WolfyBrandon

Winter to Early Spring Tackle Haul Preparation for 2018 & Beyond... This has been a long time coming, constantly adding little by little which added up to a lot. Lots of new bait's I'm excited to try out, some for re-stock, as well as others I needed to fill in some gaps for my new tackle system. WolfyBrandon

+1 Everyone has to start somewhere. Time on the water with family is better than time off the water without. Catching a small bass is better than not catching anything at all. We don't always get to choose the cards we want, sometimes we have to make the most out of the ones that we are dealt. WolfyBrandon

[March 19, 2018] Update: It snowed about an inch yesterday morning, but quickly melted off. Today was my first day back to work at my seasonal job. When I got off work I stopped by the local tackle store, and picked up my 2018 Fishing License. I couldn't resist the urge to take a peak at the lake conditions, so I took a little road trip... The lake is about 4 feet low, heavily stained with about 6 inches of clarity, and was 99% clear of ice. I didn't have a thermometer with me, but I would guess the water temp was in the high 30's to low 40's, as it felt very cold instead of painfully cold. The water is low enough that it would be difficult to launch a boat right now at this ramp. You can walk 15-20ft out on the dock, and its still only about a foot in depth. No fishing gear with me today as it was just a technical observation day. Once we get a few weeks of warm weather, and that water rises... It'll be game time! WolfyBrandon

2018 Bassmaster Classic Champion Jordan Lee Congrats!

2018 Bassmaster Classic "Live" Day 3 Unofficial... Official Day 3 Weigh-In "Live" Link (3:50PM ET) https://www.bassmaster.com/video/bassmaster-classic-weigh-2018

2018 Bassmaster Classic Day 2 Super Six 1st Place Day 2 - Jason Christie ( 37 lb 04 oz ) 2nd Place Day 2 - Edwin Evers ( 32 lb 04 oz ) 3rd Place Day 2 - Micah Frazier ( 32 lb 02 oz ) 4th Place Day 2 - James Elam ( 32 lb 01 oz ) 5th Place Day 2 - Gerald Swindle ( 31 lb 04 oz ) 6th Place Day 2 - Jordan Lee ( 30 lb 12 oz )

2018 Bassmaster Classic "Live" Day 2 Unofficial... Official Day 2 Weigh-In "Live" Link (3:50PM ET) https://www.bassmaster.com/video/bassmaster-classic-weigh-2018

1st Place Day 1 - Jason Christie with 20 lbs 14 oz

2018 Bassmaster Classic "Live" Day 1 Unofficial... Official Day 1 Weigh-In "Live" Link https://www.bassmaster.com/video/bassmaster-classic-weigh-2018

Overkill is a good way of putting it. Those hooks on the 130 are the heaviest gauge hooks in my entire tackle arsenal. I don't mind the heavy hooks, but I do like your idea changing to the ST-36's to get the bait to sit higher.

The Whopper Ploppers in the 130 size that I have come with some stout hooks...

[February 24, 2018] This winter has been strange... There was snow in early November that melted off in like a week. Didn't see snow again until mid December which also quickly melted. Then it was like spring conditions through the first of the year, all the way up to mid February with the high's ranging from the mid 30's to mid 40's. It was looking like it was going to be a mild winter (Which made me start thinking about fishing). Then mid February it cooled back down, the snow really started to pile up, and it's been that way ever since...

I just finished putting together a project which shows every single bass I caught, when I caught it, and on what type of bait, for the entire 2017 season. _____Context_____ In 2017 I made a total of 18 fishing trips between the dates of May 08, 2017 to September 25, 2017. I never solo fished, I always fished with my buddy Jeremy in his boat being the backseater 98% of the time. We even had a third person in the boat for 5 of the trips. It was a combined effort on where we fish, and when. The majority of the trips were done after work, (past 2:00pm) where we had anywhere between 3-5 hours to fish. A hand full of trips were done on weekends, where we made it to the lake early (around 7:30am) and had between 8-10 hours to fish. There is also a good chunk of time taken out of every day which is dedicated as an investment to my fishing log to measure & weigh every fish, document lake conditions, as well as locations fished, bait selection, etc, via pictures/video/audio to create a highly detailed fishing log to both learn from, as well as preserve personal fishing memories. My primary goal (as always) was to be consistent and catch at least 1 bass every day no matter the size - which I accomplished 100% for the 18 trips in 2017. My secondary goal was to catch 5 bass if possible. Given my situation and goals, bait selection & location planning was critical, and a huge part of my success. I also developed a tackle system this year to help minimize the large quantity of unused tackle I take with me due to the limited space, and time to fish. Though to be completely honest, I still had a large assortment of unused baits that I could cut down even further. If I can say one thing, this year I really learned that even though I have thousands of baits, "there is only so much time in the day". Honestly with the 3 combos I used, and the time I had to fish, I threw a maximum of 3-7 different baits per trip. (Not like that's going to stop my love for tackle, I'll just have to plan for Lots of fishing trips.) I'm someone who will commit to using a bait for a good amount of time without getting bit, if I feel the bait is right and should work. If I changed baits, it would mostly be due to conditions like Shallow/Deep, Clear/Weedy, etc. I will say I did feel limited only using 3 combos. I would normally rig up [Combo 1] - Finesse Soft Plastic (confidence bait) for casting to targets. [Combo 2] - A type of Search Bait, to cover water. [Combo 3] - Misc Bait, which could be anything from another soft plastic or search bait option, to a new bait I would like to test out. I found myself mostly using what I had already pre-rigged up prior to the fishing trip, which were sometimes the baits already rigged up from the previous trip that were successful. I would have liked 2 more combos just in terms of "fun" to give me the option to throw more stuff. These are the results for all the different types of baits I used and was successful with. I did throw a hand full of other baits that are not listed as they didn't produce any results. Disclaimer: This is by no means a reflection on what I think are the best baits, or only what works, it is only a simple list of data on what I decided to use that had results. I did not spend an even amount of time using each bait, I threw what I personally thought might work or what I wanted to use on a given day, in a given situation. This lead to the following results that are ranked by what bait type caught the most, down to what bait type caught the least... _____Results_____ [Quick List] Rank. Bait Type (Number Caught) 01. Tubes (36) 02. Grubs (25) 03. Finesse Worms (20) 04. Soft Plastic Buzz Frogs (10) 05. 15ft+ Diving Crankbaits (08) 06. Ribbon Tail Worms (07) 07. Squarebill Crankbaits (06) 08. Small Swimbaits (03) 09a. Lipless Crankbaits (02) 09b. Beavers (02) 09c. Topwater Poppers (02) 10a. Swim Jigs (01) 10b. Topwater Walking Baits (01) - Total # Successful Bait Types in 2017 = 13 - Largest Bass of 2017 = 5lb 00oz, 20 & 3/4'' - Largemouth Bass (Ribbon Tail Worm) - Total # Bass Caught in 2017 = 123 [Detailed List] Rank. Bait Type (Number Caught) - Fish Number (Date Caught) 01. Tubes (36) - 01 (05-22-2017) - 02 (05-22-2017) - 03 (05-22-2017) - 04 (05-22-2017) - 05 (05-22-2017) - 06 (05-22-2017) - 07 (05-22-2017) - 08 (05-31-2017) - 09 (05-31-2017) - 10 (05-31-2017) - 11 (05-31-2017) - 12 (06-07-2017) - 13 (06-07-2017) - 14 (06-07-2017) - 15 (06-07-2017) - 16 (06-07-2017) - 17 (06-14-2017) - 18 (06-14-2017) - 19 (06-14-2017) - 20 (06-14-2017) - 21 (06-14-2017) - 22 (06-14-2017) - 23 (06-14-2017) - 24 (07-19-2017) - 25 (07-19-2017) - 26 (07-19-2017) - 27 (07-19-2017) - 28 (07-19-2017) - 29 (07-19-2017) - 30 (07-19-2017) - 31 (07-19-2017) - 32 (07-19-2017) - 33 (07-19-2017) - 34 (08-21-2017) - 35 (08-21-2017) - 36 (08-21-2017) 02. Grubs (25) - 01 (05-08-2017) - (First Bass of 2017) - 02 (06-19-2017) - 03 (06-19-2017) - 04 (06-19-2017) - 05 (06-19-2017) - 06 (06-19-2017) - 07 (06-21-2017) - 08 (06-21-2017) - 09 (06-21-2017) - 10 (06-21-2017) - 11 (06-21-2017) - 12 (06-21-2017) - 13 (06-21-2017) - 14 (06-21-2017) - 15 (06-21-2017) - 16 (06-26-2017) - 17 (06-29-2017) - 18 (07-03-2017) - 19 (07-03-2017) - 20 (07-03-2017) - 21 (08-21-2017) - 22 (08-21-2017) - 23 (08-21-2017) - 24 (09-25-2017) - 25 (09-25-2017) - (Last Bass of 2017) 03. Finesse Worms (20) - 01 (06-26-2017) - 02 (06-26-2017) - 03 (06-26-2017) - 04 (06-26-2017) - 05 (06-26-2017) - 06 (06-26-2017) - 07 (06-26-2017) - 08 (06-26-2017) - 09 (06-26-2017) - 10 (06-29-2017) - 11 (06-29-2017) - 12 (06-29-2017) - 13 (06-29-2017) - 14 (06-29-2017) - 15 (07-03-2017) - 16 (07-03-2017) - 17 (07-03-2017) - 18 (07-03-2017) - 19 (07-03-2017) - 20 (07-03-2017) 04. Soft Plastic Buzz Frogs (10) - 01 (06-26-2017) - 02 (06-26-2017) - 03 (06-26-2017) - 04 (06-29-2017) - 05 (06-29-2017) - 06 (07-03-2017) - 07 (07-26-2017) - 08 (08-09-2017) - 09 (08-09-2017) - 10 (08-28-2017) 05. 15ft+ Diving Crankbaits (08) - 01 (08-21-2017) - 02 (08-21-2017) - 03 (08-21-2017) - 04 (09-13-2017) - 05 (09-13-2017) - 06 (09-25-2017) - 07 (09-25-2017) - 08 (09-25-2017) 06. Ribbon Tail Worms (07) - 01 (08-09-2017) - (Largest Bass of 2017 - 5lb 00oz, 20 & 3/4'' - Largemouth Bass) - 02 (08-09-2017) - 03 (08-09-2017) - 04 (08-09-2017) - 05 (08-09-2017) - 06 (08-28-2017) - 07 (08-30-2017) 07. Squarebill Crankbaits (06) - 01 (05-22-2017) - 02 (05-31-2017) - 03 (05-31-2017) - 04 (05-31-2017) - 05 (06-14-2017) - 06 (06-21-2017) 08. Small Swimbaits (03) - 01 (06-07-2017) - 02 (06-07-2017) - 03 (06-19-2017) 09a. Lipless Crankbaits (02) - 01 (05-22-2017) - 02 (05-22-2017) 09b. Beavers (02) - 01 (07-26-2017) - 02 (07-26-2017) 09c. Topwater Poppers (02) - 01 (08-21-2017) - 02 (08-28-2017) 10a. Swim Jigs (01) - 01 (06-29-2017) 10b. Topwater Walking Baits (01) - 01 (07-19-2017)

Not new to me, but I would say the technique I gained a lot more confidence in this year was... Deep Diving Crankbaits / Crankbaits. The past few years I've focused mostly on soft baits like Grubs and Tubes. I felt like if I tossed one of those two baits into a spot holding a bass I had a 90% chance I could get the bass to commit to it. Well credit goes to my fishing buddy Jeremy changing it up one day and throwing one of those new Berkley Dredgers. On one of our trips this year the fishing was slow. I was using a variety of baits, but fell back to my confidence baits (soft plastics) to try and make something happen. Jeremy makes a cast with the Dredger and hooks up (We were fishing one of our honey holes). So I make like 10+ casts in the area with a Zoom Mag II worm and nothing... He's all like, "Man I'm telling ya... Cranks!". I had just recently put together my box of Rapala DT's, so I broke out a DT-16 and first cast - the rod loads up! Jeremy makes another cast while I'm working the fish to the boat and hooks up again... After that day we both kept a crankbait tied on for the rest of the year. We caught a lot more fish with them (both bass and pike) and Jeremy even managed to hook into one of his largest bass this year on it. WolfyBrandon

3 Tools for Toothy Critters, (what I use) 1) Fish Gripper (Bogagrip) 2) Pliars / Hook Remover (Quarrow Hook Remover) 3) Jaw Spreader (Danielson Fish Mouth Spreader) Having them makes dealing with pike a night/day difference.

[August 21, 2017](Monday)-----Conditions----- Time: 6:15am - 4:30pm Sky: Sunny + Hazy Clouds + Eclipse (Slightly Dim Afternoon) Wind: Light Wind Morning to Strong Wind Early Afternoon to Light Wind Late Afternoon Water Temps: 66-74F Water Clarity: Clear (~4-10ft) -------------------- "Day of the 2017 Eclipse" Over the past week, Jeremy and I have been talking about fishing on this day as we were excited to see what the fishing results would be like. We both have Monday off from work as it's part of our weekend schedule, so we planned to get up early and spend most of the day fishing. The Eclipse is said to have 90% Obscuration for our area, and take place around ~10:15am - ~1:00pm. We expected some fishing pressure from the past weekend as well as possible increased activity on the lake due to the eclipse event. (Today is also the New Moon) As it is now late August, the fall season is right around the corner. I have noticed the mornings are getting darker, and the temps getting colder. The highs still average in the mid 80's to mid 90's, but the lows are dipping down to the mid 50's to high 40's. The smoke from the wildfires has dissipated now, however farmers have begun burning fields so you can still see some smoke on the horizon. I've been thinking about seasonal patterns as the conditions are beginning to change. As the main lake begins to cool, more bass should start moving up from their deep summer area's. We planned to fish shallow first during the early morning, and if needed we would move to deeper area's later in the day. Our first stop was a new spot that we haven't fished yet this year... Water temp was 69F and had a bit of color to it (~4ft clarity). Upon arriving we quickly noticed a lot of surface activity from fish of various sizes, we couldn't tell if any were bass or not. I couldn't decide on bait selection prior to this fishing trip, so I opted to wait until I was on the water to see the location and conditions first, then just adapt as needed as the day progressed. I rigged up a 1/8oz jig head with a Zoom Fat Albert Grub (Green Pumpkin) for a confidence bait, Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 (Ghost Minnow) since I seen the surface activity, and a Strike King 1/2oz Spinnerbait (Gizzard) for a search bait since the water had a bit of color to it. We both fished a good while without a single bite, all the while seeing surface activity all around us including behind us where we had just fished. Not even a single blowup or follower while using the Gunfish. I didn't want to do it, but out of frustration I decided to just lock the Grub in my hand and toss it to shoreline rocks and cover. I knew fish were in the area, if any of them were bass I was confident that should do the trick. Though the bite was soft, it didn't take long to put the first one in the boat... 14 & 1/2" - 1lb 06oz The first 3 hours of our day was spent fishing that first spot, and that was the only bite... Time to move. We headed north to one of the main lake points where the water was much clearer, deeper, with a good weed line and heavy enough wind to cause occasional white caps... First cast to the point I instantly hooked into my 2nd bass of the day. Just a dink, but with the slow fishing this morning I'll go for some numbers... A few minutes later, Jeremy makes a cast and hooks into a nice 3lb 3oz Largemouth... Shortly after catching his nice bass, was when the Eclipse was starting. We watched as the daylight began to dim, and throw the ambient light off as if you were wearing a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses. Sadly, it never got any darker than that. Fishing seemed to slow, or at least was less productive at our current location (we were on the move) so I experimented with some other baits. Tied on a Strike King 5XD in (Green Gizzard) and caught 2 more small bass, roughly the same size as the last one. After the eclipse ended, we noticed a few deer down by the waters edge getting a drink. After that we changed locations a few more times, I caught another little dink at the first location, then hooked into my fish of the day at the second location on the 5XD... 17 & 1/2" - 2lb 01oz Release Video Decided to experiment with baits again and gave topwater another chance. Tied on a Rapala Skitter Pop in (Silver) and this bass torpedoed it hard twice to finally get it... 10" - 05oz Changed locations yet again, and between the two Jeremy managed to catch two good sized pike, one being 6lb+. I caught a few more small bass for a total of 10 today, Jeremy caught a total of 7 bass (big one being fish of the day), and the two pike. At 4:30pm we had to call it and head back to the ramp... All in all it was a good day, we managed to catch a couple of nice bass, some small ones for numbers, and two bonus pike. Would have like to see the eclipse have more of an effect on the light levels like other locations, but it is what it is. Moving around was key to get the bites we did today, would have liked to visit a few other spots but we just didn't have the time. WolfyBrandon

[August 09, 2017](Wednesday)-----Conditions----- Time: ~2:30pm - 7:30pm Sky: Sunny + Smoke + Partly Cloudy (Claustrophobia/Surreal) Wind: Light Wind Afternoon to Calm Evening Water Temps: 75-80F Water Clarity: Clear (~4-8ft) -------------------- The summer heat is here, with temps in the mid 90's every day. It's been a while since Jermey and I have fished, July 26th was our last trip out and it was tough, we struggled to catch numbers or size. I even tried some deep cranking, but it didn't quite work out the way I would have hoped... - - - - - Well some time has passed, and the conditions have changed. The local area has recently been surrounded by wildfires to the north, south, and west... The wind during the day has pushed in all the smoke, and the calm evenings have made it settle where visibility has been down to only a few miles at times. Early every morning when the sun rises it's been so thick you can look directly at the sun and it's less intense than a full moon, being a red / orange color. In the evening when the sun is low on the horizon the smoke almost blocks it out completely. Sometimes I try and think how smoke like this can affect fishing, since it tends to be a common thing in my area from wildfires to burning fields. First I obviously think about light levels, like a sunny day vs an overcast one, but I also think about insect activity. I believe it can stir things up, possibly increase feeding activity. I remember last year I hadn't seen a praying mantis all year long, but found 4 on a smokey day similar to this one. Well after work today we geared up and made it to the lake around ~2:30pm. Here is a picture of the lake atmosphere... Water had a bit more color to it than before, clarity depended on area but in general was clear 4ft+, water temp at the ramp was 80F. Also noticed some clumps of broken up vegetation debris floating on the surface. We decided to first try an area that was productive earlier this year, we could see the vegetation had come up a lot since we last fished it. Since it was near the main lake channel, the water temp had dropped down to 75F. Could visually see a lot of small bluegill swimming around, and I even hooked into a little Perch. There were a lot of seagulls in the area and even a blue herring. With all the activity I figured the fishing might be good - we fished for a good 1 & 1/2 - 2 hours and not a single bite for either of us. It was that time where I start to think of the time invested in an area vs the results so far to consider moving to a new location, but the way we were fishing - we were fishing "into change" as we were coming up to a rock jetty which acts like a funnel with a bit deeper water near it. I had made a cast with the worm and let it hit the bottom on slack line. A few seconds later I went to check it and could see my line running to the right. I reeled up the slack then swung hard and the rod loaded up good, from the weight I figured it was a pike... that was until I got it close to the boat... SLAUNCH! 20 & 3/4" 5lb 0oz Release Video Bait 1/8oz Lead Bullet Weight + 4/0 Berkley Fusion 19 Offset EWG Needle Point Hook with a Zoom Mag II Worm 9" (Green Pumpkin) This year has been tough, struggling to catch a bass over 2lb, and today I landed my 3rd largest bass. I took a moment to try and take in the atmosphere of the day I caught this good one and learn from it, but the day was just unique. I can't really put it into words, I just know there probably won't be another one like it. We continued to catch bass, all of them were sizable little chunkers around a pound with good belly's on them. lot of topwater strikes on the Zoom Horny Toad buzzing it over big clumps of floating vegetation. I managed to catch one bass that had ate a small pike... As the evening progressed, fishing slowed as things became very calm... The Sonar was going off with activity in ~20ft. Using the worm I managed to catch one largemouth that was 11 & 1/2". We both managed to catch 7 bass each, Jeremy also caught a good pike. At 7:30pm we called it a day and headed home. WolfyBrandon

- - - - - Sneak Peak at part of my 2017 Tackle Project Rapala DT-6's, DT-10's, DT-16's WolfyBrandon

Close, (12-15 inches) so maximum of 3 inch difference between smallest to largest. Jeremy's LMB were about the same size as well. WolfyBrandon

[June 26, 2017] (Monday) -----Conditions----- Time: 7:00am - 1:30pm Sky: Partly Cloudy to Overcast To Partly Cloudy Wind: Light Wind to Medium Gusts to Calm Water Temps: 64-71F Water Clarity: Clear (10ft+) -------------------- Jeremy and I have been talking about our results from the previous trip on the 21st over the past few days. Lately we've been heading north near deeper water, fishing rocky areas and catching a lot of Smallmouth. The numbers have been great, however most of the fish haven't had much size to them. When he checked his pictures from last year he saw that he was catching some good sized Largemouth around this time at the south end of the lake where its more shallow and weedy. We both decided it was time to try fishing the south end to see if we could find us some good Largemouth. I was to meet him at his place at ~6:15am, so I got up around 5:30am to get ready and the first thing I did was check the weather. It showed a high of 89, partly cloudy with falling pressure, and the radar showed a small cold front moving in, with spotted rain showers... I had already geared up for this trip days prior with an emphasis on selecting "weedless" baits, knowing the area we planned to fish. So around 5:45am I started heading toward his place... We loaded the boat up, headed for the lake, and arrived at the ramp just a little before 7:00am. Being that it's Monday, and late June, we noted fishing pressure could be high from the past weekend. I've seen numerous trucks with fishing boats on the road over the past few days, so I can only imagine how many more were out on the lake. This is why I was surprised to see two bass next to the dock spook as we were launching the boat. As Jeremy was parking the truck, I tied the boat off, grabbed a combo, and made a cast, and ended up catching one of them. 1st Bass = 9 & 1/4", 0.26 lb (04 oz) Just a small one, but it got the skunk off my back. This was actually a good thing as our plan for today was to head to an area of the lake I have never fished before. I was going to change my entire bait selection from confidence baits to baits that work for the area, and hope that we can locate some fish. When we arrived at the location, I rigged up my three combo's with... 1) Strike King Swim Jig (White) + Keitech Swing Impact Fat (Bluegill Flash), 2) Zoom Horny Toad (Bullfrog) + 4/0 Gamakatsu Super Line EWG Hook, and lastly a bait I haven't thrown in years which turned out to be the most productive bait today... 3) Zoom Finesse Worm (Watermelon \ Red Flake) + 1/0 Gamakatsu Offset Shank Worm EWG Hook. Here are the results... 2nd Bass = 13", 0.97 lb (~ 1 lb) [Finesse Worm] 3rd Bass = 14", 1.26 lb (1 lb, 04 oz) [Finesse Worm] 4th Bass = 15", 1.37 lb (~ 1lb 06 oz) [Horny Toad] 5th Bass = 13", 0.95 lb (~ 1 lb) [Finesse Worm] 6th Bass = 13 & 1/4" 1.06 lb (~ 1 lb, 01oz) [Finesse Worm] 7th Bass = 13", 0.91 lb (~ 14 oz) [Finesse Worm] 8th Bass = 13 & 3/4", 1.06 lb (~ 1 lb, 01oz) [Finesse Worm] 9th Bass = 12 & 1/2", 0.79 lb (~ 12 oz) [Horny Toad] 10th Bass = 12", 0.68 lb (~ 11 oz) [Finesse Worm] 11th Bass = 13", 0.88 lb (14 oz) [Finesse Worm] 12th Bass = 9", 0.31lb (~ 05 oz) [Finesse Worm] 13th Bass = 11", 0.45 lb (07 oz) [Horny Toad] I managed to catch 13 bass, and Jeremy caught 16. The Horny Toad caught a few of my fish, but the majority came on the Finesse Worm. One bass came back for the worm 3 times. I didn't catch anything on the Swim Jig, but to be fair I didn't throw it that much as I was focusing on the more weedless stuff. We saw a lot more bass than we caught, the place was loaded. I believe this could be the reason... There were a lot of Bluegill beds in the shallows. There were a few beds in the area that could have been bass, but a lot of the bass seemed to be roaming and willing to chase baits. They were possibly hunting the bluegill around their beds as it was common to see groups of 2-5 bass swimming together. Even saw a few 2-3 lb'ers that wouldn't commit to our baits (probably spooked them and put them into curious mode not feeding mode). Almost all day long we could look down around the boat and see multiple bass checking us out. I have to say, this was our best day out so far this year. WolfyBrandon

[June 21, 2017] (Wednesday) -----Conditions----- Time: 2:00pm - 7:20pm Sky: Clear "Bluebird Sky" Wind: Strong Wind from the Southwest (White Caps) Water Temps: 64-67F Water Clarity: Clear (10ft+) -------------------- My friend from work (Jeremy) and I planned to continue from where we last fished back on the 19th (Monday) and had to cut the day short. We both got off from work at 1:00pm, geared up and headed to the lake, and were in the water and headed north to our location at 2:00pm. First thing to note was today was forecasted to be windy, and when we arrived at the lake we could see a southwest wind strong enough to cause white caps. The wind wasn't much of an issue though as the location we planned to fish was north on the protected side of the lake out of the wind. We decided to start fishing near where I caught my largest one the last time we were out. The bass in my local area spawn anywhere from Late-May to Mid-June, depending on the year. This year we received a lot of snowfall & record amounts of rainfall so the conditions are about a month behind last year. I suspected the nice one I caught on the 19th may have been on a bed, but couldn't confirm it due to depth & waves. I let Jeremy make the first cast to the spot so he had a chance at the big one if it was still there - and sure enough seconds later he was hooked up. Sadly, it shook loose while fighting it to the boat, so I made a cast to the exact same spot and again it was only seconds before I had a tight line and gave a good hookset... 1st Bass = 18 & 3/4" - 2.69 lb (2 lb, 11 oz) Same bass as last time. I was able to get a better measurement and it's actually closer to 18 & 3/4", same weight. Still couldn't see a bed but being that it's in the exact same spot, and we both hooked into it within less than 60sec, and I could see it's been caught before by someone else, I would say it has to be the male on a bed. Since I've caught it twice now within 3 days, I made sure to give it a good healthy release... We continued to fish, and I had another nice Smallmouth follow my bait and check it out but just turn and swim away. I made multiple casts trying different things to no avail, then Jeremy made a cast with his bait (similar yet different) and hooked right into it. Turned out to be a (1 lb, 10 oz) Smallmouth. There has been this common thing on all of our fishing trips... At some locations whenever we have the boat in ~35-45ft of water the Sonar has gone crazy marking things. It's been going off so much it's caused me to toss a few baits down there, and even tie on a 6XD and make a handful of casts with it... I've seen it marked up way more than that, almost top to bottom, lines all over, but never had any bites. :Shrugs: It could be anything... from Kokanee to a school of White Suckers. Would be nice to hook something though to at least identify the species. By this time we ran out of protected water, and were fighting the wind again, so we changed locations and headed further north to the next protected area. It was pretty much one after another for the both of us, but mostly just dinks - no real size to them. I caught a total of 10, Jeremy caught a total of 11. Just numbers today, for the exception of my first one which was the one I caught before. Anyway, here are the larger ones of the bunch... 7th Bass = 11 & 1/4" - 0.53 lb (08 oz) 8th Bass = 10 & 5/8" - 0.44 lb (07 oz) 9th Bass = 11" - 0.51 lb (08 oz) We both have the early work schedule so we had to pull the plug at 7:20pm and head back. It was another good day, the wind calmed down in the evening, and we caught a lot. We already have a plan brewing for this coming Monday and will probably change it up, will have to wait and see what happens... WolfyBrandon

[June 19, 2017] (Monday) -----Conditions----- Time: 8:00am - 2:30pm Sky: Clear to Partly Cloudy. Wind: Slight Wind from the North Water Temps: 54-64F Water Clarity: Clear (5ft+) -------------------- Headed out with a friend from work and his son. I managed to catch 6 bass, I believe he caught around 8, with one being a nice 2 lb 12 oz - 17" Largemouth, and another being a nice 2 lb+ Smallmouth. It was a great day... we both caught numbers & size even though we had to cut the day short at 2:30pm. 1st Bass = 9 & 3/4" - 0.37 lb (06 oz) 2nd Bass = 11" - 0.53 lb (08 oz) 3rd Bass = 18 & 3/4" - 2.69 lb (2 lb, 11 oz) (Guessed ~3 lb, but it was skinny) 4th Bass = 12 & 3/8" - 0.84 lb (13 oz) 5th Bass = 17" - 2.34 lb (2 lb, 05 oz) 6th Bass = 13 & 3/4" - 0.95 lb (~1 lb) Currently have plans to fish again tomorrow (21st), and possibly pickup where we left off... WolfyBrandon

Looks like I'm not the only one who thought that Savage Gear (Dark Gill) Bluegill looked great, and just had to have it... I picked this one up earlier this year at DSG as well. - - - - - - - - - - Also, being someone who loves to throw Spinnerbaits... they had something else that I just had to try out... WolfyBrandon

This is my Heddon Super Spook. There are many like it, but this one is mine. WolfyBrandon

Have not seen the spinnerbaits locally, only jigs. This is currently my favorite Jig & Trailer combo. WolfyBrandon