BrianMDTX

The local pond near me is definitely affected by the drought we’ve been experiencing. A few weeks ago it had large mats of algae on top. We were back home in Maryland for almost a week and came back yesterday. I drove past the pond and saw it now looks like this. I do not see any large floating mats of algae (only a few small ones). But it is bright green. In three years I’ve never seen it look like this. It’s also much lower than I’ve ever seen it. I hope to go fishing on Friday. But I’m not sure what it will be like. I know the water temp has to be very high (my pool is 90°).

Welcome to BR! Where at in Texas? Like you, I was out of fishing for years (about 25). Grew up in Maryland and moved to Texas (Conroe-N of Houston) in 2019. Went fishing a few times in my local pond with gear that was 30-50 years old. Caught my PB that was more than twice as big as any bass I ever caught in MD. I now have 8 new rigs, a small boat and tons of tackle lol. Read and learn here. You will learn so much as changed and mostly for the better. You WILL catch bass!

TR hook on a WR stickbait. I think Finn and Gill hit the nail right on the head! ?

I’m still looking for the missing “c”! ?

I take it some of you have never fished ponds lol. Ain’t any hard bottom to find!

My go-to squarebill is a 6th Sense 100X in bluegill.

Morning? Topwater. Whopper Plopper, Zara Spook and/or PopMax. Anytime? 5” Senko WR or weightless TR.

A 1/64 oz. weight would have told the tale! ?

Alligator gar!

1/0 circle octopus hook. 95% of hookups are in the jaw. Don’t set the hook. Raise the rod and reel in to set the hook.

Still waiting to catch a bass on my HF frog rig.

I have a Fenwick HMX 66M-FS-2 that is my main spinning rod for wacky rigs, and a HMX 76H-FC baitcasting rod for frogging. I’ll freely admit the baitcaster doesn’t get a ton of use compared to the spinner. That gets used a lot. It’s one of my favorite rods paired with a Daiwa Fuego LT2500.

If the Apocalypse happened and all soft plastics left Earth during the Rapture except for 5” Senkos and Zoom Tricks, I wouldn’t lose a moment of sleep. I’d mourn Mann’s Jelly Worms, but I’d fish the Zooms and Senkos and get over it lol.

First 3 lb. + bass in a while! My inflatable boat is TU in the seaweed due to a ruptured seam (warranty replacement on the way), so I fished the bank a couple hours this morning. The pond is down at least a foot and the N half is completely covered in mats of algae. So I fished the SE side. Not as deep and still has a lot of algae on the bottom. Chucked a weightless Senko TR at first but only got nibbles from dinks. Decided to toss a squarebill figuring I could keep it off the bottom at least a 1’ and avoid getting the hooks fouled (still did). First few casts were blanks but I casted it again and it got hammered as soon as it went out of sight. Put up a good fight but got caught in a mess of algae near shore. Made it look like a real mess. Later caught one dink on a weightless Zoom Trick TR and a catfish nailed a Neko Macho TR as soon as it hit the water. Not much action, but the first bass made it worthwhile!

Did you “know” it wasn’t a bass as you fought it, or until you saw it? I caught a nice-sized cat on a spinnerbait a few weeks ago and I immediately thought “nice bass!” followed by “waitadamnminnit, this ain’t no bass!” ?

My normal bank fishing go-to’s are a MF spinning and a MHF baitcaster. You can fish a lot of baits with those two rigs.

I have both (20 lb) on spinning reels. I like both. If I had to pick, I’d choose Smackdown. Performance-wise they’re pretty even in my eyes. But Smackdown is substantially quieter casting and retrieving. So if performance is basically the same, the silence elevates it for me.

Looks like a carpenter ant.

I have a Fenwick HMX MF and a Daiwa Procyon MXF. Both are sub-$100.00 rods. I like them both equally well. If I had to pick one, it would likely be the Fenwick. I love the grip and the fit and finish is very nice for that price. It’s a great wacky rig rod and also with weightless Texas rigs.

Any turtle is a PITA. I caught a massive softshelled turtle on a small hook baited with half a nightcrawler. He kept pulling his head into his shell which made it tough to get the hook out, but eventually I got it free with little to no harm done. It had two happy endings. One for the turtle. Me? That was the straw that broke the camel’s back and at that point I never fished with live bait again and concentrated on lures. Which made a tremendous difference in my bass fishing. So…thanks turtle!

Nuthin’ beats a Dagobah! Fish or fish not. There is no try!

5” Senko. O-ring in dead center.

I’ve done it before. By removing the thought process of which bait types to try, it’s kinda peaceful lol. Unless you bring 15 types of soft plastics!

You’re missing out on the 2023 announcement for the 1/4 stick worm! ?

Question is…do they attack other soft plastics like Z-Man’s do? If not, and if they last relatively longer than a standard Senko, it may be worth a look. Although I am not a big Ned rig guy.