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Due to the new pup, I now go fishing when I can, not when the weather is just right. So, I launched with the wind in my face and it swung 180 degrees, meaning it was in my face on the way back. There was heavy rain and distant thunder too. Still, I managed 26 bass. Just no big ones. Here's the new pup checking my new lures! And here are a few of the bass I caught in 2.5 hours of actual fishing with 50 minutes of not fishing while fighting the wind.

Rod just arrived today. Daiwa Tatula 7’1” MH/XF Now my Tatula Reel finally has a home. Another Tat reel for my recently ordered cranking rod.

@LrgmouthShad I've been fishing that Island since 1984. Found it through map study but really got to know it after countless hours graphing & casting. The island & the land behind it is actually one point. When the lake was flooded it created the island. There are two creeks one on the east side (to the right) & one on the west side (to the left). Three well defined point & a road bed. The south & east side has a mixture of Hydrilla, Milfoil, & stumps. The whole area has a fairly firm sandy/clay bottom. The bass move up out of both creeks to feed on shad & bream. Right from the first time fishing it I was catching nothing under 3#. Can't tell y'all how many 7-9# bass came off that island. My biggest was a 10.3# but I lost one was probably bigger than my PB of 12.5#. If y'all notice the purple line at the bottom that's a boat lane running towards the main lake & is where you turn into Hurricane Bayou. It will surprise y'all how many people blow by that island at 70 mph. The ones who do stop head straight for the bank ignoring everything else. Do I catch everytime, no but its one of the places I check out 2-3 times a day or night.

Got out to the lake this morning, didn't get much of anything for an hour, and then it came an absolute flood. Waited it out in my car and moved down the lake and spotted a bass chasing some small bream in the grass bed. Problem was I would have to cast over a very thick pile to get to it and there would be no way to lip or net it there. So I decided if I hooked it, I would work it down the bank and into an opening in the grass that led to some rocks to step on so I did that and kept my rod up while fighting it to keep enough tension on it. Paid off. 7'0 Lew's Speed Stick handled it beautifully. I missed a good one the other day so it was nice to get this one in.

Texas rig. Went yesterday caught about 15 bass, 12 of them coming on off shore brush with a Texas rig.

My first real success in bass fishing came during the mid to late 70s after I'd found the Arbogast Hawaiian Wiggler at a local bait shop which was the inspiration for the Sally. Finally, I could fish something through pads and heavy grass without worry, and at the time I was using a 5'10" M Ugly Stick and 6 lb Stren. I rarely lost one to break offs, and better than that, I caught bass at a pace none of my friends could keep up with. They didn't always want it, but when they did it was on. Sadly, it was discontinued about 1980, but the Sally fills the gap nicely. It still works. Caught on the perch pattern.

Recently moved to a new apartment complex, and there is a huge pond out in front of it. Decided to go give it a try. Caught 5 large mouth and even a couple catfish, nothing huge, but decent fish.

@PhishLI suggested a Snagless Sally after reading about how I had a bass break my spinnerbait in two. So, I bought five. If I manage to fish this evening, I'm going to give Ol' Sal a try. I think I can pitch it into just about anything. Here's Sally:

For you new guys who may not know… When tying the Palomar on mono, flouro or co-poly be sure not to twist the loop when tying the overhand. It will crush the line weakening the knot at that spot. Mike

Champ 704CB with the new SLX 70MGL A.

And if the ratchet plate is installed backwards - it won't engage the kick lever and it'll never come out of 'casting' mode. Don't ask.....

There are 12 teeth on the mainshaft ratchet plate, which means the handle can turn up to 30-degrees before kicking the kick lever - one kick plate moves the thumb button, the second simultaneously moves the T-wing.

Picasso now makes a version of these that work pretty well. It's a little heavier/bigger presentation.

Live bait trophy bass anglers double anchor for hours on known* big bass spots and wait until the bass become active feeders. I preferred making a milk run on several known* big bass spots rather be mobile then anchored down. The advantage of the anchored boat the bass are not alarmed by an approaching boat. My technique was to approach along the shore in lieu from mid lake to reduce spooking the bass plus making long casts. I would spend enough time to determine if anyone was home and return when they were. 28 casts to specific structure elements isn’t unusual targeting big bass. Tom

Usually I go to the pond in the early morning before work, but decided to try my luck on the river today instead. Made it to the spot about 6 AM, and right away caught a fish. I didn't know I had a fish until I got my lure back in because he was so small. I thought I had just wrapped my line around one of the trebles or something. I then absolutely set the crap out of that lure on a submerged log and had to break off. 😭 So I switched to top water. Lost one right away, but then hooked another at the very end of about 100 yards of line downstream. I doubt it was actually that far down, but it was a long way off. Not a monster, but what with the fish using a pretty strong current to fight me, and having that much line out, it was the longest fight of my life. Poor fella was worn the heck out, but he seemed to revive pretty quick and splashed me as he swam off. After about 30 minutes of fruitless casting, I switched to a #5 Mepps Black Fury. Another absolutely tiny dink bit. I finished the morning with the Crush City Mayor on Owner's underspin hook. Missed two fish who seemed to have lazily swiped at it. Then I finally hooked into a really good one. A nice 16" smallmouth that leap as high as I've ever seen a fish jump. Twice. But EWGs hold really good, and I landed him with no problems.

I met up with my regular fishing buddy on the 20th (Saturday). We had not fished together yet this year. Sadly, he has been inflicted with a bad case of steelhead-itis and there is no known cure Anyway it was just really exciting to be back on the water with him again and we definitely made a good go of our chance to fish together. Between the two of us we caught over 70 bass. I did a little better on numbers but he had the two biggest (17.5" and 18.5"). The best I could manage was a 16.75". Other than not catching any real big ones the day was as perfect as could be. The Columbia was glassy calm for most of the day. There was a slight breeze for a short while first thing in the morning and then a very welcome wind in the afternoon that freshened just as we were beginning to roast. I caught fish on topwater (Sammy), spybait, jerkbait, swimbait, swinghead jit+creature bait, drop shot and Ned rig. The fish were actively chasing bait until about 11am and we caught our fair share of fish chasing the bass that were chasing the bait. It is so much fun to see bait skittering and the bass swirling and toss into that maelstrom and immediately get slammed. While we did do well fishing for those fish it was definitely not as productive - especially for size - as in my last few outings. I was really hoping we were both going to get a 20+ inch fish but you can't have everything. Over the course of the day if one of us would get on some fish we would call the other over and hammer on them together. Just perfect teamwork. I would say I probably caught about 1/2 the fish on active baits and 1/2 on soft plastics. When we would get on them with the Ned rig we would often hook up doubles and that is just so much fun. My only real disappointment on the day was when several really big fish were jumping all over each other trying to eat my topwater. After much missing (it is off camera but you can hear them splashing, jumping and churning up the water) I did hook one, had it on for 5 seconds and lost it. I guess I would have to say I ended up losing a ton of fish overall. Not quite sure why. I think probably partly because we were often chatting or I would be looking over to see how he was doing. A bit of a lame excuse but I am a fisherman and that's what we do best Funniest thing is that three times over the course of the day I had gulls trying to eat my Sammy (a walking bait). The worst was one gull that kept diving at it as I reeled like crazy to keep it away. It kept attacking all the way to the kayak and I had to swing at it with my rod to scare it off. I guess that lure has a pretty realistic action! Anyway, here are some pics from a wonderful day on the water and a link to the day's video at the end.

Ned rig, flickshake, dropshot. As far as why it's because the popular tournament lakes I fish around central Florida get pounded harder than a cube steak in a southern diner.

We used them in Mexico with quite a bit of success. Rig off choice was a 1 ounce swing head with a 7/0 Owner Beast EWG. Work especially well on deeper fish down 20 or 30 feet in the wind. A-Jay

Since we are couple, Now I am purchasing two of everything 😅

I have confidence in my knowledge of bass and how they relate to structure and baitfish seasonally. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼😎😎😎 Baits? Yeah they're fun! Just about all of them in the right circumstances are dynamite when presented with skill which simply takes some practice. Pick ones that look fun and throw only that every day until you can catch bass on it! You'd be amazed how well this works.

I use T Rig the most, but my favorite is the Carolina Rig. The C Rig gets a higher percentage of big ones for me. I will start with a T Rig because of its versatility, but if I catch a couple on it and the conditions are favorable for. a C Rig I will switch. I use the same baits for both rigs.

Late report, been a crazy busy week. 1AM as I'm writing it as is what I guess is the end of my Wednesday still and have to be back in to start my Thursday in a little over 6 hours. Fished a new to me lake Saturday. Got a roadrunner tournament coming up that I thought was the same as last years but found out it's completely different. Last year, we could fish in 3 different counties, any public body of water. This year, it's any state lake in Kansas, which rules out all of my favorite lakes as all of our state lakes within a reasonable drive of me are absolute garbage. So now I'm scrambling, trying to find a state lake that is at least decent to hopefully make a good showing in this tournament. Made the 2 hour drive to this lake, caught probably 40 fish but the biggest was only 17.25". Maybe it had the fish I will need, but the bank pressure was insane. It was only a 90 acre lake but there was no less than 20 shore anglers from the time we arrived at 5:30AM. It made a small lake even smaller. One of the state lakes I like but isn't particularly known for it's numbers of big fish was on the way back, so we decided to head there with a few hours left in the day to fish. I like the lake because they eat the jig, and sometimes I catch a good one there. This time, I got both.

Has anyone tried these or had any success with them?

Took it on the chin two days ago, not even getting a bite. Got a chance to sneak out to the lake for a few hours this afternoon and try and redeem myself. Fortunately, things went better, as I was able to figure out a pattern and bite. Hooked up with half a dozen bass, about twenty crappie, two channel cats and half a dozen white perch. Landed 4 of the bass, losing a small keeper when it jumped near the boat, and had a much larger fish hooked for a good while that eventually just pulled off.

That's easy. Either weightless or on a split shot rig. The bass around here see a ton of wacky rigs, and Texas rigs. They don't see a lot of split shot rigs with a plastic worm on the end.

Split shot for me has become my favorite. Before that, it was a weightless Texas rig, which of course still sees action. The split shot I can throw on my baitcaster, while the weightless Texas rig is normally a spinning rod proposition. I can throw the heavier worms with casting rods, even down to a Zoom 6" lizard. Right now, my favorite worm is a Berkley Power Worm in watermelon, followed by a Zoom Finess in either watermelon red or green pumpkin.

I don't think it will repel the bass, but it will melt anything plastic. I have seen way to many tiller handles on outboards, as well as many other plastic products ruined by DEET.

I've been using a Snagless Sally since the 1960's and still rely on it at times. As I've stated on this site before, I could fill up my house with the number of bass I have caught on this lure. Like Catt I recommend using some type of trailer. And @PhishLI, I still have Hawaiian Wigglers that I have modified and use to a great extent in some situations.

T-Rigged and Wacky.

Jigworm (Ned) for me. Takes just a couple seconds to unthread and rerig as jighead wacky when needed. Very versatile. #2 would be a tie between Slider and shakey.

Good morning Tom and bulldog, I applied a little bit of both of your suggestions and went out pool fishing this morning. I found there are no fish in the pool but I had a great time casting anyway. My pool is 29 feet long and a surrounded by considerable decking so I can cast of various targets and check for accuracy in my casting. I removed the 40 pound braid fishing line that was on my royal legend too. Now remember I'm drawing from my own inventory rather than going out and making purchases to try out different concoctions. Bulldog: I placed 25 yards of 30 pound mono on the real for backing. Then after connecting it with an Albright knot, I filled the real almost full with 6 pound viscous line. Which is what I had an inventory for trout. Onto that I placed a 1/8 and 1/32 conehead sinker and #4 EWG medium wire hook. The bait was a normal 2.75" Z-man Ned bait. After adjusting the reel I consistently made accurate 50-60' casts. At first it was kind or sketchy but I turned the magnets to 2 or three and lightened the tension 2-3 clicks more than it took to stop an overrun when dropping the bait to the floor. It kept my thumb pleasantly busy and there were no backlashes. I have 8lb suffix Advanced Mono on the way. I beleive the a better scale lightened up spool may just be 20 or 25 yards of the 17lb XL and 50 yards of 8lb Advanced or Seige/Elite. I'm not sure how 8lb advanced will perform on a baitcaster but it was wonderful on my Spincast collection. I remain hopeful for the future and I thank you for your help on these matters...

Got back out on the water yesterday for first time since dealing with the bout of pneumonia. Trip down to the river. Did not stay out long, caught the coolest part of the morning from 5:00 - 8:00 am. Thought it would be the easiest thing on my lungs. I feel 100% better but not sure if I am 100% better. Have a dr. appointment on Monday and I guess they will let me know where I am. I think it will take a bit longer to be all the way out of the woods. Didn't set the world on fire with anything of size. A couple of 13” smallies being the largest. Primarily throwing Pop-R’s and a few Flat Worms before packing it in. A Rapala Skitter Pop and Storm Chug Bug are a long time favorite and no. 1 go to but I was throwing around a few newer baits (new to me) BPS XPS Poppers in 1/5 and 7/16 oz., I found them to be a good bait. Don’t know if I would have made out any better if I had fished Rapala, Storm or Rebel I normally fish. They caught fish. Hope I’m getting out from under this Pnemonia. I’ll see, but I think so. Some of the chronic symptoms are clearing up. We need some real rain. The lake and the river needs some new water in it and a bit more flow. Good luck to you guys.

I'm going to rate this trip report on a scale of 1-10: 1 No big bass. No pretty pics. Not even that many bass. This is me yesterday evening:

I have a confidence lure for each specific situation I might encounter.

On top of the sally, you should throw a Johnson silver spoon like catt posted. Basically weedless, lots of action and flash, big fish potential. I remember using them growing up and catching bass and pike galore in northern pa waters. heck, I should throw one here now.

I think it's use is for braided or regular line.

Texas Rigged Why: Nadine likes em

This is the kind of spots I camp out on. That island just happens to be where Kyoya Fujita camped out to win the Bassmaster Elite event.

It should be agreeable that bass feed in cycles. Figure out the cycles to figure out the bass. There's this one corner spot thick with hyacinth in about 6 feet of water. Like clockwork, I can go there and catch a big bass. It's almost as if they're waiting there for me. Right as the sun starts coming up the fish will slam a punch bait. After a few minutes the bite dies and will not resume until later in the afternoon. This sorta cycle has repeated itself many times over, so much so that it's almost like a guarantee! Sometimes, even, with the same fish. That's another way to figure them out. This is just one of many from the exact same spot.

If you fish braid, they are very important - here, I'm using PE/acrylic mylar film tape for the same thing.

width on that is really nice. Thanks everyone for your feedback. One thing that came out really clear is there seems to be a big step between 19 and 20, and prob should do everything I can to at least be in a 20. And that a 21 is a double-axle was interesting. Feels like it'd be tough to get around in tight quarters or shallow waters. Probably end up with a 20, but I'll know more when I'm in-person. thanks. checking it out now.

Too many people, too much pollution, serious loss of wetlands habitat, forests, wild plains. We've made leaps and bounds in improving water quality while destroying everything else close to it with development. Some serious big wins in the last fifty years though. Lake Michigan, Lake Erie. Love canal anyone? I still feel like the commercial with Indian brave crying. FM

For sure ~ A-Jay

I never feel more confident then when I’m throwing a 3/4oz spinnerbait in 12-15’ of water on the outside edge of a milfoil forest.

I have been a B.A.S.S. Life Member since 1968 and the only article that is interesting to me anymore is Day on the Lake series. In-Fisherman is a multi species publication and decent but dropped it when the Linder’s left. Western Bass has a good free online bass fishing publication not print. BR is by far your best up to date bass fishing resource. Tom

I fish shallow clear ponds where the 'offshore structure' is often visible from the bank (and the bass relating to it also) and I can tell you - timing is everything after location. Case in point: there's a point that sticks out into a ditch next to a culvert where lots of red ear make their beds. Like clock work - regardless of who's fishing where or what is happening with the weather - if those sunfish are in their beds - every few minutes a 6+ lb bass will SMASH through them and push them up and into the hard high sandbar that comes up off the point where they make their beds. They use that spot to push bait so many times it's worn bare. Just be there and wait and you'll at least have a shot!

First harvest from the garden of the season. Mini cucumbers.

When fishing offshore structures I've been known to "camp out" all night on one spot. Now I ain't talking about staying anchored on one GPS way point but rather one piece of structure. I'm a firm believer in next after location come timing.

Unfortunately, that is all part of what happens when folks with more dollars than sense buy into these lakes. They disturb the shoreline, they put in grass that needs constant fertilization, they run wake boats that stir up silt constantly, the list goes on. All of that leads up to less wildlife, poor water quality, and turbocharged algae and grass growth. That is one thing Maine really has failed at: protecting what made the rich folks want to be there in the first place.