DrAloha

I’m definitely not a UT fan (the burnt orange pants are as orange as I go). Pretty die hard Memphis fan and alum (from a family of alums in the State days) I do think the first scale was pretty inaccurate— some guys were fishing for catfish next to me and it was their Bass Pro cheap manual hanging scale My dad came to the rescue with his manual Rapala fish gripper scale (scale 2). He’s made sure it’s calibrated, but not past 10 pounds. I dunno how well those scales do when they aren’t yanked past a certain weight regularly (it read 12.5 pounds— but when I pulled it down to 13– it stayed there). Pops insists I need to buy a scale as he’s tired of coming to weigh my double-digit fish (secretly, he likes it). I think it’s bad luck to bring a scale or a net (I only catch big fish when I have neither). Coincidentally, I also never see eagles or interesting wildlife when I don’t bring my nice camera

I feel this in TN— and extraordinary spring in that it’s so ordinary. The plants are all flowering at once (I’ve always been one to judge the bass spawn based off of trees flowering). The temperature and precipitation have been average. It’s been beautiful (except for my allergies). Last year, we had some weird cold snaps that really seemed to throw the bass off— I could never really nail down the spawn. There was a mini-wave in mid March, and I didn’t catch the next mini-wave until mid-May. It was very strange.

Another picture. I hope she lives happy and healthy. I held her in the water for about 25 minutes waiting for my dad and my wife to come and take pictures. She went side up for a second on the first attempt at release. but second attempt she jetted off like the fastest dink you've ever seen.

Thanks! I honestly don't know. The more I look, the more I'm not sure. And I am not sure on the weight either (used two manual scales-- Scale 1, weight 1- 14 lbs, Scale 1, weight 2- 13.5 lbs (2 minutes later) Scale 1, weight 3- 12.5 lbs (25 minutes later) Scale 2- 12.5 lbs (20 minutes after catching) Only used manual scales as I get tired of digitals being out of batteries/taring when I don't want to tare. I guess I'll never know the true weight.

It's a fairly deep lake (has a channel that gets to 23 feet). I just feel like I'm looking at tea leaves trying to read spots on bass. I swear there are at least a half dozen double-digits in this lake. I see them on their beds, I go home to my wife and tell her about them, and she just rolls her eyes.

Caught about 300 yards from one two years ago (today's I'm wearing orange pants) This is a 35 acre lake. And this time of year, I see hogs laid up against the bank (on beds?). Also, wanna take a guess at the weight? View from the other side. Link to thread of fish from 3 years ago

No measurement. She was a good size— I’m thinking in the 5 pound range. All 4 I caught this evening were chunky.

Got to love football ? season. Put the whopper plopper to work this evening

Worked a little twilight magic this evening

Awesome! There are still some big bass in the public ponds around here despite the pressure. Any pictures?

Same pond today-- 4 nice fish in an hour. I think I'll start leaving the scale at home more often. There's something liberating about just throwing a pack of stick worms and a few hooks in your pocket and just keeping it light. Today's stick worms (red and black) were a different color than the other day (light purple). One of these fish was my 300th bass of the year.

Caught this one yesterday, too-- probably weighed about 3 pounds. The other one I caught Thursday with a scale and it was close to 5 (haircut on the day in between). I felt like the one I caught yesterday was much bigger than the 5 but the pictures didn't reflect that. I got tired of my digital scales running out of batteries or taring weight when I didn't want to tare. Went old school with a Rapala mechanical grip scale. Took it to the supermarket when I got it to verify accuracy on produce. Another close to 5 on Thursday. Purple Yum dingers were tearing them up. All big'uns-- no small ones.

Was a slow spawn this year with yo yo-ing temperatures. Caught two 5s on Thursday in the cooler weather but lost a potential double digit at the bank. Went back today to avenge my loss but didn’t have my scale. How much do you think this one weighs? Was chunky. I was thinking in the 6 to 8 range

Here’s another from the same pond that I’m pretty sure is a green sunfish. The one above just wasn’t as vibrant with the orange and was more spotted, but I caught it in the same place I catch a lot of greenies Maybe overly ambitious, but the TN state record for a green sunfish is only 1 lb 4 oz. as far as state records go, I feel like this one might be attainable (especially given most anglers aren’t great at identifying green sunfish). Is this a crazy goal?

Can you please help ID this fish? Memphis, TN

Early morning and in the evening for me. Right at sunset when the breeze has died down and the crickets are chirping— get ready for the water to explode.

Here's my dad's fish. I was surprised it hit 7-- I would've said 5-ish before it hit the scale. Also caught my PB bluegill in the neighborhood lake on a Ned rig yesterday.

My dad got on the board today with one a shade under 7 also from my neighborhood lake— another bloody tail. He caught this one on a Ned rig and light tackle It’s at my neighborhood lake. Way overstocked with bass. Lots of dinks that lull you to sleep— I swear there are hardly any fish between a pound and six pounds. Also really huge bream (which I guess is another indicator of too many tiny bass)

It was in Cordova. I'm up to 153 bass, 4 bream, and a crappie (all on bass lures) for the year. With the exception of this one, almost all of the others have been small (maybe a few 3 pounders).

What's also great is that I made this post the same time last year: I caught the big one in the same place as the fish I referenced in this post last year.

This is great! Update: Apparently a neighbor found my rod. Hopefully I'll get it back tomorrow. In lieu of having the fish mounted (since she's released) if my crankbait is still on there, I might frame it.

I caught this beast yesterday in the Memphis city limits. It's twice as big as any bass I've ever caught (I had caught a handful of six pounders before, but was "stuck" at six). I went walking with my wife and baby girl yesterday afternoon around our neighborhood lake. As always, I was scouting. Last year, I saw some monsters along this same bank this time of year on their beds but could not for the life of me provoke a bite. Saw this shadow on her bed-- she looked big, but had no idea how big. Came back after our walk with a Senko. Threw it for five minutes or so and the bass was not interested. Then put on a shallow crank-- she started turning towards it. I stopped the crank right on top of her and all of a sudden I see a giant mouth take the crank from the top of the water. Great fight-- could not believe how big she was when she jumped. I only had 8 lb test on. It was the most nerve-racking minute of my life. The best part was when I pulled the fish out of the water-- there was an elderly gentleman crappie fishing nearby-- and the look on his face! He was laughing and just so happy-- I wish I could take that amount of joy from someone else's catch (honestly, I'd probably be jealous). Anyways, my pops came with the scales and she weighed in at over 12 and a half pounds. Had a good photo session with the fish before letting her go-- she swam off with no problems. I'm still in absolute disbelief this happened (and I was so amped after catching her that I left my rod on the bank-- came back to look for it this morning and it was gone).

This and the sunning hypothesis make sense to me. When my wife sees them she says “Look, they’re sunning.” They are always facing the afternoon sun when I see them and there are almost always multiple big bass (strangely paired to almost the exact same sizes). I pointed them out to another fisherman the other day and he tried throwing at one for the entire day without any luck. I’m more encouraged over the last few days— I’ve just gone back to blind throwing and have been catching a bunch (no monsters).

I’m also not used to bass bedding in riprap. Not really sure what’s going on I am catching smaller ones on Senkos throughout the lake. Just not the ones I can see. And my solitary sight fishing catch was on an orange square bill.

Couldn’t see the actual beds. These bass have been posting up on rocks against the bank with a steep drop off behind them. They will circle back to the same rock all afternoon, but won’t be there the next day. I’ve only seen them on sunny days, too. I’d say they’ve been between 5-8 lbs. Not sure of the water temp— I’m in southwestern TN.