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Was able to finish out the regular tournament season on a hot streak with two wins and 3rd. No pictures from a win on the Potomac since the fishing was tough and I didn't expect to win with a small limit. Took 1st on Conowingo with a decent limit of smallies on spinnerbaits. Finished up with a 2-day tourny on Deep Creek...Got 3rd with a mixed bag of SM/LM, mostly on jerkbaits.

Hey folks! I wanted to let you know that the forums will closed on Thursday and most of Friday as we migrate the site to a brand new server. I apologize for the downtime, but it's the only way to ensure we don't lose any of your posts. During the outage, you may connect to everyone via our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bassresource/ Note that our email system will be disabled at this time, so please do not try to send us any emails as we will not receive them. Thank you in advance for your patience during this time! Glenn

This is a great story from the Arkansas State football coach. Of course, you can always substitute school names when you retell it to your friends. Enjoy! https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/arkansas-state-coach-blake-anderson-makes-a-perfect-joke-at-arkansas-expense/

This fish deserved its own post, I would rank it as top 5 in my craziest fish catches ever. I was on the Ohio River near Weirton, WV, on the WV side. I was walking beside a set of train tracks to go to a spot where my friends and I fish for walleye, hybrid striper, and white bass. It is a pretty good hike so we have to carry in a lot of gear, all of which is packed away. My friend lives in the area and had never caught a bass from the area we walked through, and he is an EXCELLENT fisherman. As usual, my eyes were picking apart the shoreline while we walked, and I spotted a pretty nice largemouth as it cruised up to a weed edge. I didn't have anything rigged up, and the only suitable rod I had with me was a 7' medium action baitcaster with 12lb fluoro. I scrambled as fast as I could to open my bag, get a finesse jig out, and tie it up. Shockingly, the bass stayed put. I was standing on the side of the train tracks at this point, a solid 10' above the water level, and flipped my jig way out in the river. I swam the jig back in to where the fish was, and let it settle on the bottom before I shook it. I instantly felt two sharp taps and set the hook. The fish went nuts, and my buddy somehow slid down the extremely steep bank feet first, and scooped the fish in the net as soon as his feet hit the water! The fish was absolutely gorgeous and weighed 5lbs, 7oz, my biggest WV bass so far, and I am pretty sure that is a large fish for the Ohio River. She didn't look like she had ever been caught before either!

I've been meaning to post this. I was down on Falcon Lake, TX a few weeks ago when I got this 11.38 lb. bass. Caught on 10" worm, half-ounce tungsten weight, 25-pound flouro. line. Fishing in 28 FOW. My new personal best.

On my flight back to Connecticut, yesterday, I found a new way to rig babies for night fishing: Apparently, you'd have to use a different rig for babies that are 35 pounds and up. Has anyone tried it? I found a different way to rig babies for night fishing a couple of years ago: It didn't work for me, but a friend pointed out that there's a leader at the top of the rig, so we think that it's a trolling rig. I didn't try trolling it and lost a lot of babies. I lost so many that I ran out during the one night I tried it and never tried it, again.

I went to Erie, PA with a couple friends this weekend to experience the steelhead run. We fished Elk Creek, a tributary to Lake Erie that is known for steelhead fishing. Water was extremely low, fish were very skittish, and there were LOTS of anglers. We knew that was how it would be before we went though. My first day, we fished sunup to sundown. I got my first bite at 11am and landed it, I ended up figuring it out a little more, and landed 4 more before sundown. Over half of the fish I saw hooked would break off or pull the hooks, I'm not sure why but everyone would put a ton of pressure on the fish. I'm sure that part of it was good fortune, but I landed every fish I hooked this weekend, and that was on a light action rod with 6lb fluoro. Day two was much better, we found some fish off the beaten path and got on them early, surprisingly we were the only anglers around! I caught 3, and we landed 6 total, with a couple others pulling the hooks. I definitely plan to return when water levels are better, pools were almost stagnant and there was no drift, I saw thousands of steelhead this weekend but 90% of them wouldn't even think about eating! This fish was kept if anyone was wondering about the vertical hold/gilling.

Reverse fishing?

Hilarious! @Darren. I wondered where the Snickers was too, but the beer was even better!! And did you see him cast his spinning rod with the reel on top? That's the kind of stuff that never ceases to amaze me in commercials or TV shows or movies. Like an actor holding a double-barrel shotgun and you hear the sound of a pump shotgun before they shoot... 5 times...... ha-ha

One of the best deals I ever got on a cooler was my Coleman Super Oscar. I bought it in about 1980, and it's still in the garage right now. Just this summer one of the rivets holding the handle broke, and I'm going to figure out a way to repair it. We have been all over the Rocky Mountain West together over the last 37 years. For a relatively cheap small cooler (couldn't have cost more than $20 new), it has been a rock - served as food storage and camp stool on too many overnighters to count. I'd buy a new one if they still existed. Nothing that Coleman offers today even comes close. If you look closely at this photo you can see the red top of the cooler in the bed behind the driver's seat. That is my 1980 Toyota 4x4 which I owned from '82-'89, and the cooler is the same one I'm still using.

Oh no, what will I do at work now?

But I didn't see any snickers, LOL!

Glad I'm not the only one who gets this joke

Can of Vienna sausage, hot sauce and soda crackers

Caught in a public pond at about 10am on black n blue booyah frog. I retrieved so slowly so I was just barely causing him to make commotion next to the two downed trees. Not sure the picture does the justice since I was alone but I estimated 3 something probably. ( feel free to voice ur opinion on size) someone else said over 4 but I don't know This is the spot he blew up on it. Just to the left of the left branch...

Thought I'd make an evening trip out for some walleye today, instead I ended up catching a few smallies just after sunset on a yellow perch patterned Rapala shadow rap. The location was a rock flat with a sand transition and a weedbed along each side. Biggest smallmouth shown below, guesstimate on the weight was about 4 1/2 lbs. The others were in the 1-2lbs range. Water temp 9ft down was 61F. And don't be alarmed...that's me in the picture...lol

First post to the site, so forgive my faux pas if I make them. From South Central Va, anybody ever heard of Martinsville Speedway. Been fishing for most of my life then caught my first Big Mouth and was hooked (pun intended). Been looking here for a while and finally decided to join.

Great tips from the master, Hank Parker!

Last time fishing I set the hook on an anchor rope with anchor attached . Landed that sucker too. 12 lb XL is good stuff .

The SV103 is probably hands down the best value Daiwa you can pick up right now. Obviously, that’s my opinion and people have different budgets to work with. Right around $200-230 and offers endless options to upgrade it if you choose to do so. Built solid as a rock and will easily cast without issues. 34mm spool - 90mm handle - metal drag star - fast levelwind on the 7.9 model - aluminum frame and gear side plate - uses zillion internal parts.

Perhaps J, but I think the spider thing was an actual deal too. btw - I eat a banana with breakfast Almost Every Day - except the mornings I'm going fishing - then it's something else. Yup - I'm a freak. A-Jay

That sounds even more plausible than the spiders deal I posted about above.

First off - I fixed that one for you ~ Second, as to "the Myth" - back in the day of sailing ships - old timey sailors avoided bananas on boats because they emit Ethylene which causes other fruits around them to ripen quickly (and then to rot). Which on a long voyage is not good. Also I think there was a highly venomous "banana spider' that hid in the bunches & was killing deck hands on these ships as well. Can't say how that turned into a "Bad Luck" thing. A-Jay

That's why I practice catch & release. Good karma.

The lake I fish has threadfin shad schools that sit usually 50-60 ft deep on the bottom in late fall. If you want to catch bass, the important thing is to locate a Shad school that is being actively attacked by bass, which is a matter of sonar interpretation. My favorite spoon is a lurepartsonline.com 3/4 oz Jigging Minnow that closely resembles a threadfin shad. I brush on 3-4 heavy coats of latex acrylic glow in the dark greenish white paint and topcoat it with moisture cured urethane, adding a #4 feathered treble hook. This has been a killer combo for me. Largemouths, stripers, and white bass love it.

Just that you can put a really high end spool in those reels, if you like. The TD-Z, Steez spools can be very light, and there's lots of aftermarket options.

Those things never go on sale. You can always get one of the cheaper knockoffs from RTIC or ORCA. SO what if they only hold ice for 8 days instead of 10 like the Yeti. For a day trip on the boat they are fine. Use the money saved to buy a new rod and a Yeti Sticker to slap on the knockoff.

I always eat before I go out....and take a couple granola bars along....and usually they are the same couple that I took previous time out, because I forget to eat most of the time. As long as I have 2-3 bottles of water, I'm good.

Not a problem. Just keep in mind i don't know Jack about fishing, boats, or marine electronics. I'm brand new to this hobby. Anout a month ago my little girl asked to go fishing so we went to Wal-Mart bought a coupe cheap rods and worms, each of us landed a 2.5 to 3lber (almost back to back, this creek beside our house seems just loaded with them) and we were hooked. Less than a month later we've got a nice older 16 ft tracker hooked up behind the f150.

OMG, LMAO!

I figure another 4 weeks before my Lund is put to bed for the winter

Horrible fishing on Monday for the first few hours before the wind blew and I got called off the lake. Only one fish even worth catching and it was the wrong kind.

Yea boy !!!!!

Gill em to kill em then Rope em and smoke em! Come next year and catch the humpys, and watch the humpys attack the steelbows. Biggest racket this state has. What did they charge you guys for a non-resident erie stamp and trout stamp? Are you Russian? lol

Bananas only when on a boat.

I seldom eat when on the water but in case I get hungry, I always bring a couple of Cliff’s bars and some water.

The ones that give off a brown scent trail will only catch catfish...

Took my buddy Bill fishing yesterday. First time fishing in 28 years, first time ever bass fishing. He had liver failure and got a transplant earlier this year and is doing well. This was his first bass ever (the little one) and the bigger one he said was the biggest fish he had ever caught in his life. Anyway, by the time we got to mid afternoon he was asking how much money I had in the boat, trailer and motor and was thinking out loud about getting one in the spring. I think he had a good time. It was the best day fishing I have ever had.

It catches smallmouth around here bigger than the text you used to ask this question!

About time! I was successful at catching and keeping a few rainbows after what seems like weeks of throwing my whole tackle box at them! "not literally but hopefully you get the point" I used a size 10 Owner Mosquito Hook "Used these before, Awesome hooks.", Four pound fluorocarbon and a Berkley trout worm in bubble gum. I used a spit shot rig with a single spit shot about 12 inches from the hook and that was all it took. The other three rainbows were a bit wiser and wanted nothing to do with my pink worms/powerbait. I pulled out a crank bait and spinners and it was enough for the other three to want to bite. Now i would of liked to put the others on here and show them off but stupid me forgot to take a picture of them first and was more worried about getting the next one/etc. However, Perhaps next time though. Finally got my fall rainbow feels good <3

I wanted to get started early this morning so I got to the smaller pond at 7am as the sun was starting to rise. Didn't get to stay long as it started pouring down and I wasn't really dressed for the occasion. It was a tad chilly out. Got back to the house about 7:45am so I could put my wet clothes in the dryer. Finally the rain let up enough for me to get back out there. Rain was still in the forecast so I dressed for it this time. Glad I did because it rained a bit more. It was ok though it finally cooled down some and stayed that way. Got back to the pond around 10am had my green pumpkin 3/8oz Dirty Jobs Tackle swim jig tied on with a green pumpkin 3.75" Tube as a trailer on my baitcaster and a green pumpkin 3.75" Tube with an 1/8oz shaky head hook stuffed inside it with the line tie eye pushed out the side at the head of the Tube(got the idea in an article on Tubes on this site) tied on my spinning rod. Both were productive today caught 2 on each before I got my swim jig snagged and broke off(gotta replace it soon). Ended up tying on my 3/8oz black and blue Arkie jig with another green pumpkin 3.75" Tube trailer. Caught one on that too, it was by accident though. It had a little mud on it so I dipped into the pond to rinse it. As soon as it hit the water it was engulfed. One handed I pulled it out, did my thing and released it. They were all dinks today, but I had fun anyways. The most fish I've caught in a single outing so far. Still trying to get that big un that I almost had yesterday. It's gonna happen, just hope it's sooner than later.

Hadn't been fishing in a while, until tonight. It's been hot and fish have been in the summer mood. Though the air is still in the high eighties, the shorter days are causing the water to cool slightly. I went out bank fishing on a pair of golf course ponds tonight and caught a dozen 2-4 pounders and a 5 pounder in an hour, most of them from under a wooden foot bridge. It was phenomenal. All of them smashed a green pumpkin chatterbait with a matching trailer. The fish were strong pullers tonight and I think they are becoming activated by the cooling water. We are expecting finally a cold front this week and after that the bass should be actively chasing schooled baitfish and go nuts chasing my collection of jerkbaits.

Another few hours on the lake. Y'all ever have one of those days where you just feel like you'll get bit every cast? Thats how I felt. Ended up with 16 , but I lost more fish than normal . This was mostly because the fish were so active they would almost immediately hit the worm and swim off in any direction faster than normal. Caught probably 10 or more in blown down trees and limbs from Irma. Only had a couple lucky strike worms left , and I quickly used them up. Ended up using old manns ribbon tail worms in purple flake from the 80's and they loved them. Ended up with a 6 inch manns black screw tail worm on for the pictured fish. Fall bite is ON !!?

Weather not the greatest here in the Omaha area, but I was able to get out for a few hours and catch four (4) bass. Here was the biggest at 4.16 pounds and just short of 19". Caught on a weedless 1/0 wacky hook using a weightless 5" flat dawg worm. This is the biggest I caught this year and it sure felt good.

Here's another picture from yesterday. Only if all fishing days were that good but it's what keeps us going right?!

Yesterdays best.

Well it wasnt a monster, but Dad finally caught a bass in my boat. It took three trips, but he finally did it. Havent seen him smile like that very often, really cool experience.

thanks man

Local lake I fish has tons of frogs, bass, pickerel, sunfish, osprey, eagles, herons, etc. Still advised not to eat fish from the lake (specifics are like 1 serving every two months of sunfish only) due to Mercury levels. Many contaminants that we find in our waters may not have effects on the wildlife that are visible to our naked eye, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

Helix 5 Sonor only model is $199.