thediscochef

Saw a lot of carp doing their April thing on the banks of the south state park today. Also a ton of bluegill and small bass. Got chased a ton but only the one small spotted bass. Interesting how much the water clarity changes there between the boat ramp and the visitor center areas. Saw an Allison trailer and had to stop to admire. Saw lots of bait and lost a huge crappie at hickory hill ramp Missed a massive topwater strike along the ripraps and submerged boulders at Sam Forse west end past the cones near the ramp Current below dam was too much for what I had handy. Pleasure point park saw some blowups but nothing that would chase. Was exhausted by this point so I left

I have one baitcaster that I use when I'm pitching or flipping and I want to be able to move fast. Normally all my stuff is right hand retrieve and I switch hands during casts. But some of my spinning tackle and that one tatula are lefty retrieve so that I'm not switching hands while trying to do fast short range stuff. It works fine on a bomb cast or even a medium cast, but once you get into short range, less steps before cranking a strike is better. Less distance = less time. I would say that there isn't a right or wrong handed-ness, and that it's not wrong to switch hands while casting. But there are tangible advantages to using the same hand to cast as well as set the hook, namely readiness for immediate strikes. I don't think which side matters.

Tough day on the banks of Toledo Bend today. I hit four different areas around the south quarter of the lake. This thin dink spot ate my swim jig while I watched. Missed two better fish on the whopper plopper and chatterbait minimax. I could see a ton of following fish today but couldn't get any of them to commit. It's wild to be on the dam of a reservoir and see only water on part of the horizon. Don't get that at Roberts. Maybe one day I will have a more fun trip to Toledo, but it wasn't today. I want to love this lake, it has giants and it's beautiful. But it hasn't given me much.

Without a doubt the best spring I've had yet. Earliest in the year I've broken 7lbs. I'm learning!

Noted. South it is! Thank you for the advice Sir

Hey @Catt should I go to North Toledo State Park or the South one tomorrow?

Cost is the only reason I don't have a glitter bug with FFS and Augmented Reality glasses 😅😅 I'd have it if I could afford it

@LrgmouthShad, a wise one indeed. Looking forward to his return

Sometimes I'm thankful for bank fishing because all of this cutting edge sonar stuff is getting out of hand. Not for any moral or pragmatic reasons. Just my brain ain't brainin' as fast as it did once

So this is going to be controversial, but the Piscifun Spark Pro might be the best $30 I've ever spent in fishing. It's not a sturdy platform at all, setting the drag as light as possible seems to be important to longevity. If you have a heavy hand you might break the plastic above the worm gears. The bearings are noisy as heck. But I've fished it regularly for six months with chatterbait minimax, MB110, and one knocker spook with no functioning issues at all. I also haven't ever oiled it at all. With a half ounce lure it casts a mile too. My back to back four pounders last fall came on the spark pro combo. It plays very nicely with 20# 832 to a 12# big game leader. That one reel has changed my mind about the entire concept of a $30 baitcaster. If I could buy another I would. Frankly for how much those reels don't cost, it's worth giving it a shot. Just make sure your drag isn't cranked down. I also love the hilarity of throwing a $20 bait on a $160 st croix mojo yak, relying on a $30 baitcaster

PK has some grass in it but much less than prior years according to the 2022 survey. I'd be looking at the upper end of the reservoir away from the main lake channel and up in the feeder creeks, probably mostly going to find Eurasian Milfoil if any. We found some in October and it's been rainy so it may have expanded some in the shallows. There's been a lot of water fluctuations the last few years but it's been fairly stable the last 8 months or so. I would be more focused on other types of cover and structure. PK has some good docks and marina structures, and lots of hard bottom.

I can do paradiddles with my forehead. Faster!

I know what I'm doing! I've been bashing my head into walls since I was a kid, I'm very good at it by now. Conditions determine everything. Can't catch what isn't present. Can't whop what doesn't plop or whatever. Lures are just tools in a toolbox, all with specific use cases. Which is why I say that tenacity is best paired with flexibility

I have this sort of experience at Roberts from time to time. It's not magic or talent or whatever. It's time spent. I can remember two instances in particular - one being the TPWD TV show I was filmed for. They were filming me, giving a demo of a basic wacky rig. As we're getting done with the demo, wham a three pounder. Perfect timing. Can't script that, can't call that shot. The other things that come to mind are another three pounder on a particularly hot day at Roberts. Right around sunset on a red eye up on the riprap. This teenager comes over and says that's the best luck he's seen anyone have all day and I just got there. I gave him a tutorial. The most important part of the lesson was when I told him I've been catching fish that time of day for the last week. It's a pattern identified, not fish whispering. Same thing when I saw a fish while yaking with my buddy, said "watch this" and caught that fish. In the same way that there's no replacement for displacement, there's no substitute for experience and time next to water. It does give a particular sense of accomplishment

I'm ringin!!

I refuse to comply with this reality 😂 I'd say that tenacity is the main reason I've caught any bass over 6lbs. Though, I think it is less positive when paired with stubbornness - I find more success with tenacity when I'm willing to use the kitchen sink. I'm no Pat but I'm no slouch from the bank either. I would say I've just finished scaling Mount Stupid and am descending into the valley of "I know very little, actually"

Longer windows mean more biggins over time, that tracks

Working in Louisiana for a week so got a little fishing in at Texoma and Roberts before leaving. Flipped a war eagle colorado blade around the docks at Texoma and hooked into this angry little spotted bass. Slammed it as I was chatting with a buddy. You know those times when you're mid sentence and then conversation stops as you set the hook? Yeah, that. In the Roberts shallows, a whopper plopper grabbed a little largemouth and the weightless fluke grabbed a few super dinks so I get the feeling I'm antagonizing males. Maybe when I get back the ladies will be around. Probably gonna stop at some east Texas Parks on the way home. Congrats to the people catching tanks, looking forward to my next one.

I have products that I like, but I am exactly as loyal to brands as they are to me personally I don't really understand brand loyalty in the modern era

all my best fish this year have been on Choppo 75, 90, or 120. Bone or Black.

I feel you, I started with spinning tackle and I was proficient with it before I ever touched a baitcaster

Sounds pretty normal to me, mine rise tail first pretty sharply after a second. Caught my PB on one like that

man look at the belly on that thing

do this

With a storm front a few hours away I decided to jump out to my little whopper plopper honey hole on Ray Roberts. All the people camping in that area had packed out already so I had free access to the tree I've been casting next to. It's windy, but it's a south wind which has been the determining factor in the success of this particular spot. Third cast, biggest topwater bass I've ever caught, and tied for the biggest bass I've ever landed on the bank. 7lb 5oz. About two cranks in, there's a good size splash on my lure, and I give it a second before setting the hook. The new airdx/tournament pro combo handled greatly. This fish jumped four times before I got it to the bank. The first jump made it clear that it was a nice fish. I lipped it at the bank, and of course had to document, it was clearly one of my better catches. There was only one barb in the fish. The whole fight lasted maybe 25 seconds, but it felt like forever. Got her released and she swam off strongly. Missed two smaller strikes, a gar, then pinned a smaller bass with a black choppo 75. Sun set, weather started picking up so I called it a night. I think I fished for about an hour.