4 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

 

I actually hooked a 4-5 lb class fish on the buzzbait that bent it in half about half an hour before I caught that 2.5 lber later on.   It got off 2 feet from the net. I'm learning quickly to look for big flats with stumps or grass clumps or rocks or all of the above in sort of dirty water in wind.  This is where the buzzbait is probably the best lure to throw.  The shallower the better it seems.

Dude, awesome. 4.5-5 is a great fish.
 

Shallow water close to deep water. That’s not coming from me, it’s coming from the Shaky Head Wizard ?‍♂️ 

It's ALWAYS gotta be near deep water.  I mean deep IS where ole big lives ???

Queue @A-Jay cracking his knuckles and preparing to type out his explanation of many trophy smallmouth he’s caught on a flat totally away from deep water

 

Streak is still going....went out earlier, drained me so bad I had to come home and nap for a bit. Day 63, fish for 8/8. 

 

I actually setup the go pro, but didnt notice it was on time lapse. So I got a few shots of me catching him, but not the video =( Also, It was set to 1080p as well, corrected so the next video will be better. 

 

Caught on the good ole ball and chain......

 

 

 

3/4oz red eye shad continues to do work. 7lbs 5oz on this one, I took a swim off the pier while trying to land it but worth the trouble for a near-PB. 5oz away. Biggest bank bass yet. Thank you oprah Winfrey, thank you Tom cruise

5 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

3/4oz red eye shad continues to do work. 7lbs 5oz on this one, I took a swim off the pier while trying to land it but worth the trouble for a near-PB. 5oz away. Biggest bank bass yet. Thank you oprah Winfrey, thank you Tom cruise

Dang son!! AWESOME bass!!

8 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Dang son!! AWESOME bass!!

Thanks! Also caught a small white bass on the same lure. I'm pretty sure I lost this same fish about 5-10 minutes before landing her, but the second time around she inhaled it and somehow only caught one barb of the zowire trebles i swap onto every RES. Bonus points for catching it in front of the workingmans tournament guys who were waiting for weigh in. Like Billy Joel, I put on my best shows for true fans; that's the first time I've been in the lake since 2021 lol those boots are gonna need to dry out 

1 hour ago, thediscochef said:

3/4oz red eye shad continues to do work. 7lbs 5oz on this one, I took a swim off the pier while trying to land it but worth the trouble for a near-PB. 5oz away. Biggest bank bass yet. Thank you oprah Winfrey, thank you Tom cruise

3 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

It's ALWAYS gotta be near deep water.  I mean deep IS where ole big lives ???

ALMOST always. I can only recall one really big'n that was a long way from deep water. That's a bad memory, would'a been my PB had I landed it. It wrapped me in a big laydown just out of reach, and I ended up breaking it off while trying to free it. 20# Invisx. All my other big fish have come near deep water.

The fish mentioned above was an early prespawn fish. It was way back in a bay on a laydown. That laydown was the prime piece of cover in the area. It's on a channel swing bank, and the creek channel comes within 10' of the tip of it. Deepest spot and heaviest cover within a few hundred yards. I've only ever caught a few fish off that tree, but they've all been good ones, all early spring. 

@T-Billy I'm being fairly tongue in cheek with that one.  The Pressured Pond ™ I fish at where I caught a 9.1 and multiple 8 lbers and there are double digits that have eluded me, the closest deep water is about 10 minutes down the road at a different body of water ?

 

These ponds max out at 4 feet of water and are 5 acres a piece and have virtually no cover.  Most of the castable water is 2 feet or less.

 

So yeah, deep water nearby is only a requirement until it's not at all.

 

I have also caught some big fish at the very backs of creeks on lakes not particularly near deep water access.

 

Just depends on the time of year.

Don't forget that the deep water big bass like is usually always close to shallow water too.  

Water temp 73, muddy, and ultra fast but we managed a few 

12 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

 

 

I actually hooked a 4-5 lb class fish on the buzzbait that bent it in half about half an hour before I caught that 2.5 lber later on.   It got off 2 feet from the net. I'm learning quickly to look for big flats with stumps or grass clumps or rocks or all of the above in sort of dirty water in wind.  This is where the buzzbait is probably the best lure to throw.  The shallower the better it seems.

 

This is actually comforts me. I lose soooo many big bass in the bogs, but to hear that Pat the Conquerer sometimes loses a tussle reminds me that bass are tough to boat.

 

10 hours ago, thediscochef said:

3/4oz red eye shad continues to do work. 7lbs 5oz on this one, I took a swim off the pier while trying to land it but worth the trouble for a near-PB. 5oz away. Biggest bank bass yet. Thank you oprah Winfrey, thank you Tom cruise

 

You should have heard me gasp and yelp when I scrolled to this beast! And now my eyes are shining! I'm so proud of you and just as happy for you too. Now, will you please, please, please give the details of the battle? PLEASE!

 

4 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

@T-Billy I'm being fairly tongue in cheek with that one.  The Pressured Pond ™ I fish at where I caught a 9.1 and multiple 8 lbers and there are double digits that have eluded me, the closest deep water is about 10 minutes down the road at a different body of water ?

 

These ponds max out at 4 feet of water and are 5 acres a piece and have virtually no cover.  Most of the castable water is 2 feet or less.

 

So yeah, deep water nearby is only a requirement until it's not at all.

 

I have also caught some big fish at the very backs of creeks on lakes not particularly near deep water access.

 

Just depends on the time of year.

 

Thanks for qualifying. Some of my bogs have no deep water.

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

You should have heard me gasp and yelp when I scrolled to this beast! And now my eyes are shining! I'm so proud of you and just as happy for you too. Now, will you please, please, please give the details of the battle? PLEASE!

 

Thank you! I'm still buzzing about it. 
I caught this one at a weird time, about 20 minutes after sunset on a cast angle I'm sure I've made before but typically avoid for...really no good reason at all. Not sure why I don't make that cast more. And most of the time, I have a dead zone from the time the sun dips until about 10PM. Weird.

I got onto the end of the rocks at the Ray Roberts fishing pier, casting parallel with the bank about 10-15 yards from the shoreline. The entire area is creek bed that has been built up with rip rap, goes from either side of the boat ramp and then opens up into a 20-30 foot zone. So I decided to make the RES look like it was going out into deeper water with this cast relating to the pier. It's about a 60 yard cast, lands just barely up into the creekbed. Just a slow rolling retrieve, I believe about 2 feet above the rocks, through the mouth of the creek and out into the deeper zone.

And then WHAM. Big bite after about 15 yards. But it rushes towards me, and I also begin to realize that I messed with my drag while I was untangling myself from other people's snapped off lines. It was loose. I didn't get a great hookset. But me being me, I had just replaced the hooks not even two hours earlier with owner STX38 size 2. I clicked down the drag just enough to fight the fish without worrying about my line (thank you sufix elite, very cool!) and that's when we started getting jumps. First jump was probably 30 yards out, second one was about 10 (and gave me just enough of a visual to have a second adrenaline rush), the third jump was maybe ten feet from me, and the last jump was me out of the water with a fish ? as I went to lip her, the wet rocks I stepped onto decided that friction was just too much, and I got about thigh high into the water. My leg is very sore today.

As I pulled her out I saw that the lipless was deep in the mouth, which always sets off my alarm bells for bleeding/gills. I did nick one, but I didn't get a bunch of barbs in her somehow - only one that was just ahead of the gills. I did my best to make the process quick, I had my hands on her for less than a minute and she got to breathe while I turned on the scale. She swam off a little slowly but never had issues staying upright, I think she'll be OK. Probably the fattest 7lb I've caught yet, I don't hardly cheer or holler when I get a nice fish, but a Bank PB is worthy. Still working on that 7-10 boat PB, but I feel like I'm inching closer to that.

29 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

And most of the time, I have a dead zone from the time the sun dips until about 10PM.

 

I also know that dead zone. So, not weird.

 

29 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

the wet rocks I stepped onto decided that friction was just too much

 

Funny!

 

29 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

I did my best to make the process quick, I had my hands on her for less than a minute and she got to breathe while I turned on the scale.

 

You're a good man.

 

29 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

She swam off a little slowly but never had issues staying upright, I think she'll be OK.

 

I think so too. Four jumps will tucker a big gal. 

 

29 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

, I don't hardly cheer or holler when I get a nice fish, but a Bank PB is worthy.

 

So worthy. Life is short, so please holler. Sound your barbaric yawp over the rooftops, man!

@thediscochef

 

We had a storm roll through the other night so the water here was all turned up. The morning started out calm and overcast but I knew 18-20mph winds were expected by 10am. Its the only day I'll get out this week so I decided to fish a couple mile stretch of some creek where I'd be mostly protected. I usually do well here and get 20+ fish within those couple miles but I made it to the end with more missed fish than I can count and only 3 dink bass and a pickerel in the boat. Once I got to the mouth of the creek I could see how choppy the lake was, but thankfully the wind was pushing me back toward my vehicle on the other side of the lake. While drifting back I noticed bait fish breaking the surface so I dropped anchor and tossed a S-Waver 168 I had tied on. In 10 minutes I got 3 more to bite all this size. Nothing big but when the bites tough I'll take what I can get.

20 minutes ago, NJBasstard said:

We had a storm roll through the other night so the water here was all turned up. The morning started out calm and overcast but I knew 18-20mph winds were expected by 10am. Its the only day I'll get out this week so I decided to fish a couple mile stretch of some creek where I'd be mostly protected. I usually do well here and get 20+ fish within those couple miles but I made it to the end with more missed fish than I can count and only 3 dink bass and a pickerel in the boat. Once I got to the mouth of the creek I could see how choppy the lake was, but thankfully the wind was pushing me back toward my vehicle on the other side of the lake. While drifting back I noticed bait fish breaking the surface so I dropped anchor and tossed a S-Waver 168 I had tied on. In 10 minutes I got 3 more to bite all this size. Nothing big but when the bites tough I'll take what I can get.

Making lemonade from the lemons, as it were. Nice!! I've never caught a fish on my s waver

Sweaters and frog bass to start out a day in August in NC!?!?!  Well how about I'll take some more of them please!?!?

 

That white pad perch is going on the mantle and I'm ordering 3 after this summer SHEESH!

 

Tried to dodge the rain cells today with just partial success - lol. It meant waiting a couple out under a tree or in the truck, and waiting a couple out at home - so several repeat trips. Caught 16 bass on a mix of Ned and finesse jigs, but never got to really focus on good areas for any length of time due to the weather, which is a shame, because the bass were biting pretty decent.

 

 

 

22 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Thank you oprah Winfrey, thank you Tom cruise

Please don't let the invisible fire burn @thediscochef! 

 

Awesome fish.  I would have jumped in the drink for that one too.

22 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Thank you oprah Winfrey, thank you Tom cruise

Over my head.?

2 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Tried to dodge the rain cells today with just partial success - lol. It meant waiting a couple out under a tree or in the truck, and waiting a couple out at home - so several repeat trips. Caught 16 bass on a mix of Ned and finesse jigs, but never got to really focus on good areas for any length of time due to the weather, which is a shame, because the bass were biting pretty decent.

 

 

 

 

 

Over two inches of rain in a little over an hour here. Gonna hit some drains in the morning. Should be fun.

42 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Over my head.?

It’s from the movie “talladega nights”

Streak is still going.....Heat warning today, but it started to rain a bit so I went out in it (it stopped for an hour or so ) and got my fish. My first spot was a bust, nothing....2 bites, but no takers. I moved over to another spot and got this guy. Should be 4lbs when fat, but was just under 3lbs. 

 

Got him off a swim jig with a paddle tail swimbait trailer. Believe its a strike king 3/8 swim jig. The trailer is a Keitech, blue sparkle, forgot the name of the color. 

 

PS- Added Gopro footage.