Bass Help

The other two Fat Germans went to our favorite haunts on Leech last weekend while I was at the Get Together. The walleye bite was tough during the day so they went bass fishing in the rice beds of Boy Bay. Plenty of strikes but only hooked up on about one of ten due to the crap on the lure. What kind of lures would minimize this? Any help from you bass guys would be appreciated since this is a little out of our realm and probably pretty basic to you.

Thanks and now I need to get some sleep. Taking Mama to Temple Bay Lodge on Eagle Lake, Canada for her “Pampered in Pink” walleye trip and the bus leaves early tomorrow.

The sacrifices I make for that woman!

In weeds of almost any kind, I like plastic worms and tubes, oversized (even for bass) hooks, and try to break the line with every hookset.

So long as we’re asking the bass guys questions, is there any good way to practice hookset? I switch up a lot between panfish, walleyes, and bass, and it takes me a lot of missed fish to ‘get in the groove.’ Please don’t say fishing strictly bass is the only thing that will keep me in tune.

If I’m fishing slop for bass the Scum Frog is the way to go. It’s the best lure for slop I’ve ever picked up. As for the hook set issue I’m not real sure what you can do about that. The only thing is try yo remember when fishing for bass set hard. Maybe if your thinking in them terms when it comes time you will automaticaly do it. Thats my 2 cents good luck.

I agree 100% w/Bassmaster–> The Scumfrog is the way to go. The plastic is soft enough that the hooks pop out easy when a BASS hits, yet strong enough where the hooks don’t slide off during the retrieve.

Gianni–> Practicing hooksets… I’ve been thinking about it, and i’m not sure how it could be done. Panfishing won’t do it, the fish just don’t bite the same. Walleye presentations are too different. I think the only way to get better is to keep throwing tubes etc…something that makes you really “hammer it home” on a hookset

I’ve had a couple different anglers in my boat this year that had a fish swim off with their lure and they gave a slight tug and started reeling in. Well, all they managed to do was pull the lure out of the fish’s mouth. Once they got a little annoyed at missing so many fish they started to get the hang of setting the hook HARD. Set that thing like you mean it and you’ll hook up more often.

Boy Bay brings back memories. I’ve fished the sheeps pastures for bass many times and I don’t think I ever seen a fullproof way to work a lure through the rice weedless, unless you’re fishing a topwater like the scum frog. Generally, fishing plastics texas style or c-rigged are good ways to fish it. Weedless jigs are OK. As far hooksets, I give my line a little slack and watch for the twitch or many times you can feel the hit. When you set the hook, set it like you mean it. If the plastic bait comes back curled up on the hook – you were too slow!

Thanks guys, Scum frogs it is. We are going up this weekend. Maybe this weather change will help fishing.

BTW, the Temple Bay Lodge trip was great. I lucked onto a spot of my own that was about 30′ by 30′ in size and Mama and I caught about 40 walleyes and sauger out of there in 3 days. The bite only lasted until 10:00 AM although.

I would recomend the frog as well, but you need to go with the tournament series frog or one that is as soft. Some of the cheaper frogs you buy tend to be a little harder material and the fish will not hold on as long. Just a little advise I am sure you already knew. Slay em’ good!