paul.

air temp - high 40's. water temp - low 40's. water color is a clear green with about 2 ft. visibility. when is falcon craw at it's best? in my opinion, any time it's in the water. any water. honestly. i value this color so much that when i'm running low on them (and i try very hard not to), i absolutely refuse to use them unless the day is shaping up to be a total bust. this color has salvaged so many trips for me. it has turned good trips into great trips and bad trips into good ones. and don't ask me why, but it seems to be especially deadly in cold water. here's a couple of quick true stories. on this particular trip, i fished with a friend. equal skill level. we were both using jigs and craw style baits. he tried a variety of colors throughout the day. i stuck with falcon all day. final tally? falcon craw - 13 fish. everything else - 6 fish. when the color first came out, i got a few packs to try. i was fishing the tn river with a buddy. same scenario. he was trying all sorts of colors - in the same type of bait too (craw). i stuck with falcon craw and it was wrecking shop. i was getting 3 and 4 bites to his one. and he is a very good fisherman. after a while, i noticed that he had completely stopped fishing. i turned around to see what he was doing. he was going through my tacklebox. i asked what he was doing. "looking for some of those dern red craws!" he said. now i readily concede that this could just be a regional thing. but consider this. Big O fishes all over the country and he can fish any color ragetails he wants. and he STILL considers falcon craw a favorite color. that tells me all i need to know.

sorry about your back man. i haven't been to the river in 3 weeks. hope there's no shad kill yet, but unfortunately it's about that time.

dude! that's a real beauty right there. it'll be at least 3 months before there's any consistent topwater action around here. you are a lucky man Shane!

now you're talking bud. make 'em pay!!! good fish in your pic too. hate you lost the biggun, but there will be other chances. the clock is ticking. it's just a matter of time now that you know her address. i'd say her days are numbered. tick, tick, tick, tick....................................................

i was really starting to go into some bad fishing withdrawal symptoms after quite a while w/o a fishing trip (by my standards anyway ). but i finally got out some today. it was good to shake off the rust and get some ragetails wet. caught 3 good fish and several smaller ones. my time away from the game was obvious though. i missed several fish i should have stuck . it felt like i had lost my edge just an little. i HATE when that happens and some bass are gonna have to pay for it next time. just goes to show, i need to fish more. but don't we all? here's a couple of pics. i really like it when they are colored like the first fish. but i like it even more when they are sized like the second one. every fish caught today came on various assorted ragetail products with both picture fish caught on Gman's Big O brush jig using my version of a falcon craw skirt with a falcon craw trailer.

Brian, i fish ky lake a lot but not pickwick. there are several watershed lakes within 45 minutes of my house. today's fish came out of one of those. as far as the jig bite goes, i would have no reservations about throwing a jig every day of the year, especially in some of those watershed lakes. it's probably my favorite bait.

today's trip featured Gman's Big O brush jig on creek channel edges surrounded by timber. turned out to be a good call. both fish came on the 5/8 oz. model. first fish came on a homegrown version of texas craw - black, brown/copper, green pumpkin, and chartreuse with a "dirty craw" rage craw trailer. there was a crappie fisherman in the area who saw me catch the fish. good news, he came over to look at the fish, then was nice enough to take a picture. bad news, it came off one of my top secret spots which probably will not be a secret any longer after today. at any rate, after taking a look at my catch, he said he was obviously fishing for the wrong species. i have this strange agreement with myself. if i catch one good fish, i immediately stop fishing my "old" hot spots and go looking for new ones to try to learn something. this has really helped me find some great stuff in the past and it worked today too. just for argument's sake, i switched colors to black, june bug, and blue with a blue sapphire rage craw. well, i know I don't have to tell you this, but that works too. there was no one around to take a picture of the second nice one i got off the "new" spot i found. good thing i guess. the more i fish this Big O jig, the more i like it. absolutely convinced at this point no other jig i've ever fished even comes close. and tipped with that potent little rage craw, it wouldn't surprise me to catch one in a parking lot. See pics here: http://ragetalk.com/index.php?topic=3295.0

great going buddy. that is a good 'un for sure. gotta love those rattlebaits.

no. squarebills, jerkbaits, and rattlebaits. always fishing in less than 10 ft. of water. most of the time a lot less.

here's some more fish from the past couple weeks including a couple of nice ones from this evening. the fishing is absolutely nuts right now if you can find 'em. i think i had my limit in 10 minutes today. catching 2 keepers on one cast helped. today's bag included largemouth, some big whites, a few yellows, and some skipjacks (could've done without those). get out there if you can.

with the water up over summer pool and the tva pulling water like crazy, the fishing has been red hot! PLENTY of fish over the past few trips with most of 'em being solid keepers or better. get in on this action if you can. the fishing probably won't be this good again until spring. good luck.

finally got off work after long stretch and hit up a new lake i am rapidly falling in love with. this little jewel is FULL of wood with plenty of deep water. well defined channels and ditches and some great points too. you know what that means. jig heaven! wasn't expecting much yesterday being on the wrong side of a weather front, but mananged some nice ones. another good day today. only got one picture 'cause i was by myself. still loving that big o brush jig! the flavor of choice was a homegrown brown/copper glitter, orange, and watermelon/green glitter combo. tipped with an amber/green/black rage chunk to seal the deal.

nothing else even comes close. best heavy duty jig i've ever used. period.

definitely one to be proud of. great catch.

great outing there man! way to catch 'em. you will grow to love plastics in no time with trips like that.

heckuva bass. one of those "once in a lifetime" moments. don't get much better than that man. those others ain't no slouches either. big congrats to you and your buds.

not much of a thump really. just that heavy, mushy, "something's not right" feeling. i've found that's what you get a lot of the time with big fish in deeper water (about 10 ft.for this one) as far as i know, i was not late on the hookset at all. i think this fish just REALLY wanted that jig. and you are SO right. that's definitely how you want 'em to eat it.

yeah buddy! thats a great way to make up for lost time Dwight! those are some bruisers for sure.

great job. i know y'all left happy. i SO wish i could catch a pike or musky.

great trip Shane! seems like you're always on 'em down there. and those fla. bass are always so dark and pretty. keep on 'em buddy.

i think you're right. i had already caught a few before that one, so the skirt had taken a beating. i think a few strands were missing for sure.

thanks guys. fish weighed 7-11. long but not much girth to her. yeah quite a few actually. i thnk i caught about 20 more fish this same trip. none of the others were over 2 pounds. it's funny. i catch relatively few 3-5 pounders in this lake. the vast majority of what i get is less than 2 lbs. if i go over that, there's a real good chance it's gonna be over 7. i'll take it though. i am blessed with some great fishin' holes.

another great day out there today. when you can't fish with the real Big O, fishing with the Siebert Outdoors Big O jig ain't a bad substitute. i've kept one tied on for a month now. just like its namesake, Gman's bass magnet goes after the big ones in nasty places where few others dare. plenty of action today in the underwater forest using a homemade color. found this nice one open for business. as you can tell from this shot, she really wanted that jig 'n rage chunk didn't she? hope y'all are enjoying some great fall fishing.

here's some pics from yesterday's outing. spot of choice was a brush pile on the edge of a creek channel bend. the fish of the day, a fat 7-1, got the party started by munching the 10" thumper. that "big" worm doesn't look so big in a mouth like that, does it? just goes to show that if there's a biggun on your spot, she's usually gonna eat first. after that, several more came on the new heavy duty "Big O" brush jig from Gman at Siebert Outdoors in a homegrown color with a rage craw trailer. there were lil' squealers...... solid chunkers................. and some big ones too............. even got a nice topwater fish right before the bugs ran me off the lake. just a fantastic day for me. for the fish? not so much. well at least they were all released unharmed. sorry about the pics. i was by myself so i had to do the best i could. can't wait to get back out there. hope y'all are catchin' some too.

very pretty bass. way to whack 'em. wish we had those around here.