MFBAB

Not yet, but sometimes I wish they would give me a quick Q & A

....a bass if you caught one that could talk???? I think I would say, why do y'all hit Buzzbaits???

Your tackle is looking good BBD!! You can do some damage with that line-up for sure. Glad you're catching a few. I haven't been out in a couple of weeks, just been busy but hope to change that soon. Y'all try to leave a few for me With Bill Dance and Jimmy Houston posting here now, I think I'll change my handle to "Middle-Aged Roland Martin"

Nice job! Trout Magnets will destroy the Bream and Crappie in the ponds as well, 2 lb test is fun fishing.

I think a lot of he confusion about patterns is just from the fact that the word means different things to different people. To me, a pattern is based on breaking down every variable you can think of, weather, water color, season, time of day, type of lake, wind, and more.......and then, you start thinking about what bait matches the given conditions. It sounds complex but it becomes automatic once you get used to thinking that way. For most people, pattern means: They were hitting a squarebill pretty good today, but nothing else produced. In other words, most people will go out and start working through the tackle box with different baits until they either find one that's working or run out of time, and then they call that a pattern. They will say they junk fished The difference bw the two methods is that the first one is far more repeatable because you broke down the conditions and made a logical decision based on that, and worked from there. In other words, you have a reason for why the fish were where they were. In the second one, you put the cart before the horse and if you got lucky, you might have backed your way into a decent bite, but you probably don't know why that bite was happening so you're not likely to repeat except maybe by chance on another day. IMO, fishing logs make the process of learning repeatable patterns far easier too.

I think the 2 most misused and misunderstood terms in bass fishing might be Pattern And Structure!! Roland Martin wrote an interesting book on patterns, I think it's called 101 Bass Patterns or something similar, it's worth a read if you can find it. To one guy, catching spawning crappie 2' deep with a minnow under a bobber near the bank is a pattern. To another guy, it's 2' deep on the nw corner of the lake w water 2 degrees warmer than the s side, on wood , in shade, during a full moon, with a hard bottom and stable not falling water level, and they'll hit a jig but only if you tip it with a medium sized minnow and hold your mouth a certain way while you dangle it for at least a 10 count before moving to the next stump. It's as simple or as complicated as we want to make it, the important thing is being able to formulate your own system for recognizing when the elements of your pattern are in play on a given day, and also, being able to recognize when they are not and its time to look for a new one.

Ha ha, I love your handle!! It would be hard for me to be in Coldwater and NOT be on Butla, best big crappie lake in the world Show us some pics of what y'all are catching, it has gotten slow around here lately on the pond-hopper thread. Here's one to get the ball rolling, just a regular pic, no funny business here.......

If you haven't ever been frog gigging, add it to the bucket list! Just clip the tendons in the legs before they hit the skillet or they might jump out - not kidding

ha ha, time for some mend-it

IMO, a kayak is a great way to get to all of the places that DON'T have the jet skis and power boats. If you want to fish lakes like that, go at night or early Am before the big boats get out. As far as the boat control, just rig up an anchor sustem and maybe a fixed rudder (a small chain about 12' hanging out the back end does wonders for tracking-poor mans rudder). Also, a shallow water anchor, this can be as simple as a piece of pvc or conduit you stick down through a scupper hole, or even just getting up next to the bank and casting from there. Or just tie off to stick-ups and brush. Casting from shallow to deep and working baits uphill is a good strategy anyway. As ess said, yaks are pretty stress free compared to big boats, no registration, no upkeep, easy to transport, WAY cheaper, stealthier, access to a lot more water, and just fun to use in general.

I think it depends a lot on who you ask I wish the fish could talk.

Ain't that the truth? Pickwick is a total zoo in the Summer, but the fish don't seem to mind it.

It varies from lake to lake, but some basic averages would be: 1-2 lbs - This is the most common size I see on most waters 3-4 lbs - This is a little above average, but nothing to get excited over. Most decent places here have these and you should expect to catch 1 or more in an 8 hour day of fishing if you're doing things correctly. 5-6 lbs - This is a good fish, and it automatically makes a trip worthwhile for me if I catch 1 or more in this category. While not totally uncommon, this is far from a guarrantee every trip out either. That is why this size bracket is the benchmark of a good/more memorable day here, at least for me. This is especially nice when you're fishing a new lake/pond, it's one thing to go somewhere that you know has good fish, but finding a new place w over-5's is always a good thing. 7-8 lbs - This is getting into a different category here. You may go a couple of months b/w catching one of these, depending on where you fish (hugely important), how often you fish, and your skill level. 9-10 lbs - This is about the upper limit that you can expect around here. Anything over 10 is highly exceptional. I'd estimate that over 95% of bass fishermen in my area haven't caught a legit 10 lbr, although almost every one you meet will tell you they have The typical story: I was younger, caught it at a farm pond on a beetle spin, couldn't believe it,....no, no pictures, we didn't have a camera....... **The state record is a little over 14 lbs in TN, but I only know a couple of guys who have caught a bass over 10 lbs. here.

OK, new poll. What time do you do best in the Summer? For me, I like the night and early morning. It's the coolest part of the day and It seems like the bugs aren't as bad as they are at sunset. Also, you often have the water all to yourself. And midday is rough around here, it's close to 100 today! I broke it into 4 hour slots, I know there may be some overlap around the transitional periods, especially the early morning one, but this seemed like a logical way to divide it up. How about you guys??

One of the big surprises for me is not seeing more lizards listed, I thought everyone threw them during the spawn!

That's hilarious. I had an experience early on, it was when I had my first boat so I was still a noob. We were fishing one evening and ran into a guy who is sort of a local celebrity on the water and had a nice exchange. FF to the ramp when we were taking out, I was loading my boat and had the lights on, the same guy was backing down the ramp next to me (2 trailer ramp), and he made a comment about the lights that made me feel about 2" tall. I've never spoken to him since, but I've also never left my truck lights on at the ramp when trailering since either My big fishing problem is usually being too stubborn. I try to make them bite my way sometimes, even when I know better. Abother thing I do a lot that frustrates my fishing partners sometimes is to leave biters to expand on a pattern. I don't tourney fish, so just fooling around and seeing how far you can take a pattern is a lot of fun to me, but it drives a lot of guys nuts when you tell them you're about to leave a school of mediocre biters to look for something better.

This came up earlier. I think of Senkos as Worms...but if you were fishing it like a jerkbait, then it could go that way too.

Let's make it easy for anyone else who's interested in that article: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/107540-oldschool-horizontal-jigging/

Sometimes you just have to let it go, most people are just idiots I was bank fishing a local pond this past Saturday. At the entrance to this pond, there is a corner where you can fish to the left or right, that is just where the walkway dead-ends. I had arrived well before sunrise and been fishing for around an hour or so all alone, and I had covered the whole section of bank to the left and I was back at the corner. About that time, another guy arrives coming in down the walkway. I said hello, and he just ignored me and made a hard left...Basically, he thought I had just gotten there too, it was sunrise and he wanted to get to a certain spot about 50 yards down the bank before I did, even though if that was his thought process, he should have asked me which way I was going since I was there first, and at the least he should have responded to my greeting. About 10 minutes later, another guy shows up. By this time I'm working my way down the right bank, and the new guy sets all of his stuff on a bench at the corner and starts working down the bank behind me. We talk a little, and then he just cuts right in front of me and starts casting a topwater plug and fishing ahead of me. Keep in mind, I'm throwing a Chatterbait at this point and covering water down the bank, not set up on a spot, the only reason I was even still close to him was because he was talking to me. I just left, I had to be home anyway but I had planned on spending another 30 minutes or so fishing down that bank until the dumb*ss cut in front of me. I truly don't think he had any clue how rude that was either, one of those "here's your sign" moments Now the first guy, he was intentionally being VERY rude. It's OK though, because he was fishing for some sore-lipped fish I'd already caught off of the bank he chose, I'd already fished that section coming and going! Sorry for the rant.

I've had some very interesting conversations with some of the biologists in this area as well. It's always good to get their perspective and compare it to your own experiences when you get a chance, and they usually seem to be just as interested in talking to the fishermen as we are to them, in most of my experiences. Seems like most of those guys got into their careers because they love fishing or hunting, and then they started their career and now spend all of their time in the outdoors (or at least researching it) but don't have time to hunt or fish

The Rage Blade is designed more like a bottom dredge, the weight is at the bottom so it will roll over wood cover a little better (than a scrounger or chatterbait) too. They are all in the same basic family, but there are some differences too.

The parity is pretty amazing here. If the Plastic worm category was divided into 3 categories - like: Finesse under 4" / Worms over 4" / Senko And then Topwater divided into Buzzbait / Frog / Hardbait, or something like that, there really wouldn't be any dominant category. I say that because Jigs & Cranks are divided already, and if you totalled those up into one number they would be right there with Worms and Topwater as a lump sum. Currently only 68 votes and over 600 thread views, hopefully more people will vote!

Allright, you must've missed it. Look again, down at the bottom....

I think you'd be interested in that 9.5 a little more if you lived in Memphis, just sayin

Shallow Crank I've heard of guys catching 12 lbrs on those, ha ha!!