@JohnFromLisbon: I love that you bass fish and post from Portugal!

Strip pond No. 4 today.  Today was a quantity day.  27 to be exact.  Was hoping for a few bigger ones but they were MIA.
 

All except three were caught on the double willow War Eagle which I cast into laydowns on the opposite bank, or when I casted along the bank I was on in my direction of travel to “clear” it before I could spook them.  

 

The other two fish I caught with a Rapala Husky Jerk out in open water once the pond got too wide for me to hit the opposite bank.

 

The last fish I caught on a white SK heavy cover swim jig with a rage tail.

 

Best five below…

Swing heads at sunset today ~

A-Jay

@bp_fowler: So impressive for a bank fisherman in heavily-fished Ohio.

 

@A-Jay: Beautifully marked bass!

53 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Swing heads at sunset today ~

A-Jay

It’s always a good time when A jay is slinging the swing head. Rage bug ? 

10 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

It’s always a good time when A jay is slinging the swing head. Rage bug ? 

Thanks - You called it.

I'm writing up a short report post now that includes a very brief video of this particular catch.

A-Jay

Got a tip from a friend there were some fish schooling, my goodness were they ever. They were so violent, I was even able to feed one a spinnerbait. Got surrounded and even splashed by fish crashing thru shad. I took some video of far away fish schooling after I had already gotten several, should have ran some video when I was sitting in the middle of the blitz but I couldn’t stop casting long enough 
 

 

Little guy and a three pounder both on spinnerbaits.  Buddy of mine pulled up a largemouth a bit bigger than mine and a handful of perch on a beautiful fall day.

 

13 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Got a tip from a friend there were some fish schooling, my goodness were they ever.

I haven't seen any of that on our end of the river yet, but if you are that means it's getting close.

 

13 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I was even able to feed one a spinnerbait

Wait...what? 🤣

Perfect gif, @Fishlegs!

@Fishlegs, I can catch white bass on spinnerbait fairly regular, black bass only hit them bi annually 😂 

Slow day with cold front moving in, blue skies, cloud arrival delayed, and light winds. Just stuck a few long skinny guys along with 8-10 crappie. Wind blows today, but hoping for a change of scenery on Friday.

 

 

 

 

It’s funny @Team9nine, we get all the weather you describe yesterday. “Have your people call my people” 😂 

Another tough morning yesterday of missed strikes, I blew it on all of the nicer fish. I still caught 8 and provided a mild show for the other anglers around, but I had barbs in a few really solid feeling fish. Thankfully I never saw them. Sooner or later I will get them stuck stuck. The common denominator with the lost fish is the vmc trebles I'm using, I got some of those finesse trebles with the slick coating. While they are very sticky, they slip out way too easily. I want to like them but for distance hooking they're just too slick. Back to the gamakatsu short shank ewg trebles I love so much. Off to the panhandle tomorrow to play a show and fish lake Meredith for smallmouths

Flat Calm, Blue Bird Skies, super clear water and just about zero wind.

But I still poked a few.

A-Jay

@raydomz: You are rightfully a proud papa.

 

Please rethink PFDs for your kids. I am a lifelong fellow paddler and I've seen too many fellow paddlers drown. Some of them were young and strong swimmers. Although I have paddled thousands of miles, I flipped my canoe last year. It was so sudden that I have no memory of flipping. I was in the canoe one millisecond and underwater the next. 

 

"Oh, this is how people drown," I thought.

 

It was May and the water was cool, as it is now.

 

And then, remembering that I was wearing my life jacket, I also thought, "Not me."

23 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

@raydomz: You are rightfully a proud papa.

 

Please rethink PFDs for your kids. I am a lifelong fellow paddler and I've seen too many fellow paddlers drown. Some of them were young and strong swimmers. Although I have paddled thousands of miles, I flipped my canoe last year. It was so sudden that I have no memory of flipping. I was in the canoe one millisecond and underwater the next. 

 

"Oh, this is how people drown," I thought.

 

It was May and the water was cool, as it is now.

 

And then, remembering that I was wearing my life jacket, I also thought, "Not me."

I appreciate you sharing your concern and I am certainly guilty of lax rule enforcement. We’ve got several “rules of the boat”, life jackets at all times in one of them. I’ve spent a lot of time in canoes growing up and know those exact scenarios like you experienced. I can see now a need to focus deeper on keeping things safe at all times 🙂. Again, appreciate the call out!

@raydomz: You're a great dad. Please keep posting your kids' fish pics and yours too!

Stuck a nice one this morning before I had to pack it up and go get stuff done. Interesting progression of fish. The bigger one ticked in right at 4lbs, absolutely crushed a walking bait while I was on the phone scheming with @LrgmouthShad. Off to the panhandle, maybe I'll post a smallmouth later

16 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Flat Calm, Blue Bird Skies, super clear water and just about zero wind.

But I still poked a few.

A-Jay

@A-Jay, sure looks like those Menderchuk big girls like dancing to the beat of your new Vision 110! Stay on ‘em and thanks for sharing the pictures of those beautiful brown bass!

Went out today for the last 90 minutes before the sun started setting.  I wanted to test out my new Tatula Elite Casting Rod and was hoping to break it in on some strip pit fish.

As you can see by the photo today I was throwing a jig.  I’ve caught fish on swim jigs and football jigs, but never on a casting/flipping jig.  Today was my lucky day as I caught my first ever jig fish, and a decent one at that.  

I caught it off the end of a laydown.  It made a last minute run as it got close enough to shore to see me but I was able to land it.  I caught my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th jig fish shortly after that but only one was picture worthy I felt.  

I’m pretty stoked that jig fishing has finally clicked for me.  I’m confident that given the bodies of water that I fish it will be a very useful technique for me going forward.

 

I think the biggest difference for me today versus all the other times I’ve tried the jig, is casting accuracy and being able to thumb the spool to minimize splash.
 

 

@bp_fowler: I can't imagine that there are a lot of shore-fishing Buckeyes outfishing you. 

Different lake, same outcome - water still in the mid 70s and even the thermocline looked to be intact. A good shot of cool air over the next week should help the bite get fired up a bit, I hope.

 

 

22 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

@bp_fowler: I can't imagine that there are a lot of shore-fishing Buckeyes outfishing you. 

I appreciate the compliment, I really do.

 

Coming from someone who catches 30-40 bass on a slow day that’s high praise.

 
However, I’m still very new at this.  I'm sure though that are probably plenty of folks out there in my fair state that would fish circles around me.   

31 minutes ago, bp_fowler said:

 I'm sure though that are probably plenty of folks out there in my fair state that would fish circles around me.  

 

They're circling you with a boat. Apples and oranges.

 

33 minutes ago, bp_fowler said:

Coming from someone who catches 30-40 bass on a slow day that’s high praise.

 

This is because I own three boats!