Pat Brown

I fish fast slower than most people fish fast and I fish slow faster than most people fish slow and ultimately I try to focus on the nuance of my presentation before lure choice most days. I feel like the days where I systematically try different depths and speeds and cadences are days I do the best. Slow baits the people usually drag around or hop, I will swim/buzz/stroke for reactions and I will use much heavier weights than most people 'would use' so that I get reactions on the fall others aren't getting. I will sloooooowly creep a lipless or a buzzbait or a Squarebill or a swim jig or a underspin as slowly as I can efficiently present the baits and keep them looking realistic and I NEVER see anyone doing this on YouTube or around me at my lakes and I catch most of my reaction baits fish presenting them fairly slow relative to what most people assume is acceptable. I can't count the number of fish I've caught on buzzbaits just barely gurgling the surface or lipless fish where I'm practically dragging the nose through rocks with my rod tip at 12 o clock or swim jig and underspin fish I catch popping my reel 1/8 of a turn every second or two keeping the bait glued to the bottom just twitching along back to me. Crawling spinnerbaits on the bottom down bluff walls and steep banks. I'm always trying to do the opposite of what the fish have seen 100,000 times and it works pretty doggone well for me around here. Another thing I do that probably some people do but I really get into it, is match the hatch. I LOVE observing what bass are feeding on and dialing in my profile/size/color in specifically to what's happening. I've had too much success doing this at times when the fishing is tough to discount this being important *sometimes* As far as timing, I find that the best time to go is whenever I can. 😎😎😎

Jeeze I hate to jinx myself but I'm guessing I'll get one 8 lber in there and a whole lot of 4-6 lbers and maybe a couple 7s if I'm lucky. Hoping I can beat my 11.5 lb PB this year but realistically, probably not gonna happen! What lure you say? Awwww jeeze, by the looks of things - probably a jig, a worm, a swimbait, a lipless, a spinnerbait, a Jerkbait, a frog or a buzzbait! Since that's about all I throw more or less and big fish get caught by me on all of them every year. But here's to hoping for a new PB or at least another DD or two 😎😎😎

@PhishLI in my experience, the people who really suffer are the medium speed anglers. I've found the key is to not mistake medium speed for fast or slow. Most of the lures bass see are presented medium speed and presented one maaaaaaybe two times and then on to another cast. I fish fast but systematically. It's almost more methodical in some ways than when I fish slow because I can saturate 1/4 mile of shoreline in 5 minutes instead of hoping my worm or jig is near a curious fish. When I fish slow, I almost always know there's fish relating to the structure I've chosen first. I completely agree slow almost always works better most days on heavily pressured fish, the tough part for me, is finding them in +/- 1 hour I usually have to fish the bank. I find that during the winter when fish are grouped up and on the move, I catch more fishing fast and when it gets nicer and lots of people are bank fishing and fish are guaranteed to be all over the place up shallow, fishing slow pays off big time. Then there's the whole aspect of reaction vs studying a bait aspect and I just flat out think there's days when they absolutely won't touch an artificial bait unless it's whizzing past their face too fast for them to see. I've gone back and forth on this many times with the same groups of fish and I think it boils down to time of year and what fish are keyed in on.

Ponds were all iced over this weekend. Lures were going *plink plink plink* on the surface. It was horrible. Ready for that warm front hitting this week like 😎😎😎😎

Still waiting for my email for 20% off also. Signed up two days ago. My cart shows full price on everything in it. 🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

If my guides aren't actively freezing, I'll bass fish. I actually prefer the cooler months over all. IMHO, we are about to turn corner towards spring here really soon and now is your best chance at getting a fat new PB!

That's a gorgeous shoal bass and that's a species that's on my bucket list for sure! Congratulations on that beautiful fish! If it gives you any consolation, I've caught a lot of fish that you can tell survived gill related trauma. I feel like gut hooking is more likely to up and kill a fish.

Toss up between a Jerkbait and buzzbait with honorable mention for flashy swimmer with largo shad trailer, jigs and t rigged plastics. I used a 7'6 MHF with 15 lb big game and an 8 speed reel more than anything else but had specialized gear for buzzbait and Jerkbait.

I fish from the bank very early almost every day and most evenings after work. A lot more often when it's not freezing which it is right now so sadly landlocked again this weekend and not even able to bank fish. Gonna be a long weekend. I've caught a lot of really big fish from the bank and this time of year is my absolute favorite to bank fish at small ponds. With a lipless crankbait I can fish just about every inch from the bank and if I catch one, it's usually a doozy. Jig bite should be firing back up very soon. That first blast of consistent warm weather with warm light rain accompanying a full moon usually gets the crawdads moving around and the bass start looking down for a meal more. The swim jig got my biggest pre spawn bass in early Feb - a 9.1 lber caught right when a warm rainy front hit just before sunrise. Caught her in 1 foot of water and nearly lost her in 4 feet of dead vegetation between where I hooked her and the bank. It was a truly memorable experience.

Nichols, Stanley and Siebert kick some tail! Got nothing bad to say about Booyah/Strike King/Z Man/Berkley/War Eagle/Terminator. They are all really nice. Heck I've caught a giant on the 1$ Walmart spinnerbaits. They all get bit - trick is learning when and where to throw them and how to work them!

Kyle Welcher is a really smart young pro who does a pretty long form video on this topic and I loved his explanation of junk fishing - he essentially says that it's throwing your confidence baits at different 'junk' or structure/cover. It's actually a very systematic approach and can really help you break fish down on a new body of water. Basically you fish everything that looks good with your main confidence baits and maybe you put a pattern together or maybe you don't but it's very fun and methodical and a lot of times you catch fish in all different parts of the water column in a single day! The name is misleading just like a lot of things in fishing.

I think just throwing a bold black stripe down the back of most pale shad patterns really nails the look of the hybrid crappie you see in some lakes! A super pale body with just a bold black stripe absolutely nails these very unique looking fish!!!

Dumb Luck. 😂😂😂 In all seriousness, I just try to fish the moment, for lack of a better way of putting it.

I kinda learned this summer while fishing salt with incredibly springy poles that I never would select for bass fishing for sensitivity or hook setting power - AND very stretchy line on Carolina rigs with very heavy weights - that sensitivity has more to do with us than the gear. When we are tuned in we learn what stuff feels like and we begin to feel it. Most of the giant bass taken in the 90s out west appear to have been caught with glass suuuuper parabolic short rods with pistol grips and monofilament line. It's mostly what you feel confident and comfortable with and that will just take some experimentation. I almost always fish a 7'6 and people act like I'm nuts but when I got comfortable with it (I'm 6'4 and 220 lbs so it actually fits me pretty good) I find it very advantageous when setting the hook on big fish at longer distances and fighting fish. Other people may prefer a 6'10 for the versatility or tactile feel and they're also not wrong. You just gotta try some stuff out and see what feels right. It's hard to know if the fish aren't biting! 😏😎🎣😂

The cool thing about fishing for me is that with or without forums? I didn't choose it, it chose me. I've loved doing it since my dad first put a rod in my hands. I'm the type of person that only has a handful of close friends and a few passions because I fundamentally believe that life is short and we only have so much of ourselves to truly devote to the things that we believe in and love. If I find out that I'm terminally ill you better believe I'm going to spend a significant percentage of my time left on this planet where I can hold a rod, holding a rod and if I catch anything, I'll probably show it to you all!

I do really well on affordable but robust rods but cheap reels are definitely a bummer and make accurate and consistent presentations difficult. Catt also points out that great rods just up and break all the time - which is true. Reels - when you get a good one and do the bare minimum to service it - will catch you many many fish before they stop working.

I know big bass on my lakes love crappie and I often use black markers to make cranks more crappie like. Any one else do this or am I the only crazy person? This is an Oyster Red Eye Shad that I did a 'Snow Tiger' style modification and I feel this does a nice job mimicking a fleeing juvenile crappie in cold muddy water. Id like to see more crappie patterns from all manufacturers!

Yeah there are tilapia in here. I feel like those are some pretty prolific spawners regardless of conditions. I feel like in the winter time, because the deepest this pond gets is 4 ft, there are some desperation/survival spawns for some of the species every year and then it warms, they realize they aren't going to die, and then they do their more ritualistic spawning stuff in line more with seasonal changes. The bass even spawn at this pond in the mid 40s once it's up a degree or three from it's bottom out temp. They don't care that it's not 65 yet at all. I guarantee the first wave of spawning females will be up looking next Friday after 4 days of warming weather with rain. No doubt in my mind at all. Whenever you have any kind of extreme warming trend happening around the upcoming full moon, it's gonna be Nadine time.

A gently used Daiwa Fuego would be my suggestion. Those things seem bulletproof. A gently used Shimano SLX or Lews Speed Spool would be my next suggestions. A LOT of dudes backlash twice and sell reels for half of what they paid. Be patient and you'll find a good deal.

Yeah it's not looking like there's going to be much good fishing between now and next Thursday here either. And it's going to be dumping rain all day Thursday. It's all good though. I mean it's got to be good for the fish to have the hard reset I suppose! It's pretty hard to get out and do my usual routines when my guides completely freeze and I can't see the line. So basically I've been not fishing very much with the weather being the way it is but I do appreciate the opportunities, few or far between as they may be. Hopefully some free time intersects with some hungry fish and a little fishable weather this week. This boy don't do frozen guides though. I fish for fun and when I can't feel bites or cast, that's when I just stay home.

Red Eye Shad getting it done tonight. I snagged what they were eating on the cast before. Those are TINY bluegill! I'd wager they spawned recently!!!! I mean they can't be that small if they didn't right? Watching Bass try to take the red eye shad away from other bass in the muddy shallows was pretty exciting. I wish I'd caught one of the bigger ones from the school and I wish they were eating better, but it's good to see that they're at least moving up shallow with the intention to eat right now. Maybe the muddy water does have them missing a meal or two in this pond?

3/8 oz Bill Lewis Hammer Traps and Bronco Bugs in the house! Got the smallie magic which is like a ghost golden shiner and a red craw color. Got one more of my beloved chili craw RES cuz I lost the one I had to some random wood underwater. Really excited to free rig the bronco bug! Anyone else tried the hammer traps yet?

I just wanted to say *harumph* to @king fisher People who clearly have never experienced real fishing pressure make me chuckle to myself. I can't wait for bass fishing to continue to decline in popularity. Hope all the fair weather fisherman go learn 3D printing, Tik Tok or drone flying or some other such 2024 stuff. I'm about ready to stop learning to be an incredibly good bass fisherman and start just catching lots of dumb fish. But I'm selfish too!

No boat trips today. It was blowing Winn Dixie and Mrs. Meagan didnt approve of the risk with water being low 40s. We went to the pond for a super muddy water windathon and I managed to finally catch one! Red Eye'd Shad in red got it done. Had maybe two little bumps that didn't connect within the same one hour before sun hit the tree line. Jake's off tomorrow and we may try to focus our efforts more from 10-2 and see what happens. Love the extremely pale color they get when you got 4 inches of visibility!!! 😂😂😂

I feel like shiners are on the menu 365 days a year. I feel like in Florida - or even when you have a body of water that your DNR stocks with Florida bass, you're really looking for stable conditions. They can be bad conditions or good conditions but you want 3-4 days of consecutive weather that doesn't change a lot. That can be VERY hard to come by this time of year which can make the shallow bite very inconsistent. I see the most fish in the shallows - swimming away from my baits as soon as they are detected in the extremely muddy cold water -very early and late in the day. In the middle of the day they seem to move out deeper, I presume messing with bait schools.