Team9nine

SNICKERDOODLES!!

I have to ask - based on what you’ve posted, if you haven’t caught, or even hooked, one of these fish yet, how do you know these are bass? Honestly, they sound a lot like the roaming white perch groups I see on my local reservoir (also soft bottomed).

A great fall afternoon on a local reservoir, and the bass were mostly biting crankbaits - 16 total in just over 3 hours - but the largest coming on Ned. Surface temps at 68 degrees with a nice stain to the water. Expecting cooler temps along with some cloud cover this weekend. Might be enough to break my ‘no weekends’ rule and give it another shot.

I’d be trolling a deep diving crankbait at a decent clip and try for a reaction strike. This is one of the prime seasonal windows for doing so.

Fall morning bite has historically been really good for me down into at least the low to mid 60s. Beyond that, I usually preferred afternoons, though high 50s water occasionally has its good mornings, too. These days, every trip is a later day trip, regardless

Never been a big fan, myself, but Rich Zaleski has great success with, and has written much about, what he refers to as a “big jig,” which is partly comprised of two full-bodied skirts as part of the modifications.

Just further down the calendar for most bodies of water. Thermocline was sitting at about 20 ft last week on a local lake here in SC with about 70 deg water temps, but I fished it all through the winter last year and we hit low 40s surface temps in January, so they all eventually turn over. A couple years back, even east Texas reservoirs like Lake Fork had surface ice. Maybe S. Florida, or Mexico - lol

Absolutely! As a bit of an angling historian, there’s so many old “hotbeds” of fishing history, conditions and fish we’ll never see again, only read about them in newspapers, magazine stories and forums. If I had a time machine, I’d probably spend the rest of my life revisiting these angling pioneers and places, and die happy

Not how mine worked - probably varies from bank to bank. I noticed an unauthorized charge pending on my debit card the same day it appeared. Notified my bank immediately and they said they had to wait to see if it went through before I could dispute. What the? - wait til the money is actually gone then call us - lol. Was pretty disappointing. My CC, on the other hand, is all over it. They’ve contacted me based on activity they detected before anything ever showed up in my notifications, which usually show up within 60 seconds of a charge going through.

Start of the cold front hit us today. Pretty tough conditions, then didn’t realize I was about out of gas until I launched, so stayed close and just burned up the trolling motor. Tomorrow is the only cloudy day all week, so hoping to be able to get back out. Surface temps falling fast now, down to 70-71 deg. today. Did score a couple bass along with a handful of crappie.

Along the line of others, any tax sheltered retirement vehicle should be considered as a viable option. I’d look first at how that existing money is being utilized/invested, and reallocate it, if necessary, into more appropriate options, especially if it’s just sitting in a “cash” or money market type account/fund. Beyond that, view it in terms of all other existing options you have at present, but if those are already being properly funded and you have extra monies, by all means start contributing to it within limits and get that thing growing 😎

Different lake, same outcome - water still in the mid 70s and even the thermocline looked to be intact. A good shot of cool air over the next week should help the bite get fired up a bit, I hope.

Slow day with cold front moving in, blue skies, cloud arrival delayed, and light winds. Just stuck a few long skinny guys along with 8-10 crappie. Wind blows today, but hoping for a change of scenery on Friday.

I’d say smallmouth, but couldn’t completely rule out a hybrid, either. Lots of smallie characteristics in that fish

First trip out since the hurricane came through. Things are slowly returning to normal around here, including the reopening of a couple of the lakes. Water (and lake) was in better shape than I was expecting given the local flooding and damage. Managed 3 keeper bass and about 2 dozen crappie. Water still high 70s and stained, but not muddy.

Nothing 🤣 Possibly the only bait I’ve never caught a bass on. I even caught a bass on a Whopper Plopper - once 😉

Ned - always rigged and carried…and thrown - everywhere. Neko - not a fan. Wacky - Use it a lot, usually as a slower option to Ned, especially from the bank. Just pull the Ned bait off and use the same jig head with a Finesse WormZ. Minimizes tackle purchases and storage issues.

Swimming for suspended bass around cover, often over 15’-30’ of water.

Was one of the first back in Indiana to throw it (early 1990s) and won A LOT of money in tourneys by keeping it a secret for many, many years

This is year 4 for me with FFS. I would estimate 75% of all the bass I’ve caught this year are ones I’ve seen first and threw at - and not open water stuff. Only about 10% of them have been open water roamers. My lakes don’t set up well for that. This is mostly shallower water fishing, say 15’ and less, and a lot of it in just 5’-10’ of water. It’s been a lot like the iPhone for me. I was the absolute last person among friends and family to get one, because I knew once I did, there would be no going back. I was initially very opposed to its use (FFS), but finally resolved the arguments in my head over it and jumped in ‘small scale.’ The learnings of fish behavior have been nothing short of amazing.

I troll - when necessary - about 100 of the bass I’ve caught in the past 4 trips have come trolling. There are just some situations where either covering water with a bait always working in position, or presenting baits at speeds you can’t generate on a traditional cast-retrieve, is the best possible presentation for the day - and I carry the right tackle/gear in the boat to be able to do it effectively.

Beat the storms this afternoon. Back to the numbers lake but no wind and heavy cloud cover had the bass suspended high off the bottom and not in a good mood. Was able to piece together 27 today on a combination of cranks and shad-shape soft plastics. Overall quality was up, though I lost the best fish right at the boat, unfortunately.

Fishing alone - wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Here it goes! "I fish alone. Yeah, with nobody else. I fish alone. Yeah, with nobody else. Yeah, you know when I fish alone I prefer to be by myself." Thank you very much!

I'm the oddball. I never worry about scent when it comes to catching bass, don't intentionally use attractants, and don't believe it's worth my time to consider changing my approach. But, if it makes you feel better or more confident in your fishing...