Pat Brown

Red is 1000% a dirty water thing for us here in NC - it works in summer too. Just gotta have dirty water. I think the point is mostly to make the bait silhouette better and give them a bold color that stands out when they get close. I fish it in places where I don't see red crayfish and do well with it. A functionally similar color for us is black back chartreuse sides - another excellent dirty water color. Doesn't really mimic anything perfectly - it just looks visible when it's hard for them to see.

Second biggest bass of my life 9 lb 14 oz (a shad shy of 10) and another giant off a school in 14 feet of water today. On the 1 oz @Siebert Outdoors grass jig in 'Pats Gizzard' slow rolling deep with swimbait trailers. 😎😎😎🥵🥵🥵 Flying solo mid day during a warm front. Both fish released and swam away with vigor! Happy spring FINALLY!!! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🎣🎣🎣 Fish that are basically 10 lbs make me smile really really big yes indeed. 🙂🙂🙂🙂

The value in pro bass fishing has always been in its abilities to both educate the consumer on techniques and technology that are working well to catch bass and to sell tackle for sponsors. Electronics has monopolized their role in bass fishing for the most part with the advent of forward facing sonar - yes you can't make them bite and it still takes skill - I'm not against the technology at all - just think it has no place in the professional side of the sport - intended to educate and inform anglers and to sell tackle. It essentially monopolizes all of that. Learn to use forward facing sonar and buy that or don't bother - people don't want to tune in for that and it's not relatable - it doesn't move the needle like it used to. Every pro angler has to have a YouTube presence now. YouTubers are moving the needle and making relatable content that educates and informs anglers on how to catch a bass and sells tackle.

This has been my experience. Basically they're a PITA 😂😂😂❤️❤️❤️

Long hook - I love the @Siebert Outdoors grass jig. It is my favorite swim jig currently but it's also great for working through vegetation or around laydowns and rocky banks. Do NOT sleep on the 1 oz or 1 and 1/2 oz for flipping.

Yeah I think that when the shad are able to find refuge somewhere and the birds are not completely overtaking the surface there can be some great action underneath it. But if your lake averages 12 ft deep, there's really nowhere for bass to hide and there's really nowhere for shad to escape the cold. And even the Shad just kind of carpet the bottom. Basically things that get the shad moving a little bit can be a big deal when you've got bottomed out temperatures. When the shad are not just stunned but dying everywhere it's very very very difficult.

I mean basically - this is actually your best bet 😂

I like fishing not shad stuff during shad kills. Jigs are great. I like to find where the birds are not around - bass seem to spend a lot of the time hiding from the birds during the day time on my lakes but they still like to be on structure and cover that is near the action. I will pick this structure and cover apart with a jig and fish it slow as molasses during a shad kill and realistically I'm hoping for one bite maybe two. During the summer time when a shad kill is happening I'll fish a fluke weightless really slow in 0-7 ft of water and do okay some days. When they have an endless buffet of the real thing and don't have to chase you have to be different from a shad and you gotta be SLOW. Who is down there eating dead shad? Crawdads for sure. I like fishing after a shad kill when the bellies are full but during? Not my favorite.

Yeah it's the plastic I fish at the end of winter the most.

Spro makes a line of glow in the dark frogs that I intend to test extensively this summer. 🙂

I think this year I'm gonna be bank and boat flipping a few that are under 18" and over 12" into a bucket or stringer and into a fryer so as we can improve the average size in a couple spots I fish regularly that are rather stunted. This is standard practice for fisheries with stunted populations. The resource is unfortunately so left alone that it isn't doing so great. Lots of starving fish with big eyes and thin tails. I really think for the most part - bass are not even remotely at risk of being threatened by fish handling - especially in the recreational anglers sector (people who fish maybe 10-20 times per year and have even moderate success). I think they have a lot more to worry about with all the hooks getting lodged in their throats or intestines - another variable we accept and can't always control. Lake management dumping chemicals into lakes to control vegetation. Invasive species. The systematic removal of environmental regulations that will result in the destruction and neglect of their habitat and ultimately lead to bad things for the resource. Endless fishing tournaments. It's like basically pick your battles. Getting on the internet and talking trash to other people who care about the resource and are doing good seems counter productive if you REALLY care about bass. I hesitate to sit on a computer and judge individual people who clearly love the sport and do their best to preserve the resource even if their customs don't perfectly align with mine. I definitely know what I would do and try my best to do the right thing for the fish but getting angry at people who don't do what I would do seems kinda like misplaced outrage. Even people who show up with a bucket and catch fish to eat - there's no evidence that this is bad for a fishery - on the contrary - it often leads to healthier fisheries and healthier fish - and now that no one keeps fish they catch to eat - many bass are struggling and the resource isn't doing so great in a lot of fisheries that used to produce giants back when bass was on the menu! Customs change! I think it's okay to release every bass you catch and it's okay to eat lots of bass - I think becoming absorbed with this kinda stuff is what happens when winter takes a little too long and people are a little stir crazy. 😏😏😏 If this thread had started in May - I think people would be far less grumpy 😂😂😂

A lil guy A big guy A sunset A happy family 😊

There's no hate here. Bass fishing is fun and I don't cringe as much as some people when I see boat flips. Life's too short. But I personally *try my best* to take care of fish that I'm catching - mostly because it's a fun part of catching them *for me*. But I have done it. I've even flipped a couple larger fish. It's just something that happens in the moment sometimes. 🙂

That's absolutely incredible. Not much more can be said! Hard to imagine a week like that.

In hotter months we try to keep them in the water while not photographing them etc and I try to get my pictures the instant it comes out and then it's right back into the drink - I have recaught fish miles apart in different bodies of water years apart - I'm pretty confident I do a good job preserving then but I'm always trying to learn and do better when applicable. There are times when the fish is coming in and I've got to get it up quick and I have boat flipped a few but I try really hard not to let them hit the deck or flop around ever. It's usually when it's in that 2 lb or less range and I grab it quick and stop it's flopping around and then toss it back. I mean they're good escape artists...have I caught a new PB boat flipping a fish? Heck no.

Aaaaaand scene.

You fish in a paradise! That is such beautiful spot!

We did a thread about this last year and we concluded that 9 out of 10 certified hog snatchers agree that above average sized pre-spawn female LMB prefer Dior ™.

Big rainy front hit yesterday and I tied on a lipless and managed a nice one on the old Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap! Hoping to get out mid day a little bit for the sunshine! Missed some really big fish on the frog this week swinging like it's August in February. Give em a second when it's still cold - their brains are definitely slower! 😂😂😂

I use my down imaging and 2D sonar on my little Garmin unit that attaches to my transom on my trailing motor when I'm going from place to place just to monitor depth changes and try to keep track of where I'm seeing fish and about what depth in general etc. I also sometimes use it to identify isolated pieces of cover offshore and stuff like that. Primarily I use it to locate bait and depth changes though. I would say I'm only actively using it when I'm moving from place to place. I actually am one of the weird people that turns it off when I get close to an area I'm about to fish with a plan because I believe that the sonar pings can make fish scatter.

Frog (bronzeye 65 pop 60 scum frog launch xs trophy popper Snag Proof Bobby's perfect etc (go brown or black or white or yellow, cut the tails very short work it very slow - mainly fishing this in super shallow water I know there's fish in for sure - can also be used to cover water slowly), Jig(swim jig or finesse jig usually around 1/4-1/2 oz - swim it, burn it, hop it drag it, dead stick it - it's my all around favorite bait for this time of year with no idea what's going on at all - great for covering water OR working an area I know holds fish slowly), Lipless (red eye shad or rat l trap 1/4-1/2 oz - steady retrieve or yo yo - my favorite muddy water bait of all time when it's cold - just fish it when it's dirty and fish it as shallow as you can), Weightless worm ( senko, trick worm, mag speed worm etc - cast and let it sit - occasionally move a tiny bit - mainly for areas I know there's fish), Jerkbait (90-120 mm size - i like ones that slowly float or suspend in the spring - I work this thing FAST - this is for when the water ISN'T muddy but it IS windy 😀)

I was seriously considering answering - "my local lakes right now for a week with no interruptions would be fine!" 😂😂😂 @TnRiver46 we think alike!

Jake is on the board with a 3 lb 11 oz bass on the trick worm this evening! I missed one bigger on a worm and two on the frog - they're biting!

Definitely somewhere In Japan! Something tells me a Carolina boy that walks his frogs just right - might just get one of them 23 pound trout eaters out of Biwa! 😎😏😂

Yeah you can do all that sensible stuff or if you're like me, when the water hits 55 you can just fish a frog 🤤🤤🤤😂😂😂