Woody B

I'm certainly not an expert but Katie has the big fish gene. I have no doubt you routinely catch some of the biggest bass in the waters where you fish. Like Tim said your access to the water is also a ticket to lose some fish. I don't lose many, and very rarely lose a decent sized bass....but boat control and positioning is a BIG part of my success. You can't take your foot and effortless move your boat around or lock your boat in place to help land a bass. @Pat Brown my lone DD was over 30 years ago. I seriously doubt another is in my future. Spotted Bass have taken over the lakes where I fish. There's still Largemouth but not in the numbers or size they were before Spots. The NC record for Spotted Bass is 6 lbs 5 ounces. I'd like to catch a record Spot sometime. I've caught several over 4 lbs. If I caught a record I don't know if I'd turn it in, or just weigh it and release it. Fish have to be examined by a biologist to certify the record. A few years back a guy thought he had a record Spot but the biologist determined is was a mix/hybrid from a Spot Dad and Largemouth Mom. Somehow he/they kept it alive. It was in the aquarium at Bass Pro Shops in Concord until it passed away. I think a record would be cool. I doubt I could keep a bass alive for the biologist. I'd hate to kill one just to find out it wasn't a record.

Which direction does the river flow? How much flow is there? Is it a power company lake? IF the river flow toward the top of the screen, and it's flowing (ie the generators are on if it's a power company lake) the point on the right side of the cove at the top will be golden. If the river flows the other way the point at the top left of the cove.

@12poundbass It looks to me like Crappie stacked up, but they're usually near a brushpile or other cover around here.

@Team9nine says the bite is a little slow and ends up with 24. You da man!!! The bite was slow for me today. I ended up with 2 bass, a crappie and small channel cat. Water temp is 88. A friend of mine told me no one had a limit yesterday for the club tournament. He said the winner had 3 for 6 pounds. He also said they were "releasing" dead bass after the weigh in. It should be against the law to put a "catch and release" bass in a live well at these temperatures. Both bass were caught on a wacky worm. The cat and crappie on cranks.

I'll have to look at mine. I don't have any "new" ones, but ones that were bought ~30 years ago. Some are unused. I wonder if they have cracked paint, or if the ones I've used have cracked paint.

1 is minimum. 5 is the max for me. Added, I keep an extra reel handy.

I got to the lake today about 5:15 but stayed at the landing for a while. The fog was terrible. A club tournament was having blast off at 5:30. It was strange watching a bunch of 70+ mph boats idle away. I didn't launch my boat until daylight. It was still really foggy. Fog picture was taken around Sunrise. I managed to catch 5 before the fog burned off and the wake boats took over. The 2 biggest ones were a double. A 17 inch Largemouth and a 16 inch Spot. The Largemouth hit a DT6 as I drug in through a lay down. It done it's Largemouth job and walking on it's tail. I had it at the boat and was deciding whether to net it or lip it (remember the treble from the same lure in my finger a couple weeks ago) when the Spot came up and smashed the lure. (My net is 25" by 26"). The micro bass was on a wacky worm, first bass was on a buzz bait, the other was on a XD3.

I'm glad everyone is OK. Kudos on your quick action with your son, and the burning bedding.

Happy Anniversary!!!!!!!!!

When I set the hook it ran out from under the dock and headed for deep water. I moved the boat quickly to keep it from getting under it. A flathead of channel cat would have probably dug in under the dock.

I took a day off work today. I was considering going to a different lake but instead went to the other end of the lake I normally fish. I usually fish up the lake, but went to a different landing, then went down to the dam to start fishing. I fish that end some during the Winter but the big end of the lake get's full of wake boats ect on weekends and it's like the ocean. I pulled up to a long tapering point that ends at a channel swing. I lost the tail on a t-rigged trick worm several times. I switched from a trick worm to a D-bomb and caught a couple TINY spotted bass. I normally always take a picture of the first bass I catch but these were less than 8 inches. I moved to another point across the channel, and switched to a jig. I caught another tiny spot. If I'm catching 12 inch spots I'll usually keep doing what I'm doing but these were tiny. I decided to try something else. I had no luck on ledges or humps with cranks and bladed jigs. I didn't see much activity shallow on sonar but decided to try a wacky rigged bizz baits "sassy stick". I managed to pull a fat 28 inch long 9.82 pound Blue Catfish from under a dock. It was on spinning gear with 8 pound test mono. 9.82 pounds isn't big for a blue but I'm always happy to land something that weighs more than my line test number. I caught a 16 inch Largemouth that was colored like a spot a bit later and decided I had sweated enough. I suppose a wacky stick worm on spinning gear is finesse fishing, but at least I haven't stooped to a drop shot yet. (LOL)

I don't judge fishermen. (FWIW I believe the term fishermen to be non gender specific.) Some fishermen are lucky....but luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Obviously if you're going to catch trophy bass you have to be fishing where trophy bass are. If you're going to catch a BUNCH of bass, you have to be fishing where a bunch of bass are. Just fishing the water where someone else catches bass doesn't guarantee anything. My example is @ol'crickety. She catches a BUNCH of what I consider to be quality bass. If I were to fish in the same waters she fishes IF I didn't fall out of my canoe and drown I'd probably manage to spook every single bass around. I try hard to do the things I'm good at to maximize my chances at decent catches. IMHO my strength are pinpoint accuracy when casting, and I don't lose many fish once hooked. If I just done better at knowing exactly where to cast to hook these bass I'd be in business.

Welcome to the forum. What part of SC are you moving to? I'm in Grover NC, less than a mile from SC just off Interstate 85.

I "know a guy" who's taking 4 hours PTO for an eye exam tomorrow afternoon. This "guy that I know" is considering taking an additional 8 hours on Friday for a 3 1/2 day weekend.

Disclaimer: I'm from North Carolina but I'm less than a mile from SC. I "think" you'll have to pay the DNR tax A-Jay listed when you register the boat but that would be a one time deal. They yearly tax is county/city property tax. The rate is going to vary from location to location. For most locations it would be the same rate as property taxes on real estate. You can probably find the rate by going to the tax administration web site for the county you're planning to move to. They will put a value on your boat.

Don't forget that the deep water big bass like is usually always close to shallow water too.

I bet he used some kind of trick photography to make is look smaller than it actually is.

My eye doctor is a musician. I don't have a "Doctor", just usually go to a urgent care when I need something. I've got a friend who's a retired Doctor. He doesn't fish, but lives on the lake.

I went last night. I was on the lake from 1:30 until 4:30. I caught 6 dinks, 4 on a bladed jig, 2 on a t-rig. Picture is the biggest one. I didn't measure it so I could "call" it 14 inches. I think there was a Catfish tournament last night. The (huge) landing was 1/2 full of trailers when I got there. I wasn't fishing very far from the landing. Weigh in must have been 3am. Around 2:50 all kinds of boats came back to the landing. There was only one trailer left at the landing when I came home.

There's plenty of baits that "can" work. I think one thing that makes a difference is fishing pressure and what others are fishing with. Everyone, their brother, and their sister throw buzz baits, whopper ploppers and berkley's whopper plopper copy. I don't even try these here. One bait I laughed at, but tried was a A-rig. It felt like a joke casting it. I caught a bunch of bass on one last winter. Decades ago my Mom gave me a frog that had a string your line hooked to, with a kinda wind up mechanism. You could twitch/pull the string and it's legs would start kicking. Me and my friends laughed at that thing. For some reason it was killer for pond bass, but reservoir bass ran from it. Usually pond bass are the ones that spook easily.

I was fishing today, came around a point, with a dock basically just off the point. I came around the point a skipped a wacky rig under the dock. There was a boat on the other side of the dock (we hadn't seen each other) done the same thing. We both caught dinks from under the dock (on opposite sides) at the same time. We were both laughing. I said "I think mine's bigger". We both laughed more. Sometimes you're going to end up fishing on top of each other. It's good with 2 people can laugh about it instead of getting mad. Picture is the dink.

What happened to the catfish talk? 53 pound flathead on a Bandit 200, Shimano Curado, Lews MACH, and Trilene 12 pound test.

I doubt my blood has made it all the way up there. I've donated 3 to 4 times a year for 40 years. I'm O negative, so my blood fits everyone. I'd like to think my blood has done some good.

I slept in this morning. Got the the lake around 6. I caught a 3 1/2 pounder within my first dozen or so cast. A million or so casts (and a BUNCH of white perch) later I caught a dink. I'm not sure if I'm going tonight around midnight or waiting until tomorrow morning and going to the close by 1500 acre lake I never catch many at.

I used to drag race all over the Eastern US (as far west as Texas) I made a bunch of racing friends I haven't seen since I quit racing in 1999. One thing (maybe the only thing) I like about social media is catching up with old friends who live hours away. I live a mile or so off Interstate 85. I have lunch or dinner occasionally with an old racing friend when they're passing through.