MIbassyaker

Mmmm. Midwinter Tackle Porn...

Only when they let me

To be fair, a lot of things are working against a higher percentage of larger fish in that chart. For one, it includes catches from 30-some lakes and rivers, most of which I only fish once or twice per year, and only a few of produce larger fish regularly, but I keep going back because I enjoy the location. In other words, I'm not selecting the 3-4 best waters and hitting them repeatedly. If I did, that would improve things a lot. Also, a lot of the smaller fish come from the same handful of places where you simply have to wade through dozens of dinks before you hook anything of size. I also don't get to fish much during the best times of year for big bass, pre-spawn and fall.

"Big" for me seems like 4lb or larger. I catch about 1 or 2 in that class pear year, which ends up being around 1%. I posted this at some point, a year ago or so, looking back at my records of bass caught over the last several years -- less than 5% of the bass I catch are even 3lb, which would be around the 18-inch mark.

Yep, I fell for the original too (In my defense, I was about 15). Still got it:

The ones that sting for me are when I make some stupid mistake, where I knew better but got lazy or careless. Like failing to check the line for abrasions and retie.

I grew up bank fishing a river with live bait for anything that would bite, which was usually catfish, bullheads, drum, and the occasional walleye or pike. Al Lindner and Bill Dance were catching bass on my TV, and they made it seem awfully exciting and glamorous, but we had never heard of bass in our river, so we didn't try targeting them. And then I caught one. As my bobber floated past a log in the river, something grabbed my nightcrawler and took off, pulling hard. And then it jumped and jumped again, and it was not nearly as big as i thought it must have been, about 12-13 inches. I recognized it as a smallmouth bass only from having seen them in magazines and TV. I decided that, while I liked catching almost any fish, I really wanted to catch more of those. (Although it would be many years of distractions and life changes before I got dedicated and serious about it.)

Most of my bass fishing now is done by kayak, but i'lI fish rivers from the bank or wade if I have just a little time to spare. I have three excellent rivers very close to me that, if anything, are underfished for bass, and unless I'm going to arrange a float trip, bank-hopping or wading is the most efficient way to get at them.

Years ago I made a resolution never to make another resolution. It's the only one I've ever kept.

At least you started! I'm a minimum of 2 months away, probably 3.

Another fan of the Duo Pencils right here -- Ghost Minnow has been good:

You're the one who catches all the bass, you tell me! 😄

I always think I'm going to use a crankbait more than I do. A shallow- or medium-diver will get a little work earlier in the year, and then I'll put it aside for something else and never get back to using it again. So maybe that, but i dunno...I just intend to use what the fish want.

Changes year to year. Sometimes my top 5 lures would account for around 80%, sometimes less. Depends on where and when I end up doing the most fishing. I'd need to look at updated numbers, but a top 5 would be something like this for last few years; don't know if it would reach 80% though: 1. Stick worm 2. Spinnerbait 3. Buzzbait 4. Finesse worm 5. Paddletail swimbait The next tier of contenders would include ned rigs, t-rig creatures and worms, poppers, and jigs

No great stories last year, no pbs, no giants, no epic days. Didn't fish as much as I wanted, or as successfully. Oh well, still had a good time. First bass of the year was my earliest ever - march 4th. Biggest largemouth of the year on my last cast one day back in Sept, a bit over 4lb: Best Smallie went a little over 3lb, on the only river float trip I was able to make time for this year: Some fun with other species too. My best Channel Cat in many years: For an occasional change of pace, I thought I'd try for some stream trout, which I have very little experience with. Got a few little browns. There are much larger ones around, which I will find sooner or later: ...and of course:

Green Pumpkin and Watermelon are great all-around colors here, especially around bluegill/sunfish forage. But what's really great is any color with green flakes, which includes Junebug, anything with "candy" in the name....and my personal favorite, Pumpkin with green flakes. Here's a good version by Berkeley, which the Chigger Craw is available in:

Probably the rivers actually -- but they're the least convenient, so lakes get the call more often.

Weak year. lower sizes and numbers than usual; no PBs. 30 trips, 105 hours, 190 bass; Largest was 4.18lb, 19.75" Visited 16 natural lakes, 3 river bayous, and 4 sections of three rivers. Top Techniques: 1 (Tie) Spinnerbait 1 (Tie) Stick worm 3. Buzzbait 4. jighead + swimbait 5. Fluke 6. Finesse worm 7. Popper Other techniques I used to catch bass this year: T-rig Creature, T-rig worm, underspin swimbait, vibrating jig, jig & craw, frog, in-line spinner, ned rig, slider

There are lots of lures I don't really like using, and don't catch fish very often with, But I can't think of any that I have really tried in earnest, putting in reasonable amounts of time and effort, and not caught something. Buzzbaits, frogs, jigs, walking topwaters, swimbait-underspins, lipless crankbaits, spybaits, jerkbaits, drop-shot -- all things I was unsuccessful with for awhile...until I wasn't. Some I kept using and still use, some I don't use much at all.

There's my problem -- I'm a little too employed this time of year. I can count on one hand the number of times I've ever fished in November, other than a random 1/2 hour walking the riverbank on the way home. Weather has been pretty cooperative -- I could still be out on kayak regularly this month if I had time. Alas... Best I can do is a pumpkinseed:

I too haven't dropped a shot in about 3 years. Good riddance.

1/16, 1/8, 3/16, and 1/4. 1/8 gets the call most often.

Well, i don't hunt. So...yeah.