Carolina Pines

Trying again with the photos https://i.postimg.cc/9XvFwJT5/IMG-5429.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/HLBkJm0B/IMG-5432.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/4dyNV0BZ/IMG-5437.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/MTLZDYFB/IMG-5441.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/MHj6rjCF/IMG-5442.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/3Jmpkyk1/IMG-5444.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/tR1FHvyL/IMG-5446.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/CdThyxYL/IMG-5448.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/dQzrQRVD/IMG-5451.jpg [img]https://i.postimg.cc/9XvFwJT5/IMG-5429.jpg[/img]

I'm still trying to direct link to photos, this may or may not work. Went out this past Friday 2/24/23, caught maybe 12-15 small bass. Biggest one was around 2.5 pounds, despite the small fish the weather was very nice so it was a good day to be on the water. Spinnerbait experimentation resulted in several bass, I caught a big pickerel on a 6th sense crankbait, and I caught one bass on a jerkbait. Later in the day they started hitting topwater, I caught one on a Z man Hellraizer, and then I caught 6 or 7 on a new One Knocker Spook. I love that spook, the one knocker sounds much lower pitched and walks differently than a regular spook. They were crushing it hard. I can't wait to try it out this summer in the saltwater for redfish. [img]https://i.postimg.cc/HLBkJm0B/IMG-5432.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/4dyNV0BZ/IMG-5437.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/MTLZDYFB/IMG-5441.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/MHj6rjCF/IMG-5442.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/3Jmpkyk1/IMG-5444.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/tR1FHvyL/IMG-5446.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/CdThyxYL/IMG-5448.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/dQzrQRVD/IMG-5451.jpg[/img]

Same here in NC, low 80s both today and tomorrow with some wind, then high 60s low 70s Friday right before the front arrives. This type of thing gets me chasing the big ones. Friday I'm hauling the boat to work, taking half a day off then headed straight to the honey hole.

Yeah I'm considering it! My 5 year old took the pic of me holding that 7 pounder, she caught her first bass the same day. That was a special trip back in December, but a 9-10 is really something haha...

2-3 feet of visibility which is what I consider to be clear water for this lake. Usually it's around a foot or even less. You're probably fishing much clearer water than that. However I was very surprised how realistic my trailer was moving compared to every other spinnerbait setup I've ever used. It was noticeably better and looked much more alive. I'd bet it would catch fish even in extremely clear water.

I just went down and checked this, it's funny you mentioned that. I have two different 10 lb plates, I weighed both with the scale. One read 9 pounds 10 ounces, the other read 9 pounds 13 ounces. I suppose it's possible I did catch a DD bass! I'm going to see if I can find a better scale and determine exactly what that one plate really weighs in at. Thanks! It was 52 degrees where I caught the big one.

I'm getting so close to a trophy DD fish! I beat my previous 7 pounder from December by over 2 pounds. I changed a few things up for this trip and it payed off big time. First was noise & boat positioning. I kept myself as shallow as I possibly could, positioning the boat in a foot of water or less, and being very mindful of any noises I was making. I didn't fire up the outboard until the end of the trip. I cast toward "deeper" water that was maybe 2 feet deep max, this was where most of the bass were caught this trip. I also cast parallel to the bank toward the shallowest cover I could find. All of this is different than my usual approach (put the boat in the deeper water and cast to shallow water perpendicular to the bank). Second was modifying my spinnerbaits. I've never had a ton of luck with the typical double willow blade. This trip I was throwing one I custom made with a large single Colorado blade and a high quality swivel. I was using a 4.5" paddle tail for a trailer without a skirt. It worked so much better for a slow retrieve and it got hit hard. The big Colorado blade thumps like crazy and I noticed that my trailer looked much more alive and moved with much better action compared to a double willow. Also my hookup ratio improved significantly, and my hooksets were much easier vs. double willow blades. This could be my new favorite spinnerbait configuration. It was kind of funny how I ended up catching the 9-10 big girl. I was catching a few small 1-3 pound bass (along with a bunch of pickerel) when the action died down around lunch time. I told myself "OK 3 more casts then I'm sitting down to eat." I cast twice toward the area where I was catching the small fish. No bites. OK one last cast... for whatever reason I decided to cast toward some very shallow water next to a bush. I begin my retrieve, and when my spinnerbait is maybe 10 yards from the boat all hell breaks loose. I didn't even feel the bass hit the lure, I just saw a huge rush of water, spinnerbait disappeared, then massive headshakes and huge waves of water everywhere. I was fighting this fish in about a foot of water, less than 10 yards from the boat. Thank God I got a good hook set! I managed to work the fish back and forth around the front of the boat until she calmed down and I got her in. I never would have thought a fish that size would be in water so shallow. My guess is maybe she was lounging around in the shallows soaking up some sun? It was warm yesterday (low 70s) and the sun was out when I caught her. My quest for a DD largemouth continues... I've learned so much from y'all reading all the old threads on here, and I can't wait to get another new PB soon!

Whenever I see bass schooling up busting shad in the winter, I pick up my jerkbait rod and it's almost guaranteed I'm getting bit. It makes me excited just thinking about it. If a warm front came through, they'll also hit topwater baits, paddle tail swimbaits, anything that looks like an injured / dying shad. Glenn is right, they're gorging themselves on dying shad because it's the easiest meal for them to get. I've been doing very well in the winter throwing jerkbaits with 7-10 second pauses between twitches. The bass in my profile pic (7lb-7oz) was caught just a month ago under these exact circumstances. Stuffed full of shad, caught on a jerkbait. I went fishing this past Friday and the back 1/3 of the lake was iced over. That's very rare in NC. I still caught 6 fish, 5 on a jerkbait and one on a 68 Huddleston. Slow bite but the fish were pretty decent sized 3 pounders, they were eating in 46 degree water.

I also fished on 12/30 in central NC. I caught 6 fish which I consider a slow bite for this lake. We had some very cold weather here late December, on Friday it finally warmed up some. The air temps Friday were in the 60s but water temps were still in the mid 40s. Water was dark and muddy, visibility maybe 1.5 feet at best. I was at a mid size local lake maybe 50-100 acres, shallow depth less than 15 feet for the most part. On Friday the back third of the lake was iced over, which I have never seen before at this lake. 5 bass came from a LC Pointer 100 in Chartreuse Shad. Two of them were 3 pound fish, one was 3-10 which was the big fish for the day. I also caught my first swimbait fish, a 3-8 on a Huddleston 68. Surprisingly I got several bites on the Huddleston, and I had never fished with one before. Might be worth trying a swimbait retrieved slowly near the bottom. Which swimbait were you throwing? Do you throw jerkbaits a lot? I've been on a jerkbait kick lately and it's been working very well for me in the cold water.

Big crappie can fight hard, I had one around 2 pounds that took drag like a 5 pound bass. I think the time of year (water temp probably?) makes a big difference. I've caught a couple of fairly big LM bass in the 7-8 pound range, one was in the heat of summer, the other one was just a couple weeks ago in December. The summer fish was slightly smaller but fought MUCH harder, jumped several times, and dragged my canoe with two 200lb guys out of the lily pads and maybe 30 yards across the lake. Twice I got it close to the canoe, only to have it take off again and pull more drag. My fishing partner still talks about how hard that fish fought years later. I was lucky to land it. The winter fish fought hard for maybe 30 seconds, then seemed to just give up and came right to the boat. She never jumped once! My BIL got a 7 pounder in the winter too last year that fought pretty much the same way, no jumps and not a lot of fight other than the first few seconds. Winter is a great time to catch a PB down here in the South!

That's a great idea, thanks! That would be especially nice for holidays when the extended family is around. She's definitely hooked, ever since we got home she's been asking "when can we go fishing again?"

Thanks man, yeah it was a special fish for sure! It took her a while to figure it out but she kept at it, and she ended up catching a second smaller bass too a little while later! She's already asking when can we go again. I've got two younger sons as well, 2 and 1/2 years old and 10 months old. Pretty soon my 2 and 1/2 year old will be ready to catch his first bass. He can outcast his sister some days.

That's awesome glad to hear it!! I'm really excited to start using it this spring, the swimming action looks incredible in the videos I've watched. It feels really solid and well made, and the hooks are great, very sharp. My wife can't stand looking at it lol it's been a lot of fun creeping her out.

Thanks, it has been a very enjoyable project for me! My grandfather was alive until I was 20, and he was there for quite a lot of my best times growing up fishing and hunting. He saw me catch my first largemouth bass, was there when I shot my first buck, and I caught my first trout floating down the Smith river with him.