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[August 21, 2017](Monday)-----Conditions----- Time: 6:15am - 4:30pm Sky: Sunny + Hazy Clouds + Eclipse (Slightly Dim Afternoon) Wind: Light Wind Morning to Strong Wind Early Afternoon to Light Wind Late Afternoon Water Temps: 66-74F Water Clarity: Clear (~4-10ft) -------------------- "Day of the 2017 Eclipse" Over the past week, Jeremy and I have been talking about fishing on this day as we were excited to see what the fishing results would be like. We both have Monday off from work as it's part of our weekend schedule, so we planned to get up early and spend most of the day fishing. The Eclipse is said to have 90% Obscuration for our area, and take place around ~10:15am - ~1:00pm. We expected some fishing pressure from the past weekend as well as possible increased activity on the lake due to the eclipse event. (Today is also the New Moon) As it is now late August, the fall season is right around the corner. I have noticed the mornings are getting darker, and the temps getting colder. The highs still average in the mid 80's to mid 90's, but the lows are dipping down to the mid 50's to high 40's. The smoke from the wildfires has dissipated now, however farmers have begun burning fields so you can still see some smoke on the horizon. I've been thinking about seasonal patterns as the conditions are beginning to change. As the main lake begins to cool, more bass should start moving up from their deep summer area's. We planned to fish shallow first during the early morning, and if needed we would move to deeper area's later in the day. Our first stop was a new spot that we haven't fished yet this year... Water temp was 69F and had a bit of color to it (~4ft clarity). Upon arriving we quickly noticed a lot of surface activity from fish of various sizes, we couldn't tell if any were bass or not. I couldn't decide on bait selection prior to this fishing trip, so I opted to wait until I was on the water to see the location and conditions first, then just adapt as needed as the day progressed. I rigged up a 1/8oz jig head with a Zoom Fat Albert Grub (Green Pumpkin) for a confidence bait, Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 (Ghost Minnow) since I seen the surface activity, and a Strike King 1/2oz Spinnerbait (Gizzard) for a search bait since the water had a bit of color to it. We both fished a good while without a single bite, all the while seeing surface activity all around us including behind us where we had just fished. Not even a single blowup or follower while using the Gunfish. I didn't want to do it, but out of frustration I decided to just lock the Grub in my hand and toss it to shoreline rocks and cover. I knew fish were in the area, if any of them were bass I was confident that should do the trick. Though the bite was soft, it didn't take long to put the first one in the boat... 14 & 1/2" - 1lb 06oz The first 3 hours of our day was spent fishing that first spot, and that was the only bite... Time to move. We headed north to one of the main lake points where the water was much clearer, deeper, with a good weed line and heavy enough wind to cause occasional white caps... First cast to the point I instantly hooked into my 2nd bass of the day. Just a dink, but with the slow fishing this morning I'll go for some numbers... A few minutes later, Jeremy makes a cast and hooks into a nice 3lb 3oz Largemouth... Shortly after catching his nice bass, was when the Eclipse was starting. We watched as the daylight began to dim, and throw the ambient light off as if you were wearing a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses. Sadly, it never got any darker than that. Fishing seemed to slow, or at least was less productive at our current location (we were on the move) so I experimented with some other baits. Tied on a Strike King 5XD in (Green Gizzard) and caught 2 more small bass, roughly the same size as the last one. After the eclipse ended, we noticed a few deer down by the waters edge getting a drink. After that we changed locations a few more times, I caught another little dink at the first location, then hooked into my fish of the day at the second location on the 5XD... 17 & 1/2" - 2lb 01oz Release Video Decided to experiment with baits again and gave topwater another chance. Tied on a Rapala Skitter Pop in (Silver) and this bass torpedoed it hard twice to finally get it... 10" - 05oz Changed locations yet again, and between the two Jeremy managed to catch two good sized pike, one being 6lb+. I caught a few more small bass for a total of 10 today, Jeremy caught a total of 7 bass (big one being fish of the day), and the two pike. At 4:30pm we had to call it and head back to the ramp... All in all it was a good day, we managed to catch a couple of nice bass, some small ones for numbers, and two bonus pike. Would have like to see the eclipse have more of an effect on the light levels like other locations, but it is what it is. Moving around was key to get the bites we did today, would have liked to visit a few other spots but we just didn't have the time. WolfyBrandon

Cold front smallie fun...

caught my personal best Smallmouth on a Shakyhead today on Wyandotte County Lake In Kansas City Kansas. 21 inches. 4lb. 4oz.

Landed this beauty last night. I was slowly swimming my bait along the bottom, when it came to a complete stop. I set the hook and nothing happened, so I thought I might be snagged. I applied a little more steady pressure to be safe, and then it happened - she slowly started to move. I'm not sure it realized it was hooked, as it just steadily swam along the bottom, coming toward me. Finally, about 10 feet from where I was standing, she came up and tried to jump, but she was too long and really just kind of wallowed. At that point I told myself to not get too excited and just play it calmly - I sure didn't want to lose her. Surprisingly, she came in without much more fight. I quickly landed her and removed the hook, then got a good measurement (5' 6"), but forgot to check what pound test she was spooled with. Oh well, I'm still pretty certain it's my new PB...and yes, I released her to be caught again some day after a couple quick pics. Who says Ned rigs catch only dinks

2015 GMC Sierra Denali - Love this line of trucks ~ this is my 4th. This one sports the corvette-derived 6.2-liter V8 that churns out 420 horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque and drives the Hydra-Matic eight-speed automatic. Loving the Z71 off-road package’s monotube Rancho shocks, hill descent control, transfer case shield. Has the Driver Assist Package which brings Lane Departure Warning and Forward Collision Assist. It also features magnetic ride control as well as OnStar with 4G LTE and a built-in wi-fi hotspot. Like being able to switch from 2 W , AWD, & 4 L - 4 W H. The rig as a whole is sort of obscene. A-Jay

One of the most interesting underwater film sequence is Big Mouth Forever where big bass are engulfing crankbaits without the angler detecting strikes. The entire crankbait is engulfed inside the basses mouth including 2 sets of treble hooks and the bass rejects the lure without any of the hook points sticking tissue. Now if a bass can engulf a treble hook moving crankbait without getting hooked, what does that tell you? Answer; you can't always tell how aggressive the strike is by how the fish was hooked. Tom

I just became a member yesterday and ran across this thread today and read every post. Things like this break down the heart of this old soldier and as I write this, it's hard to hold back my tears. People have no idea how much it means to a vet to see/hear appreciation as it is given to us. More and more I shop and see stores, restaurants etc.. giving discounts to active duty and vets. I am a member of the Army Bass Anglers Pro Staff and I too donate to several charities that assist our Wounded Warriors. It's my way of saying thanks to my brothers (and sisters) in arms who have been wounded in combat. Many in our great country have no idea of the sacrifices our military must make as "Volunteers" on a daily basis. The long hours, 30 day training exercises, the deployments, moving our family away from our homes every 2-3 years, the mental and physical fatigue, and the worst being, the uncertainty if we'll make it home alive. Personally my service cost me my first marriage and almost my second. A back injury in 1989 will haunt me the rest of my life but these are nothing compared to what some others have endured. I want to thank each and every one of you who were involved in this unselfish gift to our vets--I am sure those who received a rod will cherish them for the rest of their life! Hooah!

Update...again.... Called Fenwick about the new break - sent one pic via email (8/14.) Got brand new replacement yesterday...no sending in old one...no back and forth emails or calls this time..... So far, pleased with their warranty service...just hope that I don't have to talk to them again

Traded in an 04 2500 HD Silverado 6.0 4X4, 4.10 gearing for a 2016 High Country Silverado 4X4 5.3 8 speed and it actually tows better than the 3/4 ton with a lot better mpg!! Old, and New:

That Global Warming stuff is pretty hit or miss then . . . . .This is August Right ? Hope this sparks a bite - which has been really hit or miss lately A-Jay

Try using Greg Hackney's hook setting technique, he demonstrates it in this video https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=greg+hacdkney+jig+hookset&view=detail&mid=088542157E30BD1AAB3F088542157E30BD1AAB3F&FORM=VIRE literally was a game changed for me, this is how I set the hook with almost all baits now (with varying degrees of power of course). I would not recommend cutting the weed guard, trimming it shorter actually makes it stiffer, reducing hooking percentages. Trimming the skirt length is up to you, it won't affect your hooking percentage but a smaller profile will sometimes get more bites.

There's a place called "Bad Axe"! Awesome.

I increase hookups by setting the hook hard. . . very hard I do sometimes trim my skirts and if you look at a ragecraw there are sections on the body. Tear off one at a time until it's the length you want. There is no rule on length here only personnel preference or more like bass preference.

I'd be dunking a big jig or texas rigged creature bait right in the heart of that stuff.

Good to see someone is still catching. Good to be back from work, made it in late yesterday evening, ate supper hit the water with dad, we found a few in the pound to pound and half range on ribbet frogs up around Rebecca's gas station, if u passed there and saw a blue pro crappie right at dark yep that was me. Had a good time me and dad landed 7 of 10 hits. Probably won't be posting much till next February deer season bout to start so got to get my bow arm back in shape. Colors and size of frog was black with red flake and baby was the size, slow rolled along grass lines in 2 to 5 fow. Hope this helps someone.

Nothing special about this one. 2008 Tundra SR5 bought new in 2007 190,000 miles. Engine doesn't leak or burn a drop of oil. Been an expensive year for her. Tires, brakes all around, shocks, struts, U joints, parking brake actuator. battery. Hopefully she's done until the next set of tires is due. At that time I will again contemplate buying a new one.

Yep, looks terrible on that thing too.

45 jigs is down to bare bones. 25 cranks is about 20 more than I need.

I'm new to baitcasting reels myself. I watched a handful of youtube videos. Here are my "beginner tips", keep in mind I've only been doing this a few weeks now. 1) I tied a lead weight to my line and put out some 5 gallon buckets in my yard and worked on my casting from different angles and distances. Liked it so much I bought some practice plugs at Academy for me and my boys to use together. 2) I went with braid, I have 30# Vicious Braid on 1 reel and 65# braid on 2 other reels. 3) I followed a youtube instruction when spooling them up with mono filament first otherwise he said the braid would spin on the spool. I put a few rounds of the mono filament on, then tied the braid onto the mono filament. 4) learn how to adjust the reel with the brake and then the tension knob, once you do that the bird nests don't happen much at all. 5) There is was a tip that helped me at first, since I've removed the electrical tape, but in the beginning I did a decent cast, 20-30 yards, then pulled out 4 arm lengths of braid, then taped a piece of electrical tape around the spool holding the rest of the braid in place, this way the birds nest never got out of hand. Once I learned to tune my reel to my lure I haven't had to use the electrical tape, I will use it again when I teach my sons to bait cast. It's nice b/c you can reel in over the electrical tape and cast away without worrying about the bird nest. 6) I like the braid, I've had a few snags, logs, stumps, tree limbs etc...and I can pull REALLY hard on the braid. I even had to wind a stick around my line to give me leverage and it bent the hook enough to release the snag. Lost the plastic worm, but line and knot held. I bent the hook back into shape and put on another worm and went back to fishing. There is now way other lines would have held up to that kind of pulling I was doing to rip the hook off the stump, that was on 65# braid. For the knots on my hooks and lures I use the uni-knot. I haven't done a lot of catching, mainly fishing but I've gotten 1/2 way decent with my bait casting. I went out this morning for about 3 hours, had MULTIPLE casts and 1 or 2 small bird nests nothing major. I'm still working on accuracy and distance but I like that I can flip and pitch plastic lures under over hanging tree branches and into tight spots that I don't think I could get my spinning reel into without a bunch of luck. I have 3 reels so far, it seems like it could get out of hand as I'm always looking at others online. -Bass Pro Pro Qualifier PQX10HD 6.4:1 paired with a BPS Pro Qualifier PQX66MHT 6'6" -Daiwa Tatula CT 100HS 7.3:1 paired with Tatula 711MHXB -Lew's SuperDuty SD1H 6.4:1 paired with Berkley Lighting Rod LR701MHC I've spent the most time with the Lew's as it seems to fit my hand the best. I also prefer the clicking noise of the tension knob, it is nice though that I can cast it as hard and as far as I want no thumb on the spool and it gives me zero backlash, keep in mind I have to set it to the lure I'm casting. I'm certain the other 2 reels would do the same, I just have more time with the Lews. I take all 3 with me each time but seem to reach for the Lews at the moment. The Daiwa seems to cast much farther and with ease than the Lews but the Lews feels better in the palm of my hand. To test things out I could switch the reels, it could very well be the rods making the difference since the Tatula is the longest of the 3. Anyways, I got sidetracked, hopefully you enjoy the bait casting as much I as do, good luck with your choice of line, I'm a complete beginner and I like the braid for what that's worth. Happy Fishing! Gus

Perch eating perch...chunky one at that!!

No , the wind nor the heat kills the top water bite . The only way to know is to try it . I had one of my largest limits ever , two weeks ago on a sunny day with a moderate wind using a buzzbait .

Yes, this littering issue drives me crazy. I simply do not get it. I will now in my older years make a conscious effort to remove at least one piece of trash every time I am out fishing, hiking, hunting etc. I understand that some is inadvertent but fail to understand what is clearly blatant littering. Just a few weeks ago I was hiking a trail in the white mountains that had a free shelter you could camp at. It was a large lean to with room for 10 people, fire pits, some fire wood already cut etc and some people decided to leave there empty beer cans and other trash in the shelter. I cannot fathom how people can consciously little in these gorgeous areas such as mountains and lakes and ruin the aesthetics, and especially puzzled they will destroy areas where the state is providing great services at no cost. Rant over.

Jesse Wiggins. Not a big name draw but he put the hurt on some smallies at Cherokee Lk. It was pretty cool because you have a nice dinner with the pros after the marshal meeting and their meeting.

My new babies

Two nights ago. The hydrilla in my local lake is dense down to about 14 feet. A quarter ounce bullet style swim jig head knifes right through that stuff.

This plus see below ? Most anglers try forcing a jig through grass which is all wrong, you gotta finesse the jig through grass! When you feel the jig starting to load up in the grass...stop. Release pressure, pull up until you feel heaviness again but apply slightly more pressure, then release, continue until the jig breaks free. You want the motion to be similar to & as fast as working a shaky head, you're just applying more pressure. Jigs in grass is why I prefer a extra fast rod tip, I want to be able to apply pressure with using 1/2 my rod. When you catch a bass in grass repeated cast to the same area is required!

I got a couple smallies on the drop shot this weekend. Drop shot is quickly becoming my favorite summer technique.

I posted some time ago about putting a barrel for trash at a local boat launch. It really isn't a ramp, but it serves the purpose. For years litter has accumulated, simply because it was too easy to toss trash onto the ground, rather than carrying some type of plastic bag to hold trash until it could be disposed of properly. The ground around the barrel is free of any litter. A hundred yards away where cars park there is some littler, but not like it used to be. One of my concerns was that some might use it to dispose of their home trash, but that did not happen. The only thing close to that is that someone disposed of thirty or forty rods (no reels). They stuffed all they could into the barrel then made a neat stack of the remainder. They were salt water rods, and there were about three types of rods. Looked like someone who ran a "head boat" decided to get rid of his old rods after replacing those supplied to his customers. They didn't appear to be in bad shape other than they were rendered unusable. Other than that, I am pleased that it has worked out so well. I'll continue providing a trash barrel until the season ends, and if I'm still around, I'll put it out again next year as the season approaches.

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.

2017 F150 with the 3.5 Ecoboost and 10 speed trans. Got to love the power (470ft-lbs of torque) and how smooth it is with the 10 speed. After about 1600 miles, 55 of those highway, 140 towing my boat, I am averaging 20.3mpg.

Glue. You can glue the strands together to stiffen them. Use some strong fast drying glue and don't glue all of the strands together. Glue as many strands together as you wish to have the consistory you desire.

It doesn't matter how deep the lake is and 17' isn't deep. What matters is how deep the bass are. The aeration system is a structure element that bass tend to stay near. So let's talk about the bait, you say it's Shad, Threadfin Shad? If the Shad are moving around in a loose fanned out school that looks like a cloud, bass are not feeding on them at the moment. If the Shad are in a tight ball that is a defensive school that is being attacked by some predator fish like bass. Fishing suspended Shad schools means presenting lures that are a similar size, shape and coloration. Tail and underspins work good and structure spoons work good. Small to medium size crankbaits work good. If you see surface activity a popper with tail feathers like a Splash-It (Pop-R) works good. Flukes can be very effective presented using a keel weight hook with a jerk bait retrieve. Hard jerk baits can be very effective. Targeting the aeration structure with a nail weight worm is effective, use Shad colors 5"-6" worms with wacky hooked and 1/16-3/32oz, nose inserted nails. Lots of lures and presentation to try out that work. Remember you want your lures to run just under the baitfish schools or let's them flutter down through the bait, bass tend to position at the depth under the schools and move up to feed or look for injured bait falling down. Tom

Topwaters will catch fish on windy days, on clam days, and on days in between as long as you use the right topwater for the conditions you are fishing.

Bait.

Finally made it up to NY to do some fishing this week. Started the week out fishing with Farmer on his boat. I can't thank him enough for welcoming me to fish with him. It says a lot when a fisherman is willing to help a new guy learn and I can learn a lot from this guy! I have never seen someone skip under docks, trees, pontoon boats like that before! I need to learn how to do that. Silver has been slow as usual and through casual conversation I mentioned never catching a smallmouth before. Enough said we pull up shop and he put me on the SM! Ended up catching my PB smallmouth - given the fact that it was my first, it was my PB! Went out solo this evening and it was slow again, caught rock bass like a champ and the below LM (3.8) on a jig. Ended my night on a low, I decided to retie my jig and for some dumb reason I used a knot I never use to try and reduce the grass catching on it. Well low and behold I pitch to a lily pad, it explodes, I set the hook....and gone. Thought it was a pike at first that maybe bit me off until I reeled it in and noticed the tell tale undone knot curl. Still got a few days more to fish.

It's a juvenile bluegill

Hammerhead Shark

If it having luck with smaller hooks you might try flick shake heads very close to a shaky but mixed with a wacky rig. Very good for something a little different

I have been dipping my toe into BFS stuff and really enjoy it. My main combo is a Phenix PHX682c L/MF rod with a either a Alphas Finesse Custom or a PX68, I am still trying to decide which one I like best. I also have a Kuying Teton UL trout rod and a Loomis CR721 IMX I use with the same reels. The Phenix is about in the middle of the other two rods and it is the one I fish the most often. I generally use it for small weightless/lightly weighted plastics, but also for small hardbaits from time to time. Weight-wise, I usually never go much below 3/16oz or much above 5/16oz. The rod is a hoot and while casting down around the lower limit does challenge my thumb, a DIY spool in either reel makes them both a lot more controllable. I actually had the Phenix out this afternoon to test some new lures. At the end of my time I tied on a 3/8oz jerkbait just to see how the rod could handle it. I whipped it out at random into the lake and this fella was nice enough to bite it. I have caught a few fish with it a bit closer to 3lbs and it handles them very well, the rod bends a ton but once it hits the backbone I can easily turn them and get them in quickly. I was using 8lb floro today and had no issue keeping this on from diving under the dock I was fishing from. I have only had a single stuck fish with this combo, I was pond fishing and cast into cover I had no business casting into with this rod, so I had to wade in to free her. But for open water and light cover, I have total confidence for anything my state can throw at me. I have a ML Majorcraft Go Emotion rod as well. It is a bit softer and a bit more powerful than the Phenix, but they are very close in how they fish. I had bought it for small jerkbaits and other hardbaits, but as it turns out the Phenix covers them well enough to make the MC redundant.

an underwater peek at the hydrilla on my local lake, this is at about 12 feet down

More jigs for sure. 45 isn't enough to wet my appetite. Hair jigs, living rubber, swim, traditional silicone, etc...

I agree with this ^^ If you can't catch fish consistently with the 65 baits you already have, how is buying 20 or 30 more going to improve your game? Figure out which baits/styles/colors/brands of what you already own work best over a period of time, then build off that down the road. If you already are catching plenty on what you have, just buy a few more of the proven baits as you lose them or they wear out. Don't buy just to buy.

When the bite is tough throw a Wacky Rigged Zoom Trick Worm, watermelon neon with the tail dipped in Spike It Dip-N-Glo chartreuse garlic!

I'll actually fish a heavy jig in thick grass before a texas rigged flipping bait. Like @Catt said, it's more about technique than head style. You just have to understand...if you fish in grass, you're going to get grass on your baits. There's just no way around it. It's 100% worth it though, I promise you.

Of all the lures in an angle's arsenal the jig is one of the simplest & yet the most over completed by angler's. Working a jig through grass is more about angler technique than jig head design. The hottest jig design around here for fishing grass is the football head! It is believed that the extra commotion caused by working the football head through the grass attracts the bass's attention. The biggest tip is to keep your cast as vertical as possible. My personal favorite grass jig is Terry Oldham's Eye-Max but Siebert is elbowing it's way in.

I generally cast something small, Ned rig, weightless senko, upstream and let it drift down. The key is finding the seam between the current and slack water. That's where you'll find the fish.

That's great its making a difference. We (a local jeep club) did the same thing and placed a handful of trash cans on a local trail system. Its amazing how much, simply providing a receptacle, will encourage people to use it, yet it also proves an amazing fact that people don't even care unless that said receptacle is there. I've always carried a bag for trash, always made sure anyone with me understands that no trash leaves the jeep, to include cigarette butts, and I always pack out more than I pack in. Thanks for bringing this to the forum.

Nice Fayette Co. 6 pounder

Started out on this pretty morning looking (more like hoping) for a topwater bite over some shallow grass. Didn't happen. (too soon, need another 2 weeks or so). Switched up to swimming a jig through the grass - got a few keeper green bass. Relocated to drop shot some deep cover I found last trip. There were fish on it then and I was hoping they were still there. They were. Got to sit right on top of them and use the electronics to 'feed' a few. It was fun and something I don't get to do nearly enough of. Later, on a mid-day cruise (while eating my lunch) I found a very promising hard bottom area (rock) that didn't have fish but was covered up with bait (perch). WP 558 Locked In ! I'll be hitting that potential honey hole again very soon. A-Jay