Bankbeater

I've had a lot of days like that over the years. That's how I started lure hunting. Got bored with no bites, started looking around.

I think it may be both depending on the conditions. Earlier this year it was color. It didn't matter where I was casting to. Now it's all about location. I have to about hit the bass in the head with the bait to make them bite.

If the bass aren't coming up to the surface after the Horny Toad, you can Texas rig them and fish them on the bottom. I told my dad this years ago and he thought I was nuts until he started catching them on the bottom next to a weed line.

If the bass aren't biting when I go out, I will usually start hunting for lures and tackle. Finding a $15 lure is almost as good as catching a bass.

Hawg!

Go get em!

I wouldn't have stopped fishing for those 15 or so years. I probably went out once or maybe twice a year during that period.

Last month it was very hot around here. The bass were hanging around vegetation that supplied oxygen and shade. They wouldn't come out after moving baits. I had to drop a weightless worm or senko on top of them.

It's name is pondweed. I won't say what I call it.

I'm actually pretty good at putting patterns together after I catch that first bass. The problem is finding that first bass.

Glad you are feeling better. Take it easy and don't over work your back.

I got my first spinning rod with microguides back in 2020. It took me a while to get used to it. I've been using it for small moving baits, and fishing with a split shot rig. First off the microguides will pick up a ton of debris. If you're fishing in slop then you will have to clean off the guides about every other cast. I never noticed any change in sensitivity, but that may be the blank and not the guides. Forget about fishing them in cold weather, they collect ice as fast as they collect slop.

I would use either 10 lb Stren or Trilene XL.

New to backing up trailers may have ran up on the dock on the left, and rolled over. The top is pretty well flattened, so maybe it was a photoshop job.

I don't have dedicated crankbait rods. I have dedicated moving bait rods. I have a mh/f for the big stuff around 1/2 ounce and heavier, and a m/f for the smaller stuff up to around 3/8 or so.

That is really looking sharp.

I have a St. Croix Premier MH/F that I've been using for 1/8 ounce jigs up to 1/2 ounce jigs I haven't gone over 1/2 ounce with it though.

The top water bite died when it got hot here. The bass have not wanted to come out of the vegetation after moving baits. I have been using plastic worms, Yum Dingers, and Texas rigs pitched right at the edge of the vegetation.

Around here they are buying up farmland with ponds on them. The developer then uses the pond as a retention pond to catch the run off from the new parking lots.

Night fishing is not an option for me. I've been pitching into coontail and lilypads. I'm not catching a ton, but I'm not getting skunked either.

There are 2 ponds near me that I have known about for years, but never fished. One pond is about 3 acres in size and one is about 5-1/2 acres in size. I decided this year I would fish them and see what they have. I think I have caught close to 100 bass out of them so far.

That is a nice smallie.

My mom always cooked in a cast iron pan. My brother in law trained to be a chef. He says the cast iron distributes the heat more evenly.

I got my SLX last year and about 3 weeks after I bought it I foul hooked a grass carp. I figured the SLX would be toast after that, but it stayed as smooth as ever.

Last fall I was catching bass on swim jigs in eel grass. No way I could've gotten a spinnerbait through that stuff.