Leaderboard

Saturday was a fun day back at home on the power plant lake! Air temps stayed in the 30s but the fish don't know anything about that. My little brother and I caught fish on; swimjig, chatterbait, jerkbait, flipping jig, wiggle wart, bandit 300, 4" line-thru swimbait, shakey head, and a ned rig! Ice appears to have checked out here in WV so I will be back after it in the kayak starting about.....NOW

Went today for 4 hours first real trip of the year here in southern Ill. Buddy caught one just under 2 pounds. And I caught 2 with one just over 2 pounds and this 6 pound stud. Smaller fish on chatterbaits and the big one here on a h20 express lipless crank.

Everythingthatswims, that is an impressive bunch of bass you got Saturday! Better than I've ever done on a long day on Lake Okeechobee, and with a winning smile to match those handfuls of goodies! Congratulations! Anyway, I fished the bank for an hour today after work, and everybody there loved the taste of my dark blue SK Menace grub. It was sucked down by a beefy bass, then by a beautiful Mayan cichlid, followed by a gorgeous blue tilapia, all within 29 minutes.

You could always check with your local meth dealer. He might have an extra one laying around. ?

He says they are delicious and he doesn't care how much they cost. He just wants more. So get out there and buy more expensive baits.

I pick it up Thursday!! That makes exactly 5 weeks for me. Not to bad I guess.

I threw her back at the boat launch. Ain't she pretty though.

Today was our first nice, warm day of the year (mid 70's) and my son was off from school so I took part of the afternoon off to fish for about 45 minutes. We biked to one of our nearby lagoons on a defunct golf course. We fished an area that used to be a golf green that was elevated about 5 feet above the water. Water clarity is usually pretty good here, but today visibility was poor - maybe 6 inches at best. I tossed a spinner bait and got a strike just a few feet from when I had to lift the line out of the water to clear the railroad ties to the elevated green. In other words, no time to set the hook properly. As I lifted the bass out of the water the poor guy shook himself free and I heard a thud as his head hit the wooden structure. But he bounced into the water and took off back into the depths. Too bad, as he was a decent size - probably 2-3 pounds. A few minutes later another strike and this time I landed it. It may have even been the same fish. I didn't weight it, but it was definitely between 2 and 3 pounds. The interesting thing was that he looked murky gray on his (male bass) belly instead of white. And the rest of his coloring was more black than green. It wasn't the traditional largemouth coloring we get here. Maybe it was because it's early in the season or maybe because it's been cloudy all winter and the lagoon was so murky he hasn't seen much light. Anyway, his coloring was odd enough that I took notice. But at this point the no-seeums were swarming and we released him and headed home. It was a slow, almost no fish winter for the few times we went over the past few months so it was nice to land something decent. Hopefully next weekend the weather is nice and we can spend the day fishing somewhere.

Today, I caught my first 5 lb'er for the year 2018. I hope there are more and bigger fish to come. I give more detail in the thread below.

Got out for a couple hours before winter decided to come back in a hurry. Glass to whitecaps in about 5 minutes.

Caught this beauty this holiday weekend.

I don't recall Megastrike (reg.) having any scent. It may, but that's not why I use it. I believe that Bobby U is on to something with the Amino Acids he uses in Megastrike. I'm not convinced that it attracts fish to bite --- But, I am 100% convinced that fish that do bite, are generally more reluctant to let go.

Update from this past weekend. Fished Bass Champs and due to the fog only got about 5 hours on the water to fish. Start out in our first spot in Lowes creek with the boat positioned in about 20 feet of water. Caught a few small keepers on carolina rigs. Not getting quality bites so decide to move to the next spot in the indian mounds. Start off in 20 feet and not getting bit. Decide to move shallow (5-7 ft) and start catching keepers that were just about to bust. Move to the 3rd spot in Housen and go even more shallow (3-5 ft) and again start catching females completely swollen up. Knew it was going to take at least 16 and change to weigh in (we had 15.25 on my scales and notes in the boat) so we released our fish to swim another day instead of weigh them in. Not fishing for points or angler of the year. We fish Bass Champs for money and if we don't have enough, let those fish go and not stress them. Best Lures Rattletraps (Brown Eye) Spinnerbait (Coleslaw) Carolina Rig (Anything) Senko

Of course they can! The lure manufacturers say so!

It's common for folks new to baitcasters to focus on distance. But in order to gain distance, one has to focus on fundamentals. It's like when you're first throwing a football. You won't be able to throw a perfect spiral 70 yards downfield unless you have the fundamentals down pat. To that end, here's your path to casting long distances:

Toothpick, thin wire, or heavy mono solves that problem completely!

I'd think a name brand kitchen scale would work good.

What a rough life he lives.

Went out to New Orleans City Park yesterday and saw a ton of fish on beds. Still very skittish and hard to get em to bite, but had a blast sight fishing. Caught the 12 inch male off the bed, flipped back in with my next cast, and this little female came from about 10 feet away and walked all the way to my sinking baby brush hog.

I got my ear buds caught in the wheel of my office chair. That count?

Hey everyone: Just discovered this forum and will be visiting often. I try to get out as often as possible, never enough. I fish mostly the upper potomac out of my Jackson Kayak or my jet boat when there is enough water. Love company so shoot me an email anytime to meet up. Mark

Today my middle son came by early this morning and fixed our car while we went to late church. Got home in my truck and he had gone fishing out back and , before long, we saw him coming back. He had caught a big fish about 25 feet from where I caught my PB. His fish weighed 8.2 , and was slightly over 24 inch. He caught it on a watermelon seed zoom super fluke. It was an extremely heavy bodied fish, but the pics really don't do it justice.

I just borrow my pothead brother-in-law's scale.

Yes

Had a couple goodies show up in the mail yesterday...

I don't own those but since you asked for recommendations... I use a MBR 843C GLX for all things weightless.. The reel I use is an older Chronarch 100SF spooled with 14# Sniper and wouldn't change a thing. I'm sure any reel of your liking would be a great fit and give you what you're looking for. Mike

Paul, as you probably know, Dr. Keith Jones of Pure Fishing's research department wrote a book, KNOWING BASS, THE SCIENTIFIC APPRPACH TO CATCHING MORE FISH, which is a scientific study of the bass family. In chapter 7, Hearing and Vibration Detection, Dr. Jones discusses the acoustics of water, bass' acoustic detectors, the lateral line system, the bass' ear, and what happens when a bass hears something and what do they do. Of course, the data is deep into scientific data and physics which in many instances is over my head. But Dr. Jones does explain the data as best as possible for the normal guy to understand what his research found out. On page 115, Dr. Jones writes: "A third avenue for sound discrimination would be the temporal content, otherwise known as rhythm. Rhythm perception may be the bass' forte. Given their sensory equipment, bass seem better designed to detect acoustic transients (that is, sudden changes) than perform complex frequency or intensity analysis. Natural sounds are rarely continuous. Rather, they occur in series of beats and pulses intermixed with dead spots. The regular tail beats of swimming shad and the thump a crawfish makes flicking its tail to escape have two distinct rhythms. By focusing on the rhythm rather than the actual sound frequencies, bass could potentially discern one prey from another, or prey verses non-prey." In other words, bass can hear and feel vibrations caused by our baits. And many of the older ones can differentiate between a natural prey and a non-prey sound. The bass will hear the noise (sound travels 4,920 feet per second in all directions in the water); feel the vibrations; and then go sight hunting to put their eyeballs on the item making the noise and vibration. If all goes as planned: bass hears noise and faces its direction; bass feels the vibrations; and then bass swims over to see what is making the racket to decide it wants to eat or kill what it is seeing; we will then get a strike. Dr. Jones' book is out of print. I spoke with him a few years ago and asked him to get a second run printed but he was not excited about doing that for some reason. You can find the book on Amazon or eBay for a lot of money. I doubt your local library has the book but if it does, I suggest you read it and garner a lot of great scientific information. Enjoyed your reply above. I did not take the time to delve into the frequencies bass can hear but it is in the book on page 108, with a chart called Provisional Hearing Curve for Largemouth Bass. What I found to be very interesting is Dr. Jones came to the conclusion that when a bass rushes up to your bait and then turns away, we always thought it was because of color or how it looks. Dr. Jones thinks it may be due to the vibrations your bait is sending having a greater input on why the fish does not hit the bait and swims away. Go figure.

Last year, I put away the ewg for offset round bends and glad I did for any worms up to 7 inches

@FishDewd ya don't Texpose straight shank hooks! What puzzles me is most anglers use straight shank round bend hook for punching heavy cover. When I ask em why they say "fast solid hookups"; ya don't want that the rest of the time why?

I always thought that was kinda funny. I learned pretty early on that making casts along the shore was key. I bet 75% of my fish caught were within 15 feet of land. Overhanging trees are always my first casts.

Wrestling sounds like a winner. May I suggest father and son tag team duo. Oh and you need two of these. You probably already have them...

You might have more within you're reach than you think. In addition to maps that @Catt mentions, take notice of the shoreline. On naturally occurring lakes as well as large man-made impoundments, many times the shoreline configuration continues under water. Steep shoreline=steep drop. Gradual shoreline=gradual drop. Rocky shoreline=rocky structure. Brown dirt to red clay=Brown dirt to red clay. etc. You can notice key queues in vegetation. Lilypads=hard bottom. Hydrilla=soft bottom. Coontail=hard or soft bottom. Look for queues in current. Current from a spring, current from a drainage tube, current from a sump, current from a funnel. Current from boat traffic. One more thing for a shore fisherman to think about. As shore fishermen, we spend our lives trying to cast our lines as far out as we can. Once we buy a boat, we spend our lives trying to cast as close to shore as possible. Just a thought, but maybe looking for what's beyond your reach is being counterproductive.

Already filed, collected & spent ~ safety items A-Jay

When I lived in Iowa, catfish would occasionally bite lures. drum were rare. Here in Kansas things are a lot different. Catfish and drum are everywhere and will hit nearly anything you throw at them. a bass fishing trip without a couple drum and catfish is rare. while most of the time they can get annoying, they are sometimes welcome on slow days.

The eyes of a bass go through a night adaptation cycle beginning at twilight and are usually adapted for black, white, and all shades of gray within an hour after darkness. Bass can see color but not at night, color it's self is meaningless at night. Contrast is more important by far than color at night. If you fish water where shad or minnows are the predominate prey species, then try white spinnerbait/buzzbait with a white grub.

Hey -- Florida checking in! Just got mine tonight. Super pumped to get back to bassin' Great size for the wife to hang out on the deck on a cruise, or for teaching the boy how to reel in a lunker from the grass. I see great memories in this boat! This boat feels sturdy, carpet is plush. I got to check one out at the showroom.

We have a scale that measure to tenth of ounce and also grams - Pelouze Digital Postal scale. Works great.

Thank you so much! We love to hear when we're doing a good job. Thanks for the feedback!

That's good stuff. I have spools of Seaguar's Salmon/Trout Leader material for my heavy fly rigs (8 wt. and above) often to a hunk of tieable wire. http://www.seaguar.com/about-seaguar/press-releases/42-seaguar-launches-sts-fluorocarbon-leader-material-for-salmon-trout-and-steelhead.html If I feel th eneed to "taper" the leader, I'll go 50# - 40# - 30#...about 18" - 24"...or sometimes, with a fly that's particulary resistant to turning over...30# - 40# - 50#. That'll make sense to some of the fly guys, everyone else will be scratching their head. I have to replace it so seldom that I haven't had a need to buy any Blue Label, but I did use it on a guided musky trip once - impressive! ************************************ A thought on tippet material as leader: We can buy this stuff for pennies on the dollar places like Sierra Trading Post, and stored correctly, it'll last forever. That drives the $/inch cost down significantly.

Really enjoyed this video - Thank you. A-Jay

Man, I love the MLF format. I can't stand Howell. His Jesus schtick is too much. Favorites are probably Wheeler, Scanlon and Montgomery.

Here's my 2¢, take it as you want as I do not have as much experience as most of you guys. I think that they definitely do get acclimated or used to certain lures that they have already seen repeatedly and/or been caught on. You can see this when a new lure is "hot" for a little bit, maybe a year or so, but then is no longer as affective as it once was. But I believe this happens faster with faster moving baits, such as crankbaits, spinnerbaits and such. A couple studies (although they used very circumstantial evidence) support this. Slower, more natural lures seem to take longer for them to catch on, such as senkos and whatnot. The flipside of this is pure reaction baits (although I strongly believe that most strikes are a reaction of some sort, and not feeding), they probably don't become "immune" to these baits quite as fast. I always try to be a little different than everyone else, even small differences in retrieve/lure sound/action etc can make all the difference. I think it's been well enough documented that bass tend to avoid lures that they've already been caught on, with some exceptions of course. Whether its better to be natural or different, there really isn't a good one answer to to that. None of our lures really look like anything they would eat, but sometimes it pays to be closer to the real thing in clearer and more pressured water, but sometimes not. But whether we try to be more natural or less, either way we always end up being something other than natural.

I have quite a bit of success with the 110, 110 +1 as well as their topwater baits. YMMV A-Jay

1994 Champion DC190 w/ a 200hp mariner

Been bass fishing for well over 2 decades now. Have caught several double digit bass, hundreds of bass over 5 pounds, and had +100 bass days. Also fish for other species( both fresh and saltwater) and I tend to do very well with these fish. What has helped me the most is putting my time on the water and doing my best to learn from each fishing trip. I keep a open mind when it comes to fishing techniques and new areas to fish.

Sugar. They need more sugar. Consider giving them Milky Ways before bedtime. P.S. Although you post some funny stuff this posts says you are a great guy and a wonderful father. But don't tell anyone as it will destroy your image.

Here’s the biggest LMB of the 10 I caught yesterday (2/14) in my neighborhood pond. I caught 6 and missed about 20 on Monday, but you had to pay very close attention and wait for your line to twitch or move. Never felt a single bite Monday. Not the case yesterday. Felt that good THUMP for every fish

I posted this post already in "Other Species," but I wanted to post it here as well, because these photos, I thought, are pretty interesting. Well, actually it's these fish that are interesting. Many of our local waters are populated with the invasive, algae-eating, armor-plated catfish species known as Plecostomus (from the Greek for "folded mouth"). They apparently originated, like many invasive species, from home aquaria. It is pretty rare to catch one without deliberately snagging it with a weighted treble hook. But today this guy ate my lipless crankbait, or I assume he did, since, as you can see, he's hooked in the lip. Another surprise was that on the very next cast I caught another pleco with the same lure! But the second puppy was foul hooked in the dorsal fin. I found I needed a towel to hold these guys, because the tough overlapping armor plating opened and closed as they wiggled side to side, pinching my skin in the process.

my socks dont even match