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I caught 28 and the biggest five were about 18 pounds, as there were at least five 18" or longer, but the best part of the evening was simply being close to 68 years old, but still on the water, still in a slender, tippy canoe, still hearing the owls hoot, and still smelling a distant fire. I am a north woods girl, born in the suburbs, but happiest on dark and distant water. See the third photo of the grass, third pic down? That's were they were. It was too windy for me to fish the reed stump fields, so I tried grass in a protected bay and did okay. I did catch a skinny 17.75-incher and put her on the bump board because she was too thin for a good lip and grip showing. I hoped the bump board might make her seem a bit thicker. It didn't. The last bass looks smallish, but she wasn't. A couple of them took line under my canoe, which is always exciting and challenging. I lost a few nice ones too. I nearly always do. P. S. - I'm fishing a pal's pond this week. It has potential for a bigger bass than my pond. I haven't caught a bigger bass yet, but fingers crossed as I'm fishing it again this evening. However, I'm starting to worry. There are more and more weeds and the bass are so strong. I lost some nice ones last night to weeds and as the summer progresses, that'll happen more and more. I hope to fish 3.5 hours this evening instead of last night's 2.5 hours. Hoping the wind lets me!

Uncle Rico

Al Bundy I keep reliving past catches hoping someone cares about it and every so often I get a mild moment of glory again. I also work at a job that goes unseen and no one appreciates 😂

Tom Landry - same demeanor; always wearing the same hat; and have that same “smile” in all my pictures 😉

🐈 🐟 The restaurant can keep their fish!

We've got a chipmunk family living in a hole in the front yard. Despite being quite young (and very small), Simon, Theodore and of course Alvin always stick together for support. A-Jay

Been slammed at work and had to work the past few Saturdays. Not alot of fishing done. Weather and water have both warmed up considerably. Got out Saturday and Sunday with no luck. I am the lead mechanic at a commercial HVAC/R shop. Which means I also have a bit of a managerial role as well as being a mechanic. Both days we were getting slammed with calls so I spent more time on the phone and helping the other mechanics out than fishing. It was frustrating. Talking to other guys out, no one was really having much luck all weekend. Monday I finally got on some fish. Only two but better than nothing. Nothing big. Nothing special. But this season I'm really dedicating myself to improving on certain techniques. Both these fish were caught on a weightless t-rigged creature bait. A technique I really want to improve on. Iv found a few things. One, I can skip a wacky rig or t rig quite easily. Which is big time. I know it's crazy to think. But my first ever bass was caught on a t rig worm, then I quickly moved on to other stuff. Due to a few different reasons but to keep this from being a novel, I'll just leave it at that. My first fish was actually caught in a cool way, at least for me. I always see you guys talking about "line watching" when talking about jigs or t rigs. Well that's how I caught this fish. Saw a boil and made a few casts, felt nothing but saw my line moving sideways. Set the hook and boom. Fish. The second fish was caught by figuring out a sort of pattern. I was casting to shoreline cover with no luck. But maybe 10-15 feet off the shoreline was some submerged vegetation and I kept seeing movement. Started targeting that. Boom second fish. Had a few more bites. Caught a few pickrel. I'm really happy with how this season is going. Iv gained a ton of confidence in jigs, wacky rigs, and now t rigs. I had success in seasons of the past. But always felt one dimensional. Or lacking in a ton of techniques. Alot has really came together for me so far. Learned a ton this season. Honestly, probably learned or had the light bulb "ah ha" moment more this season then I'm my past 2 seasons combined. That's what it's all about, learning and experience. Very very very happy with the way things are going

Took my buddy and our kids out on a panfish mission and boy did we crush them. The stringer pic doesn't do the size justice. Several were 12 ounces or bigger and bigger than our hands. Caught 30ish sunnies and 10ish small bass. Most fun I've had fishing in quite some time. The kids ate it up and the fish tacos we turned them into were one of the best things I've ever made even without proper shells.

I'm trying for in between the ying and yang

A little pre-work pond fishing produced one tiny dink. But I caught the stupid thing three times. I refused to take his picture the first couple times, but after three attempts he finally got his photo taken and he finally left me alone. Saw very little action aside from him. Had a decent fish on the end of my line for a second, but he had sideswiped the bait and was barely hooked. A headshake freed him.

Visits to a couple of the Grand River bayous, Friday last week and this morning. These are backwater areas connected to the lower Grand as it nears Lake Michigan, consisting of a variety of drowned creek mouths and old segments of river course. KVD has said that the lower Grand River system was one of his favorite places to tournament fish when he was coming up. Bayou 1, on Friday, had 70 degree water already. I caught 13 bass, most in the 13-14" range. About half came early on a buzzbait, then a bunch more on a spinnerbait, with a couple of jig fish sprinkled in. Didn't take any pics of Bayou 1 fish, because I kept waiting for a bigger one that never came. However, one of my favorite spinnerbaits was bitten off by some variety of large toothy beast, which I never saw, but felt for a few exciting seconds. Then, I got a few this morning on Bayou 2. Some buzzbait action at sunrise produced a handful in the 15"-18" range: Then things slowed down. The next three hours produced a few smaller bass on a frog and spinnerbait. Just before putting in at 10am to end my morning, I got another nice one on the last cast: Which put my count at 8 for today. OK, now I need to go back to work....

I kinda resemble Reggie Jackson always swinging for the fences but holds the record for the most strikeouts.

Jay Cutler Nobody can deny that I'm very talented, but I screw up a lot and I don't take it seriously. Like Smokin' Jay, I'm out there puffing on my fruity berry marshmallow bubblegum vape like a man. Sometimes people question if my heart is even in it since I'll skip perfectly good days to fish because I just don't feel like it, but then I'll also go on miserable weather days when nobody else is out there. Sometimes I'll make a cast that not even I can believe I hit and then the next cast I look like a moron.

White Goodman Don't care if you're if you're a man, woman, kid, senior citizen, dog, cat, black, white, or handicapped. I'm throwing the ball as hard as I can at you every time. No discrimination, no mercy.

Well my bfs gear got me a nice little bass lol. Hey at least I caught a bass and the other stuff I caught is in the other species thread.

Payton Manning, I tend to overthink everything and I’m a Vol for life. Also, I sometimes yell Omaha! when I change lures. I’m not sure why.

I'm a bass bustin, muskie maulin, crappie killin, saugeye slayin, SON OF A GUN BABY!!!

I consider myself more of a Bartolo Colon.

My wife (at that time my girlfriend) and I were at one of the many riverside parks in our town: a common date location for us. I spontaneously suggested I run to the local store and grab a fishing pole and some lures and we try our hand at fishing in the river. I don't know why, it just seemed like a cute date idea. I hadn't been fishing in 18 years. The last time was when my grandpa took me and my siblings fishing for suckers. But something about the idea enamored me. I grabbed a small 30$ pole and some spoons and we went back to the park. To my deep chagrin, my pretty little girlfriend had to remind me how to use a spinning rod, and, not knowing any better, we started fishing the worst place to fish in that whole stretch of river. I caught one fish there that day: a nice little smallie. I've never caught a fish there since. That next week my work fired me. I was stunned and flabbergasted. But now that I was in between jobs, I had a ton of time on my hands. And I had this brand new pole and nothing better to do. So I started fishing. Every day. Non stop. And maybe a month later, I had an incredible day of fishing in one spot. I caught fish after fish after fish, all from the same hole. I could hardly keep up with them. I lost count. And then a biggun hit. I don't know that any single fish changed my life. I think that even if this big one hadn't bit I'd still be just as avid an angler today. But if any fish did change me, it was this one. When it hit, I realized that these things got big. In the grand scheme of things, the fish was just a good solid smallmouth. Probably 16-17 inches. I didn't measure my fish back then, so he may still even be my smallmouth PB (17 inches is the biggest I've ever caught.) But everything before that had been 13 or under. Something about the weight of that fish on the other end of my line hooked me far deeper than I hooked it. I marveled at it. I would hold it in the water to make sure it stayed alive, then pull it out and hold it and marvel at it again. I probably handled him too much. But I was in awe. I finally let him swim away. Hopefully, he's swimming still. That was almost three years ago. I've been learning and honing my craft ever since.

Best of the weekend! From the pier at the in-laws, I chucked it maybe 35yds and it's still only about 7' deep. Came on 7" flush w/ a 3/8oz free rig, had a bit of a belly on her, I'm thinking she was an early spawner and also an earlier recovery. scott

My nieghbor Leon called and had a new topwater frog he wanted me to see . I had fished all morning and was relaxing but he’s always so excited about fishing I met him down at the property line. He had had 2 blowups but missed them. He insisted that I try with his combo and frog. It casted probably 125 feet. Boom! Fish on ! 😄 He couldn’t believe it…

Caught my first ever crappie. I think this is black crappie? I did not know this pond held crappie, so even though it's little, it was a fun surprise. I'm coming for your crown, @Team9nine

I (Bass) fished from 2 to 6 last night. I saw a big fish chasing Bluegill on sonar. To bad it was a 15 pound Flathead, instead of a 15 pound Bass. I enjoy Flatheads. They're fighters. Blues give up and just let you drag them to the boat.

My wife goes all in on getting nesting photo's this time of year. We have several different families all going at the same time This was from yesterday in one of the Blue Jay nests #busymom A-Jay

I guess it was take your wife fishing day , she got a 30” carp that weighed 12.6 lbs with her 5 wt fly rod and a popping bug. They are still cruising around slurping cicadas then we took a long boat ride up toward the next dam and saw a domestic duck of all things, pretty backdrop. Then on our way back home we stopped to eat at the marina and a band was playing, they were pretty awesome Then, when we pulled back up to the dock, the Catfish line was bent and I got a decent little blue cat with a bluegill for bait. Fillets in the fridge!!!

Went to the lake with my bride this morning, and she showed me how it's done. She went four for four putting them in the net with the quick strike rig. She was on a roll, 35, 38.5, 36, 37. Right at the top of each hour. It was impressive watching her pull that off. I have no idea how she did it, but each bite was within 5 min of the top of the hour. Atta girl Tammy!!! 😂 Best fishing buddy I could ever ask for. ❤️

Which sports figure parallels your career? I'm the Brett Favre of bassin'. Long career I retire ("I'm done fishin' for the fall. Too cold to fish any longer.") and unretire ("I just had to fish one more time!") Lotta touchdowns, I.e. bass in the boat. Lotta interceptions, I.e. bass snatched by weeds. Finally, like Brett, I'll toss into the gnarliest thicket. We're both gunslingers. Are you fumblin' Bill Buckner? Streaky Joe DiMaggio? Grateful Lou Gehrig? Bold Joe Namath? Steady John Stockton? Maniacally focused Kobe Bryant? Born to golf Tiger Woods, raised in the sport? Etc. @WRB has to be Babe Ruth.

I feel like Christian Laettner sinking the game winning buzzer beater shot in the 1992 NCAA men's basketball championship in which Duke narrowly beat Kentucky - pretty much every time a fish manages to make it to the boat/bank. 😂😂😂 'It wasn't pretty. But we got it done.' That's my motto in bass fishing.

Happy Gilmore. Unconventional, bruins fan, hotheaded.

Where to begin in last 8 months for myself and my two sons to use Bought six new baitcasting rods (13 blackouts on 50% off) Bought one Daiwa Tatula casting rod Bought 8 new spinning rods three Kast King, Three Daiwa, two Dobyns Bought four Abu Garcia Pro Max4's at 50-55% off Bought two Shimano SLX MGL 70 Bought seven new Kast King Royal Legend Glory spinning reels four 4000's three 3000's Bought 5.25" Zoom Super Flukes in four different colors Bought 4' & 5" Zoom Boot Tailed flukes Bought Cabelas 5.5" Shadee Shads in 3 different colors Bought (on CO) Berkley 5" Power jerk Shads in two colors Bought 5" YUM Houdini shad in three colors Bought 4" and 3" Yum Wooly bugs three different colors Bought Strike King Caffeine shad three different colors BPS 5" go to minnow in 4 colors BPS Hoochie Coochie minnow in 3", 4", 5" Bought 4" Keitech Easy Shiner and Fat Impact swimbaits in three different colors each Bought Wacky worms form Z-man Zoom, BPS, Cabelas three different colors Bought 3.3" and 3.8" cabelas swimbaits in four different colors each Bought Zoom trick and Ultra vibe speed worms two different sizes four different colors each Bought HogFarmer Spunk Shad 3.5 & 5.5" four different colors each Bought Owner Twist Lock hooks #1, 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 4/0 both unweighted and weighted Bought Gamak Twist lock hooks in 2/0, 3/0 and 4/0 weighted and unweighted Bought multiple different styles of EWG, and Oshanacy from Owner, Gamak and Trokar Bought wacky and DS specific hooks in standard and weedless Bought a BUTT load of Z-Man chatterbaiats and willow chatterbaits in three different colors 1/4oz. and 3/8oz Bought bare 1/4oz and 3/8oz Z-man chatter jig heads Bought 1/4oz and 1/8oz under spins jigs Bought a butt load of assorted jigs form four different manufactures in four different colors in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2oz Bought multiple 3/8oz spinnerbaits in colorado and Indiana blade Bought 1200yrds of 10lb Yo-Zuri copolymer Bought 1800yrds of 15lb Yo-Zuri Copolymer Bought HI-VIS braided line in 15 and 30lb test from Power Pro and Suffix Bought a 20 assorted plastic tackle organizing boxes form Flambeau, Cabelas and Plano That's about all I feel like typing for now.

Are you a masochist? If not, then stick with braid to leader. 10lb Seaguar Blue label works well.

Got my 1/4 ounce EWG heads from Jade’s Jigs to fish Ned sized baits around reeds when the wind is up. Ordered Friday night and got them today!

I took some pics this morning of my pond. In order: The beginning of my 4.5 acres. Down my driveway. Another driveway pic. Where the driveway ends and the meandering path begins. The pond! The boardwalk made of pallets to reach the water. I might get approval tonight to have professionals build a raised boardwalk. You can't see it, but on the right side of the lake is a marsh full of bass. Heck, the pond is full of bass too.

Took a trip way out east with my brother to a pretty good lake for a john boat sesh. With a few days past the full moon, overcast skies in the forecast and a late moonrise, we had high hopes. But once we got there, the fog was so dense it was like fishing inside a storm cloud. Normally that would be just fine, but just like my local spots, this place has had an early explosion of lily pads, but worse than that, trolling motor battery-killing pondweed was everywhere, so we had to row. Could barely see past the front of the boat with the blinding pea-soup fog which meant every wake bait casted out ended up stuck in pads or pondweed that would not easily give up a lure. Headlamps reflecting back on us just made seeing out farther worse, so we ending up blowing up spots and killing time retrieving pricy swimbaits. We finally committed to running only soft plastics through the jungle and on the bottom. Eastern north shore lakes on this island are often a few weeks behind mine, so I was unsurprised to get the tell-tale bumps and short strikes of nest guarders. We finally rowed into a small, clear patch in very shallow water way up the lake, so my brother winged out a Tiny Tum crank down wake. Got a nice fish right away, and on the very next cast to the very same spot he got a smaller fish which we assumed was the male of a mating pair. We were both whipped by then, so we rowed back, tossed down some geritol, and called it a night. When only one of us lands something, we're content with saying that the boat didn't get skunked. There isn't much that beats time spent with my brother, so it's all good.

I was driving home from my earlier adventures when I received a call from my wife: her brother and his wife were coming into town to do some shopping and were planning on doing some fishing afterwards and would we like to join them? Well, sure! So I landed three more bass to cap off the day and now I owe my wife something fierce for all the time she's granted me to chase my favorite hobby this weekend.

RIP my rod

Night fishin off the dock. Scored a green sunfish for catfish bait, hopefully post a catfish tonight or in the morning

Hello gents from across the big pond we call Atlantic! We only have one bass species here (largemouth) and landing a bass is not nearly as popular as carp fishing, but I like it! Looking forward to reading all the old and the new topics. Cheers, Dejan

Got out today after work with the bfs setup, nothing big but the pike was interesting on 4Lb test mono. Sorry for the bad photo of the pike but I wanted my lure back and he snapped the line once he got to the bank. All on the 1/8 square bill.

Cal Ripken, step onto the field every time I get the chance

John McEnroe after I miss a hook set. And same jeans 😂

I have 3 fish that really stand out and totally changed my life. The one that sowed the seeds/started the bass fishing bug. The one that got away. My first true swimbait fish & current PB. 1. I started bass fishing around 15 years ago. Before this, I only did some light saltwater fishing from a pier with a spinning rod and reel a few times a year for mackerel just for grins and giggles. Nothing really serious, it was just an excuse to go to the beach/pier and drink a few beers while killing a few hours fishing for 1/4lb and less mackerels. Around 15-18 years ago, I decided to go freshwater fishing with some buddies at Lake Skinner. We didn't catch anything but it was still fun to rent a boat and just drive around. At the end of the day, I watched a bass boat getting out of the water and was in awe struck at all the tackle, gear and the boats! I went home and started doing some reading and researching on bass fishing and my curiosity/affinity for bass fishing kind of started from there. Fast forward maybe 2-3 years and I decided I would buy my first baitcaster rod and reel setup and give bass fishing a try. I did not know what the hell I was doing since I was a beginner. I had only been out a few times by myself in order to learn how to cast a baitcaster and properly work a bait. But, it was probably my 5th or 6th outing and I casted a 1/2 ounce Booyah white and chartreuse spinnerbait next to some tules and got whacked by a 2lb bass. Before this, I had only fished for mackerels that weighed a few ounces to maybe a 1/2lb on a spinning rod and reel. It was the first time I ever felt a fish that weighed over 1lb and that fought very aggressively and would jump in the air. I was so ecstatic and it was the HAPPIEST DAY of my life since I caught my first ever largemouth bass. That fish started the bass fishing bug for me. 2. Fast forward another 5 years and I had already been bass fishing a while and tried out many different techniques and baits. Tried out top water fishing with walk the dog topwaters and instantly fell in love with it after I figured out the proper gear and technique to get the bait to walk from side to side. Bought a Paycheck Baits Repoman top water and went to a local lake during the middle of Summer when it was very HOT. Just as the sun was setting, I casted my bait over a long tapering point and my bait gets absolutely hammered by a very LARGE FISH! The blow up was so loud that it literally sounded like a bomb went off! My rod goes bendo and folds instantly in half! The blow up caught me totally off guard that I never even had enough time to set the hook and reel! A few seconds later, the fish goes for deep water and runs straight into some rocks and was able to come off. I never even saw the fish. To this day, I have never felt a fish so big and powerful before in my life! It was probably a big cat fish or a big striper! Whatever it was, this was the one that got away and I have been in the hunt for big fish ever since. 3. Fast forward to spring 2023 and I decided I would dedicate to fishing swimbaits only since I have never caught a fish on a swimbait before. Just last month I finally BROKE my PB! It was the coolest, weirdest, craziest and most devastating bite I have ever experienced in my life! I don't think I will ever forget this fish. I think this fish has permanently planted the swimbaiting seed in me and now I think I won't be able to ever put down a swimbait ever again! There goes my bank account and all of my conventional bass fishing tackle! It was a cool bite because I had never seen a fish hit my bait so hard and fast before in my life. It was the typical glide bait bite where I saw the fish's mouth open, than my bait goes missing, than I see the 'flash' from the fish's side as it turned to head back to cover and than all of a sudden, my rod goes bendo and there was this very heavy weight at the end of my rod! Let me remind you, I fish braid to leader, therefore all of my senses were heightened to the extreme. The fish smoked my bait so quick that I barely had the reaction time to swing on the hook set. I had never seen a fish bite my bait with so much aggression before in my life. It was a crazy bite because I had never caught a fish before where I felt like I was never going to lose it! I had 4 hook points buried deep past the barb and in the top of the fish's mouth in the very hard part. Most times when I catch a fish on a treble hook bait, I only have 1 or 2 points and they are usually barely hooked on the side of the mouth in the soft part where its easy to lose them. It's the first treble hook bait bite where I felt the fish was never coming off in a million years! I have never seen a fish hooked so GOOD before in my life! It was actually a bit of a struggle getting the hooks out with the pliers. It was a very weird bite/fish because it was the most DOCILE fish I have ever seen out of the water! After the fish fought and I got its head out of the water and lipped it, the fish never struggled, moved or even wiggled when I took it out of the water and handled it for pictures and removing hooks! Most fish I catch are always struggling when I get them out of the water. I had never seen such a docile fish before in my life. I had it out of the water for a pretty long time too, probably close to 5 mins. What's even more weird is, 3 seconds after I release it, it made 1 last jump out of the water. I have never seen a fish do this before. It was weird because I have never seen such a long fish with such a small head before. It looked like a hybrid between a spotted bass and a largemouth. This fish was very long. The fish was over 21 inches in length but the head and mouth was very small. The bait barely fit inside its mouth! It was also weird because it was the first time I was able to actually feel my intuition and feel that I was going to get bit. Most days I fish, I am usually indifferent and usually never give any thought to actually trying to call my shots and say to myself that I am going to get bit. But, for whatever reason, this was the very first time where I pulled up to a spot and something inside my gut said...'this is the JUICE, keep fishing it, I think you're about to get bit'. I was also very lucky too, because a few casts before I got bit, I had actually thought about moving and abandoning the spot since I was on a time crunch and wanted to check out the rest of the lake. It was also devastating because I for sure thought it was going to be 5 or even 6lbs! It fought so hard and the weight I felt when I lipped it, had my hopes up thinking I might have actually surpassed the 5lb mark. When I weighed it, it was only 4.5 lbs. I was so devastated because I have been trying to surpass that 5lb mark for a few years now! _ Tackle Breakdown Dobyns Fury 795SB Daiwa Tatula 300XSL 8.1 _ Swapped out the stock 110 mm handle for a 100 mm handle from a Tatula 200 for better sensitivity when working glides. 40lb Sufix 832 braid to a 20lb Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon leader Uni to uni leader knot Bass Pro Shops XPS Swerve Glide Bait _ Crappie color 2 gram golfers lead tape on the belly and chin. Owner ST-36 Size 2 Hand tied 80lb braided line soft split rings SPRO Prime Snap Mini size 4 Tornado HH knot to the snap

Not quite tackle but the bait monkey got me for a new Bending Branches Solo 2 paddle, on sale of course with Memorial Day discount. Upgraded motor for the canoe!

First glide to go with my tequila baccarat, I have been looking for this color and lo and behold I found it locally. I need to get a new reel soon for throwing these.

Congrats on the first! Here's a White for comparison -- notice the vertical barring of spots on the sides, while your Black Crappie's spots are evenly scattered: Not a foolproof distinction, but pretty reliable as a rule-of-thumb. Dorsal fin spines should be counted to be sure -- blacks have 7-8, whites have 5-6. I tend to find more white crappies in the river systems here and more black crappies in the lakes and ponds.

Caught a couple rock bass the other day while picnicing alongside the river with the wife and kid. Putting them here because @gimruis thinks they aren't worthy of the regular latest catch pics thread. (I guess I kinda agree.) Also caught a bluegill today.

Still finding a few nice crappie here and there. For a post spawn fish, this 1.7 lb. girl was in great looking shape, the best of around 10 or so today.

And... it's a 44" hat trick. Third one in a row. What are the odds? This girl was the best of the bunch. Super thick for this time of year, with a massive head. Followed up about an hour later by this 40" off the same big laydown. I think the 40" wanted to be friends. When it kicked out of my hand, it swam in a circle and just sat there looking at me for a minute before taking off. Also hauled a couple dozen small LM on a chatterbait before the lights came on. T'was a good morning.

Well told, @IcatchDinks!