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Caught her today, 30 minutes before time to leave. 9.0 pound 23 1/4" Virginia GIANT on a rapala suspending jerkbait. Landed on 12 pound fluro with NO net or help. Amazing day.

Buddy took me out on his boat and put me on some fish today. Well, he did put me on one fish! Only dang thing I caught all day, and it was 50% of the day's yield between the two of us.

Caught this 6.15 pound girl today on a SPRO little John. Water was 56 degrees . It was a pretty slow day and was getting ready to head home but I decided to try one last spot before I headed out. I’m glad I did.

Today I tried a few new lagoons where my dad lives over at Sun City Hilton Head. There are 50+ lagoons there and many are connected by the stormwater system. Some of them are inaccessible - to me at least - because they are surrounded by homes or fully within one of the gold courses. But there are still plenty that are accessible for us to fish. The temp was in the low sixties today, but as it has been for the past week it was really windy. It didn't help that I've been battling a cold most of the week, but I was going stir crazy sitting inside and had to get out. Plus, my son had a rare weekend off from travel baseball and I wanted to take advantage of that. A neighbor of my father had showed me pictures of a few seven pounders and a twelve pounder caught in Sun City, and he gave me a general idea of what lagoons they were caught in without divulging the actual locations. We fished two of the larger lagoons in that vicinity for a while with no luck, then moved to a smaller 1/3 are lagoon. This lagoon also had one of those aerator fountains and the spray was blowing everywhere. Thirty minutes and a few lures later I put a Yum Dinger on the line and got my first and only catch of the day. But at 6.3 pounds I won't complain. But I did miss my PB by just 2/10ths. I could have sworn this one was over 7 when I landed it. Next time!

Didn't think I was going to get out today but I was able to go late this pm. Got 8 total. 1 on an orange sparkle 4 inch senko, and several on a June bug trick worm, including 3 off the same blown down tree.Got the rest on the watermelon seed zoom super fluke, including this one.

Took my dad out Saturday and had an epic numbers day with 60+ in about 5 hours.

Mama mares and the two foals for this year

Took the family out yesterday for a couple hours. Have to say it puts a big smile on my face seeing my girls land and lip their own fish.

March 30/31, 2018 - After a trip on the struggle bus during the day before the tournament (forgetting suitcases and dead batteries), our 2nd tournament together, the Omaha River City Bass Club Spring Open at Twelve Mile Lake near Creston, Iowa is in the books! We improved a whole lot from the last one in September 2017 where we only weighed one fish! While we still didn’t catch a limit this time, we did end up weighing 4 quality fish for 12 lbs 3 oz, which was enough to get us in the money $$ (4th place)!!! The lake is loaded with timber and we spent pretty much the entire day tied up to the same tree. We got the fish dialed in on a 6th Sense Flat 75X Crankbait which was perfect for the chilly 45 degree water and the wind blown rock bank we were fishing near a channel swing. If I hadn’t lost my only Flat 75X with about 2 hours left, I’m confident we could have caught a limit and moved up at least a position or two, because they were CHOKING the Wild Lava Craw Flat 75X! It really gave me a new appreciation for “don’t leave fish to find fish.” Had it not been windy we would’ve just cruised around the lake and probably caught fewer if any fish.Nonetheless, we had a blast and are ready for the next one!!

When i'm fishing from a jon boat with an elec motor only , I cant be running from spot to spot . I'll fish my way from spot to spot junk fishing style . Even so a pattern of some sort will usually emerge.

About 25 years ago we were visiting my wife's parents at the farm for Easter. We had our dog Bailey with us, a white German shepherd/golden retriever mix. He caught and killed a cottontail on Easter morning. Our niece, who was about 6 at the time, came into the house wailing "Bailey killed the Easter Bunny - Bailey killed the Easter Bunny!" Fortunately she got over it and they were buddies again before the day was out. Bailey was really a sweet dog, just a gentle as goldens are generally known to be. He was almost 15 when he got his call to doggy heaven.

You can't possibly be from NY then. LMAO

11" of snow at the start of the week, then 2" of rain through the middle of the week has messed up our lakes big time, so was pleasantly surprised to get on a decent bite this afternoon once skies cleared and the high pressure moved in. Got to go well back into last year for me to remember the last good jig bite I had, but that was the ticket today with the stained water. More than a dozen in the boat today - Good times.

Caught my PB jerkbait fish today. 2nd largest bass of my lifetime, definitely biggest on a jerkbait. 30 minutes before calling it a day. 9.0 23 1/4" Virginia Stud.

I am junk fishing while trying to figure out a pattern. If I am able to figure out a pattern, I am junk fishing between hitting the pattern locations or to test if the pattern can be expanded.

How on earth can you arrive at a pattern before hitting the water? Unless your pattern is that the fish are wet. You have to catch multiple fish to establish or notice some pattern, and even then it's often just a dumb guess. How many times have you gotten back to the ramp, and some did just as well as you, or better, doing something COMPLETELY different.

Seems like the color discussion can go on forever, and maybe it should. It's always interesting to see what others have experienced. I'd guess the charts give you an idea about what is a reasonable place to start picking out lures. I've been fishing in small, slightly stained (not tannic) Florida ponds and in a single trip yesterday we were nailing them on black trick worms, green/multiflake "honey candy" ocho's, and smoke black blue/gold flake senkos. Pretty sure we busted every chart out there. I like to keep it simple like lots of guys, but I like good sale and we just used the baits I got cheap. Apparently the bass have not been reading the charts here either.

Is one of those the same as the "try stuff until something works, then keep doing that" method? That's the one I do.

The nice part of this is that the older you get, the longer the fish

Finally had a nice(ish) weather day here in Omaha after what has seemed like endless winter. Air temps were in mid 50's, with water temps that are still cold. First fish of the year came in at 4.19 pounds and was a little over 18". Caught on a Z-Man chatterbait.

I just want to brag on my wife a little. She came with me to Texoma for the weekend to prefish for an upcoming tournament. She has been fishing with me plenty of times, but never for two days straight, and never in nasty weather. The fishing was pretty slow, but she hung in there, and she never complained. She only caught one bass, but she caught several small stripers and one big one.

I always go back to what an Elite Series angler who is a friend of mine has told me over and over.......Don't get too hung up on color, I separate my colors into 3 groups that get progressively darker.....1. Clear Water 2. Stained Water 3. Muddy water. After that there are some universal colors that work in more than one category.

If we aint all junk Fisherman why we got so many rod-n-reels & all that tackle?

One of my most productive night fishing worms is a color called Starry Night, the top is a translucent smoke, the bottom is clear, with tons of silver glitter. I don't know how bass find that worm sitting on the bottom in 20' on a moonless night! One of the most deadly Wacky Worms is Zoom Trick Worm in Merthiolate! In which chart do those two fit?

One gun oil, RemOil, is one of the lowest viscosity light oils available. It really lets those bearings spin! It's a heck of a lot cheaper than most of the specialty super-duper bearing lubes. A bottle of RemOil and a tube of good grease will cost less than a set of special reel lube and grease that come in tiny containers and you'll have enough to last you three lifetimes. Tight lines, Bob

I HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GOOD WEEKEND AND CAUGHT PLENTY OF STUDS

Bass don't read charts! ?

Troll Spoon Plugs. Tom PS, don't ask on April 1st!

Pre takeoff trader bills team trail stop #2. 200 of the best sticks in the natural state. $10,000 to win. Soon to be running 70 to the honey hole in my best friends skeeter fx21. Love this game

Just got this vest for my fishing buddy. Cat looks jealous. Pick up my boat Monday!

my other boat: 2003 Xpress H51 / Mercury 25hp 2 stroke (with 20hp stickers for limited hp lakes) before: after:

Table Rock has a bunch of those 12-14 inch fish, but there's certainly plenty of bigger ones in there too. We won our club team tournament there last March with 30 pounds for 2 days and had the big bass of 4.5 pounds. Sad thing is, before the tournament during practice we caught a 21lb bag (I use the term "we" loosely, as all I did was drive the boat and net fish). They were all off the same spot too. It was such an impressive feat that @gardnerjigman retired from fishing shortly after that, I guess figuring he had nothing else to prove

^^This! I've fished a lake that by Al Linder's water clarity chart would be deemed dirty/murky, but the fish were only hitting watermelon colors. Then on Friday, I fished a lake with some decent visibility, light stain with clear sunny skies. In the couple hours I was out there, I caught 11 and lost 4 more trying to flip them in (bank fish so don't carry a net). They were all caught on green pumpkin or junebug, which according to the color charts are cloudy or dirty. As Catt said, "Bass don't read charts!"

@ww2farmer and @A-Jay pretty much summed up my definition. I'm not fishing blind I'm just fishing different cover/structure with different presentations in the area I'm fishing looking for the active bass. Even if one is producing better than another I can't help myself.

The really confusing ones are the ones that look automatic, but they have a button on top This is why I just go outside!

Thanks a lot. I was shaking for about an hour afterwards. That's why we ALL love bass fishing right?? Cheers man.

If you look around on the auction site, you can get the Tatula SV for $130ish most of the time.

Junk fishing is my pattern. There is a recent short video on Bassmaster from Gerald Swindle explaining it perfectly. It's not having 20 rods on the deck, having no clue what is working. It's having a bunch of rods on the deck, pre-rigged with the proper tools to cash in on little windows of opportunity that present themselves while working your plan. For example...mid summer, I might be going down a deep weed line, pitching jigs/t-rigged baits into pockets, clumps etc....but I see a stretch of bank with some good shade on it. I don't care if I have been tuna hauling them in the weeds, I'll go over fire a few casts into the shady area with something I deem effective for the conditions. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it don't....nevertheless, I do it all the time. That IMHO...and seemingly in Swindle's opinion is "junk fishing".

Free your mind, and the fish will follow, be color blind and don't fish so shallow.

.97 wally world , 8 foot nylon .

The Linders started "Selective Harvest" as a moto for In Fishermen decades ago and makes more sense then Catch & Release started by B.A.S.S. as their organization grew nationally in the early 79's. Ray Scott likes to claim the idea, I remember a very different Ray Scott when I was trying to get them to release tournament caught bass in the late 60's early years. Scott told me it was impossible for recreational fishing to harm largemouth bass populations and promoting charity fish fry was his goal back then. Scott may have been right regarding the large reserviors in the south, but public perception was agianst what they were seeing. Today the C & R has become almost a cult following beyond any reason, kill a bass and you are labeled a villain. I remember releasing bass and being called a idiot back in the 60's. C & R is a good practice for the majority of the time and for any organized bass tournament. Selective Harvest makes more sense for a sustainable and renewable bass population for recreational anglers. Tom

There are far worse things that can decimate a fishery then a fish fry.

I respect your opinion, but I keep whatever is legal and eat it. I'm confident that New York State laws make sense.

Had a great day at Clear Lake today! This girl was caught in about 8 ft of water. Gear used was a G Loomis Conquest 843S , Shimano Stella Fi 2500 with 20lb Vicious No Fade Braid and 12 LB Tatsu leader and a owner #1 wacky hook. This was the 3rd fish caught on this combo. She took off when I set the hook and peeled off drag pretty good. I knew I had a good fish on, but was surprised at her size when I got her to the boat. Took a couple of pictures and put her into the live well for awhile so we could go find someone with a scale. I didn't have one in the boat! Found another angler with a digital scale, took 2 weight readings and took her back to where she was caught and released her . She swam of immediately.

here is another token spot pic amongst the fat largemouth ones. she almost made 18”. caught 16 today on Lake Norman and once again the wind was kicking some serious butt. lots more bass boats out there too. that had most of them trying to hide from it and some creeks got crowded. i gotta admit, it blew me off some of my favorite spots too. secondary points, in some fishable wind, was the ticket though and lots of guys were just riding by them ?

Most biologist agree selective harvesting is better than catch & release!

New project time!

Wife and I did a little fishing Sunday at the neighbor's pond. She was able to get her first fish of the year along with several others on a little X-rap. I caught several including one decent one that about swallowed my Storm Twitch Stick. Also caught several really big crappie, the biggest being in the 15-16 inch range. Monday I went to settle the score with a lake that is usually good to me, but wasn't very nice my first trip out to it this year. It was much nicer this time, although the weather was pretty bad with a cold wind and drizzle almost all day. We caught lots of largemouth, couple smallmouth, bunch of super fat white bass, couple crappie, several trout, and several drum. My biggest bass of the day seems to know what to do with all the tiny trout they stocked in the lake a few weeks ago. She was only 18" long and 3.81 pounds with about a 10" trout in her throat/stomach, so don't think "there's no fish big enough here to fish big baits".

Caught this fatty or a white biospone worm. Texas rigged with a 5/16 oz weight. Really slow.