Jar11591

@TnRiver46 my first time trying it. Hit the spot sippin it on the beach with a hot lobster roll.

May be worth a shot. Especially if the deep water isn’t too far out of the way.

The big ones still come to the boat for me in the summer, but I do have to go different places to find them. The big ones completely vacate the shallow timber, and seemingly vanish from any water above 8’ until mid to late August.

Same experience for me. 20lb is the minimum, and at 25lb I can’t remember ever having an esox saw me off.

I hope you gave them their privacy and didn’t even think about looking in their direction! 🤣

That’s every day!

Around here, high water/flooding is usually a one way ticket to Skunksville. And it’s extremely rare that I get skunked. By far my hardest condition to fish is high water. Conventional bass knowledge always says high water is good for bass fishing but given my experience I will die on the hill that it is the opposite.

@Pat Brown well done. Im always fascinated by the shape difference between the big bass you catch down there and the ones up north. Your big bass have small/normal heads and absolute tank bodies. The big bass I get up here (20”+) all have massive heads and long bodies. They usually aren’t skinny, even the fat ones still have the giant head and streamlined shape. I guess they carry their weight differently!

I often wonder if I’ll notice when the sport of bass fishing begins to pass me by. Now that people are catching bass on poop and fuzzy dice, I’d say that day may be coming sooner than I’d thought.

I retie after every snag on hard cover, and every esox hooked. A personal anecdote, I’ve had the same leader tied on my jig rod this whole season. 40lb braid to 25lb fluorocarbon seems to get stronger over time….

I live in a suburban community built right in the middle of the woods, so we have deer everywhere. Driving through the neighborhood you can spot them at any time of day. I’ve never hit one but even at 25mph I’ve had some close calls when they just dart across the road without warning.

This is good advice and something I overlooked for a while. Took me too long to figure out why one particular combo kept breaking off. Finally figured out it was a burr on the side of the spool.

Im guessing your line had a nick in it. May be worth it to check your rod guides with a q-tip. If it catches the cotton anywhere, then it’s probably catching your line and damaging it. But line can get nicked on other things. If that happens to me one time, I chalk it up to a random nick in the line. If the same thing happens routinely, then I have some investigating to do and I start with the rod guides. It’s Tatsu which is premium line and if you only put it on last fall, I wouldn’t say longevity is the issue unless it was left outside all winter or something.

@A-Jay thanks for the advice. Gonna try this method as soon as my truck is back from the shop and I can take the boat out. I have a dedicated rig for chatterbaits and it’s always in the boat with me. Just a matter of keeping it in my hands. It’s hard to put the spinnerbait rod down sometimes.

Chatterbaits are something I’ve wanted to get confident with for a while, but I just struggle to find a place for them in my lineup that wouldn’t better be served by a spinnerbait or a jig, two of my most confident baits. I see the damage done by some folks on here with chatterbaits. I’ve never been able to recreate their success to any degree. Maybe I need to accept @DogBone_384’s 1 Lure Challenge and leave everything but the bladed jig at home.

Crazy trade out of Boston. If you’re getting paid over $300m and refuse to play first base, it’s a one way ticket out of town. Devers is a great player but I wouldn’t want that energy on my team.

Provided you aren’t fishing extremely heavy cover, generally speaking, yes these combos will allow you to catch bass. You may not like how that 14lb fluoro behaves on spinning gear, but you say you’re a low maintenance guy so you may not notice or care.

My first thought as well. Just a really big tag loop!

Didn’t it become Catch. Co?

I use The Weather Channel app. I find it to be remarkably accurate.

I’ve heard that EWG hooks can reduce hook up percentages due to hook point being in line with the eye, but I’ve never noticed that. If I get a clean hook set on an EWG, it sticks em.

That’s exactly how I do it. EWG for the wider baits, offset straight shank for the thinner ones. Usually only finesse worms and ribbon tails. Although lately, the EWGs are becoming my all purpose T-rig hook. I like being able to “texpose” the hook, and it’s easier to do that with an EWG.

Happy Father’s Day to all fathers. My father is who taught me how to fish and I owe my love of fishing and the outdoors to him. Not only did he teach me how to fish, but I can’t remember him ever saying “no” to me when I would ask him to take me fishing. It was either “alright go load the rods and bait bucket in the car” or “I’ll think about it” and then 20 minutes later he tells me to get in the car, he already loaded it. I also never remember him being too busy or tired to play catch with me. I was in a lot of baseball leagues and would always want to practice my pitching or take ground balls and he would never hesitate to go out in the yard and play catch with me. He would never miss a game, and would coach the team if his schedule allowed. He was a present, loving, hardworking, excellent father, and I owe so much of the man I am today to him. He is in his 70s and his health isn’t great so I don’t get to fish with him much anymore, but we still watch the Braves together and I always share the pictures of my catches with him. Couldn’t have asked for a better dad.

Saw an interesting critter last night at work. Some kind of mustelid being followed by a mockingbird. The pair were running all over the parking lot. I took several pictures and videos as it was something I’ve never seen before. I’ve seen fishers, mink, martens, and otters, but this was some other type of mustelid. After some googling, I believe it’s a short-tailed weasel, also known as a stoat or ermine. If anyone has any knowledge of mustelidae please let me know what you think. Also curious as to why the mockingbird was following it. Maybe it was just making fun of it? Sorry, I’ll see myself out.