Pat Brown

What I really learned on this particular day: a crankbait is a great topwater sometimes and less is more when it comes to putting action on a bait!

WOW das a BIG ole striper there! Alex jeeze you're just unconsciously firing on all cylinders. Like Jordan in the 90s. Bass fear you! 😎🎣❄️

Here's 'one that got away ' story that haunts me to this day. In late August of this past year, some cold fronts and rain had fall patterns in full swing with buzzbait and Squarebill bites wide open up shallow on the small grass lake near my house. I had been fishing my rock and wood lake for the two months prior to this trip and really didn't know what to expect or where fish would be on the grass lake. We left the marina at about 11 am and worked a shallow flat that tapers off onto a point that is adjacent to a lily pad field that is adjacent to the rip rap wall. The water drops off steadily From 2 feet deep around the pads to 12 feet deep in a ditch that funnels out of the channel swing created by the dam/rip rap wall. I have a large hybrid hunter crankbait tied on and I'm casting into the wind on the flat banks hoping to pick up a shallow fish relating to the grass edge and right as we are about to round the corner I back lash FIERCELY on a LONG cast onto that point ahead of the boat. Instead of picking and pulling (Meagan and Jake are still fishing) I simply let the boat straighten out my line slowly as we move past where my bait landed and the line travels out of my spool and into the lake. Finally enough line has gotten out of my spool that I can reel in (we are maybe 2-300 feet past the point now over deeper water). I crank maybe three times when I see 300 feet away, a GIANT bass launch itself 2 feet into the air shaking it's head this way and that and realize. 'THAT'S MY BASS' as she finally loads up and my line gets tense picking up the backlash! And that's when we start to fight. She was HEAVY. Like a carp heavy. I can see her on the surface hundreds of feet from the boat wallering. I have no idea how I have her hooked but she's not swimming or fighting or moving much at this point. I make my first mistake here: instead of steadily cranking her in on the surface and maintaining tension, I engage the trolling motor and think 'she's probably hooked well, I'm gonna go chase her and cut this distance'. Well, the *second* that tension was gone, she dove. It was like she just flickered back online. It was wild. She plunged into the rocky culvert between us and promptly snapped me off on rebar in the rocks. I saw her jump a few more times just to spite me (and shake my crankbait) and then she was gone. Id guess she was 10 +

Had a rough day fishing in April of 22' on the grass lake and shallower fish pulled off and became hard for me to pattern that day. Big storm started to roll in and we headed back to the marina. Jake pointed out that the storm was skirting the lake as a drizzle hit us while we packed the car up back at the marina. Meagan gave us the go ahead to make a couple casts at the fishing pier. Armed with my spinning rod and a wacky rigged green pumpkin yum Dinger with a chartreuse tail I made some casts to a nearby grass line and a few around the dock with no luck. I started to absent mindedly doodle my wacky rigged dinger on the pilings coming off the pier thinking maybe a big fish was down there. On the very first piling I doodle I see a giant dark shadow shoot out and my chartreuse tail disappear. I reel down and set the hook on my at the time PB of 6 lb 14 oz!

I fish places that are all 5-10 minutes from my house and I don't see that changing drastically but I'll be making a few field trips in the spring to some new to me little local lakes that apparently have some pretty big fish, but mostly my plan is to continue to learn and master the bodies of water I am slowly becoming intimate with!

Black Grape Cotton Candy Redbug Motoroil Red Flipping Blue Fools Gold Raspberry Shad Kentucky Special Moccasin Junebug Red Bullfrog Blue Glimmer

He's got some toads on that thing! Just cheering my brother on! I'm sure he's gonna find a fish.

Dude just keep tossing that red eye shad up shallow on windy days.

I personally feel like getting intimate with each bait category is sort of like familiarizing yourself with the best scenarios to throw it in on your body of water more or less. You can always throw the wrong bait into the wrong area and catch fish, but I am of the mind that generally fish will bite most things at the correct depth and speed and for me, personally, it's more about efficiently presenting a bait. I just fish for fun and catch big fish when they bite what I have decided to throw! I lose plenty of baits but I have a lot more luck on baits that are still attached to my line/are efficiently maneuvering through the chosen cover. Here's a scenario for you: down here at most public ponds you've got sludgy sloppy mucky weed bottom that's not clean and it doesn't come off of anything when you rip your bait free and it sticks to everything and bass won't touch a bait that's covered in the stuff. You have to keep your bait moving or fish something on top or that suspends. You CAN throw a 1/4 oz jig with a bulky trailer if you want to. You CAN throw a shallow diving lipped crank. You can throw a biffle head. But I'd rather actually catch a bunch of fish instead of clean weeds off my bait so I throw a suspending jerk bait or a buzzbait or a lipless and catch stuff and it's fun. I still clean weeds off my bait every few casts but I spend a lot more time unhooking fish. Sometimes I walk down a tree line at another pond I fish. It's loaded with fallen branches and logs and stumps and irresponsible anglers fishing line. You can definitely fish a jig there if you want to. You could throw a jerk bait in there if you wanted to. I like to catch fish and enjoy myself and nothing kills the fun like throwing a jerk bait into a tree. I am also, in spite of loving to buy stuff, not made of money, so I throw a weedless soft plastic or t rig and I rarely lose my bait in that area of the pond and I catch a ton of fish all doing that. It's like you can do whatever you want. I'm not claiming you should follow rules in bass fishing. I just find that there's efficient ways of presenting lures that pertain to the cover you're fishing as a person who fishes for fun with pretty good success. I know my bodies of water and what works where and that knowledge is pretty much the difference between catching fish and not catching fish to me. I'm still gonna toss new stuff I've never thrown AND I'm still gonna toss inefficient stuff, I'm just saying it's good to be aware of what you're choosing to do and how it pertains to your chosen cover.

Crazy haul Alex! 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫🎣🎣🎣 Looks like amazing fishing!

Do you have a sharpening stone/wet stone? I can make a butter knife razor sharp with one of those. Regardless of what knife you select I highly recommend a good wet stone and learning to use it!

'I'll see you in an hour or two, honey! I have to go check the water....to..... make sure it's still wet. 😳😳😳😳😳😳.........' *walks slowly out front door*

Don't ask me why, but they usually go for one or the other and it can change day to day or even hour to hour. Good to be ready to throw both if you have the option. I prefer the Texas rig for working IN heavy cover. I prefer the jig for working AROUND heavy cover. I catch fish in heavy cover with jigs and I catch fish around heavy cover on t rigs but that's how I try to maximize the efficiency of each presentation. If I'm desperate for bites, usually a trig. If I'm trophy hunting, usually a jig. Don't ask why on that one, just seems to shake out that way.

12/31/23 @ 4:30 pm on a Strike King Red Eye'd Shad in green gizzard color!

Yeah I would think it could easily hold huge bass if managed meticulously.

For the folks that can't catch a fish on a jig: go to a small pond this spring during a warm front and fish when a light warm drizzle starts, preferably with a gentle SW air flow that's been rolling for a couple days. Put a 3/8 oz green pumpkin jig with a green pumpkin rage menace on your line, dip the very *tips* of the flappers in chartreuse and cast it into the in flow ditch around some wood or rock preferably. Now here's the hard part. Get your phone out and read bass resource for 30 minutes. Every 2-3 minutes sloooooowly edge that jig an inch or two. I'll eat my hat if you don't catch a 3+ lber doing that.

Just one at the pond today on the caffeine shad. It was pretty post frontal today and there was not much happening with reaction baits. Dropped the CS vertically on a culvert and dead sticked it for a minute before I felt a reluctant tap. Another cold January bass is alright with me even if he's little!

I think that 2023 we saw quite a few of the people who got back into bass fishing during covid drop off the face of the Earth and I think 2024 we're going to see the rest of them drop back off the face of the earth. Hopefully it makes for some better fishing in the next couple years! Sorry to hear about your fishing buddy. I have found that most people tend to be up and down with the things they like in their life and it's not a big deal. I would definitely just try to find somebody else who's interested in hopping in the boat with you!

For my birthday I'd like a tiny klash 9 but beyond that I'm pretty good on tackle. I just need to put it in a fishes mouth now!

Not saying I disagree with you @JediAmoeba , just wondering if you can clarify, because lots of good anglers use this knot to impart more action on their bait. I personally feel like the loop knot seems a lot more likely to catch sticks and things fished around cover and it exposes a lot more of the lines surface area to abrasion from the hook eye. I also only tie a double pitzen, a palomar (for braid) or a double uni (for my leaders). Don't have a ton of confidence in knots that aren't doubled. I stopped breaking fish off when I started using the double pitzen, which is about the best thing a knot has ever done for me. I don't set the hook super duper hard and fast - generally go for a firm and speedy sweeping set with most baits. It's just heavy heavy cover and those knots, even doubled, have to be retied every hour or two on the boat.

Dang dude that snag is wild! Couldn't have been dead very long to be in such good shape. I have caught some giant carp fishing for bass and it's fun every time!

Bass #1 of 2024 for me and Jake both caught tonight on the gizzard shad color 1/2 oz Red Eye Shad! Not giants, but we got fish in January taken care of and broke the seal on the first day of the year which felt good. Jake has first for the year. I have biggest for the year so far and we are tied for numbers. 😎😎😎😂😂😂 Jake has one more day of break and we are gonna hit a pond for the majority of the day. Looking forward to it!

I have also caught a lot of catfish on the parrot color at my lake in NC.

Living the dream Alex! I'd love to tangle with your beautiful spotted bass some day! You sure make it look like fun. Here's to a continued fun winter for you sir!!!!