One of the things I'm excited for about moving down to Texas this year is the better bass angling opportunities ya'll enjoy. We have alright bass fishing up here - in fact what I consider my "Home" lake is home to both large and smallmouth bass, some which get double digit size.
A "big" bass up this way is 3-5lbs, with average fish being half pounders to pounders. Short growing season thanks to 7 months of cool to cold weather and water temps.
I was out on Saturday with my son fishing our home lake, we managed to find a little spot to ourselves among the holiday weekend crowd. Fishing was tough, as water temps are still below 60 degrees. I had two bites all day - one on a wacky rigged Senko that I missed, and then this guy:
I had to hold him next to the kid as a yard stick. My boy is 4'4 - which would make this guy about 18-19 inches. Nicest fish of the year, and bigger than most of the bass I caught up here last year.
Caught him on a Texas rigged Bandito Bug.
I'm liking that bait so far, nice action from the appendages, certainly better action than the Berkley Havoc baits I'd been fishing as my usual creature / beaver style baits before.
I'm also getting dialed in with a new reel I recently picked up - a Shimano SLX DC. My first "digital control" reel, and with my wifey's discount thru her employer, it ran $144 vs the $190 retail. I've had it out half a dozen times now since picking it up, and so far I'm really liking it. I'd say it performs better than the old Curado 201 I had, smoother and more accurate. The thing I like most is that I'm able to throw a little lighter bait with it over other reels I've used. You can certainly backlash with the DC reels, I've picked out about a dozen now trying to figure out the settings for each lure I've tried, a couple where I thought I was going to have to cut all the line off and start over (but didn't).
A "big" bass up this way is 3-5lbs, with average fish being half pounders to pounders. Short growing season thanks to 7 months of cool to cold weather and water temps.
I was out on Saturday with my son fishing our home lake, we managed to find a little spot to ourselves among the holiday weekend crowd. Fishing was tough, as water temps are still below 60 degrees. I had two bites all day - one on a wacky rigged Senko that I missed, and then this guy:
I had to hold him next to the kid as a yard stick. My boy is 4'4 - which would make this guy about 18-19 inches. Nicest fish of the year, and bigger than most of the bass I caught up here last year.
Caught him on a Texas rigged Bandito Bug.
I'm liking that bait so far, nice action from the appendages, certainly better action than the Berkley Havoc baits I'd been fishing as my usual creature / beaver style baits before.
I'm also getting dialed in with a new reel I recently picked up - a Shimano SLX DC. My first "digital control" reel, and with my wifey's discount thru her employer, it ran $144 vs the $190 retail. I've had it out half a dozen times now since picking it up, and so far I'm really liking it. I'd say it performs better than the old Curado 201 I had, smoother and more accurate. The thing I like most is that I'm able to throw a little lighter bait with it over other reels I've used. You can certainly backlash with the DC reels, I've picked out about a dozen now trying to figure out the settings for each lure I've tried, a couple where I thought I was going to have to cut all the line off and start over (but didn't).