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Got home from work, a rough day. Hit the pond real quick for a little bit.

I fooled this bass

Yes! Few years back we discussed this topic of intuitive thought helping to make decisions. Trusting your gut has been a big part of my bass fishing. To do this you need to be focused on your environment and distracted by activity unrelated to bass behavior. Visualizing where the bass located and trusting your intuition to lead there is being in the zone. I often got if my vehicle while waiting in line for the lake to open looking at the lake trying to get in touch with the ecosystem. Wind direction, birds anything that helped to decide where to start. Some days nothing jumped out other times a clear intuitive thought came to me. Follow your intuition. Tom

Intuition isn't some kind of magic or psychic power. It's important to embrace that statement. Intuition is your unconscious processing what you are seeing based on any number of past experiences you've had, patterns that your brain has recognized, even emotional responses. If you are having "intuition" about a spot or technique then take time to stop and analyze WHY you are getting this gut feeling. The more you can define concretely what your unconscious is recognizing the more you will be able to apply your experiential knowledge to finding and catching fish. If you get a gut feeling just stop and figure out what's triggering that gut feeling. Then fish your gut feeling and your results (success or failure) will become another tool in your toolbox the next time you are on the water because it will no longer be a gut feeling, it will be a conscious application of your experience as a fisherman.

GREAT morning today. A 16", 20.5" and 21 inch bass on a Mike iaconelli Gilly swimbait. analog scale for some reason said every one of them were 1 lb

Didn't hurt too bad this morning so I tried it again. Water temp 86* @ 7am. Threw a white walking bait and caught 1 then fished for 2 hours without a bite. Finally caught another good Alabama on a worm and went home. Had to cast left handed but they mostly landed in the water.

I lost two at the net on Wednesday and ended up taking a skunking. I moved five yesterday, but they were being skittish and the only one I got to commit was this little guy that just squeaked into the count at 30.5". I picked up two early this morning on cranks, then the bite shut down like the flip of a switch. 39.5". 37" So... I fell a bit short of my 100 fish goal, but it's all good. 94 muskie over 30" ain't a bad rookie year. I've learned a bunch, and now have some experience with them in all four seasons, so I feel like I have a solid foundation to build on. New goal is 100 before ice over. The current count for the 2024 calendar year stands at 44.

Actual adult and mature married men and women know how to and are confident enough to communicate honestly & effectively. Boils down to truly having real respect for yourself and your significant other. Life is way too short for anything else. A-Jay

To recap, I bought five acres on a 170-acre pond in Maine. It checked the following boxes: Five minutes from my house No public access No ramp, so no larger motor boats Only one shoreline can be developed, as the other three shorelines are wetlands The wetlands are loaded with bass. The ten homes on the developed shoreline are all set back 250'. Plentiful largemouth The smallmouth aren't plentiful, but they're all fat. Big trees on my lot, plus the lot is flat and has electricity where it starts The action can be fast. Earlier this year, I caught 48 in two hours and 15 minutes and I had several other 40+ evening and morning sessions. The only downside was the size of the bass. When I started fishing it three years ago, they were 15" to 16". The other bodies of water I fish have bass up to 22"+. However, I felt that the pond's lmb were growing bigger and this morning offered further evidence. I launched at 5:30 a.m. in the rain. This was the first bass and representative of the average size I used to catch, albeit a little fatter: Then I caught some thicker, longer bass that I would not have caught three, two, or even a year ago. I'm not saying that I never caught any of the following size, but not like I'm catching them now, with multiple 18+ inchers in a session. In the end, I think the bass are bigger, but I also think I'm learning where and how to catch the bigger ones: I caught a skinny bass on a frog, but snarled my line on the very next cast. I continued to catch bigger bass then I've caught in the past years and bigger too than the average bass I was catching earlier this year. Of course, I caught smaller bass too, like this one: Then a couple more bigger ones. I caught all my bass on the frog, spinnerbait, and Whopper Plopper. I had to quit after three hours to help with the new puppy. Only 17 in all, but I'm sure happy to see the bass getting bigger. You can see in their bellies that they're eating well and I can see that they're growing longer. This was my last bass, a pretty nice one: If I can, I'll go fish again today. I love fishing gray, wet days. See the second bass from the bottom? What a fight she gave me. I hooked her in about 12" of water, with weeds and bushes everywhere. The wind blew me into the bank and she ran under the canoe, right into big, thick lily pads. At one point, I had utter slack in my line as my line tangled with three rods sticking out the back of the canoe and she snagged what looked to be the biggest lily pad in the pond. Whew!

If you’re familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality assessment you know that one of the four dichotomies is Thinking vs Feeling. Where you land on this spectrum probably determines how much you rely on intuition when fishing. Everyone thinks and everyone feels but we all vary in how much we rely on each. I scored very high on the thinking side. I’m logical to a fault. I tend to reject intuition and examine the facts as I know them. Another of the Myers-Briggs dichotomies is Sensing vs Intuition. Sensing means you focus on the known facts when making decisions. Intuition means you focus more on the big picture. I scored slightly on the intuition since on this one. That said, if intuition is important to you check out the YouTube channel Intuitively Angling with Randy Blaukat. 😆

Intuition: the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. Sounds like muscle memory. The ability to reproduce a particular movement without conscious thought, acquired as a result of frequent repetition of that movement.

I took the today and tomorrow off to spend some extra time with the family and do a little fishing. 6poundbass and I headed to one of only a couple lakes around here that have smallmouth and blanked. We did see one smallie that looked huge roaming the shallows which I thought they’d be deeper. We saw a couple big green bass shallow too but no takers. We decided we were going to load up and head across the road to another lake. I put the trolling motor on high and head towards the launch and noticed a bunch of fish suspended 20’ down in 50’ deep water. I circled back, launched a Besotted Lures deep diver, and started trolling again towards the launch. It didn’t take too long and I hooked up on something big! I was really hoping it was a lake trout. After a brief tug of war, I realized it was a slimy pike! Not a bad one though. That was the only fish we caught on that lake. The other lake we ended up with 10 small largemouth.

Carolann & I have known each other for 62 yrs. She knew then I hunted, fished, trapped, & camped in extreme wildness. She compares to Garth Brooks Rodeo! His eyes are cold and restless And his wounds have almost healed And she'd give half of Texas Just to change the way he feels She knows his love's on Toledo And she knows he's gonna go But it ain't no woman flesh and blood It's that damned old fishing boat!

I rely on hope and luck.

That's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Spot on. And, yes, I rely on intuition. If you're ever in a canoe with me and I suggest you cast to a certain spot, do it. When I'm retrieving a lure, my head is rotating as I'm searching for the next spot that feels right. Andy understands.

I’m more of a Captain Kirk. My inclinations can sometimes confuse logic , but casting out in some random direction pays off pretty often.

I've never been a big fan of "gut feeling." I blame a childhood watching Star Trek (Spock) for that - lol. Yet my personal favorite professional angler has always been Rick Clunn, and he was the first (or one of) to push the idea of intuitive based decision making in the bass world. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time studying both aspects of decision making over the years. If you follow the research, especially in the area of AI and computers, then you know there has been a lot of studies which support "intuition-based" decision making as equal to or even better than traditional logic based decision making. However, we have also seen the rise of "big data," which is beginning to swing decision making power back into the hands of 'logic.' In the past, you’ve seen this with computers like 'Watson' and 'Deep Blue,' and newer, more powerful AI based machine learning is in the news almost daily. So in short, both approaches have their moments. I have used past experiences to help drive most on the water decisions over the years, but have gotten further away from that recently thanks to FFS. I don't have any great stories about "gut feelings" to share....except for one tourney I won, winning a fully rigged bass boat as top prize 😎

I think intuition and situational awareness go hand in hand. Seems hard for me to have any of one without at least that much of the other. Been fortune in that living with a small pack of high prey drive dogs, has helped me belive in them and myself. Regardless of whether I actually "see" something or not. There's s a feeling that always needs to at the very least, be investigated. Hard to explain but it's definitely part of my existence. I also believe age can help a person get better at this. Finally, If you don't think 'women's Intuition' is real, you're only fooling yourself. A-Jay

Call it an intuition, gut feeling, sub conscious reasoning, or a little bird sitting on your shoulder, we all do it every day. When my kids had a hard decision to make I always told them to “Pay attention and listen to your heart first, your head and your a—s will follow” It’s the same thing. I’m not as smart and analytical as some to weigh all options, and balance all possible outcomes of every decision, but more times than not I’ll listen to me first. Mike

Thanks everyone. I have good intuition about everything, and I often do follow my gut on colors, technique, and location. Of course, I also read extensively about bass fishing to learn the habits of my quarry. Just today, I went with a color of fluke that I wouldn't normally, and in a heavily pressured spot that I rarely have any success, and was able to get 1 (small) bass. I don't particularly like fishing that spot, but my son wanted to go there because he rides his scooter in the parking lot, so I made the best of it.

Storm SuspenStrips And Suspendots are decent. It's like an art form. A-Jay

Wes is super keen on fishing right now, so we went out after work Tuesday. We went right back to an area of shallow pads where we were catching some on Sunday evening. Wes started out with a frog and I was throwing a white fluke. I caught one pike to Wes’ 3-4 blow ups and one landed bass, so I followed his lead and got to froggin’. Shortly before I switched, Wes cast up past a patch of floating grass in the pads, about 5ft. off shore and in 2ft. of water. As soon as he passed the grass he got whacked, and bowed his 7’4” heavy rod over on what looked like a good hookset. They all seem big when you’re winching them out of the pads, and he got her out of there OK to the 4ft. deep open water. I picked up the net, and watched his line swimming fast toward the back of the boat under tension, then the beast jumped and we both gasped at the size of it as his frog got thrown.😱😩 I’m guessing it was well over 4#, maybe 5 or better which would have been a new PB for Wes. I was proud of him that, although disappointed, he didn’t dwell on the heartbreak and went right back to catching them. As usual, our hookup percentage was dismal (mine was zero 😒) but we had multiple blow ups and a ton of fun. We were mostly just happy we found fish - a triumph in itself this year. And the sunset on the shoreline was beautiful. Oh, and we added some Bass Pro velcro rod straps to our little dream boat. Very happy with them and it’s way better than our rods being a jumbled up trip hazard. 👍🏻

1- Getting out of bed in time to go fishing 2- Buying tackle 3- Getting tackle in to boat or kayak 4- Picking out back lashes 5- Untangling birds nests. 6- Getting lures out of trees 7- Casting near targets, not in them. 8- Setting hook into bass not snags. 9- Landing bass 10- Making bass appear larger in photographs.

Might take one musky fishing.

Not for me, I complain when I lose a 2 buck lure. Losing that would give me a stroke.

200 lb. Braid with a 200 lb. Steel leader and a gps tracking device inside.

Not exactly a monkey purchase but I was given a $50 Amazon gift card through my health-care for getting a physical. So I needed some line and saw this on Amazon for $58 for 200 meters. Digitaka sells it for $78. Crazy price for line. I wouldn't pay that much for it but for $8, I think I can swing that. This is supposed to be the best YGK makes. We will see.

Boooooooooooo get off the stage.

I believe over the years of fishing we have all had intuitions on where and what to fish. If you have intuitions that pay off you’ll probably be more likely to follow them. If you have them that usually results in failure you probably won’t. With the knowledge that is on this forum I would bet that following their intuitions would be a good idea. I know there’s members here that I would trust there intuitions more than my electronics.

Cancelled for today. Most surprising part to me is palanuik in 100th place

Yes it's my first line of defense.

Well the tails are clear. I went over there looking for that article and ran across these:

This is nothing new for GSM. They have several shareholders. As they've grown through the years into a billion-dollar company, they've slowly shifted from small equity shareholders to increasingly larger ones as their value increased. Every 3-4 years, a smaller shareholder sells their part to a larger equity firm. That's exactly what happened here. This carefully planned process is what has allowed GSM to grow their brands. Note Yamamoto hasn't been ruined. Instead, they introduced many new products this year at ICAST. So Platinum Equity isn't THE shareholder. They are ONE of them. GSM will continue to thrive and operate as-is. You guys would never have known the difference if the announcement had not been made.

Seeing as bass rarely do what I feel they should be doing, I try not to. Needless to say, I fail at not trying.

If the Storm strips or dots are not enough weight 1/16D solid core solder wrapped around the treble hook shank works. Start with the center hook to keep the lure balanced. Tom

Thanks, @gimruis. The biggest problem I have with my canoe is the bass pull me into trouble. Last time at my pond, I hooked a big bass at least ten feet from wood and it pulled me into the tree in about three seconds. How can a bass between three and four pounds pull an 85-pound canoe with me in it? No wonder we love them. Whenever I have someone in the bow and they hook a fish, I pick up my paddle and move them to open water. I know tomorrow morning I won't even have a 10' buffer. I'll start in the thicket. Like this: Anyway, I'm hoping for a 50% landing percentage, but I'll more likely achieve 25% and feel lucky to attain that. Overall, I am quite pleased with my weed-fishing. I have come far in three years, landing fish today that would have freed themselves a couple years ago. Plus, I enjoy the challenge. It's like solving a Rubic's Cube at night in the back of a pickup driving flat-out and pell-mell across a just-plowed field.

As for spending, Carolann's hobbies are, jewelry, purses, & ink pens. Y'all would be amazed at how much one ink pen can cost!

@Bankc

8 lbs. 8 oz. 23" long.

If you know who this is...you're old!

Caught this short stubby guy, the biggest fish I’ve caught in weeks. Bass in my pond are incredibly finicky and I needed to find a true weedless lure with the presentation like a ned rig… The fluke!!! First time tying one on, it got slammed 3 times and landed one.

Hairline lead wire. Quick and easy to adjust on the fly.

Ditto I usually start with the solder as I can get just the right amount of weight I need/want Dots are easier but it’s harder to dial in Mike

I use 4's EWG on most standard size baits, like 110's. Split rings a size 3 Owner Hyper wire. I can get away with it because the trebles are short shank. Also #3 oval split ring line tie. For the Jr. Size baits, I change stock 8's to short shank ewg 6's and rings are 2's. In most instances, especially with Megabass, those changes alone turn the suspender into a slow sink. Often a bite getter for me. A-Jay

I own five acres of its shoreline. There are ten other shoreline owners and no public access, so it doesn't get fished much. In Maine, you can't own a body of water exceeding ten acres. FWIW, I'm a canoe angler who generally fishes shallow, weedy ponds and bogs. I'm sneaky in my stealthy canoe and get quite close to bass, sometimes even bumping into them with the bow of my canoe. I catch a lot of bass, as the BR guys will attest, but for the last week or two, the bass have been beating me. I'm fishing my pond tomorrow morning. I'll start with a frog and fluke. It'll be raining pretty hard, but I like rainy fishing.

Loved that show as a kid. Another one I watched all the time - can you identify it?

Set my PB for best 5 on Monday. Total 11.34 lbs. Here are the best three: 2.46 Lbs 2.84 Lbs 2.46 Lbs

18" on a t-rigged power worm. Best of nine this morning on "Lake 3". Except for an eagle, I had the place all to myself.