Holetail

The Tokyo rig struck again today. Same spot I caught a 4 lber a month or so ago. This girl went 4.63 lbs and 22” long. Sad how skinny these fish are but that’s what you get fishing glorified mud puddles aka retention ponds. Figure she would be close to 6 lbs in a normal body of water. Looking forward to getting my kayak so I can hit some new waters. Reading the threads about Skill detecting bites and Intuition helped with this one. Never felt a thing, just something different so I took up slack and set the hook. So cool. Also caught a couple little guys but not picture worthy

I am with you on the struggles lately. So hot and muggy that it’s not even enjoyable to fish. Ready for fall to get them biting again!

I second the Fury 703 / 733C. I use the 733 and throw everything from weightless plastics to 3/8 chatters to light jigs. It is definitely my workhorse rod that I have the most confidence in.

So I’ve had a chance to test out the new spool in a Revo with a weightless wacky rig. I have not noticed a huge increase in casting distance, but can definitely see improved accuracy at the same distances with much less effort. Can really just flick the rod with my wrist and get the bait where I want it. Took some time to dial reel in but now it’s pretty effective. Worth the $30 for the spool and I’m using a reel that was collecting dust so I’m calling it a win.

Thanks for the info. Think I will keep it outside and see how it goes. I tend to over think things when it comes to items I invest a good amount of $ on.

I am waiting on delivery of a kayak and struggling with whether or not to store it outside or not. Have a garage and I can make it work, but will have to do a lot of moving of shelves and such. Back yard is pretty shaded with trees and was thinking I could make a rack attached to a fence. Heard UV is the nemesis of kayaks so want to protect against that if possible. Anyone have suggestions on a cover that works? Thanks

So, I recently have been using a KK Zephyr reel and the lightest rod I have until the Sensilite I ordered arrives to throw weightless trick worms and other light baits. I have spinning rods that can easily throw these baits but wanted to dip my toe into the BFS world. I’ve had a good bit of luck so far and catching bass on these setups is a lot of fun. Anyway, I have a couple Revo X and Pro Max reels kicking around since I upgraded them and decided to order a shallow spool for them to put them to use. The KK reel is fine, but feels sort of cheap and like a toy. Thought maybe the new spool in a reel I know I like will be a good option. If not, I’m only out $30. I am wanting to pair this reel with a M/F St Croix Bass X to throw weightless senkos and flukes. I can cast them on standard spools, but when bank fishing, I sometimes need a little more distance without sacrificing accuracy. I really have to throw them hard to hits spots sometimes so I’m thinking the lighter spool will allow me to cast farther without the extra effort and occasional over run… I am basically trying to get BFS casting distance with semi-light baits with the hook set power of a stronger rod. My question for those more experienced than I is do you think this setup will work for casting these heavier baits? Any issues with spool strength? I realize this isn’t really BFS, hence the thread title, but wondering if anyone has experimented with this. Will post my thoughts once I try it out. Thanks.

Gotcha. We were actually right around the corner at Lake Naomi

It is a lake community where we rent a house for a week every summer. We have always done well with minnows but I really wanted to catch fish on all artificials this year. I only got out in a boat for a few hours so really only worked a small portion of the lake. Feel it has a lot of promise, but would take several trips to really find fish. I grew up in the area and keep a hunting club membership with a private lake where I really caught them back in May. Hoping to get back up there more often since those fish see almost no pressure. What public waters do you typically fish? I thought about doing a charter for smallies while I was up there but was catching too many at my club so I went there instead.

Picked up this girl on my way home from work. No scale but I’m guessing she’s around 3.5-4 lbs. Feel like I’ve caught her before in the same spot since it’s a pretty small pond with few options for cover. Fell to the 1/16 oz slider head with a ribbon tail. Fight was fun on BFS gear with 6 lb line and got dicey when she bogged into the weeds. Took some “strumming” on the line to get her to come out but she was hooked well so all good.

Had a big storm come through last night that broke a crazy heat wave. Wasn’t sure what the fish would be doing but glad I went even though I got a later start than I would like. Had an awesome few hours at the pond. Caught 8 total with only three under 2 lbs. Also landed a big girl on the Tokyo rig. First fish on this rig since it was an impulse buy yesterday! Also picked up some ribbon tail worms to run on a 1/16 oz slider head. New BFS reel got some work in throwing this rig contributing a couple 2’s and 3 lber to end the day. Was lucky to land any of them since my hook sets were sloppy all morning.

Snagged this girl plus a dink on a fluke this AM on my way to work. Watched a Flukemaster video on how he fishes them last night and tried to emulate his technique which apparently works. Also wanted to try out my Bass X M/F with 10 lb fluoro which I think I like for this presentation. The rod has a faster tip than my Dobyns rods so twitching the bait felt easier.

I’ve had success with my 705CB throwing 1/4 oz chatters. Caught a couple 4 lb largies with it and had no issues. I am fishing ponds with little cover though. When I get around cover, the 733 gets the work.

Although I am somewhat new to the addiction of bass fishing, I learned how to fight big fish in my 20’s when I fished offshore both commercially and for fun. The technique of pump and reel down was drilled into me by my first captain after I broke off a few nice grouper. You learn quickly when a paycheck is on the line! I have kept that knowledge and use it today with these “little” fish and I really don’t drop many that I get a decent hook set on. Sometimes the hook just falls out when I lip them which tells me that finessing a fish and enjoying the fight is the way to go. I don’t fish tourneys or need to catch to pay the bills anymore so I like to enjoy the tug that I’ve invested $, time, and effort into chasing.

Somewhat boring end to our week at the lake. High pressure settled in and the creek feeding the lake wasn’t running as fast so the fish weren’t hanging in their usual spots. Kids caught some nice perch and one more nice largie at 2.5 lbs. to wrap everything up, but the action was much slower. I took out my BIL’s boat Friday AM and managed one dink smallie and lost another dink at the boat. All in all, a good week though. Ended up personally landing 37 bass and a pickerel all on lures. I’m happy with that, but wish the early week bite had continued… There’s always next year!

Fishing has slowed a little but managed 8 bass and a pickerel yesterday AM. Live bait is still the ticket right before dark for bass and crappie. tonight the best spot was occupied so we made do elsewhere and the kids caught some nice perch and a few dinks. I picked up two nice ones on a swinging swim jig with a swimming dinger. 2.2 & 2.67 lbs. Really like the way this bait looks in the water.

Kids are continuing to catch bass and crappie on live bait and I had a nice morning with the weightless fluke and senko. Caught 10 in a couple hours ranging from a couple dinks to a close to 2 lb LMB. Bonus was this nice smallie for first of the day. Crazy how those fish jump! Bass up here definitely fight harder than fish in NC. Thought I had at least a 4 that turned out to be maybe half that.

So I am back in NEPA for vacation with the family. Plan on fishing the semi-private lake as hard as my wife will allow for the next 7 days. We have always had luck at one spot in the evening with live minnows so I have been dreaming off fishing lures there for a while. Got in an hour of fishing tonight before a storm ended our fun, but my boy caught 11 bass including this little SMB and this 3 lb largie. I picked up 4 in the 1-2 lb range on a chatter, swim jig, and trick worm. Hoping this is a sign of good fishing all week. Going out to scout spots early tomorrow from the bank since we have access to a small boat and a kayak. I’m really hoping to find some bigger smallies but will settle fo numbers of any bass. Will keep updating as the week goes on…

I will “borrow” some from my daughter and give them a try…

VMC Neko 1/0 with the heavy mono for a weedguard. I use o rings and cross them to hook into the “x”

Do not own one, but the Bonafide SS107 appears to be made to stand in. Waiting on my RS117 to come in which has a similar hull but is a little longer and a little less $ which is why I went with it over the SS.

Mine would be multiple things over the past year: 1. learning to cast a bait caster well enough not to worry about a birds nest all the time as well as finding rods and reels that I know work for how I like to fish 2. more accuracy and touch with casts for a semi silent entry - not all the time , but getting better 3. going from strictly throwing a weightless TR senko or trick worm last summer to having confidence in multiple techniques now. May have caught 40-50 bass last year where I’m around 200 so far this year. 4. basically just gaining confidence and experience where I can find something they will bite and being able to present the bait properly to avoid the skunk - not always, but less often than before

Ive used 1/4-3/8 and started out using craw trailers or a rage menace with chatters, and still do when I want to run it more shallow. Had good luck with a jointed swim bait (razor shad) that will definitely help get the bait deeper while being able to adjust reel speed to control depth more consistently. When the blade stops, a quick pop of rod tip usually clears it and if it’s a fish instead of weeds, you will feel the difference. I like to use a moderate action rod or at least a softer tip which gives you a larger window to set the hook without pulling it out of their mouth. Will sometimes set hook a second time if I didn’t feel I got it buried the first time. Possible to lose a fish this way I guess but haven’t had an issue yet.

Man, you can put a crushing on those golf course fish… Well done!

I never really thought it was a super secret spot. Was just a pond I saw on Google maps and thought it had potential. There are few actual secret spots around here. Actually happy that STPC recognized it and shared a report. Saved me some time checking it out for myself when I could be fishing more productive waters.