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I've not been posting a bunch because of some life issues. My van tore up, and I had another car, a Chevy Tracker but it needed some repair before I could drive it. This took a while, and as a result I only fished 2 times in 3 weeks. During that time, I went through a spell of poor service too, so I wasn't able to check in as often. Well, after I got my Tracker running, I took it to town and went fishing. I went to the heavily pressured public lake that I've mentioned several times. I like fishing this spot because it's a challenge. It's fun to catch a fish here and there when others say they've fished it, sometimes for years, and never caught anything. I'd learned some about tying soft split rings with braided line, and I thought that this trick might just be something that'd give me an edge. I tied my favorite gold crankbait thusly, and had tried it a few times with no luck. It does feel differently though. It pulls through the water with less sound, less vibration, and overall is just "different" feeling. Well, this day, I was by myself, I started working my way around one of the holding ponds that is attached to the north end of the main lake. These ponds are connected to the lake via a small channel, which the city dams up to hold the fish in case they need to work on the dam at the other end of the main lake. This particular day, there wasn't a crowd, but there was 4-5 other people fishing. I fished a split shot rig a bit, with no success, so I switched to the crankbait. I caught a nice 1lb10oz bass. I worked my way down about 20 yards, making a few casts. I was working the squarebill crankbait at a medium speed, probably just nipping bottom on occasion, in about 4 feet of water. I was sweeping the rod tip sideways to move the lure, but not letting the lure pause between sweeps, rather, just letting it slow down. About 10 feet from shore, I felt a strike. I set the hook. I saw my line moving sideways to the left, I began reeling, and the fish ran directly towards me! I reeled as fast as I could. This bass knew all the tricks, he went right for a bush! A skinny bush, but a bush nevertheless. The shore line in this spot is about a 3' drop off. I held my rod out with my left hand as far as I could to persuade the brute to come free of the bush, all the while thinking... I am glad I have 12 pound Big Game mono, and not something lesser! The fish emerged from the bush and just sort of submitted, swimming right to the shore's edge and the surface, looking right at me. I could see it was a very nice fish, and guessed 3-4 pounds. By this time, someone was walking by. Three younger guys. I'd played the fish maybe 30 seconds, but it seemed like 5 minutes at this point. I was thinking... how am I going to land this thing without a net? I was reluctant to flip it because I didn't think it was hooked good enough, and I couldn't tell for sure, but I know there are some 6+ pounders in there, and I didn't want to chance losing this trophy regardless of weight. Well the passerbyers saw the fish and congratulated me. They offered to help, so I let one of them hold the rod, while I collected my possibles, which consisted of my tackle bag and another rod, that were about 30 feet away. I returned to the rod, and took it in hand, then I proceeded to walk up the shoreline about 40 yards towards the nearest spot I could reach the water, pulling the fish with me. The fish knew his environment well, and lunged for another bush, then a large stick that was in the corner. After I made it around the bend, it wasn't far until the water was at foot level, and I was able to swiftly slide the fish from the water right up onto the shore, which consisted of short grass. Without further ado, here is my new personal best, a weighed 4lb7oz, with my scale registering 3/4oz light. I'm quite proud of this fish. I know that it's not the largest fish in the lake, but for me it shows that all the hard work I've done to learn the lake, and how to fish pressured waters is paying off. Up until the above fish, I thought that the following was my PB, but I had not weighed it. I estimated it at 5 pounds based on my box that I had previously weighed. Then, I caught this one: and I weighed it at 3lb14oz, so I was pretty confident that the fish above was closer to 4 pounds, rather than 5. Now, after catching the fish in the first picture there is no doubt about the one I didn't weigh. The new PB fish was physically larger, and it was noticeably heavier to hold. Shame there wasn't someone handy to take a picture of me holding it. I unhooked and released it. I thanked God, and I hollered whooo! Then I got a text message from a friend that heard me holler. He said "you at the lake? I heard you whooo!"

Just added some new custom color jigs in Hot Craw, Blaze Craw, and Sapphire Craw. I have also updated my Megalodon spinnerbaits. All of them now have Owner hooks and the 3/4 oz you can get a light wire or a heavier twisted wire. https://siebertoutdoors.com/products/ols/categories/special-make-up-custom-colors?sortOption=descend_by_created_at

I think we're finally in fall down here. Car said 54 when I got to the lake this morning. They weren't where I expected them to be but I eventually got into some. Only stuck the one, but had probably six or seven misses which is a positive sign. I don't think the giants are quite up with them yet but we're not far from that

So glad you guys are good especially what it could have been. We’re good also. I lost a few soffits and got a bunch of tree debris to clean up. We had 3 tornado warnings in a matter of minutes as 3 water spouts came ashore when the wind changed direction when the eye got nearer to Tampa. The closest was 1/2 mile away but haven’t heard if any touched down. Everything for me is compared to Charle and Ian last year. Compared to those we got nothing from this. Mike

If any of you in our BR community need to flee go ahead and reach out to me and I’ll see if we have availability at the hotel. Hopefully we don’t lose power here. And if you come, bring a fishing pole and fish off of our docks when the weather clears. It might be a lousy time to fish, but it’s fishing!

2nd biggest fish caught this year at the dam on the Sheyene river in ND. Caught while fishing for whatever wanted to bite using 30LB 832, 15 LB flouro leader, 1/8 ballhead jig tipped with a minnow using a bobber.

Took advantage of a few sales going on out there on the ol' worldwide web. Not sure what's going on with the Bait Fuel. It's always been clear for me. I wonder if it's old? Anybody else ever get any that has a slight yellow/brown tint to it?

Glad you’re OK. I was thinking about you and your family last night when I was looking at the Georgia Power outage maps and saw there were a lot of outages in your area. So far all is good at the hotel and home. The only worry now is trees uprooting in the waterlogged ground. I have power but no internet.

I've got some trees down in the back but thankfully no damage to our home. No power and the toilet won't flush due to the amount of water we got, but myself, my wife, and our two children are okay. My brother is reporting that the entire Savannah, GA area is without power. I'm without power here in Dublin as well.

We’re good here, no damage.got a little over 10 inches of rain

@N Florida Mike, @Koz, @Mike L, @flatcreek, and @Glenn Plus anyone else that out there in the storm’s aftermath. How is everyone doing this morning, hope all is well. Wow @Susky River Rat you’re feeling the wrath of Helene too. That storm was HUGE!

Oh no. Not one bit. Pro tip....take the tank lid off before you go down, the back of your head will thank you when you hit your first snow mound. We did it only twice though, was pretty heavy getting it back up the hill. After the second time we tied it to the back of a truck and flung eachother around in a field for a while like we were on a water tube. Good times and only a little blood.

Had to return to my pal's pond to flip the canoe with rain coming. While there, I fished the last 1.25 hours of light. Caught eight with a spinnerbait and popper. All the same size. Only photographed the last four, as I was hoping for something bigger with the first four. When I realized it was going to be a Same Size Night, I thought, "I better photograph something!":

Great pictures, everyone! I've been having a heck of a time getting anything of decent size lately. Been catching a bunch, but nothing really over 3#. Finally got on some bigger ones my last few trips out. Got this first guy prooobably on my last punch bite of the season. The others have been on jigs. The end of the season is closing in, which makes me incredibly sad. Still have another 1.5 months left or so. Every year at this time I tell myself I'm moving south. 😅

I've said this before but I'm pretty green when it comes to green bass. Yes, pun intended. I grew up fishing for smallmouths on small Iowa rivers with my feet on the ground. Now I'm hooked on largemouths and mostly fishing out of a kayak. Yesterday I went out for a couple of hours after work and decided to try a spinnerbait. Holy cow, I loved it! Second cast, bam! Fish on. I caught at least 10 last night, some on a yum dinger as well. On one cast, a bass decided to take all of his anger out on it and just SLAMMED it. Can't recall a fish hitting that hard before. Unfortunately I never landed it. I was a little hesitant to throw an all white spinnerbait in a lake that doesn't have any type of shad in it. The number one forage would be bluegills/crappies. I didn't have any good trailer so I used a 10 year old bag of somewhat white Zoom Flukes that I had. LOL Anyways, I fell in love with spinnerbaits. I don't have very many so what are some good ones? Info on trailers? How about trailer hooks???? Lastly, even though white was working, would a different color be better in a lake where bluegills are the main food source? Any other tips/tricks/comments I'm all ears. THANK YOU! Gosh I love fishing.

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/top-finesse.html

Camera has been out for over a month and this looks like the only shooter on my property. One other 10 pt that's wider but needs another year.

First, myself and my family are doing good. We all live on hill tops, so no threat of flooding. We've got no electricity but have generators going. It's a mess around here. Power is off EVERYWHERE. The Lake Lure dam is failing, or has failed. This morning, before I even heard of the dam problems the Broad river at Gaffney SC was within 10 feet or so of the I-85 bridge. There's several small dams down the Broad river. I hope none of them fail. At 99 Island reservoir the Broad river is 10 feet above full pool. There's trees down everywhere around here. I'm still not good due to my kidney stone, but I saw some kids with chain saws clearing trees. I was able to sit comfortably in my truck and pull some trees out of the road with my tow strap. It was nice to see young people out working for the "greater good". The truck stops along I85 are packed with travelers out of gas. There's one exit with power on. The line from the Interstate to the truck stop was at least 1/2 mile long. I suspect they'll be out of gas and diesel soon. Lake James (the first lake on the Catawba river chain) is a little over 10 feet above full pond. Rhodhiss (next lake) is 7 1/2 feet over. Lake Hickory (next) is at full pond. Lookout Shoals (next) is 8 1/2 feel over. Lake Norman is basically full. Mountain Island is 4 1/2 feet over. Lake Wylie is full but not over. The power company had been pulling the lakes down for several days. Lake Wylie was 6 feet lower a couple days ago. As I said earlier, myself and my family are doing good. Everyone impacted by this storm will be in our prayers. Internet is out. I have limited cellular data so I won't be posting much.

You guys are machines. I need to join another pickleball league.

I caught 70 this morning, which is a LOT for me in the fall. When I reached my car, I felt like all the sap had been sucked out of me. Most of them were this size: And this size: I saw five deer emerge from the woods to drink at a point. I also saw herons, eagles, ospreys, and geese. I caught EVERY SINGLE BASS on a surface lure, including a Whopper Plopper, frog, wakebait, and popper. The popper was a Yo-Zuri and was clear, black, and gold. I had been working my poppers like walking baits, but this morning, I popped and stopped. I hooked one small bass, perhaps 13 inches, and a BIG bass tried to eat it beside my boat. I did catch some bigger bass. Here's one: However, my camera died. I think it needs a new battery. I returned to where the BIG bass tried to eat my 13-incher and worked that area again, but nada. I never actually saw it. I saw a lot of water being moved, but it would have to be big to consider a 13-incher a meal. Lastly, I caught some 15 and 16-inch bass that were so fat they made me laugh, but my camera wasn't working at that point. They're fattening for the winter. Speaking of winter, it was 49 degrees this morning and I had to walk in water up to my knees to launch my canoe, so that's one reason I staggered out of my canoe at the end of the fishing. Now I'm going to rest. So tuckered!

You are far from the truth. You recently said you had notes and memoirs of a lot of your back woods trips. Areas with less human activity. Areas where a canoe much less than any boat has ever been. I think stories and adventures you’ve had are probably more interesting. If a write like that is a passion of yours, I’d say go for it.

True 'Merican ingenuity right there, that is.

Hi everyone, This isn't official yet, but you might be interested in this: https://www.facebook.com/ClarksonUniversity/ I am the faculty advisor for Clarkson's bass club, and this young man is one of our past club presidents.

That sounds normal to me. What is weird is taking tried and true crankbaits that never stopped catching bass, and putting them in a box that never leaves the house, to make room in my boxes I take fishing, for new crankbaits. I proceed to catch bass on the new crankbaits and think I need more of them. It never even crosses my mind, that maybe the bass would have hit the old crankbaits I left at home. The new ones worked, so I must have more, in more colors and sizes. What is also weird, if I loose a crankbait, I have to not only buy three like the one I lost, but I have to buy 3 of another color, and 2 of another type I haven't even tried. They wont all fit in my crankbait box, so I have to put old ones, that were new ones not long ago in my injured reserve box back at home. Same scenario with spinnerbaits and topwater, I am truly weird.

Is it “weird” to buy crankbaits when I truly do not enjoy fishing crankbaits? Or simply foolish?

I'm returning to my pal's pond tomorrow to fish the afternoon. I avoid afternoons because of wind, but it'll only be 6 mph and I've a plan to use the wind. I'll let it blow me across the pond and fan cast along the way. Then I'll paddle back into the wind and troll along the way. Then repeat. I've done a lot of drift fishing for walleyes and white bass. I'm good at setting up a drift, I.e. reading the wind and picking the right starting point. There's a big girl school out there somewhere and with enough passes and some luck, I might find it and land another 20-lb. bag. I'm different than a lot of you. If I could choose between one six-pound bass or a 20-lb. bag, I'd take the latter. I take pride in consistency of fishing, rather than happening upon one rare bass. Plus, five fine bass that constitute a 20-lb. bag is five times the fight. It's been my experience that six and seven-pounders don't fight that much harder than four-pounders.

Good to hear you survived the “unsurvivable” mike! Go ahead and print the T shirt

Nice Bass ~ New Personal Bests are always a Blast Congrats A-Jay

My wife just asked where they got the picture of me from last New Years Eve.

Admittedly I'm a simpleton, but I'd never do this on a reel that wasn't going into some kind of deep storage........this sounds like a recipe for disaster. The last new reel I bought I spooled it up, fished it for an hour so, then had a monster eat a buzzbait and ended up dumping her because the drag never got set out of the box lol. That scene would repeat itself in short order if I started to mess with my drags off the water. For my reels at least, tightened drags is the least of their concerns 🤣

Been there…

It sure won’t hurt anything, but I don’t see it as critical. If I made a top ten list of reel care tips loosening drag after every trip wouldn’t make the list. If you’re one to lock drags down, which I discourage but I know is done, and you store for long periods I’d back them off. Especially if you have a shimano with the non carbon washers.

Maxima Ultra Green 5 lb .008 D same as 4 lb Trilene XL but a lot stronger knot and abrasion strength then 6 lb XL. Don’t understand the knot tying problem suggest trying improved clinch knot or Palomar knot. Uni knot is simple to tie. If you can’t see .008D line get 2X reader glasses! You may be twisting the line spooling it? Tom

When I am not catching bass, I keep throwing the same lure, when I am catching bass I am constantly changing lures. It is a good thing I don't invest in the stock market, I would buy high and sell low.

It's cool in Maine and the water is cooling fast. When I dip my fingers in it, it's just tepid. The last few fishing trips, I've worn long pants, fleece atop my wicking tops, and wool socks. However, the cooling doesn't depress me. I need to hibernate after fishing hard through the spring, summer, and fall. Sure, I'll look out the windows at the glittering white and sometimes sigh, but I'm a northern bear, built to rest through the winter.

Found this guy in a local pond...

Got back a couple of days ago from a solo camping trip on the Delaware River. Arrived last Monday and by the time I set up camp didn’t have time to launch the kayak. So fished from shore off the campsite for a hr and was able to land 3 small Smallmouths. Launched the next day on the river and got 14 Smallmouths, took a while to get on them but changed to drifting the current in 7’ of water over gravel with a Nikko Hellgrammite on a 1/8 ned head was the ticket. Next day I headed to a lake I never fished, got a Largemouth and small pickerel right away, and that was it for the day, did lose a good one on a drop shot though. Next day back to the river again, but couldn’t get any kind of consistent bite, wound up with 6 Smallmouths. The last day I wanted to launch at a site that the road to has been closed all year for repairing the road, it was supposed to be opened on Monday, but now they said it would open on Friday, so I waited till after 9am to go there. Well the road was still had the road blocks up so it was now a change of plans. I decided to take a ride to a reservoir I had only fished once a couple of years ago. Wasn’t on the water till 11am, water had a 10’ visibility tried fishing relatively shallow for a while and got nothing. Spoke to a couple different guys on boats and they said it was real slow, they weren’t getting anything either. Fished a little more and couldn’t find anything, so I decided to head back to the ramp fishing along the way. I figured let me check the 28’ to 32’ line on the way back since nothing was happening shallower. Still miffed that the road to the other launch was closed, I probably looked like the kid walking down the dirt road with both hands in his pocket kicking rocks along the way. I finally saw a good size bait ball with some stuff on the bottom, so dropped down a drop shot in a hail Mary attempt. I hook up and it’s a good one, pole bent down into the water and drag going off. Have it on for a good while until I finally able to see it, a big Smallmouth and I even said out loud “don’t jump” I was able to land it and it was the biggest Smallmouth I’ve gotten in many years. Fumbling around for my camera for a quick pic, it shook around and I lost my grip on it and she swam away. Perseverance saved my day, made a great ending to a great trip. Got back to the campsite and spoke with the lady at the office, she said NPS finally opened the road at 1pm Sorry for the long post.

Been a crazy summer and 2 months since I last fished and 3 months since I last fished with my dad. He has a new hip on the horizon in November but felt well enough to get back in the boat. On cue, Pops caught a "Papa fish" as the girls call it. 😆 The itty bitty LM's were loving the free rig with an OSP. Nice Spot saved the day.

Now we’ve had a gust to 63.

You should be proud, that's a great fish. Awesome!

Congratulations!!! Nothing better than that feeling of watching your PB swim away!

x3 My experience with SLXs is that they start losing smoothness after a year or two. I have an LFS from the previous generation that feels better than a 3 year old SLX.

Last salt trip of the year for me. Conditions were different, we got a lot of rain that raised the water about 2’. Grass was also starting to die back. Fish were not in the areas I found them previously so I had to do some exploring. I found a lot of fish concentrated in a small area sheltered from the wind. Every 30 seconds or so I would see a fish boil or a back or tail sticking out of the water. However they were not biting very well. I must have cast at 30 different fish before one finally hit. Fortunately it was a nice one(didn’t have my measuring board on me but I believe it was somewhere in the 28-30” range. Overslot!). I stuck around for a while trying to get the breaking fish to bite. I ended up with one slot fish and 4 undersized. Pretty surprised at how tough it was despite seeing fish all around the area.

I will take a dropshot rod with me every time, no exceptions, knowing full well I absolutely will not use it... I will throw a square bill for way to long before switching to something, finding success, and then switching back to a square bill - they'll want it eventually, right?

I am one of those people too. I research the heck out of almost everything I am interested in trying or buying. I am just hardwired that way.

It's not the line. It's you not being good at working with very light line. Just gotta practice man.

Lews lfs. Nothing better at that price

I dunno, but can I get my entry in?