bp_fowler

Thanks all! I’ll try out the above suggestions tonight and report back. Thanks again for the help.

Got a gift card for Father’s Day. Used it to pick up some summertime favorites.

I hear you man, the scariest predators around are the ones with two legs.

I’m a recent convert to using straight braid on both my casting and spinning setups. My reasoning for this is that the bodies of water near me that hold larger and more quality fish tend to be very weedy. I’m having issues with fish coming off. Either before or after I’ve landed them. Also a higher number of misses on the hook set than is normal for me. I’m think my hook set maybe the issue. My question is do you change up your hook set when using straight braid? Or is it somehow different than what you would do if you were using Mono/Fluoro or a leader?

Agree, I don’t think I’d bank fish at night anywhere where I wasn’t at the top of the food chain 😂

Well I had to walk through waist high grass to get to the first spot and I spooked a deer that went crashing through the undergrowth and that about made my heart stop. But for a dyed in the wool city boy I think I did alright alone in the woods at night 😂

Congratulations! Nice fish!

Since we’re dealing with higher than normal temperatures this week I decided it would be a good time to try out some night fishing. I went out from 10 pm until about 2:30 am. We had t-storms roll through earlier that evening. Temps were still in the low 70s, sky was clear and the moon was out. I started out throwing the buzz bait but my topwater woes continue as I had 4 blowups or swirls under the bait but no fish got the hook. Switched to the chatterbait and immediately started catching a handful of dinks about the size of the one pictured below. (Sorry for the poor picture quality) As I moved down the bank I casted tight to the shoreline and caught this one which was my best of the night. It was sitting in about 6-8 inches of water about five feet in front of me. That spot seemed to die down after that so I left and stopped at the Crappie Hole on my way home. I decided to the buzz bait another go and got a bite on my first cast but the fish jumped and shook it free. I went down to the other end where the creeks feeds into the pond and began casting across the mouth where I caught my final fish, again dirt shallow and right in front of where I was standing on the bank.

I’m gonna hazard a guess and say it’s above 90%. Probably because the fish I catch are simply not big enough to cause problems. If I do lose fish it is almost always because I goofed in some way shape or form. For example: drag way too tight, poorly tied knot, not re-tying often enough, rather than some sort of equipment failure.

1. Zoom Trick Worm 1/8 Oz shaky head 2. Zoom Trick Worm weightless (floating worm) 3. Zoom UV Speed Worm 1/16-1/8 oz (swimming worm) 4. Zoom Fluke weightless 5. Senko weightless T-Rigged 6. 2-3” paddle tail swim bait on a 1/8-3/16 swim bait or ball head

I really need to get a boat.

Back at St. Joes at daybreak. Started off at the crescent shaped weed bed that’s been a hot spot for me recently. Caught one on the chatterbait, with another three with a paddletail all of them being about the same size as the fish pictured below. Moving on to the South side of the lake I caught a couple more dinks with the paddle tail and then caught this guy when I switched to the chatterbait again. Recently I made a post in another thread about how I never used straight braid. Well today after I broke off at the leader knot twice on the hookset I gave it a shot and tied to my mainline. Well I landed this guy below which ended up being my best and last fish of the day. Made me a believer alright! Covering water, bank angler style.

I use or have used Mono, Fluoro, Copoly, and Braid to leader. I have never used straight braid on any of my setups. Not that I have anything against it, I’ve just always thought of it as something that you use where the vegetation is super gnarly and the bass are 6+ lbs. Neither of which really describes my situation most of the time. Who knows maybe I’ll give it a try one day.

Last year was my first year seriously bass fishing. I started on March 1 and fished everyday I could, for as long as I could since then. I even fished straight through the winter here in SE Ohio since we never completely iced over. My wife doesn’t mind most of time, so long as the honey-do list is taken care of. Sure, I have other interests but none that I am quite as passionate about. She asked me one time if she were gone would I ever remarry. I told her no I’d sell the house buy a patch of dirt big enough to put a camper on, then use whatever was left to buy a bass boat and a truck to tow it with. After that I would spend the rest of my money/free time fishing.

I-O! Welcome!

Been busy with family stuff the past few weeks. Finally managed to get out to the lake for 2 hours today. It was 71-74 degrees today and muggy from the showers that had just ended. Skies overcast. Wind was from the south at 9 mph with gusts up to 21. I didn’t have time for a complete circuit of the lake today so I just hit the crescent shaped weed bed that had been so good to me last month. Started at the western end of the weed bed since there were active bluegill beds nearby and a deep hole just past the outside edge of the milfoil. Managed two there on the UV Speed Worm and another on the Booyah Blade. The spinner bait fish was smaller but had some gnarly battle scars. Moved on to the opposite end of the weed bed and caught another with the swimming worm. This one had already munched a hapless bluegill. I could hear the tail flapping in the bass’s mouth as I landed it.

This is awesome! Is it possible we may see a 100 bass day from @ol'crickety this year? 🤔 No hyperbole here, I truly think it’s within the realm of possibility.

Seems like you got all your bases covered. One minor quibble would be that I prefer to throw jerkbaits on my spinning rod. Therefore I like having a slightly shorter rod like a 6’8-10”. Makes it a bit easier to work the bait. Sure, upgrading to the MHF spinning rod would be one possible solution, but honestly if the weeds are that thick and the bass are that big I’m probably not using spinning gear to begin with.

Where I fish also has a lot to do with it. There are certain places that I know hold bigger fish. Most of those places I won’t get numbers unless the all the variables line up perfectly. Lately I’ve been on a big bass kick. I have upgraded my quality of fish, catching more 2-3 pounders than ever before but the truly large fish continue to elude me. Some days I just want to catch a bass, any bass. On those days I’ll go to bodies of water where I know I’m pretty much guaranteed to catch a fish, probably multiple fish but they will all be dinks. So I guess that makes me a 5…maybe a 6?

Will Perdue… …and any LMB over 3 lbs is Hakeem Olajuwon. Yeah I used up my daily allotment of reactions on this thread alone.

One little tidbit of advice I received here on BR is to make sure that to keep your line diameter at .010 (approximately 8# for most mono/fc) or less on a spinning reel. I heeded this recommendation and have had way fewer issues since.

I’m a 1 maybe a 1.5 if I bring my baitcaster and OTS bag.

I’m fairly new to cranking but what success I have had in muddy or dirty water has been with chartreuse black/blue back.

I’d like to see it. Yeah it may sting a little more but at least I’ll have a visual confirmation that what I’m doing is working.

I don’t have a boat, but I’ve been a guest on other people’s boats. I’ve seen those guys have a good day fishing the old fashioned way, and I’ve seen them have good day using their electronics. I’ve also seen those same guys get skunked fishing the old fashioned ways and get skunked using their electronics. The fish still get a vote.