Sphynx

Oh good lord yes. I think my best days numbers wise have always been in the fall, the weather usually tames itself a bit, enough rain days that burn bans get lifted, so I can start camping/backpacking etc again, then you got post season baseball, football starting up, hunting seasons getting under way/ready, the fall is without a doubt my favorite time of the year, and as a bank angler spring/fall are the best chances your going to get for a trophy fish, so bring it on.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you more or less proved my point, everything you listed was a past accomplishment. I could hang around Ft. Benning giving advice and telling stories to young paratroopers today because I played that game and accomplished things the vast majority of them will never accomplish (opportunity has a lot to do with this) but that would make me exactly what I called him, a washed up wannabe, because I'm no longer a successful participant.

In a perfect world you'd know all the property owners, and have the time to camp out and make d**n sure you turned over every good spot...

Yep, I have seen some goofy stuff, and I couldn't agree more about the fish grips/pliers. If you do something long enough, every possible outcome will eventually occur, some folks see things sooner, others later, but if you play the game long enough, you get to see some statistically low probability, wild stuff.

If you haven't gut hooked a bass, you haven't caught as many bass as you think you have, kind of like if you've never had one spit a hook or bury a treble in you. This guy sounds like another washed up wannabe in a long line of washed up wannabes that are desperately trying to use emotional arguments to get a reaction out of folks and stay relevant, don't think I care to watch any more of his nonsense.

Yeah...catch a bunch of fish on it, they'll knock that shine right off...the paint too

Letting my mind wander while fishing jigs, and other bottom contact type presentations. One of the curses of owning a small business is that whatever else you might be doing, some part of your brain is ALWAYS involved in the business to some degree...occasionally that leads me to fish nothing but moving baits even when probably not appropriate for conditions simply because I don't have to focus as much on the fishing part.

Just to throw this out there and play devils advocate for a minute...your friend that speaks with such authority has clearly figured out how these fish work so well that he's throwing one color lure and winning tournament after tournament and writing in peer reviewed scientific journals about this stuff right? Any information you are given on bass from the overwhelming majority of sources can be safely considered anecdotal and personal experience, it may be true, but it might be a bunch of bull too, be very careful building a house on such quicksand.

My PB LMB came on a 6th Sense Divine Hybrid Jig, PB & Smoke in a 3/8oz size with a Paca Chunk trailer in the Natural Craw color, flipping a weed bed in Louisiana on a bitterly cold late fall morning. I have 3 PB SMB that all weighed right at the 3lb mark, two were caught on a Dirty Jigs Tournament Level Skirted Jig, 1/2oz with a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver in Dirty Sanchez, the 3rd was caught on a Rebel Pop-R in Foxy Shad, these were all caught late summer/early fall in the afternoon or evening, towards last light of the day...for my money if hunting PB's, I will almost certainly have a jig of some sort tied on, it is my ultimate confidence bait.

I usually carry a trash liner with me, and when I get done fishing I'll police up whatever trash I can until it's full, then throw it away. Littering is one of those things that get my blood boiling, kind of like not returning your buggy to the buggy bin at Walmart or wherever, it tells me exactly what kind of person you are and it's 100% accurate.

Yep, I've been there.

#1 If it's working, it's right. #2 If it's not working, it's not right for your situation All advice is to be taken with a grain of salt, and if it contradicts rules #1 or #2, see the appropriate rule # above above for guidance.

Well...one last cast netted me one very upset Seagull, once he calmed down I managed to get the Sexy Dawg Jr. Out of his beak, and he flew off, but boy wasn't that something lol.

110+ degrees out today, and perfectly miserable, but I did manage to get a few fish, first and biggest fish came on the pictured jerkbait, everything else came on either a Texas Rig, Pop-R, or a paddletail, just in case folks think that they don't fish around big enough fish to justify something like an Ol' Monster, here's one I caught today on it, caught a bunch even smaller than that on the jerkbait too.

Lol, I tease, and you probably do outrank me, as I'm not aware that I have any rank to speak of.

Shhhhhhh...frogs and Lilly pads are a bass fishing secret that nobody knows...I clicked on a YT video that said so, why are you telling the new guy?!

I've got some pretty serious back issues from my time in the Infantry, and I can completely sympathize with not feeling up to fishing a full day, I go when and where I can. If it's just an hour or two, I fish that couple of hours hard. I am dead serious that if you put in some time learning to fish from the bank, you'll be back into fish in no time, and you can have days just as good or better than any on a boat for a lot less money.

I have found craw style baits to be not only very effective by themselves, but also fairly versatile more often than not. Lots of the ones available can be used not only as stand alone baits, but as trailers for jigs, swim jigs, spinnerbaits chatterbaits etc cutting down on the number of soft plastics you have to lug along on a given trip, definitely worth picking up.

I wouldn't either if I could move to fish, but most of the banks of the Columbia are off limits for one reason or another, so the spots you can get to you have to fish thoroughly and several different ways I'd you want to get them at this point in the river. As far as the good day bit, a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work any time.

Probably got out late, but I further complicated matters by bringing only my new rod and a small selection of plastics, one bite on a dinger, he gave me quite the show before he spit it about a rods length away. Despite the poor results they were jumping like mad today, lots of wildlife and the sternwheeler went by which is always fun to see, I'm also really enjoying this small bag I brought with a single rod, I'm going to tinker with a "plastics only" bag and see what I can come up with.

Dang...I woke up early to check this thread for a picture, I feel so disappointed lol.

Fat bottom bass, you making the fishing world go round! Congrats!

I can't imagine fishing in Florida without a frog.

All squares are rectangles, not all rectangles are squares...while all bass hang out around bait, not all bait has bass hanging out nearby.

Picked up a Pro Qualifier 2 combo, 7'MF with the 7.5:1 reel, spooled it with 18lb Sniper and I think this thing should work pretty well for a dedicated plastics combo, guess we'll find out if the fish agree tomorrow morning lol.