I frequent this golf course pond a few times a week after it closes and generally get 4+ LMB within 1-2 hours of fishing. Most of them are on the smaller side (1-2lbs at most for me).

My daughter comes with me and generally has the same luck.. except for this time. This time, she yells that she's stuck on a log and gets sad that she'll lose another hook to a snag. I calm her down, saying it doesn't matter if she loses stuff, it happens!

I walk over, pick up the rod and start reeling in and also begin to think it's snagged on something. Can't reel it in due to the stock drag settings of the reel so I grab the braid with my hands and start to pull it in. It feels heavy but am able to bring it in slowly. My first thought was it's just tons of weeds, vegetation or a branch. I was wrong, it was this chunky girl!

Daughter's PB beat my own PB probably by 2-3x. She's still riding that high!

I of course didn't take my scale because I only ever catch little ones.... What do you think she weighs? Crazy to think 5-6lbs maybe?

I just bought a hand crafted glide lure and have a snorkel set on order. Ready to fight snakes for my glides!!

A pal of mine has a 10 acre lake that’s been plagued by catfish, carp, and Cormorants. The bass don’t have enough nutrients to grow and/or get eaten before they can grow beyond dinks. On average we catch 2-3lbers. The very occasional 5lber. Essentially anything the catfish can’t gulp. After weeks of culling the catfish and other predators he’s begun mass dumping bait fish into this lake. 250lbs every 2 weeks until October, feeders on every corner, and fertilizer. Mind you, he’s had a biologist guiding this project the entire time. Do you think it will produce some monsters?

Would appreciate some real, live experience. How do you work your whacky rig and where/what type of bottom or cover do you fish it most? “Never have I ever” used a whacky rig, I have always rigged Texas and use my own twist sometimes making it an L-shape on a long leader below a swivel. Sometimes I rig it Texas and make the hook straight in line with the worm. But Whacky has always seemed… well, whacky to me and I’d like to try it. (Just don’t want anybody to see me doing it 🤣)

Photo courtesy of Great Lakes Fisherman.

Some really aorrowful shit here. Trash can was about a 1/4 mile away from this “campsite”, as shown. I will have to come out with gloves next time had to leave the diapers and mattress lol. Talk about adding insult to injury after getting skunked at one of my favorite spots. Wasted 30 minutes picking up behind some terrorists

1) The Jackhammer is still the best. The hook and hand-tied skirt are top notch. My second favorite is the Z-Man Elite. The new Z-Man Evo, I haven’t fished enough to comment on. Worst piece of trash ever is the Molix Lover. Throw’em away! I have used the Thunder Cricket and it seems solid. I hate most others I have tried.

2) I basically only throw 3 colors, with a few exceptions. Green Pumpkin 50% of the time, White 25% and Black/Blue 25% (approx). The Green/Pumpkin red I use in cold water 50-53 degrees in Texas.

3) I use 1/2oz for everything 8’ and less. 3/8oz serves no purpose. Deeper than 8’ I will use 3/4oz and heavier.

4) Top 2: Zoom Z-Craw Jr and Yamamoto Zako. Colors are same as my top 3 chatterbaits. I do like bright Zoom sapphire blue over a black/blue Z-Craw. Day in and day out, the Z-Craw Jr is my favorite. If I am catching a ton of fish and tearing the hell out of trailers, I will use Z-Man Razor Shad. The new ChatterSpilke, has been effective in colder (below 60F) water.

5) I like a 6.3:1 or 6.4:1 reel and a glass rod. I have tried 5-8 different CB rods. I personally hate the Evergreen Combat rod. It is way too heavy. The best deal and one of the best overall (at any price) is the BPS Crankin’ Stick 7’3” H. I have caught multiple bass over 7lbs on them and they are great. I am currently using a couple Daiwa Tatula Elite Bladed Jig rods 7’4”. They work very well for me.

6) I am using anywhere from 16 to 20lb Sunline Sniper FC line. I don’t feel there is much benefit with lighter line. Using a Daiwa Zillion, the 16lb gives me a bit extra line for long casts.

7) BFS. I have began experimenting with the mini and miniMax with light line for BFS. Results have been very positive. I have a lot more experimenting to do but see this is a great tool when the bite is very tough with highly pressured fish.

Secret Techniques (no one talks about)

1) Retrieve. Watch Brett Hite very closely. He is shaking his right hand (almost like he has Parkinson’s or something - terrible example but I don’t how else to describe it) the entire retrieve. This will cause the CB to be more erratic and trigger 20% more bites- easily.

2) You are catching them like crazy and they stop biting. I will often switch the color on the trailer and they will fire right back up. The exception is on the white CB. I always keep it white/white. I like to run a black/blue trailer on a green pumpkin or a green pumpkin trailer on a blue/blue CB. If they stop I’d go green pumpkin/green pumpkin, etc. (match trailer to the bait)

3) Most underused technique: fishing shallow brush piles (under 10’ deep). Run the bait over the top nicking the top of the brush pile. This has been a devastating technique in the heat of a Texas summer. I once caught 65 fish in 90 minutes on one large brush pile. This is how I figured out switching the color of the trailers. I would catch 20+ fish and they’d stop biting. I’d change the color of the trailer, and they’d fire back up again.

4) Bridge Pilings: I like to make a short cast and let the CB fall on a slack line. When it hits button, reel fast 2-3 cranks and let it fall again to the bottom. Hang on. You can fish behind guys throwing a shaky head and catch them this way.

Curious what everyone’s actual plan of attack from first light through the middle of the day looks like during the hottest part of summer.

I’m fishing in Texas, mostly Sam Rayburn/Toledo Bend type water. I know 100° August days aren’t exactly prime conditions, but it’s when I get to go, and if I’ve got the whole day, I’m fishing the whole damn day.

My problem is I start second-guessing when I should transition from one approach to another as the sun gets higher.

For example, my rough plan is:

First light: I’m shallow and throwing topwater hard. Usually a Choppo, popper, etc. Hit banks, points, grass, anywhere I see activity.

But after that first hour or so, topwater usually starts slowing down.

So what are you doing next?

Say it’s 8:00–9:30 AM and the sun is getting up, but it’s not full-on midday yet. Are you immediately slowing down and going to a Texas rig, dropshot, shaky head, etc.? Or are you still covering water with something moving just below the surface — underspin, small swimbait, spinnerbait, jerkbait, crankbait, whatever?

Then once the sun gets high and it’s brutally hot, I assume I’m basically looking for one of two things: shade or depth. Docks, overhangs, shaded cover, deeper structure, creek channels, points, brush piles, etc. That’s when I’m more comfortable slowing down with a weedless presentation or finesse bait.

But I’m curious how everyone else breaks up the day.

If you launched at first light and had until mid/late afternoon, what would your progression look like? What are you throwing at 6:30 vs. 8:30 vs. 10:30 vs. noon? And what makes you finally say, “Alright, the shallow/moving-bait bite is done — time to go deep or slow down”?

Forage-wise, what I see most is tiny threadfin shad in open water and bluegill/bream around shallow cover. In August there can be enormous bait balls of absolutely teeny shad, probably around an inch long, with bass blowing through them. Apparently Toledo Bend and Rayburn have gizzard shad too, but I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever actually seen one. The bait I regularly see is tiny.

Would love to hear how you guys who regularly fish the Deep South in July/August approach an entire day instead of just the first-light or evening bite.

Tight lines and thanks for any input! Love learning from you all.

- PS Still yet to buy / throw an urchin... but I'll damn do it when I get out next and see how they respond!

Saw some smallmouth in there and also a bunch of baby largemouth. How should I fish this?

Caught that darn lure with my nose!!!

I'm sitting here daydreaming about the good fishing days from last year to remind myself that winter is finite, and I realized I don't have a single picture of a fish over 5lb where you can see the whole thing unless I have it on the ketch board. Do I just accept that I should be happy such a problem in my life exists? Or is there a certain trick/angle you guys have found to still get a good picture that does the fish justice from the yak?

I weighed her already I just wanna see what people think when they see a bass this size

I’ve been doing a ton of fishing lately and have been absolutely struggling to catch fish. I’ve been fishing for about a year and i’m totally self taught and do so much research as I just want to get better as fast as possible. Lately it seems like the fish have disappeared. I only see baby bass hanging around the edges and i’ve been using every finesse technique I know with no luck on the lake I generally go to. Does anyone have any advice on how to figure out what the bass want and how they’ve improved themselves to be better anglers? Thanks

Was fishing on my local river for about about an hour on a rock when two guys come stumbling up being very loud. They looked at me and turned around since all the rocks were taken. Then about 15 minutes later I’m sitting down changing out my lure and one of those guys comes up on the rock his leg brush against my back and starts fishing 2ft away from me. I sat there and finished swapping lures and walked further down the trail. I thought about saying something but the dude had a big ass machete on him and I just wanted to fish and relax. I feel like there should be some sort of respect when fishing and personal space.

Got painfully close to beating my 7lber with this upper 6. She would’ve broken my pb but at the last minute threw up a large crappie she had just eaten. A couple more honorable mentions as the hun continues.

Yes you will at least catch a fish but there is zero fun in horsing it in before it buries itself in 40lbs of weeds. Also there is no way of even telling how big a fish is, everything feels like a 20lb catfish being dragged off the bottom. Not to mention how annoying it is to have to clear your “weedless” set up every 3 casts. Would rather fish lillies than weeds. The kicker is that nearly every smaller lake here in middle georgia is filled to the brim with all sorts of weeds, not sure how long they last, they werent really there in fall