Leaderboard

What a week! You often hear tournament fishermen say "meant to be" or talk about when it is "your time". That all definitely applied to me during this year's championship. Tenkiller was fishing extremely tough, it has some incredible fish in it, but they are hard to catch this time of year. There is a TON of bait for them to eat, so they mainly just roam around, eating shad and suspending. This made for some very frustrating time on the water, but when you did connect with the right fish, things got very intense, very quickly! Practice started on a bad note, I made it halfway to Oklahoma without a key to the boat. Luckily, my dad already had the aluminum boat at his house, 30 minutes from Lake Tenkiller. By complete chance, the rock quarry company he works for in Virginia moved him out there to work for 3 months this summer. My dad was at our home in Virginia when I left, and wasn't flying back to Oklahoma until the evening of our first day of practice. He was able to bring the key for the Stratos, but we had to fish in the 17' tracker until then. To put it simply, we had to use the aluminum boat on day one of practice, but would have the big boat for days 2 and 3. We decided to run wayyyyy up in the river since we had the ability to take a boat where it maybe shouldn't be, because aluminum is a lot more forgiving than fiberglass. All we found up there was one laydown with a small group (5/6) bass living on it. We pretty much wrote that off as not being worth our time, being so far out of the way and because we were sure some of the other anglers would catch those fish during practice. Day two of practice was tough again, we spent our morning running and gunning points with a walking bait, but only found short fish. We spent the rest of our day graphing offshore structure. We fished both brushpiles and rockpiles, but all we found were short fish, aside from one keeper in 20FOW on a brush pile. Keepers at this event were 16", which made things even tougher. Day three of practice was also spent offshore fruitlessly searching for good fish with electronics. During the last two hours of practice, I decided to take the big boat up the river and idle in the channel between trees, so I would have a GPS track to follow during the tournament. We looked at the same tree we found on day one, and still saw a handful of nice fish, and because of how fruitless our practice was, we decided that we would definitely visit it on the first day of the event. Day one started off running a lot of water with a buzzbait, because that was how we caught one of two keepers in practice. Even though we covered hundreds of yards of bank, the one keeper I caught came 6' away from where I caught the other one in practice! After that, we ran up the river to "The Tree". I fished it from a distance with a wacky rig and shakey head, very thoroughly. Not a single bite so I decided to troll by and see if I saw any. I saw a 3+lb bass with one eye cruise alongside the tree, and drop out of sight. At this point we decided to back off and kill time for about 15 minutes. We then came back, positioning the boat a little differently this time. When the fish wolfpack on wood in the rivers I kayak fish, your only shot is a topwater from a long ways away, and you only get one shot, one good cast. I picked up my trusty super spook junior that has almost no paint left on it, and fired a long cast over the roots of the tree. I had walked the bait over the tree and was now 10-15' away from it, losing hope, when a shadow rose up from the depths. She followed it for 5 or 6 feet and then sucked it right under! And whaddaya know, it was ol' one eye! That was our last keeper bite of the day. We spent the last 4 hours of the day sitting on a deep spot, watching 3-4lb smallies gorge on shad, not able to get any to bite. On day two, we did not have high hopes. We started off running buzzbait water, and caught a couple shorts. I did finally bring in a keeper and we were stoked to not blank. After that, we ran up river to the tree. I caught another small keeper on a spook, making the same cast as the day before. We did see a very nice fish follow the hooked one to the boat, but we could not get it to eat. We then ran back down the lake to a deep spot, where we planned to sit for the remainder of the day again. I chose to throw a Berkley Dredger 25.5, the fish didn't eat a jig or worm the day before, so I figured my best shot would be getting them to react. About 10 minutes in, I bounced the bait off a brush pile and loaded up on a good one! It ended up being a 3.5lb largemouth, number 3 in the box for the day. That fish also had followers, both of them in the 3-4lb range, encouraging to see! I didn't get any more fish to eat the crankbait, but while I was working on that, I spotted a fish on the surface about 80 yards away. I could tell it was a big smallie and knew it wouldn't be up for long. But then I noticed it was chasing a pretty large fish, so I threw the trolling motor on high and picked up a walking bait. I saw fish do this to a trout at South Holston Lake last year and they stayed up for a very long time and I was able to catch one, so I was very excited about this fish once I saw what was going on. Once I was finally in range, I put my bait as close as I could to the big smallmouth. The fish swam away from the bluegill it was beating up, and got underneath my bait. It followed the bait for nearly 20 yards until it was getting close to the boat, and I began to worry. My partner and I both crouched, and it got so close that I didn't have any more line, so I just stopped the bait, and expected the fish to sink back into the depths. But then, WOOSH!!! Two seconds of fumbling and the fish was in the net, one of the coolest catches of my life! We headed to weigh in with 4 bass that ended up weighing 11lbs, 5oz. This moved us into the top 12 cut, and we headed into the final day in 9th place. During weigh-in, once we realized we made the cut, we quickly got a waypoint from our other team at the event. (We are allowed to share information with other competitors before the scales close, I checked with officials before doing so just to make sure). He had found some schooling fish, and had seen many big ones, including the 4-8 he weighed in that day. The spot was where a floating dock sat over a creek channel in 65FOW, and the bass would pin shad against the docks and boats. We started there on the final day, because we needed to make a big move in order to make the top 4 for the classic bracket. We pretty much went in blind to those fish, so when we got there, I spent some time observing and deciding how to approach it. My choice was to skip a swimbait in between the boats and docks, hoping to trigger some larger bites. A 6" magdraft was the weapon of choice. My third skip of the morning produced an 18" smallmouth, and I thought it was about to get wild. I did get two more good bites after that, but they didn't stay pegged. I caught a few short fish as well. I had pinpointed where the majority of the fish were sitting, and I was able to skip a 3" EZ Shiner in there and caught a 16.5" spot, which went in the box with his brown cousin. After that, we couldn't get them going again, and abandoned ship around 11:30am. We ran all the way back up the lake from the dam, to our deep spot. It was within an hour of the time I caught the deep crank fish the day before, so I lined up and started banging the bait through the brushpile just like I did previously. I connected with another solid largemouth, and it ended up being about 3lbs. We then chose to go fish the magic tree again while giving the deep spot time to rest. The sun was high now, so I knew the spook would probably not do the job up there, and I opted for the magdraft. I fired out "The Cast" and let the current sweep the bait right past the sweet spot on the tree, where the current has washed out the bottom underneath the root wad. And just like something from my dreams, a giant comes up from the depths and crushes the swimbait! I honestly thought it wasn't a bass because it was so big. After a brief battle, we netted the fish, and I guarantee everyone within a 2 mile radius heard me when that happened. We knew we had a good chance at making the bracket with that one, but knew one more keeper would put the nail in the coffin. And just like we needed, my partner stuck a 2.5/2.75lb largemouth on his first cast with a big worm once we got back to our deep spot. Our 15lb, 4oz limit jumped us from 9th to 3rd place, securing our spot inside the top 4. The next step is the Classic Bracket, where 8 of us will head to @Bluebasser86's neck of the woods, where one of our lives will be changed forever!

In a nutshell, the WP 75 size works great, for the most part! First of all, the 1st thing I hooked with the WP 75 was a pine tree, that I forgot was behind me. I had to stand on a bench to get my new lure un-treed. Got my lure back, made 3 casts and on the 3rd cast, started reeling and part way retrieving it...a huge blowup! I knew right away it was a big bass, but didn't see it. It pulled drag, I thought I didn't set my drag but I did. So glad for stout size 4 treble hooks that come stock on the WP 75. Those 2 trebles kept the bass pinned in till I was able to land it, even after a few jumps out of the water. No bent thin wire stock hooks! That's one thing I like about this new WP size. It's shorter, stubbier in length and it's almost guaranteed both treble hooks will be on the fish. That's what I saw when I landed the bass, both hooks were in its mouth and on the side of its mouth. No worries of just one treble on the fish and hoping it does not come off when the bass jumps out of the water or pulls harder. I can tell you that the WP 75 is just shy of 5/8 oz and casts far on baitcast gear. No problems making long casts, it casts better than the WP 90 at 1/2 oz. I did notice that if you reel fast, the 75 will start to barrel roll. This happened a few times. A medium retrieve works good, no rolling. I also noticed that at times if reeled fast, it will swim on its side. Even though it has a deeper belly than the other sized WP, this happens and not too happy about that. I will be adding a black barrel swivel and black split ring to my WP 75, so it won't twist my line. I hope doing this, the action of the lure is still the same. Also I hope it will not add too much weight on the front end that it will submarine. The WP 90 at times will submarine when you start reeling. I did not notice the 75 going underwater when I started to retrieve. The sound the tail makes, sounds similar to the bigger WP's but in a compact size, not as loud as a 130 size. I think the sound is close to the 110 size. I'm glad the sound stayed the same and not any different sounding. It's a good looking lure, the treble hooks mean business and has it has very good body detail compared to the other sized WP's. I don't know if the fish cares for those cosmetics on the lure, maybe color helps in certain situations. Attention to detail in cosmetics, is more for the fisherman. IMO, the WP 75 needs a few refinements so it won't swim on its side or barrel roll on faster retrieves. No aforementioned problems when reeled slow to medium, runs straight. Not sure what R2S can do to improve those problems or what other DIY ways besides adding a barrel swivel. Hope that helps you to decide if you want to pick up the Whooper Plopper 75. I'm a Whopper Plopper fan, I own a few 130's, 110's, 90's and now one 75 size in bone color. I may get a couple more of the 75 in loon and another color. I also own the big and smaller BPS Double Down, dual prop ones. BTW, the new Ozark Trail analog scale weighed the bass accurately. I did forget to measure the bass with its built in tape measure. I wanted to get the bass back in the water ASAP so not to stress the bass too much. I did put the bass in the water a few times before I took other pics and passers by wanting to look and take their own pics. The big bass swam off with no harm. Not bad for a SoCal park lake bass, being that big and hitting a topwater at 6pm. Thanks for reading my review.

Was able to get access to a new place to walk the bank at, so checked it out this weekend in-between passing rain showers. Got two short sessions in totaling just over 3.5 hours and managed to land over 60 bass. Caught everything on finesse worms and a spinning rod. I always enjoy fishing a new place for the first time, as each little lake is different, and it's always fun trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, both the fishing and the biology. This one was shallower than most, had an inside and outside weedline, and a bunch of cookie cutter bass between 1.5 and 2 pounds, likely all from the same year class suggesting a possible kill event several years back. Did get a few small guys so some natural reproduction, but not many. Only a couple hookups with bigger fish this go round, so more to explore there. Also has a few stray carp in it which is interesting. Likely dropped in via an emptied bait bucket. Doesn't appear like they are doing any damage at this point.

Took a solo trip to a new lake this morning, lots of smaller ones and managed to get a few decent size bass in super shallow water on a frog and pitching to pads/eelgrass. Lost a nice pike about 36” right at the boat, she just opened her yap and spit the spinnerbait out, then sat there like she was mocking me ?. Heres the best bass I got.

So I put the boat in in off of center street in Saginaw on the Tittabawassee River. The Day started off fast but, I missed 3 smallies right off the bat and the one was a nice one. Than it slowed way down but, I was able to pick up this 17 inch smallie on a pb&j jig with a green pumpkin paca chunk. I didn’t pour this jig but, rather I bought a bunch of unpainted arkie and football head jigs from a guy on the forum. I did powder coat it, add weed guard, and put the skirt on.

hit the water at first light in the little johnny this morning and didn’t get bit til around 7:30.....but what a bite it was! i hooked this 11 lb striper, on a 5” Zoom lizard, while fishing a deep brush pile. i thought it was a big cat at first but when i finally saw the tail, i knew it wasn’t a cat. she fought for a couple minutes, zipping drag repeatedly and then it was over. my Revo SX, spooled with 12 lb Seaguar InvizX, on a 7’ MH Berkley Shock met the task head on! i also boated this healthy 19”+ largemouth later. git r done.

Someone mentioned bassresource sponsoring a young gun! There's one ?

Its often turtles or Gators moving near the bottom which releases the bubbles. Ive seen big carp leave a trail too.

Nah bout 8 oz, I understand some anglers are incapable of lifting more than 5 or 6 ozs. Everything down here on the Gulf coast is brackish, routine maintenance & you will be fine. The #1 reel for Specks-n-Reds for the last dozen or more years has been the Citica.

Lol! At least yours was a bass! ?

Some fish, it just doesn't matter how you hold them - you just can't hide small

Here is the jig from the last post that I lost three smallies on including the big one. I painted, added weed, guard, and put the skirt on. The skirt is from fishingskirts.com

Just caught this chunk a few minutes ago!

Rode the wind all over the lake in the canoe today. Got kinda choppy out there (no crappie though) late afternoon so I ended up hiding in a few coves on my way to the far end of the lake. Was hoping for a swimbait bite today, and I guess I got one if a swim jig worked on structure counts. Caught my my first fish, maybe a pound or so, on a BD shad out in 8fow over some grass but couldn't keep in position well enough to really work the point thoroughly. After an hour and a half of drifting around to other grassy areas I decided the bass in the grass weren't in the mood to eat. Backup plan... Wood structure! Couple points on main lake that have deep submerged standing locust trees. I like to pull jigs and Texas rigged plastics through those and pick off some bass and usually get a handful from each spot even on a rough day. Caught a couple like that working a swim jig with Keitech trailer but they were all pounders. Moved into some coves to get away from the wind and started pickup up numbers and some bigger fish! Problem was all the big fish were super skinny! The photo is my longest of the day, I weighed and measured it just out of curiosity. Two and a quarter pounds! 2-1/4, 2.25. Yes, a 19" bass that's 2lbs... I caught 4 roughly that size. Overall I landed 19, with the exception of the first and one somewhere in the middle on a speed worm, nabbed all of them on the swim jig out of some kind of wood or brushy cover. I'll call that a good day! Best part was the wind pushed me to the fish, and at the end of the day it flipped directions and helped push me back to the ramp!

So much for beating the heat this morning. Got to the lake around 5:30am, it wasn't that hot at that time, but nothing was biting. Nothing biting all morning, then finally I caught a bream on a 4" wacky rigged green pumpkin Strike King Ocho...lol. It hit it like a bass, but by far wasn't one. So I changed out the 4" to a 6" green pumpkin Ocho and a bass hit it, I set the hook and had it coming in then it jumped and spit my bait. That was all the excitement for the day. It's just too dang hot out there 100°+! Maybe next time I'll do better. ?

3 Years into my bass fishing and I'm convinced the best rod and reel is the one in your hand at the moment. When I first got into this I made a post or two that in hind sight were a combo of blind enthusiasm and a bit of being overwhelmed at the options and number of manuf. in this sport. These probably made the experienced folks here take a deep breath and sigh and think geez use the search button guy. ha A few years later, some sweet second hand purchases, more ass chewing from the wife about purchases then I care to count, a couple broken rods, 7 and 9 year olds who go through tackle and gear like a candy bar and now I'm feeling like offering a simple piece of advice to others who might be new to this. Worry less about the gear and more about casting skills. Because my sons are young but can throw a baitcaster very well they have a few 30'ish dollar BPS rods with KastKing assassin reels. Wrinkle your nose but I can promise this much. With these cheapo combo's I'll out fish a guy with top shelf gear who hasn't taken the time to practice casting until accuracy is achieved along with the ability to skip baits into small spots. Another thing I keep running across is a lot of times you are never in a perfect position to do a easy front hand cast so being able to fish backhand, out of position and such has been a huge help. I swear I catch more fish when the boat gets pushed out of position by wind or current and I see something I want to target and instead of taking the time to preposition the boat I just fire a cast with confidence that I'll hit it. My primary fishing grounds is a river with strong current so this out of position stuff might not apply to some folks however I'm confident that casting skills would apply exactly the same on lakes. One more thought for the new folks that I just recently figured out. Find a person who is super experienced, buy them gas and food and spend all day on the back of their boat. It was mind blowing watching a local bass club ass kicker grind for 6 hours straight. I swear he got 3 casts to every one of mine and could hit a gap between tree branches the size of a freaking baseball from 35 feet away, almost every time all day long. Stop obsessing on which $100 dollar rod is the most sensitive and get out there and practice casting with the same intensity, your fishing experience will be far more rewarding! Just my opinion based on personal experience thus far.

Fluoro separates the men from the boys. You have to know how to cast, tie a knot, and control the spool. I've used Invisx from 6 to 20# sizes for well over a decade, and issues are minimal. My personal best smallmouth was caught on 6# Invisx. I just changed out that spool after five seasons. I've been testing the new Finesse fluoro, and I gotta say, it's pretty darn close to as good as Tatsu. I did not get any Gold Label leader to try. To me, it's a little pricey for leader. I've done fine with their Blue Label. It's leader material. Are you really worried about backlashing the first 6' or so? I mean, that just isn't going to happen.

I do some guiding and also make baits. I could probably make a living at guiding. I enjoy doing it and I can make more in 5 days guiding than I make in 2 weeks at my regular job, but it's not always dependable work and I have a wife and 2 kids so I just do it on my days off. The baits I really just make enough money to be able to make my own baits for free. I've won some money in tournaments but by the time you figure up all the money I spend on truck and boat payments/maintenance, gas, food, lodging, equipment, permits, ect, I'm not even close to breaking even there.

I don't change much other than how I position the boat. Wind is a way of life in the Midwest. It bothers us way more than it does the fish.

I don't fish for money, I don't fish to eat, I fish because I enjoy it, and I don't enjoy fighting big wind in an 18 foot bass boat, while standing on the deck. I will look for sheltered waters, I will fish with the wind from my back and drag a sea anchor to slow the drift, while throwing a spinnerbait, crankbait, or swimbait. I will never fight the wind by standing on the trolling motor all day, I hate it! I don't care what other do, I do what I enjoy or I don't do it! Its all about having fun and fighting wind is not fun.

Change your name and your'e thirty bucks ahead.

Just to bring some closure, I picked up the 7' MHF Abu Garcia Vendetta today to go with the Fuego CT. Got it for $54 at DSG. Came down to that and the Lew's Carbon fire. Really liked the Winn grip on the Lew's but the reel seat lock nut felt really loose, much preferred the lock nut on the Vendetta. Sweet looking combo too! Thanks for the help everyone. Now to get her on the water!

Good topwater bite on the Pop-X this morning, and by midday, they were hitting spinner baits pretty well. Biggest fish came on a jig and Paca Craw trailer though.

The early bite has not let up....5 like this, all in 6 feet with Temps in the mid 70's

Had to catch another one to practice my smile, as recommended by @A-Jay. So I did. Problem is, I kinda forgot to smile. Also forgot my scale, which is not unusual. Length citation anyway at 23".

Mid season additions...

Nice Bass and Congrats on the new rig. btw - I think I might have seen the early stages of a smile right there. Maybe not but it was pretty close. Keep working at it - you'll get it. A-Jay

Team WVU and everythingthat swims is in 3rd place at the College bassmaster championship and will now be participating in the fish off today! Wish him luck today guys!

Water and vinegar worked great had to scrub like crazy though! Crazy cuz this is what I use every trip to wipe down boat. Didnt think it would work on that super calcified stuff. Thanks again!!

Well I ended up buying the Dobyns Sierra Series 6’9 M/F. I tried the st croix premier and the mojo bass. But the Dobyns and my supreme xt just felt so good together. It was above my price point but it just felt good in my hand. Thanks for all the help, I can’t wait to try the new rig out this evening.

the Top 4 head to the 2018 Carhartt College Bracket presented by Bass Pro Shops, set for Aug. 14-16 on Milford Lake out of Junction City, Kan. He's got a few weeks to get in some google earth study before he wins it

Humble beginnings Abu Garcia Vengeance 6'9" MHF / Abu Ultra Max 6.4:1 My son's Lew's American Hero Spinning combo Abu Garcia Vendetta 7' MHF / Daiwa Fuego CT 8.1:1

Congrats on a great finish. Your tournament summaries are the best. I hope you log them all. Wishing you the best with the next step.

Nah, about 10ozs. A reel from when men were men and didn't need a reel lighter than a feather and small enough to be palmed by a small child. My old, heavy, outdated, and oversized Shimanos are about the only ones I've kept over the years. Still have several 200B series Curados in the rotation, believe they come in at a whopping 9.7oz, the fish don't seem to mind though ?

Wind is a pain to fish in, especially on big bodies of water. But it can be very helpful in determining fish location, especially shallow fish. It gets the food chain moving and active and that includes bass. If you can maintain boat control, working a windblown shoreline having deep water access with spinnerbaits is always my first choice. Then, a medium diving crank followed by a Texas rigged worm (heavier than normal weight). Those three baits cover the water column down to 8ft.-10ft. That's the easy way to look for active fish. If that approach doesn't work, you'll need to move out to the first deep structure and change tactics. Start with a deep presentation like a deeper running crank or a 1oz. football jig and parallel cast the structure. A C-rig will present your soft plastic offering up off the bottom. Unless you are proficient at fishing deep, I'd concentrate there and the windblown side of slow tapering points. With points, the opposite approach can work at times, but casting into the wind along with boat control is a lot of work. Topwater, for me. is limited to buzzbaits and I prefer twin blades for the added turbulence. The problem is they don't cast well unless the wind is at your back.

Can't go wrong with natural colors like PB&J, Brown, or plain black. I'd personally get some of the tube jig hooks, but you can use the 3/0 worm hooks to texas rig it with a bullet weight. I just thought of another one for you to consider - a grubtail jig will catch just about everything that swims. They're dirt cheap at WalMart too! Same colors I recommended earlier. Black seems to be the best producer for me.

Big bass from our Thursday night deal at Douglas state fishing lake last week. 2.55lbs on a gilly big head wobbler. The wobbler bite was pretty good around the grass where there was a little wind. Plenty of dinks to keep things interesting too.

I'm not seeing anything on Bassmaster about any fishing today. The team tournament ended yesterday with them finishing 3rd. All that's on Bassmaster is the team tournament results.

I think he's asking what style of weight, not weight. I prefer worm style tungsten weight for everything if possible. Narrow and comes through a little better. Punching I use reins punching weights.

30th anniversary of Shark Week on Discovery Channel. Enjoy!

My 2 year old daughter eats pretty much everything. Now she does have things that she wants at certain times but for the most part she is pretty good. My 8 year old son used to eat everything but has gotten pickier over the years but part of that is because my wife likes to cater to him and i said from the beginning we shouldn't do that because if he gets hungry enough, he will eat. He is learning though and funny thing is he likes to watch the cooking shows and says he wants to cook stuff but never wants to try any of the food so that goes out the window. Luckily he will eat pretty much any vegetable out there so i can't complain too much.

I have a 5 year old grandson Dylan. His favorite thing to do is run. Everything has to be about a race, and who will win. He played t ball this summer, and of course he could care less if he got a hit, or fielded a ball, but give him a chance to run the bases, and he's in heaven. He'll burn around the bases 3 times if he's allowed too. His favorite food- spaghetti. I don't think he ever gets tired of it. He's a great kid

Get some tubes!

Just wait - it gets even better. Pre-teen is a 'fun time'. And mid- to late teen starts the 'one word answers'. Hey son, Where you going ? - Out. Hey son - How was school ? - Fine. Along with that and the term "I don't Know" (which after a while my son knew not to say to me) - the one word communication will start all kinds parental goodness . . . . Enjoy . . . A-Jay

99% of the fish I catch are SM and if you cast a country mile and hook them on the fall, your in for a treat. A day of catching 3 pounders can exhaust you. This year we have caught a few more LM than normal, and while it is fun to get a larger fish, you can usually tell immediately that it isn't a SM.........it's a totally different fight. The only fish in my lake that fights harder is large pickerel........and they are becoming more abundant

Mama and babies out for an evening stroll. Mama didn't like it when I stopped the car for my wife to take pictures, she charged right at at us, bouncing babies in tow the whole way. Watched their periscope tails swaying throw the grass after she decided she'd ran us off far enough. I hope they're eating their body weight in bugs each day.

I use a very small hook, #8 Gamakatsu Octopus hook, on 6 or 8lb fluorocarbon leader, to a slip sinker rig like you're catfishing, with a 10-20 pound braid main line. Thread about 3 pieces of corn on the hook, toss out a few handfuls of corn (if legal), around where your bait is. Nightcrawlers are good bait too, so are doughballs but if you don't have time to make a hair rig you don't have time to make any doughballs either. Bread can be good but there's nothing you can use for carp that a bullhead isn't going to try to eat.

Daiwa HLC, Daiwa Morethan, Daiwa Battler, IS Red Galaxy, IS UC, Certate 3500HD, JDM Exist 2510

Got myself a $300+ combo for less than $200. Brand new.

Only had time for a couple hours this evening but the top water bite was on. Got to say that the Impulse Zell Rowland Rod is awesome. The fish in the pic was 21 inches ( couldn’t zero the scale )