Pat Brown

I do too but it's second to fishing with it LOL I truly believe I have enough tackle for three lifetimes for what it's worth 😵😵😵😂😂😂🫣🫣😉

I'm with you Katy.

Hey @Catt just saw this part of the forum exists and read this whole thread. Prayers for you and your family from us in NC.

Another little detail I will add - clear water - bass can see you and you can see them. My lakes are very very clear most of the time. A few carp in an area can very quickly make the whole section of a creek nice and stained and my catch rates for bigger fish go way up when water is even a little bit stained here. Another thing is that carp are constantly rooting around and exposing insects and crawfish and larvae and all sorts of things and are very inefficient eaters - as a result they draw lots of other stuff to the area that bass feed on. I have literally caught a 7 lb 8 oz post spawn largemouth off of carp spawn though. They eat the minnows. 🙂 I treat carp like deer or racoons or birds or frogs - they're life, and when you see signs of life = bass.

Grass and sniper and Arky (although I wish I could get 3/4 and 1 oz arkys and snipers 🫣🤤 what can I say - I like it heavy.) Subtle baitfish color skirts with greenish top and smokish belly are the deal.

I catch big bass around carp beds every year. I feel like a carp minnow gets to be 7" in about 2 weeks. Talk about fast food! 😉😉😉

Don't sleep on the Magnum size - it's one my favorite baits of all time - just tied my 11 lb 5 oz PB largemouth on this very bait last week! It catches small fish too but it really seems to get big bites! Use a 5/0 offset worm hook and you hardly miss any fish that bite and you can really horse them out of wood (or vegetation! 😉)

Katy - the main reason to use a split rail or no trailer - in my experience - is the action of the bait changes. I find I get a lot more bites with no trailer - have no idea why but the bait definitely 'dances' through the water more naturally where as trailers make it kinda glide more like other lures (to me). Super glue is in my tackle bag and gets used on every trailer I put on a jig now! There isn't a bait keeper out there that won't eventually destroy your soft plastic - glue + no keeper - I can actually use the plastic later on for something else because the keeper didn't destroy the soft plastic. Tiny dab is plenty. I have had lots of success using these - I like the double gold Willow in golden shiner a lot. White chartreuse double willow with painted blades is also very very good. Spinnerbaits are cool - hope we get some stain to our lakes this year so they become more effective!

Frogging is a good thing to put time into - well done! 🐸🐸🐸

The deepest I usually go is about 12 to 15 ft, but I'm not afraid to go deeper if they're biting.

Nichols Impulse which they discontinued and I am not thrilled. I like long arm buzzbaits with a really sturdy wire and those just aren't common.

Well - it was a really cool weekend. My buddy had his annual cull session down the road and my family participated and was able to help cull out around 300 sunfish just between the three of us - many of them around 1/2 lb - and a mess of super small bass. I caught a fish every 3 minutes for 9 hours straight just about - it was heaven. 4 lb line - salvaged ugly stick ultralight from a pond - tiny mosquito hook drop shot - little tiny worm pieces did all the damage. Jake won the tournament with 10 bass total (I really just tried to cull panfish - he has an infestation 😂) Next month he's coming to me and we are filling three livewells with donkeys and taking them to his pond along with all the golden shiners Jake can net! We are gonna make this spot a giant fish spot yet! Was able to fish the pond near my wife's work and caught a mess of bass on Mepps inline spinners - absolutely insane fun! Got out on the boat Sunday for Mother's Day during a rainy cold front and didn't expect a ton of action but I got a new PB! On the @Siebert Outdoors crappie swim jig 1/4 oz (bluegill flash) with a 4" largo shad. 11 lb 8 oz channel catfish - hooked in the mouth on a point in about 3 feet of water. Best fight of my life. She came up 8 times before we could get her in the net and stripped half my daiwa Fuego spooled with 15 lb big game multiple times. On par with fighting a 40 lb redfish in a grassy windy bay - but honestly she fought harder. Released back to the depths! Gorgeous catfish! Lake monster!!! My thumb today:

So weird how badly fujita is struggling today! I wonder if he can get a few nice ones in the boat before it's over. Logic would say he's going to but it's hard to say! Tucker could catch a few giants at the end and get the weight record but it's gonna be really tough. Hope Seth gets his century and nails a few more big bites before it's over. Fork is insane - so many big fish!

I fish fast and slow at the same time a lot. Took me a long time to figure out how to do that. 😂😂😂😂 Being super ADHD definitely helped. 😉😉😉😉 The formula goes something like: Slow Presentation (traditionally) Super Heavy Weight Large Trailer or Plastic with Action Heavy Line This lets me fish very very fast and slow.

Those SLOW presentations really pay off in the spring down here. Nice work.

Dude let's go! Glad our conversations have paid off and you're gaining confidence and having success in your new playground! -Pat

I think jigs often just trigger a reaction strike based on the rate of fall primarily and somewhat on the action and color and profile. I try to intentionally change my jig weights if I haven't been bitten in good areas for a while and often I'll change from small to big or big to small or more to less active trailers etc As far as lures mimicking forage? Sometimes it's a good idea to get the little details. Some orange or red if you're around a lot of perch. Less flashy sparkle if the water is very clear. Sometimes a bright color makes fish react to it in clear water. I think it doesn't hurt to play with colors with local forage in mind because it can give you confidence and that can help you present a bait more intentionally. I just try to think about profile and rate of fall and action in relation to conditions and depth and speed in trying to fish and sometimes the cover I'm targeting. I don't really think frogs mimick frogs - I don't think jigs mimick craws - I don't think swimbaits mimic shad - I don't think Jerkbaits mimic wounded baitfish. I think most everything triggers reactions in certain parts of the water column and excel in certain types of cover and under certain conditions and depths and speeds that bass are keyed in on. Jigs are a useful and efficient way of targeting LMB - that's why people fish them.

I'm grateful to be gloveless again but back when I was reacting to fish for a while following a fish fin stab wound from dirty water - I had to wear them - but I found that there is no way to preserve them - they get destroyed by being used basically! Thankful that after this winter I no longer react and I am gloveless again! Protect your hands and treat those stab wounds from fish somewhat seriously when you can! Clean them and disinfect and wrap em up or you could have some sad glove wearing times that are not optional!

I find that areas with fruiting or flowering trees or bushes tend to hold the biggest bass early in the spring - may have something to do with pollinators attracting other life to the area and creating a food chain around the bloom.

I have learned that it is best to leave sure fire spots for the slow baits first and fish the ??? water with moving baits first. So the second pass would just be necessary if the first didn't work and I'd just use the other extreme probably. If slow didn't work in a fishy area I might try a faster presentation or lure to make them react before leaving. If making them react in a ??? part of the pond didn't work I *MIGHT* slow down there if I see evidence of bass while fishing through - but generally not.

Seems like the fertilizer and run off is making mutants at the church farm pond. Better make volunteering at the church farm a priority this summer! 😂😂😂

This isn't online research it's just observing fish every year every day for years in North Carolina. It's backed up by lots of things I've read and heard online sure but it isn't just me making a pointless point. Bed fishing and fishing during the spawn are not separate things is the exact point I'm making. The fish are vulnerable and biting things aggressively to protect their areas the whole time it's not just on a physical bed. Well the water is the same water + oxygen that I'm pumping in very rapidly. They seem to like that.

To be fair - he didn't make the rules and he is open to discussing this. I think basically trying to be decent to the creatures is better than not trying to be decent to the creatures. There are times of years I will actually use my live well to rejuvenate a fish - primarily summer when they can be worn out and the water doesn't have a ton of oxygen. I don't haul them around all day but having a live well can be part of taking good care of the fish we catch if they're having a hard time after a long fight.

I agree that tournaments are another factor to consider. Tournaments being catch weigh and release should be mandatory - bump board for length - whatever it takes. The way we do it with live wells and hauling fish around is indeed barbaric to me. I mean - I promise you not all females leave the area they spawn and just go about their business - a lot of them actually spend their entire lives in a fairly close proximity to their nests and are always guarding the area instinctively. It's not something they do once a year or something. It's a fluid state of eat, make babies, eat, make babies that they never really stop being in.

WOW! I guess we know who broke you off last year!