Sphynx

As a trucker more often than not I get one chance for a very limited period of time to fish a given body of water, rain, shine, mid day, if you want to fish, you'd better just go make the best of it...you WILL become a better fisherman under these circumstances, it's almost impossible not to, your going to take a whole lot of L's, but your going to learn a bunch, another great way to make sure you stick with it is to invest a stupid amount of money into it, you'll start feeling guilty every time you look at your gear and go fish. Lol!

I usually say it after I've already made it, when it's time to go, I go, it isn't as though the fishing hole is going to up and leave on me, gotta leave something left undone to make sure I return to finish it next time

They could be keying in on the little ones because they are almost assured a meal for the energy expended to pursue them, this time of year fish have a full time job just trying to be comfortable in water that is holding less and less oxygen, easy pickings are a sure thing and require little risk

It's been absolutely brutal the last couple of days, the various salmon species have been surface feeding near my fishing hole for the last couple of days, I expect they are on a mayfly hatch of some type, but Washington State currently has the Columbia closed where I'm at for steelhead and salmon, and the bass are probably not in water I can get to, I am guessing 3-5 feet is what I'm working with, and it's blistering hot out, so the skunk has been my inseparable buddy the last couple days, I don't dare break out a fly rod for fear of a charge for "intent" but all in, a day with a rod in my hand is a blessing and I can't complain too much, knowing I have a very, very low chance to actually catch anything has a silver lining, it means I have absolutely nothing to lose by working with baits I typically don't have a lot of confidence in, the bait monkey is claiming his due of course, but it allows me to figure out what I can and can't get away with with a given presentation, what sort of cover/structure I am working with, and we have clouds and cooler temperatures headed our way for my day off Sunday, the last time the temp dropped like this I did well, so I have reasonably high hopes of better luck this weekend, the real infuriating bit is that the angles are just a few feet off to allow me to hunt the main seam of water in along the cove, that dock has claimed a couple of my presentations, think I might pay one of the local kids to scoop them up and get them back to me, worth something to them, makes me feel better not leaving a bunch of tackle in the water, either way, Sunday is going to be a great day.

Bank, until they create a Jetsons style vehicle I won't likely be able to carry a boat on the 18 wheeler lol

I find this topic to be especially appropriate for me, we've had one cloudy morning (naturally I was at work during this time) and maybe 2 days that didn't peak over 100 in the last week, I can tell you that short sleeves and Jean's plus sunglasses will work (hat too if your bald like me) for a 30-45 minute trip, your going to run a big risk even with those durations but it gets you through, I am absolutely planning on a major investment in warm weather/performance clothing at the end of the hot weather season when the big sales hit, I will just have to suffer with cold weather crap I currently have too until next summer, I'm not at all prepared for extreme cold because in the south you never get extreme cold for very long if it shows up at all

I think the frequency with which a bass predates upon a certain level of reflective things may have a lot to do with it, fish that eat a lot of minnows that are in clear water and are of the highly reflective/silver/gold variety probably have a learned response that flashes are likely food, fish like those in the deep south where chocolate milk is usually the water color probably have learned to hunt primarily by lateral line, and would not be nearly as receptive to a flashy lure

It's pretty good all in, won't be finding any 15 pounders out here like some fisheries, but the river and several lakes around the state offer fantastic numbers of fish, if you haven't already discovered it, search for dead memories Portland if you want a trip down memory lane, lots of Portland stuff from bygone eras there

I have found tough love to be the really effective teacher of life's lessons. I have found tough love to be the really effective teacher of life's lessons.

Yeah, here lately the popular annoyance seems to be bringing the results of your rabbit like tendencies to swim where I am fishing, quite literally cast and then the kids all jump in between myself and the lure, I am not amused and have decided that no, I will not stop fishing, if your kids get caught, too bad, there is a designated swimming area and maybe 100 accessible yards of bank for fishing.

+1, I typically don't have a reputation of tolerance for stupid people, or for people who display a determination for finding trouble, sometimes those folks find exactly what they are looking for and learn it pays to be careful what you wish for.

Lol, naw, if I were to come to MT again I wouldn't even unpack my bass fishing gear, a once in a lifetime opportunity to hook into those trout out there would mean fly gear and spinning tackle for the days that are way too far beyond my abilities to cast with the present wind, MT has some phenomenal trout to catch and the bass out there would take a back seat to pike for non salmonid species since I've never lived where pike are and only fished Minnesota the one summer.

Well, it was bloody hot today, north of 100 for sure and I wasn't interested in the other two digits, but I was able to handle an hour with the new rod down by the boat launch and I gotta say, while I wasn't fortunate enough to be anywhere near a fish in the mood to bite, this combo was a real treat to use, incredibly long casts are a thing that I never really used to consider, because I had always had such great access to bank, now that I get less than 100 feet it has taken on a new significance as the only option to reach more water...too early to decide if this combo is "it" yet, but there really is no comparison between this and my Lews American Hero combo, I still enjoy that combo, but it is absolutely not anywhere near as smooth, sensitive, and capable as this new set up, I am hoping it cools off a bit tomorrow so I can go play a bit more with it.

I've always enjoyed MT, got room for one more? Lol

You can be extreme, dedicated professional and passionate about your chosen hobbies without being a total ****** about it, I spend almost every spare minute of every day researching, learning, practicing or just thinking about my hobbies, but I'm also a human being with real life obligations, and that's ok too, I do have to respectfully disagree about fly fishing not being the more expensive form of fishing, it doesn't HAVE to be, but I am pretty sure that anyone who gets bitten by that particular bug will end up spending a whole lot of money on it, it is very, very, very easy to do.

That'd certainly do it too.

Agreed that some fly (and other if we are being honest) fishermen are elitist in the extreme, show up with anything less than a hardy rod/reel, Simms Waders and fishing the trendiest flies and they turn their noses up so high they'd drown in anything more than a light rain, if you really want to see these types lose it, mention just how much fun bass are to take on the fly, and if you've never done it you really should, it's a perfect marriage of tackle and fish and will get the blood pumping in ways that spinning/casting gear never has for me. I can understand how toothy fish could be problematic for salmonid species, but trout/salmon aren't at much risk beyond a certain size, sure the big ones will slurp a trout that is small enough, but I'd bet that bass feed big salmon or steelhead at least as much or more than the other way around, Pike are another thing altogether, also a ton of fun to nail on a fly rod if you have gear that can handle it.

Nicely done, I always forget about tubes and get hung up fishing crankbaits and jigs of various kinds, I think I'll make it a point to go pick some up soon, great info and great video, thanks!

I do the same, but then, with a fly fishing setup nothing will pooch a day faster than a bad line unless you get extreme like a broken rod, I get a similar feeling with reels for non fly gear, I can fish a rod with a busted tip, or change lines on spinning/casting gear cheap, but a busted reel is the end of the day for that combo unless you happen to have a spare lying around.

Boy howdy, I think the only thing you may not have got was the cash register and the we are open sign, nice haul, bet you'll catch something with all that!

I do...and it still isn't enough, last week I got so sick of seeing all the crap laying around that I pulled out my trash sacks and did a good old fashioned police call of the area, had probably 4 or 5 sacks full sitting in my jump seat back to the yard...I am going to start using people who litter for shark bait after that...knowing my luck even the sharks won't want them though.

If I am in a place where I have lots of access to bank I always take 2 rods, 1 MHF or MF casting, and a MF spinning, your definitely right from my experience that covering water will almost always produce more fish than trying to catch every fish in one place, but when I am somewhere that terrain/property restrictions limit my access to bank, I am apt to lay out lots of rods and thoroughly comb whatever areas I do have access to, multiple different styles of lure at each broad category in the water column until I find fish, or get convinced that they simply aren't holding where I can reach...not sure which I like "better" but I can say that every time I break my PB it happens when I thoroughly fish an area top to bottom with multiple lures in multiple colors, but I almost always have a busier day catching them when I can move

It never surprises me when politicians pick and choose which science to follow, I will refrain from getting too political here but an observant person wouldn't need to look very hard to see that particular elephant in the room, of course, the use of "encouraged to" rather than "required by law to" means that I can gleefully disregard that particular ordinance and have no interest in keeping any bass that hasn't done something silly like choking a jig and gut hooking or some other can't get around it mortality event, I do so love disappointing the suits running our lives ?

I'd say most bodies of water will get you a raised eyebrow at best or an eyeroll at worst if you tell them your fishing for bass up here in the NW, the vast majority of fishing up here is understood to mean trout steelhead or salmon.

So is the hottest, miserable part of the middle of the day if you have some access to a few shades spots, most guys/gals aren't going to subject themselves to the heat, but I have caught a lot of fish this summer by just fishing through times of day everyone else refuses to go in, there's 5-6 real nice spots for fish to hide in and hunt the transition from light to shadow and other than myself on lunch I've never seen anybody else pressure these spots mid day, might be worth a try if it works for your schedule