Allaroundfishing

yes I learned my lesson in that fishing the Tar river down in Little Washington. I made a cast at a submerged limb 4 times and on the 4th as soon as I reeled it over the log I killed the bait... Watched a 2lber come up from under the log and inhale the squarebill.

Yea ive been getting on the whole squarebill trend lately I love fishing laydowns and rocks with them never tried grass till that day. I shoulda figured pausing it just like I would after deflecting off or a log would work too, it was a blast for sure. yes patience was the key, the water temp dropped nearly 3 degrees in the 7 hours we were on the water!! yes the slower the better it seemed that day, we had dropping water temps and a major cold front sweep through that dropped the surface temp from 50-51 down to 49! yep this weekend I gotta figure out how to put 5 of those chunks in the boat we had snow today which is gonna drop the surface temp quite a bit from the run off. hoping it doesn't mess up the fishing too much for this tourney.

heres pics i forgot to include them lol

So my Dad and i headed out on a lake in my area that is mainly grass and some rock cover as the main structure. We caught one fish flipping the deepest egde of an emergent grassline in about 5 ft of water (Surface temp 50.7) I fished that way for several hours before switching up to throwing a squarebill over the submerged grass, when i would feel the bill get mucked up in the grass I would stop it until i felt it had floated up enough then i would reel back down to the grass, basically rinse and repeat. This provided the biggest fish of the day. (she was just under 5lbs) I didn't quite know if anyone else had ever fished this way. i have always ran spinner baits or lipless over grass like that so this was kind of unorthodox but it worked so i wont complain.

Falls is a good lake if you have the chance. go fish around the "Beaver dam" area on foot just walk the bays and such. throw a 1.5 in chartreuse sexy shad or a white chatterbait with a chartreuse trailer. Harris is warming up slowly but surely the water is muddy which has made it tough. Jordan well it has pigs in it but i cant find them thats for sure. Your best bet is Falls if your on shore or in a boat. theyre not spawning yet that wont be for about a month or so, however you can find them in the mouths of pockets and off of points.

So the man himself did it again this weekend at the St johns where he has set the record as the oldest fisherman to win a Bassmaster 'Elite" series tournament. He set the record three years ago at the age of 69 and he broke his own record again at the ripe age of 72 years young. This is a man who indeed loves the sport and keeps himself physically and mentally sharp to keep his dream going. What a man to look up to.

I got to see one at a local boat show it seemed like a quite comfortable for a small aluminum boat. But in waves bigger than 2 feet i would err on the side of caution going out in it atleast if you wanted a dry ride. but it sure did seem like a nice boat.

i sure hope so i got a tournament on high rock this weekend. last weekend well... i dont even wanna talk about how the fishing was

So most people claim that flat sided do better in cold water because a flat sided crankbait has a thinner less aggressive wobble much like a shad thats sluggish in cold water. So me personally all my winter crankbait bass have been on either Rat-l-Traps or Red eyes. i fish off a bank alot and i like that you can burn them or slow roll them and bump off rock and whatnot. How ever a flat sided crank would be better if you were trying to avoid snags as much as possible as a lipless gets hung way easier. Also if you were on a school of suspending fish i would throw a flat side that targeted that depth zone . Just my opinion though.

i was the same way at the start of last year, I LOVED and still do love throwing a lizards or senko on a t rig or wacky rigging a senko . I was enlightened to the way of the square bill in an early april tournament when my partner promptly put 4lbers in the boat on back to back casts. This year i fished my highschool tournaments alone and every single fish i caught has come on a squarebill. (except a 3lber i caught skipping a dock) Now i would say power fishing with a squarebill and spinnerbait are my go to's. Alot of people i know swear by a chatterbait but i cant catch a fish in a barrel on it. i use my 1.5s and spinnerbaits and get just as good of results. I think this is mainly because i can have absolute confidence in my technique which makes it 150% easier to focus on the actual fishing. Stepping outside of a comfort zone pays off sometimes but knowing what your doing and being confident will result in a better turn out all the time. I can think of no one who has "mastered all techniques" but i know there are many who are confident in fishing most techniques.

Ive been getting ready for a series of highschool tournaments coming up and i've noticed all the lakes around us that are usually good in this late winter/early spring. Well plain and simple they have been off. I have a flat on one of my favorite lakes we can usually sack toads on this time of year on rat-l-traps. Last year me and a buddy caught 12 fish over 4lbs the biggest being 6lb 8 oz of yours truly. And at least 30 that were under 4lbs. all in a two week period. This year we have caught one 4lber and two 5's, same water temp if not a little warmer same water color(stained) and the days we fished have been similar conditions to the days we really caught them last year. I know we aren't alone, High rock lake, lake Norman and Kerr lake have all been off this year so far. Any others from out of state having similar experiences.

i cant wait to see the finished product, But something i love is that he makes it look so easy like "Oh well ill just soak this for about 12 hours then come back and glue is together in the mold." He sure is a master craftsman.

Everyone stresses that rocks are best and i agree they are good but a sand to rock transition is also pretty good especially if theres a bit of structure on it i.e trees,stumps etc. I too prefer to fish shallow but im starting to get more comfortable fishing deeper water. my best advice is fish shallow with confidence then try fishing a point from shallow to deep. Using the same stuff a T. Rig, shallow crankbait (dt-6 is my favorite for fishing shallow winter water) and a jig or what ever else you use up shallow. Its never a bad idea to fish your confidence then move out of your comfort zone and try, even if you dont commit to it just try it and see how you like it.

i know through the south and midwest a crank with either an orange or red sides and belly is a great fish catcher just because in all water clarities its a visible craw looking bait. Up north i wouldn't expect much difference other than maybe going with a more muted color in clearer water but in stained go with a darker red or orange. In soft plastics for me at least you cant beat " Alabama craw" or a similar color which is generally a green pumpkin top with orangish red on the bottom. I catch fish on that color really well from February to post spawn. another color to not sleep on is a pumpkinseed worm or craw from zoom its just a brownish kinda light color that could very well imitate a craw in clear water.

Something i've noticed about the Stren Fluorocast fluorocarbon is that the 17lb for flipping and throwing a rigs when i use Clinch knots it chafes right above the knot. its the only line i have problems with doing that so im not quite sure why id does that.

yea the tech told me that the only welds were behind the pad where the transom is and I of course didnt make(anymore of) a fool of my self and crawl on the floor under it but it sure seemed like a nice heavy aluminum it didnt feel like a pop can. ??

I agree that they need testing before i can give a full opinion. I was talking to a guy who was a mechanic and worked on these boats and he told me that the hull has no welds until the pad which was intriguing because i know the rangers have welds on the bottom like down the sides and middle.

I agree it is another aluminum bass boat... will it ever compare to a high end fiberglass boat eh, its all on personal preference. Currently I haul my tin can with a 98 ford ranger, so it would not be feasible to have a big fiberglass boat so i've stuck to aluminum and honestly im happy with it. the lakes I fish don't require a big heavy rig just because of size of the water. I really enjoyed the layout and how the boat felt how ever i don't know that i would buy one. Im not in the market right now for a boat. I agree the whole tagline with the "infusing" is quite misleading but you gotta have a tagline i suppose ??

at the show The vexus booth was right across from the where some rangers were when i hopped in the vexus and sat down i noticed how the width of the boat, like fishing platform wise and the ability to walk around and not feel cramped even on 19ft model was impressive. Maybe it was the layout or where the seats were it certainly felt wider and a little more fishable then the other aluminum boats there but that is just my opinion.

So two weekends ago at the raleigh fishing expo I had the opportunity to look at three of their models the 20,19 and 18 foot versions. While the dealer was trying to sweet talk me into buying one I asked all sorts of questions (too many to list) and climbed all over the boat. sitting in the boat and behind the console/consoles, i truly appreciated the feel of the boat. It was wayyyyyy wider in the back then the ranger equivalent even in a fiberglass ranger the ranger cant be that much wider than the 2080 model of vexus. I tucked my head back where the batteries were and looked all through the livewells and dry boxes. the welds i could see looked phenomenal and were definitely a fine welding job by the techs. The fiberglass inserts were sturdy and good sized. (all compartments are coated fiberglass inserts instead of standard aluminum or plastic wells.) the boat felt sturdy, well laid out, and thoughtfully designed. I dont know if its of the same caliber of @A-Jay's lund but I was impressed nonetheless by the boat. If you have personally been in one on the water or just at the show floor feel free to add on what you think ??

in between 2:00 and 3:00 in the middle of feburary. water temp 46-48 water depth 9-12ft Oh she was 6lbs 8 0z by the way

Well we went out on a local lake just for a bit... Didnt do any fishing but i did get to use my side imaging which was a trip for sure. it was cool looking at the crappies or white perch stacked on a bridge piling. Cant wait to take it out and do some fishing. Also i enjoyed warming up in the truck after we got off the water ???

It was a very good show in my opinion it was better than last years just the variety and speakers were great im sure you will enjoy it very much

Personally I think that the Mlf format could be just as hard if not harder than the standard format. The whole three different lake three different day format is gonna be tough in a standard multi day tournament you have time to figure your pattern and perfect it to try to put the 5 biggest fish in your well everyday. Where as fishing a different body of water every day is gonna make it almost impossible to pattern fish out. I say this because they are coming to the raleigh area this spring fishing three different lakes that could not be MORE different from each other. Shearon harris is a hydrilla powerplant lake thats fairly clear. Falls has mainly offshore and timber structure with submerged roads. and Jordan lake has very little shoreline cover with some emergent grass and flooded timber. This will make a hard few days of fishing for sure i know from experience. ??

In one way or another i have been unable to go out to set up my new fishfinder for the past three weekends this weekend im determined to go rain or shine, hell or high water im gonna go ??