Bluebasser86

The rounded anal fin on that cat is a sure sign of a channel cat. Blues have squared off anal fins and more rays but it's impossible to count them on that fish. I actually find catfish to be more finicky and line shy in cold water than bass are. Have to sit through a lot of little tap, tap bites before a fish finally takes the bait good and a lot of times that never happens, they just quit messing with it. Bass on the other hand, may not bite hard but they really seem to suck the bait in and hold it for a long time in cold water. 3 of the biggest fish I caught this year were caught from January to March including the 7.76 in my avatar.

Wachati was nice enough to invite me out to his secret pond Thursday afternoon. Wind was howling too hard to try to put a boat in so we walked the edge of the pond, which made things a little difficult because the water level was way down and pretty shallow along the edges. I watched Peter catch the first 3 while all I managed to do was snag a bluegill on a rattletrap. I was dragging a homemade blackberry colored brush jig along the dam when I felt a very light bite and my line started moved off very slowly. The cold water didn't deter the fish from pulling really well and the jig popped out as soon as I got my hand on her. Didn't measure her but looked like she'd just eaten a big bluegill or another bass with the fat belly. My first fish was 4.67 pounds. We fished around the pond and only caught a couple more before we got to the far end with a bunch of dead lily pads. I had a couple bites on a pit boss and caught a dink or two before I switched to my homemade black and blue chatterbait. Got a couple more dinks and missed a good bite when I stuck another good fish. Another fat, strong pulling fish that was probably in the 4-4.5 pound range. We made it back to our starting spot and I was fancasting the chatterbait off a point when I got another light bite that turned into a heavy, hard pulling fish. I was barely able to keep her out of some cover before she gave up and let me get my hands on her. My biggest of the day went 5.57 pounds. Fished for another hour or so but we both only caught a couple more small ones. It certainly wasn't fast fishing but the quality made it more than worth it

Peter was nice enough to invite me out to his secret pond Thursday afternoon. Wind was howling too hard to try to put a boat in so we walked the edge of the pond, which made things a little difficult because the water level was way down and pretty shallow along the edges. I watched Peter catch the first 3 while all I managed to do was snag a bluegill on a rattletrap. I was dragging a homemade blackberry colored brush jig along the dam when I felt a very light bite and my line started moved off very slowly. The cold water didn't deter the fish from pulling really well and the jig popped out as soon as I got my hand on her. Didn't measure her but looked like she'd just eaten a big bluegill or another bass with the fat belly. My first fish was 4.67 pounds. We fished around the pond and only caught a couple more before we got to the far end with a bunch of dead lily pads. I had a couple bites on a pit boss and caught a dink or two before I switched to my homemade black and blue chatterbait. Got a couple more dinks and missed a good bite when I stuck another good fish. Another fat, strong pulling fish that was probably in the 4-4.5 pound range. We made it back to our starting spot and I was fancasting the chatterbait off a point when I got another light bite that turned into a heavy, hard pulling fish. I was barely able to keep her out of some cover before she gave up and let me get my hands on her. My biggest of the day went 5.57 pounds. Fished for another hour or so but we both only caught a couple more small ones. It certainly wasn't fast fishing but the quality made it more than worth it

I'd trade my good fishing days for having weedends and holidays off with my family. This year is the first time in 7 years (since I became an LEO) that I'll get to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas (most of it anyways) with my family.

Yeah, getting on the lake will get a lot more difficult for me in the very near future also. Just depends how long my wife decides to wait to have our baby.

I figured for sure when I saw the title and saw it was RLR that started it this was going to be an alcohol thread

I'd suggest trying some hi vis white or yellow braid with a leader to make your line easier to see. Once you see what a bite looks like a few times you should be able to tell what it looks like with any kind of line. The braid floats also which will help with bite detection. Something like a weightless senko or wacky rig are good baits to learn how to watch your line with.

The small dip below it even looks like a possible grave. I know that graves have been dug up so reservoirs could be built, maybe they missed one?? More than likely though, it's a stump and the empty space is the area under it's roots that has been washed out.

Just 5 more days until Don Shula and the boys from the '72 Dolphins can pop that bottle of champagne!

The sound of redwing blackbirds always make think of spring, too bad I won't be hearing them for a few months again

The last couple years we've done homemade pizza or ham instead. A lot faster and much easier prep.

Probably everyone with a boat that likes to fish and has weekends off I'd guess Makes me glad I have my weekend during the middle of the week

I've done really well with a baby brush hog on a shakyhead, mainly for largemouth. The small beaver baits are killer for smallies on a shakyhead though.

I get there at first light no matter how cold it is. First trip of the year last year it was 11 degrees when we dropped the boat in the water and we were on fish first thing. Sure it's slow sometimes but I'm sure not going to catch them from my bed

No doubt it's the same fish in your pictures. I caught the same little crooked backed largemouth on the same jig twice in the same day off the same stump. Fishing a private lake with a tagging program I caught the same largemouth 3 times one summer on 3 different baits in 3 completely different areas.

You can still fish longer rods, it's just the typical jerkbait retrieve is a downward twitch or snap towards the water. In that instance a 7' rod is probably going to be slapping the water a lot, plus it's going to wear you out faster. I'm 6' tall but still wouldn't want to try to fish a jerkbait on a 7' rod all day. The rod I use is a 6' 2" M/XF and I never touch the water with it. At the same time I fish rods up to 8' for other techniques without an issue because they're better suited for the technique. One of the techniques you listed, swimbaiting, I wouldn't want to do with a shorter rod. A longer rod will move more line on the hookset and allow you to control a big fish and steer it around obstacles a little easier. I don't know what size swimbait you're planning on fishing but a 7' rod built stout enough to handle the swimbaits I fish would be a pool cue with guides and a reel seat on it. There just isn't enough room to have the right taper built into the rod to handle casting a big bait very well. Depending on what cranks you're wanting to fish you may be better with a shorter rod or a long rod may be what you're going to want. If you fish a lot of squarebills around docks or around lots of standing timber where you're making short roll casts and have to worry about hitting obstructions with your rod then you may be happier with a 6' 6" or even a 6' rod. If you're planning on launching DD22's or 6XD's to deep rockpiles and ledges all day you'll probably be happier with something in the 7' 6" to 8' range to allow you to really sling a bait and reduce the strain on you while fishing a hard pulling deep crank all day. Obviously that's in a perfect world where you can afford to buy a different rod for each technique you described. If you only have the means to purchase one rod to do everything a 7' M or MH fast rod is a very versatile rod. It won't be perfect for everything, but it will work for a vast majority of fishing techniques.

T rig or C rig I drag them. No hops, bumps, twitches, just drag it.

I almost always go with a creature bait before a swimming tail worm unless I'm fishing really clear water or I'm fishing deep. In those cases the worm is less for a bass to look at and determine it's fake and in deep water a worm offers less resistance so it gets down quicker. No real science to why I fish them, they just work better for me and catch better quality fish.

Strike King, Bandit, and H20 cranks make up almost all my cheaper cranks. I have a lot of LC squarebills also but obviously don't qualify as a "cheap" bait, at least not in the sense that most people define it.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/125868-whats-your-personal-best/ http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/125691-post-your-personal-bests/

I fished for years out of a 2 man with no depthfinder or map. It is a lot of trial and error and a lot of attention to detail. I had to pay a lot of attention to what my bait was doing and I was able to find drop offs, weeds, brushpiles, laydowns, and changes in bottom composition. Baits like a deep running crankbait or heavy jig will basically allow you to map out the bottom of a lake in your head. You can also get topo maps online for a lot of lakes anymore. I know Navionics has topo maps for tons of lakes on their website. There's a tool on here that has them also.

I think the white bass population out there is down quite a bit, at least it seems to be to me. Without those eating machines tearing up the shad populations it's just one more factor keeping tons of shad in the lake. I bet all those little channel cat in the lake probably look like tadpoles they're so fat from gorging on all the little shad. I wouldn't ever count out the outlet for bass either. I've caught 2 over 7lbs from the outlet, several in the 4-5 pound range, and know of one over 9 from the outlet.

Color doesn't make a bit of difference if it isn't in front of a fish. I'm way more concerned about being around fish than I am about color of my jig. I have lots of different colors, because I tie my own. Most of those colors are very specialized to a certain body of water and what those fish seem to favor. A vast majority of the time I fish the same 4-6 different colors and get by just fine.

Well working nights I mostly miss daylight because I'm asleep

Really isn't a bait in the box that doesn't work at some point during the fall. Once the water temps really start to cool off a rattle bait, suspending jerkbait, and a jig are my main go to baits.