Bass_Fanatic

Sounds like a great afternoon. The late afternoon bite has been ridiculously good! You’re right, sometimes it’s better to just keep it simple. Good job!

Silver if the sun is shining, gold or coleslaw if it is cloudy. Good fish man!

I use a Dobyns Sierra 733 with a shimano curado E7 w/12lb sunline sniper. A jigging spoon is one of the few techniques that floro really makes a difference. Most bites come on the fall and floro makes a world of difference in detected those bites on slack line.

War eagle 7/8 oz jigging spoon. It comes with a swivel so your line doesn’t twist,

Probably a good thing there was no film in your phone. Pictures can’t do fish like that justice! Toledo is still fishing really good, but Rayburn is absolutely on fire. I’ve never seen a lake with the amount of 1-3lb fish in it that Rayburn has right now. We caught 304 yesterday, but only 2 over 4lbs lol. We caught fish every cast for hours on Alabama rigs, spoons, 6xds, and drop shots. I even threw random stuff that I never fish such as a scrounger head and hair jig and caught fish. If you have the chance to go, GO!

We are catching lots of perch on shiners over brush in 22-25’. Hit enough piles until you find one loaded and you can limit quick.

Just got back from taking a student on his senior trip to Rayburn and Toledo. Wednesday we caught 227 on Rayburn. It is on fire! Caught fish on spoons, crankbaits, Carolina rigs, and drop shots. Yesterday we caught 63 on a Toledo. They wouldn’t touch anything dragging. All were caught on a spoon and Alabama rig. He was able to catch his new PB yesterday at 6.24lbs. Both lakes are fishing really good!

We caught around 70 today on the south end. Caught pretty good from daylight until 9 then again from 6 until dark. Midday was really tough for us. Spoons, Carolina rigs and crankbaits caught all of our fish is 18-25’.

Buy a hound dog. I get it unhung 9/10 times

Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m sure this was directed at me, at least partially. Sorry if you feel that way, but I’ve never once lied on this forum. Every report I give is truth. I know many people find it hard to believe catching 50-150 fish in a day, but come go with me and you can see it first hand. Btw, as for “cashing checks”, I don’t tournament fish much anymore, but from 2015-2019 I won close to $40k out there plus a boat. You can go check the basschamps website in that time frame. I won right at $28k just with them and it’s all posted online.

Uh oh, what happened? I had 2 trips Friday. Friday morning we caught 105 bass/whites and 13 perch. Had a dad and his 10 year old son and that boy put a whoopin on us. He probably caught 50 on a spoon in 28’ of water. The afternoon trip was a little slower, but we still caught around 30 on crankbaits and Carolina rigs. The fish moved up into 18’ around 6:30 and we started catching pretty good. Overall, it was a great day and my hands are tore up!

Had a trip this morning and we caught 40 fish in 13-20’. Most on swimbaits. Had had a couple good fish up to a little over 5lbs. Went back at 4:00 and fished until 7:30 and caught 90. The evening bite was on fire! I had one over 7lbs and probably 50 or so over 3lbs. The last spot I pulled up on I caught 54 fish off of and only made 4 cast that I didn’t catch a fish on.

Just got home from fishing Toledo Friday and today. We caught 132 fish (bass, whites, and white perch), and 62 today. All fish were caught in 12-20’. The post spawn bite is picking up!

My camp is in Negreet. There are a lot of brush piles, points, and ledges in Negreet that I fish

I fished for 2 hours Monday afternoon and caught 14. No big ones, just all solid fish. Yesterday I spent most of my day sinking piles, but fished for an hour and caught 29 in 13’ on a gravel road. It was almost every cast once I found them. Fished for 3 hours this morning before coming home and caught 32 bass and about 15 white perch on piles in 25’. The lake is getting good!

Cover is important but it is secondary to structure. A good hump on the outside of a river or creek bend with a sharp drop and tapering point provides everything needed without cover. Cover can make a good spot great, but I’m always looking for the best structure, grass or no grass.

Yes you are right. When I first started fishing offshore and learning my electronics, I stopped and fished when I saw fish. Through many many hours of looking and fishing, I now only stop on fish that I deem catchable. I’ll idle by a lot of fish that I don’t stop on. I wish I could explain it better with words, but I have a gut feeling whether or not fish are catchable based upon their relation with the bottom, each other, and where they are located. Some days you find tons of catchable fish and some days it’s hard to find one school. On days that I’m seeing a lot of fish, I’m really particular on which fish I stop on. Days that I have a hard time finding any fish I may stop on smaller groups. Just according to how the day is playing out.

That’s certainly not a bad strategy. As for where I’m looking, it is dependent on the time of year. Right now I’m looking at staging areas and following creek channels looking for fish on creek swings. As they begin to pull out, I’ll follow those creeks out to the main lake and look on river ledges, points, and troughs. Like I said before, I only stop and fish when I see fish.

Nope. Especially when I tournament fished a lot. I rarely cast when prefishing. I would spend 2 days on the lake the weekend before Basschamps, 10-12 hour days, and never cast. You have to learn to love it. I have almost as much fun finding fish as I do catching them.

Sure. I have 2 Humminbird Helix 12 SI units at the console and a Helix 9 DI at the front. I run one unit solely for SI. Anytime you run SI you want it to span the length of the screen in order to enlarge the image. Do not split a screen for SI unless you split it horizontally. The other unit I split vertically with half mapping and half DI. I rarely use 2D when idling, but I do use 2D up front when dropping on fish. You can see your bait a lot easier on 2D. As for tips, the best one is to commit to idling and looking. I only stop and fish when I see fish. I have spent countless days idling for 10-12 hours and not even making a cast.

I was on Toledo Tuesday through Friday this week. Worked from the camp some and fished some. We caught a lot of bass, probably 200 or so in 12-18’ on Arigs and crankbaits. Had a lot of 4-5lb fish mixed in with the 1-3lbers. Had a blast. But, what was even better was catching HUGE crappie over tips in 20-25’. We loaded the boat everyday!

We caught about 40 Monday afternoon in about 12-15’ about half way back in creeks

Not necessarily. Just stay on south banks and you will be fine

I’d launch at Cassell Boykins and stay in Pophers all day. Plenty of bushes in the canyons and the back of Pophers and good offshore stuff in there as well.

Not Toledo, but we had a 25lb bag today on Rayburn fishing 12-18’ with crankbaits.