Leaderboard

The weather up here in New Jersey has been pretty inconsistent but a string of a few warm days has turned the bite on. I’ve only been able to catch them on jigs and t-rigged senkos worked really slowly the last couple weeks. Today was no different. Really windy day and I was not expecting to do well. Barely felt her bite. I think the light tackle helped me out in today’s conditions. Landed about 10-12 fish, and was lucky to get some pictures of this girl before my phone died. No scale or tape measure, but I’m guessing she was approaching 4 lbs.

Finally! Warming trend, at long last + free afternoon = first bass of the year! 2 hours on the riverbank, 10 fish total, some brown, some green...biggest one (bottom pic) went 2.34lb: All damage done with 3.5" cane thumpers and 4" swing impacts

Hi All, Finally got to take the new boat out for the maiden voyage so I thought I'd share my experience/ review on the boat/ fish finders/ trolling motor. Boat-- Lund Fury XL Sport--It's a small boat, 16+FT. But that being said it feels bigger and very roomy . Fit and finish are great, just what you'd expect from a Lund. Storage is ample and well thought out. Rod locker holds 6 rods up to 8 ft. there's plenty of room for me and my wife to stretch out and not feel cramped. The casting deck is small, but as I will be sitting it's plenty big enough. I can swivel my seat all the way around and not hit anything. Going through the water it feels " solid" and not at all "Tippy". With a 50 Merc it will top out at around 30 mph and slices through waves very smoothly. With all the breaking in and running around we did it took less than 2 gal. of gas to top off the tank when we were done. All in all we are very happy with our choice. Fish finders--Garmin echomap 73 chirp-- My old boat had a helix 5. These are only 2" larger but seem twice as big. Very easy controls and a super clear screen. Out of the box I was amazed at the side scan. Amazing detail of the bottom. Very happy with these. Trolling motor-- Min Kota ultera 60" shaft, 80 lb of thrust-- This is where I had a couple of issues. The first time I tried to deploy it, nothing happened. Tried the foot control and remote, nothing. Unplugged and replugged in everything, nothing. Read the manual and tried again, nothing. I was dialing Min kota and tapping the foot control when it finally decided to deploy. After that it seemed to be fine. I ran it through a bunch of stuff and it all seemed to work. However twice later in the day while using spot lock it just shut off. I called Min kota when we got home and they told me some things to try the next time we go out to isolate what the issue might be. Other than the issues I love it. My back wasn't sore at the end of the day, and I see us being able to really cover more water. My only critique would be shaft length. 60" is a little long for our boat but 45" would be a little short. If they offered something in the middle it would be nice. With everything else going on we did very little fishing, and didn't catch anything, but I didn't mind. Next trip will be will be all about fishing and checking out the trolling motor. Here's a few pics. Thanks for looking Jim

23" at 5.2lbs The picture doesn't do it justice, this fishes mouth was enormous! Got this one on a shaky head. Seemed like most Bass were on beds up shallow and I can't be sure but this one came out of about 7 fow. No real signs that it was a bed fish, but it wasn't fat and fed like some of the smaller fish I caught out on timber in deeper water. It didn't have the shape of a big spawned-out female. Kinda thinking this was a BIG male bass and was guarding a bed that I couldn't see. I cast into a spot between two trees and when the lure hit the bottom it thumped and line started moving. Set the hook and it had carried it off under a branch. After a VERY tense 5 seconds of feeling flouro strain across tree trunk the fish shot straight for the surface and went 3 feet in the air. Back in the water, then it ran around and drug the line across another tree and jumped and tail walked into the net. All of this happened with 10 feet of line out. Good thing it was 17lb P-Line. Really impressed with the VMC hook! Hooked it well in the fat part of the lip and didn't bend at all. Caught a handful of other 2-3 pound fish through the weekend, and also landed a nice 4lb honey dragging a lizard through her bed. Water was murky and the wind had it choppy so beds were hard to spot, but when we found cleaner and calmer water back in some of the coves we could pick a few bass off beds if they were willing to hit the lure.

Did my first Kayak Bass Fishing tournament this passed weekend at Lake Berryessa. I placed 49th out of 138, I just couldn't get rid of my little guy! Oh well, it was a great experience and won't be my last. Here is my best from tournament day. She smacked this itsy bug swimming over vegetation!

Found the smallies this weekend beating the bank. Landed 9 fish, with 4 fish over 3lbs, biggest at 3.57. Another was very long but skinny, wish I had gotten a measurement (over 20" if I had to guess). Got a couple on a keitech + jig head and then switched to a jerkbait and it was on. Next day, same spot, very similar conditions, same tactics and not a bite....go figure. Oh well, was nice to be out in this great weather.

Sit back and soak up these tips from the top pros.

Was able to get an hours worth of fishing in a few days ago, this guy was a fun little catch! Nice way to break in the new set up ? While I’m at it I’ll throw in another one I caught on my first outing of the season. Chunky little guy came off a fallen limb up shallow.

Pickwick treated me really well this week, I caught lots of big fish and had a blast! My fishing partner and I competed in the BASS College Series Southern Tour event on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. There was a field of 266 boats from schools all across the country, many traveling even farther than we did from WVU. Fluctuating water levels were a big factor this week. On Sunday, the lake rose 3 to 4 feet from heavy rains, and the current was RIPPING! We didn't start practice 'til Monday, so we never saw the lake before it rose. This definitely helped us out in my opinion. Many teams found fish over the weekend and then the water levels changed everything. There were two main approaches taken by anglers at this tournament, largemouth fishing in the lower portions of the lake, or smallmouth fishing at the base of Wilson Dam in an area named "The Horseshoe". The horseshoe is notorious for producing incredible numbers of giant smallmouth, many teams who fished there would only end up with 4 fish, but still have 14-16lbs! I decided to not go near that area of the lake, I don't like fishing community holes and it was the craziest one I have ever seen. 50+ boats there fishing each day. The even crazier part is how 20lb+ bags were caught there each day despite all of the fishing pressure and boat traffic. All of the locals seemed to agree that 99% of the smallmouth in Pickwick are at the dam this time of year, but I found that hard to believe. My partner and I spent a good bit of time fishing rocky current breaks on the main river, and while there weren't many, we found some BIG ones! My friends who live down there didn't believe us when we told them our smallmouth weren't coming from the dam. I think we found 4 smallmouth spots on the main river during practice. Three of them produced fish during the event! The go-to bait for smallmouth this week was 'ol uncle ned. It's incredible how effective that darn thing is. We used a ZMAN 1/6oz weedless shroom head and a TRD. We spent most of our time this week flipping for largemouth. There was an abundance of flooded bushes, and with it being this time of year with 60 degree water temps, there is absolutely no reason for the fish not to be in them, so we worked hard until we found some and figured it out. As the water dropped, the flipping bite got better. Fish would pull out to the deepest piece of cover, and you could almost call your shots. The main way I caught fish was to find a laydown or bush with current pushing on it. This would pile up sticks and debris, creating what we call "trash mats". I was flipping (okay TECHNICALLY I was pitching @Catt) a d-bomb with a 1/2oz tungsten weight on 20lb fluorocarbon, and it was deadly. The key was to drop the bait in the middle of whatever your target was, there were tons of boats around but they were throwing moving baits around the edges and making pitches to the edges of the cover. I'm sure that worked too, but I wanted to target fish that no one else was bothering. Our main dilemma on tournament day was to figure out how much time to devote to smallmouth, and how much time to devote to largemouth. We decided to hit our smallmouth stuff early, then go flip once the sun got up. Day one produced a 4lb smallmouth in the first 10 minutes, it was actually the same fish I had caught in practice, it was on the same current break in about 15FOW. We spent a good bit of time looking for another one but it just didn't happen, so we put down the spinning rods and picked up the big sticks. I caught about 30 fish flipping the bushes on day one, more than I wanted to, but I never got a kicker bite, and had to make up for it via culling by ounces all day. 17lbs 10oz on day one put us in 22nd place, I knew I made the right call by catching so many of them, you just have to bring your a-game on the Tennessee River. I also knew that with our area being so close to the main river, and it being time of year for the bass to do their thing, the area would probably reload overnight. Day two did not start with a big smallmouth, there was a boat sitting where we planned to go, so we started early on largemouth. I put a limit together quickly but it wasn't very heavy. Luckily I caught about a 6lb largemouth at 10am, the kicker bite we had hoped for on day 1. I made a few more upgrades while largemouth fishing, then we headed to our smallmouth spot. My partner caught a big smallmouth as soon as we pulled up on our spot, it was the only bite we got there, but it was the right one! We then went back to largemouth fishing for the remainder of the day, and ended up with all quality fish besides one that was around 2&3/4 that we wanted to get rid of. With 15 minutes of fishing left, we headed to a spot that never produced a big smallmouth, but had the potential, and I cracked a very nice one to trade for that largemouth. Day 2 was definitely our best day decision-wise, we made the right calls at the right times and the bites happened when we needed them to, it was a perfect day! Our 5 fish limit weighed in at 21lbs, 2oz, jumping us from 22nd place all the way to third! Going into the final day, we knew we needed to catch 20lbs in order to win, nothing less. Once again we started on our smallmouth spot. We always caught some spotted bass while smallmouth fishing, but they are Kentucky strain fish, so most of them aren't very big, and they aren't worth targeting in a tournament where 20lbs is a strong possibility. To our surprise, we popped 3 very nice spotted bass in the first 30 minutes, all of them very close to the 3lb mark! Within the next 10 minutes, I caught a 3lb meanmouth, and my partner got a largemouth that was barely over the 15" size limit. At 6:51am we had 5 fish with plenty of time to go upgrade... Well the day didn't go as planned, at all! The water had been dropping every day, and had finally gotten so low that there was no longer any brush in the water to flip to, the fish were swimming around in the sloughs in 2FOW that used to be 5-6FOW, and they were extremely skittish (probably because I had already caught most of them!). There was also a large high school event, and a BFL taking place on the lake. Couple that with it being Pickwick on a Saturday in April, and you have a LOT of boats on the lake. You really couldn't try to go fish a new pattern because there were boats sitting on everything. We hit our smallmouth spots HARD, hoping for one or two big bites, but it just never happened. I did a good bit of flipping too, but everything I caught was tiny. I finally got rid of our small largemouth in the last 15 minutes with a largemouth that was a little bit bigger. We had 14lbs, 9oz on the final day. I figured we would get bumped down several places, but the conditions were tough on everyone. The guys higher up the leaderboard had a tough time, but the guys lower in the standings almost all had a great day, one of them bringing in 21-11! I would bet money that the guys in the top had fish leaving them, and the other guys had fish come to them, no idea what the circumstances were but it was easy to see that the fishing had drastically changed compared to the first two days. We finished in 2nd place, brought home some hardware, new rods, some money, and some good publicity for the team and our sponsors. I am extremely blessed to get to do this, and it really is the coolest thing in the world to me. Thanks to everyone on BR for the support and just paying attention, there aren't a lot of people who understand what any of this stuff is, so I gotta talk to you guys about it!

FG knot is good! There's a lot of good leader knots out there. Blood, FG, and the RP (royal polaris) are popular. Try em and see which ones you like the best. I'm a RP knot kinda guy personally. Oh another note.. she's home! Let the rigging begin.

Nothing special besides the four hours I devoted to this fish in the morning slinging the Booyah Bankroll Jig in Money once again. I got her to look at the YUM Craw Chunk in Craw quite a few times, but she never committed. Returned that afternoon and slapped on a Christie Craw in Watermelon Red Flake and she hammered it on the first cast. Picky girl.

The topwater frog bite was on today in Virginia! Missed one bigger than this but this 7.5 pounder hit it as soon as the frog landed. Awesome fight! Overcast and no wind = topwater heaven. Tight lines!!!

Sorry for the bad camera quality. My phone get semi wet and for my cousin photo bombing me.These were my best two. We caught a bunch of others but they were 1 to 2 pound males. It seemed like the farther I threw my craw the better the fish was. I was bank fishing and was throwing to some log pilings.Any body else catching decent bed fish?

Good morning folks, I just wanted to post a big thank you to the BassResource community and webpage. In 2017, if you would have asked me how to catch a bass, I would have had no idea. In need of a new hobby, I thought I would try bass fishing as I loved fishing as a kid. I've spent countless hours watching videos, reading articles, and failing to catch a fish at all. I'm certainly no pro these days, but it's a lot different now. Now I'm making better decisions about fishing location and baits, and having a LOT more luck. Just yesterday I made a quick lunchtime trip to the creek near my house, and in 30 minutes I spotted a few beds and landed 3 good sized LMB! All on TX Rigged Senkos, something I was really struggling with. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all and the BR admins in helping a lost cause fisherman start to become more successful. My next goal is to get my wife, who already likes to fish, into the wonderful sport of bass fishing. Thanks Folks!!! Respectfully, Tim Cox

Yes, usually in a couple weeks, not a long time. It's mainly temperature dependent, fish being cold blooded. I've had some of my larger cichlids get tears from territorial/spawning disputes in my aquariums get similar injuries, or worse sometimes. In the warm water, two to three weeks, and they're healed. If it's really bad, the part of the premaxillary process is really damaged (sliding parts behind the lips) It will heal, but not correctly. Little holes in the flesh part are no problem. You really have to be ignorant, or do a number on them to leave permanent damage.

Like the report of a man eating chicken.....turned out to be this......

I had a rod break in multiple places. I snapped the top of a rod off when a door closed on it. The other break happened as I was so ticked at what had happened I snapped the rest of the rod over my knee.

Y'all ever notice the similarities between bass fishing & deer hunting? When looking for deer I aint looking to see the whole deer! You'll hear, "that buck just suddenly appeared in that clearing!" Oh yeah! He was there the whole time! Many anglers look for bass only during spawn, they are there all year. I fish shallow water marshes (2-4') that are crystal clear. You can see bass, cast passed them, & catch em. Like @WRB mentioned look for movement, many times you'll see reeds, pads, or brush move when there's no wind or current. Glasses, I prefer a medium dark amber lens for color contrast. Hats? I always got a hat on ?

I live in first city south of Austin (It’s in Hays County, not Travis County, has about 15,000 people, so it’s less expensive and has a Cabelas in town). There are 15 to 17 lakes within 2 hours. Plus you can get to all the major famous lakes in east, north, or south Texas in about 5 hours or so. It is really centrally located for fishing. I moved here from Murray, UT almost 14 years ago. Let me know if you need more information. Housing, business, schools, etc. I’d be happy to help. Plus, I’ll introduce you to the best fishing spots.

New reel arrives tomorrow! BTW I should mention that this order and exchange was all through TW. They made it really easy, and they are handling the warranty side of things. Shameless plug, but happy to give them high praise as well as my hard earned $$$.

Correct, sort of. What happens is muskie either eat the small bass in the area, or they displace bass's typical territory. They rid the lake of over populated panfish, and allow for greater biomass, which means bigger bass. Often what happens when things on a lake change, the typical 90 percenter anglers keep doing what they've been doing, and don't adapt. If you're catching muskie, then move. Plain and simple. The game changed and you have to change your strategy. I fish a couple tiger muskie lakes up here, and the bass are stupid big. So are the tigers. I'll use Conesus lake as an example. There is at least one tournament per day, usually a couple of evening tournaments, and several on the weekends. It's 20 lbs. to even be considered "in the money." Most other lakes, 14-15 will win it. Tiger muskies didn't ruin a thing. My suggestion to the OP is to do some map study, and try something different.

A pack of Keitech's is cheaper than a 6 pack of IPA's that I could be drinking while sitting on the couch. Worth it.

Sounds like the state of Nebraska is doing the right thing for those who enjoy catching muskies and those who want to catch a sportfish over 10 pounds on a regular basis. I enjoy bass fishing but would much rather catch another muskie over 40" than catch another bass over 8 pounds.

Bass prefer newer baits. It's a scientific fact. At least that's what I tell myself to justify all my spending.

I would put up fliers. Pray he didn't get hit by a car. Have you checked the animal shelter?

Nowhere really special or out of the way - hit up Stroud's Run State Park which houses Dow Lake. We got there around 2:00pm or a little after. Sun was out and a few clouds were available. As you can see, the water was extremely stained from all the rain we've had recently. You can also see my brother in the yellow hoodie - it was breezy but not unbearably cold. I was in shorts and a t-shirt though I brought a jacket just in case. We stayed for a little over an hour (Penguins were playing the Flyers at 3:30 and we wanted to see part of the game - lake is about an hour from home) and I managed to land a "Sampson Bass". I didn't even know it was on until I started reeling in and I saw the line moving horizontally. As you can see, it's a tiny little bass. Hence it's a "Sampson Bass". That's about the only size we ever catch, if we catch anything. My brother didn't get a nibble. Caught it using a 1/10oz Ned Rig jig head and a 3" TRD in green/black as you can see. Also, as PROOF to you strangers in the south as to why I revile it there, it was 65 degrees and gorgeous out, we were out for barely over an hour and this happened. The tops of my forearms are ALREADY GETTING SUNBURNED. I freaking haaaaaaaaaaaate the sun. But, just before we left, I had to snap a pic of the Jeep.

Yes, I see what you mean, Tom. If you get just a bit outside of Austin, certainly to its east or west, it becomes rural very quickly with some of the most beautiful countryside in the USA. The Hill Country area is generally studded with trees and seasonal wildflowers, just beautiful. Austin is highly regarded, the city with its music, restaurants and, usually cities with big dominant universities have a special "vibe" to them. D/FW is all grown together now with cities/development all in between the two major cities . . . pushing up now to its north and I suppose will one day soon bump into the Oklahoma border. It will generally be east Texas where one can access countless high-quality bass lakes and these are very accessible from either the Austin area of Dallas/Fort Worth. An angler could move here and spend years visiting different lakes and likely not cover them all. Brad

I fish the MS Slammer on a Dobyn's Fury 795 and 20lb P Line.

good job. to me, that is the most hated fish to land.. This was on Monday @ my neighborhood pond ultralite tackle, before I had to meet my roof guy...

MEND-IT invest in a bottle Except for tail bite offs mend-it will save those keitechs over and over 10+ fish per keitech easily done. Using the little ones once I catch 2-3 and notice some tearing off it comes set aside to treat it later to use again.

I will avoid being political but just say dicks is not winning any new customers in the news.

You're probably right ~ But despite have no 'official' bearing, you can bet there will be plenty of 'A-Jay' documenting going on all over the place ! A-Jay

My boat is out and ready to go. Probably after work sometime this week I'll drop it in and fart around

Yea before you know it you'll have 3 tackle boxes and two totes.. 10 rods and 3 water crafts.. then the question will be ... How did I get all this stuff .. and what do I need ? All of it. You need all of it.

My absolute favorite piece of structure for finding larger than average bass would have to be an intersection. Intersection Defined: Spots where two creeks intersect or where a feeder creek intersects with the main river. Intersecting Logic: Around the ”Y” created by the intersection are found multiple forms of structure such as channels, points, ridges, ledges, sharp drop-offs, slow tapering drop-offs, and humps all in one location. The Best Intersections: Depths of 12-18' inside the ”Y” is my #1 attractant but this depth on all three sides along with timber and/or grass would be the prime example of a Honey Hole. Fishing at the “Y”: With my boat positioned inside the “Y” (usually anchored) and casting from shallow to deep with Texas Rigs, Carolina Rigs, Swim Baits & Jig-N-Craws I'll find the bigger bass. In winter months fish these areas with Jigging Baits or Drop Shots in 20 to 30' of water.

When fishing in Lake of the Woods, Ontario Canada, a lake with both big pike and musky, no hybrid Tiger musky that I knew of, the LMB owned the inside weed edges. Walleyes, pike, musky worked the outside weed edges and the Smallmouth were on the reefs. The fish coexisted but had there preferred territory. If you hooked a walleye and a big pike or musky was nearby they often grabbed it sideways like a dog bone. To say they musky don't eat other game fish isn't true at Lake of the Woods! My point is the LMB bass learned to relocate where they were able to dominate, the inside weed beds, their shape allows quick turns needed to capture prey. Tom

Fake News? I found a dead 41 inch musky with a 13 inch bass lodged in its mouth so I figure he took one for the team... Thought this was Bass Resource not Musky Fan club?....

"State of Nebraska for the last 8-9 years have been introducing Tiger Muskie into all my local Bass lakes and I could not be more upset....they are eating everything and are now over 40 inches long and will hit most Bass lures and baits...and now the Bass are trying to get in their beds and do what they do and here come the Muskie in the shallows having a full on Buffet.... I love fishing but turning Nebraska Bass lakes into Minnesota/Canada Muskie lakes is just wrong." Fake News...Musky do not have the ability to eat everything in the lake, plus bass (and walleye) are not their top menu choice. As was mentioned above by JFrancho, Musky being the top predator in the lake can take top billing on prime ambush spots where the bass used to reside. Now the bass have relocated and you need to now find them. In addition, catching musky is just plain fun, so enjoy that occasional 40" Tiger and enjoy the challenge of finding where the bass have gone, because they certainly won't be in the bellies of those musky's like you think.

A 5 lb. squirrel actually sounds a bit frightening.

Reminds me of a local gag sign someone posted around town where I live...

Cover is just one reason I use braid for frogs. Perhaps the bigger reason, for me, is that it doesn't stretch. When I first tried frogs, I used line other than braid and it was nothing but frustration. I clearly remember that morning....more than a dozen impressive blow-ups and ZERO hook-ups.

No enthusiast gear here but I like it! Bottom to top: Kistler KLX Feel N Reel, Shimano Chronarch CI4 Kistler Helium, Daiwa Zillion TWS Kistler Helium, Shimano Curado I Kistler Magnesium, Shimano Curado K Kistler Helium 3, Daiwa Tatula SV St. Croix Legend Xtreme, Team Daiwa Zillion St Croix Legend Xtreme, Abu Garcia Revo Premier Gen 3 St. Croix Avid X, Shimano Chronarch E7 St. Croix Rage, Daiwa SS SV Shimano Zodias, Shimano Chronarch CI4 Shimmano Zodias, Daiwa Tatula SV Dobyns Champ Glass, Daiwa Zillion TWS Phenix Glass, Shimano Curado I Abu Ike Series Crank, Shimano Curado E5 Not Shown: Kistler KLX, Shimano Curado E7 Kistler Helium 3 Spin, TBD St Croix Legend Tournament Spin, Shimano Stradic FK St Croix Avid X Spin, Shimano Stradic CI4 Shimano Crucial Drop Shot, Shimano Stradic FE

If you have ever tried riding a 10 speed bicycle uphill in high gear you know IPT factors into leverage. A deep diving crankbait is like peddling up hill due to it's water resistance preventing the lure moving foreward, shift down to a lower gear and your leverage increases significantly. Lower IPT is the same as shifting to a lower gear ratio, but you must crank faster to maintain foreward speed. I can retrieve a DD-22 using my 8.1:1 Tatula 100R with ease at 40 yards, more resistance at 30 yards and a lot of resistance at 10 yards because the IPC is increasing as the spool refills with line. Using a 300 series 5.8:1 the cranking force doesn't change much throughout the cast and retrieve or does the cranking speed, the lures pace stays the same because the leverage doesn't change significantly. Tom

Had a solid day yesterday and put together a limit for 17-10 which had us sitting in 22nd place. Had a KILLER day today and brought in 21-2 which jumped us into 3rd place and well within striking distance of the lead. Gonna have to bring our A-game tomorrow to bring this thing home, we are gonna stick to our guns and hold to the belief that we are fishing where they are coming to and we will have new ones to fish for each day. College fishing is way too cool!

yes, Walmart has been having a lot of fishing tackle in there clearance section. I bought up a lot of the owner offset worm hooks for a dollar a pack. They also had Zman crawdadz greenpumkin orange claw 10 pack for 3 bucks (I only see them in 6 packs and not ten packs) I don't know if they pulled them from other stores because, I haven't seen them at that particular store. I also picked up two packs of mustad KVD duo-lock snaps 25 pcs for 50cent. Right now they have a lot Mustad KVD hooks but, they still want three bucks for em, I'm cheap ill wait until they go cheaper

I've had a few setbacks this week fishing . I lost a huge bass the other night ( don't want to share what happened yet ). So Today I cast my new favorite spinnerbait, had it literally inches from pulling it out of the water and a big fish came up and swallowd it , and it surprised me so much I didn't respond properly and ended up breaking the line. NOOO ! SO I quickly caught a little bream, and hooked it on in an attempt to catch the bass and recover the spinnerbait, and ended up with this 5 pound 11 oz fish but no spinnerbait.The fish was another 23 incher.

Had a day that will go down in history for me. Found my new favorite lake inSouth Central Iowa. Caught 52 bass. Best five were 26 lbs 2 ounces. Started the day off with a 3lb and a 4lb on consecutive 1st and 2nd casts, respectively. I was wearing a GoPro so I wasn’t taking pictures. Then I realized at some point that the GoPro was in camera mode and not video mode. I also got hooked past the barb over the top of my thumbnail and after a small amount of wiggling it just came right out!!! I’m still not sure if I was dreaming. Here’s one of the many 5+ I caught. They were all munching on crappie in brush piles next to jetties as you can see by the crappie tail down the throat of this 5.31. They kept moving up on to the rocks on the jetty and I was whacking them with a 6th Sense Flat 75X in wild Lava Craw color. Water temp was 47. 47!!!!!! They were jumping on the retrieve like it was summer! Edit: When I downsized the image so I could upload it, it lost the resolution to distinguish the tail in the back of the throat. That dark spot down in there is the tail.

Started a new job so been too busy to fish lately. And when I have it’s been for crappie. But, Went tonight and got this ~3.5# to swipe a white grub on an under spin.

First day on one of the smallmouth lakes of the year for me on Monday. It was a grind like I expected, but still managed to catch some. My biggest of the day had a sizable crappie it was working on digesting.

Needed a little rain to pump some fresh water into the ponds and put a stain in them. Didn't get as much as I wanted, but got enough to get them biting better. Managed 31 in a couple hours walking banks in 57-59 degree water. Surface temps had jumped about 7-8 degrees, helped by both a warm rain and a few days late in the week that topped the 70 degree mark. Last pic is my standard tackle when banking it: One rod/reel, a small box with a couple extra baits tossed in my pocket and a pair of pliers.