pitchNbass

I don't ever expect a 10lber. I fish for them, but I don't expect it. Just fish hard knowing one might bite, but I've come to realize on trips it isn't worth any let down knowing you only caught a 4lb bass. You greatly increase your chances fishing on lake toho, so my only advice is fish long and hard. good luck

Honestly I think you have a great chance to see some warmer weather and nice fishing come mid-march. It's been rather cold, but I imagine it won't last forever, and when it does start to warm up, I think the fishing will light up and you will still be seeing fish spawn by then. Good luck on your trip.

You called it. That's when it's handy to have that roll of TP in the glove compartment.

I had a question for all you anglers. How often do you make a cast somewhere with this great feeling that you are going to catch a fish, simply based on the fact that the scenery is just so spectacular? Either early morning sunrise, or late afternoon sunsets, I'll be casting towards the sun and just see a pocket or point around some grassline or structure and tell myself this is going to catch a fish. I always call it out and I almost always pull out a fish. I visualize it happening and it almost always works. Maybe it's just the fact the spot you know has fish regardless, but something about the scenery always makes me make casts in a certain direction because it looks the best.

My favorite has to be the anticipation of seeing a fish when you know you know you have a good one on the line. From the list of options, I guess that more goes closely with the fight. Although, it sure is nice when you are having a slow day and you get that first good bite.

This is Treasure Coast, FL and thank goodness for the fishing, or I'd be going crazy here. Big fish were moving up before the last cold front came in. We can't sight fish here as the water clarity about 12-18 inches unfortunately. High water levels is making it impossible to reach fish in dense cover where a lot will be spawning. Gonna have to get them on route. We are just positioning ourselves on the pattern where we know these fish need to move to spawn and we've had success. I'll post more pics as they come.

Back in Florida, me and my buddy did some fishing this past week at our private lake. Caught some nice fish, with around 20 bass over 5lbs. Here are some in the 6-8lb range. Still waiting for a double digit but cold fronts have been frustrating. 3 fish came on a strike king spinner baits, and 2 on SK crankbaits. GF took some cool pics.

Umm if KVD won the bass masters classic using live bait, what would that make him? I think people would say he cheated.

I was fishing on my little 3 man bass boat one day, went to cast and hooked one of my new shimano curado reels and shimano crucial casting rod into the pit lake I was fishing. It's sitting somewhere about 40ft deep. I tried trolling it and stuff, never got it. I figure it's some bottom structure now.

That's what I love about sundays. Outstanding bass!

Congrats on the PB. That is a hawg! I like the colors of those fish. There are definitely bigger ones in there.

Nice fish! My guess would be about 6-7. I caught a couple in that range this year. That one has a pretty good size head and belly, looks to be about 21-22 inches long, gerth about 16-17 inches. That would settle it in around 6 1/2 - 7 lbs. Great catch! Go back to that spot work those trick worms on bottom and carolina rig. I love those trick worms on a carolina rig.

Longer you fish cranks the more of a feel you get for keeping fish on. I actually have more success on larger bass (4+) bass because they tend to inhale a crank bait better than a smaller bass. The key is tension. When I feel a strike I reel very fast with a high speed reel to help imbed those hooks. I don't set a hook when I'm cranking at high speeds. If I'm cranking slow I'll reel fast and give it a sweep. Cranks typically have longer casts so the odds of having a fish jump on you is pretty great. You are going to lose some fish that jump, but I don't lose large bass very often, I tend to lose those little 3lb and less bass from shaking. Which don't bother me none.

I've caught a catfish on a spinnerbait this year, that was the most strange thing for me. Anyone had a cat bite a spinner? I've also caught crappie, bream, water snakes, alligators, and turtles.

I once caught the same bass on a spinner bait 3 times in one day and my buddy caught him again the same day. So 4 times. And they were all hooked in the same spot, poor bass had such a bad wound by the last catch we caught a couple small shad in a throw net and placed them in the bass mouth and it ate them both. Stopped catching him after that.

In Florida I fish everyday with high temps and 30-50% or more chance of thunderstorms. Although since that is an everyday thing here, it creates a pattern I'm familiar with. During summer in Florida, the bite is best in the early morning and late afternoon. Night fishing in Florida is also good in Summer, but I don't do much of that. Now in PA this unstable weather will affect bass fishing more greatly than probably a Florida thunderstorm would. If there is a change in surface water temperature that tends to affect bass for me here. I need to know more about the body of water you plan on fishing, but depending on the depth and cover available that are the two main factors you need to focus on. Bass rely on both for safety. As a storm begins to build and rolls in here in Florida, the wind picks up, I notice a huge change in activity. I sometimes land 30 bass in 15 minutes of fishing during midday before a thunderstorm rolls in. Only problem is I need to get off the water at this time. I couldn't tell you what the bite is during a thunderstorm as I don't fish during that time. But I do know, I have returned shortly after with varying results. It typically depends on the earlier bite. I've caught maybe 1 or no fish after a thunderstorm. I've sometimes caught tons when maybe the morning bite was bad. Sometimes it is so hot before a thunderstorm the bite is really off. A storm rolls through and drops the temperature by 10 degrees and wind and rain cools the surface temperature and sometimes bass bite very well after a thunderstorm. Sometimes the bite is really good in the morning, a thunderstorm rolls in and the fish shut down. Bass can turn off and on in a second. One minute the have lock jaw, the next you wish you could fish 10 rods at once. Just gotta look for the signs that turn bass on. Changes in air pressure, moon phases, sun position, cloud cover, wind, temperature. If you were to sit and watch a highly populated bass lake with a time lapse camera you can simply notice when bass turn on and off based on surface breaks on bass chasing bait. Even during the hot summer months bass still need to eat, and eat even more due to a faster metabolism. If you fish all day long without a bite, shoot might as well stay all night and wait for that switch to turn on.

Honestly, most of the largest bass I've ever caught always want to jump and typically they almost always do. Depending on the lure and my hook set I always try to keep a bend in the rod and constant line tension. THe bend helps keep that tension when they jump. Preventing jumping is only as easy as the length of line you have on the water from you to the fish. Closer the fish is to the rod tip, the easier it is to keep the fish in the water. The more line in the water, better count your blessings and focus on that line tension, and hope that hook set was good. But I love when a bass jumps personally, its the rush when you see a massive bass jump. The other day the 9lb bass I caught jumped twice and both times I felt my balls in my throat.

Also fish the windy side, I have more success at places where I think bait would be pushed into. Or the adjacent banks and ledges(drop offs). Bait will move with current, look for any signs of water movement, as bass will be where the bait is.

With cooler water temps, early morning bass will be actively feeding alone the grass lines and shorelines. Bait fish seek the warmer water as the sun begins to rise. Larger bass will wait in the grass to ambush bait or simply be moving through the open water looking for schools of bait. Try buzzbait over the grass as it typically can be somewhat weedless, or even a weedless frog. Rip a spinnerbait through the grass next, then I would cast parallel to the grass lines with a rattletrap or strike king red eye shad. In murky water I have great success with the strike king red eye shad in red and yellow. Bright colors work well, chrome with blue back works in the rattle trap. I like the 1/4 or 1/2oz in shallower water, and 3/4 oz in deeper water. Bass can see red and yellow very well in shallow water, and being as it is murky the noise and bright color will help. I would fish it fast and pause briefly every so often. If it is shallow keep your rod tip high and simply slower a retrieve and drop the rod tip for a different effect. Fast about 3-4 cranks, then pause, and repeat. If nothing bites, umbrella cast the trap or a crank bait accordingly to the depth of the water beyond the grass line... Flippin into the grass with jigs, craws, brushhogs, tubes and worms will work but I like covering more water quickly with buzzbait and spinners. If none of the above work, flip with the plastics, and carolina rig up the drop offs and ledges. If the plastics don't work, go into open deep water and fish a DD crankbait and try and catch a suspended bass with a reaction strike. If you can find deep structure, fish that good. Bump with cranks, or with jigs and plastics. Look for any signs of schooling bass. I've fished and seen them bust in large schools. Throw a crank, and bait imitation like a stick bait, or fluke will rip up schooling bass. Good Luck!

Just carry a .44mag on your hip and if one gets close put a few between his eyeballs and keep fishing. Some gators have ruined publics ponds here in Florida as they are protected. The place I fish is private property and with a permit we can take care of the gators pretty quickly making the fishing more pleasant. Just know if one had the chance they would take you out no doubt about it (8ft+). I've came up on a 15ft gator in Stick Marsh in a 12ft jon boat, and he wanted to get in the boat. My GF wasn't very excited about that. Typically they are shy but trust me, if you swam across a canal here in florida, you wouldn't make it to the other side with a large gator in the water. That alone makes me want to shoot em.

Banging structure, ripping through grass, erratic retrieves, cranking up the bottom have been good for me getting bass to strike this summer. If I just cast a rattle trap and had a steady retrieve and don't create any ruckus I don't catch many fish. Steady retrieve on spinner does nothing for me. I'll burn it, pause it, wave it, jerk it, jig it with much more success. I actually spend quite some time watching bait or perch move in shallow water to get an idea how they move naturally to learn what a retrieve should look like. I have even net a few and find out how they look when they are dying when I use a soft jerk. I have fished some shallower lakes, fish the deepest part, and the shade or cover bass can find. Typically IF there is no wind in shallow water and its really hot, decreased water levels, just fish another day... If there is wind, and I mean wind with some waves, if there is good cloud cover, increasing water levels, cooler surface temps from wind clouds and rain, the bite is typically better. Good luck the rest of summer, hopefully mother nature can help.

I fish practically everyday this summer, from about 6am-12pm so I've learned a lot about bass summer patterns. I will share some of the things I've learned fishing the florida heat. Yes I work from (2pm-11pm everyday too). I fish a lake that doesn't have much cover and is a old mine pit that they filled with water as a reserve for the surrounding orange grove. It has sharp drop offs, but lots of deep open water which can be very difficult for summer bass. Lucky for me, nobody else fishes this as it is private property but the owner is a friend of mine lets me fish it so it doesn't get much pressure. 200 acre lake in florida with I'd say too many bass numbers. Since there is no real cover, this summer the 7-9lbs bass have been loners. Completely in different random locations where I wouldn't expect a bass to be. I would say they were most likely suspended and cruising solo. The random strays and they have been caught on cranks, traps, or carolina rig in deeper water 15-20ft. I fish shallow structure 3-6ft of water and they typically produce fish between 2-5lbs, but only in very early morning and I better sneak up on it. I was catching a handful over 6-7lbs on the structure points using worms or spinnerbait, but that was during post spawn and not summer. It seems once the temperature started to increase I can't find any really large bass in shallow water period. Once bout 9-10am comes around, I cant find a single fish on about 5 good structure points on this lake. Yes, shallow water that have produced some nice 4-5lbs bass but again only in early morning. Shallow water I can catch fish during the day but they are always small dinks 1-2lbs. The largest factor here in florida for me this summer is the weather (heat, sun, rain, clouds, wind, water levels, moon). If there was heavy rain and an increase in water level, the bite is typically strong as I notice the surface temp drop into the lower 80s. If the water is decreasing with the hot summer with little rain, the water temp gets into upper 80s, the fishing is VERY tough. Early mornings I do well with less wind in shallower water where fish are actively feeding using traps. I can catch nice fish on a topwater over grass and along the outside of the grass lines or in shallow water. Although I first cast traps throughout open shallow water first thing in the morning and I will also throw stick baits on bass I see break the water. I have caught tons of bass throwing stick baits (sluggos, and soft jerks like superflukes) and cranks on and through boils and splashes. If there is a slight wind in the morning I will use a spinnerbait also. Shallow at night as well using a midnight special spinner bait, black and blue jigs and black worms produces along grass lines and flippin. Only during the night can I catch a lunker (6+) in shallow water. But I dont fish at night as I need my sleep and I hate mosquitos. If during the day the wind doesn't pick up by 10-11am, I should just pack up and go home if I'm not catching fish on deep cranks by then. Typically if there is no winds, even deep water seems dead as I can't really find a current to locate the bass. If a nice 7-10mph wind kicks up or a thunderstorm starts to roll in, the bite turns on again. I like to work cranks and deep divers when this happens. I do work them fast too. I try to create a reaction strike. I may throw a spinnerbait along grass lines if the wind is going good, and I always fish the grass line I believe bait would be pushing towards. I also then fish those ledges throwing against the wind with a carolina rig, or jig a spoon on the drop off. Spinnerbaits also produce, and so crankbaits. Early morning I will vary my locations, but stick close to shallow water and ledges, but as the sun starts to rise and I notice myself getting hotter, I assume bass are too. I like to cast parallel to the east banks of the lake and along those drop offs. I would assume bass seek this location longer because it actually stays shaded and cooler as the sun rises from the east. When the sun is directly overhead, I only fish deep water. Since this is 80% a 15-30ft lake, fishing deep can be difficult during summer with no structure. It relatively coverless in deep water. There are slight changes in depth which is the only thing I look for. Since it is 200 acre lake, I will fire up the outboard and troll deep water, trying to get a crank touching the rocky bottom. If I find a collection of bass I'll stop and work the area for a while and move on. This lake also has two islands, winds push tons of perch out of the grass, and bass will hold on the opposite side to get that bait getting blown off. Everyday isn't always a great day, although I've never been skunked on this water. I have had days where top 5 bass would be about 28lb bag, the conditions just need to be right, especially in the summer. I like to look up the weather the night before, and I can typically know if its going to be a good or tough day. There are no bad days fishing.

Another pic

She probably did weigh closer to 9 pounds. She was weighed an hour after I landed her, and she lost a lot of water weight and blood when she was finally weighed. Hard to really guess what she originally weighed. Maybe more than 9lbs... 24.5" long, 19" girth... an hour later. Here are some more pics, one is black and white cause I the blood in the gills is just depressing. Her gut was a lot smaller during the pictures unfortunately. I had been so successful with catch and release, it was just this fish was so large it inhaled the large deep diver and the treble got her gills through the back of her throat.

That bass is about 4 pounds 9 ounces. I've caught me about 100 this summer. Hard to break 5lbs for me this summer, so that fish size looks very familiar. Good catch man, those are always a pleasure to land.