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Aaron_H

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Aaron_H last won the day on April 15

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About Aaron_H

  • Birthday 06/27/1988

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Orlando, FL
  • My PB
    Between 10-11 lbs
  • Favorite Bass
    Largemouth

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  1. Last day of my PTO before back to work and then driving to Fort Myers for a week for work, got out for a few hours to make the best of it. 3/4 oz gold lipless was the ticket, got 9 and culled 2 tilapia. Biggest was a pretty decent one, went 4.61 lb and had someone else's EWG hook cutting her mouth up pretty bad so it felt good to pull that out before releasing her. Little bit of line attached looked like 6lb mono, no wonder they broke off. I did slip on some wet clay and fall hard on my shoulder landing her, but sometimes you gotta make sacrifices in this sport.
  2. Got a good one today. Wind was honking, original plan was to hit a spot I haven't been to in a bit over 2 years. Caught some nice fish out of there and had some really great numbers days, but when I showed up, HOA has it all posted no trespassing/no fishing now, and I tend to respect that when I see it. So I made a drive back to one of my usual haunts but instead stopped on the way and fished a new pond that I've passed by many times but never took the time to fish. Bite sucked, was only able to fish for a little over 2 hours with the extra driving, and I only managed to get 3. But one of them is my biggest of 2024 so far, came in at 7.21 lb. Still a bit skinny for this time of year but a big, healthy fish. Got her on a green pumpkin jackhammer, the new chatterbait rod (7'2" MH glass Intenza) is doing a great job at keeping them pinned so far.
  3. I've been there, it's unbelievably frustrating. I ended up tinkering with my setups to figure out if it was bad luck or if there was something causing it, but hopefully it ends for you soon bud.
  4. Nothing insane, and I'm off the big ones again sadly. This 3.77 put up a great fight on the chatterbait this evening now that they're bulking up and the water is cooling down. Chatterbait and lipless bites have been good, hopefully connect with something more sizable here soon. The time is getting right, at least.
  5. You couldn't pay me to throw a jerkbait on one of my MH setups. Maybe a MH cranking rod, but I want a stiffer tip than that to have better start/stop action on the bait. Dedicated setup 100%.
  6. Rage Craw primarily, UV Speed Craw on my smaller jigs.
  7. So when I first started my jerkbait grind, I was throwing them on an SLX with 30lb braid to a 12lb mono leader paired with a medium rod. I landed quite a few very nice bass on that setup, with a couple just over 10lb. It will work, and with braid's lack of stretch you only have to put the softest of movement into the rod to get the bait to slash. That said, the lack of stretch also meant those big fish were thrashing the trebles on my jerkbaits. The first DD I caught on that setup bent out 5 of the 9 hooks on that bait. Even with running light drag, the soft medium power rod, and the mono leader, there was not enough give in the system to relieve pressure off of the hooks. I have since switched to running straight 12lb mono on the same combo, and have had 0 hooks bend out even with running much tighter drag. I have to put a bit more effort into the rod twitches, but it's not an unbearable difference. Your mileage may vary. For lipless I prefer throwing them on a MH/MF rod with 15lb fluoro. I find they run deeper than I like on 12lb.
  8. My only Fenwicks are a couple of older Aetos spinning rods that I like quite a bit. They are MH and are only rated for 1/4-3/8 oz which is crazy light for a MH, but I have thrown over 3/4oz on them comfortably so I always assumed it was a typo; perhaps it's just a running theme with them.
  9. You think she wanted it? Biggest of the evening went 3.73lb. Most of the fish I've been catching seem to be starting to bulk up on shad, this one was still a very skinny summer bass. Gave me a spirited fight, though. Chatterbait setup working as intended so far.
  10. If I want a big pull and want a fish I have to truly put my back into, it's either going to be the first 30 seconds of a grouper fight, or hooking into a big amberjack. That said, on proper tackle, a big bass fights like the dickens and excites me more than the big saltwater pull. With the little guys, the strike and hookset is more satisfying to me, but the fight isn't much fun when you just ski them across the surface even on medium tackle. Once they get some size to them, and can really bulldog you, those runs and jumps become breathtaking and a true battle of wills between fish and angler.
  11. Our Florida bass have a very long growing season compared to O Canada, like @ol'crickety said a 6lber in your waters will be a much rarer, much older fish than the same weight this far south. But yes, there are some true giants in this pond. It's not the same one I caught my DDs in, but my longest bass ever (pushing 28" or so) came from here. Sadly I caught her in the middle of June with no belly so she went 8lb 9oz, I dream of catching her in prespawn. Her head was so big I was able to comfortably fit both fists in her mouth, and her shoulders were so thick I couldn't get my hand around her. I had to hold her back away from me just to get her all the way in the photo. For reference, I am 6'3" and my forearm from where my wrist is bent to the point of my elbow is 11.5". She was a big, healthy girl.
  12. Not trying to bombard you with a notification for this thread, but I promise this post isn't antagonistic (or rather, not at all intended as such). I didn't see anything in the OP about spinning vs casting and I missed your other post about it before I posted mine, but one of my biggest wacky rig fish (just over 7lb) was on a 7' medium spinning. I never felt undergunned or that the fish was overpowering the rod. Both that rod and the 6'10" medium casting rod I mentioned in my previous post are from the same manufacturer/rod line, and neither one feels lighter power than the other. But of course, with no industry standard, "medium" can mean very different things to different makers. As for the advice in the above quote, I really feel like that is technique/environment specific, no? On a big single hook, in slop/cover/structure, with heavy line? I'm throwing a MH or H and I'm pouring the coals to them for sure. But lighter line with smaller hooks, especially treble hooks, this seems like a recipe for lost fish, and a medium power rod really excels there IMO. Again, apologies if this is not a welcome reply.
  13. Only been able to get out twice in the last two weeks between work and the thunderstorms, did okay both trips. First cast I hooked into this one on the chatterbait that went 3.55lb Not a bad fish and I was hoping first cast curse wouldn't get me. I caught a handful more, but I did lose a much nicer fish also on the chatterbait right at the bank. Spit it on the jump right at my feet, got a good look at her and she looked ~6lb. Not one of the behemoths that lurks that pond but a sore loss for me when big girls have been slim pickings lately. It was kind of the breaking point for me with my chatterbait setup. I've caught quite a few large fish with a couple over 7lb on it, but I have lost far too many big ones. At first I thought braid to leader was letting them get slack too often on the jump, so I switched to mono. This helped a lot and I landed more big ones than I did with braid, but I was still losing too many. Throwing it on a MH/F graphite rod, but it bends deep into the blank, very moderate for a "fast" rod IMO. Ended up seeing a deal on the Intenza glass on American Legacy for 100 bucks so I figured I'd give glass a shot and see since so many chatterbait anglers swear by it. Today was the first trip since it showed up, and so far I'm not disappointed. I didn't hook into any big ones, biggest only went 2.29lb but I didn't lose any fish, including one that was just baaarely skin hooked. Time will tell if this is the solution for me. Losing fish is part of the game, but hopefully this switch minimizes it. They were busting hard on schooling shad later in the evening, I should've been throwing a small jerkbait into those bait balls and I would've cleaned house, but I left it at home wanting to put time into testing this combo. Alas, still ended the evening with 10, including this chunky little guy on a Rage Bug:
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