Woody B

FWIW White Perch are actually a Bass species related to White Bass and Striped Bass. Sometimes called "Silver Bass".

WD-40 and Nitrous Oxide. Nitrous Oxide is just an oxidizer. It needs something flammable to work with. That's where the WD-40 came in. We learned really quick to wrap our "tater guns" with duct tape. The kept the pieces together when they exploded instead of thrown shrapnel at us. We'd wrap the taters, or apples in a rag. This kept them from disintegrating when they came out of the barrel. Kinda like the wadding in a shotgun shell keeps the shot together. I made one of of schedule 80 pipe and was going to try acetylene but changed my mind. We used to make acetylene balloons and shoot them with a .22. Someone showed me an article about someone getting killed while filling a balloon with acetylene. Static electricity caused it to ignite. Don't mess with acetylene. All of this was ~40 years ago.

I've got Active Target, and I fish mostly stained water so none of my settings will translate. What I will tell you is mess with the settings. Go to a familiar area with structure and cover. For me brushpiles and schools of Crappie are great for messing with settings. (they're easy to find around here) Point your transducer at something and mess with the settings. Water clarity makes a big difference with Active Target, I suspect Live Scope is the same. "Contrast" is a BIG setting for Active Target. I suspect Live Scope has a similar setting but it may be called something else(gain?). Clearer water needs lower contrast. Contrast that's too low will result in not seeing stuff in the middle and upper part of the water column. Contrast that's too high will clutter the screen, and make stuff bleed together. It will also make stuff on or near the bottom "wash out". (best way I can describe it) Depth, range, and other stuff like that is a personal preference. I usually keep my forward range on 100 feet, and my depth on 30 feet. If I'm fishing deeper I'll set the depth deeper. I used to run the depth on "auto" but realized with I was fishing shallow, (say auto is on 10 feet) small would look bigger. The opposite with fishing deeper. By keeping depth and range fairly constant I'm getting better at telling what size most fish are. Again, get on familiar water and just mess with the settings. Write the settings down. When water clarity, wind or waves change mess with the settings more.

You don't catch bass on a Zoom 6" worm????????? I have to keep mine covered up until I'm ready to cast. Bass will jump into my boat if they see one dangling. Speaking of big hands. I've been tryin to edit photos to make my hands look smaller and the fish look bigger. So far it isn't working. LOL

Eat a BUNCH of chilli beans before your next fishing trip. If people crowd you just "gas" them.

If you feel like you need to quote someone because you're specifically replying to something you can do a selective quote. Simply highlight the text you want to quote and a box to post that quote will come up. This will keep the quote small instead of the entire post. Demonstrated below. That takes up way less space than quoting the entire post.

IF (big if) Bass have gotten harder to catch I suspect fishing pressure is to blame, at least on major reservoirs. I also believe there's 2 different ways bass are difficult to catch. Bass in busy lakes and rivers are used to all kinds of human and boat activity. Many of these bass aren't spooked by boat movement, or even noise. I believe lure selection is one of the most important things needed to catch these bass. Bass in secluded, rarely fished ponds are spooked by all kinds of stuff. They'll bolt away if they simply see your shadow. Stealth is what's needed to catch them. If they know you're there, they're gone. Lure selection is way less important but you have to be able to make a cast that lands like a feather, without the bass seeing you or even knowing you're there. The BIG Bass in both type areas probably share the hard to catch traits from both areas.

You're the man @Pat Brown. I wonder if that's the biggest NC bass of the year. That's a HUGE bass. Possible 13 pounds pre spawn. Congrats.

Luck? Luck can and does play a factor in many things but..........Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

2 Disclaimers: 1. Feel free to laugh at the stuff I've drawn on the map. I'm not an artist 2. Every one who's posted in this thread probably knows more about this stuff than I do.....but here's my 2 cents worth. For me it's not just a flat area, or one that's a gently slope. A flat that's good for holding bass is going to be near other attractive areas. I have good luck in the area I've circled on the map at times. It's not "just" a flat (or area with gentle slope). It's next to a channel swing bank as well as a 90 degree bend in the main river channel. Main river channel is marked with my attempt to draw an "A". The area I'm calling a "flat" kinda becomes an eddy when they're moving water through the lake. I can pretty much always find bass either on the "flat", the ledge at the main river channel near the "A" or at the point that isn't in the picture. This particular "flat" has a bunch of stumps too. Also, for some reason I rarely see anyone fishing there. During the Summer people tie their boats together and "party" (whatever that means) in the area notes a small craft mooring. It doesn't seem to bother the fish. I've caught decent size bass and huge catfish at the underwater point near the "Menu" button on the screenshot, while people were "partying" on the hump. So, in a short distance bass (and other fish) have current, a stumpy flat, multiple points, ledges and a channel swing bank. The pocket near the top of the map on the right side is a good spawning pocket too. Past the bottom of the screenshot is another channel swing bank. The main channel runs really close to the bank for several hundred yards, then turns away, creating another flat and eddy.

I caught 7 today between 5:15 and 9:45. The first was a decent Largemouth on my second cast. It fought like a real largemouth too, walking on it's tail all the way to the boat. I didn't weigh it. It was 1/4" short of the 18 inch mark I have on my boat. The rest were spots, 13" and less. The first and last are pictured. First was on a Devils Horse, the others were on a T-rig. I'm going to have to make a night trip and fish from midnight to daylight or so to catch some more topwater Largemouth. The heat has me zapped lately. I figure staying up all night fishing will make me tired for a week. I need to tell my body I'm 40 years younger so I can stay up all night. Working 45 to 50 hours a week is interfering with my fishing.

I got catfished again today. It was quite a bit smaller than the 32 pound Flathead last week. I didn't weigh or measure it. Small enough to boat flip though. FWIW I pretty much never weigh a fish I boat flip. If it's too heavy my rod might find out and decide to break.

Forget the brace. Get some Voltaren.

(Not river smallmouth) I couldn't help but get a wp due to @ol'crickety catching a million bass a day on one. All it done for me was spook fish and twist my line. A BUNCH of people where I fish throw WP's. I'd estimate that 90% of my topwater bites come on a Devils Horse. (including a 3 1/2 pound Largemouth today and a 5 pounder last Sunday) I suspect where you fish, how others fish and the confidence you have in a lure is what determines what works and what doesn't.

I caught 4 today while battling muscle cramps. I've been plagued with cramps on and off for most of my life. I'm not dehydrated, I'm overhydrated if anything. I've taken pretty much every kind of supplement and remedy available. Every now and then I'll have a couple days with terrible cramps. Today (and yesterday) they were in my hands, and my core. I had cramps in the side of my chest (both sides) near the bottom of my rib cage that felt like they were going to break my ribs. It's hard to stretch out a cramp in your side. OK back to fishing. I got a new electronic scale. My old one died after fishing in the rain for a week back when I was on vacation. First bass was a skinny 19 1/2 inch 3.56 pound Largemouth on a Devils Horse. The other 3 were smaller spots, one on a bladed jig, one on a T-rig and one on a DT6. I also caught a Catfish. It wasn't tiny, but small enough to boat flip. (Cat isn't pictured) I lost a couple decent, but not BIG bass. I'll soak in an Epsom salt bath tonight and hopefully be cramp free tomorrow.

Chuck Berry has a song about that.

I've got a question. I'm being serious (for once) If you're going to use a mono leader why not just use mono? Regarding a bad spool. Last year I got a bad spool of XL from the huge company named after the big river. I wonder if it was counterfit. The packaging and spool looked identical to what I buy at my local tackle shop but the line was different.

I will occasionally. Lakes may be dirty but I suspect they're cleaner than most public pools.

Catfish will hit bass lures. Zoom in on the DT6 deep in this ones mouth.

Last month when I was on vacation I'd fish 2 or 3 hours, go back to the camper, take a nap, then fish 2 or 3 hours......go back to the camper take a nap.....repeat. Last Spring I fished 10 hours one day with my Grandsons. I was tired. We caught a BUNCH of bass. They're distracted by baseball, and teenage girls so they don't go fishing with me much. When they do I'll fish until they're ready to quit.

I won't be getting one. If I knew how many casts I made I'd be tired.

I try to use history to expand my knowledge. There are places where I pretty much always catch bass. I try to determine "what makes these spots special?" then find similar spots. I also use history when I'm not finding/catching bass. If a spot that's produced good for a while stops producing I try to decide "where are these bass at now?". I rarely fish the same spot 2 days in a row. Most weeks I get to fish Saturday and Sunday. Most of the time I fish the same lake. One day I'll go upriver from the landing. The next day I'll go toward the dam.

For the last month of so I've been catching Largemouth, both decent, and dinks 6 feet deep or less. On offshore structure I've been catching Spots (both decent and dinks) as well as getting catfished occasionally.

Money? What's that. Every day when I get home from work Mrs B says "give me all your money, and don't let me catch you with any more" .

When Bass are busting shad on the surface throw a spoon or lipless crank bait. Flutter them like an injured shad. Bass can't resist. (Don't tell anyone, it's a WB secret). When crankin around balls of shad I try to pick a crank that will run right about the center of the bait ball. I'll just watch on sonar until something attacks the shad, then put the crank right into the middle of it.