Brew City Bass

Thankfully it's still fish in a barrel here at night even on dark nights. I went last saturday and it was cloudy and bad moon. Still caught 22 bass and my partner got 12. It seems like as soon as the water hits 75-80 degrees they just hunker down in the day and don't feed, then about 10pm they start hammering everything til 1am.

Well this is basically mid-summer in Wisconsin now. I've been working way more than I'd like and fish less than I need to. I've been able to consistently get out on the weekends. I try to get out friday and saturday nights. Relief from the heat and the big girls come out to play. Fishing has been decent. Good numbers, averaging 15 a night (10pm-1am) and I've had a night where I caught 30. Biggest this year was a 4.5lb and a bunch just under 4lbs. No luck with 7+ lbers like two years ago, but it still might be a little early for them to go shallow like I want. I always use a black or black variation colorado spinner bait. I cast as close to shore as possible and roll it as slow as it will go. Bass up here move stupid shallow at night and are AGGRESSIVE towards loud baits.

OP some of these guys are old-heads who think everyone younger than them is ungrateful and a crybaby. Don't let them get you. It's always gonna be your fault going up against some of those types of people. It's okay to have your own opinions and discuss them however and wherever you feel. Doesn't make you a crybaby. I seem to recall it perfectly well, since you said this verbatim "If you're not into tournament fishing or pursuing competitive fishing then there's no reason to be so serious." I must have comprehended that wrong though..

Maybe try and find a different hobby or activity to do with them outside of fishing too. Go out for dinner and a movie once a week. Go see a play, go to concerts. Hell even a couple hour hike. Just something where you don't feel like you're babysitting. You can be a serious fisherman without having to prove yourself by winning money... It doesn't have to be either "broooo super chill and relax, who cares".... Or "Only serious fisherman fish tournaments and that's the only way you can be serious". Plenty of people take their hobbies seriously without being a professional. All my buddies who own $40,000 hand built race cars but don't race competitively or professionally are just one of those types of people. They have fun with it, but they're gonna be ticked if they haul their car to the track just to have to show their parents how to clutch out, shift into 2nd, and not overheat the motor while never getting a run in themselves. It's easy to say just relax and have fun, but sometimes it's only fun if you're catching fish and doing it your way. I side with OP on this one. We spend our hard earned dollars, probably most of them on fishing gear, a boat, a truck to haul it, and gas and resources to get to the fish. There's a finite amount of times I can go fishing every year, and it really bums me out when a day fishing gets washed by something or another. I love my parents and take them out a couple times a year. I have to mentally prepare for it though, and I have to plan on re-baiting hooks, cutting tangles, getting lures un-stuck, dealing with "Why aren't we catching fish". We aren't obligated to make every week a family operation, and we aren't obligated to like it. Some things are just flat out difficult with parents, especially when you're younger. This is why I try to hangout with my parents during their time, doing their hobbies. My dad slot car races. I don't particularly care for it, but I'll go to the track with him and put in a couple hours of laps, or support him at his races. This makes him happy, and it's 0 stress and all fun for me. My mom doesn't do much of anything hobby wise, so we just go get dinner and catch a movie or go looking for sea-glass once in a while. This makes her happy, and it's 0 stress and all fun for me.

Honesty is the best policy. Tell them how you feel. If you want to seriously fish, tell them you're a serious fisherman. You can still take them out once in a while and put up with the crap you have. Bring out the $30 combos those days, and plan on babysitting and not catching anything. My mom / dad are the same way. I have to babysit them, and it's basically 0 fun for me even though I'm spending the $25 on gas to the lake, $15 in gas motoring around, and the stress of trying to put them on fish and let them have fun. I just flat out tell them I don't want to do that every week. I told them I'm more than happy taking them out once or twice a month for a family outing, but anything more isn't fun for me and I get grumpy. It hurt their feelings at first, but they realized they were making it not fun and I wasn't just being a jerk.

Less than 2 beers an hour of 4% ABV beer over the course of 10 hours isn't even buzzed territory for me. I'm a big dude, and have a tolerance as is. I don't smash a whole case, it's there for myself and a friend or two included. A lot of assumptions being made against me here. I'm fine with being scolded for doing something wrong, but I'm not doing anything wrong. If I was, I'm sure the dozen of DNR wardens that have checked my boat / licenses when I've been drinking beer and fishing would have had a bone to pick with me. I've had a bit to much to drink before on a boat, that's when I park it and sleep it off. I never drive home drunk, and I don't go whipping around like a d-bag even sober. Some days my main motor doesn't even get started. I fish small lakes that are no-wake mainly. As far as DNR has told me, first BWI offense is just a fine upto $300. I've been on boats my whole life and have never once met or seen anyone get a BWI in Wisconsin. I've seen hammered guys get pulled by DNR and not a word mentioned of the alcohol. Things are different up here, not that I condone being hammered while boating. I know people who drink two beers and get lit, that doesn't mean I'm going to accuse everyone I see that drinks two beers of drunk boating or driving. It's one of those know your limits things. Ya'll are free to disagree.

If you mean outboard, it does. Not sure what you mean by fishing tackle is the last thing I need. I'm sure catching a hard time for mentioning beer, eh.

I'm generally out with a buddy, and a 30 pack for two people over the course of 8-10 hours isn't much (for us). I've got a pretty high tolerance as is, and some coors isn't gonna get me sloppy. Just gotta drink water throughout the day with it, and eat food. I wouldn't encourage anyone to do it, but I haven't had a problem with it. I'll chalk it up to being young. I'm sure as I get older the accumulative hangover will kill me. lol Now I've got one buddy who can bring a handle of whiskey on the lake and kill it himself before the sun sets. That man is a walking miracle. He is the most functioning alcoholic I've ever seen.

I ain't a pro, far from it. But I don't use a net because my 16ft bass boat is already cluttered enough with 6 rods on deck, a 30 pack of beer, and tackle thrown everywhere. Last thing I need is a 4ft net I'm gonna trip over haha.

Bass are not smart, they're not dumb either. They're simply conditioned. Everyone should watch this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDrTAZX6S3g

Just went out again today, water warmed up to 46* and slow cranked a lipless for 4 hours. Not one bite. Maybe these fish are just super finicky. Going to Rock Lake tomorrow, my buddy has been catching em up there.

Hey, Glenn. Great video as always. Few questions I've struggled to find any direct answers to. I live in Wisconsin and we just changed our bass catch and release to year round. I've been hitting the lakes lately since ice just let out. The water is COLD, like 35* - 41* cold. I've yet to even get a single hit, and it seems I've thrown the kitchen sink at em. I've gone shallow, fast, slow, deep, jigs, cranks, t-rigs, jerkbaits, even threw a top-water today out of pure frustration. I'm fishing the same lake I can nail em in all summer long, but this is really tough fishing. I've never fished water this cold unless it was ice fishing, and that's a different ball game. Any advice for perhaps getting these fish to bite? I don't think I could fish any deeper or slower. I've fished jigs and t-rigs and taken 5minutes to reel in a cast. It just blows my mind I can't even buy a bite right now.

Pros definitely fish the ned rig. I think the question is "Why isn't it used more often, and why do some pros never touch it". Probably comes down to that it's a slow presentation most of time, a great angle when the bite is tough at our lakes, but not sure if it's worth using often in a tourney. Other probably is confidence. If I've been fishing blade baits, cranks, and t-rigs my whole life, I'm probably not going to try something completely new in a cash money tournament unless I'm very desperate. I've been wrong before though, it's just an opinion.

Yeah haha. I understand.. I wish they would have separate channels for shilling their garbage though. But that'd never get them the clicks they need.

Personally, all those set-ups are only worth it if you know how to use every single one to their advantages, and the baits they were meant to chuck. I personally don't even have that many technique specific rods. I have a bazillion rods, but I have multiples of the same kind from up-grading and such throughout the years. When I go fishing, I generally bring 2-4 rods with me on the boat. If I know I'll NEED 5 rods, I might bring more. The rods I bring to cover what I need are usually a Medium Light spinning rod for ned rigs, drop shot, tiny worms, a medium heavy as a do all (spinnerbaits, t rigs, lipless, etc), a heavy rod for bigger jigs and heavy carolina rigs, and then a second medium heavy with a different bait tied on just so I'm not retying my moving baits every time I feel I should throw a change-up in a certain spot. My best advice, save all the money you would spend on 5 combos, and buy 1-2 really nice quality combos. And yeah, medium heavy is the go-to all around rod, and for good reason. One of my favorite rods is a 7'1 Medium Heavy and I throw everything on it. Frogs, jigs, t rigs, carolina rigs, you name it, that rod has caught fish with it. Is it the right rod for frogs and jigs? No, not by definition, but it catches fish and I've personally never had a problem with them tossing bigger baits upto 3/4oz. The only time I really recommend technique specific rods are if you have cash to blow, are fishing extremely specific baits like a 3oz swimbait or a 2oz punching rig, or similar. Everything else can be covered by 1-2 rods. Also, if you're bank fishing, that amount of rods becomes ridiculous. I tried carrying 5 rods around before and it sucks! 2 is my max if I'm hitting the banks, and it's always a spinning rod (medium light) and a medium heavy baitcaster.

Yep... They turned from a bunch of rather educational dudes who just loved bass fishing into a group of "businessmen" overnight. The one that really disappoints me is Scott Martin. His videos use to be a blast to watch, but that's before his videos became straight up shilling for whatever new product he had a stake in. Like Googan baits. Now days most of these guy's videos are just over the 10 minute monetization mark, but there's maybe 2-5 minutes of actually fishing footage, followed by 3-5 minutes of product shilling and showing off whatever new $1,000 JDM reel or $500 swimbait they bought. It's literally like watching Instagram "influencers" but on Youtube fishing channels. I still like most of the guys, just can't stand their videos anymore. It's nothing but shilling, dramatic reactions to 1lb bass and anything minor that happens, and basically no fishing content compared to what they use to produce. With that being said... Am I mad? Hell no. I'm actually happy that those guys are making a career out of it, even if it's not the content I like. Some of them have grown a rather large ego like Jon B, but whatever. I miss the old content they produced, but if they gotta make money off it they gotta do what they gotta do.

As far as size goes, it's been an above average year. The numbers have been low though. Usually I go out and crush 15-20 bass a night, with a mixed bag of 3's and 4's. This year it seems I'll catch 5-15 fish, but have a solid 5 and 6lber thrown in the mix. I'm not complaining.

You're with company, friend. Personally, I think there's only so much we can touch on fishing. I've watched just about every educational youtube video on bass, their habitat, forage, seasonal patterns, how to catch em, what to use to catch them, how to use what you're using to catch them. And I'd say 80% of the time it's always the same information. So I find now that all these youtube, blog guys are just throwing in filler and re-making videos / articles on how-to's and such. I hate to do it, but I'm gonna call out tactical bassin. They've done just about every video under the sun, and then they went and did them again. There's only so much we can talk about on T-rigs, or Jigs, or Jerkbaits. There doesn't need to be a new t-rig video every spring titled "HOW TO CATCH THE BIGGEST BASS IN THE GALAXY" and then they go and literally make the same video they did last spring, but this time with different filler like talking about the moon-phase, or the way the grass is growing, or how grandma broke her hip so it's a good time to catch a record. Not to mention the end-less shilling that happens in these videos. I see the same with bait / tackle reviews. They'll open the box, rattle off all the information everyone already knows, then go into some crazy left field specs and stuff we'll never need to know, all without truly showing performance or how to really operate the lure. Reading or watching one of these articles / videos to me is like listening to someone who likes to hear themselves talk. 80% the information is the same as the last article or video, 20% is filler crap no-one gives a crap about. I could be totally anal and off base, but I feel this has been a pattern.

I get marketing, I get what they're doing, and I actually like MOST of it. The thing about these brands coming out with "cool color" stuff, ya know the camo, bright greens, over-dramatic youtube videos, they're not trying to sell to you or I. They're tapping into the young market and that is GOOD! My whole life fishing has been a slow decline, especially for younger kids. I see a lot of people my age and up fishing, but rarely see anyone in their teens out pounding water. If throwing some crazy color combos and boxes out there gets them into the sport, so be it. But onto Googan baits. What a sham. The clamshell packaging is useless on worms. Why would I ever pay $6 for a 6 pack of worms? I can buy like 3 packs of 10 ct big bite baits for the same as one googan bait pack. I'm sure the hype will wear down like it always does and prices will come down to be competitive, or they don't and their bait company goes under. It's only propped up by hype right now. I think only two pros promote them, and it's painfully obvious it's only an investment for them and not a product they truly believe in. Or I could be wrong. Out of all my fishing buddies, only one buys googan baits, and he's the newest of my group. So he's caught by gimmicks and youtube videos pretty easily, despite witnessing me pounding 5lbers all night on any of the cheapest worms I can find.

Yeah, I agree. I personally have never once had a thought of poaching or snagging fish to get ahead in the fishing scene. It always seemed ridiculous anyone would try.

I've noticed a bigger effect that water clarity has. I have some amazing light green, white belly'd, dark green lateral lined bass in some of my clearer lakes. Then I go fish a muddy lake and pull out a largemouth that has black lines, dark green scales and brown or golden belly.

Brad Paisley - Crushin it

I think anyone who suspected him as a cheat cared, but were smart enough to not come out swinging without hard proof. I mean, seeing it happen is one thing, but you can't just tell people what you saw and expect that to be proof. And like Kevin said, it's a legend's word vs some guys. People will side with him easily if there's no proof.

I suggest watching plenty of videos on how to interpret sidevu and downscan. Quickdraw maps are golden, especially for people like me who fish tinnnyyy lakes that are never on maps.

I understand it, it's because they don't make their money off the 1% of hardcore fishermen who are willing to spend mad money on lures and gear. It just upsets me.