Troy85

I'm no offshore expert, but i'd say you're correct with first picture. I'm not sure what those diagonal lines are either. I don't think they are weeds because they aren't really showing up on the down scan. 2nd pic, I'd say small bait balls with other larger fish nearby. 3rd picture, I would say that is a bait cloud for sure. I remember when I started trying fishing structure for the first time, and I saw something similar to your 3rd picture(except I saw bigger arches below them as well). I thought, this has got to be what these offshore guys talk about when they say you locate bait clouds with fish under them. I threw a crank bait, and I ended up catching several nice bass.

Feel ur pain over here in Louisiana. Caught 1 bass Saturday. Pretty sure it was the 90 degree daytime water temps, and the bright moon lit cloudless Friday night. I'm sure they gorged themselves long before sunrise.

I like these as well, I only use one color. Sexy Shad.

Check the fuel. I bought a 2009 boat about a year and a half ago. Engine had 33 hours on it, the guy owned multiple boats and just never used this one. The result, was the fuel had begun to varnish. I ended up having to pull the tank, clean it. I replaced all the hoses and fuel water separator. Then I had to have a mechanic clean and remove all the varnish from inside the engine. Cost about $400. I had them reduce the price to compensate. Just something to look for before making an offer.

Never thrown an A rig, but was thinking about trying it. What would you consider the right equipment?

Tied for 2nd in the last tourney I fished. The tie breaker was our biggest fish 3.1lb....the other 2nd place team, also 3.1lb. We just decided to split the money after that. My brother and I have had several 2nd and 3rd place finishes, still chasing that number 1.

Ouch. When I caught my 9. My cousin had to lip it, I remember when I was pulling up along side the boat I said “if you miss this fish I’m throwing you overboad”. I’m pretty sure I would have kept my word had he missed.

Craws: RageTail or Zoom Z-craw Worms: Culprit for curly tail, and Zoom for finesse. I used to only use yamasenkos for stick baits, but I recently started using yum dingers as well For soft plastic bait fish imitations I use super flukes or swimming flukes.

I've had a lot of success using dropshot for LM, I don't have any smallmouth at all where I fish. I don't use it all the time, its the rod in the bottom of my rod locker. If they aren't wanting to bite anything else I'm throwing, my last resort is the dropshot. That said, it has saved me from getting skunked on several trips, especially right now with water being so hot down here.

I've stayed at both of these places and they are both excellent choices.

I'm nominating you for the Nobel Peace Prize........

There is so much grass where I fish, whopper ploppers, Zara spooks and other top waters with trebles are almost impossible to use in most situations. Weedless frogs and buzzbaits are the top water choice for me.

No no no no no no...this can't be true. I'm a pretty chill dude, but that made me angry just reading it. Wow. I'm blown away. How did you handle it? I'm assuming he's still alive, unless you have computer access at the local jailhouse..... I've had friends do that with my bait casters, but these are guys I've known for years and years. Worst I've had was a friend who apparently thought it was a good idea to get stupid drunk the night before. It was August, its 88 degrees at sunrise and only gets hotter from there. A hangover sucks as it, you add sweltering heat and wave action.....needless to say, he spent most of the morning sleeping and puking off the back of the boat.

I'm on Cabelas website, and I can see where I can just casually add the Ranger z521 to my cart for the price of $100,899.

I use H2O crankbaits quite often. I like them and have caught plenty of fish with them. The only crank bait I throw that isn't H2O is the KVD 1.5, but every other crankbait in my box is H2O

If you don't want to fish at night, I'd say your next best bet is to fish tidal waters if possible. Even in the dog days of summer, when the tidal conditions are right, the bass will bite, even during the heat of the day. You will still want to target deeper water. I know where I've been fishing the water temps are 89-91, during slack tide its tough, but once the water starts moving, the bass start eating.

This is so true. The bite from my PB(9lb), was so lite that I wasn't even sure if it was a bite or not. I remember thinking to myself, was that a bite or did my worm just land on a submerged stump. I just set the hook to be safe, I'm glad I did.

Nice Cull!

Keep increasing that lead!

I don't think so. Few weeks back I was filleting a speckled trout. I felt something hard its in stomach so i cut the stomach to investigate. Inside I found an entire jig head with the plastic beetle. Looked like it had been in there awhile, the hook was all rusty. The fish was a good weight and it didn't look like the jig and beetle in its stomach was really affecting it.

I’ve had success in SE LA drop shotting for LMB and I caught PB bream dropshotting. I only use it if water clarity is around 1.5’ Visibility or better. I’ve never used it in very muddy water as I’ve always seen it as more of a visual bait for bass.

Fished a tournament Saturday, just over 8lbs was winning weight. I came in 4th with 4.5lb. So yeah, its been slow here as well. As a reference, it usually takes 12-14lb to win.

Thousand Islands and Falcon Lake.

That snake would become the proud owner of my boat.

I'll be bringing my 18' Xpress.