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Well my boy's BB game got canceled Saturday, so a buddy and I went to the power plant lake to try to find a few. The wind was way stronger than it was supposed to be, with white caps rolling most of the day on the main lake, and the 18* air temp at the ramp didn't feel good with the 15-20mph wind. Plus there was probably 20 groups of duck hunters scattered around the small lake, it sounded like a war zone out there. The bite was slow, my buddy only had 1 fish all day, I got on them a little better but it was still a grind, all of them were on slow moving baits. I caught a majority of them off a shallow point that has a creek channel swing on the end of it and lots of rocks and a few stumps scattered around it. It's a normal spot for me in the winter that is usually productive. This day the south wind was pushing the warm water from the outlet straight into it, which is a big deal on power plant lakes. I could see the gulls diving from across the lake, so I knew there was bait there. What was confusing to me, was it looked like there was a bunch of big logs on the bottom that had never been there on my sidescan. Well I was dragging my Ned rig through about 3' of water when one of those "logs", thumped my bait. I thought it was going to be a drum from the initial bite, but the hookset was so solid, and then it was just and unstoppable force as it headed out for deeper water. I tried to stay spotlocked, but I knew there was several stumps and actual logs, I was afraid it would get me wrapped and be gone, so I had to follow it. I was only armed with a 7' ML spinning rod with a 2000 size reel, 10lb Seguar Tactx to an 8lb Seaguar Grand Max leader tied to a homemade 1/16oz Ned head with a #2 hook, but we played Tug-O-War for over 20 minutes before the monster finally surfaced. I've never tried to put someone like that into the kayak, it wasn't easy. I got her head in the net and struggled for a minute or two, almost flipped the kayak towards her lifting over the side and then to the other side once we both slide back into the kayak. I've seen a lot of big catfish, I've never seen a fish like this one. My 50lb scale wasn't nearly big enough. I've caught several 50lb class fish, I've never struggled to lift one like I did with this fish. My gut says 70-75lbs, but I'll never know for sure.

Caught a beautiful 7.6 earlier on the A-Rig, along with a few other really fat 3lb class fish, hoping this marks the end of a nasty funk that's been going on for a few weeks caused by crashing water temps and stunned/dying young of the year Threadfin Shad. All you can eat shad buffets make it almost impossible to catch fish I've found. Fat bellies 😍

I bought a 1937 South Bend fishing catalog. Oh, how times have changed. The catalog is a hybrid of a book about fishing, as it shares info about different species, a fishing magazine, as it has articles about fishing, and a catalog. Here is the cover and four pages. I like how they put the species beneath their lures that the lures might attract. There are pages showing rods and reels too and photos of big, recent catches. If you'd like me to share anything I just mentioned, let me know and I'll photograph and post those pages.

Often times there's more to it than just catching bass . . . A-Jay

Hi all, As some of you know my wife is a recent cancer survivor. We were so lucky to have an amazing hospital with a very good cancer center near by, and her treatment was top notch. She and I were exploring ideas on how we might give back and came across an Idea that is a good fit for us. Besides fishing, my wifes main hobby is quilting and we found out the hospital could use Lap quilts for patients during infusions, chemo to help keep them warm and possibly take home. So my wife has been busy making quilts and bags to keep them in. Here's one we hung up to photograph and one of the storage bags she is making. Thanks for looking

Been quite a while since we've been out on the water! Able to take Pops out for his 80th right before my daughter had to head back to school. Only right he caught the first of the day. Fishing was pretty slow but we still managed a few. The three gen trips are always a good time...

Haven't been out in a few days....cold, snow, grandkids.... so about 3PM, the mercury nudged up over 30 and winds were under 10, I figured I had to get out. Only few bites before the iced up guides and level wind got the best of me. Shame, because they were all good ones. Best 2 were 4.8 and 3.5.

Hard to make ‘em look big if they aren’t, so I didn’t even try 😉 - lol. Kidding. Just 4 cookie cutters today on A-rig on another “too nice” of day. Water clear and floating around 48-50 degrees.

Finally managed to get out for the first time this year. Nothing crazy but it felt good to connect with some fish. Only fished for a few hours, managed 7, biggest one was a bit over 4lb on a bladed jig up against some reeds. Jerkbait and lipless got me a few, but bladed jig got the most. Also culled a tilapia, and had a nice little surprise with an ~11 inch crappie on the lipless. First fish of 2025 was also my first on the Vision 110. Best fish of the evening

Home lake put every boat in a 30-day quarantine with golden mussels being "discovered" well over an hour away, and after being rather upset my annual pass was worthless the past month it lessened the sting just a tad when they decided to allow non-motorized kayaks to access the lake without any quarantine or inspection. I had a short work day and figured I'd dust off the kayak to see how the lake was doing after no pressure for the past month. Afternoon air temps were in the 60's and water temps were upper 50's... no complaints there. Only had a couple hours to fish so figured I'd start with a ned since it tends to do well here in the winter. It did not disappoint with a solid spot within the first few minutes. Not going to complain about an almost 18" spot in January! Worked my way around the bridge mindlessly casting finesse baits while taking in how odd it was to be on an empty lake. Since finesse wasn't delivering any consistent bites I figured I'd switch it up and throw a swimbait. I almost couldn't believe my hands when I felt that hit! Couldn't have been happier with that plus-sized spot and figured it was the perfect time to call it a day.

My heart feels good with all your well wishes. Surgery went perfectly & Andy has me back home safe, sound & comfy with my puppies. Lynn

I'm not sure I've ever seen a bait that's more feast or famine than an A-Rig. We had a dramatic pressure drop and fast moving front approach yesterday afternoon, and it was like a light switch flipped. Caught 25.5lbs on the A-Rig in about two hours. 6.11 6.8 6.1

I got my unicorn today. A lot of close calls, but only 2 bites today. She bit a MB 110 FX late under cloudy skies just as sprinkles were moving in. Went 8.20 on the Rapala and 8-1/4 on the Chatillon. Water already warmed up to 55 degrees, but I’m sure that’s just surface. A good 4 days or more of rain next week will probably change everything.

I would like to say thank you to members scaleface and Jig Man. Two times I've made post talking about different baits over the years and both these guys have sent me some baits that they made themselves. The baits are excellent quality. Some really good guys on this site, and just one more reason that BR is the best bass fishing site on the internet. Scaleface and Jig Man, I appreciate your kindness and generosity. The world needs more guys like you. Thanks again.

Caught one on the june bug magnum speed worm. 43 degrees when I caught him. Hit it on the fall.

Went fishin Friday after work and got some threadfin for bait, they were slowly dying off at 45-46 water temp. Didn’t catch anything from 5:15-6:30 but kept the shad for today Today it was misty rain but not pouring so I went to a different spot. I followed loons all the way from the dock to where I wanted to try. Caught the first fish, a spotted bass, with a tiny fluke on a jighead. Tossed back into the same spot with a dead shad from Friday and something hit immediately, pulled hard then came off. Rebaited, try again and connected with a decent smallmouth. I was thinking this must be the spot but no more action for a while so I moved around, crossed the channel with no luck. Started heading back toward my starting point and got a nice white bass on a dead shad. I decided to toss the tiny fluke/jighead at the bank for a while got a good hit, boated a 19” smallmouth that jumped many times, always fun. Brought the spotted bass and white bass home for eating

Fished the power plant lake with my buddy today in our yaks. Weather wasn’t bad but pretty chilly, 21 at launch and 37 at take out but winds were pretty light so it made it more tolerable. The normal rock was was very unproductive, and Stony wanted to fish some different places we normally couldn’t get to, but I wanted to fish my flat point first, so we went there. We were immediately on fish, both fishing a Ned rig. I caught a football of a 17” fish that weighed 3.60. But I hadn’t even released mine when Stony hooked up with a tank that went 6.25. We caught several more small fish before it slowed down a little. I was slowly dragging my Ned rig on 10lb Seaguar TacX and 8lb Seaguar Pounce leader when my bait just disappeared. When I caught up set the hook, the fish bulldogged for deeper water and then under the kayak before sliding into the net. Not quite as heavy as most fish with a fish this size, but still a 4.73lb fish. We caught a few more little ones before we decided to go fish some other areas of the lake. I hung around a little longer than Stony and started to notice what looked like schooling activity to me and caught a few fish before I left and caught up with Stony, but I kept thinking about those fish. A couple hours later, I had one small fish and lost a big one on a crankbait. I told Stony I was going to spend my last couple hours on the flat point and he thought that was a good idea. They were biting again right away and the schooling activities had ramped up. They were chasing shad on the point and into the shallow pocket next to it. I caught several small ones off the point, but the fish in the pocket looked bigger. I caught one on a 2tap that was a little bigger and called Stony over and told him what was happening. He took that information and immediately stuck a good one. I don’t think he weighed it but it was another 4-5 pound fish. I rotated through several baits trying to find something different. I took off the 2tap and put on an Ima Suspending lipless. First cast I pulled it down and paused and got thumped. I knew it was a good one, but the mini blimp that surfaced was bigger than I expected, and it liked what I was throwing. I though she might go 7 but not quite long enough, still a little over 6.5lbs, biggest of the year so far. We made a few more cast but both had to get on the road. A great winter day on the water.

First one of 2025!

I've experienced 7 decades and my strength, balance, dexterity, and vision are failing accordingly. I've made several accommodations to continue my favorite pastime: 1. I tie my boat to the dock cleat from a boat cleat positioned mid-point of either side of the boat (not from bow or stern). Less stumbling around in the boat and is more stable. 2. I've rigged a wooden shovel handle to fit in a rod holder bracket to assist my balance when boarding and un-boarding when a sturdy dock post isn't available. 3. I wear a pfd ALWAYS when in the boat. 4. I wear a lanyard that carries fishing license, my personal identification AND a very loud plastic referee's whistle. 5. My phone is NOT in my pocket but near my driving seat. (It wont work after being dunked should I fall in) 6. I've given up any free standing when fishing (am always sitting or using a seat post) 7. I use a long handle net for boating most fish. 8. I anchor more often when in a stiff breeze. 9. I've begun using clips to attach crankbaits, top water lures and jerkbaits. If you've made other accommodations in your fishing I'd like to read them. oe

Caught a nice 7.2 yesterday on the Queen Tackle Rollin Strollin/Drift Fry combo. Tried to make a complete video showing the ridiculous action on this bait but the stupid editing program kept getting buggy. This is the second season of using these Drift Fry, and the novelty keeps growing. That front lip makes the bait almost stand still while aggressively rolling, it's the closest bait I've ever seen to matching what a stunned Threadfin Shad does in cold water. They do this thing where they roll on their sides and the right themselves. Adding the elastomer models was the final cherry on top. I think it's the coolest fishing lure I've ever owned.

We had dinner with friends scheduled at 6:30, figured I would squeeze in a short trip to quarry from 5-6. Caught 5, all the exact same size. I’ve fished here for 3 or 4 years and never caught a bass of any different size haha. One of them had some black markings, pretty cool. Its eyes were bugged out too, I think I pulled it from way deep. It swam straight back down vertically when I let it go. Some parts of the quarry your lure never hits the bottom so no clue how deep. Fun way to pass an hour

Thanks for the tips Tim! I've found that is definitely the case when the bait is deep and I use a Damiki Rig and 2D sonar. There are times when I just don't think these fish will eat an artificial bait without putting the bait on their nose. Earlier I was around a ton of bait, typical frenetic schooling activity for hours with an untold amount of Bass, but these fish are dang near impossible to catch. When you do catch one though, they are freak shows and usually spit up half dozen shad. The fish are always really fat during the winter on this lake, but this year is just different. Did catch a nice 6.10 fish on the 1/8th Queen Tackle Rollin Strollin Jighead and the new elastomer Drift Fry 4.0 in flashing bait. If you're in rolling action, you will not find a better combo than that. This 3lb class fish was a perfect football, and you can see some shad it discarded in the water.

I wonder where @ABU is overpriced stands on this one ? A-Jay

Last trips before the Arctic blast. Hitched a ride with a friend for about 90 min Fri, then put in 3 hours today in steady 20 mph winds gusting to 35 as the high pressure system barrels in. Was 57 when I launched, but just 45 when I left a few hours later. Cooling off fast. Avoided a blank both trips though - got 3 or 4 Fri and 2 today. Water 43-44. That’s it for at least a week.

I saw this pic and realized I forgot to post it to impress (should be in other species thread, but meh). This is by far the smallest fish I have ever caught - it was wedged in the bill/split ring, but I still landed it Still a pretty fish

If I have to walk a bank, wade a creek, push pole a perouge, run a Jon boat back in a marsh, or a 20' BassCat on Toledo Bend. If I have to drag a lure behind the boat, throw a Crappie jig at bass on a screen, stroke a Jig-n-Craw in 30', punch through matted vegetation. I'm gonna catch bass by whatever means necessary.

Finally got back out again after nearly 2 weeks of down time. Sadly, two lakes nearby are currently closed, limiting my options. Bluebird day, but a high of 80 and light and variable winds. Only bites I could buy were on A-rig today. Cloudy and nearly 20 degrees cooler tomorrow if I get one more chance to go this week.

The weather finally took a turn for the better (75° and sunny right now at 2:15 pm). Little chilly in the early morning so I waited until after 9:00 am to hit the water. Nothing on nothing, and I mean nothing…except for a weightless green pumpkin Rage Menace on a 3/0 EWG. Only caught three, but the first was 3 lbs, the 2nd almost 2.5 and the 3rd was 1.5 lbs. Lotta fun with a Daiwa Revros LT2000 on a St. Croix Bass-X MLF rod (20 lb. braid to 8 lb. mono leader). Four hours-three bass. Which was exactly three more than anyone else caught lol. The last one was gut-hooked. Got the hook out successfully through the gills but I wanted it back in the water ASAP. All good!

24 days later I can officially announce a very happy ending to my lost GoPro data saga. While I wasn't able to recover the entire cast to catch video, or other ones from that day due to not wanting to spend more money, they were able to recover the one video I wanted most which starts the moment the fish is in the net. It's total amateur hour with me being in half a state of shock hooking myself 50 ways from Sunday so don't judge me too harshly 😅 Jeremy at Recovermyflashdrive.com is truly a magician and miracle worker. He's extremely fair with regard to pricing. It should have been a flat rate to recover the full 128gb, however GoPro files require more extensive work. If he would have recovered everything on the card, it would have cost about $1450 which I just couldn't do. @Bluebasser86 It might worth sending your card to Jeremy, especially if you think you might not need everything recovered and you can help him home in where exactly the data is you most want off the card. Lastly, a huge thanks for all the love and support from my friends here when it happened......I was crushed and you folks made me feel better! Katie was even checking in to see how the progress was going.....everybody should be so lucky to have a pal like Katie in your corner.

We made it above freezing today , got out in the kayak and caught a few. One LM had a lamprey on the top of its head, thankfully it fell off while boating the fish. You can see the scar on its head in the picture Tried to go back upstream of the dock to catch some crappie and the water was frozen…….. called it quits after that . Beautiful day, fun paddle

Good ol’ California, got this guy in a small local lake in about 2-3ft of water in the evening flipping a rage bug near some tules. Weather has been very nice, but we definitely need some rain.

Dang you guys...I knew this place was special but you all are showing just how special it really is. I can't lie, my spirits are pretty dark right now but reading this thread has definitely lifted me up. I honestly can't express enough how much each and every one of you mean to me. I mean it. Love you all, Galen (don't ask...my mom told me once I was named after one of the ape's from the original Planet of the Apes- which there was an ape named Galen on there- but my dad insists I was named after 'Doc' Dr. Galen Adams from Gunsmoke. I always went with my dad's answer)

Having written more about jigs then most members we have discussed hooks, head shapes, weight and trailers. Skirts have been discussed usually colors and strand count for silicone tabs. We talk about hair and marabou feathers. So let’s discuss what a skirts does and why use all of the above. What does a skirts do on a bass jig? We agree it adds color. Why would you use living rubber skirts vs a silicone skirts or hair? The answer may surprise you! Jig skirts change the rate of fall without changing the jig weight or shape. Hair or feathers fall the fastest because the material folds tight to the body providing a streamline shape with water resistance. When hair or feathers stop moving landing on the bottom they flare out appearing to be alive. Living rubber skirts are the opposite the rubber strands puff out when falling through the water column slowing the rate of fall and have a lot of strand movements looking alive on the fall. Color is limited. Silicone strands are somewhere in between fall faster then living rubber and slower hair or feathers. Silicone strands don’t provide a lot movement itself but colors are unlimited. Silicone skirts advantage is color appealing more to anglers imo then bass imo. Jig skirts are important for the above reasons but it’s the combination of adding trailers that completes a bass jig. Tom

First couple nice ones of the year on the fairy wand and minnow. The 5.14 was caught Damiki Rigging a 1/4oz Deps MIDST/Drift Fry in about 20ft using 2D sonar. The 5.8 was caught bottom strolling the same Drift Fry setup in about 20ft as well. That Deps MIDST is a great jighead to use if you want to bottom stroll as it's the only purpose built strolling jighead that incorporates a weed guard to my knowledge. Really allows you to open up another zone of life to target with your minnow game.

This will sound silly but to catch big bass you must fish for them where they live. Can’t catch em if you don’t fish where they are at. For whatever reason became fascinated catching the biggest bass where I fished. Study big bass habits and learned everything you can about them. For example big bass are females. Female bass are their heaviest weight prior to spawning or “pre spawn’ and feeding heavily to add body weight to get them through the spawn cycle without feeding. The big females don’t eat once they start laying eggs. The big bass will protect their beds but that is a makes basses primary duty. Target the big girls before they go onto beds! Big bass ear high protein prey and avoid spiny prey like bluegill. Sat what big bass avoid eating bluegill!….yes! Big spawner’s will attack any egg eater like bluegills but not as a high protein prey source! The big girls prefer softer ray less spiny prey fish and crawdads. You want to catch big pre spawn bass use lures that replicate their preferred prey source. Tom

First Fat Bass of February! Well, not actually. I caught three before this one and one after, but she was the fattest! Water temp started at 42 deg. but rose to 48 deg. by late afternoon. Unfortunately, so did the wind. By very early afternoon it was whitecapping and my day was done. Managed four fat ones at Nickajack and really pumped about what the future holds! Wanted to bring her back to my pond for some new genetics but she went belly up in the livewell, and with a couple hours to fish, and over an hour drive home, I reluctantly let her go. I'm not risking killing one just for my hobby. She didn't belly up when I put her back. She found a new gear and was GONE!

Heads Up! I will be locking the forums at 8pm Pacific Thursday evening so we can perform a server migration. I expect this to take several hours as there's a LOT of data to move. While it's a slim possibility, it could take several days if we run into unexpected issues. I will do everything possible to make the disruption as short as possible. Thanks in advance for your patience! Glenn

What's your bass fishing superpower? It might be reading an FFS screen or casting or skipping or boat control or record keeping or having good hunches or anything else. Only share one: Mine is paddling. I fish some pretty tight quarters where I have to squishedy-squeeze my canoe through the slots and there are rocks and trees that I cannot bump or I'll spook the bass, so I have to paddle like a creeping cat. Plus, I often have to paddle several miles, which requires straight line paddling and efficient strokes. The pics below aren't to share bass I've caught, but where I catch them. For me, good paddling lets me fish places like this:

Hi all, I feel so lucky to be able to sit at my computer, look out the sliding glass door and enjoy the wildlife. Every day brings a new sight. Took these pics in the last couple of days. The red marker is to help warn birds from hitting the glass. Thanks for looking.

Since we seem to be on a roll with the dinks I'll share one too. I caught some of the fish that @roadwarrior doesn't like to see in January, but this is my first bass of 2025. It's not big, but it had nice coloration. Hopefully, it will hang around this area so I can catch it again when it grows up.

Got out extra early yesterday to beat the crowd on what was supposed to be a super nice day. Parked my kayak on the bank in the dark and put some cat rods out and wasn't there 5 minutes when one took off and I had a nice blue on the bank. Nothing else after that so I started chasing bass. Same spot as last week, about a 100 yard wide point that I just worked back and forth across. They must not be generating much because the water temps had dropped from 53 last weekend to 47 this weekend, not good for power plant fish. I was still picking one off every now and then and avoiding the circus of boats I could see across the lake on the bluff walls. I even managed to pick off another nice one on my Ned, just a touch over 5 pounds. Unfortunately, one of the clowns from the circus decided I was having too much fun and put an end to that. They rolled up and started driving back and forth across my shallow point, scanning and pointing around. They had spider rod holders on the back so I assumed they were catfishermen that were going to hopefully anchor out a little bit and give me a little space. Nope, they drove right over the top of my point and beached it, then started throwing what looked like handfulls of brown gravel all over into the water?? I was fuming, but just kept fishing because unfortunately, they had done nothing actually wrong. Then the lines started flying, to each side of me, way out into the water, on fairly light and long spinning rods? I thought maybe channel cat fishing until they got their first bite and landed the fish. They were carp fishing. There's a carp every square foot in this lake, and they decided to do it right on top of where I was trying to fish. I thought about dragging a big jig through their lines. I thought about grinding a deep crank through their lines, thought about tossing my throw net all around the point, but instead, I fished a little bit longer and left. The saying "2 wrongs don't make a right", kept going through my head and I decided not to let them win by making me get down on their level. Instead, I loaded up and drove to a different lake to check on the ice, only to find out it was completely thawed. I spent the last 2.5 hours of my day catching 30 more bass, all small, but it felt like a reward for keeping my composure. The hole jumpers sitting on top of my footprints from the morning. I got bit on the back of their transom while they were rigging their rods.

Just so y'all know - there are still living bass in NC THANK GOD!!! On the provoke at sunset yesterday. Boy that felt nice 🥹🥹🥹❤️❤️❤️

Went with the wife and k9 mango to the quarry from 5-6 pm. Caught one little bass where the water flows out of a cave into the pond. The girls saw lots of birds and scared 4 deer. Fun evening !

Caught 28 + 2 Crappie + 1 big Channel Cat in the middle of what seemed like millions of shad, and hundreds of Bass. At one point I watched a wolf pack of 15-20 fish cruising on the surface. I knew they did that when corralling bait, but it's the first time they were close enough to the surface for me to witness. Bass will never stop impressing me, they're just such a supreme predator. I watched a 25-30lb sack blow up all around me for hour after hour but never even caught a single big one. I've said it a number of times in this thread over the last several years, but schooling Bass can easily be one of the most frustrating things I've experienced in life. Watching 5lb+ fish clear the water over and over and not being able to catch them is akin to being waterboarded 😂

Today’s catch of the day is this Floridian shivering during a Texas cold front holding a 12 bass. 12 ounces. We caught small ones today. I picked up 3 more. Where are the bigger fish???

Sacked up a bit over 21lbs for a nice day. The 6.5 came on the Deps MIDST 1/4oz Drift Fry combo.....then the other 4 fish that made the bag were between 3.5-4lbs and all came on the spinnerbait. If I'm catching them on a spinnerbait, I've thrown the entire tacklebox 😆

Lynn's new mediport got it first use this morning. While the surrounding tissue is still healing, I'm Happy to report the port access and subsequent infusion when off without a hitch. Be nice if this unit lasted 12 years as well. After lunch we even played in the snow with the dogs for a while. It's the little things A-Jay

Since I pretty much sit around all day looking for the end of YouTube, I figured I’d get out and do something… Got hired by Cabela’s today to work in the fishing section. 50% off anything BPS branded (hello new guide wear) and 15-20% off of everything else. This could get interesting…

I lost 2 potential world record LMB. The 1st was at Lower Otay that wrapped my line around another boats anchor line. I didn’t see that bass but a highly skilled angler in the other boat did saying it at least a 30” bass. Because I didn’t see that fish it doesn’t wake me up at night. The 20+ lb FLMB happened at Castiac lake at trout point and I clearly got a good look at that bass that broke me off going over the point and remember every detail as if it just happened. This is my nightmare bass that wakes me up 32 years laters. Tom

If I catch a big bass it is because of my superior bass fishing skill. If some one else catches a big bass, they just got lucky.