dale.m

Haven't had much luck here in NC. The weather has cooled off to a measly 95 degrees here today. I'm gonna take the boat out tonight after work and throw some soft plastics around some brush piles.

Anybody going fishing this weekend in the southeast despite the blistering temperatures? I'm thinking about hitting the water tonight and early saturday morning here in Greensboro, NC. Do you have any specific ways that you beat the heat and land fish?

I have the Orra SX 7:1 and it is a great reel for the price. The braking system on it is nice and it's very smooth. All in all, for a budget reel, it gets the job done nicely.

You had a better June than me! Not one fish over 3lbs

Basically like everyone else has stated, use dark colored lures like black/blue or black/red. Honestly, when I fish at night, I use one of 3 lures. It's either gonna be a black/blue buzzbait, a black jitterbug, or a black/blue spinnerbait with a colorado blade. If the moon is out, I use a chrome blade on the spinner. If not, I go for a black blade with blue flake. At night I like to fish around cover, but I let myself cast further from it than I normally would in the day time. A deadly combo is if you can find a good lilly pad covered area and cast a black buzzbait just around the outer edges of the pads. The second you hear the splash wait for the weight of the fish then set the hook!

Hope they are ok! On a lighter note.....did you flip a jig in around the boat? Looks like some good cover

Hahahahaha! Thats a great story! I actually have one from tonight! I hit the lake right at sunset and could only fish for about an hour or so. It got dark, but I could still make out objects on the surface. I saw what looked like a beaver swimming across the pond coming towards me. Now I don't know about yall, but I've heard stories of people getting their fingers, toes, nipples, and etc ripped off by beavers. I crawled up high in my boat and watched the beaver swim past. All of the sudden, a huge explosion of water engulfed the beaver and from below came a massive largemouth with his mouth wide open ready to suck in its prey. The beaver disappeared and I never saw it again. I was completely dumfounded and gazed at the spot where the attempted murder took place with an open mouth and wide eyes....kind of like a bass. After a few moments, I let out a huge laugh and decided to call it a night before that same bass tried to take me and my boat out next.

I haven't run into that situation, but I could see how it may happen very easily. Something to think about next time I'm fishing. Thanks.

Well I hit the spot tonight, but I got there pretty late so I couldn't get out on the john boat for long. I figured I throw my black and blue buzzbait in and low and behold I caught a 1.5lb bass after a few casts. I know there are bigger ones around the pile though. I would say the water is 4-6 ft deep and it feels really warm. I've never tried a dropshot rig so I will have to try that out. The bite is incredibly sluggish here lately because of the heat, so maybe a dropshot might catch some lunkers hiding out from the heat of the day. I also want to throw a hula popper in the middle and see what that stirs up. There are several other brush piles on the lake, so I might hit some of those as well. I will post results and hopefully some pictures of some whoppers! Thanks for the help guys!

The same thing is happening in my region as well. The fish will absolutely not bite on hard baits. I switched up to a t-rigged trick worm or senko and have been catching them steadily on that. They seem to like the watermelon seed and pumpkin/chartreuse colors in NC. Hope that helps some.

If you don't have electronics you can do what I do. Find out roughly how deep your lake is by the best means you can. Tie on an appropriate depth crankbait and search the area. Once you start getting bit, you know you will of found the right area and depth.

My grandfather loves to troll for striper at his local lake and he hates bass fishermen in their bass boats going way to fast on the water. I didn't know why until I went until I was fishing with him one day and saw a bass boat almost flip over after hitting a wake from another boat at what looked like 70 miles an hour. It threw the driver from the boat. I have no problem with bass fishermen or bass boats, but I do have a problem with irresponsibility on the water.

I have to agree with him. When I fish a soft plastic, whether it be a senko, smokin chicken, or etc, I let the fish take the bait for a few seconds before slowly but firmly setting the hook. Some times I will watch the fish carry the bait away for 5 to 10 seconds before setting the hook just for pure enjoyment and laughs. With the quality of hooks, line, and rods that we have today, I find that there is no need to rip set a hook when fishing a soft plastic.

Thanks man I will certainly do that! I seriously thought about tossing one in today, but I got distracted when my line got caught up in my trolling motor prop. Note to self...remove line from water while trying to find the next lure.

I have a new lake that I like to fish a lot! Over the past few days, I have found that the bass go crazy over t-rigged zoom trick worms only in the watermelon color. However, the largest bass that me and my buddy have pulled out so far was about 1.8 lbs. I've tried jigging with a green bitsy jig and trailer, a black and blue jig, and some jitterbugs at night, but I have had no success on anything but the t-rigged worms. The lake has several lay downs and one of them is much larger than all the others. I took a picture tonight to maybe get some advice on what to throw. The water is green and clear to about 7ft. I fish the lake mostly from 5pm to 10pm because I have to work in the day, but I plan on going in the morning sometime soon. Thanks a lot guys!

Looks like a great fishing spot. Love the lilly pads.

If you are willing to drive about an hour and a half, then Randleman Lake is a great place to fish. I live in Greensboro so I'm not to sure of many places around Raeford. I'm sure you will find a local honey hole soon.

Lol almost did that this afternoon! I tied on my new bitsy bug jig and got it stuck in a submerged tree branch on my first cast. Luckily, I was able to troll around to the other side of the branch and rip it out. Happend a few hours later with a senko as well. I'm happy to say that I didn't lose any tonight! Lucky me.

That's a big momma!

Took both the quiz and the survey. Hopefully I'll be getting some free hooks soon!

Haha it's a promise ring. Basically, I have her on layaway until I graduate college! Thanks for all the responses guys. She is truly hooked now! I've never thought of getting her some gloves to handle the fish with, so I will bring some along next time so I can show her how to lip one and take the hook out! I just can't wait until she gets on a big bass.....she will be a goner then!

Welcome! Good to see a fellow North Carolinian! Where do you live in NC?

Me and my fishing buddy went out on the ol' john boat tonight to do some fishing in one of our favorite ponds. My buddy caught two decent bass, but despite the success, it seemed like we lost more lures than we caught fish! It seems like we are bound to lose a lure or two during the course of a day on the water. I want to know if this is typical, or just plain bad luck on our part. How many lures do you guys lose during the course of a day on the water? Do you lose more from a boat or from the shore?

Luckily, I have a girlfriend who enjoys outdoor activities with me. Tonight, she wanted to come out on the john boat with me and try to catch bass like I do. I took her to a small farm pond stocked with tons of little guys who are eager to bite anything that moves. I put her on a gold inline spinner, and I tied on a buzzbait. Within minutes, I caught the first dink. As she was complaining that she will never catch a fish (we'd only been fishing for 5 minutes), her rod bent down and she screamed as if a bug had flown in her hair. I told her to start reeling and to hang on. She started talking about how this fish felt like a monster! I laughed, but still was interested to see what she might of caught. Low and behold, she had caught the cutest little baby bass I had ever seen. She named it Scooter, and gave it to me to take off the hook and throw back in. She didn't want to touch it, so I put it on my scale so she could take a picture. It may of been the smallest fish in the pond, but it is a memory that will always stand out in my mind. I freakin' love fishing.

Well, my fishing buddy just went in with me on a john boat. We split it half and half. He also gets the net ready when I catch a fish, just like I do when he catches one. We bounce lure choices off each other and use our separate opinions to hone in on the fish. I'd consider him the perfect fishing buddy.