Pat Brown

I fish some rocky Rivers in North Carolina and I catch good fish out of them - but I don't throw my jigs when I am at these spots. Rocky rivers I like plastics and topwater and sometimes a jerk/crank/glide. I definitely think you gotta pick the right bait for the right cover or it's gonna be a lot of frustration in bass fishing. @Jig Man - I like the Freedom Tackle bladed jig for the same reason as you like that boss weedless jig mold. Once I get done losing all my regular chatterbaits, the only ones I'll be sticking are the weedless Freedom tackle ones. 👍🏼 I don't snag regular weedless jigs enough to warrant the switch but those EWG jigs with no weed guard look sweet.

Florida Strain LMB. They are challenging and the reward is huge when you trick an exceptional specimen.

If you fish jigs from the bank a lot try a 3/16 oz finesse jig with a bulky trailer and a stout weed guard on 20 lb big game - you'll hardly ever lose that jig unless you find a bunch of fishing line or something - and even then with most finesse jigs I'll bend the hooks before I break the knot with 20 lb big game. I've caught plenty of fish on jigs I got back and corrected the hook with my pliers. 😎👍🏼 I don't know if it was @Catt or @WRB or @LrgmouthShad or who anymore - I can't keep track of who's wisdom I'm stealing 😉 - but *somewhere* I read or heard at some point that you gotta get the jig kinda snagged up in the cover and then rather than try to violently pop it free - you gotta slow down - take a deep breath - relax - give it some slack and *gently* try to kinda work it through and out of the cover - constantly giving it slack and very gently trying to free it - and THUNK is often what happens! Basically go slow and gentle when you get hung up and you almost always get em back or get bit! When it finally "clicked" for me was when someone posted or told me that and I really stopped losing near as many jigs.

Jeeze - I'm impressed you went out and tried to net shad - wet blue jeans in 40° air temps = maybe next time for me. 😭 Glad you are okay - winter hasn't been very fun this year! Either been too hot or frozen and to me inconsistent weather is probably the biggest killer of a good seasonal bite. Oh well - hopefully it just means the spring is gonna be lights out this year!

We don't have 25 feet down and basically water clarity and avian predators have fish buried in covered a lot of the winter - what truly does happen is you catch them on the bank with your boat over 10 feet of water on a lake where 17 feet is as deep as it gets. I generally catch my shallow fish on ponds and on lakes that are exceptional on shallow areas that drop off rather.....fast? 😎😎😎

I have jigs that I've been throwing for 4 years. I have jigs that don't make it past the marina. When I first started throwing jigs - I lost a pile of them to be honest. Looking back on it - I hadn't mastered the art of gently pulling my bait up to obstructions and popping them through gently. I was working the bait too much for a long time and lost a lot of jigs not knowing how gentle to fish them. Over time I feel like jigs tend to be one of the more economic options out there if you fish them long enough. By a long shot to be honest with you. A big key to this is learning to identify jig versus Texas rigged soft plastic spots on your bodies of water and being willing to tolerate losing a few baits in the process of determining whether an area is good for a jig. But I have days where I will catch quite a few fish on a jig and quite a few big fish and then I will tie that jig on and do it again. Once you know your waters' good jig spots - if they are there - you'll hardly throw anything else in those spots. YMMV

Been looking back through some special spring time fish - 9.1 in early February, 9.3 on late January, lots of 8s in March and basically when that ice first comes off - there seems to be some REALLY big fish all up in them warm shallows all in a big old hurry. It's quite like a light switch. Those warm rains have that ice gone in a hurry and you *really* wanna be pitching things up to the bank - *the day* - that change happens IMHO. The big fish are really good at being there and gone before ya know it and after that lots of 6-8 lbers to be had but I think the 9-12 range are really in that very first day or two of warm rain following the thaw when it freezes.

I betcha the shorter one gonna work better 😏😏😏 They make a really good lipless crankbait also. Really actually all the 13 fishing hard baits were so good. Hope Rapala keeps them rolling somehow.

This year I'm getting back to my roots. I'm gonna fish a lot of worms and jigs. The frog and buzzbait will be close by at all times. Definitely big swimbaits and glide baits and Jerkbait mixed in there when conditions allow for it. Not seeing much lipless happening this year - maybe the water will get muddy next winter.

Keep on learnin' and hopefully trickin' a fish or two and making friends and memories along the way and maybe get my first teener! Would be neat to win the big bass bash that I qualified for this spring - but I won't cry and quit fishing if I don't. That's about all I got for y'all! I love bass fishing and ain't nothing gonna change that this year.

@Swamp Girl - been chatting with my fishing buddies and we think that basically it kind of has a similar effect as a controlled burn does above land. It kind of kills off the weak fish and a lot of the bacteria and fungus and parasites and infections and sort of has a purifying effect on the shallow water on the lakes we fish. I definitely think it leads to much healthier and much fatter fish in the spring with less parasites and infections and signs of stress. And much fatter fish because of all the Shad dying that they get to eat without having to chase. Overall it's a very good thing and I'm trying to be thankful for it and look forward to the goodness that is sure to come!

Nice recovery bag @AlabamaSpothunter - see - I told ya it ain't even but just getting started 🙂 Unfortunately - 3 days straight of night temps below 20° = we froze up here. I am sad a little but this is the third winter I've fished where this has happened in NC and it seems to be the event that typically is the catalyst for the big fish to move up as soon as it's back to somewhat normal surface temps. I went to the pond for 30 minutes last night and there was a small portion of open water remaining (surely frozen as of this morning) and couldn't get my guides to stop freezing. The cool thing - even with over 75% ice coverage on the pond and freezing guides - right at sunset - I could literally see bass eating over the deeper water! The surface activity looked like not winter! 🙂😂 Couldn't quite get my bait to that spot but it gave me a smile and some hope to hang onto while we wait out the ice vortex this next two weeks.

I really want to - hoping the weather is not as bad as they are calling for. Would love to visit the Deep Creek booth - some amazing stuff. Safe travels to anyone who braves it.

I find that year to year in NC, we experience enough variation in water quality/conditions - it pays to stay open minded and be aware of how your strengths align with 'the moment' that you're fishing. That being said - Jigs Plastics Frogs Buzzbaits Lipless Jerkbait Spinnerbait Swimbait Glide bait Some years will be overwhelming slanted one way or another because of dirty or clean water or vegetation doing well or not doing well etc. You still gotta fish the moment but I'm pretty much only fishing these baits all year long - making adjustments as necessary.

This is basically why I let my son Jake call the shots to this day! Sometimes letting the 12-year-old make decisions for you helps keep the gimmick away and the fun present! A cheat code if you will.

Winner! I really feel like every thing has a time and a place and is 'important' for someone and a gimmick for other people so take what I say with a grain of salt: I don't like fluorocarbon, locked down drag, braid to leader with FG knots, orange plastic spacers, super short or super long rods, super duper noodly or super duper stiff rods (I never seem to find used for these extremes?), crazy breaking systems on baitcasters seem annoying and generally unnecessary, incredibly high speed reels (over 8:3:1???? Yeah I'm good.), micro guides are kinda meh, split grip rods need to go away, cork - even fake cheap cork - is much better than foam handles, spinning rods are actually really good for bass fishing (so I guess 'baitcaster or death' is the gimmick..), fishing apps that tell you what you can plainly see by simply looking around you and not at a screen.

Here in central NC it barely cracked 38 today and we had snow last night and it's supposed to barely crack 38 again tomorrow.🥹 Haven't seen the sun in days. We might get actual sunlight tomorrow - I expect that to maybe be good? I'm hoping! Nice fish everyone!

@AlabamaSpothunter - that's such a huge bummer. At least you know where she lives and what she likes to eat. I don't think the big fish flood gates are really even open yet this winter - if that makes ya feel any better. She's certainly a good sign of things to come this winter and probably not the last fish that caliber you'll run into before summer. Just keep at it and by golly - take some pictures every single time and then send em to a friend and email em to yourself lol Upload em to a cloud. All I know is phones and cameras fall off boats and break and stop working spontaneously and all sorts of stuff and I'm fairly certain next time you'll be ready to document it 6 ways from Sunday (and now YOU can see why I'm insane about taking a million pictures when I catch a big fish! 😅😉) I am still hopeful for your file recovery though! Who knows!?!? All I know is - get back out there and catch her Grandma! 😎👍🏼 If anyone can do it - it's you, bud! Another small piece of advice that may be worth sharing - as it is something I had to grapple with. It's very easy to make a very nice DIY livewell with a large cooler and some air pumps and a little DIY grit. I have let 8 lbers recover in my livewell before taking pictures and I can tell you they seem to very much appreciate the extra O2 being pumped in and a chance to catch their breath. 🙂👍🏼❤️ I built it primarily to keep fish alive and take them to the marina for small tournaments and such - but it has proven very useful for reviving big fish (and helping my friends stock their private ponds!)

Tipping - ya - bad news. But even having another person merely able to go get help or move the boat to shallow water for you to get back in etc - can be a life or death thing at certain times of year. This year I plan to be more diligent about PFD use - mainly because it's a pretty solid insurance plan even with good swimmers in the boat. Anecdote time - my mom grew up in Michigan and swam in the Great lakes every summer her whole life. When the kids would be dropped at the lake to swim it was required *EVERYONE* have a buddy at all times out on the lake. My mom said a boy decided to swim across the channel they had a house on one summer and his partner didn't feel up to it. He got really tired halfway there and never made it back. That was just having fun and playing - no head injuries. I think anything we can do to give ourselves more time to be rescued or found or not use our energy is life saving stuff on the water.

Basically I'm not a fan of air temps below about 38° (frozen guides), winds in excess of about 15 mph (falling, hitting my head on the way in and drowning), water temps below about 48° (hypothermia), thunderstorms (being fried in open water sounds not fun) or stinging or biting animals (rabies shots anyone? Epi pen? Yeah I'm good.) Beyond that - I will fish in most stuff. Oh yeah - being alone on the water is a blanket that covers all of those risks - really bad idea to be honest. Water is dangerous. Have a helping hand available and always be an available helping hand and you probably won't die.

Definitely this.

That looks killer on there and I bet with no salt - looks incredible on the bottom - thank you!

Oh we can certainly help speed things up with enough funding and participants 😁😁😁 I am just saying - plenty of giant bass happening the old fashioned way out there - go get em! 😎😉👍🏼

I think genetics are important - but that's like saying it's important to be tall if you want to be tall. Basically you need Florida strains. Beyond that - every bass is different. It's like...short people make tall babies. Tall people make short babies. Bass make tons of babies and the ones that have the right personality and size coding and appetite in proportion to the forage base and available habitat (genetics basically) - will surely prosper. It's not like you need some special breeding program - natural selection is a thing and it works purty darn well. That being said - we can speed things up by removing excessive amounts of competition in smaller systems. Even with zero human intervention - the ones that are optimal specimens for the unique circumstances will prosper.

I have said this to my friends SO many times when discussing this. Genetics are fine - but surely every brood produces at least one or two exceptional fish - genetics is messy and it's not like fish produce clones of themselves when they breed. There are always outliers in every pond or lake and I think it has more to do with mood and personality and luck - and like you said - most importantly, the right forage. I think that bass that get incredibly large are sort of incredible because they are rare and there's no perfect way to foster their existence. But we know for a fact that removing competition and providing them with the right kinds of food and habitat will produce big ones! I think catching bass of this particular rare and exceptional size and quality is even more incredible because these fish tend to be smarter and pickier and that's why they got this big often times. We get a little bit desensitized to it with social media and sonar and all of the stuff happening these days, but I still am in awe every time I see one of the fish that we are speaking of in this thread. It is truly a miracle for a fish to get to be that size. To say that they 'beat the odds' doesn't even begin to convey how difficult it is for a single bass fry to achieve some of the size and proportions that we see out there every year.