No Hardbaits

[Oregon Native]

Going to be hard....very.  Decided the last time I was blessed to get out that I am going to keep all hard baits out of the tackle bag and boat bag.  With my vision compromised this is probably a safe idea. Will miss em…..I've got a lot....believe me...but the ol spinnerbait and chatterbait will have to work overtime.  Will probably fish a plain fluke more too....haven't done this one much.

It's not that I can't see the baits....they just go in and out of vision...crazy....my Son is taking me out this eve so will be fun....New adventures in the forecast.  Just don't want to take any un necessary chances.  

Tight Lines all

[RichF]

When I fished back home in NY, I almost never threw hardbaits (except for briefly in the spring and fall). The majority of the year I was throwing jigs, frogs, chatters, and soft plastics. You'll do fine without the  hardbaits! They're a pain in the butt anyway. Fewer decisions = more time fishing!  Good luck.

[fishballer06]

This is how I teach myself new techniques and gain confidence in certain techniques. I highly recommend anyone doing this. It helps if you have a local pond with some fish that are easier to catch, if you are trying to gain confidence or learn something completely new. 

[Spankey]

I hope they can correct your vision some for you. Hope you make out ok. Be safe. 

[BassinCNY]

I'm throwing chatterbaits more and more. Good luck and have fun!

[the reel ess]

23 hours ago, fishballer06 said:

This is how I teach myself new techniques and gain confidence in certain techniques. I highly recommend anyone doing this. It helps if you have a local pond with some fish that are easier to catch, if you are trying to gain confidence or learn something completely new. 

My buddy's pond is a dink factory where all the fish are 3/4 lb. clones. I expect 10 fish min. every trip. I've caught 50 fish there in a day that probably didn't weight 40 lbs. It's an awesome place to learn new techniques. I caught one on a Gummi Worm just to show my friend I could. And the bluegill are enormous...thus the small bass. It's way out of balance.

 

The hard baits I throw most are topwaters and jerkbaits. I could replace those with soft baits if I needed to and still catch fish.

[PhishLI]

2 hours ago, Oregon Native said:

Will probably fish a plain fluke more too....haven't done this one much.

Flukes are deadly, and there are so many ways to fish them. Sometimes a little patience when working them nice and slow is the formula. SK Caffeine Shads are a bit more dense than other flukes, so a bit more castable when it's windy.

[DitchPanda]

I've caught about 60 bass so far this year since the first week of march. To my recollection I've caught 1 on a lipless and 6 on a jetkbait..the other 53 have been on a jig, swim jig, spinners or texas rig. You've got this man...shouldn't slow you down at all...especially now that it's warming up hardbaits aren't near as important in my experience. By the way I'm glad to see your feeling good enough to still get out..I hope that continues.

[Jaderose]

I like throwing the occasional lipless and a few other cranks but if someone told me I had to give up a whole type of bait, hard baits would be the first to go.  

[the reel ess]

I think the main thing hard baits give you is noise that you just can't get with soft plastics.

[roadwarrior]

Sometimes soft plastics  are the answer, other times it's  moving baits,

 

 

 

[Oregon Native]

I figure I'm blessed to get out out.....Doc said it's the new me so have to be careful.  Depth perception is not good...not good at all.  But am running front of boat with a seat....once in awhile free standing.

Yesterday son and I fished for about three and a half hours...….AMAZING....just....AMAZING.  Chatterbait…..nada...spinnerbait...two I believe....boy did they push it....OMG...so fun to feel.  I call em "stinking Senko's"....25 plus....mostly small bucks...did I care....not a bit....not a bit.  Don't believe we had anything over two and a half...I won candy bar.  

I leave a lot of room for the back of boat....especially with son and he wasn't even getting a bite fishing them Texas style....I was no weight whacky....So after about six or seven releases he changes and life is good....more good...goooder.  Kind of funny too...they wanted the fives over fours.  I'm glad brain is processing this...do love catching.

Praise God once again.

[Jaderose]

1 hour ago, Oregon Native said:

I figure I'm blessed to get out out.....Doc said it's the new me so have to be careful.  Depth perception is not good...not good at all.  But am running front of boat with a seat....once in awhile free standing.

Yesterday son and I fished for about three and a half hours...….AMAZING....just....AMAZING.  Chatterbait…..nada...spinnerbait...two I believe....boy did they push it....OMG...so fun to feel.  I call em "stinking Senko's"....25 plus....mostly small bucks...did I care....not a bit....not a bit.  Don't believe we had anything over two and a half...I won candy bar.  

I leave a lot of room for the back of boat....especially with son and he wasn't even getting a bite fishing them Texas style....I was no weight whacky....So after about six or seven releases he changes and life is good....more good...goooder.  Kind of funny too...they wanted the fives over fours.  I'm glad brain is processing this...do love catching.

Praise God once again.

This sounds like a mighty fine day

[Grim_Reaver]

On 4/28/2020 at 9:22 AM, the reel ess said:

My buddy's pond is a dink factory where all the fish are 3/4 lb. clones. I expect 10 fish min. every trip. I've caught 50 fish there in a day that probably didn't weight 40 lbs. It's an awesome place to learn new techniques. I caught one on a Gummi Worm just to show my friend I could. And the bluegill are enormous...thus the small bass. It's way out of balance.

 

The hard baits I throw most are topwaters and jerkbaits. I could replace those with soft baits if I needed to and still catch fish.

Sounds like it's time to start harvesting 11-13 inchers. Small bass are good eating and no threat of overharvest. The big bluegill come from lack of competition, being that the competition got eaten, lol.

[the reel ess]

22 hours ago, Grim_Reaver said:

Sounds like it's time to start harvesting 11-13 inchers. Small bass are good eating and no threat of overharvest. The big bluegill come from lack of competition, being that the competition got eaten, lol.

I harvest practically every bass I catch there as do a few other people and the owner and his family. I haven't put a dent in the problem. It is a great place to catch a mess of good eating size bass and 'gills though. It's funny because I met this guy through my wife. When we were just dating we had dinner at his place with his family, then he and I went out in his jonboat and I caught a 6.5 pounder. I was ecstatic to have a new pond like this in my rotation. I'll bet you could count the fish over 2 lbs I've caught there since on one hand. It's been 17 years. And I've fished there a lot. The attached pic is of a bass that was maybe 14" and had a bass down its throat. For comparison, that's a 2x4 on the dock. It's by far the biggest bass I've caught there in years. I did throw it back because it's a killer and if it can eat small bass it has a chance to grow large. I even tried monster baits. I catch dinks on them. ? I suspect there's some reason other than just bluegill-bass population disparity. I even discussed rigging up a shocking device to get rid of some numbers for the owner. He's too lazy for that and too cheap to pay an expert.

[Bird]

On 4/28/2020 at 2:51 PM, Jaderose said:

I like throwing the occasional lipless and a few other cranks but if someone told me I had to give up a whole type of bait, hard baits would be the first to go.  

I feel the same way with the exception of Jerkbaits.

 

 

[Jaderose]

28 minutes ago, Bird said:

I feel the same way with the exception of Jerkbaits.

 

 

I include those in my head

[Oregon Native]

3 hours ago, the reel ess said:

I harvest practically every bass I catch there as do a few other people and the owner and his family. I haven't put a dent in the problem. It is a great place to catch a mess of good eating size bass and 'gills though. It's funny because I met this guy through my wife. When we were just dating we had dinner at his place with his family, then he and I went out in his jonboat and I caught a 6.5 pounder. I was ecstatic to have a new pond like this in my rotation. I'll bet you could count the fish over 2 lbs I've caught there since on one hand. It's been 17 years. And I've fish there a lot. The attached pic is of a bass that was maybe 14" and had a bass down its throat. For comparison, that's a 2x4 on the dock. It's by far the biggest bass I've caught there in years. I did throw it back because it's a killer and if it can eat small bass it has a chance to grow large. I even tried monster baits. I catch dinks on them. ? I suspect there's some reason other than just bluegill-bass population disparity. I even discussed rigging up a shocking device to get rid of some numbers for the owner. He's too lazy for that and too cheap to pay an expert.

it is his pond and sounds like it feeds ya!?

[the reel ess]

1 hour ago, Oregon Native said:

it is his pond and sounds like it feeds ya!?

True. It mostly feeds him. I leave everything in his floating basket by his dock and let him know. He comes by in the golf cart ans throws me a beer sometimes while I fish. I can't complain. But I would still like to get a bigger average if possible.

[Oregon Native]

Win...win