Woody B

Caught 19 bass(11 largemouth 8 spots) between 11 and 21 inches today and what seemed like a couple thousand white perch. I caught 2 white perch on the same cast 2 different times. The 17 inch spot pictured was the hardest fighter.

12 to 17 pound stren.

My Ionic has been great. I've got a 125 amp hour with a 55 lb trolling motor in a Tracker Classic XL. I can fish multiple days in the wind before needing to charge. Today, not very windy I fished 7 hours. Lot's of spot lock, and auto pilot. It was at 88% when I was finished. The people at Ionic said I didn't need the 125 ah, but I'm a fan of overkill. I'm sure a 50 to 60 ah lithium in a quality brand will do well. FWIW I would absolutely kill my 88 amp hour Interstate (lead acid) on a day like today.

I sold my last boat 30 years ago. I had too much stuff to do, and didn't have time to fish. I bought my current boat in December 2021. I've fished multiple times every week since then. The 3 most exciting things for me when fishing? Catching a big bass, anticipating catching a big bass on the next cast, watching one of my Grandsons catch a big bass. I don't need to get in the right mental state for fishing. Fishing puts me in the right mental state for everything else.

Disclaimer: I didn't watch the video. GM has been making bad business decisions for decades.

I use a cut resistant glove on my left hand to lip 'em. A hook "will" penetrate the glove if you try hard enough but it won't go in to the barb. I swiped a random picture off the web.

No spinning equipment for me. Use whatever you like though. I take 3 baitcast set ups when I go.

I'll just continue to sponsor myself. That way I can fish when I want, where I want, and with whatever I want.

I get muscle cramps if I don't hydrate. I use Nuun hydration for electrolytes. On a normal day I drink ten 16 ounce bottles of water. 5 with the Nuun stuff in them. I reuse the bottles. I rarely drink a soft drinks. The only time I drink tea is when I'm at a restaurant. I've never been a coffee drinker. I take a cooler fishing with WAY too much water and Nuun.

For me it's exciting when they jump. Like others said, if they get off they've earned their freedom. If all you had to do was reel them in it wouldn't be fun. Regarding the net incident. Was the net too small? I've got one of those folding nets from Bass Pro. It's too small for fish big enough to need it. I keep a cut resistant glove handy and lip bigger ones instead of getting the net out and trying to fit the fish in it.

Most of them are easy to cut down if needed. I'd go with the 45". You don't have to lower it all the way. If it sticks up too high....gets in the way they you can shorten it some.

For automotive applications (I'm an auto tech) AGM's usually don't last......as long as they should. AGM batteries are more sensitive to heat. This is one of the reasons many autos have the batteries in the truck or under a seat instead of under the hood. The AGM's under the hood usually have some kind of insulation around them. However, for boating applications AGM batteries are tougher......less likely to be damaged by vibration. Sometimes batteries last a long time. Sometimes they don't. It's always been that way but seems even more so today. I went to lithium for my trolling motor.

I used to catch a BUNCH of bass on spinnerbaits. I hardly throw one anymore. Pretty much EVERYONE I see fishing around here in throwing a spinner bait. I figure I'll do something different.

I'm sure a few of the fish we catch and release on the spot die. I suspect that many more die that are hauled around in live wells all day, then released.

I don't care about Dottie, or any world record.....but where was George Perry's bass hooked?

I can't. My spinning reel cast are way right, way left, straight up, or spiked into the water. My casting reel casts are the ones that end up in trees.

Nice fish. It doesn't matter what it weighs as long as you had fun catching it. I'd say it's 15 pounds, as long as it was 15 pounds of fun catching it.

95% of my topwater fishing is with a 3/8 ounce devils horse so all 3 of my rods work great/

Yep, but I can't help but list a couple. It's not durable at all. It frays way to easy and is really weak when it's frayed. Any line is weak when it's frayed but it takes more to fray mono that it does braid. Another, it's not "strong" like people think. Sure if you pull really hard and slow 30 pound braid is strong. People want to tout the "no stretch". Well that's the problem. A hook set on a big fish that wouldn't break 12 pound mono has a good chance of breaking even 50 pound braid. There, I said it. Use what you want. No braid for me.

I know it's an old thread but I've been pondering patterns for catching spots, as opposed to Large Mouth. I normally fish one of three lakes. Lake Wylie is 13,400 acres and is in both NC and SC. It's the main lake I fish. I catch a BUNCH of bass there, in spite of reports that bass fishing at Lake Wylie is dead. On average I catch 10LM for every spot but I hear many people saying they only catch spots. Last Sunday I fished from 6am until 11:30 am. I caught 9 LM and 1 spot. I also fish Lake Norman occasionally. It's ~32,000 acres, north of Charlotte NC. People say they aren't any LM there, it's all spots. Last Saturday, fishing pretty much all day myself and a co worker caught 20 bass. 10 LM and 10 spots. So it would appear that my habits/adapted patterns would be more geared toward LM. The other Lake I fish occasionally is Moss Lake in Shelby NC. It's 1500 acres and from what I've seen has very few Largemouth. It get's a BUNCH of fishing pressure for a lake that size. With the exception of the middle of Winter I never catch more than 2 or 3 bass. It's ~10 miles from my house so I've fished there a BUNCH. I've caught 3 largemouth there since December. As stated earlier I don't catch many spots, but the ones I catch pretty much all have old sores/hook holes in their mouths. They're usually fairly small too. I did catch a 3 pound 14 ounce spot there back in January. It put up a heckuva fight. So on Lake Wylie and Lake Norman I catch more LM and less spots than other people. On Moss Lake I don't catch many bass at all. Are my techniques more inclined to catch LM instead of spots, or am I just not doing a good job at Moss Lake. FWIW, I haven't heard of any small mouth in any of these lakes. I went to Lake James (6800 acres, NC mountains, has smallmouth) back in February and caught 3 small mouth and 3 large mouth.

By default I use a BUNCH of vintage lures. I sold my boat 30 years ago and didn't fish until a couple years ago when my Grandkids got me started back. I believe depth and presentation (and being where the fish are) is more important than lure selection, but I've caught quite a few bass fishing right behind someone who didn't. Perhaps they learn certain lures, and haven't seen mine before.

My youngest Grandson caught this tank yesterday in a 2 acre farm pond. He texted me the picture. I haven't talked to him. I don't know the weight or measurements yet. FWIW he's 16, and 6'1" so it's not a little guy holding a little fish.

Nice bass.

I may get flamed but I use a drop of Dexron VI transmission fluid on the bearings and a little Lubriplate 105 on the gears. I'm an auto tech so I have these things readily available. I've been doing this for several decades (with the exception of Dexron III instead of VI years ago) with no problems. My Ambassador 5500 from the 70s is still going strong. I'm sure if I can get by using automotive products for decades any fishing reel specific lube should be good.

I use a 40+ year old Ambassador 5500 for deep cranks. It worked when I was a teenager and it still works now.