IcatchDinks

NEW PB ALERT! I'm feeling very proud of myself, so if you'll allow me to narrate a story, I'll tell you all how it went down: There are three small ponds all within the same 1/2 mile radius, right in the smack dab middle of town. Two of them are only separated by about 20 feet of culvert. These three have been my go to fishing spots all summer. Tonight was no different. I started fishing at about 7:15 tonight at the largest of the three. I caught three from that pond, nothing notable: two small bass and a bluegill: After a lot of casting and no more success, I decided to move on to the other two smaller ponds. Unfortunately, the pond I usually fish (the one closest to the road and therefore more accessible) was crowded with people enjoying the holiday week. So I decided to try the other back pond. Now, despite the fact that these two ponds are connected by a very large culvert and occasionally flood into each other, the fish behave very differently. The front pond has tons of vegetation, and the bass DESTROY topwater. The back pond has very little vegetation, is much deeper, and the bass just aren't aggressive at all. I've only ever been bit on senkos and crank baits. I almost never fish it anymore because I have very little success. Also, while both ponds have a lot of carp in them, the back one seems to have a far bigger population. I fished for about an hour with zero success. Much like my previous experiences, there was zero topwater bite. So, I finally switched to my favorite crankbait, the Rebel Wee Craw. Idk what it is about this bait, but it works. My grandpa introduced me to ot when I was seven years old, and I've been catching fish with it ever since. I don't know if it was the change in bait, or the fact that I moved to a different spot on the pond. But I finally started catching fish. Nothing big. But it's fun, even when they're little: I was about ready to call it a day. The sun was setting. It had been a fun evening. I wasn't paying attention on the next bite. I was lazily cranking the bait back to me, when suddenly there was a THUMP, and the drag started peeling out. I could have sworn I'd snagged a carp. After adjusting the drag I finally got the fish coming my way. I thought for sure it was a carp, albiet a small one. But as he surfaced, I realized I had a new PB. Landed him without incident, and now the evening was complete: 18.5 inches at a very skinny 2.66 pounds. What a day! Oh yeah, and I caught one more tiny dink:

I'm looking forward to updates on how this works. Hooked a fish pretty bad tonight with that lure. I think he'll survive, but I didn't do him any favors.

That's both comedic and tragic about your lure, @The Baron. Very nice bass, though. I'm surprised the popper outperformed the whopper-plopper. Usually for me, when I can't get bit on a popper, I'll switch to the whopper-plopper. And if they aren't hitting that, I just rule out topwater entirely. I went out in a light rain last night and realized that I quite like fishing in the rain. It's cool, there's not nearly as many people out. And if the rain isn't too heavy, the sound of the rain falling can be quite cathartic. I caught a little rock bass on a 6.75 inch Wyrm from Engineering Hooksets. And then hours later, just before dark, I caught a LMB on the Rebel Wee Craw; a lure I usually throw out of pure desperation when they won't bite anything else. I plan to go back out this evening after dinner. We'll see if I have better luck then.

Fun story. I left a snarky comment on an Instagram ad. Then the owner of the company started arguing with me, and after we kissed and made up, he offered to send me a set of the lures being advertised for free. I don't use swim baits ever. These are the first I've ever owned. But now I own three of them. Who knew that arguing with strangers on the internet could get you free stuff.

I usually quote a comment in order to make it clear what I'm replying to or talking about, not to notify the person I'm replying to. (i.e. in Latest Catch Pics where so many people are posting that it can be hard to follow a thread of conversation.) BUT, I can make sure I trim that quote down to only the relevant bits, cutting out stuff like pictures and lots of unrelated text. I definitely want threads to be easy to read and understand.

BR HAS A YOUTUBE CHANNEL??!!! HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS!? Oh, welcome! This place is great, isn't it!? Glad to have you on board!

This is supposed to be a smallmouth. No idea if it'll catch fish. But it was fun to paint.

It's for the fish, A-Jay. Not for you. ?

That's so wonderful!!! That grin says it all! Thanks for taking the time to invest in the next generation, Katie. He'll remember that trip for the rest of his life.

I take my little siblings fishing fairly often. Nothing is more rewarding for me then introducing the kiddos to something I love. The joy/wonder/panic when they hook a biggun, or even the simple delight of pulling in panfish, can't be beat. I have more fun when someone I bring fishing catches a fish than when I catch my own. I hope you have a blast. We need pictures and updates!

It was a slow evening wading the river yesterday. Only got three bites: two dink smallies and one tiny rock bass. Smallmouth numero uno tried not to cooperate and flopped into the mud, so his yearbook picture isn't the best. He'll have to live with that knowledge for the rest of his life: I didn't photograph the rock bass, because I didn't want to risk fumbling my phone out of my backpack while standing in 3 feet of water. The second smallmouth was much more cooperative than his earlier counterpart. He gave a lively tussle for such a little guy, and tired himself out: I had to have words with him about eating more than he can actually fit in his stomach, though. The glutton already had a big old crawdad in his gullet: That was it for my evening. At least the river is back up to normal levels after several days of rain. Now if we can only get Canada to stop sending us smoke signals. It's 2023 for crying out loud!

Wow. I thought that this was a BASS thread. With pictures of BASS. jk. That's such a sweet looking dog. no way can we allow that sweet thing to eat the shrooms.

Hello from a fellow Michigander! Saw those pictures of the ship and immediately started humming The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald. Lol. Beautiful fish.

Holy-moly!!! nice fish!! That bass is a hog!

Yep. One of those. On a Ned rig Not that big, But I was using an ultralite rig. ( @ol'crickety, is this the kind of poetry you were talking about?) Oh, right. This is BASS thread isn't it? Nice fish.

@RipzLipz thanks for such a comprehensive and informative reply. I've gone ahead and marked it as "the solution." I've already got a cheap pair of split ring pliers. Definitely not idiot proof, but they work for now. I've caught a good bunch of fish off that same whopper plopper with zero modifications to it since this post, so maybe the fish were just non-committal that day. That doesn't negate the need for new hooks on MANY of my lures, especially since I'm getting into making my own hard baits. Again, thanks!

@Blue Raider Bob I had a similar experience hooking into a big old carp last year while fishing for panfish. I don't generally like catching carp. But WOW was that a ride.

@ol'crickety I'm grinning because the person holding the camera is my wife, and everything is just better when she's involved.

My application for the #teamlonghair club. Caught three tonight. I've used almost nothing but topwater for the past month. Blowups are addicting.

I've only ever posted photos of bass. And a turtle. I did post a photo of a turtle once. And a Michigan logo. I did that too. And my face. I guess that doesn't really count as a bass either. But other than all those crimes, I'm completely innocent, your Honor!

Yesterday we got a lot of much needed rain. Heavy, steady rain, all day long. Around 6 or 7 in the evening it cleared up. So I hit the ponds. Caught three "meh" sized bass. The best part of the evening was watching a dad with his two little girls, about 7 or 8 years old, I would guess. They were fishing with crawlers, and they were pulling in the bluegill and dinky bass left and right. It didn't matter how tiny the fish was, the girls would shriek with delight every time they dragged one up onto the bank. Then one of them pulled in a big old catfish. She didn't really care that it was a catfish, or that it was almost two feet long, compared to the dinks she'd been catching all evening. The only thing she cared about was that it was one more fish than her sister had caught, putting her in "the lead." It was a fun evening. I just can't wait till my own little one is old enough to bring fishing with me.

You've already been given tons of great suggestions, but since my local rivers here in Michigan sound similar to yours, and since I'm also limited to where my own two feet can take me, here's the lures I use: Topwater: Rebel Pop-R (or any popper of your choosing. They all work) whopper plopper (the small one) Crankbaits: pretty much exclusively use the Rebel Wee craw in shallow water. If the water gets more than three or four feet deep, the Rapala Fat Rap or the WeeCraw's bigger, meaner brother the Rebel Big Craw (they really do have a very creative naming scheme going on here) have both been productive for me. Plastics: in shallow or slow moving water I use a weightless Texas rigged senko. If it's deeper water or current, I'll put a bullet weight on it. I usually use the four inch Yum Dinger. Or the four inch Gary Yamamoto. I've never understood the need for these massive 7-8" worms everyone uses. The four inch works great for me. Curly tail grubs on a jig head with an exposed hook always work for me. And I've caught almost as many fish as I have snags with a Ned rig. Spinners: various Mepps inline spinners have caught countless smallies for me in shallow rivers. You gotta fish them against the current, though. They have trouble spinning when fished with the current, and tend to sink to the bottom and get snagged. Also, if you're not wading, you should. It's loads of fun, keeps you cool on hot days, and you can reach so many more fishy-hidey-holes than from the banks. Happy fishing!

I don't know it, but I did some searching on the interwebs. Found this website https://smithwickcollector.com/devils-series-and-other-wood-lures/ And this picture from it. Is this what you're looking for:

Beautiful fish! One day I'm gonna have to come try out that mud puddle you threatened me with. ?

It's all relative. If I catch even one fish, I go home happy. Some days I'll be out for hours getting skunked and then land one decent bass, I'll go home satisfied. (average size in our area is about 14 inches so decent in my book is anything bigger than that.) But it's all variable. Yesterday I had a really good day. But that was because it rained. A lot. Water levels are finally back up, the weather isn't scorching hot anymore, and I caught three fish in 2 hours. Nothing big, not a lot of fish. But I went home feeling like I had a great evening out. Of course, the more and bigger the fish, the better. I'd say my best day was fishing a new lake, and I only casted about 4 or 5 times. I caught a pike for dinner, the biggest rock bass I've ever seen, a big fat bluegill (also dinner), and a new PB smallie. Four fish on four or five casts, delicious dinner, and a new PB. I have similar rates, so don't feel inadequate. Some people just live with better fishing. Lol