MIbassyaker

Day 2, 11am check-in: I don't have anyone in the top tier, but all five with a good shot to make the cut, fingers crossed: a. Cook 42 b. Mosley 33 c. Blaylock 43 d. Schmitt 20 e. Christe 19

Totally forgot the first event was this week! Fortunately, I had a team plugged in about a month ago: a. Chris Johnston b. Hackney c. Martin d. Crews e. Menendez Unfortuntately, on DTL I neglected to pick an 8th member, so I only have a team of 7: Martin, Clunn, Cox, Prince, Menendez, Krieger, & Hanselman

For me it will surely be a senko or other stick worm, probably t-rigged weightless more often than wacky. #2 will probably be a small worm on a jighead similar to @TnRiver46's go-to rig. But it depends on where and when I end up fishing the most.

Woohoo! Yup, this was 4th place prize I got for one of the events last season: Another BR member won a higher prize the year before.

I actually spend a lot of time planning where I'm going to go and when. I like variety, and I fish a rotation of around 40 different bodies of water that include small natural lakes (a few dozen to a few hundred acres), impoundments, bayous, gravel pits, and free-flowing river stretches. They vary a lot in numbers, sizes, and accessibility of bass, and each fishes better or worse at different times of year (due to things like seasonal changes, water temp, vegetation growth, recreational activity), or days of the week (fishing pressure), Some I visit more often than others, but I usually plan ahead each year which places I want to prioritize visiting during different times. For instance, in spring, I go to the lakes that warm faster first (usually smaller, shallower) before the slower-warming places (larger, deeper). Pre-spawn fishing can be extended in this way. In some lakes it is easier to find bass once there is a well-developed deep weedline around midsummer. Others may be hard to fish at this time because they start getting choked with vegetation, or activity levels go down with declining oxygen. Some river sections don't fish very well for bass early in the year, but are absolutely lights-out in August when the food chain is fully fired-up.

Nice!

Yep, 1/4oz title shot jig by Fin-Tech. They come through almost anything, still hook up well, and are perfect for the 5" Yamamoto Hula Grub. And the "shorty" version fits a 4" hula.

I use M-F casters for 3/8-1/2 oz topwaters and jerkbaits, as well as lightly-weighted plastics, such as these rigs:

Hope you're having a good trip -- at least we have open water! I like the suggestions above of small craws, small paddletails, and in-line spinners.

Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing -- the last event this season, Mississippi River, I finished 21st overall with these picks: A - Lester (4th) B - Christie (14th) C - Schmitt (1st) D - Mueller (22nd) E - Cherry (37th) Which was good enough for an individual tournament 4th prize.

I won a 4th place Rapala Prize package in Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing, for the team I picked at the Mississippi River event: Rapala Decals T-shirt DT-10 BX Brat 6 Shadow Rap Deep

The 4th place Rapala prize package arriveth: Rapala Decals T-shirt DT-10 BX Brat 6 Shadow Rap Deep

The last bass I caught was 2 months ago... ...until this morning, when tolerable weather and my schedule aligned again, and I escaped for what will likely be the last kayak excursion of the year. If found these two hanging around the last remnants of green pads, willing to eat a Jackhammer. A couple more got off before I could get them in.

I have never fished here later than October! There are a lot of places to catch smallmouth from shore in the rivers in the warmer months. but honestly I have no idea where they are that late in the year. It's pretty cold. We sometimes get our first blizzard around Thanksgiving. The best access to smallmouth in the Grand Rapids area are the Grand, Thornapple, & Flat rivers. But it's going to be Steelhead season, and they may be more plentiful than smallies in many places. There might even be some crowds, especially at 6th st dam. There is good shore access to the Grand around the city (Riverside park, Canal park, Fish ladder park, and Millennium park). You can also go west to Eastmanville bayou 20 min west of town, or east to Chief Hazy Cloud park in Ada. To the SE, the Thornapple can be fished at Reuhs park in Alaska or the 84th st dam. One of my favorite spots for smallies in Spring is the Flat river at Fallasburg Park, a little quiet & pretty place north of Lowell, 30 min east. But no idea whether these are good spots for smallies in November.

The vast majority of places I fish here are small natural lakes, where the largemouth are overwhelmingly sunfish-eaters. Vegetated areas have a lot of invertebrate and insect activity which draws the sunfish. And where ever there are sunfish, the bass will be hanging around too. Thus, I am always looking for particular kinds of vegetation in particular areas. -waterlilies, arrowheads, or reeds (bulrushes) near a drop off to deep water, or in water as deep as I can find them growing. -cabbage (clasping-leaf pondweed) on a flat or lining a slope, or where mixed with some other vegetation like coontail or watermilfoil -any shallow vegetation around a laydown -a deep weedline of any kind

Technique beats muscle strength every time -- there is no good reason why anybody shouldn't be able to set the hook with a frog. Kids can often do it just fine; just put your body into it. .

Ouch - I know the feeling. I lost a likely pb smallmouth on Gun Lake last summer, shaking a Ned Rig over a deep saddle. When I finally got her up kayakside, did a taildance and slipped away like it was nothing.....and then I saw my Ned no longer had a hook. Broke right off. Beautiful plaque, and congrats! Again! They're totally going to ban you from the circuit, aren't they... You are on a roll! keep 'em coming!

Indeed. That's why the best time to fish is always whenever you can -- because once you can't, you'll wish you had!

I'm so envious of all the pics -- I haven't been able to go fishing more than once since July. Everyone needs to catch a few for me until I can get back out there!

5.50lb, 21" August 2021: It tied by exact weight a previous PB from 2 years earlier. I catch very few bass over 4lb, green or bronze. Maybe a 1 or 2 per year.

Fun season as always, and congrats to Guru825! My season was very mediocre overall. I ended up at 80.9%, but that was just good enough to put me at 35th out of 66 among the BR league. You guys are good. However, I just got notification that I won a 4th place Rapala prize for my Team's finish at the Mississippi River, at 21st place. I had the following team: A - Lester (4th) B - Christie (14th) C - Schmitt (1st) D - Mueller (22nd) E - Cherry (37th) The prize rules say I will be getting a Rapala Cap, t-shirt, and 3 other misc Rapala products, total value of $50. Neat! On DTL I finishe 97.1%, and placed 600th overall....However, I see @Finessegenics ended at 99.9% in 24th!

I don't know how many times i've watched that Zona Live episode with KVD! I spent some time trying to find that lake on the map using clues from the full episode, but was never able to pinpoint it. I'm pretty sure it is south of the area covered by A-Jay's map above, though. However, I was able to identify the lake Zona and Davy Hite are on in this episode below, which IS on A-Jay's map:

Founders > Bells >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Miller Lite I'm technically in Walker too -- Looks like he's already found all my spots!

The only kind of "safe bet" I recognize is (1) a time when I'm physically able to go, and (2) and the weather looks tolerable.

High relative humidity, but reasonable dew point. Most of the time comfortable and unoppressive.