Bazoo

Nice morning. Sorry to hear about that breakage. I can't say I've ever ran a spinnerbait until it broke. I've lost plenty enough though. I would think that if I was into catching fish with them and not losing them, it'd be a worthy investment to buy some of the old Terminator titanium spinnerbaits.

Howdy and welcome. I'm after the state record for several species, and the world record for smallmouth.

There is a local place that gets like that. It's decent fishing other times of the year, partly because a lot of people discount it.

I was fishing another lake when the game warden came around, and it happened to be the sergeant, so I asked him about it. He suggested that I find out who owns the other properties and ask their permission before putting a boat in. He did say that the water was public. He said indirectly that yes it would be legal, but suggested to ask permission with the owners. He didn't say, but I'd guess he knows he'll be getting calls about it if I don't get permission first. I'm not going to take this as the final word, but for now I am going to ponder on it and keep doing research.

Thank you. I have noticed that I'll sometimes catch 2-3 in short order and then nothing.

I don't fish this lake much. It's always covered with stuff, but it's only 12" deep in it's deeper parts so often, punching through the mat produces nothing. But occasionally I'll hit it, and I've caught some decent ones there in the past. Pocket Frog Saw this but didn't catch it. Lizard for this guy. Not sure about this, hybrid warmouth? Private Lake here, trying out a vintage pack of power worms. Fat Albert on a ball head jig. I've never fished them that way. This is at my heavily pressured local public lake. The worms are working there too. The first 2 are right off the main office in a cove that gets hit a lot, and the first one is on the stump that always gets hit by everyone. All 4 in the same day was not bad at all for this lake along the shore. They like this color. All where split shot. This one is in another cove, that's not as heavily pressured but I'm sure it gets it. 2lb1oz, fat, and a fighter! Ya can't see it, but there was a shad tail barely sticking out of the gullet. This one came off a stump that is in a small creek that runs into the lake. It's about 6 foot wide at this point. Probably pound and a quarter, and was a fighter.

I have read about this technique here, and I tried it the first time the other day. I found a rapala jointed jerkbait a size 9 I think, that had the lip broken off. It had a great action when pulled behind an egg sinker. I promptly lost it due to my inability to judge casting distance due to a prominent bush. I tried several other lures, and lost a small rapala but none of the lures looked right to my eye since they all had lips. I will try again with a Rebel jerkbait that I didn't care for, but have subsequently removed the diving lip. My purpose in this is not necessarily to get the lure to suspending bass, but to be able to cast it farther from shore, and for something different on my local lake which is heavily pressured. I appreciate everyone's contributions to this thread.

The converse side... is my boy who is 4 will catch bass on a texas rigged worm... with no skill. He throws it out hard as he can, rips it back a few times and reels like crazy. He will get one occasionally. But he often misses fish when fishing with worms, they pick the hook and spit it back out. Now... imagine how much skill I have to have in order to catch fish with a partner like that! LOL!

I often have thought, if I can feel so good, the fish can feel and hear back. I bet the sound of a baitcaster locking into gear is heard through the end of the line.

I don't make a true Carolina Rig. I use an egg sinker and a small split shot to keep it up the line. I wrap the line around the body and through the mouth 2-3 times before pinching it. Often times if it snags, it'll run down to the hook anyways. It's not perfect, but I lose a them more than I catch because I am fishing in the white water and boulders around a dam most of the time. Mostly I just started experimenting with it to see how it'd work in the river since someone told me it wasn't a river fishing lure.

I've been learning to Carolina Rig some on the Nolin River. I haven't had stellar success, but some. I've lost a dozen rigs for these 3 fish caught. BPS Hellgramite. Zoom Trick Worm YUM FF Sonar Minnow

The bag I currently us is similar. After giving it some thought, pairing down what I carry, but using the same bag might be the answer.

Thankfully you practice catch and release. Glad it wasn't worse. I've been hooked in the back. How do gators fight? Wild, thanks for sharing!

Glad I don't have issues with my neighbors. I hope you have/build a good relationship with yours.

You're quite blessed that your foam is not water logged. Congrats on the new boat.

I am extremely satisfied with my Bass Pro Pro Qualifier 2 spinning reel. The matching rod is okay in every way except it lakes a foregrip (I'll add some grip wrap there). I'd go BPS Pro Qual reel and a BPS rod.

I have a small tackle bag that will house 2 3600 size boxes and some soft plastics. I stuff it full and have most of what I need for shore fishing, but sometimes I don't want to carry that. I often will take a couple of bags of plastics/hooks/weights, and walk up the shore for a quick trip. Along with 1 or 2 rods. Problem is, I don't have a way to carry a very small amount of stuff like that. I sometimes want to carry 2-3 lures, such as a crankbait, a topwater, maybe a spinnerbait and I'll add a very small pocketable plano box. However, this isn't exactly convenient. I stuff it all in my pockets and make it work, not real well, but it works. What does everyone else use for a small shore travel system?

I've noticed that most of the time when I get snagged up and I am pulling/snapping the line to get free, it seems like I don't have any nibbles/bites for a while until things die down. Also notice that if I fish a spot a while with no results, then fish another spot 15-20 minutes and return to the first spot, immediately after I return and the water is "fresh" is when I get bit.

Thanks all for sharing your techniques. I was given a glide bait, but not having any idea how to fish it, myself and my buddies that have tried it are useless with it. I will have to give it another try with some of the tips I'm picking up.

Thanks for the half spin/pause advice.

Thank you all. This will give me something to go on.

Is there an app or a website that offers structure/feature maps of lakes? I would like a map of Freeman Lake in Elizabethtown Kentucky, but I don't know where to find one. I can get a map of the park and general shoreline at the lake, but I haven't been able to find a topo map of the lake bottom. I ain't the best googler.

Sounds like you're using some serious bassin skills to go along with live bait. I prefer to use artificial bait because of the challenge associated with it. I think that there is less skill involved in using live bait overall, but also different skills that are used too. Catching live bait, and knowing how to keep it alive, as well as being able to hook it properly are skills that I don't have currently. I can hook minnows and worms. I can dig worms... and buy minnows. I supposed I could catch minnows if I really wanted to, but I haven't done so for bait use. I caught some the other day with my kid, but that is pretty variable. I just so happened to be where they were, and made a trap out of a bottle. In wintertime, I'd have no idea where to look for them. Do I think you ain't fishing right? No. If you enjoy the way you do it, go for it. I enjoy fishing a plastic worm, and feeling the nibble. I do fish with real worms occasionally to break things up. I'd love to go out with someone that fished live bream and learn how to do it. Don't suppose you could put together a fishing bream 101 post?

Thanks.

I finally finished reading through this whole thread. I purchased a 55 lb thrust Endura Max trolling motor shortly after tax season. Ain't picked up a battery or registered it yet. But I got the big one out of the way. I still haven't cured the water logged foam, but I've pondered it some more.