everythingthatswims

To the heaps of empty keitech clamshell packages that represent nothing but a distant memory

Made my third trip out to work on some more bass with the Alabama rig. I landed 20 today, most were on the small side, but I did catch two really nice ones. Not bad for post frontal, air temps in the 40s, and blue skies! A 19" walleye also latched onto the A-rig and came home with me for dinner. Hoping to make it out to that lake one more time before I return to school this Sunday! This one weighed 6.5lbs 23" long This fish was only 17" long but weighed 3.6lbs!

Had to go back for a little more a-rig love today. Top fish was 4.8. Fished for a few hours this evening as a massive cold front hit central Virginia like a slap in the face! White caps and everything but the bass were still chewing.

Only a matter of time!

My waders have a built in belt and an elastic draw string at the top of them to prevent water from entering if something were to go wrong. I need to invest in a life jacket that makes it possible for me to fish and paddle comfortably while wearing it. Virginia's law is that you have to have the PFD with you, not on, so I just have one that I keep in the kayak with me. If I am on a river and have to go through rapids, obviously I put it on for that. Same goes for fishing in areas with lots of boat wakes, heavy current, or if I am fishing in choppy water. In four years I have never fallen out of my kayak unintentionally, sorry for being young and dumb! (Twice I have jumped out to get a bass out of a laydown, once successfully).

Today was my first day home on Thanksgiving break from WVU. My little brother and I headed to a local lake with kayaks today, and boy did we make the right choice. The fish were suspended chasing bait all over the lake, we threw single swimbaits on jigheads and deep diving jerkbaits underneath schools of shad, and we caught a few small fish doing that, then I decided to tie up the 'ol A-rig. Fishing one from a kayak is definitely a unique experience, but boy did it pay off. I landed 18 bass today, 15 of which were on the A-rig, two of them over 6lbs, and one double hookup. My best 5 went 18.65lbs, every fish besides the two giants fell somewhere between 1.5 and 2lbs, who knows what my limit would have been if I had found some 3 or 4lbers! 6.68lbs 24" 6.37lbs 23"

The only time I fish any trailer is if I'm trying to imitate very large forage and I'll put a swimbait as a trailer on the spinnerbait. Any other situation I use a trailer hook and no trailer.

I like using a pegged t-rig over a jig in that situation because it's harder to hang up and fish will hold onto it for a little while longer. I know some people say they set the hook as soon as anything feels different, but if you do that in a logjam things will get very expensive very quickly.

I'm with @Bluebasser86 on this one. And as my profile name suggests ~~

Scattered fish and dirty water I'd put on a chartreuse spinnerbait with gold blades and cover a ton of water. Even if it's usually a deep bite, muddy water will have some fish up shallow, and other people may overlook that.

Buzzbait in early fall then it changes to a spinnerbait or chatterbait when they quit hitting topwater

22" Hybrid, it ate a tiny shiner on a Carolina rig I was using for walleyes. The #4 Aberdeen hook surprisingly didn't straighten out!

Gizzard shad

My high school history teacher called his garage full of bass fishing stuff "The Mecca"

My dorm is pretty much a bass room currently

I saw! I need to find one like that because all of the walleyes I've caught feel like a sock that shakes its head. I'm a student at WVU but I'm from Virginia.

The river here in Morgantown seems to be a lot better for walleye than bass, and since it's getting cold I've pretty much given up on the bass (in this particular river). Coming from central Virginia where we have very few walleyes, I didn't really know how to fish for them, back home I have caught them on accident or on a shad rap, that's it. I've thrown a lot of "crossover" baits like jerkbaits and little swimbaits because that way I am sort of targeting both species, but the real success came when I finally broke down and tipped a 4" curly tail grub with a minnow like I see on TV when they walleye fish. I found an area that has thousands of tiny silver shiners (they are very similar to a glass minnow) that sit in huge schools all day, but when evening rolls around, they get broken up by walleyes who periodically pull up into the shallow water to feed in waves in the dark. In the afternoon, I throw shiners out into the river channel on carolina rigs, but once the sun dips below the horizon, I bring those in and cast with a jig. When the walleyes are there, nearly every cast results in a fish, but at any given time they will either shut off or leave for 30 minutes or more. What I've learned is that when they are in the area, especially with that much bait around, a grub tipped with a minnow will outfish a bare grub 5 to 1. I also learned that (at least these fish) like a VERY slow retrieve. I toss the bait out, and slowly hop (I would call it a "lift" because it is such a slow movement) the bait all the way back in, many times pausing for 5 to 10 seconds between hops. Usually I feel a small tap as the bait falls to the bottom, much like a jig bite but on a much smaller scale. One thing I haven't been able to figure out is how to catch the walleyes that are cruising the surface. I can hear and see them eating the shiners on the surface, and if I shine a light, I can see their eyes darting around, but even a free lined shiner won't get a sniff. I am thinking it has to do with the same phenomenon we experience when bass are very keyed in on a particular baitfish that is overly abundant, and often won't touch anything we offer to them. I've fished the spot three times, the first night by friend and I landed a combined 17 walleye. Second night was slow, we only landed 4. Tonight I went alone, and landed 15 walleyes, 3 sauger. Definitely a unique style of fishing, too bad I live in a dorm and have no way to keep or cook fish, lots and lots of nice 15-16" fish being turned loose!

Nice!!

Best post of the whole thread

I'll never know her official weight, but she was a giant and I'll never forget it. (and since length and girth put her at 10.4 I like to tell myself I've caught a DD bass!) My PB smallmouth only weighed 4.2lbs but she was 23" long, old as dirt, and one mean son of a gun!

People always ask me why I don't go out. I simply have better things to do!

Zoom Z Drop Purple Smoke Roboworm in Aarons Magic for any water that isn't 6' plus visibility Sexy Shad robo for suspended fish if I'm fishing vertically

May you have a speedy and mild winter... Although we both know it will be neither of those

Seems like a lot of people catch them on red rattle traps when the water is cooler. I think Mattawoman creek is supposed to be good for snakehead.