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Fished a new lake in clare county called 5 lakes. Weather has been wonky. it rained hard all day thursday and friday. we have also had 15-20 mph for the last month. water temp was 51 degrees with an air temp of 75 I nailed this 3 lber ( i’m guessing i forgot my scale it’s between a 2.5-3.0 lber) on my 2nd cast in 4ft of water on a zoom green pumkin tube and 1/8 tube jig. I’m thinking this is going to be a great day. eh, not so much. I’ve come to realize if i catch a fish within the first 5 casts. it’s going to be a long day. That was really about it as far as high lights. I lost a similar sized bass on a spine craw and caught a hammer handle pike on a jerk bait. the wind was fishable but, windier than i wanted it to be. which, ment i had to fish some heavier stuff than i’d really have liked to this time of year. I really wanted to fish the drop off but, i couldn’t hold the boat in position to do so. that’s why they call it fishing and not catching. Forcast for the next 2 weeks does not look good. more wind and rain

Slow bite, wind died on me right after I started fishing. Did get to huck the glide bait around and triggered my first strike on it (no hookup sadly) which had me pretty excited. Managed 7, most of them in the last hour before dark. All on chatterbait. Switched to the stealth blade with the Crush City freeloader on the back, triggered some good eats; this 2.78lber slammed it up against the bank. Durability is questionable, though, I seem to be averaging only a few fish on them before they're trashed, but they work!

Found a few on a pattern I've never seen before. They were hunting trout in open water, not relating to any particular structure or cover. Every now and then I'd see a trout frantically trying to escape being pinned against a steep island bluff bank but for the most part I was seeing these massive explosions out in open water and occasionally against the bank. There wasn't really a way to target these fish other than being in the right place at the right time. Ended up with 3 at 4-5, 4-11, 6-0 on a deps 250. Only thing I figured out for certain was that they wanted an uphill presentation. Cast out into deep water and retrieve toward the bank and they'd pin it against the bank like they'd been doing to the trout. There were definitely bigger fish in the mix, I missed out on a large part of the bite window before I realized what was happening.

Boat captained for the high school boys Saturday. Wind was bad and lake conditions were bad, but they put a couple keepers in the boat and managed a top 5 finish. Sunday, I took the boys out for a few hours. I should have taken them somewhere else to avoid the crowd but I didn't against my better judgement. The lake was crazy busy, not my cup of tea. We caught a few fish and enjoyed the nice weather. Finn and I teamed up on the big fish of the day, 4.11 pounds on a Ned rig.

Caught a decent largemouth also 😎

I was going to fish Lake Raven in Texas (Huntsville) yesterday, but woke up and just didn’t have the energy. So I went to the local pond. Very dead. Only caught one small bass and lost one. So I made my mind up to go to Lake Raven this morning. It’s not a huge impoundment (203 acres) but it’s a lot bigger than a 2-3 acre pond. I’ve fished there twice before so it’s still a learning experience. I had read a report on conditions (stained/muddy due to recent rains) and there are no lily pads out as of yet, so I left my frog rod home. I took a MHF baitcaster for Texas rigs and another for chatterbaits/spinnerbaits, and another for jigs. Also brought MHMF for topwaters and crankbaits and a MXF spinning rig for finesse. I started with a Whopper Plopper and it garnered zero interest. I switched to a chatterbait and then a Texas rig and they also struck out. No algae like I’m used to in ponds but tons of hydrilla. I could rip the chatterbait through it better than the Texas rig. I crossed to the south side and tried the chatterbait again, just off a point. After a few casts I thought I hooked a bass, but the fight didn’t seem right. It wasn’t a bass, it was a crappie. The first one I’ve caught in decades! Then I switched to a blue/black jig with a green pumpkin Rage Bug trailer. I caught my best jig bass today. Almost 3 lbs. I don’t fish jigs a lot as they are horrendous in algae, but fishing them in hydrilla is an eye-opener. I know I missed two strikes setting the hook late as a jig bite just feels different. But it was the best bait today. I ended up rigging a Rage Menace on an unweighted Texas rig on the spinning rig as bass seemed to be right on the bank and it’s not easy flipping when seated so low to the water. All my earlier TR were rigged with black, watermelon red, or watermelon with red/copper flake worms or Senkos. This was green pumpkin. Looks like green pumpkin rules the day. I also tried a spinnerbait, lipless crank and a squarebill without success. But I learned a bit about jigs today!

Fished a flooded lake this morning, very cloudy water except tight against the bank. So I drug the bank with the little boat and casted parallel. Caught 10 in a little over an hour in the flooded grass throwing a bluegill colored spinnerbait Ooops a duplicate 🙄

Wife and I are camping so I went back out after lunch and 5 more fell victim to the spinnerbait........done for the day.

Went fishing yesterday and caught one little guy on a drop shot rig using a little hellgrammite type bait. Fishing is still slow, but as the water temps rise, I expect the catch ratio to rise as well. I've only found one spot on the river where they'll bite. I would have fished more, but left my phone on top of my car, and when I pulled out to go to the next location it fell off and broke. I don't like catching fish I can't document, so I called it a day. (P.S. I didn't have any appropriate drop-shot weights so I made one from a snap-swivel and some split shot.)

I fished three hours this afternoon. It was windy and gray and I had my best luck working a Keitech with an Owner underspin about 80' from the wind-pounded shore. It was tough when I hooked a bass because the wind would push me into the shoreline and I'd have to boat it before striking rock. So, I couldn't measure or weigh anything because I just didn't have the time before grinding into rocks and trees. I fished the pond where I bought property. It's a pond I've fished for two years and I'm pretty sure the bass are growing bigger. I had a wisdom tooth yanked this morning, so between that and the wind and bringing my canoe out of the woods, for I'm going to fish a different pond this Thursday, I'm wiped. Still, prior to today, my best catch was three bass and today, I caught 11 with three fatter, longer ones. I also caught my first bass strolling. Sadly, I caught nothing my last 1.5 hours.

For the past several seasons, I have used the same fish weighing procedure. It included a digital scale and a fish gripper which was clamped down, pretty firmly, onto the bass’s lower jaw. Worked OK, the fish often flopped a bit but never came off the fish gripper. However looking back at some of my more memorable (insert Bigger) catches this winter, hanging a 5 or 6 lb plus smallie by its face might have not been the best plan. Could possibly jack up the fishes jaw. And while I never really saw any evidence personally that it did, I was thinking I could do better for the fish. In every other case, I always fully support the fish’s frames for photos and wanted to simulate that while weighing them. This is what I came up with. I’m still ironing out the finer details but right off the bat this Arsenal Fishing Pro-Performance Rubber Mesh Bag already seems better for this bass in the long run. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Arsenal_Fishing_Pro-Performance_Rubber_Mesh_Bag/descpage-AFPPRMB.html Btw - In the attached video I said the fish was 4.42 lbs in the bag, but it was actually 4.44 lbs so I jacked that up a little. My scale is in Tenths not ounces. A-Jay

I hit the Columbia out of Stevenson on Saturday the 13th. The East wind ended up being a bit worse than forecasted for most of the day and it was a lot of work to stay out there all day long. For most of the day I had to pedal constantly to hold my position. When I would stop I would start drifting downstream at 2mph between the wind and the current. I have to admit I was pretty jealous of all the guys out there in their bass boats with their spot lock trolling motors holding them in place while they casually fished. I am starting to think those guys might be a bit smarter than me The fishing started out great. The wind was already blowing but the very first spot I fished produce 7 bass in less than an hour. I caught the first one up shallow on a vibrating jig and I caught the rest out a bit deeper (12-15') on a Ned rig. None of the fish were big, the biggest was maybe 2lbs, but still a lot of fun. Even though there were clearly a lot of fish around as soon as I made 10 casts without a bite I left that spot. I was determined not to spend time fishing where the fish were not biting. After that I thought I would look for more shallow bass. I started just heading down the bank, chucking and winding the bladed jig. Probably my favorite early spring smallmouth lure. After a short while I picked up a bass on a little rocky point. I kept working my way along but after a half hour I only picked up one more small bass. It was clear that the shallow bite just was not happening like it had been the previous two trips. I thought, OK, I know a spot that is 12-15' deep and often holds bass in the spring. I just new I was going to slay them when I got on that spot. Well either the fish just weren't there or I could not catch them It was getting really tough to fish with waves occasionally breaking over the bow of the kayak. Hard to concentrate on your drop shot when you are making sure you don't go swimming in the balmy 50 degree water. After that disappointment I hit a variety of spots from 5-30' deep without so much as a sniff. I went about 3 hours without so much as a nibble and I was getting tired from the constant pedaling to hold myself on spots. In retrospect, I am not sure why I was working so hard to stay on fishless spots. The other issue was that there were a fair number of bass boats out on the river. There a boat on almost every spot I wanted to fish. So not only was I working hard to hold myself on top of fishless spots, they weren't even spots that I had a ton of confidence in. I was starting to think about heading home. I even did start to pedal back to the ramp, stopping to fish here and there when I looked back downriver and saw the one spot I wanted to fish was finally vacant. Well, I put the kayak in high gear and pedaled my butt off to grab that spot before someone else got there first. I was a bit winded by the time I got there but I finally had some confidence that I would be fishing around fish again. The guys who had been on the spot earlier were definitely doing pretty well while they were there. I hoped that maybe I would fish it a little differently and be able to catch some of the ones they could not. With the wind and the current about the only thing I could use was as a drop shot. I started tossing it around and on my 3rd "cast" I hooked a good fish. After over 3 hours without a sniff that fish felt so good. I put as much pressure as I could on that baby and worked it towards the kayak. When I had about 10' of line out and I was getting ready to grab the net the line just popped. I have to say that was a pretty low moment. Fortunately the wind quickly dried my tears and I was able to see well enough to re-tie On my second drop after retying I felt another thump and set the hook into what once again felt like a big fish. After a great fight of give and take I got the fish close enough to the kayak to see it and it was indeed a nice one. After just losing the previous one I was really nervous as I pulled the fish towards the net. I have to say that when the net slid under that fish and I lifted out of the water it was like a giant weight was taken off my back and the angels were singing. It was a beautiful 19.5", 4lb 1oz smallmouth. If I could have done so safely I would have jumped up and down in the kayak. The fishless hours were erased from my mind and I was really pumped. I kept working that area for quite a while and ended up with 4 more smallmouth from that area. No 4lbers but a couple of them were probably over 2lbs. I probably fished that spot for 10 minutes without a bite when I decided I would change things up. I put down the drop shot and picked up my swimbait rod. I started casting it out and letting it sink on slack line until it hit the bottom and then slowly reeling it in. After a handful of casts I had a hard strike and after a short battle I hauled in a good size pikieminnow. Usually when I start catching those it means that bass have either moved off or have become inactive. A few more casts and I decided that the spot was done, at least for a while. At that same time the wind had finally died down a bit and the sun had come out and all of a sudden I was roasting. Since the wind forecast I had seen had said that this would happen and that it would stay calm until evening I pulled up onto shore and stripped off most of my layers. Man that felt good. The plan was to fish my way back to the ramp. I have to say though, that Mother Nature is full of tricks because about 10 minutes later the wind picked back up and I was freezing. It was just perfect. Each time when I started shivering and started to look for a place to beach and put my layers back on the wind would die just a little bit and I would think. "Its going to let up like the forecasts said'. Each time I was wrong. It did not help that after leaving that previous spot I could not buy a bit again. I spent the next hour fishing some spots without a sniff. Finally, I decided to fish a spot that had at least some partial protection from the wind even though I had fished it earlier without success. I thought it was kind of a dumb idea since it is only 5-7' deep and clearly almost every fish I had caught that day were in deeper water, but I was cold and it was on the way to the ramp. I have to say sometimes dumb ideas really pay off, intelligence is way overrated I decided I was going to keep throwing the swimbait since it is easy to fish. That also turned out to be another idea that really panned out because all of a sudden I could not keep the smallmouth off my lure. The first one I caught was a respectable 2lb 4oz fish and after that I was getting bites on probably 80% of my casts. Missing some, losing some and catching some. The action was on fire. After getting about a half dozen the bite slowed a little and I decided to try some other baits. I tried a Ned rig, rattletrap and a shallow crankbait. I think I had one bite on the rattletrap and that was it. I picked the swimbait back up and caught one on the first cast. I kept fishing that spot a while longer and picked up a few more even though the bite had slowed. I only left that spot because I was getting tired and the wind had shifted directions 180 degrees and my wind protection was gone. I decided I was tired and I would only stop and fish one more spot on the way to the ramp (that I had only caught one small one on earlier). I thought that maybe the swimbait was the magic. Within a couple of cast I had a hard thump and had a good fish one. Not as big as my fatty earlier and a real nice 17" 3lber. I ended up with back to back to back fish. The bite was just wild and from a spot that had felt like a desert earlier in the day. I kept plugging away and ended up with a couple more. After a handful a empty casts I decided to call it a day. I got to the ramp but when you have a miracle going it is best not to waste so made a couple of casts to a small point near the ramp that I have not caught a fish on this year and wouldn't you know it. There was a chunky little smallmouth there just waiting to be caught by me That was finally enough. I was really tired from working so hard all day and I had a long drive home so I thanked that last fish for playing and went to the ramp for real Ended up being a fantastic day. 26 smallmouth and 1 pikieminnow. Blistering action separated by soul-sucking droughts. The key is to making through those droughts is to remember Tim Allen's catchphrase in Galaxy Quest, "Never give up, never surrender" Here is some video from the day.

Another 5.5 lber on the 'Pats Gizzard' Grass Jig from @Siebert Outdoors sans trailer (just some plastic for a little bit of weight on the cast. Very happy to catch this gorgeous healthy pre-spawner today after work on a sunny hard bottom area where I could see wolf packs of big females corralling bluegill fry. It was epic! I got a crowd for the release too!

I was busy as a one armed paper hanger yesterday but I managed an hour on the lake. I spent as much time driving as fishing. I went to a spawning pocket near the landing. I haven't seen any bedding Bass on Active Target so I messed with my settings until I could see them. On my 3rd cast I dropped a Red Eyed Shad on top of a bed. Both Bass hit it. They came unhooked while I was fumbling with my net. They weren't BIG but the combination of them was too big to boat flip. I'm sure they aren't all that easy to catch, but I decided I wasn't going to target bedding Bass with Active Target. I'm not changing sides in the FFS debate, and I'm not saying anyone who uses it to target bedding Bass is wrong. It's been 40 years, but I've targeted bedding Bass sight fishing clear water, but I figure they can see me too. I will still target bedding Bass but I'll do it like I have in the past. I'll find the areas they're in with side imaging, then fish that area with my FFS off. I will still use Active Target FFS in every way I know how to target Bass. I'm just not going to use it when they're bedding. I'm not looking to start a FFS, or bed fishing debate. It's just a decision I made. So, I turned my FFS off and went old school. (kinda) I caught 3 spots, including one on my last cast when it was time for me to leave.

Could also be competition. If there are several bass around, the first one to get the bait often hightails it out of the area to try and get away from others. This could often be to open/deeper water away from the others holding on the same bank/cover. If so, it would tell me there is more than one bass in that area and I probably either need to work it slower and more thoroughly, or make a point of returning to the area and fishing it again after everything settled back down.

Got a few of the new Berkley Nessie delivered yesterday, started throwing the 7" in shad around for a few hours. Had a few follows but none to commit. Took it again today and got one to commit, but it was small and missed the hook. Finally got my official first catch on it, my official current "glide bait PB": Not sure if my scale could've handled her, what a hoss!

Caught my PB rainbow weighing in at 5lb7oz

Eyeing Sunday/Monday for my first proper largemouth excursion of the year on the kayak. Fingers crossed that it will happen...

Another angry everglades bass puttin on a show!

I know most of us are very much in tune with our boat maintenance. Do not forget to go over your trailers! This weekend I recently had a U bolt connecting my winch to the trailer tongue come loose and slide while I put the final cranks on the boat. With the season starting to come into full swing the nuts and bolts of the trailer are often overlooked.

Me getting ready to go fishing...

You could have a fish hooked with a jerkbait or crankbait or topwater all in the mouth and after several jumps during the fight it could be hooked anywhere

Thanks for the feed back. As I get a little more comfortable with this deal, I'm pretty sure I can shave a bit off that time. Either way, I'm WAY better than I used to be. I sort of kept them out for pics * videos unnecessarily long in the past. Also I'm always netting the fish, especially with treble hooks, so slime coat removal would start there if that's a thing. I'm expecting that by wetting the net and the rubber coated bag in advance, I'll be keeping that to a minimum. We'll see how it goes. A-Jay

Had to go to a funeral back in Durham for a friends mother and after the processions we hit a friend's private stocked pond and I caught a 5 lb 8 oz donkey on a 7 inch swimbait (thanks @deep for the inspiration !) I've been helping him cull big sunfish and smaller bass and it's nice to see a healthy girl like this in here. It's always funny when you catch a fish THIS size on a big bait: The Zaldaingerous swimbait definitely gets bit! Got some of the new 6" whales coming to try because they're a great price and I love the smaller ones!

One of these days I'll have something to contribute again Possum Kingdom was unkind yesterday

There are some fine men at BR and @Bluebasser86 is one of them. Nuff said.

If I was running 70 mph, I'd do it buck naked, standing up, with my hair literally on fire. I fish from a kayak, so if you see me doing 70 in that thing, I have clearly lost my mind and you just need to stay off the water until the authorities arrive.

I'd like to see some scientific literature that says weighing fish in the center of the lower jaw is detrimental. I saw a biologist use a physiological diagram to show how the Bass's jaw works, and why clamping them near the center doesn't pose a risk. What does the science say in regard to how big a fish must be in order to be at risk of being weighed traditionally? Either way I doubt I catch big enough fish to matter 😆 I applaud your continual effort to improve fish care though!

A wide mesh rubber coated net solves nearly all of those problems. Multiple trebles will still hook up, but they are unhooked easily as they only wrap around a given mesh point, not bury into the material like a fine mesh net. Also, when you net the fish, if you can leave the whole net in the water the fish will chill out quickly most of the time and stop making more of a mess of the hooks.

I have contemplated this issue for years. The very old landing net with a hoop and handle is the problem regardless of what the net is made of . The musky anglers use a different designer to the length of the fish and seems to work good. my thought is a bass size cradle is attached to the side of the boat with a closed end. The bass is lead into the cradle with a handle to lift the cradle to close it. The bass can’t flop around in the fine mesh cradle when lifted against the boat side and the lift handle could have a built in scale calibrated to the cradle weight. Easy to take a photo without lifting the bass. Tom

@Fried Lemons: Wow! Big bass and what a way to catch them. Say, cyber-buddy, please consider wearing a life jacket. I was in the paddling world for decades and again and again, paddlers died without life jackets. Some were old like me and some were young, just like you.

Thank you so much! Yes. We went to another tackle store that had much higher ceilings, so instead of going that high, they had sliding racks in front of the tackle to hold even MORE tackle. It was crazy, but in a good way! Bear in mind that Gamakatsu is THE premier brand in Japan. It's a lifestyle brand. They're held in high regard. I didn't catch that. But that place is full of tourists, so.... Yes, that's a thing. It was everywhere. There's even special hooks for it, which is what that shot was showing. I was hoping y'all would catch on to that. And, ya....4 1/2hrs of footage plus over 100 photos. Still wasn't enough.

I’m on the side of going to all fish need at least a single hook in the mouth at the highest level of the sport (Elite/BPT) - show your catch to your marshal/ referee before unhooking. No different than bed fishing. With the advent of FFS, there are several scenarios now where it’s more possible/likely to score a catch or two by foul hooking, whether intentional or not. You can’t easily rule by intent, but you can by hook location.

Hey, Caught two nice sized peacocks today. Hope you all had a nice weekend 👍

Terrible conditions today - lake 3' flooded higher (and colder), sustained gusts >20, <1' visibility and mud. Went to the most wind protected side (still awful) and bomb casted from the bank to a rock bed I spotted from the kayak a couple weeks ago (~8-10') deep. I had a northern lights stunna still tied on from before - thought what the heck, get the line wet then change the lure. That first cast caught a 1 lber. The cadence must've been exactly right for THAT ONE fish Then moved to a black n blue chatterbait (zako), and on the first cast of that, caught a fatty (pic). Then nothing for the next 40 mins until a crappie took a chartreuse Jackall TN50 Then more coffee! Everything I know is wrong

I replace the treble hooks on my lures with inline hooks. Replacing the treble hooks with inline hooks will help eliminate a lot of your problems. A single hook is also harder for a fish to throw than a treble. Handling the fish will be safer also.

Yup. No good reason to go with a plastic reel for swimbaits. The BB1 pro would also be a good choice.

Think you're on the right track. I've run a similar system for at least 10 years or more. I use a true rubber net (if needed), then the bag for weighing (again, if needed), which based on studies are the best possible options in regards to fish care short of pure catch and immediate release (no nets, weighing, measuring, etc.). Studies also suggest the slime coat concern might be a bit overblown with bass in these type instances, but the jaw holds are a valid one, so I'd say "carry on" with your new system. You'll figure out the little tweaks and efficiencies with more time and experience doing it

Yep, and that would just be bad luck. Release it and move on.

I'm becoming a Megabass fanboy. Though most of my rods are StC

It's all him. Cocky kid said it counts as 3 fish. 20" and every bit of 5lbs that will go on the wall.

And here's the video!

I see so much potential in that - winter project boat to turn it into a decked bass boat....

When we're studying a map what are we looking at? Contour lines! A contour line is a line drawn on a topographic map to indicate ground elevation or depression. Structure 😉 Structure is the cake, cover is the icing.

NRX+ 852S is hard to beat - great for most spinning techniques actually - but mine almost always have a wacky tied on a Daiwa Exist makes it even nicer 😉

Very interesting thread. People have been trying to define the rules of bass behavior for a long time. Structure and cover seem to play an important role in it, at least for the fish that are relating to structure and cover. Personally, I’ve lost faith in the rules.

First cast surprise this morning.

If you’re here already you know we’re getting periodic thunderstorms. The upper end of High Rock will probably be pretty muddy for the next couple days. I’d do Badin and go shallow and big over near the railroad tracks on the west side. Also - The Shadinator on FB fishes that chain. He’s a former NC wildlife officer and gives great info on an almost daily basis.

Yes, I will be filming for YouTube. So yes, I'll capture as much as I can. I'm afraid fishing isn't on the agenda this trip, but I have already been fishing with Shin Fukae and Masa Matsushita (on separate occasions). I even caught a fish on the Free Rig with Shin! Does that count?