bp_fowler

Back at St. Joes at daybreak. Started off at the crescent shaped weed bed that’s been a hot spot for me recently. Caught one on the chatterbait, with another three with a paddletail all of them being about the same size as the fish pictured below. Moving on to the South side of the lake I caught a couple more dinks with the paddle tail and then caught this guy when I switched to the chatterbait again. Recently I made a post in another thread about how I never used straight braid. Well today after I broke off at the leader knot twice on the hookset I gave it a shot and tied to my mainline. Well I landed this guy below which ended up being my best and last fish of the day. Made me a believer alright! Covering water, bank angler style.

I use or have used Mono, Fluoro, Copoly, and Braid to leader. I have never used straight braid on any of my setups. Not that I have anything against it, I’ve just always thought of it as something that you use where the vegetation is super gnarly and the bass are 6+ lbs. Neither of which really describes my situation most of the time. Who knows maybe I’ll give it a try one day.

Last year was my first year seriously bass fishing. I started on March 1 and fished everyday I could, for as long as I could since then. I even fished straight through the winter here in SE Ohio since we never completely iced over. My wife doesn’t mind most of time, so long as the honey-do list is taken care of. Sure, I have other interests but none that I am quite as passionate about. She asked me one time if she were gone would I ever remarry. I told her no I’d sell the house buy a patch of dirt big enough to put a camper on, then use whatever was left to buy a bass boat and a truck to tow it with. After that I would spend the rest of my money/free time fishing.

I-O! Welcome!

Been busy with family stuff the past few weeks. Finally managed to get out to the lake for 2 hours today. It was 71-74 degrees today and muggy from the showers that had just ended. Skies overcast. Wind was from the south at 9 mph with gusts up to 21. I didn’t have time for a complete circuit of the lake today so I just hit the crescent shaped weed bed that had been so good to me last month. Started at the western end of the weed bed since there were active bluegill beds nearby and a deep hole just past the outside edge of the milfoil. Managed two there on the UV Speed Worm and another on the Booyah Blade. The spinner bait fish was smaller but had some gnarly battle scars. Moved on to the opposite end of the weed bed and caught another with the swimming worm. This one had already munched a hapless bluegill. I could hear the tail flapping in the bass’s mouth as I landed it.

This is awesome! Is it possible we may see a 100 bass day from @ol'crickety this year? 🤔 No hyperbole here, I truly think it’s within the realm of possibility.

Seems like you got all your bases covered. One minor quibble would be that I prefer to throw jerkbaits on my spinning rod. Therefore I like having a slightly shorter rod like a 6’8-10”. Makes it a bit easier to work the bait. Sure, upgrading to the MHF spinning rod would be one possible solution, but honestly if the weeds are that thick and the bass are that big I’m probably not using spinning gear to begin with.

Where I fish also has a lot to do with it. There are certain places that I know hold bigger fish. Most of those places I won’t get numbers unless the all the variables line up perfectly. Lately I’ve been on a big bass kick. I have upgraded my quality of fish, catching more 2-3 pounders than ever before but the truly large fish continue to elude me. Some days I just want to catch a bass, any bass. On those days I’ll go to bodies of water where I know I’m pretty much guaranteed to catch a fish, probably multiple fish but they will all be dinks. So I guess that makes me a 5…maybe a 6?

Will Perdue… …and any LMB over 3 lbs is Hakeem Olajuwon. Yeah I used up my daily allotment of reactions on this thread alone.

One little tidbit of advice I received here on BR is to make sure that to keep your line diameter at .010 (approximately 8# for most mono/fc) or less on a spinning reel. I heeded this recommendation and have had way fewer issues since.

I’m a 1 maybe a 1.5 if I bring my baitcaster and OTS bag.

I’m fairly new to cranking but what success I have had in muddy or dirty water has been with chartreuse black/blue back.

I’d like to see it. Yeah it may sting a little more but at least I’ll have a visual confirmation that what I’m doing is working.

I don’t have a boat, but I’ve been a guest on other people’s boats. I’ve seen those guys have a good day fishing the old fashioned way, and I’ve seen them have good day using their electronics. I’ve also seen those same guys get skunked fishing the old fashioned ways and get skunked using their electronics. The fish still get a vote.

Correct.

So I fish a lot of reservoirs, ponds and lakes that have similar conditions to yours. Like you I’ve had success with flukes as well as paddle/boot tails rigged weedless with either a belly weighted hook or an under-spin. There are two other techniques that I use to cover water in and around weeds: One is the floating worm and the other is the swimming worm.

If the water and the skies are clear then they will usually be deeper or in the shade. Remember bass want to conceal themselves as much as possible from their prey and from their predators (you). So anything that would make the bass more visible would generally make them go deeper, hang out in shade provided by vegetation, or otherwise be tight to whatever cover is available. If you have low light due to overcast skies, wind or time of day that will generally make them more comfortable coming shallow. Always remember that regardless of conditions there will be some bass that stay shallow no matter what. They will just be in shade or tighter to cover.

Actual photo of @ol'crickety ‘s arm from hoisting so many Maine linebacker bass. No wonder her wrist hurts.

Yes I’m learning if you want to catch big bass, you have to fish where the big bass live. I know that probably sounds very obvious to most but I never claimed to be a very smart individual 😆 Oh yeah the smiling is proportional to the size of the bass caught!

Made it out to the Clouse Lake Wilderness area this morning as planned. There are two manmade lakes here St Joesph and the titular Clouse which was first up. It’s the smaller of the pair and it is also shallow, dirty, and weedy. But, every time I fish it I see large bass jumping tantalizingly out of range. I gave it a go with both the POP-R and the UV Speed Worm neither could tempt any of the bass to bite. I stayed long enough to see the sunrise and then moved on to St Joseph. After parking at the boat ramp I took a dirt road back to the dam. Along the way a there is a clearing that buts up against the bank. In front of that there is a large crescent shaped weed bed. I decided to start there. It didn’t take long for the swimming worm to do its thing and I caught these three hanging around the milfoil. I walked back to the dirt road and continued making my way back to the lower end. I got sidetracked again when I decided to follow a ravine from the road down to the bank. Casting out around the weed line I caught another one. Resuming my journey and made it finally to the dam however there was nothing going on there. I went over to the corner right before it turns into private property and fished there. I noticed some bald spots in the weeds that ended up being blue gill beds. I casted out past them where I could imagine bass were lurking but the only one I caught hit my worm like it owed them money in about 6 inches of water 3 feet in front of me. Not gonna lie it made me jump. By this time the wind had shifted so I headed back to the upper end but not before I stopped at the crescent shaped weed bed and caught a few more. When I got to the upper end I found a spot among some cattails that was solid enough to stand on. Across a channel from me was a pad field. I casted out towards the edge of those pads and swam my worm back. That would yield another 4 dinks to close out the day.

Unexpectedly got a few hours to fish today so I decided to go to the Gun Club since I hadn’t been there in a while. Blue bird skies, with temps nearing 90 degrees with a light breeze out of the SSW. Unfortunately the pond has started to scum over with thick patches extending from the bank from a few feet out as far as 10-15 yards around the entire perimeter. I was not equipped to handle this with my light tackle but I did the best I could but only managed one on a paddle tail. Tomorrow I will be up early and at a nearby state wildlife area for some pre-dawn fishing. Hopefully I’ll have better luck then.

An Academy is opening up near me and today they had a 20% soft opening sale. I decided to go check it out and promised the wife I wouldn’t spend too much. I resupplied my Senkos and Trick Worms, as well as some UV Speed Worms, and more natural colored Rage Swimmers which I’m itching to try out this week. I’m new to cranking this year and the most recommended here at BR was the KVD 1.5, they have performed as advertised. The chartreuse black/blue have been especially good to me. Also I got a chance to handle a Shimano SLX casting rod in person. It’s one of the several rods I’m considering buying soon to replace my old 7’ MH/F multi purpose BC and I’ll tell you what after today it may have moved up to #1 on my list just based on the looks and feel.

@ol'crickety Yes, it’s t-rigged but weightless, or as some folks call it “Texposed”. It doesn’t float but sinks verrrrrry slooowly. I’m throwing it on 10# braid to an 8# f/c leader, w/ a Gamakatsu 2/0 offset hook. I’d imagine on straight braid or mono it’d sink even slower or faster with a bigger hook. My only caveat is that it seems to do better for me in clearer water, YMMV.

It’s been gangbusters for me so far this spring. Especially shines around shallow vegetation.