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Usually, I'll fish right up through November. But with the truck in need of some TLC, I decided to call it a season and put the boat up for the year. But not before one last outing! I really wanted one more good fish to end the year on. The fall season is in full swing here, with the daytime highs not even cracking 70° and the nights dipping well below 40°. With a strong cold front moving in, I was hoping the fishing would be hot. The pickerel were certainly active. I boated 10-12 big picks, with another half dozen coming off at the boat. But I wasn't there to catch pickerel! In between the pickerel, I boated one 2lb bass and had another come off boatside. We started to head in, as the temps were dropping fast and it looked like rain. On our way in, we stopped and fished a mid-lake brush pile that sticks out of the water. I pitched a @Siebert Outdoors grass jig with a paca craw trailer deep into the brush pile. I felt it hit branches, then bottom, then a hard thump. I set the hook, and stuck the good fish I was hoping to end the year with. This 4lb football-shaped girl should be the last fish of the 2016 season for me!

Apologies in advance. Just can't hardly believe this is real.

When it comes to selecting colors everyone has their own personal repertoire of confusion! I have seen days/nights where color made absolutely no difference what so ever. Many times I've seen 4-5 boats with 2 anglers per boat, all within casting distance of each other, all throwing Baby Brush Hogs in various colors, & all catching quality/quaintly. I have seen days/nights where color made all the difference in the world. Back in the 70s I set a record for the largest 15 bass sack with a 3/8 oz spinnerbait with a pink/chartreuse skirt & a #5 chartreuse Colorado blade...2 nd & 3 rd place was Larry Nixon & Tommy Martin...we were all in the same cove. I have seen days/nights where I had to constantly change colors to continue getting bit! Colors at night I throw the same colors at night that have been productive during the day. If I'm on a productive pattern that includes a Redbug worm you can bet your sweet bippy that I'll be throwing that worm after the sun sets! I let the bass tell me, hey dummy I don't like that color no mo! Spinnerbaits, crankbaits, buzzbaits, chatterbaits ect I feel flash & vibration are more important than color...see the top three comments! That's good start from a dumb Cajun

My last tournament win was an interesting one... I was pretty pumped to make the 8 hr drive to NNY from Arlington to fish an ABA event on my "home" lake. I always do well there and know the lake better than most anglers in the area. I have so many "sure" spots where I know I can pull out good fish/winning fish. When I hit 3 of my best spots in the morning without so much as a sniff, I went into early panic mode. This NEVER happens to me on this lake. I started driving around and stopping at places I've never even fished before, that didn't even look good, and that I had zero confidence in. I hardly even fished the spots either. I'd pull up, drop the trolling motor, take two casts, then pick up and leave! What the heck was I doing??!! I decided to head back to a section of the lake I had intimate knowledge of in hopes I could settle down and get a bite. Normally I'm working at warp speed on a tournament. I don't eat, only drink when the big motor is going, etc. Taking breaks is just something I don't do. This time was different. I was having a weird fit of anxiety for some reason and knew I had to do something to calm down. So I did it...I actually took a timeout 3 hrs into this tournament. I turned off the motor, dropped everything and just sat on the deck for five minutes. Turns out that's all I needed. It was like hitting the reset button on the Super Nintendo. I started fresh, picking apart areas I hadn't fished in years and the bites started coming. I had filled out my limit in the next 2 hrs, nothing to write home about but a solid bag. I decided to hit a small hump on this massive flat that had really good grass on it for one season about 6 years ago. I had had all but written it off because after that one season, the grass was never there. Man, what a good decision. The grass was there and better than 6 yrs ago. The bass thought so too. There was a nice school sitting in a spot the size of my 16ft tracker. In the hr to follow, I boated 9 keepers outta the spot including the day's lunker, a solid 5.04 pounder. With the added weight, I thought I had a really good shot of earning a top 3 finish which was awesome because of the rough start to my day. I decided to hit one last spot close to the ramp that I've had some success on in the past, but early in the season. I've actually never fished the spot in late summer so my expectations weren't very high. With 10 mins left on the clock, I stung a 4lb largie. I was jacked! 10 mins left and a 2lb cull... That's way more than you can ask for in a tourney! But it get's better...I make my cull, jump on the front deck and stick a 3lb+ smallie not five feet from where that last fish was sitting, on my very next pitch! Another 1.5lb cull. I packed it in and rushed to the ramp with 2 mins to spare. I finished with 17lbs+ for the win. I know the day sounded a lot like 100%, grade A luck, and to some extant, there definitely was some involved. I do know, however, that if I didn't take that timeout to settle down, the positive juices wouldn't have started flowing and I wouldn't have even put myself in contention to do well, let alone win. So if you're having a tough day on the water and you start feeling like you're running around like chicken with your head cut off.....CALL THAT TIMEOUT! Things can turn around in a heart beat!

DELAVAN report On the water for a couple of hours yesterday: Water temp. 65, wind SW @ 17mph 8 bass, biggest was 19in. And three pike. 15-18ft. Got all but one bass and one pike on a One Knocker and everything else on a 1/2oz. Single willow spinnerbait Only six trailers in the parking lot I love this fishery

It's easy as pie to take a kid fishing. Evan loves fishing and his Dad works a ton of hours. My work schedule is a combination of days & nights so I have the time. Evan's also finishing chemotherapy so the more he's outside the stronger he gets. Now that it's getting colder, I'm going to take him to Houghton's Pond to try for trout.

I really wonder what some of you guys do to straighten hooks out. I land 5lb + smallmouth just about every year on 1/16oz hair jigs with a size #2 light wire hook and not even a hint of a bend. The biggest problem I see is guys using the wrong tackle for the application, I see guys fishing shaky heads with small 5" worms on a 1/8oz head using a 7' MH rod with 30lb braid and a 12lb fluorocarbon leader and then complain when the hook bends out. Sorry for the rant but I'm guessing you are hooking musky and you are either using heavy fluorocarbon or braid and if that is the case, well you are using the wrong hook. The skip gap isn't a light wire hook, it is what is known as a standard or medium wire and you should be good with that up to about 12# line with a MH rod, anything over that can apply enough pressure to bend the hook. If you have to use a heavy braid or fluorocarbon or even mono in heavy cover, a heavy tube hook would serve you better like a Gamakatsu superline hook.

To me, changing colors (and some other details ) "correlation without causation ". There's no way to know if you would have caught the fish or not if you hadn't changed.

I can't tell you how many thousands of bass I've caught on black Fireline with no leader. If black line is a no-no, how did I catch anything?

Finally got my old man out to do some fall smallie fishing last week. Fish were on fire in the 28-42 foot flats, chasing small herrings. Multiple double headers and scraped up a 24-25 pound bag of them. Still no fall giants showing up for us, but with the weather finally starting to cool off, they should put on the feed bag and get fat for us.

Just got a new (to me) pickup truck! I was driving a Toyota Corolla and it was nice but I like the pickup! I was looking for a Tundra but a coworker of mine had a 2004 F-150 w/118k miles, mostly highway, w/no damage or anything. Because we were friends and he has a newer truck he drove more he gave it to me for $3,500! Looks impeccable. Put $300 into tune ups and have some upgrades planned for it soon. Hopefully I am starting work on putting in a new stereo tonight!

Color: A solution that's solved by the Individual. I have certain colors I prefer and while I have tons of different colors I usually relay on 5. I do have a feeling these colors work because I "believe" they will work and to me confidence has as much to do with catching fish as color. I feel the manufactures produce so many different colors because we fisherman are pavlovian in that the ability to see what we like makes us(fisherman) buy. That being said I do happen to believe there are a few days here or there that color will make a difference but I know the five(5) colors that are mainstays for me will cover this. In the end If you are fishing In the right place your chances of getting bit go up dramatically no matter the color. Just and opinion from an ol' country boy.

Something weighing 10 ounces is considered heavy....LOL!.... Lou Ferrigno, report to the boat dock please. Co-angler needed immediately! Hootie

And on the eighth day God commanded Adam to tie a fluoro leader to his braid if the braid color bothered Eve... oe

I find it hilarious that everyone keeps talking about how young the Red Sox are - even the announcers for TBS. Look at the youth on the Indians! Boston screwed up by firing Francona. Cleveland is happy to have Tito back home in Cleveland where he belongs . ?

Awesome! Looks like you got a good deal - too bad it's a FORD JK...you know how it goes

Man, Jon Lester is tough in the Post Season. Why can't the Sox get a guy like that?!?!...oh, wait a minute. Better leave the bottles corked for now, does 2007 ALCS ring a bell? Just joking with you. The Indians were certainly prepared the first 2 games and I do think your manager is out managing the Sox. Again, why can't the Sox get a manager like that?!?!

Bass will eat an A-rig with 5 thick wire arms, snap-swivels, tied to thick braided line, and it's most effective in fairly clear water. If they're such a spooky, line shy little fish then this bait should send every fish in the lake running and hiding. Are there occasions when line visibility matters? Probably. Of the things that effect how many fish I put in the boat, I don't feel line visibility is even in the top 10 on an average day.

When I saw Lews in the thread title I had to jump in. One more and I'll be at a dozen.. they work for me. I'm sticking with them. Plus, the service is outstanding. I can't say I have a favorite. Each reel does exactly what I need from it. Go Lews!

Shape and bait density both come into play as will hook size and placement in the case of a wacky rig. The Ocho is a great bait for wacky rigging that doesn't get talked about a lot. The Havoc Flat Dawg is another great wacky rig bait (although fragile), that doesn't get talked about much.

Congratulations on your new PB!Hard to tell from a picture but she looks to be around 6-7 pounds.

I wish I would've learned sooner that a palomar knot is way better than a cinch knot.

Watching the last two Red Sox games has been Frustrating & Very Painful ~ I have enjoyed watching them All Season - I did not however find anything remotely pleasant about their most recent performances. A-Jay

Tom I'd be more than willing to send you most ALL of ours ~ A-Jay

Pretty common practice for the walleye guys oe

I've read an awful lot on light, color, and fish vision, and even talked to some of the big-wig researchers in the field. I "know" a lot. I can certainly talk theory. But I've never seen enough on the water to make color a major factor for me. I think I've seen some real empirical evidences -and I've got my druthers- but I also simply don't trust angling enough as a sampling method to say I "know". I've also seen and heard of too many instances like one KVD offers in one of his books on color (paraphrased): "A group of top finishers in a tournament were out sharing a main lake point, working hard, and catching fish on plastic worms. What was interesting was we had all divined a color that worked best. What was most interesting was that we had all divined a different color." I like Al Lindner's take (paraphrased): "Factors that affect fishing are like a giant tree, the fundamentals being the trunk, conditions and circumstances the branches... things like color are out there at the leaves." I for one have some trouble trusting what's out there fluttering with every errant breeze.

Can the title of this be changed once the Indians eliminate the Red Sox?

BS is fun, and even my buddies who don't play cards catch on fast.

Cataract bite has been pretty good with decent keepers being caught. Much better than Raccoon at the moment for size. Best bet after a cold front is live bait slow and in their face. Jig bite usually slows down a bunch right after a front. -T9

Hit Whitehall today between noon and 6. Second time in a row for me that's basically been a bust there. water temps were 66-67, with about 3-4' of visibility and still plenty of green weed beds. You can tell a lot of the milfoil is starting to turn there, but plenty of it is still healthy, green, and thick. I landed 7 pickerel but not a single bass. 6 of the pickerel came early on, fishing a pumpkinseed colored strike King 1.5 above the tops of milfoil beds. Most of them small, but a few were decent. After seeing and catching nothing but pickerel I decided to switch it up and go with some lures that were a bit more bass oriented. Started pitching a 1/2oz bluegill colored mini flipping jig around to obvious holes in vegetation, timber, and shoreline bushes/brush.... Nada. Not a technique I have much confidence in either, but everyone says it catches fish and how else will I ever learn it?? After that failed, I paddled out to the deeper part of the lake, and marked some good fish on my Lowrance. Some of them suspended 10-15' over 20' of water, and then some of them bottom relating to the bottom in 20' of water as well. Tied on a dropshot, not even in a bite in areas I was marking. Got one nibble on it shallower, but missed the fish. Sun started to go down, I went topwater with a Rapala DT fat 1, nothing on that... -Hollow bodied livetarget sunfish worked around weed beds and lily pads produced numerous follows and incredibly tentative strikes (all complete misses by the fish, just slapping at it really). This is the second time I've seen this using this bait, and I've only really thrown it on a handful of occasions. Fish seem to love tracking it while I'm walking it, then when they finally go to strike they either completely miss or stop short at the last second and swim away... Very frustrating to watch. I've yet to have a violent blowup from a bass on this lure like I constantly produce with the livetarget frogs... Anyone else tossed this thing around at all yet? Similar or different results? Ended the night with the sun already down, I paddled back to the boat launch and at the advice of someone on this thread I trolled a jointed black jitterbug behind me. Second time trying this (both at Whitehall, go figure) first time with no results, but this time it produced a very nice pickerel... Huge topwater explosion behind me and I thought for sure it was a good sized bass. Nope, just a big angry pickerel going fully airborn for the jitterbug. Biggest pick of the outing, but with a mouth and gill full of trebles at 7pm and no headlamp I wasn't happy to learn it was a pickerel I'm starting to think maybe my "reports" are a bit too long winded, but hey if anyone wants to take the time to read it that's cool, if not they don't have to obviously. Didnt have the GoPro with me so didn't take any vids or pictures. I'll likely be back at it again tomorrow, destination TBD. PS- David Price STINKS.

Fixed that one for you btw - I ALWAYS use a net. A-Jay

If you're talking just the reel, take your pick of any in 6.3:1 or similar. If you're talking rod and reel, a BassPro Qualifier in that gearing paired to a M/H Mod.Fast in a length that suits you.

I have fished as late as November 20something....if it ever hits high 50's and not super windy....its on! It's amazing how aggressive they can be when it heats up like that out of nowhere. My buddy I was fishing with on my last post is hitting that lake again tomorrow. It's my weekend to work, so I won't be making it, but I hope he gets into them like we did previously. I hope to make it out sunday for a little bit. Thanks Shimmy. I seen your vids on youtube many years ago while searching Minnesota bass fishing. As soon as I saw all those hogs you were pullin, I kept saying that I will have my day like that sometime. I guess this was one of my days. Can't wait to hit it again, and yes, I feel that 6lber in my very near future!!!!!

California has a long history of mega droughts that date back to 850 AD or longer. The last mega drought was 1150 to 1300AD or 150 years with less than 4" of annual rain fall. The mega drought between 850 to 1100 AD or 250 years with less than 4" annual rain fall, both ominous. Some of the science weather folks think we have enjoyed a 100 year wet cycle and now may be heading into another mega drought cycle....catastrophic if true with the population we now have. It's hard to blame anyone for mega droughts but the politicians will find a way. Tom

I got a ton for almost nothing at walmart last year, used them to make jika rigs. Haven't had one bend or break yet, biggest on the rig is around 5 pounds. No problems.

Nothing like a buzzbait bite, Bud! Man you are on fire this year! Awesome! Keep it up!

TDIL: I believe it is either a marketing slogan - "Teeners Devour Ima Lures" or an old bass fishing axion - "The Dinks Ignore Lizards"

wondered same.....'today i learned'? 'tough d**n ignorant luck'?

A-Jay - I know you will keep at it until your bait bounces off the hard water ... Good luck up there It's nice that we have mild winters here in Tennessee...

I have euchre on my phone. Don't need four to play that way. It's my favorite card game.

What an awesome day! A 20 pound bag is a great day in MN, but a 25 lb 10 oz bag is for real! I hope you guys stick one of them 6 pounders now that those 5s are caught. Days like that are awesome when you get to share them with someone else. I will be up in Minnesota in two weeks in hopes for good days like those. Keep posting your success and water temps.

Apparently. A-Jay

It's getting to that time of year again that there isn't much time to fish after work. I'm not letting that stop me though and it just makes catching one like this in that short window that much sweeter.

This past weekend, instead of fishing I headed over to visit my girlfriend who is going to school about 3 hours away from where I live. We had a great time, but my weekend fishing suffered haha. I figured it would be ok because things are slow at work right now and I got Monday off because of it. I decided to take my aunt to a small lake over by her house and commenced to struggling. With the weather being stable all week and weekend I figured not much would have changed since last weekend. I had been catching them on the outside weedline so that's where we started. Unfortunately there were only a few still there. They were not wanting to cooperate at all. I had bites, but they must have just been barely nipping my jig as I didn't even lose an appendage.I had tried a few different techniques thinking we'd get something going and I finally hooked into a good one on a jerkbait. My aunt decided to tie on a crankbait that was close to the same color, and within a few casts hooked into a decent bass as well, but she lost it about 10' from the boat when it jumped. She did manage to avoid the skunk by catching a small northern a few minutes later. Not much to show for 5 hours of fishing but at least one was photo worthy being just shy of 18 inches. As much of a struggle as it was, it could have been worse..... I could have spent the day at work!

I can't believe euchre hasn't been mentioned yet. You need 4 people but it is fun

My issue with the two Lew's that I have used are that they were great right out of the box, but after a few years of hard fishing they seem to wear out faster than any of my other reels. My personal opinion is that they are not built for the long haul like a Shimano and/or Diawa would be.

I never got the same feeling as LSD to each their own

My little tw order....nothin fancy but very effective.

The new stick: Gonna pair it with my Pflueger Supreme XT

Man its hard to follow up a AJ post. But all the same I received one of my new Fenwick Aetos MODEL # A741MFC LINE RATING 10-17 LURE RATING 1/4-3/4 WEIGHT 4.48 ROD BLANK MATERIAL Graphite GUIDE TYPE Titanium Should be another Aetos coming tomorrow and 2 Lew's reels are on the way as well.