Leaderboard

Only fish of the day, probably my PB. Right at 27.75 inches long, for some reason she was just now spawning. Gotta love pond fishing!

Not much, which is why I like to go fishing.

Jet Skis and 40 MPH Winds! Roger

Just reach in there and grab it behind the gill and the bottom space under the mouth. You have to grab it like you mean it. You can kinda see my right hand in this pic. This fish isnt 50" or a tiger but close enough.

When I have to go home.

My only keeper from my buddy tournament yesterday. My partner did put 2 in the live well. We had a good bite going until about 830, then the wind picked up and catching just stopped. Only caught 3-4 dinks after that. 20 1/4" 4.14 lbs, was good for big bass on our pond, but 4.98 was lunker of the day. (6 pond tournament). She really looks bigger than that, but is skinny from just having spawned.

A Fish Grip, set of long pliers, and cojones is all you need. I don't net northerns, musky, or tigers ever. Usually I'm able to release them boat side.

Caught this 3# 10oz 20" today with new Curado 70XG 40# Samurai 7' M/F Smoke rod. Throwing a Palm Tree way out 120' plus bottom of 25fow when it hit.

Hot streak still rolling... Took another win up on Conowingo yesterday with a 5 fish limit weighing 19lbs 4oz. These 3 certainly helped the cause. Water was really muddy from recent rains but the flipping bite was great...It was a single rod day and I probably caught 30+ keepers throughout the day. My co-angler also go 3rd in the Co division with around 12lbs, good day all around. Flipping a Black/Blue Rage Bug into the nasty stuff accounted for every single fish for me, definitely need a restock now!

Picture of grandpa after a day of walleye fishing on Lake of the Woods.

Nothing gets me mad on the water. I won't allow it. Being on the water is my happy place. Recharges my internal batteries. Getting ready to go to Lake St Clair later this week for an entire week of fishing. Rent a cottage on an island where we can doc the boats (5 of them) right at the house. Get up and walk out to the boat and go. Weather is going to be cold. Water is dirtier than we like but we will still have a blast.

Rain gear being more absorbant than a brawney papertowel.

I probably get the maddest at myself...?

Wolf wolf wolf. Thanks for keeping the whites and Wipers out of the way for my dad and I .

Honestly, and don't take this wrong, but it sounds like you shouldn't be using fluorocarbon just yet until you get a better grasp of casting with a baitcaster. This will be an expensive learning curve, especially trying to begin with lighter lures. That said, just use mono backing to allow more refills per spool. Braid as backing is to decrease spool mass and startup inertia, something you don't need to worry about as a beginning baitcaster - it would likely make your current backlashing worse. -T9

A nice day on the big water.

Maybe that bass was an excellent jumper but a lousy crawler

We all have those big fish stories.....this time it was my turn. I was fishing last night out of a canoe on a small pond. We had caught a couple dinks, and I decided to try for some topwater action towards the end of the night. I had a fish hit my buzzbait and head out towards the middle of the pond, taking drag. She paused to jump right after getting past the boat and spit my hook. She was so enormous that my best friend thought it was a catfish at first. I've seen a lot of big bass, and have caught a 7.12, but this thing blew any of those fish out of the water. She was enormous. My friend and I both agreed she was probably around 9 pounds - certainly way bigger than a 5 or 6 pounder. I even had a trailer hook on the buzzbait

http://www.heraldmailmedia.com/sports/submitted-weekend-photos/collection_e7476186-339a-11e7-ac1a-3b5d083930b8.html She caught this one over the weekend in Clear Spring, MD. Allen

Holey Land 5/7/17, 6:30-noon, blue bird skies, wind NNW 10-20, temps 70's, Water clairity gin clear, WT 74*, current strong to the east. Pick up Dave (Canesfan) early and went ot the ramps at first light. We ran east half way down the east canal. I started with top water, with no action. Then went to a white crank bait with no action. I then went to a U-Vibe and picked up fish steadily. The wind and current kept increasing , so we moved to the west canal. We caught fish on both sides of the canal. There were a large group of buggy owners camping along the canal bank. We then ran to the north canal and ran all the way to the canal reduction. We caught some nice fish along this stretch, and the levee blocked the wind for a while. We finished the day at noon We caught over 20 bass with the biggest in the three pound range. Dave lost a few nice fish in the pad fields. With blue bird skies, an almost full moon, high water levels, gin clear water, brisk winds, and strong current, it was a pretty good day.

Can't help you on the rain gear but I can sympathize. I don't quite understand HOW rain gear can shrink like that. Seems to be happening with ALL my clothes, though. : (

Be careful fooling around a musky gill covers, they are sharp! You can also grab smaller size musky by the neck between the upper gill covers and lift them out of the water. Remember muskies have big teeth along the outside jaws and very sharp smaller teeth inside the mouth, so handle with caution! Musky are like a alligator in a net and tend to twist and roll, they don't lay still in a net and one reason musky angers use the cradles. Tiger musky will hit all types of bass lures so you will more than likely catch one, good luck! Tom

I have all RH casting reels but am considering switching to a LH retrieve to work a jerkbait and topwater. It seems more natural for the rod to be in my dominant hand.

It generally doesn't pay if you are a guide to give out where you are catching your fish but there are some things to remember. A good spot will always "re-load". When I was guiding more regular, I got a lot of tournament anglers who would hire me just to poach spots but you have to remember there is a lot of difference between tournament quality fish and what guides call client fish. Usually that is a milk run that you can put clients on fish pretty consistently. I got a lot of calls before any big TX asking for conditions and locations. I usually would be pretty forthcoming. You would think that after taking people to productive spots as a guide they would get fished out but that was never the case. As I said, good spots reload. My friend who was an Elite series angler would prefish looking for spots that were not normal fish holding areas. An old fisherman once told me "You're never gonna catch another man's fish" and that saying holds true. I had a spot on the lake that was always good for a couple 3lber's. Another guide lived on the lake within eyesight of the spot. He and I talked at the dock waiting for clients one day and he mentioned he saw me there. I told him he now knows my secret. He laughed and said every tournament he sees lots of boats fish that spot but that I was the only one he ever saw pull fish out of it.

Jet skis and ski boats aren't that bad. They can actually improve fishing a great deal with their chop as most summer days are blue bird sky and no wind which is tough. The thing that gets me are these new wake boats with ballasts that throw out a ridiculously huge wave to one side. I had to help some folks out last summer in a little 14' aluminum boat that got swamped by one. The wave hit them from the side and they lost their boat. Last weekend on Pickwick one went by me in a glass calm canal, I pointed my 21' X model head into it at idle and still had two feet of water come over the bow. It's ridiculous and dangerous. An 18' fun boat shouldn't be throwing tugboat under load waves.

Crowded boat ramps then some guy backs down not prepared to launch .

It is bill dance and hank Parker fault.

I'll put my Ned rig up against that rig any time.

first question was 11 years ago.....................................................

I try to spend my time on the water as happy as possible... Because I spend alot of time wishing I was there.. Slow bite on a big trip is pretty aggravating...

Rude fishermen who encroach on my spot while I'm fishing it - and casting just off my kayak. That and wind. Wind can be friendly, except when it isn't. Then wind can make those who do not normally swear, swear like a sailor....

You ask and I will tell. Location, lure, weather conditions, color of the water, color of my underwear. Anything you wanna know, I will tell ya. Cause I know you can't catch all of those green and brown little beauties. Cause I gotta biggggg mouth!

I like to fish them pretty quick in summer. A lot of bites will occur on the fall, or right after the jig has reached the bottom anyway. So from there, a lot of the time I'll just slow reel it back in. Or, I'll give the reel a few quick turns of the handle, pause, then keep my rod tip up and let the jig drift back down on a tight line until it hits the bottom, then let it set and maybe shake it a second or two, then reel it quickly for a few turns again and repeat. Crawdads are actually really fast when they want to be, so that's something to keep in mind. Just dragging a jig can definitely work, and you should try it, but sometimes you can waste a lot of time doing that.

No. A fish has never attacked a slowly moving bait fish before. It must be paused.

I've tried a number of fluoro lines as well, and have become a big fan of Tatsu. One of the main reason is that it casts like mono or co-polymer. However, the line might not be your issue. You mentioned you're trying to throw light lures with a baitcaster. See if these tips help.

There are 2 ways that are successful for me when fishing a heavy football head in deep water. The first way is the drag, a smallie beaver is what I like for a trailer and all I do is make a long cast and wait for the jig to hit bottom and then I slowly drag it using the rod, the reel I use just to pick up slack after a slow pull. The second way that works for me is by "stroking" the jig, all you do is make a long cast and wait for the jig to hit bottom then rip the bait off the bottom with your rod. I use a quick fast motion and try to get the jig to jump about 3' or 4' off the bottom, and then let it fall back down, you usually get the bite as it is falling back down so watch for your line to jump of for the jig to stop falling to the bottom faster than normal. You can fish it other ways as well but for me those two techniques work the best, remember, a football jig does best being fished on hard bottom areas.

I don't catch many fish so nobody pays attention to me anyway!

i generally dont mind. i've shared info with guys on the water. some dude in a kayak pulled up on me while i was fishing a long hump one day. "why are you way out here?" he asked. i explained and told him to start throwing. i threw a worm and he a crank bait. we both caught them. it was cool. he learned something that day.

I'll share What I caught, as well as How & When I caught but very Rarely (if ever) Where I caught. That part is Always up to each angler to solve on his or her own. IMO, 'Successful Bass Fishing' is a process by which one uses whatever knowledge, experience, and time on the water to get the job done. Once you know how to catch them, looking for them and eventually finding them Yourself, where ever that may be, is very satisfying. One may be better suited to concentrate their efforts there, rather than hoping or even worse, expecting others, to do it for them. So I say find your own fish. I'll never ask anyone where they got them. I may ask how though, and that's usually sufficient. A-Jay

Well at least you had a witness. Either way, Always a tough pill to swallow ~ And this may not be much of a consolation, but at least the big fish loss was not the result of some kind of tackle failure. Loosing a true Giant because my line or knot fails Really makes me grind my teeth. I end up talking to myself for hours afterwards - which seems OK as long as there's a dog or two around. This experience may will help keep your big fish fire burning though . . . . . . A-Jay

How did I get tangled up in this? LOL

Happy Senko de Mayo everyone!

...one of those days were you wake up craving for some big bass, go to your favorite lake, and manage to catch almost everything that swims and will bite a lure in that lake... except a bass?

The first Not Cool post from Tuesday was bad enough, now there is a sequel LOL. Definitely not looking forward to Not Cool III

My letter of resignation from bass fishing.

I recently put a bank fishing Day Box together using this Plano 23750 (which I will soon use if the river ever stops flooding). 3 - lipless cranks in Silver/Blue, Crawfish, Firetiger 1 - Black Jitterbug 1 - GYCB popper in Frog pattern 1 - Rebel PopR in Silver and Black 1 - Heddon Baby Lucky 13 in White w/Red Head 1 - Poppin Frog in Brown 1 - Jointed Rapala in Silver/Black 1 - Original Rapala in Gold/Black 3 - Beetle Spin in Black, White, Orange and spare grubs 2 - Spinnerbaits in White and Chartreuse w/extra trailers 2 - Roostertail one in Chartreuse and a smaller one in Rainbow Trout 1 - Mepps Aglia Long #2 with Black hair 1 - Mepps XD #3 1 - Z-man Chatterbait in White/Chartreuse 1 - Johnson's Silver Minnow in Silver with White chunk 1 - Rapala Shad Rap 1 - GYCB crankbait in Brown/Gold 1 - Rebel Crawfish 1 - Bomber 4A in Baby Bass 1 - Rebel Mid Wee R in Baby Bass 1 - Rebel Crickhopper 2 - Black/Blue jigs with Black chunks 2 - Orange/Brown jigs with Brown chunks 1 - Beaver bait (Buddah Baits) on swivel jig head 1 - Black/Blue tube on jig head 2 - Keitech swimbait on weighted hook 1 - TRD on mushroom head 2 - Zoom Flukes in shad Various hooks, Slider heads, jig heads and weights I have enough room left to cram 3 or 4 each of the following soft plastics, (although I just bring various bags in my backpack): Senkos, Slider/Finesse worms, ribbontails, craws, beavers and creatures.

Wolf was so good Friday I was catching them 2 at a time! The poor blue cats in that lake are on the verge of starvation too. It was a blast with over 100 fish in the boat on the day, including a flurry of the most aggressive, spoon eating blue and channel cats I've ever encountered.

I decided to go out and the garage and see what I can actually cram into one box. I'm assuming it needs to include terminal tackle and plastics. Would vary by season and location, but it would generally look something like this:

Good question @Adleyfishes. Half of my bites are feel-bites where I either feel the tap or feel weight on the line. The other half is seeing the line move off in an unnatural direction. In my personal opinion I don't feel that the yellow line drives off any fish so I use it to make it easier to see.