Fairtax4me

Great write-up Nolan! I didn't get to see the entire thing live but I did take an "extended lunch break" to watch as much as I could! You knew exactly what your pattern was and you stuck to it, I don't think most of us would have even found the pattern! You're a natural in front of the camera man! Can't wait to see you get back out on the tournament trail next year! Hope you can still enjoy some time off before going back on that school grind!

Farm pond froggin! Nice catches!

So after a month of waiting for my river to clean up so I can see to wade it again, I got one day on it... It rained like a hurricane the night after and its up three feet and solid mud again. I might get to fish it in another month! Either way, my buddy has been getting big into fly fishing and he wanted to catch a smallmouth on the fly. We hit the river Sunday at 7:30 am and he caught his first smallie on the fly rod after about 3 casts! He kinda struggled the rest of the day, trying to get the hang of fishing different lures in the current while wading, but I think he got a dozen or so. We only fished maybe 3/4 mile stretch of river in 8 hours, but it is loaded with 8-12" smallies and has the occasional 2-3lber cruising around. I did what I always do, and went with a bag of senkos, some blue and chartreuse keitechs, and a bluegill plopper 90. Got one to hit the plopper but didn't hook it. I ended up with maybe 18 for the day (didn't really keep a close count after ten) Bunch of short strikes and/or missed hooksets especially on the Keitech for some reason. My biggest of the day came out of a hole that I fish all the time and know it's kind of a hot spot for these brownies to sit in when the current is up. Can't compete with AJ but I SAW one that's gotta be close to half the weight of that last giant he posted! Still had an awesome day. Haven't had the time lately to fish like I want to and the next few weekends will be much the same, but I'm looking forward to a big charter trip out to the Gulf Stream for a day!

Saw that too and then saw him crack the smile right after! I had to LOL! Guy is in the spotlight and just having a blast!

Well unless something crazy happens it looks like our boy didn't quite squeeze it. Heck of an effort, and heck of a tournament! Congrats Nolan! Keep up the great work!

Same here, I think Nolan's the only one getting it done today!

Crushing it! Go Nolan!

Those are Giants in my neck of the woods! Nice football bass!

Nice! I caught one on a frog today... Those could have eaten it for a snack!

A-Rig bass! Caught three in about 20 minutes, this one was my biggest of the day. 3.5ish The day started out a bit slow but we found a spot where bass were crashing shad and spent a few hours floating around there picking off a few bass. If we could throw a jerkbait into the school when they were breaking the surface it was almost guaranteed to catch a fish. I caught a few on crankbaits and rattle traps as well. But they were keyed in on small shad and didn't want anything if it was bigger than the shad they were chasing.

Nice fish guys! Pretty sure I found your spot, and a group of kayakers that were there must have known about it too because they floated around that area literally the entire day yesterday. They were determined, but when I was close enough to see I didn't see them catching much. It looked like they were fishing flukes but I never got close enough to really tell. We gave that spot a break when the bite slowed down around mid morning and explored some other parts of the lake without much luck. Hopefully they got on some action! Jerkbaits produced if the bass were pushing shad to the surface. I caught several on crankbaits, when they were not crashing shad, several on a chrome rattle trap. My biggest of the day I got with an A-rig. It's been a long time since I've caught an A-rig fish and I caught three in about 20 minutes all out of the same spot. They absolutely hammered the thing! Was hoping for that big bite but they pretty much shut off after that. Flukes or any other soft plastic they would not touch for some reason. Tried several different sizes weightless and weighted and never got bit. Underspin they wouldn't touch but I didn't have a 1/2oz size so maybe that's why? Still had a great day, somewhere around 20 bass in the boat!

I've seen bass go airborn after mayflies. Usually smaller bass will eat the flies and larger bass will hang out nearby and pick off bluegill or any other bait fish that comes in to eat the mayflies. Find flats near dropoffs, big bass will be moving up into those flats to catch up with bait fish that are going to feed on mayflies.

Rode the wind all over the lake in the canoe today. Got kinda choppy out there (no crappie though) late afternoon so I ended up hiding in a few coves on my way to the far end of the lake. Was hoping for a swimbait bite today, and I guess I got one if a swim jig worked on structure counts. Caught my my first fish, maybe a pound or so, on a BD shad out in 8fow over some grass but couldn't keep in position well enough to really work the point thoroughly. After an hour and a half of drifting around to other grassy areas I decided the bass in the grass weren't in the mood to eat. Backup plan... Wood structure! Couple points on main lake that have deep submerged standing locust trees. I like to pull jigs and Texas rigged plastics through those and pick off some bass and usually get a handful from each spot even on a rough day. Caught a couple like that working a swim jig with Keitech trailer but they were all pounders. Moved into some coves to get away from the wind and started pickup up numbers and some bigger fish! Problem was all the big fish were super skinny! The photo is my longest of the day, I weighed and measured it just out of curiosity. Two and a quarter pounds! 2-1/4, 2.25. Yes, a 19" bass that's 2lbs... I caught 4 roughly that size. Overall I landed 19, with the exception of the first and one somewhere in the middle on a speed worm, nabbed all of them on the swim jig out of some kind of wood or brushy cover. I'll call that a good day! Best part was the wind pushed me to the fish, and at the end of the day it flipped directions and helped push me back to the ramp!

Nice fish! Looks like a nice 3lbs or a bit more! Nothing to scoff at for sure. Keep casting dude!

We got some pretty big rain storms the last couple days so the river may be slightly high and probably a little on the murky side. We have more rain forecast for all weekend and all next week. Afternoon thunderstorms upstream can push that river up in a matter of hours. Can't help with exact water levels for that area as I don't ever fish down there, but it only takes a small water level rise to double the current flow.

Nice one Deep! Thinking I'll try to get out there tomorrow or Sunday. Any tips? I see you've been getting some decent ones on the swimbait.

Looks like you're holding the rod pointing towards your lure. With most topwater lures I find it easier to point the rod anywhere from 45°-90° Away from the lure. The next part takes patience and practice, but it comes easily once you get used to it. When a fish strikes the lure, you then move the rod TOWARD the fish and WATCH your line! When the line starts pulling away, then reverse and set your hook. (Back in the original direction) Always with topwater lures do a sweeping set to the side and keep your rod tip LOW if possible. Setting the hook UP can often lead to a set of sharp hooks flying at your face. Heavier lures like a plopper 130 can give you one serious headache, or worse.

Assuming you're fishing from the bank? The best way to determine what structure feels like is to find something, (wood, Rock, grass, mud, sand, etc.) identify what it is, and drag a lure across it. To a large extent what you "feel" is going to be determined by how sensitive your rod and line are (and maybe how heavy your lure is), but seeing what you're dragging across will help you determine what your lure is dragging on when you can't see it. Also, throw your line across a stick or tree in the water and drag the lure slowly up it, then let it fall back down a few times. Do this with other types of structure as well and you'll soon figure out how to tell what that mushy feeling is when your line is working its way up an obstacle. Determine water depth to find humps and elevation changes by counting how long it takes for your lure to hit bottom on a cast. Doing that in multiple areas all around where you fish will help you determine depth at least as far out as you can cast.

Gotta love it when a plan comes together! Awesome day! Keep up the good work there dad!

Smallies! Found a bunch of these little guys stacked up in a long stretch of the river. Saw a couple good 2.5-3lbers in there too. Fairly easy for me to access so I'm gonna hit it a couple times in the next few weeks and see what I can drag out of there. Found plenty of gar too, and there's gonna be a special trip just for those as long as the current doesn't pick up too much.

Caught a catfish on a Keitech as well a few weeks back. It flopped out of my hands and over the side just as the pic was being taken. Seems like I've seen a lot of catfish caught on swimbaits this year. Got it out for an hour or so this afternoon and managed a couple smallmouth on senkos. No pics of those, they were all under 10", but did manage to haul in this beauty with 10lb braid on the spinning rod. Less fight than I thought it would be... It flipped out of my hand after the first pic and then I dropped my phone in the dirt. Need a felfie stick for this bank fishing stuff!

Depends how much rain you've got in the last week or so, but I would expect maybe slightly above average water level, current to match, but good water clarity and good conditions otherwise.

I think You're probably sticking the fish with the point but not getting it to drive in. The stretch in mono combined with the flex in the rod just isn't enough to really drive that hook in past the barb and get a solid set. Flourocarbon or even braid will help, but you also need to start using a medium heavy rod with those sized hooks. 15lb flouro or 40lb braid on a medium heavy fast rod will certainly drive those home. Staying with the medium rod and mono line, downsize your hook to a smaller size and/or finer wire size. Mustad hooks are incredibly sharp. Talking almost molecularly sharp. Sharpness on a level that we can't feel with our own sense of touch. To us a mustad feels just as sharp as an eagle claw snell hook, but they're on entirely different levels if you put them under a microscope. The mustad also STAYS sharp for longer.

I know it's a pics thread so trying not to get too far off topic but what line and rod are you using with those? I can get a 5/0 hook set with a medium rod and 10lb flouro but it's gotta be just right. I usually use 15lb flouro and a medium heavy fast rod at the least for good hookups 4/0-6/0 EWG hooks.

Spent the day on the James river yesterday and caught a handful of largemouth and a couple smallmouth. The smallmouth were on wacky rig stick baits. Largies I caught on jigs and one on a Keitech, all way up in cover. Fishing wasn't easy, but we had one of our better days on this stretch of river. Saw a couple 3-4lb smallies cruising around and had one follow a lure but couldn't catch any of the big girls. Also trolled right up to a 40"+ Muskie sitting up on the edge of a rock pile, and saw maybe 2 dozen short nose and long nose gar cruising around chomping on all the fry that were literally everywhere. Almost caught my first Muskie on a jerkbait! Felt a couple taps on the bait when it was 8-10 feet from the boat and kept just barely twitching it. Finally got it close enough to see and there was a teeny tiny Muskie! Couldn't have been more than 6" long and was very interested in that 5" rapala jerkbait! It hung around for about ten seconds then swam back down into the rocks. Just missed getting a pic of it. The smallie in the pic thought it had wings! I hooked it and it ran a few feet then jumped straight up about 5 feet out of the water! Couldn't shake that VMC hook though!