A-Jay

circa 2018 Got Tucker & Fenway at 8 weeks; they were littermates. Born & Bred in the mountains of Montana. They were full-grown dogs. Sure miss them. A-Jay

Pull 2 workout today. I might take 2 days off after this one. We'll see how my recovery goes. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

Good Luck 😎 A-Jay

If you're fishing from anything that floats, and not from shore, consider investing in at least one type of lure retriever. Most units are fairly effective when deployed correctly, especially with shallow-running baits. Getting one back that's 6 ft down is a whole lot easier than one hung up at 26 ft or deeper. PSA ~ NEVER slide your rod down the line to 'poke' one free. Blank or guide damage is inevitable. Have fun https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-PTLR.html A-Jay

Not really. While I do have 'favorite rigs', my tackle is a tool. If I made a great cut with a handsaw, doesn't mean I'd start driving nails with it. YMMV A-Jay

Push 2 workout today. It seems there are no shortcuts to getting and staying physically fit. Just one long, steep, and challenging road. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

I used to be the same way. Not anymore. My efforts are solely focused on Location and Timing. I do not fish derbies so there are no timing constraints on my fishing. Trying new deals is fun and it makes me feel like I might figure it out. But if the bass are not there or not feeding, I am usually just getting knot-tying and casting practice. No doubt I have plenty of tackle but I'd say there is no balance, just priorities. New styles and different presentations still need to be applied at the right time and in the right place to get bites. What that means for another man's fishing has zero bearing on what I'm doing and where I'm doing it. When I get the location and timing right, the presentation selection suddenly becomes a whole lot easier. Good Luck. A-Jay

See your local Lund dealer for an honest assessment. A fair warning about two deals. 1. The boat you want will ALWAYS cost way more than you thought it would. Don't allow this to scare you off. 2. The after-boat-purchase costs are EXTENSIVE. Find out what these costs are and prepare for them. Many are not optional. Good Luck. A-Jay

Thank you very much. Cannot say why; maybe it's because I went fishing. Beyond that, I'm done trying to guess why I did or did not catch fish. I'll just be happy when I do. The entire 2025 fishing season has been very unusual in my mind. Hope it's a one off. A-Jay

The cause ~ And the effect ~ A-Jay

I have been using rec gas in the boat since I re-powered in 2018. I like it. All the vendors up here offer it, as this area has a huge ATV, snowmobile, & boating presence. The truck gets high-test corn gas. I fill both often when I am making it happen. Pre-dawn empty station visits usually allow me to refuel both at the same time. (Both fill on the driver's side) Always makes me feel like I'm winning something when I can do it. All I am really winning is a chance to deplete my bank account. Gotta pay to play. A-Jay

2025 started off a little shaky, and the less than ideal conditions have continued on many fronts through the year. Despite the challenges, I am deeply appreciative of every opportunity I've received. And it's up to me to make the most of it. Show up, do the work, look for ways to improve. I need to be better. A-Jay

Thanks ~ I do not consider durability as an important characteristic of ANY soft plastic bait. I want bites. If the bait gets 'used' - It's working! Durable baits are awesome and last a long time . . . . . but the tradeoff comes in the number & size of fish landed. Perhaps think of it this way, a brown bass has to be able to totally crush a crayfish in it's mouth to kill it before it goes down the hatch. A rage bug is considerably less durable than a crayfish shell. So I have to expect the bait to get trashed just about every time it's consumed by a decent fish. Duability for me means, does the bait survive repeated casts. After that, all bets are off. That said, I carry 'several' bags of Rage Bugs with me. As for goby fed fish - see if you can spot the difference. These fish are close to the same length. One weighs very close to 6lbs, the other barely sneaks over 3lbs. A-Jay

I began the day by utilizing a beautiful morning to finish a significant field day on both the GMC and the Pro-V Bass. They did need it. After choking down a quick lunch, the natural move at this point was to get that rig right back out on the water. Launched onto local Lake Menderchuck a couple of hours before sunset. I was not alone. While waiting for the pontoon patrol to head in for the night, I spent a while throwing a spinbait 80 around the end of a long point. Surface water temps were still right at 70, which is sort of warm for mid-September. Well, the little spybait got no love so it was time to break out the big guns; Rage Bug on swinghead. The local brown bass population has been gagging these things for me for a long time and this trip was no different. I fish it with the reel, use a stop-and-go retrieve, and hold on tight. I caught a few and dumped a couple I'd like another shot. Even finished the night off with a last cast topwater fish. This is always a pleasant surprise. All in all, I had a nice time fishing in some very comfortable conditions. Fish Hard A-Jay

Smallies & smiles at sunset last night ~ A-Jay

Based on the astute powers of observation alone, Kathleen gets my vote for post of the year. Well done. A-Jay

I hope your multiple procedures and associated recoveries go exactly as planned, and you're back to doing the things you love as soon as possible. As requested, I've added an abbreviated report from a while back. The original was pretty lengthy, as it covered a week of fishing in Mexico. Regardless, it remains one of my favorites—so far . . . . . . I was most fortunate to spend 6 ½ days fishing with my good friend and truly a great stick, Jeff Howell. This was my 7th trip to this special lake and once again Lake Baccarac showed out—big time. Both Jeff & I are not ‘numbers’ guys—meaning we generally do not count how many bass we catch. Instead we choose to fish for the biggest bass, an approach that may not always result is high numbers but hopefully bigger fish. However, as this special week in Mexico continued and the numbers of true giants began and continued to go in the net, we had no choice but to keep track. In an attempt to simplify things, we decided that in order to be a “scoreable bass,” the fish would need to be at least 7 pounds. These would be the ones we ‘count.’ During the afternoon of the first full day of fishing, we began to find larger fish suspended in 10 to 20 feet of water above 40 to 60 feet over main lake humps and in front of major points. 6 & 7 inch swimbaits and ½ & ¾ oz underspins with 5-6 inch hollow belly & solid swimbait trailers were getting demolished. This was an unprecedented experience for me. This bite lasted the rest of the trip and these suspended fish accounted for at least 75% of the scoreable bass we caught. It got completely nuts. I ran a GoPro the entire trip. and got some insane video. It’s a little tricky getting footage, as the boats we fish from, although fine for the fishing, only offer 1 or 2 secure mounting points for the camera. We made the best of it. So the final count of score-able bass for our 6 ½ days on Lake Baccarac: Bass Over 7lbs ~ 20 Bass Over 8lbs ~ 16 Bass Over 9lbs ~ 11 Bass Over 10 lbs ~ 4 Bass Over 11 lbs ~ 1 Bass Over 12 lbs ~ 1 53 bass over 7 Here a clip of the 6 double-digit fish landed that crazy week. https://youtu.be/UYTzJHDCdMo?feature=shared Happy Healing A-Jay

I mean this A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

On the road again. Can already feel the hotness of the day starting to build. Which is not a typical September thing in northern Michigan. Might be a day, we'll soon find out. A-Jay

Right off the bat, IMO there are few baits like this one where so many different approaches can all work effectively. Every fan of this bait has their own 'Style" of how to fish it. Accordingly, the gear can be all over the map. I fish the wiggle wagon a lot, especially early in the season and now. When I started fishing it several years back, I went two full seasons without a bite on it. But I kept at it. Eventually, I began to understand how to effectively fish in this area, which resulted in me getting bites. Then I experienced the same challenges you seem to be facing now. Losing fish I shouldn't. I do not use braided line; instead, I exclusively use 15 lb fluorocarbon line, on a 6.2:1 or a 6.3:1 reel. And that's by design. I have tried every type of rod you can think of: glass, graphite & composite. And to some degree, they all worked OK. I finally settled on an H action, 7'3" moderate composite stick. A firm, mostly stout sweeping hookset gets it done for me. I have very good hook penetration, and I'm happier that I lose very few fish anymore. That's all I've got. Good luck. A-Jay https://youtu.be/o9xew3tWuuU?feature=shared&t=1014 https://youtu.be/sITpRNLz_04?feature=shared&t=196

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ The 6th Sense Divine Hybrid Jig is decent. A cross between a structure jig, grass jig, and football jig, the unique head shape is what makes its high level of versatility possible. Also equipped with a stout hook for solid hooksets and horsing big fish out of cover, it comes equipped with a precisely fitted fiber weed guard and a sturdy barbed keeper. I'll hang a craw, a small creature-type trailer and even a paddletail. This jig loves them all equally. A-Jay

Been hitting a couple of different lakes on the regular. Last trip I managed to bump into a few decent fish. And while brown bass on light gear and a spybait is definitely a good time, I'm still holding out for the plus-sized models. This entire week is forecast to be super nice, with mostly summer-like weather conditions. I'm ready to hit it hard the whole week but don't know what to expect. I'll start out tomorrow morning at first light and see where that leads me. First light this time of year up here is at 0600-ish, which is favorable. Heading out now to spool up a couple of casting reels with fresh line and tie on some fresh leaders. A-Jay

I use fishksrs as well. And they are very good especially on light braid which when I am looking for that close trim on a leader connection knot can be a little tricky. Hate the too long fuzzy braid tag end. A-Jay

For night ops, I like a single & slightly oversized Oklahoma or Mag Willow Blade. And you know it's right when there are teeth marks on the blade. A-Jay