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I took our senator fishing for three hours this morning. He sits on Maine's Inland Fisheries and Wildlife committee, so he remarked that it helps him to be reminded of what he's protecting. He'd never caught a bass before this morning, so he was thrilled to catch them and a quick study. He caught them on the surface, on a T-Rigged craw, on a T-Rigged worm, and on an underspin, both trolling and casting. His casting improved throughout the morning and he said he loved hearing me explain why I moved the canoe here and there. He's a terribly busy guy, so I felt honored to have him spend three hours in my canoe. He's also a great guy, both brainy and down-to-earth. Here are a few of his fish. See his smiles!

Good shot of where I’m fishing. Little slice of bass fishing heaven

Little expedition to ol muddy with a rage tail lobster after fishing with the BR crew in the AM oh ok

Allow me to add to the story of this weekends adventures...... Day before yesterday we took @IcatchDinks to our favorite summer lake this year (been great to us this year for some reason) and had a really fun and sweaty 2 hour boat session. We started out hitting some spots that have produced giants but not many bites - and got not many bites 😂 and then moved on to places where we tend to get bit more consistently but the quality is inconsistent. Stuck two on near back to back casts out of the same pocket off of what looked like a bedding area - hard to say if it was the bream or the bass that were on bed - but it was going down back there. Two NICE bass: Sadly it was at the very last second for our guest and we had to take him home right after we found em! Bummer! Then it absolutely dumped rain on all my tackle 😂👍🏼 It needed washing it's fine. WELL - yesterday was quite a epic day to be sure! The Plan : @IcatchDinks + @LrgmouthShad + @Pat Brown + Jake @ sneaky lil spot @ 0500 hours. We arrived and it was still dark - no breeze. Tough conditions but I knew because of the cool rain the previous night - we'd be getting some action. I tied on my black scum frog and went to work. Jake tied on a weightless plastic and went the other direction. He catches one almost instantly and a nice one! First few casts I nail this squeaker who informs me promptly to keep the frog tied on! I obliged and was treated to number 2 very shortly after: The sun starts to come up a bit more so I tie on a little popping trophy scum frog to see what kinda action it gets at this spot. End up with the biggest of the trip with a nice one just shy of 4 lbs. Healthy girl - great fighter. @LrgmouthShad makes his entry and I point him to some areas that have yielded bigger fish and offer him a few strategic points that have helped me at this particular spot and away we go! We are both fishing a grassy point with a big tree hanging over it from opposite sides of the tree on the bank - he's tossing a swim jig and I'm throwing the scum frog popper and he got to see me water ski a nice 2 lber! Always fun when I get an audience - even more fun when it's part of the BR fam! At this point @IcatchDinks sees a flurry of action on a crankbait and catches a nicer one! Jake then manages #2 for the day along the same shade line! At this point we are all sort of on top of each other in the shade as it is getting VERY hot VERY quickly with zero breeze. I bomb my frog parallel to a long PVC pipe that acts as insulation for the feed line for the fountain at the center of the pond. I walk ol scummy pop a couple times and all of us see her take it. I actually got a really nice hookset on her and had her on for a second but she was a jumpe and launched her near 6 lb frame about 3 feet out of the water and returned my bait to me before going on a diet til we leave 😂👍🏼 It was a heartbreaker to be sure. I don't miss a lot of fish at all when they are hooked on the frog but when I do it's humbling and it reminds me to be super thankful for the fish I get to hold and release. The action slowed considerably at this point. @LrgmouthShad kept us in the game with a healthy fish on a megabass pop max (gonna need a couple of those!!!!) @IcatchDinks stuck a nice sunfish and a bass on the crankbait! Jake got one more I think I couldn't find a picture of and I lost a 2 lber in private. 4/6 on the frog is not bad for me and I feel like letting them get that bait established in their mouths is pretty darn good stuff. I missed a lot swinging too soon earlier this spring and I'll be ready next year / this fall 👍🏼😎 The coolest part of meeting these guys and fishing with them is that they're all great people I'd feel comfortable leaving my kid with. They are the salt of the earth and kind and good natured as people can be and we all had such a fun time given the AWFUL conditions for bass fishing! AND we caught the snot out of em!?!?! That's a win. Looking forward to our next adventure - and the next time we get visits from faraway bass friends.

Okay @Pat Brown asked me to take over the report because he’s been very busy since our outing. He has been really gracious to @IcatchDinks, @FishTax, and myself. He’s held no secrets back on where he fishes and how he fishes. Pat is a master of the frog and many other lures! Great guys to hang out with. I had a good time and I hope everyone else has, as well. Unfortunately @FishTax was too busy and could not hang out with us at the time. We fished a small pond together. It’s the same one that you have seen other reports coming from. Really interesting pond. Took me a bit to figure out. But we smashed em! Please correct me if Im wrong. I believe Pat caught 4, I caught 3, @IcatchDinks caught 2, and Pat’s son caught 3. If I’m missing any photos, feel free to add y’all and my mistake. They may take a bit to add into here. Pat also lost a GIANT on a frog that everyone saw him wrenching in. It just somehow got enough wiggle room to get off. I give him a lot of credit for tricking that fish into biting a frog. Thank you @Pat Brown for sharing a little bit of your bass fishing haven and for sending us home with some gifts! He’s a gentleman.

After a week of 110 degrees days some night fishing was the deal. Didn't take a ton of pics but all fish were on a 1/2oz football jig and basically clones of this guy, 2 pounders.

Caught two LM around the neighbors docks while my wife floated around on an inner tube, not a bad evening

Thank ya. There’s a bit of a story behind them but I went into the store looking for the most obnoxious pair of shades I could find. Think I did a good job 👍🏻

inching closer to being a regular in this thread again

Valuable insights that really work! They worked for me, and today I'm sharing them with you.

One good carp. They were being real shy. The slightest misstep could spook em.

What we have here is a really dumb cat for getting into Hank’s breakfast. We also have a really good dog for not killing the really dumb cat. 😁

I took Cosmo with fishing today. Fishing was good. I found a nice weed line and taloned down along it, catching bass after bass on a Neko rig. At one point, when I was fighting one of the bigger fish of the morning, I looked back and said "Cosmo, grab the net." She looked up at me, looked at the net, and then looked back at me like W T F.

That's awesome Katie, way to expose him to Bass fishing. Doesn't seem like much needs to be done to protect LM Bass fishing in Maine, but if it does now you have a real ally to call on. There's a reason why Texas is currently the best Bass fishing location in the world, and that's because the politicians and significant tax dollars go to make it that way.

Nice job. Sounds like you made some positive points on an individual that has a role in making and modifying state law that affects wildlife and fisheries. Don't care what side of the aisle this guy falls on either. I think more politicians would benefit from actually spending some time in the great outdoors and experiencing the laws they help produce.

Frogs, I've been using either the Scum Frog Launch or the Snag Proof Bobby's Perfect. Caught my new PB 5-7 on it last month in about 18" of water.

Came across this on the interweb

5.57

I think it's a mirror. He just wants to look at those obnoxious shades. 😂

I always believe there's one bigger. I caught a 4+ lber in my home pond- the biggest fish I've ever seen in that pond, by far. But I guarantee there's a bigger one in there somewhere. And I aim to catch her.

I struggled again today. I got 4 Bass in the boat, all spots. One "micro bass" and 3 cookie cutters. I also got a Blue Cat that would have been around 10 pounds. I took my pliers and shook it off next to the boat. I didn't want slime all over my boat. All , including the cat were on a shaky head.

Disturbeds sound of silence

Quick correction. That fish was on an ol monster t-rigged. I did catch one on the popmax but that was early morning. The last was on a spinnerbait. The spinnerbait fish and popmax fish are shown in my report but not in Pat’s, for anyone looking for them. I know, it’s a lot of photos to keep track of! It’s a pain when we are catching them good!

Andy

Hate to see it go but stocking up at less than 1/2 price makes it a little less pain full. SUNLINE America Co., Ltd. Thank you for your purchase! We're getting your order ready to be shipped. We will notify you when it has been sent. View your order or Visit our store Order summary Shooter Defier Armilo × 2 15 LB $22.00 Shooter Defier Armilo × 2 13 LB $22.00 Shooter Defier Armilo × 4 17 LB $44.00 Subtotal $88.00 Shipping Free SHIP4FREE (-$26.00) Taxes $0.00 Total $88.00 USD You saved $26.00 Customer information Shipping address A-Jay 729 Menderchuck Trail Brown Bass Heaven MI 0U812 United States Billing address

I hit the Columbia out of Stevenson, WA on the 4th. The day did not start out well. The day before when I loaded my kayak into my truck I decided I wanted to reorganize some things. Well I stupidly forgot to strap my kayak down into my truck while being thus distracted. I have to tell you I may not have been too awake when I pulled out of my street at 3:30 in the morning but when I had the BANG and saw my kayak on the street that definitely shocked me full awake. Let me tell you that the kayak is much heavier carrying it uphill at 3:30 in the morning than it is later in the day! I did a quick feel and it seemed OK so I decide to venture forth. When I got to the ramp I did another inspection and it passed muster again so I decided to launch and just check inside the hull every 15 minutes or so for the first hour just to make sure I was not taking on water. Good news is that the kayak is fine but my ego is a little bruised. I won't be laughing at the videos of folks dropping their boats on the ramps for a while Well, enough about my stupidity lets get to the fishing. I am really glad my kayak was OK because it ended up being an almost perfect day out on the river. The gorge is well known for its wind but on the 4th it was one of those unicorn days where it was glassy calm almost the entire day. I started out throwing topwater and on the first spot I had a massive blowup with the fish coming out of the water and it never touched the hooks. I followed up with a swimbait but I guess that fish just was done. At the next spot I missed another good blowup on the topwater. They were hitting it so violently and yet somehow doing everything except grabbing the hooks. After that I switched to a swimbait for a bit and finally was able to get my first fish of the day which turned out to be a really nice 17" bass. It took a while but that was a great fish to start the day on. I kept the swimbait in my hand for a while and picked up a few more fish. I would occasionally cycle through some other things but the swimbait was what was producing so I kept in my hand. Once the sun got a bit higher I tried a crankbait for a bit and picked up a nice 17.25" bass on that. However, that ended up being my only crankbait fish but I have to admit I did not throw it all that much. Eventually I made it out to one of my favorite humps and the magic really started to happen. I saw some bass chasing bait so I picked up my trusty spybait and went to work. As soon as I got to the front edge of the hump it was game on. I racked up 11 bass of that one spot including several really nice fish (an 18" and 19.25" 3lber). That were just smacking the bejeezus out of that thing for about an hour. When that slowed down I tried the topwater again and I had 3 or 4 nice blowups before catching my one and only topwater fish on the day. After they stopped biting the topwater I picked up my Ned rig and caught another few fish. The cool thing was watching the bass chase bait. I had one bass harrying a smolt along the surface right near my kayak. It started out about 10' in front of my and came straight at me and then they both veered off to my right. In the clear water I could see the smolt racing along the surface and the bass a few feet behind tracking its every move. I have expected to hear David Attenborough to start narrating as I watched. So cool to watch. Throughout the day I would see bass chase bait and was often able to get there in time to capitalize. That is probably the most exciting fishing that I get to experience. As the day wore on the fish were at the surface less and less and it became more of a drop shot bite in 20-25' of water. Even those bites on the drop shot were really aggressive. Some days you don't even feel the hit, there is just weight when you lift. On the 4th my line would jump like crazy when they chomped on my drop shot. I eventually even went back to the spybait. Counting it down to the bottom before beginning my retrieve. That was working well and I was picking better fish that on the drop shot until I hung up on something. Usually I can just pedal upstream and pull it off of whatever it is stuck on but not this time. After a couple of attempts I tried to remember where my lure knocker was in my tackle bag. I would pedal upstream a bit and then turn around and dig through my bag but I could not find (later I remembered that is my hull storage hatch). I have not used that thing in many years since I usually can reach a hung lure with the telescoping lure retriever. Anyway, I decided I was not going to get my spybait back so I clamped my thumb on my spool and started pedaling upstream to break off. Well in keeping with a magical day on the water the lure pulled free and was immediately walloped by a nice bass! Just unbelievable. I actually left all the footage of my going through this on the video since it was so wacky. To put the icing on the cake. The day was getting really hot (low 90s) and without a cloud in the sky I was starting to feel it and that is really bad for my condition. I decided to fish one more spot and on that last spot I caught my second 19.25" 3lb smallmouth. Then to make things even better as I started to pedal the mile and half back to ramp the wind kicked up a bit and that breeze felt like pure heaven. What a day! Here are some pics from the day and my video. I finished with 45 bass. Best 5 were 91.25" and I had 6 of 17" or more and ton in the 14-16" range. Just an incredible day! ... and smallmouth burting in air Another action shot Last fish of the day

@AlabamaSpothunter: The main reason I took his fishing was because he's a great guy, but once on the water, I realized that there was a Maine reason too and that's to: A. Give him a break from his good work. B. Let his see what's so good about his work, since the pond where I own land is less developed than most, which is why it's so pretty and full of flora and fauna.

Nice night time bass ! Interesting that your life jacket didn't show up in the picture. 🙃 A'Jay

Aerospace 303 and LA awesome are bought in bulk here, fantastic products.

I hit Shearon Harris in Central NC yesterday. I kayak fish so a good day for me typically is 3-5 fish. In October of 2022 I had a 12-15 fish day using an A-rig and thought that was a great day. Yesterday I caught 20-25 fish on a Rapala DT16, a Roboworm 4.5 inch Fat Straight Tail worm (Dropshot), and two smaller fish vertically jigging a steelshad blade bait. I lost 8-10 fish (mainly on the dropshot) so Im shopping a new hook. Previously I had only caught small bass on a dropshot. Dropshot fishing was weird yesterday I didnt feel them hit it just got heavy on the bounce and when it did i set the hook.

Well okay there’s Pat’s version 🤣

I always thought that the Zebco 33 would outcast a spinning rod. I sometimes use one, but my boy uses spincasters a lot. I always thought the difference was the fiberglass rod and how it loads up on a cast. The rods that normally accompany Zebcos are good casting rods, albeit cheap. Thanks @bulldog1935.

Cut off the alligator clips, crimp copper or even aluminum terminals onto the bare wire, bolt to battery. If you want to be able to disconnect easily - put a set of these between the battery and the TM...make sure the wire gauge is correct for the amount of Amps you can pull at max....usually 6AWG or 8AWG. (Pictured is 6AWG)

Obviously it's hard to know for sure, but a few years back while fishing from the Old Town with my wife, a 6 lb green bass went into the net. This is a little lake where a 2lb bass is a 'good one', a 4lb bass is rare which makes this catch pretty special. Haven't seen one close to this since. A-Jay

I believe I did in fact hook the biggest muskie in a lake I regularly fish several times a season. I was with my Father in August 2022. I piled into a sizable tiger muskie and did not get a look at it until it was about 15 feet from the boat. It jumped, shook its head, and spit the hook. My Father didn't say anything to me for a few minutes and it was just awkward silence. Shortly after, he broke the silence and said "I think you just hooked the biggest fish in the lake." We estimated this fish to be 45-50 inches which is unheard of for a tiger muskie.

I used up one pack of worms last weekend, so I replaced what I lost, and somehow ended up getting enough for free shipping. What a deal.

Mono line is such crap that every top 25 LMB and my top 5 giant bass was caught using it! Tom

My Father-in-law recently passed away and I inherited a few old Zebco's and rods. Most were catfishing stuff, but he had a 33 on a 6'0 rod. Of course, I enjoyed cleaning the dust off and re-spooling it with some new 4lb mono- even though I figured I'd never use it. Today, my wife and daughter (16) wanted to go fishing at our local spot. I carried the Zebco to give it a shot with another UL spinning reel/rod and figured that I'd look for panfish after putting my daughter on where the bass usually hang out. The spincast rod and reel easily beat the spinning set-up (8lb braid- slightly shorter 5'6 rod) in casting distance. I was using Creme Spoiler Shads 1/16oz in weight on both. Maybe it's not much, but I'd say on average the spincast would go at least 2-3 feet further than what I could get the spinning set-up to do with the same light bait. That just really surprised me. Turned out to be a good day overall. I set up my kid with a weightless green pumpkin stick bait and told her to cast out, wait, reel in a bit and pop it a couple times and let it rest again. 4th cast she got a nice 2 pound bass or so. I wound up with a couple of crappies on the Zebco. I also had a nice large bass inhale one of those Creme shads and fought him to shore before he threw one more big head roll and the lure popped out. It's on me, though. I never set the hook because I was afraid the drag was too tight and I'd pop the line. The drag on the Zebco reel is iffy at best. One click it's too loose and one click the other way doesn't let any line out. 😁 Anybody know what I need to do about that? I think I'll keep using it for a bit. One more option in the panfish stable that casts extremely well. Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Three cheers for Pat: Hip-hip-.... And what a good trip report, @LrgmouthShad!

I'm pretty happy with ZO3 setting 2-1/2 to 3 lbs drag with spring balance. It's not easy to knock it out of adjustment, but as described, the adjustment range is very narrow on the dial. Best to set for the line and know what you have. As you can see above, it works. These 2 videos talked me into buying ZO3 earlier this year - that, and the $45 price (then) on Amazon. Current Amazon price is $60, and the smaller 6-lb-test ZO2 is $50.

Yup ...shades are rad bud

One year Tom, time flies by, I promise you'll see me more frequently.

I spent the morning fishing docks. 15 of the 17 bass I caught were with a 6'6" MH spinning setup and a wacky rigged stick bait. Most of the lake I could slowly creep by the docks and wing that stick bait into the shade, but one part of the lake it was choppy where the wind was blowing in, so I had to talon in front of each dock instead. I saw a few people sitting on their decks or in their yard and simply avoided fishing their docks. I love piling into a 4 pounder under a dock.

Logperch , which is a species of “darter” I believe excellent SMB bait (excluding Minnesota and California of course)

Not sure what this guy is. Any ideas? I caught it in a local creek. Looks like a darter fish but I've never caught one or seen one out of the water. Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure I was not supposed to catch it.

It's actually the remote for my talon. I went again this morning without the pooch (too sunny/warm) and put more solid fish in the boat. You can see my talon remote again in the photos. I was mostly picking apart docks and I would talon down in front of them while I could focus on my casting accuracy.

3000 is the goldilocks of spinning reels imho. Perfect size for Bass fishing.

Got home today after a little road trip and the Monkey had these waiting for me. It felt like I had won the lottery. If you have fished one, you might know what I mean.