Team9nine

Love the pink floating worm - particularly late pre spawn, spawn and early post spawn - one of my favorite bites. Throw it in the fall also, but typically use white then for whatever reason. Gotta’ believe same colored fluke would work as well.

I believe we’ve now been 90 or above 32 of the last 41 days, with 40 of those 41 days over 85. At least 2 more 90+ days in the forecast. Dew points have been bad, city lakes close by sunset, so I haven’t been fishing in nearly 2 months. Waiting on fall and winter to arrive 🥶

Looks like some type of floating pondweed. Fun stuff to fish 😎

Just pulled up with a simple search…seems legit 😎

Yeah, I troll 😎

I could, but I won’t. Like others have mentioned, I’ve regularly landed much bigger and stronger fish on significantly lighter tackle for their size, so that’s not the issue. Finding a body of water with a 15 pound bass, and then being fortunate enough to actually have it bite - that ain’t gonna’ happen around here 😆

I asked about timing because the most common thing I see happening that people confuse with a thermocline is a zooplankton migration (diel vertical migration - DVM). It often starts right about dark and gets progressively heavier through the night. The longer you stay out, the more the “thermocline” rises in the water column, eventually often blackening out the screen, only to reverse in the early morning hours. If he’s on a highly productive fishery, it could be that. Not as common, but I’ve seen it enough are turbidity layers. In some cases it can be heavily silted/muddy waters from a storm that after a week or two of stable water create a silt line near the bottom as the “mud” particles settle, while the water is clear-looking near the surface. This is more common in reservoirs. Similarly, I’ve seen an influx of cold water from a storm (often murky from runoff) create a similar image because the denser, cool water actually stays sunk under the warm surface waters instead of mixing in, but that’s a fairly unique situation, and you could argue is still a thermocline, of sorts.

Maybe, maybe not. What time of day/night did you take that pic? Most likely a thermocline, but several other scenarios can create that same type reading.

Bite windows - yes Predictability - only vaguely. Wouldn’t it be great to know you don’t have to arrive at the lake until a specific time and then only fish for an hour and 37 minutes because you had the bite window so nailed down? It happens, but not enough to be able to make any claims about having it “figured out.” Just generalities.

I’m not aware of any specific name given to the technique over the years. As has been mentioned, flipping was Dee Thomas. Beyond that, history tends to get more clouded, with similar things popping up in different parts of the country around the same time. Generally speaking though, Tommy Biffle is most frequently credited with developing “pitching.” For the short casting you mention, most would credit Jimmy Houston for developing that technique, but I never recall reading where he gave it a name. Various outdoor writers referred to it as ‘roll casting’, ‘side arming’, ‘speed casting’ and ‘underhand loop casting,’ among others, but “roll casting” is probably the one you hear most often.

Nope - no treatment, ever. InvizX is the other one I use and no different; years on most spools unless I run particularly low from enough reties or end damage. I'm an overspooler though, so I start with as much line as my spool will hold giving me a bit more margin for such things than those that start 1/8 inch or more under the spool lip.

Pretty much my thoughts ^^ I use a lot of Tatsu - I’d be shocked if it was the line given your circumstances. I have some setups running 2-4 year old Tatsu without issue. Rod guides, spool, or a random nick, in that order in my mind.

Lol - Yeah, one rod/reel and one bait the entire trip is something I’ve done so many times over the years - probably hundreds. I dare say I wouldn’t even consider it a “challenge”

Just checked mine as I run a very similar setup (16.5 Deep V aluminum with 9.9). My cavitation plate is about 3.5” below my hull. Pic below is running wide open yesterday. A few things that I’ve played with that seem to make a difference; - The little trim adjustments you can make with the adjustable steel rod - Any weight reductions you can make - batteries, trolling motors, tackle, keep livewells plugged and dry unless using, etc. - Weight balance; shifting heavy items forward or backwards to adjust balance - Prop size; I dropped to the lowest pitch made for my motor to keep rpm’s up high in the recommended operating range Depending on day and weather, I typically run between 9.75 - 12.0 mph with all gear, fishing alone. Removing a single battery or trolling motor (40-50 lbs) can gain me over 1 mph. Most other adjustments mentioned alter things by tenths of a mile

This is pretty much where I fall ^^ The starting line for ‘big’ is 18” or over 3 lbs in my book. You can look at DNR size structure metrics pretty much across the country and on average, bass 18” or longer typically make up 10 percent or less of all bass populations. If you live and fish where that size is an everyday occurrence, count yourself lucky and appreciate your ‘above average’ fishery. Back in Indiana where I moved from, that size fish didn’t even exist in a few waters, and was typically just 1-3 percent in so many others. Like Bill Murphy alluded to in his book, once a bass reaches about 4 pounds, it becomes a different creature and that is where ‘big’ starts taking on more significance to me.

I’ve never had one go out, and I’ve been running electronics on boats since the 1980s, but I’ve heard of it happening; know a friend or two who have had to replace one before, so not a complete anomaly.

I'm in the camp mentioned already of a rod with a slightly lighter tip that allows for casting or pitching a bait easier or more accurately, but not necessarily a lighter one - think frog rod or a pitching/flipping rod with what Denny Brauer referred to as 80/20 action - just enough tip to be accurate and/or quiet while still having plenty of backbone.

Pretty much on the same page as @casts_by_fly. I tend to think of ditches as smaller, shorter and less well defined (not as steep or defined breaklines), often being formed by intermittent flows from runoff as opposed to a previously permanently flowing creek.

None of them with any regularity… …but have seen a video or two (or 3) from most of them on specific subjects of interest or curiosity. The exception - ‘39hrs’ (Uncut Angling - 2 seasons of shows) was the best fishing ‘show’ I can ever remember watching on YT.

Yep - save a few for the table and cut ‘em open, or you can use a large syringe and flush the stomach with water.

Have a 55# transom mount Endura, my third one over the past 17 years. The first was a 40#, the second a 50# transom mount. Been pretty bulletproof. The full 55# is almost too much for the bracket, but the 4 lower speeds are great. Won’t be an issue with the 30. Miss infinite variable speed, but otherwise been a great motor.

Just averaging… Bank trips; 1-2 hrs Boat trips; 3-4 hrs Back when I was more serious (and younger) and tournament fished, almost every trip was an “all day” affair, typically 7-9 hrs on the water, not including travel time.

Playing down the tiny bass and little sacks, this post event PR ‘spin’ piece from BM was in the wires this morning: Bassmaster Elite At Sabine River Delivered More Of What Bass Fans Want May 19, 2025 By The Fishing Wire “…Instead, what the Sabine River gave fans was four straight days of intuitive bank-pounding, calculated junk-fishing, and every-ounce-counts power-fishing drama where subtle and seemingly imperceptible differences in presentation and strategy would make all the difference.”

In your situation, it’s entirely appropriate. In mine, the only “reconnecting” going on is its use as leader at times and the occasional top water…more like an amicable tolerance 😆

BIG BASS. BIG STAGE. BIG DREAMS. 😁 @king fisher “Now don’t be sad, ‘cause two out of three ain’t bad.” - Meatloaf