Big summer Bass spend a lot of their time on deep structure in our northern lakes. While I love to twitch a Pop-R or walk a Zara Spook during those magical moments at dusk…fishing plastics over deep structure can score bass all day… and some real TOADS! This 6Lb 6oz Largemouth ate a 4” White Tube in 22 fow at the end of a long point.. There were moments when I doubted my 6# mono and 6’3” ML Avid were going to prove adequate!
My guest this weekend was Robert Tiner from the Austin, Texas area. He wanted to catch a big Pike but fell a little short with this 27” scrapper… One of several pike that ambushed a spinner bait pulled through the Cabbage flats…
It was time to teach Robert the fine art of “tubing”…I set him up with a Limit Creek Smoothie, Pfleuger reel filled with Mustad Pro Hi Vis 6# mono with a 7′ Flouro leader, and tied on a 4” smoke/red fleck tube. It didn’t take him long to stick his first bass…over a 14′ mid lake hump surrounded by 35-40 fow.
Now there arent many Smallmouth Bass in Texas so I worked a deep rockbar near a creek inlet to see if any Smallies may want to play…sure enough…Rob felt the Smallies were stronger fighters than the big mouths…this one put up a good scrap on the light outfit.
I really enjoyed teaching some fishing skills to this young man! Even though he has had little fishing opportunities in his childhood he still has maintained the desire to do so…and darn good at it in a short time!
Please take the time to take someone fishing!
Here are a few more Bass from a trip on Thursday with ol Yooper buddy Jim Wilcheck ( who CPRed a 12lb 4oz Eye on P-4 last March!)
Jim also tried (successfully) drop shotting a tube… 
Jim really scored well with an 1/8oz BFT jig and 4″ Cotton Candy Ringie… We put about 35 bass in the boat…all released.
Tom,
6-6 Wow! Nice report.
John
Nice fish Tom, looks like you had a real good day. Nice sized fish too!
Nice fish Tom. I especially like the photo where you are wearing the Cubs hat
Congrats Tom on some great looking fish!
Great report Tom. That 6-6 is a true northern HOSS
John, In my many years catching bass up here I have only caught a handful 6lbs or over…Acccording to DNR biologists it takes bass 15-18 years to grow past the 4 lb mark this far North (on ave). Our winters are soooo long!
That statistic is mind boggling. I wonder how much that number changes down here in Iowa, maybe 10-12 years?