I love my new home state. I love going bass fishing in December, January or February and 1.) not freezing my balls off and 2.) actually getting some action from the bass.
We have four ponds / small lakes in our neighborhood (which is named after said lakes) stocked with bass, bluegill, green sunfish, crappie, and catfish. So far The last two have eluded me, but I've caught a fair number of bass, bluegill, and green sunfish.
Lately the two setups working the best for me have been a take on the "float & fly" rig - but instead of a hair jig, I'm using a 1/16th oz round head with a 2" shad style soft plastic - Garland's Fat Shad, IIRC. I'm fishing it on a light spinning rod, 10lb braid main line with about a 6lb leader cut from one of my fly fishing tippet spools. The results have been pretty good with that setup. The other one I've had success on were some miniature lipless crank baits - I hate buying Chinesium, but these are the smallest lipless cranks I've ever found - and I tell myself I'm supporting a Texas company by buying them (they're Creme lures, based in Tyler).
Sometimes I can even get the boy to join me, and I got him on the biggest bass he's ever caught by throwing a finesse boot tail swimbait (2.8") on a ball head jig.
I love how dark the colors get on these fish too. Pretty bass.
Those mini crank baits I was talking about work pretty well too, I've landed half a dozen fish on them in the last couple outings, despite the cold water. Standard size lipless cranks like the Rat L Trap are a favorite hard bait of mine to throw, so I was pretty pumped to find the mini versions for tossing on my lighter rods. Haven't landed any lunkers on the little guys yet, but I'm feeling pretty good about the prospects. I think a four pack of them was $5 at WalMart.
We have four ponds / small lakes in our neighborhood (which is named after said lakes) stocked with bass, bluegill, green sunfish, crappie, and catfish. So far The last two have eluded me, but I've caught a fair number of bass, bluegill, and green sunfish.
Lately the two setups working the best for me have been a take on the "float & fly" rig - but instead of a hair jig, I'm using a 1/16th oz round head with a 2" shad style soft plastic - Garland's Fat Shad, IIRC. I'm fishing it on a light spinning rod, 10lb braid main line with about a 6lb leader cut from one of my fly fishing tippet spools. The results have been pretty good with that setup. The other one I've had success on were some miniature lipless crank baits - I hate buying Chinesium, but these are the smallest lipless cranks I've ever found - and I tell myself I'm supporting a Texas company by buying them (they're Creme lures, based in Tyler).
Sometimes I can even get the boy to join me, and I got him on the biggest bass he's ever caught by throwing a finesse boot tail swimbait (2.8") on a ball head jig.
I love how dark the colors get on these fish too. Pretty bass.
Those mini crank baits I was talking about work pretty well too, I've landed half a dozen fish on them in the last couple outings, despite the cold water. Standard size lipless cranks like the Rat L Trap are a favorite hard bait of mine to throw, so I was pretty pumped to find the mini versions for tossing on my lighter rods. Haven't landed any lunkers on the little guys yet, but I'm feeling pretty good about the prospects. I think a four pack of them was $5 at WalMart.
