Leaderboard

I launched at 5:00 a.m. in fog. I caught 21 bass. 20 on a spinnerbait and one on a chrome and blue Rapala Skitterpop. I tipped the Terminator SS spinnerbait with a green pumpkin NetBait B Bug and when I ran out of those, a Rapala Mayor in glitter green pumpkin. This was the first bass. I caught a lot of well-shaped fish, like these two, thick bass. I like this long one. And here's a wiggler. This was my second biggest bass. And here's my biggest. Pity she was wiggling too and you can't see her full length. I caught them in shoreline notches. I finished fishing at 7:30ish. It was a satisfying morning (I can get some satisfaction!) because I could easily see someone fishing the same 2.5 hours and catching one or two or even getting skunked because the bass were tight to cover, which required pinpoint casting, and once I hooked one, there were weeds and wood everywhere. I came home to breakfast and my pup sleeping at my feet. Say, I had a 22nd bass hooked, but my spinnerbait broke. I know I was weakening the metal by bending it back into shape many times. Do you guys use a spinnerbait to catch a dozen or so bass and then junk it?

Update ~ 19 July. Lynn remain hospitalized at Henry Ford down in Detroit. Still receiving 3-4 hour dialysis treatments every other day. Reduce Kidney & renal performance demand it. Future plans are to bring her home her home early this week. She'll still need to continue with her treatments but we are super fortunate that there is a local facility ready, willing and able to take care of her current needs. Any remnants of my bout with Covid seemed to have passed but I did manage to tweak my lower back pretty good a week ago. Still working through that one but I am able to train so that's helping. The hits just keep coming. These are the good old days. A-Jay

River float. A pretty-popular five-mile stretch that gets a lot of tubing, canoe and kayak traffic on weekends, but today the only other person I saw was one guy fly-fishing. I have never seen the water lower or clearer here -- bottom visible everywhere, mostly 1-2 feet deep the entire way, with an occasional 3ft hole. I found myself passing areas where I was sure there had been deeper pools in the past, and wondered what happened to them -- surely it wasn't always this shallow? And I realized it was probably a little deeper my previous visits, but also not as clear, with the bottom simply less visible. It was a little intimidating, to be honest, so I downsized, and swapped out a whopper plopper for a tiny torpedo, and a 5" senko for 4". And with that, the dink-fest was on. After my eighth or ninth 10-11-incher, I thought, "well may as well get a picture of one in case these are all I catch": The next fish was finally a satisfyingly-sized 16": ...and then it was back to the dinks, one after another, until take-out, 27 in all. Oh, and a few of these guys, who can virtually never be avoided: Predatory birds were also out in force, not passing up such a feeding opportunity with the low, clear water. I saw an osprey, at least two, possibly 3 eagles, several kingfishers, multiple blue and green herons.

I'm surprised Tom (@WRB) didn't write, "Eventually, I had a winch installed in my boat and a two-man crew to secure the bass once aboard. A nice bass can sink a boat unless it's controlled and I lost two boats before I learned my lesson: Winch and crew!"

I snuck out this morning before work, mostly to test a new rod I bought yesterday for my dedicated deep cranking setup (Lew’s 7’6” MH/moderate “Perfect Crankbait” Rod with a Shimano Curado DC 151 and 14# FC sniper). That said, I started out at dawn with a Whopper Plopper and caught a few smb/lmb, one monster rock bass and a 3#-ish pike. The first lmb (in photo) was bleeding so I put him in the livewell for 15 minutes, after which it appeared to have stopped. He was harder to get out of the livewell than he was to catch in the first place - very feisty and swam off immediately.🤞🏻 Then I got to cranking over mixed coontail and sparse weeds in 14-15ft. of water off a flat. Am thrilled that the setup will bomb cast a country mile. Caught a 2.5# lmb on my third cast, which made my morning. I moved to an offshore hump and fished the ledge where it falls from 10-30ft. I another 3 lmb, and a pike. One of the bass came in with 4-5 buddy’s chasing him, but that was my last bass. I’m quite happy with the new cranking setup, especially with the rod for $100 CDN. 👍🏻

Caught 10 fish yesterday with most on a Rapala DT16 in citrus. Its been pretty cool to do things to try and trigger bites. Pauses, pauses then a jerk, burn pause, slow sweep, fast sweep, and long pause. Surprisingly a long pause where the bait comes float back up is triggering a lot of bites too. Found this out yesterday when i would stop and mess with something on the kayak.

Bought a new old town predator mx on clearance for $550 at sportsman warehouse.

Took advantage of the buy 2 get 1 free plastics special at Omnia yesterday on my way home.

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.

Manny, my old dog died April 19, 2023. I buried him in my Japanese garden and planted Creeping Jenny on his grave. The Creeping Jenny now completely covers his grave and it thrives, growing plush and wide. After months of mourning, I'm getting a new dog today, another black and silver miniature German Schnauzer. His name is Joey P. Boots, the "Boots" being a nod to his four white paws. He also has a white muzzle, eyebrows, and chest. He even has off-white ears, so da Boots is quite a handsome guy. A friend and I built a backyard pen last Saturday and the house is loaded with toys and treats. I might be fishing less because puppies have so much to learn. Anyway, big day and friends are already pressing to see him before he's even arrived.

So is this thread.

Treats

Man I’ve thrown chatterbaits with and without trailer, all different sizes, all different colors, deep shallow, in grass, mud, rock, under docks, you name it I’ve tried it on a lot of different bodies of water. No dice at all. Switch to a crank or lipless or spinner bait game on. I’m convinced when I tie on a chatterbaits fish literally send out a mass message then pack up and leave.

US Amazon Amazon.com : DAIWA Bait Reel Zillion SV TW 1000L Left Handle (2021 Model) : Sports & Outdoors Amazon.com : DAIWA Bait Reel Zillion SV TW 1000HL Left Handle (2021 Model) : Sports & Outdoors

Depends on how bent the frame is. If you can still get it to run true, it will still work. I've personally never had much luck trying to bend one back, which is why I stopped buying the cheaper ones myself. Honestly if you caught that many good bass on a standard steel framed version, that's pretty good. Consider yourself lucky that a pike didn't destroy it after one assault which happens here regularly.

I have been out several times in the last few weeks. The bass are in the thicker weeds. I have had the best luck wacky worming weed edges and drop-offs. If the weeds don't reach the top I will throw right on top of them. I have been putting a small nail in one end of my worm to help it sink faster. I had a good crankbait bite when it was windier and had some clouds. I threw a shallow running bait along weeds. Most bites were on the pause. I am not a fan of bright sun with little wind, but that has been what I am getting. Last 2 trips I caught a 21, 20, 19, 18, 17-inch Smallmouth. The 21 is the longest I have ever caught on my lake. I also had two slow trips where I struggled. I catch both SM and LM in equal numbers but I haven't caught a really big LM all year. As always, I am slaying the rock bass 🙄. They are everywhere. I am hoping for a cool, cloudy windy day somewhere in my future. Tight lines.

Whopper plopper

This is about 15 years of loss...I'm not to @Catt's 'level' yet...but working on it. Wife says my ponytail just pulled everything back.... 🙃

Got on a few in 100 degree heat. Brutal conditions but I had the lake to myself. Got 3 on a jig, one on a Magdraft. Biggest went 4 even on the jig. Lost one I think was bigger fishing a tiny klash out deep.

I do think about it. There's a ton of mostly very small and delicate structures in our hands. Repeated driving any type hook deep into them is a little wacky and mostly unnecessary. Certainly Not part of my fishing. Not looking to change the quality of my life. Using a net and as well as following a safe handling practice is more my style. Especially when treble looks are involved. A-Jay

FFS has cratered demand for hardbaits in general, but especially for crankbaits. Moreover, Rapala is one of the few brands that still has some of the quintessential crankbaits on the market, so it's not like VMC/Rapala doesn't have a good hardbait brand in their umbrella. Ultimately though, this is just more proof that when small mom and pop fishing tackle companies sell out to the big conglomerates, the only real loser is the consumer. Nothing good ever comes from a big corporate brand buying out small mom and pop businesses. It is however part of the American dream and capitalism, so it is what it is.

Not a Rapala fan either and I'll leave it at that.

Not the first time Rapala has done something like this, and won't be the last. They bought Terminator and discontinued arguably the top spinnerbait of all time. Then they bought Storm and quit those lures too. Rapala can go kick rocks as far as I'm concerned. They won't be getting any of my money.

For real? I know you could get free subway for life with a subway tattoo. The bait game is so dang crowded. I hear 13's hardbaits are good, but I get why Rapala is bowing out and just selling Rapalas.

Chatter baits and rattle traps.

Man, they work for me on nearly every outing, often when nothing else will...a confidence bait that is in the running if not leading my total catch rate. Second has to be a shaky head, followed by various flavors of crankbait. I'd say I can't catch a cold with a frog (one blow up) or with a wacky rig (did catch one casting to it on the bank after seeing it on FFS). I seldom throw a frog but I keep casting a wacky rig waiting for it to produce...waiting, waiting. Never caught anything on a fluke but I'm ready to give 'em another try. Never caught anything on a drop shot so now I usually throw a shaky head or hover bait instead. Interesting to see what various members offer as unproductive baits...just reinforces my idea that any bait can be a confidence bait for someone and that all baits can produce under the right circumstances.

Katie, if I caught a dozen bass on a spinnerbait, I wouldn't junk it......I'd frame it!

Import from Japan, though I think the exchange rate has slipped a bit, they're like $230 from digitaka right now. If you're looking for a lefty 7 speed Amazon Japan has 1 available for $196

You will fly into Mazatlan, and a carrier will meet you there for the 1.5 hour drive to Baccarac lodge. I have done it but the drive was still sketchy.

I wouldn't hesitate to take a charter flight right to a Baccarac lodge but there is absolutely no way I'd drive there in my own truck pulling my own boat across Mexico.

Not sure that is a place I would drive to either, Sinaloa is loaded with "Cartel" just waiting for your truck and I am sure they would love your boat..

For me it’s probably a crank bait and to some degree a jerk bait, most anything with low hanging trebles. Its really not that I don’t like them it’s mostly because I don’t throw them enough. I almost always have my most success with single hook t rig’s… Over, in, through and under any and all the vegetation I can find. The only exception would be a trap, but just don’t throw them enough as I’d much much rather pitch, flip or drag a plastic 100% of the time. Mike

Assuming you have the last gen Tatula 100, the SV spools won't fit but you can get the Elite, Flip and Pitch as well as the Coastal 150 SV from The Tackle Trap or various spools from Aliexpress such as this Amo fixed inductor or SV brake Ray's spool in shallow and shallower.

BOGO means each one is half off. I can explain that to the wife much better!!! “No honey, I’m not spending $100 on one bait. I’m only spending $50.” $50 is an easier number to swallow 😂😂

most of us aren’t catching bass you can fit four fingers in their mouth….

I've given up on topwater. Used to look forward to summer topwater but these days trying to get a topwater bite is like pulling teeth.

@slonezp that ain't got nothing to do with age. It's Hereditary 😉

I'm this old 😉

You guys really make me feel better about my self restraint. I thought I didn't have any but this thread helps me prove otherwise haha

@PhishLI: Wow! It's like the pickerel rush I saw last week: I know there were bass in that pickerel rush. I heard them feeding, but there's no way I'm casting in there. I leave that to anglers who know how to punch through weeds and can stand with big @T-Billy muscles to winch them out. I know my limitations.

Those pics were of water that's at least fishable to a degree. Here's a shot of that lower lake that I gave up on. Looks like frogging paradise, and fish try, but they can't bust through the canopy of tightly overlapped Lillies and pondweed to get it. I've never seen it this dense. The upside is that this year's hatch of bass fry should be safer from predation than in years past, and mature resident fish have a refuge from poachers with no way to fish live bait under a bobber. Lemonade.

I'll take him paddling, but not fishing. Just too many hooks. Here he is:

Under no circumstances would I mention it to my wife. If I were to tell her….

Over the years I tried O-rings and heatshrink. O-rings were ok, but the worm started to split after a fish or two, and the heatshrink edges always starting cutting into the worm from the start. Here is what I currently use for full size and thin pro senkos rigged wacky or neko. On amazon you can buy silicone strays made for kids sippy cups in sizes that match both senko thicknesses. You get like 4-6 straws that you can cut in 1/4" bands and then use a nasal speculum to install them. I also use a 2mm leather punch to place a hole directly in the middle of the silicone band for the wacky hook to go through. It makes it easier to get the hook through the silicone band and it will also allow the bait to slide up the line when you catch a fish. if I rig them neko, then I just run the hook parallel to the worm on the band and ignore the pre punched holes. Here are the links to similar products I have purchased in the past. A set of straws runs like $5-7 and you can cut at least 200+ bands per set, A nasal speculum like $9 which will last you a really long time. Full size senko silicone straws Silcone straws for thin pro senko Nasal Speculum 2mm leather punch These aren't exact links to what I ordered since it was a few years ago. I still have complete straws that I haven't even used yet. I will include a picture of the straws I ordered since I found the pic on my camera roll for reference. The inner diameter of the straws fit perfectly to the outer diameter of both style senkos.

Here is a new 6" hardwood swimbait painted to resemble the rare and elusive firetiger crappie shad😁

What I do is if it’s a larger 3-4+ or using a treble hook that is not wholly in its mouth, I always belly land. Maybe that’s what you’re seeing. For smaller ones I’ll boat flip or lip. If hooked with a single hook It doesn’t matter as much because I make certain that the lower lip is always straight never bent forward. What I would NOT do is use a Boca grip kinda thing. If you’re not careful the clamps will grab thier jaw too tight causing unnecessary damage or worse they will jam and grab the tongue! Yes, lipping a bass will momentarily “stun” it but it must be done right. The problem comes in when it’s held by bending it’s jaw forward too much as I said, especially with a heavier fish. Mike

A little game I like to play is counting the number of times the words "innovative," "revolutionary," and "all-new" are used in a press release. You could make a drinking game of it if your intent is to get yourself shellaced before the evening news comes on. LOL