Jmurphy87

Yeah it’s definitely different from fishing a lake or pond. I had to rescue the larger fish on I got him to the bank. He unhooked himself and decided to try to burrow back to the water. I had to lift a couple rocks to get him out. I am very happy that I did though. I would try to grab him and he just kept going deeper into the rocks persistent little fellow lol.

I caught two small ones today, came right along the rip rap on a line through swim bait head. The small one came on a 4’ easy shiner and the slightly bigger one came on a 2.8 keitech. They both liked the crawl it and chop retrieve and would hit it close to the bank. Was a struggle to catch anything but I didn’t give up on catching something. Just have got to be creative and think outside the box sometimes. the rod was a dobyns kaden 745c and a slx xt xg was the reel with 30lb braid. The treble hook that I used was an extra megabass outbarb hook that I had lying around. I fish the river a lot and I don’t like leaving things behind. These hooks allow you to get your rig back easily if snagged and they definitely stick the fish.

I use a variety of different retrieves, work it like a walking bait with pauses. I pop it 3 times and let it sit. Pop walk pause. I use everything that I can think of and let them tell me how they want it.

Went fishing after work today, I have only been up 23 hours so far. Caught this one on a sungill fluke jr weightless on my bfs setup. They were shallow at Austin lake today and very skittish, but I put a pattern together to catch this tiny one. This park is very pressured so catching anything is a win. I hooked two smaller ones that got off before I could touch them.

Here’s what I caught yesterday after work and today after work. Yesterday fish all came on a shad fry z and a micro finesse shad jig head. Today was a 4” double ringer in black with red flake on a 3/32 all terrain Hail Mary football ned head. Black and red flake is going to be my new color of the year and I also got 2 largemouth and my bigger smallmouth today on that color combo. They were feeding very shallow around 9:15 am today. The fish are small but there still a fish and that’s good enough in my book lol, definitely beats a skunk 🦨

A few today, decided to fish instead of sleeping for work. I lost one equally big as the one trying to lift it up to me on the boardwalk. Was my fault I saw that the line was frayed and didn’t retie and the line snapped on the lift. 12lb braid that’s thinner than 6lb doesn’t like being frayed and strained. But I broke in one bfs setup, lure was a 3” hazedong shad on a 1/16 finesse shad head. All the fish came on it today, moral of the story retie when frayed lol, live and learn and don’t keep making rookie mistakes.

I have been looking at the Tran x, tatula 300 locally. I have been struggling with the rod being lighter due to it being a p5 and only 7 foot length wise. But I am still looking at my options. Thanks for the recommendation.

I can’t argue any of that one little bit unfortunately, I am getting a lot more picky on my gear. Although the war rages on, I have not bought a swim bait reel yet. There will be one in the future but not yet. My youngest is nuts about fishing just like me, I think that I would be lying if I said that I was not a little bit ashamed of him being into fishing like me. Although there’s worse things that I could be doing, but hey maybe that’s my delusion speaking lol.

A couple jerkbaits in a different color.

It definitely goes in windows for sure, but hey that’s why we are mobile and move spots when it dries up. But the knowledge of when to move only comes with time and experience. But it always definitely pays off in the end.

Yeah the nighttime bite is always fun, starting around 10pm and fishing until 3 or 4am is a blast. Along with just being so darn peaceful, just you the water and animals of the night and the fish. There’s nothing quite like it, of course me going back to 3rd shift helps me stay up all night long. It has its pluses and minuses at times, but hey you have to make a living somehow.

Well my first bass of the year, I am starting to think that there is something going on with the ecosystem in a pond that I have been fishing for 4 years now. The numbers and size and general health of the fish has been dramatically declining for the past 2 years now. Caught this poor little guy that could use a decent meal, caught on one of my bfs setups with 4Lb fluorocarbon. 1/16 oz micro shad head and a smelt shad fry z.

I am sure that I will like it, did quite a bit of research before pulling the trigger on my first p5 rod. I have been eyeing them for the past 2 years it was between the x-bites, super destroyer, tachyon shaft or the tb. I needed a rod in my quiver to cover 1.5-3oz so I could throw the new spro Chad shad, gantrel jr and some mag drafts. My research showed that the tb tops out around 3oz and it can throw lighter things than it’s rated for. So I figured why not have a versatile stick for a multitude of different presentations and cover situations. Now the fun part deciding on a reel for it and buying some more swim baits. That will undoubtedly lead down another rabbit hole of bass and probably other species fishing lol.

I definitely will let you know what I think of the rod once I get a chance to use it and test it out on a variety of presentations.

Megabass must be in the air @FishTank lol. I have been eyeing a slightly heavier rod lately and have not found the right one. Local shop finally got another one in and after researching it some I decided to finally buy my first p5 rod and a jerk bait color that I didn’t have yet.

A little of this and that, or should I say what caught my eye at least.

A few new things 1 dobyns Kaden 745 1 phenix m1 vortex 7’4 ml casting rod 5 jackhammers 8 chatter bait evo 2 one knockers 1 red eye shad owner jungle flipping hd 3/0-5/0 4 packs micro goat 4 packs shad fryz 6 packs micro shad heads 3 packs max scent 1 pop x spawn cherry 1 pack juvy craw tubes 1 pack snack craws 9 packs of chatter spikes 2 gobius 2 packs tackle hd hellgrammite 1 pack mag 2 black with red glitter I have been waiting for the chatter spikes to show up locally, and I had to round out my evo collection also. I wanted to try the rods that I got also. I should be good till tomorrow lol. I am going to sleep, 11pm is going to come fast and the weather sucks so I am not testing any of this out for a minute. Although my rod testing backlog is around 9 deep at this point maybe a little more. Just gotta tell myself no more rods lol, at least reel monkey hasn’t been knocking lately.

Well I have the whole 89X series of NRX+ JWR casting rods from loomis. I don’t know if I should be happy or sad lol. Just got the 894c today.

A couple new rods, I got a decent deal on the zillion rod $266. Only time will tell if it is worth the difference compared to the tatula elite but for the price I figured that it was worth a shot.

Some more BFS stuff that I am stocking up on. Some 1/16 keitech tungsten jig heads in #2,#3 and 1/0 some easy shiner 3” in shad, electric bluegill, light hitch. Then some 2.8 fat impact in light hitch and some odd little googan tubes for crappie. I will say that it’s very alarming how much a lot of these plastics weigh when you break the scale out lol.

Well I grabbed a few more smaller things and some braid for my bfs reel if I decide to go with it in the future. 4 countdown elite 55 3/16oz 3 countdown 3 1/16 3 1/8oz rattle traps 3 yo zuri shad 40f 1/16oz that have really nice colors 1 duo rozante 63sp 5 grams 2 duo rozante 77sp 8.4 grams 2 rapala x rap 4 1/16oz 2 size 4 ice fishing jig heads 1 size 5 ice fishing jig head 1 spool 8lb j braid grand 8 dark green colors of lures mostly black and gold, silver and black, silver and blue. The three staples for the most part. Jerk bait colors for the duo 63 neo pearl, duo 77 prism gill, gold yamame, x rap 4 colors glass ghost, hot mustard muddler. The ice fishing jig heads are for some euro tackle 0.75, 0.50 soft plastics that I bought. I will say that it’s really hard to find a jig head with a small hook and weighs 1/32oz or more lol. The total weight is between 1-1.5 grams on the plastics and ice fishing jig heads

I got bit by the BFS bug lol, mostly loading up on plastics and a few odds and ends. 1 Kistler hunt 3x 6’8 1/16-3/8 1 Kistler hunt 4X 6’6 1/64-1/5 1 NRX+ 895c JWR 1 aderbaran BFS rod socks some mono various plastics and jig heads

I will definitely look into those lures, thanks for the suggestions on those. Yeah I have always wondered about the 895 and wanted to try one, I had the money and figured why not lol. I can’t really say that I didn’t feel like I wasn’t in control when I had my 894c JWR, although I never caught anything really big on it largest was 3.5lbs with a swim jig in heavy weeds. I am starting off with really thin light gauge jig head hooks with soft plastics, I wouldn’t think that it should be too much of an issue to get penetration. Although if it is I will figure out the best way to offset it and go from there. I am trying fluorocarbon first and that will let me know, braid helps add a little bit more positive hook sets due to it having almost no stretch. The best interest of the fish is definitely the first and foremost concern of mine, if I feel like I am over exerting the fish I will definitely go heavier gear. But I want to form an opinion and experience that only comes from first hand experience dealing with the rods and tackle. You have way more knowledge and experience than me and I respect that and appreciate your opinion and input on the whole BFS thing thank you.

That’s definitely a nice fish. I am pretty sure that I will like it, I haven’t casted it yet but I got the reel spooled up with 4Lb sniper today. My other two rods should be here tomorrow. The other kistler hunt 6’6 x4 and my NRX+ 895c jwr, I have no clue when the dobyns will show up. I got my dobyns directly from dobyns and they have not sent me a shipping confirmation yet, although I have heard that happens sometimes with them. I am definitely going to enjoy my new setups for sure. Thanks again for the recommendations of rods I really appreciate it.From my experience they seem like they will work good for sure, the x3 and alderbarren balances nicely so that is a plus. I definitely agree that it seems like a true BFS rod, now I just need to catch some fish on it.

Per @FishTank recommendation here is one of the 3 rods that I ordered, the other 2 haven’t arrived yet. The other 2 are the sierra ultra finesse 701, Kistler hunt 6’6 4X rod.