Fishing With Joe Thomas

[jglassguy]

Back in my hay day, I got to fish against Joe Thomas at the sept BASS tournament 1993 at white oak on the ohio river
He had just come off the road from some other tourney, I was the greenhorn , I had qualified for that weekend through weight during the year, I drew a guy from
Mississippi that was really good with the jig
...black and chartreuse with some colore small craw.
we fished against joe and even back then the crowd would all talk about him being there, his technique, where he fished etc
Well that day I got 26th and Joe got 3rd.. I only had 1 fish~
can your believe it? only 30 anglers weighed in about of 280..it rained all day both days
So anyway , back to Joe, hes a local Ohio boy and has his own bass fishing show, I doubt if any of ya ever heard of him or have seen him, he was first one out at the BASS MASTERS classic last time around, a victim '
of not using the drop shot , instead he opted for the jig
He had on his tv show some ohio pro that grew up new michigan / canada border and was throwing the drop shot
lots of smaller fish but they add up at the weighing now dont they...and joe was working the outside edge of a weed bed.
Now many know some lakes where weed beds are hard to come by, I fished one today at the pond and tried his method, only to find the more active fish were meandering on the flats, where I got several on the top water....
So, its always good to try the methods displayed on tv,
sooner or later its going to work,
My point for writing this is that almost every angler ya see is beating the banks, its those smart folks that C rig an drop rig and fish the edges are going to have fish here in the hot summer months
The bass here finally have spawned and are biting!
Ya see signs of the fanning the tail redness as well as sagging bellie (like mine) from females..enjoy it while it last eh 8)

[Rich]

Definitely enjoy it, JB. The spawn here ended 4 months ago and they are in their summer pattern now.

[jglassguy]

I will, I am still searching for a 5 pound or plus at this lake, I have got one early but thats been it, and it was on a pond

[reddscott]

Don't know joe thomas? hes my fav angler!

[jglassguy]

He's a pretty good hunter too.
I like his no nonsense approach to the show..its just like he is in person...straight to the point
and very very competitive

[profishermenkid16]

Who th' Hell is Joe who ? He died here in NY's Onieda lake last year from the same mistake. He opted to fish for the green fish by jigging the weedbeds when he should have been fishing tubes and spinnerbaits for the brown fish.Up until that point he was doing well. You have to like a guy that lives and dies by the jig. ;D P N J

[don_P]

Ya JB I know the guy you speak of ,I watch his show
he is laid back and easy going.You can tell he's not full of him self like some people . Could you amagine fishing with Charlie Moore..of the show beat Charlie Moore.He
would really really be a butt to fish with I bet.If I had to
fish with him I would slip something in his drink 8). lol
Denny

[jglassguy]

I broke my own rules yesterday PNJ and fished in super clear waters,
........a huge rattle on the back of a orange and brown jig with gene larew craw on the back, that rattle looked like to oxygen tanks for some diver lol
....... no hits tho, seemed like it was a chasin type day for those lunker lips, either the topwater bite was on, or some crankin...I'll keep tryin tho!

[profishermenkid16]

JB, I went through that today, I set in my mind to fish a jig all day, Got to the lake , launched the boat & waited for a freind who lived in the other direction. I downsized my tackle, to simplify things while I waited. Finally he showed up , we were out flipping the heavy milfoil. After 3 hours and no bite, I spottted a zara spook jr I had accidently left in the boat tied it on and about the third cast had a fish blow up on it but didn't take it. I fished it, a while longer, no takers, went back to the jig, no takers, finally I went back to the launch pulled my excess tackle back out of the car, went back to the same exact area, tied a Tiki stick on. I caught 11 bass, 2 pickerel, and a Â*big crappie from the exact area I couldn't buy a bite on my go to baits. I even got to pick on my freind about catching more pickerel than bass. I used the sweet potato pie tiki sticks and the 5 Bamboo sticks I had left from IL.Bassin I didn't know I had anymore of. ;D P N J

[jglassguy]

(doing my best Jerry Seinfeld voice) Whats the deal with the jig?

pnj before the spawn my jig did me wonders,
even 10 days ago I was tube jigging and they were taking it..
Now I throw 5/8 fall colored jig with plastic trailer,
no takers, instead of targeting
fallen timber, I have been hitting edges of weedbeds,
mainly because the timber is not reachable right now where I fish, its covered with moss.
Maybe I should go with pork, what do you recommend?
I know ya didnt' have any luck today either, but I am asking what trick is up your sleeve for next time? LOL
its probably just a matter of location, location , location~

[redneck13]

"Angler on Tour" is my favorite fishing show,and I think Joe Thomas is a heckava basser.

[profishermenkid16]

JB, If you figure it out let me know.I did catch 4 fish on the jig today, 3 bass about 1 1/2-2lbers and a 41" Musky that scaled 18 1/2 lbs.This is the first jig bite since the spawn for me.Nothing different than you are fishing, fishing the outside weed edge in 9-11 ft. of water. I really thought I had my personal record Bass when the musky took off for deeper water when I set the hook on him.I don't know what is going on, I caught 4 bass, 9 pickerel on a Rick Clunn Trickster spinnerbait, 7 Bass, 3 pickerel on senko type baits.My biggest bass was 4 lbs caught on a Yum Dinger Ozark Smoke (senko type)All in all it was a great birthday, used a vacation day and went fishing, it don't get any better than that. ;D P N J

[profishermenkid16]

JB, I reached the conclusion that we are fishing a post spawn period, apparently you live close enough to be in the same stage. I am not sure where in Ohio you are , but its not very far. I would put you about a week or two ahead of me ,The fish are actually still in a spawn stage on the bigger lakes here, but it stands to reason why we are fishing the same stage, I have been fishing the smaller lakes which is alot warmer , into the next stage,post spawn. I do not like to fish for bedded bass, I would rather they do their thing and provide better fishing in the future for me. I have a b!tch of time with post spawn, trying to fish a little deeper water than I am used to where the bigger Females go out to recooperate from the spawn phase.At least thats is what I think happens to them. Just fish hard and furious and in a week or two things will change. I did see a big Smallmouth push perch to the surface near the weedbed today as I was fishing.I did really bear down and fished the area very hard Saturated it with multiple casts to the same areas to produce what fish I got.If this keeps up much longer, I think I am going to be burn out from fishing. Regular Bass season opens this Saturday here, so I am trying to choose the tournament to get in,right now it looks like a trout/bass derby where live bait is permitted looks the best. ;D ;D P N J

[jglassguy]

PNJ ,
You are correct sir~ about a week or 2 ahead of ya..
IF ya look at the map of oHIo and find columbus and then look at the IND. map of INDY,
we live exactly in the middle of those two distances right on I-70

Almost 10 minutes from ohio/ind border on I-70

and everyone knows...ind. fisheries are better lmao
its true...14 inch minimum makes for better catches over there..
here on the ohio river yer lucky to get a handfull of 12 inche fish that just go a lb.
We have seen "boils" of schools of fish all week feeding, I have been throwing a grub in them, trying to spark a bass's interest when they see the other groups of fish feeding,,, every now and then ya nab one!
and now..back to the jig........
8)

[profishermenkid16]

JB, Guessing I would say Donnelsville. Just about every year I usually go out to Kenton for the Kenton Nationals.I actually stay in Bellefontaine. I am pretty sure I am going out there in Sept. again this year. P N J

[IL.bassin36]

Angler on Tour is an awesome show! One thing I like about it, he shows catching the little ones as well as the good ones ;D