Pat Brown

Well said and completely true. I think bass eat all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons. I think it is a mistake to assume that when a bass bites your lure it is trying to eat it.

I throw a missile baits d-bomb a lot. I get bit even more than I do with the rage bug!

I'd bump up to 10-12 and you should be good in a lot of situations. 8 lb mono will absolutely work - it just will be much more likely to break you off if the fish is large and pulls you into any kind of cover.

The frog monkey gonna get my money again this year. Scum frog and frog factory and snag Proof came in hot with some fire.

A good bass angler can squeeze a frog to empty the water every so often. It's not that bad. A good bass angler can almost always get their bait into a tree and then snap the line by pulling hard. A good bass angler knows a worm with the head bitten off is just as good as a fresh one from the package. A good bass angler doesn't fish the wrong gear in the wrong situation - not very nice to leave hooks or line stuck in big girls mouth because you wanted to do the barbie pole challenge. A good bass angler knows that frozen guides and thunder and lightning are the same thing but opposite ends of the seasonal spectrum and are essentially the only things worth leaving the water for. A good bass angler is always smiling and doesn't stop fishing when the fish stop biting because a good bass angler knows the next big one is just around the corner always. A good bass angler learns to love the skunk and eventually usually takes the skunk on as a visiting professor of bass fishing theory. The skunk is a MUCH better teacher than the monkey. Oh, yes - about the monkey - he's a filthy liar.

Never met a bass that didn't live in the water. 😃

I think that they have individualistic nature and they have regional quirks but they also are all bass. Hope that makes sense and helps. LOL

If the fish only want a dead sticked bait I'm probably going home. I can do painfully slow but dead sticking is not in my DNA although I have successfully caught bass doing it.

Some 220 grit mini sheets in the boat would be all you need + 20 seconds to make a worm mostly matte. Berkeley power worm isn't quite matte but it's VERY close.

I always fish the same stuff all the time - plastics, jigs, buzzbait, frog, spinnerbait, jerkbait, crankbait, lipless. I just try to do more active lures if they're more active and biting more indiscriminately and more slow and sneaky stuff when they're around but aren't hitting the fast and flashy stuff. In dirty water you can really throw just about anything at them and get bit it's more about making the right cast.

Nothing is a big fish bait only! If you're lucky you got a bait that bass like. Bass seem to have a hard time saying no to a big worm and as a result, big girls eat it too!

I pretty much only throw big worms from about April until about August. I'm talking roughly 60% of the casts I make in hot months are with a big worm. Aside from a frog and a jig - probably my other favorite way to fish and big worms have caught both my 11 lbers.

Yeah this is a very personal question for everyone - like if eating pizza is a good use of time etc. Answer is completely up to you - for you.

Amazing! You've fully created a monster - thank you!

It's hard to not catch a bass on a weightless trick worm (no salt) on a 1/0 offset worm hook on 8 lb monofilament. Just throw it at stuff and let it sit or twitch it or drag it or all of the above. You'll get one eventually!

I think I could do it but I think the odds of getting one to bite are VERY low.

Not necessarily saying it controls the bass. Just saying it controls the food chain on the Lakes I fish. I would argue also that current is not always visible or felt and it's all relative. We're just talking about big bite windows on lakes where that happens right now I think. Those are definitely a thing and on the lakes where that matters a lot around here, current seems to activate the food chain which makes groups of bass easier to catch. These bass of course do not exist in a vacuum. They are bass that are subject to fishing pressure routinely and also are inactive most of the day. I do not think that every largemouth bass on every Pond is going to behave the same because they react in real time to stimulation in their environments and adapt and on gizzard Shad fisheries with lots of fishing pressure, current is a pretty big deal.

I'd say that once you can get it into your head that you're searching for active fish, you can have much more productive and efficient trips and you waste a lot less time messing with baits and stuff like that. The key is knowing what kind of active fish you're looking for in the depth zones and areas that you're targeting and recognizing that certain windows don't close and certain windows are only open very briefly each day. In my opinion, when you're looking for largemouth bass that are active, the single most important determining factor in activating the food chain and creating these bite windows or frenzies, is current. Any sort of current? Whether it be wind or generation from dam or inflowing rain etc. Etc. Current is everything when looking for active fish that are active because they are feeding 😉👍🏼

Yeah I mean you can see them on the cheapest electronics. Fish will suspend and do nothing most of the time and then other times they turn into 'angry spaghetti' and can be caught on just about anything you can get in front of their faces.

Tons of times! Learn so much over the years about what are now full on staples in my arsenal - don't know what I'd be without y'all! Truly too many to list, but I've learned a little bit of something from almost everybody here about when and where to throw things and why you do it and I value knowing which things work well and which things are a waste of time!

Oh I'm sure there's bigger fish in there - just gotta hit em at the right time and place - keep fishing it you'll figure em out and a frog is a really good bait for it. Littler bait fish usually means bigger bass. Bigger bait fish usually means ain't no big bass keeping baitfish small and edible.

I have yet to donkey frog but I have fished a sinking frog. 😉👍🏼

Had a ton of fun fishing some spots I don't normally fish the past couple days and even had some notable success! First we had a pretty fun but tough short boat trip on the little lake on the 4th and I managed a nice fish on the buzzbait and Jake got a real nice one too and I managed one more little guy. Lost a big one that wrapped me up in bridge stuff. Missed a few bites that could have been sizeable fish. Next day we went out west to visit @LrgmouthShad to fish at the legendary pond known as 'Ole Muddy'. This was not my first time fishing 'Muddy but it was my first time catching a fish at ole Muddy - she didn't disappoint. She waited til the sun was just beginning to set and she ate a shaky head with a manns jelly worm on the back (one of my last jelly worms). 5 lb on the dot on LMS scale and a great pair of shoulders on her. Jake managed to catch a few but he really impressed us all with a giant post spawn female he secured on the weightless trick worm. Meagan almost caught one on the buzzbait but she did hook one on the trick worm! Muddy did NOT disappoint! We hit a very large reservoir a little east of us with @FishTax yesterday before a massive tropical storm hit. We got bit EVERYWHERE but only caught a couple dinks before the sky opened up and all the rain fell. Jake was the star of the show with 4 fish including a green Sunfish - he almost got a 3 lber we could see considering eating his spinnerbait but couldn't close the deal. It was tough but fun! Not much more luck today - 96° and 100% humidity had me feeling a little soggy and slightly dizzy at the pond after work but I managed two bass anyway. One had a gnarly Picasso chunk removed via heron. Tomorrow is @LrgmouthShad 's last day in NC and we are gonna try the Lil Local Lake™ where I have done exceptionally well this spring and summer and we are gonna hope they are in the mood to eat - after a fun little pond early in the morning that is near where @FishTax works. Thunder Moon ⚡🌕 is a coming in hard and fast - I expect at least a shot at a sizeable critter tomorrow. 😎👍🏼 Hopefully one of us can seal the deal!

I been trying hard - it's been a couple close calls but no dice since May. Got plans to fish tomorrow with @LrgmouthShad and @FishTax at a couple choice spots so anything is possible 👍🏼😎 The Thunder Moon could go off with a great big BOOM!

I feel like the mayor is hard to beat for durability! I agree the largo shad rules. Need to try the d walker - as a swim jig lover, seems important. I love the yum scottsboro, Xzone Swammer and the Gambler EZ but they're all glue required baits for me.