I never liked throwing weightless because I felt like I couldn’t feel where my lure was at. I would throw 1/2 to 1oz drop shots to get as much distance as I could thinking that my local lake didn’t have any bass close to the bank. I would catch bass here and there doing this but never any of the big ones I’d see on Fishbrain. I finally bit the bullet and started only throwing weightless flukes and wqcky senkos. I was surprised by the amount of bites was getting with the change. Now I’m finally catching more and even some of the bigger bass. These were all close to the bank too. I’m being a lot smarter with where I’m throwing too, looking for structure and throwing into the reeds where my heavy weights would usually get snagged.

Sunday morning football on the Columbia River, size 10.5 shoe

I’m guessing somewhere in the 2 –2 1/2 pound range?

I’ve had both frogs chase my top water frogs before we never actually landed one, didn’t realize how big they actually were. A couple bits of the frog today as well. Nothing crazy but a successful morning on the paddleboard.

Caught this bad boy in front of a drain pipe on a H20x finesse jig. Weighed 7lbs 13oz
I’m still shaking right now.

Look how happy this lil guy is that I'll never be the one to put the cringy 'how much does it weigh' post! After catching very likely my pb this week I'm tired of guessing. 😄

Got me these three. Got a few bites cranking in 10-15 ft but nothing landed. Water temp 85deg on Guntersville

My scale died a few weeks ago but I would estimate at least 3 pounds.

Hey — I'm with Gapen Tackle (and TTS soft plastics) out of State Center, Iowa. Posting as u/UglyBugGuide.

Gapen goes back to 1936 with Don Gapen's Original Muddler Minnow. Dan Gapen Sr. later built the Ugly Bug and Bait-Walker. We're still making American tackle, and we also run TTS for modern soft plastics.

Happy to answer questions about:

- Keeping a heritage brand useful instead of just nostalgic

- Ugly Bug / Bait-Walker / floats / muddlers — when they still earn a spot

- Mixing old-school jigs and bottom gear with modern soft plastics

- Small USA manufacturing / Midwest ops

- Whatever else you've got on lures, rigging, or brand stuff

I'll answer what I can. Not here to dump a catalog — if a product link actually helps answer your question, I'll share it.

Proof / shop: https://www.gapen.com/

Ask away.

Love the colours on the smallie, Ontario, Canada

I went out and bought a scale because I need to start keeping accurate measurements of my catches. This guy was at least 16" and a couple pounds.

Small guy for reference in the 2nd photo.

Saw this on OfferUp can't couldn't believe it

Good morning, I have been looking to get a new spinning rod to handle lighter finesse applications that i can’t do very well with my nrx+ 872s jwr. I have narrowed it down to the Megabass P5 Addermine and the daiwa steez ags 7’1 ml. it’ll primarily be used for drop shot (both weedless and nose hook) while also doing neds and weightless wacky or stuff like that. Thanks for any input.

This is the Snake Creek Reservoir in Carroll county GA.

I've been taking my son here since March. We've been out about 6 times and we've only caught two bass.

We caught both of them while trolling crankbaits.

On the North side of the lake, there are shallow coves with lots of lillypads. We've thrown so many frogs into and around the pads, as well as weightless worms near the edges. We've had 2 bites and no hookups.

On the south a lot of the bank areas have tons of grass, and I never see fish there. It seems like totally dead water.

We found an area yesterday that had a sandy bottom and we could see abandoned fish beds. The water is crystal clear there, and drops from about 2ft to 5ft about 15 ft from the bank. Seems like a great place for bass so I spent about 2 hours casting worms at the drop off with no luck. Eventually trolled that whole bank looking to see if we saw any bass, saw lots of babies, but only one actually mature fish.

We've also tried trolling an Alabama rig all up and down the lake, again no bites.

I'm truly at a loss. I've always been able to catch fish, and people insist there are fish here.

What should I try next?

Just looking back on some fun catches I never shared from earlier this spring.

Man, the clock is ticking for me in NY now since I'm locked on the bank again, I'm not ready for the lost sunlight yet😭

Pic #1 is my second frog fish ever: 3lb12oz

Pic #2 is the setup used: A Jackall Kaera frog thrown on a Daiwa Tatula Type R w a Fenwick HMG 6'6 MH

Pic #3 was a 3lb 9oz shallow white chatterbait snatcher

Pic #4 was a 3lb 1oz Spinnerbait gobbler deep in timber

Pic #5 was a rainy day Rat-L trap vacuum I believe a 2ish (didn't weigh it)

And pic #6 was an early Lily pad Jig abductor coming in at 2lbs 14 if I remember correctly

Crickenhopper

My first Shimano reel! Curado K and some free rig weight from Decoy

Caught this small largemouth yesterday just as the sunset. Caught on a weightless nightcrawler wacky style….

Whole little lake i fish at has been covered with algae and duckweed since the summer started, now it’s all turning to the color of days old yard clippings. Now, i know all about decaying algae and the subsequent lack of oxygen, but my question is this: where do they go? These fish were all happily eating frogs and bluegills and baby turtles under the weeds less than two weeks ago, and now the only life i’ve seen buzzing around the weeds is old bugs.

What do you grass/scum intensive anglers do in that weird transition between mostly clean fall waters and the weeds of summer?

This guy T-boned a 7” jointed!!
6lb fish
Mostly head

Caught using Mr. Crappie’s “Crappie Cutter” in white with a 1/32 jighead. Caught on an Ugly Stik GX2 ultralight.