7 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I also have 0 fish on walking baits unless you count walking a frog or popper or chopping a glide bait.

I keep trying them at times I think they should work and get nothing.  Fast.  Slow.  Long pauses.  Burning them.  Burn + pause.  Silent ones, rattly ones, knockers etc.

 

5 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Your story is my story, Pat. I bet I own a dozen different walking baits.  And I'm throwing walking baits in water chock full of bass that are hitting other surface lures.

Really hope you bassheads can turn this around.

Once one unlocks the magic that the walking bait possess,

the rewards are supreme.

Don't give up !

https://youtu.be/QB1VOTaQuvE?feature=shared&t=741

Fish Hard

A-Jay

@A-Jay we will keep trying!

 I'd been watching the weather all week, thinking that Friday would be good, since the wind kicks up today and we're getting 3.5" - 5.5" of rain. So, I fished for three hours and I was right, the impending storm made the bass go all rock-em-sock-em on my lures. I caught 44 in three hours, which is a total I associate with June, not October. I didn't hook or land any of my beloved 19"-plus bass, but I did continue my fall streak of landing pretty much every bass I hooked. I include some pond pics for @Blue Raider Bob! I know I said today was to be my last trip, but I am eyeing next Wednesday, when a south wind + rain could = a big girl! I caught 12 in the little river and 32 in the pond. I looked everywhere for a big gal: deep water, the very backs of bays, heavy weed cover, laydowns, rock, a flat, and so on, but couldn't find one. 

 

 

@ol'crickety whatcha catchem on?

 

I wish I had more water around me to explore, I only get to fish after the girls go down and there are bo places like that within a reasonable distance.

 

I'm thinking of stopping by a petco with my finesse set up to feel like I'm catchin something

1 hour ago, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

@ol'crickety whatcha catchem on?

 

I wish I had more water around me to explore, I only get to fish after the girls go down and there are bo places like that within a reasonable distance.

 

I'm thinking of stopping by a petco with my finesse set up to feel like I'm catchin something

 

I caught two on a big wacky Senko and the other 42 with a small, silvery, translucent Whopper Plopper. I've downsized my Whopper Ploppers steadily as the water has cooled.

 

If I were you, I'd look for streams like the one in my third pic. Lots of them are overlooked. If the stream empties into a swamp, even better.

Finally replaced my ole Berkeley spring loaded scale from almost 2 decades back.  Had to rezero it all the time and the screen had gotten foggy.  Went out this morning to give the new scale a spin but needed some weight for testing.  So I asked Mr fishes could I borrow you guys for just alil while.  Got a couple of volunteers ooo ooo me me.  Biggest one wanted a weigh and well how could I refuse her?  Yep it werks!

But she ripped my glove and gave me terrible bass thumb.  Bad girl!

20 hours ago, BigAngus752 said:

I hate to brag, but....

 

I had to look twice at this photo with what looked like two blades. The treble hook feather fooled into thinking there was a 2nd blade on that inline spinner. 

Got into a better fish this morning. Buddy of mine I haven't seen in a while wanted to get together for a bit of morning fishing, and I couldn't say no to that! Had a short window, and got out later than I'd like for a morning bite, but second fish came in at 7lb 2oz so I'd say it was the right window at least.

 

Got her on a wacky rigged white senko, pitched just over a grass ledge and she picked it up right after it hit bottom. Definitely got my adrenaline going and has me excited for the fall transition.

5 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

Got into a better fish this morning. Buddy of mine I haven't seen in a while wanted to get together for a bit of morning fishing, and I couldn't say no to that! Had a short window, and got out later than I'd like for a morning bite, but second fish came in at 7lb 2oz so I'd say it was the right window at least.

 

Got her on a wacky rigged white senko, pitched just over a grass ledge and she picked it up right after it hit bottom. Definitely got my adrenaline going and has me excited for the fall transition.

 

You sure catch big fish, Aaron. And you catch them from shore! 

28 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

Got into a better fish this morning. Buddy of mine I haven't seen in a while wanted to get together for a bit of morning fishing, and I couldn't say no to that! Had a short window, and got out later than I'd like for a morning bite, but second fish came in at 7lb 2oz so I'd say it was the right window at least.

 

Got her on a wacky rigged white senko, pitched just over a grass ledge and she picked it up right after it hit bottom. Definitely got my adrenaline going and has me excited for the fall transition.

Awesome job, you were due for a big girl, bet it felt amazing!  

After thinking about all the comments in the "Alabama Bass" thread I decided to "try" and target Largemouth.   I caught 8,  7 Largemouth and 1 small spot.  The Largemouth were all between 15 and 17 inches.  They were on points up creek channels.   All but 1 were on a Shakey Head with a Bizz Baits "Dizzy Diamond" worm.  (Historically I've been a Zoom worm user but Pat Brown pointed out that Bizz Baits is in NC so I got some of them) The other was on a bladed jig.    I lost a couple good sized Spots.   Spots mess me up.  They (at least for me) like to chew on a worm for a bit before "taking" it.   With Largemouth I have to be ready, with a quick hookset or they'll spit it out.  The 2 spots I lost were barely hooked in the very edge of the lip.   After my latest rash of broken rods no more boat flips for me.  Both were boatside waiting to be netted when they came loose.   The hook would have probably torn out when attempting a boat flip anyway.     Pictures are boat launch at 6:45, first bass at 6:59 and last bass on last cast at 9:53.    Regarding walking baits.  With most topwater baits I miss a bunch of fish.  I "believe" I have a tendency to pull the bait out of their mouth on a hookset.  I have good topwater luck with a Devils Horse.  I fish it with some slack in the line.  I believe that slows down my too quick hookset.   

 

1 hour ago, Woody B said:

With most topwater baits I miss a bunch of fish.  I "believe" I have a tendency to pull the bait out of their mouth on a hookset. 

 

With topwaters, I just keep working the lure through the hit until the rod loads. 

7 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

With topwaters, I just keep working the lure through the hit until the rod loads. 

That’s the answer right there. If throwing a frog, wait till you feel them pulling on the frog. Feel, not sight. 
 

Of course otherwise you can just be me for the past two years and throw a topwater and not feel anything until you throw something that isn’t a topwater, lol. 
 

I self admit I spend too much time throwing spinnerbait, t-rig, and jig

 

 

 

 

 

@Aaron_H Slaunch donkey

 

4 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

I had to look twice at this photo with what looked like two blades. The treble hook feather fooled into thinking there was a 2nd blade on that inline spinner. 

I just took another look and I see it too.  Hadn't noticed that.  That's funny

Hard to beat a spoon on schoolers.

My buddy made it into town from Memphis about 12:30 pm Friday and I finally got home from work at 1. We hooked up the shallow boat and motored up thru some skinny water and were met immediately by hungry small fish. We ended up catching 39 but the last two I got were pretty nice, an 18” and 16.75”. Also got to see a nice sunset and a double rainbow once the rain finally stopped 

 

So today we hook up the bigger boat and we’ve got all day. We went to different area, still shallow but not as shallow, thus allowing the bigger more comfy vessel. My buddy was on fire early catching lots of fish. We got all kind of 15-16” today that were fighting very hard . We ended up with 38 between 3 of us today but that was a 12 hour trip. Went from jeans and a jacket in the morning to shorts for wading then back to jeans and jacket for the evening. Air was cool today and wind was whipping . Round 3 tomorrow from 7:30-11 am or so then back to the real world 

 

6 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

My buddy made it into town from Memphis about 12:30 pm Friday and I finally got home from work at 1. We hooked up the shallow boat and motored up thru some skinny water and were met immediately by hungry small fish. We ended up catching 39 but the last two I got were pretty nice, an 18” and 16.75”. Also got to see a nice sunset and a double rainbow once the rain finally stopped 

 

So today we hook up the bigger boat and we’ve got all day. We went to different area, still shallow but not as shallow, thus allowing the bigger more comfy vessel. My buddy was on fire early catching lots of fish. We got all kind of 15-16” today that were fighting very hard . We ended up with 38 between 3 of us today but that was a 12 hour trip. Went from jeans and a jacket in the morning to shorts for wading then back to jeans and jacket for the evening. Air was cool today and wind was whipping . Round 3 tomorrow from 7:30-11 am or so then back to the real world 

 

Go post that report in the Alabama Bass thread, I need some entertainment after the expected Braves loss 🤣

3 hours ago, GreenPig said:

Hard to beat a spoon on schoolers.

You know it's about to go down when you see spaghetti over deep water 😎

For fans of 'bleeding shad' pattern baits:

 

 

Thought this was super cool.

 

PS

 

Strike King: 

 

How about your whole line of lipless crankbaits but silent and with yellow eyes? 😉

 

Signed, a fisherman who knows this would sell and work really well to catch pressured fish who are over rattles and red eyes.

10 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

So today we hook up the bigger boat

Great write up and pics, but the only thing I heard was, "I have two boats.  What's wrong with you that you have one boat?"  And this makes perfect sense to me.  Getting on FB Marketplace right now. 

16 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Of course otherwise you can just be me for the past two years and throw a topwater and not feel anything until you throw something that isn’t a topwater, lol. 

This is me too.  They won't hit topwater.  Frogs, buzzers, poppers, spooks, etc.  Doesn't matter, they don't hit it.  I used to catch quite a few largemouth on buzz baits and frogs too, but for the last 5 years or so, the topwater bite has been almost non-existent.  I don't force feed fish if something isn't effective, so my topwater are currently going un-used.

 

The fish are still there, and I catch them on other presentations.  I am almost 100% sure that its related to increased fishing pressure, and I have contributed to that.

15 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

Great write up and pics, but the only thing I heard was, "I have two boats.  What's wrong with you that you have one boat?"  And this makes perfect sense to me.  Getting on FB Marketplace right now. 

 

Agreed! I always enjoy @TnRiver46's accounts and photos. It's clear that he loves fishing and being on the water. 

 

12 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

The fish are still there, and I catch them on other presentations.  I am almost 100% sure that its related to increased fishing pressure, and I have contributed to that.

 

A frank assessment by an honest man. On my less-fished water at the same latitude, the bass are still slap-happy to hit topwaters. 

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

A frank assessment by an honest man. On my less-fished water at the same latitude, the bass are still slap-happy to hit topwaters. 

I am going tomorrow to a lake that has less pressure and back in August I did very well there on moving lures.  I always have a topwater ready, I will give it a try tomorrow.

3 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

PS

 

Strike King: 

 

How about your whole line of lipless crankbaits but silent and with yellow eyes? 😉

 

The Thunderhawk Sergeant comes in a silent version and also has patterns with yellow eyes.

8 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I am going tomorrow to a lake that has less pressure and back in August I did very well there on moving lures.  I always have a topwater ready, I will give it a try tomorrow.

 

Fingers crossed for you, Golden Gopher-buddy!

Cold and windy this morning. Haven’t been on the water as much as I’d like this fall so I was super stoked to get out. Fishing was tough. Wind was tougher. Managed a decent one on a spinnerbait while fighting the constant breeze. Couple other short strikes. 

 

Gonna be looking for a giant the next couple weeks. The season is ending rapidly.