Ive been removing a bunch of those 8-12" bass out of my pond and a Rostertail was working great. I caught 60 last weekend. I noticed yesterday that they would swim up behind it and get a good look then turn away. I think they figured it out. Does anyone know of some different types of really small lures that may work to catch these small fish?

My favorite lure for catching 8"-12" bass that are a bit hook shy is the 3 1/4" Lunker City Fin-S Shad in a natural color, Texas rigged with no weight on 4-6 pound mono or fluoro. Use a ultralight set up so you can cast it, and reel it in, twitching as you go making it dart and dash. It's weedless so weeds are a problem and little 8"-12" bass just love it. You can also slow it down and catch plenty of fish in colder water.

I had actually picked some of them up a academy last night except I thing the ones I got were only about 2". So you saying just rig them with a hook and don't use any weight?

http://www.wikihow.com/Texas-Rig-a-Plastic-Worm Just skip the weight... Or use a VERY light weight, like a 1/32 or 1/16 bullet weight. Those sizes can be tough to find at times though. Bass Pro usually has them in stock if you have a store near by... I'll add the weight if I want the rig to go a bit deeper. For the 3 1/4" size Fin-S I like a size 1 or 1/0 hook, but sometimes as small as a 2.

If I really need to catch fish, I use minnows and 4 pound line. No cork.

Roostertails are a great lure for that. Use the same lure but try a different retrieve. Sometimes a faster retrieve gives them less time to think about it and you can get a reactionary strike. Or change colors.

The small sunfish swim bait works great, probably better than any artificial I have tried so far. Colored like a longear sunfish, tail wiggles, has treble hooks. I've caught from ~7" up to 16" with it. Not crazy about the treble hooks, but if you're frying them, it doesn't matter much.

I have used a black and silver 2 to 3 inch jointed rapala and caught 22 one day. They work pretty good. Plus a very small hula popper works good.

Roostertails are a great lure for that. Use the same lure but try a different retrieve. Sometimes a faster retrieve gives them less time to think about it and you can get a reactionary strike. Or change colors.

Ya this seems to be the one they hit the most in my pond. Take needlenose and close the barb down. If your catching and releasing.

I found this tiny chatterbait (about 2 inches long, the chatter plate is no more than a half of an inch, so 2.5 inches together) on a heavy jighead (3/8) with a chartreuse skirt and a white grub on the hook last year, the little bass hit it over and over again in all of my normal fishing spots. I plan on using it in my dad's pond to harvest a bunch of his skinny bass come when i get up there this summer. I don't know where it was purchased, but I'd love to find another (got this one out of a tree while ice fishing 2 years back). different colors would be great too, if anyone has seen the ones i am talking about. Cabellas didn't have one this small last i checked, but their big bucktail chatterbait is a good one for fish of all kinds.

If you can, post a pic of it.

I brought a couple of those the other day at academy. They had a chatter bait and a chatter minnow. I haven't tried them out yet though.

Did they look like this ?

looks just like this but the chatter plate is a little smaller...otherwise spot on.
1/4 oz chatters
the head+skirt is 2"...i imagine the skirt's been cut to make it that way. The plate is about 1/4 the length of the body. The trailer is just a forked white soft plastic grub. Little bass love the look, and i've presented it jigging up and down off the bottom as well as reeling like a spinner. Works awesome.

I have been catching small bass with these...

http://www.finksbaitandtackle.com/catalog/phoebe.gif

1/12th ounce in gold.

The treble hooks tear the fish up though.

These are to two small chatterbaits I know of...

Z-Man Chatter Micro

My personal favorite is this one: Z-Man Chatter panfish/trout I've caught a lot of smallies on it...

I have had a lot of luck early using Rapela floating minnow lures and also Rooster Tails. I think I need to make a trip and get some additional colors just to change it up on them.

I've got a jointed Rapela minnow (yellow and green) I haven't tried yet.

Chartreuse Curly Tail Grub w/ a 1/4-1/8 ounce jighead.

They also seem to hammer floating - 4' stick baits in a yellow perch pattern or baby LMB pattern.

If you have a fly rod they will crush little poppers. So will BG.

use a 4" finesse worm on a 1/4 or 1/8 oz shakey head jig. bass can't stand it.

I gotta go with a white 1/8 oz. Roostertail fished 5 or 6 feet off the bank as number one followed not too close by Steven Bates shakey head.

Call me crazy but I have never fished a roostertail. I just thought they would not catch bass. Anyway forgive me but how do you fish it? I may have to add one to the tackle box, if nothing less its an excuse to go to the outdoor stores.

I rotate thru a spoon, usually a daredevil or lil cleo and a spinner, either a roostertail, mepps or a blue fox. Once they quit biting one I switch off to the other. If they are pellet fed I may use a scent, gulp worm.

for 1/8 oz Rooster tail, 4-6lb line. Cast, take up slack give it a quick snap to get the blade going then retrieve at medium speed. You'll should be able to feel the load when the blade is turning.

JMHO

I don't fish with them for bass much as I think there are better baits, but they will catch bass. Pressured bass don't seem to be fooled by them. They aren't a finesse bait and they aren't for lethargic fish. They cover a lot of water, so if the fish are active you can put it in front of a lot of fish's face.

As far as how to fish them... I use them mostly for trout, however the methods are much the same. In a pond, I like to cast perpendicular to the shore. Depending on water depth, I'll count anywhere from 1-10 seconds to give the roostertail a while to sink and then I'll start cranking. Usually a steady retrieve works best, speed varies, but usually on the fast end. Bass sometimes like when you pause and twitch them to throw some erratic action into them. My buddy swears by them for catching small river walleye. Something he did he could get walleye, usually in the 8"-12" range to just hammer his. I could never duplicate it.

My favorite culling bait is a 3" "senko-type" bait in green/white - fished on UL rod with no weight and a 1/0 or 2/0 hook.

Roostertails work well but my pond has too many snags to keep it from being hung on sticks, stumps, and logs all the time.

At the right time of the year/day, a tiny torpedo works well and is by far the most fun because I love those "blow-ups" on top-water baits!

Also, those li'l chatterbaits that others are talking about are great too. I've lost all mine but I plan to get some more.

The 1/8 oz. blue fox vibrax minnow spins are great, along with beetle spins and those Creme lil fishie lures.

Try a Kalin crappie grub or a 2 inch countdown Rapala. They both work well.
Good luck and good fishing.
Dan

Any weightless fluke and, the best bait ever made, a 4.8 Jackall Flick Shake with a weightless 1 or 2 circle hook. They're very soft, but they keep their action even in colder water.

Al, how would you ever keep the bluegills off something like that worm?

Al, I agree with the SINKOS. I like white too. Also Beatles spins are great too

rooster tails and little tiny broke back rebels work good in my pond for the small guys. i also just go around with a and tiny pole and cast crappie minnows on a really small blue hook just a hook thats it and really do well that way.

DD1, you can't keep them off. The weird thing is though like a lot of soft baits, the BG hits are more violent that the LMB hits. I've caught multiple CNB on the wacky worm rig, but they're usually huge and very fun to catch. If the tug is there, or the line just starts moving sideways, it's usually a LMB.

To be more specific, I try to throw the wacky rig just on top of grass, then let it fall slowly down the edge. The smaller LMB just can't seem to resist the temptation.

The way I fish my lake is a result of my Primrose and American Pond weed, which hold loads of bait fish, and that keeps the LMB close.

If it's open water, then I think everybody else is on point. Roadrunners, chatter baits, and stick baits all work very well.