everythingthatswims

You may have not caught the bass, but you caught all of us

Largemouth for sure

People always say that there's huge catfish no matter what body of water you are in. I would keep it simple. Cut bluegill on the bottom, and if you can get some little ones, live bluegill under floats. I never mess with livers or stinkbait because it gets all over everything, and catfish wouldn't encounter that in the wild anyways. I would start in the deepest water, if you can find a drop off or shelf, that is usually where pond catfish will hang out during summer. Evening and at night should be your best options. Have fun! When you fish on the bottom, make sure to either use no weight or a carolina rig. Catfish will drop a bait if they feel resistance.

Well, I'm not sure what I have stumbled upon, but I think it's something really special. My buddy and I went 4 for 4 throwing a 6" Bull Shad and an S-Waver 168 this evening. We stand on one rock and make the exact same cast over and over. I have no idea how big these fish are, we don't have a tape, and getting the fish back in the water is the #1 priority. I do know that they are FUN!

Go back in February! And welcome to bassresource. This time of year it tends to be tough no matter where you are. I would suggest fishing early and late with some topwaters, this time of year they aren't always deep due to oxygen levels. Definitely go back once "early fall" sets in and bring your moving baits!

My PB was caught when the wind was so bad, I fished 8 hours and spent more than half of that paddling (kayak) to find protected water. In February.

Nope, a cold, silt filled creek flows into the river, so there is a big sand bar about 60 yards long 1' deep that is perpendicular to the flow of the river. It provides both a current break and plenty of cool water. I fished it many times for bass and didn't understand why they weren't there. Now I know why.

See it's a massive river, but I found the spot on the spot on the spot

Well, I'm not sure if a musky is a homebody, but what I do know is that I found the motherload. Today I fished for the last hour of daylight, hooked 4 fish, landed 2, had 2 follows, and I'm sure there were more around. Never moved my feet. I'm going to need an intervention or something before I'm willing to pick up a bass rod again. 6" SS Bull shad on a 90# fluoro leader, 20lb mono mainline, cardiff 400, mojo bass 7'9" swimbait rod. Not an ideal musky setup, but it's what I have. Did I mention I am using public transportation to make it from my dorm to the motherload? I hate having to do this to a pretty photo but I'm sure there are others who fish here and I don't want to mess it up for them. There was no one around to take this photo, and yes I laid the fish on the ground, but there was no other way for me to safely unhook it. Both fish rocketed off into the river upon release! I estimate the first fish was low 30" and the second was mid 30". I measured the smaller fish on my rod but I have no tape with me at school.

CAREFULLY

@deep @deep @deep @deep

The only time I like throwing a chatterbait is in stained water around grass, otherwise I'm a spinnerbait guy. But goodness when the chatterbait bite is on, it's ON. Just use a chatterbait color that would match the jig you would use in the conditions you're fishing.

It will last you a whole lot longer if you use leaders. And I bet you can get 3 years out of the spool of braid. Fluoro is a mess on spinning reels too

Just fish shallow, you can find them somewhere for sure. I did it on the ledge fishing capitol of the world and it definitely worked! My next suggestion would be to troll a deep diving crankbait and watch for it to touch bottom/not touch bottom.

Last thing, a leader is incredibly important when using a spinning rod with braid. I would start with 10lb mono or fluoro.

Yes, I tend to not use the o-rings because of the way the hook is positioned for the hook set. Another recommendation I have is to buy the Gamakatsu weedless finesse wide gap hooks, it's shocking how well they will come through brush, logs, and rock. 1/0 is my favorite size for the standard 5" senko. Any green or brown color will work. Make sure to let it fall on a slack line.

Take a spinning rod, wacky hooks, some yamamoto senkos, and nothing else!

My brother caught a Tern that had a band once, we took the band off with pliers and released the bird.

I have to say, you don't seem like the fairy wand type of fisherman

My neighbor's pond, and an incredible amount of evenings after school. I learned to fish a lot of different conditions by fishing the same place week after week, seeing how fish reacted to changes in their environment.

Awful foggy, and I believe a ghost is in the kayak with you

Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland. And it's funny, I've caught all 3 species in WV and TN, but not my home state, where I've definitely spent most of my time.

Today, I thought I had a massive striper chasing my spook. On the 4th blowup, I hooked the fish for a split second and that was long enough for me to see the massive musky right before he straightened my hook and headed on. (No I wasn't being dumb and putting too much pressure on it, I actually backed off my drag when he blew up on it during one of my casts to prevent this). I think the hook probably didn't penetrate at all, giving the fish a lot of leverage to bend it out. I do have my swimbait rod and some leaders here in my dorm, my main question is for any musky fisherman out there, will that fish be there again or do they like to roam? He was on a flat where the creek feeds into the river.

I think you're the master at that Mr. jig on deep structure from a kayak while it's snowing in january

One of the biggest bass I've ever caught was on a 6" bbz floater in about 6" vis. I wasn't actually expecting to catch any. They'll find it, we have to remember that we don't have lateral lines to help "feel" through the muddy water