Bankbeater

Nope. I have used a lot of different brands of rods and reels over the years.

Any water coming into the lake will work. One lake I fish is heavily developed and I fish around the french drains that run down from the houses.

Sometimes you have to fish a large bait to keep the little bass from tearing it up.

I always think it's funny when I'm fishing a jitterbug or a big-o, and someone asks me why I'm trying to catch bass with old baits.

Try and find places where rain run off is going into the lake and try fishing near them. You can also try running a bait along where the shallow water drops off into the deep water.

Amen brother!

Went out to a pond this morning for about 6 hours. Off and on drizzle all day. I managed 4 small bass, and one bass that wasn't doing so good. If healthy it might have gone 3 pounds, but this one looked like it had a run in with one of the great blue herons that live around there.

The only thing that comes to mind right off of the bat is buying a boat.

I work a standard 40 hour week, and these days I am a hard stop at quitting time. I know a lot of my coworkers are working from home until 9, 10, or 11 PM. Most of them are online working sometime during the weekend. I refuse to do that, it's not healthy. Sometime during the weekend I will get out and go fishing.

Pull up the Missouri Conservation website. You can do a search on smallmouth and pull up all of the streams and small rivers in southern Mo. where the smallies are concentrated.

I'm not giving up my spinning tackle any time soon. This year I've caught most of my bass on spinning tackle.

There have been years here when the bass have keyed in on larger baits. This usually happens in the fall. They would ignore a 1/4 size moving bait, but go after a larger 1/2 or 3/4 ounce version. Larger trailers and fuller skirts on jigs would get bites over the standard size. This was for all bass not just the large ones. I'm not sure if this is because of the forage being larger or some other reason.

I have heard old timers say that sometimes bass will school up and move around ponds close to the bank. If you can get in front of them you can catch them. It could have been that this guy was getting his spinnerbait in front of them as they were approaching.

Welcome to the forum!

Around here September is an extension of August.

Congratulations!

The Thin Man series, and the Bob Hope / Bing Crosby Road Movies have always been some of my favorites.

Good going. Nice looking bass.

Over the years I have picked up a lot of fishing knowledge, but it took me a while to learn how to use it correctly.

I worry about the weather, and that is about it. Even if I don't catch anything I learn something about the water I'm fishing.

Try finding spots where the different types of vegetation comes together. Look for stuff like water willows growing in between lily pads.

I'd start off easy with something that will give you a feel for the vegetation. Maybe a popper, frog, or buzzbait.

I've had a lot of days like that over the years. That's how I started lure hunting. Got bored with no bites, started looking around.

I think it may be both depending on the conditions. Earlier this year it was color. It didn't matter where I was casting to. Now it's all about location. I have to about hit the bass in the head with the bait to make them bite.

If the bass aren't coming up to the surface after the Horny Toad, you can Texas rig them and fish them on the bottom. I told my dad this years ago and he thought I was nuts until he started catching them on the bottom next to a weed line.