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Caught these last Saturday in Minnesota flippin pads and swimming jigs. Had a 22lb bag between the 2 of us

Finally got one on a Magnum Squarebill (or as I like to call it “the Mondo”).

Used Sexxy shad 5XD to catch these Bass. All with in 1 week..

Update. Surgery was Friday, triple bypass, no heart damage. He may be going home today. Thanks to all the good thoughts.

Had a chance to get out with my old man this past weekend. We got into the smallies pretty good in northern Wisconsin / Michigan boundary lake. I boated a 4.0, 4.4, 4.9 old man upgraded his PB and showed me up with a 5.1. Had another 2 dozen between us in the 3-4 range and 50+ under 3 over the two days we were out. All post spawn, crystal clear water, 20-25 feet, 70-71 water temp. Old man got his swimming a jig with a grub tail. All mine came on gman finesse jigs PBJ or Green Pumpkin, 8 or 10lb floro with some color variation of sweet beavers. Just knocking them into fallen lumber at 20-25 feet and popping them. Beautiful weekend, lots of fun.

Ever have one of those months? It's working out to be that way. We hit the lake EARLY. Chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon so we were on the water at 4:30am to try to maximize our chance at catching good fish. Didn't exactly work out that way. 6:30 am thunderstorm pops up, and at this point we've been fishing two hours without a bite. After the storm blows through, I switch to the same swimbait I've been catching fish on for the last three weeks. A 4.8 Keitech on an Owner flashy swimmer. Couple casts later and I've got the first fish of the day. The stumpiest 2lb bass I've ever seen. About 10" long It looked like a big bluegill... big head, big shoulders, tiny tail! Tried to get a pic and he shook out of my hand and back into the water before I could. Around 11:30 I've got three, and my buddy is still working on a blank. The bite just isn't happening on Sandy on this day, it's time to make a switch... To Briery Creek! With a good breeze and a little chop we start grinding crankbaits through the underwater forest. After an hour with no bites (and I've washed about half a dozen different lures) I hook up on a decent 2lber on a rapala dt10. Not convinced, I switch to a 6 foot luckycraft and catch another about 20 minutes later. My buddy gets the drift and starts chucking a BIG chartreuse square bill (he's devoted to the big bite). Another hour or so goes by and he finally hooks up on a hungry 2.5lber. Maybe 20 minutes later my buddy yells for the net. He's hooked up on something big. His rod is bent like a bamboo twig and I can see the headshakes in the tip of the rod. Problem is... This is Briery, and this fish was 100 feet out from the boat. He gets it about halfway and hangs up in a tree. Snap, line flies, fish gone along with his crankbait. We come across a flat where I know I can drag the Keitech through some stumps. Couple casts and I bring in another 2lber. I know I've got a pattern of some sort now, and I tell my buddy where we need to go to catch more fish. We move along and three fish (for me) later he's tying on a Keitech :Lol: Around 4pm we pull around a point and I hook up with my biggest catch of the day (the pic). We'll call it a generous 4lbs. Nice solid fish in 6Fow not far from a dropoff. Still working the Keitech for all its worth another hour later I hook into another decent fish, and pretty quickly it gets pinned against a tree and shakes the hook. Catch a handful more in the 2-2.b range over the next couple hours and we start seeing clouds building on the horizon. BIG Thunderstorms north and south of us, and some seriously dark clouds heading towards us, but somehow we escape with not a single drop of rain. We haven't had a fish bite in about an hour either. We move back onto a flat where we caught the most fish we've pulled out of one spot all day. It's 7:30ish dragging the Keitech and it just goes mushy, then my line starts to pull back a bit. Set the hook straight up and BIG head shakes and pulling drag! The bite I've been waiting for since two weeks ago. Time for my revenge!!! Line stops, I can see where it's against a tree and a belly flash just under the surface. I feel one more head shake then the line goes slack, Solid 7-8lb bass jumps 3 feet out of the water 20 feet from the boat. Grrrrrrraaahhhhhh!!!!..... I at least got my lure back this time, but the frustration and sunburn are nearly killing me at this point. Par for the course I suppose, but d**n am I tired of losing big fish on a tree! This should have been a PB story, instead I'm switching my two heaviest rods to braid and so help me I am getting the next d**n one in the boat if it kills me! We finished out the day with a couple more fish. My buddy snagged probably the biggest of the day on a plopper right at dusk and I had another 2lber on the Keitech. I shouldn't complain, we put close to 20 in the boat for the day, which I'll cnonsider a d**n good day. Just need to figure out how to get that big girl to the boat. Until next time Buela...

A Bassmaster University video titled “Denny Brauer on flipping and pitching”, in it Denny answers viewer questions and one question was “what does a jig bite feel like?” Denny’s answer was “I don’t know but I know what it doesn’t feel like!”, he went on to say he felt 100% confident that not a single bass wrapped it’s lips around his lure and he didn’t take a shot at it. His next commit was “observers in my boat might think I’m a complete idiot because I set hook 20 times but only landed 5 bass so the other 15 times I didn’t have a clue want was going on and they may be right but one thing for sure the other 15 times were not bass. When in doubt, drop the rod, reel the slack, & set the hook!

I wrote a jig fishing article for In-Fisherman back in '95 titled Horizontal Jigging, the presentation technique of making a cast with a jig and retreiving along the bottom. In this article I discribe my hook setting technique as a "reel" set and rod sweep, the same as Hackney shows in his recent video. I bring this up because strike detection when casting a jig over 30 yards becomes difficult if you loose contact with the feel of the jig, you can't know what it's doing. Pressure strikes are really a nothing or rubber band resistant feel when a bass has engulfed the jig and not moving, this happens more often then we realize. When you fish the same weight jig on the same diameter line with similar types of trailers you will learn what that jig feels like as it moves along structure by feeling the line. Most bass anglers rely on feed back from the rod without realizing all feed back is generated by the line movement, changes in resistance or lack of resistance and line movements going through the rod guides are all detected using your finger tips. Controlling "controlled slack" requires keeping the rod tip down in lieu of up to shorten the distance and mount if line between the rod tip and water surface. Using the rod to move the jig is necessary to lift the jig over obstructions or shake it free on snags, otherwise I point the rod tip at the jig and move it using my reel. When I detect any changes in line tension it alerts me subconsciously something is happening and often I just make a few quick handle turns to increase line tension and sweep the rod back firmly when I suspect the tension is a bass. After years and years of experience all this happens very quickly without thinking about it and often results in hooking big bass you miss otherwise. Casting a jig the jig design become critical, you want the sharpest possible hook and a longer distance between the jig head and the hook point so when a bass engulfs the jig the hook point is back inside the mouth. The bass often crunches down on the jig and the sharp hook point makes contact with tissue, when you put more line pressure the point penetrates deeper so the bass can't easily spit it out, the reel moves more line faster to initiate hook penetratration and the rod sweep completes it. Tom

No comprendo "small swimbaits" Me gusta grandes...

I caught this one at one of our conservation area lakes. It hammered a green Freddy b. This lake is covered in Lilly pads, and has all sorts of aquatic vegetation. For me it's one of the best places in the world for frog fishing.

Mrs Mike went shopping and the house is quiet and it got me thinking. What gives you the most Peace where your mind goes blank and you just get lost? Some may say sitting in a boat at dawn and watching the fog lift... Or, Sitting on the bank of a mountain creek watching an Eagle... Me, laying on the couch with my grand baby laying high on my chest matching breath for breath, and feeling her heart beat on top of mine. Guarantee that for the rest of my life and I'll give you everything I own. Mike

When fishing jigs and plastics, most folks can sense that tap. If you're watching the line for bumps and walk offs, those should be fairly easy too with just a little practice. The ones that still get me after 25 years of fishing plastics are those pressure bites. You go to move the lure after a bit and there is some pressure. Is it wedged between rocks, a tree, or is it in Big Mama's mouth with her just sitting there. We are told to swing on anything and that might be good advice if you are fishing a empty flat, but around cover, especially rocks, there is almost always a little pressure as the jig comes up through the cover. I'd be setting the hook 2 or 3 times a cast if I swung on every little bit of pressure. Here's where this is coming from...I fished Saturday and the bite was off...and the ones I were getting were just the small pressure. I don't think I felt one good tap all day, maybe one, but for the most part they were barely taking it. So I decided that I was going to swing on everything and caught a few doing that but if somebody had watched me from a distance, they would've thought I had gone mad on how many times I was swinging. How do you guys handle this when the bite is off?

Slowly nodding off kicked back in the reclining love seat with my wife next to me. Youngest daughter on my lap and oldest daughter on my wife's lap with the dog in between. Just knowing at that moment my entire world is right there, and all the other stuff is just that... stuff.

I like the drawn out anticipation of picking my Senko up off the bottom and feeling "weight". A lot of years on the water goes into my decision on whether or not to pull the trigger. I amaze my fishing partner all the time by how I can tell the difference between a leaf, some grass or some wood on my Senko. I don't know how I can but I can. And it can be just a very small amount for me to be able to sense the weight difference.

There are some nice studies out there on this subject showing good correlation between light penetration and maximum growing depth of vegetation. While there will always be one-off examples and outliers, the studies generally show that submerged vegetation requires a minimum of 10% incident light for growth. Using Secchi Depth transparency, about 90% of the time the max depth of growth will be 3X water clarity, with around 60% of that falling within 2X water clarity.

Gotta show off the little grandson reeling in an Oscar at over 1 pound

All about the Top Water today! Some good fish. MegaBass Pop-X did most of the damage. A few came on spinnerbaits as well.

A family friend came to visit this weekend and asked me to take him fishing. We asked my son to come along and he did. While we were fishing my friend suggested we have a competition to see who can catch the most fish. My son is very competitive. Little did I know that was all it took to get him into fishing. We fished 2 days with my friend and 1 day together after he left. So far I am winning by 1 fish. I didn't have to use my excuse that I am the knot tie, snag and tangle person on all our trips. Luckily we are doing quantity over quality because he had the biggest catches.

So I have officially got my first true frog setup! Can’t wsit to go out and slay some hawgs .. or hopefully some hawgs ?.. heard nothing but good things about both, the IROD genesis 2 Fred’s magic stick and the REVO 4 SX.should have no problem hauling fish out

Hooksets are free.... I grew up fishing all moving baits, so I still don't consider myself an expert with bottom contact baits. I've been known to send quite a few jigs/t-rigs flying through the air during a day of fishing.

1988 called. It wants it's Bananarama CDs back.

I threw both during my tournament. The 1/10 Ned was just too light for the 20' I was fishing. I switched to a 3/8 out drop shot. I switched between a Jackall Cross tail shad and a super fluke. was able to put a small limit together on the drop shot. However I switched to a 3/8oz shakey head with a 6" Jackall Flick Shake and was able to land a 3 and a 3.5. I ended the day with a bag of 11# 2oz which got me 2nd on the Co-Angler side. I think if I would have switched to the shakey head earlier I could have won the co side but I switch late in the day. We were fishing an overcast cold front on deep rock piles and submerged vegetation.

If a "fisherman's knot" means a cinch knot, then yes.

I usually put my shiners under my bobbers ?

Ned rig time!?

I never use leaders. I don't think I've ever lost a crank/jerkbait to a pike or musky. Swimjigs on the other hand, I could lose 10 or more during a day of fishing depending on how aggressive the pike bite is. Why there's a difference? I have no idea.

If you plan on only fishing for bass (and you're not getting a ton of muskie interest) and you can live with the occasional bite off, you may not need wire. If there are more than 'a few' toothy dudes around and you want to increase your chances of landing a big Tiger should you hook one - then a 14 inch or so trace of wire can help with that. I'm routinely fishing Toothy critter central - so AFW Surflon Micro Supreme is a routine aspect of my terminal tackle Don't always get bit off when I don't use it but I never do when I do. A-Jay

The various pedal drives work differently in shallow water and weeds. Out of the bunch, Hobie’s Mirage Drive is probably the most versatile. But none of them beat a paddle. Sometimes, I miss my Pro Angler. That Hobie Compass is giving me expensive ideas.

Ive got my share of them myself. They gotta rattle sound of their own : )

Im waiting for my check to arrive from my new friend in nigeria and then I am going to order a few of these!

I was able to get back out fishing the Saginaw river last Friday the 22nd. Mainly I am in search for bass but, the mixed bag that the river provides is nice. Some where on the river system must have received a lot of rain. Because, the water was almost over the docks at lee st. I have only been fishing the river for the last 9 months and I have never seen the river that high. The day was overcast and a little windy while, the river was a seemed normal maybe a little murkier than normal. I didn't do all that well on the bass but, I was able to get 2 sheep head, 2 bass ( only one pic), a nice pike, and I lost what would have been a personal best walleye on a KVD Crank ( picture). I am guessing the walleye would have went 22 inches and if I had landed it would have kept it. He got behind the boat and I tried horsing him around the out board and I pulled the hook out. One sheep head, one bass, and the northern came on the KVD crank. The bigger sheap head I caught while pitching a yum black/blue/silver flake Christie critter to the underside of a bush. When I set the hook I thought I had a huge small mouth on. However, as he broke the surface I found out that was not the case. I also caught the 14 inch small mouth on the same color Christie Critter I want to get better bass fishing on lakes but, it is nice to have the Saginaw river only 30 minutes from my drive way.

Work it girl! ?

Yeah i'm still waiting for you to pay me for those casting lessons I gave you.

I've yet to meet an 8# fluoro the behaves on a spinning reel. Seaguar 7.2 Finesse is pretty good. So are Tatsu and Invisx in 6# size.

I know it's likely common in waters with a good population of catfish, but in the clear pits that I frequent, the presence of channel cats is extremely limited. In spite of that fact, this year alone I've hooked some big cats on cranks, spinners, buzzbaits, plastic worms and jigs. I think these fish grew up thinking they were bass and nobody ever told them otherwise. I had an 8lb. cat demolish my buzzbait around 1AM this morning that I thought was a lake record LM! Cats on bass lures, bass on muskie lures, crappie on bubble gum..................WHAT'S HAPPENING? Yes, this is what eight cups of coffee do to you.

Well saudi arabia won today....so as long as panama doesnt beat Tunisia 4-0 I should win my money back and have a few other bets that I can profit on.

Posted June 11 Now that this thread has run it's course, it might be a good time to mention the importance of level wind maintenance. The worm gear in the level wind is more exposed than the spool bearings and should be more frequently cleaned and lubed. It's exposed in the front of the reel where the line will bring water and lake gunk to deposit in the gear housing. Without taking anything apart on the reel the worm gear can be cleaned with a little soapy water and a child's nylon toothbrush. After thoroughly scrubbing the gear, I use a can of compressed air and blow out the housing. I let it dry for a bit and liberally lubricate the worm gear on both sides of the pawl running the pawl across the worm gear several times. Obviously, cleaning the level wind worm gear should be done as often as a build-up of gunk can be seen and that might be after every trip if the fishing conditions are very sloppy, but even if you fish really clean water it should be re-lubed more frequently than you'd realize as the water carried and deposited by the line in the housing will wash off the lube quickly. The result isn't apparent immediately, but a pawl will wear and need replacement much more quickly when not well lubed. oe A little more expanding Papa Joe's thoughts from a couple of weeks ago...

I don’t know the first thing about soccer but when I heard that the USA didn’t qualify, I decided to jump on the Uruguay bandwagon. They appear to be playing well so far!

Thank you both!!! I understand the getting addicted to Senko... Kind of like the Ned rig for me.... I've really been focusing on the more traditional rigs, but when nothing's biting AND I'm getting close to throwing in the towel, I pull out my Ned rigs and my spirits soar... except... I then feel like I'm cheating! LOL! At least I know they're there, so I focus on my presentations. I also appreciate the education I've been getting. Honestly, if my boat were ready to go, I'd probably be trolling, using my electronics and not learning a thing! Bank fishing has gotten me to slow down, take a look around, project topography and how it most likely transits to under the water's surface. Feeling my baits on the bottom (even if I'm loosing gear getting snagged on rocks and such, I'm still appreciating the education... In three months, I've gotten to the point where I can tell the difference between, bumping into rock, wood, a "bite" (and the difference between pan fish and bass bites and most recently, how to tell a "non-bite" That moment when there's un, self induced slack in my line. I've caught two that way and proud that I pulled my education out of my hat to think that slack line was a bite.... Pulled back as far as I could go and just kept reeling thinking the bass was swimming my way... it was! LOL! I know I'm doing well with all of this... I'm definitely harder on myself than should be and work 'real hard" to be grateful that I get to go out fishing mid week and that My version of getting skunked,, is a dozen or so small ones... LOL! Laughing at myself and slapping myself in the face to "wake up and realize how good I've got it.... My wife is great at that... she doesn't slap me, but she's my greatest fishing supporter... Funny when we go together and I pull out another "dink" and frown... She'll look at me, **** her head to the side and look slightly down, giving me the body language of: "really? You're going to tell me that's not a bass? Wanna go home instead? (That's a taunt to get me to see what I'm complaining about... she loves fishing!) I guess this was a little letting off steam.... Seeing that guys 5lb bass yesterday left me with that "Why can't I catch one of those" feeling... and we all know that once I do catch "one of those".... I'll be wanting a double digit bass! LOL! Thank you too for the list of alternative Senkos (See... I'm trainable! I "think" i spelled it right this time... LOL!) I've been looking at the groups of Stick-O baits and they're cheap enough for me to try a bunch out and see what I like... I've read a lot of good things about them. Again, many thanks guys... You've lifted my heart back up. So comforting to know I can come here with questions and met with positive reinforcement and great information! Finished cleaning up the studio, retooling the equipment and ready for the new projects coming in. Best Always, Richard Almost signed off... Another question? Any suggestions on what size? I've been using 7" trick worms (3" Ned) TRD, and was thinking about 4" stick baits, but now thinking I should move up to 6"? Thanks again! (And no, I'm not going to ask about colors... I've red TONS!!! Enough now that I feel pretty comfortable choosing between 3 - 4 colors to match my fishing conditions LOL! (but... (Totally laughing at myself here!!!! Wouldn't mind... The biggest thing I've learned and proven to myself switching colors is going from opaque colors to translucent (not white, just not solid colors), when the sun is high and water's clear (very clear). made a big difference within one hour... Actually the first cast of my color change. LOL!

Yes, I think others have it covered correctly who think that it is a misprint. The rod you have circled is a Medium Light; the other one just below it is a Medium. You can also judge the difference by noting the ratings for each and that the Medium has a higher lure weight top end, a larger line recommendation top end . . . and it weighs more which indicates that it has a generally thicker construct. My "guess" is what they actually mean is a ML with Moderate Fast Action. Brad

The Senko is super effective, it gets bit fishing Texas rigged, weightless Texas rigged, Carolina rigged, and wacky rigged as well as cut in half and used on a Ned rig. I feel for you as someone just getting into bass fishing, especially on your own, there is just so much available now that it is really easy to get overwhelmed and give up. I think you are doing it right, start with plastics, they catch fish in just about any situation and it will give you a good understanding of cover and structure and how the fish position themselves on those elements. One word about the Senko, it works so well that you may just stick with it for a long time, I've been at this seriously for more than 30 years and the Senko has been so good that I went 3 years without touching any other style of worm. Good luck in your fishing and never be afaid to ask a question, the guys here will give you all the help you need.

Well, I went to a local pond last night for an hour...couple of bites, one I almost landed without a hook in him. He bit the tail of my Trick Stick and finally let go. I was about to head back to the car when I made one cast with a swim jig and came really close to a shoreline weed mat, watched a big bass swim out and inhale my jig. This fish was healthy, strong and pretty. One fish, but a nice one. After the rod measurement, I got 20"...estimated 4+#.

Had a great day yesterday fishing a north west metro lake. We were flipping arrowheads in 4' of water. The water temp was 74 degrees and visibility was 1'

Been a minute since I hit the pond. Lipless crank and black/blue Dinger still getting it done.

Got on a frog bite at my favorite pad covered hydrilla pit in the woods. Stuck 4 on the black scum frog. All right around 12 inches (there’s gotta be some studs in there, I won’t give up on the spot!)

If it's been a while since my last bite (an hour) I'll usually grab the biggest stupidest lure in my boat and cast it for a bit. Sometimes it buys a bite, other times I just laugh at it and the other fishers in the area giving me a weird look as I throw a double cowgirl on a lake with no muskie.

i just enjoy the fact that i am able to be fishing at that moment, whether im catching or not. obviously we all would love to be catching fish on every outing, but it just doesnt work that way normally. i just take solace in the fact that i am able to fishing at the moment, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the nature around me. really its just mental therapy for me basically, i forget about everything going on around me in the real world for awhile, a temporary escape sort of, its just really refreshing for me...

I hope this pattern continues through the Sunday tournament