Now I go home to respool, because indeed I am on The Mountain. Much frustration

2 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Now I go home to respool, because indeed I am on The Mountain. Much frustration

 

Don't be so hard on yourself here, I think most of us here (myself especially) are just a bunch of dinguses who get regularly outsmarted by an animal with a brain the size of a quarter. You're pushing yourself to learn new techniques and that is commendable.

 

My first day with a baitcaster I made a couple of softball casts and was like oh man this is easy! Then proceeded to blow up the spool so bad I had to cut most of the line off.

1 hour ago, Aaron_H said:

 

Don't be so hard on yourself here, I think most of us here (myself especially) are just a bunch of dinguses who get regularly outsmarted by an animal with a brain the size of a quarter. You're pushing yourself to learn new techniques and that is commendable.

 

My first day with a baitcaster I made a couple of softball casts and was like oh man this is easy! Then proceeded to blow up the spool so bad I had to cut most of the line off.

I've been at it for 3-5 hours a day since I got it Thursday, and this was the first nest I couldn't just untangle. The issue was that I had a knot in my line and the nest got hung up on that at the edge of the spool. Reloaded and been back at it for a couple hours. A fuller spool seems to have helped. I will get this down for sure. Thanks for your encouragement ?

 

I have very strange luck

 

And I also match PB spotted basses with jerkbaits. A whopping 2.3lbs 

The Craw Jackhammer with Kamikaze Red trailer followed by the 6th Sense Boiled Crawfish Quake 70 smoked 'em!!! It was a farm pond with grass, very low pressure, nobody fishes it besides me when I can get permission and it's like pulling teeth to get it. I used my Sierra 734 with an SLX DC 6 gear for my chatterbait. Now here's where it got interesting. I follow the BTL podcast and a guy from Sam Rayburn uses a 7'3" Heavy Fast Action rod with 17lb Fluorocarbon yo'ing traps in grass. The opportunity presented itself so I followed his lead. I also used my Fury 735c with Scorpion DC in an XG Model Shimano, which helped a ton believe it or not, mind you this is an 8 gear ratio reel, so it has high IPT. My guess was the bright craw pattern in dirty water gave them just enough look at the lure to investigate and once the lure popped free from the grass, they committed to it, and it was too late. I caught 15-20 fish mostly on these lures. The tube was hot until my leader broke off and I only brought one. My biggest was 4-5 lbs. It was definitely a memorable day! 

27 minutes ago, lunkerboss923 said:

The Craw Jackhammer with Kamikaze Red trailer followed by the 6th Sense Boiled Crawfish Quake 70 smoked 'em!!! It was a farm pond with grass, very low pressure, nobody fishes it besides me when I can get permission and it's like pulling teeth to get it. I used my Sierra 734 with an SLX DC 6 gear for my chatterbait. Now here's where it got interesting. I follow the BTL podcast and a guy from Sam Rayburn uses a 7'3" Heavy Fast Action rod with 17lb Fluorocarbon yo'ing traps in grass. The opportunity presented itself so I followed his lead. I also used my Fury 735c with Scorpion DC in an XG Model Shimano, which helped a ton believe it or not, mind you this is an 8 gear ratio reel, so it has high IPT. My guess was the bright craw pattern in dirty water gave them just enough look at the lure to investigate and once the lure popped free from the grass, they committed to it, and it was too late. I caught 15-20 fish mostly on these lures. The tube was hot until my leader broke off and I only brought one. My biggest was 4-5 lbs. It was definitely a memorable day! 

That's a great day right there! Congrats on a strong trip 

Probably need to order a scale now! The second pic is my pb but I’ve never owned a scale for fishing in my life. I’d guess 6-7lbs; looking online now to remedy this. 

 

 

 

 

                                                         

12 minutes ago, bigspirit said:

I’ve never owned a scale for fishing in my life.

 

 

Excellent fish and great pics!

I've enjoyed some fast action this weekend on windy banks. We hit 77 yesterday with today closer to 60. Caught dozens of fun size (10-14") and finally a couple of decent ones today. This one was a little over 3.5 and the other was just over three. Rain and storms tonight and cold temps next weekend, but that's March.

1 hour ago, Aaron_H said:

 

 

Excellent fish and great pics!

Appreciate it!

No pics, as none were worth the time lol, but I did catch four in about two hours. One on a Ned rig and three on a wacky rig. Tried a chatterbait, a squarebill, and a few baits on a TR but not bites on those. 

First fish of 2022 for me! I’ve been struggling my first two days back in NC, it’s nice sticking a hook in something! This one was the right kind too. 4.12 lbs on a buzzbait. 

Had a pretty good day with 8 fish total. Also broke two off and lost two. Ned rig was the ticket, but I did catch one and lost one on a Little Dipper. Forgot how much fun a swimbait bite is. Fish was skinny so only went around 2. Better days are coming! 

2 hours ago, The Bassman said:

I've enjoyed some fast action this weekend on windy banks. We hit 77 yesterday with today closer to 60. Caught dozens of fun size (10-14") and finally a couple of decent ones today. This one was a little over 3.5 and the other was just over three. Rain and storms tonight and cold temps next weekend, but that's March.

 

Lucky you - LOL  Not sure why, but I can hardly get bit out of the few I fish. Went again today and got one dink and one crappie. Shut out two days ago. Hoping the downpour muddies things up and gives the fish a reason to bite again.

Caught a few on my custom Yellow Belly Bull Shad bass today.

51 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

 

Lucky you - LOL  Not sure why, but I can hardly get bit out of the few I fish. Went again today and got one dink and one crappie. Shut out two days ago. Hoping the downpour muddies things up and gives the fish a reason to bite again.

There were very specific spots that held fish. The bass in the pic actually came from an inflowing drain today.  Carmel had a lot more rain we did further south. The nonstop action that I had Sat. was when the wind was gusting hard and created a color line on the windward side that had the fish stacked up. Other areas were mediocre at best. I remember you calling these situations a "sucker shot".

5 minutes ago, The Bassman said:

There were very specific spots that held fish. The bass in the pic actually came from an inflowing drain today.  Carmel had a lot more rain we did further south. The nonstop action that I had Sat. was when the wind was gusting hard and created a color line on the windward side that had the fish stacked up. Other areas were mediocre at best. I remember you calling these situations a "sucker shot".

 

Yep - strong winds usually help my bite, but even these winds didn't stir up my ponds any - nor did the 0.4" of rain we got last night. Bring on the 'frog strangler' storms tonight - I need some mud in my lakes 

1 hour ago, GreenPig said:

Caught a few on my custom Yellow Belly Bull Shad bass today.

Good fish

Idk about that hat though Lol

Went to check out a 50 acre WMA lake near my house this afternoon. Its managed by the state, and I haven’t fished it in a couple of years. I got there late, and decided to just throw from the bank some instead of putting the boat in.
 

 Got to pull on a 5.82lb six casts in.  Then a 3.69lb about 15 min later. Ended  up pulling 12 out for a total of 24.92lbs in just over two hours.  
I also saw 4 different cotton mouths, and remembered why I don’t bank fish. ?

 

I caught them all on a 3/16 T-rigged Senko, nearly swimming it back. Worked slow, they wouldn’t touch it. 
 

5 hours ago, AmmoGuy said:

Went to check out a 50 acre WMA lake near my house this afternoon. Its managed by the state, and I haven’t fished it in a couple of years. I got there late, and decided to just throw from the bank some instead of putting the boat in.
 

 Got to pull on a 5.82lb six casts in.  Then a 3.69lb about 15 min later. Ended  up pulling 12 out for a total of 24.92lbs in just over two hours.  
I also saw 4 different cotton mouths, and remembered why I don’t bank fish. ?

 

I caught them all on a 3/16 T-rigged Senko, nearly swimming it back. Worked slow, they wouldn’t touch it. 
 

Them's some pretty fishes mhmm. Great Job!

 

Snakes are the thing I didn't miss about summer. 

Got 12 on friday afternoon. I caught most of them on super flukes , watermelon red and houdini colors. 
I fished a chatterbait hard and came up with nothing , as usual. Also fished a jerkbait off and on, with the same result. They didnt want a craw either. I also fished the rage tail cut-r, which usually produces a good fish or two, but not this time. 

Nothing over 2 pounds, so no pics this time… Didnt see but one bed, which is unusual for this time of year. 

finally some open water in my parts! first cast sloooooow dragging the jig on the bottom and this guy smoked it. great to get on the board with my first bass of 2022

Got out and caught a bunch of fish Saturday, but couldn't find the big fish. A Vision 110, Top Shelf line thru swimbait, bladed jig, and Spro Rock Crawler did most of the damage. 

Sunday I got out for a couple hours on the local pond to test my kayak depthfinder to make sure it's actually working since getting it back from Lowrance. It worked great, water was nasty though and only caught one tiny one.

I did manage to find a boat I didn't know about though. 

Crazy weather here lately. The other day we were stuck in the 20s, then yesterday we made it into the 60s. I knew rain was on the way when I left last night, but had no idea it would roar through like a hurricane. Rain or no rain I was getting out there. I had a brand new ARK rod come in yesterday and I really wanted to gets some swings on it, and a new Z-man bait I was itching to try out. 30 mph gusts made it almost too much to deal with, but I found a few willing players before I got blown out of there by sideways rain.

 

I ski'd in one midget bass who attacked a white Shellcracker G2, then a honkin' fat and tall 26" pickerel ate the Z-man Diesel Minnow/Texas Eye rig. It hit hard and fought like crazy. The clicking drag on my new Zillion G zipped out, which intensified the thrill. My new ARK Essence survived its first real task, and the Diesel Minnow came out unscathed. Pickerel have been murdering my favorite JDM swimmers, so I'm happy I now have something that'll survive their ultra sharp teeth.

 

The patch on my waders gave way, so my right foot was sloshing in 40 degree water, and I was soaked through with rain by the time I got back to my truck, but you couldn't slap the smile off my face. Not a big bass night, but with another cold front coming in I'll take what I can get right now.

 

 

 

 

 

That's a BIG pick!