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After three days of hard fishing we finally found some better fish down here in Orlando fishing canals. The first one we tried was real shallow and covered in fish, but they were all small. The second was deep and had much better quality. My brother caught a 19" and I got a 21" and another between 18-19". I think my scale is broken (It's a cheap H20 one) because according to it the big fish only weighed 4-7. I could see a 21" bass weighing that if really skinny, but this one was just average. According to the length/girth calculator on here it was 5.8. I've caught a 21.5" that was 6-12 (that was a fatty), so I'm fairly certain my scale is messed up and my fish was probably low 5's.

I basically had 2 different days today. I caught 11 bass between 6:45 and 10 am. None between 10 and 3. I also hooked 2 longnose Gar. The first was small, maybe 18 inches long. It was hooked in it's toothy mouth. It jumped a couple times, more than it's body length out of the water. I got it up to the boat and was trying to decide how to deal with it, and it got off. I caught a 14 inch Bass the cast before the first Gar. So, I came up with a Gar plan. I decided if I hooked any more I'd get them up next to the boat, take their picture then try to shake it off. The next cast I hooked a decent sized Gar in the back. It pulled like a tug boat. It didn't jump, probably because it was hooked in the tail. I got it next to the boat but it got loose before I got a picture. I'm guessing it was 30 inches long, but stuff looks big in the water. It rained a BUNCH Thursday and Friday morning. The South Fork River had a flood warning. (One of the main tributaries). The lake was really muddy, with stuff floating everywhere. I never got over 10mph. There was high dollar bass boats zipping through the muck. The sound of the stuff hitting their hulls sounded like firecrackers going off. I caught all of my Bass in the middle third of one creek. It wasn't as muddy or debris filled. After I had fished it out I went to several other creeks but they were already "blown out"

First couple nice fish on a glide bait yesterday evening and this afternoon and then a nice chunky fish on the Stunna before sons soccer game. Tight lines folks ???

Bigzzzz……… dragged a big live gizzard to no avail, they were spawning all over the banks but nothing chasing them

I don't usually get that excited over a 4 pounder, but we'd been fishing for 3 days without catching a single bass that would break 2lbs, so we were pretty ecstatic about finally getting a decent one lol

It rained a bunch overnight last night. It was still raining when I left the house this morning but it had stopped by the time I got to the lake. Lake is still muddy and full of debris. I managed to find a few spots that weren't that bad. I caught 6 between 8 and 11AM. 5 spots and 1 Largemouth, all between 14 and 16 inches. I was going to go down to the dam and see if the mudline had made it all the way down there but the weather changed. It was strange. The wind was from the North, but there was a BIG BLACK cloud coming from the South. I've said before, I respect lightning. I've got an app on my phone that detects lightning, and how far away it is. I got a notice that lightning was 50 miles away, to the South. I decided instead of going South to the dam I'd stay where I was, try to catch one more, then leave. (I like to catch a bass on my last cast when possible. It leave me pumped for the next trip) I caught spot on my next cast. I ran into a storm a few minutes after loading up and heading home.

I got 3rd place overall in the tournament today. 3 fish Limit tournament. I had 8.14 lbs. Winner was 9.5, second 8.75. I also got second place big bass at 5.65lbs. I lost two others between 4 and 5 pounds but that’s the way It goes I guess.

Hi everyone. Heads up, I’ll be doing an Instagram live talk @DaveMillerFishing. Tonight a little after 7pm et. He’s doing a recap of the BFL Chesapeake tx and I’ll be with him right after. It’s a chance to put a face with the name and see what we do if you don’t know. Hope to see you all there.

This weekends haul…

^ @LrgmouthShad skipping a jig

Constant Bearing And Decreasing Range kills. Collision Course with a Crossing Boat? How to Know Here are a couple of ways to manage the chronic headache of 'constant bearing, decreasing range.’ The bearings of these two boats aren’t changing as their distance apart decreases. They’re converging on a single collision point. The give-way boat should take action to avoid the stand-on boat, and make the action obvious so there’s no doubt in the mind of the stand-on helmsman. How to tell if you’re on a collision course in a crossing situation. For people new to boats, or who don’t have much experience at the helm, it can be a bit alarming that boats on the open water are allowed to scamper around with no traffic lanes, no stop signs, and no traffic lights. The Rules of the Road are there for a reason, and anyone at the helm of a boat should know them. However, knowing them and knowing how to gauge situations and act on them are different things. One of the most vexing problems for new boaters is the crossing situation, and knowing how to judge who’s going to cross whom. If it’s not obvious, then it usually comes down to the concept of “constant bearing, decreasing range,” which is the perfect definition of a collision course. Here’s how to tell: 1. Hold your course. 2. Take a bearing on the other boat, either by sighting across an open compass or with a hand-bearing compass. 3. A little while later, take the bearing again. 4. If the second bearing is the same as the first, your courses are converging on a single point. It will be a collision or a close call. 5. If you’re the give-way vessel, start altering your course sooner than later, so the other boat knows what you’re up to. If he’s the give-way vessel, watch him like a hawk and be prepared to avoid him. Most people on the water don’t appear to know the right-of-way rules. 6. If the bearing is changing, you won’t collide. The faster the bearing changes, the farther apart you’ll be when you cross. But wait, there’s more. If you can see land behind the boat you’re converging with, you can gauge the danger of a collision without compass bearings. Some people call this concept “gaining land” or “making land.” 1. Again, hold your own course steady. 2. Watch a feature of the distant land near the bow of the crossing boat, and keep watching. 3. If that land feature disappears behind his bow, he’s gaining land on you, and will cross you. The faster the land disappears behind him, the more distance he’ll cross you by. 4. If the land feature draws ahead of his bow, as if he’s falling behind on the land from your perspective, then you’re gaining land on him, and will cross him. 5. If the land feature stays right where it was on his bow when you first started looking at it, then you’re on a potential collision course. See point five above. Radar, AIS, and other electronics can help you gauge range and bearing to other vessels, but they all require you to take your eyes off the water and look at them. In normal boating situations in decent visibility, and especially if there are a lot of boats milling around, your eyes, your compass, and fixed references will serve you better. Stay Safe A-Jay

Boat on the left was the “Give Way” vessel per USCG rules. They should have received a citation. Although not a factor in this accident a lot boat collisions happen because operators don’t know the proper avoidance procedures which often times result in them turning into each other, sometimes even after multiple corrections. Guiding on a very busy recreational lake, I was given some advice by an old experienced guide. He told me it doesn’t matter if you are right if you are dead. When approaching another boat always assume they do not know the proper avoidance techniques and make your move to the most open water regardless if it is the proper move but make it in an exaggerated maneuver. Show them the side of your boat and what direction you are going. It has served me well over the years.

This little dude and a few of his friends were kind enough to help to break in my first bfs setup, they fight like the devil for their size. I think I’m going to like this bfs thing.

Quick trip before the line of storms hit. Slow bite - may be water clarity combined with my pressure, or water level. The cold nights haven’t helped either.

Was fishing lilly pads in 3ft of water, throwing a Spinnerbait. This was an unbelievable fight, thinking 10lb LM. All my Striper buddy's say troll in deep clear water.

Get it fixed before permanent nerve damage occurs, it doesn’t heal itself! Tom

Theres always going to be more than one lure that works in whatever cover or contours being fished . So start with one and adjust from there . I like spinnerbaits a lot, so they get called upon often but another angler may prefer chatterbaits in the same area. Snag resistance plays a big role in what I initially throw..

This thread is still going on after I gave the most intellectual response yet easy to understand. I'll repeat, " if the cows are lying down, don't go fishing". ?

Mine get's stupid when the batteries get low. Sometimes it's low, sometimes it's high. The 11 pound Blue Catfish I caught a couple weeks ago weighed 19 pounds on my digital scale. I knew it wasn't 19 pounds so I weighed it on my mechanical scale. When I got home the batteries were so dead it wouldn't power up. With fresh batteries my 10 pound weight was 9 pounds 15 ounces. Nice Bass @Micaiah Lindquist regardless of what it weighed, or what your scale said it weighed.

The O"s split a doubleheader today. Grayson Rodriguez the highly touted rookie got the win in game 2. He struckout 9 batters in 5 innings.

I caught a Michigan Master Angler crappie today! He was really close to 15 inches, and the master angler requirement is 14 inches. I also caught a small bass that wanted the Vision 110.

Went hunting for a jerkbait rod today, stuck with what I know and grabbed another 6’ 9” Fuego Medium Regular paired it with a 6.3.1 w 12 Daiwa J-Fluoro. The 7.3.1 Fuego CT will go on my topwater rod which is also a 6’ 9” Fuego. I’ve read really good things about these Spro Little John Deep Divers, going to work it into the rotation with the Duo G87 15A, Berkely Dredger and Money Badger. The Crazy Flappers are for Bifle head jigs, footballs jigs and t-rig. After the last few days, my wallet is crying Uncle.

I got out for a few hours today. The weather cooperated good enough in my book. The bass were not in the mood today really, it has been cool lately that doesn’t help. The pike were definitely active though, but that’s normal. I started off the day with the experiment that I had planned, I wanted to try different black and blue craws and baits to see what ones my local fish prefer. I started with a black and blue bandito bug on a 3/0 owner jig rig hook. Caught a pike or two on it and no bass, switched to a rage craw same color rattle version and got one more pike. I then decided that it was time to go big or go home, I went big. Well not really but I don’t know of many people that throw swim baits around here. The lure was a jackal gantral jr in rt carp color, this pond has a lot of carp in it so I figured that they might be munching on them also. Probably 10-15 cast later I started working parallel to a old fallen tree that’s next to a old submerged stump. I caught my first and only bass of the day, not big but weighed 2.5lbs. I caught one more pike on the gantral and he destroyed my leader. I also went in the cold water shirtless to get my gantral off the old stump, sorry for the shirtless pictures lol. I then switched to a mini max black and blue with a mini zako in electric shad. Caught 3 more pike on it in 15 minutes. The odd part was that the biggest pike of the day came in with a hitchhiker a lamprey, it flopped of him on the bank and I disposed of the parasite. I then tied a jig on without a leader and had a pike destroyer it at the bank got him onto shore he bit through my line and then I removed the jig and he was back on his way and I still had my jig. I fished a little bit longer but it went dead, I had a pike on briefly with a sleeper gill but I didn’t get a good enough hook set so that one got a early release. All in all it was a good day, the experiment will pick up when the bass want to play again and I have the time.

Thanks for the advice everyone. First time today with the new setup

Spent two days this week checking out the status of the crappie spawn in a local reservoir. Ended up with about 140 fish over the two afternoons. Fish are just hitting the spawning grounds here, but this burst of cooler, wet weather has most holding just outside the spawning areas in 4’-8’ of water. Next good warm spell should start the fireworks ?

I want to post up my early season, at least the parts of it that y'all haven't seen. Not a lot of fish, but good quality. I've spent just about as much time graphing as I have fishing. Pic 1 is a fish I caught in Missouri before I left. Pics 2-4 show my best of the season so far. Looks like I need to break up the photos a little because of lacking storage. Anyways, Pic 5 will be another one in Texas, Pics 6-8 will be another one. All the Texan fish were on the same day.

Had a small window open up in my day and had to take advantage of the great weather and active fish. Didn't come across any big girls, but caught quite a few of these fellas. Wacky senko was the ticket when it was flat calm. Spinnerbait did the job when the wind picked up. These teeth are wearing out my thumbs, but it's a nice problem to have. ?

My bass club members were complaining about the cost of fuel when towing our boats to our club tournament destinations far, far away from Richmond Virginia. So what did they decide to do? They voted to not fish Buggs Island and continue down I-85 to Falls Lake outside of Wake Forest, about an additional 60 miles. Makes sense to me. 11 guys pulling six boats traveled past South Hill past Buggs Island and on to Wake Forest on Friday, April 22nd for a two day tournament on Falls Lake, a body of water no one had ever fished before. Saturday, April 22nd had rain and mist on the windy lake at blast off time. One of the six boats had an engine problem so the nonboater changed boats and got set up in a Triton. The guy with the motor problem fished around the ramp on Saturday and came home on Sunday, missing the second day of the tournament. And the guys agreed to fish close to each other in case there was an accident or someone needed help until the rain, wind, and foggy conditions ended around noon. So what happened at blast off? Everyone went their own way as fast as they could. The boat in question (a Triton went right and was about 11 miles from the ramp when the accident occured. Here is the description of what happened from the nonboater: We left the ramp in the Triton and stayed as close to the ramp as possible but we could not wait to hit the places where we caught bass on the Friday practice day so we took off on our own. About 11 miles down lake we were looking for a creek by a bridge to our right when out of nowhere came a white bass boat that was running to meet us at full speed as we looked for the creek to our right. The white boat did not have his running lights on and was traveling about 30 to 35 miles per hour. He did not see us until he was on top of us as our boater turned the steering wheel as far and as fast as he could to the right to try to avoid the impact. The white boat held its course and lucky for my bass club guys, hit the Triton on the passenger side, tearing off the first layer of thin metal and gouging a hole in the side of the boat. Lucky for the two guys that the Triton did not sink on impact and was still usable. The nonboater was sitting right where the white boat struck the Triton with such a strong impact that two rods were broken, three reels damaged, and the nonboater thrown to the floor where he incurred some bruises and cuts. Had the Triton's driver not swerved to the right the white boat would have skipped over the gunnal and into the passenger and driver's seats, seriously injuring or killing the two guys . North Carolina game wardens came to the accident scene, took photos; statements; confirmed the injuries; and noted the destroyed tackle. After about two hours they left as the boater told them that he could make it back the 11 miles to the ramp. Being much smarter than the Triton boat owner, they traveled with the Triton back to the ramp. The game wardens knew the owner and operator of the white boat as he fished Falls Lake often. No one got a ticket as far as the owner and passenger knew. The damaged Triton was trailed and towed back to Richmond where the insurance company is deciding to repair the damages or calling the damage a constructive total loss which is too great of damage and the adjuter will total the Triton. This could have been an awful accident with bodily injuries and property damage on a large lake in decent weather. Boat owner is waiting to hear from his insurance carrier and the nonboater is trying to see how he can collect between $1,500 to $2,000 of rods, reels, and other tackle that was damaged or destroyed when the white boat hit the Triton. Story just goes to highlight that you have to be diligent when on the water and look out for problems before they occur.

What i look for in a heavy cover jig be it grass or wood. Look at the hook eye in relationship to the hook point, it almost like a Texas Rig, straight in line. The head is wider than it is tall so it doesn't fall over when sitting on the bottom. There are only 3 jigs I throw & all for the same reason, the eye in relationship to the point. Hack Attack Fluorocarbon Oldham's EyeMax Siebert Outdoors Supreme Grass The only reason I'm throwing a Fluorocarbon more is availability, sometimes I can't wait far an order to come in. With the Texas Rigged Jig I ain't trying to emulate a jig, I'm changing profile & rate of fall.

Hey man, very sorry to hear you’re going through this. I can offer you a story of what I did to help heal my shoulder to try to help, but I understand your injury and mine are certainly not exactly the same. Nonetheless, maybe you can find something useful. I would first try to see if you can do without surgery. That means actively trying to heal your shoulder, putting down both the rod and the paddle. I, like you, and like other bassresource members, tried to help my shoulder while still fishing by making some adjustments to how I fished, including changing how I cast. It’s a losing battle, in my opinion. Take a break for a while, get a diagnosis from a doctor if you do not yet have one, and after a period of rest, seek out professional or DIY physical therapy. PT will hurt some, but as long as you are not overdoing it and it is “good” pain, you should see progress. If PT fails, and I’m talking about after months of effort, someone else can offer better advice than me. I took a break from fishing for maybe a couple or few months and got so fed up with it that I started getting more aggressive with PT. Turns out, by that point, PT is all I needed. My pain steadily lessened and my strength steadily improved. I just got back from fishing for over 8 hours, power fishing for most of it, even crankbaiting with a heavier stick. I have zero pain. Sincerely hope you are able to make a recovery Edit add-on: Also, for context, before my recovery, I had pain whenever I brushed my teeth or pushed a shopping cart, as examples. It was really bad for while

Trail and error until something works. Tom

I wonder if Mike would ever do Arkie style with horizontal line tie jig hooks.....that's kinda the magic combo for wood for me.

Structure, baitfish, season, light intensity, wind, water clarity, water temp. Incomplete examples of personal opinions. Lipless - Stained water, grass that easy to rip (not throwing a lipless in something like tobacco cabbage, but milfoil/coontail allows for grass ripping trebles. Rock/hard bottom. Times of spring and fall when keyed in on small baitfish and/or chatterbait/spinnerbait is not getting bit in the right conditions. Blade Bait - Some gin clear waters I fish, there's windy/low light situations where a lipless is far less effective for me than a blade bait. Usually just play it safe with a spinnerbait or swim jig around wood. Spinnerbait plays more for me in slightly colder water than a chatterbait. Personally do not like using squarebills unless fishing hard bottom/rock.

I have Luke so it appears I selected the winner two derbies in a row .Too bad the rest of my team didnt contribute

Not sure the weedguard size I can hit it with the calipers to see. The reason for the bend in the weedguard is two fold. First the first thing that pokes the fish is the hook, second is that the weedguard doesn't blind the fish. Allen

You learn something new everyday. Loons can’t walk.

Nice ones! That bigger fish is over 5lb with almost certainty. Get a 10lb barbell weight to periodically check your scale. I've had two digital fishing scales, and they always weigh it at 10lbs.

I found a Tactical 7'3 MH for $79.99 at my local Scheels and, so far, love it for chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and anything similar. I have a 16 Zillion SV TW on it with 15# Invizx.

Tinnitus? I recently had my hearing tested. I thought it was bad, but the doc said I’m doing fine. She said I barely lost anything. The slight ringing, yea. Mine comes and goes. I notice it when I’m in a really quiet setting. First time I was in a deer stand. Scared me. I wear ear plugs 100% now. I’m not willing to let it get worse. Good luck.

My day yesterday was utterly unlike A-Jay's casual day of catching trophies. I fished a new bog. It was 450 acres. I fished it midday after two mornings of fishing in the thirties. To launch my canoe, I had to enter negotiations with some boulders. They agreed to not break my neck, legs, and back if I agreed to slow the launching. I paddled miles and even though it was a bird refuge, I only saw a few eagles and ducks. The wind kept changing directions like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. It came out of thisa way and then out of thatta way. It literally came from all four cardinal directions and the ordinal directions too. Most of the bog was merely one to three feet deep. I spooked a lot of fish in the one-foot depth, but could. not. catch. them. I tried: 1. a bluegill swimbait 2. a Rage Swimmer retrieved fast in the shallows and slower in the rare 5'-6' water 3. a Mepps spinner 4. a wacky-hooked Senko 5. a jerkbait 6. a Senko floater on a Shakey jighead 7. three colors of Senko floaters fished weightless, which looked great in the water and coasted over the weeds, but didn't elicit a strike 8. a Whopper Plopper Yeah, I fished a Whopper Plopper out of desperation and it caught my only bass. So, mostly it was five hours of paddling in an ever-shifting wind, which is something I do as well as A-Jay casually catches trophies. On the plus side, it was a beautiful bog, with zero shoreline homes and islands and bays every which way, so many that I could lose my bearings, so I kept my head swiveling like the wind. I was also, like usual, the only one on the water. So, I appeal to the Bass Resource Brain Trust: I spooked scores of fish in the shallows. The bog has largemouth, pickerel, pumpkinseed, and yellow perch. Some of the swirls seemed to be made by catchable fish and I was fishing right where those fish were located, but could only provoke three strikes in five hours. How would you have fished that bog, with zombie weeds everywhere and some algae blooming? There was a lot of wood, even far from shore, and I peppered that without luck. I considered going to a fluke, but my weightless Senko looked like a fluke in the water.

I'm down in Orlando at the moment. My brother and I have fishing in the resort lake and some of the surrounding canals and ponds the past couple of days. Been catching a fair number of small to medium fish, but just can't seem to land any bigger ones. I've lost a couple that were probably 18-20". Lost of 12-16" fish. My brother got one 17.5", but we're blanking on the big ones. I'm open to any suggestions. I manage to catch my first tilapia today though. 18". I think that's a pretty big one but I really have no idea.

Biggest of the young season so far. 4.7# on a black and blue Jackhammer.

Tough act to follow, but somebody has to bite the bullet ? Big fish on big bait, little fish on little bait.

Went for a casual mid-day outing today. Fun was had. Fish Hard A-Jay

Managed to snag some time to go fish the pond today for a couple of hours. Caught a catfish on a chatter bait in black/blue with a matching craw trailer and then after moving to the other side of the pier I caught a small LM on the same lure. Might have been a pound and a half maybe but fought like a 3 pounder. ?

Got this guy while pre-fishing for a bass tournament.

Haven't been out in a couple weeks but I got out with my oldest son for a hour after work last night. Caught several dinks on a Ned and bladed jig. Biggest of the night was my first fish on my new Spro Chad Shad. Had another eat it right at the boat that was much bigger and another fish hit it really hard and not hook up.

While normally I would agree with you, and since the Senkos I threw were all weighted so I had no real consideration for action on the bait, I went with 10lb straight mono for weighted and 8lb straight mono for weightless. We had to go to some of my fish that were in the heavy cover and I had a harder time setting the hook on long casts but I was extremely happy with the performance of my gear and on this trip the Senkos absolutely ruled along with the new Yamamoto 7” Speed Senko.

I use and recommend the siebert dock rocker for wood and cover. They skip into tight places and come through cover well. I have not used siebert brush jigs but I never found brush jigs in general to be very good in wood.... go figure....