What worked? What did not? 2013

[TurnUpTheFishing]

What is your bait of choice in an area that is too weedy for cranks?

Thick weeds, T rigged plastics, lots of beaver or craw style baits. Thinner weeds, I might drag/stroke a bass jig. Near or just off the weed edge, drop shot.

[Juan Grande]

Yeah, the allure of the senko is the slow fall so if you're going to use a jighead or t-rig with a bullet weight then you can pretty much use any kind of worm.

My home lake is stained in the summer and does not have a well defined deep weed line so I'm often fishing the shoreline structure or weed beds out in 6-8' feet of water.

[slopmaster]

I had a stellar year throwing Jigs. Pitching, swimming, dragging, shallow-deep, it was great all around. Lots of big fish hit the boat deck with a jig choked down their mouth.

Square bills and traps were great for me early. Never did get much cranking deeper all year.

Lighter t-rigs produced well.

Frogs got a lot of love in the slop, but my punching bite was worse then normal.

I skipped a lot of senkos this year around docks and overhangs and did really well. Saved a few days for me.

I got into throwing swimbaits this fall (Mattlures/Hudds) and got a couple big fish on them. Looking forward to tossing them more this upcoming spring.

[Lals]

I should clarify that I had success using a light jig head and a senko - Wacky Style along a weedline

[Juan Grande]

Yes, you did say "light" Lals. Up until last year I always T-rigged senko weightless. Tried wacky one day for the heck of it and it's been a go to every since.

[Fairchild_82]

+1 Finesse jigs. but with a slimmed down skirt, trim a litte off weed guards and use with no chunk.

Doesn't anyone Carolina Or at least berkley power worm with bullet weight?

Ted would be disappointed.

[Raider4ever]

I fish way too fast and really need to slow down sometimes. Maybe I'll work on that next season.

BA24: Don't do it. "Fish fast, fish fun." Carolina rigging, dragging a tube over the bottom, waiting for a Senko to sink? To each his own and God bless those that do, but IMO you might as well be fishing for Rock Carp.

[Deitz Dittrich]

WHAT???? I'm all for fishing fast when the conditions call for it. But I catch most of my big fish during the season, fishing slow. So I will take those rock carp then!

[th64]

The older you get the less you want to chase.

[bassfshin24]

Maybe that's why I don't catch a lot of big fish haha. I think a senko is about the only bait I hate throwing for some reason. I like throwing a drop shot but just don't have a ton of confidence in it. I do love throwing a football jig and feeling it crawl over rocks and then feeling that pop of when a fish picks it up. Like I said I think I'll probably try to work on my slow fishing next year. Maybe ;-)

[slopmaster]

WHAT???? I'm all for fishing fast when the conditions call for it. But I catch most of my big fish during the season, fishing slow. So I will take those rock carp then!

Agreed. I use to be a hardcore crankbait/spinnerbait slinging guy and covered water like a kid on a sugar rush. HIgh numbers and low amounts of big fish. Now I'm a jig fanatic and the results have done a 180, lots of nice fish and less numbers. The slower I fish the more big fish I catch.

[Juan Grande]

Makes sense if you think about it. Big fish get big for a reason. The smaller fish will chase any old thing that flies by. A bigger fish really likes to take time to study the bait before they take it. Probably why so many big fish are caught on jigs. I too love to crankbait fish, but the average size of the fish is definitely on the smaller side.

That being said, I have caught a lot of 18-20" fish on a senko. It's not a crankbait, but I'm not crawling it on the bottom either. Must look real enough...

[Raider4ever]

Like I said, "To each his own and God bless those that do". To me, that kind of fishing isn't fun anymore. I used to do it and now I fish "like a kid on a sugar rush" and it's a blast. Sure, I'm not pulling huge numbers of big fish, but on the lakes I get to fish regularly, no one really is. But, they are close to my home and I can hit them multiple times a week, every week. And that's what's fun to me.

[Lals]

Certainly technique has a big influence on catching big fish .... for me what is more important is where you fish. Some lakes just have bigger fish or I can just find them easier..

What is Rock Carp -- Walleye?

[slopmaster]

Like I said, "To each his own and God bless those that do". To me, that kind of fishing isn't fun anymore. I used to do it and now I fish "like a kid on a sugar rush" and it's a blast. Sure, I'm not pulling huge numbers of big fish, but on the lakes I get to fish regularly, no one really is. But, they are close to my home and I can hit them multiple times a week, every week. And that's what's fun to me.

We are all fisherman here and everyone should fish the way they want. If fishing fast is your thing than go for it and enjoy your time on the water, thats what it's all about. For those that want to catch bigger fish than trying slower presentations is worth the effort. That was my point, not to bash on those that fish fast.

[Superduty]

Nothing beats turning the trolling motor on high and whacking fish after fish on a spinnerbait or crankbait. We all watch KVD and want to be a successful power fisherman like him but it doesn't always work that way. Our lakes are most often 1-2k acres and you will run out of "pattern" in a hurry. Especially if it's a tournament situation. KVD and the likes have the option to run hundreds of thousands of acres of impoundments and have better opportunities to run a power fishing pattern throughout the day.

[Raider4ever]

What is Rock Carp -- Walleye?

Yep, yep.

[Raider4ever]

Nothing beats turning the trolling motor on high and whacking fish after fish on a spinnerbait or crankbait. We all watch KVD and want to be a successful power fisherman like him but it doesn't always work that way. Our lakes are most often 1-2k acres and you will run out of "pattern" in a hurry. Especially if it's a tournament situation. KVD and the likes have the option to run hundreds of thousands of acres of impoundments and have better opportunities to run a power fishing pattern throughout the day.

That's what I like to do except I do it with topwaters and frogs instead of Cranks and Spinnerbaits (home water is pretty tannin-stained so I can get by with it all day) and I RARELY get the fish-after-fish bite but it has happened. I'll average 8-10 total for the 3-5 hour bump I'm out there. No real monsters but good enough. The only issue is the lake is only about 700 acres so after about July 15th, yeah I'm pretty well on a first-name basis with most of the bass and hammerhandles.

[Stick in Mud]

My best pattern all year was a new one to me: fishing topwater, mid-summer and into the fall, in clear water over relatively deep flats with scattered weeds. I had the soon-to-be father-in-law in the boat, casting towards the lily pads with a weightless senko. He was catching fish, but I was catching nothing fishing behind him.

I got bored, heaved a small spook as far as I could, and just walked it back. After that trip, I ended up skipping the shallow bite every other time out because 1) it's more fun catching bass on topwater, 2) away from the pads, I hooked most of them, and 3) there were surprisingly big fish who would come up out of deep water to hit a topwater.

I do feel kind of dumb, missing this pattern for so long. I don't know if it'll be the same next year, but I can't wait to give it another try.

Other than that, I still can't fish on crankbaits. I don't know how y'all do it. Maybe I just don't give them enough time before switching to something else.

[RumRiverRat]

It was a stellar swimbait year for me.

Every time I fished I threw a swimbait for some of the time.

Had more success with Hollow Bellies and other plastic baits than hard multi jointed baits.

Did catch a bunch of fish on the 4" Spro Swim Shad

Did some night fishing with the full moon in September.

Going to do a lot more night fishing in general next year.

Had an awesome fall throwing Buzzbaits, I am a firm believer in them now.

Looking forward to refining my swimbait technique next year.

Currently on a mission to organize, evaluate and sell/give away excess tackle I do not use.

Going to make another trip to Table Rock again in the spring, hopefully next spring is more normal than it was this year.

Stick in the Mud,

The Topwater bite in clear water over the deep weedline is a solid pattern on most lakes. Fish a clear night with a full moon and you will be hooked.

[RK]

Had an awesome fall throwing Buzzbaits, I am a firm believer in them now.

Buzzbaits in fall can be almost not fair sometimes. When the water's in the 50s, look out. Big fish bait, and it's usually a mid-day deal besides. Love buzzbaits in the fall.On lakes that have them you get bonus muskies too, and there's always the entertainment of pike flying out of the water at them too.

[beeflover]

great thread i'd like to keep it goin, I've heard on these posts a lot of luck with swim baits like 5 in paddletails, ditto for me, jig still good, I'm swimmin the jig and covering more water than i used to when I mostly just let it drop and shake it a bit.

Brush hogs were off? seemed like it to me too I've always liked baby and regular brush hogs but not good last year.

Cranks baits, not a standard for me and this post doesn't stimulate me to wanna throw em more except the square bill comments

Senko type baits still great, i tried 3 bags of zman fatty z worms and bass killed em they were all gone in just 2 trips, my partner would ask me to toss him a bait and I wouldn't give him any a these fatty's just threw him regular trick stick hee hee. I don't like they only come in 6/pkg

whatta I buy this year, how bout that new Storm crankbait Palaniuk was using late last year?

Based on this thread a good 5 rod set up might be a senko, a swimbait, a jig/trailer combo, a bronzeeye type frog, a flat bill crank, i prefer no rattle add a sixth rod and I heard people recommendin a walking top water type bait or a buzzbait too

[th64]

Yamamoto swimming senko weighted was absolutely lights out this year.

Crankbait bite was off for me this year.

TR-what jig head did you use?-what about colors and retrieves?-love the senko and am looking for a swim bait that I can be confident with.

[lookincalifornia]

Bandit 100s ruled the river for me this year, with swimjigs a close second

[Gobbles113]

Throwing 10-12" soft plastic worms on C-Rig set up, football jigs, lipless cranks, square bill cranks and fast burning spinnerbaits were the keys to a successful 2013 season. However, throwing any top waters were work in progress. Tried working jerkbaits early in the season and decided to put them down cuz I keep catching more than just one species of fish and cannot keep them all off. Maybe I need to reconsider tweaking my jerkbaits in which works for bass only--does not hurt to try. Did some dropshotting and wacky Senkos here and there only if all else I threw at them bass won't budge.

As for 2014 season, tweak up my jerkbaits and practice a bit more on topwater system into my arsenal. Happy 2014 bass fishing season to y'all, fellas!