Fried Lemons

Whichever knot you are good at tying is the best. For me it's the palomar knot for everything, even a 10" swimbait which uses up a ton of line with each retie. That is not a consideration for me. If anything it keeps me honest about using only fresh line by forcing me to cut off a bunch each time.

Worth double its weight in silver! On a more serious note, all the giant baits we’ve seen in recent years are coming from Japan, where guys are chasing the world record. It definitely is not practical for 99.9% of us who don’t live on world record waters.

A couple fish from my old stomping grounds. I found them on a flat in 12’ and on the ledge dropping into the old river channel.

My point was that it circumvents intuition and knowledge of how to find fish which cheapens the sport, not that it forces fish to bite. You have to trick a fish into biting no matter what tech you are using.

This is why I’ve never been interested in competitive fishing. I get to choose what bodies of water I fish, when I fish, and how I fish. That being said, if we are to take pro bass fishing seriously as a sport, there needs to be limits to how much ‘assistance’ a competitor is allowed to have. I’ve heard so many times that FFS won’t make fish bite which is hogwash. Skill expression in fishing comes from knowledge of how to find fish and how to get them to bite. FFS drastically reduces the difficulty in finding fish which is more than half the battle. Josh Jones, the master of this technology, believes it should be banned in competition. I liken it to PEDs in high level sports. Drugs won’t do all the work for you but they will allow you to train harder and recover faster than possible naturally. Obviously they are still being used but not to the extent they would be if drug tests weren’t a thing.

Filleting is usually my last choice of preparation unless I'm dealing with a big fish. I prefer to leave them whole scaled and gutted. I like the natural flavor of fish. #1 would be crappie. Fried until the ribs are crunchy you can eat basically the whole thing except the spine. #2 walleye either steamed or braised in a soy based sauce. #3 bluegill either fried whole or braised. Bluegill have harder bones than crappie so the bones can't be made edible through frying. #4 catfish is a very distant 4th for me and out of all of these the only fish I would default to filleting. Handled carefully they are decent filleted and fried or blackened but texture is inferior to the others and flavor is something you generally cover up through breading and frying/heavy seasoning. I've had channel, blue and flathead and they are pretty much the same to me. On a side note bass is also excellent, I'd rate it between walleye and bluegill. Their quality is a bit more variable than walleye but in general they are on par. Pretty much the same as bluegill with a lot more meat on them.

Awesome story and amazing fish. It’s crazy to me that fish washed out of the lake and survived. She does like like she’s struggling a bit in that creek though. That fish reminds me of a big one I caught 8 years ago.

It was hot but the fish were biting at midday. I was fishing offshore rock in 12-20’. Got on a few with a 10” worm They were also eating the swimbait pretty well in similar areas.

Have you tried going out at mid day? That’s when I find the most consistent bite. Once overnight temps drop that consistency goes away and fishing becomes tough. That’s been my experience year after year.

Got on a couple on the 10” Carolina rigged worm. They were sitting on rock piles in 12’. The shallows are totally beat. At this point I just do a milk run of some offshore spots and call it a day. Best fish went 4lb 2oz.

Committed an afternoon to some old school Carolina rigging. I picked off a few fish on rocks in 12’. I caught the big fish of the trip off a newly discovered rock pile. Always an exciting moment when you feel the line swim off while probing a new piece of structure.

I would not camp on a piece of cover like a log but structure can definitely be worth making repeated casts on. More often than not with a solitary fish it is better to return at a later time instead of conditioning the fish to be uncatchable with repeated casts.

It's definitely that moment when a big fish hits the net. For me it's the ultimate satisfaction knowing I did everything right leading up to that moment. I can recall every fish over 6lbs I've ever caught - each one is a special memory.

I've given up on topwater. Used to look forward to summer topwater but these days trying to get a topwater bite is like pulling teeth.

Got on a few in 100 degree heat. Brutal conditions but I had the lake to myself. Got 3 on a jig, one on a Magdraft. Biggest went 4 even on the jig. Lost one I think was bigger fishing a tiny klash out deep.

I'm mostly dragging over main lake structure this time of year. I picked up stitching and it has gotten me some bites that I was missing with a standard drag or hop. Swing head jig is another new one. Gotten few but big bites cranking that into structure.

It depends on the water. Is it always dirty or is it temporary? In permanently dirty water I've found fish hit glide baits and wedge tail swimbaits just fine. If it's clear water that turned dirty I would either fish somewhere else or throw something else as I find that seems to kill the bite.

Yes they work all summer long. I have more luck fishing that style of bait in shallow cover than I do fishing deep structure this time of year. I caught these fish and many more mostly in July-August.

15-20 and make sure your knot is good. If you burn the line while cinching your knot it will cause problems.

Quick 4lber before the rental boaters ran me off the lake. This fish fell for a 13” worm stitched over main lake structure. Super hot, calm conditions combined with pressured fish called for a less orthodox approach.

I’ve been having horrible luck with big fish recently. Dumped 3 in the last week that were in the 5-7lb range. I think it’s the hot weather softening their mouths so that it gets nearly impossible to keep them pinned on a big treble hooked lure. Anyway here’s two that I managed to land. Probably because they weren’t on treble hooks. 4lb 7oz on a jig 5lb 11oz on a swinging jig

Ouch! I had a very similar experience last year. Fish hit hard and started pulling drag so I assumed it was a striper until it jumped and threw the hooks. One of the most spectacular things I’ve seen. I’d estimate this fish at 45-50 based on two 40s I was able to land the year before. A real heartbreaker but at least I have a memo.

Have you guys ever caught what you think is the biggest fish in a body of water? Or do you believe there's always a bigger fish? This is more geared toward smaller lakes and ponds where you have pretty much fished every inch of water. There will always be that sense of the unknown on a large lake. I like to believe there is a bigger fish out there that has outsmarted me at every turn and perhaps has unpredictable patterns. On the other hand I have doubts sometimes when I catch the same fish on more than one occasion and have never seen a bigger fish in the same waters. My gut tells me that on highly pressured small water there is unlikely to be some mystery fish that has managed to completely evade capture although to be fair the biggest fish I've encountered slip up once a year maximum. Perhaps a bigger fish would never make a mistake.

If you are fishing a river watch out for these guys - they are attracted to lights.

Imo it's not worth blowing up a small lake for five minutes of fame. In my tiny state all the lakes are pressured and it is a grind trying to get on big fish. You learn the hard way to keep quiet about bites. I'd take enough photo and video evidence to prove beyond doubt the size of the fish but no way would I make it official.