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This report courtesy of Mendurchuck Bait & Tackle - the place for all your Ned rig needs 😎 Tried to beat the rain from Tropical Depression 8 that hit the Carolina coast this morning. To do that though, I had to endure 30 mph gusts. Selected a lake with a protected ramp and decent shoreline windbreaks hoping for the best. Thought conditions might favor power presentations, so started with that, but only got two small bass, one of which was a keeper. After an hour or more of fighting the wind, I switched tactics and headed for more sheltered water. Switched to a Ned rig and was able to get a couple more fish, but quality improved. Lost one heavy fish, but landed another to make up for it. Finished the last hour or so catching a limit of crappies off scattered brushpiles in the area. Lake now about a foot low, and surface temps have dropped into the mid 70s. Probably a rain out tomorrow and possibly Wed, but looking to get out again this week another time or two.

I was fishing this morning, I thought about Andy and hoped he was landing a BIG one. I didn't catch a BIG one, but I did catch 20 in three hours. I fished the pond where I caught my PB, the bass in my avatar. The fish I did catch reminded me of why I caught my all-time bass there. You can see it in the big belly of this little one: And you can see it in the build of this 18.25-incher, which has the shoulders and head of a bigger bass: You can see it in the tail of this 17-incher: Yeah, this pond has the genetics and forage base to grow big bass. It also has this if the bass aren't biting: I caught three bass on a wacky worm, two on a spinnerbait, and 15 on a Shimano pink Flash Boost Popper, worked both in a pop and pause retreat and as a walking lure. I tried so hard this summer to catch another 7.5-poundish bass like my PB, but just couldn't and then I remind myself that at my latitude, a 7.5-poundish bass is equivalent to an 11.55-pounder in the South according in In-Fisherman. In short, a rare fish.

I always get fooled by the fake seasons. It's still summer here. Water is still 80+ degrees. That said, there are fish scattered everywhere shallow and deep. Just not a lot willing to bite for me yet. The high school tournament brought in a 10lb bass this weekend but I understand it was a deep water catch. I got this little guy on a spook today after getting back from a movie set in central Texas. I didn't get out to the spot till close to 10 so it's a miracle I even stuck the one super dink. Had some gar miss me which is fine. I can finally get out super early again tomorrow so that's what I'm gonna do

Got out early but the fish missed the alarm clock. Didn't really start getting bit until later in the morning, had a gift of surprise low clouds and that always changes the equation. 5 bass around the same size as each other plus a bonus gar. The bass mostly ate a megabass walking bait, the gars wanted the tiny pop-r. Slowly easing out of summer.

On a sunny day if I have 4-6" of water above thick "grass" I gonna be throwing a big Zara Spook.

5.24 lbs on the full moon today ~ A-Jay

@ol'crickety nice bass. My report, pics and video are coming later today. Spoiler alert 5 pound brown and 4 ft musky. In-Sane. 🤓 A-Jay

It’s very niche but I’ve gotten some decent fish throwing big wakebaits at shallow cover in the sun. When they’re on this pattern the middle of the day is best because the sun is directly overhead and the shadows are smaller. Never had much luck fishing open water in the bright sun with topwater.

Sometimes ya gotta fish what ya got! Typical marsh around here involves fishing "grass".

I'm big bass hunting tomorrow morning, launching at the little pond where I caught my PB. I'd love to catch a 5/6/7 pounder or a 20-lb. bag. I usually fish big powerbaits/reaction baits at this pond, but I rigged two wacky worms this evening and downsized my surface presentations to a tiny, translucent popper and a chrome Tiny Torpedo. I also have a small hard jerkbait rigged. Fingers crossed I've made a good guess or two about fishing slower and smaller.

All Cajun recipes start with vegetables! Onions, bell pepper, celery, green onions, carrots, tomatoes, & potatoes. We cook with pinto beans, blackeyes peas, Lima beans, red beans, Navy beans, kidney beans. Then there's collard greens, zucchini, yellow squash, & pattypan squash. @Mobasser cure for the corn!

A slight “aside,” but on the subject of “The Hawg Hunters,” JJ just posted this catch within the past hour - 9.07 lbs SMB; 22.5” x 20.125” Also caught an 8+ the night before. Says he’s putting in 15-16 hrs each day/night chasing these big smallies. The 9.07 The 8+

September is a notoriously tough time of year, but I start having fishing withdrawals if I don't get out there. I'm lucky enough to have about a 5 acre pond right behind my school, a 2 acre pond in front of it, and a 3.5 acre pond across the street. Friday is the day when I don't have one of my classes and it gives me a couple of hours before chemistry. I chose the big pond and tied on a chatterbait. Nothing. Maybe one bite. I made all the way to the far end of the pond and it started pouring so I had to turn in early. I dried off in the truck and pulled some nasty shirt out of the back to wear into my chemistry class. 1 boring lecture later, I was back outside and figured "why not?". I grabbed my rod again, tied on a senko, headed out to the small pond, and immediately had an 8 inch bass nibble it when I first dropped it in. A few minutes later: this fish. Just under a pound and really skinny. I fished my way around the rest of the pond and then drove to the big pond again and caught two more fish and lost a third. The fish were really feisty, and even though they were small they fought pretty well. But, the leaves are just starting to turn and the hurricanes are starting to blow through, so fall is on it's way.

So, I've been reading my old trip reports and here's how bass fishing in Maine goes for me: February: Sigh. Early March: Launch and die. Late March: Catch three bass? Woo-hoo! Early April: In a good session, I'll catch nine. Late April: I might see my first double digit (ten bass, not a ten-pounder) day. Early May: Double-digit days are the norm. Late May: Here begins the Days of Glory: 40/50/60 bass sessions with multiple four-pounders. All of June: More Days of Glory. More thick girls. Early July: Still catching 30/40 bass per session. Late July: Steadily dropping numbers of fish. All of August: The dwindling continues, with a 15-bass session about the best I can muster. Early September: Should be called The Other August. Late September: The numbers can pick up. It's erratic. October: 40-bass sessions are again possible. Again, it's erratic. I can catch 40 bass one morning and 15 bass the next morning. Early November: Happy to catch five bass. Late November: Launch and die. December: Sigh. What's it like, month-by-month, where you live?

I have a great recipe for cauliflower steaks. Drizzle some EVOO and salt and pepper them. A little chipotle seasoning and throw them in a hot grill. Brown on both sides about 6 mins each. The bring them inside to rest under a foil tent for ten minutes while the broiler preheats. Sprinkle them generously with a mixture of Asiago, basil, oregano, then season with salt and pepper again. Put them on a sheet tray sprayed with Pam. Broil for about 90 seconds. Pull them out, take a good whiff, then dump them in the trash because no one wants that crap.

That may not have been necessarily because of gut or gill hooking the fish. But this is yet another reason I am an advocate for immediate catch and release formats rather than live weigh ins. Especially when the water is warm. And I imagine its still very warm there in Texas.

Absolutely. I have no hesitation using a Devils Horse, Rebel Pop-R, or Spook on sunny days. I focus on shaded areas with cover.

I’ll throw top water day night sunny or cloudy.

No Sir, you’re not wrong at all at least from my experience. Theres 2 reasons why pads are a magnet for Bass. Number one of course is food, all kinds of food.. insects, bugs, prey of all kinds and sizes. Second is cover..Cooler, darker water and one of its best ambush environments Mike

Always fun on a popper

Ah, I'm good at catching those big largies in late May and June and that's pretty much it. I'll pick up one here and there the rest of the soft water season, but mostly, I'm a 1.5-month-trick-pony. Heck, I don't even catch 18" smallmouth, at least not in Maine. Hank Parker fishes for smallies in Maine. That's his focus. And I don't see him catching 18s, 19s, and 20s. I do catch some thick ones, like the one just up thread, but I catch some thin ones too, depending upon the pond. Here's one of my rare, bigger, late-summer girls. I didn't measure her, but she was over 20" and five pounds.

It definitely ain't August anymore. Fish are scattered everywhere, and everyone I've talked to is struggling to get bit. It took me about 15 hours of grinding over a couple days to come up with this little 32". We need some cooler weather to bring 'em shallow. Some rain would be great also. We've passed severe drought and reached exceptional status, and there ain't much hope in the extended forecast.

This is best description of monthly fishing statistics ever. Hate you have the launch and die months but glad you have the May's and June's! Knew you'd catch that one! The forum police headquarters has moved to Knoxville! Sorry, gimruis. The torch must pass.

This is me too. Which is why I basically stopped throwing topwater years ago. They stopped biting it alltogether. No reason to beat a dead horse over and over.

I give topwater a try every day. It doesn't take long to find out if they want to hit on top, and the average size of the bass seem to be bigger. If I don't get bit right away, I don't keep beating a dead horse. If it works great if not, I have a whole box of lures to try and not much time to find out what they want. I will make a cast or two with a topwater later in the day just to make sure the bass have not changed their mind. I have caught big bass on topwater early, middle or late in the day, when it is sunny or cloudy and in clear or muddy water. The only way to find out is to make a cast.

What's a vegetable? I'll occasionally have some broccoli, potatoes or peas with dinner...maybe 2-3 times a week...rare occasions I'll cook up some asparagus....otherwise I'm veggie-free. Fruit on the other hand...I always have cut-up honeydew in the fridge, oranges, bananas and sometimes some plums or kiwi. I probably go through 4-5 servings of fruit a day as that's what I 'snack' on.

One thing I've learned about bass fishing is, all of these "rules" we make up are very flexible. They're "rules" because they tend to be right more often than wrong. But they're also wrong often enough that you shouldn't put too much faith in them. Typically, I'll start off throwing topwaters in the morning and keep fishing them until they stop working. And if I see activity on the surface, I'll usually throw a topwater. Or, if just nothing else is working or a topwater is about all I can pull cleanly pull through the weeds, I'll give them try. To me, cloudy days tend to affect the color of the topwater I choose more than whether or not I throw a topwater. On cloudy days, I tend to use white or natural colored topwaters. On sunny days, it's usually transparent, chrome, or black.

I set the hook like that fish owes me money. How is your drag set up? To little the rod won’t do the work once hooked to much and the fish will rip a hole it’s its mouth and pull the hook. I try to keep my rod more parallel to the water that rod tip high. It’s just all things to consider. Don’t go and try to rewrite the book. Change one thing at a time and when you start landing more stick with it.

YES! Especially a walking bait. Unlike you, I will choose a topwater when I encounter active fish any time of day. Just last month, the largemouth were crushing a jerkbait over the tops of weedbeds. I picked up a Super Spook Jr and had a blast catching 2-3lb. fish. The bite died, but for an hour or so, it was what I dream of. My PB largemouth came on a Spook at 1:00PM on a sunny afternoon. Although largemouth tend to ignore topwater void of cover on sunny days, smallmouth will travel a good distance to hit one most anytime of day in clear water. I've had them rise up for a spook from 20ft. of water and more.

Yes, on clearer lakes.

I always recommend shopping long before your really ready to buy. You will end up looking at a lot of junk and things you might not be real interested in, but you will gain an education on how much will buy what ! Remember book value may not be actual value to certain people. Market and area can be vastly different in prices. When I bought my used boat three years back, I shopped for almost four months, drove lots of miles, wasted many long trips, looked at lots of junk, realized how honest people are not. But in those months I began to establish value in what I wanted. When the right boat came along, I drove 200 miles with cash in hand. Owner was very kind to answer all my questions and send lots of pics for things I ask about. After a Hal hour of inspection I knew it was what I wanted at a fair price so gave him what he was asking, no haggle this time as he was fair in his price and was honest with his description. Best education on value is to shop around, yep it takes time and you will burn some fuel, but when the right one comes along, you will know it !

Sometimes you can do everything right...but it still goes all wrong. Don't despair over it...just move on and keep doing your best.

If you did everything you could to save the fish, you did the right thing. These things happen sometimes.

Got out this morning at sun up. Was fishing heavy fog last week with the cooler AM temps. Today was calm no wind was a perfect drift and troll with the current. My crankbait game has been in the toilet for weeks. I’ve actually stopped throwing them for a couple of weeks. I was determined to try to get it back today if possible. Had my 4 favs tied on and was hunting for any reaction strike I could get. I’m not gonna say that I got any of the Mojo back because I didn’t. But I did get one bite and landed a 16” 1.8 lb. river largemouth. I realize this is no giant in the LM world but he’s decent for the river I fish. I’ll take it and was doing a happy dance. Fish bit almost immediately on a Bomber Model A. Had a few small Smallie followers but couldn’t get them to strike. Managed to get a few runts to bite on plastic worms. Had a few bigger hits on them also but had no hookups. My bigger hits seem to be in 6-9 feet of water.

I have caught hundreds and hundreds of bass on weighted paddletails in 2024. I have also lost many, many bass on weighted paddletails in 2024. Because the hook point is tight to the paddletail, you won't hook as many as you would with a crankbait, but losing 80% means something is wrong. Do you set the hook when you first detect a bite? I don't. A paddletail is soft and salty and a bass won't drop it immediately like it will a hard, tasteless lure, so I set the hook on the second or third tug or after the line tells me that the bass is carrying its kill off to wherever. Then crank down until you feel the bass's weight right before you set the hook and cross their eyes. Even then, you'll lose some. I do. Here's what I use with my paddletails, made by VMC. I've tried others, but the VMCs are far sturdier and the underspin gives you twice the attraction: ' I also use Rapala's Crush City Mayors for my paddletails. I've tried other brands, but the bass seem to prefer the Mayors.

My wife wanted to take some stuff down to the lakehouse and also wanted me to chop some firewood. Got a decent amount of wood stacked and figured I’d try to catch a gar in the kayak. Right before dropping the boat in, my wife pointed out a bald eagle fishing nearby, always a good sign. I only had one spinning rod with 6 lb line and a small selection of lures so I tied on a fluke. First throw a gar destroyed it on the surface and took me for a long ride then finally bit thru the line. Got rigged back up with my last fluke and casted to several more gar, lost another solid hookup. I got bored waiting on more to surface so I blind casted up on a shallow flat and something ate the fluke under the surface a little. It took off and loaded the rod and started towing my kayak, figured I had a big gar. Well then I saw it, a big smallmouth. Against my better judgment I got my phone up and running a video and leaned it against my stomach 😂 got some good video of a jump, the rest was quite janky but still glad I got it. The fish finally tired out and I got it into the kayak. I didn’t have a measuring tape or scale but I measured it laying next to my rod and I think it was between 20” and 20.5” , sure seemed larger but still a nice fish and not as skinny as they usually are, I’d almost put it at 4 lbs or better. I’ll post a separate report with the whole video , kind of long but some might enjoy it.

I fished from 5:45 to 6:45 and caught four, two smallies and two largies. I don't have enough time in an hour to paddle to where the biggest bass are, but I did manage to paddle halfway and scored an 18-incher: I caught a 17-incher too: I also caught two fat smallies: All caught on a wacky worm, but I also hooked and lost two, one lmb and one smb, on a popper. The big news is my neighbor, the guy who greatly improved my boardwalk, spread ten yards of gravel on my path and has extended my boardwalk all the way to the pond. And he did it out of gratitude for letting him fish and hunt from my lot. Whadda guy! He's grateful to me and I'm grateful to him.

I will occasionally pitch a spook, rico or even a plopper at shaded areas but only when nothing else is working.

Sunny days are - for me - much better for topwater even in the dead of Summer. Fish suspend and sit high in the water column on sunny days. On cloudy days I have done well but it's generally in the spring when a front is significantly warmer than the surface temps. I agree if your water is extremely clear - clouds are better for most reaction type baits. My largest frog fish have all come in July on very bright sunny days with gentle breeze in open water. Sometimes shade. Sometimes no shade.

I'll be thinking a good thought for you on the water, Andy. Leaving now!

I do not have winter, spring, summer, or fall lures...I have bass lures. Topwater, mid-depth, & bottom contact are thrown based on conditions. I do keep a Texas Rig & a Jig-n-Craw tied on 24/7/365.

Echoing the others here. I'm never gonna judge someone for ending the suffering of a living being that was already terminal. You did right as far as I'm concerned. My first solo catch was a catfish on a treble. I didn't have pliers with me so I killed it and took it home and did my best to filet it. I did a terrible job but these instances are how we learn and grow Now, if we're gut hooking bass constantly, you need to set the hook much sooner. I get the feeling that if you're making this post in the way that you did, it's probably a rare occurrence

The occasional fatality happens. If you're gut hooking on a regular basis, you might want to think about why that is happening. I would also suggest that every bass angler that wishes to have the best chance to mitigate harm done when we hook a bass, that you have the tools that will make that easy and quick to accomplish. If I could recommend one such tool, it would be a pair of straight long nose (needle nose) pliers, and a curved pair. I think the curved pair is the most useful are the Booms 11" Stainless Steel Long Nose Pliers. They have a slightly different bend than the carbon steel version and they are simply amazing for removing a hook that is way far down into the bass' mouth. Of course, the best thing to do is to make sure you're not being careless in some way that results in more bass being hooked in a way that jeopardizes their well being more than necessary.

Nicely Done Sir. Made my Night ! Congrats A-Jay

Workout Day 2 this morning. Completed 3 working sets of the 4 movements scheduled. Showing all of them in this one. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

winter---worm spring---worm. summer---worm. fall---worm we only really have summer and cooler summer here.....

In your golden years, you get to give all your gold to the pharmacy

Another trip, another skunk this morning and probably d9ne for the year because I've been breaking out in hives and they can't figure out why. Fishing has been absolute garbage this month and looks like I'm ending the year on a lousy note.

I make no specific bait choices based solely on the seasons as others may. Since the weather is fairly stable year round, my only consideration is down and upsizing, fast or slow presentations in shallow or deep water. My choices are based on the details year round Mike