Jar11591

Slowly healing up from the leg break and subsequent surgery. Pictures are from 4 weeks ago, when I first got the cast taken off. I’m in a walking boot now, and can put light pressure on it as long as I have my crutches as well. Range of motion is still very limited, but I’ve started physical therapy so hopefully that comes back soon. Getting very antsy to get back to my normal life and even more antsy to get my d**n boat out on the lake before it freezes. This has been quite the ordeal, but I’m on the home stretch. Hopefully I’ll be able to join a baseball league next year as I had originally planned. Doctors say 6-12 months before sports are a possibility, so I’m hoping it’s closed to the 6 months.

Spinnerbait.

My state has been giving up some absolute monsters lately.

Black

Back in the day, the first link after you searched was usually what you were looking for. Then it became the second on the list, first place reserved for “sponsored” links. Now there are at least 3 sponsored links first, and the unsponsored links still are more related to the sponsored links than what you searched for. Soon, the entire first page will be sponsored links.

Summer for me, because it’s the most predictable. I know right where the fish will be and when they will be there, regardless of conditions.

Only brand I fish with now is Strike King Tour Grade. The quality/price combo can’t be beat. And the only one that ever broke on me was replaced with 3 new ones by Strike King when I emailed them. For trailers I use Rage Swimmers. As far as tips and tricks, try a 3/4oz double willow spinnerbait. Thank me later.

I’ve never had a guide that fished while guiding. If I did, I’d probably ask to be returned to the dock. If we’re gonna fish like buddies in your boat, I’ll throw you gas money, but not a penny more. Guiding should be done professionally. The only “fishing” I think that is acceptable for a guide to do is a scenario where fish aren’t biting and they throw out a bait to see if they can get a bite, that way they can tell you what you may want to fish with. If they are fishing to catch fish, it’s no longer a professional relationship, so I won’t pay a professional rate. I’ll give the “buddy rate”, which is some gas money and that’s it. Having taken a dozen guided salmon and trout trips, and a few bass/walleye trips, I’m lucky I’ve never had a guide think it was acceptable for them to be fishing. Could you imagine if you bring your car to a mechanic, and the guy reclines the seat, smokes a cigarette, and takes a nap in your car, and then charges you for the privilege? That would be insane. I see it no differently than paying a guide to get you on fish, and then they kick back and drop a line to try to catch the fish you are paying them to catch yourself.

Brussels sprouts are probably my favorite. I cook them in a fry pan with some bacon grease. Not the healthiest but delicious. Also love broccoli any way you serve it to me. Cauliflower, cabbage, and most other brassicas I love as well. Honestly I love most vegetables, cooked most type of ways, fruit included.

Around these parts, perch make up the vast majority of a smallmouth’s diet. I try to stick to perch patterns when fishing smallmouth.

I’d say chain. The fins are more red than usual but I can see the chain markings and if this was a Redfin, you may have a world record on your hands!

Spring: Jig, spinnerbait, lipless, senko Summer: Popper, spinnerbait, ribbon-tail worm, weedless frog Fall: walking bait, spinnerbait, jig, popper

Looks like they make them in 3/4oz, as well. That extra weight will really help them come through weeds better and keep towards the bottom.

@ol'crickety the majority of the time, probably not. Maybe around 50/50. The type of grass matters as well. Broadleafed pondweed is a lot easier to fish through cleanly. Milfoil is a little harder, and hydrilla is the hardest. But the technique is effective enough to live with pulling weeds in frequently.

@ol'crickety I mainly use 3/4oz spinnerbaits which really helps getting it down and keeping it down, and I will actually fish my spinnerbaits right in the thick weeds. I’ll cast it out, let it fall until I know it’s on bottom. Then I give it a hard rip so it gets the blades spinning, and then every time I feel it hitting weeds, I rip it again. Ripping it through the weeds not only makes it come through cleaner, but can trigger strikes. So I cast, let it sink, rip it, then reel as slowly as I can until I hit more weeds, then I rip it again.

@gimruis took the words out of my mouth about launch time. Once the nights and mornings start to get cold, I am moving my launch time up a few hours. I’ve found frequently that as soon as the sun hits the cold air and the water gets smoky, the bite can turn on, but it’s often slow before then. It seems like sunlight can really activate them this time of year. And related to that, the bite windows are getting shorter and shorter. Busted leg is keeping me from being on the water at the moment, but if I was fishing your lake I would do pretty much what you did. Spinnerbaits and walking baits in shallow water. I also hit the timber with jigs this time of year because the fish return to the wood. During the summer the fish seem to abandon the fallen trees so I don’t spend very much time fishing them, but as soon as fall sets in the shallow water jig bite turns on again. I also change what kinds of vegetation I look for. Milfoil and hydrilla starts to die off, but the curly and broad leafed pondweed stays green long into the fall. And the fish migrant to it. But like every other time of year, spinnerbaits slow rolled on deep structure is the failsafe for me. It’s the closest thing to a guaranteed fish. Fall can have as many tough days as any season due to the unstable weather, so I often resort to this. Something tells me you’re gonna be slaying them all fall anyway, though.

Excellent!

Do ribbon tails count as curly tails? My favorite Texas-riggin bait in July. I have so many bags of Culprits. The ribbon tail is what my dad taught me how to fish with, and it’s been a mainstay in the tackle box ever since.

A few years back, I was fishing a small 35 acre lake in my boat around 7pm. I went right to the lake after work to fish the evening bite. It was a quiet, calm evening, until about 150 people descended upon the lake like a swarm of locusts, and launched like 2 dozen of those long boats and completely over took the water. I wasn’t even able to make it to the launch because it would be like trying to cross a freeway on foot. No common courtesy, no “excuse us”, just total annihilation of a nice fishing evening for the sake of rowing in circles over and over and over. It was so insane I could only laugh at what I was experiencing. Best part is, a big, wide, long river is right across the road from this lake, but this crew decided a 35 acre circular lake was better to launch 2 dozen boats on. It’s like showing up to the basketball court in the park, and instead of trying to join the pick up game or wait your turn, you start slinging water balloons full of ranch dressing at the hoop, completely ruining everyone else’s experience.

I love to camp, cook, garden, and in the winter time I play video games. Love baseball as well, although my playing days are over until I heal up, get off my ash and join a men’s league. I collect memorabilia, most of which is Atlanta Braves memorabilia. I want to get more into hiking, and start tying flies, pouring soft plastics and making hard baits. Photography, specifically wildlife photography, is also on the list of things I’d like to try but the cost of a worthy camera is prohibitively expensive for me at this point in time. And if I ever feel like all those things aren’t enriching enough, I’d like to give artistic cartography a shot.

NetBait Paca Craw

I enjoyed this and agree with every word of it. “Just dogs”:

If the fish doesn’t move, it isn’t a fish.

The 2 best poppers on the market are the Pop Max and Pop X in my opinion. I fish them on a 6’6” medium power, fast action rod with a 8:1 reel with 10lb nylon line. I have found that both are easy to walk, but the larger Pop Max is definitely easier. The thinner the line, the easier it should be to walk, theoretically. Apart from that, I don’t worry too much about the action of a popper, and I don’t spend much time walking them. I’ll switch to a skitterwalk if I’m looking for a fast walk-the-dog action. Not sure about the action of those rods you listed, but i definitely recommend something with at least a fast taper. I know some people fish topwaters on moderate or moderate fast rods, and I don’t know how. I don’t recommend it. The faster the tip, the more feel and control you’ll have.

When bass fishing, I usually only appreciate the fight after I’ve landed the fish. I don’t fish bass because of the fight, but it can be a nice bonus to a safely landed bass. If I lose the fish, I would rather it didn’t fight at all if it means landing it. If it’s not bass, I’m all for a fight. Some years ago, I caught a 20lb chinook salmon from Lake Ontario. It took about 20 minutes to land that thing, and that fight was a blast. Having a fish pull drag as if the bail is open, having zero control, numb forearms, cramped hands…so much fun.