deep

7 lb 6 oz NLMB on a Roma Trout today (it's a 7.5" wedgetail swimbait). Only bite in about six hours. Fishing a main lake point in about 15 FOW, fishing it sort of slow on the bottom. Water has warmed up to high 50s/ low 60s in the last three weeks since I caught a swimbait fish (two skunk trips in that time). I fish whenever I can. That means not very often. I still keep track of moon phases and moonrise/ moonset times. Interestingly, I caught the fish right at moonset. Of course, I have fished hundreds of times without catching anything around moonset time, so it probably doesn't mean anything. Dobyns 867/ Calcutta 401D/ 25# PLine PF

Pat, this part of your post reminded me of a particular passage from "In pursuit of giant bass". I hope it helps someone land a new PB. Off-topic (sorry), but this (below) is my favorite passage from the book. P.S. I lived this life for almost 5 years. I caught a lot of big fish, but it left my mental health, social life, and to some extent even my professional life, in a sorry state. I have since moved on.

Thank you! I am not committed to the big swimbait. I love jerkbaits and rats and frogs too. The last several years, mostly because I don't get to fish very often, when I do get a chance, I fish what I like to fish and what I want to catch a fish on that particular day. If I catch a fish or two, that's great; but if not, that's fine too. I literally fished 7 times last year, and caught 6 bass in all. There was a time when I was committed to the 8" or larger swimbaits. About 10-12 years back. I fished swimbaits a lot, like almost everyday. I got skunked a lot too. I also caught a lot of big fish. Mostly walking the shorelines of small public highland reservoirs. I had good teachers though, mostly folks from SoCal, and a few from other places. I still retain most of the knowledge. Just don't have the time/ opportunity to apply them on the water. And that's fine with me too. I'm just glad that I fished a lot when I had the chance to do so.

Yesterday, while watching the eclipse, I ran into a dude who was in a fishing club I used to be in. We started talking about the old days and the one thing that stood out was how little we (both) fish now, because of all the work/ non-work related responsibilities we have. Can't believe I actually got out to fish again today. That's twice in two weeks lol! And I caught a couple pictureworthy NLMBs too. 4 lbs 10 ozs on a Hiroshima hardtail. This bait is an xxxs, almost suspends. I was fishing a main lake point, fishing it with reel pops and long pauses since the water is still pretty cold (low 50s) in the central VA mountains. Kinda remarkable catch since I don't usually catch very many decent fish on hard swimbaits (except rats). Then I caught a 6 lb 10 ozs fish on a secondary point inside a cove on a custom-painted 7" WCZ Citizen in about 7-8 FOW, fishing it pretty slow on/ near the bottom. Honestly surprised to find a shallow/ close-to-the-shore fish this early in the season, but sure glad I decided to spend half an hour in that cove.

I haven't fished/ caught/ posted much in a long time, but good to see lots of nice fish being caught! Here's a 7.5# NLMB I caught today on a swimbait (WCZ citizen) though.

JediAmoeba, they can say what they like and/ or what the US anglers want to hear; I've seen/ heard that myth repeated enough times, even by folks like Matt Allen. Peace. Here's what the megabass japan site says though: EDIT: The packaging says it's a slow-floater too.

Okay, so the regular 110 is *not* a suspending bait. It's supposed to be a slow-float. They also make a medium-float (110 silent riser, not the same thing as a 110 silent) and a high-float version. Neither of which seem to be very popular, but that's all right with me If you want a *suspending* 110, you need an 110SP (may or may not be a JDM-only version), or an 110FX. The latter is easier to acquire in the US. Also, this whole discussion about "best suspending jerkbait" is kinda vague without knowing what diving depth and bait size the OP is looking for. Going from shallow to deep, here are some *suspending* baits I like: Flashminnow, 110 Magnum (there's a suspending version, and a floating version), World Minnow, Slender Pointer, Pointer, 110 plus 1, KVD deep jerkbait, Staysee v2 (there are three versions of the Staysee, v2 is the suspending one). And that list contains probably less than a fifth of the different jerkbait types/ models I have. Yes, I love jerkbaits. I also love details. If I had to pick only two, I'll take a 112MR Slender Pointer for shallow, and a made in Japan 110 plus 1 for deeper work. I feel the older made in Japan 110 plus 1's are a hair lighter (although I suppose that depends on the color) and you can tune them with slightly lighter/ heavier split ring(s) for warm vs cold water. The box will say the country of origin (Japan or Malaysia, I think I've seen a few made in Vietnam too).

Fished little, and caught even less since last June. Here's an 8 lb 6 oz fish, and a 6 lb 2 oz fish from Monday though. One rod, one reel, one bait.

I'll add a couple points to the original post in this thread. Angles can be (and usually are) super important, and I don't mean just downhill vs uphill. Don't make the same cast n times in a row, unless you're stitching. Good luck in your pursuit.

Old school still works for me! This is me fishing a soft swimbait on the bottom last week. I fish jigs and worms the same way, but a little faster.

Got a Shimano World Minnow in the mail the other day, and I tried it out today. Impressed! One of the best casting jerkbaits I own (and I have >40 different models from different manufacturers). I was making 45 - 50 yard casts with quite a bit of thumbing in a fairly stiff breeze! Suspends well right out of the box in high 40/ low 50 water. I like the hooks too, light wire and round bend. I liked the flat sided flash; should be a good player once the water warms up a bit. It actually reminds me of the old Daiwa SP Minnow in some ways. Caught on it the (probably only) 3 fish that moved up shallow in the afternoon sun. All small. I like it enough to buy the deeper diving version soon. Probed the depths for a while after that with a 1/2 oz football jig. Caught a few more, including a pretty nice one. Hard to feel bites on long casts in deep water with the wind, but 12# Tatsu was up to it. Been fishing Tatsu for ~10 years now, and don't see a reason to change.

Should've kept the 908, sold the truck, and bought a 1997 Nissan Sentra. (I have a Dobyns 908, fits perfectly in the Sentra with the backseat down.) But then, my rods are all black, some shiny and some matte; reels are gold, silver or grey; and my kayak is brown. So what do I know. Good luck with the new combo.

Any day I get to use my scale on the little Northern Strain Largemouths I fish for is a good one, lol. Fished for several hours without a bite. I guess nothing was biting, because by then even the trout fishermen had all left. But the clouds were rolling in, so I decided to try one deep water spot one last time, and caught this in ~20 FOW. Fish went 5 lbs 6 ozs. Fished for a while more; nope, nothing. Dobyns 867/ Calcutta 401TE/ 25# PLine PF/ 9" Nates trout with 12/0 weighted Owner beast

So I went fishing today, and caught a 9#. Scale bounced between 8-15 and 9-2, but let's call it a 9, shall we? NLMB trout eater. Super slow rolling a 8" weedless on the bottom in about 15 FOW, and I feel a slight tick way out. Not even sure it was a tick, partly because the wind was blowing 15 mph and partly because I haven't fished in a long while. So I reel like mad and sweep set, and feel just mush. But the rod is bent and I keep cranking. After 20 odd cranks I finally see the fish, looked pretty big, but she came right in. A few quick photos and get the weight (a few times) and let her go. Then my heart almost sinks because the fish just floats sideways and won't swim out. Fish was never out of water for more than 30 seconds at a time I swear. Try again with the same result. So now I am standing in frigid knee-deep water holding the fish correct side up and occasionally and slowly figure 8-ing her. Finally- after what felt like half an hour- but probably was only a couple minutes, she swims off slowly for the first few feet, and then bolts away. Dobyns 867/ Calcutta 401TE/ 25# PLine PF/ 8" ROF12 weedless hudd custom paint

Didn't fish for almost a month! Sometimes I get lazy, and sometimes there's too much real/ non-fishing stuff to take care of. Walking a big wood rat in shade pockets on a hot sunny afternoon never gets old. The bites are vicious. Three bass all around this size (~18"); didn't take pictures of the other two.

A few hours in the late afternoon heat yielded only a few dinks. Dejected, I was driving home, when on a whim, I decided to take a detour and swing by another reservoir, one that I haven't fished in a year. Left everything in the car, including my glasses and the scale, to make a few casts with a popper that was already tied on. Glad I didn't stick a really big one, so won't have used the scale anyway, lol. 20.5 incher on a Deps Pulsecod.

Like most everything with hooks, bass of all sizes will eat/ try to eat rat lures. With that out of the way, a rat is not just another wake bait. Sure you can just wake a rat and catch plenty of bass, but that's not how I'll fish it. In any of the small reservoirs I fish, there are only a handful of specific spots/ stretches of shoreline where I will prefer a rat over another wake/ crank swimbait. Think about where you'd usually fish a popper, and you'll find those spots. A rat and a frog are probably the only two topwaters I really like to fish on bright sunny days. I feel there are "rat-eaters", and then there are fish you could have caught on any other topwater bait. There are two good youtube videos on rats. I don't want to post links, but search for the "Toxicbaits" channel, and then look for "Rats!" and "Rat Theory". I haven't fished a Spro (prefer my MW and OD and been lately fishing a resin PB quite a lot), but it (the Spro) seems to catch fish and is pretty cheap. I'd get one if I just wanted to try this thing out.

Agree that the rod is a problem. I struggled to hook/ land frog fish when I started seriously fishing frogs from my kayak. You can read what I found out here: Some frogs definitely worked better than others (for me). In the linked post you'll find a list of my more productive frogs. I have found two other good frogs since I wrote that post: the Fish Arrow Bustle Frog, and the Deps Slither-K.

Caught a bunch of small-medium fish on a rat earlier this afternoon, mostly fishing shade pockets, laydowns and steep banks. Never got the big bite. Rat-eaters, for whatever reasons, are usually pretty vicious. Today, one of them managed to put an Owner ST-36 into my little finger, almost past the barb. Close call there. Took pics of the first two medium ones.

With all this talk about right spots and right baits, I thought this might be interesting. (From In Pursuit of Giant Bass, Bill Murphy)

If I get on the right spot at the right time, seems like I can catch fish on a variety of baits as long as I get the depth and speed somewhat right.

Caught a pretty big bluegill yesterday on an XCalibur Zell Pop. Peeled some drag and made a couple strong runs.

Walked the banks for a couple hours in the morning, and caught a bunch of 14"-16" fish on topwaters. Couple a little bigger than that. This one was on a Kelly J; pretty neat bait I got last week.

Tom is a legend in my book. Apart from the wealth of knowledge he freely shares, over the years I've received from him several twin spins, custom viper-head jigs, three of the articles he wrote, and probably a few other things too. Before BR, he used to post on another forum under the username "oldschool". About 7 years back, I saved all his posts there I could find. I don't specifically fish for big fish any more; actually I don't fish half as hard as I used to (before I really started learning about big bass). But now that I know what I know, I catch a lot more 3-5# NLMBs from the small somewhat pressured public reservoirs I fish. Thank you Tom!

Weird experience fishing topwaters today. Lots of blowups- on a popper, a walk-the-dog, and a buzzbait, but few hookups. Pretty sure most of them were bass too, and not bluegills. Still caught around 10 or 12 though. Connected with this one on a 3/8 oz Cavitron near sunset: