dale.m

Well looks like I know what I'm doing for vacation next summer! Holy freaking cow man thats a ton of fish! Congrats on the catches! I'm sure that was a heck of a lot of fun!

You are not fishing to early at all! Night fishing in the summertime is one of the best ways to catch bass and enjoy it without all the heat and sunburn. It seems that you are changing through lures quite fast. I would try locating the bass first before you worry about lure choices. At around 9, I'd venture to say that most of the bass are moving up into shallower areas of the pond. Try fishing obscure areas along the shore like shallow points, secondary banks, and shallow flats. If there is any cover in the shallower areas, then fish those spots. On a windy day like you described, try fishing the areas where the wind current is flowing up onto a shallow area. Also, just like humans get lazy in the heat, so do bass. Make your presentations slower. My favorite lure to throw around that time is either a black jitterbug, a black/red or black/blue buzzbait, a frog, or a dark t-rigged worm. I don't know what your water clarity is like, but if it's murky then go for louder buzzbaits or try fishing a jitterbug erraticly. In clearer waters, I like to throw the darker t-rigged worms. Once you catch a bass, know that most of the bass in the pond are probably doing the same thing. Experiment with trying the same lure in another area with similar structure and cover. If you catch another one then you have discovered a pattern. Jot it down on a notepad so if conditions are similar in the future, you know what to throw. Hope that helps some and feel free to ask any questions.

I've never been scared, but I have been startled several times! Most of the time its when I'm frogging and stare at my lure so long I zone out. When a fish explodes on it, it makes me jump and sometimes even break a sweat.

I am a fan of the Veritas. I have a 6ft 6 medium heavy fast tip that I enjoy. It's light and sensitive. What it all comes down to is how the rod feels to you. Go check out a few and see what feels best to you.

Haha I wish my little airplane could do that!

I don't know if any of you were fishing on Smith Mountain Lake this morning, but that was me that flew over and scared all the fish away! Seriously though, what a fun little airport. I love how the approach comes in right over the trees. From the looks of it from above, I need to go fishing at Smith Mountain Lake.

She's a fatty! Nice catch! Glad you released her so next time she'll be even bigger!

At the moment... 6 1/2ft Abu Veritas MH/ Citica/ 30lb braid - Top Water/Universal 7ft Kistler Helium LTA MH/ Orra SX/ 15lb Fluro - Soft Plastics Stay tuned for more to come

Any cast that goes right where I want it to go.

Just got my hooks! I took the survey about 4 weeks ago. I received 2/0 EWG worm hooks which is exactly what I love to right my soft plastics with! Thank you!

Haha yea man! It was a very shiny fish! I wish I could of gotten a better picture of its head. It had nasty looking teeth, so I made sure I had a good grip on him with my towel.

You may of seen my thread earlier this week about the oyster toad fish that I caught earlier this week. I am in Sunset Beach, NC on vacation this week and I have spent some of my time fishing. I thought the oyster toad was weird enough, but that all changed as I was fishing off the pier tonight. I caught this beauty! Apparently it's called a Cutlass Fish or a Ribbon Fish. I caught it on a piece of shrimp.

Straight up Nat Geo in here.

It's either super slow in NC right now or I suck at fishing

I'm on vacation in Sunset Beach, NC for this next week. I brought some inshore poles with me to do some sound fishing. I'm not to educated on in shore fishing, but I figured I would tie on a pearl white fluke and see what happened. After a few casts, I got a massive hit and set the hook into the most alien looking fish I have ever seen. Apparently, its known as an Oyster Toad Fish. They have nubby teeth, poisonous barbs, and super strong jaws. They also grunt and wiggle like crazy, so its almost impossible to get them off a hook. If any of you have tips for in shore fishing, I'd love to hear them! I'm fishing for whatever bites because I don't really know whats swimming around in the narrow channels of the sound. Do bass lures work for in shore fish? Thanks!

Congrats buddy! Now go get you a 10 pounder!

I'm trying to figure out what the gear ratio is but I can't find any info on it.

Tonight, my buddy who doesn't bass fish anymore gave me an old baitcaster of his that he said he wouldn't use anymore. He gave me an Shimano Citica CL200. I'm an Abu Garcia guy, so I don't really know much about Shimano products. Is this a decent reel? The reel also feels like it has some sand somewhere in the gearbox or spool. I've cleaned it up some, but I'm afraid I will have to open more of it up to clean it thoroughly. Is it worth it to do this? Thanks for your opinions guys!

I caught a smaller 2lb bass that had a nasty hump in its back one time. It seemed to swim fine and it still put up a good fight. Interesting to say the least.

Tossed in a frog this morning and hooked a monster blue gill. Later in the morning I was fishing t-rigged trick worms and caught a decent bass. That was it for this morning.....the bass are lazy here in NC.

Congrats! What's even greater than that bass is the memories you will keep from the experience. I love it.

I am fishing this pond tomorrow from around 5 am to 12 pm. The lake features a dock, several coves with patches of lilly pads, and several lay downs. There are several lay downs, brush piles, and patches of lilly pads in the northern part of the pond. The water has 2 ft of visibility and is probably 10ft deep in the middle. I don't have a fish finder, so I don't know if I will be able to find them in the middle. I'm thinking of throwing a frog or buzzbait around the lilly pads in the early am, and then switching to a t-rigged trick worm as the day moves on. Towards the end, I might switch to a jig and flip the lay downs. How does this strategy sound? Here's a picture. Thanks guys!

Dadgum! That's a monster! Congrats on the catch!

Hahaha! This must be why KVD is so good at catching bass.

t-rigged zoom trick worm in watermelon seed with red flake.