dtag31

Living in the Pennsylvania, the fall transition is upon us as we head into the fall fishing season. I've done historically average on a season that is supposed to be incredible for fall bass feeding up before winter. I feel like everything I watch is moving baits and fast action, but I have not had much luck on my pressured lake with a very limited number of "creek channels." My lake has a good amount of grass that grows to 5ft (1-1.5ft of water visibility). In general, do you catch the majority of your fall bass chasing baitfish in the the middle of grass flats, flipping into the thick of it. Or, are you running quicker baits and flipping the very outside of grass edges? I am struggling to understand if I should be tearing down grass edges, or plunking into the middle of thick grass.

Hi All, I am completely overwhelmed with options and would appreciate some advice. Looking for a dual purpose that will start my 20hp motor and push my 55# Motorguide X3 for an 8 hour day of fishing. Electronics are run on a different battery. I rather spend $300-400 and have a strong battery for the next few years than $150 and have issues next year (that's what happened to me now). Thoughts? I know lithium is out of the question at that price range, what about AGM? I thought Optima blue top was the gold standard, but I only saw 75Ah for a group 31 which seems extremely low? I do a lot of off-shore structure fishing in 10+mph wind, so there are lots of times I am working the trolling motor to stay on a spot, I call it manual spot lock https://www.optimabatteries.com/products/bluetop-d31m Thanks!

I will be spending August 21st to the 28th at Smith Mountain Lake. Are there any guides for largemouth bass? Everything I can find online is for Striper. I would love to have someone help teach me a pattern to fish the lake so I can enjoy my week fishing there, as I have never fished the lake before.

Here's the scenario: Pennsylvania reservoir 6:15pm (7pm sunset) Water temp is 70 degrees and bait along with the bass have been moving shallower for a few weeks now I am trolling around secondary points and cuts and there is bait popping everywhere, literally everywhere. I see little slivers of shad popping out of the water spread across an area stretching 100 feet from the bank, for a stretch a few hundred yards long. It seems obvious, reach for the topwater... buzzbait, popper, frog, anything! But here is the kicker: Not a single bass has blown up anywhere on any of these baitfish. Fan casted my tail off without a single sniff from any bass. So what's your call? If you see bait popping literally all around you (not in specific tight pods), do you start fan casting topwater, or do you keep flipping the grass edge for those transitioning fall bass?

Glenn, The guys did get derailed and mention a few youtube channels, but the post asked about podcasts. At least me specifically, I was curious to hear about just podcasts. I don't have the data to stream youtube videos in the car all the time, I need just a talk show that doesn't involve me needing to see the screen to identify what the person is talking about (as I try to see the cover they are casting at and drift into the shoulder). Great videos! Start a podcast channel and we will see if you make the cut

great fish for any lake!

My sincere condolences Tom, you are a leader, mentor and teacher that many people greatly respect and look up to on this site. You will be sincerely missed

and then....

Interested to hear some of the options here, I was thinking a 10,000 fish shimmer shad

Hi All, As I continue to learn more and more, I am feel like I am making it more difficult! I am in the NE, summer has officially hit and water temps are up to 84 degrees. So, I move off to the deep stuff (which is 15-20 foot in my lake) and fish off-shore structure and rock piles. I had a lot of success with this 3 weeks ago, but I have had a few recent very tough outings, so someone recommends I go flip grass/pads. Let's say you head out early in the morning to your home lake, and plan to fish from 6-noon, I am having a very hard time deciding whether to fish shallow or deep and which to do when. I hear fish shallow first thing, then back off as the sun gets high. Then I watch a video that says, oh when the sun is high that's the perfect time to fish shallow, because they will be pinned to the grass. I know there is no correct answer, but I am trying to learn what sort of clues help you decide to go shallow or deep. I always rig up about 8 rods the night before, and I'm having a hard time building my strategy on where to start! (especially since we know % wise more big girls are in deep water). Sorry for the ramble, thanks in advance for advice on what drives your decisions!

Definitely don't be afraid to fish bigger baits. I fish a highly pressured lake and still use a 6inch zoom trick worm as the go-to bait. I catch fish from <1 pound to 5+ on a regular basis with that setup. I generally rig it weedless and cast and drag back to the boat, like a texas rig. Not a ton of action added to the bait other than a very slow drag and pause.

When watching videos online of people dragging baits, mainly texas rigged plastics and jigs, there is often an extremely long pause from the time they detect the bite to the time they set the hook. By long, I mean anywhere from 3-6 seconds. I imagine we've all seen the video that plays out like this, "Uh... he's got it (sits still for 2 seconds), okay okay here we go (barely wiggling rod tip for another 2 seconds ), reel down and hookset" If I feel a bump or what I detect as a bite, I take the time to calmly reel down and set the hook, but this can't be longer than 1 second. I am trying to understand why such a long time from detection to hook set. What are they feeling for in that period of time, is there no concern about the bass spitting the bait? This is my second year taking bass fishing serious, and I am starting to detect bites and catch fish that I realized I missed last year. So this has me thinking, what am I not doing/feeling for that these pros are? Thanks

I bought a 2 bank charger at the beginning of the season for my cranking and electronics batteries, hoping to not waste that money and swap into a 3 bank charger I'm starting to think I will just be tossing this battery and upgrading to a larger one, not pleased, but this battery is one year old and has probably about 50 cycles on it, so I'm not too confident in buying another to run in parallel

Hi Everyone, I run a small battery (THIS ONE) to power a 7in Helix and some interior LED lights. This year, I added a 9in Helix to the bow, which I have been running off the same battery. However, now that battery can only last me about 5 hours before the Helix units drain it down. Since space is very limited on my boat, and I don't want to get rid of the old battery for a bigger one, am I able to purchase a second one and wire in parallel? I wasn't sure if I can wire my on-board charger to charge the two batteries in parallel I wasn't sure if the increased amps is okay for the two units, I didn't want to mess something up! Will this work okay, or is it better to scrap the battery and try to squeeze a larger battery in there for my electronics (space is tight)

Naturally everyone is going to have their own opinion, but I think the guided trip is a great idea. Unless he is a pro, he will likely add a few new tricks to his repertoire and have an opportunity to catch a new personal best. While I would love a cabin and slip on a different lake, fishing sometimes can be about 'catching.' Getting skunked 2 days in a row can get pretty frustrating as a gift.