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I wanted to take a fishing vacation to either El Salto or Lake Baccarac. After speaking to a few guys ( @A-Jay )and seeing reports of Lake Baccarac bigguns, I settled on Lake Baccarac from Dec 3 - Dec 8th. Multiple 10lb+ bass were caught in November and so I had to see what this lake was all about. Got there Sunday and fished Mon to Thurs and had an amazing time catching a bunch of 3-5lb bass who fought harder than I could ever imagine! These bass were MEAN and STRONG. They hit my lures like a mack truck and dove so hard I thought I was fighting small tuna lol. Top water got em early in the morning and then mainly big 12" worms, 7" senkos and 1oz jigs with 7" senko trailers were the big hit. There was no love for swim baits but I did manage some 2-3lbers on the 6.8" Keitech paired with the 3/4oz warbaits underspin and my Jackall Gantarel. Also, a bass pro mentioned how he loved Omega Custom Tackle's Raptor Bladed Jig so I bought a few of them and their football and structure jigs to take with me. I threw the Raptor Bladed jig in white/chart and paired them with a pure white Strike King Rage Tail Craw. I dyed the claws with spike it garlic chartreuse and got OBLITERATED at Baccarac. The action of the jig and rage tail craw were amazing and so erratic that my guide was super impressed and said the action was muy loco lol. I slew 30 bass on that setup alone in the morning, up to about 5lbs. It was my last day of fishing where we found the bigguns. I was using my Omega Custom Tackle Pro Structure Jig in Camo Craw with the 7" black senko and CRUSHED IT all in the morning. Landed a 7.81, 7.12, 6.94, 9.81 MY NEW PB!!!! and a 9.12 all from 6am to 10am and mainly in just two spots. I couldn't believe it. 9.81 9.26 7.81 7.12 6.94 I didn't break into the double digit club but I will next time! I'm so hooked on this place, can't wait to head back. I can see why there are a lot of repeat customers. Everyone at the lodge was great. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to experience big bass fishing heaven! I'll have some videos of the catches added later. Here's a link to all of my images:https://lensdump.com/a/JcKQ

The bass were not doing it today, but my friends and I got on a big school of crappies in 35'. Dinner was pretty cheap too

Talk about square bills! Found this oldie digging around in a old tackle box:?

Ever wonder why people around the world put an angle on top of their Christmas tree? Well, here is the story. Enjoy. In early December, four of Santa's elves got sick. When the trainee elves could not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, Santa began to feel some Pre-Christmas pressure. Then Mrs. Claus mentioned that her Mother was coming to visit, stressing Santa even more. He went to harness the reindeer, and found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had gotten loose and were out, Heaven knows where. Then, when he began load-testing the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked; the bag of toys fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered. Frustrated, Santa went back in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. Opening the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drunk all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, breaking it into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He got the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom Just then the doorbell rang. An irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, only to find a little Angel with a great big Christmas tree. The Angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?' And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree. Not a lot of people know this. You're welcome.

Well I'm bored waitin for the wife to get ready so we can go do the Christmas stuff with kids and thought of this question. How many of you who are over 65 still enjoy fishing tourneys in any capacity....club...opens etc. Tight Lines I DO........

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ During late fall & early spring I fish & have success with both blade baits & Lippless bait. However, during this time, I fish both baits The Same. A simple (and very small) lift & drop. Sometimes on a tight line and sometimes on a totally slack line; depends on what the fish are eating it like at that particular time. A 5/8 or 3/4 oz Silver Buddy Blade Bait and a 3/4 oz Duo Realis G-Fix Vibration Tungsten Lipless bait are two very productive baits for me. However last season the Lipless bait out fished the blade by a wide margin. Here's a brief video where I talk about just that. A-Jay

Little bit of snow in VA this afternoon

From yesterday, possibly the last open water boat trip for me this year...

Some bonus fish from yesterday's trip...

Finally got out on the water with the Conquests this week.... I got 14 of them in the following models: 905C, 904C, 903C, 842C and 842S. On the casting rods I have Aldebaran 50's on them all and the spinning models I have Exsence 3000's on them. Got to fish with all models except the 905C, which arrived at my house while I was at the lake... I will say with the 905C just feeling it in my hand it balances WAY better than my NRX 895C did, the 905C is not tip heavy at all... I owned all NRX's prior to upgrading and the Conquests have a more "solid" feel, hard to explain but the NRX's felt "hollow"/brittle in comparison. I noticed the casting was more "fluid" with the Conquests and the guides were quiet, sometimes on my NRX's I could hear the line go through the recoil guides during a cast or when fighting a fish. I do like the full cork grip on the Conquests and its a very smooth cork feel in hand, no pits/rough spots like a couple of my NRX's had. I can't "with the naked eye" tell a weight difference between the Conquest and NRX, but they do feel stronger/more "solid" than the NRX. I caught several 3lb-4lb class fish on them including a 6lb and they all handled the fight of the fish great, I even caught a 5lb on the 842S Conquest paired with an Exsence 3000 with 8lb line. And I don't know if it's the reel or the rod or a combination of both, but the 842S Conquest with the Exsence 3000 casted like a dream! Farther and with less effort than with my NRX 852S w/Sustain 2500. I was a little worried at first with the "fast" action of the Conquests vs the "extra fast" of the NRX's but it wasn't an issue. I fished the same baits on the Conquests that I did with the NRX's and the rods handled the baits fine. I met the lure weight limits on each model I fished with, zero issues. Sensitivity is slightly better vs NRX, not as noticeable as say from a E6X to a GLX. Now, is "slightly better" worth the roughly 20% higher cost of the Conquest vs NRX? That's up to you... I'm a gear junkie so it was worth it to me... Fishing is my "beer", so having top of the line equipment makes fishing that much more enjoyable for me. In my line of work I need lots of "beer".... If you can swing the coin, I highly recommend them!

Still enjoy? I'm 67 and have been fishing since I was 5 and I've never fished a tournament. My buddy fished bass tournaments for 15 years, but hasn't fished one for at least 20 years. He got tired of practice fishing, tournament fishing, running his business and then having to work a show the next weekend. The free stuff was nice, for me anyway, but they worked him to near to death. He was younger then. I still have two of the original Shimano baitrunners he got me for next to nothing. I surf fish, too. We talk about it sometimes and then forget about it. Like Wednesday, we mentioned it Wednesday morning after we got my boat over the bank into the pond. Thirty acres and two trolling motors - both ours. Even the great blue herons didn't object much as we drifted around.

I'm 67 and it seems that's all I do. BFL and Bass Nations now, but up to this year I also fished the TBF but gave that up..The 2 day's plus those other 2 in the same month just wore me out too much. Been thinkjng about entering an Open or 2 this year but haven't decided. When those are over I fish a team club and a few charity ones when I have time. All as a co angler. I always wanted to fish more competitively before I retired, so as they say...If not now, when? Mike

That's impossible...everyone knows KVD is the first one to ever fish a square bill!!!!

At 66 yrs young & retired I have the ability to pick & choose which tournaments I fish. Gone are the days of marathon (12-14 hr) tournaments & having to fish during foul weather. These days I mostly fish Team Tournaments ?

I know there is no one perfect rod to realistically throw 2 to 8 oz baits. But just getting into bigger swimbaits i felt this was the perfect rod to get into swimbaits. I have been throwing 5.8 keitechs, 6" SG line thru trout, and my bbz40 rat just fine on my mh rods. My only real concern will be those baits that are 2 to 3oz as the rod may be a little stiff to cast those accurately. My strategy now (i wish i would have done this before spending money on iffy swimbaits) is to pick up a 68 special and 8" hudds as well as a gantarel/sg/mattlures gill and eventually a 9" slammer and learn those. Kinda why i created this thread. If i can grab a used reel and fix/service it for less than a new one, that $ can go towards one of those baits.

I prefer the blade bait in winter, simply because they cast farther and sink faster than lipless cranks. Plus they make less noise (unless using a silent lipless like the damiki tremor) and have a tighter vibration usually.

Wow! Kirk van Douglas, the original KvD! Yeah, I know, I just had to add the "van" to make it work. I'll show myself out....

I've lived in KY my entire life. Although I love it there's no denying we have a tax problem here. We have income tax, property tax AND a 6% sales tax. Most states have either/or but we have them all. We're as heavily taxed as some of the northeastern states. Truthfully I wouldn't choose to move here if I didn't have a pretty good income. Our gun laws are excellent, however.

Of course, no reason not to.....lol. Hootie

I got it back! There was absolutely nothing missing. In fact, he used my credit cards and had put the credit card receipts in the passenger seat. He was pulled over by the OHP about 5 miles from where he was last spotted. He pulled over without incident and when the trooper walked up he said "I stole it". He told him that he got in a fight with his wife and just wanted to get away and had been joy riding. He put a little over 400 miles on. He did smoke in it, which I can't hardly handle, but will figure something out. When I went to get it there was a fresh 30 pack of bud light in the floorboard. I asked the trooper what I should do with it. He said "pour that open one out and drink the rest of them." Pretty crazy, but at leas it's over.

Next thing you're going to tell me is you removed the bottom of the Lund and replaced it with a screen door coated with flexseal

90% of the time, I'm throwing a spinnerbait, it's an H&H. Love em and caught a ton of fish on them I'm pretty partial to Orange/Brown. Not even kidding. Also.....If you pay $1.99 you are paying too much...lol

everyone should have a name and address..have fun.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it.

Some recent catches in the York River, and its creeks.

Contrary to what all the "pros" do, I don't over think my set ups. I just grab a rod or two and go fish. I find it much easier to use a few rods at a time that than having the deck of my boat covered with a different rod for each bait.

Gday guys just stumbled across this site, looks great. I'm 25 years old and fish for Aussie Bass in skinny creeks around Sydney. Most people fish with small topwater cicadas and tiny cranks over here. But I like experimenting with the techniques you guys use and have found many to be far more successful than standard techniques for Aussie Bass; such as all the hollow body mice/frogs, Texas rigged plastics, worm plastics, larger cranks and stick baits and the list goes on. Hopefully I will be able to learn some new techniques from you guys and share a few of my videos in the process. Look forward to sharing my videos and photos with you fellas. Here's my most recent fishing with weedless rigged z man turbo craws worked on the surface. Cheers

I tried something yesterday that I haven't and it seemed to work quite well. Part was from a friends recommendation and the other was what I've been wondering for awhile. Since it was cold yesterday and the guides were freezing some "I tried it" My friend said to put hand warmers on the underside of my wrists as it would warm the blood going to my hands and second I wore a light latex glove on my reel hand under my light gloves as this hand is prone to get wet. Well....my hands are horrible in cold....horrible....AND IT WORKED!!! Perfect no....but I'm impressed and will continue this. The day was very bearable. It was also nice to handle fish with the latex...hand stayed dry. Anyway...my story and am sticking to it Tight Lines

Hey everyone, this is my first post on this forum. I've been an avid bass angler since I was little, and just recently started going full steam again (in terms of research, time spent fishing, buying tackle, etc.)...when the weather was warmer I was going at least a couple of times a week, but the cold weather has obviously slowed some things down. That being said, I don't want to pack up for the winter either, but I do want to make the most of my time when I'm out as I'm pretty sure we all do. I've bought a bunch of lipless crankbaits lately in varying colors (shad, bream, craw, and firetiger for different conditions). I hear they are good for cold weather bass, and caught a bass the other day using one. I've also heard some good things about bladebaits for winter bass, but don't really want to invest if there isn't much of a difference between them for these conditions. I will probably buy at least one for now regardless, but just wondering people's opinions. Is one clearly better than the other, are there positive and negatives to both, or is there really no difference?

Did this today. Going to do more tomorrow.

I've got a few nets. They may or may not be on the boat at the same time. A shallow rubber Frabil conservation net for bass, walleye, and large crappie, a deep coated (nylon??)net made by Ranger for pike and musky. I also recently acquired a Stowmaster tournament net which is large enough for salmon, musky, and pike. Haven't used that one yet, My dad got it free from an older gentlemen who was retiring from salmon fishing.

Oh yes....now grandsons....had a daughter....she's with the Lord. Have an awesome Christmas....(had to smile when I read it though)

Anytime the bass can escape to the food rich grass flats, fishing in the canals will be tough. The flats at Loxahatchee will still produce, especially going into the spawn, and you can maneuver back to get some. The canals in the Holey Lands might be good, since the bass are locked into the high banks. They have no flats to wander off into. The only down side there, is dodging the bullets.

99.91% off is a pretty fair sale price!

See, you should have made a trip to canyon lake for winter season. It is still 70-80 during the day here.

Noon- you got started late lol The three times i have went we got there as the sun came up and started drinking. I cooked breakfast for everyone on the flat top grill and then the drinking, eating and cooking continued all day...i did slow down around 11pm though lol

@WRB H&H Lures made the first spinnerbait I ever saw (1962) & are still a huge seller at $1.99. Like the Beetle Spin everyone cut their teeth throwing them. We threw colors no one today would dream of throwing, red/white, black/yellow, blue/chartreuse & other weird colors

@WRB H&H been around since the late 50s early 60s. Outside of the Gulf Coast not well known but their Cocahoe Minnow is killer on Specks-n-Reds

You're not going to find fishing with 12# mono very fun using anything less than a 4000 or 5000 size reel. FOr the braid, you can definitely downsize to a 1000-2500 size reel.

Hello @ShaneWheeler and welcome to the forum. Thank you for posting your video, fishing in Australia is in my bucket list of places to fish. Will check your channel out.

When a regular "customer", tells me they really didn't do anything this time.

My sisters 9 lb 28 inch wiper.

It has to be round or oval. Like you said, they'll die in no time if the tank has any corners. Most of the big striper guys go for big ovals, look like plastic stock tanks.

Round net. I like the pool noodle idea. I know quite a few kayak guys that use a smaller version to hold the fish while they get ready with the camera.

Looks like a Huddlebug by Huddleston? Took a day off from work yesterday and made a long drive back home to see family and got a picture of 4 generations of Westgate men.

Do you ever sleep? With working nights, really young children, and fishing when do you sleep my friend?

Shasta Lake has been producing quite a few Rainbow Trout for me lately, with four rainbows caught the past two trips and a fifth one that broke off at the boat. My wife also caught an aggressive blue gill using a ned rig which was a first for us.

I like the Uni to Uni a lot and fish it on multiples rods with microguides with very, very few problems and use 30lb PP or 832 and 12lb Hybrid as one of my most common leader materials (not tiny diameter, and not super limp - but excellent knot strength). From what you've mentioned, I see one big issue. Keep your leader short enough so that it doesn't reach your reel. Catching on the eye of the reel can damage the knot, foul casts, and just create a lot of aggrevation. This is good advice for any leader knot on both, spinning and casting gear. This isn't fishing dry flies for trout - no need for a 12' leader here. This is likely the cause of 75% of your issues. 3'-6' of leader is 99% more than enough.