bp_fowler

Unfortunately I didn’t. Next time I’m there I’ll remember to snap some.

Visited the pond I checked out Monday this morning. Turned out it was worth the hike. 70 and sunny with a dead calm. Caught 21 between the Bronze eye and the Evo. Pictured below are some of the highlights.

Smallies are a blast. You’re lucky to have both in your pond(s). Around here I have to go wading in creeks and rivers to find them!

Today was just the recon. Tomorrow I have stuff to get done around the house. Wednesday will be the real adventure since I’ll be carting the canoe back there. 2.83 miles one way but it looks to be worth the effort.

Low 80s mostly sunny winds 1-7 out of the east. Scouted out a new pond today. I think it’s going to be productive. Saw lots of bass swimming around, got a few to bite and fewer still to stay hooked. Biggest pictured below.

Little better luck today than my last trip at least from a size standpoint. 74 and overcast, winds 3-7 sw. Got 6 altogether. This one being the biggest of the bunch on the Evo. And then there was this one, my first frog fish. I’m still a work in progress I had another 3 bite the frog and wiffed on the hookset.

Decided to do a quick 6 mile day hike yesterday morning. Brought along a rod just in case. Overcast skies with a light breeze from the north. Caught 19, from 3 different ponds. A buzz toad did all the heavy lifting. Bad news was it was a bunch of hyper aggressive dinks roaming the shallows in packs so no big fish.

Yeah absolutely. Has worked well for me especially around weeds.

Got out for a late afternoon trip. 79 and cloudy winds 6-11 wsw. Small murky pond ringed on 3 sides by cattails. The fourth was overgrown with trees and bushes. Long story short caught 6. 5 keepers 1 dink. All on the Mini Max except for one which was a wacky worm fish. Biggest one below. All the action was along this bank. They were relating to it loosely enough that I caught most on parallel casts, although I did get a few making casts deep into the pockets.

Sounds like an epic day! I believe 1800 is within reach for you, I know I’ll be rooting for you.

That’s a heckuva bag!

Totally makes sense. I’ll confess that I’ve thought about going over to the dark side more than once. What’s stopping me is the space considerations….and the weight. Ounces add up to pounds and pounds add up to pain.

Awesome fish! But what is this heresy about a kayak? Lol 😆

Given how prolific of an angler that you are, the amount of fish those reels have brought in boggles my mind. Shimano Corp. should be giving you a sponsorship 😂

I’ve never had much luck on them either. I’m not giving up on it, there are just too many bodies of water near me that set up well for that kind of fishing. The way I figure it’s just one of those techniques that’ll take me some time to get proficient at. For me that was the case with jigs and other topwaters including buzzbaits, but I’ve broke that curse recently. One the thing that helped me with other baits I’ve struggled with was just going out with only one rod and only that bait tied on. Forced myself to get good at it. That being said, at the end of the day fish what you want to fish. No worries.

@Swamp Girl they are a blast. Topwaters in general have taken me a while to get the hang of. They only really started to click for me last year. I decided today come hell or high water I was going to fish my two least productive baits: the frog and the Buzzbait. But once I got bit on the Buzzbait it never left my hand.

Another early morning session at St. Joseph’s. 63 and partly cloudy, winds out of the East at 5-12mph. Only two today, but I was excited because they were my first ever Buzzbait fish. Caught them in the same spots as last week. Parallel casts to outside weed lines adjacent to deeper water. Won’t say I have everything completely figured out I stilled missed a couple hook sets.

100% agree, not only my go to for nighttime but also muddy water. Forgot to mention: you used to be to get them for less than $5 at Wally World. Bought the whole rack. Don’t know about now.

I’m a big fan of big single Colorado blade spinnerbaits. One of my favs: Caught me my PB.

If your heart is set on a medium power spinning rod I’d suggest the Daiwa Tatula XT. Now I will admit I’m biased because I own one and it’s my favorite spinning rod in my collection. It’s a $99 dollar rod that gets used as much if not more than some of my $200-250 ones. It’s the rod I reach for when I want to travel light bank fishing. It’s 7’ Medium power fast action, rated 1/8-3/4oz. Even as a medium it will set a 3/0 weighted belly swim bait hook at the end of long cast. It will handle 5 lbs fish with aplomb. I’ve caught fish on it with swimming worm, floating worms, wacky/Neko rigs, weightless flukes, underspins, floating Rapalas, Shad raps, shaky heads, keitechs, tubes, micro Chatterbaits and spinner baits….so it’s a pretty versatile rod especially for pond hopping.

Launched today before the sun was up. 58 and overcast with a slight breeze from the south. Entire upper end of this reservoir has been overrun by Lilly pads since the last time I fished here. Started out pitching them but gave up after a few minutes since it was so fast and featureless I couldn’t pick one area to focus my attention on. Switched to the elite Evo, working the outside of a milfoil edge near the creek channel got bit and broken off. Now a a good time to mention I’m experimenting with braid to leader on casting gear and well I guess I did not tie a good knot. I was about to scrap it but took a deep breath and retained my leader taking my and I believe I got it right. Anyways kept working the outside weed line caught another adjacent to deep water. Not huge but had an interesting short and round shape. Caught the next two along the dam where the weed line was interspersed with some boulders. Much better fish. Few more dinks after that. Finished with seven total by 8:00 .

I will throw spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits on the same combo. A Daiwa Tatula Elite 7’3” Medium Heavy power Fast action. I prefer a fast to snap it out of weeds which is usually what I throw chattterbaits in and around.

Hardcore!

8,10,12,15 and 20lbs fluoro (Seaguar Invisx). Lighter weight used for braid to leaders setups on spinning gear. 12lbs for cranks, Chatterbaits, and football jigs, 15lbs for spinnerbaits, and 20lbs for pitching. 10,12, and 15lbs mono (Trilene Big Game) 10lbs for squarebills and small poppers, 12lbs for small buzzbaits/ploppers, 15lbs for spooks. 10, 12, and 50 lbs braid ( Suffix 832 and Revolve) mainline for spinning gear and 50lbs for punching.

I’m not much of a TV person either. I’ve never seen it although it sounds like an interesting concept. Being alone wouldn’t bother me. What would do me in would probably be starvation.