everythingthatswims

Fallfish definitely help in the winter! And they eat literally anything.

It was only a spro BBZ. That's the worst part. $30 bait, $60 net

Lost a swimbait, went back to get it with a cast net, ripped the cast net in half.

Cabin Fever sets in for me once the fall bite slows in mid November... So I have trout, a power plant lake, crappies, and the occasional brrrr bass to keep me somewhat sane until the crazy March-April weather when bass are catch-able but unpredictable due to flooding, cold snaps, and pressure changes.

Found it.

I may have to get my dad to smoke some blues...He has been really into smoking fish and game for the past year or so, and with the hundreds of blues we catch each year at the beach (OBX), it would be worth a shot.

Greater than 1lb, less than 10lbs.

I would like to think that the strike was a "Thank-you for stocking 7-9" trout in the pond for me"

The bass know when you don't have it

Don't overlook the s-waver 168 for smallies 23" 4.2lbs 19" almost 3lbs (you can tell by the weights that these aren't Dwight strain smallies) Dwight, if you were to catch a 23" smallie, how much do you think it would weigh? (assuming it comes from the location where you get the other footballs)

I have only caught two bass doing a figure eight, one on a squarebill and another on an 8" BBZ. I do a lot of swimbait fishing and with followers most of the time they shy away once they see you in a boat (usually its a kayak for me) so you don't have the opportunity to figure 8. However, when you fish from the bank they don't spot you as quickly, and followers will strike a lot closer. I would imagine this is what was happening with you but I could be wrong. Fish do "follow" crankbaits from time to time.

If they got rid of the 3 mile boundary the fishing would be awesome, the stripers just love staying out beyond it. I remember last year there were guys catching 40lb class fish on ballyhoo while trolling for bluefin.

Or when you watch Mikeybalzz on youtube it looks like he's fishing with surf rods.

I definitely would use fly gear if it put me at an advantage (and there are times when it is advantageous). I just get tired of seeing guys around here who trout fish most of the time and think anything other than fly fishing is a sin. In summer so they target smallies---they like when the fish will eat on top but most of the time they are dragging stuff on sinking lines, and to me that just feels like pulling a rope through the water. I love to fly fish but I don't limit myself to it...We had a 17yr cicada hatch two years ago and it was epic, I tied up some cicada patterns and went to work on every species imaginable for those three weeks of fury.

But don't you wanna go drag huge globs of fur, hair, and lead behind a 6wt full sinking line for a smallie that would hit a senko or tube?

Nice stripers! I fished the bay on Friday and it was horrible, we drifted eels for a good part of the day among 200 other boats who also were doing very poorly, hooked one fish that came unbuttoned, and spent the rest of the day trying to cast and troll for schoolies at the HRBT---no bites.

If you are close to the coast, bass should be the secondary use for the reel, if I lived in Florida near some salt water, the bass wouldn't have to worry about me very much!

I was playing around at my neighbor's pond this evening and caught a pig. The bass ate a 1/4oz redeye shad, I was cranking it just enough to keep it vibrating. If anyone remembers the "pet bass" post I made, it was that fish, that I moved from my goldfish pond to this pond in November. She had clearly put on some more weight, but I will never know how much---I have officially misplaced my scale and will probably continue catching fat girls until I find it. Still 20" long and easily the fattest bass I have ever caught.

Nice fish! I love the color on those bass

We always carry them in our boats but you're right, we should have had them on today. PFDs will be on in the next set of photos if we get into some more

If it bears the Zebco name you bet it's a quality product

The fish were really chewing on the blades and lipless cranks today, we basically "video game fished" all day over bait balls and anything else that looked like fish. Saw plenty of bass boats zipping around but only one of them fished offshore (from what we saw) like we did. Landed about 10-15 bass apiece (my two little brothers and I) up to 3lbs. We also caught plenty of white perch and catfish. The bass started pushing bait to the surface this evening and if you were in the right place at the right time when they boiled, they would hammer a jerkbait. I am starting to like this power-plant lake stuff This was during a 5 minute blitz when we were hooking fish within seconds of our baits hitting the bottom. The bloody fish appeared to swim off okay. I didn't mean to make this fish take up half the picture, he was only 2.5lbs Kitty

The grass is always greener I guess! I would be tickled to death with some 50+ water right now

They are very fond of drop shots also

I'm pretty sure that Newts are poisonous to bass