paul.

and here's the bait of the day. if you look real close, you can see it in the corner of the bass' jaw in the picture above too.

even though it was officially labor day, i still went to work on the bass today. for some reason, they were really biting good today, and i caught quite a few at one of my favorite little lakes. i started with a couple of swimbaits but no takers. had a few follows though, and one BIG one on an outside grass edge in about 4 ft. of water. even though i was pretty disappointed i couldn't get this fish, i still committed the spot i saw her in to memory. after all, she musta been at least halfway interested in eating. after zeroing on the swimbait, i switched to a t-rigged trick worm and a jig and started cleaning house. after catching quite a few decent ones, i gave the spot where i had the big follow a shot with the worm but only got a dink there. threw the jig in there from a different angle, and the deal was closed. there was no tap or thump, just that tell-tale heavy, mushy feeling. hammer time. WHAM!!! sweet penetration! hook is set and instantly she shoots off towards deeper water. after a great battle with several cool jumps and head shakes, she's in my hands. 8-10 on the digi. released as always. even though i caught this fish on the mother of all lunker baits, the jig, i have to give the swimbait a huge assist. this fish gave herself away when she followed the swimbait and without this, i honestly wouldn't have spent much time in that particular area. i definitely wouldn't have come back with another bait. again, i have to give credit where it is due. a guy y'all may know named matt servant taught me this little trick of coming back later with a different bait when a follower won't commit. just cause they won't hit the swimbait don't mean they won't hit something else. today's adventure also drives home another very important point that has been stressed on here by much better bassers than me time and time again. with big fish timing is everything. honestly, it might not have been so much that she wanted something different than the swimbait. it mighta been that earlier she just wasn't really ready to fully commit to anything just yet. coulda been a little of both. :-/ whatever the reason, i'm glad she finally decided to bite. hope y'all are having a great holiday and catchin' a bunch.

oh and btw, thanks matt for the heads up on the castaic baits. i'd never known about these if you hadn't said something they do look good. and here's a link if anyone is interested. but i'm gonna wait to see what matt's cooking up before getting anything i think. http://www.tackletour.com/reviewicast2008castaic.html

jay and randall, thanks very much for clearing things up and helping me understand. i can always count on y'all to tell it the way it is. i see now that it's not so much that they are coming out with a bait that's similar to matt's, but rather they are coming out with matt's exact bait and putting their name on it. that's not cool. nor is lying about where your ideas come from. as much as i've learned from matt on here, there's no way i'd wanna see him or his business hurt in any way. no more spro baits for me. thanks for your insights as always guys.

they both look good and i'll probably try both. if i had to choose though , i'd probably go with the TT just cause i have thier bluegill and i really like it, so i know they build good baits. the versatile weighting system also gives this bait an edge in my opinion. my only experience with spro baits has been the aruku shad, a bait which in my opinion did not live up to it's claims and was definitely not worth the price tag. this bait has been put to shame by my regular old rattle traps which are several dollars cheaper. but i'm not sure i understand the outrage over whole "copying" thing. every time i go to the tackle store, i see entire shelves of baits that are "copies" of each other. everybody has a "senko". there's a gagillion brands of ribbon tail worms. same with spinnerbaits and crankbaits for all practical purposes, along with virtually every other category of bait. the "differences" are barely perceptible, if at all. isn't it this competition that encourages the free enterprise system and drives prices down benefiting the consumer? maybe it's somehow different in the world of swimbaits. :-/ seriously, could someone please enlighten me? i consider matt to be my friend and a great guy. his help with swimbaits has been invaluable to me as has jay's and randall's. (thanks again y'all. ) if somehow bill seimantel and or spro has legitimately ripped matt off, i'd like to know about it and i would not buy any more of their products either.

half of a hot dog. ;D Is that because you ate the other half?

half of a hot dog. ;D

beautiful fish-thick, fat, and healthy. way to go man. i bet that was a great fight on a drop shot rig.

took a little break from bassin' today and caught this nice cat. not huge, probably only a little over 10 pounds, but still a lot of fun on light spinning tackle. hope y'all are gettin' a few too.

sounds like the "community holes" have been beaten up pretty good and the fish have moved. no spot, no matter how good, is going to kick out fish indefinitely. the pressure will eventually cause the fish to move or become difficult to catch. i had one such "money spot" on my favorite lake. the kicker was that i seemed to be the only one who knew about it. i caught several very nice fish off that spot too and i thought it'd always be dependable. but i fished it too much, too hard, and too regularly. and guess what- the fish seemed to disappear. lesson learned. one of the hardest things to do in fishing is to avoid forming "emotional attachments" to baits, tactics, and especially spots. we talk about making adjustments to the fish all the time, but the fish make adjustments to cope with fishing pressure as well. the lake you are referring to sounds a lot like beech lake in lexington. good luck and hope you figure it out.

o.k., cool. we are on the same page then. i usually fish uphill (that's what i meant by fishing deep to shallow). i just wondered if there was a better way. glad i'm on the right path.

"You've got to work an entire structure from shallow to deep with lures that touch bottom [but do not gouge trenches in it], and at different speeds, to be certain the place has been completely checked." very informative. thanks catt. couple of questions though. first, why would you not attack a structure from deep to shallow? if the object is to maintain maximum bottom contact, would this not be the best method as you are less likely to lose contact with the lure? not to mention deep to shallow creates the funnel attack presentation. second, why would you limit yourself to bottom bumping lures? it seems to me that by doing this you are eliminating 2/3 of the water column. what about fish that might be suspended over the structure? although usually difficult, these fish can at times be caught- but it would be unlikely to catch them with a bottom bumping lure. perhaps mr. perry was not considering these as active fish. not criticizing at all buddy, just trying to understand. thanks again for posting this.

nice ones for sure. hope you are back to 100% soon. catchin' on live gills is awesome-especially when you get to see the whole thing happen.

anaCOONdas???

funny matt. but i gotta ask - where are y'all getting these baits? i haven't seen a single pack of the new rage stuff in a store anywhere around here. are y'all ordering 'em online somewhere?

rock on daniel. another toad. cool.

old school rap and classic rock. some country but not much.

cool topwater action.

i'll be here all week. don't forget to try the prime rib. good night everybody.

sabiki rig? haven't heard of this much. is this similar to the "budwieser rig" or the "sticky green rig"? these are the rigs most commonly used by folks who sometimes both are used in the same "trip", resulting in a banner day. however these rigs contain chemicals known in the state of california to cause nausea, vomiting, severe headaches, and legal complications. use at your own risk.

very cool. that's great..

oink oink! very cool. congrats big time.

very nice.

mattlures has a line for around that price. Sell that one from BPS on Ebay for like $10.00 or so. Get something back for it. very good choice eddie. also jackall giron, jackall mikey, and sebile magic swimmer. these are all about the same size and price of the king shad. there are also some other great ones of different brands and bigger sizes for only slightly more. good luck with whatever you use ajr. i hope you catch a pig on whatever bait you throw.

cool. always nice to come home with MORE lures than you left with. nice fish too.