Brandon O'tinger

This porkchop absolutely ANNIHILATED a bluegill attached to my bait caster. Blew up right on top of the water. It has a rather fat belly. Did not have my scale with me, but is 3 lbs a reasonable estimate? Heres another one I caught about 2 weeks ago before my previous post from today's short trip.

Yeah I believe we have some in lake guntersville but I don't go that way very often. When I fish the Tennessee river, I usually go between scottsboro and Stevenson. I personally havent encountered smallmouth there, but I'm sure other anglers do.

That's pretty awesome. I've never caught a smallmouth before-- don't think we have any around me. Which one fought harder, the SMB or LMB? And I do believe that is indeed a warmouth, awesome coloration and pattern.

https://imgur.com/9B5m9ia Havent been fishing near as much this year due to health issues, and what times I have gotten out have been largely fruitless. I did however manage this one yesterday on a live minnow. Came from under the dock directly below where I was standing and slammed it. Unfortunately it managed to run around a dock post and jumped over a wood brace that made for an extremely challenging retrieval. But with assistance from another angler, we were able to use his net and I stretched the line enough for me to cut loose from the post and it fell right in the net. I usually dont ask for help from other anglers so as to not disturb their day, but I felt I didnt have a choice here. If we hadn't been able to get the fish loose, it likely would not have been able to get out on it's own and likely would have died. And that would have been an absolute shame.

2.50 lber from last week. Store manager was kind enough to take the pic. That is no small fish. When they breach 4lbs, that's when they start getting some nice bulk to them. A bass over 4 lbs is a great fish. I know I was tickled when I caught that 4.50 of mine 2 weeks ago.

great looking fish, nice color.

1.67 lb and a 2.50 largemouth caught on my ultralight. both were real fun fights.

Mine was last Monday. while I said in my original post I used a live shad, I actually used live bluegill. I had several encounters with it a few days prior where it had stolen bluegill from me that I had set the hook on and was reeling in. So last Monday I decided to catch a bluegill to hook up and see if I could get it to strike again. I did so and had it hooked just after 2:30 that day, sadly as i tried to hoist it over the dock railing, the line broke. About an hour and a half later, it miraculously returned and took another swipe at a bluegill I was reeling in. So I caught another one and threaded it on my Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6000 reel/Abu Garcia Vigalante 2.0 7 foot medium rod. It absolutely slammed that one, and this time I made sure to loosen the drag a bit and worked it around the back of the dock, through the grass and over to the bank where I lipped her. I was as stoked. I got her weighed(4 and a half pounds) and snapped a picture, held her like a wwe championship belt. and walked over to the boat launch where I revived her and released her.

Nice one. Those buzzbait bites are a sight to behold.

Congratulations man, it feels great doesn't it? I caught my personal best largemouth this past Monday, also a 4 and a half pounder. I'm still stoked about that. You'll never forget your catch either.

No big ones Friday, but did get this 14 incher. Thought about keeping it with the bluegill I had on the stringer, but she looked a little skinny from the spawn, so I out her back to let her recover.

Nothing better!! Thank you.

I caught my personal best LMB today!!!!! 4-1/2 lbs. It had got odd earlier in the day and left me heartbroken. Miraculously it returned about an hour and a half later and SLAMMED a live shad I was using. This time I was ready with my Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6000 and 7 foot Abu Garcia Vigalante 2.0 rod. Instead of trying to power over the dock railing, this time I worked it around the back of the dock, through the grass l, and lipped it st the bank. I am STOKED!!!!! STILL shaking right now. And she put on an AMAZING aerial show. Jumped out of the water numerous times. I'll never forget this. Sadly my phone died right after this pic. What a great feeling this is!!

16 incher caught in the middle of some bluegill. Also caught were a 2 lb catfish and a 4lb catfish.

Wasn't the huge bass I tangled with the day before and earlier in the day yesterday, but this was a "one more cast" bass as I was getting ready to leave. 17.25 inches, and a bit on the skinny side, so I say about 1lb 14 ounces.

Went back to the county lake and fished off the dock. I had set the hook on a hand size bluegill and as the thing veered right to try to get off, this big fat bass came and started pursuing it, and then she just absolutely CRUSHED IT. Swallowed it in one swoop and the blowup it made was loud. I have never had that happen before. Sadly I couldn't get it in but it was still so cool to have that happen and I actually had it on the line for about 20 seconds even not being hooked directly. It appeared to have very impressive length and girth. Looked like the body of a 6 or 7 lb bass.

I meant if I don't have nightcrawlers on hand. If all I have are artificials.

3 crappie caught yesterday along with about a dozen bluegill not pictured. Biggest of the 3 was approximately 12 inches.

Probably an obvious answer, but fishing is always full of surprises and doesn't always play to the textbook. That said I've caught some pretty decent bass this year while fishing for bluegill, shellcracker, and crappie. And the numbers have been enough that it's making me want to take a couple trips strictly bass fishing. I have a couple baitcast combos I can rig up and I have 12, 14, 17, and I think a spool of 20 lb test that I could line them up with. What are your suggestions? Senkos? Flukes? pumpkinseed or watermelon seed zoom worms?

I've never caught huge bass so that one is quite likely my PB. That's probably a dink for many around here. It measured out to be just over 18 inches long.

One of several crappie today.

Caught these guys yesterday. About 15 in all about the size of these. Had a blast. Prior to this year, it had been 5 years since my last crappie.

Got these crappie today to save an otherwise disappointing trip. Love their dark coloration. All other crappie I have ever caught were always white

Last year I was crappie fishing and found a shallow slew that a lot of baitfish like to congregate in, so I drop a minnow and a float in that 1.5 foot of water thinking I would just get a decent crappie, but not long afterward, something absolutely SLAMMED the minnow. It almost doubled my little light rod over and started peeling drag, making the reel scream. I get it up about a foot from the bank, and it was this big ole bucketmouth that was EASILY 5 lbs, quite possibly 6 lbs. But after I got it that close, it did a very violent head thrash and sent my hook flying back at me. I was absolutely broken hearted. That easily would have been my biggest bass ever and was the first bite that day. I wanted to puke.

Wow, what a mule of a bass. That was well worth being the only bite.