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Did my first Kayak Bass Fishing tournament this passed weekend at Lake Berryessa. I placed 49th out of 138, I just couldn't get rid of my little guy! Oh well, it was a great experience and won't be my last. Here is my best from tournament day. She smacked this itsy bug swimming over vegetation!

Was able to get an hours worth of fishing in a few days ago, this guy was a fun little catch! Nice way to break in the new set up ? While I’m at it I’ll throw in another one I caught on my first outing of the season. Chunky little guy came off a fallen limb up shallow.

23" at 5.2lbs The picture doesn't do it justice, this fishes mouth was enormous! Got this one on a shaky head. Seemed like most Bass were on beds up shallow and I can't be sure but this one came out of about 7 fow. No real signs that it was a bed fish, but it wasn't fat and fed like some of the smaller fish I caught out on timber in deeper water. It didn't have the shape of a big spawned-out female. Kinda thinking this was a BIG male bass and was guarding a bed that I couldn't see. I cast into a spot between two trees and when the lure hit the bottom it thumped and line started moving. Set the hook and it had carried it off under a branch. After a VERY tense 5 seconds of feeling flouro strain across tree trunk the fish shot straight for the surface and went 3 feet in the air. Back in the water, then it ran around and drug the line across another tree and jumped and tail walked into the net. All of this happened with 10 feet of line out. Good thing it was 17lb P-Line. Really impressed with the VMC hook! Hooked it well in the fat part of the lip and didn't bend at all. Caught a handful of other 2-3 pound fish through the weekend, and also landed a nice 4lb honey dragging a lizard through her bed. Water was murky and the wind had it choppy so beds were hard to spot, but when we found cleaner and calmer water back in some of the coves we could pick a few bass off beds if they were willing to hit the lure.

Nothing special besides the four hours I devoted to this fish in the morning slinging the Booyah Bankroll Jig in Money once again. I got her to look at the YUM Craw Chunk in Craw quite a few times, but she never committed. Returned that afternoon and slapped on a Christie Craw in Watermelon Red Flake and she hammered it on the first cast. Picky girl.

I would put up fliers. Pray he didn't get hit by a car. Have you checked the animal shelter?

It's just a little stocked one I caught over at Wolf Run - but I finally caught one. Using chartreuse PowerBait on a little treble along with a long leader, about 3 split shot and a slip bobber. This was back on... 24th of March. Was windy and chilly that day.

Finally! Warming trend, at long last + free afternoon = first bass of the year! 2 hours on the riverbank, 10 fish total, some brown, some green...biggest one (bottom pic) went 2.34lb: All damage done with 3.5" cane thumpers and 4" swing impacts

Start fishing in areas with no fish in them. Your baits will last much longer.

A pack of Keitech's is cheaper than a 6 pack of IPA's that I could be drinking while sitting on the couch. Worth it.

I fished the Indiana Kayak Anglers Event #1 on West Boggs finished 3rd out of 87 anglers by a quarter inch to first and the 4th tie breaker for second. Got a nice payday and some good AOY points. I caught 88 bass during the 8 hour tournament day which was by far the most I have ever caught. Fished Bluegrass FWA on Sunday in preparation for a tournament in two weeks. I’ll be back there this Sunday after fishing the KBF Trail event on Kentucky Lake on Saturday.

Finally Spring!

"State of Nebraska for the last 8-9 years have been introducing Tiger Muskie into all my local Bass lakes and I could not be more upset....they are eating everything and are now over 40 inches long and will hit most Bass lures and baits...and now the Bass are trying to get in their beds and do what they do and here come the Muskie in the shallows having a full on Buffet.... I love fishing but turning Nebraska Bass lakes into Minnesota/Canada Muskie lakes is just wrong." Fake News...Musky do not have the ability to eat everything in the lake, plus bass (and walleye) are not their top menu choice. As was mentioned above by JFrancho, Musky being the top predator in the lake can take top billing on prime ambush spots where the bass used to reside. Now the bass have relocated and you need to now find them. In addition, catching musky is just plain fun, so enjoy that occasional 40" Tiger and enjoy the challenge of finding where the bass have gone, because they certainly won't be in the bellies of those musky's like you think.

Dink tigers, while fun aren't quite the same as a real musky.

Try a jerkbait . I catch on them year round. My time on the water is scarce and precious to me. I think about fishing 7 days a week and get to fish twice if I'm lucky. So when I'm out there I'm getting/using the best gear I can comfortably afford.!

Alot of those fish you're catching are active fish and can be taken on many other lures! Try a quality jerkbait or something like a shad rap. Even a spinner bait or a trap. Losing soft plastics is what happens when you're catching fish. I'd rather have a torn up thumb than a 7 dollar bag of plastic at the end of the day ! Ya know..

Preacher style jigs are warm water baits mostly and they don't use trailers. They have long bucktail and longer feathers and the feathers are where the action comes from as the bucktail provides the baitfish profile. Cold water hair jigs are usually smaller, 1/4oz and less and are fished with and without trailers, for my smaller trailers I like the Zoom Tiny Chunk, and the Venom lures Ron Yurko Finesse Chunk. For the large jigs up to 1/4oz I like the Conquistador Finesse Pro Craw, and the Netbait Tiny Paca Chunk.

oh...sorry..I thought you might also have a yak....when I was limited to rentals, I found: Fountainhead, and Lake Ridge on the rez. Hunting Run - in Chancellorsville - great water Brittle - I've never done well Burke - always tough for me And these which may or may not still rent - -Pohick - Jon boats - no motors, but you can byo; limited hours, but can be lights out...or skunksville -Motts Run - don't think I ever had a bite there -Anna - I used to rent rowboats from Sturgeon Creek marina, but their web site didn't list them anymore last time I checked -If you're military or DoD, you can rent boats on AP Hill edited to add: Almost forgot - canoe and kayak rentals on the Shenandoah - We love Front Royal Canoe - great service, reasonable prices and great fishing -- you can float down and they'll pick you up; or, they can drop you upriver and you can float back to them.

Spooled and slimed her up the other day for approval my do it all 7’ mh/f g loomis imx paired with a shimano chronarch ci4+ I’ll post the rest of the arsenal when I get a chance! Cool to finally post in this thread I’ve spent hours combing through each page admiring everyone’s gear!

No enthusiast gear here but I like it! Bottom to top: Kistler KLX Feel N Reel, Shimano Chronarch CI4 Kistler Helium, Daiwa Zillion TWS Kistler Helium, Shimano Curado I Kistler Magnesium, Shimano Curado K Kistler Helium 3, Daiwa Tatula SV St. Croix Legend Xtreme, Team Daiwa Zillion St Croix Legend Xtreme, Abu Garcia Revo Premier Gen 3 St. Croix Avid X, Shimano Chronarch E7 St. Croix Rage, Daiwa SS SV Shimano Zodias, Shimano Chronarch CI4 Shimmano Zodias, Daiwa Tatula SV Dobyns Champ Glass, Daiwa Zillion TWS Phenix Glass, Shimano Curado I Abu Ike Series Crank, Shimano Curado E5 Not Shown: Kistler KLX, Shimano Curado E7 Kistler Helium 3 Spin, TBD St Croix Legend Tournament Spin, Shimano Stradic FK St Croix Avid X Spin, Shimano Stradic CI4 Shimano Crucial Drop Shot, Shimano Stradic FE

Indiana; Jennifer Schultz; 14-12; 1991, Pop-R. Will never be broken in my lifetime, maybe ever...

18.15 lbs. Dec 12/31/1992 on a Rattlin' Rogue in less than 3 ft. of water in a jon boat Natchez State Park, MS. Believe MS. is number 4 behind GA, CA & TX...could be wrong...

Bought a Avail spool for my 17' Conquest BFS from Hedgehog. It's supposed to hold 50% more line than the original. I'll use the original for braid and the deeper spool for flouro. The spool itself weighs only 5g.

helping pappaw with the okra

My absolute favorite piece of structure for finding larger than average bass would have to be an intersection. Intersection Defined: Spots where two creeks intersect or where a feeder creek intersects with the main river. Intersecting Logic: Around the ”Y” created by the intersection are found multiple forms of structure such as channels, points, ridges, ledges, sharp drop-offs, slow tapering drop-offs, and humps all in one location. The Best Intersections: Depths of 12-18' inside the ”Y” is my #1 attractant but this depth on all three sides along with timber and/or grass would be the prime example of a Honey Hole. Fishing at the “Y”: With my boat positioned inside the “Y” (usually anchored) and casting from shallow to deep with Texas Rigs, Carolina Rigs, Swim Baits & Jig-N-Craws I'll find the bigger bass. In winter months fish these areas with Jigging Baits or Drop Shots in 20 to 30' of water.

When fishing in Lake of the Woods, Ontario Canada, a lake with both big pike and musky, no hybrid Tiger musky that I knew of, the LMB owned the inside weed edges. Walleyes, pike, musky worked the outside weed edges and the Smallmouth were on the reefs. The fish coexisted but had there preferred territory. If you hooked a walleye and a big pike or musky was nearby they often grabbed it sideways like a dog bone. To say they musky don't eat other game fish isn't true at Lake of the Woods! My point is the LMB bass learned to relocate where they were able to dominate, the inside weed beds, their shape allows quick turns needed to capture prey. Tom

Agree, first thing I would start with is plastic worms and craws, I love Zoom (Trick worm, finesse worm in watermelon colors) products. Also will need hooks, Worm and Extra Wide Gap hooks, 3/0 is a good overall size.

When 'swimming' a hair jig - there's never a trailer - jacks up the action (relative term). 'Crawling' one - the Reins Punching Predator Creature Bait works well in cold water. A-Jay

My thoughts on balancing rods are this: 1. If you must add weight, it must not alter the handle length. If I wanted a longer handle, I would have built a longer handle. 2. Add weight at the extreme butt of the rod. 3. Do not just shove weight inside the blank. You will need to add much more weight this way, as the center of mass of the added weight moves forward the deeper in the blank it goes. 4. If you can't get enough weight in a counterbalance weight hidden under the butt cap, use lead tape wrapped around the outside of the blank, and build it up the largest OD you can get away with before moving up the rod. Why weight on the outside? Take two grips with the same shape and mass. On one grip, ream out the grip some amount. On the other turn it down the same amount. Which one reduces its mass the most? When adding weight, it is the reverse. You get more bang for your buck adding weight with a larger OD. How I prefer to do it. What I do if I want to balance a rod is to mount a tee nut in the butt of the rod blank. Using a wood block and a threaded rod, I'll make as big of a lead weight as I can fit into the butt cap. Drill a pilot hole for the threaded rod. Then bore out a hole the ID of your butt cap. Screw the threaded rod into the wood block and pour your own cylindrical weight. This will add as much weight as you can to the butt of the rod where you want it the most. If I need more weight, I use lead tape (found in golf supplies) wrapped around the blank starting at the butt. You will need to bore out your grip material to cover the tape. On the rod in the attached images, it is shown with steel washers rather than the lead weight (a little prettier than my lead weight). There is lead tape behind the tee nut. I mixed some cork dust with the rod bond when I slid the butt grip into place, so the lead tape is hidden away. Once the butt cap is epoxied into place, no one will ever know that the rod had weight added to it.

I'm not certain but one thing about car-topping is as long as you have the front end very secure, you'll likely see any looseness if it develops, then you can take care of it. I couldn't see my low riding kayak or canoe back there on my trailer as easily. I was always surprised to see a few inches of slack develop using ratchet straps. Note below someone else posted the cam straps at Harbor Freight. They are cheap and work great. I believe NRS makes some higher quality straps but I just use the Harbor Freight ones, about an inch wide or so. *** As regards pushing the nylon strapping through, cut the tag end at a 45 degree angle then before it frays, just use a flame and lightly melt the fresh cut. It'll stiffen it making it easier to push through the cam. *** One other note is that the cam straps wind up into a little disc about 3" in diameter and I just toss mine in my truck. Ratchet straps are much bulkier. If you get cam straps, I'll post the proper technique to roll them up tightly and very quickly. Brad

When the pecan trees bud out winter is over! You'll never see pecan trees lose their buds to a frost or freeze.

Thank you so much. Sorry i did not know. Yes there are.

I agree with the above. I've tried multiple varying brands of swimbaits, and although I've settled on another brand I personally like better, the same holds true - just using these baits means you'll only get 3-4 fish out of them, tops. It's an unfortunate byproduct of their action and abilities. I've found that using Owner Twistlock hooks seems to help a bit, and also using Gambler Hollow Points helps and simultaneously helps it go through the weeds. But at the end of the day - I lose em' - and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. I just try to find them on sale/clearance and stock up when the time comes.

Thanks J - I'm still working on that first cup ~ A-Jay

And here's the "Official" version Nice Job again ~ @everythingthatswims LORENCE, Ala. — Adrian College’s Nick Marsh and Jarrod Layton rode a wave of shallow largemouth to victory at Pickwick Lake in the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Southern Tour presented by Bass Pro Shops with a three-day total of 58 pounds, 11 ounces. After catching over 20 pounds on both Thursday and Friday, the duo from Michigan managed 17-8 during Saturday’s final round to notch the victory by a 5-6 margin over West Virginia University’s Nolan Minor and Casey Lanier. https://www.bassmaster.com/news/college-adrian-college-wins A-Jay

I've thrown my 6" Punker on my 7'11" HF punching rod, rated up to 2oz. Not quite like walking a spook, but I find it better than getting separate rod for such a narrow part of my game.

The Helix 9 and 10 units are the same size. The 9 just has a bigger bezel around the screen.

Go on the front. EWG hooks excel at holding fish when hooked because of the wide gap and the hook point facing in making them harder to throw. The drawback is they don't hook fish that are swiping at the bait as well as a round bend does so you will want the round bend on the back which is where a fish just swiping at the bait usually gets it.

Often Paul (Elias) is asked if gear ratio really makes that much difference in terms of energy spent over a day of crankbait fishing. “I think it does. You really have to work a lot harder with a higher gear ratio reels. The 6:1 and 7:1 ratios are just too fast for deep diving baits. It causes you to fight the bait and you don't have near the feel. And I also don't think the crankbait gets as deep with the higher gear ratio reels.” Those who have studied the effects of speed on crankbait depth have discovered that when a billed crankbait begins to dig into the water, it creates turbulence. But excessive speed creates so much turbulence that it begins to decrease the bait’s efficiency to move through the water, reducing its depth. This is usually just the opposite of what the average angler expects. Aware that reel speed is not necessarily a good thing when throwing large-billed deep-divers, he concludes “The longer it takes to reel that bait in, the deeper that bait can get.” Bassresource

Zebco 33 Platinum, 4.1:1 gear ratio, 5 stainless bearings, aluminum frame, continous anti-reverse, mirco fine drag control all for $35 Can handle Hawgs ?

21 lbs 12 oz official California LMB, unofficial 22.01 lbs or 25.1 lbs, take your pick. Tom

Better than no brown trout lol

4/20 is an equally plausible explanation

Found the smallies this weekend beating the bank. Landed 9 fish, with 4 fish over 3lbs, biggest at 3.57. Another was very long but skinny, wish I had gotten a measurement (over 20" if I had to guess). Got a couple on a keitech + jig head and then switched to a jerkbait and it was on. Next day, same spot, very similar conditions, same tactics and not a bite....go figure. Oh well, was nice to be out in this great weather.

Gears up. Starting my baitcast training soon. Hope I match those gears right.

For largemouth I usually wear my hair in a pompadour but when fishing for smallmouth I like to wear a more of a bad ass James Dean style. That’s how I roll.

Just back from a trip to my friend Tim's place in Virginia on Smith Mountain Lake. We had a great time, though were frustrated by the fishing at times! Had a half day charter for stripers as well which was fun, though the biggest largemouth and smallmouth we saw all week couldn't resist the trolled shad, stupid fish!

Megabass Levante Flatside Curado 200K Dobyns Champion 806HSB Curado 300e Shimano Expride A 7´2 H Chronarch MGL HG Shimano G. Loomis Conquest 844C MBR Metanium Mgl XG

Today the winds died down somewhat and I was able to get out to do some fishing with my brother in law. There was still a stiff northerly breeze when we dropped in at the Tract, water temps in the low 60’s, tide had been going out for a couple hours to start the morning. We got to our first spot, and I pitch my Senko up into a shallow pocket in the grass. I start to pick up some slack in the line and all of a sudden my rod starts to load up. I set the hook and the battle begins. She shows me her flank and I now known it’s a good fish as she plowed into the grass. I was able to turn her towards deep water and after a few runs was able down to welcome a beautiful 8.7lb hawg aboard. We had a pretty good day on the water, unfortunately there was no encore to besting the first fish of the day... Good Fishing all, JB

Could hit 70° today. Got out yesterday, froze my butt off for two brown trout.

Go bald...low maintenance and reduces drag when you need a few extra seconds on the water.