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beautiful quiet evening on a local lake ,feel a tug set the hook it felt heave but not much fight, to my surprise I got this double!the next cast I caught one from behind.strange evening?. I send the pic to my wife, she kindly informed me to get off that was her bait!!.no wonder she is hard to beat ?

We don’t get out together as often as in the past, but Lynn & I were able to spend some time on one of our favorite little bass lakes in the Old Town canoe today. The fish catching on this very pretty and calm morning, started out a little slow. The action did pick up considerably after some wind and hazy cloud cover moved in. A couple dozen bass and perhaps half as many kept us busy. A stickbait and a light swim jig (with various trailers) were accounting for most of the fish. A little after 3 pm, we called it knowing we’d be part of the ‘Going Up North’ Friday afternoon highway crowd. Best to get a little ahead of that when you can. So there ya go – really hope we can do that again soon. A-Jay

Got more of these in traditional SM areas than ever before!

As this last event proved, national tournament directors have no problem disqualifying a competitor for breaking the rules. Anytime there is an accusation or a protest filed against a competitor, you can believe there is a phone call and conversation, and quite frequently a polygraph given even if you never hear about it as a fan and follower. Jacob has had more than his fair share of all the above (accusations, conversations, polys, etc.). The point being, if any or all of those accusations were true, and the tourney directors were made aware of them (and several of them were), you would have seen a lot more penalties or DQs assessed on him if there were any truth in regards to actually breaking a rule. Walking a fine line is not breaking a rule if the tourney director doesn't deem it so. Great competitors in every sport always push the boundaries in this regard, and some people simply don't like it. That pushing is also why we have many of the rules we do - because the line was brushed and a new rule was ultimately put in place to clarify or restrict certain things. Roland Martin was probably the king in this regard as to having rules later put in place because of things he did which didn't technically break any rules when he did them. Look at how many people said the "no info" rule would kill guys like Jacob, who some thought were pushing the boundaries in this regard, yet his MLF and Bassmaster events since show that the truly good anglers will always catch them regardless. I first started taking Jacob fishing when he was just 14 years old, and have acted as a mentor to him ever since. He is very competitive...wants to beat you out on the water every time, no matter what you're fishing for or who you are. They say the great ones like KVD are exactly the same (speaking of, nobody made a big deal out of KVD being reported and penalized for fishing in an off-limits area during one of the first two days of that event. You probably didn't even hear about it. I'd love to know why he wasn't disqualified like so many others before him for that same infraction). Most of the greats in any sport are like that. He's where he is in this sport at his age, and with a long list of sponsors, because he is a competitor, not a cheater. All accusations have a grain of truth at their core, but true "cheaters" are quickly eliminated from this sport. Don't expect Jacob to be going anywhere, anytime soon

Learning to fly-cast, and this little guy became my first ever fish on the fly. Hit a bluegill popper.

This lake has a healthy Pike population. And judging by the 'teeth marks' on the side of this guy (facing me), At least one mutant pike that tried to EAT this one - Mental note to self ~ No swimming. A-Jay

Picked up an original wooden Musky JB off eBay a couple weeks ago. Swapped out hooks and ready to try and land one on this big old piece of history. First attempt last night resulted in half a dozen blowups, but no hookups. Still fun for the first time out. We'll keep trying until I find one big enough to actually eat this thing ?

The kind of mid-June morning that almost makes me forget about January ~ Almost. A-Jay

An unfortunate but very real symptom of Alzheimer is an irrational fixation that someone (in a particular specific instance) is trying to steal from you. In other words, it's not that everyone is trying to steal everything from him (overall paranoia) but that for instance those fishermen down there are trying to steal all "my fish" under my dock. It can become a fixation and probably repeated. Watch the movie about Glenn Campbell "I'll be me." It is both beautiful and sad. It will give you a new perspective on dementia. After loosing my wife to cancer at 33 (I'm 50 now) I learned and remind myself of the phrase.... Who knows what battles that person in front of me is facing. Who knows what pain cuts him to the bone. I honestly don't remember the first three months after her passing. I'm sure I had a short fuse. All my emotions were exhausting and overwhelming. Grief is a terrible cold wet blanket. God bless those that have to go thru it. I've never been in a situation that I can't back out of and say I'm sorry. I did not mean to offend you. Even if I did nothing wrong. I say a silent prayer for the person and move on. In this case we just don't know all the facts. What he did to the fishermen is indefensible and wrong on every level. Maybe the fishermen didn't even see it coming. Many docks in my part of the world are two story with a large flat deck on top with a rail that has a break in it so people can jump off the dock. He could have easily walked up there without causing alarm and slung gas from the can on them. I doubt they saw it coming but did the right thing and reported it. We just don't know and will never know the whole situation.

St Croix Avid 8' ML/MOD rod, Daiwa RG-AB 2000 spinning reel, 8# Nanofil line, 2.8" Keitech fat paddle tail.

Been doing really well with a jig lately. It is now a go to for slaying some Michigan hogs.

I feel like the OP is someone's wife trying to infect our community from the inside out with doubt and uncertainty. To you good woman I say NOT TODAY! Such treachery and sedition will not stand. ?

I threw the Jackall Gantarel Junior the other day and caught a few small bass on it and had a couple nice followers. I also included a couple good bass I released on a previous trip. Check out the bass that followed the gantarel in when I burned it back and hit it when I dropped it back into water! That was a first for me!

Finally got a day when it was over cast and "raining" as arizonans think. It was more of an extremely light sprinkle. Usually the bite is off the charts in weather like this buuuut. Got 5 2-3lb bass a tilapia and a monster channel cat. Good times for a 3 hr trip.

Of course......is it a jig or a skirted Texas rig....i don’t know, but it works. The credit for the design goes to @Catt and @A-Jay. I simply copied their designs.

Went out for a troll on Georgian Bay this morning with the family, slow start, didn’t get fishing till 11:00 and only fished an hour before the heat drove us off the water, but we did alright. My son fought this one in all by himself. 10lbs even on my light rainbow gear, almost spooled him twice! Looks like we’re bbqing salmon for dinner tonight ??

We call em Texas Rigged Jigs! They come in 1/4-1.5 oz!

It’s a little late for the traditional “bluegill season” here on the Big G but the wife and I got into them and caught well over 100 this a.m. Ol’ Mr. Whiskers tested my ultralight!

Get a pack of the Zoom bubble gum pink ones too. Don't know why, but they work.....

trick worms flat out work so don't worry about the color. the 'trick' like most lures is to stop throwing it if they aren't interested...but try it again in 2 hrs later. Texas rigging the middle of the worm with a 1" nail in the head is deadly.

Thanks A.J. There's a small lake that's very deep ( for Florida ) that's 15 minutes away from me. It is app. 1/2 mile back in the woods and has almost no pressure. It's on my list to do somehow this year.

You said no Ned, but this may be news to some: Rig a drop shot with one color Ned on the hook on the line and another color on the bottom instead of a sinker. May not be legal everywhere.

I don't remember ever lying to my wife about going fishing. She used to try to control me early on in the marriage, like constantly trying to legislate my schedule . I did some side work after my regular job, and would fish after the job at ponds wherever I was, and didn't tell her. That's the closest I came to lying, I reckon. Through the years, I've found that the " happy wife-happy life " thing is pretty true, so I am learning to do things that are important to her and show I love her. Now that she knows I really love her, she doesn't have any problem with my fishing. I used to think " If I do this for her, or with her I'll be missing out on what I could catch today " Even though I laugh or smile when I hear " I'm gonna miss her " by Brad Paisley, and though some of you wouldn't agree, my wife means more to me than my fishing.( Gulp, I actually said it ) Ever since I've tried to really love her like I should, now I have so much more time to fish, and I mean time when I'm not stressed wondering if I should be doing something for her- because I already have been doing it. Not saying I've arrived, just better than before.

Small waters...Shaky head with a trick worm Big waters...UV Speed Craw Mike

They're talking about when you pass both lines through the eye before you make the over hand knot, they should be parallel to each other. And the loop created after you make the over hand should not be twisted before you pass the hook through. Mike

Hard to hear.......my son is a NH State Cop and my phone is never off. Folks don’t realize how big this family is and how many lives are effected. God Bless

Sweet video. Nice to see husband and wife team!

I just tripped over this thread. I still use them..... "if it's not broken, don't fix it..."

Berkley is coming out with 16 new topwater hard baits it looks like. One looks like a whopper plopper knock off:

Having a hard time trying to figure out exactly what you are saying and what the difference is from your examples. Top video looks like he ran the bait/hook through backwards perhaps. As someone who has used the Palomar solely as their only direct connecting knot in everything from braid, to nylon to fluoro without issue for over 30 years, the biggest mistake I see is people don't flip the last loop after the pass through up and over the entire overhand knot (and lure/hook). It should look like the picture below right before cinching, and if done this way, there is never any burning or heating of the line.

every example looks the same to me yanny.

some drop shot sinkers don't go through weeds very well. When dropshotting around weeds I use these. they go through weeds fairly well

I've posted hereabouts of my post spawn experience of going from solid catches to absolute ZERO. This being my first season back after a decade and really my first serious foray into Bass I was at a loss as to what to do. Received some great advice from you all, THANKS. Last week I did a short stint trying topwaters but gavw up and went back to plastics which were always good for me. Day after day, nothing. Really felt just defeated. So this morning after an hour or so of the same tired thing I thought of that old adage; Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity..." And decided, as many here wrote, to go to Topwaters and learn to work them. Working a Lunkerhunt poppr for about twenty or so minutes and bam! A hit about 5 feet in front of me! YEAH BABY! My first topwater fish EVER!!!! Nothing big, maybe a pound and a quarter but d**n did that restore my confidence! I hit the back inlet and caught another, bout 1.5 and couldn't be happier. Thanks for all the help and advice! Eric J

Switched spots and fished my freinds privat dock on the same lake. Caught my first bass. She’s a bit small. But size doesn’t matter to me. She fought like a truck so I thought I had a cat on.

Reading all the responses I don't know who to be more afraid of; overly territorial dock owners or the Johnny Rambo anglers who think shooting everyone they have a problem with is the one size fits all answer to disagreements. Makes me very thankful I have places to go fish that aren't heavily populated with either.

I have lost more than my share over the years. Some were PB's waiting to be landed because we actually saw them. Those always hurt the most but that's fishing.

I agree. I am a concealed carry permit holder. I also had someone try to stab me in my younger years. For me to draw my gun, would take a life or death situation. I would always try to avoid the confrontation first. Talking about shooting someone on an open forum is a little scary . To say the least. While I do not in anyway defend this man, we do not know what happened before the incident.

If you want to go fishing, just start acting romantic and 4 out of 5 times she'll send you fishing.

7' medium daiwa fuego. Way under budget, can be had for around $60 or less. And it matches up perfect with a tatula ct type r

My first new boat. Skeeter zx250

I'd avoid it tomorrow. Upstate Anglers has their big opening day tournament. It will be packed.

The flaw in the knot is crossing the lines......makes it incredibly weak. Properly tied it is good knot and without saying, it works fine for Braid. Since my eyes suck, I won’t tie it on anything else

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.

got my new PB 10.52 Saturday

Day use area opened up this Memorial Day weekend at Caney Lakes lower lake side in Minden, La. I had to work all weekend and Memorial Day so I got up early and was there by just a little after 6am this morning. Tried my new Prop Frogs but nothing really showed interest in them. That's when I started chunking my trusty ole 1/2oz breaking bream Project Z with a green pumpkin Rage Craw trailer. About 3 or 4 casts later it got smoked by an approximately pound or pound and a half bass(not pictured because it shook off my bait before I could unhook it myself and it hit the pier and flopped back into the lake). Got a few more bites but nothing committing so I tried some other baits. Nothing doing with them after about 2 hours of trying different ones. Went back to my all time fave 1/2oz breaking bream Project Z same trailer and a few casts later this 3lb 4oz hawg annihilated my chatterbait. She gave a little bit of a fight but I got her in fairly quick. Pulled her through the tall weeds on the shoreline and was raising my rod up to grab the line to unhook her when my favorite rod snapped about a foot from the tip. Oh I was so frustrated with that. I'm back to just a spinning and a baitcaster arsenal at the moment but at least this big girl didn't get away. Finally inching closer to a new PB and I believe it can happen in this part of the lake. There was lots of big splashing going on and I saw a few big bass in there. Soooooooo can't wait to go there again. Think I've finally found a good spot. Just sucks it's only opened from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. I'll just have to go there as often as I can in that time frame. ?

I was on the short and stocky bite this past weekend.

Went for a short trip with the G-Daughter and got this one one an orange senko right before a thunderstorm sent us home.

Our nephew never gets to go fishing unless we take him, so we decided to take him and my son bridge fishing. Well it was a good night. Until last night a bluegill was it for him. He caught a 1-14, 2-4 and this 3-1. My son got a 2-5 and surprisingly enough a 3-1. Thankfully they were both exactly the same weight so there was no pouty or gloating boys, just one who was on cloud 9 and another who was pretty geeked too.

I've been throwing swimbaits for 10 years, Bbz-1, Bbz-1jr, and Huddleston delux 8inch all on a cheap Wal-Mart rod mh. And Now use a Heavy Swimbait rod. What a huge difference. I broke about 20 rods.