A-Jay

Hello Michael and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ Hope you can be feeling better soon. A-Jay

Not since 1934 I think. I'm not really a fan of the team but I do have MAD RESPECT for that fan base. A-Jay

Not me. Unless it's the Pats, I love it when the road team wins. Of course the networks probably prefer it the other way. A dead quite crowd after the first half is probably not a ratings booster. Btw, The Detroit Lions are looking good again. A-Jay

Nice rods for sure. But there's a decent chance your previous purchases paid for at least one replacement 10 times over. A-Jay

I rarely even acknowledge the warranty until I've already purchased the rod. Sad part is we are all paying for a warranty when we buy the rod. Whether we use it or not. If I snap a stick (and I've blown up a few) I don't expect the company to pay for my mistake or inappropriate use of the rod. That's on me. I'd love it if there were no warranties and gear prices came down 50%. There's always a few bad blanks around and they blow up first use most of the time. So 30 days of coverage is fine for that. But a 10 - 15 year warranty is meaningless to me. There ya go. A-Jay

1/8 oz jig head and fish it slow, but keep it moving & out of the muck. A-Jay

For DS MF ~Light braid to FC leader. For Ned - 7'6" ML ~ Light braid to FC leader. Here's some Ned action. https://youtu.be/KuPRtdajOLU?feature=shared&t=116 A-Jay

The paddle tail or boot tail swimbait can be a very effective deal for just about any kind of bass and in a super wide variety of applications. Not news. At this point its common knowledge that sliding one on a jig head can and does get bites pretty much anywhere in the country. Whether it be a solid or hollow belly bait, small, medium or even the larger versions, these baits seem to have some serious strike drawing power at times. I’ll start off with ‘The when’; and this may be the easiest aspect of this one. Seasonally, as soon as there is open water here and straight through to hard water, I almost always have a swimbait on a jig head rigged up & ready to throw. This is the deal I’ll be discussing here and I’ll get to the where and how in a bit. But yea, when the local brown bass population is on the feed, they almost always seem fairly eager to choke one of these things. Now let me get into some of my more common ‘where’ scenarios. Right off the bat, the versatility of these things does lend them to be effective in a wide vary of ‘wheres’. So it can literally be one of those 3 feet to 30 feet deals. However for me, up in this clear water, regardless of season, time of day or body of water, a swimbait on a jighead is an effective way to cover water and it’s usually ‘deeper’ stuff. I’ll quantify that by saying I’m throwing them up on to or off of mid lake humps, up & off points, as well as drop-offs and into saddle areas. Usually targeting bass in 10-20 feet. Bottom composition and cover can vary but in super heavy soft cover (weeds) I am not probing them with this bait. I might swim one over and around it, but IME, they don’t fish very effectively through the slop. Great way to cover a big mid-lake flat though. Slow rolling one over the weeds can help find biters (and a bunch of Pike, unfortunately). On a hard bottom, I like the lift & fall technique, on both a tight & slack line, as well as the cranking it along slow and letting it deflect; trigger deal. On a sand bottom I am all about grinding the bait. Reeling it along in such a manner, and at whatever speed I need, to maintain constant contact with the bottom. This is one of my more productive approaches that also gets me a ton of by-catch; walleye mostly. A Football head is a solid choice. Now for the gear, and it’s really nothing special. I use spinning & casting gear, pretty much interchangeably. Almost always using 7 ft Medium action in both blanks. Spinning gear is done with 10-15 lb braid and an 8 – 10 lb FC leader. And the casting gear is straight 10-12 lb FC. I will say that the spinning gear is usually selected when I’m looking to keep the baits deeper, say below 10 – 15 feet and the casting gear often gets the nod in anything shallower. Incidentally, this is the same tackle I fish a tube with. The Jig heads & Baits ~ There is a plethora of good quality swim baits and matching jig heads to choose from now. On line vendors literally list what seems like hundreds. I’ve fished a dozen or so types & brands. To keep it simple, I’ve pretty much settled on two; listed below. I do prefer softer baits in the 3 to 5 inch size range, with something close to 4 inch being a big player. While clearly less durable, I seem to get more bites. Along with that, having the right action, especially on the fall, is a must for me. When it comes to jighead shape, design and the all-important hook, again I like to keep it simple but here I am fairly particular. Brand Name is my desired direction but will go with a Lesser-known deal when there’s merit. I am eternally looking for jigheads with a quality medium and medium light wire hook that is also The Right Length. Too stout here can be tricky to sink on the medium gear I use; especially on a long cast or very deep running bait. Additionally, too long of a hook seems to ‘mute’ and can even over power a bait. I seem to get the best action when the bend is coming out the top of the bait no more than half way back of the baits overall length. More than that is No Bueno. My favorite heads match up to baits when they only go in about a third of the way (if that makes sense). Colors I keep close to the bait color and my default is just a plain lead, black or tungsten. Head shape & design includes where the line tie placement is located on the head itself. The right local will allow the bait to swim nicely, especially along the bottom and on the glide without forcing the bait to pick up unwanted & bite killing debris. A decent keeper helps; a couple of different ones work for me. In a pinch (meaning I ran out of a certain weight size) I’ve even used my tube jigheads with decent success. Jighead weights range from 1/8 oz for the smallest and shallowest presentations up to ½ oz for the other end of the spectrum I’d say I use ¼ oz and 3/8 oz the most though. Before I wrap this one up, I have two final thoughts. First, a bait type that has been deliberately omitted here, are the ‘pre-rigged’ deals. Not because they don’t get bites or that I don’t use them, because they can be killer at times and I do throw them. Storm Wild Eye Shad and the Megabass Dark Sleeper are two of my favorites. The Dark Sleeper sees local action and the Storm bait is an international Rock Star performer for me. While I fish them in much the same way, I didn’t include them here because comparatively, I only recently started using them. For me they seem like a separate deal, one that I may cover in a future Brown Bass Tools installment; especially that Dark Sleeper. And second, and I sort of hate to add this but it is relevant. Virtually every bait I have covered in this thread, has accounted for at least a handful, if not more, 5 lb plus Brown Bass; except this one. There are few things I enjoy more than adding a too close to the lens pic of a brown fatty to the end of one of these write ups. But alas, I cannot do that, because despite my best efforts, it hasn’t happened. Instead, what I will say and where I find myself throwing these swim baits the most, is to cover water & find biters. Done it a ton of times; plenty of 3’s & 4’s. Can be especially helpful on new water. This style of swimbait is as close to a ‘confidence bait’ for me as I have. Pretty sure this approach has indirectly led to a few tanks, by showing me areas that the bass are using. Strike King Rage Swimmer ~ Keitech Swing Impact FAT Owner Ultrahead Football Jig Head ~ Owner Ultrahead Round Jig Head Gamakatsu Round Jig Head ~ Dirty Jigs Tactical Bassin' Finesse Swimbait Jig Head Fish Hard A-Jay

Nice Tanker of a Bass ! Bet it was on a Shpinnah-Bait ! Congrats A-Jay

What did you say your address was again ? j/k A-Jay

techniques that you have moved away from Glide baits. Large Huddleston type Swimbaits. Super Deep Diving Crankbaits. Finally, I had to stop using TriNitroToluene. Too many legal issues. 😎 A-Jay

Started out Workout Day 4 with the Cable Sissy Squat. Always gets my attention. Prior to adding this movement to my training, I had been having some minor but nagging Knee pain. At this point, it has completely resolved. I am a Big Fan of that ! #borninfiftynine A-Jay

Pre-Frontal bassing has some risk. During a career on the water, it was part of my job description, but not anymore. Mostly. A-Jay

Wasn't sure, but apparently A few mushrooms can still be found on Maine's forest floor. Might be a long winter. A-Jay

If two of my most productive patterns, GG Perch OB and M Western Clown could be crossed ~ M ENDMAX might be the result. A-Jay

Keep it rolling. I had a very in shape instructor once in the service that told me he could make me sweat in the Olympic pool we were training in. I opened my big mouth and bet him he couldn't. Dinner was on me that night. A-Jay

Slow, steady and consist. You will surprise yourself. We all suffer set backs. Use them to motivate. As bass fisherman our hobby is sitting at home unless we are fishing. Having fitness as a life style or 'Hobby' It's with us 27/7/365. Hard to measure all the benefits. Stay Safe A-Jay

Rarely see them during the day (plenty on the game cams at night) but a huge Buck just ran through my front yard. Scare the heck out of my wife and the dogs lost it of course. He was moving pretty fast so it was hard to tell, but looked like an 8 maybe even a 10 pt. Very odd. Tomorrow is open day here rifle season. That one would be a shooter I'm pretty sure. 🦌 A-Jay

Everything in moderation, including moderation. @J Francho quote I believe, but I like it. No amount of exercise can ever over come a destructive diet or lifestyle. Workouts by the decade for me . . . In my 20's it was easy and fun. In my 30's I got stronger and figured a few things out. In my 40's I was all about being super lean. In my 50's everything slowed down. Proper Diet & recovery became more important. In my 60's I'm fighting every day to get enough calories, but not too much, to get enough sleep & hydration, and to ensure that I'm making pre-workout warm ups a priority. I do all of this to be fit for life. So Far so Good. Yesterday I was working with 450 lbs for reps. at 65 yrs old and a body weight of 165 lbs. Not weight belt - no wrist wraps. https://youtu.be/F65IlIvGsXo?feature=shared&t=47 Strength is a perishable skill. Benefits including but are not limited to improvements in bone density, connective tissue strength & flexibility, maintaining whatever muscle I may have left, improvements in confidence, balance and self image. Don't see any of that as destructive. There's plenty of commitment here too. https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/borninfiftynine A-Jay

Anyone else struggling with big bass? My 5 heaviest Smallmouth this year were the best in a few years. 31.23 lbs which included a 7.05, 6.48, 6.26, 5.86, & 5.58 lbs. Personally, I've been fishing for quite a bit longer than 6 years with some success. So after 50 years and then some, I've come to some conclusions regarding success with big fish of any species; including bass. Some of these came pretty early on, a few some time after that and a few have been realized more recently. A good majority of these lessons revolve around me, my expectations, my approach and my over all mind set. So for what it's worth, this is what I got. Depending on what one considers a Big Bass, (a scale or bump board helps keep track) true big bass are hard to find and catch. Which means 'struggle' is an inescapable aspect of the sport. Learning to manage my expectations and results and not to measure them against what other anglers might be doing, (internet anglers, You Tube anglers, Bass Resource Anglers etc.) can be very helpful. Fishing my own way in the conditions I'm faced with. Each season / year is different and one has Nothing to do with the other. So past results are fun to remember and share, they have virtually zero bearing on what happens this or the next season/year. Sometimes I can catch big bass in the same place at the same time of year and even on the same baits. But not always. And this is when I'm likely to start to 'feel' like the fishing's bad, or I'm struggling. When in realty something's changed and now I need to figure out how to over come that. I've done it successfully many times over, and I'll do it again. If and when I don't chose to do that, these are times when my fishing feels like a struggle. Understand there's no time limit on it. My hours, days, weeks, months and even years on the water, mean nothing to the big bass as they are not interested in or even on my schedule. So to me, that's the essence of bass fishing. Going into each year with an open mind and a clean slate, allows a me to be far more willing to change it up. Really helps if I actually expect this to be the norm rather than an unusual occurrence. Where in the past I would beat up the same water for way too long, doing the same thing for way too long resulting in the famous crash & burn scenario. That "Change" can and often does include, a totally different and or new body of water, and or a different and new approach. Again, more time- but it's fishing time. So it's the good stuff. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (for now anyway) Fish Hard A-Jay

Workout Day 3 this morning. First 2 working set of the Rack Pull were pretty intense. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

It something folks who live in areas that generally don't experience Hurricanes, Floods, Sink Holes, Land Slides & Wild Fires do right before Holliday season. Stay Safe. A-Jay

I am liking that deal What's that hook ? A-Jay

Asking us again why many folks don't fish for money. A-Jay

That's good to hear. Complete life style changes that last forever at any age, are THE HARDEST for many many humans. Reality IMO is, you're going to live somehow, might as well not be destructive. I'm not going to wish you good luck, because luck has nothing to do with it. It's all up to you and your willingness to have more self control. A-Jay