WDE

Threw on the wading boots again this morning and landed 6 in a couple hours. Largest were these two 3.8(top) 2.9(bottom). They’re eating up. Nearly every one I caught had a bit of a pudge belly. T-rigged Smartbaits color changing Smart Bomb plastic worm. Quick shots of these 2:

Found a quiet corner of a pond that’s never fished. T-rigged worms and wacky Senkos are nailing it.

A scavenger hunt of sorts. Don’t yell the spot here, just throw me a like if you know the spot. Gotta liven this thread somehow.

Ran out of my 3/0 os and was left with 5/0 widegap os for wacky rigged Senko. This little bass was awfully lucky.

I’ve never been to Shelby Forest. It’s about 45 minutes from my house. Is it worth the drive? Are the ponds less pressured than anything I can fish in Gtown or Cville? Is it bank friendly? I’m pretty much at wit’s end fishing these ponds closer to my house, and need some new waters worth fishing.

I'm no expert, but I think once we get a little more consistent temperatures, we'll find that the fish are transitioning toward late Fall/Winter and start feeding up. The bite around this time last year was great, but temperatures were a bit warmer if I'm remembering correctly. The bite has has been tough for just about everyone I've talked to at the ponds I frequent. I got a 3lb around 11am about a week ago just before we got some rain on a crankbait. Days before and after that, they haven't been very interested in anything I'm throwing. Best of luck.

Been having a rough go of it prior to this week. Largest bass I've landed in a month at 3.2 right before the bottom dropped out. And then a montage of the others landed this week. I did unfortunately snag a turtle, however it was only just his fin webbing and I think he was more scared than anything. I'm really not sure if he took a nibble at the crankbait or I missed a hookset and snagged him.

Tough bite lately, but I think we are finally over the hump in terms of constant 90+ degree days. Air temps in the upper 70s/low 80s the past few days. Picked the 3 bass off a giant school of shad, possibly the biggest I've ever seen that spanned about 100 yards down the bank. Happy with what the pond gave me, despite the size. I believe I blew a bearing in my Tatula my last time out, so I was using my dad's rig with an ultra fast action tip...so the little bass were a lot more fun to catch, albeit deceiving.

Agreed on the slow bite. These past couple weeks have been rough for me. But I think Fall weather is just around corner.

I usually go 3-4 times a week, often at least 3 days in a row depending how my work schedule plays out. Bite has been tough here with the water temps still being as high as they are, so my frequency has dropped a bit over the past couple weeks.

I didn't notice any rattles, but he was also curled up pretty tight and I couldn't get a good look at his head. I also didn't stick around for very long.

Speaking of snakes...almost stepped on this one today. Don't know the species.

Found a baby gecko.

I guess I need to fish more often in the morning. Pulled this 4.1lb out of the pond behind Johnson-fountains at 11AM last week. Went out to run an errand or two and decided to drop in for a minute on the way back to the house. I've been focusing a lot of attention back there lately over the past month or two. There's some big fish back there and they're not pressured whatsoever. But there's also a fair amount of 1lb or below(most of my catches). Unfortunately, there's just one decent place to throw clean casts without stomping around in the woods and risking getting snakebit*. It took some figuring out, when to yank my lure out before hitting the reeds and such as there's a good 5+ feet between where the water ends and the edge of vegetation. But I started out with a Senko and now I can drag a lipless crank through. I've caught them on topwater frogs as well. Haven't had any luck with jigs or spinners, but I don't toss them often anyway--they are great for not getting hung up in the reeds though. You do also have to wade into up to knee deep water if you can't flip them over the reeds. Someone recently looks like they got a swimbait hung up in a tree limb hanging over the cast radius...and well...I've hit it twice and backlashed my reels both past the point of no return. *Definitely be wary of the snakes. I was making casts in a different part of that pond near the path and a 3 foot moccasin swam through not 2 feet away from me; I had no idea it was there.

I love it when things work out the way it should. Caught both of these fish on wacky rigged worms. Black/blue flake Senko, black/blue Yumdinger. Both fish were caught in a single cast after crashing the bank on shad just feet away from me. Pulled the first one in right as I arrived to the pond. I caught the second when I was walking out after I had "retired" for the day. They're not large by any sense of the word--1-2lbs(if I'm being generous)--but after a year straight of fishing 3-4 times a week, it's nice to see that I'm getting the hang of it(again).

Got out for a few minutes this morning, a rare event for me. Pretty uneventful, figured I missed the morning bite. Decided to revisit a spot that gave me nothing earlier. Dropped a crankbait right on this one's head, as soon as it hit the water she was on. Fought like a champ, 4.1lbs. Had to wade out to knee deep water to pull her out of some reeds. This is basically the only true access point to this pond without walking around through the woods(which I'm not going to do during snake season).

Haha, no. Didn't even give it much consideration. It was an outright monsoon. It's back down to normal now. Got out for about an hour or so before my wife woke up this morning. Place was crawling with people. Got one massive bite, but otherwise nothing.

For the fellow bourbon drinkers--if you ever want to do the "hard hat" tour of Buffalo Trace--do it. Amazing +/-90 min tour.

Fish were a bit 'off' yesterday because of this today(or I assume). The bass I grabbed was by the lamppost in the background, I'd be knee deep if it was today.

Johnson is a swamp. I took these around 4:30p today.

A day of firsts. 1. "Catching" a fish on a jerkbait(I never use). 2. Foul hooking two fish(I believe these are gizzard shad) in one day. Very odd. And a little guy off the black/blue flake Senko.