AverageAngler

Spotlock would be an absolute godsend for me, FFS would be awesome, a boat would probably be more hassle than what it's worth for me at this point in my life, and a tube of pringles could serve as a pretend monocular for when I'm getting skunked. Sounds like a good deal!

Not a sale per se but the grass piece looks to be on tackle warehouse right now. Someone please convince me to not get one or three.

Time will eventually slow all of us down, making the most of what we have is what makes the journey of life so fun. Looks like you’re giving us young ones a good example of how to live right! With enough time, dedication, and luck, perhaps I will join you and many others on this site with 1,000 bass seasons.

It’s that time! Even with the warmer than average temperatures the fall bite is in full swing. I made a post in the main forum asking where people planned on fishing and I learned a lot. I took the knowledge from there and applied it to my most recent trips. Saturday was quite busy but since I’m addicted I managed to squeeze a cool 40 minutes down by the river spot from last week. A handful of bass and a handful of assorted panfish meant two handfuls of fun. Sunday I had the afternoon to myself and I headed out to my favorite spot. The sun was high and the wind was non existent. This place has tons of vegetation, and even though the air’s hot the water temps were dropping and a lot of what was once vibrant had begun to die off. I found some transition points involving rock and wood and had a decent bit of success there. I caught two bass off a concrete bridge using a whopper plopper and a whiplash shad and caught another dragging a flipping jig through some submerged timber. Finding lively areas and covering water was key to my success, as I had long stretches of water where there was absolutely zero activity. I hooked into a BIG one at the bridge on a little keitech and fought it for a couple of minutes before she popped off. Bummer, It felt like a 4-5lber and my 6lbs test was stressing out. Just as the sunset was passing the horizon I paddled over to the same spot where I caught a 5.75 lber back in August and casted around 20’ parallel to the emergent weed bed. The water was 3-4’ deep and the vegetation there was still alive due to the two nearby brooks that feed into the cove. I saw a large motion near my whopper plopper and as I reeled it in I had a feeling that something was going to take it. Sure enough the motion was a bass and a massive blowup makes my lure disappear. I set the hook and - woahwoahwoah, this was big. When the hookset meets an equal and opposite reaction from the fish you know that it’s nothing to mess with. She pulled line and gave me plenty of stress trying to maneuver her out of the weeds but after a 2 minute fight I landed another 5.6lbs tank. A year ago to the day I also caught my pb of 6.75lbs at this body of water, something cool to note. After a quick weight and photo shoot I let her go… aaaand of course I forget to measure the fish. For sure a 21” but I guess no way to know exactly. Does anyone know how lenient the fish and game is on the pin program? I kind of feel silly for not doing a measurement but the fish swam off with a thunderous kick so I don’t feel too bad lol.

With temps dropping and the fall bite looming, what kind of places will we be focusing on? From what I've learned on the forums and from talking to people outside, the fish will be scattered chasing baitfish in the shallows. Last fall I had a tough but extremely rewarding time targeting the shallower and grassier ponds and rivers near me. I wasn't really successful in clear water, but when the water was tannic or dirty, maan the fishing was good. Anyone here want to share what they look for now that we are nearing the colder parts of the year?

Tough fishing this weekend. Could not find a good bite and covered a large amount of water trying to get anything to bite. Saturday I tried a local pond that gets pretty deep, and everything was out 15ft or deeper all suspended. Without the a-rig I would have gotten skunked again, but I managed to land a couple of rather large perch so overall it wasn't a total wash. I went out again on Sunday to a pond further north from me. It's depth maxes out at 12ft and is about half the size of the pond I fished on Saturday, so I figured I would have an easier time locating the fish. I was kind of right; I landed two bass on a fluke and bladed jig, but I lost two more on a keitech and the bladed jig. Of course the larger ones I lost but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Both bass were off the bank casting along the deeper weed edges. Yesterday I did a hail mary trip after work to try to reach my personal goals of 20 bass a month, and thankfully I managed to break that number on a fast moving stretch of the Charles. I was at 17 bass and I needed to get to 20 to satisfy my ego. While the fish were small, I landed 8 smallmouth bass and 1 largemouth alongside a boatload of white perch and assorted sunfish. I lost two 14ish inch smallies though and that was rather sad, but I remembered the thing about the cookies crumbling and I got over it. Since the river was low, finding the deeper pools and eddies was the only way to locate the fish, but then once they were found it was every cast. A 2 inch swimbait, a crappie plastic, a whopper plopper 60, and a 2.8 keitech were the lures that got me my fish, with both lost fish coming off the keitech. I'm really hoping for October to be a good one, last year I smashed my pb and I'm hoping I can find one similar in size. A topwater, bladed jig, and flipping jig are going to be tied on at all times for the next 6 weeks, let's get it!

It's been a couple of weeks since I last had an adventure on the kayak but I made it happen yesterday. I fished in the morning and evening at two lakes close by. The morning bite was quite tough; the past two days of colder weather pushed all the fish out of the shallows and I didn't mark anything in less than 10' of water. After a couple of hours of nothing barring some small perch I called it a day but only after shaking off on a good smallmouth trolling an A-rig in 25ft of water. Humbling. I refueled and headed out for the afternoon/evening shift, and at this different pond the wind started to pick up a bit which definitely helped the bite. Nothing in the shallows still but I marked a ton of life suspended in 12-25ft. While I had a tough time finding anything, I did discover the power of the A-rig. On this day I normally would have skunked hard, but thanks to this bait I managed to catch a medley of quality white and yellow perch, and a decent largemouth bass all in 20ft of water suspended about halfway up. I had to cover a ton of water to find the one spot where they were at, but once I did I just passed through it a couple times to get my bites. The wind was pushing bait in and they were corralled on the deep section of the ledge, a true fall transition bite.

Went out pre and post front this weekend, had success on both ends. Friday and Saturday were windy and without my anchor and trolley system I would have struggled greatly. Friday was at a river that I tend to struggle on but I managed to get a decent pattern going targeting the deeper cover that was getting hammered by the wind. I lost one on the squarebill early on but landed two and got some more on a bladed jig and donkey rig. Saturday I fished the lake I was struggling on in the past and was able to get one decent fish and a few dinks at the dam, but nothing elsewhere. The dam usually flows pretty good but the last couple of times I went there was barely any outflow, but it was still there. The herring fry were everywhere due to the current and the wind pinning them down below the dam. I lost three small bass before I switched my flashy swimmer to an open hooked underspin and finally pinned a good one, around 2 lbs. I landed a couple more dinks at that current outflow before making my way around the pond. One or two panfish but other than that a pretty uneventful adventure. The rain and wind picked up and I got home before it got too bad. Sunday was the tail end of the cold front and I went out to a newer pond, this one was part of the same watershed as Saturday's lake. There was lots of dying grass on the shorelines so I went deeper to the livelier grass where I caught three on a stretch of water that was a bit offshore, woohoo!! While the wind wasn't really blowing like the previous days the moving baits were still the correct choice. The MVP of the weekend was for sure the squarebill, landing fish on 2/3 days. Followed closely by the underspin, also coming in with a 2/3. Fall transition in full swing and hopefully after this week's cooler weather the fish will be munching hard.

Favorite has gotta be a topwater frog in some T H I C K cover. Second probably a walking bait, third goes to a whopper plopper. You know what, ALL topwaters are my favorite lures to throw. All of them! Then ripping a bladed jig through some grass. ChatterchatterchatterchatterBEND....

Omnia has 20% off on the tungsten bladed jig evos.

Can confirm, I had the royale legend II pre covid for frogging and flipping and tbh it was terrible, not durable at all and the drag slipped all the time. Maybe in the years since they've improved for quality but for more heavy duty tasks I would steer clear of that reel. I do like what kastking has to offer and their affordability is pretty awesome in this economy; I have their collapsable net and sun gloves and they've been awesome.

I agree, it is until it isn't. Also 20' on a steep bank feels so different than 20' offshore. Confidence is really a superpower here, off the bank I wouldn't even care but the second I'm a couple casts away from the bank I start questioning things. Honestly this winter I'm kind of excited to try the blade baits that I see you guys have success with, I think the vertical jigging aspect will help me get more comfortable out deeper.

What awesome fish! They're so long, I bet you in a month those 19.5inchers become 4lbers once their bellies fill out Have you noticed anything regarding what size lures the fish are choosing? The motto right now seems like downsizing is key but have you noticed a difference?

The F A L L F E E D hopefully will kick off once the water reaches the 60s and my bladed jigs and topwaters get destroyed.

A couple of years ago I was fishing a tiny golf course pond quite frequently, and over the course of three months my catch rate went down from 5-6 fish in an hour and a half to one every two trips. It was so weedy I could only fish a frog and I felt like they got wise to me. Over the years at my favorite spots I have definitely needed to tweak my approach to get the same number of bites. I do think that after a while of less pressure they return back to their initial patterns, and some lures really do cycle between effectiveness. I think the main reason your fish haven't been biting is because your tackle box isn't big enough, erm I mean, I totally relate to having too many lures to try. Next up for me on the experimental chopping block is an A-rig and a mini buzzbait.

Thankfully the pickerel weren't to be seen on Sunday. The other times I have tried the rig I used full sized flukes, this time with the fluke jr it just felt right. For a rig that's supposed to be aggressive I only got one bite when I was actively working the lures, most came on the initial fall and first pause. I might try a mini alabama rig next time I go out, there is a lake near me that I really want to figure out with an abundant forage base. I have caught plenty of decent fish out of there but no more than 5 in a trip. It's about 100 acres shaped like a lima bean with some underwater points and lots of submerged snot and grass covering the rocks present. It's really deep with not a lot of structure other than the points and water visibility is around 2-4 ft. I notice a lot of fish suspending around 10-15 feet down and I have yet to land any from that depth. This year I made it a goal to try to get better at deeper water fishing, but so far I've still been leaning on the shallow bite. With water that's not the clearest, have any of you guys had any success catching those fish suspended deeper, or should I just keep trying the shallows? I feel like I'm missing out on so much water by not going deep, and while everything online states that going deep is for clear water, I just feel like there's a whole population I'm not tapping in to.

Wow, this is all awesome information! Once the water really cools off these lake trout don't stand a chance!

Went out on Sunday and Monday. Sunday was the river and I had a good numbers day. The water levels were really low and they were stacked up in the only drop off available. The double fluke jr. was what kept my line tight, with some other fish caught junk fishing. I've never successfully used the double fluke rig and seeing fish actually take it was really rewarding. Labor day I hung out at Walden Pond for the afternoon, with the beautiful weather and day off for many the water got packed up real quick. I'm no stranger to the place however so I know the fish don't really care that much about the traffic. I caught two small ones dragging a tube but mostly hung around and enjoyed the day. Fall is just around the corner and these fish are fully transitioning off their summer patterns, I'm so excited for what we have in store in a few weeks.

Genius! I put some rearview mirrors on the rig and now I'm unstoppable. Canoers fear me, rowers want to be me!

Strictly no, there are too many conditions that play into the day's strategy for one to be the only deciding factor, but it definitely has an impact on what I will throw. As for the second question, It's mostly a confidence thing. If they are showing up on the fish finder at a certain depth and I see baitfish following my lure, then I will switch up my approach before targeting a different depth.

Mayhaps a second anchor will fix the problems I face, time to upgrade the rig! The rods up in the air is so TRUE. Two months ago I stuck a good fish in a submerged tree, but the rest of the trees around were still above the water and I almost broke two rods when she dragged me in. I will say one handed paddling is an incredible skill, something I have yet to master, but I have spent a lot of time doing.

I hope you found a good alternative to kayak fishing, age really catches up to everyone

Totally gave up on the trout after several hours of nothing, I will try again in the fall 😕

My setup maxes out at 7 but I keep it at 6 for the same reason. Sometimes I wish I had the 7th but meh. I've still yet to specialize my gear fully but I have a bunch of workhorses that serve me very well, not perfect but I am mostly happy with it all: 1. 7' ml fast spinning - dropshot, 1/8-1/16 keitech, karashi, small jerkbait, small shakey 2. 6'6" m mod spinning - fluke, senko, tube, "power shot," small topwater, md shakey, md swimbait 3. 7' m fast baitcaster - jerkbait, md topwater, crankbait, squarebill, fluke, finesse jig 4. 7' mdhvy mod baitcaster - bladed jig, squarebill, md topwater, spinnerbait, 6" swimbait 5. 7' mdhvy fast baitcaster - jig, texas rig, bladed jig, buzzbait 6. 7'3" mdhvy fast baitcaster - frog, flipping, pitching, toad, jig I wish #6 was a heavy and #2 was a 7' but other than that these cover all my bases. Sometimes if the water is crystal clear with no heavy cover I will replace #5 with a 6'6" ultralight.

I want to begin by saying that I love my kayak, fishing has become so much more enjoyable since getting one and I have spent a lot more time out on the water enjoying life. With that being said, due to my lack of peddle system or trolling motor, I find myself spinning so much off my spot while trying to reach for my rods. An example could be this: I paddle to a perfect distance away from my spot, a gentle wind is blowing parallel to the bank and I am able to effectively "troll" past the area. I make a preliminary cast around the area but I see some commotion right up against the bank. I put the rod in my hand away since it's a huge swimbait and I switch to something more finesse, I grab the rod and prepare to cast and... now I'm backwards facing the lake and I have completely passed the spot. This happens numerous times during an extended trip, and while I have an anchor with a trolley system, sometimes I just want to cast, man! It's not a huge deal but I have definitely spent some time paddling back to my spots while cursing under my breath. Does anyone else have their pet peeves about smaller boat fishing that they would like to share? It could be anything from the boats itself or even the behaviors of people that use the small boats.