Team9nine

The three in the pics are in the 16”-17” range. I only measure from the bank, never weigh. I carry a small retractable tape measure in my pocket, and a length-weight conversion chart for my area on my phone. I’ve weighed and measured hundreds of bass over the years, so I can pretty much eyeball everything these days, though I usually check the biggest fish of the trip just for reference. “Big” for my area is anything over 18”, so those get a quick tape every time.

Fun afternoon on a pair of micro lakes. Lots of cloud cover scattered throughout the day as the rain threats never materialized. Helped keep the temperature down, too. Spent the whole time throwing the finesse worm and ended the day with 41 bass. Had a few decent fish in the mix, but nothing real big. Thumb is a little tore up, but I’ll survive ?

Holy cow, that’s a lot of extra work, and might even be illegal in some states. What about changing your main line to braid on this outfit and just running a spool of leader line for whatever application you need? Or keep it fluoro and just use an appropriate strength leader and connecting knot and use much less line per retie/conversion?

Agreed - and they’ll be YT videos made that make them enough money to more than offset the purchase price ? Based on the casting distance claims in some previous threads by members here, it might not hurt for a few guys to pick one of these up and try it ?

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. ? Maybe a bit overdramatic…a good numbers day with a lot of aggressive bass crushing a finesse jig, but the fish in the pic was about as big as they got today. Totaled 26 bass, and most all of them came from the deep end of the micro lake, just outside the shallow flat breakline. Made for a lot of action, but was hoping for at least one better fish in the mix. Lots of rain in the forecast over the next several days, so trips might be hit and miss.

This is close to me ^^ I resharpen hooks regularly, but every time you do, you remove a little metal, and eventually you reach a point where it just won't take a satisfactory point for me, or you alter the point angle too much - then it’s gone. Skirts always get replaced once they're destroyed, and I’m a bit OCD on skirt counts, colors, and trimming, so every new skirt is the same as the last old one. Keeps mental confidence high. Someone else mentioned rust, and if I get surface rust on the hook the bait is tossed. I’ve broken enough hooks over the years to know you’re playing with fire in those situations. Otherwise, chips/scrapes/exposed lead - who cares? Same goes for loose heads.

Pretty much this ^^ Crayfish are in the water and available year round, so they are potential prey at anytime. When they mate doesn’t change a thing in my book. If anything, they may be less available or targeted then as numerous diet studies show baitfish like shad (when they are available in a body of water) tend to make up the majority of a basses diet that time of year.

Mid 80s with light breezes and partly cloudy skies. Nearly 3.5 inches of rain this past week has really cleared up a few of the micro lakes. Didn’t see any bass up shallow on the flats near the shoreline, so went small and skinny on the finesse worm and added a tiny bit of weight to speed up the drop and focused just off the breakline into deeper water. Apparently the bass liked the approach, as I got an even 20 fish today up to 17”. Even though they nuked these spots and killed a lot of the Chara in the shallows, I was happy to see a few sprigs of floating pondweed trying to establish themselves amongst the devastation here and there. Nature abhors a vacuum.

If that’s the way they want to run, just rig them “upside down” and they’ll run right ?

Big storm cell pounded us this morning to the tune of over 1.5” of rain in 2 hours. Drains weren’t running when I finally hit the lake late afternoon, but the cloud cover was still thick, and the water level was normal or above for the first time in months. Only caught nine bass, but they were healthy and pugnacious. Managed one over 5 lbs and several other chunky fish to go with it, all on wacky worm.

Nope, trailer is fine - your bass are too small ? On a more serious note, hard to tell. I’d try a different trailer (3” or similar smaller profile) and see if the same thing happens. Trial and error is really the best learning option we have. I’m always hitting a pond with something different just to see what will happen.

Hot and sunny, mid to upper 80s, and light winds. Ended the afternoon with 15 bass; 8 on swimbaits and 7 on finesse worm. Bass weren’t overly active, but the catfish sure were for some reason - maybe spawning or post-spawn feeding. Both ate finesse worms but saw several others cruising I couldn’t get to bite.

Never - but like most other bass anglers, I have my favorites and idiosyncrasies on things like color (shades, patterns, flakes, amount, “looks”, etc.), but those are MY hangups, not the fishes ?

This ^^ …plus search out his old posts here on the forum for some of his trip reports and observations from the Colorado ponds he frequented.

Some basic rules of thumb (not absolutes) have always applied for slow rolling: * single blades have less drag/lift than double blades * smaller blades have less drag/lift than larger blades * willow blades have less drag/lift than Indiana blades; Indiana blades have less drag/lift than Colorado blades * heavier heads hold bottom better than lighter head weights * thinner/smaller trailers, or even no trailer, have less drag/lift than larger bulkier trailers. The same thought applies to sp’bait skirts * slower retrieve speeds or gear ratios are better/easier to slow roll with than faster reels. Just about any spinnerbait combo can be slow rolled by simply adjusting the above mentioned variables, but historically, a heavier bait with a small Colorado lead blade and a willow leaf back blade has been the “standard” bait for overall slow rolling, especially in lakes with submerged vegetation, while a single Colorado style sp’bait has been the “standard” night bait slow rolled or lift/dropped.

Junebug or Bama Bug - fish that water color all the time here.

Zebra or quagga mussels attached to those sticks?

Lethal temperatures for both northern, hybrids and FL strain aren’t terribly different according to research, ranging from about 99-103 deg. F. FL strain does have the higher threshold, northerns the lowest as you might expect. What they have also found is that the bass living in regularly excessive thermal environments like cooling lakes have much lower resting metabolic rates to offset the high temperatures which in turn allows them to more efficiently convert food to biomass.

Sounds like a great trip. I’m going with combo of the two. An aggressiveness on the part of the fish, for whatever reason, always helps bite numbers - some days/times the fish just don’t bite, and there’s little you can do to force the issue. But, there are certainly decisions in location, presentation, etc. that can make a big difference in final outcomes. Great trips happen when both parties come together at the same time.

Twenty-eight bass today. Sunny and hot, with a high of 90 and a heat index of 96. Just a light breeze that felt good if you were facing it. Took 14 bass on swimbait under those conditions this afternoon, then caught 14 more this evening from a different location after the clouds rolled in and temps dropped slightly, all on finesse worm. Rain overnight and tomorrow with a slight cool down will be welcome.

Another vote for 8 lb. InvizX or a similar high end finesse fluorocarbon if you go that route. My PB flathead of 44 lbs and change was caught on a shakey head fished on spinning gear with 8 lb InvizX.

Who is this “They” who “say” all these things Do “they” actually bass fish, or just pontificate on the basis of logic and reason without experience? To these “They” persons… It doesn’t matter most days. I catch plenty of bass fishing both directions.

Two thoughts come to mind. The first is that heavy vegetation will filter the water, usually leading to clearer water and subsequently allow the bass to spawn deeper since sunlight can penetrate deeper, so the two kind of work in tandem. The other thought is more commonly, bass will spawn along the inside milfoil weedline as the stuff rarely grows all the way into the shallows. Plus as others have mentioned, hard bottom areas inside the milfoil from roadbeds, rock or gravel or even shell beds will all create openings where bass can spawn. Plus, weedgrowth allows lots of spaces for the juvenile largemouth to hide, leading to less predation and greater survivability, hence stronger bass populations in most cases.

Like many, I fish alone about 95% of the time these days, but that hasn’t always been the case. My long time fishing friend was Lee Dilley, who was about 15 years older than I, but was an “old school” multi-species structure fisherman much like myself. Our approaches, styles and temperaments just meshed well together, and we’d usually get in about 2-3 dozen trips together every year, all year long as long as the lake wasn’t frozen. He passed unexpectedly of a massive heart attack about 3.5 yrs ago. My other fishing buddy was my team tournament partner, Bryan Johnson. “Bryan and Brian” we were called. It’s also where the Team9 nickname stems from. We spent many days fishing together, as well as against each other, in bass tournaments as well as just “fun” fishing. Much of this was in the mid to late 90s and early 2000s. He was also part of the trifecta we had along with Jacob Wheeler, when the 3 of us were all fishing together, mentoring Jacob. We still keep in touch and get out a couple times a year, but life just kind of moved along after we stopped fishing tourneys and Jacob got married and moved to TN. We both still live the tourney life vicariously through Wheeler these days.

Just remove everything from the hooks when done and put back in their original bag or tackle bin, and do the same with the hooks…unless you’re going to use the same setup again the next day, or you have some issue with used plastics - then just toss them (the plastics - keep the hooks).