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From time to time people tell me: Lighten up, it’s just a dog”. Or “that’s a lot of money for just a dog”. They don’t understand the distance traveled. The time spent or the cost involved for ‘just a dog’. Some of my proudest moments have come about with ‘just a dog’. Many hours have passed and my only company was ‘just a dog.’ But I did not once feel slighted. Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by ‘just a dog’. And in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of ‘just a dog’, gave me comfort and a reason to overcome the day. If you too think it’s ‘just a dog’ then you probably understand phrases like ‘just a friend’, ‘just a sunrise’, or ‘just a promise’. Just a dog brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust and pure unbridled joy. ‘Just a dog’ brings out the compassion and patience that make me a better person. Because of just a dog, I will rise early, take long walks, and look longingly into the future. So for me and folks like me, it’s not ‘just a dog’. But an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. ‘Just a dog’ brings out what’s good in me. And diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day. I hope the someday they can understand that it’s not ‘just a dog’, but the thing that gives me humility. And keeps me from being just a man or just a woman. So the next time you hear the phrase, ‘just a dog’, Just Smile. Because they just don’t understand. A-Jay

Chased gar all day, they were biting but missed them all. Had to catch a bass so I didn’t get skunked

Not the biggest I've caught this year by far, but one of my favorites. Fought harder than the 4 lber last week, and absolutely hammered a Texas rigged silver shad fluke. Love the colors on this dude. And caught him on my old Shimano Bantam Coriolis I've had for about 22 years. Another reel my dad bought me in school for making good grades. With fresh line on and the guide oiled up, that thing throws and reels quite smooth now. Also, even though I didn't catch anything on it, I was pleased with how my new Lew's American Hero baitcast reel performed. I slapped a buzzbait on it and I've got the spool tension and mag brake set to where I don't have to even use the thumb to kep it from backlashing-- just press the button and cast. Both over head and sidearm it casts well, and covers a nice amount of water, and I'm improving on cast accuracy as well. Only caught that one bass but, one fish over 2 lbs is plenty enough to satiate me. I treat anything more than that, or anything bigger than that an additional blessing and cherry on top.

This spotted bass threw a half a bluegill up on me a couple weeks ago and all I've caught since are bluegill or warmouth. I've been cursed or something. I think the devil does it

Thought for sure our every other weekend john boat trip would be cancelled yet again because my brother had to work a double, but he found his 3rd wind and toughed it out for as long as he could. Within an hour and a half, he must've nodded out about 10 times only to be woken by his own snoring or by me tapping him on the shoulder. In between snoozes he bagged a good one on the Legal Dope Tiny Tum and mine came on a Berkely Grass Pig within minutes afterward. I couldn't row through the slop and topped out weeds by myself any longer while he slept, so we called it a win and split.

I caught 4 today. 3 decent ones, and one 12 incher. 2 Largemouth and 2 Spots. All are pictured. I wouldn't have taken a pic of the little one, but it was my first September Bass. After a hot week water temperature is back up to 86 degrees. I'm ready for cooler weather.

I O!!! I'm pleased to report my first rat fish - on a Baby Bull Rat Caught 3, lost 2, and 2 missed blowups. A lot of fun! Note the little guy with eyes bigger than his tum tums

I’m sure we’ve all had those days where nothing you cast is getting bit..except that one bait. Today was that day for me without a doubt. This morning started with light rain but no wind. Tried a PopMax and a Whopper Plopper on top. Nothing doing, so I switched to jigs. A 3/8 oz. blue/black jig with a sapphire blue craw trailer as well as a 3/8 oz. green pumpkin jig with a green pumpkin Rage Menace trailer. Still nothing. Went down to a 1/4 oz. green pumpkin jig and still nothing. I then tried a black 5” Senko WR and a green pumpkin Zoom Magnum Trick Texas rig with an 1/8 oz. tungsten bullet weight and still drew a blank. I thought maybe today just was going to be a big ol’ skunkfest. Then I took off the worm and rigged a green pumpkin Rage Craw. First cast. Bass. Second cast. Bass. There was zero doubt they wanted this bait! Didn’t catch the first bass until 10:42 and ended up with seven (lost a nice one). When I was prepping gear last night, I saw I had 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG and a 1/8 oz. weight rigged on a Daiwa Aird-X 6’ 6” MF rod and a Garcia Black Max with 10 lb. Berkley Big Game. Don’t use it all that often after I upgraded to better rods and reels. Well, truth be told, that’s a fun rig to fish with. Glad I took it. I haven’t had bass thumb in a while!

My girl is alot of things but she'll never be just a dog.

Got on 6 nice fish this morning before my pepperjack omelet, bacon, hash browns and coffee Only took tubes as I thought it'd be a brief session before a downpour - a downpour that didn't happen

So far in 2024 I've caught at least one 5 pound Bass each month. I finally caught my August 5 pounder today on the last day of the month. Many people around here catch more and bigger Bass, but I'm happy with a 5 pounder every month so far. I caught 9 today, 3 Largemouth, and 6 Spots. I launched my boat at 6:10 AM. I caught the 5 pounder (5.42 pounds, 21 5/8" long first picture) on my 3rd cast.....but my first 2 casts weren't "real". I pulled up to the first stop on my "milk route". I aimed my sonar toward a spot where a bush is overhanging the bank a foot or so above the water. I saw the Bass on sonar. I had decided to try a Devils Horse today. I needed to skip it under the overhanging bush. I made a couple practice skips out of the other side of the boat, toward the center of the channel. After those 2 casts I made a perfect skip under the bush right on top of the Bass. It gently sucked it into it's mouth. I set the hook and it went crazy, walking on it's tail, like a decent sized Largemouth is supposed to do. 2 casts later I caught a 3 poundish Largemouth, and another 14 inch Largemouth a few minutes later. After the Sun came up the LM bite stopped, but I started catching Spots. None of the Spots were huge, but the smallest one was 14". I thought it was a big cat for a while. It's tail was crooked.......either an injury or deformity, but it sure didn't make it any weaker. (2nd picture) We've discussed Spots spawning multiple times a year. All of the Spots I caught (including the deformed/injured one) looked to me like they were full of eggs. The last picture is an 18 inch Spot I caught on my last cast a 8:51AM. Depending on the weather I may go tonight around Midnight. Regarding cuts, nasty stuff in the water, fish slime, ect. I always have cuts on my hands due to my occupation. I put some hand sanitizer, and rubbing alcohol in my boat to clean my hands with after handing fish, or getting them wet.

Pair of 5lbers

You are so right... Though I had a dog as a very young kid, Caufie (Aussie-Doodle) is my first dog. And I never would've imagined how much my life has changed since he came into my/our lives. I once heard that every kid should grow up with a dog and now understand why, and couldn't agree more. Lots to learn from the unconditional love of a dog. They don't care what you look like, they fall in love with who you are and what's inside of you.

I’ve never been in the ‘it’s just a dog camp’ but shamefully I was in the ‘it’s just a cat’ camp. Three weeks ago we had to put our cat Henry down due to neurological issues with his bowels. My wife rescued him a little over two years ago. I wasn’t happy because I didn’t want another animal and I sure as heck didn’t want a cat! Well, he chose me as his companion and the tough guy facade quickly went away and he became my bud. Three weeks ago I bawled like a baby when I took him to be put down. I’m no longer in any ‘it’s just a ….’ Camp because crow doesn’t taste so good.

I enjoyed this and agree with every word of it. “Just dogs”:

There is a specie, that when sought there is no glamour or myth surrounding it..let alone respect..but in my mind there is no other pursuit that entails the challenges and rewards of fishing the common carp.

I've caught so many fine bass at my pond this year, but this morning's girl was special. The photo doesn't really display her attributes, i.e. her thickness and big head. Here are some of the other big ones, with the first and last being silly fat. They bode well for the coming years, huh? I measured the fourth one down and it was 18 inches:

Big fish of a half dozen bfs rats this morning. Couple blow ups on the frog right at change of light, unfortunately this is the only bite that connected. That's back to back weekends landing the completely wrong species

Fished Lake Michigan for about 3 hours. Cracked a tube, caught one smallie

Been learning through this past year and these are my more "recent" catches.

First time out since 4th of July. We’ve had a lot of rain, so the lake is at full pool. Fish were real spread out. I caught 7 by 8:30, then nothing else til I quit at 10:30. I spent 45 minutes of that talking to a friend that was on his dock though … I caught all the fish on a june bug uv speed worm…

I'd dock the v-hull at my pond and still use the canoe at other ponds.

Standard Plus is Studio Composite, a late out of production model https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/1663 (link Daiwa w/o knobs) The knobs are S/C R31. current RC-SC EX Plus, XL29 knobs If you ever get the bug to swap knobs, be careful. S/C sells their knobs for Shimano-A/Daiwa-S, but the knobs they use on their handle are 5-mm, and longer knob spindle than Abu/Doyo. The one vendor that calls out S/C knob for S/C is fishingshop.kiwi

I got some water in my yeti

3/0 5/0

Super fun day chasing shallow reds. Landed 9 ranging from 14-26”, broke off 3 fish and missed maybe 3 bites. I had my drag locked down from bass fishing and had to back it off. They were busting my line and opened up a snap. Caught all on a paddletail under a popping cork. Never tried this technique before, super fun and effective.

Didn't know exactly where to put this - mods, feel free to move it. Since I've been shore fishing a lot this year, carrying my rods has been awkward...I'd just been grabbing the four in one hand, but the tips went everywhere. So instead of dishing out $70 or more for a rod carrier that had things I didn't need, I built my own. Using some scrap aluminum left over from the Bass Trek build, I built a basic frame, putting 1/16" plastic 'Polywall' into the box-frame of the rear. Now I can neatly carry 4 rods and the 'box' in the rear carries my net and fish-basket for the keeper crappie and 'gills. Carry handles are just some oak dowels with paracord going to the washers and sheet-metal screws in the frame. Entire unit pops into the back of the truck with a cargo bar keeping it from sliding forward and possibly damaging the tip-tops.

Slow morning at the marina but my one bite was a good one. New PB shovel nose

I've told the story here before, but I was attacked by a donkey when fishing a farm pond once. I think I'd take a broken reel over that again. 😃

Absolutely the best part of having a dog. Unconditional friendship and loyalty every day. Always happy to see you, whether you're gone for 10 days or 10 minutes.

5/0 works for me...

The Federation was my first organized National tournament trail I ever fished. It was considered the starting point for all the dreamers. If you qualified for your Regional Championship you thought you couldn’t be touched, until you competed in it. To do what he did gave hope to us “normal” guys who didn’t know any better. He started it all Rest in Peace Mike

I fish a canoe. Pros: I can fish where bass boats can only dream of going, whether it's the wilderness or deep into local bogs. I can launch without a ramp. It's quiet. If I'm plunging into the wilderness, it can carry a couple weeks worth of food and all my camping and fishing gear. It can carry a fishing partner too. Cons: I can't fish windy days with my canoe's light weight and high sides. It's a wet boat, as my paddle drips water into the canoe. It's a chaotic mess. It doesn't have all the places for fishing gear like a fishing kayak or the deck area of a bass boat, so my rods get tangled. Being 68, I only have so much energy and all the energy to propel my boat comes from me. So, at the end of a fishing session, I'm twice tired, from fishing and paddling. It's slow. There are times I just wish I could scoot to the next honey hole. It can tip. Trolling is tricky, as I have to secure the fishing rod with my legs because my hands are paddling. Still, I catch a lot of bass trolling because I don't like to not be fishing while moving to the next casting spot. In a few years, I'd like to buy a little v-hull with an electric motor, not a trolling motor, but an electric outboard with a little more ummpf!

I launched again this morning at my pond. I had a Heddon One Knocker Spook, Whopper Plopper, T-Rigged worm, underspin with a blue Mayor, and spinnerbait with an orange crawfish. They all caught fish and I finished with 11 before the wind blew me off the pond. Here's my first bass. And here's a spinnerbait bass. This one was a chunk. The chunk came off this shoreline. "The entree comes with a salad, ma'am." Then I reached a river mouth with an area free of weeds and switched to my Heddon Spook. This spot and this Spook: And a special bass hit it. If you read my trip reports, you know my pond is great for numbers in May and June. And you know that the average size of the bass is good, but you might also remember that I don't catch five, six, or seven-pounders in it. Well, the girl I hooked wasn't a five, six, or seven-pounder, but she could be. She has the mouth to gain that much weight. And she has the frame to hold it. At one point in the fight, I was facing port and she jumped off starboard as she'd run under my canoe. Isn't she beautiful? Note how her jaw juts from her weight and note the size of her tail. I had to position my camera way back to fit her in the frame. She was probably four pounds. Now, I catch a lot of four-pounders and it might seem weird that this paticular four-pounder would thrill me, but again, she has the mouth and frame to be bigger, plus she's in her prime. Fingers crossed she lays a lot of eggs in 2025. On my next cast, a bass exploded on my Spook, but I didn't hook it. On the following cast, I caught this one. Another beauty: I love walking the dog! In 2024, I learned how to catch bass with a spinnerbait and a Spook. Pretty cool, huh? As always, thanks for going fishing with me.

I say, stick with what you've got. More boat means more of everything else. Much of that will come as a surprise to you, unless you've done it before. I f you have but that was not recently and on a consistent basis, you'll be reminded quickly. It will also change how, where and when you fish. Some of that will be for the better, but much might not. Instead, perhaps continue to modify your trips as needed to match your abilities. I realize I am preaching to the choir, But none of this gets any easier. The grass isn't always greener. Finally, a quick release clamp type phone or camera mount that faces the human, would dramatically improve the quality of the memories you catch, every time out. The long arm pics need to be a thing of the past. You're better than that. Good Luck. A-Jay

It's a Rage Swimmer

I have three. Easily one of the best fishing companies there is. I also have one of their swimbait rods, and its the absolute best big baits rod i've even held in my hands. S tier company, and i am glad all their stuff is still made in Japan.

I noticed this as well. I took something all the way to check out for a buddy and the price never changed. It can be found at another JDM site for about the same price. I don't get how this is a sale.

You should give the Shimano FlashBoost popper a try. It fishes a lot like the PopX, but there's times when you kill it in the water and fish just go wild. It's my clear water go to while the popx/popmax are my stained/dirty water baits.

@Eric 26 what the heck is that thing? A creepy cat statue?

I was walking one of our dogs this morning and she wouid have dragged a canoe ! nice bass, love the zaras

@TnRiver46: Hey, man, you were fishing from a canoe. That's all that matters. #canoesruleallotherboatsdrool @BrianMDTX: I knight thee, Sir Perseverance! @OHBuckets: O-H....

The 3/0 will work, the 5/0 will be right on the edge at best. Bass short strike much less frequently than fisherman talk about it. They use a giant vacuum/crusher for a feeding strategy, they don't nibble, taste, and tear things. scott

Just had a good morning, catching 6 nice fish - half were over 2 lbs. I packed light and was only throwing weightless pro tubes from River Rock - into and adjacent to pads. Came home to order more (didn't need any more!) and saw their 20% off Labor Day sale. Like I said, I don't need more, but their colors are awesome. IMO.

I have been running 20lb PowerPro on my old school Shimano Citca's and Curado's for many, many years. No issues what so ever.

I’m lost, why do you need the fish to move? If you know it’s there, set the hook?