thediscochef

Thanks! Also caught a small white bass on the same lure. I'm pretty sure I lost this same fish about 5-10 minutes before landing her, but the second time around she inhaled it and somehow only caught one barb of the zowire trebles i swap onto every RES. Bonus points for catching it in front of the workingmans tournament guys who were waiting for weigh in. Like Billy Joel, I put on my best shows for true fans; that's the first time I've been in the lake since 2021 lol those boots are gonna need to dry out

3/4oz red eye shad continues to do work. 7lbs 5oz on this one, I took a swim off the pier while trying to land it but worth the trouble for a near-PB. 5oz away. Biggest bank bass yet. Thank you oprah Winfrey, thank you Tom cruise

The only fishes I've had just slam a big craw like that were bass of 6# and up. Glad you got on one, hopefully you get it out next time. I caught three LM about this size this morning on the 3/4oz red eye shad, and the 4lb blue cat pictured. Hanging out with the bumblebees. I then dropped my bluetooth earbud into the lake. I hope fish like the Oak Ridge Boys

This right here. Can't catch a bass out of thin air. Gotta be where they are first. Then it's a matter of deciding what type of bait makes the most sense based on location, conditions, and visible forage. I believe that good bass fishing is 90% location based This is also a thing My quantity of 5# and up fish has definitely dropped with less time at the lake this year, though I have caught four over 6. Definitely not having the hot streak I had last summer

Catching the bigger fish from your ecosystem is as much an accomplishment as anything else from my point of view. Good stuff man, call that 16" for sure cause that fish is definitely not fully flat. I wish I caught more 16" smallmouth. Nice work!

Yeah Ray Bob is finally starting to really see the evap loss, we dropped probably six to eight inches in July and it's sped up since mid month. I fish kind of the same way, fishing deep sort of feels like walking with my eyes closed good to see you with fish in hand! I hope things improve man ?

I have a hope and suspicion that you may do well with that approach...it's what I'd be doing first if I was on a boat right now

1/2oz hasn't been getting touched, but the 3/4 is getting smoked, mostly in the cooler parts of the day. I think the heat drives a desire for bigger meals, but I really don't know

3/4oz red eye shad has done work for me lately, this seems like a good idea

Sink-O! Sink-O!

I usually out fish the encroacher types, and then leave. If I'm at the State Park I'll catch one, then go around the bank a little ways and see if I can lure them out of where I want to fish lol

Very hit and miss right now, I'm mostly missing but it's tough on the bank this time of year. Seems like things are up shallow from about 3am till the sun touches the water, then out on main lake points in 10+ fow by 8-9am. I would expect to be fishing some dropshot between 10-20fow most of the day. You may do well in submerged timber along boat lanes or along the middle .75 miles of the dam. The weekly workingmans tournaments have not been bringing in a ton; last week 5 of 10 boats blanked, 1 of 5 had a full stringer, 1 had two fish, and the rest had one fish. Big bass was 6ish. I've seen a 20# three fish bag in those tournaments this year, big bass was like 7.5+. I think morning has a better chance of a big bite, but the window is very short unless you're in deep water. The only LM I'm catching shallow right now are on a T-rigged Z-craw and a red eye shad

I've got 108 in the forecast all weekend, low of 84. Dangerous to be out past 10:30, pointless to be out past 9:30. I'd take 95 just fine right now lol

Got on more sandies, a channel cat, and a few little spotted bass, all throwing up shads. Bite went from 6am to 8am before everything was too deep to reach. Blanked the last couple days, felt nice to get bites. It's hot and the lake levels are dropping. Boo. Come on, autumn. Drop that mercury already

Yes, but it gets real evident when conditions suck (like right now). Following the bait at Ray Roberts, I have found that they school the most in the calm, protected areas from swell the vast majority of the time. The dam runs east-west, and with a south wind the bite is best up against the dam's rip rap, or in creek arms that have an east-west treeline. Right now, if I wake up to an easterly wind I am fishing the east side of the lake. I broke that pattern the last two days and blanked the whole way. The idea was the swell may churn up food for the forage. But I think right now it's all temperature related, and the places where the wind first hits the water seem to be doing the heavy lifting. I don't think a particular wind direction kills fishing altogether, I think it's more that certain winds kill certain spots.

Was gonna suggest what A-Jay said with the gopro, that's never really a bad choice. If using a boat, you could also get a arm clamp/phone holster too, and avoid having to use a second device - pictured below. What's nice about that is you can get them for cheap and lots of different styles. For being on foot I would get a selfie stick or a tripod. I'm bad about remembering stuff and I'm decent at straight arming so I don't have any tools for this

Went out yesterday morning and evening, bait moved so I went back to the east side of the lake. Nothing huge, mostly tiny aggressive spotted bass but it's always nice to catch em. And sometimes the sky paints us a picture. Good times.

Being a hook snob and price conscious led to me dressing my first treble today. Not a super clean job of it but we will get better

Found another good bite at sunrise, fished to about 9am. Two of the five tiny spotted bass and the only LM are pictured, the black bass only wanted the tiny pop-r today. A massive school of white bass showed up and I picked off 7 juveniles with a red eye shad. They were moving fast and puking shad all over me. It's been a good morning.

the exact same spot on the south side of the Isle du Bois boat ramp, yesterday she hit at 7:14AM and today at 7:17AM. The hits were within 20 yards of each other. I feel kind of bad because I know she has to be worn out by now, plus all the hook wounds. I did a good job of keeping my hooks in the right places but still. There was a tournament weigh in there tuesday night, it's realistic possibility that fish has been caught three times this week.

I caught this same fish yesterday. This time on a 3/4oz red eye shad. I'm gonna go to a different spot tomorrow and give her a break. Also caught a few little spotted bass but they weren't as hot today as they were yesterday. Never feels bad to pull four pounds though.

Thanks for sharing! Today's Hearing Day!! That's some spooky business around the house. I hope to one day leverage the paranormal into bringing me double digit bass. does witchcraft DQ someone from a tournament? asking for a friend

Finally a decent outing, had 7 bites but only landed three. Though, as far as I can tell, I got the biggest one that bit. Two on a texas rig, one on a popper. Lost one on the Texas rig, two on the popper, and one on a lipless. Tough but that comes from not feeling a decent bite in a while, muscle memory is a thing. Still feels good. Big fish was 4-6 which would have taken big bass at the workingmans last night. I think I'm gonna try and get onto a boat for next week's tournament and see how it goes.

i throw 3/8 tungsten exclusively for T-rigging, 1/2 for carolina rigging. the equivalent lead is way too big and I don't like the slow fall of lesser weights except in cold cold water. I also use a clear glass bead for t rigging (thank you, Josh Sikes!). I didn't ever catch anything on a T-rig before I added the beads, then promptly caught two 7-1s in a week after adding it. I use a lot of action and bottom contact so lighter weights aren't the right tool unless I'm throwing a trick worm on. Plus I don't feel as bad about snapping off tungsten, it costs me more but pollutes less. Either is incentive to get good at fishing lol

Well it ain't much. But it's bass. Finally broke a week-plus skunk streak with this lil guy and a couple nice crappies. Feels good to get bit again. This cold spell of 95 degrees really made for a better weekend ??? back over the century mark the rest of the week. I'm ready for fall fishing