Bankbeater

Sorry for your loss. Prayers sent.

I wonder if any of these HS and college teams learn anything about boating safety before they head out on the water? My guess is probably not.

I didn't even look to see when the tourneys were being held this year.

I went by Bass Pro yesterday to pick up a new fishing license for 2024. While I was there I bought a Chatterbait in fire craw. Now I need to start looking at trailers.

Eagles. hawks. and the osprey around here will kill the topwater bite. They will circle the lake for a few minutes and then leave if they can't find any fish. There are always some fish around a beaver dam. Other fish. It depends on the size of the fish. Big fish eat little fish I don't think they worry about which species they're eating. When the sunnies are active and out in the open then the larger predators are not around.

I still have the Rebel Minnow that I fished with 50 years ago down at my Grandma's place. It needs new hooks but back in the day, it would slay the bluegill.

I've never tied lines together. I always use straight mono.

Jig and craw Spinnerbait 6" Plastic Worm Crankbait Senko

I grew up fishing in public parks and conservation areas with my dad. Most of the time we fished for catfish, crappie, or sunnies, but a few times a year we would make the 2 or 3 hour drive to one of the larger lakes and fish just for bass. After a 15 year break from fishing, I got back into it again. By then my dad was strictly a bass angler and I met Mr. Bait Monkey, who greeted me with open arms. These days, depending on the weather and traffic, I might fish locally or make a two hour drive to find bass.

A few years ago the conservation area near me started verifying that you had a PFD before they rented you a boat. If you don't have it with you at the window you don't get a boat. Needless to say, there were a lot of people that fished from the bank.

Most of the time I'll get a bad backlash trying to cast when I should have been pitching. I'll bring the rod back and hit something behind me that I failed to see like a tree branch, bush, or on a few occasions the trolling motor.

I'll cast a crankbait around vegetation and pop it like a popper. I also have pretty good luck casting out a Stanley Ribbit Frog, or a Zoom Horny Toad, on a T-rig and working it back along the bottom.

I have a clear Zara Spook that has been sitting in the tackle box for a few years. I'm going to take that out and try to catch a bass during the daylight hours, not just dawn and dusk.

Most of the time I will just walk it back. If I'm fishing around vegetation I'll stop the retrieve and twitch it a few times to see what happens, then resume walking it. If I'm around really thick stuff I'll let it sit and move the bait by sweeping my rod back slowly, then let it sit some more.

One more vote for the Gammy G finesse.

If the bottom is fairly clear I will drag the bait, but if there are snags on the bottom I will hop it back slowly. I also like to hop it back through the coontail, if I can get away with using a small enough weight.

St. Louis here. Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard!

I would fish it around wood or rip rap to start.

I predict I will catch a bass this year that is between 1 and 10 lbs. It will come out of either a creek, river, pond, or lake. I will be fishing with either a topwater, bottom contact bait or a bait moving through the water column. Finally, this bass will be caught sometime in 2024.

I've fished when the air temp is in the mid to upper 20's, as long as my guides aren't freezing. There's no way I'm going out there when it is 15 outside.

Just me, myself, and I. Although I do try to siphon off as much knowledge as possible from this website, I realize that no two bodies of water are the same so my results may vary.

Sorry for your loss. May he RIP.

Sometimes it doesn't matter where you cast as long as you're using that one specific bait, and sometimes the bait doesn't matter as long as you can place it near a certain piece of cover or structure where the bass are hiding.

I'd have a lipless crankbait in there somewhere.