king fisher

yes

Last saltwater trip for work until October. Now maybe I can find some time to pursue big bass.

There is a universal formula for determining the size of a big bass that gets away. Take the size of your PB round it up to the next even number, than multiply by two. Your PB is 4 11 rounded up is five x 2 = 10 You lost a 10 pound bass, and now have the physics to prove it.

I fish out of a kayak and bring four rods. I fish my spinnerbaits and bladed jigs with a 7.5 foot M/H fast. I also use this rod form some crankbaits, buzzbaits, larger topwaters, and soft swimbaits. It may not be ideal for any of these lures, but I manage to catch some bass on it, and I don't like bring more than four rods.

The Bait Monkey never asks if you can afford a new real. He only tells you how much you need one, how happy you would be if you buy one ( better yet two), and how you can't possibly live without one. The Monkey always wins.

I have trouble with the line sliding up the wire when hooked to big bass with both R bend spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits when using braid. When using mono or mono leader my knots seems to grip the wire better and stays put. Braid has a tendency to slide along the wire more. I have lost some DD bass due to the wire on a buzzbait breaking because the knot slid up the wire to the blade and bent the wire to the point of breaking. With spinnerbaits I tie some line across the R bend which solves the problem, but with buzzbaits I usually either use mono, or braid to a 20 pound mono leader. I have never heard of anyone else experiencing this problem, I may need to use a different knot, but I don't seem to have any problems while tying the buzzbait to mono. I don't know why, but for me the mono grips the wire better. I may be imagining the difference, but when I lose a double digit bass It is far easier to blame the line, than my angling skill. Imaginary or not, I don't like to tie straight braid to a buzzbait.

A few tuna landed a couple days ago. I hope to get some time to go bass fishing in a couple weeks, but for now I have to settle for filling the freezer.

Not tying your line to the spool is like not wearing a seat belt. You may never need it, but there may be a time when you need every back up safety plan in place.

I thought for sure AJ posted one to many Megabass Vision one ten tackle porn pictures and broke the internet. Glad to hear it wasn't that serious.

I got skunked today, so 59 bass sounds epic to me. From my lack of success this year, and from the reports I read here, I may need to leave Mexico and go North to WA or maybe Maine in order to catch quality bass.

I have a love hate relationship with fluoro. I like it because it is heavy and sinks. This makes it excellent for bottom contact baits, by providing good sensitivity even with a semi slack line. Braid has excellent sensitivity because of it has zero stretch, but when the line goes even a little slack, all sensitivity is gone. I don't need improved sensitivity for moving baits where my line is tight, or for soft plastics when I don't need them to fall straight to the bottom with no unnatural action due to a tight line. Mono semi floats giving it very little slack line sensitivity as well as having a large amount of stretch. Floro also does not weaken with exposure to sun giving it a longevity bonus over mono as long as you don't kink or over stress the line. The bad side of Floro is it does no hold up well if kinked. A small backlash can put a weak spot that only shows itself at the worst possible time. Knots are more difficult to tie with Floro, but with some practice good knots will hold. Pros do not care about how well Fluoro lasts. If they over stress the line breaking off a snag, or have to pull on a bad backlash, they simply put new line on their reel before using it again. If I had an endless supply of line, most of my fishing would be done with Floro. I have a limited amount of money I can spend on fishing, so I use braid or mono when ever I feel I don't absolutely need the advantages of Floro. Pros have endless amounts of line given to them, so Fluoro it is

The Electronics Monkey insisted I tell you about depth finder bobbers. They look like a bobber but have a transducer in them. They send a signal to our phone and combined with a phone are capable of mapping a small pond. I don't know if one would really help an angler catch a bass, but that hasn't stopped me from buying next to useless products in hope of catching the big one. Once in the seventies, I spent a good chunk of my fishing tackle budget on a device called a depth- O - plug. I would cast it out and let it sink to the bottom and let it sit in one place for a couple minutes. It would use pressure to determine the depth and also gave the water temp. I used it a few times and gave up on new technology for awhile. I always regret buying it, instead of a few Bagleys crankbaits. I don't care if I ever see a Depth- O- Plug for sale, but would pay a large portion of my tackle budget for some of those old Bagleys square bills.

That is how it always starts. Please tell me how it ends.

Over the years I have had numerous health issues. The number of joints in my body that don't ache are far fewer than the ones that do. I'm currently undergoing Chemotherapy treatments for cancer zapping some of my energy. I don't have eagle eyes, anymore, and I have to guess at most of what my wife is trying to tell me. The only time I don't have to turn the car around go back to the house and grab something I forgot in the morning is when the item I forgot is the car keys. I constantly forget names, faces, and where I left my hat. Even with age and health related difficulties, when a bass takes a swipe at my popper, I feel like I'm a teenager all over again, and when the Grim Reaper comes for me, I'm going to tell him to wait, I have to make one last cast.

There is no wrong way to fish a spinnerbait. They will work with multiple retrieves at different depths, and everywhere in the water column. Fishing them barely keeping the blades in sight is a great way to start. This method automatically adjusts for water clarity, and changing visibility due to wind and weather. Another method you should try is slow rolling along the bottom. Bouncing one through trees and off the top of other types of cover is another highly effective way to fish a spinnerbait. My favorite way to fish a spinnerbait is bulging a wake on the surface with a large Colorado blade. If it doesn't get a violent surface strike on a steady retrieve just under the surface, I often get bit when pausing the bait near any type of cover. The bass will hit the bait the instant I stop the bulging retrieve, or wait until I start retrieve again. Either way it is a very exciting way to catch bass. I lighter bait with big blades helps keep the spinnerbait bulging the surface at a slow speed. My experience with this retrieve has been the slower I can keep the blades making a wake without completely breaking the surface the more strikes I get. Burning a heavy bait with small blades a few inches under the surface is another killer technique that will get violent strikes. Keep experimenting with retrieves and baits and a spinnerbait may become one of your favorite techniques.

I may be past my fishing prime but I’m just getting started on my tackle buying ability.

I landed my old PB 5.5 pounds that lasted for 40 years by trolling a spinnerbait while slowly walking along a steep bank with my rod held out to the side as far as I could reach. This was one of my most successful techniques when I was 14 years old.

What has changed for me in the past 3-4 years is I used to have less and cheaper tackle, and catch more and bigger bass. Now I have more tackle and catch less and smaller bass. I'm not sure if there is a relationship of amount of tackle to bass ratio, but it is worth considering. Bait Monkey is convinced the bass have become more educated, and I need to start fishing more expensive gear. I think maybe I should simplify and go back to fishing the tried and true lures of the past.

Before I had any electronics on my kayak, I trolled a crankbait much of the time in order to determine depth, bottom composition, and find structure or cover. I also landed many bass while learning my lake. After I bought a fish finder, with mapping ability, I was able to map and place waypoints on my lake. Now that I have the complete lake mapped, and have many favorite locations marked, I only occasionally troll while pedaling between waypoints. Sometimes I will troll crankbaits over some rock structures while trying to mark bass on rocky structure. If I catch a bass or observe some good marks, I will usually stop and cast to the structure. I am often surprised at the number of bass I catch in the middle of nowhere trolling a rattle trap mid water column. I have stopped and tried to cast to these bass in the open, without success, then resumed trolling and hooked more bass. One time I never made it to the spot I wanted to fish, because the bass kept hitting my rattletrap on the troll to my waypoint. If I fished out of a boat with a motor, most of my graphing would be done without any lures in the water, and I would travel to fast to fish while traveling from spot to spot. Because my travel speed in my kayak is an optimum speed for trolling crankbaits I often will troll one when both traveling and graphing.

I fish many topwater baits, but could easily get by with only a buzzbait, and a popper.

And you have pictures to back it up.

This always works for me.

My favorite way to break in a buzzbait.

I went fishing at my secret trophy lake Sunday, but didn't catch a bass much over one pound. This was my third time bass fishing in 2026 and I haven't landed a bass over 1.5 pounds. The positive side of the day came at 4;30 AM when I landed a one pound bass caught on a buzzbait. This was the first bass I ever caught in the dark. Because I couldn't go fishing on Saturday, I decided to go early on Sunday morning. I started at fishing at 4:00 AM and landed three small bass before the sun started to come up. I had fished for bass at night before, but had always spent most of my time snagged, tangled, and frustrated. Even though there was no moon, and the night was as dark as it gets. I was able to keep from loosing my sanity, and even landed some small bass. I left at noon when the wind picked up to 30 mph. I may try fishing all night next time I go. At least the wind doesn't blow at night on this lake, and I am tired of dealing with the wind. Every time I go fishing at this lake, I expect to catch a 10 pound bass. Now I will be happy if my best five can make 10 pounds. There is a silver lining to this cloud I'm living in. I have only lost one lure and a few hooks in 5 days of bass fishing. I guess I can have my tackle, or I can have big bass, I don't know if I can have both, but I sure don't seem to mind losing tackle when the big bass are biting. Maybe it's bad luck, or more likely poor angling skill causing my lack of success this year. I hope it isn't bad karma for my complaining about BASS having a tournament on the Sabine River. Right now those Sabine River bass are bigger than the ones I'm catching in Mexico.

Something is keeping the plopper from spinning freely. Look for a nick in the shaft, a slight bend in the shaft, the bead used for a bearing may have be damaged and not turning, or maybe the plopper blade is rubbing on the body of the lure. Blow on it to see if it turns easily. There also may have been some dirt or weeds causing the plopper to not turn easily. Take a good look at the whole tail section with a magnifying glass making sure nothing is nicked or damaged. Clean it well, and put a drop of vegetable oil on the shaft, then give it another try.