Jmurphy87

Definitely small fish but the special part is that I caught them on a jig, not my best for the year but it’s helping me build confidence in one that I struggle with. I have already caught 2 4Lb plus fish in one day on a jig. 5/16 finesse dirty jigs canterbarry craw with a rage chunk amber and green, black flake.

A few more things lol, saw the full metal shower blow, speed wake yesterday and couldn’t resist lol. I had a hard time deciding on bluegilla or Spanish bone decided to go with blugilla since it will be in the water. Got a mango jig that something just stole around 15 minutes ago lol. I guess my bfs rod and 5lb line wasn’t up to it or a pike stole it, good news is 1/8 oz jig let’s me work the tops of the salad without getting hung up in it. 2 packs of trailers.

A few things for myself 2 jackall popping frogs 1 jackall regular frog 1 5/16 jig 2 1/4 jigs some trailers 1 pack rage chunk amber green flake 4 packs paca chunk sungill, perch, natural craw, Alabama craw.

I caught one again after a few days of catching nothing, struck out at my normal pond that I go to frequently at times. I decided to head back to spring valley, place was busy and I was already feeling discouraged from the past couple days. Decided to throw the frog in a spot that I have caught a couple out of last year, definitely requires braid lol. First fish missed the frog completely, threw it back a couple times and it gets smashed in the thick stuff that it sort of walks across the top of. Waited a split second felt it set the hook felt the fish but it came off, don’t think I got good penetration. There was a huge gob of weeds on my frog, I was gutted a little bit more. From what I saw of it looked to be a decent fish, kept persevering and caught this small 1.98lb one at the end of my cast. I got five walks in if lucky and wham, I watched it grab it and knew that it had it reeled down and set the hook. I felt it and started reeling like crazy to get it to the surface and in, it’s not super deep but very thick with weeds and vegetation of different kinds. Last year I had to use a 1 oz punching weight to get through it. I feel a little bit better now.

Nothing special from me, got out yesterday and caught probably 10-15 small bass this small sheet of paper being the longest. He definitely needs to eat more.

Nothing special but a few fish, caught 2 today to break in my 5lb fluorocarbon on my bfs reel after I had to re spool it. Caught on a 4.5” fat robo worm in bold bluegill on a 3/0 trokar finesse worm hook. Would have caught a couple more but drag was not set correctly on a couple hook sets lol. 1 dink and another slightly less smaller dink at 2.38lbs. Not bad for 30 minutes or less.

A little something at least 1 spool 5lb fluorocarbon 1 spool 15lb braid 2 packs 4.5 fat robo worms, bold bluegill, green punisher 1 pack choppers salty sinkers huckleberry 1 pack trokar 3/0 finesse hooks 1 pack 3/0 rebar hooks 1 jackall frog black gill 1 6” mag draft albino shad I needed line for my curado bfs and come out with all of this lol.

I finally got time to post some fish pics from the weekend. I got up Sunday morning and my daughter wanted to go fishing with me, it’s not everyday when my 15 year old wants to go fishing lol. She was the superstar of Sunday, handed me my butt on a plate. I gave her a wacky rig she was off and running she caught 6 or more bass on this. Her biggest was 1.70lbs, followed by a 1.50lb and more smaller ones after that. I was throwing the 1/4oz dark sleeper and caught some perch, crappie and a tiny bass. I got the biggest fish of the day a 2.86lb one and another tiny one. Yesterday I caught this 1.76lb one on a drop shot.

Latest purchase that I decided was worthy of posting lol. 5 packs 4.5 robo worm fat hologram shad Aarons pro shad sxe shad prizm shad Ehrlers edge 1 pack robo worm 4.5 straight tail mm3 1 pack 6 straight tail morning sunrise 4 scum frog trophy series fire tiger Green tea shameless shad new moon 3 packs owner down shot hooks 1/0,2/0,3/0 2 packs owner ultra head wacky 1/32, 1/8 1 pack owner down shot 1/16 1 pack rage chunk black blue flake 1 pack Rage craw bama craw 1 beast coast lil magnum jig 3/8 black 2 small dark sleepers 1/4 haze, 3/8 wakasagi 1 pack damiki air craw 4” watermelon candy I am extremely partial to owner terminal tackle lol, lately I have been on a real robo worm kick. Thank you drop shot, also I decided to try some scum frogs because I have heard good things on this site about them. I can’t walk the trophy series very good or at all except maybe once yesterday, I do pretty good with other frogs but these seem different. Oh well a new challenge to overcome and improve.

Started out strong with this small 3.40lb bass followed by this other one and 5 or so dinks. Bait of the day rage craw in bama craw I think, the green and orange color. I call it sunfish or blue gill, because that’s the colors I am trying to mimic. 3/0 owner twist lock hook, small tungsten weight that’s red but works, rage craw in that color lol. Dinks mostly came on 4.5 robo worm wacky rigged, mm3 color on a owner wacky hook.

Got some of my first frog bass of the year on a jackall gavacho frog, white color. I missed the first fish that hit, only the second time I threw a frog all year. Second one missed the frog completely. I caught the third and forth one though. I am happy with that for less than a hour. Biggest bass 2.38lbs small but okay for spring valley, I don’t see many people catch fish here but they do from what I have been told. I refuse to believe that I am getting better at this lol, of course it’s my second year fishing here so maybe I should not doubt myself.

I have been wanting to throw some tubes, especially since I bought some max scent ones and various weights of owner phantom tube hooks. Got rigged up and went to one of my spots in spring valley park. I made a couple short cast to check the action and fall rate out, first cast to the spot I wanted to target caught this 2.64lb bass. Packed up and headed home, have a bunch of stuff to do today and I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do catch my first bass on a tube. I caught it on a 1/16 oz owner phantom tube hook with a watermelon red Berkley max scent 3.5 tube. I am happy with that for a day lol, not bad for less than 5 minutes.

I caught a few today at a pond that I fish in parchment, MI that’s been overrun with pike I caught 5 or so small bass. I caught at least 10 pike, at the pond caught them on a lipless crank and a strike king lil mister money spinner bait. Then I went to spring valley just across the road from my apartment and caught this 1.78lb bass on a lipless ripping grass with it. I would say today was a success.

Yeah I almost bought a x bites earlier this year also, just couldn’t quite figure the power of it out. The rod stated a certain lure weight range like normal, although it didn’t seem like it would handle the higher end of its rating that well. I will say that the weight of the rod and balance is superb, it seemed like it would be a very sensitive stick in my opinion. I didn’t buy it though because at the time I had more rods than I needed and I try to buy rods for a certain use and I get very obsessive on how I want the rod to feel. I am definitely looking forward to hearing more from you about your experience with the rod, I am sure that you will like it.

Decided to post some pictures from the weekend. small bass didn’t weigh it this came on a wacky rig that my wife said was not working lol, first cast I made caught this one. I caught a few Little Rock bass and a small pike and a smaller bass on a Zara puppy. That takes care of Saturday. I got out Sunday for a hour and a half, decided wacky rig would be the move again. First cast throwing a black senko get a hit was not expecting it set the hook fight it for a second or two and it comes off ☹️ Although I did get to see some of the bigger bass in the area expose themselves, worth it. The senko flopped over the hook upon hook set is why I didn’t catch the first one. I threw the black senko wacky rig back towards one of the larger bass that I saw earlier, took one look and swam off lazily. I know what this means, time to change color of baits, water’s fairly clear. So I wacky rig a z man zinker in bass color, throw this back towards a bigger one again. The bass looks interested gets closer so I twitch it, wham watch him eat it. Set the hook bring him in, not huge but still decent 2.80lbs, then it’s pandemonium back to back cast and catches one right after another. Fish probably from 12 - 14 inches being conservative. Then as I am getting ready to leave I catch a angry 1.72lb bass that wants to hook me. I am wading in the water with shorts on runs between my legs and I know this is not good feel the fish and the the hook to my ankle yay. I keep the fish under control the best I can get slack in my line and just pull it out. I enjoyed the day of fishing and had fun.

1 dink 1 small bass 2.62 lbs all on a drop shot with 4.5” robo worm

Slow day for me size wise, tried a couple new rigs that I have never threw before. The drop shot, nose hooked fluke, 3” senko wacky rigged. Drop shot caught the most number wise around 6 small bass and 5 small pike. The nose hooked fluke caught a small bass. The wacky 3” senko caught the biggest small bass lol. I caught one pike and saw my hook in it’s mouth and then I seen another hook in the side of its face two holes in it’s face looks like the jig head had been there for a while. I cut the hook extracted that and the jig head and sent it on its way. I also caught a tiny little bass but it was definitely a chunky one, I took my hook out and then I spotted a small bluegill in it’s mouth maybe 4 inches crazy fish. I have no clue why I was throwing a drop shot in a chocolate milk pond with less than 12 inches of visibility but I did and it worked.

Caught maybe 8 fish, three or 4 on a jig once again with the biggest being 4.40lbs

Was a tough morning got out of work, stopped by the store to grab some water and milk. I then decided to follow through with my plan and fish a jig some more. I got to the pond and fished for a hour and a half no bites, maybe six inches of visibility if lucky. Decided to swim the jig instead of using it like I was the pike we’re interested caught two smaller ones probably just under 23 inches. I then fished a while longer and decided to call it a day, just as I put my jig and craw on the hook keeper my wife calls. I talked to her and spotted one of the first bass that I had seen in the pond all day, probably 14 inches or less. I told my wife that I would be home in a few minutes and got off the phone with her. I then decided to take a few pitches at the location where I saw the small bass, nothing in five attempts. Make a tiny 20 foot pitch and being working it back slowly perpendicular to the bank, wham! I get a solid strike. I set the hook with the fish now 10 feet at best away from me, I am like this fish feels pretty good then I see it. I finally got to see big girl from last year once again, I was hopeful that she wasn’t dead or that someone took her home. My best previously out of this pond was 2.40lbs this year, she went for 4.02lbs not bad for a small pond. Bait was a dirty jigs canter berry compact flipping jig in hemotoma with a black and blue craw fatty trailer. It was a good day ?

Yeah that’s how it went mostly lol.

A local meijer, they are still in the process of remodeling it.

Went to the store to get dinner, clearance prices were good enough max scent for 0.79 a pack now take 50% off that. That led to this haul all for under $7, not bad if I say so myself lol.

Nothing special out of me, caught 3 fish in 30 minutes on a black and blue jackhammer with a beast coast blade runner trailer. I didn’t weigh the first fish probably a pound or less next was 1.72, next was 2.40lbs. I then decided to make myself throw the jig, I am good with most other feeling presentations. Like plastics and stuff but not that good with a jig, took a while to get a bite and blew it. Hooked the fish fought it for a while and then it came off ? then I fought back and finally got a small one on a jig at 1.44lbs. Better than nothing but it just takes practice and hard lessons I guess, only way to get better though is to keep persevering and learning from failures and mistakes along with what works.

Welcome from Kalamazoo county, there’s a wealth of knowledge here and the community is very helpful and easy going.

Nothing special from me, had a couple hours after dropping my daughter off to see her stepsister. 3 fish 1.82lbs on a 4” black, blue dinger wacky 2.22lbs on the wacky dinger 2.02lbs on a 5.8 keitech on a 6/0 flashy swimmer also caught two smaller pike also, one on a wacky and one on the keitech.