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Dang - it's been a lil bit hasn't it? 😉😉😉😉 Been busy getting sizable bass to eat hollow frogs and flukes and glide baits and such 🫢🎣😂😎👍🏻 Lil red on the throat is the deal for a lil while??? There's a frog that got completely swallowed for those who doubt that it happens. Literally swung the instant she bit in pitch black and she was digesting it by the time I got her in. A giant! Long 6 lber and my first fish in the Spro Popping 60 in redear! Jake caught his first fish on a glide bait and then we went back for more action and he caught his 2nd fish on a glide bait this morning and it was much bigger! I saw some big swirls WAAAAY out beyond kingdom come and I threw my Spro popping frog probably 200 feet and started reeling slack out of my line and the frog burned for a couple seconds while my line straightened out - and then she hit. It was the kind of bite we live for. I set the hook and she launched her mass into the air and she took my breath away - my heart skipped a beat - time stood still. Jake scaled a ravine and landed her while I fought her and brought her to the bank a good 6 feet below where we stood. It was an incredible experience and a GREAT October frog fishing moment. 7 lbs 8 oz of MEAT.

2024 was sharply different than 2023, when I happened upon multiple six-pounders. Here are three of them: In 2024, I only caught one six-plus-pounder and I caught her early in the spring, the biggest bass of my life: I never got a weight on the fish above, but she was 22.25". The bass below, caught in 2023, was also 22.25" and I weighed her: 6.75 pounds. Their builds are quite different. The bass above also had a BIG head, but her much bigger body makes her head look small. She was a beast in both belly and back compared to the one below: I figured I'd never catch a bigger bass, unless I cast south of 45 degrees N latitude, so whereas I tried and failed to equal her, I spent a spring, summer, and fall of joy, catching LOTS of bass. I had one 70-bass morning and a 75-bass morning. I had many 40/50/60+ bass mornings and evenings. Along the way, I caught scores of four and five-pounders. Here are five of the scores of fours and fives(I didn't weigh any of the five below. The first three are all about 21 inches. The fourth one was about 20 inches. I also didn't measure or weigh her. The fifth one was only 19 inches, but thick with a big head. So, I'm guessing they're all five-pounders. I really don't know because I didn't measure the lengths or weights of any of them. Big bass make me nervous. They're rare, so I want to return them to the water ASAP.): I also bought 4.5 acres of waterfront and fished that pond heavily. Its bass don't grow as big as other ponds I fish, but I've fished it for three years and I've watched a steady increase in their size. One strange and wonderful thing about this pond is its bass are stronger than other ponds I fish. Plus, it has extensive wetlands where the bass lodge, so I got a LOT of practice playing strong fish in heavy cover. Here is one of them: Some friends built a boardwalk and dock for me to walk over the wetlands to the water. They even extended the boardwalk to open water, but I prefer to dock my boat in the inlet, safe from the wind: Lure-wise, I fished an underspin with a Crush City Mayor heavily in the first third of the year. It let me cast into the thickest cover and that's where they were: Then I fell in love with the versatility of a spinnerbait, which I could fish high or low, fast or slow, in cover or open water. This final third of my fishing season, I leaned on a Yo-Zuri popper. I remember when it was glossy and pretty. That was hundreds of bass ago. I also learned to fish a walking bait and really enjoying making them pop and gurgle. Keep the line slack and make it snap! And I enjoyed catching several 20-lb. bags. I'd rather catch a 20-lb. bag than a six-pounder. Five times the fun and whereas I need some luck to land a six-pounder, as they're rare, a 20 lb. bag is a skill marker. You don't luck into five four-pounders in a morning. A six-year-old with a Barbie outfit can luck into a six-pounder. I also took several people fishing, guiding them to the most and biggest bass of their lives. The 12-year old beat his PB several times: I never took the beauty of Maine for granted: And I also didn't take my waning days for granted. I turned 68 this summer and know that my time in canoes is coming to an end. Some season soon, I'll need a boat less tippy and I'll likely fish my pond mostly from a V-hull or jonboat. No more dragging my canoe across a meadow or carrying it through the woods. As Frank Sinatra sang, I'm in the autumn of my life, but it was a very good year. P. S. - I also caught three doubles, i.e. two fish on one lure on one cast, and three 19-20-inchers in three consecutive casts. I also caught and released what I'm pretty sure would have been a new state record pickerel. I've caught a lot of Esox and am pretty good at estimating their weights.

Got out for a couple hours before dark. Fished the upper 3rd of the lake nearest to home. Fishing into a moderate wind. They weren’t having anything but the yum dingers. Ended up with 7.

@August ~ How to fish your own way. Great question. Unfortunately I think the only one that can answer that for you - is You ! Each basshead does some form of this but how they got to it is their way, not yours. So passing on info regarding the question almost defeats the purpose. I totally get why you're asking and it makes a ton of sense. Especially today where everything is such an information over load it's hard to know what the heck to do. Despite all of that, my version for you to finding your own way to fish starts with the bass itself. Forget about rods, reels, lines, lures and patterns. Forget it. Instead perhaps start at the beginning. Learn all you can about the life cycle of a bass. From the spawn, to the hatching of the eggs, to how fingerlings manage to survive and eventually grow into adulthood. Learn about what they eat at each stage of their life, what do they do when they are not eating. Where to they hang out in the spring, summer, fall & winter; and more importantly, why? With this approach you'll not be putting the cart before the horse. In other words, how can you know what baits to fish, where to fish and when to fish, if you don't know about . . . . . . The Fish ? ? ? Then, take what you're learned and apply it, your way. Don't ask for help, expect to struggle, remember there are NO time limits on learning to find and catch bass and bass do not care if you've fished 5 minutes or 5 decades. No need to compare your results with what anyone else is doing. Who cares ? It will never effect what you do or do not do unless you let it. But then, it will happen. You'll develop the August way of catching bass. Believe me, it's a good time. It's about the journey not the destination. Have fun. A-Jay

Back in the day before the internet all we had was sporting magazines and TV fishing programs. Both were promoting products for ads to tell sell. In-Fisherman was a 1st by promote fishing knowledge primarily with products second to support revenue. Unbiased knowledge is hard to come by especially today. I want you to know knowledge shared that is mine on this forum or magazines article is unbiased from my experience. Today everyone is in a hurry and fishing experienced can’t rushed but it can be shared. Tom

Got out on the big lake for a couple hours this morning. First cast jinx, but probably my pb smallie. Good enough. scott

I hit the Columbia on Saturday the 26th and what a day! There was sun, rain, clouds, rainbows, low-flying planes and plenty of hungry bass! Just a great day to be living in the PNW!! The bite was great, 24 smallmouth and 3 pikiemninnows, but getting to fish in such beautiful conditions is just beyond expression. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words so here you go: Does it get prettier anywhere on earth than this? The past few trips it had taken me a while to catch my first fish but on Saturday there were quite a few bass stacked up on the first point that I fished. I had blanked on this point the last 3 trips but it was loaded up on Saturday. The fish were out in about 25' of water and were happy to sample my dropshot. No big ones in that group but still a lot of fun on the dropshot rod. For the rest of the day I had spots that were red hot 2 weeks ago that produced very little, spots that were red hot and still red hot and spots that were dead two weeks ago that were on fire. That is fall smallmouth fishing in a nutshell. Man those fish sure do love to move around the river. I did all the damage on the smallmouth with either a drop shot or a wobblehead. The bass were set up on rocky points and humps in 15-25' of water and when I found a group they seemed eager to bite. I had some lulls but lots of back to back fish as well. One thing that was really cool was fishing the downstream edge of a hump with a drop shot. I was not marking any fish but as soon as I hooked one the sonar screen just lit up. Those fish were just hugging the bottom so tight I could not see them until I disturbed them. I ended up catching 3 bass in a row of that spot which was just really cool. The only downside to this kind of fishing is that you have to be willing to pay the price in lost gear. With the drop shot it is not too bad because I just lose the sinker (pinched on hollow core lead that I cut to length) but with the wobblehead it is the jig and the bait. I think I lost about 4 wobbleheads on the day but the price was worth it! It could have been my best day ever except for some heartbreak to end the day. It was getting late in the day I was heading back to the ramp and decided to stop and make a few casts at one of the spots that was good to me earlier. On my second cast with the wobblehead I felt the thunk of a big fish. I don't know how to describe it but there is just something different when a big fish sucks that thing in. I set the hook and whiffed but then that fish must not have like seeing that wobblehead screaming away because it came back and grabbed it. It felt like I set the hook on a boulder. That fish did not budge. I could not believe I was going to end the day with a monster. I leaned hard on that fish and after a few drag ripping runs I had it next to the kayak. I could not believe the size of that fish. It dwarfed the 5lber I caught a month ago and I think it was a fair bit bigger than my PB smallmouth (5lb 14oz). I had my net in my hand and it thrashed at the surface before diving back down and ripping drag. I tried to pull it back to the surface when POP. The battle was over and I was crushed The loop of the knot around the eye of the hook had basically broken (looked like it had been cut). If I had loosened my drag a bit I probably would have landed that fish but I always keep the drag on the wobblehead rod mashed down pretty tight so I can get a good hookset. When I got home I did look up the Knot Wars videos on fluro and they all said you should use a know that loops around the eye multiple times. I will be doing that in the future Other cool and interesting things that happened during the day. I got to see the rainbow in the above picture form. That was the first time I had seen a rainbow being born. You can watch it happen in the video. Just amazing. There was a float plane that flew past me that was very low. It was really cools watching it go by well below the top of the gorge. The last cool thing was a fishing thing. After I drifted off one of the humps I noticed that I had marked some fish in 50-60' of water. I was wondering if they were walleye so I dropped a blade bait down to them and started jigging it. In short order I felt a good thump and I had a decent sized fish on. I was a little disappointed when I got it to the surface and say a big pikieminnow. I dropped down two more times and caught two more big pikieminnows. It was pretty cool catching them out of deep water like that but I decided after the 3rd fish that I could either spend the rest of the day doing that or go chase down some more smallies. The smallies won out Overall it was one of the best and most interesting days I have every spent on the river. Tons of bass in the two pound range and two over 3lbs. Big bass was 19" and 3lb 9oz. I am so happy I get to live in such a paradise, remember to stop and smell the roses! Here are some fish from the day: Here is a way too long video.

Although I think bass resource is a great place to find just about anything bass-fishing related, there is one item that it isn't very good at. When someone is looking for advice, quite often people from all over the country will chime in. What happens in Texas is really nothing like what occurs in Wisconsin during most of the year. IMO this is when the local regional threads are more helpful and it's the reason I try to post more specific trip details in the MN one. I've tried to focus on about 7-10 lakes the past decade or so and develop a seasonal pattern on what bass tend to do during spring, summer, and fall. When I first started fishing these lakes regularly, I wasn't very successful. But as the years have gone on, I feel like I've learned them and I've been more consistent solely based on experience. I find water temperature to be a critical detail at certain times of the year too - most specifically in the spring and the fall.

It’s just nice to get out on the water for a few hours with air temperatures in the mid 80’s and water in the 65° to 67° range there’s nothing like Fall fishing weather. I was able to punch a 3lber out of a recently sprayed and dying mat. And for some reason I threw my Ned rod in the boat (truth- @Team9nineand @Bluebasser86 recent posts of success with it) which some pound and a half bass really seemed to want to eat.

Paddled around a ways this morning from the dock, leaves are starting to get pretty . Made it out to main channel and tossed a light carolina rig and caught 5 or 6 small ones, gamakatsu nano alpha 1/0 and black zoom finesse worm

Everyone has their own personal repertoire of confusion that works for them. Knowledge comes from our experiences, wisdom comes from an accumulation of the understanding of knowledge we rereceived over time.

I think it all takes time. But, you'll end up a better fisherman by finding patterns yourself, and fishing your way, with your style.

You can take a Q tip and run it over each guide. Cracked or broken guides will pull on the cotton so you can see which ones are bad.

New spinning setup..... Stradic 3000XG on a Levante Shakeyhead and I managed to score some D Braid in 15lb to wrap up the combo. As always, Digitaka is amazing. Hopefully I don't like the D Braid too much since it's no longer made. I've read bad reviews about the stuff that replaced it.

Fishing my own way is the only way I’ve ever done any good at all, trying other peoples stuff is almost always a failure

If I could, I wouldn't just catch and post rock bass: I'd catch and post dinky rock bass.

Time to update this story. As far as the crazy ex-wife goes. She did her time, was released on parole, and lives a couple hours away with her mother. She sees our youngest daughter (now 15) about once every 6 weeks for about an hour or so. My oldest daughter, now a sophomore in college, and living on her own, wants nothing to do with her mother. Can't say that I blame her, nor do I force her too. As for my life.....I'm in a new, fantastic relationship with a great woman. That's going on 2 years now. I had a few health hurdles in 2024 that have been cleared. In June, I had a freak accident that wrenched my neck badly, it actually tore my carotid artery and I was rushed to a major hospital to be stabilized and repaired with 2 stents. That's all good.....but.....while I was getting all the scans and MRI's and other stuff done on my head/neck area during that, they found an AVM on my brain. Those interested can look up what that is. Long story short on that...I was born with it, had brain surgery in late August to remove it, and was given a full bill of clean health and returned to work the first week of October. For the first time in several years , I'm excited about life. Have a great girlfriend, my kids are doing amazing in their post mother nonsense life, I bought new boat this past spring, and will return to making bass fishing an important part of my life. Heck...I might even hang around here like I used to.

Fortunate to have the time and lake, had 3 epic mornings in a row. Almost like @Swamp Girl's legendary Maine bog bass mornings, like 35-40 bass in 3 hrs with bigguns mixed in. My bass have fully embraced a shad diet this week, and they are set up to massacre them every morning as they exit a narrow channel/choke point to a large 25' deep flat. It was interesting to see the bite evolve, days 1 & 2 a small under spin or scrounger counted down and slow rolled 8-10' off the bottom got the bites, day 3 the bait needed to reach the bottom, followed by a few fast reel turns ripped from the bottom to medium speed retrieve. Got hammered with lots of slashing at the baits that required reel rips and kills to actually hook up. So much fun! Scrounger and a little salt spoon did the work. Here's too many pics, without enough visual context, but it was 9-10 hours of fishing that's absolutely perfect and I need to return to the buffet asap. scott

Fishing your own way, finding your own pattern, this is something that I need to get better at. Anyone can go online, YouTube, fishing magazines, this find someone telling you how to catch fish. Your buddy can tell you where they were biting last weekend, the guy at the boat ramp can tell you how he caught a 25lb bag, and I think this all gets into your brain whether you realize it or not. I feel like this can be really detrimental to your fishing. I can’t remember where I heard it, but something I heard a while back stuck with me. It was that if you copy somebody else’s pattern, the best you could do is fish as good as they were, but most likely you’re going to fish worse than them. Do you have any advice on how to just clear your mind and fish, without trying to chase a pattern from someone else, or even an old pattern of yours? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

We call those "schooling" bass for the lack of a better term. Quite often there is so much live bait available the bass simply won't touch any artificial.

I’ve been out a handful of times. I passed an 8 pt (among others) that wasn’t a mature buck. Tines were only 3-6” long across the rack and 15” inside spread. I passed a doe that had a young of the year with her (passed twice actually). The past two days have a lot of deer moving around in this cold front. I’m seeing new bucks out and about. I just want the bigger 8 that’s running around to make an appearance. this one is the target, though I’m on the fringe of his range I think. this guy almost got shot (I was drawn on him twice the first sit I saw him), and then I decided not to. I’ve passed him a couple times now.

Pike are my favorite fish, and like @Scott F, I've caught thousands, on both conventional gear and flies. Oddly enough, I don't target them much, as it's easy enough to get them when we're targeting smallies ans muskies. This year's biggest was in the mid-30s. I don't lose a lot of lures to them, because I run tieable wire leaders on almost everything except cheap soft plastics. We had a comical incident this year: We took a guy who is mostly a trout angler on a smallie/musky float. Even though we told him to, he didn't bother to tie wire in on the red/white bucktail popper he'd made for the trip...and on his first cast, he twitched it once...and it disappeared in a big swirl...and his line went slack. He just sat there, mouth open...and we laughed. 10 seconds later the popper floated to the surface...I tossed a properly rigged (12" 13# tieable wire leader) popper into the same spot, and it got clobbered on the 3rd or 4th pop...and a nice high 20's pike hit the net. Then we rowed in and got his popper, and handed it to him with the spool of wire... ...on the 50# fluoro mentioned above: Tieable wire works better, and is at least as flexible...and I've seen 50# and 60# fluoro cut like it wasn't there...and the fish that did it were not all big. I saw a monster musky lost because of a 50# fluoro leader once...I avoided saying "I told you so." If someone could convince my esox were line shy, the absolute smallest size I'd consider would be 80#...and that stuff kills lure/fly action. LOTW 38, on the fly.

Nothing insane, and I'm off the big ones again sadly. This 3.77 put up a great fight on the chatterbait this evening now that they're bulking up and the water is cooling down. Chatterbait and lipless bites have been good, hopefully connect with something more sizable here soon. The time is getting right, at least.

I used to deep dive into all that noise and it got way over complicated. I’m in the keep it simple camp. I stick with what works for me.

Here in MI ~ Pike possession regs are 2 per day and at least 24 inches. A couple of the smaller, weedy places I fish in the canoe, I'd need to fish through 25 12-15 inch pike to get ONE over 24 inches. A-Jay

There's s reason I'm in the sound booth!

SK Menace twin Tail grub pearl white weightless 3/0 hook makes a good Shad imitator retrieved this fast on or just above weed when bass are targeting Shad. Tom

Change your mindset. An east wind will protect areas that normally aren’t, allowing you greater boat/lure control, or be hitting areas that are normally protected, which could spur activity. Fish each appropriately. I’m looking forward to heading out today with an east wind forecasted!

I fish for enjoyment. I enjoy trying out new lures, rods, reels, etc.. Even when I know others are catchin' them with certain methods and lures while I'm blanking out, I will usually continue my own way. I have the boat, electronics, and experience to cover all bases, but some methods are unappealing. For example, I don't enjoy "video game fishing". Drop shotting, Damiki, jigging spoons, live bait, etc., are boring to me and I'm not entering tournaments or concerned with filling the freezer because that would turn my hobby into a job.

Dont get locked into doing something because that is the way its suppose to be done. Br open minded.

There is something to be said for putting in the time on your own lakes, fish them with a whole bunch of different things at different times, and adapt from there. Doing that, you can figure out the things and styles you like to fish as well as what the fish like on your waters. But the kitchen sink method can only go so far. You can only throw one rod at a time and time is limited. What I’ve found useful is to fish with someone who knows what they are doing and learn something. For me, I try to fish with my dad a couple times a year. I mean, he’s only been doing it for 50 years so…. Putting him on my lakes and seeing how he approaches it is something new. Me going to his lakes and fishing what I think I should be while he does his usual thing is similar.

One way to avoid those 'traps' is to study the lake you'll be fishing beforehand, take into consideration the season and recent weather, then put together a loose plan on where to start your search. Do just that, search until you either locate fish or at the least some sort of cover on or near a structural element. Then determine the depth and activity level of the fish. Now you have a loose pattern of where to find more fish. Catch fish on a second spot and you can refine your pattern to eliminate more water. If conditions change during the day, at the very least you know where they were and can then deduce where they may have gone, or if they're still there, what you need to change to continue catching.

Confidence baits!!!! It really begins and ends with confidence.

Too many pics? Ha! No such thing, my friend! Post ‘em if you got ‘em! Congrats on such a day!

@Jaybert I get it and was there myself just a couple years ago. Now I'm just happy with either of the two big names because there's a level of quality guaranteed. The alphas, met, bantam, and zillion are all just so solid, but with that comes a price premium. I hear nothing but great things about the new slx and would do what you're doing. I wouldn't buy a curado today, that's for sure. scott

I got out with the wife today for about 5 hours. There's some fish using laydowns on the steeper banks and we got a couple of them to eat a crappie rig. Tammy went 2 for 2 on 'em, putting a 37" and a 38" in the net. Water's down to 56-58 and there are shad balling up at the base of the breaks in the main basins. It won't be long now until the rig bite fires up and I'm chomping at the bit. I'll be working the wood and breaks with glides and dawgs the next couple days, and I'll have some tasty crappie dangling on quick strikes.

I never watch that stuff, but based on your example it’s definitely overkill. There aren’t 20 different times, places and actions of anything!! But Hey, why just show the ones that produced the most in the most varied of conditions for the majority of our subscribers, when we can hawk 20 so the video lasts longer to expose our sponsors longer. Or maybe I’m just too cynical. Mike

I found a deal the Bait Monkey couldn't refuse. I've been fishing it for a few days now. I have it paired with my old 2019 Steez SV. The Daemos is probably the most accurate casting rod I have used. It's pretty sensitive and loads a 3/8oz jig amazingly well. Together with the Steez, it's a deadly combo. Only downside is that it's soft.

When they're doing that I gotta go FAST. Like I'm talking you gotta make it look like you're burning the bait back in to make another cast ~90% of the time to even get a sniff.

I would not even consider visibility as one of the variables to consider in this discussion. Buoyancy, stretch, strength, durability, manageability....maybe....visibility....not so much I really like 12# fluoro for a lot of things. But spooks and poppers aren't among them

@Swamp Girl some years are better than others. I'm sure you know that. A new PB and acquired land/waterfront sounds like a winner to me.

They're all dinky lol

In the end, it’s all about catching fish, and how you go about that and to what extent is up to you because, ultimately, everything is in your hands. If you feel that you need to mimic someone else’s style or techniques, you’re still the one doing that. Take pride in what you do as a unique individual because nothing in the universe can ever take your place!

No rock bass, please.

I'd go with the 24 SLX 70, you're not really missing out on SLX DC. Even though it's equipped with a new firmware based on the MGL3 spool, it's still an i-DC4 based reel IMO. the two more bearings you've mentioned are just in the handle knobs and not in the reel so there's that. I'd suggest not to get all caught up on the DC reels marketing stuff, it's just another reel with another braking system and it will backlash just like any other reel out there. If you are really itching to get a DC reel for some reason, then I would recommend the SLX DC XT, best value for a dc reel IMO.

Going out next week to chase striper from a boat, so a few goodies are inbound

I went largemouth fishing three times in October and it may have been the best month in years. It was certainly the best month of my 2024 season. Water temps dropped from more summer-like temps to fall temps, and the fish responded. They were aggressive and hungry. About 65 largemouth came into my boat, plus a few moderately sized accidential northern pike. It went from a spinnerbait bite to a chatterbait bite to a swim jig bite as the water temps slowly dropped from the low 60's to the low 50's. A sizable percentage of these fish were quality bass too - including an all-time second best largemouth I caught on Oct 5. I've posted some of these already in various threads but here's a collection of them together.

The only pic that's close to providing a clue to how big it might be is the mouth pic as Katie alluded to. That pic, and then just judging the fish's health and build qualities I'm going to say it's likely in the 6s somewhere. I highly doubt it's less than 5lbs. Congrats! What I can say for sure based on all the pics is that the fish is at absolute peak health, and I suspect she'll get bigger. I don't know your locale, but any fish that is built like that in October has figured out the game and is thriving. Don't let not having a weight sour such a special memory and interaction with a prize/peak specimen.

IME, what is important, regardless of the number of baits an angler may have, is to know & understanding how, when & where to use whatever the collection of jerkbaits (for example) in each type of different fishing situation an angler might come across. If I fished the same lake, that same way at the same time every season, then a bare bones collection of baits would probably do the job well. But fishing a variety of lakes, where I can face an almost infinite number of different deals and conditions, has taught me that these situations require a bit of a bigger tool box. Just for starters, there's deeper baits, shallower baits, different size & profile baits, loud baits, silent baits and then there's the mind boggling number of colors & patterns. Only way for me to know what works in the waters I fish, was to try a bit of it all. Takes some time & effort (and $$$), but even though I'll always still be learning & evolving, a few baits in each location and in each certain situation, on each certain lake have proven themselves as superior to many others I have. That can not happen for me with three baits. Finally, as much as we like to think we can 'pattern' bass, and figure out 'what bait they want that day and how they want it', I do not subscribe to that mantra. In my mind, each & every bass is an individual creature. With it's own like & dislikes, preferences and tendencies, and although they are Schooling fish, that may not mean every fish will bite or wants the same bait in the same way. This seems especially true when it comes to the larger, older bass I seek. One subtle little tweak to a presentation or a color, or a depth, a profile or a sound, can mean the scale goes to a new number not seen by me. A basshead needs time on the water to figure some of this out and it's always changing. The lessons learned come with many fishless days, just like watching 'deep dive' videos. btw, I watched that clip and it's pretty good, however Matt omitted the entire silent bait deal. I'm OK with that though. YMMV A-Jay https://youtu.be/zIqCmH_52IQ?feature=shared&t=1215