thediscochef

So I finally was forced to use a baitcaster and now I have the gear monkey. I'm thinking about getting a Fuego CT100H. I'll primarily be using this for baits 3/8oz and up. My spinning tackle will remain for jigging and smaller baits, but one baitcaster for some jerkbaits, crankbaits, and 1/2oz Carolina rigs now seems like the longer casting solution. I have an OK baitcast rod and will eventually upgrade. I'm thinking I will eventually pair a fuego100 with a shimano SLX or a tac40. Maybe an AIRD-X. Thoughts?

So Fork is pretty, but you really should take the time and slow down right now if you go. The buoy system is woefully inadequate and with the low level, there's high timber that wouldn't normally be a problem. Get updated chips, take it slow, and ride the lanes TIGHT. I don't know much about boating, but I saw plenty of things identifiable as Danger Logs and the guides at the marina were all chatting about guys killing props since the drawdown. -I learned how to use a baitcaster effectively. Gonna have to get one for things 3/8oz and up, and figure out a line situation. We were using big game mono 15lb which is good, tough, easy mono, but I want the sensitivity of braid. -I made some inferences about why brush hogs and lizards are effective. On a heavy carolina rig, it seems like those creature plastics are solid stop-and-go baits because they retain more movement at a lower speed/fall rate than your average craw, stick, or worm. They're about as effective of a stop and go bait in shallower water as anything else. -Fish that are much colder than their yearly average just don't bite moving baits much. I think this explains some, but not all, of my issues at Lake Ray Roberts the last couple weeks with temps ranging from 44-47. 49 seems to be the magic football number down here.

Teach me jerkbaits pls I just want to witness a DD, you've been crushing it lately

Tough one. I think there's some legends on this site, a tier all their own that we would all like an afternoon or five with. Catt, WRB, TnRiver46. A-jay, Glenn, just to name a few. Would tag those guys but I'm sure they're seeing this thread plenty. There's some of yall like @BrianMDTX and @TroxBox that are closer to me and have been good to me here, so they come to mind for sure. For pros...I've never really watched em. More of a TyPigPatrol and Marling Baits guy. ?‍♂️ so those two.

You any lyin - fork is a place to take it easy

Well I shook the skunk. It's a beautiful day ? 5.8 plus a handful of others. Water was COLD and the bass were barely felt on strikes. First ever c-rig brush Hog fishes, first ever baitcaster fishes. I had some revelations about that presentation and rod/reel setup and now I fight the gear monkey that replaced the skunk on my back. I wish those animals would leave me alone. It was a beautiful day out. Lake Fork is pretty but holy submerged timber batman. I pity the fool who hits the throttle and gets off the lanes. Gotta ride the buoys TIGHT. Dont mind my shorefishing belt. I dont feel at ease without something draggin me down ?

Nice!!

I'll be there tomorrow, if I get anything y'all will see it lake is about six to seven feet down right now, dangerous boating as the submerged timber is now closer to the surface.

There's huge bass being caught all over right now. I snapped off a monster at ray roberts a couple weeks ago...haven't hooked anything there since.

OH Oh man that was almost really bad What's medina like? we used to go there a lot when I was a kid but my memories of it are basically nil I know the water fluctuates a lot

RIGHT makes we want to get some rocks, climb some trees, and make my own lake fork ? LOL

I've crammed an unimaginable amount of odious "grab your ears and pull real hard" moments into just the year I've been at this for realsies. I broke rods, I broke lines on fish, I unsuccessfully juggled fish at landing enough that I might as well show up in a clown costume. But I think my crowning achievement in cranial absentia is probably the daiwa fuego 2500D-XH spool that is currently wedged in the rock pile at Ray Roberts Isle du Bois, in about 10 feet of water. I was trying to use it for some dough and corn to catch carps or cats. I had it in a rodholder with the drag set super super loose so it wouldn't run off with the rod should a fish grab the bait. I went to re-cast, and wouldn't you know it, my drag was so loose that the spool went flying into the water. I tried pulling all the line off till I could get leverage on the spool, but my knot around the spool didn't hold. I've been trying to get replacement parts for weeks but to no avail. If anyone has a spare they'd sell I'd take it lol edit: as dumb as it was, i at least managed to avoid leaving any line in the water on the spool...I unspooled that whole thing by hand.

It's wild but I meet a surprising amount of folks here that ridicule bass fishing, as well as a surprising amount that keep them to eat, too. It irks me but again that's why I try to find totally unoccupied water when I can. Easier said than done in DFW.

This here, this is absolute truth. Feeling it very much at the moment, having to remind myself that it's not my fault, it's just *my* fault. Most of my larger fish come about 2-4 hours before or after light level change, I noticed when I started going out around 9 most summer mornings. I see it as four to eight hour windows centered around sunrise and sunset. I generally prefer sunset as the crowding is less at my favorite football spots. I consider myself more of a numbers guy, though I've noticed that timing, location, and presentation will affect catch size. I don't like to fish around others if I can avoid it, I'm not really interested in organized competition. I'm really just trying to catch bass as often as possible, and I do that best without distractions. I'd do it better with a boat.

Revisiting this because I'm having an awful year so far (by my standards). I've not had as much time and when I do have time the weather has been gross. I'm honestly not handling it well. I'm getting adrenaline when I hit a rock during retrieve. My biggest fish of the year both got away. This feels like the new normal even though I know better. Sat and fiddled with jerkbaits for 5 hours today, skunk. Had a guy come in on the ramp who caught 13, including a 7lbs, on the exact same lure. I saw him launch, and was trying to mimick his retrieve as much as I could but it made no difference. I THINK my issue is that the water is like 44-46 right now and since I'm shorebound, I have a harder time using the cover and structure in the deeper waters where fish are chillin. Mix that in with suboptimal availability on my part...and we're currently sitting at a 3:1 ratio skunk to catch on the year. It's making me insane because I was probably 1:5 ratio of skunk to catch last year, the pendulum has swung HARD the other way. But I didn't ever have to fish colder water last year, since I started this whole thing in May. I wish I could buy better water mobility. But that's probably a solid 4-6 years away. Big sigh. I'm headed to lake fork with a guide on Wednesday. Honestly I have no confidence at all right now and I'm 100% worried about bringing the skunk along.

This popped up in my feed as I was leaving a lake, carrying the skunk. Congrats to the guy.

First ever tube bass! 12ft+ water visibility; bluegill and tiny minnows all over the place. BPS tender tube, 3.5" green pumpkin/chart tail, 1/16oz BPS head. Hit on the fall of a long cast as I was about to start retrieving. Thanks for the advice in the tackle forum, much appreciated!

Their super braid is good stuff. My weird struggles at Ray Roberts continue, but I think it has more to do with timing and conditions. Lake Whitney, on the other hand, continues to be good to me. Each time I've been I caught a bass. Nice to remember that feeling of a strike. For the 20 minutes I was able to fish uninterrupted in 15-20mph winds, not bad. Whitney is a seriously underrated fishing lake, and on any given weekday it's basically empty. One calm day in mid January was the most active big topwater I've seen in years. A bowling ball a minute, ripples as far as you can see. Woe is me for not having a whopper plopper. i digress. Cool private lake fishing in the morning; Canyon Lake, Inks Lake, Buchanan, Travis, and Choke Canyon are all potential stops on this trip. Travis for sure tomorrow weather permitting.

I haven't had a day this frustrating in a while. One bite in four hours - a heavy fish that snapped my leader cause I had my drag too tight. Better luck tonight I guess. Many swears, now realizing I have lost more fish in February than I have caught 4-2.

Check out Possum Kingdom for sure. It's got very clear water by texas standards so be prepared for that. You may also want to check out Hubbard Creek Reservoir, it's a little more typical of texas reservoirs - visibility 2-6ft. Lake Bridgeport, Eagle Mountain and Lake Granbury are also nearby. The above are the primary large reservoirs within an hour/hour and a half of Mineral Wells. You will have about a three hour drive between Mineral Wells and Lake Fork, but that's doable. Tawakoni is closer but more of a white bass lake. Lake Whitney is a little closer and further south - a great fishing lake - last time I was there in Mid-January it sounded like someone throwing bowling balls into the lake about every two minutes. I was at the state park boat ramp that empties out into a little cove. Ray Roberts is about a 2 hour drive but obviously a strong choice. Lake Lewisville is about the same distance and has some older structures like the old Lake Dallas Dam that can be good to fish around in the northwest part of the lake i believe. The other DFW lakes can produce great fish but are not places I frequent considering I live ten minutes from Ray Roberts. hope you can find a football somewhere, best of luck

That's not a plant I've seen around here but I see it in enough guides to recognize it. Glad I could be of service. DINKS! Welp. Finally back at the water tomorrow, after 13 straight days of filming. It'll be post-front which is lame, but at least I can stay for more than an hour at a time. I've only caught two bass this month, lost the two biggest ones I hooked. 3 of 5 trips skunk, no more than 7 hours of total fishing time. It's making me feel bad, but it's OK lil buddy. Spawn season is just around the corner. It'll be 100 degree days on the Trinity before we know it. Did manage my first ever cabelas pond bass on my way to location one evening, though, which was a nice consolation. Wish me luck. Imma need that. Also a new set of beard clippers; mine met an unfortunate and unlikely demise. I feel like a dang sasquatch ?

So this time of year will be a mystery to me still after 2022. My shoots keep getting extended. Which means I'm making better money, and I'm not complaining about that. But after I wrap on Friday, I'll have Saturday and Sunday mornings at Isle du Bois before I leave for a private fishing lake, see my Clear water tactics thread in the tackle forum for more on that. There's much excitement around that. I'll effectively have fished Ray Roberts maybe 6-8 times in January and February combined in 2022. I didn't even start really fishing on my own until March last year. So January and February are kind of an unknown, save for a couple of bits that are actually quite helpful. -dinks (fish under 8" or so) stop biting almost immediately when we have a real cold snap, not just a cold night or two. Typically between Christmas and January 21. This year the last bite from small fish was NYE. -49 degrees seems to be February football temps. grab your jerkbaits, find some rocks to stand on, and throw it into a dropoff. receive football. I haven't done that myself (not for lack of trying in my aforementioned limited time) but i have seen more than one happen that way, judgingly from a distance. I want the jerkbait football. anyway bedtime

Nothing makes me swear more than that experience

That does not look like hydrilla or milfoil to me, more like bladderwort

Thanks! I'm finding that a lot of my instincts about this were correct. Those same instincts came from this website, it's one big circle. Yall are so helpful, I appreciate it very much