Pat Brown

@ol'crickety it's like a mindset where you're intentionally saying 'im gonna go where they're at not where I wanna find em' on the pond today. You're consciously acknowledging your intention and letting it guide your decision making rather than saying 'i caught big fish on that tree once, better cast there too' It helps focus us sometimes to sort of keep our intentions at the forefront when we get to the water where our imagination and our memories of big fish can cloud our judgement on any given day. I usually can read a body of water and guess where they're going to be but sometimes I struggle with 'but what if they're over there?' and sometimes I eat up a whole day testing hunches in water where bites wouldn't be likely if I listened to my gut and cut the fat and went straight where I know they're at. 🙂🙂🙂🎣🎣🎣

I saw @Zcoker suggestion more as acknowledgement of intention and not necessarily applicable to the number of bodies of water. I could see his advice applying for an angler who only fishes one body of water. I see it more as learn where your strengths and this moment in your life fishing intersect and exploit that intersection when possible. Don't rely on history to get the job done. Perhaps?

Learning how to fish your strengths productively in any conditions/on different bodies of water takes practice fishing your strengths and trial and error. Bass can be difficult to catch but bass are fairly predictable. I think for me the biggest obstacle is throwing something comfortable vs something I am good at fishing that the moment calls for. Strengths can often be highlighted or outlined by our limitations a little bit I think. It's important to embrace the limitations present in each moment on the water and exploit the moment with our strength that is 'the easy way out' Perhaps great anglers are the ones who always take the easy way out every day on the water and simply are the most efficient at identifying the easy way out that fits into their preferred methods of finding and catching bass!

I'm not brave so much as completely hopelessly addicted to the tug....and a little bit stupid 😉! 😂😂😂

Gin clear water, 31° air temps, wind out of the north east, bluebird skies, 46° surface temps. They want a plum apple ribbon tail worm. 😂😂😂😂🎣🎣🎣🎣

I already have a lot of popping pad perch and that is a great color but what I did find was red eye shad in my money colors (green gizzard shad/blue gizzard shad) for 5$ a piece and I got a lot. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

I wouldn't be using books in the winter time to catch bass. They are well educated enough as it is and the last thing we need is well read fish. Try tossing a brochure or a miscellaneous instruction manual. It generally appeals to their curious nature, but the bass around here seem very keyed in on menus right now.

Owner Flashy swimmers got all my money this year. That sucker with the storm largo shad is a stone cold fish catcher! Also got som more Strike King Pad Perch frogs which produces many tanks last year and I got them in some colors I'm very curious to try IE: clear/shad spawn and warmouth and pumpkinseed. Got a ton of keitech easy shiner and swing impact FAT to try on my flashy swimmer armada in addition to more of my beloved largo shads. Should keep me and junior setting books and not skunking til February! Got some weedless EWG Ned jigs so I can finally commit to the Ned with confidence this winter! Hoping to get my first Ned fish soon. Just too snaggy around here for open hook jig heads of any sort. Got some Zoom Mag 2 worms to try and some super chunk Jr and critter craws and a pile of finesse jigs from Siebert. Got a small fleet of my favorite Buzzbaits for Jake to fish with when it warms up a bit. Mostly we know what works and stuck with resupplying that stuff! I am looking forward to trying to maybe finally catch my first bass on a Ned rig 😂

We didn't set the world on fire but with surface temps hovering around 48 after a hard cold front, we were happy to get three on the flashy swimmer!

Yesterday I threw: Nichols Hoosier Indiana Colorado in 3/8 oz, white skirt/ gold indiana blade chartreuse willow kicker with a chatreuse zoom twin tail trailer. Siebert Swim Jig in a perch color with a X Zone swammer on the back dipped in chartreuse. 1/4 oz 5/0 hammered silver willow Owner Flashy Swimmer with a 4" Largo Shad in Tennessee Shad Strike King Scounbug on a 3/0 Eagle Claw Lazer offset worm hook with a unplugged 3/8 oz tungsten sinker. Thunderhawk Sergeant Lipless in the Hitch color. Berkley Stunna 110+1 in the Tennessee Shad color. Nichols Impulse Buzzbait in 3/8 oz with a white chartreuse skirt, gold blade and a chartreuse pepper rage menace on the back with trailer hook. Strike King Pad Perch in White. Gonna be throwing the same thing today!

@Woody B the lack of rain has been felt tremendously here too. The super shallow pond I fish is pretty much too shallow for a big fish up by the bank and when the fishing is good/water level is normal it's just barely deep enough for big fish up shallow. It's been kind of a bummer to fish the pond so far this winter. On the lake I can get to where they are and catch a few but they definitely aren't smashing a jig on every laydown like they did last November.

I love the spinnerbug but I love the buzzer even more! Underspin has been my go to lately in lieu of the spinnerbait because our water got real clear this winter. Haven't had enough stain to properly fish a spinnerbait in months.

I did what you said and look at what happened!?!?!? 😉🎣

I did not put her on a scale but based on heft and girth and how she physically felt in my hands, I'd say between 7-8.

New buzzbait PB this morning on Thanksgiving with frost on the docks! LET'S GO!!!! Got a couple smaller ones but this is by far my biggest bass this month and my biggest topwater fish! What a thing to be thankful for today! Happy Thanksgiving to y'all!!!!

In all seriousness I love Larry Nixon and love this wisdom here. Finding my fish is all I know how to do! I am definitely getting to the point where I know what I'm looking for to do my kinda thing but I'm learning all the time still is the only hang up in the process. Happy Thanksgiving @Catt! I really appreciate you and all the wisdom you share with us! Bout to take jr. out for a sunrise session before Turkey and I'm bringing a buzzbait and a jig! Hopefully I find my fish before Jake finds em! 🤣🎣

What if you don't have any @Catt 🥹🥹🥹🤣🤣🤣

I do find that a lot of times the predators really activate when the bait balls drift near edges of structure offshore. If you have a hump or ledge or tiny little depth change underwater, that's a good place to target carnage zones. A productive pattern for me is when a light breeze is blowing for a day or two, I'll anchor in 17 feet of water off of a point with my back to the wind and cast a jig or crankbait up to 4-5 feet of water 150 ft away and slowly work it down the drop. Some days I need to anchor up shallow and cast deep. Some days they're on the side that's protected from the wind. Some days they're up on the structure. Some days they sit in the current. It's fun! You can treat offshore structure that's not visible like a point but it has a lot of sides instead of just two. Sometimes the best spots are underwater points coming off of offshore humps. The bass set up on the drops waiting for the bait in the current. Usually at or around the depth of the bait. I think if you have vegetation on Lake Eufala (per @WRB), you'd definitely want to be around some of that and find where it intersects hard cover on drop offs around bait.

Nice one! I often have to do this with crankbaits and Swimbaits when it gets cold. Low and slow is the way to go with fast moving baits!

I find that the more you stay on then as they shift around seasonally, the easier it is to guess where you should go. We all probably have those days where we know where they are and how to catch them.... but our gut says go hit that bluff wall...and might as well see if there's a big on that point....it's against the rules to not pitch a jig into that line of timber on the adjacent channel swing.....etc And then before you know it you are at your money spot and it's 1 hr til boat ramp closes and you catch one dink on the first cast just to make sure they're still there and then go home. 😭🤣

And with monofilament line 😭😭😭😭 I honestly like a more moderate tip and monofilament line. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Probably most state records were caught on rigs like that!

She looks 6+ to me!!! That's a thick one!

I like the flatter bodies for chopping but that savage gear glide swimmer can do it pretty decently. Savage gear shine glide does it well.

So far it's been flipping jig n chunk, paddle tail swimbait/swimjig/underspin/buzzbait/lipless/Jerkbait/beaver. Our water doesn't get much colder than 48° in the winter, most winters. Things I'm eager to try this winter: Spoons/Blade Baits/A Rig/Glide Bait.

Cold and wet but a great way to kick of thanksgiving break after work/school!