Pat Brown

Some REALLY beautiful fish and stories in here lately - too many to note them all but it makes me smile seeing all the hogs being caught and the numbers too! Fall is really becoming my favorite season. It seems like those “10 fish in an hour”moments we dream about are plausible here in NC during the fall transition. I recently had such a night at the new pressured pond I have adopted. Let’s preface this with an explanation - the previous pressured public pond I lived nearby was split into 2 x 5 acre ponds divided by a dam and inflow creek and maybe 200 feet of walking distance. Over the years you have seen me catch many 8-9 lbers out of those two spots on frogs and lipless crankbaits and jigs and buzzbaits. It is fairly flat and very clear water with very little cover and people mainly panfish and catfish because the bass fishing is extremely difficult. The new pond is closer to our new house - 5 minutes away to be exact - why wouldn’t I just fish my backyard pond? One word: Hydrilla. The magical grass. The more there is - the bigger the bass! I am next door to a 10 acre grass lake - the pond attendant is my friend and she has been working for Parks and Rec for 50 years and she said her son caught a 14 lb LMB on a live crappie two years ago out of this spot. I don’t doubt it for a second but my big bass have all been seen and not caught out of this pond - until recently that is 😎 I have been very eager to learn how to target bass in grass and this pond provides me with a fantastic arena for this - I have fished frogs and buzzbaits and done well but not landed anything over 4 at this pond for 2 years of trying but I’ve laid eyes on fish over 10 in wolfpacks. This past week something finally clicked - I don’t know if all the YouTube finally kicked in or what - but I love fishing lipless crankbaits - I have heard for years they excel in grass but being that this pond is very shallow - I never gave it much thought. Well - I’m an older wiser and often more bored fisherman now than I was then and I do all sorts of funky things now just for the heck of it - depraved, I know. I decided to try fishing a lipless in the super shallow thick hydrilla. At first it was pretty awful. None of my usual stuff was gonna be working - that much was clear - but I pushed on - determined to crack the code. and then it dawned on me that people say when the water is very clear you need to go extremely fast to elicit a reaction strike, and then I also thought about the fact that my Red Eye Shad rises up in the water column when I burn it so I decided to commit to really fishing a lipless very very fast. I mean Looney Tunes fast like people might think there’s something wrong with that guy fast. Well it worked. It worked so well I was giving away lipless crankbaits and lessons to the poor fishless souls watching in awe from the pier as I caught fish after fish after fish and they kept getting BIGGER. I filled one gentleman’s cooler with healthy culls and caught some really nice ones that I released and proceeded to come back and do the same the next couple days but eventually they got wise and I could only do 1 or 2 fish during this wild bite window I had discovered. I fished a frog over the main grass patch that I was ripping through to catch all the lipless fish and I got bit by a big big fish on the first cast- and the second and third and then finally on the fourth I connected with a BiG bass and instantly broke off. 65 lb braid. She swallowed the frog - how can I be sure? I colored 2.5 feet up my braid with black marker and only 8” of black braid remained. Frustrated I decided to try something extremely weird for me based on ALL of the information I had taken in with the lipless crankbait and frog and I tied on my Strike King wake bait - a bait until two days ago, I had never caught a fish on. I bomb it out and let it float back to the surface and start slowly wiggling it back over the grass and catch a 2 lber instantly. Hmmmm. Sun is going down and new moon is just a couple days away - I see a HUGE boil 30 feet to my right inside the grass line off a point where I have scouted old bluegill beds and see fish get murdered occasionally. I cast past the boil and slow roll the wake bait to the spot where it occurred and slow waaaaaay down and then stop it. A HUGE wake shoots over and a sickly THUD happens and I’m unconsciously reeling and she’s stripping drag and thrashing and I’m like do I have a catfish!?!? Nope. My very first hydrilla gorilla from the 10 acre pond of wonder and mystery! HUGE fall Prespawn belly on this gorgeous extraordinary bass. She was getting ready to make babies on the new moon for sure. That’s a 6 + lber that is all of MAYBE 20” on a good day - easily one of the fattest and girthiest bass I’ve ever caught - now I’m DESPERATE to catch the one that broke me off on the frog. Can you imagine a 26” fish with these proportions!?!?! Good NiGhT! Here’s some of the madness from the past few days - thanks for listening to me ramble about bass fishing!

I have heard that LMB are opportunistic and while some fixate on gizzard shad - most fixate on key parts of the lake where seasonally - there is abundant nutrition that comes in various forms. Knowing how the various menu items use the key areas seasonally may be the key to unlocking the door for that area. I think the bigger bass do eat lots of little gizzard shad plenty of the time - but I think they know it pays to hang around gizzards because of the occasional 6” crappie or redear they get to snarf etc so it may be that some bass only activate around gizzard shad when the shad are being hunted by crappie or smaller bass or sunfish because for the most part they are unconcerned with the shad and use them more as bait. I think knowing what they look like when they are active vs not active is a BIG time advantage and it’s not always as simple as “the bait is balled up - it’s a good time to fish for the bass” I think sometimes the bass are on the prowl but the bait is spread out in the water column and sometimes the bait is balled up around panfish and there’s no big bass nearby. What I have heard over and over again from podcasts and YouTube channels where people who are very good at electronics analyze the returns - when bait gets close to “edges” (which can mean a LOT of things - be open minded) things happen. Regardless of conditions etc when bait makes the mistake of getting a little too close to a grass line or a ledge or a hump or a stump or a leaf mat or some lily pads or a saddle or a ditch - BOOM - they’re supper and sometimes it can start a frenzy that lasts 30-45 minutes in one little spot. Rotating key pieces of structure is how the dudes with FFS beat my butt in local tournaments! You just gotta know what it looks like when the shad is getting stupidly close to the key ambush points and that’s usually when the big girls get frisky.

I think it depends on the type of structure and water clarity and how sunny it is and a BUNCH of other stuff. There are almost always some gizzard shad that stay in the lily pads up the lake and often very large ones - but then you’ll always have some in the shade of the bluffs and bridges and rip rap and then you’ll have the ones that relate to the main channel etc. I have definitely seen gizzard shad go nuts in a creek and then pull back to the main channel as the sun rises. i have also seen them tuck tight to the bank following the shade lines on windy sunny days. I have also found them in 48 degree 2 foot muddy water with the wind blowing Winn Dixie into a pocket of pad stems. Gizzards are cool and weird.

This time of year shallow flats have the best oxygen content, and usually the cleanest water (unless of course you got wind blowing bad stuff into a flat). A lot of lakes start to turn over this time of year, but I know in Florida it’s a little different. I think Mr @Choporoz fishes in NC - I figured he’d be able to use a few of my observations potentially. 🙂

Shad are usually looking for cleaner water and then the current is usually important because it’s oxygenating the water and moving the plankton. Cleaner water allows for more photosynthesis and the phytoplankton can bloom nicely and the shad will really get hot on those blooms. Water quality is imperative this time of year and shad will be anywhere they can be that has survivable dissolved oxygen levels. Locating some shad and some bass groups is great and then you can either camp on them or rotate the schools/areas until they become active. So loosely I’d be looking for current (ripples/dam/creeks), clean water and lots of sun right now. Bass will definitely just follow shad around but it seems like they “activate” more often when the shad drifts into some kind of depth change or cover! favorite baits to troll? Carolina rig/drop shot/heavy jig/diving crankbait

Here in NC - when the water has a 4 in front of the temperature - you’re gonna have a looooooong day on the water. I do OK in the high 40s - usually bigger fish but maybe 1-3 bites a day is all I am hoping for when it’s 46-48. When the daily low surface temp is 48 and it goes up - it’s game on big time - pretty much like a light switch. Once water is in the 50s from dawn to dusk - you can catch them any way you want to just about and they’re everywhere doing everything. I actually think bass are good with colder water for the most part - it’s their food that struggles and they follow their food.

@Lottabass / Al, I completely love that wisdom too - I can back it up even so far as to say that sometimes I think I have the right bait because I miss a bunch of bites and land a couple but a small adjustment could have meant a bunch of fish and one or two come unbuttoned instead - much more favorable outcome and hard to imagine it getting any better when they ARE biting at all sometimes…but I have indeed learned that it can go from warm to smoking hot with a small lateral adjustment. I’m learning to listen more closely to the fish when they hit but don’t swallow - that’s when I start to break out the @casts_by_fly play book and think what’s *similar* but different. And often times - that’s the key to 10 fish vs 1 fish OR landing the really big one that keeps waking but not committing.

Buzzbait for me - my brain says a bass shouldn’t eat one and for many years I couldn’t buy a bite on one but one day it clicked and for some reason - after that first fish got caught - I can’t seem to keep fish off of a buzzbait when I’m throwing it. It’s become one of my all time top producers both for numbers and size. So in a sense - it continues to surprise me every year when they keep hitting it.

this is golden.

I REALLY like throwing the 1/8 oz buzzbaits. also try buying the small medium and large replacement blades and try doing some blade size changes. There are ABSOLUTELY times where fast is good and times when slow is good. Times when small is best by a long shot and times when big is the way to go. I just know that if it’s shallow and cover and there are bass - they will hit a buzzbait. I’ve caught them in all 12 months on the bait and it catches giant bass and numbers. 1/8 oz buzzbait is deadly. modifying buzzbaits for burning or slow rolling purposes (heavy head with a tiny blade or vice versa) is very advised. try lots of different types of trailer vs skirt vs trailer and skirt and even trailers with action trailers with no action - all of this stuff can make a world of difference just like with jigs or plastics.

I don’t know about Georgia but last winter - NC had ice covering everything from January til March. It was insane. I really hope we have 50* water in January this year!

I had a year that would make most anglers including me blush - but like you I feel differently - I’m fairly certain I lost the biggest fish that bit consistently all year and for me - that isn’t a good feeling. Make no mistake I landed plenty of trophies and I’m proud of the success I had - I just know in my heart of hearts - the biggest fish all got off this year. For the both of us (and anyone else who feels this way): that’s just how it goes when you’re at a level where the biggest and smartest fish in your pond are the ones we want to catch - and that just means we are getting closer to our next winning streak. They can’t unhook themselves forever and they keep biting so I’m gonna keep fishing for em. 😎👍

Definitely gonna want to master lipless/shallow cranking/spinnerbait/bladed jig/jerkbait. for slowing down, I would try things like a Ned rig or drop shot.

I’ve been wrecking em on the little square bills that come in 4 packs that Walmart has - probably Bomber I think?- even using the stock hooks and I’m throwing them into crazy places and getting them back. They cast just well enough on a bait caster but they’re pretty small - they deflect off things really well and you can burn them without them blowing out which is what I like about them.

My favorite bass fishing writer! Her passion for the sport and love for nature and the pursuit of big fish and the camaraderie and friendships that fishing brings about shine through in every fishing report or piece of advice for a newcomer - Katy is a stone cold certified hammer and a fantastic bass fishing writer.

https://www.bucksspoonplugs.com/Spoonplugging--your-Guide-to-Lunker-Catches--Soft-Cover-Edition_p_88.html Buck Perry - of Hickory NC - really defined structure fishing and everyone should familiarize themselves with his literature.

Baitfish will relate to wind differently at different times of year and so will bass. Most of the time - wind is your friend. Times I fish protected areas are more niche in general - winter and to some degree early spring - finding less windy spots CAN be better but not always. If the wind is warmer than the water - then you generally want to fish the wind. If the wind is colder than the water - you are gonna want to fish calmer spots usually. When I locate bait - I still target optimum structure and cover and try to think creatively about how bass might use the area the bait is situated in throughout the day.

Finding the bait - many ways to go about this. birds, insects, heavy vegetation, shade, heavy wood cover, shallow flats, wind direction, flickering on the surface, popping sounds etc. If your state allows - you could try cast net or mosquito hook + light line on a split shot rig. In my experience - bait is easier to see with your eyes or hear with your ears than it is to hunt it other ways - I’m not too concerned with the bait fish swimming around in the abyss or the bass chasing them - there are plenty of shallow baitfish and bass most of the year to hunt with my senses . Bank fishing a small pond will rapidly help develop your awareness of what’s happening on the water and see a smaller scale representation of bait reacting to changing conditions.

@jitterbug127 my experience on rivers is somewhat limited but I fish them enough to have some kind of an idea of what to look for. In an environment where current is constant, you really have to fish the changes. Are there times where the river slacks off? Times where it gets more turbulent? Does your river change water levels or clarity? What is the predominant form of cover available to fish on the river? What the secondary form of cover? Have you tried planning to fish nasty days instead of nice days ever? Have you tried very early or very late in the day? With regard to bait selection - I tend to let the cover pick the bait for me - I don’t really pick my baits. I just fish what efficiently deflects off or through the cover at various speeds and depths. If I need to go very very fast on the bottom - I’m not gonna fish a jig or lipless or bladed jig or worm - I’m gonna need a deep diving crankbait. If they’re loaded in grass that you can see on the surface - my deep crank is not useful. If they’re on the bottom in the grass I’ll need a heavy pegged t rig, if they’re eating near the surface in the grass I might do a fluke or frog twitched or popped or burned or even dead sticked to see what speed they want it and efficiently target them in the grass etc. those who are telling you to simplify bait selection are very very smart. if you can find lures that allow you to more efficiently search the heavy cover on your river - you might see more success. If you can figure out where they like to spawn, they’re never far from those areas 365 days a year (at least a substantial percentage of them he population of bass). My experience on rivers is that you really have to locate the preferred structures. There can be miles of river with no fish and then you find a deep hole with timber and shad loaded in it and get bit on every cast. Bass are easy to find - they’re in heavy cover around bait. You need to learn to find bait! Bait is easier to find with your eyes and your ears than with a lure. Electronics can definitely help but I really like to see bait with my eyes. One more thing to add that has proven to be incredibly helpful time and time again with every lure category - don’t be afraid to go looney tunes fast or dead slow with your bait even within the same cast - always intentionally and deliberately explore extremes with regards to speed and depth and even size of bait to some degree - it can be the difference between 1 fish and 10 fish in the same spot as someone else at the same time.

Maybe so Katy. That’d be a shame if so! Glad they’re coming back though. 😎👍

That’s a beast - I betcha there’s a nice wad of 20-22” in there also - keep at it 😉👍

Fall has really started to take off here really suddenly and with it - crankbaits have also seemed to dominate. I caught a fat 4+ on the frog at a pressured pond that I know has giants but I rarely have much success at and then at sunset I cracked the code burning lipless crankbaits through dying grass and landed 3 and lost 10 in 1 hour last night. Never experienced anything like it on a crankbait. Hybrid Hunter is doing work on the big lakes with a couple really big fish including a 6 lb post spawn bug eyed brute! Buzzbait days are still happening and I predict some wild ones soon. Still getting tons of bites on big worms flipping into cover but speeding up is slowly taking over. Biggest fish on the Hybrid Hunter that I’ve landed but it’s worth mentioning that I broke off the largest bass I’ve ever hooked on a crankbait fishing that crankbait a couple years ago.

This year I think I lost under 20 lures total. Pretty solid. I don’t lose baits much unless there’s secret braid or mono snarls in cover - I got nothing when that happens. Sometimes I bend hooks out or break the line I’m stuck in but it’s pretty much a guaranteed loss when I find 60 feet of braid doing cats cradle in my favorite lay down.

Copper Red Baits tsunami frog - things moves gallons of water silently- gets huge bites!

My favorite buzztoad is a weightless magnum speed worm - they’re good for weedless buzzing. Frogs are better for slowly working a spot on top. Or if they want more spitting or walking or chugging and less buzzing. You can definitely pitch and flip a speed worm.