Fried Lemons

Scouted some new spots to hopefully add to the rotation when the time comes. Usually these types of trips end in skunks but not this time. Got three on the first lake with the biggest at 4lb 5oz all on a big gill worked with a stop and go retrieve. I was running low on time at the second lake which also had significantly more anglers. I hit a few spots without any signs of fish then decided to make a last ditch cast from a dock as the other anglers occupying it just left. Big fish of the day ate on the drop and came in at 5lb 4oz. Hopefully a sign of good things to come.

Couple highlight fish from an otherwise slow day of fishing. I think the high sun had them deeper or less active than they were the previous trips. There were periods of cloud cover where they seemed to turn on for short spurts. Near the end of the day during one of those windows I hooked a huge speckled trout that thrashed and shook out the hook but not before I got a good look at the massive head and got a glimpse of the overall length. I hate to guesstimate fish size but it was way over citation which in Maryland is 26”.

I think they'd be more popular if they hit lures. Redfish are pretty similar to carp in how they fight but they hit lures with a lot of aggression. If I had to dunk real bait for them they'd be a lot less interesting to fish for.

Super fun day chasing shallow reds. Landed 9 ranging from 14-26”, broke off 3 fish and missed maybe 3 bites. I had my drag locked down from bass fishing and had to back it off. They were busting my line and opened up a snap. Caught all on a paddletail under a popping cork. Never tried this technique before, super fun and effective.

Yep

Got on some cookie cutters despite my best efforts. 2 on a weedless swimbait in the grass, 2 on a line thru one on offshore rock another skipping under docks. Missed 2 more in the grass and one on a ledge. They were chewing, just not the size I was after.

It's been ok. I can usually scrounge together a couple fish on deep structure, but the size has been lacking. One nice 5lb 10oz fish in July and a lot of 4s, almost one every trip. Even that bite has slowed down considerably. Shallows are really tough, I usually don't bother unless I exhausted every other option.

I got on a fun mixed bag in some brackish water. I never target these fish or fish salt so it was pretty gratifying to get on all three species I was hoping for in one exploratory trip. I caught all these fish on a grass line in 8’ with an old mirrolure that sat forever in an old tacklebox without catching any fish.

You can mitigate it by choosing baits where the weight can slide up the line like an unpegged Texas rig or a line thru swimbait. Rarely ever lose fish hooked on these baits.

Whichever knot you are good at tying is the best. For me it's the palomar knot for everything, even a 10" swimbait which uses up a ton of line with each retie. That is not a consideration for me. If anything it keeps me honest about using only fresh line by forcing me to cut off a bunch each time.

Worth double its weight in silver! On a more serious note, all the giant baits we’ve seen in recent years are coming from Japan, where guys are chasing the world record. It definitely is not practical for 99.9% of us who don’t live on world record waters.

A couple fish from my old stomping grounds. I found them on a flat in 12’ and on the ledge dropping into the old river channel.

My point was that it circumvents intuition and knowledge of how to find fish which cheapens the sport, not that it forces fish to bite. You have to trick a fish into biting no matter what tech you are using.

This is why I’ve never been interested in competitive fishing. I get to choose what bodies of water I fish, when I fish, and how I fish. That being said, if we are to take pro bass fishing seriously as a sport, there needs to be limits to how much ‘assistance’ a competitor is allowed to have. I’ve heard so many times that FFS won’t make fish bite which is hogwash. Skill expression in fishing comes from knowledge of how to find fish and how to get them to bite. FFS drastically reduces the difficulty in finding fish which is more than half the battle. Josh Jones, the master of this technology, believes it should be banned in competition. I liken it to PEDs in high level sports. Drugs won’t do all the work for you but they will allow you to train harder and recover faster than possible naturally. Obviously they are still being used but not to the extent they would be if drug tests weren’t a thing.

Filleting is usually my last choice of preparation unless I'm dealing with a big fish. I prefer to leave them whole scaled and gutted. I like the natural flavor of fish. #1 would be crappie. Fried until the ribs are crunchy you can eat basically the whole thing except the spine. #2 walleye either steamed or braised in a soy based sauce. #3 bluegill either fried whole or braised. Bluegill have harder bones than crappie so the bones can't be made edible through frying. #4 catfish is a very distant 4th for me and out of all of these the only fish I would default to filleting. Handled carefully they are decent filleted and fried or blackened but texture is inferior to the others and flavor is something you generally cover up through breading and frying/heavy seasoning. I've had channel, blue and flathead and they are pretty much the same to me. On a side note bass is also excellent, I'd rate it between walleye and bluegill. Their quality is a bit more variable than walleye but in general they are on par. Pretty much the same as bluegill with a lot more meat on them.

Awesome story and amazing fish. It’s crazy to me that fish washed out of the lake and survived. She does like like she’s struggling a bit in that creek though. That fish reminds me of a big one I caught 8 years ago.

It was hot but the fish were biting at midday. I was fishing offshore rock in 12-20’. Got on a few with a 10” worm They were also eating the swimbait pretty well in similar areas.

Have you tried going out at mid day? That’s when I find the most consistent bite. Once overnight temps drop that consistency goes away and fishing becomes tough. That’s been my experience year after year.

Got on a couple on the 10” Carolina rigged worm. They were sitting on rock piles in 12’. The shallows are totally beat. At this point I just do a milk run of some offshore spots and call it a day. Best fish went 4lb 2oz.

Committed an afternoon to some old school Carolina rigging. I picked off a few fish on rocks in 12’. I caught the big fish of the trip off a newly discovered rock pile. Always an exciting moment when you feel the line swim off while probing a new piece of structure.

I would not camp on a piece of cover like a log but structure can definitely be worth making repeated casts on. More often than not with a solitary fish it is better to return at a later time instead of conditioning the fish to be uncatchable with repeated casts.

It's definitely that moment when a big fish hits the net. For me it's the ultimate satisfaction knowing I did everything right leading up to that moment. I can recall every fish over 6lbs I've ever caught - each one is a special memory.

I've given up on topwater. Used to look forward to summer topwater but these days trying to get a topwater bite is like pulling teeth.

Got on a few in 100 degree heat. Brutal conditions but I had the lake to myself. Got 3 on a jig, one on a Magdraft. Biggest went 4 even on the jig. Lost one I think was bigger fishing a tiny klash out deep.

I'm mostly dragging over main lake structure this time of year. I picked up stitching and it has gotten me some bites that I was missing with a standard drag or hop. Swing head jig is another new one. Gotten few but big bites cranking that into structure.