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As a lot of you know, my oldest son Lake has shown an interest in fishing and been going on little trips with me since he was 2 and went on his first day long trip with me this year. I taught him how to cast by himself and he's been practicing and gotten pretty good at it (the casting part anyways, where it lands is often a mystery), so I knew it was fast approaching that he was going to get his first unassisted fish catch. Monday turned out to be that day. I haven't been able to take him because of the heat and the one day it wasn't hot, it rained. Monday was supposed to make it to 90, but that's almost chilly compared to what we have had so we decided to go for awhile and if he got too hot we'd just leave. I took him to the little private lake I bought a lot on a couple years ago, which means we were in the johnboat since it cost 6 times more to register my Stratos for out there and it's only 100 acres. I think we only made it about 3 or 4 docks when Lake made a perfect cast next to some water willows with his wacky rig when it happened. It wasn't his biggest catch by a long shot, but he was sure proud of it and he managed to catch about a half dozen on his own throughout the day, all without any assistance from me.

Nice way to start the 4th. She Crushed a watermelon red super fluke.

Wicked storm front moving in...

Exactly! ? If I aint getting bit on a worm I'll throw a jig, if I aint getting bit on a jig I'll throw a worm!

I spend about 45% of my time on jigs, 45% on plastics, and the other 10% I'm looking down at my jig/plastics rods wondering if I should pick one up.

This picture from our 4th of July/Birthday party for my Father in Law in a pretty clear picture of why women live longer than men.

A-Jay

I usually rig up the night before. Sometimes I'll be caught off guard by dirty/clear water, high/low water, or different conditions than what was forecast that will cause me to make some adjustments, but being able to make adjustments is part of being an effective fisherman.

In my former life, to relax and find piece, it had to be adrenaline driven. Now, piece is watching my grandson sleep. Sitting in a rocking chair and enjoying a great bourbon and cigar....Watching a fire with all the above..

Caught a few walking the banks. This one was the only non-dink.

happy 4th to every one , enjoy your families, we do live in a great country, I am very thankful.

My 1st introduction to soft plastic worms was in 1955 at lake Shasta in Northern California on a family vacation. Old man, about 1/2 my age today, gave me a Creame worm with rigged with 2 hooks on a short leader harness with a few beads and a small propeller. The man showed me how to clip on a Dipsey sinker and told me to go across the bay to those rocks and drag the worm on the bottom. It was magic. The sliding bullet weight Texas rig became popular in the mid 60's and Creame Scondrel worms, then Flip Tails followed by Mann's Jelly worms, DeLong, Flutter Craft were Texas rigged or split shot rigged until the mid 70's when the Carolina rig became popular, followed by the nail rigs. Darter head jigs with Flutter curl tail or Mr Twister worms were also very popular in the mid 70's to mid 80's along with Smitty's hand pours. Drop shot and slip shot rigs in the 90's along with wacky rigs, brass n glass, doddling, shaking etc. I fish them all frequently. Custom hand pours, injection molded, Senko's, straight tails, trick worms, ribbon tails, curl tails, gator tails, dragon tails etc, etc, so many worms so little time.b Fishing soft plastic worms and creatures can keep anyone busy for a lifetime, then there are jigs.... Tom

I am new to bass fishing and I have not been successful to date. But, today was my day. I caught my first bass. And it was the big one. I know, I know, the first one always seems bigger than it was, but I weighed it and it was 7 lb and my daughters were with me to verify it. It was heavy enough that when I lifted my life to pick him out of the water, the weight of the fish caused the line to cut into my skin. Unfortunately, I had to cut the day short. 95 degrees with 70-80% humidity and no wind will wear you quickly. I got to say that catching your first bass is just like having sex for the first time. It seems like it took forever to happen, was over too quickly and leaves you wanting more. And you also will never forget the first time. And to top it all off, my noisy, stomping, partying, squeaky mattress neighbors above me moved....it was a good weekend.

I only carry 5 setups even when tournament fishing! 2 ea Texas Rigs Weightless to 3/8 oz 1/2 oz to 1.25 oz 2 ea Jig-n-Craw 1/4 oz to 1/2 oz 3/4 oz to 1.25 oz 1 ea for either topwater, spinnerbaits, traps, or crankbaits. That works on every body of water I fish ?

I ain't as good as I once was, But I'm as good once, as I ever was! If at all possible I try to pick & choose my days or nights. Gone are the marathon days of 16-18 hrs on the water. Bide your time & don't try to force it ?

I will Never, Ever give up my plastics. Oh sure I'll change up if I have too, but overall for size and/or numbers, worms and craws in all kinds of water anywhere there is water is my go to and can't see that changing. Mike

Brew, you hit on the $64,000 Question. Wish I had the answer. It boils down to confidence. Confidence in your knowledge of the body of water, water conditions, weather, forage, the types of techniques you have faith, the rods and reels spooled with the line that you think will work best and the baits you think will be successful. 100% confidence along with gut feelings. Your question is the reason we keep 500 pounds of plastics and 1,000 hard baits on our boats or we drag around 50 pounds of plastics and 200 hard baits as we bank fish. The less confidence we have in what we decide to set up and the baits/techniques to use means more unnecessary plastics and hard baits we will take with us. So yes, usually have everything set up for the first cast the day before we venture out, with the understanding that if it does not produce strikes you have to be flexible enough to make a change. I usually start out with a white buzzbait followed with a Monkey Butt Whopper Plopper and then it is open season for my RICO's and Sammy's. Depends totally on my confidence in these baits. Sometimes I make the right call; other times I don't. I then go to my drop shots, Senkos/stick baits, shaky heads, baby brush hogs, lizards, spinnerbaits, jigs, swim jigs, crankbaits and creature baits. I am on the hunt for 1) where are the bass and 2) what are they feasting on at that moment to try to create a pattern. So it is important for you to do your homework on the body of water you will be fishing, the weater conditions, water clarity and wind direction to set up your rods and reels and baits to match your confidence level. And remember, be ready to make changes on the run. Once you find the pattern it is guns a blazing and lots of fun. Have fun and be safe. P.S. Keep a log on your adventures so you can refer back to it when you fish the same body of water I the future.

THAT ~ Is Cool. Don't you wish it would last all day ? A-Jay

I don’t, I go somewhere else!

Reading about other people's 70-fish days, I just can't even imagine... you all are catching monsters. Took about 8 hours in grueling heat on the home lake to land six fish. Best of which is here, a largemouth on a Texas rigged 5-in black/blue-flake worm fishing a dropoff at a tiny island. Worth it? Totally!

I just got him out of the water here. My daughter took the picture so it is not a great shot.

In celebration of the 4th of July, we are launching a 10% off everything sale. Use promo code FREEDOM to redeem. Sale runs until July 7 2018. Also, if you purchase 4 bags of soft plastics or more of any mix Strike King, Rage, Keitech, Mega Strike, Moaner, Owner, Zman during the sale I will refund the shipping cost.

I went night fishing yesterday to get away from the this heat . I havent been fishing since April . Made it to the lake at 6:30 to get a couple of hours of day-time fishing in . I find the thermocline at 18 foot and a lot of fish between 10 and 14 foot . I head off to a nearby point and dont see many fish on it but do see a lot suspended off the sides 10 to 14 foot in 25 foot of water . I toss a buoy and fish top of the point and only catch one dink . I start casting the Berkely Dredger 14.5 out past the suspended fish and start hooking up . I spent an hour there and caught about a dozen with several 15 to 16 inches , nothing big . I tried a Red Eye shad but was just guessing if it was in the strike zone . I knew the Dredger would hit 14 foot and stay there for a while , no guess work. I like those Dredgers . Before dark I head shallow with a buzzbait and continue to throw it until one in the morning . The bass [no hawgs] hit all night long , especially along the rip rap dam . Also caught a half dozen along the dam with a Storm Rattlin Thin Fin .

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

Money, 50% of the entry goes to the person with the longest overall stringer, 50% of the entry goes to the person with the most species. I'm trying to win 100% of the payout though

Early morning fishing. As far as the grandkid is concerned. When he's around, I forget about everyone else in the room. A different kind of peace.

I am exactly opposite. Out of all the bass techniques, I like jig fishing the least. All I catch with jigs is a clump of weeds each cast. Still tear em up with worms, and any soft plastics for that matter. If it ain't broke , why fix it ? I do believe if you fish the same thing too much in the same water, the fish will get used to it, and your catch rate will decrease.

All I know is that I am going to Wally World to buy a really, really, great.....best in the world, 1 billion candle-power QRSTU Beam spot light, to ensure satellites can see me from Mars.....

@Arcs&sparks chill out! I was fishing for @Sam but he wasn't biting & you aint fun!

Some days they just aren't eating it. Last time I was fishing one a couple weeks ago I probably had 20 boils, hooked 1 of them. I was able to catch about half the misses on an Ocho throwing it back at the boils though.

So are you catching fish on a jig and not on a worm or just not fishing a worm anymore?

Since I fish the same lake every week, I know it pretty well and what tends to work seasonally. I have 8 rods on board, all rigged the night before. A couple are year round confidence baits for this lake (a Ned rig & a dock skipping bait), 4 or 5 are ones rigged based on the time of year and weather report for the next day and 1 or 2 are something I want to try (either new or something I haven't used much or been successful with in the past). Maybe 1 trip out of 5 I will need to re-rig one or two of the rods with something I didn't choose the night before.

Boy do I wish I'd caught my monster longnose gar from my kayak last week! I didn't add near what that fish would have yesterday, but I did get a little over 2.5 more feet to my total with 2 new species and an upgrade. Common Carp 23.25" Green Sunfish 7" Largemouth Bass 19"

They eat hair jigs too, but it's a hair jig that is about 10x bigger and 10x heavier!

Like A-Jay did, my youngest son is making a career in the Coast Guard. Been in for over nine years now. My oldest son, his wife and my two grandchildren live here in Knoxville. I am at my happiest, at peace, when both of my boy's, both daughters in law and grandchildren are all here in the house together. Doesn't happen much, but when it does it's loud, it's crazy, it's funny around here. I just sit back and soak it in!

Yes & Yes A-Jay

Forgot to mention earlier that I am one of the few South Florida fishermen in this forum that enjoys fishing for catfish and I have caught well over 10 species of catfish in my travels. Most tend to look down on catfish but I don't since I have a open mind and acknowledge that catfish can present just as much a challenge than a bass can. Many trips I have been humbled by catfish and I have caught a couple double digit bass on public waters.There's always some one looking down on what you fish for such as bass fishermen looking down on catfishing, saltwater fishermen looking down on bass fishermen, rod and reel fishermen looking down on spearfishermen, fly fishermen looking down on just about all types of fishing,etc. I learned long ago to ignore these types of elitist fishermen, not take them fishing with me, and instead enjoy fishing for whatever species of fish I want, whether its for tiny mosquito fish or for sharks bigger than myself that can give me a decent workout while reeling the shark in.

Quite a few UL guys have spinning rods custom made out of fly rod blanks.

Thanks for sharing your story as far as chord progressions go they take time just practice, practice it will come,start off with easy chord progression,like the classic G,C,D its in just about every rock song ever made lol My girl been with her long time

Pick one ~ A-Jay

There's UL rods, and then there's UL rods. Not all are equal. I would add a casting bubble or as A&S said, a small bit of split shot. Just depends where you want the lure to run. Bubble for high in the column, split shot for lower.

I'm a fat man in a 21 foot glass boat with no easy way back in if I decide to exit. Besides, I fish the Potomac and that's the last body of water you'd EVER catch me in!!

Wife went to Scotland with a couple friends for ten days, it’s only been two days so far, and this guy really misses his mom ☹️.

Caught my first fish on a big swimbait a couple days ago!

Only a 3 pounder but it was the first cast of the day on the first time throwing the Rico popper. A fun bait to throw....

My buddy came into town for a weekend of fishing and we got some nice ones!

20” this morning breakin in new gear

A-Jay