MichaelCopeland

Stopped at Holloway Outdoors on my way home yesterday and picked up a replacement 3/8oz Dirty Jigs Tackle green pumpkin swim jig for the one I lost last weekend. I believe in a prior post I referred to it as a Dirty Jobs Tackle swim jig. Oops my bad! Also picked up a pack of Zoom green pumpkin Z Hogs. Used the Z Hogs shortly after I got home tied on my spinning rod with an 1/8oz bullet weight unpegged and caught a couple dinks. Didn't take pics, but they work.

Evening before last I went to the smaller pond in my neighborhood. Had a green pumpkin/chartreuse belly Strike King S Toad(used a black Sharpie to color all of the belly leaving a trim around the edges chartreuse) Texas rigged on to my spinning rod with an 1/8oz bullet weight unpegged. First cast with it this 1lber chomped it down. Lowered my rod, reeled the slack and set that hook. Didn't know til I got him in that I had hooked it through the top of his mouth and out his eyeball. Was pretty tough getting the hook out. I thought I was gonna pull his eye out through his mouth with the hook. Fortunately that didn't happen, unfortunately his eye won't be the same. Getting the hook out turned his eyeball inward and I carefully used the hook point to turn it back right so he at least looks kinda right. The eye is still kinda sunken in but he is ok. He swam off quickly upon release. Don't think he'll see like he used to though. You can kinda tell in the pic below that his eye isn't exactly right and kinda sunken in. Never done that before. There's a first for everything though. You can kinda tell in the other pic that I felt bad about jacking his eye up. Wasn't purposely done. Happens to us all at some point I guess.

Howdy and welcome aboard! ?

Howdy and welcome aboard! ?

Howdy and welcome aboard! ?

Nice bass! Congratulations on your biggest WV bass! ?

It's happened to me before too. 2 or 3 weeks ago I cast my line about 20' up over a tree branch, that tree has been my nemesis...lol. When I started to try to reel it in a small bass hammered it so I reeled him up the tree and he did a kind of high dive when he got over the branch. Reeled him in, unhooked him, took a pic and let him go. He was fine thankfully.

I wanted to get started early this morning so I got to the smaller pond at 7am as the sun was starting to rise. Didn't get to stay long as it started pouring down and I wasn't really dressed for the occasion. It was a tad chilly out. Got back to the house about 7:45am so I could put my wet clothes in the dryer. Finally the rain let up enough for me to get back out there. Rain was still in the forecast so I dressed for it this time. Glad I did because it rained a bit more. It was ok though it finally cooled down some and stayed that way. Got back to the pond around 10am had my green pumpkin 3/8oz Dirty Jobs Tackle swim jig tied on with a green pumpkin 3.75" Tube as a trailer on my baitcaster and a green pumpkin 3.75" Tube with an 1/8oz shaky head hook stuffed inside it with the line tie eye pushed out the side at the head of the Tube(got the idea in an article on Tubes on this site) tied on my spinning rod. Both were productive today caught 2 on each before I got my swim jig snagged and broke off(gotta replace it soon). Ended up tying on my 3/8oz black and blue Arkie jig with another green pumpkin 3.75" Tube trailer. Caught one on that too, it was by accident though. It had a little mud on it so I dipped into the pond to rinse it. As soon as it hit the water it was engulfed. One handed I pulled it out, did my thing and released it. They were all dinks today, but I had fun anyways. The most fish I've caught in a single outing so far. Still trying to get that big un that I almost had yesterday. It's gonna happen, just hope it's sooner than later.

Howdy Shane and welcome aboard! ? What part of Louisiana will you be visiting? I live in Pineville near Alexandria. If you happen to be this way give me a shout. I don't have a boat but I'll do what I can to point you in the right direction for some decent fishing. Also while you're here, if in this area, I work for Bill Lewis Outdoors Rat-L-Trap and maybe you could at least come get a shop tour to see how they are made and all. My birthday is November 13th and I will be off work that day, maybe we can figure a way to go fishing that day. I don't have a driver's license or a car right now but possibly we could make it work. Let me know. Cheers mate!

Howdy Taylor and welcome aboard! That's one heckuva big girl you got there! Nice bass! ?

Awesomeness!!! Congratulations on your new PB!!! That's one heckuva big bass!!! ?

Agreeing with @islandbass and @Catt. Would also like to know the gear ratio of the reels as well. Length, power, action and gear ratio help alot for me in choosing the best rod and reel combo for my money. I've found Lew's combos have been my best bang for my buck though.

We got off work early today. Went by Wally World and picked up a Bomber Shallow A fire tiger squarebill crankbait it works in up to 3' of water which is good for the ponds I fish. Also picked up a pack of Yum Swim N Dingers in watermelon red flake. Gonna try them out early in the morning through the afternoon. Gotta see when the fish are biting . They sure don't seem to be in the evening time now.

I believe I got it done without using water or solvents. Q-tips and clean rags seem to have done the job. Won't really know for sure until I take it fishing tomorrow after work. Thank you all for your advice. @Delaware Valley Tackle if it comes down to having to send it off to be fixed or whatever it needs, I'll be giving you a shout. Thanks again everyone.

I tried searching for cleaning a spinning reel. Didn't find what I was looking for. So I have a question. I think dirt got inside my spinning reel because it makes a kind of grinding sound like sand or dirt makes when it's in something that spins. I opened it up and really didn't see anything but lightly wiped around the inside of the spool trying not to wipe away any of the grease. Put it back together and it still sounds like sand or dirt is in it. Even if just little specks that can't be seen with the naked eye. My question is, Can I rinse any or all of it in water to thoroughly clean it and then regrease it? I don't want to mess up my Lew's spinning reel.

Well one thing is for sure, that fish never took its eye off the bait...lmbo! ?

If it's not very pressured, you should be able to throw just about anything in there and get a bite. However being fall time of year, you may try squarebills or lipless cranks, topwater baits and swim baits. If those don't work, just throw different baits til something works. Good luck! ?

I was just thinking that same thing about the early and late bite. I bet they are tearing it up in the afternoon hours while I'm at work. I do have the weekend to test my thoughts on that. No time in the mornings during the week, but the evening bite just ain't there right now for sure.

Howdy and welcome aboard! ? Tie on a hollow body frog and fish those weeds and pads along the shoreline. If that's the only cover in there, then she will surely be in there somewhere eventually. You could also try a wacky rigged senko style worm or a weedless weightless Texas rigged Zoom Ol' Monster along the weedlines and pads. If you choose to go with braid use 50lb test. You'll cross paths with her again and catch her this time. I wanna see the pics when you do. Good luck!

To an extent yes they float. I have a pack of 12" Mann's Jelly Worms and weightless they will float, not necessarily topwater bait float, but they will float. Really depends on your retrieve in my experience.

Sometimes we do what we gotta do to land that bass...lol. Thanks @N Florida Mike!

Your brother sounds like he had some of my luck. We should go fishing some time...lol. ?

Tied my black and blue chatter bait back on today and used a 4" watermelon red flake Yum Dinger as a trailer. Went to the smaller pond over by the trees in the back. Made a few casts and nothing happened. Went to make another cast and as my luck would have it draped it 20' up over a branch in that tree. My bait still landed in the water near where I was trying for. So I slowly reeled it back in hopes of being able to get it back without snagging it on the branch. As I continued to slowly reel it in it barely broke the surface of the water on it's way up the tree when this almost 1lber jumped on it and hooked himself through the roof of his mouth. Of course not knowing he was hooked that way til I got him in, I set the hook in a downward motion since my line was still draped over the branch. Anyways I reeled him up the tree and kinda popped him over the branch and he did a high dive into the water. I quickly reeled him on in, unhooked him and took a couple pics. Fortunately he didn't get hurt during all that, I released him and he darted back out to the deeper water of the pond. I can honestly say I've never treed a fish before today's episode...lol. ?

Heck yeah! Those are some nice bass! Congratulations on your new PB too! 6.8lbs is a big un in my book. I'm still looking for one of those myself or at least something over the 4lbs of my PB. ?

We're still in the lower 90s and upper 80s during the day and lower 70s and upper 60s at night. Fall bite hasn't started here yet, at least not for me. At this point I'm not sure if fall is ever really gonna get here...lol. ?