November 2023 Fishing Adventures and Thoughts

 

LONG POST ALERT (I cover the month)

November 2023 has been a very busy fishing time for us. I will cover my notes for several days in several areas for the month.

The Glades Nov '23

As you can see in the photo above we had some success out in the Florida Everglades again with the Peacock Bass. I can't tell you enough how much fun it is to get one of these fish on your line. All I can tell you is "HOLD ON" because you are in for a fight!

Tuesday Nov. 21-

We headed out on a dear friend's boat...Captain Brett Isackson. He has been a fishing guide in South Florida for over 30 years. If you ever want to learn how to fish for all the specicies down in Florida, he is your guy.  Look him up!  Here he is on Fishing.TV. Good news is we caught a ton of Peas on this day.  Lil' Shaka and I caught several specifes of fish, but even more important got to catch up with our old friend Brett. It is a tradition in our family to fish for the Peas with him.

Here is a quick pick of Lil' Shaka catching a Largie out on Brett's boat. The other thing that is great is to see Brett's face every year as my dude keep growing! He has fishing with him for the last 3-4 years and has seen the transformation. The other thing we have in the back of our minds is a trip to Lake Okeechobee or Head Waters. We will make that trip with Brett at some point. The fish really wanted the jerkbaits while we were on the boat!

Wednesday Nov. 22-

We continued our pursuit of the Peacock Bass the next day, but from the banks in the Everglades. We have some spots that we like. I was actually able to pull out a plastic work and get bit! A good ol' trusty Zoom worm did the trick. But, that was the only plastic bite that I got on this day.

I think I caught 2-3 Largies on this day, but nothing super big. We both caught several Peacocks on this day. I will give Lil' Shaka a ton of credit as he stayed on the jerkbaits the entire time we were down there. As you can see here, he caught a very nice Pea on this day! I looked over and saw him fighting it to the bank and of course I got excited to run over and help him. I smacked my knee into the metal barrier that I was trying to jump over. LOL, Ouch, felt like a helmet to the knee from the old days.

Friday Nov. 24-

This was the final fishing day for Lil' Shaka and me during our trip. Again more of the same success! We both caught several Peacocks by staying on the jerkbaits the entire time. I ofcourse tried several plastic baits but the fish weren't have it! He kept saying Papa why do you even try plastics right now? Ha Ha. Anyways, as you can see we had a lot of fun from the banks of the Glades!

 

Neighborhood Pond Nov '23

Tuesday Oct. 31 and Friday Nov. 3-

I know this is a November post, but this was the last day in October. The fall transition was absolutely in full effect. I caught a bunch of bass in the pond using a Bitsy Bug in the orange and brown color 3/16 oz. I actually had a lot of luck with this lure in 2023 as you can see from earlier posts from the summer. I use a Zoom Speed Craw for the trailer. I caught 7 of these bass in about an hour after work. This is definitely a fun bite and speaks to the confidence I have with this lure.

Friday Nov 3 the pattern was still around. The bass were still biting on my jig set up. The weather on these days continued to get warm during the day and of course cold at night. Perfect fall transition type of weather. The fish were definitely more finicky during this time. They "want what they want" and only that...so you have to figure out the pattern during this fall transition period.

Sunday Nov. 5-

I changed it up to a Mepps inline spinner because the bass where NOT having the Jig set up anymore. I was able NOT to get skunked by catching this one on the Mepps spinner. That is how it goes...the pattern changes during this time of year and you need to figure something out to catch a fish. I think I even tried a dropshot minnow as that was producing earlier in the year, but no dice. The weather was beautiful, but I can tell you the fishing was slow! I think I only caught one or two bass on this day.

Saturday Nov. 11, Sunday Nov. 12, Friday Nov. 17-

Both of these days were colder weather. The water was definitely colder on both of these days. The pattern had again changed up!

On these two days, the pattern was really a black and blue zoom brush hog, and also flukes! While writing this, or documenting this...I do this so I can definitely get ideas when looking back to get ideas of the day that will happen in the present and future. Then, take a look at the pictures below, and see that on Friday (Nov. 17) of that week the black and blue brush hog from Zoom really did work well! So again, the pattern definitely changed again, and I was able to improvised in order to truly catch some fish out of the pond.

The Canal Nov '23

Saturday Nov. 4-

I went to a body of water next to my parent's residence (in the neighborhood) that I dub "The Canal" because it reminds Lil' Shaka and me of the Florida Everglade Canals. Like clockwork because of the cold temperature outside, I was catching a ton of bluegill and also crappie. Mepps inline spinner was getting it done! I tried some plastic tactics for bass, but did not catch any bass on this particular outing. All I can tell you is this little "Canal" is a honey hole for multiple species and a lot of fun to fish. I am glad I discovered this place, and look forward to fishing it for years to come.

Maramec Nov '23

Friday Nov. 10-

You see a picture above and you understand real quick that we made some great memories. The Maramec in Missouri is a river that is magical. In the winter time, it is catch and release only on trout. There are not that many people who fish the Maramec during this time, just people who fish for the the thrill. Check out this beautiful Brown trout that Lil' Shaka caught! In true form, he was using his favorite lure, the jerkbait.

It was perfect conditions out at the Maramec. You could see clear down to the bottom of the river. We had some "deer" friends come by and say hello while we were fishing. And, I mean they literally came within five feet of us while we were fishing! It is so calm at the Maramec and so quiet during these times. Again the conditions were ideal as the water was low enough in the river that we could walk to almost any spot in the river we wanted to explore. When there is a ton of rain and the river levels are up and "roaring" then it becomes difficult to fish in the right spots. Also, the water becomes cloudy and the fish cannot see as easy. We still catch fish during these times, but it isn't the same as when we have the conditions we had on this day.

We caught several Browns on this day mostly on jerkbaits. I did start out the day catching a Brown and several smallmouth bass on the good 'ol trusty Mepps inline spinner. I didn't take any photos of the smallies because they weren't really big enough to be photo worthy. They were little dinks.

As you can see November 2023 has been a VERY FUN fishing month for us. It has been one of the best fishing months we've ever had, and I am glad I was able to document the experience. I hope you enjoyed this post, and I wish you luck on the water! Cheers and tight lines to all of you that are in the angling pursuit.

Fall Bass Patterns in October 2023

 

I have not been able to write anything in a few weeks. I have been too busy at work and too busy trying to exploit these green fish during the fall. No time to write! But, on this Sunday I am at the kitchen table going through my thoughts on the latest bass fishing excursions. 

Sat Oct 7th (The Donkey Rig)-

The picture above was from a Saturday excursion to a local public lake I like to hit often. This lake is notorious for having tons of grass mats and algae blooms that take over the lake during the summer. The lake is also not very deep (probably 3-4 feet deep at the most). I tried a new tactic called the Donkey Rig. I have played around with this tactic in the past, but I don't think I truly had it rigged up correctly. This time, I watched a few anglers talk through the Donkey Rig. Check out Tactical Bassin to get a better understanding on how to set up the Donkey Rig. 

Here are the biggest keys to successfully rigging the Donkey Rig:

-use a smaller fluke and hook for the top bait

-use a larger fluke and hook for the bottom bait

-use two separate swivels, and make sure the top bait swivel freely moves on your main line.

Bam! As you can see the Donkey Rig was working! I caught 5 on this day with this rig. I had one bass hit the bottom larger fluke but then after that it seemed like the bass were mostly hitting he top smaller fluke. What a way to fish! It was exciting to learn a new technique and get the bass to bite on it.

Bass Pattern Changes-

I am going to jump back a few days...

Oct 1 I wrote about how the Blue Rage Craw really got it done in the neighborhood pond. But on Oct 3, the bass were chasing the baitfish. I could see some boils that would move around the pond. On this day they didn't want the Blue Rage Craw and were hitting the drop shot rig as you see in this picture below. I was trying to mimic out the balls of baitfish they were chasing, and I had a lot of luck mimicking this pattern. I caught 6 bass on this day.

A couple days later on Oct 6, I went back to the pond after work and the conditions were completely different. It was more cloudy, and maybe a bit windy. On this day which was a Friday after work I noticed the bass were really chasing baitfish balls even more than the last time I was out at the neighborhood pond. The most luck I had was with a single Houdini pattern Super Fluke in a Mojo Rig or Carolina Rig configuration. I just use a splitshot weight about 12-14 inches above the hook. I would cast it into the bait balls or boils that I was seeing and the bass were hammering the fluke. Here is one of me setting the hook!

I definitely caught some nice ones on this day with the trusy Super Fluke. The success on this day was really just paying attention to what the pond was telling me visibly. I could have easily missed the fact that that there were "boils" if I had not paid much attention and did not look around while I was casting and retrieving. I think I managed to catch another 5-6 bass on this day.

Okay now I am going to go all the way back to Oct 8, which was a Sunday. I went to my parent's neighorhood pond that Lil' Shaka and I call "The Canal", because it looks a lot like the canals that we fish in South Florida. The weather was 60s, low 70s for temperature. The water was definitely colder. The crappie were hitting my little ultra light rig with an inline Mepps spinner.

In my experience, when the water gets colder the crappie start to get activated, and this was what happened right away on this day. I also noticed that the big bass in this pond were still chasing minnows on the bank. I was actually witnessing BIG BLOW UPS on the banks. So, I was able to exploit that a bit by catching two really nice 2-3 pounders with my Donkey Rig or Double Fluke Rig that I have been talking about in this post. I was trying to cast the rig into the boils or blow ups across the canal to the bank. I caught two big ones doing this and they were hitting the bottom, larger, heavier fluke.

As you see in the above photo these bass are very healthy in the canal pond. They are a secret 😉 so don't tell anybody. The canal has been a great addition to my normal fishing spots. Definitely getting a lot of production and enjoyment out of fishing this one. AND, I get to visit mom and dad afterwards.

Okay, finally I was fast forward one more time to Oct 10 and Oct 13 back at the normal neighborhood pond. All I can say is the bass patterns have changed again! Now that it is even cooler outside...we are sitting right now around air temps that are 55-65 tops, it has now dropped the water temperature even more. Now the bass are NOT biting on dropshots or flukes...I was having more luck on the Bass Jigs!

This is a pattern I am definitely comfortable with. The jigs are absolutely deadly when the water temps get cold in mid to late fall. I am going to continue to try and exploit the bass with the Jigs for the coming weeks. Here is a funny video from Gerald Swindle if you need to laugh and get inspired with the trusty bass jigs.

Tight lines to all of you.

October Bass Pattern with the Rage Craw

 

I had a feeling yesterday. I have been documenting my fishing excursions for a few years now. Looking back at previous seasons, the creature baits can become very productive during the late summer and into the early fall. Yesterday was no exception to that thought. I noticed that the bass were aggressively attacking the banks for the green sunfish or bluegill minnows (after they spawned in this pond about a month ago now). The last two times I had been to this pond, I was able to catch bass, but they weren't aggressive. It seemed like they were feeding on these minnows and nothing else!

Logic says that I should have pulled out a dropshot and mimicked the minnows. In fact, I was able to catch a few bass on the dropshot in the last few weeks but it wasn't anything to write home to mom about. Instead I pulled out the Rage Craw by Strike King in the Blue Craw color and I found the pattern for the day! 

I caught several bass on the day who wanted that Rage Craw SMOKE! I also think the four inch Rage Craw is a bit bigger than the Speed Craw by Zoom and might be a better presentation for the bigger bass during this time of year. Just my thoughts right now. My configuration was all Texas Rig on this day. There really isn't a better bite when the bass are aggressively eating the craws...they suck it in and don't let go, so you can rip some lips. I even missed setting the hook on one of them, and it came back and bit it again before I reeled into the bank. What a fun outing, that's all for now. Happy Fishing To You!

September 2023 Day was Fire For The Bass

 

The fishing was FIRE just two days ago after work. As you can see I was pulling them out left and right. These are all different fish I caught and photographed before releasing back. None of the bass were that big, but it was still fun to catch them! We've hit that transition time in the year. It is still summer, but the nights have been colder. I am thinking the water temps are a bit lower too. The BIG WORM BITE is gone, as I keep trying without any takers. The inline spinners are getting it done right now in the neighborhood pond. The bass are definitely on the chase. The bass also bit a on a jig with a Speed Craw trailer. I then moved to a texas-rigged Speed Craw by itself and got more bites just by dragging the bottom. 

I like this time of year because it is still hot and sunny outside but the air is becoming crispy and dry. The bass aren't as easy to catch this time of year either, so it becomes a great opportunity to figure out the pattern and have a record day! Although, it is not every day that I actually figure out the pattern, but on this day...IT DID! 

Tight Lines to all of you!

Early September 2023 Fishing Thoughts

 

I am a researcher at heart. I get inspired by seeing how others do it. I scour the internet just like everybody else. An angler I have always liked is the "GMAN", Gerald Swindle. He a pro bass fisherman who has won 26 Bassmaster tournaments, including the 2000 Bassmaster Classic. He is a member of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame and is considered one of the greatest bass anglers of all time. The thing about Gerald is that he is probably more popular not for his fishing, but for his ability to speak on fishing. He has a lot of charisma and can tell a story in a way that resonates with anglers. Here is one of the latest videos GMAN Late Summer Bass Tactics I checked into that gave me some ideas for my latest fishing excursion. A lot of what he said in that video played out very well for me.

I caught 9 total bass on this day. Above are a few shots. I like to take shots of all my fish catches before I release them back. Kind of like the Predator recording his trophies...difference is I throw them back Ha Ha! Here are some thoughts on why I had success, based on GMAN's video:

-Late summer means bass have seen every lure. Change it up, don't let them get a good look at the bait..."Churn and Burn Mentality"...try throwing something moving, and more try bringing it back faster than you normally do...Well, this worked out very well. Inline spinnner was working very well when I brought it back at a faster pace. This is something I would never have thought of before.

-Put down the Big Worm. You can get bit on it still, but bass can be lethargic for something like the worm at this time in the year. Well, that is my GO TO! So this is not easy to do for me. I can have the tendancy to be that guy who would stick with what he knows, and cast and cast and cast without a bite. I am not saying I did not try a worm but I can tell you I definitely did not get bit this time 😁

-When in doubt, fish the JIG. GMAN is known for his ability to catch fish year around with Jigs. I threw on a jig with a speed craw trailer. Color combo is a bit different. More of an orange brown jig with a dark red speed craw combo. I was able to catch a few on this setup and focused on bringing it back it bit faster than I normally would do.

So, I know I will never be a pro bass fisherman like the GMAN any time soon, but it is DAMN FUN implementing a plan and having success! Who knows maybe I win a win a Bassmaster tournament one day, or at least finish in the top five in a local kids fishing tournament 😆

Tight Lines To All Of You!