Koz

A couple of six pounders and a handful of 5 pounders. I still have not met my 2018 goal of landing one 7+ pounds, but I do have about 6 weeks left to fish. My 12 year old son had a good year with four in the five pound range and a bunch of 3 and 4 pounders. But he's about to turn 13 in a week so his life is all about being moody. He'd rather sit and watch me fish than throw a line in the water. Kids these days.?

After seemingly endless days of heat and humidity or rain today was a beautiful day. The temperature was in the low 60's with a slight breeze, perfect for a light flannel shirt, jeans, and a little bank fishing. After breaking my slump yesterday I was at a new spot and working the T-rigged Senko. I was working a narrow cove that opened out to some deeper water where the local fishing club had previously dumped Christmas trees near the point entering the cove. It's usually a decent spot to fish but I was having no luck working the bait so I decided to cast and dead stick it for a while. Ten seconds later my line starts moving so I reel down and get ready to set the hook. But I didn't feel the telltale wriggling movements of a fish swimming off with the bait. I was pretty sure it was a turtle, so I reeled gently instead of setting the hook. The line went limp as I reeled it in, but when I pulled it out of the water my Senko was no longer Texas rigged. Something - the turtle - had snipped my Senko near the tie off and I now had a wacky rigged Senko. I figured "what the heck" and tossed my newly set up wacky rig and wouldn't you know it - on that first cast I landed my first fish of the day. It was a dink, but it was a start. It turned out to be a decent day (especially after slumping for a while) although everything I caught was under two pounds. But I'll take it. I rarely throw a wacky rig, but thanks to that turtle I threw it today and it produced.

It was 62 with a light breeze today. Perfect weather to be outside with a light flannel shirt and jeans. Finally, a nice change from all the heat and humidity. We're in for a decent stretch of weather with daytime temps in the mid 60's and nighttime temps in the low 50's. The bass are just starting to get active again so we should see some decent fishing through mid December. Then things slow down for a while and pick up again in March.

I ended my slump yesterday. Before going out to fish I picked up a few packs of Senkos at Wal Mart. Not knock off Yum Dingers this time, but the real deal Senkos. On the fourth or fifth cast the slump was over. The bass was nothing to write home about - probably a pound and a half. But at least it was something.

I have one surgically repaired knee from an old college hockey injury and the other knee has some cartilage damage. I bank fish and tend to cover a lot of ground moving from lagoon to lagoon and there are some days when the bad knee gets to me but I don't stop fishing. It's when I get back in the car for the drive home that the pain really sets in. I usually try to take some Advil or Tylenol before I head out fishing, then again when I get home. Cold days are the worst. More often than not I stay home on those days.

I just noticed that you're from NY and just in case you haven't fished this area before I need to warn you to keep an eye out for alligators, especially fishing the wooded and heavily grassed areas in the lagoons to the west of the one next to the parking area. Most alligators will leave you alone. But sometimes there are idiots that feed alligators and those gators are the ones you need to look out for. Many gators will hang out while you fish letting you know that you are in their territory. But if they start to creep closer or move towards your lure it's time to move to another part of the lagoon. Some alligators have also learned that people fishing means dinner time for them. They will attack a fish on your line. Make sure that you keep a blade handy in case you need to cut your line. Trust me - the gator will not let go. I've also caught plenty of fish around alligators and the gator never made a move towards my catch. When motivated, alligators are extremely fast both in and out of the water. I've seen alligators propel themselves so fast with their tails that their body lifts out of the water like a hydrofoil boat. Chances are you won't be able to out reel a motivated gator. With all of that being said, we fish around alligators all of the time. If you keep your eyes open, watch their behavior, and are aware of how they might react it should be no big deal.

I stumbled upon a place this past spring when my son had a travel baseball tournament in North Charleston and it's only a 10 minute drive from Summerville. We passed by it on the first day of his tournament and on the second day left a little early for his games and managed to fish it for 45 minutes with great results. It's at a place called Pine Hill Business Campus in Ridgeville, SC and it's right along US 17 Alt. The crossroad is Research Center Drive in Ridgeville. If you look at the aerial photo below you will see that I labeled where to park. I fished the lagoon to the right of that parking area for about 45 minutes and caught a couple of 3 pounders and a two pounder. There is a meandering wooden walkway along that edge of the lagoon and that was the only area I fished. There's lots of aquatic vegetation in that area and I caught my fish off of that rounded point to the left of the parking lot. In that lagoon we fished the banks were maintained grass areas so you could walk almost the entire perimeter and fish. It looks like there are some good bank fishing access points in the neighboring lagoons as well. My son fished the weed line in that bottom right corner and caught a nice two pounder. Unfortunately we did not get to fish there for long because of his game schedule. We were too tired to fish it on the way back home. I've been meaning to head up there again sometime and spend a full day there as well as try the other lagoons right in that area. They should all be connected via the stormwater system. Hopefully I can up there sometime to try it again. It's about a 90 minute drive where I live and we don't get up that way until baseball season starts again in the spring. If you go there let me know how it works out for you.

I fished for about 30 minutes on Saturday and 45 minutes on Sunday and didn't get one bite. However, I did see a gator snag something and do a death roll, so that was pretty neat. I'll admit that it has been frustrating out there lately. Granted, I only get out there for an hour or so each time, but I have no idea where the bass went. I've fished fast, slow, big baits, small baits, top, middle, and bottom and - nothing. It's times like this when I realize bank fishing is a huge disadvantage because of not being able to cover the entire waterway and the lack of electronics to at least see if something is down there. Maybe I should break out the iBobber and see if that helps. The iBobber is decent, but it's a magnet for gators. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a lagoon where they are too lethargic to try and eat it.

I agree with the comment above that you're not at the winter fishing point just yet. That being said, even in winter months bass will still cruise into shallow waters. But in the winter these trips up the hill are less often and for a lesser duration than in the warmer months. Because of that you are less likely to catch a bass in shallower water in the winter and that's why most people that fish in the winter fish deeper waters.

When out bass fishing I've caught crappie on lipless cranks. What was really weird (to me) is that even in summer the crappie's felt cold to the touch.

I STILL do that once in a while and pay the price!

The Teckel Sprinker Frog is what I use when I want to make a continuous splash around the weeds.

Oh man, now I'm craving a good bacon cheeseburger but don't have the ingredients on hand... Bison burgers are good as well, although a bit expensive to be regular fare. For those that said they don't know where to get bison, where I live you can buy it at Publix supermarkets.

What do you have against retention ponds? We have THOUSANDS of them in my area because they are an integral part of our stormwater management. The area I fish the most is Sun City Hilton Head, a community with 290 retention ponds, most of which are connected via the stormwater system. Some of these ponds are small, and many are pretty darn big. Not bass boat sized, but still pretty big. The fact that the fish can move from lagoon to lagoon isn't much different than the fish movement in your standard lake. In fact, without boats, electronics, and lack of cover and structure it can be quite challenging to find where the fish are on any given day let alone season to season and year to year. It would be great if Senkos were the only thing wee needed to throw to catch bass and trophy bass (yes, we have 6-11 pound bass in our retention ponds). But the biggest ones that I have seen caught here are on live bait and jigs. Frogs land some big ones as well. I'd venture to see if you haven't fished an ecosystem of dozens or hundreds of interconnected retention ponds you're missing out on some challenging fishing.

Sorry to hear all of that. Other than restrictions on a few rivers, fishing season doesn't end here. But in a few weeks the weather will take a turn and we will rarely see the sun between December and the end of February. Our winters are gray, windy, and damp or rainy. Temperatures are between the mid 30's and mid 50's although we get some days in the 20's and mid 60's. Fishing is hit and miss in December and January, but we usually manage to get out there a few times. While the MLB season will be over, I coach travel ball and my son plays so we'll have a few tournaments and be working out over the winter. My son is only in the 7th grade, but he has a good shot at playing for the high school JV team next spring if he can transition from pitching from 54 feet to 60 feet. I don't think he's ready for that big a jump but he wants to give it a try.

I had fingerling bass hit baits as well. As for the panfish hitting larger lures, I think panfish are fin nippers and are more likely trying to drive a fish (your bait) away than actually trying to feed on it.

I know what you mean. It was chilly here today. The temperature only got up to 75 degrees. ?

It's interesting that so many areas across the country have been slow fishing when this is the time of year things start to pick up after peak summer water temperatures. I was on the SC DNR website and all of the fishing reports on the lakes that I checked stated that the bass fishing was extremely poor compared to past fall activity. But I won't be deterred. I think I'm going to call it an early day and fish for a few hours this afternoon.

Use a downsized bait and light tackle. More than likely there will be some sort of bluegill, perch, or trout in the stream. We had something similar where I grew up in Connecticut. It would be shallow in some areas and deeper pools in others. One of the deeper pools was at the back of our property and as kids we used it as a swimming hole. One day I went out there wearing a swim mask to go look around under the water. While I'm under the water I turn around and there's a 6" fish just a few inches from my mask. I nearly pooped my pants, then went running out of the water. I never did fish there, though. We had a few ponds nearby with tons of yellow perch and fished those instead.

In my area the shad frequently school and bust the surface so they are easy to locate. But when they are not visible I usually just try and cover a LOT (I do mean a lot) of water with a spinnerbait or lipless crank. I suppose another option would be to downsize and throw a beetlespin or use live worms and see where the bluegill are located. The problem with that is that the feeding window for bass is usually pretty small this time of year. In other words, they are usually in the deeper water and not moving that much unless it's feeding time. So while they still feed throughout the day, instead of gorging for 20 or 30 minutes in the shallower water each feeding period might be only 5-15 minutes now. So fishing for bluegill to see where the bluegill are in my mind is a waste of time. With a spinnerbait or lipless crank I can cover a lot of water from one fixed point on the bank before I move on. Keep in mind I'm just a recreational fisherman and not one of the experts on this forum. They probably have better advice. This is just my approach on the shallow, featureless, man made lagoons where I fish.

I ran across this in my Twitter feed: https://www.flwfishing.com/tips/2018-10-24-fish-with-confidence-in-the-fall

Not getting a single bite in a few months is pretty extreme. That being said, the bite has been off in my area of the south for the past few months. This year the water stayed really warm for a lot longer than usual. This fall our daytime temperatures were about the same is in the past ranging from low to upper 80's but the nighttime temperatures never dropped like in the past. Up until a few days ago our nighttime temperatures were still in the mid to upper 70's. For the past few days the nighttime temps hit the 60's and for the next week we'll see 50's and a few 40's before going back to the 70's at night again. My guess is that with the water slow to cool the bass are still sticking to their summer feeding routes and patterns. So they stay rooted in the deeper water or hollows in the bottoms of the lagoons for the day (we have very little structure and vegetation in our residential lagoons). In my case those areas are beyond casting distance (boats and kayaks are not allowed). I'll know if my suspicions are correct this weekend after a few evenings of cooler weather. As an added bonus, daytime temps will only be in the low 70's here and Saturday is calling for cloudy skies but no rain. If the bigguns don't bite this weekend I'm just going to assume the alligators ate all the bass and I never have to fish again ?

It looks like most of the responses that you have received so far are from northerners and not from southern guys as you requested. I happen to be from SC, so I'll throw in my two cents. BTW, I fish from the bank, not a boat. The first thing that I consider is personal comfort. If it's too cold or too windy I just don't want to be out there. But if it's not too cold or if I really just need to get out and fish for a while my first choice is to fish the smaller lagoons in the colder weather. With the smaller body of water the shallows seem to warm up sooner. In the winter months, if I fish a lagoon two or more times and have no luck I usually cross that lagoon off my list for the winter. Why? First off, I cover every square inch of the lagoons that I can reach with my casts. If the fish are sitting in a spot I can't reach then odds are I won't be fishing the few times a day that they bass are cruising to the shoreline to feed. The other reason is that in my area most of the lagoons are interconnected via the stormwater inlets and the bass may have simply moved to another lagoon for the winter. There are almost 300 lagoons in the community where I fish, so I cover a lot of ground and have a lot to choose from.

Unfortunately (or fortunately if you are a hacker) a large percentage of people like those in the video are oblivious to security concerns. But at the same time - as noted in the video - many companies don't think "worst case scenario" when coding. Many hire third party coders and these companies don't know the proper questions about security to ask the coders. Or companies don't want to pay extra to have better security features within the code. Some of these coders are legit but lazy. They code what is asked but don't offer their own input on security. Then you have the nefarious coders that will sell the code they created or code exploits. On the surface, things like Siri, Alexa, and Google are pretty neat. But there are both security and privacy issues that most people do not take into consideration. Google is not your friend. Their entire business model is built around data collection. Your data. Data that can be hacked, compiled from multiple sources, and cross referenced. What happens when the bad guys are able to access and cross reference all of that data? Bad things. Really, really bad things. The 1929 stock market crash will look like a single raindrop compared to what could happen.

Ironic that all three things are plumbing problems ? Sorry - trying to lighten the mood here. My father went through prostate cancer years ago and everything is fine now. Godspeed.