RipzLipz

@gimruis I figured as much. I guess wrong on this site 100% of the time. If I’m ever on Jeopardy & the category of "BR pot luck" comes up, I’m just going to drop the buzzer & walk offstage. On a serious note, did that mean you won for the 3 species you mentioned?

Might be an expensive trip. You’ll have ~$200 wrapped up in 1 lure & a set of digital scales! 🤣

@gimruis Congratulations! I’m assuming by the set of jaws that’s just the tiger muskie award & not the crappie or smallmouth 🤣

Dobyns rods 20% off & 6th Sense Axle weekend flash sale also 20% off at Baitwrx.

Yet another order…

@galyonj I agree. Lars needed to have that trash can lid retuned desperately. @J Francho When it comes to dookieflute, think everything is intentional. 🤣

@galyonj This one’s for you. If you can’t stand it, at least scrub/ffwd to the "solo", ~4:20 mark. Your life will forever be changed. 🤘 https://youtu.be/LP2QQ9V1JqU?si=GBJwUvoj_da6oeGL

@FishnMtlHd I’m not too far south from you. I have not read through this entire thread, so my apologies if I am repeating suggestions. Once you get to ice out next spring, hit the water as soon as possible & throw that jig & craw. At that time of year, you will likely be fishing for fewer bites but the quality might surprise you. Fish your prime locations & don’t be surprised to find some up on the banks. I prefer overcast days for clearer waters (seeing bottom in 6-10’). Be prepared as soon as the lure hits the water, watch/feel your line, set the hook hard & hang on. You can also scout areas prior to ice out & make note of where sun is shining on banks for the majority of the day - can do this later in fall/winter as well. Glad you broke the jinx & keep that jig wet!

That’s what she said.

@txchaser Thanks for the feedback & suggestions. Bait monkey wins again.

@Kreagerc High of 62° Saturday & raining. High of 38° Sunday, 10-20mph winds both days. I’d pass, especially Sunday. Going to try & go out tomorrow if it’s not too windy.

If not already started, I feel a similar thread for 2024 should be started soon since we are a month away.

@AlabamaSpothunter I can empathize - my summer was long & quite fruitless as far as quality. I’m usually not fishing with electronics but in the process of converting ours used in the bass boat for a portable option. Long story but my dad is the most impatient angler & refuses to open his mind & use tech to his advantage when able. I’m going to get this stuff hooked up & find these fish during our less productive periods or at least that is my hope. Add another piece to the puzzle so to speak. He can sit at home or go play his precious golf - I’m putting in the time.

@Pat Brown yeah the bulge was quite obvious. The bulge of her belly, to be perfectly clear & concise & avoid any potential jokes. "That’s what she said" is my area. 🤣

Not trying to be a jerk, but if it’s been assembled correctly I’d assume you’d never notice a difference in how it feels when reeling once you put it back together. It should be feeling practically the same as the first time you turned the handle. I’d be taking pictures of stuff before pulling out components to examine them, but my honest opinion is there’s usually zero need to open up a brand new reel that’s not giving you any issues. Not my reel, money or time so do it how you wish. Good luck.

@TnRiver46 never gonna get past the bladed bait nemesis if you don’t throw it 🤣 @Pat Brown & @AlabamaSpothunter both fat bottomed beauties - weights on either by chance?

@crypt if your PB listed is any indication, I’d say your hookset is probably not lacking. 🤣

@king fisher I personally love that mushy/my lure just got slightly heavier feeling & my experiences have been like yours in that more often than not, that’s a quality fish on there. Once in a blue moon I will have that tap tap pecking bite like a small fish or, where I’m located & fish the most, might often be bluegill/panfish trying to attack tails or appendages of the plastics but it ends up being a larger fish. From my years of dragging T-rigged nightcrawlers across offshore rocky reefs in Canadian Shield lakes for smallmouth using 4lb test & UL spinning rods/reels, I feel/theorize that mushy sensation may be a LM in the process of eating the prey & it just has yet to swim off with it. Maybe due to lack of response from our lure, whereas those smallmouth would rarely register a strike but they were almost immediately swimming off with the nightcrawlers. We would even let them go with the worm until they’d eventually just drop it. Most instances the smallmouth were bedding & we’d drag the crawler across the bed. Probably saw the crawler as a nest invader & were carrying it away versus eating it.

@KSanford33 Been there, done that & just try to find comfort in that at some point all the negativity & bad feelings will pass. Like most downers in life, it just takes time. For a year or two afterwards I behaved as if the answers were at the bottom of a beer bottle, (begin sarcasm) made some really smart decisions (end sarcasm) & finally decided no one but me was going to make my life any better. There may be bumps in the road ahead & you might fall down but it’s how many times you stand back up & continue walking that matters. For me it was a complete reset but I wouldn’t change a thing. The trophy I thought I’d hooked turned out to be nothing but a bugle-mouthed bottom feeder when I got it in the sunlight. Decided to let that ball of slime be some other angler’s problem. That was 20 years ago & she’s currently wallowing in a bottle of vodka. Good for her, I’m fishing. Sure, I’ve got some regrets, I’m human & far from perfect. But my mistress has always been fishing & she may disappoint me now & then but she’s always there for me, rain or shine. Best of luck & tight lines but most importantly keep your head up. 👍

@Kreagerc He’s been playin’ lots of us like a fiddle off & on since Black Friday. But none more than @NorthernBasser I’m afraid.🤣🤣

For some, and many have been there at least once in one way or another, the humbling can begin at the boat ramp before the bass fishing has even started. 🤣🤣🤣 …and to add to the rest of the angling wisdom that’s being touched upon, much of this thread goes back to fishing your strengths & KISS.😉

I might have to give the SS a shot. I see Picasso makes their version of the SS up to 3/4oz as well as one that has no skirt but instead a swimbait jig head with weedguard. Split ring connects spinner wire to eye of jig head so jig head can be swapped & topped off with plastic of choice. *SIGH* Bait monkey sure is a vile & relentless a**hole this week.

Hooksets are free, don’t cost an angler a penny……unless it’s not a fish.

Too long, don’t read For me, my most impactful "a-ha" moment was after taking a guided smallmouth trip to Lake St. Clair. This was when MI still had closed seasons for smallmouth. We booked a trip for opening day, somewhere around the end of April. The weather forecast didn’t look too favorable (high of 51°, overcast & winds 15-20mph). I wasn’t expecting much other than to be chilly. Not really my kind of weather for fishing. I’m usually out once it’s nice & warm, not when it’s still football weather. Met the guide at the ramp near St. Clair Shores & peeking down the canal that led out to the main lake, I could see a bass boat just beyond the end of the canal just bouncing up & down. The trolling motor coming completely out of the water as the peak of each wave rolled by. Air temp wasn’t even 50°. Not what I’m used to but I figured the guide would lead us to the promised land but it wasn’t going to be a fun boat ride judging by those 3-4’ rollers. Our guide took a look down that same canal & walked up to us & told us if we didn’t mind a 20 minute drive, we could follow him to another ramp where we might be able to get out of the wind. We agreed & followed him. Launched out of Metro Beach area & water was a bit calmer but still a bit rough. Made our way to an island & tossed some blade baits with me quickly losing 3-4 & none of us getting bites. My confidence was dropping but it had only been an hour. The guide told us the fish were there yesterday but he felt he could get us back on them. Tried a couple of other places & nothing. Guide was a bit stumped it seemed & I was beginning to worry if we’d just set our money on fire. The guide looked at the mapping on his unit & said it was a bit early but we could try another area but he didn’t sound too confident. Pulled into a bay that to me looked more like LMB habitat - shoreline was line with tall reeds & other than that & some vegetation on bottom it was quite unimpressive. Our guide told us to tie on some 1/4oz lipless cranks he’d handed us & told us to just throw it out & reel it in. Not my idea of fun, sitting in the middle of a bay, with nothing to target but shallow open water. Next thing I know, the guide is swinging a 4lber in the boat, then my dad, then me. What followed was the single best day of fishing in my life. We never had one in the boat smaller than 3lbs & a few were pushing low 6lbs. Caught nearly 80 between the 3 of us in a matter of 5-6 hours. It was nirvana. First time I’d encountered a smallmouth which I could not land using ultralight spinning gear - the fish were just too bullish & hot. They were not happy. To this day I am convinced that Great Lakes system smallies are a different strain - they’re just so thick & powerful. In summary, my a-ha moment came when we were on our way home. I looked over at my dad & asked, "don’t you think if those smallies would bite in that cold weather that the LMB back home would as well?" He shrugged & said something to the effect that you don’t know unless you try. The following year, as soon as the temps were forecast to be close to 50° we hit a strip pit where we’d never caught a bass larger than 2lbs. Wind was very chilly but we were both dressed for it. Within 5 minutes of launching, my dad was questioning whether we’d made a mistake because he was cold. 10 minutes later, he sets the hook on a 6-1. That warmed him right up. We continued fishing, with a few low quality fish then came back within a cast of where he landed the 6-1. I tossed my jig along the bank & immediately my line hopped on the initial drop. Set the hook & I landed a 5-10. Sun was going down & we decided to head home. No, we didn’t set the world on fire & load the boat up with fish. We had less than 6 bites all day. I’ve been doing this same thing, going out earlier & earlier in the year & we have more often than not hooked into a quality fish. It’s been over 10 years since that trip to LSC & I’ve set my PB 3 times in those 10 years and each time it’s been during periods where I previously would never have been on the water. I had a buddy lose one well over 5lbs at the boat on a day where it didn’t get above 20°. No, these aren’t DD but they’re very respectable fish given where I live. I’ve repeated this on a few other pits & most recently this year on a public lake. I used to avoid public waters like the plague but if I hit them when the weather isn’t so great I usually have the lake to myself. You’d be surprised what lurks in the shallows as soon as the ice melts in some places. You’d also be surprised how quickly a big female bass feeding up for the spawn will hit a jig. 95% of these larger fish have hit those jigs on the cast before the jig has hit bottom. Like I said, this isn’t DD & some may shrug it off as nothing. I could care less, to be honest, it’s the best I can find & I will spend hours waiting for that one tick of line because it’s liable to be a memory I won’t soon forget. Don’t need a bass boat or electronics. Just a rod, reel & a jig. You don’t catch bigger fish sitting at home waiting for the weather to get nicer.

Mainly 2 small bodies of water. 1 is a ~10 acre privately owned former coal strip mine that was reclaimed decades ago. I fish it for a few reasons. it’s private & I do not have to contend with other anglers. I grew up fishing it & know it quite intimately the fish are very healthy & panfish are quite abundant water is very clean & clear which makes it easy to see what’s in there there are large bass present - where I caught my #1 & #2 along with many over 5. area is surrounded by other strip pits & on occasion I may run into someone who grants me access to their pit One of the few negatives is it’s ~150 mile round trip from my house. Second place is a public lake I refer to as Lake Shantbenamed which is less than 700 acres. I fish it because there are large bass in it & closer to my house than the strip pits & there are large bass in it. Did I mention there are large bass in it? That’s all I’m sayin’ about that lake due to it being a hidden gem. Recently caught a fish that tied for #2 all time for me. I also take out of state trips to larger lakes with my dad & some family friends 2-3 times a year. We usually go north for smallmouth in June & south later in the year. TX, AL, GA & FL are the usual suspects for the fall or winter trips.