BrianMDTX

Define “too small”. I have seen people from certain cultures with a Homer bucket filled with fish ranging from bluegills, crappies, yellow and white perch to bass no more than 2”-3” long. And they are not bait. They’re dinner.

Is it possible for a rig to be sexy? Yes. Yes it is! Gorgeous!

He sounds nekulturny.

I guarantee there’s differences (bass can leave a cove-they can’t leave a pond), but some of those baits will likely work.

I have not fed the monkey (should that be capitalized?) in some time. I hope this was a worthy sacrifice for fall bass.

Good timing, as I’m looking for some lures better for fall fishing.

I have a LH and a RH baitcaster. I cast righthanded and switch rod hands with the RH and keep the LH as-is. I fish both equally well.

If it’s 37°! Maybe 22° and a boatload of snow! Deer hunting in in cold weather is one thing. Fishing’s another. I’ll pass!

I’m fishing out of a 7’ inflatable boat. I anchor all the time with a 8 lb mushroom anchor. Otherwise in minutes I’ll be in the overhanging tree limbs.

lol. I lived in Maryland for almost 60 years. It’s S of the Mason-Dixon Line. I would not fish in February if you paid me!

Bringing this thread back up as we transition into autumn. I’m fishing a 3-4 acre pond in SE Texas. Max depth is about 7’. Muck on the bottom but not very weedy except in a few spots close to the bank. Water is green from microscopic algae with visibility about 2’ or less. I’m starting to have success with topwater with a Whopper Plopper 75 in sungill, but no action with frogs. Still catching bass on 5” Senko wacky rigs but nowhere near the strikes and catches I had in late spring and summer. Still getting catches on weightless (or 3/8 oz weighted) Texas rigs with Zoom Mag 2’s, Zoom Trick Worms and Mann’s Jelly Worms, but once again, not like earlier. So far I’ve only caught one bass each on a spinnerbait and a jig w/trailer (3.8 Keitech). Also caught a couple on a solo 3.8 Keitech. I really don't have any crankbaits in my arsenal. I have one jerkbait but no strikes on that as of yet. I think I need something else to mix things up. What crankbaits do you recommend for ponds of this size and type for fishing in the fall? What other baits are good for fall? FYI- I fish mostly from my inflatable boat vs the bank.

Umm-m-m...my PB this year (and all-time) was caught on a Eagle Claw #6 baitholder hook with 1/2 a nightcrawler and a bobber. Between 6 & 7 lbs. As far as lures, it would be a 4.5 lb largemouth on a 5” watermelon with copper and orange with red flake Senko on a 1/0 Gamakutsu circle octopus hook.

I’ll be looking forward to fishing East Texas in February. Beats the &$@% out of shoveling snow!

Thanks. Walked the bank a couple hours this morning. Had a swipe and caught another on the WP. So far none of any size, but still fun! I did catch one almost 2 lbs on a WR. Three total today. I guess that proves the scale is ok and both those bass weighed 3.36 lbs lol. Maybe it was the same bass. It was on the exact opposite shore where I caught the one on Thursday.

I’m only using this pic for illustrative purposes. Notice the gap between the eye and the shank? When I first started tying Palomar knots, I neglected to ensure the line was not getting caught in that gap. Pulling the knot tight with any of the line in that gap can cause a nick that may lead to a knot failure.

Nice bass. I haven’t connected on a drop shot yet, but the water is no deeper than 7’. Not sure if that’s a factor but I’m guessing it is. Reading this makes me want to try it again though!

Wasn’t sure what affect (or after affects) fishing would suffer due to Delta, but it passed far enough east that it did nothing but gust a little last night. This morning it was a bit foggy and overcast when I started fishing. I had a Whopper Plopper 75 tied on one of my baitcasters and I figured I’d start with that. I paddled to a good spot and started casting. My 3rd cast I had a bass hit it lightly and I missed it. Casted again and this time he nailed it. Only my 2nd topwater ever! Not big but still a hoot! Tossed it back in and started working that WP again. Five minutes later...wham! This was a real blow-up! The bass came partially out of the water on the strike. Still not huge, but man, topwater is fun! After that the sun came out of the overcast and the strikes stopped. I started working a War Eagle spinnerbait with a 3.8 Keitech trailer but no strikes. I switched to a weightless purple Zoom Mag 2 worm and caught a 1.5 lb bass but bites were slow. I then switched to a 5” Senko WR. Changed colors 3 times and nothing. I retied the TR with a 3/8” bullet sinker and a Zoom Trick Worm and got a slight hit but no bass. I took the Senko off the WR hook and put on a Yum Dinger, thinking maybe the slower fall may induce a strike. I worked it in a few places I know normally hold bass but still slow to no action. I did have something hit it and run like a rocket as soon as it hit the water but it spit the hook. I moved down the pond a bit where it was still shady and casted out in the center of the pond (it’s maybe 40 yards across at that point). Nothing on the fall but as I was reeling it back slowly, it stopped cold and then the line took off. I knew that was a bass. Man, this fish gave me a fight and a half! Took me two minutes to get him to the net! It’s a wonder I didn’t lose it. Look at where the hook was! Now, for some reason I was having trouble with the scale. Granted, the bass wasn’t cooperating and I guess all the jiggling was throwing the scale off. It was reading all sorts of weights between 3 and 4 lbs, finally settling on this. Which is a little unsettling, as the last bass I weighed, which was two days ago, weighed 3.36 lbs. Here’s that bass. I don’t think it’s the same fish. I wanted to try weighing it again, but after that fight, I wanted to get that bass back in the water. It was tired, but swam off strong. I casted again to the same spot and got another hit. About 1.5 lbs but still fun to catch. After that, it died (Edit- the action, not the bass!). Fun day for sure!

It’s an art for sure. It takes patience for sure.

I’ve done some stock refinishing, minor inletting, glass bedding, etc. You’re tackling a much bigger project there! But 60 year-old walnut that’s medium grade is likely way better than most fancy walnut today. I have my father’s Remington 700 BDL in 7mm Rem Mag that he purchased the year after the cartridge was introduced. So it’s a 1963 rifle. I refinished the stock as the old finish had yellowed and cracked. When I started applying a hand-rubbed finish I was amazed at how much figure that walnut had. Good luck with that project!

My old Millionaire 3H does.

Welcome Florian! You live in a beautiful city!

Still have it. A Cabela's Black Lightning UL rod. I think it’s 5’ at the most. It still has the original reel installed on it- a Shakespeare 2052. I’ve posted this before but it’s worth a repeat. I got out of fishing in the early to mid-80s and other than teaching my daughters how to fish, I did not get back to fishing until May of this year. At that time I had this rig, a Garcia Mitchell 300 on an Eagle Claw glass rod with (jeepers!) Coors high aluminum oxide ceramic guides, and a Daiwa Millionaire 3H baitcaster on a Berkeley MF rod. I spooled them all with 8 lb Stren and commenced to fishing the local pond. Mostly with nightcrawlers. My first trip I caught a bass on the Mitchell that was just over 3 lbs, which was my new PB. The 2nd or 3rd trip I had 1/2 a nightcrawler on an Eagle Claw #6 snelled baitholder hook and a bobber on the UL rig looking for bluegills. I casted it out and reeled it in about 5’ and the bobber disappeared. I set the hook on what I thought was a big sunny or a dink bass and the rod bent in an inverted U. When the bass jumped I think I almost sharted. I’ve never seen a mouth that big on a fish on my hook that wasn’t either in the Chesapeake Bay or the Atlantic Ocean. I fought that bass for almost ten minutes and thought for sure I was going to lose it. But I got it to shore and ran about 20’ from the waterline to make sure lol. Needless to say, I had no scale or ruler, but I did measure it by using the cardboard backing in the Eagle Claw hook package. It was 22-1/4” so likely between 6 and 7 lbs. Not too shabby for a 50 year-old reel on a (I think) mid-70s UL rod!

That’s never a bad idea at any time!

It looks (knock on wood) that we will get some rain and maybe some gusty winds up to 25 in the Houston area. So far we’ve been lucky. Much luckier than Louisiana.

Caught 4 total in two hours. Three on that WR and one on a weightless TR with a 9” Mann’s Jelly Worm. But that one was the biggest.