Bubba 460

I concur

Shrewd

I'll go along with that. When I was doing construction work (many, many years ago) my buddy and I would get up extra early and go fishing in the morning. We'd fish a couple of hours before work and then again after work. Weekends as well. Now of course it wasn't every single day but it was most days. We did this for years. People would say to us when they would see photos of all the bass we caught, "How do you two catch so many bass?" Our answer was because "We fish a lot". Can't catch a bass if your line's not in the water. We always kept a couple of two piece spinning rods hanging in the gun-rack of the pick up truck back window. If we spotted a new pond or lake we would pull up to the owner's house and ask for permission to fish it. I remember one time the old lady that answered the door said, "Well, I don't know about fishing, I have cows down there. My buddy said, "Yes ma'am, we'll throw them back." Now that's some big bass in a short time!

Good thoughts ~ thanks for your input

I concur ~ weather patterns, high and lows (to some extent) rain, drought, heat, cold, wind or lack of it all can have an effect on fishing for better or worse. Day and night are big factors in fishing. In my younger days I've had some crazy fishing a 2am on top-water in the middle of summer in the middle of the night that you would be hard pressed to match in the middle of the day. Sometimes you hear things on the water at night that make you think you should better head in ~ Hmm, sounds like someone just threw a bathtub in the water? You guys that have done much night fishing know what I mean, Catching ten pound catfish on a jitterbug at night is just not a normal day time activity.

Like many, I had always thought that the moon had an effect on fishing. Well the moon does cause the tides and moves entire oceans, surly it has "some" effect on fish ~ right? I thought that this article was interesting. Does this change anyone's mind? https://fishingbooker.com/blog/solunar-fishing-calendars-fishing-by-moon-phases/

Here's what I DON'T like about spinnerbaits A spinnerbait that breaks at the tie joint after catching three bass on it. Reeling in a piece if wire with a couple of blades on it after losing a nice bass is the pits. I spinnerbait that looses its blade shine and rust in the box. A Spinnerbait that doesn't have a trailer keeper. I spinnerbait that has a bulimic skirt on it so skimpy that the hook is embarrassed. A spinnerbait that runs lop-sided A spinnerbait that looks like a pretzel after a bass manhandles it. A spinnerbait skirt held on with a rubber band that rots and breaks in a month. Other than that I like spinnerbaits.

I manually load my 16" jet boat. I find it faster that way than powering it on. I keep a pair of light waders in the truck that are several sizes bigger then my foot size They slide on very easily and can be kicked off with one try. I put them on to load the boat. So easy and fast. I can have the boat loaded and drive away from the ramp in less than a minute.

Cold winter days with water temps below 55 I prefer and do better sunny days. Seems to bring fish up off the bottom or into the shallows to enjoy a bit of sunlight and warmth. On hot summer days I prefer the cloudy or overcast days, practically for top-water ~ plus cooler for the bass with the cloud cover. Spring and fall seem to be a neutral time and good either way. Anyway that's the way I see it.

More than once ~ in fact one day I did it twice in a row! Must be an eyesight thing because I surly I can't be that stupid~ right?

I've been looking at Tennessee or Idaho

No they are not real... Although it's hard to believe at times. All hand made ~ She is one of the best in the world at it and has been doing it for 14 years.

This is what one of my daughters, Lee, (Wood Splitter Lee) does for a living ~ She creates these pose-able baby animals and sells them. She has been doing this full time since she was 13. She's pretty good I'd say. She can fish too.

My lap dog. This is Meiko, he is a Great Pyrenees/Golden Retriever mix. Rescued him when he was about 6 months old starving in a state forest (took 5 hours to get him to come to me). He is now about 90 pounds and spoiled. We have two other rescued dogs as well as two cats that swam out to my boat one day as tiny kittens ~ I kid you not they were so small a bass could have ate them.

I'd say the weight is about right. It's a nice sized bass that could go about 12# if she had some weight on her but she's a little on the slim side. Congratulations!

As far as wacky style a Yamamoto Senko is probably the best 5" senko as far as subtle action on it's own. It has an enticing wiggle as it falls that is better in varying degrees to other competitors. The fall rate (unweighted) is perfect for shallow water and pulsates nicely on the pull and release. However there are trade-off for these slight enhancement. #1~ They cost more. #2~ They are very soft and tear easily. #3~ Short life expectancy compared to other senkos that are a little tougher than the Yamamoto. #4 ~ they are greasy and pulled out of an O-ring easily by smaller fish ~ I wipe them off before use. All of them will catch fish. Some sink very slowly, others a little faster. A small bullet head split-shot just ahead of the hook works for a little faster fall rate for deeper water. Easily skipped under docks or overhanging vegetation, it's a hard bait for a bass to turn down. If you want the best and willing to to keep up with the cost I'd give the Yamamoto the thumbs up. But the others will catch fish just as well if you work it right ~ presentation is the key. "Motor oil" and "Morning Dawn" are two of my go to colors but silver flake thrown into a school of bait-fish bass are feeding on will do nicely.

For me, as far as catching numbers of bass I'd have to go the the wacky rig. I remember when I first saw this hoaky looking set-up I thought; "Wow, that's a dumb looking thing". I refused you even use it for years. Then one day my buddy and I were on a river fishing for smallmouths. He's using a wacky and I using a tube and he's out fishing me 3 to 1. That's when I started using it and catching fish. Dumb looking or not it catches bass, wished I hadn't been so narrow-minded and had picked it up sooner. The plane Ned rig is another odd looking bait I thought looked like a dud ~ wrong! Old dogs can learn new tricks. Apparently Bass have a poor tasted when it comes to class. I always figured that if a bait looks good enough for me to eat, a bass should like it too.

A Little Story My Buddy and I were about to put his 20 foot jet boat in Virginia's Smith Mountain Lake. That's when a large school of stripers started busting into shad on top about 65 yards off the end of the dock There were other boats waiting to put in as well. I grabbed my heavy Saint Croix spinning rod spooled to the rim with 40 pound braid and sporting a size 130 Whopper Plopper. "He's not going to make it" I heard one of the Bass Pros say as I trotted down to the end of the dock. Letting about five foot of line out, I bombed the plug toward the busting stripers and landed right smack in the middle of them. Instantly a striper slammed the plug, I set the hook and he was on for a couple seconds then off and again. Another striper slammed the plug and it was on again but he pulled off as well. A THRID striper immediately nailed the Whopper Plopper and this one stayed pegged. I brought in about a 12 pound striper. Three fish on one long cast that; "Wasn't going to make it"

Nope ~ that's the price of doing business. When I was a "poor" kid I used to swim out into lakes and ponds and retrieve snagged lures but I was 12 with only half a brain and no money. That's why I don't buy $300 swim-baits today. Plenty of good swim-baits for under $30. Have no intention of taking my speedos with me fishing. Taking a chance on banging a boat up for $12... Uh, no.

I would have no problem with a 10 pounder on the first cast. I have caught an 8 pounder on the first cast with a 12 inch worm ~ liked that too.

I have thought about it ~ I've always said; "Give me five lures and a decent rod and reel and I'm good to go." But you know what, I like throwing everything from a little Ned rig a to an eight inch swim-bait. I like to fish from the bottom of the lake to on top the water. I like to have fast baits and s-l-o-w baits, white baits to black baits and every color in between. I need tight wiggles and wide wobbles, gliders and chuggers, chatter baits and spinner baits and the list goes on. Getting a new (hot) lure is like Christmas when I was a kid. I read everything on the box, take it out and admire it, shake it, fondle it and can't wait to try it ~ on my NEW rod and reel! No, Keeping it simple is just not as fun...

This will get you started... Tiny torpido buzz bait devil horse wacky tube skinny dipper jerk bait crank bait spinner bait

I fish year round and see the red lips and crushers on bass in winter. Years ago after doing about an hour worth of reading on the internet and various bass forums on the question; " Why largemouth bass have red crushers and lips?" I was not able to find or come up with a definitive answer. Views were far ranging to include: bacterial infection, cold water redness, eating crayfish, eating lots of food and several other explanations. But I found no guaranteed scientific explanation on why bass have red crushers and lips. Plus, why is it that you only find this mouth coloration in the winter?, I mean bass eat craws in the summer too and that coloration is not there. Look at smallmouth bass, they eat tons of craws and they don't have read crushers in the summer. Nope, I'm not convinced that the coloration in the mouth of winter bass is from eating crayfish. One year, believing bass were indeed hammering grayfish in winter and that's why they had this condition , I had been throwing craw baits on the bottom ~ one would believe that if ALL the bass we're catching have the redness from eating craws in the winter, they would just be all over these craw imitations but they are not. I have hopped imitations craws around for hours one winter with no interest from bass, yet throw a jerk bait and catch bass or a blade-bait for bass on the bottom. So in my little rusted brain I'm not convinced that the redness in the mouth of winter bass is from eating craws as generally thought but rather a condition having to do with cold water and blood flow. The reddening appears to occur in the fish's tooth pad and crusher areas. Those are the two places in the bass's mouth having to do with taste and nerve receptors. That's how bass "feel/taste things before eating it ( they'll sure spit a lure out~ right?) These reddish areas in the bass's mouth in cold water seem to be the nerve, and sensitivity areas and used for tasting and feeling prey and these indicators need extra blood in those locations of the mouth. All bass seem to have this condition in winter. -