Works most times when you find yourself over a mega school! If you feel like you figured out how to generate the most strikes, you generally get the big strikes as well 🤝

You betcha! Hope you have been finding a few yourself to fillet out!

I don't run into this too often -though it does happen from time to time. A thing or two comes to mind... First thing I can think of is, I think it is quite important to always keep that line tight to keep them pinned, while also keeping in mind that line needs to have a bit of play -this becomes more important the closer you get the fish to you. Keep that line tight, but give it play by finding that sweet spot -you can do this by adjusting your drag or by choosing different rod flexibility. The black rod in the video is wimpy as a dish rag so I have the drag set tighter on the reel. The white rod is more rigid so the drag on the reel is more loose. In my opinion it's just find that balance. But I always want to keep my line tight throughout the fight -start to finish. Second thing that comes to mind is hook sets. I always try to set my hooks fairly light on Crappie. I takes next to no effort to pierce their lip. Some of the largest Crappie I've caught I simply slow lift that hook to set it. This may be kinda far fetched, but the logic behind that is to not try to tear to large of a hole that it makes the hook for susceptible to coming unbuttoned. Hope one of those helps! I've been contemplating trying to get into some on the water lessons if I thought folks would be interested. I've been doing this KZbin thing for a while now just to build some credibility. We'll see how it all pans out :)

@DreadyEDDY710 i loosened drag up a bit in case my set was to hard. Helped a little.

You know you're in the right spot when they come up to say hello! lol I've been fortunate to have been able to spend enough time on the water that my intuition about situations is always improving. I've gotten pretty decent at having the confidence of knowing I am putting my lures in front of fish -even if they are not biting. If I have a really strong intuition about fish being at a particular location that is where I become very patient. I get impatient when my intuition is telling me I am fishing in the wrong place. Or sometimes, my intuition tells me I don't currently possess the skill or have the tackle along to catch em' in a particular situation. When that happens I bail and try something different!

They are certainly some quality fish for my neck of the woods so I was very pleased :) Its a fun way to catch em too when they gravitate to the creek like that!

The only thing that folks seemed kinda unclear about are the quarries being open -or not, back there. Seemed like mixed reviews on whether or not the quarries are open?? Also, if you have any insight into how truly sketchy it is back there? Should I worry about being jumped or having my car broke into?

@AnticipateTheBite people were being ridiculous because big fish are caught back there & in the last 4 years that place has gotten blown up. It's the east side so I don't leave anything of value in my truck bed but I've never had an issue with theft or fighting. The quarries are free game, I got told the dnr is opening that up as a public area soon and that smaller pit holds some slabs. If you'd like to ice fish it sometime I'd love to hang n put some topside!

@@DreadyEDDY710 I don't try to take much offense to anything most folks say. I get where folks are coming from -from most all perspectives.. I believe fishing has just gotten increasingly popular and with that there are just going to be more anglers at your (and everyone else's spots). Especially on parts of rivers where fish are more concentrated and folks know they can catch em' -and fish are just more accessible from the bank on a river.. Whether I am fishing with the crowd or fishing by myself the bottom line for me is just trying to fish better than everyone else lol If someone is outperforming me, it just means I have more to learn. I guess that has been my perspective. ...That being said though, lol, I always try to just find my own stuff away from the crowd.

@@DreadyEDDY710 BTW I will definitely fish those quarries with ya over winter if we get some safe ice!

Luckily I recognized the problem before it became a bigger problem! lol. It just took minute longer to fix with my sump being tied to the radon mitigation system in my house. Had to redo both.. Yes, I have been loving the rain, and so do the fish -every time! Whatcha been catchin??

@AnticipateTheBite Mostly small largemouth, but a lot. 25-30 per outing.

@@johnrecchia8731 Thats a lot of gosh darn bass lol. I honestly have no idea how many I catch in an outing. My most consistent lures right now are still a soft plastic swimbait, a small crankbait or hair jigs. You using something similar ..or finding other ways to get em' to go. Its going to get real tough now with the next week of really cold weather ahead. When it gets this cold I usually switch to primarily hair jigs and live bait. I still cant get those super cold fish to go on blade baits -though Ive read they can be cold water killers!

@AnticipateTheBite I'm primarily using wacky worm, various colors. I troll from spot to spot with shallow 8 ft diver, bluegill 6th sense. caught maybe 6 trolling. This weekend only 8-10 total per day. Not like previous weekends in the 15-20 range per outing. All largemouth, catch and released.

Appreciate it! Get a couple and fish em really slowly. I give a very thorough breakdown of how I fish the hair jig in the link... I think you will enjoy this video... kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5eYm3-vm798bq8

Much appreciated friend 🤝 Hope your getting plenty of opportunities to catch yourself some! 🎣

Heyo Dylan, I am in the central Iowa area :)

Thanks Tim! If you care to check out some of my recent videos prior to this trip I caught quite a few smallmouth and largemouth that make these fish look like childs play! September is always good to me! Thanks for watching the video, dropping a comment and your constant support. Very much appreciate it! 🤝

I've been giving this a lot of consideration lately as I know that the fly rod will give me that distance on those extremely light presentations! Never say never. Might just happen in the future :)

I really want to size down more I need to get another ultralight rod and set it up. 4 lb just gets me out of those snags. All those panfish like burying themselves in the rock and wood. Im afraid I'll lose a tons of jigheads sizing down any more than 4 lb!

Interesting! I will have to give it a try. Almost sounds like a carolina rig of sorts. When I fish these kind of conditions I would think that those fish would be distracted by that split shot. Its insane how easy some of these fish are deterred by just the slightest thing being off. Ill try it sometime! Thanks for the tip! 🤝🎣

They are. Even more beautiful with the fall colors starting to pop :)

Kei Tech impact they make a 4" and 4.5". First time I tried them out during the spawn an aggressive small mouth ripped it right off my line.

Comment is spot on :) I think it's a 3-3.5 inch though. Keitech makes a huge selection of soft plastic swimbaits and their color selection and sizes are fantastic.

@@AnticipateTheBite I like Keitech, their paddle tales have a pretty convincing silhouette. especially just after sundown. Odd ball thing I notice is a lot of KZbinrs pronounce kei (K) as kai for some reason

@@agreenr6915 That's how I read it in my head lol.

Appreciate you asking! Everything is situational, but at the end of the day it's really up to you and how you like to fish -and what you get comfortable with using :) I would say live bait probably works better for someone maybe new to fishing, but artificial lures can be just as effective under the right circumstances. Live bait works very well IF you know how to get the live bait to the fish. IMO, even when using live bait, fish can often sense that something is up and not natural and they'll even turn down live bait! IMO, at the end of the it comes down to learning how to find them under any given conditions, after that, giving them exactly what they want to eat or react aggressively toward. I have a ton of other shorts and long form videos if you'd like to click around some time. It will give you a brief idea of a lot of things I look for. There are a million variables in fishing and like everything else catching fish gets easier with practice -your expectations just change lol

Fellow novice here, I dove straight into using lures. Lures can be great if you want to be more active. Three things to keep in mind with lures: selection, cast placement and movement/retrieve.

@@agreenr6915 again, spot on 🤝

Heck yea John. Appreciate ya and glad to hear that some of the things I am sharing are working for you :). So excited for the changes coming in the very near future! Very much looking forward to a change in the seasons -though I have to admit I am kinda still hesitant in feeling the cold of winter. Do you mind me asking what the fish were averaging (best guess) on that trip out to Ada?

Average was 1 to 1.96 lb. All largest. Had to avoid the bluegill. LOL

@@johnrecchia8731 that sounds about right. I would say once those water temps start dropping below the 70 degree mark a chance at a larger one out there will go up quite a bit. I have seen some mega largemouth chilling out at Ada Hayden in the spring, but it has been some time since I've actually hooked one. I think a lot of those fish out there just suspend all year even in the Spring I rarely come by fish pushing 18-20" It would be an interesting lake to take livescope on. My experience, there's not a lot of cover or structure to find those fish set up on. I feel like they are always a moving target and they don't hold anywhere for too long.. My opinion. Ada is a tough nut to crack.

The chunks are either becoming incredibly smarter OR, what I believe, is they either don't exist anymore, fell victim to meat eaters(i don't believe this is the case), migrated away to more stable water, or are in a bad cycle the last few years. Whatever the case, big smallmouth are rapidly becoming increasingly harder to come by close to home. Love me a giant smallmouth -as you can tell in the video! lol. -Try hard to prioritize getting in some time on the water. It's good for the soul 🙂🤝🎣

yeah the drought the past few years probly is a contributing factor im sure. theres been alot of water this year which is great though i hope we get a few years like this to help them bounce back. when i was younger it was so much different. the average size smallie was 12-14 inches on the squaw and skunk and would also hook into 18's or bigger from time to time. but then there was a big fish kill from a farm spilling somthing into the skunk that they tried to say only affected a few mile stretch of the river but i think it killed all the baitfish in a much larger stretch and the river never really was the same after that sadly. i hope it gets back to how it was back then in my lifetime.

@@swere1240 2020 was the last year fishing was really good on the river. I could catch at least 1 or more 15-17" plus smallmouth EVERY TRIP. And back in 2020 I didn't even know what I was doing. There has definitely been some kind of (very noticeable) change.

This is not Palo lake. This is a retired quarry in more central Iowa. They must look similar?! Glad you dug the video and really appreciate that you took the time I drop a comment! That said, I hope Palo lake has made a return! It's always nice when water start turning up nice ones again :)

Heyo David! They certainly are fairly impressive Bluegill and I appreciate that you recognize that! An 8-9 inch gill is an absolutely impressive gill for sure! It's interesting you mention that -I was thinking about taking another stab at creating a 'The easiest way to catch bigger bluegill" short and long form video just yesterday. Might have to now! IN the mean time if you scroll a little ways down my shorts feed AND my long form videos feed you will find some videos on big Bluegill :). Thank you so much for taking the time to appreciate the big gillies. I love them too! 🤝🎣

@@AnticipateTheBite Thanks for the response dude! I just subscribed. You should def make a catching bigger bluegill vid. The times I caught Bluegill when I was younger are some of my favorite memories with my late father.

@@davidgatten1033 I will certainly make an effort to put one together before the snow starts falling! I am sorry your dad is no longer with us. I am happy to hear you were able to get that time in with him🎣🤝

Hey John, Really, truly appreciate and value the comment! I am always trying to make the videos better, more engaging all while being informative and educational. It's a lot tougher than I thought! But I also really enjoy the challenge, learning more and the process! Making a good video is just like fishing and slowly gets a little better with practice over time. As for the fishing trip -ultimately I ran out of time. I wish I could have fished breaks and sharper sloping bank cover that morning, to get a better idea of how the bass were holding on that cover, but it didn't happen. That's okay though! The flats were super fun and serving up some good ones. Not a single complaint from me from this outing! Again, really appreciate it, appreciate your support and encouragement and I hope you get out and catch a few yourself! 🤝

We'll call it a Neko weighted texas rig 👍🏻 There's a nail weight in the tail so you can pick the "weightless Texas rigged" worms "head" off the bottom.

​@@AnticipateTheBiteyeah but you hook a neko differently

​@@AnticipateTheBite looks like this would work pretty good tho

@@ethanliess4203 haha for sure! whatever the case.. it works great for sliding a worm over a bunch of crap! Some of the places I fish this time of year.. if I fish about anything else on bottom I just accumulate a bunch of stuff on my lure. This for sure helps me some!🤝

For sure! I was thinking about cutting out how worked up I got about it as I was reeling it in, but ya know, it was just a darn nice fish for my neck of the woods! The question now is how long will it be until I see another? lol

@AnticipateTheBite no way haha I liked the reaction as mine would've been the same, especially out of a quarry

I've not been there in some time. It's quite a walk out there! Really cool that you caught a Walleye out of the Skunk River! I've been meaning to check it out! It has changed a lot out there in the last couple of years. Really cool spot!

Thanks for the tip! I was thinking it was okay for smaller fish, but you are right! I did look it up and it does say you should only hold a smaller fish vertically by the lip. Appreciate it!

@@AnticipateTheBite no problem, i learned that lesson the hard way and i know we all hate when we hurt fish lol

@@sanguineswe4ts565 Agreed! Certainly don't want to cause unnecessary harm to the creatures that bring me so much joy! I will do better 🤝🎣

@@AnticipateTheBite happy fishing

It may very well be another spot then?? This spot does have a gravel boat ramp to get your craft to the water. I would love to give you more details about the spot, but I like to let the viewer find the spots on their own. I know thats not very helpful, but I do appreciate you asking and getting out there and exploring! Best of luck and let me know if you have any other questions in regards to catching crappie :D

Trying to be as helpful as I can :). It is very difficult to keep education entertaining. I am always trying to improve my videos to make them entertaining enough for a viewer to watch long enough and come away from a video learning something. Just like fishing, and everything else... there is never too much you can come to know or learn. Very much appreciate the compliment on the thumbnail!! It's very difficult to create a thumbnails that spark someone's interest without creating something that is not too "clickbaity" or too over exaggerated. Again, thank you so much for taking some time to watch the video, and even more for the comment! Likes and comments help immensely in helping drive the video to get more views. Incredibly helpful! Hope you're catching a few!🤝🎣

Thank you very much for the compliment sir! Comments like these are the reason I keep doing this. Though, I really hope I am teaching others a thing or two that will help them be successful as well. I love catching everything too. Crappie, bass and bluegill are available for me to catch really close to home -thats why I have so many crappie videos. Bass videos never do well, and I personally always prefer to catch a big crappie over a big bluegill lol. I don't catfish much because I enjoy working a lure and I don't believe that's how many folks catfish? lol. I really want to become more knowledgeable on Walleye, White Bass and Wiper... In time :). Thanks again for the comment and taking some time to watch. I appreciate it so much 🤝

I am really glad you asked that question! I would assume it is very likely illegal. In this particular video I am on vacation visiting a timeshare my mother-in-law owns so I had permission to fish off these particular docks. If I lived near or on Lake of the Ozarks and fished it regularly, what I would probably do is take an ice flasher on my kayak and vertical jig those fish from my kayak -instead of from the dock. I am not sure what the laws are in Missouri regarding this BUT in Iowa, as far as I know, you can fish areas like this as long as you are fishing from the water (in my case from a kayak). But, it is also likely that property owners will still hassle you from time to time. In this particular video, I just think it is really cool how, by just having an ice flasher, I can start to visualize how and why these crappie are relating to this dock. I never get to fish docks in my area so it was really cool for me to get to experience this crappie fishing opportunity. Thank you so much for your comment and thank you more for checking out a video 🤝🎣

It is very situational what weight I choose. Can you tell me what kind of body of water you are fishing or maybe how you are thinking you are going to try to catch the crappie you're after?? I may be able to give you a better idea of what I would try to do or how I might start.. Happy to help answer your question if i can!

@@AnticipateTheBite Hello sir, There are no crappie fish in my country. I just want to learn how to choose my jighead weight to catch perch in shallow water with ultralight tackle from the shore.

@@yasinozkaran4417 Hey friend, sorry for taking so long to respond! There are quite a few species of perch and their behaviors may be different than some of the fish I target. I have fish for yellow perch here in the United States a few times and if your perch are like ours and you're using plastics, I would just say use the lightest jighead you can get away with. To trigger the most bites for panfish and perch I always at least start with the smallest and lightest lures I can get away with. You can go really small if you're not dealing with any wind or current but the smaller you go the tougher it will be to get a long cast out of those really light lures. Hope that helps. Again, sorry for no responding for so long. My bad. 🤝🎣

...oh yea and the lighter the fishing line, the further you can throw those light lures :)

@@AnticipateTheBite Hello sir, thank you for your answer. I don't have much experience. Can I ask one more question to learn? What would be the disadvantages of using a light jighead in current water?

Appreciate it! I love doing bass videos. They have been taking a back seat to crappie fishing videos lately as I am finding it's very difficult to get any interest in bass videos -just too many out there already!!.. Ill check out your channel for sure! Extra thank you for taking the time to leave a comment -those keep me at it 🤝🎣

Right in the middle. I do all my fishing around Ames and Des Moines 👍🏻

Everywhere I go I either SLOWLY bottom bounce or SLOWLY swim bottom all while avoiding snags OR burn lures past em to get a reaction. Usually catch em' one way or the other. You got it!

1 lb 5 oz bluegill is definitely one heck of a gill! The largest I have ever caught was an 11.25" but never got a weight on it. In my area, I get really excited about anything that busts 10" for bluegill on public water.

By getting a few to fight over the lure. They weren't initially in much of a mood to bite until I figured out they would fight over a lure on this particular day. And you're not wrong! Bluegill pushing 10.5-11 inches are very elusive in my part of the country. Thanks for dropping by and I hope you're catching some yourself! 🤝🎣

Na I was just joking but those are some HUGE bluegill where I'm from you can't even catch big ones often because the green sunfish have overwhelmed them it kinda sucks

@@refrigerator_society Yea, I can relate actually. There are two ponds in my area that had that exact same thing happen. Only 4000 4 inch greenies follow your bait around. I gave those ponds each a few tries and have never been back.

The lighter setup certainly will help in particular situations. What I have definitely learned is that rod, reel, line, lures, weights, floats, presentations are all situational. It's using everything together to best suite the situation your fishing -and there are about 1000 variables to consider on any given day lol. Happy to have run into ya. And certainly hope a couple of my tips help you catch a few more in time 🤝🎣

I think I love crappie fishing because when I was a little kid I would go fishing every now and then and just catch bass, bluegill and bullhead (if I was lucky) -I never caught crappie. The other reason is I absolutely love their distinct "thump" of a jig. Just flat reeling, flat reeling, flat reeling.... THUMP. For me, that is addiction. The last reason is I never know when I am going to stumble upon a school of freaks -or what I would consider "freaks" lol. Really appreciate the comment. They all mean a lot to me. I could talk all day about fishing. Tight lines 🤝🎣