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Was glad to get out today here in west central Indiana. Have had freezing temps and ice on ponds, but decided to get out and fish with it finally getting up to 44 degrees. Was not expecting much, but landing this beaut. Caught on a Rapala X Rap 7 jerkbait.

Video still from 10 years ago. This girl was pulling drag when my line snapped. (Never use a rubber band to peg your weight.) It felt like it could have been a new PB for me and I dream about it sometimes. I was using a 9" Blackberry Jelly Worm.

Another beautiful day chasing pheasants around in the sunshine.

My haunting is a little different; I caught the fish. Let me explain. This was 36 years ago, I was 13. We had just moved to Maine from south Texas so I was used to fishing in saltwater. I remember I was so excited to start fishing freshwater as I had never caught a bass before. I had watched shows, read magazines etc...and that bass was just so attractive to me. We lived just up the road from where a small river joins a larger one with a railroad trestle crossing at the junction of the two rivers. I had already had my Mom take me to the local shop and I had bought some spinnerbaits, Mepps spinners and a few other things to get me started. So after school one day I walked down to that trestle, climbed down the bank and see this huge tree extending out from the shoreline. It was in a small cove and, because of the way the bank wrapped around, I was able to run a bait down the length of the tree. I had heard about some smallmouth in this river and had already read about the smallmouth's attraction to chartreuse. So I tied on a chartreuse spinnerbait tipped with a white curly tailed grub; man, I can still see that bait today. And I still remember, very clearly, when I cast that bait beside the tree; it was a perfect cast and I can still replay this whole event in my mind. The spinnerbait fluttering slowly through the murky, stained water, when it happened. I didn't see the fish as she was the same, brown color as the water; what I did see, though, is the color of my bright spinnerbait get thrown about 2 feet off it's path and the feel of a heavy fish on my line. After being scared close to death of the fish getting me in the tree, I was able to pull her to shore, get a hand on her and pull her to me. I still remember being hesitant to "lip" this fish , as I had seen done on TV and in the magazines. Anyway, I did it. So, you ask why does this fish haunt me. I'm fully aware of misconception. I know this was many years ago. I was a very small kid and I know how memory deceives us. ***Disclaimer=I wish I had released her now; but, as a kid with my first bass, I wanted to show my Dad this monster so that's what I did; I was 13*** As I walked home with this giant hanging off my hand, I literally had to stop and rest, re-adjust my grip, and keep hoisting this bass up higher to my waist to keep it from dragging on the ground. It was that big. Let me say that I'm 100% positive it was a smallmouth. And why this fish haunts me, still today, is the fish went into the freezer, never weighed, and finally buried under a rhododendron.... I've caught hundreds and hundreds of smallies from that day till now; have seen pics from my friends of big smallies; have seen pics of an 8 pounder, which is the Maine state record, and again, am aware of misconception, but that fish I dragged home that day is remembered as being bigger than all of those others. I've never really shared this story with anyone as I don't want to sounds as though I've seen Bigfoot, but I can't stop thinking whether that was a state record or not. <<<sitting in a circle of chairs, with a therapist off to the side, OP says, "Hi everyone. I'm SmokinAl; thank you for letting me tell you my story">>>

Hey Coach! Enjoying the first feel of winter in Bamaland? My "go to winter baits" consist of hot chocolate, coffee cake and coffee, chips, a warm quilt and a comfortable chair to watch football and other sports on TV. Being from south Louisiana means that no matter where I am, when the temperature goes below 70* it is cold outside and it is time to reorganize my tackle and baits and enjoy the "great inside."

6 hours in and it's awesome \

Snow is falling and chili is on 3 hours in, a few more to go

I’ve been pretty depressed lately because I’ve been too busy with training/work to get out fishing much. On top of that, the lake near my house that just really started producing this year is closed and being drained due to zebra mussels. So now, when I do get a small window of time to fish I can’t. Additionally, its winter in Nebraska and the water about to get hard. Since the lake by my house is being drained, I thought I’d try to make the best of it. I have lost a dozen or so crankbaits in that lake due to some landscape mat-like material they put around the jetties. Today, since the lake was really drawn I went to go see if I could find any of them. Specifically, I was looking for a 6th Sense Flat 75 in the original Wild Lava Craw pattern that is no longer available. Long story short, I found it and about 100 other baits including a Deps 175, some megabass jerkbaits and some original wiggle warts! Now I need your help restoring them. I plan to replace the hooks on all of them and the split rings on most. However, I need help figuring out the best way to clean them up. So, I am asking for tips on how to restore these baits. Share your experience down below. Thanks!

I rowed the flat bottom Jon boat to the mouth of a small cove. Picked up my casting rod, and cast an 8" Mann's Jelly Worm to a bank. Letting the worm sink to the bottom, I gave it one slow lift. As it was sinking, I felt a very light tap, quickly took up slack and set the hook. For a few quick seconds, I felt the weight of a large bass- then nothing. This was probably 15 yrs ago. For some reason this fish has haunted me. I've caught and released many fish since that day, and many I can't remember. But this one fish is etched in my mind. Maybe it's the scenario, who your fishing with, the bait, strike, or season. I missed this bass in a classic scene. Overcast sky, stump filled cove, and fishing with a Texas rig worm. Why do certain fish haunt you? If your haunted by a big bass, I'd like to hear about it. I daydream about this fish pretty often. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Friday I threw a huge soft plastic shad swimbait on an Owner 10 ot belly hook with underspin. Landed this Virginia stud!!

Saw this on the wall when I went to pic up my boat friday......

I was fishing from bank in backwaters off the Mississippi that is protected by a levee. I have caught many big bass here but this one haunts me because it appeared to be the biggest of the bunch, maybe an 8 to 9 lb bass . There was a log laying flat about thirty foot out . I cast a jig and pork frog on the other side of it . This was many years ago and the equipment we used was not as good as todays . I had a 5,6" lightning rod with an Abu 4600C spooled with 14 lb Stren . I bounced the jig on the other side of the log and sensed a heavy feeling . I reared back hard and felt a heavy fish . There was only one way to land it and that was to turn the girl upward and get her to jump . I put the pressure on and the fish jumped just as planned , at that moment I pulled it over the log and got a good look at her then the lure came out . That was a heart breaker .

My grandson is reading this thread & here's his answer. Lethal Weapon

Sitting in Montana’s waiting for lunch, of course my kid and my wife had to start colouring on the paper table cloth. This took her all of about 2 minutes. This is is what it’s like being married to an artist.

The coveted 50lb surf-caught striped bass. I grew up surf fishing for stripers. Nov 30, 2015, the season was pretty much over. A few very big fish lazily making their way south to the spawning grounds. My buddy and I hit a gnarly boulder-strewn point, deep water, strong current. It was about 35 degrees, and this was the very last trip of my 2015 striper season. With the north wind at my back, I threw my 3oz spook as far as I could. Shortly after I began my retrieve, the water opened up to this giant hole. I saw the massive body and tail roll over the top of my plug. The line came tight, I set the hook. The fish was taking drag in short fast bursts as she followed the heavy tide. She would pause and I felt very heavy head shakes. I couldn't get any line on this fish. I finally palmed the spool of my reel and leaned back in hope of turning her head around. Suddenly the line went slack and my heart sunk to my toes. She was gone. I pulled the hooks. No doubt in my mind that fish went over 50lbs. She was massive. This fish is one of many that haunt me to this day. Sadly, I replay this memory in my head almost every single day.

I was bed fishing from the bank when I seen a male and female on a bed female looked like an 8 pounder ? I threw my orange arky jig and chigger craw trailer at the bed and quickly nabbed the male about a three pound fish I released him and gave them about an hour to forget about me wile I walked the shoreline. When I return I snuck up behind the female I dropped my jig right on top of her head no kidding it smacked her right on the dome and she inhaled my jig and I set that hook hard she ran hard and I tightened my drag hard, straight for the trees she went wrapping herself around a log and it happened, snap! My line snapped on me. This was about 7 years ago still to this day I feel the disappointment of missing this fish.

Fishin a crankbait along a bluff wall, all of a sudden my rod loaded up, the weight was more than I’ve ever felt then it just snapped. A couple of mins later my crank floated up with a large portion of a fin on it. Still have no clue what hit me that day.

Multispecies day Friday. Also had a walleye, some wiper, and some drum that weren't photographed.

No written rules in fishing :). You can use weightless or as heavy as you want, it's all about what presentation you are going for. Generally I use a 1/8 oz weight with light Texas rigged Zoom trick worms for a slower fall and a 1/4 oz weight with larger creature baits like brush hogs or pit boss's to keep bottom contact. If I was fishing deeper or in heavy current then I would go heavier. Senkos I always fish weightless.

I believe it's a Railblazer mount, I think it would mount on a canoe pretty easy. There's tons of different mounting options for those camera arms.

Another good and bad day today caught two small crappies and missed a lot of bites. There were a lot of activities of shads which should be good, the bad thing was the float and stick light I prepared didn't work. The float was too small and sinked, the stick light didn't work either and by the time the bite get hot, then this guy played with his remote control boat (the one that pretty big, very fast and make lot of noise) pretty close to where I fish. At least I know where they are now.

Found a 20% off sale I couldn't resist last weekend. Goal is to stock up on BF and Christmas sales and then be done with tackle until next BF... but we know how that usually works out. ?

True Grit.................no, probably One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

As I age my night vision is getting pretty poor! I'm beginning to think I should be throwing all night lures with a spinning rig. oe

Awesome picture from a friend on Facebook ?

Crappie Sliders...lol

had a break in the cold weather and decided to head to the local power plant lake, to try out my new Kastking speed demon pro jerkbait rod. Put a tatula ct on it and threw a yozuri jerkbait around for 4 hours. The combination worked great. caught several white bass and wipers on the upper hot side of the lake. water temp was 54 degrees. went to the cold lower end of the lake and caught these 2 bass. water temp was 49 degrees. No monsters, but still gave the new rod a decent workout. felt good to get out on the water after a week of unseasonably cold weather.

To borrow from Skeeter Boats Eat, Sleep, Fish! Bass fishing aint a hobby to me! I don't care if I'm going to the bayou across the street with my grandson or fishing the Bassmaster Classic, I know one way to fish & one way only. Some say "I like relaxing fun fishing", this is fun to me!

Replenished the south of the border Swimbait stash ~ Not pictured - 2 bottles of Mend-It (gotta have it) Super sweet color selection ! A-Jay

Had a fun order turn up today from hookup tackle. Really have been wanting to see, none the less try, a Vision 110 +2 for a while. Then I had to make sure I got to free shipping and it just spiraled out of control from there... I took a couple pictures comparing the 110, 110 +1, and 110 +2. You can see the bill is quite a bit larger. Also the body doesn't taper as severly. A final observation would be that it has significantly more stout hooks compared to the type katsuage trebles. I also took a picture of the 110 LBO compared to a 110 FX. The weight transfer system can be see a bit through the paint, although it is more obvious in the Dive ELBO. Also excited to try these lures. Reminds me a bit of the Jackall Rerange? Too bad soft ice season is almost over here in MI!

Was feeling poorly all day today. Got home from church and thought about fishing but just didnt feel up to it.About 45 min. before dark I couldnt take it any more and decided to fish off the dock. Caught some bream, a catfish, and caught some nice bait sized 'gills. And the end result was this 5 pound, 12 oz. fish. She was just a hair under 24 inch.

white vinegar helps clean the body.

Already on it. Scanning it with a drone weekly.

Well, if we're allowed to go to the back of the movie rental store, how about The Happy Hooker...

Brent, your rods/reels and tackle are fine. Keep throwing what's working for you, and try a few other things too. Much of bass fishing is location, then putting together the baits that will catch them on any given day. Keep fishing as much as you can, and good luck

A friend of mine's new PB ~ 12.23 lbs Just obscene. ? A-Jay

I only fished Don Pedro one time during a tournament that we won! We started off and the OB stalled just after getting on plane so I decided to fish near the marina and 1st major point instead of trying to fix the engine. If I ever fish Don Pedro again it would be near the dam and 1st major point this time of year. All our bass were caught on brown/purple jigs on clay to rock transitions. Good luck, Tom

I have a 6’10 Powell inferno rod that I love and it does not break the bank

The Money Pit. Spent a ton but it's been worth every cent. love bass fishn!

My grandfather.

Fishing here has been sllllllllooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww for me this fall. A turd ton of rain has literally flooded and turned over almost every lake that’s within 6 hours of here. We went from late summer fishing to almost winter fishing in a week. After being skunked or nearly skunked on the last few trips I did manage to catch 5 over the weekend. My biggest was around 3.5. One dink on a squarebill, the rest on Texas rigged soft plastics dragging bottom super slow. Feelin the crunch now, seems like the rest of this year is flying by, and running out of time to get on some more big girls before true winter hits.

Went out on Saturday again since I already filled my deer tag, and taking a week off before going after my elk. It was 29 degrees outside and snowing. Water temp was in the low 40s around the entire pond. So you can imagine how suprised I was when I found big females feeding up in 1 foot of water and aggressively taking my jerkbait. Also ended up with this bonus rainbow Quite possibly one of the best Novembers I've ever had fishing.

Siebert order came in:

For the record. I wasn't Joking. @riverbasser knows what I'm talking about.

All of you are missing out. I have been texas rigging a whopper plopper.

1. Hand Grenade 2. Ultrasonic Electro Fisher 3. Seine

You didn't get the memo? That's out. We are now wacky rigging five 10" power worms on under spin heads with an umbrella rig.