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Yesterday evening was breezy and heavily overcast. Went to my private lake in Virginia and got an 8 pound 3 oz. bass and then 15 minutes later, an 8 pound 13 oz bass on the frog!!! Also landed a 3 pounder on frog.

Got 7 this evening , all on 5 inch senkos. Stayed up at my end of the lake again and fished eel grass pockets. Had a couple on that felt bigger, but gave me the slip. I did get this one anyway. Tried the frog again awhile, and nothing again. Frog bite has been almost non existent for me this summer. Im not sure whats up with this weather but its been a very rainy but relatively cool summer . The fish have never slowed down this summer. It felt almost like the early fall out there this evening.

Got out for a couple hours to a new lake, to me anyways, Ivan Lake in Cotton Valley, La. It has lots of potential plus lots of bank and 5 fishing piers to fish from. Wasn't there long enough to really figure anything out as it was too hot. Didn't catch any bass. Did catch another bowfin. No pic of it because it shook my bait as I got it on the bank and disappointed it wasn't a bass just pushed it back in the water with my foot. It was a cool catch though. It slammed my 110 Whopper Plopper. Sounded almost like a whip cracked when it hit. It was a pretty good sized one too. Almost as big as that 6lb 11oz one I posted earlier this year. After being back home for a while I was checking the line on the rod I caught it with for any nicks or abrasions and happened to notice the teeth marks it left behind. Some serious grooves in my 110. Glad I didn't have to deal with unhooking it! ?

caught 16 spots and 2 largemouths in the little johnny this morning from 6:30 til 10:30. this 20” porker hit a Zoom lizard in 12 fow. dadburnit it’s hot!

Trim up in small increments until you get the feel of it. The faster the boat will run the lighter it will feel. You should feel the bow start lifting and the spray out the sides start moving back. The spray should get back behind the drivers seat if you are getting good lift and the boat will feel like its just skipping along on light chop. As you trim out watch the speed and tach and pay attention to the sound of the motor and feel of the steering wheel. If you get an increase in rpm and not in speed, you over trimmed. If the motor changes sound, usually a hallow sound, you are probably over trimmed and getting cavitation. If steering feels less sensitive, it's probably over trimmed. It's a by the seat of your pants learning experience based largely on your boats setup. Engine height and type prop and set-back make a huge difference in how you trim your motor

Went out fishing yesterday and it was dire. The river Thames was 76f, which I certainly don't ever remember seeing before. Predictably the fish have pretty much shut down and even the tiny perch were proving hard to tempt with the smallest of crappie jigs. So I went exploring. Proper swallows and amazons stuff up a little backwater. Motor trimmed up and front troller held to the surface on the cord. Amazed how far I got, the boat must only draft about 4"! Anyway, got to a gravel flat that I couldn't pass and got out for a splash around. The dogs loved it charging about in ankle deep water. I doubt many boats had ever been up there, a few kayaks probably, but I had it to myself only about 12 miles from the center of London! The heatwave is predicted to end in the next week or so, so better make the best of it. The last summer like this was 1976. We don't get many great summers! ?

A-Rig bass! Caught three in about 20 minutes, this one was my biggest of the day. 3.5ish The day started out a bit slow but we found a spot where bass were crashing shad and spent a few hours floating around there picking off a few bass. If we could throw a jerkbait into the school when they were breaking the surface it was almost guaranteed to catch a fish. I caught a few on crankbaits and rattle traps as well. But they were keyed in on small shad and didn't want anything if it was bigger than the shad they were chasing.

Seldom do I catch 4 in a row over 3 lbs, must be good karma The 4th jumped ship before I could get his mug shot

This sounds very similar to the water we fished this weekend. The main lake bite has been slow, so we headed up in the headwaters and found a little pattern pitching jigs in very shallow laydowns and log jams. No real size to speak of but was able to catch a few in this range. I think next week, we are going back with kayaks and see how far we can really go.

He won fish of the day! Sad, really sad...

After 20 years of marriage, a man named Jack left his wife for his young secretary. His new girlfriend desperately wanted to live in the million-dollar mansion that Jack and his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Edith, shared while they were together. Jack, eager to please his girlfriend, made sure it happened. With better and more ruthless lawyers, Jack won legal rights to the mansion. His young secretary rejoiced. As for Edith? Jack gave her just three days to pack her things and leave the house. Brutal. Defeated, Edith complied with her ex-husband’s unfair demand. What choice did she have? On the first day of her final three days in the mansion, she packed her bags and boxes, mulling over just how much she would miss her longtime home. On the second day, the moving company picked up her boxes and transported them to her new apartment across town. All the while, she wrestled with her feelings of anger and betrayal. She had to do something. But what? By the third day, she had a plan for revenge. It started with one last meal in the dining room. There, she treated herself to a small feast: a plate of shrimp with caviar and a bottle of Champagne. Edith then enacted the final part of her plan and left the house… A short time later, Jack returned with his new flame. For a couple of days, the two lived in the paradise of a few-thousand-square-foot mansion. But then the house began to smell… Why the heck does this house stink? Jack wondered. With no answers, he searched for solutions. He and his girlfriend tried everything to get rid of the smell—cleaning, wiping, and vacuuming. Still, the odor grew worse. Jack checked the air conditioning, thinking there may have been a dead mouse inside. He called for exterminators to drop a chemically induced death sentence on any possible vermin. Nothing worked. As days passed, the smell became torture. Friends stopped visiting. Even handymen refused to work in the house, and the maid quit. Finally, driven to the edge of insanity, Jack reached a solution. He was a rich guy, right? He’d just buy a new house where he and his young secretary could live odor-free. However, the smell was like a curse: rumors of the “stinkhouse” spread throughout the area. No one wanted to buy the home. Desperate, Jack lowered the list price for his house. Then he lowered it again. And again. Eventually, not even realtors wanted anything to do with it. So Jack took a different route… Jack took out a loan to buy a new house. Then one day his ex-wife called him and asked him how he was doing. He proceeded to complain about his ordeal with the home. She patiently listened to his story. When he finished speaking, Edith told him how she missed living there and would be ready to lower his alimony payments if he would give her the house back. Jack hungrily licked his lips at the offer. She had no idea how bad it smelled! Finally offered an out, Jack agreed to let Edith take the house—under one condition. She had to sign the agreement, sight unseen, on the same day. Edith agreed and met up with Jack to sign the contract. She wore a wicked ear-to-ear smile—for a good reason. See, Edith knew why the house smelled so bad. The odor was all her doing. On her last night in the house, right after her final meal of shrimp, caviar, and Champagne, she didn’t exactly exhibit the best table manners… She’d dipped her leftover shrimp in the caviar and stuffed the remains into all of the home’s hollowed-out curtain rods. For good measure, she sewed a few of the shells into the hem of the curtains, too. A week later, Jack and his lover stood smiling and full of relief in front of their former house, watching the moving company transport their belongings away. Finally—finally!—they’d escaped that horrid stench. Even better? It would be Edith’s problem, now… Edith, however, never even caught a whiff of the odor that’d pressured Jack into giving away his multi-million dollar home. Because when the movers packed up all of Jack’s stuff, they took the curtain rods with them! Talk about an effective way to get back at a cheating ex. While the story of Jack and Edith may be a work of fiction, there’s no doubt that need for revenge, justice, and free real estate lives within all of us. Looks like his ex-wife got the last laugh on that one with a little bit of shrimp revenge! A-Jay

I used to pour concrete and the superintendent would drive up to the site, hit his horn and call you over to his vehicle. As you talked to him through a barely cracked window, you could feel the coldness of the air conditioning pouring out. One day he showed up to the job and there was an issue with the paving machine, so he had to get out. Somebody took a roadkill(dead raccoon), put it in a walmart bag and dropped it behind the bench seat. About 2 weeks later, he had a new company truck. He started locking his doors if he had to get out on the job.

I too enjoy getting up the creeks in search of those less pressured fish.

How you jerk the rod determines how the bait moves in the water. Rod tip up=fluke darting up. Rod tip down=fluke darting forward, to the side=forward and slightly up. Sometimes just changing the rod angle will get you bit. Kind of like changing the retrieve speed of some faster moving baits.

2,000,001

Got here early and got a good seat for this one...

Sunrise over Georgian Bay this morning. One of my smallies spit up about 10 of these guys when I was reeling him in, I’d say I’m “matching the hatch” fairly well.

Not that I understand one word of what you wrote, but I think you explained why rod balance doesn’t mean anything to me. ?

Go with a medium heavy 7-foot rod, be it baitcaster or spinning rig. Use 8-pound test fluorocarbon or braid line. Use an extra wide gap hook of your choice, be it a 2/0 or 3/0. Use white, silver or pink flukes to find out what color they want for starters. Lots of colors to select to try to match the bait fish. Do not use the super flukes. Go with the regular flukes. Cast. Let sit. Twitch bait with rod tip. Let fluke sink to bottom. Repeat back to you. You can raise your rod tip from six-inches to the "noon" (over your head) position and any in-between. Flukes can be great or a waste of time. But you do need to throw them to find out if that is the bait the bass want. And do not discount those pink flukes. For some unknown reason, on some bodies of water (like the Mattaponi River in Virginia) pink is a great color for flukes and trick worms. Go figure.

Id like to go fish some wild , remote lake up north and camp out for a week or two and get some smallmouths., since Ive never caught one . I think Id be content with largemouths just to get back to Rodman 0again someday. Its only about 60 miles away, but it might as well be 6,000 with my lack of time and extra $ to go.?

The ones that seem to bother me the most lately are those wake surfing boats. They create MASSIVE wakes and the waves are not only coming over my transom, but they are seriously damaging the shoreline with erosion. Its only a matter of time before the DNR has to step in on this one. As for the rest of the recreational riff raff, the best thing you can do is just avoid them. I used to get worked up over these idiotic pontoons, jet skis, skiers, tubers, etc but its pretty obvious when most of them are going to be out: bright, sunny, and warm. So that's when I don't go. If rain is in the forecast, that's when I try to go. Plus rain means low pressure and that often means better fishing anyways. What I can't quite understand is when I see these guys barreling through an area that is clearly marked with shallow water. One of these days they're gonna rip off a prop or lower unit and I'll be there watching (and laughing).

August, and the bluegill in two ponds nearby are still making beds

I fish a bunch of Quantum Rods & Reels and have been for a really long time. They are just terrible, I mean they could not possibly be any worse. Nuts & bolts falling off all over the place. Springs popping out left & right. Rod Guides melting in the sun. Backlashes Every Single Cast. Foam Grips Bursting into flames. It's a mess ! And yet, I still manage to catch a few. A-Jay

you can buy a digital scale(luggage scale) on ebay or amazon for around $10 and theyre very accurate. be prepared for a hard dose of reality when that monster you would of sworn to be 5 lbs turns out to be 3.8 lbs.

I disagree. Being courteous to other boaters & water users is not a superiority complex, it is manners. Expecting others to know etiquette and show manners themselves is the underpinning of a civil society. Also, there are anglers who are just as discourteous to other anglers as well as pleasure boaters. Those folks have no complex, they are just selfish. You are correct about this, albeit this was not the situation with the OP. Part of etiquette for all boaters, including fishermen, is to not clog up areas that are used for high speed navigation. There is a kayaker (non fisherman) on my lake who will paddle his kayak between me & docks that I am fishing even when I am skipping docks. In those situations, there is nearly no room for him to squeeze past, yet he does so, even having bumped my boat in the past. He is a cranky old man & in his mind, he is going to paddle right next to the line of docks in every cove and if that affects anyone else (fishermen, docksitters, etc), that is their problem, not his.

Back at it this fine morning

God Grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change The courage to change the things I can The wisdom to know the difference You will never ever be able to change the behaviors of other folks. You can, however, take steps to make improvements in your situation. My home water is the busiest freshwater inland waterway per acre, in the United States. I have a 20' boat with a 225hp on the back. During the summer, I fish from 5am until 11am, just about the time the pleasure boaters erupt from their cocoons. My advice to you is, alter your habits and/or change bodies of water.

Went Smallie hunting again with the ole Ned Rig. First picture is my first cast. Second picture is my second cast. It was on from there. Another 30 Smallies in about 2 hours. Had to make the second picture gray so it would fit on here. Sorry for the dumb face. My wife texted me and that was my reply back. We're weird.

Started this raining morning with Mr Pikeage ~ A-Jay

Balance may be the most important factor in rod and reel performance, what does it mean to you? With the trend going to longer rods across all types of bass rods and weight of both rods and reels getting lighter balance can suffer unless the rod maker is focused on retaining a balanced outfit. Gary Dobyns considers a balanced rod with a reel is very important and is willing to discuss his thoughts in detail, one reason his business is successful. Tom

I am heading out Friday to Wisconsin and a chain of lakes that have "ski" lakes and "no-wake" lakes. Best of both worlds. Of course, the ski lakes are some of the better fishing lakes but they can't start until 10:30am. That gives me time to fish my spots before they get started and then either brave the wakes or move to a no-wake lake. I do like that set-up.

I throw a Yamamoto DShad a LOT. It is one of my go to baits. I have rigged it many different ways but weightless is the most deadly for me. Depending on how I want the bait to act, the key is where you insert the hook in the nose for a weightless Texas Rigged bait. Straight in the center will give you a flat level fall. to the top and the bait will dive when you twitch it, to the bottom and the bait will climb on the twitch. Likewise left or right of center will move the bait sideways. There are a lot of minor adjustments in between those that I mentioned that will dictate the baits movement.

If you accept that people are idiots and not considerate, you have to think about whether you're being foolish taking a small boat to a place where it is likely to be inadequate for the conditions. No different to me trying to take my 12ft tin boat across the atlantic. I might make it, but it wouldn't be the right boat for the conditions! My little boat is perfect for where I do take it though.

I almost got flip on my 14' Jonboat with one of those wave rider once. I don't usually go on main Lake since there are too many water skier run back and forth. Ever since I moved to Canyon Lake, I only fish this main Lake only a handful of time and stay close to NO WAKE ZONE. I'd fish on smaller lake(north ski lake) instead, but still can't avoid those water skier especially in this lake (no control and no "no wake zone") there are those with "wave enchantment device". When I saw that guy again at launch lamp, all he said was sorry I almost flip your boat, nothing else no slow down and run super close to shoreline up and down a few time. This is what I'm trying to say and seem like only us small boat always be the one who ask for courtesies, bigger boat not so much but both have "RIGHT" to use water. I'd say avoid them is the best way, Main Lake got a whole lot of big bass and a lot of structure but I still choose smaller lake, tougher to fish and not as many big bass, all this for my safety.

Very interesting. I typically like to have a reel in mind when I am looking for a rod as it can impact the rod choice. Balance is largely impacted by the way the fisherman holds the rod/reel as we all have our own unique ways of doing things. While I do prefer a shorter handle for certain techniques (jerkbaits, topwater, etc), but I like a longer handle length on my bottom contact casting rods. It just goes to show that fishing is 99% individual preference and no way is the "right" way.

Every brand has it challenges. From quality control to customer service, from to durability to reliability. Been reading threads & posts about the good & bad for just about every rod & reel make & model here now for over 10 years. No ones immune. I do not believe that Quantum gear is "The Best". However for what I pay & for what I get - it works for me. I have & fish gear from several other makers as well. Most of which is pretty good too. A-Jay

I have four Smokes and absolutely love them

Spinning rods are typically held by the majority of anglers with the reel foot post between your fingers and have 3 options; between the index and middle, middle and ring, ring and pinky, moving the balance posing about 3/4" with each holding method. Baitcasting reels are usually held by the majority of anglers by the side of the reel about middle of the reel, some hold it behind the side plate like A-Jay illustrate, some hold them a little further back like Catt illustrates and I hold them further forward in front of the side plate. More variances moving the balance point about an 1" with each variable depending on the reel weight how much this impacts balance. If you have the same reel with the same holding grip and it feels balanced to you with 7' rod having the reel seat centered at 11" from the rod butt on a 7' rod for example, then put the same reel with the same length 11" center point to the butt on a 7'6" rod the tip will be heavier and feel unbalanced to you. Rod makers tend to counterbalance the longer rods with longer butt lengths, the overall Rod is longer, the length from reel seat to the rod tip is reduced by the longer butt end. How the longer Rod can be balanced with your grip and reel weight the same is anyone's guess. You can call the Rod maker and ask what reel weight is your Rod balanced with? The answers would be interesting. My rods are custom made for me and balanced perfectly for my style of fishing and reels used. Tom

In this weather why not just wear shorts?

Reading this thread makes me appreciate more some of the places I fish since they are places boaters are not allowed to fish.

Don't do it... it's a trick! It might get your arm broke! ?

Strike King is the only company that makes it all, plastics, jigs, bladed jigs spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, spoons, cranks, traps, jerks, topwaters, frogs, even weights and terminal items, have to go with Strike King.

Solid Advice Right Here ^^^^^^^^. I was a professional mariner for a long time. I've seen bad things. I fish from a 18 ft power boat most often now but did fish from a canoe for a long time. A career of on the water Search & Rescue / Law Enforcement has indicated that for me - I need to have a mind set Regardless of the rules, the laws or whatever mind set we each have, that EVERY BOATER is trying to run me down - every one. I make it my responsibility to do everything I can to prevent that. And I do. To sit and watch and hope that another boater will see you, avoid you, be courteous to you ???- is IMO un-wise. Like I said. I've seen what happens when this occurs - not good. (btw - it is my experience that an alarming number of boaters (especially on inland lakes, rivers & reservoirs) are mostly unfamiliar with boating safety, and navigational rules; especially in locals where 'the boating season' is 12 weeks long (summer basically). Stay Safe. A-Jay

So just to clarify my overall meaning I'll discuss the outing that I had today. I went out with a friend of mine and we launched at an actual boat ramp and paddled a good 2 miles or so through a channel to get to where we were going (fishing for channel cats). I rarely ever go to places like this anyway but he insisted we go so I agreed. It's Saturday, boats are everywhere, and they all obviously have to use the channel to get out into the lake. While paddling out we'd both constantly be looking behind us and whenever we'd see boats approaching we'd move towards the shore and out of their way. Everybody was courteous, we're in kayaks, we aren't going to hold up the traffic of real boats, we simply moved out of the way and continued on whenever the passed. They respect that and we respect that. Perfectly friendly atmosphere. We head out to the mouth of the lake and anchor down there, that's where the cats are. We're off to the side out of the way but this is the end of the go slow area for boats (there is no no wake area just a general don't go gunning through the channel). The wake was absolutely terrible with a lot of these huge boats coupled with the wind creating white caps. But I wasn't upset with it. I sat there and maneuvered into the waves whenever the boats would pass by and just continued on fishing. Why? Because I'm in THEIR area at this point. I'm not in some calm back water area that only I can get to nor am I in a paddle only lake or a 10hp limit lake. I'm on a channel in the mouth of Lake Ontario, there is no size limit for boats out there so I'm not going to get upset that a huge 50ft yacht comes cruising by 20 ft from me and dumps water all over my kayak. I'm the one choosing to sit in my little 12ft kayak at the mouth of a Great Lake. That's sort of the point I was making. I'm not upset that I get swamped by boats if I'm in a high traffic area in a little kayak. I get upset when I get swamped by boats on a calm river or lake that has huge amounts of space to maneuver yet folks are so inconsiderate that they will cruise right by me 20 ft in front of me instead of simply turning the wheel and going around me when they have ample opportunity and time and space to do so. Getting swamped while sitting in a channel full of 30ft boats is fine. Getting swamped sitting near the shore trying to fish on a 1000 acre lake with somebody choosing to come screaming by me instead of just going around is not fine.

Kayaks are great and allow people access to the water who wouldn't otherwise be able to. They are small boats though, and just as you would be cautious of taking a 14ft boat out on a big water, you need to be realistic about the conditions you're likely to face in a kayak. While it's obviously wrong for people to blast past you 10ft from your yak, it's hard to see how you'd be in a situation where that could happen. Unless you were fishing down a little channel which is regularly navigated through, in which case you put yourself in a position where you were likely to meet challenging and potentially dangerous conditions. While other water users can be pretty dumb, you have to take sensible precautions to keep yourself safe as you're the vulnerable one, rather like cyclists in cities. Car drivers should be more considerate, but you're better off expecting them not to be and staying safe than moaning about how they nearly killed you when you allowed yourself to be in a vulnerable position.

most wake boaters and skiers, in general, could care less. the best thing to do is avoid them altogether. go out early, during the week (not weekends), or waters where they’re not allowed, if that is at all possible. i live 5 minutes from the largest lake in my state and it’s a mad house after Memorial Day. i know alot of people who live on the lake and wish they’d outlaw the wake boats altogether due to bank erosion and dock/boat damage concerns. it’s a bad deal for all of us.

I saved a fellow in a canoe last spring when a wake board boat swamped him. We drove over to that boat and this guy gave him a piece of his mind. All that the guy in the boat that swamped him could say was "Maybe you should be in a bigger boat". Dude just about jumped out of my boat to rip that guys head off. We took pictures of his hull numbers and I vouched for him when we called DNR. Not sure if anything came of it, but I feel your pain and I hate seeing this happen. Quite a few pleasure boats have gotten dinged by my 1oz sinker when they got too close.

New PB. I don't own a scale but I'm buying one tomorrow... That picture angle didn't do him justice at all.

A boy and his puppy (Finn and Chloe).