A-Jay

Been working over this big flat for a few days now. It's on the edge of the main lake basin so I'm thinking it reloads - Often. It's especially productive when the winds blowing in on it. About 400 yards long & wide there's plenty of room for the fish to move around. I can see them (SMB) chasing bait all over the place, in, around & over isolated weed patches. 4 inch yellow perch carcasses & the occasional crayfish have adorned my live well routinely each trip. A few different baits have taken fish. All Moving baits though so that makes me very happy - I get to Chunk & wind. SK RES, a 1.5 Square Bill, A KVD Perch Jerkbait and a Texas rigged tube, but a Megastrike Strikeback spinnerbait has been the most consistent producer the past few trips and today was no exception. Several 2 & 3 pound smallies came early & often and then later in the day this 5 pound Fatty De-Stroyed my spinnerbait. I Like it when that happens. A-Jay

Yea - I'm so ashamed ~ A-Jay

Ok so we're getting pretty carried away here . . . . and just so you know - I've never met that Papa John's guy. A-Jay

Instead of struggling to make a lipped crankbait get deep enough to contact bottom structure, use a lipless bait. A 3/4 or 1 ounce Rat-L-Trap can simply be allowed to sink depths well beyond what most deep cranks can easily achieve. It's a lot less work and in many cases just as or even more effective; especially in steep structure. Use stout gear & line and a plug knocker / lure retriever is mostly mandatory. Another fantastic option is a 1 ounce single blade spinnerbait (Colorado or Oklahoma) A-Jay

If you can be at the state park ramp an hour before sunrise (@ 6 am) you can watch me launch Kidding - pm me when you're going - maybe we can tag team them . . . A-Jay

Took me a while to find them - Locate the walleye and fish just inside or at the top of the same steep breaks - bait has to be present or it's a bust. Lots of spots look good, but 1 out of 10 has fish. Takes time A-Jay

I've beating up Burt for weeks - Was there yesterday & will be there tomorrow. Smallies there are stout and hardly fished for - relatively speaking. I lost one last week at the boat that was big. I don't think it was a 9lb fish but it would have easily been my own PB. Can't really tell the size of the one pictured. Looks huge though Found a post that said the fish came from Indian River which empties into the lake. A-Jay

Nice Bass ~ Congrats Stubbornness can also be described as persistence. When applied effectively it's a very desirable characteristic. A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to the Interactive aspect of Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

Not a bad Idea. But I'm a purest, and it's just not the same. That "Smell" would be absent - and that's at least half the fun. A-Jay

There ya go. A-Jay

MAGGOTS in the tackle box ~ that's a new one by me. Not a fan. A-Jay

I weigh most smallies that I think may be over the 4lb mark and LMB over 5 lbs - which is a decent fish north of the 45th parallel. I also get a length if it seems like an overly long fish. A clean, safe & healthy release is important to me. This is easier to manage in a larger vessel especially with a live well. I like to get the weight & length and also guess before putting the fish on the scale - just to see how much my optimistic eyes are clouding reasonable judgement. A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ Good Luck on your Panfish venture. A-Jay

You've got that right ~ There's plenty of room - just no demand. A-Jay

Nice Bass PB's are Always a Blast Congrats And thanks for not naming the lake. A-Jay

That looks like an installation problem - not enough clearance. I'd put the motor on a MK quick release mount - besides the benefit of the mount itself - it would raise your unit () slightly which will most likely resolve your rubbing issue. I'd also go ahead and install the kick stand type stabilizer as well - that motor should always have one. A-Jay

Wide Left and The Brady-less New England Patriots are 1-0 with the next three games in Foxboro I like it. A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

As a follow up to the "It's Not Fall Yet" write up, B.A.S.S. Elite Tournament Pro Greg Hackney penned this little nugget. Dated 11 Sept 2016 "Last week I called these the blah days. At best the fishing is so-so in most of the country. But it won’t be long and things will improve. The temperature is supposed to break next week, and the days are getting a minute or two shorter with every sunset. I’d guess that by the end of this month, or the first week in October, the fall transition will be underway. It doesn’t happen all at once, though. It’s a back and forth process that’ll last well into November. Typically they’ll move at least a half-dozen times before winter. When a cold front hits they’ll move way back into shallow water, sometimes no more than a foot deep. When it warms for a few days everything will move out a little ways, maybe into the 5 or 6 foot range. As time goes along and everything gets colder the shallow periods will get longer and the deeper periods will get shorter. The baitfish that the bass are eating get bigger, too. I don’t really understand the biology of it all but for some reason the smaller shad and other baitfish move first, well in front of the bigger ones. Regardless of whether or not I understand why it’s happening I do understand how it affects my fishing. The most profound effect is on my lure selection. They get bigger as the shad get bigger and the end of the year gets closer. One of my favorite fall baits is a walking stick. My preference is a Strike King KVD Sexy Dawg. Early in the season I like the Jr. size. It’s 3.75 inches long and weighs a half ounce. That’s pretty close to what they’re eating most of the time. Later, when the bigger baitfish move in, I fish the full size model. That progression is about the same for all of my lures. I’m a big fan of the Red Eye Shad in the fall as well. I start out with the 1/4-ounce size but then later I move up to the 1/2-ounce size. And that’s exactly what I do with my buzzbaits and my traditional crankbaits. Once it gets really cold I put away all my smaller stuff and go with all big baits. Besides that I don’t make any adjustments except for maybe slowing down my presentation. Even then, though, don’t get carried away with slow. They’re still fish, and the water isn’t covered over with ice. What they’re eating is still moving. And keep in mind that how this all plays out depends to a great extent on where you live and where you fish. Up near Canada it’ll happen faster and the cold fronts will be more pronounced. Closer to where I live the transition will go on a lot longer and the early cold fronts won’t amount to much. No matter, the deal at this time of the year is that the fish are feeding. Catching them is not about surprising them with an easy meal, and it’s not about enticing them into doing something they really don’t want to do. It’s about playing to their natural behavior. Do that and you’ll be successful." As the days get shorter and the over night air temps continue to slide, my anticipation for success grows as does my hours on the water. A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ Good Luck with your boat build. A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ As the seasons change, often times so does the basses locations. If you're not where they are at, your bait's not the problem. I like a spinner bait quite a bit at night. A-Jay

I keep a couple of different shaped files on board. Routinely checking points is SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) for the kid. Single hook presentations when the bite is on get check more frequently. Same for the leading point on the front treble of every crank bait that's being subjected to anything other than open water. A-Jay

A-Jay