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Great day on the water today. Caught about a dozen LMB including 2 over 3lbs and over a dozen Crappie including this 2.5 lb slab. All on Yo-Zuri jerk baits.

Answer - when she gulps down a catfish prior to eating your jig!! This nice prespawn female was just short of 20" long and should have been in the mid 4 lb range. However, she had a hankering for catfish and still hadn't digested it when she thought she would add a small crawdad-looking jig for desert. She ended up weighing 5lb 2 oz, but didn't look odd or misshapen with the whisker fish on its way to her belly. She looks to have the frame to continue to grow over the years, especially if she continues to gorge herself like this.

A great day out on Lake Norman! We were catching them off isolated docks on secondary points. The reason I'm grimacing a bit is because that bigger spot just thrashed and ripped up my thumb. Gotta love that bass thumb!

New at icast - channel cat swim baits

Young man if you would message me your name,address,etc. i will send you a perfectly good reel with no issues with it,along with some 12pd line, new in the box.

Caught a lot of <3lb fish Monday and had the lake all to myself, it was really nice other than being pretty cold. Got my first fish on one of my new swimbaits too. Just a little guy, but he smacked it.

If I ever have to use more than the single strand guards some customs are being built with, then I figure I need to use something other than "Ned" as the appropriate bait. To date, I've never even used the single strand guard heads and not really planning to, but carry some just in case. That's just me, though.

Closest I've been to a bass in 3 months!

The trolling motor pushed it pretty well. Current was moving. If I had a bigger trolling motor already I would put that one on it but it’s adequate for now. It’s pretty stable and handles well. I haven’t got it up on plane yet but so far I don’t regret buying it. The seats are comfortable. I wish it had either more storage or a small seat in the middle. I just bought a cooler to fix those issues though.

The Moral hooks are a good quality example of the new-ish MWF mold, but I still mantain that the hooks are too big and heavy (in weight) to be "ideal". I thought I had one around for reference, but I guess I have used up the ones that I bought to try. In anycase, below are some examples of assorted Ned heads; From top to bottom they are; 1. Zman Head, 1/15oz, the new style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .091oz 2. Zman Head, 1/15oz, the old style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .072oz 3. Zman Head, 1/20oz, the old style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .059oz 4. Gopher Head, 1/16oz, #2 hook. It weighs in at .053oz. 5. eBay Head, 1/16oz, from the MWF Mold, #4 hook. It weighs in at .064oz. If we are to take the old Gopher heads as the "gold standard", then the old style Zman in 1/20 is the closest in size and weight. I wish I had a Morel Head (amazing name btw) to weigh, but my memory is that they are almost 1/8oz, so around .09-.125oz. I strongly feel that if you are fishing the Ned with the standard retrieves you are best served with as light a head with as small a hook as you can get away with. I use the "crank crank glide" retrieve maybe 90% of the time and the heavier heads will stop and fall instead of keeping forward momentum and gliding to the bottom like they will with the lighter heads. At the end of the day it might be angels dancing on the head of a pin, but I like to get a little fussy about things.

Used quite often down here ?

The cost of service for members here is $19.80ea (22-10%). Just supply your screen name when sending reels. Shipping and parts are extra. Feel free to email or call with any questions. Mike

I'm a rather lazy and neglectful sort...but I do maintain my reels a little - Spinning - I take the spool, handle, and handle cap off; clean with alcohol; apply reel oil and reassemble. Never anything more unless there's a problem. Baitcasting - I use http://fish.shimano.com/content/sac-fish/en/home/customer-service/reel-maintenance-instructions/_jcr_content/bodycontent/download_0/downloadFile/file.res/Maintenance Tips - Conventional Reels .pdf and clean and oil/lube about twice a year. Every two or three years I send them out for deep cleaning. I recommend Mike (DVT.)

Last Saturday my son and my 2 grandkids(they're my girlfriend's grandkids but they call me Pawpaw) came up for my girlfriend's sister's memorial. It was great seeing them again. Hadn't seen them in a couple months. Wish it had been under happier circumstances and lasted longer. I'll see them again soon I hope. ?

Although I could never see the DNR ever approving that in any way, shape or form - Ever; My fighting days are behind me. My Life's course is locked in and heading for the calmest waters available. A-Jay

Saw something kind of rare for the middle of suburbia. While at the back of a cove, I heard a group of coots scatter from the shore towards the water. I turned around and saw a Golden Eagle pinning a coot to the ground. Within moments, about 2 dozen crows appeared and started swooping & harassing the Eagle. After a minute or so of that, the Eagle released the coot and took to the air. As the stunned coot tried to get to his feet, the Eagle circled a few times with the crows still attempting to chase him away. Finally the Eagle did leave the area, after which the coot limped to the water to join his buddies. Pretty amazing for a non-country boy to watch.

A-Jay

Only got one yesterday but I'll take it! Did a little bank fishing after work

I signed up about 8 years ago and just got very busy with life now I have more time. starting to fish more so I'm starting over pretty much. I see alot of great things to catch up on. Oh just as I was thinking life was getting back to normal, I tore my rotator cuff a couple of weeks ago and the doc says about 6-8 months recovery time so I'll be reading alot. grrrrrrrrrrrrr life

I have fished a Fogy a ton and used different trailers on them for different effects of the bait. The blade can and at times will hit the head. Especially when it hits cover and bounces over it. This torques the head when it moves and may hit the head. Which in turn may chip the paint. One of the biggest benefits of the football head I have found is how it comes over cover. The football head acts like a skid plate on a truck going over obstacles. It moves over it instead of rolling to the side and increasing the chance of hanging. The negative of losing a little paint drastically outweighs losing the lure on a side roll.

That an in-store deal you saw? I don't even see Veritas 2.0's listed on their website

That is way Canada went to the Metric System .... track their willingness to move in millimeters.

Here are some weedless heads. I use these almost exclusively when fishing in current, so my observations are all based on that. 1. Owner Ultra Head, 1/16oz, #1 hook. It weighs in at .078oz 2. Decoy Nailbomb Head, 1/16, #1 hook. It weighs in at .059oz 3. Slider Pro Head, 1/16, 3/0 hook. It weighs in at .059oz. Firstly, it is surprising how little the Slider hook weighs compared to the other too, but steel is so much lighter than lead, and the Owner head has a larger ball on it then the others. I bounce back between the Owner and the Decoy, depending on the current and wind. The Owner seems to get slightly better hookups and casts better, but the Decoy holds the plastic better and seems to snag a lot less, I assume because the hook is closer into the lure and gets hit less often in current. @cgolf, if you like the TRD on the Slider head, give the Hula Stick a try on there. The extra inch gives it a little more wiggle on the fall and seems to slow it down as well. The tentacles don't really have much movement, but if you slit the plastic maybe 1/2" back it will quiver nicely.

No I like the 3/0 hooks, but a Ned rig purist will say that the hook is to large to meet the definition of a Ned rig. I am very careful now When I discuss this rigging to not call it a Ned rig, or someone else will for me;)

The 'why' is the best way to the 'how'. But, admittedly, not easy to get at. But I'm given em hell!

Hmmmmm.... All of 'em! LOL My bass here have a pretty narrow diet. It's almost all bluegills, with some baby bass (mostly eaten by juv's), some crayfish, and some dragonflies thrown in here and there. So... if my bass are mistaking my lures for BG's, then... all of 'em? I try to help them out some by using "BG colors", esp in clearer water. But bluegills don't always, even often, look like what most manufacturers call "BG" color. Probably bc most fisherman recognize bluegills in spawning coloration. But most of the year, BGs are not so vividly dressed, esp in clear water, and esp for younger BGs, which most bass eat. I talk about this a bit on one of my summer videos -the "Late Summer" one, with swim jigs in that case. Crankbaits, esp: What invariably gets my heart going while perusing the racks at a tackle shop, or the catalogs, are potential BG colors. And I have "bluegillized" a lot of cranks. I use and show one in my "Early Fall" video. A lot of this is in my head, I know. But hey!, it's my head that going fishing, isn't it? That said, I'm sure that accuracy in image/motion (what RichZ has called "Identity Profile" or IDP) could be important, if they could be accurate enough. And just painting some chunk of plastic or wood in spawning bluegill colors doesn't go too far. What I have only just begun to do is play around with some of the high end swimbaits that do appear to offer a much more accurate look. It remains to be seen how well these hold up in the IDP department after the bass gain experience with them. I've come to recognize that the what I call "economic negotiations" between predator and prey are most important. I've also found that some lures are simply more difficult for fish to learn are "not food" than others. Two that come to mind are the stick-worms, and a nifty little creation that's been around for some time but no one seems to know, is the Lil' Fishie now sold by Creme. Great little lure. Someone ought to run with that design; It needs some tweaking in the larger sizes.

Funny....I haven't had a strong urge to use weedless ned heads. I fish some extraordinarily woody water....and I hang a lot of lures (don't even ask about blade baits) but I don't hang neds as much as I worried I would. Now, I don't throw them into thick cover far from the boat.....but it seems that the 'gentle', mostly up and down presentation keeps the points from getting buried in wood a lot better than I expected.

If it’s the morning I’ll always have a frog on, have caught My pb and several close to it in the morning on a frog (pb came on a scum frog). It could be the difference in lakes too. That being said I always have a t rigged craw and jig w/craw trailer tied or very close by. Usually have a shakey head tied on my spinning gear too

Looks like a lot of lost fish to me. Allen

The biggest one I hauled in last year was only 4lbs caught on a red bug 10.5" Ol' Monster. I sure do miss that little pond by the house I used to live in down in Pineville. Will be doing my very best to top that this year. Who knows, maybe tomorrow it will happen or at least my first bass of the year. I'm going to Wallace Lake in the morning to try out some of my new baits/lures my awesome friend @A-Jay sent me. ?

Caught my largest on a black/red football jig I picked out of the $1 bin paired with a watermelon/red flake beaver craw. Middle of the day in the middle of summer. Pitched off the bank to underneath an overhanging tree in maybe a foot and a half of water and she violently choked it down just as I was about to reel it in. Biggest smallmouth ate a chartruese/Black back KVD 1.5. I dug it into a grass patch and ripped it out.

Last time I saw this type of bass behavior, the bass almost kill itself from swallowing other fish. I even had a hard time trying to remove the crappies from its mouth. The crappies was still alive and swam away.

Yea - our forecast also has a certain not-helping speed up the ice out kind of feel to it as well. Predictably Arctic to be more precise. Dogs like it ~ A-Jay

I am really looking forward to ice out. A-Jay

Black Dog wooden She'll Cracker, Matt lures hard gill and Huddgill. Tom

@slonezp - To repeat what I mentioned above - I believe we need to obey the law and do our part to conserve the fishery . That being said , keeping some doesn't hurt most fisheries. Balance is the key. A-Jay

The Susquehanna River up above Harrisburg, PA. While spring time flows can make paddling up current a little more challenging during the summer it is much more manageable and you have a river a mile wide to traverse. If you decide to head to the Susky I can PM you some launch sites.

Thanks for the reply Catt. You know sometimes I think I'm overthinking this whole fishing thing and just need to "go fishing" lol. I've been trying to force the deep bite a little to hard I think. Past successful trips have me trying to re-live the past but If they aint there, they aint there. Or sometimes even when they are there and you see them on the electronics you just cant get them fired up. Just been in a little bit of a slump is all. I'll snap out of it sooner or later.

These guys are pretty versatile, no real wrong way to throw them. By far my most effective method is swimming them like a paddle tail with a 1/8 weight through grass, have done alright swimming them around laydowns as well. I've had really good days fishing clear water grass beds letting the worm fall into the grass then ripping it out using jig heads. At night dragging it like a conventional worm on a t-rig/c-rig is very effective, think it puts off a little more vibration compared to other soft plastics. I've even had success using half of one as a chatterbait trailer. A lot of guys down here use them as topwaters, particularly the gambler burner worm, around pads and other topped off grass and do very well. Personally never caught much doing this, but I've watched others crush them so it has to be user error.

The two crank baits which have regularly produced well for me in the early spring are lipless crankbaits and suspending jerkbaits. Don't know how "hardcore" they are as I've never seen them in a naughty movie but they do work exceptionally well.

I agree whole heatedly with this sentiment Mike. A-Jay

I was down in the Orlando area and fished one day on the Harris Chain. My first largemouth bass of the year weighed six pounds, two ounces:

Ran out just before sunset to beat the bank. The color purple ruled the day, with three 3-pounders in quick succession.

Thanks to google for putting a *** article on the wifes phone about the prespawn, she wanted to go out today. Had another 4lber slam the chatterbait!!

I haven't used the bags so feel free to stop reading now if you are dead set on them... We've been dealing with the non-puncture tag rule on the Potomac and Bay for a couple seasons now. I've actually been using the gill-loop style tags for about 10 years anyway so I was ahead of the game. Just as fast as normal tags and no big clips to blocks the fish's face/mouth. They don't ever come off either which is a big complaint about the clips. It's essentially the same thing as what you were doing before with your clips only its a soft wire. IMO, this is the best style tag but unfortunately very few are available commercially. Mine are no longer made, but they should be easy enough to DIY, which is what I plan on doing if these ever break or fail. I've read about the bags, but I just can't see that being a better solution...Open to being proven wrong though, I'll just need to see it first hand.

I had a day on Friday that I have to share. I fish from noon to 1 PM nearly everyday during my lunch hour with two of my colleagues. We catch a few fish but rarely many big ones, but it gets us out of the office and lets us enjoy the south Florida sunshine. Friday, January 26 the wind is blowing 20+ but the skies are clear so off we go. With the wind at my back I send my first cast out about 35 yards and light a smoke. I start working the lure and on the second bump I feel that all too familiar tick and wind down and set. The first picture is the resulting 4-6 fatty. All three of us keep fishing and each catch 4 really little guys (I mean really little, 8" or less). Its gets near 1 PM and we call last cast. I have worked my lure nearly to the bank when I get torpedoed. The second picture is the last cast 3 - 15. Last year I only caught two fish over 4 pounds so I get two in that range in an hour was special. I was using a spinning reel loaded with 15 lb mono with a 6" medium action rod and a Havoc Rocket Craw (Watermelon with purple fleck) Texas-rigged with a 3/16oz bullet weight.

After 3 weeks where I couldn't even buy a bite, pulled in this nice 4.5lber in FT Stewart.

Two warm weekends in a row and a little more rain today opened up one of the little lakes in my area after nearly 5 weeks of being frozen solid. Had to take advantage and at least make a few casts after the cold we've been dealing with this past month. Bonus when I managed 7 bass in about 75 minutes from a lake that was still frozen just yesterday. On the board in 2018, about 2 weeks earlier than last year! Looks like another lake in the area will be clear by tomorrow, so hoping for one more trip before we go cold again.

Fished in the sideways snow from about 9-1:30, it was cold but not @Bluebasser86 cold. If you're wondering why I'm wearing a life jacket on the bank, I was walking up and down cliffs next to the lake all day like in the last picture. Fish were quite active, Caught 5 but had a big one swipe my lure at the bank when I was pulling it up to cast again. The largemouth and one smallmouth not pictured (~16") took the bait right at my feet