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Recently, I competed in a tournament on Milford Lake, out in Kansas where @Bluebasser86 resides. I could talk for quite some time about the tournament itself, but I think most of you know enough about it already, so I won't go into detail about the format. I will say, those were some strange smallmouth out there, they didn't read the smallmouth rulebook. We only had one practice day, so our competition days were also used to dial in the lake further, because one day can only teach you so much about a place. Much of this post is going to be about how I adapted to changing conditions throughout the week, I am really proud of my decision making and how well things panned out. I am working on treating each tournament day somewhat like a day of fun-fishing, where I would never try to force something even though "it worked the day before". I think we can all learn to be better tournament anglers and fishermen in general if we are willing to go with the flow a little bit while out on the water. I have kept an open mind and adjusted lot this year during tournaments, it has helped tremendously. (and yes I know I'm not even close to the first to say this!) Competitors are allowed to talk to one another about the lake, so my tournament partner Casey and I shared information about our practice day. We both spent about half of our time shallow, and half of it out deep. I started on the north end of the lake, and spent about 3 hours there. I didn't catch a single bass, but Casey found some topwater smallmouth action on the south end by the dam where he started, so I headed that way. We both assumed that the smallmouth would be in the 20'+ range this time of year, but we spent a considerable amount of time fishing deep without a single fish to show for it. It seemed like most of the (catchable, for us) smallmouth were in less than 10', topwater seemed to be the best way to catch them because you had to cover a lot of water, but if you did locate an area with some concentrated fish, a ned rig and football jig were good ways to get them to bite. Our practice day was fairly windy and overcast/rainy, so the topwater bite produced well. Casey was catching his fish on a whopper plopper 110, and I was using a super spook. We determined that the best fishing was in areas with large rocks, some type of point either main lake or secondary, and immediate deep water access. Rock transitions in particular would produce bites, but you would also catch them away from those areas. The best topwater bite during practice was after 12:00, but it was windy and rainy. I only caught 6 smallmouth on the first day of practice, which ran from daylight until 5:30, and only one of them was on a topwater. I didn't spend much time with the topwater, but Casey caught so many on it that I decided to make it my main game plan for the first day of competition. I made one really good discovery, a main lake point with all of the right stuff. It had good chunk rock that transitioned to gravel on the creek side of the point, and had a small flat in the 3-7' range, which then dropped off into 20' past a bluff that was about 10 yards out from the point. I caught one small fish on a ned rig, and a few casts later a 3lber on a football jig. Oddly enough, both fish were up on the flat, not off of the bluff like where you would think a summer smallmouth would be in 80 degree water. This further solidified the idea that we had about the bass being relatively shallow (at least when they were feeding) I left the spot after catching the nice fish, and decided I would start there on day one. Day one of competition was a night and day difference in terms of weather conditions. It was fairly calm, but still overcast, so I assumed the topwater bite would be stellar. I started on my main lake point and caught a 3lber on probably my 5th cast of the day with a super spook, I was pumped about what I assumed would be a great day of topwater action. I ran some secondary points in the creek that produced fish in practice, and it was pretty dead everywhere I went. I went back to the main lake point and caught one more keeper before we had our half-time, this time on a super spook jr, a downsize that ended up being a very good call. Despite what I thought were "ideal" topwater conditions, Kansas bass are so used to the wind that they get pretty lazy if it isn't blowing. It makes sense though, bass are very in-tune with their environment, so when something that is usually consistent changes, they are going to be sensitive to it, and it is all relative. I decided to start on that point again after halftime, and hooked a solid smallmouth on the small spook, but it jumped off. I was using 14lb mono, and after jumping that fish off I switched to braid with a leader, these fish were being very timid about eating the bait, and when a fish barely touches a hook, the braid helps it stick even if you don't react in time with a hook set. 5 casts after losing the first fish, I hooked one about the same size and got it in the boat. I caught a small keeper shortly thereafter on the spook jr, and then had 4 different blowups on consecutive casts in a small area (still on that same point). I picked up the ned rig and made a few casts into the area, picking up my 5th fish for the day. Since we only had to beat one fisherman, I decided to back off of the point, he had only caught one fish that morning and I knew he wasn't doing well. I ran some new water but didn't discover a whole lot. I ended up advancing while Casey did not, he stuck with the topwater all day and didn't have much to show for it. Had the conditions been the same as practice, he probably would have crushed them, but the fish were in a completely different mood. That main lake point was the only thing that saved my butt, I caught all 5 fish off of it that day. Day two was much better for me in terms of conditions, we had lots of wind, and it was overcast. I started on my main lake point again, prepared to throw topwaters, but that was definitely not going to happen! My trolling motor was barely staying in the water! I threw a crankbait for a few casts with no love, and decided to rig up a jerkbait. I hadn't caught any on it in practice, but it made sense to throw with all of that wind pounding the point, I figured there were probably some jacked up baitfish twirling around up there after getting smashed into the rocks by a wave. Whether or not any of that was happening, I did boat a keeper on the jerkbait fairly quickly. This was a huge confidence boost, because I hadn't been able to get any other reaction bite besides a topwater, and this gave me a different approach if there was too much wind on an area. I headed back into the creek, and fished all of the same stuff as the day before. I had to shift back and forth between a super spook and an evergreen shower blows 125 (pencil popper). There was enough chop in some places that the spook couldn't stay on the surface, and that is why I made the switch. However, the spook still seemed to be the best bait if it was calm enough to keep it on the surface, so I used it when I could. I was getting a decent number of bites, but they were being typical smallmouth and blasting the topwater into the air most of the time. When I did manage to get a hook in one, they were quality fish (over 1.5lbs, not the 13, 14, and 15oz fish that many other anglers were catching). I had one secondary point where two fish swirled on my bait and didn't get hooks. There was a decent amount of wind there, so I picked up the jerkbait and fished back through the area, picking up my best fish of the day, a 2-6, right where I had a fish chase the topwater. Again, big confidence boost! We had our halftime and the guy I was fishing against didn't have as much weight as me, but certainly wasn't out of it, and he had caught them well the day before. I was feeling great about the conditions, but it was hurting the way he was fishing, which was what I had hoped for with the weather shift. I went back out and ran the same stuff as the morning, picking up another fish in the 2.5lb range, this time on the super spook. After that , I had another fish swirl on my spook in the same place that I followed-up with the jerkbait that morning. I gave the fish about 5 minutes, then headed back down the bank to where it was, and bam-- caught it on the jerkbait, right where he was when he missed the topwater. That put me over 10 pounds, so I left the creek and looked for new water. I upgraded by an ounce but that was all, I didn't need it anyway, I advanced to the final round with about a 2 pound lead over my competitor. Day three was VERY calm. I started on "my" main lake point, and could instantly tell that things had changed drastically. During the first two competition days, the hybrid striper and white bass were thick on every bank, you could constantly see them chasing baitfish, and had to catch about 10 of them for every one smallmouth. I didn't have a single one of those buggers chase my topwater, and I did not like it at all! I fished the secondary points that produced on day one, but had zero takers, the lake seemed dead. I started running new water and got into some sub-keeper sized smallmouth on top, and finally caught one that weighed 13oz, but that was it. We had our half time an hour early because of a thunderstorm. I knew my competitor would be ahead of me before coming into the weigh-in and I prepared myself for it. He had been fishing solely with a spinning rod, and calm conditions played to his advantage. When our weights were revealed, I was 9 pounds back, and I knew he wasn't going to slow down. I hoped the storm would be followed by wind, but that didn't happen. I knew I had to make a big change. I started again on "my" point, and caught a 2 pounder on the small spook, but that was it for topwater. Part of me wanted to run my secondary points again, in hopes that the storm changed the fish's mood, but I knew I had to slow down and catch the fish that lived on that point. I had seen and caught quality fish each day there, I just had to figure out how to catch more of them. I picked up the 1/2oz football jig that I caught one fish on during practice, and caught a good fish on my first cast! I had a limit within the next 5-7 casts, and proceeded to have one of the craziest flurries of bass catching in my life. Within an hour, I had passed the biggest bag of the event by over a pound! It felt like it was all coming together, and I was feeling like it was "my time". I continued to catch fish on that point, until things slowed and I was only catching fish around 2lbs, when I needed a bite around 3lbs. I opted to leave and let the spot rest for a while, then come back for the remaining hour of fishing time I had. Upon my return, I caught two fish on the jig, but neither would cull out a smaller one. I switched to the ned rig, and got two more bites, but again, no cull. I really thought it was my time, but I ended up getting beat by 4 ounces. I didn't lose any fish, and didn't make any regrettable decisions. We both smashed them and unfortunately there can only be one winner, I just got the short end of the deal. The only thing I would do differently if I had a replay is to stay on that point for the whole time, but those fish were pretty sensitive to pressure, so I still think giving them time to rest was the right call. I had a blast out on the water, and was blown away by all of the support I got, especially from BR! Hoping to get another crack at it before my time at WVU is up! The one thing that ruffled my feathers was how many locals wanted to come up to the college competitors and tell us how much "stuff" we were "missing". For one day of practice on an unfamiliar lake, I think we had a pretty good showing, we were all dialed in on similar stuff. It's easy to talk about how much is being overlooked while you are parked in a chair watching it on a t.v. screen

So after a month of waiting for my river to clean up so I can see to wade it again, I got one day on it... It rained like a hurricane the night after and its up three feet and solid mud again. I might get to fish it in another month! Either way, my buddy has been getting big into fly fishing and he wanted to catch a smallmouth on the fly. We hit the river Sunday at 7:30 am and he caught his first smallie on the fly rod after about 3 casts! He kinda struggled the rest of the day, trying to get the hang of fishing different lures in the current while wading, but I think he got a dozen or so. We only fished maybe 3/4 mile stretch of river in 8 hours, but it is loaded with 8-12" smallies and has the occasional 2-3lber cruising around. I did what I always do, and went with a bag of senkos, some blue and chartreuse keitechs, and a bluegill plopper 90. Got one to hit the plopper but didn't hook it. I ended up with maybe 18 for the day (didn't really keep a close count after ten) Bunch of short strikes and/or missed hooksets especially on the Keitech for some reason. My biggest of the day came out of a hole that I fish all the time and know it's kind of a hot spot for these brownies to sit in when the current is up. Can't compete with AJ but I SAW one that's gotta be close to half the weight of that last giant he posted! Still had an awesome day. Haven't had the time lately to fish like I want to and the next few weekends will be much the same, but I'm looking forward to a big charter trip out to the Gulf Stream for a day!

Here's the difference between a married man and a single man (me). After reading GReb's post, I'm thinking "so she gets to spend $300, and you get a free $20 coupon, and that's fair? What kind of deal is THAT"? Then Burke, who I'm also assuming must be married, replies with "awesome wife". Pretty sure I'll never be married. ?

thought I would try a good honey hole this evening , it did not disapoint . got 10 landed, missed two on a long cast frog with ***.5 two 4lb, one 5 and one pushing 6. needless to say I had a blast?

Current pride and joy. 1989 Firebird Formula 305 T-Tops. Nothing special, but a cool car to cruise in none the less. In my short 7 years of driving I've owned a 89 Camaro I-Roc, 91 TransAm GTA, 90 Camaro RS, 1997 Eclipse GS-T (this one was the fastest. 320whp on the dyno) and now the 89 Formula. All have been amazing fun cars. I've got a Jeep GC for towing and a motorcycle for commuting in the summer. Gearhead for life!

back home in Indiana for a couple of weeks, got the chance to fish with one of my grandsons. what a great evening he landed 11 bass grandpaw only got 5, he is laughing because I just missed 2 and finally got this girl in. life just doesn't get much better than this!

Ordinarily, I wouldn't be posting a picture of a 3.25 lb bass, but this one earned it's 15 minutes of fame as the second hardest fighting bass I've ever caught. She turned my boat 90 degrees and nearly wedged me between two docks. She stayed deep and pulled so hard that I just knew that I was hooked up with a double digit bass. The pictures don't really do justice, but this girl was buff! She reminded me of one of those overgrown bluegill whose body looks too big for their heads. I'm pretty sure that she would have tested positive for PEDs! The only bass that has ever fought me harder weighed over 12 lbs.

All but the last few fish in this video were on my Assassin. I do this almost every week, all winter long, ice jamming into the reel, fish ripping line out the other side, firing cast after cast with a trap. It's been doing that without issue for 2 years as well as being a multipurpose reel for me the rest of the year, including flinging a 5" Bull Shad. I don't expect it to last like a Curado or Tatula, but it's already lasted longer than I expected and it's still going strong.

From a previous thread & should be a sticky! Good evenin' folks, I may be about to open a SERIOUS can of worms with this thread, but what the heck.....here goes anyway. Being in the blank distribution business, I get asked A LOT about the construction and makeup of the various graphite rod blanks that I sell. And, I have to say that whenever somebody asks me about modulus I just cringe! Here is why; It seems that about 90% of the folks that email me want to know what the modulus is of the blank(s) they are considering buying. When I ask "Why do you want to know that" they can't really give me an answer....they're just convinced that higher the IM rating is better. Here is how the conversation usually evolves: Mr. Customer: What modulus is that blank made from? Andy: Well, if you must know, it's about 40million Msi Mr. Customer: What does that mean? Andy: Well, it means the blank is made from the material you have come to know and love as IM6 Mr. Customer: Oh, that's too antiquated...I only fish with IM7 and higher. Andy: Really? Did you know that the difference between IM6 and IM7 is not the modulus it's the tensile strength? Mr. Customer: Really? Andy: Yeah REALLY! Mr. Customer: Eh Hhhmmm....erreer, uh, oh....well uh....well Bass Pro Shops says... Andy: Forget Bass Pro shops...let's look at the numbers (at this point Andy whips out his trusty data chart that illustrates the differences between the different fibers that actually have IM designations). Here take a look at this. This comes from a chart put together by the folks at Hexcel (http://www.advancedcomposites.com/technology.htm) The number on the far right is the modulus of the fiber, and the number in the middle is the elongation to failure or stretch. Hexcel IM4 600 40 Hexcel IM6 760 40 Hexcel IM7 780 40 Hexcel IM8 790 44 Hexcel IM9 920 42 Mr. Customer: You Mean all this time I thought I was getting a higher modulus fiber with the higher IM rating, when what I was really getting is a fiber that stretches more? Andy: Well, in some cases you are, and in some cases you arent. The fact is though that the difference between IM6 and IM7 is nothing in terms of modulus, and compared to IM8 it's only slightly higher. Wow...look at that IM9 actually has a lower modulus than IM8...go figure Now, many companies are using fibers with a much higher modulus, like 57 and even higher, however these fibers don't necessarily use the IM ratings. So, whenever you see a fiber with an IM rating...BUYER BEWARE! THE HIGHER THE IM RATING, DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN THE HIGHER THE MODULUS!!! The point is this folks...just because you have a blank made from a high modulus fiber, doesn't means it's a good rod! And vice versa, just because you have a blank with a low modulus...even the original fiber blanks were made with (33 million) doesn't mean it's a bad or outdated rod. It's all about what the designer does with it. I know there are some of you that may already know this, but judging from the amount of calls I get on a daily basis from folks who ONLY want IM7 or IM8, but can't really tell you why, I have to believe they don't really know what they are talking about at all. They've just been sucked into the marketing machine that leads people to believe that the higher the IM rating, the lighter and more sensetive the material, which is not always the case. Be forewarned that there is A LOT more to graphite blank construction, performance, quality, sensetivity, weight etc... than just what modulus the fiber is. There are lots of other variables like flag patterns, and wall thickness, and resin systems, and mandrel design....It's all about the talent of the designer, and what he is able to do in terms of the sum of those variables...not just the friggin modulus! Whewww...ok I feel better now... My aforementioned explanation of modulus and IM ratings is by no means meant to be anything more than a brief primer for the folks who didn't realize what the differences with the IM ratings were. I hope this clears things up a bit, and I hope that some of you will chime in on this as well. Oh, here is a link to the Hexcel page for those of you who want to investigate the matter further. Do a search for IM6 and you'll get some interesting info. (if you're into that kind of techie junk). [www.hexcel.com] [www.advancedcomposites.com] Now, this gives you some ammunition...next time you stroll into BassPro, and some yahoo tries to sell you a rod based on it's IM rating, ask him to explain to you why the higher IM ratings are better. When he replies by sayin' that the higher the IM rating means more sensetivity, less weight etc....just tell him that you have a blank at home made from IM2000, and see what he says. Regards, Andy Dear Lamar Manufacturing

Thanks @everythingthatswims for the great write-up. Someday you ought to consider doing some outdoor writing. Your summaries are excellent, better than many of the " Seasoned " outdoor writers Ive read. Thanks for including us in your fishing adventures. Best wishes for your continued success !

No problem! I love re-living it, and I get to re-analyze some stuff too. Plus, I'll have a bunch of stories I can go back and read when I'm an old salt.

Definitely a much better gearhead than fisherman, LOL! I have been my whole life. I had a steel Mustang pedal car when I was a kid and I used to borrow my dad's jack and jack it up and lay under it with dad's tools pretending I was fixing it. My mom says that I came out of the womb on two wheels. This is a pic of my Harley, the Jeep JK that I built for my wife to off road with, our 1985 Chevy C10, and my 1968 Mustang. I've had the Mustang since I was 19 years old (I turn 49 next month). It's one of seven Mustangs I have throughout my life. I've got it torn down to the chassis to restore it. It's the last time I'll do that. The next time it needs to be restored it will be my son's problem!

Not exactly a 'car guy' - but I had a blast with this one. Bought it new in 06 and babied her for 10 years. Sold her to a collector with 15K I miss her a ton but she funded a good portion of my Lund. So that helps me cope. A-Jay

Fun in the sun & wind this morning ~ A-Jay

The wife went and spent $300 at Dicks on new shoes and workout clothes. She got home and handed me $20 in Dicks cash to make up for it LOL. So I put it to good use getting ready for that fall bite.

Went out to Caney Lakes lower lake side this morning around 6am. The day started out kinda slow, I was throwing a Texas rigged drop shot with a 6" Aaron's Morning Dawn Roboworm tied on and a 1/4oz drop shot sinker. Got tons of bites, but nothing doing. Had to be bream or something pecking at my bait. Some of the hits were pretty hard too. Decided to go to the pier around 9:30am. Kept throwing the drop shot, because I was determined to catch something on it. Persistence and the virtue of patience paid off as I finally caught my first bass with a drop shot. It weighed in at 1lb 1oz. After several more bites and nothing doing with it, those darn bream...lol, I decided to start chunking my munky butt 110 Whopper Plopper. Made about 4 casts before this hawg sized bass annihilated it. When I got it on the pier, I just knew I had a new PB. Put it on the scale and was surprised to see it only weighed 3lbs 6oz. I weighed it several times just to be sure. It was pretty skinny. All head and no body...lol. Didn't get a measurement, but I guesstimate around 20" or so. If it had been eating good it surely woulda been a new PB. Probably woulda weighed at least 5lbs. Oh well, it was a great day out there all by myself. Plus I didn't break any rods this time either. I learned my lesson and when I got both bass close enough to the pier, I reached out, grabbed the line and pulled them up that way. All around great day. Now it's time for a shower and play some Yahtzee with my beautiful baby Linda! ?

Hello! I just got back from a youth tournament at Candlewood Lake in CT. I caught a smallie just shy of 5 lbs. I know for many of you that isn't a giant, but I've put so much work into my tournaments with poor results, so I'm pretty proud of it. Pictures will come shortly.

New video! Let me know your thoughts!

I got out to a usually good West Metro lake this morning. Drop in temp in the long run is probably good, but today was classic cold-front fishing conditions. I think I caught about a hundred scud-missile Snot Rockets and lost $50 in tackle from break-offs from those little bassturds. The quality fish I did catch have seemingly moved deeper - from two weeks ago in 4-10 fow/weeds - to now anywhere from 8-20 fow and scattered. I caught most on slow moving Texas Rig/Pit Boss. If I had more time would have side-imaged and used Panoptix to look for structure/fish to drop-shot in deeper water. Next time, but hope I time the next front right too...

Tonka is my favorite MN lake. You can literally fish any style you want there. You can flip a jig in dirty water. You can drop shot 30 ft rock piles. You can punch/frog thick mats. You can deep crank weedlines. The traffic is terrible but man... the fishing is spectacular! For Denny's if you're not pulling in 3.5lbs per fish or higher you have no chance of getting in the money. That lake you have to have spots on spots. My units are literally like Lite-Brites with how many spots I have marked. Tournament days are all about run and gun and checking out spots. You end up running the whole lake to find your kickers. 34lbs (8fish) of bass though is amazing! It is my favorite lake to take someone new to fishing cause I can take em to some honey holes with a drop shot and have them pull 2's all day. There's so much fish in that lake you can fish any bay and you'll catch em. Depends on the lake and if there's zebras. Zebra lakes the fish should still be deep cause the water temps are still hitting the 80's and there should be grass everywhere. Dirtier lakes should be having some slight turn over now and shallower grass should be key for those lakes. I've been personally smashing them on deep rock piles on Tonka with grass all around them. Using heavy punch jigs first, like the RTX jig, to pull out the hungry ones and then a drop shot with a Robo to finish off the school. 50+ bass days and it's not that hard. Fishing is really easy and predictable right now.

I knew I was cheated! It’s not so bad. We split the mortgage and bills. We keep separate accounts and spend the rest on whatever we like. I pay for my truck and hobbies. She pays for her $200 hair cuts and clothes. If I go fishing in the morning she’s happy to get the chance to sleep in. In the evening she goes fishing too. And sometimes out fishes me Now I expect this to abruptly change whenever we have kids lol

I have 3 MB's if that tells you anything. Can get it on EBay for $93 right now using coupon code "JUSTSAVE10". It's a no brainer.

Anything rage tail.

@everythingthatswims ~ Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to post that. Looking forward to the next chapter and your next adventure. Congratulations again. A-Jay

Good job dude! I'll bet that you'll get another crack at it before you leave school .

I was in high school and college...I've faded away from it now. I still have my go-fast truck, although I am going to sell it eventually (it's technically for sale now, I'm just not trying very hard at it ). 92 GMC Typhoon. 13.2 in the 1/4 mile...Not the fastest in the world but with Turbo/AWD it would challenge and sometimes embarrass almost anything I'd normally run across stoplight to stoplight . Was fun, but I realized I like fishing more and this was just taking time/money away from that.

How quickly 50 years pass

Councours Award winner in the modified division at the GTO Nationals a few years ago. Mike

Yep. I’m a rag top A-Body fan. Sold a beautiful ‘72 Monte Carlo to pay for the ‘72 Skylark convertible, pictured below, in the 80’s. One friend has a ‘69 Torino GT, another just bought a ‘71 442 convertible clone w/ built 455, and a 3rd is finishing a modern Chevy V-8 w/6-speed stick in his ‘72 Nova.... I go to Mecum’s Kissimmee auction every year. I lost out on a couple rag tops, but I’m not giving up. It all started growing up riding around in Mom’s ‘70 Vista Cruiser... ADD: I forgot to say my current go-fast is my ‘07 BMW K1200S ....

[August 19, 2018] This year is really flying by quick, I can already see it's starting to transition from summer to fall with the shorter days and colder temps. The forecast for today shows partly cloudy with a high of 88F, low of 59F, with falling pressure. That doesn't tell the whole story though, as the conditions lately have been heavily impacted by the smoke from the local wildfires... It's been twelve days since our last fishing trip, and today we finally had the opportunity for another one. It was on our weekend, so I met up with Jeremy at his place around 6:00am to gear up and head out. We arrived at the ramp and noticed it was pretty busy, which was expected being a Sunday. Water temp was ~71F, and had a little color to it probably from all the boat activity over the weekend. First location - we both quickly hooked into our first bass of the day, and Jeremy also landed a nice pike. We left in a hurry this morning so I didn't have a chance to change/retie baits from our previous trip like I usually do. The bite seemed to slow down so I made a minor change swapping my current squarebill (KVD 1.5) to my new 6th Sense Crush 50x (Live Baby Bluegill) that I wanted to try out. The main difference between them that I noticed was the KVD is silent, where the 6th Sense has a faint rattle chamber. We fished our first location for an hour and a half, and the only other thing I caught was an 8 & 1/2" yellow perch on the new squarebill. Time to move... Second Location, 8:45am, Water temp 71F, Clarity 10ft+. First cast with the grub, I hook into my "fish of the day" that was followed by one of equal size to the boat. 17", 1 lb 12 oz As we were moving along I saw a lot of activity out deep on the graph, so I made a short cast behind us and pulled up an 11 & 1/4" Smallmouth out of ~30ft. I did try working a lipless out deep along the bottom, but it never resulted in anything. Continuing to throw my new 6th Sense Squarebill, I hooked into something big... and told Jeremy to head for deep water. After a good long fight, it turned out to be my very own "freshwater cuda" aka pike. 9lb, 10oz It was now after 11:00am, I made a long bomb cast with my topwater popper next to a dock as we were moving to another area that resulted in a 12" Smallmouth exploding on it, and becoming my 6th bass today. 11:30am Jeremy hooked his 3rd bass on a Spinnerbait that had ~7 followers with it. Around noon he hooked into his 4th on the Spinnerbait, this time Largemouth. We decided to move again, but sadly our plans were cut short as the pull cord on the big motor broke (luckily it started on that pull). A change of plans put us at a different location within range of the ramp using the electric motor. Third Location, 12:45pm, ~3ft Clarity, Water Temp 73F. Worked a Horny Toad across the entire field of pads within the area and only had a single small bass blow up on it multiple times, but no hookup. Using a grub, Jeremy made a perfect cast into an open boat house and hooked into his 5th bass today... We fished our way back to the ramp and decided to call it a day at 2:15pm. All in all it was a good day, we each caught 5 or more bass, no giants unless you count the sizable pike. Had to deal with the wind a bit during the first part of the day and waves from boat traffic during the later. Actually had one wave come over the front of the boat a bit... It's too bad the pull cord broke on us, was really hoping to continue on to some key locations, but at least we were able to catch something when trying to salvage the rest of the day. The smoke from the wildfires was thick on the drive home, this is the worst I've seen it this year... WolfyBrandon

I am addicted to the topwater bite. My new Whopper Plopper 75 loon color has failed to produce a fish for me. I had one fish on my very first cast with it. That one shook the hook at shore and nothing since then. My Whopper Plopper 90 Bluegill color however is a solid producer.

I suffer from PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Fishing is by far the best therapy for me. Everything "goes away" when I'm on the water.

Our latest development! The Locked Up Swimbait head. Built with a coil to lock the bait on and extend the life of the bait. We also added a keel to keep the bait running straight.

Playing hooky from your consulting job - and catching fish off your client’s dock (while he’s at work) with a photo of his jet ski in the background??

Thanks. Line is too cheap and too important for me to roll the dice.

I probably have 50 pounds of plastics. Ironically, I could probably do just fine if I had only three things: Rage Tail Cut-R Rage Tail Structure Bug Rage Tail Craw

Punching...Sweet Beaver, BB Cricket, Speed Craw Swimming...Fat Max, magnum Speed Worm Bottom...Jelly Worm, Recon All subject to immediate change. Mike

I pour some specifically for fishing big straight tail worms. I'm normally using them in shallower water and lots of rocks so I pour an 1/8oz head with a 7/0 Gama Monster Worm hook. The weight and worms glides over rocks without getting snagged and that big hook fishes those 8-11 inch worms without any problems.

Great topic, Mobasser! I sure could have used a therapy fishing stint today. The last couple of days have been stressful as I took care of some home repair projects without help. I managed to take this fishing as therapy to another level a few days ago, after working some really long hours. What did I do? I bought some night crawlers, meal worms, water gremlins, and a couple of floats, and went back to the basics... just float fishing — fishing in a simplified manner. As bass anglers, we sometimes get caught up and overwhelmed with this lure, or that technique, the latest technology, color, so on and so forth. My stress level was so high that I didn’t want to mess with any of that. I put my bass gear away (okay, it was in the trunk, just in case), grabbed my ultralight rig and went to town. Staring at the bobber, looking around, appreciating the scnenery, nature, contemplating, etc. Watching the bobber go down was therapeutic, even when I missed. If you didn’t know, float fishing with worms is like a box of chocolates... Because you’ll never know what you’re going to get. By the end of my 30 minute stint, I caught a LMB, perch, blue gill and a pumpkin seed. I am glad I made that decision.

I just received my kastking speed demon and my initial thoughts are this,they are inexpensive reels that seem to be good quality,with features of higher end reels,now the big question is long term durability,time will tell. Side note I think durability can be subjective if you are on the water alot through out the year, catching alot of fish on the reel and fishing harsh conditions muddy water,heavy vegation vs not being on the water alot through out the year,not catching alot of fish, fishing in clear open water just a thought to consider.

Nolan, I congratulate you on your savvy assessment of conditions, your upbeat attitude and your great effort. How about beside majoring in biology you study journalism as well - you write an excellent account of your experiences. I look forward to seeing you hoisting trophies in the future.

I guess you could say I have a thing for turbo cars. I had a dad who grew up with big blocks, and when I was a teenager. American cars were making less hp then the srt4 I had. Don't miss the srt4.

These goats were a hell of a car. My friend regrets selling his.

I haven't posted in quite some time, but I recently had an extended trip up to The Bend. My stay was from 8/11 through 8/18. I'm not that great on Toledo Bend as I am used to fishing the shallows of the Atchafalaya basin, but I still give it hell and I'm learning. Overall, it was tough, tough fishing. A thermocline has developed and fish are holding on main lake points and humps anywhere from 15-25 FOW. No deeper than 25' (due to the thermocline). I believe the fish are primarily feeding at night and go dormant (for the most part) during the day. I had some success in the early mornings in the Six Mile area on buzz baits and frogs close to shoreline grass, and over submerged grass. Later in the day, I moved out and started graphing, finding sizable schools of fish, but they didn't want to play much. I had limited success after throwing everything but the kitchen sink at em. Catches came on watermelon/red C-rigs and 1/4 tx rig trick worms... nothing else. I know somewhere on the lake, there are more active fish. But finding them may be like finding a needle in a haystack. Night time tournaments out of the place I was staying are weighing 20-25 lbs to win. My advice is to fish at night until we are blessed with some cooler weather.

Now I have a very clear target for motivation! This beauty caught with an 8ft med heavy "Finesse Electric Shock" rod, no reel, and a long arm scoop net. ?

I'll apologized in advance for burning your retina but this juvenile Musky is The First One I've caught here. The lake used to have a quite a population back in the day. Recently (a few years ago) DNR began a re-stocking program. Looks like it's working ! This specimen was fat, very healthy and quite a surprise when it rocketed 3 feet in the air next to the boat. Seems a few years from now I may have a legitimate Musky lake very close by - I'm a fan. A-Jay

I've fished my Assassin hard for a couple seasons now, put it through way more than most bass reels will ever have to deal with, no grinding as of yet. As of right now I'm at; Sharky II Sharky III X2 Kodiak Assassin Spartacus Plus Speed Demon X2 Speed Demon Pro All but 2 were paid for out of my pocket because my 2 test reels I was given impressed me enough to buy more. I've had one issue with a sluggish bail spring on one of the Sharky III's, but an email to KK and they swapped me out for a new one in no time.

Got out this weekend and had my best day from the kayak yet. Got my PB smallie along the way with this one!

Got out today for a quick 2.5hr. After work bonus trip. Got 7 pitching a double wide beaver with the best checking in at 6-1

There is this little spot next to a creek that I drive the Jeep to when I'm out riding with the wife or daughter. Last time i was there I had my sunglasses on and I could see a few small bass swimming around. I made a mental note of that and went back on my lunch break today. I caught 4 including a bass. there were bigger bass there and there were more pools to wade, but it's a lunch hour. I'm going back when I have more time to kill and can walk further.