DitchPanda

Lots of reasons I'm sure many of which we will never know or understand. My local pond is rebounding a little but for several years it was very tough...flooding ripped out grass and brush so the fish became nomads and were very hard to pattern. I haven't been skunked much this year and I attribute that to the county putting some brush in the pond and also a growing bass population. Maybe one of the biggest things is im better as a fisherman now than I was 3 years ago...heck maybe even 3 months ago. So for me I've actually noticed the fishing improving around me. Biggest thing for me is the annoyance of all the band wagon jumper new "anglers" we gained this year. First of all I like fishing for the solitude as much as the catching opting to fish alone 90% of the time. At most I go with 1 buddy or my lady. So having all these morons around drinking to much, leaving trash everywhere and just practicing general jackassery has been a small deterrent to say the least. I just fish other spots that are harder to access and catch fish. As far as the actual pressure they are putting on the fishery id say it's very minimal...these people are far from fisherman and clearly don't know what they are doing so the catching is also minimal.

Baby boo was the first jig I ever used them I moved on to bigger and "better" things. Caught the crap out of them and put them away. Lately I've been in love with small jigs...mini ball, bass patrol footballs, bitsy bug. Went as far as having Bluebasser make me a bunch of improved bitsy bugs...which are exec btw he did a great job. May have to break the baby boo out again...really like it as a finesse swim jig. Baby boo was the first jig I ever used them I moved on to bigger and "better" things. Caught the crap out of them and put them away. Lately I've been in love with small jigs...mini ball, bass patrol footballs, bitsy bug. Went as far as having Bluebasser make me a bunch of improved bitsy bugs...which are exec btw he did a great job. May have to break the baby boo out again...really like it as a finesse swim jig. Baby boo was the first jig I ever used then I moved on to bigger and "better" things. Caught the crap out of them and put them away. Lately I've been in love with small jigs...mini ball, bass patrol footballs, bitsy bug. Went as far as having Bluebasser make me a bunch of improved bitsy bugs...which are excellent btw he did a great job. May have to break the baby boo out again...really like it as a finesse swim jig. Sorry for the triple post..had a little gliche. Maybe I'm just that excited.

This!

What do you throw it on?

I love the full size but I've never thrown a smaller more finesse frog. Who throws these? Any other brands you like? What setup are you using?

I've got no advice to give because I've never been skunked..not once. And if your gullible enough to believe that crap you need help with more than fishing.

Bass eat birds, turtles, snakes and other land animals when they make a mistake. So to me them eating anything that lives in the water seems completely normal.

I've kinda had the same apprehension...heard to many stories of guys spending 15 hours and ruining a $60 brisket. I will eventually be a man and just do one...but so far I've been scared! Other problem is I like pulled pork almost as well and I can get an 8lb pork butt for like $12 and I know how to make it perfect for me.

I'm a big jig guy and use a lot of different sizes and styles. The past few years the boss finesse flip or siebert sniper have been tied on more than my other jigs combined. Highly recommend either one.

Boss finesse flip...siebert sniper is another similar option that is also very good

It's kinda funny that you mention gout...not funny like haha cuz I've heard it's awful..but it's odd you mention it today. Just found out today that a young guy I work with...maybe 25...has a bad case of gout as we speak. Guess his is caused by a kidney disease he has where they won't process uric acid.

Charlie Day style from sunny in philadelphia. Sometimes I get mixed up and I don't say my words no good.

Yep...bank guy here. Had a boat for a few years but didn't use it much since I fish small bodies of water. Considering a kayak to get off the bank in summer..but for now bank bound. Have been for years.

I throw that particular jig on a medium heavy because it has a solid hook. Jigs that size and smaller with a lighter wire hook I throw on a medium.

So I posted last night that I went out yesterday with high hopes and was very disappointed with the outcome. Well not one to be deterred I went out this evening from 430 til 730 ...ended up catching 7 bass and lost 2 decent ones. Now I know a bunch of you are saying oh boy...9 bites in 3 hours slow down killer! But let me state that the past almost month my local pond has been a grade a suckfest. I'm very happy with tonight's outcome.

Have you had much rain lately? Smallmouth are notoriously tough in dirty water..if you had a bunch of rain that could me the culprit. If you've had rain but it didnt dirty the water then it's likely the bass moved. Id target new shallow cover if the water has rose...also id target inflows like small creeks and ditches that dump into your creek.

Exactly what I said in my post last nite. Went out yesterday 3rd day into a cooldown...cool overcast and water has a little color...fished 2.5 hours and only caught 2

Can't comment on the rods in question but I will throw in my 2 cents on the reel. I love pflueger presidents and own probably half dozen..5 that are 5 to 10 years old and one newer one. I do not like the newer one near as much. My newest spinning reel is a daiwa rg 2500 I've had a couple years and I love it. I feel like right now daiwa and shimano have the best reels even at budget price points. That's where is look for a reel.

Johnny from fish the moment is incredibly knowledgeable for a guy his age plus he's is well connected in the industry. He has done several breakdown chats with Rick Clunn and is working now with seasoned pro Randy Blauket. For pure breakdown of area, bait and technique he may be the best right now. Another one I forget to mention that I enjoy is Nature of Fishing. It is a YouTube channel run by bassresource member Paul Roberts. It's very in depth as well..he goes into lots of detail about time of year, water temps,water depth, lure choices in certain seasons or scenarios. He doesn't have a ton of content but the stuff he has is thought out and we'll done. Plus his videos are usually pretty long so they are worth the wait in between uploads.

I'm my neck of the woods largemouth are much more plentiful and grow bigger. I do catch some smallmouth and that is always a welcome surprise. My biggest smallmouth is in the 5lb range and biggest largemouth is upper 8s. Like Ajay said I like all big bass. I'll even go a step further and just say I like all bass period.

So we got that cool weather I've been waiting for. Today is our 3rd day into this cold snap...cloudy rainy conditions...water temp has dropped the last few days. Go out to my local pond..sky is dark water has a little color to it...looks spinnerbait E to me. A few casts in I catch a dink. Go to another spot miss one on a buzzbait. Next spot catch a solid fish in the spinner. Think oh God it's happening...and proceed to fish 4 more spots without a sniff. You fooled me green fish. Touche.

I absolutely think you can learn by reading about the history of the sport...a lot of the concepts these guys uncovered or realized without the use of electronics is amazing to me. Some of my favorites to read about are guys like Rick Clunn and David Fritts both guys are incredible crankbait fisherman and they figured out offshore fishing with very limited electronics and use of triangulation. I'm also intrigued by guys like Tommy Biffle and Denny Brauer...both guys would lock a jig or Texas rig in their hands and flip,flip,flip. That ability to put your head down and grind out bites is an incredible skill.

My thoughts exactly...put a good lure in areas you know bass live and your gonna catch some. If big ones happen to live there guess what happens?

Not tournament related but I've had a similar experience from a guy who got butt hurt about me catching fish. So the ponds I fish most are run by the county conservation board and they are old gravel pits. Before the county got them they were leased by the gravel company to a sportsman club with private membership. So the rules in there charter stated members and there immediate family could use the ponds and were able to bring a guest to fish and camp with them. Well my best friends dad was a member so me and my buddy would take his dad's key above fish all the time. We followed the rules, picked up trash, kept under our limits on fish and just acted as good stewards of the place. We would have guys stop and ask us who we were...Jon would say my dad is Steve...they would say oh yeah I know Steve you boys have a good time and good luck. Well one guy saw us catching a bunch of crappies so he came over to ask us what we were using...guy turned out to be my buddies dad's cousin or second cousin somebody we knew well. He saw that we had half dozen crappie on a stringer...think the limit was 15 each at the time...said nice fish and went on his way. Next day I called my buddy and said hey you wanna go back out? He said dad won't let me cuz uncle Ted called and told him it's bulls#%& we are out there keeping his fish. A week or two later they had a monthly meeting for the club and several members said hey Steve I haven't seen your boy or his buddy Charles out for a while. Steve told them what happened and asked if it bothered them that we fished there? They said hell no they are both fine young men...friendly...courteous. They also said uncle Ted was just ticked because he got outfished by two teenagers. After that we fished whenever we wanted.

I don't go out of my way to target big bass because I'm no expert in doing that. I catch my share of them by just targeting keepers and not targeting dinks. Lots of standard baits with a track record of good fish...buzzbait, spinnerbait, jig....probably my 3 favorite most thrown baits. Don't know that I've ever tried to not catch a big one.