DitchPanda

Cajun food overrated? Ha...ok dude whatever you say

Sounds to me like what you bought are punch skirts. These are designed to slide on your line after you slide on a weight then you tie on a hook after the skirt. The idea is you Texas rig a plastic to make it weedless and the skirt adds bulk to the presentation. It is designed to be fished in heavy vegetation.

Talking brush offshore here...anywhere between 4-12 fow. My pond is so low now I can actually reach some of this offshore brush...in middle of coves and off points...from the bank. What baits do you prefer for this type of fishing?

Exactly my point. Finding out big fish baits and patterns for your bodies of water is important...once you figure it out it seems almost easy after that. My local pond is dirty enough that you can almost never see spawning fish. I found a shallow spawning area one year where the females were grouped up prespawn and figured out they would eat a bluegill colored bladed jig. Caught probably half a dozen in a two week period between 5&6lbs. Also have another pond that's fairly weedy all spring and summer..catch some nice fish on frogs and senkos. When fall comes around however the big girls will crush a buzz bait fished along the receding weed edges. One time in particular I went out on a rainy October day and smashed em. Don't think I caught a fish under 3 or 4lbs. My best 5 went somewhere between 26 and 27lbs. That's huge for here.

Yum ...I just made bacon, over easy eggs and hashbrowns(hand shredded on a box grater) on my griddle indoors.

Yep keep it up man it will happen. I live in Northwest Iowa a place by all accounts...if you listen to guys who don't know how to fish...has no decent size bass. Had a guy tell me last year that our area has no big bass. Said he has fished here for years and years...never caught one over 5lbs. Didn't have the heart to tell him that last year alone I caught 3 6s and a 7. Now thats not the norm but I've had years like that in the past. This year my biggest is just shy of 4.5 but that's nothing to sneeze at either. All I can say is big is relative...every state is different. One thing I know is once you get over that hump...5lbs being your benchmark..It will likely start happening more often.

Anybody familiar with his music? Any fans? I've always been a fan...had a few of his albums for well over 15 years now...none of my friends even know ho he was. A little background he was an acoustic English singer songwriter in the late 60s/early 70s. He had a very unique smoky haunting quality to his voice and he had some interesting arrangements in his songs. He died at the age of 26 of an antidepressant overdose. Although its was never really confirmed accidental or suicide many people suspect the latter because of his depression problems. Seems he was a very shy tortured soul...very little if any live footage of him remains. Like so many he left the world early and never got to see the impact his art had. Beck, REM and Elton John have all cited him as a big influence.

Jack? Extremely overrated

Had a great experience with Abu Garcia several years ago. Ordered a veritas off there website when it was on sale for $60. When I got the rod it had a broken guide. I took a pic and emailed it to them and told them what happened. They sent me a new rod completely free of charge and even told me to keep the other rod and repair it if I wanted.

Coffee: extremely overrated Senkos: rated perfectly Facebook: also extremely overrated Citizen Kane?

Good one

Kinda wish I had a bass buddy like you guys that taught me alot. I've had to teach myself most of the bass skills ive acquired from hard knocks and reading. Been a long road to even get to this point. At least I have you guys now.

I mean this as a compliment. I'm fortunate in that I have a few buddies who are very good walleye and panfish fisherman that I fish with when I'm meat hunting. Don't have alot of bass buddies but am fortunate there to have a good buddy @walt-14 who is almost strictly bass and is a pretty fishy guy in his own right. But when it comes to guys that really get on em my old buddy Benny stands out in my mind. I first met Benny about 20 years ago when I was 19 on an ice fishing trip. Since then I've shared an ice house or a boat with him dozens of times over the years. Benny is in his 70s now and has had a rough go health wise...haven't heard from him for a while. He never was a bass guy but wether we fished bluegills and crappies in a farm pond...perch on a big clear lake thru ice...or walleye below a dam on the river the guy always outfished everybody. He just oozed confidence and fish catching ability...but the best part about him was he would take the time to share his technique and make sure you got on em to. Who is the fishiest guy or gal youve ever known?

So I've used the spin rocket which is the traditional devils horse shaped prop bait and I like it. Then I noticed the spin bomb which is more bluegill shaped. Anybody have any experience\feedback on this bait?

I'm also a braid resister. I have braid to leader on one spinning outfit and don't really know how much I care for it. For straight braid I use it on my frog rod which is the only place I feel I have to have it...if I punched I'd use it for that to. Every other rod is either mono...Trilene XL or big game...or copolymer...Izorline xxx.

Couple the drought we are in with the already tough postspawn conditions and its been rough. However a change in tactics the past week have changed things. There are always a few bass up shallow so I haven't really been skunked but they are usually drinks and lots of trips I only catch 2. The past few trips I've targeted some offshore brush I can cast to because of the low water..managed to catch a 2.5 and a 3.5...by far my best fish of the past month. As we head into July we should get an early morning bite here with the bass chasing balls of shad early. Usually only lasts an hour or two every morning but its usually good for 3-5 nice fish...a 4+ is not uncommon.

Yep something in the 7 range is a good all around

I've gone thru cycles of using beads and not using them several times over the years. Never really noticed and uptick in bites either way or I guess I'd stick with that way. For those that always use beads what are the advantages you see?

Well like many of you we are in a pretty bad, long running drought. Because of this our ponds are very low and alot of the shoreline cover...lay downs and rip rap...are out of the water. Caught 4 tonite...2 dinks and a 2lb up shallow. My best fish...a 3.5lb... came on a Texas rig in an offshore brush pile I can finally target from shore now that the waters down. Last night I caught one in the 2.5-3lb range on a fluke in a brush pile.

I was gonna say ain't that the dude that tried to kill Elizabeth Moss in that movie last year?

I need to do this as well. I drink way to much pop, Gatorade and energy drink crap. I cut it out for a few weeks lost 10lbs then picked it up again like a dummy. I should ditch pop and beer stick to whiskey straight or gin\tonic and vodka\soda...probably drop 50lbs in a year.

Also will echo this by saying I have a pond near me that has zero crappie or shad in it but I've caught bass on white and silver baits.

Jigs are strange in that they are one of the simplest baits but seem to be one of the hardest to master.

Do I think casting accuracy is important?1000%!!! That's the difference I see between myself and the buddies that I consistently outfish. The one buddy I have that is also a good caster...guess what? He's the only one who can hang with me day in day out. I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging its just the truth. I've spent 20 plus years chasing bass and honing my casting so when I go with buddies that aren't that committed it shows in both casting ability and fish catching results.

Not really on a trip like that but the past few months I've missed out on alot of fishing. Had Covid at the end of April and had to quarantine for ten days...was fatigued for a week or so after. Then a few weeks later I got a nice nasty sinus infection that knocked the crap outta me way worse then the covid. This past weekend starting Friday I had some stomach issue which took until Tuesday or so to get back to normal.