BadContrakt

Disclaimer *my opinion from my experience* Well, you'll always have fish in those coves. You'll always have fish deep. At all times of the year this is true. The answer to your question will vary from lake to lake and you won't know, down to the specific degree, what the precise answer is without knowing that lake very well and having been monitoring the temps closely all season. Bass do pretty well in low 80s all the way to low 50s. They don't mind spending some calories to chase bait in that entire range of temps. They will absolutely start to slow down mid-high 80s and low 50s to high 40s, but they will still bite. If the lake I'm on every weekend has a highest temp in the hottest parts of the summer of 87 degrees, then I'm going to start moving shallower at around 77-72 degrees. If the highest temp is 92, I'll start moving shallower at 82-77 degrees. 10-15 degrees cooler than the hottest temps they've seen will be when their instincts start taking over and they'll start to truly realize "winter is coming" regardless if that's 82 degrees or 72 degrees. Bass up here in Minnesota don't hardly get to see 85+ water temps. Southern bass see that regularly. So, long story short... If temps are below 75 (regardless of state), you're pretty safe to start using faster baits, topwaters, reaction baits, and move shallower. It does vary from state to state and lake to lake but that's a fairly safe number in the fall. It will just continue to get better and better the further below 75 it goes... All the way until about 55 you'll notice they're slowing down and then low 50s and higher 40s is when they're truly going to start going into winter pattern and moving down to escape the chilly surface temps.

7'3" MH-F would be my top choice for "most" bass fishing applications. But I definitely couldn't live without my 7'4" and 7'6" HEAVY-Fast rods. They're used more often than any other rod I own but for less techniques if that makes any sense.

Well so far so good. Went out to Gull Lake this weekend and fished some main lake reeds and it went quite well. Hammered down on several 2-3 pounders with no problem getting them out of the reeds / sparse cabbage / grass and, the highlight of the day, I actually upgraded my lake smallmouth PB! Up from 4 pounds even to 4lb 6oz. Rod handled her just fine. Gear: Tatula 7'3" MH-F rod Tatula Type R 7.3:1 reel 30lb Jbraid 1/2oz Booyah swim jig 3.5inch Keitech Swing Impact paddle tail trailer 63.9F water temp A brisk 55F air temp. Busted out the Carhartt for fishing this weekend! upload

1/2oz KVD Heavy Cover Swim Jig 4/0 hook 3.5 inch YUM Pulse paddle tail trailer

Which is precisely my problem. The 7'3" Heavy-Fast I have is just too stiff and doesn't properly load up when casting. Very annoying. I'm excited to give my 7'3" MedHeavy-Fast a try this weekend to see if that lighter backbone loads up better.

Awesome thanks for the info. I'm gonna throw that 7'3" this weekend and see what I think. The 7'4" heavy is just too much of a broomstick to cast that little jig very well. Quite annoying. I'll report back after trying the MH!

Yikes. Why are you commenting if you have no idea how to fish a swimjig? So I actually have an extra 7'3" medium heavy laying around not being used. I considered picking it up for swimjig fishing but talked myself out of it because of the lack of backbone for ripping it through weeds and what-not. Do you fish through cover at all? In my area, we often work swimjigs through pads, through grass, and through reeds. Do you use that rod for that application or not? The reason I'm asking is because I also have a 7'3" Heavy-fast and it works great for ripping through cover and for solid hook sets but it doesn't cast well. The rod doesn't load up properly and casting distance and accuracy suffers greatly. I can tell you if I through it on my 7'3" MEDIUM heavy-fast I would be able to cast much further and much more accurate but I'm concerned about using it through cover. What's your experience?

Oh boy I know this topic has probably been beaten to death here but I DID do a search and just found people asking of what jigs to throw, when, where, and how. All I want to know is what rig you throw it on? Rod action Rod taper Rod length Reel gear ratio

Got a few just from this year... Nothing amazing or jaw dropping but some good ones that made us collectively laugh and some good highlights of the day My buddy has been sitting in the captain's chair on his phone (probably on social media) for the last 15 minutes while I've been on the bow punching pads in the hot summer sun for that whole time. I hadn't caught a thing. He lazily grabs his frog stick and throws out his frog (while still sitting in the captains chair with one hand still on his phone) into the most juicy little pocket 10 foot from the shore. Big blow up ensues! I duck for the hook set (in case a frog came flying toward the boat) and I look back and there he is, reamed into the fish with rod bent fully over.... While still sitting down.... He horsed it through the pads and all the way to the side of the boat and leans over and lips it. Boy was I laughing. He throws it back and then picks his phone back up and casually says "nice fish" I DIED on the deck of the boat laughing. Literally 15 minutes later our boys in their boat come around the corner. I motor us out of the pads and we meet out in open water. Have some bottled water... Tied the boats together. Discussing plans for the day. Then, my same friend who just caught the frog fish, says "Oh guys (talking to the guys in the other boat that we were tied to) check the action out on this whopper plopper (he just bought a new one that morning on the way to the lake and the smaller sized one had a much better action than my larger one). He gets up, tosses it out in the middle of nowhere and we're all staring at it and watching the "action" of the plopper and WHAM he gets absolutely slammed by a Smallmouth in a predominantly Largemouth lake. We were all, first and foremost, laughing hysterically because of what just happened, but also taken aback at the fact that he just hooked a Smallmouth on accident while showing off his new bait... Gosh what a good season it's been for us. Lots of memories made in 2019 and we're not even done fishing yet.

Watch some youtube tutorials on it. Once you get the knack for it you'll be flipping and pitching accurately and not-so-awkwardly with a bait caster and jig in 30 days. I just taught my good friend this year how to do it and that's how long it took him to pretty much get it down. Now after 60 days or so he's really good. Looks very natural. When you've been doing it for years like some of us on here, it will be so second nature you won't even think about it. I can flip a bait sideways, I can flip a weightless wacky rig, I can flip a bait under a dock while skipping it across the top of the water, you name it. It's one of the biggest reasonS we use bait casters. It's a combination of thumbing the spool at the same time as moving the entire rod (and your whole arm) to manipulate the bait's path of descent. The goal is to keep the bait as close to the water as possible from the second it leaves your hand and to get it into the water where you want it, and without making a giant splash. If your bait ever goes higher than your chest level, you're doing it wrong. Watch some youtube, get on the water, practice. You can even practice in the back yard or better yet, off a raised deck or porch.

Yeah you'd think! Lol it's mostly true but it's also the land of over-fished fisheries with maybe 1-2% of the lakes (if that) being managed for Largemouth Bass. This is Walleye and Crappy country baby! Lots of bass. Lots of ONE POUND bass. 2 pounders common. 3 pounders uncommon. 4 pounders rare. 5+ is trophy.

I usually lie when someone asks me how the fishing was. I usually lie when someone asks me what lure or presentation I was using. I always assume that if I asked them the same question, they'd do the same to me. Maybe I'm too leery of people. Maybe I'm the problem.

A lot of great Tennessee reviews... What makes it so great? Where should I look to live? How's the job market? How's the winters? I have a friend here in MN that was born and raised there. We actually just call him "Tennessee" he talks about it so much.

The difference is I don't live near the metro. Minnesota is all red until you get to the metro.

I'd be out of there so fast after living with those crazies.