THE BASS COLLEGE

I'm just gettin back into fishing hardcore after my son being born and im havin problems with the weather here in jacksonville. It's winter and tomorrow its supposed to get into the 80's today was 74. The past 2 days they havnt been biting my senko or trick worm. (my only 2 baits i have until monday) they just follow it or sometimes bite and spit it out. Now im going to buy some dirty jigs and grande bass trailers, which i have never used before but steve has confidence in them and catches nice ones and be a good way to help out the cause. But as hard baits like crankbaits or jerk baits or whatever, what colors and what kind of hard baits do yall recomend when nothing else is working? especially in heavily fished ponds like fish managements. because sometimes ill catch fish at a off the road pond (being so easy to catch) and catch alot but at the fish managment they are bigger and smarter bass, and thats what i want to hone in on. im actually just gana fish heavily fished areas like these to get better and get more knowledge on the fish like that. so any suggestions on these kind of conditions are apprecitated

i mainly fish retention ponds round my area like these heavily pressured ponds you have.  one thing to consider is try to use a bait that they dont see nearly as much.  if the pond is extremely popular, most people use soft plastics so sometimes senkos wont work as well.  the reason the jig was suggested and is great to have is you can fish it several different ways, swim/wake/hop on bottom, and cover a good amount of area to maximize finding fish.  it's also a moving bait which often times causes a reaction strike from instinct compared to something moving slow that the bass can look at for a long time and take more time to consider eating it or not.  if the pond is as pressured as you say, i'd focus more time on trying to cause reaction bites (lipless cranks, spooks, swimjigs, spinnerbaits, etc).  season is important too, some lures work better in different conditions than others.  sometimes of the year i'll throw a senko always and do well and other times nothing. its whatever the bass want.

for color and which baits, figure out the baitfish in the ponds (most likely minnows, shad, bluegill, baby bass) and pick ones that are reviewed here and try some out.  everyone begins throwing senkos.  then you get all these other techniques and figure out a pattern and you cause more strikes.

Here we got alought of what we call brim. they dont really look like bluegill. but similar.And yea im just really getting back into bass fishing from never really starting in the first place really. but Yea i guess i just gata find what they want man.im going to make videos on my progress in the process. Imma try some swimbaits, maybe go for the money minnow, and ill try some cranks def. but just wana get some opinions before i go buying baits you know.  i appreciate it newarkbasser.

huddlestons are real nice if you have big bass.  i've thrown a lot of those hollow body swimbaits and havent had nearly as much luck as a simple fluke with paddle tail or similar style swimbait.  they just seem to be easier to rig up.  another thing to try is jerkbaits. people tend to neglect how useful this technique works on pressured bass. i always search on here to see what people are using, then youtube the baits to see the action, see if my equipment is right for the bait, and if i like what i see, i try it out.  the info you get here is gold, none of the bait discussions are gimmicks or just trying to push merchandise, it works.

Yea i know man, i always listen to what people here have to say. and i appreciate you helpin me out here. One question, what do you mean by pressured? and  by fluke you mean a super fluke by zoom baits? or what bro?

if a lot of people fish there, the bass see baits thrown at them all the time.  they get finicky at times after being caught and bass learn to not chase certain things at times.  that's why it's important to make the bait you're throwing to look like what they eat in a given condition.  if the water is crystal clear you want something that looks exactly like it because the bass has clear vision of it.  if its stained murky, the bass are seeing more the shape of the bait and guaging through vibration more than direct sight detail, then the action you make the bait move becomes important.  yeah zoom makes a swimming fluke, that's the one with the paddle tail.  there's other companies out there with the same design, it's up to personal preference in which works best.  i use the zoom ones currently besides a few gimmies here and there i've picked up from people.

First off its a really pressured place, throw fluorocarbon line, Seaguar or Sunline. Throw a red shad Senko, worms etc and then throw some swimbaits at them that are just like the shiners there, they'll hit it. They are on beds or just coming off in spots so throw the soft plastics, jigs, etc at them and throw the Rat L Traps, Chatterbaits, Swimjigs,swimbaits etc at the rest. The color wont matter in Florida as long as it is red shad or another real shad color. lol and if you REALLY want to catch some big bass quickly, just call Jacob here, our reel guy, who lives right there, and just today went to Rodman and the other day caught several 9 pounders. In Forida there are three ways you are going to catch a ginat bass, above 10 pounds. 

On a bed with a soft plastic and or jig, on a swimbait, or on a live giant shiner. Thats what they hit most of the time.

i appreciate it guys. I'm going to see if i can get something working. will post a video. hope i can get a few big ones and show you guys that your tips really work. be looking for it. And Steve, those damn grande bass mega claws our on back order until the 20th of this month. so until than, what do you say about the beaver claws?

Thats fine You can order them anyway though and many times they come in early and they send them. When you order from TW, they send anything that is backordered free each time no shipping, so if you order $50.00 or more, its free and if its backordered, its still free again when it comes. Follow the rules so I can send you some extra free baits with them. RULES<

Aight bud. And keep the radio thing we talked about in the back of your mind for the off season