Відео

There are a ton of baits out there that will get the job done. As long as you choose the appropriate bait and color for any given situation AND [learn to] use them effectively, you're probably gonna catch 'em. But that's the trick, isn't it? You gotta be in the right place at the right time with an appropriate [tool] bait AND use it effectively. Old or new, the same holds true. But if one doesn't learn how to "get on 'em", it's gonna be a struggle o catch them. Just sayin'.

LOL! Hey, I also see that you have some go-to baits/colors. As you know, it really boils down to what you have confidence in. For 20+ years, I have pretty much the same baits tied on all the time. I only change a few outfits during any given day, based on water/weather conditions and perceived [fishes] activity levels. Thanks for watching and commenting.

@@TheBassinGuy I agree. It’s tough to change when you have confidence in a lure and color. Thanks for posting your fishing trips.

Thanks. Yeah, I alternated between a swimbait, fluke and slugo, depending on wind.

Awesome day. What size slugo are you using? Thanks for sharing.

Well, the short video kinda makes it look that way. Mostly small fish. And the next couple trips there yielded only a couple lackluster bites. Now that we're getting some rains, I think the fish are migrating back out to the lake.

Yeah, it was, but I caught zilch on the next trip. Plus, it is treacherous getting there. The water is so shallow... I had to get out and push the boat off of several sandbars just to get there. And I had to get pulled off of one by an airboat (after being severely stuck for several hours!). And I know my way around really well. I won't be going back there any time soon.

Thanks. I definitely love catching them shallow.

Thank you joining the zoo! Speaking of the intro... I'll be cranking it up a notch beginning with the next video. Stay tuned. I think it's better IMHO.

@@TheBassinGuy nice

The swimbait I use most is rigged and fished the same way as a flappin' shad. I'd use a lightly weighted 5/0 or 6/0 wide gap swimbait hook and tie it with a good loop knot to allow it to have more action. Depending on the type of cover you're fishing, I wouldn't use it on less than 20 lb mono or flouro. And if you're fishing heavy cover, I'd go with 30 to 50 lb braid. Now, personally, I would use a 30 - 40 lb mono or flouro leader with the braid setup, but that's just me.

@@TheBassinGuyvery much appreciated 🤙🏻😊

Thank you for the kind words. Yes, I know you've been a long time subscriber. I also had a good fishing buddy pass and I would have loved to have had him along during some of my really fun adventures.

Got to the end of the video. You did hit a little honey hole of fish. 👍🏻

Took a buddy there two days later and we caught about 75.

Thanks for the tip. It's been a long while since I've added feathered hooks to baits. It never really did anything for me, but I should give it a try again sometime. All the feathered hooks I have are small and I tend to over-size the hooks on my baits. So I'll have to see if I can get some larger feathered trebles.

No joke. It makes up for the many days that are tough. I revisited some of those same areas today and while I ended up with close to 50 fish all told, most of them came from exploring new water. It was very bright and very still today until late. Biggest fish was maybe 3 pounds. Fun, but definitely had to work harder for bites today.

@@TheBassinGuy I’m in Port Saint Lucie so Lake Okeechobee is where I’m at most weekends I totally understand tight lines sir

I feel sorry for you if you feel like there wasn't much to learn from this video. I think showing people how to catch a lot of bass at Headwaters, as well as what to look for, is pretty darn useful information. As for baits...throw a jerkbait. Doesn't matter what brand. Just use one that runs above the weeds. Experiment. It's not rocket science.

slugo mostly. caught a few on fluke and grass pig

Thank you. I appreciate the feedback.

The same day i posted it. Late last week. I hope to go back this week and try it again.

There are tons of small fish at Headwaters. I catch a lot of them as well. But I do catch some decent fish... and on the same baits. So keep plugging away. You're bound to run into some good ones eventually. Thanks for watching. And for commenting.

Follow the deeper submerged ditches, intersection of canals and pits, edges and ledges in the south pit, and ditches in the north end. Try Gambler "Big Ez" and "Ez Swimmer" in ghost shad early. Use convential soft plastics and hardbaits you have confidence with - they are there, you will get a bait in front of big mamma eventually. I don't care to fish there because I had too many close calls with speeders. A good place I would recommend is the west end of east-west conal, there large submered rocks down deep as well as sunken brush about 200 yards out in front of the irrigation pump structure...good fishing.

Good tip. I have noticed that inconsistency over the years as well, but never tried to open up the hook. I would probably agree that if one were to attempt it, you'd want to do it in very gentle and small increments as I don't think the metal used is very forgiving. I'm sure there are ways to accomplish it. Not sure if using some form of heat first would help. I could envision someone with welding experience might even be able to spot weld a better hook onto a spoon. Imagine using a wide gap swimbait hook with a screw lock. And using a some kind of soft plastic, skin hooked, essentially as the weedguard. We're only limited by our imaginations.

​@@TheBassinGuy You are right that the hook is not super high quality and it would probably break if bent too far, but slight bending doesn't seem to weaken it enough to matter and the increase in hooking percentage makes it worth it in my view. Though I'm a hobby metalworker, I haven't tried heating the hook to facilitate bending because for some treated metals, that will actually weaken the material, and cold-bending has worked just fine for me so far. Still, I might try it at some point and see how it goes.

Welcome to my little part of the world. Thank you so much for the compliments.

1/2 oz johnson spoon w/ a white frog trailer

Yeah, lately it seems like it's all or nothing in terms of wind. But I managed to catch 25 or so. Nothing big

Thank you for watching and commenting

Yes! Thank you!

I appreciate the critique and thanks for checking out my stuff. I try to give more information in later videos, Keep in mind that this channel was originally created as a "personal video journal". Sometimes I would talk more and sometimes I had terrible audio due to mic issues. This particular video was just to show a few fish caught from a place that I rarely fish and I really just wanted to save the song "Amos Moses" to a place where I could listen to it whenever I felt like reminiscing old times. Thanks again for visiting my channel.

Thanks James for your comments. My favorite color Slugo is Arkansas Shiner. It works well in the dark tanic Florida waters that I fish. It also works well in clear water as well. That's the only color I use, but that doesn't mean other colors wouldn't work well in some places. I tend to use that bit in calmer conditions. I tend to use a paddle tail swim bait in windier conditions. In really slick and brighter conditions, I'll downsize to a fluke. You'll see that throughout many videos. The wrist device is a remote for my cameras. The cameras are in mode where they record all the time but don't write to the memory card until I press the remote. Then they write the previous minute of recording, as well as the next minute or two. That keeps files sizes to a minimum and makes it easier to identify the footage that I want to use. I would never own a camera without that feature. Some brands call it "looping", others "tagging".

Thank you for watching. Tight lines!

St Johns river, in the Sanford, Florida area.

I understand your question. I do these videos primarily for myself. I learn al ton from watching them and reinforce all the good things I see, like casting choices, presentation, retrieve speed, cadence, presentation. If you are looking for more "instruction", check out a couple of my later spoon fishing videos where much more information, tricks and secrets are revealed.

Plastic has by and large replaced the real pork rind products. Plastics come in all kinds of shapes and configurations, which makes tinkering and finding great combinations. If I lived up north, however, I might still use the real stuff in the cold fall and winter water.

@@TheBassinGuy There's still no substitute for the action of a pork-rind strip, and besides their unmatched type of swimming action, they also offer less wind resistance when casting because with their greater flexibility and thinner profile, they fold back more compactly when the spoon is in flight. Modernization of hog-raising practices ended the availability of good-quality pork rind (hogs are sent to slaughter at such a young age nowadays that their skin isn't nearly tough enough, and that's why Uncle Josh went out of business), but there's a company called "Fat Cow" that makes a really good synthetic substitute. It behaves just about the same as the original pork rinds. I have no stake in the company except to hope like heck that they stay in business so I can keep using their "jigging strips" on spoon lures!

Tinkering is an awesome way to come up with creations that the fish haven't seen (or heard). Spoons are a great change of pace when fish are hammered by all the old and new baits out there. Tight lines!

I use 7' medium rods typically because I feel the limpness helps fish get the bait better. But I use heavy 20 and 25 lb mono to compensate. Flourocarbon might be better. I'm just not a fan of the stuff. I used to use medium heavy rods with spoons for a long time and it probably helps with a better hookset. But that's all relative to one's height, strength, and hook-setting prowess. So I take all rod/line combination recommendations with a grain of salt. You have to determine what works for you in all lure/cover situations. In heavy cover, I can see where braid could be a good thing as well. Thee are so many ways to fish a spoon effectively, that all of the afore-mentioned possibilities are all good options. Best thing is to experiment and find what works best for you in your (and various) environments.

Thanks for posting. I used the real pork rinds, primarily on jigs, up in New England. I did, however, almost win a Red Man tournament on the Kissimmee chain slow-rolling a spoon with an Uncle Josh split eel pork rind in shallow eel grass... in the heat of the summer no less. It's a great bait where fish have gotten shy on spinnerbaits and chatter baits. I tend to pull it out after I have worn out an area on other baits over a period of days or weeks. To those reading this, this is a lesson worth remembering!

Another great old lure that works best with a pork frog is the Snagless Sally. Gold spinner, yellow and black skirt, green and white #11 pork frog. They are awesome.

Thanks for watching and commenting. I do these videos for me primarily. I watch my footage closely to see what I do right and then try to repeat those things over and over. If people enjoy my style of fishing, they're welcome to subscribe, but I'm not posting these to make money or get a ton of subscribers. From time to time I do mention details, such as you pointed out. If you watch more of my videos, you'll hear me talk about retrieve speeds, depth and other key tidbits. To get the best take-aways from my videos, focus on my presentations and how I attack lines and edges of vegetation and cover. I have a finely-tuned approach to the baits I use and where I use them. You're right. I don't always talk about all those details, but like I said, if you watch all of my videos, you'll see the same successful patterns, baits and approaches over and over. What you do with what you learn is up to you.

I'll be posting more epic results soon. Check back often.

Glad you liked it!

March

Thanks. Good job in that tough tournament, but if you pull out a drop shot in my boat, you'll have to swim back to shore! LOL

TheBassinGuy - Power Fishing Guru Haha, I moved from SC...Lake Hartwell and Keowee runs in my blood. That little drop shot comes natural, certainly not my preferred method! 🤣 much rather go flippin!

How long have you been in Florida?

TheBassinGuy - Power Fishing Guru About 3 1/2 years...in the Fort Myers area.

St Johns river

For my style of fishing I do not use a swivel. The erratic retrieve that I use doesn't generate much lie twist. A weedless spoon, if rigged properly, shouldn't be an issue. Spoons are designed to wobble, not spin. I think the biggest culprit that creates line twist is if you use a trailer that is either not balanced or is rigged crookedly. It pays to take some time, either in a swimming pool or beside the boat, and watch how your spoon moves through the water with different trailers. Trial and error is how you will figure out the correct combinations of spoon size and trailers.

Reeling them in too fast will make them spin. Slow and easy. ;)

LOL,

Sorry for the delay in replying. I really like the Excalibur baits (now Booyah). Original rattletraps are still awesome, but not so good for yoyo'ing. Bottom line is that you want a bait that falls nose-first, not one that will roll or tumble. YoZuri's are okay too. I prefer gold 90% of the time, chartreuse in dirtier water. Chrome still works much of the time. My advice is to rotate brands and colors all the time. A certain color, and importantly, a certain "sound" can make all the difference on any given outing.

Thanks for watching.

Thanks for the comment. Sorry for delay in responding. I use all sizes from time to time, depending on situation. I've used the tiny spoons when fish are schooling on little minnows. My favorite size for most situations is the 1/2 ounce. Yu can still skim the surface with a flat trailer and you can fish sub-surface to deep with thinner trailers. I do not use a swivel. If you use an erratic retrieve you won't get much line twist because you aren't really letting the spoon "spin". Rigging the trailer correctly (straight) will also help eliminate twist. As for the screw lock, you can simply screw it onto the spoon if you drill a hole near the rear edge right next to the hook. Not in the video but I also weld the screw lock onto the spoon at the rear as well. I use 20 lb mono. Using a loop knot will allow the bait a little more freedom, which is better suited for slow-rolling situations. But for aggressive fishing, I would not use a loop knot.

@@TheBassinGuy Thank you for the reply! What size screw lock do you suggest? I hope I can still use the spoon for fall/winter season btw. Is there anyway you can post the pic of the back of the spoon to see how you welded the screw lock? Would you be willing to sell some of your customized spoons? Thank you for your time!

I use the medium and large sizes, depending on the size (bulkiness) of the trailer. I used the term "weld", but I should have said :"solder". There are two ways to do it, You can still attach it via the drilled hole and then solder it. Or slide it over the hook to the base and apply solder there. I scrape up the area with a file first. I do not know how to weld and i am not a great solderer myself. I tinker and tweak stuff out of necessity or curiosity. It usually takes me a few tries to get the solder to hold correctly, again, because I am not an expert. As I always say, "experiment"! If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. I guess that makes me a republican!

It's just another tool in the arsenal, but can fool the fish, especially where they see lots of other traditional baits.

Sorry for the delay in responding, Check out a couple of my more recent videos on weedless spoons, which go into a little more detail.

Thanks for the comment. I do try to treat the fish with respect, but to be honest, I really just want to get my bait back in the water to catch the next one!!!