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The first two came from a sweaty trip this past Thursday to a regular spot. Then I drove through rain on Friday down to Virginia where I met up with a good friend who drove up from North Carolina and we had an even HOTTER day fishing a Virginia lake all day Saturday. I caught four and my buddy caught four. Nothing big enough to brag about but I was happy we were catching in water that topped out at 92.5 degrees.

I was going to fish a bog, but as I was passing a pal's pond, I decided to drive less and fish more. I'm glad I did because I caught 49 bass this morning and some quality fish too. Here are a couple pushing four pounds. They were caught back to back. The first gave me a quite a fight, tiring me, so when I hooked her twin on the very next cast, I was tuckered, but I managed to land her too. The first bass ran behind my canoe's stern and I had extra rods sticking out beyond it, so I had to make sure my rod and the extra rods didn't cross. Then I had to extricate my net from the extra rods in the front. So, when the second bass hit in the middle of a lily pad field, I thought, "Not again!" However, I kept the rod high, which helped, and for whatever reason, she swam out of the lily pads. Whew! Anyone who reads my trip reports knows that I don't fish a lot of different lures. This morning, I decided to try two new lures: a spinnerbait and jig. The spinnerbait caught most of my fish, including my big one, which you'll seen a ways down. Here are a couple spinnerbait bass. Using the spinnerbait was easy because my main lure is an underspin. A spinnerbait is just an overspin and with the exposed hook, I landed far more bass than I do with my underspin. However, I'll continue to use the underspin for pitching into heavy cover. Here's another fine fish, also nearing four pounds: I caught a lot of smallmouth too. A long bass! Spinnerbait smallie: More lmbs of various shapes: Then the spinnerbait really produced. I cast parallel to a shaded shoreline about ten feet out and the girl below hit. A lot of times with bigger bass, I feel like I barely land them. I didn't feel that way with this girl. She was powerful and pulled hard, but I felt in control the entire time, largely because I hooked her far enough off-shore to have some water to play her. There were weeds under me, but not that mat of weeds I find closer to shore. I could feel the weeds pinging as she plowed through them, but there weren't enough to mire and free her. Shortly after this, I lost my Terminator spinnerbait to a pickerel. However, I had a wonderful morning and now I'm confident with a new lure. She's a bucketmouth, huh? Thick jaw too. The photo is a little strange because I raised my camera to capture her full length. I also caught my first bass on a jig, but didn't stick with that because they wanted flashier, noisier lures. My Whopper Plopper and Choppo outproduced my Rapala Skitterpop and wakebait. My two-bladed spinnerbait outproduced my one-bladed underspin. I did catch a couple bass on a pumpkin green worm as a follow-up lure. I'm probably the only BR member to have not caught bass with a spinnerbait before today, but if you haven't used one, do! Unless your screen name is @TnRiver46. Lastly, I'll never know for sure, but I think I might have caught a 20-lb. bag. Four were close to 19 inches long or 19 inches, which is close to four pounds on my chart, and the big girl was over five pounds. However, I think about @A-Jay surpassing 30 pounds with smallmouth earlier this year and I know a certified 20-pound bag would have been nice, but it's not the be-all and end-all.

Coaxed a few the other day.

I took a farmer friends two oldest boys out this morning, which is becoming a couple times a year tradition. I’ve been on two weeks’ vacation and fishing has varied from “poor” to “ok” so I was thankful to have an “ok” morning for them. We started in a big bay, working along a weed edge that’s usually pretty reliable. It was near flat calm and they brought live frogs - I was shocked they caught nothing on them. I caught a 2.5# on my first cast with a popper, then after a while with no more bites I tried a dropshot along the weed edge where it drops for 4-5ft. to 10ft. and got them on a few with that. Their family likes fresh fish so this is a rare occasion I’ll keep some. They brought home five bass about 1.5-2.5# and a couple medium size perch. They were happy… and I brought home a thank you gift of four T-bone steaks from their own beef.😎 Back to work for me tomorrow. I’m ready to go back though, and today was a nice way to end my vacation. (I don’t want to post pics of other peoples kids, hence the markup. Their youngest brother climbed up in the boat to join in the at home photos.)

Its been a busy and productive last two months https://www.youtube.com/@AManAndaBoat

proud of him, he became a great fisherman, sending pics after pics. pond hopping and catching bass.

Re-stocked on some Easy Shaker's (awesome drop shot bait) and some Super Chunk Jr's, which I really like for finesse jig trailers. Along with the Cavitron, War Eagle is probably my favorite buzzbait. Siebert order. The Baby Rage Craws are also great finesse jig trailers. TW 4th of July sale. The new TW Black Blue color is probably my new favorite. I hate that it's TW exclusive since I'm used to getting Jackhammer's around $11-$12 other places. But TW doesn't run many sales like that, so I took advantage of the 15% off and got 5 more. Never fished these Hag's baits but figured I'd try them out. I thought they looked a little familiar. Turns out they look a lot like one of the Googan baits.

Nice bass! And I caught a stray……. you could catch fish with your car keys

It doesn’t take a lot of skill to chunk and wind baits along a shoreline. To me, the skill is knowing where and when to throw whatever bait you choose. People who criticize others for throwing live bait are just showing how little they really know about fishing.

I think these people are full of crap and condescending and should mind their own business and I wouldn’t listen to their nonsense who goes around telling other people what their fishing experience should be? Theres one such guy on YouTube that makes 3 videos a day doing just that 😂

Got a couple nice bass today before some buffoons in a couple trailers started making ob oxious racket driving around the road behind the lake and back. It was a great day and both these fish slammed love bluegill and danced on the surface of the water like skipjack. Lots of fun. And got to do it in the company of s really good friend who just got his DD 214 from the Navy and transferring back to civilian life.

6poundbass and I hit the water today. Nothing big but the numbers weren’t too bad. Ten fish in three hours, seven bass, and three pike. First bass of the day choked a @Siebert Outdoors swim jig. Besotted Lures lipless crank accounted for three bass, and something I haven’t done in a long time is throw a deep diving crankbait. The Besotted Lures deep diver accounted for three bass and a pike. Vibrating jig was the other key lure of the day.

I beat the skunk by one. One bass in a morning of fishing. I wasn’t sure how the fishing would be after the hurricane but it was dead. One 12” bass and a few bites that I’m sure were bluegills.

I went last night/this morning from 2 until 6. I didn't get skunked. I caught 1. The good news is, I've caught at least one 5 pound Bass every month this year. The only one I got in the boat today was a 21 inch long 5.02 pound Spot. I zeroed my scale and weighed it twice. I caught it on my last cast. (I try to leave on a catch every trip). I lost decent Largemouth a couple cast earlier right next to the boat. The LM I lost ate a DT6. I didn't want to damage my rod boat flipping it, didn't want to lip it and get trebles in my hand, and was too lazy to get my net out. I had the line in my hand lifting it up, and it flipped and got off. I caught the Spot on a Seibert Bladed Jig. I lipped it. Water temperature was 89 degrees. At one point the reading on my graph was 89.9. It will be over 90 degrees today.

Had some fun hand lining some bluegill today. Musta caught like twenty of the little fellers on pillbugs I found under rocks n stuff. Not real angling, just kid stuff. But it was fun.

Two little fish sure beats the two skunkings that I took the last couple days. I caught the 32.25" on double 8 blades at first light, and the 33.75" cranking deep coontail later in the morning. The 33.75" is number 30 over 30" for the year.

First day using Ark Gravity bfs reel. Followed instructions and set internal brakes to II and spool tension to no side-to-side play and outside knob to a quarter turn looser than half way. Threw a 1/8 jig head and 2.75 paddle tale to start, on 8 lb J Braid Grand to 7 lb Fluoro leader. Wow. Not a single backlash and chucking really far casts. Some casts were not exactly finesse either: a few kinda jerky heaves on the backhand to hit some water under a tree before river current took me too far away and still didn’t backlash. And the drag seems very good, but only caught smallies to around a pound, not sure where the big ones went today. Now for the next test tomorrow: much lighter baits. Gonna start with some 1/16 ounce finesse jigs and 1/10 neds, maybe a Rhythm Wag split tail on a 1/0 weightless hook. Interested to see whether I will have to change reel settings at all. I had read this reel could be a bit hard to dial in. Not for me so far!

It was a dang mini-pike/pickerel who took my lure. However, before that, I caught a four-pound pickerel, which is good-sized for Maine. Before this morning, I used spinnerbaits in Canada for pike and musky, so I'm familiar with the lure. I asked the BR guys if I could troll one. They said, "yes," so I did and it worked as well as casting. I hate to not be fishing when I'm paddling to a new spot. Are you going to Quetico? My spouse tells me to stop telling people that they'll catch 40 bass in a morning if they go fishing with me. "They won't," I'm told. "They'll catch ten. Maybe 15. And they'll watch you catch 40."

Keep doing what you are doing. It works great for you. I find fishing different live baits for bass is difficult.

Just about every bass angler started out using a live worm under a bobber, little skill needed. What usually happens is the entry level angler witnessed a bass being caught on a lure and change to lure fishing. Some anglers don’t change and develop thier live bait techniques to higher skill level. Other bass anglers use both live bait and lures using higher level skill sets for both. Tom

If you are enjoying your time on the water, than don't change a thing. The Bait Monkey has plenty of places he can stay to keep out of the weather, he doesn't have to go to your house if you are happy keeping fishing simple. I tried fishing live bait for bass and wasn't even able to catch my live bait. A good bait fisherman is just as skilled as any angler using artificial lures. Some lure fisherman are highly skilled, and some aren't. Same goes for bait fisherman. A skilled fisherman is a skilled fisherman no matter what gear they use.

I’m not known around here for fishing lakes, largies or using my electronics to target fish. I did however cut my teeth using electronics to catch musky on lakes and in open water settings. No scope needed

Nabbed a couple of small bass this morning. Both of em on the Mepps #5

Fanny Pack!

Just arrived. Perfect unused condition. Incredible steal @ $73.50... now to sell my Curado K and get an ultralight Vanford

I know, I don't think you're spreading misinfo and that wasn't I didn't intend to portray that sentiment. If I did I apologize. I was just wanted to add the factor of delayed mortality into the equation. I feel like its overlooked often and it shouldn't be. Not much you can do for a bleeding fish other than get it back into the water ASAP. On the other hand, we can do alot to minimize the time the fish spends out of water by being more efficient with pictures and ensuring the fish is properly revived, but the reality is some people just don't. We need to put the fish first, if we want to the sport to stick around.

https://www.americanlegacyfishing.com/featured-products/icast2024.html Quite a bit of new stuff, 3 new models in the Expride B lineup, new Poison Adrena up for pre-order, SLX XT A, looks like a new BFS Zodias 7' light, 2 new models in the Curado line

Nothing says you have to change your ways. Fishing with live bait can get the biggest fish. Down here in Florida at world-class Headwaters Lake, many trophy fish have been taken on live bait. Most all the fishing charters use live bait and catch hundreds of bass. Just logical for them. A sure thing, so to speak. When I was using live bait for saltwater surf fishing, there was a ton of skill involved in hunting down the right bait and then catching it, not to mention keeping it alive. Sometimes I spent half the day hunting down the bait. Sometimes I would have to get the bait the day before to use the next day, like sand fleas for Pompano. Need to rake them up, and the skill involved is in timing the waves just right and then keeping them alive in a special container. So there's plenty of skill involved in a lot of things. Casting all day can get just as boring and tiring as sitting and waiting for a bobber to disappear. So do what you like to do and to heck with what anyone says, would be my take on the matter.

My point was that anyone can chunk and wind. Just doing that doesn’t take any skill but doing it correctly, in the right place and time with accuracy does.

I usually catch bowfin which are a pita to unhook! I’ve been catching speckled perch in heavy cover with big punch rigs, 5/0 hooks heavy tungsten, plain weird. And of course the usual alligator. At least I’ve gotten most all of my rigs back!

Sounds like you're using some serious bassin skills to go along with live bait. I prefer to use artificial bait because of the challenge associated with it. I think that there is less skill involved in using live bait overall, but also different skills that are used too. Catching live bait, and knowing how to keep it alive, as well as being able to hook it properly are skills that I don't have currently. I can hook minnows and worms. I can dig worms... and buy minnows. I supposed I could catch minnows if I really wanted to, but I haven't done so for bait use. I caught some the other day with my kid, but that is pretty variable. I just so happened to be where they were, and made a trap out of a bottle. In wintertime, I'd have no idea where to look for them. Do I think you ain't fishing right? No. If you enjoy the way you do it, go for it. I enjoy fishing a plastic worm, and feeling the nibble. I do fish with real worms occasionally to break things up. I'd love to go out with someone that fished live bream and learn how to do it. Don't suppose you could put together a fishing bream 101 post?

Use a size 4 drop shot weedless hook and nose hook the cricket on a split shot rig. Tom

I have been using the Ozark Trails worm hooks with good success. I don't like them as well as Gamakatsu, but I like them much better than the cheap Eagle Claw Hooks. They are sharp, don't rust, and I don't have a problem hooking up. I got this guy on a 1/0 OT hook and a Zoom Fat Albert Grub. 3lb14oz Got him on an OT buzzbait, but with a replaced skirt.

The fitness expert died at 76 and the sex expert died at 96…. Interesting.

'MERICA

Ol Monsters have been working out pretty good for me this Summer. Tried to send a few more pics but they won’t go through size feature

Got in some of what I believe was earlier referred to as squishing (squishing in fishing before a social function) from 7-11:30 today , captured a couple. One Kentucky spot on the besotted popper, also got to use my new seaguar braid. Pretty cool stuff ! That popper is light and I was throwing it quite a ways. The smallie hit half a purple worm on a jighead. Water temp 75 upriver here’s the line tied to backing via alright knot, it’s pink and yellow like a fly fishing strike indicator

More delicious treats.

When it comes to cooking my pet peeve is people thinking Cajun food is hot & spicy. No it ain't! It's seasoned in proper positions to enhance it flavor what's being cook. Seasonings are not ment to change or over power what's being cooked.

capacity calculator for stacking lines on spools - it's quite good: https://www.pattayafishing.net/advanced-fishing-reel-line-capacity-estimator/ What's not good is the typical result stacking threadline braid on deep spinning spools. The hour-glass or cone line lay result is what causes wind knots - multiple loops of line dragging each other off the spool simultaneously. (The reason I didn't fish braid for 2 decades, until the quality of both reels and braid caught up). Hour-glass and cone line lay is caused by the reel's line lay error adding up as you stack more line deeper. (basically, any reel stacks mono fine - the error shows up in threadline). This is the line lay result you get with a good reel and shallow spool: Stradic is the entry-level Shimano worm-drive - probably should consider it the entry-level braid reel. $140 w/ free express shipping from Japan Back to Legalis - either of these will do nicely On Japan silk-thread scale, your target is PE#1 to #1.2 (go by diameter - lb-test is a USM absurdity).

@The Baron: Thanks for taking those kids fishing. A couple of their bass have nice, round bellies. Whatever the length, I like to see bass eating well. Thriving. Weird to make a racket with trailers. I'm glad you caught some anyway. It's Crickety o'clock (3:19 a.m.) and I'm leaving in a few minutes to fish a bog. Fingers crossed. I've tied a jig and spinnerbait onto my rods, hoping to develop a little more range today.

I have a used JDM Daiwa Steez A in 6.3 I got for $225 on Ebay. I love this reel and it casts like a dream.

Did you at least weigh it?

Dang shame what the IGFA has done to the record books, they created a Northern Strain record only to put the Perry/Kurita fish as the record. Then they put a 15lb Ivie fish caught by Kyle Hall in March as the Florida Strain LM WR Bass. They could have done something great for all the Yankee Bassers and given them a WR to chase after. This fish is the textbook example of what should be the new WR for Northern Strain LM. All that aside, this fish has solidified my opinion that Cayuga Lake is the best Bass fishing in the North. I had already believed this after last year's MLF Cayuga debacle, but now that we learn it has LMs like this, it's a no brainer imho. So many 6-7lb SMs, and now you got the SR LM Bass.....what a Bass paradise.

I picked up a 4th of July Bento Box from the Hook Up Tackle. For $100, this is best box ever. All good stuff and great colors.

I bought a new black max back about 2013 or 14… about a month or so ago a guy gave me a black max rod, that clicked and reminded me of the new never casted reel. I paired them up and have been using and it is a great reel! They last forever if you never use them lol