BrianMDTX

Looking forward to Thursday. Hopefully with King Henry, the Ravens do not abandon the run and pound the rock down KC’s throat. Losing three OL in the off-season may turn out to be hard to overcome.

I have to admit. Those look good!

I’ve fished a lot of different soft plastic craws and done well with quite a few. But there seems to be a vast gulf between a green pumpkin Rage Craw and all the others. I don’t know if it’s the color, the size, the action, or all of the above. But they just simply produce. I’m going to make the Bait Monkey happy this week lol.

I’m sure we’ve all had those days where nothing you cast is getting bit..except that one bait. Today was that day for me without a doubt. This morning started with light rain but no wind. Tried a PopMax and a Whopper Plopper on top. Nothing doing, so I switched to jigs. A 3/8 oz. blue/black jig with a sapphire blue craw trailer as well as a 3/8 oz. green pumpkin jig with a green pumpkin Rage Menace trailer. Still nothing. Went down to a 1/4 oz. green pumpkin jig and still nothing. I then tried a black 5” Senko WR and a green pumpkin Zoom Magnum Trick Texas rig with an 1/8 oz. tungsten bullet weight and still drew a blank. I thought maybe today just was going to be a big ol’ skunkfest. Then I took off the worm and rigged a green pumpkin Rage Craw. First cast. Bass. Second cast. Bass. There was zero doubt they wanted this bait! Didn’t catch the first bass until 10:42 and ended up with seven (lost a nice one). When I was prepping gear last night, I saw I had 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG and a 1/8 oz. weight rigged on a Daiwa Aird-X 6’ 6” MF rod and a Garcia Black Max with 10 lb. Berkley Big Game. Don’t use it all that often after I upgraded to better rods and reels. Well, truth be told, that’s a fun rig to fish with. Glad I took it. I haven’t had bass thumb in a while!

@Koz Did you happen to inform him of this site? He’d learn a lot and it would definitely give him something to look forward to each day. Great post. You did good!

Slow morning. Caught three, lost two. All on a weightless #297 Senko TR. No bites on anything else. The first bass was the biggest (none were big lol). But like @ol'crickety posted recently, some of these smaller bass are real scrappers. That bass made three runs that peeled line off the drag. I thought it was a minimum of 5 lbs. I was surprised when I netted it. All three really fought well.

I think the BM is gnashing his pearly whites at this thread!

I have been in the aviation maintenance field for over 40 years. If you don’t know this, most of a commercial aircraft is composed of parts that are time-limited. In other words, they are tracked by actual time (months/years) or flight cycles (take-offs and landings), and those components are removed and replaced prior to a determined MTBF (mean time before failure) date. This includes the life vests under your seat or the life raft over your head. Nothing lasts forever. And when it comes to safety (aviation, boating, motor vehicle or home), playing it safe is not an option. One day that life preserver will fail. The time to discover that is not when your boat is headed for Davy Jones’ Locker. @A-Jay advice is 100% spot on. Follow it to the letter.

5” Senko. Texas rig. #297 & #956.

Man. You guys are the buzzkill to the “Found Lures” thread anglers! 😂

Before I moved to Texas, I had a huge fire pit that I built back in Maryland. I had over an acre (2/3 wooded) and it was in the open grass field. Sitting beside the campfire in the fall/winter, smelling the woodsmoke and feeling the warmth in the chill air, looking up at the stars amidst the sparks…that’s living.

Oh my. I’ve pondered this and no matter what, only one place keeps coming back to me. Wye Mills Community Lake on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It’s early 1970’s. Although the spillway and Wye East River were well-known for the spring yellow perch run, the lake (50 acres) had a good reputation for bluegill, yellow perch and bass. There were old, leaky wooden rowboats for rent (leave the money in a can and grab as many life preservers as required) and off you go. In the summer it was loaded with duckweed. I was maybe 12 or 13 and we were only fishing with nightcrawlers. I made a cast from my Eagle Claw fiberglass rod and a Garcia Mitchell 300 with 8 lb. Stren near a fallen tree. I saw the line move and then the green back of a bass break the water like a dolphin and head for the bottom. Looking back I’d say it was maybe 2-1/2 to 3 lbs. tops, but back then it was a giant. I’ve never forgotten that bass. But it was much more than that. It was the place my dad, brother and I (and often my dad’s friend Mr. Fred) always used to go to fish from a boat, and although no more than a little over an hour away from our home in Baltimore, it always felt like an adventurous trip. It’s not so much the place I miss. It was the magic.

@Bazoo If you hunt (assuming deer lol), a canoe will most definitely be an asset. Quiet approaches to areas most can’t reach and you can pack out a deer in a canoe. It sounds like a canoe may fit both of your needs.

Welcome! Hopefully you get the registration decal issue resolved. It’s a sticky situation lol! Your 40 lb. is 23 more lbs. than my 17 lol. But it’ll do for now! Might be interesting to meet somewhere 1/2 way between Houston and Ft. Worth for a tandem 285fpb tournament!

This is always a bad fishing day sign!

@Bazoo I have a pontoon boat. A Sea Eagle 285fpb. I believe it’s rated up to 450 lbs. It’s very stable and you can get a wheel kit for it that makes transport simple. You can even put up to a 70 lb. thrust TM or a 3.5 hp outboard.

Big or Little Gunpowder? I wish I could disagree with you. But I can’t. It’s not in my Top 100 lol.

To add: my registration numbers are staying on perfectly. The registration decal from the state? I almost lost them lol. I covered them with Gorilla transparent tape. Still looks good and now secure.

I got about 3 hours of sleep total last night. Just could not stay asleep. So I decided to stay as close to home as possible. So…another 45 second drive to the pond lol. Haven't had much success here lately and as far a quantity is concerned, only 4 in 4 hours. But, I did catch my new topwater PB this morning. Not huge (just under 4 lbs.) but yeah, it’s my biggest topwater bass. Decided to start out on a PopMax and it was a good choice. About 10-12 casts in, as soon as I made the first twitch, it was gone. No big blow-up. Just gone like sucked down the drain. She put up a great fight. Nothing on a jig this time. One on a Zoom Z Craw worm in California 420 on a Texas rig and two on a WR black Senko. All fought hard. The topwater bass started pulling drag!

Cork is basically waterproof so it’s more of a “keep it clean” issue. I prefer the battle scars.

I still have my first baitcaster- a Daiwa 3H Millionaire. Originally paired with a 5-1/2’ Berkeley pistol grip rod. It’s officially retired.

Also found out the registration numbers stick great but not the state decal. Going to have to use clear Mylar tape or something.

Man, oh man. I fished a different pond, and even with all the heavy rain we got in July the water level was a bit low and the bank was steep. Getting into the boat want too bad. Getting out was a real experience. But I motored all morning and battery life was great. Just have to hose all the mud off and out lol.

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. If I am not doing well with a 5” Senko WR, I’ll rig a Yum Dinger. There have been times they were just the ticket.

I thought jigs were A- a good way to practice casting, and B- a good way to reel in algae. Never caught a bass on them except once in a blue moon getting hit right after the jig hit the water. But I started using lighter 1/4 oz. swimjigs with either a Rage Craw, Rage Bug or Rage Menace trailer and lately it’s been the bait that’s had the most success.