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Great day on the water. All quality fish. Poppers, frogs, spinnerbaits and jigs caught them today. Caught them deep and caught them shallow. 2nd cast of the day, the MegaBass Pop Max yielded a 4-0. Got some more decent fish on frogs and spinnerbaits. PB Rock Bass slammed a jig in a laydown. And I stuck a 5 right at the end, courtesy of a @Siebert Outdoors jig and Paca Chunk trailer.

Had a decent day on Saturday 6/9. Managed 23 bass in the boat. The best three were in the 4’s lbs coming on three different lures. A 110 whopper plopper, a shallow crank, and 5” soft stick bait. Couple pics of the better fish.

Pre-storm finesse fishing after work. Got run off in under an hour by the storms, but managed 18 fish in one pass before that happened. Fish were up a little shallower than expected. Fun stuff.

Take a little break from my Jig fishing (so far only 7 caught). Went out early morning and water look good for some whopper plopper, so I tied on and caught two. After awhile with no bite, it seemed the fish want something slower, so I switched to my faithful Zoom Magnum fluke. Caught either 3 or 4 on this one. Video add***

Went out last night with topwater bass being the goal. Had on a weightless Zoom O’l Monster in June bug. Got a bite with it but switched to a plopper for a little more noise and a better chance at short strikers and within a couple of minutes got a nice little 2-2.5 (forgot the scale, kicked myself as we were leaving in the car but figured I probably wouldn’t need it... I was wrong) Kept working around the pond just casting parallel to the bank. Very little cover in the pond and LOADS of critters. Probably 75 geese and 7 beavers in two acres of water. Came to a nice creek arm and cast deep in there and this big girl wanted the plopper. Measured 22 inches putting her around 6 lbs. Could be my new PB, But I don’t really care about that so much, just glad to have caught her. ?

Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.....My daughter as if she get the boat when I die...

Got my first boat (not counting old jon boat). '18 Crestliner VT 17. Lots to learn, for sure.

PB Rock Bass. This thing inhaled the jig that I pitched into a laydown.

Getting there. The season opens next Saturday and it looks like I will just about be ready! A couple of bits needed to finish off the electrics box and the plate to mount the rear seat needs to arrive, but otherwise, it's done! Still need to take the plunge and buy a decent sonar for the rear, but I've spent enough for now, Will manage without for the first few weeks.

Managed to go out last month to Minnesota with my brother for a few days. Our best double was this pic with his 5 and my 6. Always fun when both people in the boat have a 5+. After my wife had our 4th and FINAL kid a couple weeks ago, I was able to break away with my oldest for 2 evenings of fishing in here Fond du Lac, WI. First pic is her holding a 5 (small head but long body) and a 4. She is so precious and tough as nails. The other day, we were able to get out prior to walleye weekend and fish a local lake here. Was able to catch this 4+ and 6+ pound fish. Gave an awesome fight.

Loon from this past weekend.

I caught my 1st and only carp 5.93lbs on May 30th while bass fishing. I was using a lipless crankbait fishing across the top of a submerged brushline when it hit. It slammed the lure pretty hard and dove deep while zigzagging back and forth fought it for a couple of minutes while it pulled my kayak around. i really thought it was going to be my new PB Bass until I got a really good look at it....Guess in the end it's still a PB just the wrong species.

Sandy River Res is one of those places you either have a good day and catch a couple studs or you totally blank. Seems like there's never an in between. With plans to hit a small local lake my buddy calls me Friday evening and says "Let's hit Sandy tomorrow!". I'm in! We get there a little late (6:45) and it's cloudy cool morning. Bit of a breeze but otherwise really good conditions. We run up lake to shallow water and start fishing top water and after about 20 minutes figure its not happening. Change up to moving baits and try to cover some water. My buddy gets bit on a ribbon tail worm on a tree and swings. Worm comes up cut clean just behind the hook. Darn pickerel. After that we keyed in on slow moving soft plastics with action. Water is muddy but the fish won't have anything to do a with a noisy bait, and they won't chase down anything it's gotta be right in their face. Between the two of us we put 15 fish in the boat by noon. Couple dinks, but mostly solid 1-1/2 to 2 lbers. d**n good day so far for us on Sandy, and at this point we're on the way to having our best numbers day there. Bite shut off at around noon, sun came out, fish weren't biting anything. We coast around and hit some main lake points, my buddy hangs a 6.2 on a lipless. Typical Sandy, when they don't want to bite you pull one random big fish and that's it. 7pm rolls around and we haven't had a bite since 3. We've headed back for shallow water and catch a couple again on soft plastics. Around 8 we're watching a storm that has been building on the horizon for a few hours but the sun is still out for us. Any angler knows... It's Time for something to happen... I'm dragging a small soft plastic and feel a stump, pop it over and feel the hit. Hook set and for a half second I think I've set on the stump... Then enormous head shake and the line starts to scream. I'm running 17lb floro and drag is down tight. I yell for the net, feel the line go numb and watch bucket head jump out of the water about 6 feet to the right of where my line is going in. She's got me around a stump. Back in the water she goes and now she's pulling drag for half a second as she's running again, still pulling my line across the stump. Adrenaline rush! This is new PB for sure! Hear a "tick" and the line goes slack... I reel in and there's 4 feet of chewed and mangled line at the end, and I'm pretty sure she ran off with about 6-8 feet of line still hanging from her mouth. I sit in disbelief for about 30 seconds. There's one big bass here, there has to be more! Tie on the same rig and go right back to casting, still shaking from the adrenaline. My buddy ties on a 7" swim bait casts about 20 yards to the right of where I just lost possibly my biggest bass ever. I hear the "swoosh" of a hook set and a "holy $&@% NET!!!" Turn, grab the net and watch even bigger bucket head jump shake back in the water. Comes up again, too big for a second jump, she tail walks... She goes one way... Lure goes the other... Two giants in two minutes... Some choice words As We we both cast back in the same spot. My buddy sets the hook again almost instantly and brings in a 3.5 lber! We drift around for another hour without a bite. Rain finally sets in and we head for the ramp. I don't think either of us could have done anything different. We just got the short end of the deal this time around. Overall, we did put 20 in the boat, and one solid 6lber that was a half inch short of citation length, so was a good day.

My beautiful baby Linda and me stopped at the historical site where the infamous Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed in Gibsland, La. on our way back from Saline yesterday. I know this is post a photo a day, but since there was 2 markers there...well...it just seemed like a 2 photo post...lol. ?

Went to a family reunion today down in Saline, La. on Mill Creek Reservoir where my family has a camp. Got some bass fishing in. Haven't fished there since I was a kid. Had 4 bites. 2 didn't commit, 1 shook the bait at the pier and landed a 1lb 12oz beauty on my trusty ole 1/2oz breaking bream Project Z chatterbait with a green pumpkin Rage Swimmer trailer. Waded out to an area that I couldn't reach from the bank or the pier and this girl smacked it. Was great being there with family and reliving some youthful days. Can't wait to go back! ? Threw in a few pics of the lake from the foot of the pier that's in one of the photos.

Since retiring Mrs Mike and I full time in a motor home and currently we're on the east coast of Florida. We got a new neighbor last March who lives in Canada but spends the winters down here. He bought a 18ft skiff and wanted to go bass fishing for the first time. Since Stick Marsh was only 30 min from us we made a plan to go. As we were driving around I saw an area I wanted to try but there were 2 boats too close to it so we kept going as I don't like crowding someone off a spot, but I kept an eye on them. They were both throwing sq bill's but after not catching anything for 45 min they left. I told my neighbor that I have a hunch about that area and wanted to try it out for a few minutes. I set him up with a wacky rig and myself with a Fat Max ribbon tail rigged on 14# Sniper with a 3/16 tungsten weight as I immediately found that we were over a submerged grass flat in 7 fow. It must have been fairly heavy as I kept getting hung up so I tighten the drag a bit and made a few long casts keeping an eye on him as he kept reeling too fast. After about 1/2 doz casts, working that worm through the grass it just felt different. I set the hook and just knew I had something special. She started to come up but no matter what I did she jumped clean out of water and my heart rate went up. All I remember about that was my boater let out a groan and said "What do I do?? What do I do??" I yelled "reel your line in and stay where you are"!! When she got within 5 ft of us she went straight down and dived under the boat. I thought the rod was gonna break but then I remembered I tightened the drag earlier and didn't back it off! As soon as I did she came straight up and jumped again! I said get the net! but he didn't have one!! He leaned over the side and said "I'll get it". I said in as calm a voice as I could "NO! Leave her." Anyway, I lipped her in and as I was pulling her up, she kept coming out.!! She was 11.34 and the prettiest fish I ever saw. He grabbed his camera as I left mine in the truck, but before I let her go I kissed her on the head, thanked her, wished her well and she was gone. He said he would send me the pictures but 2 days later he left for Canada again. It took 2 weeks to track him down and when I did he said he would send them. Anyway, finally after 2 months of unanswered calls and sincere begging he finally did. This is the best picture but doesn't do her justice. Mike

Big ole Perch I caught while kayaking this Sunday. First time fishing a Ned rig on straight 20# braided line this weekend as I was too lazy to tie a leader. I felt every tick, bump and nibble. I was getting a lot of bites but came up short on the hooksets. Not at all like a Smallmouth Bass which was what I was targeting. It wasn't until I landed this big guy that I realized it was Perch that were messing around with my rig. Most were small and unable to take the bait in fully to get them hooked.

Knackwurst.

If the water stays muddy and murky, those fish have adapted and have seemingly no trouble seeing a worm. And some days color makes a difference.

OK guys @kingmotorboat & I have spent our entire lives (I'm 67) fishing either the Sabine or Calcasieu River. The damming of the Sabine River formed Toledo Bend Reservoir. This area has been hit with extreme rain levels for the past 3 or 4 years. This forces authorities to open the flood gates & dam on Toledo Bend which in turns floods the lower Sabine where these guys were fish. High swift waters dislodge sunken logs which become"floaters", right now both rivers are low. Judging from pictures of Alton's boat sitting on the bank he was not that far north of I-10. The river is plenty wide & deep enough for running WOT. After hitting whatever was below the surface Alton no longer had control of the boat due to having no skeg. With no skeg to control the outboard it made a hard 90% turn into the bank. The Skeeter handled the 90% turn easily! I'm running a 40 hp Tohatsu which is plenty fast enough at 50 mph to cause similar results. It's called "accident" for a reason ?

Cinnamon Pepper Neon Junebug Laminate! ?

Moron Lures? I've got a brother in law that those sound perfect for.

I too, spend my (wife’s)family reunions fishing on their private farm pond. “Are we eating yet? When are we eating? We’re done eating? See you in a couple hours!”.

Caught this bass today on a Cavitron buzzbait. As soon as it hit the water and before I could start the retrieve she was on. I don’t know what it weighs, my scale wouldn’t power on.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-wacky-stik-o-worm I bought a few packs of these new worms from BPS a few months back, really caught my interest when I first saw them. I've had real good luck catching a few good bass on this worm, it's almost a go to bait for me. This worm is similar to the Reaction Innovations, Pocket Rocket. I've not tried that worm cuz I can't find it locally. I rigged one up in Green Pumpkin Magic color on a 1/8 oz shakey head jighead. I casted the rig a few times and then went to an area that was a bit shallower than other parts of the lake. I dragged the worm a few, shook it...and felt the line jump. I set the hook, felt that this was a good fish, not sure if it was a bass though. Bass finally jumped out of the water and saw it was a BIG bass. Fought the bass for a bit, had to loosen my drag so I don't have the bass pop off my jig. Finally got the bass close to shore and landed it. I landed an 8 lb, 22" bass! The BPS Stik O worm is now my go to bait for bottom fishing. It's fairly durable, the other bass I caught previous to this one, the lure held up. Not as soft as a Senko, and not too stiff as other brand stick worms. I have rigged it wacky style and it does flutter on the fall, slow sink rate with just a wacky hook. And still has a good flutter using a weighted wacky jig. BPS advertises this as a wacky worm, but in my experience, it works better Texas style. This bass I caught though was strong, after a few more jumps the Stik O Wacky Worm flew off. To me, that's not too bad, since these cost less that a bag of Senko's and you get more for your money. I do have to say that the 8lb bass did bend the shakey head jig hook. I thought this jig was quite stout looking and was quite surprised it was bent up some. So glad I finally landed the bass before it bent it more and got away. When rigged Texas style weightless, it cast good using a bait cast setup. I used a BPS Carbonlight 7', MH rod, Abu Garcia Revo X, 7.3:1 gear ratio and PP 30 lb braid. I can get a good long cast, reminds me of how well a Senko cast using a baitcast setup. I'm not sure what attracts the bass to this worm, I've thrown other worms, even a Senko and have not as much luck or confidence. I don't know if the ribs on the worm does something different in the water or just how it looks when dragged on the bottom. Important thing is this worm is durable for the most part and must be different enough to fool a big bass in a highly pressured city park lake. It has BPS 8 UP scent, it quite light in smell, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it to attract a bass. The bass I've caught using this worm, they seem to engulf it and not spit out. I say that cuz a couple bass when I felt the line jump, I gave it a few seconds before I set the hook. The bass did not take it and spit out, so to me that seems that it's that much different than other plastic worms, that the bass will eat this right quick. Most baits I buy, the bait caught the fisherman. I have found that not only does this bait caught the fisherman, but also it catches bass; fairly consistent for me. It must be that "different" for the bass to get its attention. BPS has copied a known worm, they did a good job with this one, making it their own. Why I say that is, the RI Pocket Rocked the ribs are arranged differently than the ribs on the Stick O Wacky Worm. Possible patent infringement, I think maybe. The color selection is good, not whole lot of colors. I would prefer if the had a natural worm color, but the one color that has worked good for me is the green pumpkin magic. I guess as long as this color works, why fix it?

My spot that was producing nice smallmouth (and a few largemouth) on a swimbait when the water was in the 40s and 50s is now home to many largemouth. Catching them in 20-30' on a drop shot, Carolina rig, football jig, and a 6xd! I don't have a boat with me right now, so I am floating around fishing blind from my kayak. I have spent enough time there that I don't really need electronics anyway . Let me tell ya, longlining a 6xd from a kayak is an interesting procedure.

In the real world that classic "tap-tap" is the last thing I expect to feel. Love it when it happens because there's no doubt I've been bite. With Texas Rigs & Jigs the bass will simply flare its gills causing a vacuum which moves water and your bait into their mouth. With this bite there is very little if any line movement thereby not much is transmitted to your rod tip. The majority of my worm/jigs bites when casting, flipping, pitching, & punching come with NO line movement or tap, nothing until I apply pressure & feel resistance, at this point I set hook, most anglers simply apply more pressure, at which time the bass spit your worm/jig.

I'm just going to run in here for a bag of Senkos and Trick Worms. $165 dollars and packs on packs on packs of plastics, and a plethora of crankbaits and swimbaits later, here I am after just going in here for a couple of things. ? Nobody warns you about what will happen after the first time you pick up a rod and catch a fish. ?

In dirty water vibration, rattle or anything that makes a noise or disturbance should be the main factor. Second should be a larger profile and third should be color. Darker colors are usually the best because the bass actually see them better, but lighter, brighter colors work as well. Here in NW Louisiana even some of the more natural looking colors work very well. The main thing you should do is fish something that makes lots of noise or gives off lots of vibration. How fast or slow you work it, well let the bass decide. I usually don't get bit unless I'm quickly retrieving or burning it back. I fish a chatterbait most, if not all the time and I fish it really fast with a quick pumping action upwards. No matter how dirty the water was a bass usually finds it, if there's one anywhere near where I'm fishing and hammers it. Usually setting the hook themselves. Most productive colors for me in dirty water are breaking bream, green pumpkin, black/blue and junebug/junebug red. ?

Right now! Texas rigged 1/8 oz bullet & 4/0 EWG Zoom's Ultravibe Speed Craw South Africa Special ?

Looks like a blue gourami.

Cause I love fishing in the spring Spinner baits with a fling I love pitching in the brush Rat-L-Traps in a rush I love that big bump When you flip by a stump I love flying across the lake The sound a 2 stroke makes I love fishing in grass Kicking bass's @$$ I love hawgs on a bed Trying to hit em on the head And I love twins! ?

Grandson commandeered the new truck this evening

Nice little 4 lb’er.........Spawn this year is like playing with a rubrics cube?

The fishing has been great lately. 95% of all the pike I've been catching out of the local bay have been 23 inches or less, but still a fish is a fish. Never get tired of the fight Quick story on how I got my PB from this bay a few days ago. Not overall PB, just from this bay. I pull up to my first way-point and the water is glass. This is just screaming for me to throw a topwater. I pitch out a Heddon One Knocker Spook in bone color. First cast and a big pike rolls right next to it, but won't commit. I throw a weightless super fluke as a follow-up bait and he smacks it but doesn't get hooked. I decide that it's time to get serious. If this pike is this aggressive I think I should be able to get him. I throw out an olive X-Rap on a steel leader and jerk it back to me. I start to wonder if he's going to hit it first cast or not. Oh there he is! Just dead-weight on the end. I crank him into the net with little problem. Alright not bad! Came out at 28 inches and 4.25 lbs. Then last night I wanted to try something new so I went out to the shoreline with a headlamp and netted around 6 sculpin minnows to use as bait for this morning. I threw them out on a 1/8 oz firetiger jighead and almost immediately was met with success. Ended up 4/5 on the jig and sculpins and the one I didn't land snapped me off. Felt good

3lbs on the top toad.

Went out for a few hours with my buddy yesterday. Only caught one little catfish on a crankbait. Not sure what kind of catfish, but it was pretty neat. Fished a little pond for an hour or so tonight, and caught 8 small bass on a topwater.

Got this 4 pound , 3 oz. Fish on a 3 inch 'gill.

Went out with my tournament partner for a fun day of fishing for some post spawn bass. In the last creek arm that we were fishing that day, we saw a big fish on a bed still. We made a few flips, but scared the fish off. We came back 5-10 minutes later and we could see that the fish was back. I stepped up on the front deck next to my buddy and made one flip and a short hop. Boom, fish on! We thought for certain that it was a 7+ pound largemouth based on the size of the shadow we saw...

New PB: 5.8 lbs. Caught on a wacky rigged Senko. Also caught a 4.6 lb'er on a @Siebert Outdoors black/blue chatterbait earlier in the day.

For you guys who want to build their own hard baits but aren't skilled at painting, there is a product called Jigskinz that let you make realistic looking lures without an airbrush. I'm surprised I don't remember seeing them mentioned here before. Google jigskinz for more info. This site won't let me post a link.

As mentioned by islandbass, Devcon 2 Ton epoxy is what I use and highly recommend for installing eye screws. Most of the wood I use is cedar, but it will also work well on basswood. Drill a pilot hole that's smaller in diameter than the screw threads. Use a wire to insert some epoxy into the hole and also cover the threads before installing them. With any 2 part epoxy, it is critical to thoroughly mix equal portions of resin and hardener. As for split rings and hooks, it's common for baits in the 2-4" range to have sizes 1 and 2 split rings, and size 4 and 6 treble hooks. (The 4's being larger than the 6's) These pictures should help put the sizes into perspective. There are a lot of helpful bait making videos on YouTube. Here is one video that may help you get started in building wood baits that perform well. It's quite an addictive hobby, especially after that first fish chomps down on a lure you made by hand. ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YblTkqi1ano

I know I needed help when I started buying things that when I started putting them up, I discovered I already had bought a bunch of them years earlier.... I have boxes of stuff I'll never use if I was fishing every day, all day, the rest of my life...lol

Also, most bass anglers are sport fishermen so how a fish tastes is irrelevant.

Fawn I spotted yesterday bedded down in high weeds next to water

Kayak or canoe on a roof rack. Maybe a 14' Jon or V-hull on a trailer. Don't be this guy. Or this guy!

Playing golf with my brother this week... Colorado mountain golf:

For some reason the t rigged black/blue Dinger bite fell off in the past two days, which is my go-to bait in this particular pond. So I started ripping cranks. 1 of these was on a Livingston squarebill and the others on an H20 Xpress ghost shad lipless. The 3 in the collage ranged from 1.75-2.5. The big girl weighed 5 on the nose, making it my second 5lber this year—so that’s got me pretty stoked. She about got me hung up in the bushes.