Koz

Thunderstorms are a way of life nearly every summer day in the south. If I didn't fish between storms my fishing time would be cut in half. FWIW, I have the Weather Channel app on my phone and turn on lightning alerts so I get a warning every time lightning strikes within 6 or 7 miles. That's when it's time to pack up and leave.

Unfortunately, even if he loses his fishing license it probably won't stop him. Do you ever watch Live PD? Look how many people they stop every week that have no driver's license yet continue to drive. You can't fix stupid.

I've never seen a real frog "walk" back and forth like a spook. Instead, they scoot along in one general direction and sometimes pivot between scoots to change direction. As far as what you're doing with a frog or any topwater bait it's all about creating the kind of disturbance that is going to attract a bass on that day. When I frog fish I usually will give the rod two or three pops so that the frog scoots, then I pause. I may try soft pops or hard pops to see what ticks off the bass enough to get them to strike. I also might try short pauses or longer pauses between pops. Really, there's no wrong way to fish it whether you are trying to walk it or scoot it or whatever. It's all about finding out what ticks off the bass enough to get it to strike.

Personally, I can't see spending $100 or more on everyday knock around sneakers. It's also getting harder and harder to find anything decent under $60. I was actually in the market for a pair the other day and hit the outlet malls. I passed on Nike because I don't agree with their stance on many issues. I also find it ironic that they take stances on certain issues while their products are made in sweat shops. Anyway, Skechers was having a buy one, get one half off sale so I bought a pair of sneakers and some trail shoes for a total of about $110. I can live with that price.

While I don't have a pizza oven, I have a pizza stone and make my own dough and sauce. Certainly better than most pizza joints and definitely better than the chain pizza places. Here's a tip for free DiGiorno pizza if you like that sort of thing. The next time you get a bad pizza from a place like Domino's, tweet about it and in the post include something like "next time I'll try DiGiorno." DiGiorno will usually contact you and send you coupons for a handful of their pizzas.

One of the benefits of my move this past week is not having to deal with hurricanes anymore. By the time they get this far inland they'll be tropical storms (Survived a number of those as well). Over the past few years or so we evacuated for two hurricanes and rode out one more. I won't say never again, but I'm glad for the respite.

Even if it was weeds in that image, weed areas will change based upon things like seasonality and pond maintenance.

Ask the Texas guys about fishing in the heat. If you can stand the midday heat there's good fishing going on. I think there's data from a Toyota bass fishing program in Texas that showed the biggest bass are generally caught between 11 am and 2 pm. I've also done well in the blazing SC midday heat, but not every time I go out. That makes for some miserable, sweaty afternoons.

That's what the Teckel Sprinker Frog has - the paddle tail trailer. It works well without being as aggressive like the Whopper Plopper. I bend the hooks on the Sprinker Frog up a little bit for a better hookset. Whenever I see shad busting on the surface it is THE best time to throw a buzzbait in the area. I don't even put a trailer on it. The Strike King Sexy Shad buzzbait works best for me in those conditions. When the sun begins to set I switch to a blue/black buzzbait.

A pencil gripped between my toes usually does the trick.

Skip a soft plastic under there. Start with something that sinks slow like a wacky rigged Senko and if that doesn't work try heavier soft plastics that sink faster or get to the bottom quickly.

Where I live those are considered cooler summer days. Our temps have been in the mid to upper 90's with the heat index nearing 110. Even when I fish after 5 pm the heat index has been above 100. But you know what? The fishing has been great! The #1 weapon in my arsenal to catch a lot of 4-6 pound bass during the heat has been a Pop-R. It has worked in shade spots, weed lines, and in sunny, open water. Sometimes I fish it at a slower pace, sometimes a medium pace, and sometimes I just rip it. They key is finding the rhythm that ticks the bass off and makes them come rushing to the surface. It helps even more if you can find the tiny surface disruptions when baitfish are close to the surface. Bass need to eat more to maintain their metabolism in the warmer months, but they are also prone to periods of inactivity in the heat. During those periods you either need to drop a bait in front of their nose to get them to strike or find a way to tick them off and get them to strike. Now a bait like a buzzbait, Teckel Sprinker Frog or Whopper Plopper is good to tick them off, but in my experience unless they are in a feeding window they are less likely to chase those baits for any distance. That's why I prefer the Pop-R in the heat. It ticks them off and they don't have to move far to get it. If you're fishing over weeds the Teckel Sprinker Frog with its paddletail fished at a slow to medium pace will draw them out better than a plain frog.

I’ve caught bluegills on swimbaits that were close to the size of the bluegill. My guess is that the bluegill wasn’t trying to eat the swimbait with that tiny mouth but was nipping at the fin of the intruder and ended up on the hook.

In my opinion it’s way too easy to get caught up in having a ton of different setups for different baits. The average recreational angler can get by with a 7’ MH setup. It’s the Swiss Army knife of tackle. I fish a lot (from the bank) and my 7’ MH sees the majority of the action. I do have a 7’ 6” heavy baitcaster for frogging and swimbaits as well as a 6’ 6” M spinning setup but I rarely use those. I think the question you should be asking does having dedicated rods for specific techniques make a difference in the catch rates for the average angler. My guess is that the difference is negligible compared to a good, all purpose rod and reel.

Exclusively? No. I don’t want to limit myself when experience dictates I should be using a different type of bait.

Always on jigs and chatterbaits. Put a Havoc Pit Boss on a chatterbait and it has more action than a $20 hooker on a Friday night. In the spring I put a white paddle tail on a white spinnerbait and that performs better than a plain old spinnerbait that time of year.

2013 Genesis Coupe is my ride. I have to fold down the rear seats to get my rods in the car. It won’t go off road, tow a boat, or hold a kayak but it’s fast and it’s paid for. I’m traveling and don’t have a photo of my own car but the pic below is the same year and Parabolica Blue color.

I was fishing a lagoon early evening just a few days ago when a buck, two does, and two fawns appeared out of the woods on the opposite shore to feed on the vegetation. The buck stood guard the entire time but they didn’t spook as I fished away.

Five hours of fishing in the last two days and landed only one fish and it was only about a pound and a half. Other than that only two short strikes on a chatterbait. It’s been blazing hot even in the early evenings. I might try some morning fishing tomorrow.

So far everything this year has been under 6 pounds. I have caught a lot of 4 and 5 pounders and I can’t complain about that. But we have double digit bass where I fish and I would prefer one of those to two five pounders.

There's a small, one acre lagoon I've been fishing lately where I can literally cover every inch of the water by navigating the banks. It holds quality fish as I've caught a 4 pounder in there and I've also seen an 8 pounder come out of it. What I find so fascinating is that one day I can go out there and in a two hour period catch 7 or eight bass. But the next day I can go out at that same time of day with the same weather and wind conditions and barely get a bite. Changing up baits, upsizing and downsizing, changing presentations speeds, fishing different depths, none of it made a difference. It's not like this is a big lake where fish can migrate, find cover or structure, and move to different depths. It's just a 7 foot deep lagoon with some nice grass lines along two of its sides. I do realize there's more to the ecosystem of the lagoon, things like an extra day or two of hot conditions can raise water temperatures, the barometric pressure may have changed, the ever present changing of solunar cycles, and dozens of other factors. But still, when you can cover every inch of the water and not entice more than a few short strikes in a small lagoon with a healthy bass population I do find that fascinating.

Once I was bringing in a Whopper Plopper 110 fairly slow and a turtle came up from underneath and hit it hard. It took me a good 20-25 minutes to get the treble hook out of both the top and bottom of his mouth. The neck muscles of the turtle were also a lot stronger than I anticipated. I would do a slow pull to try and get his head out and he would pull back hard. It wasn't until I tired him out that I could get to the treble hook.

I don't know about bigger lakes, but in the lagoons that I fish (from 1-20 acres or so) a buzzbait has been fantastic on windy days (12-20 mph).

Today I was fishing a small 1 acre lagoon that I had never fished before. I was eager to fish it thoroughly because the day before I saw a picture of an 8 pounder pulled out of there. Anyway, fished my trusty Pop-R and landed two bass about two pounds each right away. On the second a 6 foot teenage gator (not a juvenile and not a bulky adult) came out of the woods across the lagoon and made a bee line to my area. So I moved off to the other side of the lagoon, locked on to another bass and here came the gator again. I moved back to my original spot and landed another one, here comes the gator, and we switched sides again. But now I was getting no bites and the gator was still camped out on the other side where I wanted to fish. Thinking quick, I decided to throw a 130 Whopper Plopper to draw the gator back to my side. And wouldn't you know it, I got my first Whopper Plopper strike in a year and landed a 4 pounder. By then I had enough playing tag with the gator and moved to a gator free lagoon. I need to try that lagoon again and hope the gator has moved off.

a) I heard that he tried, but he couldn't hold his breath that long. b) He did, but the fish didn't think it was that funny. c) He wanted to but was afraid someone would charge him with cultural appropriation. Thank you, I'm here all week. Try the veal!