Jermination

yep. from what i noticed everything is like 3 weeks late this year. I caught some fish with bloody tails all the way into mid june this year LOL

it has been obnoxiously tough this year. have gotten on a few good patterns but man they are short lived. Prespawn & memorial day weekend were my best bags this year. I havent been out there in a couple of weeks but last time i went we caught a bunch of massive stripe around the sailboat club and back in prater flats

unless you fish loudon. where the bite is always dead LOL have a tournament on norris tomorrow, hopefully they're chewing up there!

this isnt from a pond man, its from fort loudon lake on the tennessee river. after the classic was here earlier this year all of east tennessee has turned into bass fisherman and i dont know that there is a fish in the lake that hasnt seen lures this year yep--just like the pics i posted earlier. the fish's head are the size of a 3 1/2 but they have zero weight. they are really flabby and just look very unhealthy. Anytime i've ever caught one like this they are always out of the highest pressured lake in my area, fort loudon

seen a ton of this lately from some local heavily pressured lakes. im not sure what else could cause this to the fish other than not being able to digest soft plastics

YES. A favorite of mine is putting an electric shad rage swimmer on a "watts bar special" (green pumpkin & purple). if they're eating bluegill or shad(especially around slips ) skip to the back of a slip and hold on

colder it gets the better, up until the water goes under 50. Mountain lakes are a little different i would say they are good until the water gets below 45, we used to go jitterbugging on fontana and hiwassee and it would be absolutely freezing with the pontoon boat, would sit a kerosene heater in between the front two seats as we parallel down the banks blooping our jitterbugs wearing them out. Grass lakes topwater is good until the grass is gone, usually when they start dropping the water on chickamauga the majority of the grass dies but if you can find it, they'll eat top water through December

hey man, so you really need to start by putting down the finesse tactics and power fish, 1. the bites are way easier to detect 2. you can cover a heck of a lot more water 3. ticking them off will generate just as many bites as if they were feeding. go buy a bill lewis blue back & chrome rattle trap, sling it and reel it back in as quickly as you can. walk around to points and stuff off the bank, find a good area of the bank to parallel it(or bridge pilings). if you are struggling with detecting bites, throw something where there is absolutely no doubt when one takes it

^^cant go wrong here specifically in the crawdad color. honorable mentions also red lipless, alabama rigs, flat sided crank baits, jerk baits, jig with original zoom chunk

they move around, at least in there because its shallow--that spot where the big one is from there's a creek channel that runs way back and holds about 8-10 ft of water. you'll see them chasing bait everywhere back there you catch more fish the better you look!

yeah man theres not much you can do with that kind of stuff, especially in shallow water areas. I never feel comfortable punching because its so thick from top to bottom. Every now and again you can catch some absolute studs out of it(like this nice little 11.3 largemouth last year ), but they've always come on a frog when the mats are full. in the winter its pretty sparse back there and catch a bunch yoyoing and ripping rattletraps

trying to find a good pic of the main channel grass lines i'm talking about, this is probably about the best i have but you still can't really see them great

no i mean grass lines on the main channel. typically on the main channel of grass lakes the grass extends 10-15 feet off the bank, line the nose of your boat up on the grass line and parrallel down them. the super thick stuff is a waste of time trying to throw anything but a frog or swim a worm above them--this is what a lot of creeks look like on chik and there arent but a couple different ways to attack it

rip them through the grass, i torched a few last week on the chatterbait paralleling grass lines on the main channel up river. Use a heavier rod and it's much easier to rip through the grass. 80% of the chatterbait fish i caught that weekend came on the rip through grass, let a little bit of slack in your line and just pop it. they would suck it in before the blade started flapping again

you bet---also works good in lightly stained

yes sir--thats why throwing them on an 8+ft rod is so beneficial-- im not certain how well it works in rivers because usually when i throw it it's when i see smallies suspended on a bluff or deep point. if they're deeper than 8-14 feet im usually picking up drop shot because its just too big of a pain to try to cast something with a 12-13 ft leader lol

throw a 1/8th or 1/16th hair or duck feather jig--throw whichever makes it easier for you to cast. get a weighted 1 inch styrofoam bobber and clip it on desired depth. I have never done this in an actual running river during winter but do it alot on nasty winter days up river on the lakes around here. If the sun is out i wouldn't waste a ton of time throwing it. slip floats seem to be easier to cast but i dont think the action is nearly as good as the clip on floats

should work but i doubt it will be as good, something about that slow retrieve ticking the rocks drives em nuts. i'd use 10 lb mono with it though because you're bound to get hung a few times and that stretch helps you pop it loose....the 7,8, & 9 are usually sold out in just about every store i go to around knoxville. Its something about that orange crawdad color that they love. Works in clear or muddy water

crawdad shad rap is always a killer in the winter, throw a #4 or #5--bang it off the rocks. walleye will choke them too

slide some hook weights on your hook of the 1/4 oz

swim a jig, this is usually the type of jig i use around slips when they are on bluegill here in east tn. Something with a flash of chartreuse should work well too. if the water is too clear for a crankbait throw a chatterbait. deadly nedly is always a good contingency plan when all else fails

as long as it's still good. I tie the double uni knot for all of my leaders and it does fine. I do add a small drop of loctite 406 over the knot once tied. Regular super glue just kinda sits on the outside of the knot but for some reason the 406 seems to penetrate the knot keeping it from slipping & strengthening it(not really a big deal with the newer braids but some of the older braids used to have issues with knots slipping)

yeah i've been down the scientific rabbit hole already LOL at this point if i think i would eat it if i were a fish, it gets thrown a time or ten

what's it smell like? ive done a few tests this year and "gulp nightcrawler" and "bang crawdad" have been the two best, with nightcrawler catching half a dozen more than my partner throwing the exact same thing minus scent

guys i don't know if it's turned into a desperation/confidence thing but this year I've really noticed scents making a difference--whether it be getting that extra second or two of hang on time while dragging football heads or pulling a soft plastic. I've tried a bunch of different ones and in conclusion, gulp night crawler seems to be the most productive thing, even spraying on jigs. I'd like to hear some opinions