Big Fish on Light tackle, little baits

[J Francho]

4 hours ago, TOXIC said:

The only braid I use on a Senko is in Michigan dragging a Wong rig with no leader.

FYI:

 

[Tennessee Boy]

Very interesting thread.  

 

I’m having a hard time imagining hooking a 6lb bass in heavy vegetation.  The bass gets wrapped up in the vegetation without breaking the line then I go in and net the immobilized fish.  Sounds very challenging to me.  Am I missing something?   

[JLindsey]

There are a few lakes stocked with rainbow trout near me, so I keep an ultralight combo spooled with 4lb mono and a box with some small spinners, spoons and panfish jigs in the trunk of my car at all times. This guarantees that I won’t catch any trout, but I WILL catch the biggest chain pickerel in the lake. 

[Brad Reid]

9 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Very interesting thread.  

 

I’m having a hard time imagining hooking a 6lb bass in heavy vegetation.  The bass gets wrapped up in the vegetation without breaking the line then I go in and net the immobilized fish.  Sounds very challenging to me.  Am I missing something?   

Well, a 6 pounder that hits the veggies is going to be a challenge. What I do if they get wrapped up in pad stems is sort of reel my line in and I have grabbed some nice fish right out of the lily pads after plucking a few. I must say that it is the biggest obstacle to using light lines and small baits. We have large bowfin on my home lake and when they grab one of my standard bass presentations, 8 lbs. leaders, they take off and go straight down into vegetation/pads and rather quickly break me off. Bass, less so, but still and issue to deal with.

 

Brad

[Allen Der]

we use 8lb mono for wacky senkos around lily pads all the time.  mostly on the edge or in pockets

[Tennessee Boy]

Over the years,  I've slowly moved to heavier and heavier tackle.  In the spring, I fish trickworms on 16lb Sunline Super Natural (0.013 D) on Shimano 4000 spinning reels.  I throw into all kinds of heavy vegetation.  Been fishing that way for years.  This thread has given me the courage to lighten up a little this year.  I may try 14lb or maybe even 12lb test....maybe.  

 

6 lb test?  I don't see that happening. People will talk about you if they find out your fishing 6lb test on Kentucky Lake. ?

[standman]

Still cold in Chicagoland, so fishing is definitely a challenge.  My go to in this situation is an UL Whoopin’ Stick with 1000 Sienna, 10lb braid, and a crappie jig under a bobber.   Haven’t caught anything of size this year - yet, but I’m catching dink BASS all day long.  My 16yo nephew (eats/sleeps fishing) just caught a 5+lb on a 1.5”  Marabou jig.  

 

[JustJames]

I used to fish a lot lighter line, I’m talking #4 - #8 copolymer line, even caught a 20+lbs carp with #4 Izorline on Calcutta 50. Over the years I gradually go up in line diameter 6 - 15lb line since bass is not so line shy and to avoid line break off on hookset. 

I do sometime caught bass on my panfish setup #4 Izorline.

it was fun but I wouldn’t target bass using this rig. 

[Brad Reid]

Oh gosh! I went out last evening around 5:30 and was casting a #2 Mepps on my finesse gear, randomly picking up beautiful crappie all over my cove. Well, the downside to tiny treble hooks is, whew!, a big bass can spit one out rather easily on an acrobatic jump. 50/50? I have had it happen twice in the past 3 days. 

 

The one last night? I was handling her so well, my Soare rod was really working her in, what a rod, but then she jumped about 20 feet away from my canoe. I got to see this LMB up close and personal: huge, long and chunky. It is always hard to say how big . . . but it'd have easily been my biggest bass of this year. Oh well. I cried, tears shed, then got over it. I always do.

 

Some pics of some crappie that made it all worthwhile!

 

Brad

 

 

[Koz]

I love to grab a baitcaster and power fish but the fishing has been slow so far this year. Normally by this time of year we've had a few weeks of warm weather and this fishing is great, but this year the temps have been up and down. I had about 90 minutes to fish after work today so I forced myself to put the baitcaster and power fishing aside for once.

 

Instead I grabbed a spinning reel and a medium rod and tied on a beetle spin, but the weather was not cooperative as there was a constant 15-18 mph wind even late in the day. But on the third or 4th cast I caught a one pounder and within an hour I caught 4 more from the bank.

 

No giants today as the heaviest weighed only 3.7 pounds. But about that - she was long but skinny. When I saw the size of it as I was bringing it in I thought it was a 5 pounder. In that same lagoon a few weeks ago I had the same thing happen when by length I thought I had a 7-8 pounder but it weighed in at just under 6.

 

My guess is with the water warming and cooling the water hasn't stayed warm enough for them to go into pre-spawn feeding mode yet. Hopefully that happens soon. But I'm definitely heading out tomorrow to toss some more beetle spins and probably some small spinnerbaits as well. Maybe I'll finally give a shaky head a try as well. I've got all day to fish and I'll be there as long as my knees hold out.

[Brad Reid]

Just to keep the thread alive, I was out last late afternoon and ended up with 3 gills (bluegill and redbreast), 3 crappie and a single 3 lbs. 7 oz. LMB all using the same thing I have been fishing for a week or so. A long ultralight rod for long casts to cover water with a #2 plain Mepps silver Aglia, 2# Sufix Nanobraid.

 

The bass WAS a challenge but more so for the ultralight rod than the 2# line. My neighbor, Joe, was in a boat next to my canoe as we were wrapping up the evening of fishing and he weighed the bass for me. One of the gills was closing in on one pound but I didn't weigh it. The crappie were all nice legal keepers but I released everything.

 

One side benefit of using light tackle? If you like catching multiple species, it definitely increases your chances. I had a "3 species" outcome!

 

Some pics.   Brad

 

 

[JustJames]

If I know how to find bullgill and crappies that would be fun. I have not touch my crappies rig for months, even I promised myself to do more crappies fishing.

[The Bassman]

2 hours ago, Brad Reid said:

Just to keep the thread alive, I was out last late afternoon and ended up with 3 gills (bluegill and redbreast), 3 crappie and a single 3 lbs. 7 oz. LMB all using the same thing I have been fishing for a week or so. A long ultralight rod for long casts to cover water with a #2 plain Mepps silver Aglia, 2# Sufix Nanobraid.

 

The bass WAS a challenge but more so for the ultralight rod than the 2# line. My neighbor, Joe, was in a boat next to my canoe as we were wrapping up the evening of fishing and he weighed the bass for me. One of the gills was closing in on one pound but I didn't weigh it. The crappie were all nice legal keepers but I released everything.

 

One side benefit of using light tackle? If you like catching multiple species, it definitely increases your chances. I had a "3 species" outcome!

 

Some pics.   Brad

 

 

Really didn't know much beyond Mepps spinners and Rapalas when I was a teenager wading creeks. I need to revisit that.

[Brad Reid]

The small inline spinners like Mepps, some others? I think they do a really good job of emulating smaller shad. And, for whatever reason, in terms of the variety of fish attracted to them, few are better.

 

Would it be my first choice to catch panfish or bass and so on? Likely not, but it is the "Jack of all trades, master of none" sort of lure. I think that is how I have it dialed in.

 

I haven't done it yet, but on my next order I want to go up to either 4 or 6 lbs. Sufix Nanobraid just to give me a bit more margin for error if I get a really big girl on. However, I still haven't had anything bust my line. So, insurance, I suppose!

 

Brad

[MIbassyaker]

3 hours ago, Brad Reid said:

The small inline spinners like Mepps, some others? I think they do a really good job of emulating smaller shad. And, for whatever reason, in terms of the variety of fish attracted to them, few are better.

 

Would it be my first choice to catch panfish or bass and so on? Likely not, but it is the "Jack of all trades, master of none" sort of lure. I think that is how I have it dialed in.

 

I haven't done it yet, but on my next order I want to go up to either 4 or 6 lbs. Sufix Nanobraid just to give me a bit more margin for error if I get a really big girl on. However, I still haven't had anything bust my line. So, insurance, I suppose!

 

Brad

 

I am of the same mind with in-line spinners.

 

I have mostly Mepps, but there's Blue Fox, Panther Martin, Rooster Tail and some others. They mimic...well, anything that is small and on-the-move, either reflective or noisy or both. Not much shad up here, but we have shiners, chub minnows, silversides minnows, and many other small, flashy baitfish. Also, larger waterbugs which zoom around noisily, not unlike a vibrating blade.

 

As all-purpose, multi-species skunk repellent -- especially in rivers, streams, and ponds-- there is possibly nothing better than an in-line spinner, with a 3" curly-tail grub it's chief rival.

 

But that's also the in-line's curse: anything and everything will try to eat it. So it's not very efficient to target bass with them, unless you are fishing where other species aren't.  Growing up, my dad and brothers and I caught everything but bass with them: pike, walleye, sauger, crappie, bluegill, multiple species of sunfish, drum, and some other oddballs I'm not sure we ever identified.

 

 

[Brad Reid]

MIbassyaker makes a very good point: catching 3 gills, 3 crappie  . . . and just one LMB is fun but not always desirable.

 

If we downsize to these inline spinners and others, there is little doubt other species are going to bite them.

 

Same thing here on the 3" curly-tail grubs! It'd be right there with inline spinners and bass just love them. Two years ago, I was tandem fishing from my canoe with my high school aged neighbor, and he was throwing a frog into the pads, doing well, and I was tossing one of these grubs in the open channel we were sitting . . . and getting bit on every cast!

 

One issue is I think I was using Yamamoto tiny curly tails and blue gills can nip the tails off them rather easily. But, bass love them!

 

Brad