A-Jay

As a wide searing heat dome settles over the U.S this week, this vintage post poses the questions we'll all be trying to answer. 🥵 A-Jay

This one's interesting; it has changed a bit over the years and currently comes in from at least a couple of different directions. Categorizing a bait, technique, or saying it's the most enjoyable to fish can be a taunting task IMO. My version of 'enjoyable to fish' starts with the cast, the retrieve, decent fish-catching potential, which sort of has to be in there somewhere for me, and then, strangely enough, the hook-removal efforts required. Deals that possess virtually none of the fun factor marks for me and ones I will rarely even consider employing include, but may not be limited to, drop shot, Ned rig, until recently, dead sticking a Senko, a free rig, whatever that ultra-shirted poop bait thing is, and a banjo minnow. Right off the bat, it's been well documented here that I am fairly addicted to catching fish on a jerkbait. The past several years, it's been an early & late season hammer for me. Oddly enough, despite checking almost all the boxes mentioned above, the hook removal efforts (from the fish & the Frabil) can be enough to knock it down like half a peg. So what could possibly replace such a potent mutant slayer? The answer is a few, I guess. Topwater waking baits, Poppers, A-Rigs, and the list of soft plastics & rigs is endless. When we're talking about 'the fun factor,' however, of the many deals mentioned above, some I fish, some I do not; either way, I can easily see the attraction in them all. An aspect of the "I Love It' presentation for me involves the 'chunk & wind.' Huge fan of just leaning back, using a pretty high level of human torque to smoothly launch my bait off the front deck and cranking it back. Many baits fit the bill here, but decent-sized single-hook deals have it over the triple-treble-hook aspects of a stick bait while still retaining plenty of plus-sized bass potential. Vibrating jigs and spinner baits come to mind right away. Because these deals are often fished best with casting gear, I get to put the boots to the bigger bass, which is mucho fun and not advisable with small treble hooks. And since timing is everything, if the world doesn't deal us another dose of insanity, starting somewhere around the 2nd week of August, Prime Chunk & Wind season starts again. Since I missed 95% of the spring jerkbait bite, I'll be primed for this one. A-Jay

You missed the point. A-Jay

Workout Day 1. I'm leaving the past several weeks of calamity behind me. Completed three working sets of the 5 movements scheduled, and I actually felt like I was training again. Let's hope that continues for as long as possible. Expect to be a little sore tomorrow, but it's going to be the right kind of sore. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

I agree with @casts_by_fly . Your number 1 mission at this point is not to catch fish—that will come. But you must learn how to fish and present your baits effectively in all of the conditions and situations you routinely come into. You can skip this step, but you'll be making the learning curve quite a bit longer. This doesn't usually happen by accident, although many anglers will no doubt go that route. In my world, preparation equals performance. So my advice is to plan on making several trips—and I mean more than two—where your job is to learn what you can fish in and what you can't. How to set yourself up to present baits so that they run right and fish in a manner that will elicit a strike. Fishing moving baits as well as slow-moving bottom-contact baits from a moving or drifting platform is just asking to miss strikes or perhaps not even get any—sound familiar? You've entered into a whole new world where you are at the mercy of the environment. It's not the easiest deal, but it's totally doable once you master the mission. There are so many super successful kayak fishing bassheads on this forum, there's no way to list them all. The first two that come to mind for me are @Bluebasser86 and @pdxfisher Both seem highly skilled and able to be successful in a variety of sporty conditions from a kayak. It's very impressive IMO. #madrespect Good Luck A-Jay

Kool Project and congrats on its completion. Sounds like it was fun to do. Really like your choice for the album cover. Mostly because I remember visiting "bait & tackle shops" that actually looked like that. The sights, sounds, smells, and feelings I got walking into those places as a kid was amazing and will never be duplicated. Brings back a lot of great memories. Good luck. A-Jay

Yesterday was a good day for me. Being able to take a plan from concept and bring it to completion is just about one of my all-time favorite deals. Clearly not the most complicated evolution I've had the pleasure of involving myself in. Having the time, the right tools, and a little know-how, as well as possessing sufficient physical & mental capacity, can be very helpful. And it does seem that as the decades pile up, this stuff takes on a whole new meaning. During the hour or so familiarizing myself with the operational control of this unit, I can already tell that I will be required to expend what seems like, at this point, less than 25% (and that's being generous) of the physical energy I was required to operate my previous unit. It's almost too easy and makes me smile just thinking about it. As I age, being & staying self-sufficient (and not moving to Florida) becomes priority one. As are all things related to said mission. Either way, on a weather-perfect, northern Michigan, 75-degree day, I mounted & completed the final charger-wiring system install in the kennel yesterday. Putting on the custom Honda-branded cover proved to be quite the challenge—#rubikscube—took several tries, mostly because I'm a knucklehead. But once done, the Freak is set up perfectly to enjoy the remainder of the non-snow-flying season in peace. Feels good to be done with that. But no rest for the weary. I'll be starting a small repair project on the Lund next week. More to follow. A-Jay

@Dwight Hottle You are the man ! Thank you A-Jay

I like Big Brown Bass. A-Jay

As of mid-June 2026, the lake's total dam average was hovering around 15.4%, a noticeable improvement from the 6.3% recorded during the same period in 2025. Early summer storms have already begun providing inflows to the Bacurato, and with the heavy seasonal rains expected to continue through October, the lake is poised for steady volume increases. All very good news. 100 days and a wake-up ~ A-Jay

I use a very scientific and mathematically specific formula to help me calculate fishing line shelf life. I write down the original purchase price. Then multiply that by 2 to account for inflation. Next, I subtract the age of the line (totally guessing works well here). Finally, I divide that number by 3 because I like the number 3. When the final answer comes out to less than 1000, I throw both my calculations and the line away. Unless it's unused braid which apparently lasts almost as long as a McDonald's French fry. A-Jay

Last night while positioned perfectly in front of the game camera, Rocky Raccoon may have answered an age-old question. "Do raccoons fart in the woods?' You can decide for yourself. #stinky https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BLMLkDH69/ A-Jay

When I'm in and/or around more than light to perhaps, Medium levels of softcover casting gear usually gets the nod. In open water and/or well above or away from that same cover, Spinning gear is my preference. I fish medium-light and medium blanks with 2500/300 size reels. All light braid mainline to Mono or FC leader. Which rod used is mostly predicated on the presentation and technique being employed. Deals that are spinning only are few; they include, but may not be limited to: Drop shot, Ned rig, spin baits & hair jigs. Some presentations I use on both casting & spinning but usually prefer spinning include Topwater hard baits, jerkbaits, and smaller (less than 4.2 inches) paddletail swimbaits on a jighead that are 1/2 oz or less. You'll never see me throwing an A-rig on spinning gear. Conversely, I'm not tying a hair jig to a flipping stick. There's quite a bit more to this, but it's still only June, and I'm pretty sure I've reached my limit on this one. YMMV A-Jay

The Freak will live in my garage all winter and then reverse hibernate all summer in the dog kennel out back on the power equipment side. Today I rigged up the "wintertime-ready" battery charging station in the garage. The first order of business was to hardwire the Noco X-Connect battery charger wires to the two 12-volt batteries. This allows for a simple plug-and-play deal when it comes to keeping the batteries fresh. The Freak's battery compartment, positioned at the rear of the machine, is small and pretty tight—which offers very little in the way of a "working area." Not wanting to participate in complete battery removal, I took it slow and managed to squeeze my hands and fingers into the cracks enough to secure the wires to the battery terminals as required. Next I fed these wires and plugs through the back and into The Freak's small "toolbox" compartment. I have no plans on keeping tools on board, so sacrificing the space was an easy and clean solution. Leaving them hanging outside, exposed to the elements, seemed like asking for trouble. The Noco Genius 2x2 charger was mounted directly over where The Freak will sit, which is conveniently right next to the overhead garage door lifting unit, so power was immediately available. Two screws and a couple of 10-foot extensions for the charger, and we were good to go. Finished up today's efforts by adjusting The Freak's skid shoe height to my liking. Tomorrow this same deal will happen in the kennel with a second/seperate charger. Then it will be "night-night" for The Freak until he's needed. . Forgot to mention that I reversed the direction of the Shoreland'r trailer swing tongue which got me a little more room on that side of the boat. A-Jay

Hello Matt and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

A few months have passed, and they have been mostly good. All things considered. We've been getting out & about when we can and laying low most other times. Lynn's spirit has been strong. I am so fortunate to be with such an amazing woman. We both like the summer time when the living is easy. A-Jay

For me, landing any fish, and in this instance, LM & SM bass, is all about pressure. Whatever pressure I apply and whatever pressure the fish applies. Regardless of how big or how hard a fish might pull, or what gear I happen to be using, I am always in control of the level of pressure. It's called drag. Small fish are brought to the boat with little fanfare, as they are not usually capable of applying much, if any pressure. It's all mine in these instances. Hooking & landing the type/size fish I'm actually targeting; it's a different story. My standard and time-tested preference is to only apply the pressure needed, especially right after the hook set. Minimal amount of force necessary to compel compliance. This does many things for me, and most all of them are good. It goes without saying that the lighter the tackle, the less pressure I'm capable of applying. I net all my 'better' fish, in particular treble hook bait-eating bass. I prefer not to bring a green or supercharged bass boat side if I can avoid it. Slipping the net under a gassed bass has a considerably higher success rate IME than taking several wild one-handed stabs with the net at a streaking all-over-the-place hot fish. I've been fooled more than a few times by what I initially believed to be a smaller bass. These wise guys often come right to the boat like a puppy on a leash. However, once the proximity is reduced to where we can both get that first glimpse of each other, the entire situation changes, and fast. When the circumstances allow, I will try to feed Miss Berserker some line and let her lose her mind a little further away from me. But sometimes, that's not an option, and we both just have to ride it out. About half of these fish make it into the net. The other half, well, I'm usually left standing there staring out over the lake with that WTH just happened look on my wet face while water slowly drips from my sunglasses. As for any morality concerns, most of my better action happens in depths where barotrauma is never a concern. A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

Shoveling the roof to remove 4 or 5 ft of heavy wet snow is easily the single most physically (and mentally) demanding activity I do. My core is sore for several days afterwards. Not complaining, just saying. A-Jay

Top notch summary of what seemed like a super fun day of brown bass fishing. I will openly admit that the start of this one made me quite sad. Really sorry to hear about that. But we both known 19 inch smalles have a way of brightening the day. Congrats and belated happy father's day. A-Jay

Workout Day 4 went well. Once this one was completed, so was the "rehab" aspect of my training. Glad that's behind me. Moving forward, I'll be working back toward challenging myself more with resistance, time under tension, and volume. Not looking to break any personal records, but it certainly would be nice to get my strength & conditioning back to the level that it was at just 3 short months ago. I'll need to kick up the caloric intake a bit as well. It's mind-blowing how fast a man can wither away when he doesn't keep his nose to the grindstone. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

Average about 150 - 160 inches a year. We have a decent-sized loop style driveway plus some areas out back. Blasting pathways/walkways through the waist-deep stuff makes getting around a lot better. Last winter I shoveled off my roof. That was fun. Took 2 days for the OG. A-Jay

Not exactly sure what the deal is now or what it will be once we get there. Just hoping for a safe fun trip with a few scoreleable bass thrown in as a bonus. I do know there's a very cool surprise being revealed once we arrive. Good Times. A-Jay

I hear that. I would add that during any and especially tricky installation there's bound do be a few 'extra' parts needed. If you chose to purchase parts yourself, I would recommend giving the service center approval to purchase whatever they might need in advance, without prior purchase approval by you, will save time. You're going to need it in the end anyway. Finally, IME, a properly and quality install trumps a fast one everytime and twice on Sunday. Trying saving a week now might cost you months of headache and $$ later. Set them up for success now and reap the long term trouble free benefits down the road. A first time correct install of something like this only happens once. Everything else after that, is damage control. My Dad always told me, "slow down, you'll go faster." A-Jay

Congratulations on the new accessories. Not an expert by any means, but at larger boat dealerships or service centers like Bass Pro Shops, current marine mechanic labor rates typically range from $150 to $200+ per hour. Exact charges fluctuate based on location and whether the service is for routine maintenance or more complex install / diagnostics. So that quoted price seems about right to me. Good Luck. A-Jay