Team9nine

Ditto, but I’ve pretty much given up throwing them. I have a box full of them, most have never seen water and the rest are 20-30+ years old - lol. They were a staple when I first got into bass fishing, but our waters were clearer and most had grass. Once that went away and those waters stained up, they became VERY situational, and rarely used. That’s part of what’s neat about fishing - a bait I would practically give away as worthless is a favorite/confidence bait for someone else.

Pretty much - if you’re looking for the newest, hottest, most expensive tackle, or anything from Japan, don’t bother stopping by my house, you’ll just be disappointed. Even a majority of my reels are what I consider ‘disposable’ 😆

Went to my "worst" muddy lake yesterday to see if things had improved. It has been 17 days since the downpours that had muddied it up to begin with. We did get 1.4" the day before, but it was a steady all day thing, not a gully washer, so I was hoping for the best. Nope - still heavily stained (didn't measure), but from the looks of the trailer when launching, maybe 6" or so. Very non-active fish overall. Managed a dozen crappie, very scattered and nothing grouped up, and no bass. More all day rain here today, so I'll be writing that lake off completely and won't return until I see the water temps over 50 degrees at the other nearby lakes that haven't suffered quite as much from the rains.

Not surprising, but seems like the two are leveraging each other to companies/sponsorships; no deal unless we’re both in. Probably Dad looking out for his daughter’s best interests and developing her resume. Just saw another announcement this morning that the pair were added to the BeatDown Outdoors team.

Hmmm, if they've already been mentioned, am I really different than anyone else? 😆 As @Pat Brown mentioned, I’m a huge proponent of depth and speed control irrespective of bait. You’d be surprised what you can do with a bait (versatility) once you fully grasp the concept. It’s why another of my ‘different’ traits would be, I don’t buy new stuff to try (almost never). I have my proven ‘standards’ and don’t get wrapped up in the marketing and allure of shiny and new. That goes for line, lures, rods, reels, etc. One that might be truly different than most is that I’m predominantly functioning as a backtroller, operating out of the back of an aluminum V-bottom boat with everything I need right there - tiller engine, troll motor, graphs, anchor, etc., and fish sitting down over half the time. The last, in regard to time of day, is I no longer ever get started before lunch these days. I spent years and years fishing tourneys, up at the crack of dawn and on the water. No longer - lol. Science says bass move just as much in the last hours of the day as they do in the first few. Plus, nearly every big bass chaser worth his salt will tell you the middle of the day is one of the absolute best times to catch a lunker. I’ll take a good night’s rest, grab a good lunch, then hit the lake in the middle of the day with the sun overhead, launching about the time most guys are thinking of heading home, then stay until dark, long after most early rising anglers have left.

A bit nuanced, but there were two types of patterns involved in the early Bassmaster years. Rick Clunn’s system was based on ‘seasonal’ patterns, fish repeating areas of use year after year during the same time of year, like the back of creek arms in the fall, and in some cases, then eliminating cover alternatives within those areas. The other type which is being mentioned was Roland Martin’s ‘pattern fishing’ which largely revolved around ‘cover’ options. Fish are ‘in the pads,’ or ‘on the laydowns,’ or ‘on the riprap,’ etc. Roland is usually the one credited with coining the term ‘pattern fishing.’ Neither is arguably obsolete, and if anything, “pitch your bait to any and all areas where a bass could hide" sounds more like junk fishing. Patterns vs junk - I don’t know. Both have their time and place…and now there is FFS which gives us the ability to ignore all of the above and simply target ‘the fish’ irrespective of location.

A bit eerie out on the water today. Only boat on the lake when the fog rolled in heavy, eventually requiring GPS to make it back to the ramp.

Just looked it up - I’m about an hour and a half from there. Looks like a big, open lake. I’d have to watch the wind forecast closely to risk a drive like that in the small aluminum. Thought I’d seen reports though that it had a good population of fish in it.

You must be near me - lol. My local lake is the same way. This is 10 days after the last rainfall. We’ve improved from <1”, now up to about 6” of vis. Almost a complete waste of time with the water this cold (low 40s). Won’t be quite as bad when we finally move back up into the 50s. You’ll want to really search out and find the clearest water you can…then fish tight to the bank or hard cover in shallow water until you can get at least 12” vis or better based on what I’ve experienced.

South Carolina

Cloudy and upper 40s, but the wind was light (NE) and the rain stayed away. Switched lakes for a variety of reasons - only the 2nd time I've ever fished this one, the first being about 3 weeks ago. Water stained w/about 18” of vis at best and 42 degrees. Had a decent afternoon with 4 keeper bass on jig and Ned. Ready to get back out there when the rain finally moves through…supposedly not until Sun. Hoping to catch a break before then, and if not, that the lakes don't get trashed since they're just recovering from the last downpour.

I would hope, but not going to entertain fate 😉 I’ll just catch them as they come…big or small

Oops

Nevermind - LOL

No chance 😆 who knows, I might have already caught it (5-10). Hope not…

It’s all just ‘marketing.’ The industry has become somewhat of an embarrassment at this point, but they can’t help themselves. Like one of those ‘slow motion train wreck’ type metaphors 🤑 💰

I caught a lot of bass this fall trolling Spoonplugs, like this 4 lber.

There were a few primary schools of thought. One was the already mentioned belief that trolling was ‘low skill’ or even unsporting. It was banned back in the late 1950s/early 1960s in the Texas State bass tournament for those reasons. That set the early tone. Ray Scott also considered it ‘unfair’ to partners as he was pairing different guys from different states together in his B.A.S.S. events, and you had no idea ahead of time who you would draw. Would have been a mess pairing a troller with a caster, and trying to equally share the boat operation. Plus, I think he envisioned a ‘mano y mano,’ two guys standing together and competing scenario. There was also the Buck Perry/Eisenhower deal which possibly played into it if history is accurate. If you think about it, bass tournaments are about the only events that do ban it. Crappie, walleye, catfish, and muskie events allow it, as do most all saltwater tourneys.

Posted 10 minutes ago on 1/22…? Am I missing something? Too late for those just seeing this post?

And still the best way to standardize clarity measurements across lakes without bias Great way to key in on presentation options and variables.

Out checking water clarities on the local reservoirs since I decided not to take the boat out given the 30 mph winds and falling temperatures. Worst lake only had 6” of vis. - the best were closer to 20” plus some 10 days after our 4” deluge. More on the way later next week.

All terms I’ve used with few words - they all categorize the same basic approach. 1 - Bites! 2 - Sucker Shot 3 - Windows of Opportunity 4 - Don’t Fight the Bite It’s all about getting bit - the more times, the merrier 😎

Wordle 944 4/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #222 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟪🟪🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪

We didn’t get the ice or snow here, but we got the cold temps. Water still stained to muddy and surface temp now down to 42-43 deg. The fish don’t seem to like it continuously dropping, but still managed a couple small keepers on jig for the effort. Could be a lot worse 😆 Another cool sunset, too.

I hate it when you have just a letter or two left, but you can legit make 5 or 6 different words with the remaining letters and it comes down to a guessing game of attrition Wordle 943 5/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #221 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟩🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨