Breakfast Time Bassin' (with pics)

[Maliboo]

Today I started off at my fast & furious pond again. The first fish I caught on a 4" Senko jumped, shook its head and the Senko went flying. I'm getting tired of going through Senkos so fast and I was out of o-rings so I dug out a pack of Yum Dingers in Junebug I held in reserve for an emergency. I'd never used them before, but they're cheaper and tougher so it'd be nice if they performed as well as Senkos. Well, I must've found a school cos for a while I was getting strikes on every single cast. After landing 8 fish and losing a few more, they suddenly turned off and stopped hitting. I guess they got smart, or I caught 'em all. The biggest was only 14".

The Yum Dingers did perform and they lasted a lot longer than Senkos, but they seem to twist my line more.

At the next lake I went to I landed 3 fish on my first 3 casts! Then they shut off. I guess they got smart faster than the other guys, or there were less of them. I managed to land 3 more in other spots for a total of 6 and only lost one when it burrowed into some vegetation. Again, the biggest was only 14".

Lastly, I hit a retention pond someone told me about, but I'm pretty sure it only has babies in it. Landed one while I was cleaning my line. I made a long cast, walked down the bank to unspool a lot of line, then pinched my line and reeled in pretty fast to strip the line of gunk. When I was doing this it got kind of heavy, I thought I snagged some weeds, but it turned out to be a baby bass. I was shocked that not only did the little guy hit the wacky dinger while I was cranking it, but also managed to get hooked! And I was using a weedless Gamakatsu finesse hook too.

So, 15 bass is a personal best for me, and 14 of them on Yum Dingers...

[mr.easygoing]

great posts!

senko or yum dinger's do you hook them wackey or texas style?

[Maliboo]

great posts!

senko or yum dinger's do you hook them wackey or texas style?

I almost exclusively hook 'em wacky on Gamakatsu 2/0 wide gap finesse hooks. In areas with fallen branches or other wood in the water I'll use my weedless Gamakatsu finesse hooks to avoid snags. On rare occasions I'll hook 'em Tex-Exposed or Tex-Skin, but never Texas. I think these worms are too thick for that.

I like the feel of twitching a wacky hooked bait which gives more resistance on the twitch than a Tex rigged bait which just kind of glides through the water when you twitch it. A Tex hooked bait does cast further due to aerodynamics, but honestly I can cast plenty far enough with it wacky. The fish aren't usually that far out anyway, and its harder to set the hook when its too far out.

Today I was feeling cocky so I went to Rush Lake at East Branch to have a humbling experience and remember what its like to get skunked. That sucked.

[Maliboo]

Went out in the rain for the first time today and caught 4 nice bass. The mosquitoes seem to like the rain too, as I learned you have to spray Off! on your face as well...

Two fish were 13", one 15" and one 16"

This post is boring, but look at this weird dude with his 15" bass:

[FishinMatt]

LOL, thats a nice bass. The main difference I have noticed b/w senkos and dingers in the sink speed. Dingers will sink much slower then the senkos. Both seem to have there place. I have been addicted to the wacky rig, however a local guide recently gave me a schooling rigging them Texas style. Whatever your preferred style, they sure catch bass.

[Maliboo]

The main difference I have noticed b/w senkos and dingers in the sink speed. Dingers will sink much slower then the senkos.

Oh yeah, I have to fish them slower or they don't sink all the way to the bottom. Another big difference is the smell. The Dingers have that Live Prey Technology hokum that smells just like anise/licorice. And I'm certain now that they cause more line twist than Senkos. But, they catch fish, last longer, and are cheaper. I'll still stay loyal to Senkos since I caught my 7 pounder on one, but I think there's a place for both brands in my arsenal.

I have been addicted to the wacky rig, however a local guide recently gave me a schooling rigging them Texas style.

I like the groove the Dingers have in them so you can rig them Tex-Exposed and probably keep them weedless. Haven't tried that yet, but I plan to soon when I get some braid so I can attack some lily pad beds...

[FloridaRigger]

If you use an O-ring while rigging wacky style, your senko will last you pretty much all day as the hook will not rip through the plastic when setting the hook.

You might also want to try the gulp sinking minnows, they are just as heavy as senkos and cost a little less, plus you get the advantage of the gulp scent.

[ltrain]

What size o-ring and where do you purchase them-ace hardware maybe?

[FloridaRigger]

I use the O-wacky tool that they sell at bass pro shop and probably most other outdoor stores. I am not sure the exact size of the rings.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/store ... rchResults

[bassedhard]

Hey Maliboo
Nice post, I fish most of the lakes you mentioned here in the mornings when I get off work. I just got back from Herrier (Skunked) I have caught a few there usually 13 - 14 inchers. Still havent got a smallie there though. I do seem to find a tick or two everytime I go.....Took a vacation day today so Im heading out to Bass Lake and try for a change of luck.
See ya in the trenches.

[Maliboo]

Good luck at Bass Lake bassedhard. I haven't been skunked there since the very first time I went, and then I didn't stay long cos the skeeters chased me out. I've caught 'em on the North shore and the East shore, but never the West shore.

I've crossed Harrier off my list, I don't do ticks.

I also use the O-Wacky tool from Bass Pro, but I ran out of the 10 rings it comes with so I had to order a 25 pack refill. If you buy one, be sure to get a refill while you're at it.

Today I caught a 14 incher and a 16 incher. The 14 came on a 4" chartreuse w/green & chartreuse flake senko, and the 16 came on a 5" clear with gold, silver & black flake senko:

[Maliboo]

This morning I went to scout out Cricket Creek forest preserve with a co-worker. The first 10 minutes we were there I landed a 13 incher and he landed one and lost one. But then we started to walk around. We fished about a quarter of the lake pretty quickly then headed over to the two smaller ponds there and got nothing at all. Still, I think the main water, Green Lake, is going to be worth at least a second more concentrated look.

It has lots of forage. Crawdads, big minnows, huge tadpoles and tons of baby frogs with their tadpole tails still on. Its by far the most forage I've ever seen at a forest preserve.

[ltrain]

Thanks for the heads up on the o-ring tool. A guy showed me that setup last month on vacation and I was thinking that it was going to be hard to get that worm through that ring. Now I have another excuse to go to bass pro

[Maliboo]

Went to my fast & furious pond at sunrise this morning. Landed 23 bass.

I like to start the early morning dawn with an original Rapala floating minnow, and I haven't used my gold F9 (9cm) yet this season, so I started with that.



Caught a big crappie pretty quickly, but it took me a while to figure out that the bass didn't want the old "twitch-twitch-pause" today, just a slow steady retrieve. Landed 5 bass that way. So once I established they were biting on a swimming hardbait I switched to my new Deps Realiser Jr in Bluegill. I just got this from Tackle Warehouse for almost $30 so I really wanted to make sure it could produce. Caught 6 bass on it and lost about 6 more. These fish are really energetic and mean, and they leap and thrash around a lot. Since the Realiser Jr is half an ounce it was easy for them to use its weight as leverage to throw it when they leapt. The hooks on it are awesome though.






Then I wanted to try out my new outlandishly colored bubblegum 4" Senko to see if fish would really hit that. It looks so much like bubblegum that my mouth waters looking at it. I'm sure girls would love to use it. Anyway, caught 12 bass on one Senko with an o-ring on it. That has to be the longest a single Senko has ever lasted me, and I still have it!

[Maliboo]

Oh, almost forgot... after that I went back to Pickerel Lake at Pratt's Wayne Woods where I caught 8 last Sunday, but got skunked. I did hook two fish on a 5" cinnamon Senko, but the first one jumped and tossed the hook and must've frayed the line with his teeth cos the second one broke the line when I set the hook especially hard. Kids, always check your line for fray after a bass has had its mouth on it.

There were literally at least a hundred people fishing there. And not just live bait fishermen like at most forest preserves, but lots and lots of people chucking lures all over the place. Its weird cos last Sunday it wasn't that crowded, but it was absurd today. And nobody was catching anything. Ugh, its Rush Lake all over again...