rigs, free rigs, jigs, twitch baits, and jighead minnow presentations. In theory I can swap back to the standard spool, but in practice from 1.5g to topping out at 20g lets me leave it in full time. scott

I was with you till last november. Hopping blade baits was the bite I was on, and mixing in a loud and larger lv500 on the good days seemed to get the biggest fish. Other than that, I haven't found it to be all that worth the price premium. scott

There could be an assembled in Japan printed on the bottom near the feet. There are no material differences between the two that I'm aware of, just the possibility of a more thoughtful assembly by a Japanese tech. There is a bigger difference between the 22 and 18 model though. I have and love both, but the 22 does cast better with the slightly elongated frame. you can see the print in these pics... https://www.ebay.com/itm/155914572499?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1QfDh4k4EQOmwSyfpanhDbg27&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=155914572499&targetid=2299003535955&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9217253&poi=&campaignid=21214315381&mkgroupid=161363866036&rlsatarget=pla-2299003535955&abcId=9407526&merchantid=6296724&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw9eO3BhBNEiwAoc0-jWm4kHEwS3pcoo-WZ5XBjvtEvm-DdZP2mnHDLbEve4rfLZcHiPTEDBoCBaAQAvD_BwE scott

I think there are 3 models, 2016, 2018, and 2024. The 2016 had more reported breakage from what I remember and leaned toward jdm lengths and actions. The 2018 models are what I own. Their issues have to do with the finish and are strictly aesthetic. I have the 6'11M+, 7'3MH, 7'2H, and 7'6XH all bought used. My 6'11 and 7'2 have a coating on the blank that has bubbled and eventually popped and flaked off. This was not a pleasant look but affected the rod in no way that I could tell. I'm not the only one that had this issue. Eventually, I worked all the flaking off completely and the rod looks decent again, not as clean as brand new, but good enough. I throw a lot of bottom contact with the 6'11 and 7'2 and think you should expand your free rig search to include the 6'11M+. My favorite of the 4 I own by far and all are well worth $250 in my opinion. scott

Wishing you the best! I hope your treatment is successful and you're able to find the right balance of rest, recovery, and enjoyment. scott

small inland lakes in MI; april may november october june july august march september december *january *february * usually has a lid on it. scott

He was one of the first to take scoping out into the abyss for giant largemouth. Came from the crappie scene. You can be assured that all his content will have him expertly using ffs and be boring as heck to watch, but his success is undeniable. scott

Yeah, very true. 8 hours later I have a $300 list I need to whittle down to under $150. The monkey is my friend. The monkey is a fiend. scott

@HawkeyeSmallie This is my first year with this rod, but it has quickly become my favorite bottom contact rod 1/4-5/8oz, around $245 but costly shipping from japan. Was worried about the 6'6 length originally but absolutely love it for working cover. https://www.plat.co.jp/shop/catalog/product_info/language/en/products_id/74032/cPath/38_4055_170_7555/rod/majorcraft-days-360-d360c-66mh-shipping-is-required.html My other favorite jig rods are Diawa Steez 7'2H power pitch, 1/2-1oz, and poison adrena 6'11M+. All of these feel more sensitive than a conquest, but that's not an nrx and i've never held one. scott

Seasons put baits on sabbatical for me. Slow meandering glides and blade baits don't do much for me in water above 60. 7-8" flutter spoons and large preacher jigs haven't produced for me in cold water yet, but I think they're gonna get another shot this winter/spring. scott

@Bass Rutten they added a 746cb all graphite rod earlier this year. I wish it was 7'6, but that's here nor there. https://dobynsrods.com/product/dc-746cb/ @Huckfinn38 I definitely like the 706cb for spinnerbaits, never really throw chatterbaits on it, I'm usually ripping them from grass and like a faster rod. I also have thrown a gantarel and crank down swimbaits with it. It's my favorite larger underspin rod too. It's been out of rotation this year and needs a reel now, but I can't let it go just yet. I think the longer version is the rod I'd always have rigged, my issue with the 706cb is that my casting distance has always been slightly underwhelming and my lake seems to like covering large flats/breaks with treble hook baits. scott

I agree, been trying to find a replacement for that 3/8oz, long dropper arm, and a good 2/0 medium wire hook. I buy them when on sale and it still hurts, but they catch. I can't find a quality replacement yet, but I'm open to suggestions. The liberos come in a 2 pack with the swimmers and I've yet to need to replace the plastics, I only lose the whole thing to Northerns biting me off. scott

I'm a fan of the Raid Libero and Dirty Jigs TB mini underspin. Not an underspin, but MB Okashira head is also a winner, though a 1/4oz option is sorely needed. MB 3" spark shad, gambler tz and lil ez, and 2.8 keitech are my mainstays though I have loads of new options that I'm still trying out. scott