Super User Swamp Girl Posted September 6 Super User Share Posted September 6 Like many bass anglers, I struggled through August. Sure, I had a few fine sessions, but I also had some high single-digit catch totals, which is a good total in heavily fished areas, but not on the water I fish. For example, I caught nine bass each of my prior two sessions on my pond. Well, this morning, I caught 20 and a couple days ago, I caught 25 at another pond. So, the numbers are picking up. I launched in the dark as I often do and the first one was small: Then a chunk, off a shoreline on a Dobyns Beast Spinnerbait, which was suggested by @Rockhopper, I think, and it's far sturdier than others I've tried. The chunk: Then I caught a couple average bass, all shallow. Followed by a couple more chunks: A couple more average bass: Intermission for pretty pics! I love fishing the maze that's my pond: The maze grows thick bass: I had good luck in the pads too, catching my biggest bass of the morning: A couple to say bye-bye! 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User gimruis Posted September 6 Super User Share Posted September 6 Its supposed to be very warm here for the next 7-10 days. Mid 80's is in the forecast. So summer or August doldrums is not close to being done here yet. September is basically an extension of summer now, with shorter daylight and less humidity. Fall is not in sight yet. I actually just looked at some 30 day models and they all mostly say quite warm all the way into early October too. Maybe we'll just skip fall and go directly to winter here in December. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhopper Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 Your milkshake brings all the girls to the yard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted September 6 Author Super User Share Posted September 6 1 hour ago, gimruis said: Fall is not in sight yet. Not here. It's straight-up fall. It was cool all morning and more and more sugar maples are doffing green and donning red. 45 minutes ago, Rockhopper said: Your milkshake brings all the girls to the yard I watched a fishing the fall video last night, where movement was encouraged, so I did my best to stay light-hulled and cover water. Unfortunately, my canoe weighs 85-pounds, so my arms were tuckered by the trip's end, but I think I did pretty well. I did encounter what I think was my biggest bass yet in my pond. I cast a black Spook away from the shore and something rose to crush it. The hit was titanic. I've caught, landed, and weighed some nearly seven-pound bass on surface lures and the amount of water moved reminded me of those giants. I'll never know, of course, how big it was, but a three-pound bass can only move so much water. The echo of that hit stayed with me for an hour. Unfortunately, the erratic nature of a Spook can cause some bass to flat out miss with their hit and that's what happened. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxfisher Posted September 8 Share Posted September 8 Great report and pics. That maze picture is so interesting looking. Seems like an uncountable number of targets to cast at. Beautiful for sure but it seems like it would be challenging to find the magic spots! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted September 8 Author Super User Share Posted September 8 27 minutes ago, pdxfisher said: Great report and pics. That maze picture is so interesting looking. Seems like an uncountable number of targets to cast at. Beautiful for sure but it seems like it would be challenging to find the magic spots! You are so right. For every three casts I make, there are twenty casts I could have made. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User GreenPig Posted September 8 Super User Share Posted September 8 Woman you have a little piece of heaven. Blessed you are. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted September 8 Author Super User Share Posted September 8 13 minutes ago, GreenPig said: Woman you have a little piece of heaven. Blessed you are. No doubt. For sure. And yep. What's weird is that there's a lake 25 minutes south of mine where the rich people live. So, it has cabin-lined shorelines and water skiers. There's a property for sale there right now that's half an acre of waterfront listed at $2.25 million. And it will sell at that price because rich people think that's a superior body of water to my boggy, wild pond with no skiers and no waterfront homes. People are crazy. And thank goodness they're crazy! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thediscochef Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 A guy reminded me to throw the dang senko if I see bait being pushed after the sun is too high for them to hit the walker anymore. That landed me two extra fish today. He was the only other guy catching, we traded some info. He fishes rayburn and Toledo mostly. Good dude. Obviously catches em. It's already 64 degrees out as of 10pm, it will be 55 or so at waters edge in the morning so I will be out there throwing at em. Tuesday morning will be the same. I have a clear plan, four specific lures and combos ready to go. Hopefully I get some catching done. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted September 9 Author Super User Share Posted September 9 6 hours ago, thediscochef said: I have a clear plan, four specific lures and combos ready to go. You sound like me, except I often have five lures and combos ready to go and sometimes six. I even have a main lure, the one I plan to fish the most, which was an underspin earlier this year when I was pitching into zombie and emerging wild rice and now is a spinnerbait and I always rig two of those because it's rare when one of the rigs doesn't go down and I want to continue fishing without a re-rigging delay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted September 9 Global Moderator Share Posted September 9 It’s definitely not 49 during the doldrums in TN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Brown Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 8 hours ago, thediscochef said: A guy reminded me to throw the dang senko if I see bait being pushed after the sun is too high for them to hit the walker anymore. That landed me two extra fish today. He was the only other guy catching, we traded some info. He fishes rayburn and Toledo mostly. Good dude. Obviously catches em. It's already 64 degrees out as of 10pm, it will be 55 or so at waters edge in the morning so I will be out there throwing at em. Tuesday morning will be the same. I have a clear plan, four specific lures and combos ready to go. Hopefully I get some catching done. I remind myself to stop throwing fun baits a lot too this time of year. I catch a lot of fish on weightless trick worms and flukes before fall really sets in. Buzzing a small plastic can break up the monotony and get some bites when spooks and frogs and buzzers aren't working well again yet. Strolling little minnows on ned heads is a fun way to cover water and fish structure. But for me - weightless fluke or worm is going to be doing a lot of heavy lifting till the fish really decide winter is on the way. I will say, if you have any sort of skill whatsoever throwing a suspending Jerkbait, get a very small one and work it very very fast and erratic. That seems to be the one 'power technique' that is slaying right now. Lipless crankbaits BURNED super shallow are also triggering at least some follows etc. I can't get them to eat anything off the bottom right now at all. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted September 9 Author Super User Share Posted September 9 16 minutes ago, Pat Brown said: I catch a lot of fish on weightless trick worms and flukes before fall really sets in. My main lures tomorrow will be a Spook-style bait and a spinnerbait, but I'm also fishing a fluke every session now. I haven't yet caught more than one or two on a fluke each session, but as I experiment and refine my technique, I expect to catch more. If I can master the fluke, that'll be yet another lure in my quiver. I've been throwing fat 7" flukes, but I've rigged fairly fat 5" flukes for tomorrow morning's fishing at my pal's pond. Here's one of the girls I caught there last time. She wasn't fat, but lawdy, she was long: 16 minutes ago, Pat Brown said: I will say, if you have any sort of skill whatsoever throwing a suspending Jerkbait, get a very small one and work it very very fast and erratic. Thanks for the suggestion, Pat. I'll check and see if I have a small jerkbait. If I do, I'll take that too. "Fast and erratic" will be my mantra. @TnRiver46: Brrrr! It's 53 here just now, but we'll reach 70 today. My fishing session tomorrow morning will be challenging, as there will be a brisk and rising NNW wind, so in my head, I've plotted the track I'll take to fish some lees. I wish I could fish the wind beaten shorelines, but I'd get one cast off and then my canoe would be grinding on the rocks. The photo above shows one of the wind-protected shorelines I'll be fishing tomorrow morning. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thediscochef Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 Fish didn't get the memo, I barely avoided a skunk. I think following @Pat Brown's advice would have helped some, I had one good looking follower and three small missed blowups. Wind shifted earlier than forecast and blew everything out of my cove, the north wind seems to have been the key. I should have gone across the lake but that's a 30 minute drive 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Choporoz Posted September 9 Super User Share Posted September 9 3 hours ago, Pat Brown said: I can't get them to eat anything off the bottom right now at all. Doldrum switch in NC flipped sometime Saturday night. Got 'em good on wood and points yesterday for first time in months. However, best was another 5+ on Super Spook. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Brown Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 1 minute ago, Choporoz said: Doldrum switch in NC flipped sometime Saturday night. Got 'em good on wood and points yesterday for first time in months. However, best was another 5+ on Super Spook. Yeah I have been catching a lot on rat l traps and frogs and buzzbaits the last week and I had a great morning with a jerkbait also and some great days with jigs recently. Seems like fall is definitely underway and the doldrum days are mostly behind us but I still find it's on and off in NC until the fall conditions stabilize - here's to the fall conditions stabilizing hopefully! Love when the water really settles into the 70s and even more fun when it gets into the 60s and 50s. Lake was still 80 on Sunday and dudes with fancy electronics told us they were suspending 8 feet down over 15 FOW on ledges and not touching anything. I caught a few on a rat l trap and a buzzbait up shallow so I know different groups of fish are doing different things but day to day weather and conditions still tend to affect the bite more than the seasonal shifts in the moment. Stable conditions seem to help the bite tremendously regardless of season around here with our mostly Florida strain LMB. I have had some wild days in August and early Sept that tell me fall is happening though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Choporoz Posted September 9 Super User Share Posted September 9 @Pat Brown concur with all. I was just very excited to be pulling 4 pounders out of laydowns yesterday. 23# bag without chasing bait all over the lake, fishing the way I want to fish....I was thrilled. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted September 9 Author Super User Share Posted September 9 13 minutes ago, Choporoz said: 23# bag What a great day! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted September 9 Author Super User Share Posted September 9 1 hour ago, Choporoz said: @Pat Brown concur with all. I was just very excited to be pulling 4 pounders out of laydowns yesterday. 23# bag without chasing bait all over the lake, fishing the way I want to fish....I was thrilled. I'd rather catch a 23 lb. bag than an eight-pound bass. More excitement in five big bass than one eight-pounder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Choporoz Posted September 9 Super User Share Posted September 9 9 minutes ago, ol'crickety said: I'd rather catch a 23 lb. bag than an eight-pound bass. More excitement in five big bass than one eight-pounder. I'm getting spoiled. A good day is multiple 4s. A great day is one 6+. Of course, it is always relative. One Saturday in July I only had five fish on eight bites all day, longest was 18". But it was a great day, since the 58 other competitors had smaller total length (5 fish bag). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zcoker Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 59 minutes ago, ol'crickety said: I'd rather catch a 23 lb. bag than an eight-pound bass. More excitement in five big bass than one eight-pounder. Really? I suggest you come down to south Florida and tangle with an 8 pound everglades bass. She'll change you tune very quickly! GUARRANTEED 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User gimruis Posted September 9 Super User Share Posted September 9 2 minutes ago, Zcoker said: Really? I thought this too. An 8 pound largemouth in the north here is not far off our state record. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted September 9 Author Super User Share Posted September 9 2 hours ago, Zcoker said: Really? I suggest you come down to south Florida and tangle with an 8 pound everglades bass. She'll change you tune very quickly! GUARRANTEED Nah. Those Everglades bass just sit, fan themselves, drink Mint juleps, and laze their days away talking about their gentlemen callers. It takes surviving under ice while the blizzards howl to put true grit in a fish. I once took two feet of rope and tied a two-pound Maine bass to an eight-pound Everglades bass, tail-to-tail. The Maine bass not only won that tug-of-war, but took the eight-pounder water skiing. Backwards water skiing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zcoker Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 14 hours ago, ol'crickety said: but took the eight-pounder water skiing. Backwards water skiing. Last run-in with an 8 pounder was two nights ago, and she said, "yep, skiing right into my mouth!" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted September 10 Author Super User Share Posted September 10 2 hours ago, Zcoker said: Last run-in with an 8 pounder was two nights ago, and she said, "yep, skiing right into my mouth!" Maine bass are so fat that swallowing one for an Everglades bass would be like a wine bottle trying to swallow a cork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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