MichaelCopeland

Wowzers! Nice trout!

Before I got off work tonight, I picked up a 1/2oz black and blue Strike King Hack Attack Heavy Cover Swim jig, a pack of Okeechobee craw Rage Tail structure bugs and my first pack of Rage Menaces green pumpkin. Bugs and Menaces both 4". Cant wait to use them. I'm off Friday, Saturday and Sunday so it shouldn't be long. ?

Yesterday I went out to my sister from another mister's trailer in Bethany, La. where I used to live a few years ago. Got to fish for a few hours in the ponds by her trailer. They are the trailer parks ponds. They're not that big, but there's bass in them. Been fishing about 2 and a half hours before I found out she had a little john boat. Wish I'd known it was hers from the get go. I'd have probably caught more than just this one. Been out in the boat about 30 minutes casting chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and plastics with nothing happening. Tied on a 1/2oz green pumpkin Dirty Jigs swim jig with a Power Team Lures(guess that's the name brand) black and blue craw type trailer(one of the packs of baits that @A-Jay sent me, thanks again my friend). First cast with it was to the bank and I thought it had been hammered as soon as it hit, set the hook it was just moss or something. So I just started swimming it back to me and out of nowhere about 5ft from the boat this 1lb 6oz beauty did acrobats under the water and slammed it. I could literally see this happen. I set the hook hard, couple turns on my reel and it was in the boat. Not sure what the red reflection is in that one pic. My tackle bag is red, so I'm guessing it was a reflection of it in the glistening tail. It wasn't bleeding. Took my pics and set it free to go get bigger. Heard there's a 6+ and a 7+ lber out there. I'll definitely be back out there again soon. Next time I'll be in the boat the whole time...lol! ?

Well I finally caught another bass today. Went to Richard Fleming Park on the west side of Cross Lake. Didn't get to fish very long but managed this 1lb 2oz bass. Caught it on a 1/2oz Mann's swimbait head with an underspin and green pumpkin Rage Swimmer on it. I was fishing it kinda fast and the bite was fairly subtle. I felt the weight and it tried to swim off and I set the hook. Finally one that didn't get away. ?

What kind of knot do you tie your braid to the flouro leader? I use a uni to uni knot. It casts really well and doesn't give much if any resistance reeling back through the guides. It's also a pretty strong knot. The FG knot is supposed to be the strongest and maybe even thinnest main line to leader knot to use. I haven't tried it yet because it looks to be kinda hard to tie and takes some time also. The uni to uni knot is pretty simple and fairly quick to tie. Hasn't failed me yet.

Haven't been able to do as much fishing as I would like, been working alot. However I have been fishing more than I've been catching...lol. 2nd and 4th pics are of a bowfin I caught at Cross Lake last Sunday on a black and blue 1/2oz chatterbait with a green pumpkin Rage Craw trailer. When it hit and I felt the weight I just knew I had a new PB. Unfortunately it wasn't, but the bowfin weighed 6lbs 11oz. The weekend before that I caught this 1lb 4oz bass 1st and 3rd pics. That's really the extent of my catching lately. Guess this weather has kept them in a funk. Weather is starting to get a little better so hopefully that new PB won't be long.

Roster Grp Angler A Mark Daniels Fairfield, CA - B Jordan Lee Grant, AL - C Jacob Wheeler Indianapolis, IN - D Jason Christie Park Hill, OK - E Timmy Horton Muscle Shoals, AL My lineup for the next event. It would be nice to get into 1st place in our group, but at least I'm hanging close in 2nd. Maybe this will be the event for me. Good luck everyone. I've been so busy at work lately haven't had a lot of spare time for much. What little time I do have I try to get out and fish. Not much happening for me there. Something's gotta give eventually.

Amen to that! ?

Could be that the pic was found this morning not necessarily the bass...lol. Regardless, great catch for somebody. Happy Resurrection Day @Catt!

Here in Louisiana most waters don't have a slot or length limit. There are a few that do though. See pic below

Learn the habitat of the bass and fish as often as you can.

I love the taste of bass. However I mostly catch and release. I do keep a limit of 1lb to maybe 3lbs tops. I believe those sizes are tastier. I do believe that anything over those weights should be released to help preserve the population, plus the taste isn't near as good in my opinion. At times I hear people talk about catching 8lb+ bass and keeping them for eating. When that happens I'll let them know that they just consumed a possible record size bass and that they could've one day caught that one again when it has reached that size. I'm going fishing here in a couple hours and I'm planning on catching my new PB. Even if I don't, I'm confident I'll catch a few and when I do, I'll be releasing them because it's tough to walk the banks with 3 rods, a tackle bag and an icechest. May have to invest in a dolly one day so I can harvest when I want to.

J.J.'s Magic clear garlic and Spike It crawfish spray. Don't use them all the time though. I use a lot of Strike King Rage Tail plastics. The coffee scent in them seem to work better than the attractants do.

I threw her back. I'm never really prepared for harvesting fish. I'm a catch and release angler. Every now and then, when I'm not walking the bank by myself, I'll keep some for eating. That doesn't happen very often though. Mainly because I don't wanna clean them...lol. ?

Here in NW Louisiana we've always called them crappie or perch. I don't really fish for them though. I only use artificial lures/baits. Surprised I caught it...lol. ?

Howdy Goose and welcome to our fishing family! ?

Howdy Hunter and welcome to our fishing family! My fishing year started out sucking, but it's starting to come around now. ?

Howdy Tim and welcome to our fishing family! ?

Howdy Zach and welcome to our fishing family! ?

Howdy and welcome to our fishing family! ?

Congratulations! Nice bass! ?

Before I left work Friday I bought a 3/8oz bluegill Z Man Elite chatterbait(lost it yesterday on Caddo Lake) and a bluegill H2O Express hollow body frog. I recently joined the B.A.S.S. and received my baits in the mail yesterday. A red craw Storm Arashi rattling square 3, a blue back chrome shad Livingston Lures Dive Master Jr., a green mist Berkley Juke 100 shallow and a special red craw Berkley Wild Thang 8.5. Wish they had came Friday so I could've tried them out on Caddo Lake yesterday. Can't wait to use them. ?

Went to Caddo Lake yesterday with a friend of mine I've known since the fourth grade. Chatterbait was king for me. Caught 2 on the 1/2oz breaking bream Project Z and 1 on the 1/2oz chartreuse sexy shad Project Z. My friend caught 1 on a perch colored 3/8oz or 1/2oz Booyah spinnerbait. Didn't weigh any of them, but just guessing the biggest one was around a pound and half give or take a little. We had a blast. Can't wait to do it again. ? Today I went to a little bayou around the corner from the house. I've fished it a few times and never caught anything. It looks pretty good for bass, but I've yet to catch one in there. Anyways I was gonna try again today. Had a weightless Texas rigged green pumpkin Z Craw on my Lew's spinning rig and on my second cast hooked into this 2lb 4oz white perch. The biggest one I've ever seen in person, much less caught. May have to give up on bass in there and just fish for perch or bream.

This was my line up for Lake Hartwell. Only one of them that really had a chance to finish first was Ashley and he couldn't do it. Oh well I'll be ready for the next tournament. My points are still looking pretty good. Looking forward to picking the winner of the next one. Praying I do anyways...lol. ?