What’s up Straight Up Fishing fam. Fishing has been few and far between since Thanksgiving with everything going on — the passing of Tron, Christmas, work, and just learning how to manage all of it. It’s been a mix of grief, responsibility, and the chaos that comes with the holidays.

Over the past couple of days, with some unexpected downtime and the Christmas rush finally slowing down, I took the time to turn a shadow box with some candy and a gift card into a small memorial for my brother. I truly felt his presence while putting it together.

I know without a shadow of a doubt he’s still in my ear telling me to try my hand as a co-angler in the BFLs. I hate to admit it, but this is what it finally took for me to pull the trigger and commit to it.

So BLat and anyone else in the SUF community — if you’ve got any tips, advice, or words of encouragement for a first-time BFL co, I’m all ears. Appreciate y’all more than you know. 🎣

I’ve had enough. Help me….

So this is going to be my second season fishing a local club. On most lakes I can get my limit quick just throwing my normal confidence lures. Never can get them really big ones during tournaments. My question is on game planning, should I throw my Texas rigs, wacky, shakey, spinnerbait, etc to start my morning to make my limit then start trying to cull by throwing bigger baits, or should I just take a gamble and throw big baits all day??

Howdy Brian. I agree with you that the largemouth tend to school more in the summer and winter, leaving more lakes unpopulated. I joined this school with the desire to become more consistent. I have caught bass over 10 lbs. I’ve caught 30 and 35 lb bags in a day. But I zero way more than I like. If I had to guess, I would think it’s as high as 70% of the time. I’ve tried staying in the area and trying to figure it out. I’ve also tried hitting a number of different spots in a day and making a few casts then moving to the next. I also fish where there is at least bait and some structure (usually a presence of birds) deep and shallow. Granted, I’m on a pretty tough reservoir. But I know I can do better. I am convinced I am fishing where they are not. I don’t even see many bass on forward-facing but usually tons of bait. I have all the latest electronics. Maybe I should be using side imaging and 2D more. Any suggestions?

My son and I fished together on Saturday. The temp was up and the bass were very active. We caught so many that we lost count, sometimes they were snatching the bait the second it hit the water. We were using plastic worms again and also tried a couple of plastic swim bait. They hit all the plastics! Anything slow retrieve was good to go. I’m learning more about what the bass are eating and how plentiful the food source is in this particular lake. I know that the bass can only grow based on the food source. I think I have my son hooked on fishing for bass! He might be one of my new partners!

⏰Hey SUFam! Don't forget the roundtable is 7PM Wednesday 12/31/2025 this week. The topic is 'New Years Evolution'. Be sure to be thinking about your 2026 goals. We're going to record these and revisit them at the end of the year! See you all soon!

One of the highlight catches from 2025.

- I was honestly dejected. I only had 10lbs the first day and day 2 was SUCKING. I got 1 bite and my whole season changed in about 15 secs.

$8,000 fish right here.

If you’re new to the app make sure you join our private FB group. Use the link below.

- https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1DMNGjoD1z/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Merry Christmas SUF Family! Sorry I’m late I’ve been sick unfortunately. Hope everyone has had a great Christmas!

Here’s the slide show from the live class from today. The full class will be up inside the app in about 30 mins.