Leaderboard

Still on the short leash for another month or so, so back to bank walking again tonight. Two dozen in about 90 minutes. Not bad considering they just did a lake treatment from the looks of it. A couple of the nicer ones, though they are all little chunkers in this place - no shortage of food for these guys.

Guys so stoked to share my new PB with you all, baby girl Peyton Lauren!!!! Measuring 19" and weighing in at 6lb9oz she's the catch of a lifetime!!!! Mom is great and resting and baby is as healthy as can be!!

Got off work at 3, torrential downpour. Sun finally broke through around 4, so I got after it for about an hour--no bites. Went back home and power went out around 7:30. Had a few minutes of daylight to take advantage of, so I went back out and nailed this one through the nose after a few casts. Sidenote/advice needed: what's the typical choice of bait during the waning hours of sunlight? Top water?

Start of fall fishing????? Oh! Ya mean the start of football season! Fall fishing means there's less idiots on the water!

I was tagging my boat for the private lake I just bought a lot at and the lady commented on they don't sell many tags this late in the year since fishing season is almost over I told her I'd be out there as long as the water was soft and she couldn't believe someone would want to fish while it was cold out. Makes me that much more excited to fish it knowing that it gets left alone once it gets a little chilly out.

Give up 3 months not topping my PB, it's been 21 years since I caught mine....I give up 3 years in a heart beat to catch a 20 lb bass. Tom

[August 09, 2017](Wednesday)-----Conditions----- Time: ~2:30pm - 7:30pm Sky: Sunny + Smoke + Partly Cloudy (Claustrophobia/Surreal) Wind: Light Wind Afternoon to Calm Evening Water Temps: 75-80F Water Clarity: Clear (~4-8ft) -------------------- The summer heat is here, with temps in the mid 90's every day. It's been a while since Jermey and I have fished, July 26th was our last trip out and it was tough, we struggled to catch numbers or size. I even tried some deep cranking, but it didn't quite work out the way I would have hoped... - - - - - Well some time has passed, and the conditions have changed. The local area has recently been surrounded by wildfires to the north, south, and west... The wind during the day has pushed in all the smoke, and the calm evenings have made it settle where visibility has been down to only a few miles at times. Early every morning when the sun rises it's been so thick you can look directly at the sun and it's less intense than a full moon, being a red / orange color. In the evening when the sun is low on the horizon the smoke almost blocks it out completely. Sometimes I try and think how smoke like this can affect fishing, since it tends to be a common thing in my area from wildfires to burning fields. First I obviously think about light levels, like a sunny day vs an overcast one, but I also think about insect activity. I believe it can stir things up, possibly increase feeding activity. I remember last year I hadn't seen a praying mantis all year long, but found 4 on a smokey day similar to this one. Well after work today we geared up and made it to the lake around ~2:30pm. Here is a picture of the lake atmosphere... Water had a bit more color to it than before, clarity depended on area but in general was clear 4ft+, water temp at the ramp was 80F. Also noticed some clumps of broken up vegetation debris floating on the surface. We decided to first try an area that was productive earlier this year, we could see the vegetation had come up a lot since we last fished it. Since it was near the main lake channel, the water temp had dropped down to 75F. Could visually see a lot of small bluegill swimming around, and I even hooked into a little Perch. There were a lot of seagulls in the area and even a blue herring. With all the activity I figured the fishing might be good - we fished for a good 1 & 1/2 - 2 hours and not a single bite for either of us. It was that time where I start to think of the time invested in an area vs the results so far to consider moving to a new location, but the way we were fishing - we were fishing "into change" as we were coming up to a rock jetty which acts like a funnel with a bit deeper water near it. I had made a cast with the worm and let it hit the bottom on slack line. A few seconds later I went to check it and could see my line running to the right. I reeled up the slack then swung hard and the rod loaded up good, from the weight I figured it was a pike... that was until I got it close to the boat... SLAUNCH! 20 & 3/4" 5lb 0oz Release Video Bait 1/8oz Lead Bullet Weight + 4/0 Berkley Fusion 19 Offset EWG Needle Point Hook with a Zoom Mag II Worm 9" (Green Pumpkin) This year has been tough, struggling to catch a bass over 2lb, and today I landed my 3rd largest bass. I took a moment to try and take in the atmosphere of the day I caught this good one and learn from it, but the day was just unique. I can't really put it into words, I just know there probably won't be another one like it. We continued to catch bass, all of them were sizable little chunkers around a pound with good belly's on them. lot of topwater strikes on the Zoom Horny Toad buzzing it over big clumps of floating vegetation. I managed to catch one bass that had ate a small pike... As the evening progressed, fishing slowed as things became very calm... The Sonar was going off with activity in ~20ft. Using the worm I managed to catch one largemouth that was 11 & 1/2". We both managed to catch 7 bass each, Jeremy also caught a good pike. At 7:30pm we called it a day and headed home. WolfyBrandon

So, While out on the kayak yesterday fishing the Shenandoah river, I had a very interesting encounter with a large small mouth. I recently bought a small size whopper plopper and wanted to give it a fair shot so I went to the river in the area of Molten Park and figured I would lead off with the new top water bait since it was cloudy. I was working around small islands and eddies since the river is up and murky. I lost a few fish here and there but nothing big. So I cast above this island next to the overgrown bank and hooked what felt like to be a psycho bass. This thing went three shades of nuts. The second time it jumped it hit the water and ran straight upstream breaking me off. I was so mad I lost the new lure let alone a massive bass. So I figured I would paddle over to that area and look around since it was fairly shallow. As I was floating up on that spot, the fish jumps out of the water shaking my lure. It almost hit the front of the kayak and dog. It definitely had the lure in its mouth. So not even 30 seconds later it came out of the water again and threw the lure upstream about 5 feet. I ended up retrieving it and tying it back on. I have never ever experienced something like this. I wish I would have had it on camera.

His pb small mouth

...to take the day off, because you're the only one available to be with your kid for the day. Figured if I'm the only who can watch him, I'll just watch him do this... ...on the boat. Bought some live shiners for him to make it more lively on a pressured lake, plus he watched on you tube how shiners can catch big fish. So here you go, his personal best Small jaw. Took him 5 tries, his whippy combo could not set the circle hook on this fish. Like a responsible father I gave him my 6'6" MF spinning rig, and BAM perfect hook set. Of course I didn't catch nothing, so those shiners were mighty tempting.

Call it what you want, but when it has me doing this ~ This ~ and this ~ I'll be doing it every chance I get Thank you very much. A-Jay

@Bluebasser86 It gets real lonely around here from late fall until pre-spawn! Transition: the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another. I find a lot of similarities between the "transition" from fall into winter & the "transition" from winter into pre-spawn. I fish a lot of the same areas & structures, I'm looking for the same "feeding flats". Aint looking at water temperatures but like winter/pre-spawn I'm watching weather patterns. During winter/pre-spawn & fall/winter we start experiencing frontal conditions. I start watching for that minimal 3 day window of stable weather between fronts.

Isn't it obvious ? A-Jay

I'd say it's an addiction when it starts negatively affecting other areas of your life. If you have a hard time paying the rent, or are running up big CC bills on tackle that you can't pay off; if you're calling into work sick to go fishing; if you're missing important family milestones or events because you're gone fishing; if your wife is threatening divorce; it's probably an addiction and you need to seriously consider getting help. Otherwise, if you just like spending all your free time fishing, and only blow disposable income on TW orders every other week, It's probably still just a passion.

Caught my first smallie ever, today! My wife and I are visiting friends in Cape Cod. Caught this guy by wading out in a bathing suit into Lake Seymour behind my friend Ron's house. Gorgeous summer afternoon. I tossed a chartreuse spinnerbait towards something busting bait in the shallows, and voila! Fun! Then we went clamming in the bay at sunset and harvested a pail full of quahogs in 20 minutes. Tomorrow we eat clams and lobstas. I like it up here!

Putting the rod that @.ghoti. built for me to a serious test. Reel was a 25 size Pfluegar Supreme XT spooled with 5.2lb Seaguar Finesse Fluorocarbon.

All I know is bass fishing is a way of life!

Chrome is for when fish are more aggressively eating baitfish. Clear is when they're being more finicky but still willing to break the surface. Chrome can be used in any color water.

If I got skunked for three months I'd quit fishing .

Shimano Exsence - Megabass Destoryer Addermine

You have never owned a Shimano so you have no idea what you are talking about. Come back in 25 years and tell me how those Lews are doing. I was once a kid on a budget and invested the whopping amount of 120 bux ( + tax ) in my first Curado back in 1994 .... I bet I can squeeze another 15 years of use and abuse out of that sucker easily.

^^ THIS ^^ Way too many variables to give specifics. Just remember that shade is just another form of break/breakline, so treat it (fish it) accordingly. -T9

If all things are equal, I prefer the shade, but I think there are far my important things to consider. Time of year.....water temp...thermocline....wind...drop-off...structure...location, ect

You know it always pays to be on the water - more is better than less. But one thing that I've noticed over the years that can be and I'll say again Can be, an indicator on land - is as soon as I see any of the local ferns starting to turn even the slightest bit of yellow or brown, then I'm expecting good things on the water. As for indicators on the water, and it certainly helps to have good vis and you know we have clear water mostly up here, is to look for the first signs of the weeds dying back. Tips of cabbage & coontail brown or even wilt. Not exactly magic. Typically, but not always, places bass set up during pre-spawn and even bedding areas can be a good spot to start looking. Deep water close by is almost a must. Squarebills, spinnerbaits, and topwater are my usual baits of choice. Remember you're fishing in & around vegetation so whatever you like for that. Often a fairly fast retrieve works but on 'slower' days - snapping a 3/8 oz tube out of the vegetation that's still left, works. But I'll warn you, if there's toothy critters in the system, they'll be trying to get in on this open bait free for all too - so I loose a few tubes - unless I take preventative measures. A-Jay This was my most productive Fall bait selection from last season.

I found a smaller pond in my neighborhood this evening. It's a little closer to my house. It has bass in it. Caught 2 in the hour or so I was there. They weren't that big. The biggest one was about a pound. The other one wasn't even a pound. It was 2 bass though. I needed to go a little earlier than I did though, just to be able to see a little better getting around it. Hoping there's some bigger ones out there. Lots of matted vegetation around the bank. Now I've got 2 spots I can go to more often because they're close enough to walk to and don't have to worry about getting a ride and inconveniencing others. So looking forward to fishing them more. By the way, that Ol' Monster worm is still catching em! ? Congratulations on your first smallie! It's a nice one too. Beautiful sunset!

It seems and feels "oh so wrong" throwing a jig without a trailer, but if the profile is right, bass will definitely eat a swim jig without one. I've spent several days doing this to prove it to myself after a rather unorthodox fishing friend of mine matched me fish for fish one day, trailer vs. trailerless, just to prove the point. Was eye opening for me.

First, I apologize for rambling. I know I'm going to be windy because I'm still wired from my experience yesterday. Second, I know most of you would consider this fish (2.8 pounds) as bait, but I'm just thrilled I got it into my kayak. Finally, as far as I can tell, this guy is either goofy or a heckuva rugged individualist. Anyway, last evening I was fishing for largemouth using a Zoom Ol' Monster (South Africa Special) along a weedy shallow sandbar with nary a rock in sight. I'd caught a couple of dinks and was pouting because action was slow and other than weedless rigs or topwater toads I was limited in lure selections. Milfoil and assorted floating salad were driving me nuts! Anyway, I chucked a long cast out and instead of the typical "tap tap" I expect from a LMB, my line suddenly took off across the lake. I gave it a second then set the hook and almost soiled me pantaloons when this thing came out of the water! I mean he came seriously out of the water! Some guys in a pleasure boat even stopped to watch. After four amazing jumps I lost count, but it took me nearly five minutes to land him because I couldn't keep his butt in the lake and the closer he got to the yak, the worse it got! Talk about an adrenaline rush! I've caught a few small mouths from shore on this lake, but usually it was using Chigger Craws or Craw Fatties around rocks bordering deeper water and none of them jumped like this! My PFD was soaked, I couldn't see out of my glasses, and my hair looked like I just stepped out of the shower. Here's a pic. Compared to most, this guy looks like a deflated football. But for me, he provided the most excitement I've had in years. Thanks for letting me blow off a little steam, but I'm still pumped up.

Walked to the smaller pond in my neighborhood at 6:30 this morning. It's only 10 mins. from the house. The baby bass were biting...lol! Caught these 2 dinks and threw em back to get bigger. Had to be back at the house at 8:30am to watch my granddaughter. Gonna try to get back out either to that same pond or the bigger one that's a little further walking to later as long as the weather permits. Already had a little rain this morning and it wouldn't surprise me if it rained some more.

I have thrown Swim Jigs without trailers many times, usually because it falls off, or I am walking a shoreline and do not want to walk back to my truck to get more. You will catch plenty of fish naked if they want a moving bait. The Point of the trailer is to change the profile/Action, I still use a trailer because that is what looks best to me plus it's industry standard." Hook up percentage is much better when you don't have a trailer imo. A good skirt helps, sometimes a trailer gets in the way, if conditions are right, you will be surprised if you throw it a few times. If they are feeding on shad and you tie on a white jig, not sure you need a trailer, but good luck finding any tackle company, magazine suggest trying a jig without a trailer. Most people do not use a trailers on Hair Jig/Bucktails which are fished like a swim jig or any jig for that matter. I know you Why would silicone be different? I never used trailers on Spinnerbaits until a few years ago. Caught just as many fish as I do with a trailer, maybe not the same size, but different profiles/Thump can be important. Experiment, Throw it with a grub, craw, then take it off and I bet you will have different results every time, I wouldn't put money on any of the 3 to work better. Just my take. I am guilty of buying every new soft bait and doing what everyone does, but sometimes you find new tricks by accident, bass see swim jigs all summer long, that is why I think it works well some days. Offshore fishing is tough, I still am learning, but vibration/Profile/Speed all seems to be important, same with exact depth. I swim/Jig hair jigs and have never thought about a trailer.

It's all about the juice!! Mike

On the hunt for some big smallies on the White River on the Northeast side on Indy today. Been catching some good fish down in the Columbus area over the past week.

Solid choice and option. I second that. With the MH casting and M spinning you've got a lot of ground covered in a minimalist way that is pocket friend. Well, at least until your bait monkey wakes up and starts talking in your ear about getting technique specific rod's to fine tune your arsenal, lol.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder ( OCD): Excessive thoughts (obsessions) that lead to repetitive behaviors (compulsions). That could fit! But so can! Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A chronic condition including attention difficulty, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness. Don't care subject of discussion is I'm gonna end up talking bass fishing. Getting hyper to mow my lawn? Getting hyper to go to the lake Impulsive? I'll go fishing at the drop of a hat & I'll drop the hat! Wife says I got both!

I would pair it with a 7' Med Hvy Fast rod. There are tons of rods that meet that spec you can choose from.

The Golf of water sports.......

Went up to 6-Mile & Housen' yesterday! Not a single bump! But then again I didn't wet a single hook! Freind who lives near Fin-n-Feather truck blew a head gasket. Drove up, get him, & left. I know that's gotta be breaking some law of bass fishing!!!!!

My PB (smallmouth) is pictured in my avatar. That was January 2005. Still hunting for 12 lbs 1 oz.

"Go to the post office, then go to the store" "Then go" g --> k = "Then ko" th --> s: "Sen ko" Move the K to the end of the previous syllable: "Senk o" "Senko" Or, if you like: "Jenga" J--> s: "Senga" G-->k: "Senka" A-->o: "Senko"

Awesome! Glad she is healthy. And glad mom is doing well. My son is 15 days old today, I didn't think I could love him more than the first time I seen him, but it grows more and more every day. Congrats on the new addition. Hopefully you all get to come home soon.

At first it seemed like a tough choice, but I would take the PB. Theres a lot of other kinds of fish I can catch for the 3 months in Florida!!?

Since the wife was gone yesterday for a girls day out, the dog and I decided to hit the river in the afternoon since it clouded up. We fished the Shenandoah in multiple spots around Molten Park area with the kayak. I had two rigs set up in the back of the kayak. A small yellow and orange crank bait and a white whopper plopper. The water was dirty with no visibility after two feet deep. The topwater was the lure of the day. I did not catch anything over 17", but the numbers were decent. I also had a lot of blow ups and misses. The crank bait had two or three misses but nothing major. I am not sure why they did not seem to want this crank bait. A crayfish rattle trap might have been the better bet for for the deeper dirty water. As the evening got later and later the bigger the fish I seemed to get. I even noticed them chasing minnows more which was not happening when I first went out. Unfortunately, I had to call it an early night and stop the night fishing outing due to forgetting the pups food bag. It was so peaceful, I finally found an area where no one was around and the water was glass, but, I made sure the lab had his food. It was a great evening out. The picture of the dog is what he thinks when I loose a fish.

That area is loaded with pike. Frogs in the Lilly pads and slop will get ya some smaller pike then spinners and chatterbait or swimbait around all the laydowns.

Keitech is having a sale on most baits in certain colors. 50% off. Directly from www.keitechusa.com

Yes .

Stopped by Dicks last night to just kill some time. Lucky Craft was on sale, 2 for $12. Megabass - $5 off. LiveTarget/Yo-Zuri crankbaits - 2/$10 or 3/$15 if I remember correctly. The selection was not very good but seems to be the case at every DSG.

Florida is a great state...would love to visit more

You may get a lot of different answers here but my version for the mid to upper price point Shimano gear revolves around quality. And quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives. The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory. Incidentally, I do fish a few different brands of tackle besides Shimano. These as well as others, are solid performers. A-Jay

I wear half gloves all year long. Glacier Glove UV gloves during the summer, White River Fleece gloves during the winter.

Butch Brown's PB is 19.3 lbs to the best of my knowledge.My top 5 are; 17.4 Casitac 17.4 Castas 17.6 Castiac 18.6 Casitas 19.3 Castaic Butch catches close to a100 DD's a year, since 2000 and I am lucky to 5 a year since 1995. Next time I talk to Butch will ask him how many 17+ he had caught, my guess a lot more than I have! Tom