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Went out and hit the same spot as the other day (see Not a Bad Day thread) and caught a few more including this 5.5 pounder! The Chatterbait bite turned off and they were hitting small spinnerbaits. This big one hit a 1/4oz. Chartreuse and White Booyah spinner bait. I also had good results with a nickel War Eagle Finesse spinner bait. Here in S.E. Mich the bass are definitely in pre-spawn mode. Putting on the feedbag!

So last Christmas I was bought myself a brand new Flippin’ n Pitchin’ setup. It was my first rod that I bought for a specific technique and above all it was my very first Baitcasting Rod/Reel setup ever! Well I haven’t had the opportunity to use this rod how I imagined I’d be using it until yesterday. I started out yesterday morning casting spinners and lipless cranks around some local ponds, caught a few dinks, nothing even remotely big but still nice. But once it hit around Noon - 1 o’clock ish all the fish had left the shallows and I couldn’t find anything. That’s when I pulled out my flipping and pitching setup I had been hauling around with me all day. And yah know, I have to admit, there’s something a little intimidating about purposefully chucking a lure into the branches of a big tree thatsfallen in the water. But I quickly remembered all the YouTube videos I’d seen and posts I’d read about guys pulling absolute pigs out of laydowns and I was able to convince myself that losing a soft plastic isn’t the same as losing a $5 lure and went ahead and started flippin and pitchin all the lay downs I could find. And boy and I glad I did! My first few lay downs weren’t super productive but I’m still rusty at getting my bait in the water quiet enough not to spook any fish and I basically had to stand on the tree that I was pitching to because I couldn’t get a good casting angle off the bank. So I’ll attribute my lack of fish from those spots to that. But after a few not so good pitches and flips I found myself at the laydown that has taken at least 5 or 6 of my lures over the years from casting at it from the other side of the pond. I could see two big bass hovering around the branches of the tree and my heart immediately started racing. I tried my headrest to very quietly get into a good casting position and once I did I pitched out my T-Rigged soft plastic as quiet as I could. It landed on the trunk of the tree and immediately all of the nearby bass were super interested. I could see a few 2 pounders just hovering over my bait. I ever so slowly twitched my lure up the body of the tree, watching one of the bigger bass get closer and closer as it inspected my bait. My heart was pounding at this point. I had gotten my lure as far up the tree as I could before I had to twitch it off the side of the trunk. As my bait fell down into the deeper water, immediately the big bass rocketed down to the bottom! I held on for dear life for what I thought was about the be the most jarring bite I’ve ever gotten in my entire life!... but nothing. I was so fired up that I immediately pulled my bait right back out of the water to do the exact same sequence of events over again, but as soon as I pulled it up I had wished I left it down there for an extra second with a few good twitches. When I pulled it up I saw the bass follow it up and then swim back into the deep part of the tree once my bait broke the surface. I didn’t let that discourage me though. I pitched my bait right back out there. This was the pitch that will stick with me for a very long while, and to be honest I’m not sure when I felt the bite but all of the sudden I knew I had a head shaking largemouth bass on the end of my line and II wasn’t about to let it get away. I set the hook hard and with a grunt ripped that fish right out of the water as soon as I possibly could. The fight was short but the reward will be with me forever. I pulled up what was easily one of the biggest bass I’ve ever seen pulled out of this pond. I let out a celabratory ““Yeah!” While holding my fish and the guy across the pond from me did the same! Even he knew it was a big fish or this pond too!! Luckily I managed to snap a few pictures while trying to awkwardly hold the fish and position myself in view of my phone camera. I know this fish is only about 2 pounds (maybe) but it was still a catch I’ll always remember!

This fish came on about the dozenth cast I made to a submerged tree. Two other anglers had worked the tree just before me.

lucky slippers. best day of the year so far. got 9 in a couple hours. most on a denny brauer pp jig with yum christie craw. rest on res 2tap natural bream. biggest was only 2.5# but some big bellies and good fights.

Bass doesn’t open here for a while yet, but pike opened up on the 1st so I took the kid out for a few hours this morning. Water is still quite cold, and with the cloud cover today the big girls weren’t interested in anything, even though we could see them laying around. Need another week or so to get them more active. Did find a few little guys though, enough to get some slime on the boat for the first time this year. Sure was nice to get out and set a hook a few times!

4lb 20", 1/8 jighead,2.8" paddletail, 7' M/F Smoke rod, Daiwa SV105, 16# sniper.

Over 27 pounds of Indiana largemouth. Caught them within 45 minutes of each other, all on a magnum rage bug, pitched dirt shallow.

These are the guys that are such a nuisance in a Lake St Clair smallmouth tourney but really fun to catch just fun fishing!! Beautiful Tiger muskie

The water temps are sky rocketing, but the fishing continues to only get slightly better. I fished from 7:30 am yesterday to about 4:30 pm, with an hour or so for lunch/bathroom break. I caught 11 bass. Not exactly a barn burner. I started off fishing smallies, and after two hours and only two 2.5lbers to show for it, I switched to largemouth. They were not on fire either, by lunch I only caught 3 of those. After lunch, the bite picked up, but only slightly. I caught 6 after lunch. All largemouth. Size, for largemouth was ok today. With a 5-14, 4-1, 3-13, 3-10, and a 3-3 the highlights....I just wish there were more of them.

I got 30 LMB in the Everglades yesterday, but none of them were as big as this 3-plus I nailed tonight after dinner from the bank just a mile from home. I caught half the fish yesterday and this one today on the Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm -- my new best friend.

4# spot fought like she thought she was closer to 10...

Was rigging up the night before i took my kayak out and put a strike king rage swimmer on my chatterbait and it just looked too nice for me to wait. so since i live a block away from a pond i decided to use it. this was 4 and change, biggest of the year for me. too bad it wasnt a sign of things to come. i pretty much sucked it up on my kayak for the next two days.

Got out today to fish the Susquehanna River. Unfortunately because of the spring that didn't happen this year most of the big females were nowhere to be found. But the 2 smallies I caught fought like the devil in the current. Both weighed about 1 1/2 pounds each.

Got a couple bonus crappie targeting bass with a 1/8 jighead 2.8" fat keaitech

Was planning to go surf fishing this afternoon but changed my mind and stayed home and fished my home lake. Had my Grandaughter along. She is really improving with her casting and fish hooking and fighting skills. She lost her biggest fish,but not because of the way she fought it. The fish were very active , biting mostly senkos and flukes in various colors. We ended up with 24 bass caught, and the big fish was 5 pounds, 10 oz. It was one of those memorable days that is a lasting memory. Even the sunset was beautiful.

So this is the first year I have a canoe to be able to fish out of and I’m lucky to be 5 minutes from one of the best small mouth areas good ole Lake Erie! So I went out todsy and omg it was s blast. Got tons of hawgs and even a surprised northern who almost took me in. New PB smallmouth at 5.1 pounds and for sure my Pb northern, round two for tomorrow .. hoping I get some luck like @A-Jay with the 8 pounders ha. So excited for this pre spawn. Also should add any pointers would be great. This is my first time ever fishing smallmouth like this. I been using lipless cranks and jerkbaits with luck so far. Around docks etc , 3-9 ft of water. It’s currently 55-57 degrees depending where I go.

Please elaborate. I an very skeptical of your comment. I tend to think that laydowns, in general, are very often the highest percentage deal on the lake - highest likelihood of any one spot holding fish -- highest likelihood of holding good fish -- and highest likelihood of getting bit. I routinely catch bass that seem to have been buried under the thickest, darkest wood, especially at the crotch of the bigger branches/trunk

Had our Thursday night tournament at the dreaded mudhole this week (which I love). The lake that I caught a 5.74 pounder at on Tuesday. @gardnerjigman had to bail on me to be a good son-in-law in install a sump pump for the impending monsoons that never happened (thanks weatherman!). My boat is still in the shop (I pick it up Monday), so I was in the tin can, by myself, with no gas motor, on a 5k acre lake, in 20mph winds, odds were not in my favor. So 5 minutes into it, I stick a 3.64 on a spinnerbait, which is enough to win on this lake at times, so that's a good start. 10 minutes later I miss and then catch a 1.19 on my next flip. 15 minutes later I add a 1.59, then I have a fish hit my bait 3 flips in a row but keeps pecking at it but not committing. A bedding fish for sure I think. So next flip I'm prepared and the instant I feel the bite I swing and a poor spawning male crappie flies out of the water over the boat. Untangle the mess, release the surely shaken fish. Next flip was much different as my line jumps immediately as it lands next to a tiny clump of dead water willows, slam the rod back and a big fish is just as quickly airborne into a bush, tailwalks to the boats, wraps the line around the end of the end of the dead hedge tree the boat was next to and proceeds to try just as frantically to relieve itself of the hook as I am to get the live loose from the tree. Thankfully, I was able to free the line and lip the fish, finding the hook had all but worked itself loose. Fish was about 100 yards down the bank from the 5.74 on Tuesday, in the same cove, same side of the cove, and went 5.80. Me thinks it was the same fish. I caught 2 more in the back of the cove to finish out my limit, and it wasn't even 7 yet, we launched at 6. I was flipping a YUM Bad Momma so I picked up a 1/2oz jig to see if I could pick up a bigger bite on the same little bank I'd just fished. Pulled my jig over a limb and got whacked. Fished charged to the boat, never really got caught up to it and when I tried to flip it into the boat it just popped off. I'll make a confession, I was 100% certain I'd won already at this point and everything from this point on was just icing on the cake, so I was fishing relaxed and really only trying to break my personal record for my best Thursday night weight, which was just a tenth of an ounce shy of 15 pounds, and I was already over 14. I ended up culling 3 more times with very slight culls, but putting myself over 15 up to 15.69 when what turned out to be disaster struck, I dropped my scale in the water, making it so it wouldn't turn back on so I couldn't weigh the last few fish I caught, which at least 1 or 2 of them would have helped, but like I said, I was positive I didn't need them. Get back to weigh in, feeling great, first boat to check in has 15.72 pounds, .04 pounds more than I had, all I could do was laugh and shake my head. I had a great night, caught a bunch of fish, set 2 personal records and 2 club records, but fell just short of the win because my scale got wet. Wouldn't have taken much to get that tiny little bit I needed. First video was from Tuesday, when I prefished and had just shy of 14 pounds. Then the tournament, I should have included the part where I hook myself in the leg with a spinnerbait but left it out for anyone that's squimish. You can tell I thought I had it in the bag.

1st trip out on a little electric only lake down an abominable dirt road the other day. Pretty good trip caught 6-7 this was the biggest

.....just y’all wait til big bill gets here

This was my second trip out this season. First one (two days ago) was a brief afternoon trip that was more of a shakedown cruise. I did ‘fish’, just didn’t catch. Well that changed today– Big Time. Got on the water just after Just after 7 AM. It was calm & cool to start. Both the water & the air temps were in the low 40’s with virtually no wind at all. Air temps warmed nicely, and thankfully the water did not. The morning started off a little slow. Despite the calmness, I was trying to force feed the local smallie population a jerkbait. Often touch & go. After a bit I had my first fish of the year. Very happy. Then a few more 'keeper size' came to the net. Although, I’ll admit, despite my stubbornness, I expected more. Then the wind came on; nice NW’erly breeze. And the bite was on . . . . and on . . . . . and on. Pretty much all day. Once I found a couple spots that held fish (and seem to be reloading), I’d bounce back & forth between the two. It was wide open a few times - back to back to back and more. Jerkbait & a drop shot did most of the damage though I did get a few smallies on a Rage bug & a Menace; both on a swing head. I ended up with quite a bit of video. I’m sifting through it and will post up ‘the best of’ once it’s done. No way I can put it all up – too much. I’m not a fish counter, but I may fish all season and not have a numbers & size day like I had today. Pretty crazy & totally killer. Best fish went 5.00 lbs on the nose. No doubt it seemed like a fairly looooooooong winter – but it's hard to say today was not worth it. A-Jay

Skunkus Maximus is over! Okay it was over last week with that tiny little 1 pounder, but... these are at least worth snapping a pic of. Caught these two about an hour apart on Saturday afternoon. Water was a balmy 68-70 thanks to the mini heat wave. These were cruising about 15 ft off the bank in abt 4- 5 ft of water. The first one was near a beaver lodge with several downed trees, and the second was cruising in front of cattails. There were a few small males hanging around beds, but none of them are showing signs of serious spawning activity yet. Robbins Pond, Devens, MA

1.5 lb crappie. I pitched my 5" T rigged senko into a bush and she inhales it and starts swimming off. Big girl with a big appetite....

And THAT is a good thing. All the interwebs could do with a lot more skepticism.

The magnum rage bug On a 4/0 flipping hook is really nice. We just Caught our biggest bag ever Saturday On the magnum bug.

Never gets old! YUM 4 incher TX rigged did the trick.

finally got back home to Indiana. 1st day fishing's 3lb. day. caught five of them 3 lb. ,one 1.5, one 2 , three dinks, and one 4.5 feels good to be home!

A nice calm day on the bay with the boy, can’t ask for much more than that.

We can find a man who doesn't want to be found, hiding underground under a rock, in the middle of desert, full of nothing but sand and rocks, but a giant animal/s that doesn't know it's being sought after, living who knows how close to humans for who knows how long, and there's never been any clear pictures? No bones? No positive proof? I guess some folks never stop believing in fairy tales.

A brief submersion in relatively clean water is not a crisis. Let it dry , oil what you can reach and monitor for developing symptoms. Contact me after the season to schedule a service or if problems arise in the meantime.

Figured I'd throw swimbaits for a while yesterday and had some pigs follow and dinks commit. Pretty surprised to see the little fella absolutely hammer the Slammer. After losing a Gan Craft AND Deps last week (serioulsy, same trip) I gave BlueBasser's Shine Glide a shot and have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with the action and draw power. First double on a Plopper and it was a spot/LM combo. Really cool if you ignore they're both under 12".

Schools out and fishing's on! Planned ahead and planned a splake fishing pier trip for this morning's downpour. You can pretty much only catch them if its raining/windy/stormy in the short amount of time after ice out before the water warms up. Sunny days = no fish. It's a less than 2 week window after ice-out to catch them from shore. In the few short hours that it poured, I had a pretty good time. Countless hits, follows, and hook ups. As aggressive as these fish are, it's often difficult to get one in the net. I used everything from husky jerks, spoons, swimbaits, and dead smelt under a bobber. Was close on a couple occasions, but just couldn't quite connect. Then I helped net a guy's 9 lb splake. Literally 9 lbs!!! We weighed it on his hand scale. This opened my eyes a little. Insead of having the dead smelt sit 6 feet under a bobber, he had a bobber setup, but didn't have a bobber stop on, so his dead-bait would just be laying on bottom. This makes sense becuase splake are very opportunistic with their feeding habits. Before I could make the switch on my setups, the guy hooks up on another one! I help him land a 4 lb brute and quickly rig my smelt for the bottom. 5 minutes later and one of my rods gets hammered. I pick it up and set the hook, but the fish pops off right away. When they feel the hooks, they instantly spit the bait out so you have to be quick. 1 hour later and I see my bobber/indicator swimming in circles on the surface going crazy. I run over and slam the hooks. This time the fish stays on. A guy helps net the 5.25 lb beast just as the trebles pop out. Probably my most beautiful splake yet. Life is Good.

You want oars. Plenty of people up here have rowboats on the restricted reservoir system (water supply for NYC) some even have two sets of oar locks welded in, so two can row at once and be more efficient.

I am currently deployed in Afghanistan and was here when the boat was announced in December but wanted to wait awhile. I was at a location where commercial internet connectivity was hit or miss and by the time I got back to my main operating base and attempted to order the heritage, it was missing from the site. I called BPS Corporate HQ and they informed me that the best they could do was send me the number for the nearest BPS to see what they could do. I called and was placed on a waiting list in the event someone cancelled an order. I received an email yesterday letting me know that I was officially on the boat order list of customers and I made my deposit. I know that many of the good folks on this site have been waiting for a while since their order, but fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), I will receive my boat 1 1/2 months after I redeploy. I can't wait.

There's a whole lotta questions that has to be asked before how many pitches. Is the tree a hardwood or conifer? Is it isolated or among others? Is it located in shallow water or deep? After I've flipped-n-pitched a Texas Rig & Jig-n-Craw, I'll flip-n-pitch a spinnerbait!

With a jon boat, I’d think you’d be using oars instead of a paddle.

I guess I fish to fast on them but I like to cover water. If water is dropping I fish near the ends normally but if water is steady I'll hit it about two to three times...bank, middle and end. Seems like sometimes fish tend to hang better in certain areas and should I figure that out it's down the bank and mostly hitting one of those three spots once or twice.

I have a few but haven't used them. I think the eye on the bottom will make a difference but we'll have to see about the "Frogfur".

First Whopper Plopper Bass of the season for me. Sent pic to a buddy, who said “That little guy is fighting outside his weight class.”

You must look shady..

If there are obvious symptoms a cleaning is probably a good idea

Blade configuration counts as much as weight. Smaller blades on a heavier body is what you are looking for. Allen

Alright its May now anyone who owns these got anything to say about em? Are they as soft as the booyah frogs? Does the fur/Velcro do anything

I don't believe much of what the government says, and I work for the government ?

LOL, indeed. My favorite BigFoot theory is that they are never found because they are inter-dimensional beings that appear and disappear at will. Oooookaaaaay.

There's never been a live one caught or killed, never one hit by a car, no bodies, no bones. I agree there are undiscovered creatures but Bigfoot ain't one of em. I've heard things in the woods I can't explain either but I agree with Blue- it's a hoax. Things do seem stranger in the woods, esp. At night. Bears can walk upright and sometimes have mange, which gives them a strange look. Not ridiculing anyone for there beliefs, and I know it's exciting to think something's out there and I don't doubt you saw SOMETHING but how is it possible with NO specimens of a supposedly large animal like that ?

Yep, one of the best fish getters at one of the lakes I fish often that gets pounded this time of year. I'm confident I can fish behind anyone and catch fish out there with a slider, it just works that well there right now. Don't shake it, don't hop it, just barely drag it. It's painfully slow fishing, but it works so good when they're on it and it catches surprisingly big fish.

The more time you spend in the woods, forests, the wilds you will be able to answer this question. The last time I seen something me and my son were coming off my mountain road below my camp. The road straightens out for quite a distance. There’s a stonewall on the right side of the road it’s the farmers field. We’re up on the ridge above the field. On top of the stone wall is a pair of red eyes at about 140 yards away. It was night time and we only seen the eyes and by the time we got closer it was gone. This road isn’t perfectly straight it zig zags. There’s two straights with the zig zag inbetween. We seen the eyes from the upper straight away. By the time we used the zig zag on to the lower straight away it was gone. I’ve had a few encounters, let’s say there’s something that’s unexplained. It’s unknown. Trust me if you ever heard one scream or roar you’d beat feet to the flatlands. the BFRO (finding Bigfoot researchers) must read the emails I send them. I was one of the first to mention the girberish language they speak. They woke me up, I was in my bunk frozen listening to them talk out side my window, I am a light sleeper, plus I sleep with the window open to let fresh air in when the woodstove is going. By the time I got my old body out of the bunk to look they were gone. My camp has the only running freshwater spring for miles. I have a watering hole. Next when I make my famous bacon cheeseburgers they come close by and scream at me. Bacon seems to attract them but you need to be in a bf hot spot to attract them. The BFRO tried cooking bacon but got nothing. Everytime I cook my bacon cheeseburgers for supper they are there. my camp is almost at the top of the mountain. I have my woodstove going when we went out one day. We walked the old logging access road up and over my mountain and continued on. I could smell my woodstove smoke for quite a distance. This tells me how far my cheeseburger/ bacon smell is going. my son who hunts is a skeptic. I let him decide on his own. His deer stand is on my land. Now my land borders on the us national forest land. We went out early deer hunting. Right away I heard a tree knock above us on the ridge. A few seconds later another tree knock came from farther in the forest. When we exited the stands I said did you hear the knock above us? The kid says did you hear the knock in the forest? early one morning we went up the ridge above my camp and sat on a blow down tree. The clouds were so low they covered the mountain with a mist and the trees had little icicles on the branches that looked like steel on a magnet. I sat and looked to the north. I rattled a few times then had something running straight at me from the north. I could hear it clearly. All of a sudden it stopped dead. I could feel it looking at me but couldn’t see it because of the mist from the low clouds. I never heard it walk away. Now the Town of Hancock borders my town near my camp. There was a gathering in Hancock. There was campers hiking. Something screaming at them ran them out of the forest. It’s documented on the BFRO site in the state of vt section. The towns border is a stones throw from my camp. we were riding dirtbikes on the access road. My son was in the lead going fast. As he turned a bend he caught a glimpse of something big, red colored running in the forest from the road. i contacted BFRO and gave them direction and they sent a rep up there to check it out. He found two bf beds above my camp up on the mountain. Then that bad hurricane hit vt and the investigation ended.

Sounds suspiciously like my uncle Earle. Was he smoking Lucky Strikes and gumbling about politicians and the government? Those reflective eyes are cataracts. He's had them all his life. Might also be my aunt Bertha, Uncle Earle's wife. She also complains about the government but smokes Camels unfiltered.

Labbos is ready for her maiden voyage. The structure is in and the deck cut out. No hatches yet or covering, though I have painted the ply with polyester resin as it dries quickly and does a good job of waterproofing the wood. Tomorrow morning I'll give her a run and see how we're doing for weight distribution and general stability.