Wow, Dwight! I had to google both Lake Toho and Hudd 68. Big lure for big bass. 

 

Slow rolling means a slow retrieve, right? Does it mean anything else and does anyone happen to know its origin? Maybe rolling the lure along the bottom due to the slow retrieve?

@Dwight Hottle  Look at those slaunch donkies, that bottom one makes me smile ear to ear.....nothing better than when they got that winter time feed bag strapped on.

 

What did the bottom one weigh?   I'll guess 8ish 

@Dwight Hottle Nice pigs. 👍

The Blade Bait bite is close to being as addictive as a Jerkbait bite.

 

Love seeing these fish get fat this time of year, caught a Spot earlier that could've popped. 

 

Slow rolling means what your thinking. I think the saying started with spinner bait retrieves where the angler cast it out allowing it to sink to the bottom or near it & then slowly retrieving it so it maintains the depth without rising. You can do the same thing with a swimibait. The Hudd 68 combines the bigger tail piece from the 8" Hudd to the 6" Hudd body. They also sell a regular Hudd 6" bait with the smaller tail.

Good eye just shy of 8.

Alex, I know we describe bass like yours as fat, but fat is far from the truth. Your bass is a mass of muscle, which is why it's so successful at predation. 

Well said Katie, and I agree with you especially this early into the winter season.  

 

Dwight's last fish looks like she's already got a ton of eggs, whereas a bit north here they are just starting to put that feed bag on and I don't expect to see a belly full of eggs like that until late Jan. to early mid Feb. 

 

That last fish had the build of one of yours, but yours always stay that fat some how 💪

 

 

@Dwight Hottle If you don’t mind me asking, were those up around Kissimmee grass yet? IIRC, they should be moving up in the next 4-6 weeks down there or a bit further south.

 No all came from off shore  weed clumps & hydrilla. 

Today’s trip: one bite again, but this time I did not convert. It was a jig bite on a shallow laydown. Never felt the bite and was slow to the hookset, which I didn’t execute well. I believe it was a very large fish. Oh well

Those big ones are crafty. 

@ol'crickety I know better. As soon as I realized I didn’t have any sensation of my jig, should’ve been automatic. Reel all the slack out till I feel the fish and rip it.

I’d been fishing a senko for most of the day. I was surprised that got me nothing. Then it occurred to me that maybe I needed something falling faster. Something like a jig, which they didn’t bite yesterday. I put on a full size jig, which by default put me in hog hunting mode. Just missed the hog 🫤

I feel for ya brother. I had a similar experience my last bass trip this year. I was working my flippin rig through a shallow bushy treetop. Mid 40's water.  I went to move the bait and had just enough time to think, am I up against a thin branch  or...  The whole limb suddenly shook, giant boil, totally wiffed the hookset. CRAP!!! Giant for sure. I know better than to feel for it that long, and yet... Sigh... Misses really hurt when you know it was a possible PB, and you blew it by making a rookie mistake. 

@T-Billy Gosh man, yeah I feel for you, too. Keeps us hungry. I won’t stretch and say this was a possible PB. To find a fish like that on Badin would be pretty insane. I’ll never know for sure, unfortunately 

 

Im not going to be back on Badin until after Christmas, but I will fish Ol Muddy with family soon, so standby for a 5-6lber.

Fished all afternoon and caught most of the fish on uv speed worms. Got 1-2 on the super fluke and 1 on the dinger.Got 8 in the first hour and a half, then only 2 more the rest of the afternoon.

@N Florida Mike heck yeah!

Nice to see everyone catching nice Bass, and TnRiver46 catching every species.

 

Alex, it's good to see you catching your Winter hawgs again this year.   

 

Pat, Covid it rough isn't it?  I mostly got over mine quickly but I'm only slowly getting my "wind" back.  For a couple weeks I was getting out of breath when changing channels on the TV with the remote.   

 

I won't be able to go today.  I might be able to slip out a couple hours tomorrow.  

 

I had a thought, since my skunking last week.  When the water get's down into the 50's my bladed jig bite dies.   The bladed jigs I use "hunt" quite a bit.  I'm thinking as the water cools the Bass don't want to chase them.   I'm going to ditch my bladed jig for a plain swim jig and see if they'll respond to it.  

38 minutes ago, Woody B said:

For a couple weeks I was getting out of breath when changing channels on the TV with the remote.   

 

That is rough, Woody.

 

39 minutes ago, Woody B said:

I had a thought, since my skunking last week. 

 

I also have a thought. Your skunking stands out, Woody, because you're one of the most consistent anglers at Bass Resource. @Team9nine and @Bluebasser86 are up there too.

 

 

@Woody B, I would think there’s somewhere you could find the spots grouped up deep in cold water and send them the heavy metal, blade baits and jigging spoons . Might be more like late January/February tho 

All the crud is going around, I got a positive flu test this week and have been down for the count. Ruined fishing plans for sure, still haven't gotten the new fish finder wet yet. 

Fever seems to be about gone now, I'm hoping I have the strength back to go out on kayak after Christmas but so far this recovery is slower than I'd like. Keep posting pics, I'm getting my fill through you all!

Less than 2.5 hours on the water this afternoon, and the first two were spent chasing crappie. Got near a bank I hadn’t fished before on this reservoir and it looked pretty good with some deep water cutting in really close to shore…so, picked up a jerkbait and caught 4 bass in the last 25 minutes. Now I can’t wait to get back out there again to see if I can expand on this bite a little. Did have 40 crappie to go with them up to about 1.3 lbs., so it was a fun afternoon. Water temps down to 45-46 deg.

 

 

 

 

When your catching fish in 20ft+ with mud on their bellies on a Blade Bait with gloved hands, for a brief moment in time one feels like they're mainlining the secret truth of the Bass universe 🤣

 

Fished from dawn to 10, and then 1-3pm........the most beautiful December day you could imagine, super cold at dawn but by dusk it was 69.    

 

21+1 Crappie on the Blade Bait.   Really fun day and first week of frenetic winter fishing, but atlas no true big fish yet.  "If I fish it hard enough, they come" -Lake of Dreams

 

 

 

Those are thick fish, Alex. Real beauties. Fingers crossed for your DD.