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Water temps heating up right along with the air temps and are now into the low 70s during the day here. Still some crappie hanging around spawning areas, so spent most of the afternoon checking them out, but did slide out on to the main lake with a Ned to score one bass. Only got one decent crappie at 1.96 lbs.

Me and Jake caught a bunch tonight but the majority were tiny. Caught them all around wood on Texas rigs. These were the biggest ones. Every fish is showing signs of spawning activity but there are very few fish visibly on bed right now. Might be that fish are spawning a little deeper this year with slightly clearer water I've been seeing.

Got the slump buster out (Creme Maxi Tail + 1/16oz tube jig), caught this tiny spotted bass, 13 black crappies, and 2 bluegill. Had a couple nice size black crappies, nice little barn doors. Bite ended around 2am. Night fishing is good and cool. Have had a tough time finding black bass but that little tube setup at night is basically a cheat code for getting bit. I'll take it.

I was on the water shortly after 5 today. Wind 10-15, mostly cloudy, temp around 80. Decided to fish the east channel of our island , starting out with a june bug baby brush hog. Got 5 there off brush piles and laydowns. Got to the south end of the island and switched to the speed worm. Hooked a good fish that probably jumped 3 feet out of the water and shook off. I got a dink on the speedworm and moved south. I decided to do a drift across part of the lake. This is when I suddenly thought of a bait I hadn’t used much in 10 years, the Zoom horny toad in watermelon red, and put one on. Immediately got a tap on the retrieve but swung and missed. The wind took me west around a point, so I fired a cast parallel to the point down the bank . Boom! Missed again. Boom ! missed again. Next cast a 1 pounder. By then I was back near the island. I went slightly up into the west channel, and missed another fish. The next cast the rod loaded up on the drop. Pegged him and got the biggest of the day. Ended up going on to the far southeast corner where I like to end the day. Got a couple more one pounders on the toad. Threw near a dock, and the rod loaded up again before I could even get the reel engaged. She had nearly pulled the line all the way tight and I hit her hard… but it came loose. BIG fish. I didn’t turn her at all as she went on under the dock. As the sun went down , I got another fish skipping the toad under a dock. I had forgotten how well they skip!! I am excited to start using the HT again. I ended up with 11, and 5 of them on the toad !

Some of you are aware that 2024 has been delivering blow after blow after blow to me. My wife had a miscarriage at 20 weeks and then just as we were coming out of our funk, my best friends 6 year old daughter, and my sons best friend, was killed after a driver crossed over the median and struck them head on. I haven't felt much like fishing or even paying much attention to fishing. She was buried on Friday and on Sunday I figured I should get out and try to at least enjoy the outdoors. I went to the local farm pond I can fish for an hour and a half. Wind was blowing more than expected and I figured if I was going to drag myself out to fish I was going to do it with my favorite type of lure. Tied on the new Megabass Jamaica Boa Buzzbait and got to fancasting. Got to watch a bald eagle fly around which I've never seen at this pond. About 5 minutes in, I got bumped, but so subtly I wondered if I hit a stick in the water or something similar. Cast back to the spot and missed my location. Cast back again, started reeling, and got that wonderful big topwater blowup. First bass of the year weighed in at 4.49 and for a few minutes I forgot about everything crappy going on and knew the rest of my outing wouldn't matter. Worked my way around the pond without a bite or even a sight of a fish along the way. Got to the other side where I know there's a blow down and figured there had to be a good one in it. Retrieved to the right side of it and nothing. Retrieved to the left side of it and nothing. Moved on and was casting underneath some trees with still no luck and was about to call it quits and work my way back to the other side of the pond. Something told me to take one more cast along that blow down but run it parallel to the tree. Did that and got to watch a flash of bass emerge from underneath it and destroy the buzzbait. 2nd bass of the year weighed in at 4.27. I'd never caught two 4+ pound fish from this pond in the same outing before. They didn't make all my problems go away but for 90 minutes they certainly helped me feel better. I hope any of you facing challenges in your lives can enjoy some time outside, breathe in some fresh air, and feel a little bit better, if only for a little while. We don't know how long we've got. P.s. the hits keep coming and now my kids gave me the stomach bug 😩

Had less than 3.5 hrs to fish this afternoon, but wanted to take advantage of the clouds and cooler temps (only 80 deg.). Changed lakes and decided to chase bass today. Ended up with half a dozen fish, all shallow, on a mix of Ned and trick worms. Water really clear, but even with the cloud cover, I was able to spot a couple nesters - first I’ve seen this year. Need to go back on a sunny day when they’re easier to see.

I took off work and hit lake Norman with a buddy this morning. I'm not used to water that clear or fishing for spots, so it was fun to have a new experience. They were on beds everywhere and pretty aggressive. It was cool to be able to see the beds in 5-8' of water in some places. This whole year I've fished under a foot of visibility so really really cool. Even saw 2 schools of large catfish, one circled our boat like sharks lol. We caught a lot, but all they'd eat was senko, any way you gave it to them. They fight much harder than lmb in my experience, which is fun. Mostly small ones, a few in the 2-3 lb range. Only picture I took is below. My buddy got there super early and caught numerous over 4lb ones in the dark on top water. I couldn't make it that early because I live too far away and like to sleep at least some.

Here’s what I caught yesterday after work and today after work. Yesterday fish all came on a shad fry z and a micro finesse shad jig head. Today was a 4” double ringer in black with red flake on a 3/32 all terrain Hail Mary football ned head. Black and red flake is going to be my new color of the year and I also got 2 largemouth and my bigger smallmouth today on that color combo. They were feeding very shallow around 9:15 am today. The fish are small but there still a fish and that’s good enough in my book lol, definitely beats a skunk 🦨

Can't fish that bog tomorrow if you drown in it today. 😉 So... I had a pretty solid bite on a spinnerbait today... 😂 Given the location, and time of year, I'd wager it was a big pike. Didn't get to see it. It came off immediately after very nearly ripping my rod out of my hands. It bent the handle so far it locked up the reel when it came around and hit the spool tension knob. My goodness what a ferocious hit!!! I then proceeded to take a skunking. Caught 9 LM and lost two more there yesterday. No bigs. All 1 - 2.5#. Front rolled through last night and into the morning, and THEY GONE!!! Edit to add: Hat's off to Lew's. That old Tournament MB has been through the ringer and it's still smooth and going strong. Just needs a new handle, and it'll be ready to get back to haulin 'em.

Things got wild last night. Lost count quickly, lots of skipjack and white bass. Got several reeling a boot tail fluke across the surface, they were cartwheeling up and over it repeatedly, crazy. The 2/0 gamakatsu nano alpha was sticking them well, even right in the dorsal fin 😂

So, I've been mostly hesitant to add an update here. Reason being, all things considered, Lynn's better than she has is a while and I didn't want to jinx it. Results from the latest and continued Hematologist & Cardiac DR appointments have been OK. Monthly infusions are helping more than hurting. Blood work remains a little Touch & Go - but mostly OK. Side effects of some new meds are manageable (easy for me to say here in the cheap seats) but I can tell when they are wearing Lynn thin and we haven't been seeing too much of that recently. Our dogs totally give her away when she's trying to 'suck it up', they always know. Experience has shown, that can not continue without often grave results. We're both feeling very fortunate and doing EVERYTHING we can think of to keep this roll going. There's even 'talk' about getting out in the Old Town together again this summer. Something that hasn't been possible for a couple of years now. We celebrated Lynn's birthday last week. At this point these things are milestones. Thank you all again for your positive thoughts & well wishes. A-Jay

@N Florida Mike: You've got your own big bass streak going now too, Mike, like @AlabamaSpothunter, @Pat Brown, @Team9nine, @hokiehunter373, @Fried Lemons, @deep, etc. I'm going to my first biggish bass pond tomorrow, so here's hoping I land one or two over four pounds. My three big bass bogs don't have solid shorelines, so I've been avoiding them until the water warms a little more, for if I were to tip, there'd be no place solid to swim. My pond and tomorrow's pond give me solid shorelines to hug. I keep hearing @T-Billy's wisely admonishing me to put safety first and I try to do just that. Correction: I'm going fishing today. The wind forecast just shifted. So, fingers crossed a big gal wants to dance with me this afternoon.

Day spent out on my daughters horse farm in Middleburg, Virginia putting the Black Pearl up for a short stay. I am having my driveway and boat pad repaired and sealed on Friday. She has a pretty impressive array of outbuildings that most of us would gladly give manly body parts for. An original carriage barn with water outlets, sky lights and a floor drain attached to a storage barn where she keeps round bales of hay for the horses and all of that attached to a monstrous workshop capable of storing and working on tractors and implements. Not to mention she has 2 other barns that are stalls for horses. She runs her facility geared to retired horses living out their best life on the farm. This is the first time the Pearl has ever been stored inside. If she was closer, I can guarantee it would be the permanent storage facility.

My big girl today. 22" and built like an offensive lineman or Octomom in her third trimester. She could have swallowed my fist. I am afraid of the fish that @T-Billy lost.

The first sign of ANY unusual symptoms, go to a Lyme-friendly doctor that will put you on a preventative dose of Doxycycline without testing. The testing is antiquated CDC technology and only is accurate about 40-50% of the time. If you actually do have Lyme but test negative, and go more than 2-4 weeks without treatment with an antibiotic, Lyme goes systemic and for most people, never really goes away. It’s a horrible life/long affliction for many… If your doc says you don’t need to be tested or treated, go find one that will.

Thank you Ray Roberts, very cool! Picked this bass up after a hike. Red eye shad got bit multiple times but this was the only one that converted. I was out there for maybe 30 minutes

My grandson played well and it makes me proud.

ONLY, he says.

Took a friend to the Rainbow River today and they were jumping into the boat. Saw and dodged lots of people but didn't see another fisherman. Beautiful place full of Wood Ducks, otters, anhingas, turtles and other wildlife. Saw 1 small gator. Caught a couple dozen bass from 5" to 3.48 lbs.

I'm too fast to switch to finesse tactics and target bites instead of big fish, hoping that I will catch enough fish that eventually some will be bigger. As far as what everyone else is doing, I have stopped worrying about that, it's out of my control and only effects me if I let it.

First Haircut Police, and now Beard Wars! Don't tell anyone, but that's a good color on the Grand River up here too.

😉

Best practice's for whatever pfd you own, is to put it on before you launch your boat and take if off when the boat is out of the water A good foam life vest is no doubt the safest pfd you can buy IF you wear it all the time. Unfortunately, most foam vests are not that comfortable to wear all the time and off they come. I fished for years with a Bass Pro fishing vest pfd. I never wore it while fishing and I was also guilty of removing the jacket when I shut off the big motor and when I jumped back in the drivers seat I often didn't put it back on. I then switched to a inflatable jacket that used the dissolvable bobbin to inflate the jacket. I had several of these jackets inflate in my boat compartments and found one that showed green, but the bobbin would not dissolve I believe inflatables fail to inflate due to the negligence of the owner's. Inflatables with dissolvable bobbin's require the owner to be diligent in regularly checking the condition of the inflation system, keeping and storing them dry, and not wearing them in even light showers or heavy fog. If you don't do these things, for your safety sake, do not buy this type pfd. I finally switched to one that uses a hydrostatic inflator. These use an inflator that has to be submerged in water deeper than 4". They will not inflate simply due to humidity, damp storage, or rain. In my humble opinion, the only inflatable pfd to buy is a Mustang H.I.T with a hydrostatic inflator. Nothing else comes close. They are comfortable to wear and don't interfere with fishing or other activities on your boat. You will have to replace the inflator mechanism every five years but it's relatively easy to do and the cost is under $100. Other than that there's not much maintenance required.

Passed through the town of Lamoure ND on our saturday excursion, this town died years ago but there is a lowly bait shop connected to the old church for anglers to buy some bait to fish the James river dam about 1 mile away. Sad to see these towns that originated in the 1800"s die away, the farmers wernt enough to keep the Cenex farmers union and oil supply store open and this is all farm land around here.

Caught 7 Trout, Give away three of them around 10lb. Kept this 4 and weigh them at home, Lightning was smallest by 6lb and two 8lb each and one 9lb. Total of 31lb for them.

Has anyone watched the movie, "Mending the Line," which is about warriors using fishing to heal? I loved it and would rank it with "A River Runs Through It," for showing what fishing means to anglers. It's on Netflix. I'd share more about my reaction to it, but I don't want to post any spoilers.

Before you run off, think about gear ratio. I find 90-mm Perfect for 7.1 gearing. On 8.5 gearing, I'll go up to 100 mm. On 6.3 gearing, I'm totally happy with 82-86 mm. If you go to too long handle on a lower-geared reel, you may not be able to keep up with charging fish.

Nice wooden structure that cat is up against. 😆

I have done it in the past, My brother just did it on Harris with Hackney and a couple others. Easy really: First you must be a member of B.A.S.S. then on their web page select Tournaments then Marshall, all info and application will be found there.

Went out last night and tonight and caught a bunch in 3 feet of water or less. The warmer days seems to have sparked them up. Most were 1-2lbs though I did get a 4.2 last night and this 4.11 tonight. Also, missed a big one at the end tonight as the sun went down. Most everything was on a spinnerbait.

I wanted to be able to Cary my rods around with me in my car, was hard to do with kids and putting stuff in the back but I finally found a way I like. I may make some adjustments to the height of the hooks but overall, I'm happy with how it's turned out. https://ibb.co/4NtcM8N

We live in tick central. Between my wife & I and then all the dogs, we've seen & pulled an ungodly number of these bugs off of us & them. Some years are worse than others. We spray the entire dog yard, kennel & property perimeter a couple of times a year. Really cuts down on the over all tick instances, but we still get a few. ALL our dogs are on tick flea & tick preventative meds all year long. Not Free. If & when the tick attaches to the dog, it just dies. It's the ticks world, we just happen to be living & playing in it. Not every tick carries Lyme disease. Identify biters, getting them off right away and then monitoring the bite site is key. Learn the symptoms and know what to do in advance. As mentioned, it can be serious so give it it's due. Having ticks end up in ones bedding is either seriously bad luck or inexperience. Placing any fabric suspected to have ticks, in the dryer on fry for 30 minutes. Is a good plan prior to washing. A-Jay

Cats prefer isolated cover too! Notice the laser pointer in the background. This is what he’s lying in wait for.

Saturday on our way to checking out the Jamestown ND resevoir and dam we stopped by the largest buffalo in the world. I last stood next to him in 1968, this was the wifes first time seeing the buffalo.

A few today, decided to fish instead of sleeping for work. I lost one equally big as the one trying to lift it up to me on the boardwalk. Was my fault I saw that the line was frayed and didn’t retie and the line snapped on the lift. 12lb braid that’s thinner than 6lb doesn’t like being frayed and strained. But I broke in one bfs setup, lure was a 3” hazedong shad on a 1/16 finesse shad head. All the fish came on it today, moral of the story retie when frayed lol, live and learn and don’t keep making rookie mistakes.

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.

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

As a way not to continually hijack the other spinnerbait in the Fishing Tackle I thought to open a new topic in the Tacklemaking Forum. Hopefully everyone can respond to lend years' worth of experience to Bass Resource members on the design and functionality of spinnerbaits. So, a little background on me and my spinnerbait knowledge. I started fishing spinnerbaits at age 12 in 1987 after watching Jimmy Houston catching all those big bass on them. The only bait for me at the time was a SK Chart/Blue, double diamond colorado blade bait. After throwing them religiously for 2 years I caught exactly zero fish on it. Fast forward to 1998 when I moved backed to Maryland while in the Army I started seriously fishing for bass again and making baits. Now I have learned a lot of the intricacies of spinnerbaits what I make is light years ahead of where I started. Some of the things I have learned along the way: Lighter wire seems to work better for double willow baits. Heavier wire is what I use on night, large colorado baits as tuning a spinnerbait in the dark is a pain. Spacing is very important and is not a one size fits all. Ballbearing swivels are a must as they spin easier. Throw blade combinations that are not readily available on store baits. Clearer the water the more natural the color should be. Silver on sunny days and gold on cloudy has not been the case in my experience. Blade color preference is more dependent on the body of water and forage. Allen

All those reels are adequate for the job at hand. I'd try each reel on both rods and see how each matches up with the reel seat and how each balances the rod.

EyE am GlAd 2 C tHeRE iZ A noTHeR tHreD DeAdeCaTEd 2 ME!

Tried a spot here in southern NH after work from shore. Wind was blowing the right way into shore. Got one bass on a spinnerbait then tried a crawler for a bit hoping for an upgrade but no dice. Seemed like a promising spot though. Gonna hit it again for sure

That doesn’t exist in these parts

I wouldn’t say it’s wrong, I guess just different especially to most folks on this particular site. I absolutely hate finesse fishing with the light rod, light line and the small plastic’s you guys talk about so much. I can’t stand standing there jiggling or shaking a 3” piece of plastic to stick a 2 lb fish and be happy about it. Are there days that if I did it more I would have better numbers?….Yeah probably Does it make me wrong and everyone else right As I’ve told? Maybe, probably, but that’s ok I’ve been wrong before. 😌 Mike

Set the hook into everything that feels weird like it owes you money. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose.

Hey, Landed a nice peacock after work. Hope everyone had a nice start of the week

I have had good success on big bass, bulging just under the surface, a Single Colorado blade black skirt, short arm spinnerbait, and I don't fish at night. Same bait slowly crawled on the bottom catches big ones two. I know a longer arm bait has more vibration, but an old short arm scorpion doesn't want to role over when waking the bait, and has caught me big bass for years. I like full Lumaflex skirts with no trailer. Trailer doesn't hurt, but not using one is my one and only chance to really make the Monkey mad. I like to bend the wire at the head of the spinnerbait up causing the body of the bait to run more horizontal in the water. Blades that are half one color and half another, work well, when I can't decide what color I like One gold one silver blade works well. Colored blades work well on cloudy days, and dirty water. Colored blades work well on sunny days and clear water. Pink and chartreuse blades are not just for smallmouth. Mag Willow blades also called Oklahoma blades are very versatile. A bullet weight placed ahead of a spinnerbait is an easy way to get the bait deeper, taking the rubber core out of a rubber core sinker, and crimping the sinker to the hook is also a good way to get a spinnerbait deeper. Contrasting colored skirts work well. Chart black, White black, orange black, Chartreuse blue, and two of my oddball favorites purple chartreuse pink black. All white is boring but works in any conditions. If a certain color of jig, soft plastic, or crankbait is working, that is the color of spinnerbait I will try first. Big spinnerbaits with big blades slow rolled deep get big bites. Stanley makes the best willow blades, Hildebrandt make the best Colorado blades, Fishermen's Shack has the best selection of Magnum Willow blades. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'm not convinced thin wire is better, but I do fish both thick and thin. I prefer closed loop, but R bend is easier to keep tuned. I don't care about the color of the head, if I'm fishing a spinnerbait correctly the paint is chipped off after a day anyway. Inline spinners will kill a skunk, and may catch a PB.