Bankbeater

Last month it was 35 years for me. Our champagne flutes are on a shelf in the living room and they have our wedding date etched in them. Every November I look at them to make sure I remember our anniversary.

I sweep the rod when I'm fishing around small clumps of patchy submerged vegetation. I'll bring the bait up the patch and then sweep the rod. Sometimes that little extra burst will draw the bass out of the cover. I don't think I have ever let a lipless sink to the bottom on purpose. Around here you risk getting snagged.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone at Bass Resource.

I never use it.

I couldn't get a bite on jigs, plastics, or crankbaits this morning so I decided to go after panfish. Sure enough, I caught a small bass on a Rooster Tail. First December bass since 2015.

There are a lot of nice fish on this thread!

It was 22 degrees here yesterday morning. This morning the temps is around 35 degrees. Thursday and Friday the morning temps are going to be in the low to mid-40s before rain moves in. I wish the weather would make up its mind.

@Woody B, I'm another one that keeps going back to Big Game. Fluoro is too stiff and too expensive, and braid is a real pain if you snag and can't get the hook out.

Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw. BPS Stik-o in the 5-3/8" size.

I racked up 49 trips for bass and 1 trip for panfish for a total of 50 trips. Some weeks I went 2 or 3 times, other weeks I didn't didn't get out at all.

Fighting and landing a nice catfish is always fun.

I have two 35 size reels that I got back in 2011, and one 30 size I bought back in 2016. I don't use the 30 that much but the 35's are still as smooth as when I got them.

If the bass are swimming off with it I would let them have it a little longer before setting the hook, also I would cast back into the area where you first got the bite. Sometimes a bass will swim off with the bait if there are other bass in the area.

Maybe, I've been told I have a hard head.

To keep healthy and stay out of trouble.

I ended up getting skunked yesterday, but finding this Megabass topwater took some of the sting out of it.

This year it has been: Yum Dinger Zoom Finesse Worm Spinnerbait Swimjig Crankbait

In 2023 I fished with a lot of baits that caught one or two bass, but only a few baits that worked consistently all year. All of my largest bass were caught in the spring, and most of them were on either a spinnerbait or a swim jig. The bass were back in the dead lily pads and the dead eelgrass. A 4" Yum Dinger and a Zoom Finesse worm were my top baits for numbers this year during the summer. I fished them weightless or on a split shot rig around vegetation after the sun started hitting the water. The topwater bite was non-existent all spring around here. Finally, in July, the bite picked up with a buzzbait by casting out past floating weed mats and then running the bait over the top of the mat. When the temps started cooling down in the fall the spinnerbait and swim jig bite picked back up again only this time the bass were around rip rap and rock. Shallow running crankbaits and wake baits worked all year, but they just didn't produce the numbers that they had in past years. I fished these mostly around vegetation out in the shallow flats.

The lakes I fish have a lot of snags in them. When I'm fishing from the bank I'll cast out a spinnerbait or a topwater bait out maybe 20 or 25 yards. Most of the time I'm pitching at a target so I rarely cast farther than about 30 to 35 feet.

Nice bass!

So far this year, I have fished around 20 different ponds and small lakes. They range in size from about 55 acres down to 2.5 acres, and most are around 15 to 25 miles away. This is the water I fish most of the time when I don't have a lot of free time on the weekends.

It's part knowing the water you are fishing, part experience and trusting your gut, and part luck. When all three are present you can't go wrong. Remove one and you might as well go home.

I have three Tatula CT100H reels and one SLX 150. All of them have been good and are dependable.

It's been a good year for numbers, but not for size. This one weighed in at 5.75 lb and was caught back in February.

I use the Lazer Eye spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits quite a bit. They seem to hold up pretty well. I started fishing with The Egg a few years ago and was really surprised how well it caught bass.