Pat Brown

@LrgmouthShad what lure? You are only allowed to noodle for LMB on my boat.

So it was @gimruis who wouldn't move!!!!! 😮😮😮😉😉😉

If everything goes to plan - @LrgmouthShadand @FishTax and I will be taking turns casting to the one good laydown left in all of NC come July. Hopefully there's a fish on it or we're in trouble 😂😂😂😭😭😭

Just wanted to briefly share a positive experience I just had with a brand I only recently started using products from: Scum Frog. As many of you know, I'm a big frog guy and thanks to @LrgmouthShad, I became privy to Scum Frog and was told they were second to none. I ordered a few to try in the usual colors and some I'd never tried like a toad color!!! They ended up being very effective and have caught me many fish in the shad colors - my confidence. The toad color hasn't gotten as much play and I tied on the small toad pattern launch frog and the weight in the back fell out of it and got lost. I contacted Scum Frog and they replaced the frog no questions asked. I was already a customer for life but this is above and beyond and deserves public commendation. They make a great frog and they stand by their product.

Definitely when they get the bait good and I feel them on there and then they come off. Beyond that - the challenge and the mystery is what makes it kinda exciting to succeed.

Yeah for muddy water I'd go white chartreuse with a gold Colorado blade (seems like the blades thump matters more than the trailer) and maybe a curly tail grub or cut down ribbon tail worm for some action. Not a fan of paddle tails on spinnerbaits at all.

When a fish is hooked? Probably 90-95% When a fish bites - hard to say how often they have committed or simply hit it and I swing and miss because of something I did or something they did - so I try not to sweat those fish as much. I assume fish miss or reject the bait for a ton of reasons I can't really control and days where every bite is committed are very situational and usually have special conditions being met for it. I shoot for bites. When I hook fish I shoot for landing them! That's about all I can do and it works well enough!

I just fathers day'd myself and it was very froggy. Results incoming next week - stay tuned 🐸🤦🏼‍♂️😂

Topwater bites in the dark when you're by yourself are downright fatal! Use with caution! 😂😂😂😂

This one has been a lot of fun for sure. Topwater!!! 😎😎😎

Bucket on that fish! Beautiful colors and I love her thick lip bones! Congratulations!!!

I caught a double digit bass out of a pressured lake in central NC on a 10" worm in July on a point. I have caught multiple fish in the 9 lb class now and they were on lipless crankbaits and swim jig. I have caught multiple 8 lb class bass now and most were on jigs or worms or frog. I fish big swimbaits but I generally catch 3-5 lb bass with them. I think it's more important to learn where they live and present a very subtle presentation that appeals to them for the most part. YMMV

I LOVE fishing my heavy t rigs and jigs on bait casters and wrenching giants out of wood BUT it's situational for me. The weightless stick bait is ubiquitous confidence. I am from North Carolina - which is truly a shining example of a state where the fisheries range from muddy rivers to highland impoundments with crystal clear water and everything in between. You know all of this already of course - I'm just sharing for the thread! Weightless stickbait just stinkin' works and it's very wise to go ahead and gain some confidence in that technique IMHO.

7-8 is definitely likely! Gorgeous bass and congratulations!!!

If I could only flip one soft plastic for the rest of my life it would be a weightless 5" watermelon Senko dipped in chartreuse spike it. 3/0 owner offset worm hook - 25 lb braid on a 6.5 foot spinning rod. I know that sounds wrong BUT try to catch more or bigger fish with a baitcaster and a heavy t rig. I dare you. It's just easy to skip, works in heavy vegetation, sneaky, catches all sizes of fish and catches super pressured fish. Works all year.

Michigan Smallmouth are always a riot wherever they're found! The problem is the lakes there are oceans. The good news is the fish get 6 months off from lures every year. I betcha even with coordinates on a map and a handpicked selection of the perfect gear, I probably would blow it miserably trying to catch one of @A-Jay's fish! Just drop me off at some big Michigan lake public park with bank access for one of those big old lakes and give me some of that titanium leader stuff. I reckon I'd hook into something 😂😂😂

Sometimes it only takes one cast for me to know it's time to retie. Case in point: you get to the pond and toss out that popper or frog and gently start working it after the ripples die and you can see fish swirling all around it constantly with no aggression at all. Time to try a different bait and you only needed one cast! Sometimes I get to the pond with my jig or t rig tied on and guess what? It's windy. I retie before I even make a cast! It's all about reading the situation. If I've got the right bait for the situation in theory and they are not doing anything to make me think it's worth continuing to throw, I will switch fairly quickly to a smaller profile. I find downsizing matters more than a color or profile or action change. If they're not hitting what they should be hitting, try the same thing but smaller and subtler. Often that can make all the difference. Also, do not be afraid to pretend that it's opposite day when it comes to the bass rulebook because the bass don't read books and they don't follow rules. Throw subtle baits on windy days and baits that make a ruckus on slick calm days. Go big on small ponds and small on big lakes etc. Just strive to be different from everything they see constantly and you'll get some bites.

I see bass gumming the bait plenty. Fishing pressure definitely does it to em. Heck in the small ponds I fish they won't even open their mouth on topwater til they bump into it once or twice to see if it feels alive or chew toy-like. Bass are inquisitive and cautious when they need to be.

All finesse outting? 7/16 oz Siebert Sniper full skirt finesse jig in Pats Gizzard with a goby spunk shad 3.5" Zoom trick worm (any color as long as it's watermelon red dipped in chartreuse) with a unpegged 3/8 oz tungsten sinker. Strike King Popping Pipsqueak/Scum Frog Launch XS in a shad color. 1/8 oz boogerman buzzbait black with a blue jewel cut down Rage Menace grub and a trailer hook and trimmed down skirt. 3/8 oz compact Siebert cosmic spinnerbait with a single Colorado gold in shad color Weightless Senko or Caffeine Shad jr. or Fluke jr on 3/0 owner offset worm hook. 1/0 Owner flashy swimmer with a tiny rage Swimmer trailer in shad color.

I'm outta likes for the day but that's beautiful fish @thediscochef Super happy to see such AWESOME success happening so fast for you on the jig @BrianMDTX and for that matter @Dan N! When they smash it out of site under something sneaky you generally know you're about to get your arm yanked off!!! Brian - I believe that 4 lber would be a 5 all day a few weeks back and has a big mouth on it! Absolutely killer stuff.

You can pay daily or annual fees but thankfully the annual pass covers all three major resevoirs local to me and all are well maintained and have healthy populations of bass and crappie and shad and catfish so we are happy! If I had to pay 3 annual fees to fish all three lakes - I'd be irked - but I'd do it if I wanted access to all three without question.

I find that males and females will guard bass fry and often there will almost be 'nurseries' where a few bass with fry clouds will collectively ward off bream while the bass babies munch phytoplankton and bugs. I find that when the bass are guarding fry, they will hit just about anything that gets near the fry, but bream imitators will certainly fool fish faster. I really like topwaters and worms this time of year and they work fine for targeting bass around fry.

For me fishing is how I process my life and stay sane and it's a little 'win' I can have every day that keeps my spirits high. I like doing other things too but I'm always planning my next move in the ongoing chess match with the big girls.

Well fishing has been top water tastic and I'm very okay with that. 🥹🥹🥹🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 I shrink wrapped the hook and bent the hooks out and sent Jake down the bank with this little Lunker Hunt spider we haven't caught anything on that fills with water. It floats now. AND it catches bass. 😎😎😎 Couple on the shad color scum frog but nothing big. Missed a lot of takers. First cast on the boat and I stick a real nice one. First cast fish curse? Jeeze I sure hope not. Weather looks really good. Wind picks up, sun starts to peak through for an hour or two. We hit little shadey toad holes in overhanging thickets and timber along the bank. I didn't even see this one bite. Just heard that sicky toilet flushing sound and saw my line jump and set the hook instantly. 5 lber. Storm rolled in before the lake closed and I got my June buzzbait bass on the way in! What a great start to the summer on the week of the new moon!

Summer is the other winter in NC. When it gets into the 90s every day, you get the fish to yourself more or less. I catch a lot of big bass in the summer on big worms (my PB 11.5 on a 10" worm in July on a smoldering day )and frogs. It's fun. I like the heat actually. I drink water and wear sun clothing and do fine chasing shade. I night fish and sunrise fish in summer a lot too and that can be reaaaaally big time fun and hair raising excitement. You won't hear me complain about summer bass fishing ever.