(Un)official Hoosiers Thread

[OddChase]

10 hours ago, LxVE Bassin said:

I'm headed to Raccon Lake tomorrow. I know it's last minute but csn someone give me some insight as to what lures work best out gthere there?

I caught a few fish on squarebills and chatterbaits in tree tops that were downed in the river on the north side of the lake. 

[CroakHunter]

Caught 11 Or 12 in an hour and a half. Red squarebill bumping rip rap. Couldn't get anything to bite any kind of plastic. But have me some confidence in a bait I never throw. 

[Cole Richards]

Any of you guys fish a Spybait .  I was up at the Elite Series Event at St. Clair this weekend and all of the Pros had one tied on. Thoughts .... 

[LxVE Bassin]

32 minutes ago, Cole Richards said:

Any of you guys fish a Spybait .  I was up at the Elite Series Event at St. Clair this weekend and all of the Pros had one tied on. Thoughts .... 

I got snagged in the white river and lost mine. I didn't catch any fish on it but I don't get to use it that long either.i was trying to slow roll it but my retrieve was too slow for the fall rate of the lure. I'm curious to know if anyone has had success as well.

[OddChase]

4 hours ago, Cole Richards said:

Spybait

 

4 hours ago, LxVE Bassin said:

 

 

[dsqui]

16 hours ago, LxVE Bassin said:

I got snagged in the white river and lost mine. I didn't catch any fish on it but I don't get to use it that long either.i was trying to slow roll it but my retrieve was too slow for the fall rate of the lure. I'm curious to know if anyone has had success as well.

Impossible to fish these things to slow compared to the rate of fall they are a deep water bait... well meant to be anyways.  Spybaiting is a slow process it is def not a search bait u gotta find the fish suspended in clear water and schooled up then go to work on them.  This is not a power technique at all.  I'll repeat deep clear watwr technique reel in slow and when u think ur going slow slow down some more.  Light line and spinning gear.  I run 5# sniper.  Duo came out with the 90 and gfx  just to sell in us to guys trying to adapt it to power technique not that it won't work but this bait was designed to fish sssssslllllooooooowwwwwwww

[Cole Richards]

5 hours ago, dsqui said:

Impossible to fish these things to slow compared to the rate of fall they are a deep water bait... well meant to be anyways.  Spybaiting is a slow process it is def not a search bait u gotta find the fish suspended in clear water and schooled up then go to work on them.  This is not a power technique at all.  I'll repeat deep clear watwr technique reel in slow and when u think ur going slow slow down some more.  Light line and spinning gear.  I run 5# sniper.  Duo came out with the 90 and gfx  just to sell in us to guys trying to adapt it to power technique not that it won't work but this bait was designed to fish sssssslllllooooooowwwwwwww

Have you had any success in cold water with this bait , or is it primarily used to get suspended fish in a neutral mood to trigger a reaction bite.   I plan on using it in clear water for suspending fish, but I wondered if it would sub for the jerk bait in cold water situations possibly.      

[dsqui]

Yes and no it's really hard to beat the pause of a jerk bait in cold water.  I have had success watching bass in shallow water destroy a school of shad so I threw the spy in middle of shad and let it fall threw them then started to burn it back to me.  Not saying it was the bait I did it mostly because we were out for fun and the light rod made it worth it other then that I would have fished a jerk bait

[BigBassLoveSenkos]

On 8/29/2017 at 7:52 AM, Cole Richards said:

Any of you guys fish a Spybait .  I was up at the Elite Series Event at St. Clair this weekend and all of the Pros had one tied on. Thoughts .... 

 

Ive been using the duo realis gfx 80 and 90 spybaits for a couple years now.  They will definitely work in low-light super clear water when the bite is shut off.  They are actually a really good late summer lure to use.  For me, learning how to fish them was all about timing the bait down to the right depth.  Grass is not your friend with these baits bc you can't really rip them out like a lipless due to the light line you need to use with these.  The gfx 80 is perfect for spinning tack even a ML baitcaster setup with 6 or 8# FC.   The 90 is really good for M baitcasting setups with 10-12# FC.  $.02 

 

I watched some of that St Clair tourney this past weekend from on ESPN and it seemed like everyone was throwing a dropshot.  A couple of the leaders only had 2 rods out on their decks, a dropshot and a shakey head.  There were some beautiful brown bass caught up there last weekend for sure.

[Cole Richards]

They were killing those fish on tubes and dropshots.  When that shut down they would throw the spybait and get followers so they could sight cast to them with a dropshot .  It looked like a great 1-2 combination for sure.  I was also surprised how much cranking they were doing up there. St. Clair is a hawg factory for sure.  

[BigBassLoveSenkos]

5 hours ago, dsqui said:

Yes and no it's really hard to beat the pause of a jerk bait in cold water

 

100% agree with you.  In early March I'll fish a ripbait with a varying pause duration and a long pause of 30 seconds or more, and they will almost always hit it on the long pause.  But on a windy June afternoon, you cant jerk the lure fast enough back to the boat.  Ripbaits are probably my favorite year-round clear water bait.  If the wind is blowing, I'll have one ready.

[BigBassLoveSenkos]

 

 

speaking of ripbaits...

 

 

 

[LxVE Bassin]

I have never fished Geist in this kind of weather. 63 degrees and windy. What do you guys recommend I throw today?

[The Bassman]

Just saw your post so I know it's too late.  I'm just a bank walker but I live for this weather. Caught two threes and a four on lipless yesterday. Cranking gives me more control than contact baits in windy weather. I really can't use divers effectively because of bringing the lure from deep to shallow.

[LxVE Bassin]

8 hours ago, The Bassman said:

Just saw your post so I know it's too late.  I'm just a bank walker but I live for this weather. Caught two threes and a four on lipless yesterday. Cranking gives me more control than contact baits in windy weather. I really can't use divers effectively because of bringing the lure from deep to shallow.

 

No prob, the chatterbait and senko were the money baits for me yesterday. The guy I was with was killing them on t-rigged worms and jigs. Cranks didn't get any hits.

[frosty]

Got out for a few hours today. This is the biggest of the day, got her on a jig. Caught a few more before they stopped hitting the jig, got a couple on my bluegill swimbait, then caught 4-5 more on a chatterbait, all were in the 1 1/2-2 pound range. 

 

[frosty]

Ok guys, what is it? Looks vaguely like a green sunfish from my google search, or kinda like a warmouth, but doesn't really look either one. 

[BigBassLoveSenkos]

@frosty  -  Rock Bass

[The Bassman]

When I'm fishing ned in creeks I catch more rock bass (grew up calling them goggle eyes) than smallmouth. They bring fond memories. They're actually pretty good fighters.

[IndianaFinesse]

Got out fishing yesterday and today, and for some strange reason they seemed to be biting better than before the cold front. No idea why, but I'll take it.  Caught 27 in about four hours yesterday, with five fish measuring over fifteen inches for about 13 pounds.  A whole lot more than has been coming out of this lake recently, the past couple tournaments it only took 7-9 pounds to win.  Caught some of them fishing a main lake shoreline with a shallow crank, some other by skipping docks up river and on mainland points with shaky heads, and the rest offshore on shaky heads, neko rigs, and deep cranks.  Offshore was the best bite of the three, the 14-16 inch size class school had moved up from being suspended off of the structure the other day up onto the breaks in 14 feet of water, a change from nearly uncatchable to very catchable.

 

Almost went out to cataract today, but decided that I didn't want to deal with the labor day madness.  So instead I went to one of my old favorite gravel pits that I learned to bass fish on.  Used to spend a lot of time there.  Ended up catching a total of 46 (plus a very aggressive snapping turtle, I hate catching those things), all fish under fifteen inches but it was still fun.  15 feet of clarity and little vegetation makes for a lot of sight fishing for small schools.  They were all caught on shaky heads and a pointer 78, mostly in 10-25 feet of water around the old ramps.  Took a bit for me to try the pointer, but once I did they ate that thing up like candy, every bass I hooked had a half a dozen more trying to take it out of its mouth.

 

[frosty]

11 hours ago, BigBassLoveSenkos said:

@frosty  -  Rock Bass

 

8 hours ago, The Bassman said:

When I'm fishing ned in creeks I catch more rock bass (grew up calling them goggle eyes) than smallmouth. They bring fond memories. They're actually pretty good fighters.

Thanks guys. I don't know why I didn't think of that? He did put up a pretty good fight, I wouldn't have been mad if I caught a bunch more... of course he was the only one in the creek it seems!

[frosty]

Got out for a couple hours after work this afternoon. Caught 10, all in the 1 1/2-2 pound range. They were loving the chatterbait until about 3, then that bite pretty well shut down, but they would go after it if I dropped it to the bottom and stroked it. 

 

Had a nice conversation with a couple university boys, most of the kids that go here are more your class millennium generation, but these two were looking for places to fish and hunt. 

[BigBassLoveSenkos]

On 9/3/2017 at 11:48 PM, IndianaFinesse said:

Almost went out to cataract today, but decided that I didn't want to deal with the labor day madness

 

With those strong SW winds yesterday, I really wanted to hit Geist or Morse, but felt the same way as @IndianaFinesse.  So my dad and I dropped the nitro into a gravel pit that i found on google maps.  There isn't a ramp there, so had to wing it.  Was definitely a high risk, high reward situation.  We lost count.  They ate everything.  Swim jig with a keitech impact fat was killer.  Must not be any pressure on that pit and before you ask where, I'm not tellin!!  

 

 

 

14 hours ago, frosty said:

Got out for a couple hours after work this afternoon. Caught 10, all in the 1 1/2-2 pound range. They were loving the chatterbait until about 3, then that bite pretty well shut down, but they would go after it if I dropped it to the bottom and stroked it. 

 

Had a nice conversation with a couple university boys, most of the kids that go here are more your class millennium generation, but these two were looking for places to fish and hunt. 

 

how do you fish a chatterbait?  Do you rip it thru grass like a lipless, bounce it, steady retrieve?  I have zero confidence in those mainly bc I don't know how to work the retrieve.  thx

[frosty]

3 hours ago, BigBassLoveSenkos said:

 

how do you fish a chatterbait?  Do you rip it thru grass like a lipless, bounce it, steady retrieve?  I have zero confidence in those mainly bc I don't know how to work the retrieve.  thx

I generally just slow roll it fast enough to feel the thump, but you can vary the speed depending on their mood. You can rip it through grass, I was doing that yesterday and got a couple bites, but I wasn't doing it intentionally  

[IndianaFinesse]

4 hours ago, BigBassLoveSenkos said:

 

With those strong SW winds yesterday, I really wanted to hit Geist or Morse, but felt the same way as @IndianaFinesse.  So my dad and I dropped the nitro into a gravel pit that i found on google maps.  There isn't a ramp there, so had to wing it.  Was definitely a high risk, high reward situation.  We lost count.  They ate everything.  Swim jig with a keitech impact fat was killer.  Must not be any pressure on that pit and before you ask where, I'm not tellin!!  

Man, I wish I could get a boat on the gravel pit we were fishing.  It is so much easier to just put the trolling motor down and fish with all your rods and tackle within arms reach than having to treck it through thick brush to get there and walk/wade around the lake while carrying everything you brang.  Plus I could get offshore in a boat.  I don't know if I would be willing to try and launch a boat without a ramp though, at least not at the gravel pits I've been to.  We once sunk our van well up past the axles nearly to the top of it's wheels in sand (no shovels with us either, just sticks), on a 100+ degree summer day, on the one day we forgot water, but that's another story.

BTW, I'm surprised they weren't eating the jerks there with the wind and clear gravel pit water, I know you love your jerkbaits.