Pat Brown

She looks around 19-20” and pretty thick but not bloated - fairly tall - can’t really gauge width but I’d say between 4 and 5 lbs - probably on the 4.5-4.75 lb side of things. That fish gripper clips perfectly to a scale. Just saying. 😎😉

Bass taste lures all the time and we don’t know about it. With top water it’s just messy and loud. When they want it - they get it! If they’re smacking a frog - first thing I do is slow it down and let em get it before I set the hook - if that doesn’t work I downsize to a smaller frog. If that doesn’t work usually switching from dark to light or light to dark belly does the final bit of the trick. Swamplord is a very large profile. Try a smaller frog like a jr pad crasher or a Spro popping frog with the tails trimmed way back. They might hold on to it and “get it” all the way for you.

I’d stick to 4 carrier braid in the 30-65 lb test range depending on rods and hooks and cover you’ll be fishing. If you’re mostly fishing overhanging trees and laydowns and lily pads - might even bump up to 80 lb. For purely open water with no cover - 30 lb is more than adequate for most people. I typically use 50-65 lb because I fish a lot of open water with some submerged hydrilla and emergent spatterdock but I also find myself skipping my frog under shade lines and casting it back over submerged wood enough to err on the side of caution. I agree with most people - don’t overthink it - most brands are fine - just stick to 4 carrier for frogs and flipping - 8 carrier is more for spinning rod - line to leader type setup.

Heart is heavy for you and the bass fishing community this morning. Heart is even more heavy for Tony’s family. Tony - Rest in peace and thanks for all you did to help raise awareness of the importance of proper fish care - we are all better for it. Make sure you, Aaron, Doug and my grandpa save some of those bass in Heaven for the rest of us.

I have em! I like them! I should probably toss them more but I think what you’re saying is probably true - it’s definitely something a little different from what they’re used to (in areas they see a lot of frogs).

I will say a shocking number of my fish over 8 were caught within a day or two of or on a full or new moon. Lots of opinions about this - but it’s a consistently observable trend in my fishing - which is primarily shallow cover oriented fishing. With regards to “be a little different” advice - this is bigger than most people want to believe. Simply showing them something A little different from what they see all the time absolutely is more likely to get them to bite under most circumstances. That could mean a heavier or lighter weight like I talked about earlier in my “extremes” post. That could mean tying your own skirts with bright blue lumiflex and putting a chromed out trailer on the back and painting the claws orange or pink. That could mean throwing full size jigs on a lake where everyone swears by finesse jigs or vice versa. Everybody on your lake in every tournament swears by EWG - try a worm hook. You’d be amazed what hooks can do for action and fall rate to make things “different” to a fish. Fishing baits with no skirts only on a lake where skirted baits are very popular etc. Sink strips or float strips for hard baits are huge. I love spike it markers and use them for hard and soft baits to make things look a little more natural than most of the baits they see. Don’t sleep on hook sharpeners - the big fish I catch - usually I’m on my game and my hooks are super sharp. If changing hooks on the water is easier - by all means do that - but sharp hooks is a must for when you finally get her to bite.

I’m a big fan of broad sweeping generalizations that help catch bass everywhere (😀😂) - with that in mind (😉) - I will offer you this small piece of broad spectrum wisdom that has caught me MANY big bass when I think about it. Extremes are important. Let’s unpack this. You need to go on days when there are extremely few people on the water. Days when it’s extremely windy. Maybe extremely calm. Extremely early. Extremely late. Extremely mid day. Find extremely dark shade lines that are extremely tight with extremely heavy cover. Extremely sunny banks with no shade. Extremely clear water. Extremely dirty water. Extremely still water. Extremely turbulent water. You need to fish extremely heavy gear to catch these extremely smart fish and successfully get them out of where they like to live - the most extremely heavy cover you can find usually. Fish a lot of extremely obvious main lake structure that gets constantly hammered during these extremely unique conditions or situations. Then you’re gonna need to master fishing extremely fast with lots of baits and extremely slow with lots of baits because big fish are very familiar with the easy peasy lemon squeeze retrieves that 98% of weekend warriors hit em with every day. Use extremely small baits and extremely large baits - both work extremely well for big fish and usually one or the other will work best so I try both a lot. Fish extremely heavy weights and extremely light weights. Fish extremely shallow and extremely deep. Extremely flat areas and extremely steep areas. Fish the bottom. Fish the top. Mid column is usually where I catch 0-5 lbers. The bottom or the surface has produced the lions share of giant bass for me (extremes). Be prepared for extremely long days with extremely few bites but when you do get a bite it will be extremely rewarding and even more so when you catch her. Good luck Gim!

I have caught 8 lbers around carp beds at the backs of creeks. I have caught tons of big ones in areas that carp are rooting around for crustaceans and mollusks. The stain on the water and the frenzied foraging are a perfect opportunity to trick a big one on an artificial. I have caught tons of big ones around huge carp at the backs of lily pad fields. Cows don’t scare wolves. Carp don’t scare bass. Carp do deplete fisheries of vegetation and phytonutrients necessary for ample baitfish recruitment and can lead to algae blooms or stunted fish by starving your bigger fish from the bottom of the food chain up. I remove every single one I ever catch from anywhere at this point.

@Bazoo - they aren’t winning but they’re making it because they have similar sponsorships and promote their sponsors and build their brands sufficiently to be relevant - lots of examples of legends of the sport who don’t do much winning these days but remain on tour because they have secured good stable sponsor contracts and have enough to fish and pay the bills even if they lose every year - they just have to work harder in other ways. The fact of the matter is - the amount of money Jacob wins pales in comparison to what he earns selling baits and boats and clothes and working with Academy - by that metric he isn’t THAT much more successful than other folks who are also good at that aspect of professional fishing.

I expect he’d still be at the top of the field @Bazoo - however - I assume if he didn’t have that academy sports/rapala paycheck in the bank, he’d fish with a lot less peace of mind and focus what with the cost of entry fees these days! Theres 299 other pro anglers that aren’t wheeler that are still making a living doing it - so it’s not really about how great at fishing you are at the end of the day. (And it’s the same for all other pro sports - it’s a business first and foremost) But yes - if they told wheeler he’d be fishing out of an inflatable ducky float tube with a flasher and two rods - he’d almost certainly still be one of the most dangerous anglers in any field constrained by the same limitations. He’s absolute incredible at fishing - but that isn’t why he’s a successful professional fisherman (just a small part of the puzzle)

I pretty much reel fast and pull with everything and if they got it - I get em. Broken off a lot of big fish swinging hard. That being said - not every situation or bite is the same and you just gotta do your best. Main thing is - don’t have a “Hookset technique” necessarily - set the hook exactly the way you got the bite - in response to the situation - usually you unconsciously do a better job than you can when you think hard about how to set the hook IMHO.

I was gonna say in response to your belief that you could have fished it differently or better and been more successful- very doubtful. Losing a crankbait in a brush pile and then fishing it slow with a grub and catching 4 fish is about as good as anyone could do or as sound a strategy as any could offer and that success rate is about as indicative of your hunch being correct as you’ll ever get in bass fishing barring absolutely wild unique outlier situations.

I know somebody got a new PB while the forum was out of service - it wasn’t me - but I know it was somebody - come on show yourself! 😀😀😀

Not having bass resource for a while was probably healthy BUT it made me realize that this is the only place I spend on the internet where I get real deep level bass fishing discussion and it is very much appreciated! Cheers to being back!

If Jacob Wheeler took me fishing he’d probably have me eating out of the palm of his hand by the end of the day and I think confidence is most of any line type and they’re all pretty good in the hands of good anglers - every body should use whatever makes sense for them at any level of enjoyment or commitment to the sport!

I don’t think it’s a secret or that it’s any better or worse than any other similar profile straight tail worm - but they work well!

I have used all manner of line configurations and in my opinion fluorocarbon isn’t any better than anything - it’s actually negligible that it increases sensitivity- it bows downward/mono bows upward. Line longevity: I don’t care how long line lasts - if I fish my spool past where I can cast far - it gets respooled. If my line gets dragged through stuff and messed up from a few fishing trips it gets respooled. This would be happening with monofilament, braid and fluorocarbon. I just want line that works well an is affordable. I have found that to be big game for me personally. It’s sensitive enough that I can feel a bite on slack line in 25 mph winds on a spinning rod with a C Rig dragging through shell and vegetation at 150 feet and set the hook on and drag 40”+ red fish through said shell and grass. It’s also kept 10 lbers hooked in beaver dams for an hour. Fluorocarbon has been fun to watch friends who come fish with me break off fish on. I broke off a LOT of big fish with fluorocarbon too. It doesn’t do well for me with knot strength and it seems to be less abrasion resistant by a long shot than monofilament and then when fish are hooked it seems like they come off easier. Then there’s the cost - I think it’s just there to juice the fishing industry and I’m betting lots of pros sell fluorocarbon for their sponsors and use whatever they used with their dad growing up. Just like they all use vision 110 and say they use some jerkbait they’re sponsored by. I would worry less about line composition and more about brand building and social media marketing skills and learning to use electronics if you plan to fish professionally and also to participate in as many tournaments as you can whether it’s just with friends for fun or on fishing apps or small low stakes tournaments at local lakes. I would also try to start fishing with someone who has fished a lot of tournaments and allowing them to mentor you.

Pre rigging with glue often - but you gotta be able to rig on the water too - I’d say go with the flow and do what feels right.

Fun topic and nice to see you again Bazoo. I can definitely weigh in on this (pun definitely intended) - as I have caught a couple big girls multiple times (some in multiple bodies of water across multiple years) and others I have only caught one time and then they seem to learn my “presence” and avoid me before I even get a chance. I truly believe it depends on the individual fish and not all of them are created equal. Some of them will never get caught and some of them will be caught many many times and then everything in between also happens. It just depends on the critter you’re dealing with and the way her brain works vs the other ones. I like catching the dumb ones. 🙂 Thankfully every school has a runt - even the big girl wolf packs. 🤣

My prime is every time I’m fishing - I don’t really actually think I have a prime - I am just trying to catch a new PB and enjoy nature and that should be something I can always do no matter how old I get - HOPEFULLY!

Try loosening the drag star all the way snug and then retighten it all the way to max and then the drag should start to behave as normal - not sure why this works - but it’s worked for me. Also make sure the line isn’t just free spinning around the spool. It needs a hole for line to be tied to or you need to tape it to the spool or it will slip at any drag setting.

@GetFishorDieTryin I’m not comparing them saying it’s a 1:1 - I’m saying regardless of the vast and nuanced differences one CAN point out on paper - they feel great for a while - then the SLX standard issue and a SLX MGL70 were compared to a standard curado K across 6 years - I’m just saying I put the reels through their paces and the curado is still newish feeling performance and the SLX(s) both feel like older cheap reels at this point of which I have a few - I take my reels apart and service them annually and take care of my stuff but I don’t baby anything. Of course they’re different - that’s why it’s unfair to compare them - that’s kinda the point I was trying to illustrate is that in spite of being functional in similar capacities - they break down in different ways in the long run and that only shakes out if you use it a LOT - for most people the differences would be negligible if you fish 20 trips a year or something. For many people - they’re gonna be functionally the same performance for a much better price - unless you use them daily for 6 years.

Popping Frog/Plopping Frog/Buzzbait/Floating worm/Popper.

Having owned both for 6+ years - I agree with everything you’re saying - but the Shimano curados still feel close to new and the SLX reels don’t even come close to feeling somewhat new. Both are great products for what they charge to me.

Yeah - basically buying lightly used stuff is a great way to experience some high quality gear on a budget - I rarely buy reels new. I don’t even want to get into how many fisherman buy the whole line of a reel for a season - fish two weekend tournaments and then sell it all so they can get the newest stuff for next years two tournaments. Some times you might even find some of these in the classifieds section here 🙂