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So it’s 38 degrees here in New York with a low for 33 tonight decided to get some jerkbait fishing in today. Caught about 12 in a few hours , they were all caught with a loooong pause between 5-10 seconds. Was almost back to the canoe out in spot and decided one more cast and twitch twitch BOOM just heavy so I knew this was today so best. Took my time and got her in the boat. A nice 5 pounder .. now i took a look inside and noticed a tail sticking out ! It didn’t look like a bluegill and I didn’t wanna pull the fish out of its stomach, she was obviously eating up for winter. So I tossed her back and decided eh one more ! Usually I would end on that but I just had a gut feeling. Idk if anyone remembers but a few months ago I asked if perch could be a main forage .. I have never seen bluegill here but I thought I saw a perch.. well I casted back to the exact same spot I caught the 5 pounder and what do you know! A giant perch ! Looks like I found out what they are eating

So, I've been at this bass fishing thing for about two years and my confidence started in Texas rigged worms, moving to weightless sticks and flukes, and then finally to jigs and smaller paddle tailed swimbaits. I've been a skeptic about power fishing for a while, but today I got on them and a combination of cooling temperatures and the H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shad and H2O Xpress CRS Crankbait produced my first ever 30+ fish day. Nothing exceeded two pounds, but it was a great action packed afternoon from 5:15-6:30 PM. I caught 8 on 8 casts bouncing the squarebill off the bricks of the pond overflow drain, and also fired up a school with the jerk shad before that. I am now a believer in a jerkbait and the crankbait, and very happy to gain confidence in the lower priced academy brand.

This past weekend was the end of the year tournament for our little Thursday night group. It was scheduled to be at Milford Lake near Junction City, KS which is one of the best smallmouth bass lakes in the state. Mother Nature had other plans, dumping nearly a foot of cold rain and even some snow in the area a week before we arrived, raising the lake over 9' and turning the water to coffee with cream color, dropping the water temp over 10* in the process. To say the bite was trying in practice was an understatement. @gardnerjigman and I got there Thursday morning full of excitement and hope. Those feelings died and were nearly gone by the end of the day, having boated 2 drum, 1 small wiper, and 1 non-keeper smallmouth. Being the tournament director of sorts for our group, I broke the bad news, but 3 more boats were arriving the next day and we were hoping that something would be found and at least show that some fish could be caught. By noon the next day, with all of our combined efforts, a drum and 1 white bass had been caught, I'd caught both of them on back to back cast on a deep crankbait and only one other boat had even seen a fish. An emergency meeting was called for lunch at the cabins and we all decided to eat our money we'd spent on the cabins (which was relatively little), and fish a couple lakes closer to home in hopes of better fishing (it couldn't have been much worse). Day one we fished Lake Shawnee in Topeka, KS, a 400 acre lake with big largemouth and smallmouth but lots of pressure. This day was no exception as there was another small club fishing and several weekend anglers in boats and kayaks, close to 20 total on the water fishing. At take off, everyone zoomed down the lake while GJM and I idled 100 yards to the back of the launch cove and started fishing the shallow water in the back of the cove. The water temp was showing to be in the high 50's and I'd noticed lots of shad in the back of the cove. The bitter cold air temps said slow down and fish main lake, my instincts and Garmin was telling me to find shad eaters up shallow. 5 minutes into the morning as I was fishing my homemade shad colored bladed jig around shallow clumps of grass, a fish blew up on a shad inside a broken pond dam that use to be a water park on the lake. I fired a cast into less than a foot of water, the wake of my bait was intercepted by a much larger wake and I quickly had our first solid keeper of the morning in the boat. We caught 2 more small keepers in the back of the cove, and I missed solid feeling fish in the middle of a big laid down tree on a jig. The next back end of a cove produced 2 more small keepers to give us a limit in the first 1.5 hours. That really let us relax and just fish. I had one spot in the back of a big, flat cove that everyone overlooks, but it's very hit or miss. We had a limit so we thought it was alright to try it and see what happened. We ended up culling out all 4 of our small fish in that cove, first with a jig fish in a lay down. Then 3 more in the very back on bladed jigs, only one ended up still in our bag by the end of the day. We bounced around a lot from there, catching quite a few fish but all small. For some reason the east side of the lake seemed to be the better side for quality bites. The missed jig bite from the morning was bugging me, so we ran back to the tree. First pitch, almost the exact same result, thump and nothing on the hookset. I flipped right back in and pinned her this time. Kind of a big head, skinny body fish, but still our biggest of the day and the overall big bass of the day. Only about 45 minutes left at that point, we thought we might as well bounce around to a few more lay downs and try to cull one more time. There's not many lay downs, so it's kind of a rough pattern for the guy in the back, so GJM tried to make the best of it and picked up a Ned rig to try to win the big trash fish pot for the day. One of his first cast he set the hook, but instead of the slow thump of a big drum, there was instantly a solid smallmouth streaking across the top. The last minute Ned rig miracle culled out our last fish under 2 pounds and gave us 11.12 pounds for what turned out to be a brutally tough day. We were the only team with a limit, and in the lead by 4.5 pounds going into the second day. Day 2 was on a much bigger lake, Clinton Reservoir in Lawrence, KS, which is about 7,000 acres. It's not well known for it's bass fishing but the population is doing pretty well, both largemouth and smallmouth and good sized versions of both. Knowing we had a good lead, our number 1 concern was to get 5 fish before we worried about getting anything bigger. With that in mind, marinas are great places to catch bass so we started right in the marina to fish a few places I'd caught them before. This morning started much like the day before, maybe 5 minutes into the day, I ran my spinnerbait down a wave breaker dock and caught our first solid keeper of the morning before the other guys were even to their spots. A few cast later, I really shocked myself by catching another small keeper on a crankbait. Further back in the marina, on what was really a nothing bank, GJM got his first bite of the morning and put #3 in the boat on a spinnerbait. 50' more we were in the very back and I caught #4 on a beaver next to a stump, which would prove to be our only bite on a slow moving bait of the day. As we rounded the secondary point, I caught our smallest keeper of the morning, but we had #5 in the boat just over an hour into the morning. We hopped across the cove and GJM culled out that little one with a slightly larger fish before we jumped out into the already churning main lake, that's when I knew we had really made the right call. I was hoping to find some of the quality smallmouth I'd be finding in small numbers down the lake, but those banks were crawling with big, hungry white bass that would not leave our spinnerbaits alone. As we worked down a usual flyover bank that I decided to fish because it has a few lay downs and stumps with a channel swing, I pitched my spinnerbait next to a lay down and thought I had hung up instantly but had actually thrown it right on top of a hungry fish. It tried hard to get back in the tree but quickly had a nice cull in the boat. Just around the point from there are 2 boat ramps with slide in docks that I love fishing on all our lakes because the fish seem to love hiding by and under them. First pitch with my spinnerbait next to them, I caught the twin to my last fish that fought like it was twice it's size. It was about 11AM at this point, and this would prove to be one of the last bass I would catch for the day. It seemed the white bass hit the banks in mass and I could catch nothing else. I did finally catch my first ever wiper from Clinton a spinnerbait which won us the big trash fish pot for the second day in a row. The next little boat ramp launch area we stopped at produced two fish, GJM caught both of them, one was a dink, the other was our last cull of the day. I was nervous at weigh in, knowing how tough this lake is, it still has the potential to produce 25+ pound bags. As it turned out, there had been a total of 2 bass caught by the other boats. One was a very nice 4.96 pound fish, which was funny because we were motoring to the spot with 20 minutes left when they came around a corner and were obviously going to get there first so we left it to them, and that's when they caught it. So as it turned out, all my worrying was for nothing as we could have stayed home and still won, but we ended up with 22.97 pounds over 2 days and won by over 13 pounds. Sometimes you just make all the right calls and then fish clean on top of it, and I feel like we really did that both days. Felt really good to end the tournament season on a high note.

The wind shifted out of the north today . High blue bird skies . Water temp 54 degrees . I caught 42 bass on a spinnerbait with 10 over 15 inches . 2 were four lbers .Here is one of them . The first two hours I only had three fish but man they turned on after that .

The population density of the biggest bass in any lake is less then 1% of the overall bass population, we are targeting very few bass. From reading bass fishing forums over the past 10 years it has become clear to me that the majority of bass anglers believe 1 big bass lives in small isolated area and stays there, like under a dock. This may come from watching TV fishing programs or reading articles that support big bass are loners and ambush feeders. Where I fish big bass rarely are loners living in a small ambush piece of structure or cover. Big bass usually hunt in a small groups and may stay seperated when not hunting. I have no idea how or why the gather in a group, it may be follow the leader? Hunting in a small group of 2 to 5 bass they are more successful. I am always thinking there is more then 1 bass. These big bass hunt an area anywhere from a few hundred feet or several hundred yards in size depending on the prey type. For example a island or a underwater island (hump) may be 1/8 to 1/2 mile in size, where are the big bass located at the time you arrive to fish there? Wind direction helps to give you a starting end of the area, I like to face into the wind and you want to approach it quietly. If I know big bass use this area to feed, I fish every square foot at the depth the bass should be at based on seasonal periods and surveying the depth bass and bait are in at the marina before starting out to fish. My normal outing is checking areas and setting up a milk run from area to area eliminating areas and presentations until finding the bass and it may take a few outings to discover where they are at and more time to figure out when to fish productive areas. I am usually catching a few bass each outing but not always. If I can't find any big bass I will find some bass and try to catch them because I like to catch bass. Tom

Finally got this pic from my buddy. He snapped it over the summer on our trip up to Maine. Turned out to be my PB smallie. Caught at 40ft in water that had 30ft visibility. It was awesome being able to SEE the fight almost every step of the way.

I started fishing again back in August for the first time in about 20 years. I feel like I've picked things up fairly well. I've caught several 4-4.5lb bass between now and then and honestly it's taken over my life haha. Tonight I was out doing some night fishing and caught my new PB! Super excited when I pulled this guy out of the water, I could tell he was gonna be huge. It was a great fight! I was fishing on a St. Croix Premier MH F with a Curado DC and a super flook look alike I got from a LTB box. ? Came in at just over 6lb, I'd say between 6lb 2oz, 6lb 4oz

I would grab some ultra light gear and have at it. It might be a ton of fun no matter what kind of fish they are.

Caught a couple of these in The Gulf not very big but a cool catch!

Just got out of the hospital after a little bout of pneumonia. I know, I'm supposed to take it easy. But isn't taking a leisurely 1 hour stroll along a nearby golf course pond -- just me and my T-rig -- taking it easy? (My wife didn't think so, but that's her opinion.) Anyway, my little Rage grubs were gobbled down by some really nice bass tonight. One of them had a pointy belly due to a massive bluegill in her gut, the tail of which was still in her mouth. She was awfully greedy to want my grub for desert before she could swallow its predecessor. Also, I was blessed by the appearance of a great blue heron, wood storks, a rare (for me) roseate spoonbill, and a beautiful sunset. Now it's time to kick my feet up and relax with a gulp of Robitussin, peruse the pages of BR, and try to burn tonight's little adventure deep into memory.

Southern Lake Michigan, First fish on the 755, a decent 3-12...on a 5XD. I know, it’s a jig rod but we weren’t jig fishing today and I wanted to get some time with it. I also really needed the extra length to get some casts way out there. The crank rod I brought was only 7’. It performed very well on a technique is wasn’t designed for and the typical Dobyns light tip section did well loading, casting and also keeping the smallie buttoned on the trebles. I think the TT Editors will love the 7-2 Med/Hvy as a search for the one candidate and Cal will be a pitching fool if he tests an X. I do think if they were to test this particular model, it will rack out a power lower than stated with a max lure rating of around 1oz. A 3/4oz Jack Hammer with a zako trailer (1-1/8oz total wgt) maxed the tip out. Again, I know this isn’t a horizontal reaction bait rod but I also think it would be great with a 1/2 bladed jig if you’re like myself and like fast action rods Vs cranking sticks to throw bladed jigs. The new DRX line is being advertised as a deep water bottom contact rod but my very limited first impression is it will be a more versatile line. I tied on a 1/2oz and 3/4oz Dark Sleepers to both the 755 and my G-rod Pro Bass 7’ Med/Hvy to do a quick sensitivity check. The portion of southern Lake Michigan we were fishing is sand bottom and rip rap. Pretty d**n easy to tell the difference but there is some limited weed beds and whereas the Pro Bass (a very sensitive rod both in my mind and TT’s opinion) would just feel dead or mushy when I’d occasionally run into some errant patch of weeds but it was instantaneous “Weed” when I hit them with 755. It was hyper sensitive to rock, rubble, weed and sand with the 5XD. I really had fun reading the bottom with the XD...smooth rock, rough rock, concrete vs rock, dead weeds, fresh weeds. Even coarse sand, fine sand and when I was fishing the Dark Sleeper I could feel that little paddle tail kicking along. I know this feel will translate to jigs in a big way. I’ve referred to some of my other jig rods both past and present as either fishing by braille or they give me an actual visual picture of what’s down there. Basically sensitive enough to “see” and I loved how I was able to see with this rod. No bottom line yet, not nearly enough time to form an opinion. I usually sit down with what equipment I’ve acquired at the end of the year to decide “should it stay or should it go” I do know that It wasn’t just a utilitarian tool to catch fish...I had fun fishing it and look forward to fishing it again soon. I’ll even make time Edit: It weighs 5.1oz on my scale. I bought a Bantam MGL to go with the rod and a 7oz reel matches exceptionally well. The balance point is right on the locking nut. I didn’t fish it yesterday with the Bantam because I didn’t want to learn a new reel and rod on the fly. I used a Tat SV 6:3.1 with 30lb Suffix 832 with a 12’ leader of Kastking flouro coated mono

I just saw those posted on the Facebook. First, regardless of whether this fish is 25" and 9lbs or not, so long as the dude in the pic isn't a midget, this fish is an absolute tank and it's great to see it released. It supposedly came from the Allegheny and surprisingly not Erie or the Susquehanna. Huge congrats! https://adventures.everybodyshops.com/perhaps-a-state-record-smallmouth/

In my previous outing summer patterns were still lingering like a bad hangover. Almost no bait balls, much less bass feeding on them. Low activity. Hot temperatures. Then I had to keep the boat in the garage to do some work on the trailer. After two weeks I finally was able to take her out again. What a difference those two weeks made. Water temps dropped from 73 to 67. My graphs, previously lifeless, now showed a ton of activity. Excited to be fishing shallower, I pitched my jig outside a weedline at a cove opening and the rest is history. A friendly kayaker helped take this picture for me: Picture actually makes it look smaller, but I promise you it's a 8.09 lber. Just a tad skinny. If I had caught her with a full belly.... Been fishing in California for 4 years and I could not break 7 lbs. Slightly embarrassed, but sometimes people think huge bass just jump in your boat out here. Lakes here get a lot of pressure. On to double digits! Some areas in the country have people already winterizing boats. Quite the opposite here. We're at the end of the fall transition into fully fledged "fall" fishing. Bass are getting more active and I managed to pull out some 3s and a 4 in addition to the 8. Can't wait to capitalize again.

Hello people, The reel arrived today! ? I can say it is lighter than I expected and it is really cool!. There are two things which surprising to me, one was this reel is unprovided of the anti-reverse lever (what is not a problem for me since I always have activated the anti-reverse when I am fishing) and the second is it is not needed to lube the roller of the pick-up (in the manual says is not necessary due to sealed system). I feel the drag is really precise and smooth; and very very power, taking into account the size of the reel. I want to test this saturday drop-shotting in a small lake near to my home, I will tell to us my experience. I put here a pic of the reel, I charged with 18lb Sufix 832 braid and a 8lb fluorocarbon leader. Regards,

check out swimbait underground, lots of good info on there for night fishing, mossypumpkin on there my buddy from maine, still getting fish up there with air temps in the 20s. hes put A TON of good info on there

Turnover can also be a localized event, such as in the case of very windy conditions on a large lake.

#6 vmc round bend treble hooks.

Awesome pics! Way to figure out what they like and match the hatch.

Let's say I'm heading to Toledo Bend & my plans are to target double digit bass. I'm not gonna run wide open throttle to Big Momma's house! I'm gonna fish my way there because in Big Momma's neighborhood my average goes up exponentially.

@HeddonFrog, go to facebook and look for the Norman group That's run by Bill Bailey. He knows his stuff about Normans. @HeddonFrog, go to facebook and look for the Norman group That's run by Bill Bailey. He knows his stuff about Normans.

A blind squirrel can find the acorn, it helps if he is under the oak tree. Location and timing, location we can determine by studing maps and surveying those areas using sonar and visually looking at what is there to locate the oak tree. Timing isn't something we can predict without actually being on the water. High percentage times are usually low light with mild light rain for me, not always because bass feed when they want not when I want them to be active. There is a old saying "90% of the bass live in 10% of the water", you want to fish in the 10% where the bass are located. Tom

Pradco acquired them in Nov. 2015. They operate from Pradco’s Fishing Division in Fort Smith. Sorry you take issue with them. Every company has had to evolve. Not sure where you can buy a nice, well made super deep diver like a DD22 with a great finish for $6.49 that isn't made outside the US. SO far from what I've seen the quality is the same, and they've added new baits. I still hate their speed clips, as is well known here, lol.

BASS has live coverage, too. MLF does not.

@Tim Kelly I seen this in the news! This is why you dont use a blow torch lol!! ?

Nice. LOL Spotting a rod in 16' of water. I have trouble even imagining water that clear. I couldn't even spot a bus in 16' of water around here.

I grew up in Wisconsin and had a small creek the size of yours running through my hometown. In the summer when I was a kid I fished that creek almost every day with just a hook, small splitshot and piece of nightcrawler. And caught all kinds of fish and crayfish. I never fished it this late in the fall but give it a try!

Well that's one thing you can say about the older models. They are tanks!! No frills but I did have the dealer install AC when I bought it new in 93. My big concern with my daughter driving it is that it also has very little in the way of safety items like airbags and anti-lock brakes. The bumper replacement was due to a fender bender and I replaced it with a heavy duty that contained a 2" receiver on the front. I was going to use it to install a removable winch but in the meantime I used it to mount the front plate with a very heavy duty mount. I can't even begin to bend it back by hand. I'm sure that is what killed the bear, it's like a battering ram. Off to Amazon to see if I can find another.

I didn't say it was a bad thing, but it's simply the truth. Tracker is supposed to be a turnkey boat. Just put some gas in it, put in the plug, and go. The issue with the holes in the deck says more about the dealer than it does about Tracker.

I think most people will say 12# or heavier fluorocarbon, but I use 15# braid with about 6 feet of 8# fluoro leader, and it works for me, at least with the mid-range jerk bait like the KVD 300. But then I use the same line with most of my bait casting rigs. I just like the castability and sensitivity of braid.

I guess I dont know where big fish should be . I've caught them on steep banks , flat banks , points , humps , channels , wood , rock , weeds, , in coves , points of coves ... they are liable to be anywhere .

I have heard some crazy things about when the water level fluctuates on Milford. No matter how good the body of water is, nothing can overcome bad conditions. Glad you guys were able to salvage your weekend!

i love fishing those types of creeks. Some have been killer and hold bass, others hold mostly sunnies but all of them are fun to fish, My best success has always been with the fly rod instead of conventional gear.

Got out to a lake in the NW metro on Sunday with my cousin. Water temps 44-46. Tried a number of presentations, but again (same lake as before), the only thing we could get bit on were Ned Rigs. Ended up with approx. 30 fish for the day with constant action throughout. Fished from 9am -5pm. Biggest was a mid 4lber and we also mangaed a couple 3s and plenty of fat 2lbers. Very fun day. Pic of the 4lber

Any increase in breakage stories can be attributed to internet usage. More stories doesn't necessarily equate to more breaks. In addition to that you have televised tournaments and YouTube showing explicitly how NOT to handle a rod (or a fish for that matter).

There are several clubs that I know of in sw La. though I can only think of the names of a couple, the Reel Fisherman and the Lake Area Bass Club. I belong to the latter and I can't speak for the other one but most of our tournaments are on Toledo Bend with an occasional one on Sam Rayburn. There used to be dog fight type tournaments on the Calcasieu on Wednesday pm if they are still around. Check out the ALBC (Assoc. of Louisiana Bass Clubs) for other clubs in the area.

After a few chilly nights, woke up to 46 degrees here in SE Georgia this morning and almost didn't head out. Was glad I did I after i pulled in a new PB. She weighed in at 8lbs 6oz. Getting closer and closer to double digits!

I bass fish to catch bass. If I catch a bunch of small ones I am happy or if I catch a big one I am happy. Really I am just happy to be out on the water.

Spots

Had a staycation this week. Mother Nature is bi-polar this time of year around here. I had days of fishing in 3 layers to days fishing in a t-shirt. River Smallmouth fishing was tough as the water temps have really dropped. I was finally able to figure that the crankbait is what they wanted. Here are some of the better catches.

Is this a spotted bass? When I caught it, it looked like a largemouth to me and was in an area where I was catching mostly largemouth. But after reviewing the picture, it looks alot more like a spot. I still suck at telling the difference.

After a slow start today i decided to go shallow in the creek and throw a lipless Crankbait around the pads and then it was game on. Here’s the two biggest of the day.

Just a couple from today’s outing, only had two hours to fish with 15-20 mph winds ina. Canoe.. funny thing is the swimjig destroyed it today. Caught about 15 with 10 being on the swimjig and the others the jackhammer !

My last good topwater fish, slurped down the popper! This time I was able to get her, da scale, with the weight all on the same pic. It’s a lot of fun when they’re chewin’, you only have one rod in your hand and it’s a topwater rod! Good fishing, JB

Well throat is feeling a little better anyway...

This is so true. My favorite guy Matt Allen catches a ton of fish but does not always handle a rod kindly. People now expect to be protected by warranty for their mistakes.

It is weird. I have a lot of confidence in their stuff, I lean more toward that brand when I want to buy new. I’ve almost always purchased their rods due to durability alone, above all else. I know some people who had issues with the rage line, I wonder how similar this newer mojo is to the older rage?

I'm afeared it isn't so much energy (though there's that too) but the pain that slows me down. : (

I use a 3000 series reel for fishing for steelhead and browns for the extra capacity when they make long runs. If you get too low on the spool, they drag doesn't work as well, and a really big fish does have the ability to spool a 2500 size reel. Otherwise, a 2500 is fine for bass fishing. Typically, a 1000 reel has only a single drag pad dog eared washer stack for drag. The larger models have a multi washer/pad stack.

I throw spy baits on a spinning rig - AVS63MLXF or AVS63MXF, because I can get better distance with spinning gear. For jerks, poppers and spooks, the difference is that the longer rod doesn't allow me to use a pure down twitch. XF is a must for fast recovery after the twitch. Slower rods just wobble, and slow down bite detection on the pause. The Medium and Medium-Light power aren't so stiff that you lose any steady pressure on treble hooked baits. The 6-2 has a shorter rear grip, making the part in front of the reel about an inch shorter than a 6-6 model. The shorter grip stays out of the way when making twitches. Here's the 6-2 in action:

Man, that's an ugly looking bass! ????? jj