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Tule Dipping: Found a lot of decent bass today hanging out under matted grass in one corner of a small cove. It's a good spot most of the time once the water warms up a bit, but today was ridiculous. Caught a couple and lost one in three casts pitching a plastic on a jighead. So I beached the yak, and decided to do a little tule dipping from the banks. You know, stealthier, and all that. Plus I needed to stretch a little anyway. It seemed like half the bass in the whole reservoir were congregated in that 20 ft X 40 ft space, and they had never seen a bait in their lives. Find a hole, drop the bait in, and if a fish didn't eat in on the fall, another would pick it up off the bottom. Think I caught about 10 in as many dips/ flips/ pitches, most of them solid 2-3 lb class fish and a couple estimated 4#. I kinda stopped taking pics after the first few and was laughing uncontrollably. Even started checking their mouths for holes from hooks because I wasn't convinced that I wasn't catching the same few fish over and over again. It was that crazy. Two guys were hiking the trails and stopped by to give me some company. Well I put on a show for them too, and caught 8 or 10 more. One of them remarked that he didn't know "fishing was so easy". I didn't tell him that I wasn't aware of that either! I picked up half a dozen more decent ones from here and there. They were biting really good. Admittedly, I didn't weigh most of the fish (measured some of them); I know I caught a 15# plus limit, probably over 17#. By far the best day I've ever had here. Called it a day an hour or two early, and as luck would have it, 5 minutes after I reach the ramp, the wind picks up and there are whitecaps all over. 10 minutes after that it starts raining hard.

^Previous [May 03, 2018] After our last fishing trip where I had great success catching 5 Bass and 1 Pike, I really thought the fishing was going to get even better as the water continued to warm. Jeremy and I planned another fishing trip the following Thursday of that week (today), which would be a shorter after work fishing trip. Got off at 2:00pm, arrived at his place shortly after and loaded up the boat with our gear. We both decided to retie baits after our last trip and decide on a plan for today. Somehow all that took an hour, and we headed toward the lake at 3:00pm. Launched the boat and were headed out at 3:30pm. We had decided to go to our furthest location first (which was a new area) and depending on the situation we could work our way back to the area we had fished last Sunday which was closer to the ramp. When we arrived at our first location, there was a heavy west wind. As we were fishing west to east, the wind was really pushing the boat faster than we wanted to fish. We couldn't really fish that area effectively, but as we continued on it was more protected from the wind. Things were pretty uneventful, until about the ~20th cast with the new Zman Jack Hammer Chatterbait I hear a "SNAP" as the line breaks at the knot and I watch as it sails through the air and splashes out in the middle of nowhere... R.I.P. Uhhh, didn't I just retie everything earlier? Must have weakened the line when tying that knot I guess... Oh and of course I only had 1 in that color because of price... We continue fishing and get back into this area that just looked great. Water is warm ~62F, Stained with ~2ft Clarity. Lake level is a little high so lots of shoreline cover, some rocky areas, vegetation, some matted debris... It had a little of everything. We both figured it just had to hold some bass... Two hours later, not a bite. Had some pike chase our baits around which wasn't the best sign when looking for bass, but we covered so much water by the time we finally accepted that this was not going to work it was already 5:30pm. We only had about 30 min left to make something happen, so we decided to head back to where we last caught them on Sunday, as that's about all we had time for anyway. When we arrived we noticed the wind had calmed down a bit as it was becoming evening, and the water temp had jumped from the previous ~53F the last time we fished it to ~55-57F. Things were looking pretty similar to the area we had just fished... All day we were throwing a mix of reaction moving baits and finesse soft plastics. Nothing was working, until about 30 min into fishing our second location Jeremy makes a cast up shallow over a log near the flooded brush and watches as a small Largemouth follows his bait out and takes it... We both had been throwing soft plastics up to the flooded brush all day in both locations and nothing until now. I tried focusing on the flooded brush for a while, until I got a bad loop knot in my line and didn't want to spend the time to fix it and retie as we were already fishing overtime. Basically I locked a Spinnerbait in my hand, and Jeremy locked a soft plastic in his hand, and we fished till 7:15pm and had to call it. I swore earlier I had a hit on the Spinnerbait but just didn't connect. In the end I don't think it mattered what I was using as neither of us had another bite that evening. So yeah... I Zeroed. Not since 2015 have I zeroed after I started catching them as I've made consistency my #1 goal. Mistakes were made this day, first of all being busy / lazy I forgot to look back on my weather logs before fishing, where we had a day with a high of 58F / low of 38F. Then I might of thought it was possible the bass pulled out. A lot of time was wasted fishing unproductive water in a situation were we didn't have a lot of time to begin with, and fishing two areas that were similar to each other and both unproductive. If I could have a do over I would only fish the first location for 1 hour, then completely change it up, like head to the northern part of the lake where the water is a bit cooler, clearer, and deeper. Fish an area completely different to what we were currently fishing that wasn't working... - - - - - [May 14, 2018] The day after I zeroed - I spent some time looking over my fishing log for that day to learn from it, and that's where I came up with the last part for the day above. 10 long days later... Jeremy and I are able to schedule another fishing trip for today Monday the 14th. It's part of our weekend so we had a good 6 hours to fish (~8:30am - 2:30pm). I arrived at his place early and started gearing up. It's been quite a few days since our last trip, and I believe "every day is a new day", so in my mind we were starting from scratch. Documented the weather over the past week and it's been a mix of overcast days with rain or thunderstorms, with a few partly cloudy to clear days with the average temp hovering around the low 70's. Today's forecast was said to have high bluebird skies, with high pressure - falling as the day progressed, and a high of up to 82F. It's also the day before the new moon, and two days before an incoming front said to consist of two days of thunderstorms. We planned to head up north to the deeper, cooler, clearer water in search of some smallmouth after the results from our last trip. I wasn't opposed to giving the south end a try as it's been over a week since our last trip, but it was more of a decision just to mix things up, try something new, and get information on other areas of the lake during this time. I recently put together a new combo, so now I can rig up to 5 baits at one time, here is my starting bait selection for today... When we arrived at the lake the first thing I noticed was the lake level was now about 2 feet high from normal pool. Stained with ~2-3ft clarity, and the water temp at the ramp had dropped from 51 on our last trip to 49. The warming weather and rainfall is melting snow still high up in the mountains creating runoff that is dumping into the lake leading to the current conditions. This makes fishing the south end of the lake tricky as during the early season we can get a good warming trend yet the water temp will remain either the same or drop a few degrees in temperature. They also release a lot of water from the lake to prevent flooding during the early season - so there is a constant dynamic of releasing warming water only to be replaced with new cold runoff delaying the lake from heating up (years past I've caught bass off beds in late June). The decision to head north will put us in an area with more stable conditions. We arrive at our first location around 8:45am, water temp 53F. I begin with tossing the deep diving jerkbait, and 5 min into fishing I hook into a 4 lb 07 oz, 22 inch Northern Pike Minnow... Not the target species I'm looking for, but it felt good to hook into something of size after my last outing. 15 min further into fishing I make a cast with the grub to the shallow part of a dock (as the lake level is 2 ft higher than normal pool) and within seconds after the grub hits the bottom it's fish on. Bass 01 - 16 & 1/4", 2 lb 07 oz I actually boat flipped that bass, and right when I got it in the boat it's sharp sandpaper teeth cut my 10 lb Trilene Sensation line... Covering water, we fished around our first location for ~1 hour 30 min, and that was the only bite. We decided it was time to move, so we headed a bit further north. Second Location has more depth to it, Water Temp was 52F. Fishing with the grub again, making casts to the flooded shoreline cover. 25 min into fishing I notice the tail of the grub got hooked on the open hook of the jig which I find suspicious as that doesn't happen often. I make a second cast to the flooded brush and it felt like I had pulled it over a limb or something but wasn't sure, so I make a third cast and let the grub sit, next thing I know something's swimming with it so I set the hook, fish on... Bass 02 - 13 & 3/4", 1 lb 05 oz Fishing our second location for ~1 hour 30 min, again that was our only bite. It was now 12:00pm, I had boated two fish, Jeremy had nothing, so I let him decide where we should try next. It was mid day, hot, we lost what little wind we had earlier and it was looking like tough conditions. We turned the boat around and ended up heading back to a location south of our first location today. Third Location, Water Temp 60-62F. After fishing for 20 min, we get to this big dock that isn't normally there, and is just temporarily positioned near the shoreline. We both cast all around it and no bites. When we get to the other side and just as I'm about to give up on it, I'm reeling my grub back to the boat and see a little smallmouth under 12 inches follow it out from under the dock and turn away. That was our first clue that there are fish here, they just might not be committing to our baits. I give Jeremy a chance to fish it, as I take some time to change baits. Since we have high skies, low wind, and I want something weightless I can fish slower, I decide to swap out the Spinnerbait for a Wacky Rig. We gave it some time but nothing resulted from it, so we continued on. There was a shallow flat with clumps of vegetation in about 5ft of depth we gave a try, but only managed to see two pike, one which followed Jeremy's spinnerbait to the boat and nipped at it but didn't get hooked. We both were totally junk fishing during the mid day lull, just trying to make something happen. I even swapped out the chatterbait for a buzzbait just for the fun of it. We actually seen a few fish bust the surface but couldn't tell what they were. At this point in the day I was just fun fishing hoping Jeremy would hook into something so he wouldn't get skunked. We fished the third location for just over 2 hours, when Jeremy said he would take the loss as it was now time for us to head back... Pulled the boat out at 2:50pm. Tough day for us, covering water was key just to catch the two as they were miles apart. We fished shallow, deep, slow, fast, finesse baits, and reaction baits. This is the time of year I struggle, that late pre-spawn to early-spawn time. If the water is between 48F-55F the fishing is good, but once it hits 56-62 its a struggle. It's still early for the spawn in my area, at least a few weeks out, need the water temps to increase a bit and the conditions & weather to stabilize. I did talk with someone who I trust that also fished on this day as well. They had better luck than us, and mentioned the best fish seemed to come very early in the day (like before we were even on the water) and seemed to shut down after 11:00am, which fits with when I caught my fish. Maybe with the new moon they are feeding early then shutting off during the day, or maybe it has something to do with location and we just haven't found the right area yet. All in all, I'm more than happy with the two I caught. WolfyBrandon

We get to go home today. Waiting to hear more from the doctors during there rounds in a little bit.

1st topwater bass of 2018!!! Using a Rebel Pop-R at sunrise in small subdivision pond and this 5lb, 21 inch football slammed it in about 1 & half feet of water. Some good ol RVA Bass Fishing!!!

A bad day of fishing is better than a day at home reading about fishing on the internet.

The previously mentioned smallmouth.

Thank you everyone for your support. It's been a rough day and night and sounds like we'll be here at least overnight tonight also but they've run all kinds of test and all have come back negative for anything so far so no news is good news in this case. Still waiting on results from stool samples and his last blood culture. At this point they're thinking maybe a severe viral infection combined with dehydration caused by the diarrhea he had from the stomach virus. He's been in better spirits this morning and ate some scrambled eggs, banana, and almost a whole cup of Greek yogurt for breakfast. Still dehydrated though so they're monitoring that closely. I'll try to keep everyone updated if anything major changes.

Well I finally caught another bass today. Went to Richard Fleming Park on the west side of Cross Lake. Didn't get to fish very long but managed this 1lb 2oz bass. Caught it on a 1/2oz Mann's swimbait head with an underspin and green pumpkin Rage Swimmer on it. I was fishing it kinda fast and the bite was fairly subtle. I felt the weight and it tried to swim off and I set the hook. Finally one that didn't get away. ?

Excuse me if I am getting a little excited. For the last 15 years straight a buddy and I have made an annual trek to Lake St Clair from Virginia for a week of pure fishing hedonism. We, along with 5 other friends (some in MI and 1 other from VA this year) rent a cottage on Harsens Island and spend a week eating like Kings, partying like Rockstars (never on the boats), and fishing like fools. We have had 100 degree days, been snowed on, hailed on and outrun tornadoes. We have had days of 50mph sustained winds and we have had some magical days, actually a lot of magical days where we catch 75-100 fish each. We have caught tagged fish, eater walleye, 50inch musky, and smallmouth (our real target) up to 7lbs not to mention all of the other catches like Pike, White Bass and Goggle Eyes. I have got to meet KVD, Kim Stricker (Hook n Look program) and Zona more than once. We have caught them on just about every lure known to man and in pre-spawn, post spawn or on the beds but we ALWAYS catch them. We leave this Sunday and I am sooooo excited I can hardly take it. For those who are close to this gem of a lake, I envy you. We only get to experience it once a year but I guarantee you that will change when I retire. I will smoke 6 racks of ribs starting Thursday to go along with the 20lbs of crab legs and the grilled bacon wrapped Russian Boar that my buddies bring. I live for this trip. And as an added bonus we have a friend flying in from Australia this year to join us. I'm sure I'll have some great stories to report back with. I attached an article that was written about our trip a few years ago. Sadly one of our friends has passed and we have added to the group the the main "core" is still there.

A while back, I recall a post asking if bass will eat perch and whether perch colored baits are effective. Also, bait size comes up pretty often. How big is "too big"? Since the Fall, I've been doing a lot of reading on this stuff, and it's been very, very helpful in my understanding of what I'm trying to trigger with a 4wt fly rod, an 8wt streamer rod, all the way to my jig and crankbait sticks. This picture popped up on my Facebook feed and it's a perfect example that dominant predatory fish, regardless of species, will take some big ass baits! Here on the bass side, we know that bass will take some pretty large meals. The more I get into fly fishing, the more I dig guys like Kelly Galloup that regularly fish huge 5-10" streamers for brown trout. The more I see stuff like this, the more I believe that once a fish reaches predatory size (large enough to primarily feed on fish and not invertebrates), that their habits change dramatically, regardless of species. Now, I'm not suggesting that they won't still eat insects, nymphs, etc, but that their entire feeding habits change dramatically. It can effect where they hold, why they strike, when they hunt, and as they become larger, more dominant predators, their willingness to forego eating tons of small meals in exchange for larger, less frequent "feasts". Granted, local forage will always be the primary indicator of a predator's diet, but this idea leads me to believe that larger fish will, most likely, even forego standards like crayfish if given the opportunity to feed on baitfish that are easier to digest. (Totally just a theory, but not without evidence) One of the reasons I dig the big streamer fly anglers is because most of them have been heavily influenced by watching B.A.S.S, FLW, pike, and musky anglers. Most of the flies these guys are throwing are more like 7" jerkbaits, swim jigs, and crankbaits and 12"+ jointed swimbaits than anything you'll see in A River Runs Through It. Look up Double Deceiver of Game changer patterns, if you aren't familiar. It's pretty eye opening and amazing how much they've changed the fly game by following bass anglers. It's literally changed their sport. I also think that there's a TON that bass guys can learn from the big streamer fly anglers. For example, they tend to care a lot more about how baits present in currents than 95% of bass anglers I've ever been around. One of the big takeaways has to do with how most predators take fish. While a pike might T-bone prey, bass and trout lack the kind of teeth necessary for that to work. So, generally they position to take bait head first (other fish) and tail first if possible (crayfish). Spiny pectoral and dorsal fins can kill a fish if they go the wrong way, especially with madtoms, sculpins, sunfish, and perch. Similarly, learning how to present "drag free drifts" with high vis braid has changed the way I approach virtually all finesse fishing, and it's paid off tremendously. Anyhow, here's Ike with a solid bass choking on what looks like close to 10" of perch... Head first.

I survived surgery and the surgeon is very confident that he got it. I'm in recovery now -- loads of pain etc but I should be back fishing within a couple weeks!

As reported on the local site: http://www.nybass.com/showthread.php?110873-State-record-Walleye-caught-on-the-St-lawrence-River

Got these two and a smaller one on a spinnerbait today. Bite was tough! Algae bloom and water clarity was crazy different than usual. The usual stuff did not work. Went to the bank and hit these 2 in 3 casts. Then got a 3rd couple hours later.

Just got back. One giant topwater blow-up. I panicked and pulled the hook away...

One of the 51 brought to hand today from small water walking the bank. Bass appeared to be postspawn, as I never saw an actual bed, but they were cruising and chasing shallow. Did find some bluegill bedding. Zman plastics on a small jighead was the ticket (wacky).

So, I'm gonna tell you a story to tell you another story. I slipped out the girlfriend's house Friday morning, which takes some ninja skill. She sleeps about as hard as a gunshy guard dog with an empty belly. She wakes up to a silent fart, I'm telling you. Lord knows I wore a good many dinks out before I headed back in, slid back in the bed like I'd never left. That's definitely the most impressive part of my weekend. ...onto the bad parts of the weekend. After leaving the lady's place to head home to "clean up," and "wash clothes" at my house, I of course got bit by the bait monkey and hit the Wal-Mart for some Baby Boo Jigs and them daggum Netbait Baby Paca Craws all them boys on the YouTube go on and on about. I should have been washing clothes an hour ago. I check out and meander on toward the house but get stopped at the Ohoopee River bridge by the just a few casts monkey. Seventeen head of kids are cannonballing into the river and a drunk man has a speaker system blaring some Toby Keith song about being an American Soldier, despite being a country music singer, and old overalls has himself a mic setup and he's an American Soldier too, damnit. I'm in prime fishing conditions, I tell ya. I spook a bass off the bank and pitch a couple times to the cover he's crammed himself into to no avail. I cross the river on foot. Nearly step on an old catfish tucked close to an old bridge piling. I'm a redneck, not an American soldier, and I don't need no boat. Or so I thought. Behold my three step system to making a fool of yourself. 1. Get hung up. 2. Walk back onto the bank to retrieve your jig from the other side of the hang up. 3. Slip on the muddy bank and give the score of river children and the American Drunkard your best redneck bank skiing performance. I busted my butt. An old man is laughing over a microphone. The kids have taken a break from the rope swing and are laughing their ***** off. I've landed on my reel and bent the handles in and thought I'd lost a hundred bucks over two worth of jig and trailer. So I go home, finally do my chores, and head back to the girlfriend's house. Head to the honey hole I caught my PB in to lick my wounds. Hook into a solid with the jig that caused the whole ordeal, and get broken off because I'm a slack-jawed bank skiing fool who's got 18 pounds of drag on 12# fluorocarbon. Check your drag. Or fish with big fish line when you're throwing in a big fish hole!

I just got back from the third stop of the BASS college tour this year, which was held on Cherokee Lake in Tennessee. Cherokee doesn't have particularly large fish to begin with, and the entire lake was pretty much post spawn, so it made for a very stacked leaderboard at the end of each day, with ounces separating the places, and multiple three way ties. The event also had 263 boats in it, so there was plenty of pressure on the fish. We practiced for two and a half days, as usual, and it was TOUGH! We tried fishing for smallmouth with a ned rig on rocky points like we did last year, and they really weren't having it, which was surprising to me. We caught some fish, but there wasn't much size to them, and there is a 15" minimum on Cherokee. We spent most of our time looking for smallmouth. We caught fish pretty much everywhere we went, but most were 14"ers. I threw a jerkbait quite a bit, and we caught several fish on a 3.8" swing impact. We spent some time largemouth fishing up the lake in the dirtier water, and caught some fish flipping bushes, and on a chatterbait, but still could not crack that 2.5lb mark. A third bite we discovered was a floating dock bite. We could catch largemouth and spots fairly consistently down the lake in the clear water on a senko once the sun got up, but still not much size. All we wanted was one or two 3lb bites to tell us which technique we needed to focus in on. During practice, our buddies from Virginia Tech had been sending us photos of 3lb+ smallmouth with astonishing regularity, and saying they were on a really solid, EASY bite! My old high school partner Ethan fishes for Tech now, and he didn't get to practice until the last day, when we were only allowed on the water until 1:30. That morning at 8am, he already had caught a nice 3lb+ smallmouth, and every time I talked to him on the phone, he said they were catching them pretty well. Around 11am, we still had not caught a keeper smallmouth, and finally Ethan called me, and came and found us on the water to show us what to do, and what he showed us definitely saved our tournament. The way they were catching them was on a 2.8" keitech on a 1/4oz jighead, casting it at the bank, letting it sink, then starting a SLOWWW retrieve back to the boat. The fish either hit on the drop, or within the first three turns of the handle. All you had to do was find a 45 degree bank with chunk rock or boulders. I had TWO 2.8" keitechs sitting in the bottom of my boat, and a couple 1/4oz heads small enough to fit them. I tied one on, went and found what he said to find, and had a keeper within 10 minutes. My partner Casey put a 3" swing impact on a drop shot, and had a 3lb smallmouth fishing behind me about 10 minutes after my fish! We ran to one more spot, caught another 3lb smallmouth, and then just started running around marking waypoints, we didn't have enough practice time left to do much fishing. I tried a 4" swing impact, I even cut it down an inch, and they wouldn't eat it. I still can't believe how small of a bait they were keyed in on. That night, we went and bought more 2.8" keitechs, and I found the last 2 packs of the jighead I was using in Bass Pro. My partner was looking for 3" swing impacts, but the smallest we found were 3.5", which I figured would work too, because stuff like that is usually in our heads and not a big deal to the fish. Back at the hotel, we scrounged around for any 3" swing impacts we could find. I had half a pack of them in my boat, and one of our buddies from Kent State had three 3" easy shiners on an a-rig in his truck, so he took them off the jigheads and gave them to Casey. We had a very late boat draw on day 1, boat 236 out of 263. We knew we wanted to be in the creek where Tech was, but decided not to start there, because they showed us the bite and the fish, so we went to a couple of islands and one point that had produced fish in practice. In our first hour and a half, we had one bite and didn't boat any fish. We then headed to the creek and prepared to get in line to fish behind people, and that's exactly what happened. Despite the crowd, the only people really catching anything were us and Virginia Tech. We got a limit, and my buddy Ethan also had 5. I caught two of them on the 2.8", and Casey caught three of them on the drop shot, all of them were on the 3" easy shiners from my buddy's a-rig! Due to bluegill, snags, and keitechs falling apart because that's what happens, Casey was out of 3" baits once we got our five fish, and had to use a 2.8" and a 3.5" for the rest of the day. I made one good cull, and he didn't catch any more keepers. We started to realize that the necessity of a tiny bait probably wasn't just in our heads. We didn't have to check in til 4:45, but the last hour of our day got very interesting when I received a phone call from my buddy who had broken down with five fish in his livewell, wayyyyy up the lake. I made a 30 mile round trip with the pedal to the floor and got their fish in with 30 seconds to spare for their 4:15 check-in. We already qualified for the championship this year, but they had not, and I knew those fish would be crucial for them so I didn't think twice about giving up the last hour of our day for them. Day one had us tied for 55th place with 11-14. Big fish out of 263 boats was 3lbs 14oz, if that says anything about what we were dealing with. There was no "looking for a kicker" at Cherokee, you had to fish hard for as many bites around 3lbs as you could get. Casey went to a couple stores that night and found some more 3" swing impacts, so we were feeling a lot better going into day two. We ran straight to the good creek after takeoff, and I put one in the boat within minutes. We started to realize that even though we were fishing long stretches of rock, the bites came on the same places every time. Knowing that, we bounced around in the creek, fishing very small areas, and catching fish almost every time. We had five fish at 7:40am, four smallmouth and one spot. I jumped off a 3lb smallmouth, which I knew was going to cost us, no matter how positive we stayed or how well we fished! We kept after it, and made one cull, getting rid of the spotted bass with a smallmouth. We had two around 17/18", and three around 16", very similar to day one. We talked to our buddies from Tech around 10am, they only had one fish, and said the bite had completely died once the sun got up. We hit a couple more key areas, and after not getting any bites, got out the flipping gear and made a run way up the lake to look for some largemouth. We ended up getting on a really hot bite flipping bushes in the back of a big creek, and caught about 15 in the last 2 hours of our day, but the only cull we made was a 17" skinny largemouth for one of our smallmouth which was just under 16". In a game of ounces, it was definitely still important. After the scales closed we sat in 35th place with a two day total of 23lbs 11oz, we missed the final day top 32 cut by 2oz. Like I said, I knew that smallmouth jumping off was not going to be good for us. We were still very pleased with how things turned out. We had a terrible practice and pretty much had to start from scratch once my buddy showed us that weird 2.8 keitech stuff. The good news is that another WVU team qualified for the championship! They were in 42nd place, but there were 10 double qualifications ahead of them. The guys we gave a ride in on day one had to fish with no big motor on day two, and they put up 11lbs 8oz, which will be sending them to the championship in combination with their points from the events held at Toledo Bend and Pickwick this season. Casey and I are sitting in 4th in points for Team Of The Year, and at the end of this week will be hopping on a plane headed for Clearlake, California, where we have somehow secured a boat and truck to borrow during our time there. We are gonna have to bring our A-game if we want to take this thing home, but who doesn't like a little challenge? Thanks for reading guys, I'm having the time of my life doing this college fishing stuff, and I love writing these and reliving the experience!

Same here, we were just fishing off the dock for whatever would bite. Occasionally someone would catch a bass. Later, when I was a little older and better at casting, I used "lures" which were various cranks, topwaters, spoons, and inline spinners. Until some nice guy in a bass boat caught two nice fish in a row from "the slop" near our dock that I avoided because baits didn't go through. When I asked how his bait gets through, he showed me a proper Texas Rig, and gave me some worms, hooks, and bullet sinkers. That totally changed the game for me.

I would not qualify that as a bad day of fishing, that's just getting skunked. A bad day of fishing is like you lost ten lures, dropped your favorite rod in the water and never got it back and a muskellunge bit your hand.

Brand new Dad, which means when my wife told me she was going to take the baby over to grandma's for a couple hours I, being the good husband, said that sounds like a great idea. She left, I ran outside to hook the boat up and snuck in 3 hours on the lake. Now I'm back at work wishing I was still on the lake.

Try a weightless fat ika rigged with the skirt up.

thanks i ordered the nrx 852s!!!!!!

Buzzbaits are a great lure to use at night and a lure that I see few people use. I tend to catch less bass on them compared to other topwaters but the average size bass is bigger.

My buddy and I hit the same lake again as last weekend. Water temp rose 12° in a week. Last weeks water temp was 70°, air temp was high around 70° with clouds and rain. This week, partly cloudy in the Am, high of 96° and sunny afternoon. Surface Water temps bumped 82°. What a difference a week makes! We didn't expect good numbers like last week, but we had hopes of finding some better sized fish having narrowed down a few key areas. We put 9 in the boat (wont complain too much) but never did find a solid bite. I got a couple on bluegill squarebill thrown on the bank (if it didn't literally HIT the bank it didn't get bit). Couple on Texas rigged plastics. Bite totally died after about 1 o'clock. Finally got a 1.5 pounder on an S-waver 168 right before dusk to end the day. Found a couple places where bass were blowing up on bait, but they scattered if the boat got within 100 yards. They were crushing on huge schools of 1.5 - 2" bluegill, but they wouldn't even come near anything we could throw that mimicked that size/type bait.

My idea of fun is battling a good smallie on on a ML rod and 6lb. line.

Proud of the way he turned out.

Casting may not be an issue, setting the hook most certainly will be. I can pound a nail with a wrench but I'd rather have a hammer.

I bought the 8.1:1. I currently have a Daiwa Tatula 100 HSL in 7.3:1 that I really like. At the end of the day I guess I figured it's easy for me to slow down my speed and have the speed when I need it. A chatterbait is the only moving lure I plan on throwing. Most other stuff I do is jigs, Texas rig, and frog. All of those I move with the rod not the reel. Also 34" of line retrieval is based on a full spool. It won't be that much line moved at the end of a cast. Some food for thought. My spinning reels move 31" of line and they work well for me. Just coined it... The slow burn

Google Express has a code "DEAL20" that can be used once per account, for 20% off anything, even already discounted items. https://express.google.com/ I used mine to grab a bunch of already discounted Trokar hooks so I got them for almost 50% off MSRP. Searching for stuff is kind of the wild west, as their search filters are garbage. Try entering in brand names to get a list of what they have available.

Interesting topic, I just read all the previous responses to see what others had to say. I think I might let him know that if he continues to blast away, all speed and no control, the days of going fishing together may need to come to a close. Either you are going to listen and learn or I am just not coming out here as it really ruins my day of fishing when you act like this all day and refuse to listen and then get mad that you don't catch fish. I like hanging out with you and yes, we are friends, but as your friend I think we should find some other activity to do together because you just don't seem to enjoy this. I reread your initial post a couple times and it seems you have done all you can and if this is really ruining your enjoyment of fishing, maybe he just needs to go his own way and you go yours when it comes to fishing.

I would focus on soft plastics. Try different colors and techniques, from sinker to none and slow to fast. Cover of any kind helps the clearer the water the more distance usually helps. Best of luck, glad you are back

Fishing is fishing. One can learn from and apply lessons learned from time on the water anywhere chasing anything. Most LMB guys are guilty of believing that bass fishing is somehow different than other fishing.

I got a really bad paper cut!!! It was a hard time in my life but I got threw it had to wash it and that was tuff even worst I had it cleaned with alcohol! Ended up having a band aid on for a week!!! If you guys think your pain was tuff just think about what ive had to go threw!!!

Just got back from work. Going to take a poop. If you don't hear from me in 15 minutes that means I've fallen in. Again.

^^^^^^^^ That... and... I was out this afternoon getting skunked with t-rigs. I grabbed my ml spinning and threw a ned rig. The next 45 minutes was one bass after another until I had to leave. You might give that a shot.

Been skunked a time or few but never had a bad day of fishing. Annoying, yes. Bad, no.

Straight retrieve, you can vary retrieve speed a little til you find the pace they wanna chase. I almost exclusively use the buddah baits snooze alarm, bluegill color ½oz. Give em just a little pause between strike and hookset, kinda like fishin a frog. Buzzbaits are my absolute favorite bait to thow hands down.

Wacky Rig ? That's how I rig one The swivel stops line twist & adds weight

every time he ask a question tell him to grab you a beer

fluke has served me well ?

Nothing but Ol' OG Zillion (6.3.1)

Decided to take a break from the reservoirs and hit Olathe. was hoping to catch a lot of fish and was not disappointed. I was the only person on the lake all day. planned on flipping the water willows, but they are still pretty thin and were not holding many fish. started fishing a mud minnow TRD on a ned head and caught a bunch of bass. I lost count, but would guess around 50 for the day. there are a ton of 15-17 inch bass in that lake.

@FishDewd I have a close friend that goes out with me 4-5 times a year & has for the last 30 years. After he parks his boat he seldom if ever thinks about fishing. Every trip out it's the same routine with a few advancements in technology. He loves perch jerking, I love bass fishing, so we combine the two. It aint about the number of fish we catch, it's about the fellowship shared!

Berkley Havoc Pit Boss. Something about the shape of this bait makes it magic when flipped, pitched or retrieved through the water. The flapping "legs" make a nice commotion. Looks like a craw, a frog or a baitfish on it side.

Any more negative remarks will have repercussions. It's absolutely ridiculous how some in our community behave from behind a keyboard. We're better than that.

Between the guy who was the boater and I, combined we probably caught over 100 bass, most right around a pound. (we stopped weighing after we got a limit of nicer ones). We found a rock pile offshore in about 5-7 ft of water and every cast with a jig that allowed the jig to drag over the rocks ended up in a fish. Felt the tap of the jig bouncing of the rocks then bam, jig got smoked. Every single time. Upgraded to a 2.15, 2.2 and 2.9 on some docks in a little man made bay. My best 6 were 15 lbs 5 ounces (mine is on the right) enough for a 3rd place finish! Sure made 25+ mph east winds with and chilly 40-50 degree air temps quite bearable. I also got to test the Huk NXTLVL Rain Gear @A-Jay sold me and I stayed nice and dry.

pop r

Good one from day's trip. A-Jay

I don’t mind getting up at 5 to go fishing ? this is my first top water bite for the year, it was a blast!

Bank fishing, 7 tighteyes & 5# kicker ?