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Caught quite a few over the last two days flippin, froggin and tossing a senko. Also got some bonus panfish. 4 year old loved that.

Caught a new PB yesterday - 3lbs 10oz. Took me two hours standing in the rain just to find the one fish, but I haven’t been catching much besides dinks and pickerel lately so I was over the moon when I landed her. I was hopping a little black and blue ZMan micro finesse jig with a TRD CrawZ trailer through the pads.

What a great weekend! We have had a month of rain and clouds with no sun, very depressing. This doesn't hold us back though! Last Friday, May 3rd, father and I went fishing on our favorite body of water. We only went for 4 hours because of other obligations....We got on the water and we were a little bummed at the water temp it was 47°f. We checked one of our secret holes and only managed to catch a few small ones. We decided to run the lake looking for the warmest water and managed to find 51°f water. It was game on!! For the next 3 hours we caught 31 bass mostly between 2#12oz and upper 3#. I caught the largest one at 4# 14oz and the day ended with our best 5 going 17#12oz.

Lucky our wives love us lol because we returned for a 3rd day. Funny thing is the sun finally showed itself however you could feel a high pressure and there was a halo around the sun. We wanted the sun so bad the previous two days and now we have it and the bass I think were in shock lol. The bite slowed down a lot even though the water temp jumped to 58°f!! The baits that worked the last two days stopped working. I finally figured a bite out and the ole swimbait saved the day. When we caught bass they were over 3 pounds we only caught 24 bass this day but managed to put our best 5 at 18# 04oz and the largest bass went 4# 06 oz. It was still a great day!!

Then we just had to return on Saturday, now the water temp on Friday only got up to 51.7°f and all bites came on jigs or Texas rigged craws. This day the water temp climbed to 53.7°f even though it remained cloudy all day with no sun. This day the hot lures were home made chatterbaits and Texas rigged craws. This was our best day. My very first cast landed a 5# 06oz bass!! The rest of the day was amazing. We boated 52 bass a lot of 3# plus and my Dad beat my lunker with a 5# 10oz bass and our best 5 totaled 21# 09oz!

WE weren’t expecting much this morning for a half day with tons of current and water in the high 50s. Still eating the little finesse worm, got a 19”, 18”, 17” and several 12-15” . And gar tacos for cinco de mayo!

Morning started out Flat calm with little to no active fish anywhere I checked. Afternoon ended fast & furious as a most welcome SW wind blew right on my favorite flat. The 48 degree water and bright sunshine, just needed the wind. About 30 minutes after it came up, a Lucky Craft 127 jerkbait in natural brown trout pattern worked over 6-8 ft of hard bottom was doing all the heavy lifting, including this perfectly shaped 5-2. Best of this day. A-Jay

Well as a co-angler I only take 5 set ups with me and it seems as though they are always changing. I think I have settled on a starting 5. They are all on Denali fission rods. I bought these rods to just "try" and would assume I would have already moved back to my Crucials, but these are still being used. Left to right Scorpion BFS XG on a 6'8" M, Curado 150 DC on a 6'10" MH, Scorpion 70 XG on a 7'2" MH, Core 50Mg7 on a 7'2" MH, Curado K on a 7'2" H

I put the newly purchased power washer to work this weekend. After about 5-6 hours I’m 2/3 done, looks a ton better.

We're real big on snakehead fishing here in SoFlo, so much so that LMB are becoming a secondary target. The last outing got us ten fish, three upwards of 9 pounds, two at 10+ pounds lost and one lost after it leaped out of the cooler after being on ice for nearly a half hour. We're heading out again tomorrow the 7th.

Not being a jerk at all. It may sound like a serious DUH! statement, but you can't catch them where they don't live. I have local guys ask me how I catch big fish as I'm fishing known big fish lakes, while they never leave the lakes that have very few bigger fish. I think a lot of these suggestions are good, but you're not shooting for an overly large fish here (no offense). If I needed to pick 2 baits that I was going to fish all summer to catch a 4lb bass, I'd be fishing a bladed jig and a flipping jig. Fish them around high percentage areas (points, boat ramps, docks near drop offs, weedlines), you'll run into her eventually.

Not wanting to be a jerk, but the best way to catch a PB, is to go to big fish lakes.

What are the biggest bass caught in the lakes you fish recently? While I agree fishing night in high pressured lakes increase your odds if the lakes have big bass and the water clarity should descent. I would put away everything except bigger worms and jigs focusing on areas with deep water access like major points and near the dam, swim beaches and docks with lighting like marinas. Tom

Go at night .

Made a pass through the Walmart sporting goods today and like usual I did not come out empty handed. The scale was $18.00 and a backup to an identical one I have owned for 3 years. The Creme lures are relatively new to the local Walmart.. They are $1.25 a pack I have used them all and they catch fish. The stickbait is somewhere between a Senko and a Yum Dinger. The creature bait is nearly identical to a Baby Brush Hog. The soft jerkbait is nearly identical to a super fluke. For $1.25 a pack it is hard to pass up.

I caught this skinny one yesterday morning around 10:30 in a private 40-acre lake west of Richmond. The kind of place that has a muddy bank for a ramp. Length was 22 3/4”, but it was just 5 pounds 15 ounces on my Rapala digital. Fought like crazy too and I was using a MH Conquest & 14# green Trilene XL. Went 12' left, 12' right, left. right, left again & then under the boat, then pulled away and jumped a couple of times , but never made it back into the pads. I was using a copper-bladed spinnerbait with multicolored-flake pinkish? skirt and a 4” curl tail grub in chartreuse silver flake. These War Eagle spinnerbaits are growing on me. My mentor isn’t laughing quite so much now about my color selection.

Flip by hand and run the hand up a couple inches to ensure the line is taunt on the spool. I had a good father?

What a great weekend! We have had a month of rain and clouds with no sun, very depressing. This doesn't hold us back though! Last Friday, May 3rd, father and I went fishing on our favorite body of water. We only went for 4 hours because of other obligations....We got on the water and were a little bummed at the water temp it was 47°f. We checked one of our secret holes and only managed to catch a few small ones. We decided to run the lake looking for the warmest water and managed to find 51°f water. It was game on!! For the next 3 hours we caught 31 bass mostly between 2#12oz and upper 3#. I caught the largest one at 4# 14oz and the day ended with our best 5 going 17#12oz. Then we just had to return on Saturday, now the water temp only got up to 51.7°f the day before and all bites came on jigs or Texas rigged craws. This day the water temp climbed to 53.7°f even though it remained cloudy all day with no sun. This day the hot lures were home made chatterbaits and Texas rigged craws. This was our best day my very first cast landed a 5# 06oz bass!! The rest of the day was amazing we boated 52 bass a lot of 3# plus and my Dad beat my lunker with a 5# 10oz bass and our best 5 totaled 21# 09oz! Lucky our wives love us lol because we returned for a 3rd day. Funny thing is the sun finally showed itself however you could feel a high pressure and there was a halo around the sun. We wanted the sun so bad the previous two days and now we have it and the bass I think were in shock lol. The bite slowed down a lot even though the water temp jumped to 58°f!! The baits that worked the last two days stopped working. I finally figured a bite out and the ole swimbait saved the day. When we caught bass they were over 3 pounds we only caught 24 bass this day but managed to put our best 5 at 18# 04oz and the largest bass went 4# 06 oz. It was still a great day!!

I recommend that you read High Percentage Fishing because it will help outline ten different things that will help you catch bigger fish. Interestingly, 80% of all fish 5lbs+ are caught on worms, so personally, i would go with a Senko or Ribbon tail however you like rigging it, and fish as much as possible In high percentage areas, and at high percentage times. Plus, if your fishing with a worm, your going to catch big fish and small fish, and everything in between. If you fish a 36 inch swim bait (sarcasm) like some have suggested, your not going to be catching nearly as many fish. So statistically its a no brainer, you can have fun catching lots of fish, and still have a great chance of catching a PB if you fish a worm.

The same reason I don't look like Brad Pitt. Every individual is different

Always rinse the slime off before eating...........

Modern rods are made from higher modulus graphite which provides a higher stiffness to weight ratio translating to improved sensitivity. The trade off is that they are intolerant of high sticking or rough handling which comprises the fibers. Avoid any motion that bends the tip beyond 90* to the butt, keep sinker and jigs secure from flapping and be overall conscious of handling and you’ll be much happier with them. Loose guides, seats or grips are another story. Those are QC issues.

Been looking forward to catching a trout on the lake, finally happened today. Thanks to unofficial "guide" @jbmaine for tips and pointers on this water. What a great day. (Edited to correct species!) Smallmouth = bonus.

If you're getting 5 fish per bait with a Keitech you're doing pretty good.

For what it's worth I have never caught big bass at night (darkness) on top water lures or swimbaits, dusk and dawn yes dark no. If the lakes are shallow and off color noisy top water lures may work in darkness, they don't where fish. Tom

Well, this one's done. Nice work guys ?

Paid my annual tithe to the Tackle Gods... Stella 2500HG Conquest 842s SJR The Conquest rod feels impossibly light. I weighed it compared to my NRX 852s, which already is absurdly light. NRX - 3.73oz Conquest - 3.39oz

PB Musky today !!!!!! A-Jay

Anglers heed warning.

Got out onto Lake Menderchuck just after 8am. Air temps in the high 20's but the sun was beaming. Wind came on late morning and kept me bundled up all day. Low 40's water temps saw me throwing a MB vision 110+1 and a SK KVD 300D all day. Scored a dozen beauty brown bass in the 2-4 lb class. Best fish was a 6-1 Beast of a Brown bass. She came at the end of the day and I was all smiles. Every bass came off the front of a flat just before a drop off in 8-10 ft. Sun & wind helped. Water was super clear making for favorable jerkbaiting action. This bite should get better next week. Can't wait. My PC croaked last week so the video will be delayed. I've got a sweet pic of that 6-1. I will add here tomorrow. My 2019 Season is off to a decent start. A-Jay

I guess I should disqualify myself from commenting but I just can't. I'll make it simple......Fish what you have confidence in. There are always 3 camps on the Senko subject. 1. Those who will only use the original. 2. Those that have confidence in another brand of knockoff and... 3. Those who buy whatever is on sale. Nothing wrong with any of the three. You can argue the pros and cons of each until you are blue in the face. You are not going to change any minds. We all know what camp I reside in. I have my reasons, actually lots of reasons but they are my reasons based on side by side tests, years of use and proven results. Everyone has their own reasons and that's fine.

Metanium MGL, duh

Fish at night, slow down and increase lure size...all have been said. I fish several, highly pressured, lakes/lagoons. Here in the NOLA Metro. The guys who regularly catch big fish 6-8lbs, are constantly moving from spot to spot. They are pitching Senko's on MH gear, into pockets of grass and putting lures into ugly looking spots. Personally, I have been having real good luck with 5" black w/blue flake Senko's. With a 5/0 offset and 3/8 bullet weight...Texas Rigged, attached to 15lbs Sufix832. Slow down...big bass in heavily pressured waters, are educated beasts.

Pat Cullen is one of the best trophy bass fishermen that has ever lived and he caught +1,100 bass over 10 pounds on buzz baits during the night. He fished in Georgia but his techniques will work well during the summer in shallow lakes. Swimbaits work well during the night but you need lots of patience to fish with these lures. Be patient, fish hard, and eventually you will catch a new personal best bass.

Make your own......I've done this and it's easy, fun and works great. I was throwing one today

Another point tonhit on is to fish the moat uncomfortable times of the year. For instance, super hot or very rainy may run fair weather fishermen and women off where you could have the whole place to yourself.

Nice trout and smallmouth bass.

Started out with senkos but started getting expensive so went to yum dingers and have not looked back. With senkos at 8.99 and dinkers at 2.99 its a no brainer. Went to day used dinger wacky rigged and only used 2. caught maybe 20 bass. my key is if use weight let them drop to bottom and the and work it back. just got new dobyns 704 and sensitivity with the dingers was fantastic

Super Glue on knots, only. Mainly from braid to fluorocarbon. Use Mend-It or Soft Bait Glue on your plastics.

depends on area,,, look at local conditions. In m area the tourny guys pound snot out of the waters. They seem to always be prefishing a tourny,,, so launch at dawn and are gone by 1 or 2,,, I used to launch at 2 fish till dark did way better. That or you can do what I did.. Drive to FL Rodman reservoir and hire a guide

Bump it up to the Mojo Bass over the X IMO.

Finally, got the boat out for the first time this year, the main lake was only 37 deg with skims of ice in a few spots, but we found a small river coming into a shallow bay that was 48 deg and loaded with small pike and smallmouth. No big girls, but it was still a last to have the rods bent a bit and enjoy some sunny weather. Only gonna get better from here on.

$6 luggage scale. Been recommended by many on here. Does a great job. More reliable and accurate than a $60 scale I bought.

One for my fellow LEO members, or Star Wars nerds, or both.

I "might" have a problem.

We had a crazy warm front yesterday with Temps hitting 81! That warmed the lake to around 50-51 degrees and boy did it pay off. Had a SW wind turn into NW only blowing around 5-8 mph all day. It was a wonderful day to be out. Caught about 50 smallmouth all day. Here are a few of them, oh and let’s play a game.... see if you can spot the swimbait... I think I found what they wanted.

My BIL caught a 40" Northern on a 1/2oz Dark Sleeper in Shiaruo (white/chartreuse) and I caught this little football roughly 10 minutes later on a 1oz in Wakasagi; both dragging and hopping on bottom. They catch more than just fisherman.