thediscochef

I love herons, such loud hilarious birds. Nice morning out at the lake, a crisp 34 degrees when I got there. Six LMB today, this dink being the big one. They really liked the falling red eye shad today.

One of these days my phone will focus on bass again. Went and did some recording today at my buddy's place, next to a pond. Naturally I have to get one. Spent about 30-45 mins tracking down where they're stacked up. Lake in the morning to try out some new chatterbait colors, and some new plastics. Didn't realize yamamoto had released a 3" zako...a gamechanger for the chatterbait minimax. Some new colors in the shad shape worm too. Neat

There's places here I want to fish, but I'd need to spend the night just because of the drive, and I'm usually not prepared for that lol That said, all but one of my fish over 5lb has been caught right at that little spot, including my PB. I wasn't catching fish this size there last year until Christmas; I really believe I will break my PB there this winter if I give it 100% and be ready. It's fishing really well compared to this time last year.

Thanks! Always a good time. That one yesterday was nearly my first heartbreak...it was hooked on one barb of my red eye shad...on the outside of its mouth. One of those situations where you probably have only one chance to lip it. I've caught a few bass at Ray Bob that look similar to guaddies, but definitely aren't. The Guadalupe tends to resemble Shoal bass a little more in marking/coloration, the one I caught is more brown than green (though I've never caught either species). I'm 99.99% sure it's a spot×smallie hybrid, we're also about 200 miles too far north to get Guadalupe bass. Shame, too, because that's a bucket list fish for me

Always a good time, especially when you can access the majority of the shores. Back at my usual spot today, another 5lb fish. Also a small LMB and another meanmouth I believe. Life is good.

Went and explored some new water today, managed to pull fish from 3 of 4 locations. I caught the only catfish in my buddy's farm pond, unhooked at the bank but looked like a very well-fed 3-4lb channel cat. Murdered my trailer. Then these two at the next small lake in the first 10 casts. Two dinks at the next place, one of which unhooked himself as I got stuck on someone else's cut line. Last lake was super muddy and we were running short on time, so I only fished maybe 5% of the available shoreline. Definitely a place to return.

This hit a 10" Ol Monster this morning, as soon as it hit the water. Water that was rising. My boots are soaked. First ever ribbontail fish. If there was ever any doubt. Bass of all sizes eat mag worms.

Slamming a hookset with the baits I use is more or less just asking to lose the bait and the fish too lol I don't really fish skirted jigs, mostly just chatterbaits, swimbaits, jerkbaits, lipless cranks, and ned/wacky rigs. All of those are more 'sweep and lean into it' type hooksets in my hands. I don't often lose a fish, and when I do it's usually either a massive gar or a tiny baby bass (bone density of the gar, no leverage on a small bass). I think if I were throwing more jigs I'd have a different habit.

Thanks! they bit the same chatterbait that caught the big bass lol i had one white crappie and one black crappie. Both excellent sandwich size.

I almost slept in today and by the time I got myself up and moving, I only had maybe two hours before my day starts. I decided to waste some of it driving to lake ray roberts instead of going to a nearby pond. The drive is almost always worth it, today wasn't an exception. In about 90 minutes I managed two largemouth, two crappie, and a mystery escapee. Added to my 5.7lb fishes, I've caught four or five right around that 5-11/5-13 mark this year.

My happy place at Ray Roberts. All of my Black Bass PBs were caught right at this spot - 6.8lb LMB, 2.4lb Spot, 1-2lb smallmouth. Also my PB black drum (10+) and Crappie (1.5) The left two-thirds of the photo are the entrance to a cove of hydrilla plumes, with the entrance made up of boulders and riprap. I hammer em here every day. I've pulled in at least six fish over 5lb there since Christmas, probably a dozen that were over 4lb. All but one of my biggest bass have been caught here. Wish I was there right now...

It also makes it so I caught my first meanmouth in May instead of last week lol. Wild that it's a meanmouth I caught twice, of all things. they are aggressive little things though. This is in a cove at Lake Ray Roberts

I love it when they come back for more lol

Thanks, I'll be here all week ?

He's just got an eye for things I guess ?

My spinning tackle does that LOL I love hearing the drag click, but I love it more when it takes some real force to make it click ? There's a million and one ways to set your drag but when I'm fishing jerkbaits I tend to only set it as tight as I think I need to for the hook to really dig in with a few pounds of force, but not enough that it really puts my line to the test. Just enough to grip the hard part of the lower lip and get it past the barb. Your 15# leader can handle that for sure. Ideally a 3ish-lb bass will be able to take at least a small pull of drag. I probably adjust drag during fights more with jerkbaits than with anything else. Since a lot of fish hit on a slack pause, it usually takes me a sec to feel how big of a fish I have, giving myself room to adjust the drag has helped increase my landing % IMO. I also don't set the hook too hard, especially with the light wire stock hooks. Those will absolutely bend from that violent motion many use for setting a fat 5/0 hook or something.

a harder hookset or a bit tighter drag depending on how you have it set, probably. I tend to let my drag do some of the work for me but that can be a gamble with lighter line or in snaggy bits. May also mess around with your hookset timing, but that's probably the hardest option lol

So going through this year's photos this caught my eye. The above fish was caught on 5/22/22 The following fish was caught on 10/21/22. Look at the markings near the tail, and on the gill plate. Note the torn lip. Both were caught in the same acre of water. So. Same fish? I'm probably 95% sure. Wanted some opinions.

this. man knows his 110s better than i do the weight of the hooks affects buoyancy as well, which can be a good or bad thing, I generally like the stock hooks though they can be a bit bendy for my liking. I usually replace with a #6 owner stx38 when the stock hooks get bent more than once. I do replace them all at once to avoid mixing hook types, but once they're owners it's as-needed. seems to work OK, though there are much more precise replacements you can get. as far as the jerkbait itself sometimes it's a matter of color sometimes it's the motion. You can get the right motion with any combo but some make it easier than others. above all, persistence is key. eventually youll figure out how they like it. It's a very rewarding bite once you've got the hang of it

Went fishing this evening for the first time in 8 days which is a freakin lifetime for me...between playing bass for a musical and some car troubles it just wasn't happening. Rewarded with my 3rd biggest bass of the year. May not have been the biggest, but it's easily my best looking of the year. And I caught it in front of a couple landing boats who were complaining of a slow day, always a nice ego boost to hear the dock chatter go quiet for a minute. I lost one slightly smaller a couple casts later and that was church. 5 total in about an hour and a half, always feeling good about that. Good times. Also it was nice to pull a bass out of the water and it feel cool to the touch, it's been months since I had that experience. I love fall fishing.

I've never watched any bass tournaments, I couldn't tell you the first thing about any tournament organization. I know the physical process of tournament fishing but 99.9% of the pro names I see are just a name to me. In a normal week I'm bass fishing 3-7 days, it's about all I do outside of music and work. Also is the #1 destination for most of my disposable income lol

time for my second post in this thread. happened like a month ago, but i put my fishing gear behind me while standing on the rocks and rip rap. hooked a rod weird on the backswing, it spun and nailed my cheek with a red eye shad equipped with owner stingers. naturally i rip it from my face, tie a bandana around my face and keep fishing (with a different reel). thank you, me. very cool.

Lake's all stirred up with the weather/season changing. Caught Smallmouth up shallow today working a chatterbait on the bottom. Topsy turvy fishing until probably december

messy when changing line?

Thanks, I'm getting better at identifying these things. I was most excited about the PB smallmouth...that smallmouth today could probably eat the other two or three I've caught. And such a fat one too, for its size. Two of my rarest catches in the same hour. I should have bought a lottery ticket lol