Caught this guy on a yellow and black spinnerbait in a cove. Marked a lot of his friends on the ff but couldn't convince them to come aboard. Still figuring out this reservoir and bass fishing in general! 

Saturday was a spinnerbait all day kinda day, to the point that I wore clean through my bait.

Last 10 minutes, tried to swing one in and the head and hook went with the fish, I got the arm and the blades.

 

Sunday was a guide trip. Terrible conditions, post cold front, bluebird skies, next to no wind, tournaments both days of the weekend, but we still managed to get on them. Transition banks with bait fish and any wind were key as well as moving baits. I didn't fish much as I was trying to instruct the grandson on what to do, but it seemed like every time I'd pick a rod up, the fish would find me. Once when we'd run into a pack of big white bass, so I threw a Booyah Hard Knocker (which I'd caught zero bass on so far), twice and caught a 3lb smallmouth out of the school, only smallmouth we found with them. Then we were fishing my favorite little rock pile on a sand flat and the kid kept burning his spinnerbait back too fast, so I made one cast off to the side of it to show him how you wanted to just see the blades flashing, when a 3.91lb brusier crushed it. They both laughed about it, I just shook my head. Gave the grandpa my spinnerbait rod and reel to try because he said baitcasters gave him fits. I think he'll probably own an SV Tatula after that. Even in the wind he wasn't having much backlash with a spinnerbait. I still put them on good fish of their own and enjoyed talking to them since they were from the same area I grew up. On a day when 3rd place was taken with 2 barely 15" fish, I think we did great.

 

 

 

 

Last bass I got last Tuesday, bite has been dead since. 

Caught this today  on a 3/4 ounce Red Eye Shad in 24 foot of water.    6.2 lbs according to Rapala digital scales .

 

 

 

 

 

20 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Last 10 minutes, tried to swing one in and the head and hook went with the fish, I got the arm and the blades

I've started retiring spinnerbaits before they get in that shape . I have extra pours ready  to have the blades transferred to them .

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

Caught this today  on a 3/4 ounce Red Eye Shad in 24 foot of water .

 

 

 

 

5-6 lbs?

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

5-6 lbs?

6.2 according to the digital scales .

16 minutes ago, scaleface said:

6.2 according to the digital scales .

Caught one last week that looked just like that...magic lure was...a spinner bait! Surprise surprise

53 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I've started retiring spinnerbaits before they get in that shape . I have extra pours ready  to have the blades transferred to them .

I should but I try to get all I can out of them. I was glad to get the blades back. What was old is new again.

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I should but I try to get all I can out of them. I was glad to get the blades back. What was old is new again.

In have blades from an Excalibur spinnerbait that has been on several new lures . They probably have accounted for 200 or more bass .

On 10/2/2020 at 9:08 PM, Team9nine said:

Just picked up a "new to me" rod from @Pantera61 off the Flea Market. Was looking for a longer jig/worm rod for those times when making longer casts, as my current 6'6" outfit seemed to be lacking at much over 40'-45' or further. Got the B. Hite Evergreen Combat Stick, 7'3" MHvy (RCSC-73MH). Took the new rod out to the lake this afternoon for a trial run and happy to report, the rod did exactly what I was hoping for. Yet another brutal front came through yesterday. A buddy at the ramp taking out when I was launching said they only caught 2 all day, and that I should have been there yesterday - lol. Fortunately, I was able to pick off 13 in just over 4 hours, so I'm calling it a success. Here's a couple...

 

 

 

 

I believe the last thing I said to you was “Knock’em dead”

I believe you did!

Way to go!

My weekly after work trip this morning was an exploratory run. I've been to this feeder creek off the reservoir a time or two in my kayak and caught a couple bass, but I was in my johnboat this time and I felt a little better prepared. Still, I was pretty reserved on what to expect. Turned out better than I could hope. I did not catch many fish, but I'll trade numbers of bites for quality any day of the week. The first one had a monster gizzard shad in her throat.

Second one followed my bait over a limb in a logjam but didn't eat it. Got her to bite when I pitched the bait back a second time.

 

I think I only caught 7 or 8 bass and 1 white bass. Only missed a couple other bites that I think were pretty small. I found a really large and shallow mud flat. So shallow I had to drag my johnboat about 100 yards over the top of it, won't be doing that again. I should have stopped and gone further up the creek instead. Still a very successful morning after I'd just been thinking it's been a while since I've caught a good fish.

 

caught an even dozen today including this 17” spottie. 

 

Went out this evening and caught this bass on my first cast. 
 

5 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

Went out this evening and caught this bass on my first cast. 
 

Did you catch any more bass?  Curious if the "bad luck on the first cast" thing is true...

10 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

Did you catch any more bass?  Curious if the "bad luck on the first cast" thing is true...

Caught 4 total in two hours. Three on that WR and one on a weightless TR with a 9” Mann’s Jelly Worm. 
 

But that one was the biggest. 

We were able to get away for a weekday trip, which is always great since the lake is so quiet during the week this time of year. Nothing over a couple pounds, but it was pretty consistent the few hours we were out with 20+ for the day.

 

 

There were big schools of bait down deep and small random schools up top, and most of my success came from targeting those shallow feeders when they'd be feeding within casting distance. At first it was odd being around feeding fish and having them ignore topwater, a small Keitech, and then a small underspin, but out of semi-desperation I tied on a screwhead with a spark shad and that was the ticket. It was nice of the first one I landed to puke up the minnow they're feeding on to confirm I was at least semi matching the hatch.

 

 

With teeth like this a case of bass thumb sure doesn't take long to set in.

 

15 hours ago, BigAngus752 said:

Did you catch any more bass?  Curious if the "bad luck on the first cast" thing is true...

It's not! 

On 10/8/2020 at 9:53 PM, NorcalBassin said:

 

 

At first it was odd being around feeding fish and having them ignore topwater, a small Keitech, and then a small underspin, but out of semi-desperation I tied on a screwhead with a spark shad and that was the ticket. It was nice of the first one I landed to puke up the minnow they're feeding on to confirm I was at least semi matching the hatch.

 

 

 

 

Wow, looks fun. Very nice fish, sure choked that bait!!

 

I can't believe they wouldn't hit the other stuff, they aren't supposed to be that picky!!! Go figure, a screwhead and spark shad, all the latest glam on the net these days. How many were you able to pick off with that setup? Is it just a matter of time before they are conditioned to that too? I mean a keitech or an underspin ain't THAT much different...

@ryanerb my take is they can just get finicky this time of year, especially when the water is real clear and the weather conditions are changing. A small Keitech on a swimbait head is still my #1 or 2 confidence bait... just wasn't what they wanted that day for some reason. They smashed that screwhead when they bit, but I sure wish the hardware held up a lot better.

Gave some new cranks a try and worked out pretty good