IcatchDinks

When they're there. I know they're there. I can see they're interested in my lure, but they just won't bite. Their instincts make no sense to me and I can't figure them out sometimes. But I love bass, both largies and smallies. Some people fish as if the bass are their adversary. I fish like they're my friends. (The bass most definitely have different ideas about that.) Endless hours of fun and entertainment. If there's something driving me bonkers, it's probably something I'm doing.

Saw some pretty flowers on my walk back to the car this morning.

The tubers are usually college students, so I give a little bit of leniency for their youth and lack of wisdom. But it is heckin annoying for sure. He was a chunk for sure. I didn't get a weight on him because I'd already had him out of the water for too long just to get my phone out of my backpack and take a photo. I went out again to the same stretch of river at 5:30 this morning. Fished for about two hours before coming home. Only caught two smaller bass and a rock bass.

River wading today, I found some poor bloke's topwater lure broken off on a branch. Tied it on and caught my largest smallmouth of the year so far my third cast. He's only 15" (I haven't done a ton of river fishing this year.) But boy, did he put up one helluva fight! An absolutely massive explosion on the eat, and then the most acrobatic fight I think I've ever had. Three giant leaps, running this way and that, and then he tried putting another hook into me when I tried to lip him at the bank. (Despite my waders, I was standing right next to the bank when I caught him.) I actually hate the action of that freebee lure, so I'mma put it in a case somewhere and forget about it. Also, don't mind my derpy Riley Greene Hat. It saved the back of my neck from a nasty sunburn. I caught several other smaller fish too. I probably would have caught more, but every time I keyed in on some fish, a group of drunken tubers would come around the bend splashing, kicking off against the bottom, yelling, and scaring all my fish away. Of all the kinds of people on the river, tubers are the worst in my opinion. They're always drunk, always loud, always rude. It was a good day, despite the ruckus. Found two lures including the one I caught the 15 inch acrobat on. One of them is a deep diving crank that needs some TLC and maybe a new paint job. Same fish, but with me in the picture:

I've punched a lot of guys, but never amongst lily pads.

Spent two hours fishing this morning. Caught a lot of smallish largies. The only really big bass I saw chased my bait into the shallows, fully committed to hit it, and then a smaller bass dashed in and stole it from him. The cool thing is that a year or two ago, I would have considered these decent fish. But now they're just average. I take it as a sign of my own improvement as an angler that I've come to expect more and better fish than I used to

I also googled it at first. Not because I wanted to fish it (I don't have a boat), but because I was curious how far north in relation to myself he was. I don't remember what clued me in to the fact it was a joke, but I figured it out eventually.

Same

I bank fish and keep my two main poles and my backpack full of gear in my trunk. Forgetting my water bottle sucks on hot days, though.

Haven't been fishing in about a week and a half. (That's not strictly true: I took some more of my siblings fishing last weekend, but I didn't catch anything as I spent most of my time helping them catch stuff.) Despite a late night last night, I got up at six and hit the pond before work. Managed to get several bass. Nothing big, but they were all fighters. Also, using a ultralight gear made the fights far more interesting. One fish had a dead eye, but his partial blindness didn't stop him from absolutely hammering my crank bait. Also caught a nice bluegill. He'll be in the Other Species thread. Felt good to catch fish again.

I don't watch pro fishing, but I watch YouTube. My grandpa takes the number one spot. He taught me the basics as a child and instilled an interest at an early age. NDYAKangler on YouTube. @A-Jay because he's a master at catching my favorite fish, the smallie, and a wealth of info. And @ol'cricketybecause she's just an inspiration and an absolute cheerleader for everyone here on the forums. (Also, I've never seen anyone do her kind of numbers.)

Not important at all. I usually rig it with the hook in the slot, but I've caught lots of fish without that slot too. The best "Senko" style worm (in my opinion) is of course Gary Yamamoto's, and those don't have slots at all. But on the Dinger, the slot is there, so I use it.

Mono FTW. I tell people I use mono because it's cheap and works. I don't tell them the real reason: I'm intimidated by the other types of line. 😆

This is wonderful, Katie! So stoked for you!

Beautiful fish, @T-Billy! I've only ever caught one musky. And it was tiny. (At least I think that's what this tiny guy is.) Didn't need no figure 8 to catch this river monster. He attacked a spoon about half his size on a straight retrieve.

I'm always happy to catch a lot of bass. I'm always looking for a new PB. As long as the bass aren't tiny dinks, I'm happy. So, somewhere near the middle of the QQ scale.

@Baitmaker, that looks very nice! Awesome work! And even with one hand it looks like it's got great action.

Took my little brothers fishing yesterday afternoon. They must have caught every bluegill in the pond. The eight year old caught a nice bass. (Not posting his picture with the fish here because he's 8 and not my kid. Lol) I nabbed two bass as well. One of them just over sixteen inches. @raggydoo, that is an awesome smallie! Congrats on the new PB!

I have found this to be the ticket for nearly every bait I use. I learned it when I was learning how to fish top water, but I've since started waiting to set the hook on nearly every lure. I seem to get a much better hook-up ratio nowadays.

Thanks! But if I were in Katie's world, I'd be pulling in 40+ bass a trip. Lol @JayMac89, I'm super stoked to hear about your success! It adds a little extra garnish that you were fishing better than the tournament anglers too. Lol. Thanks for sharing.

Had a great morning. As I was tying on my shoes at 6AM I wondered if getting up early was worth it. It is. Started out the day with a couple dinks that I didn't photograph. Then had something big absolutely HAMMER my crank bait. It ran for a few feet, my drag screaming. And then it came off. Nothing sudden. Didn't break. Just one second I had something massive on the line, the next my bait was cranking along like nothing ever happened. I was so mad. Then I went on a string of catches. Nothing massive, but I did finish the day with a beautiful 16 incher, which is about as big as I've ever landed out of this pond. Later today I'm gonna take my two little brothers back to this same pond for some worm N bobber fishing. Hoping they have as good a day as I did this morning. This bass I caught directly after that I lost that massive thing, hence my annoyed expression:

Honestly, the mist is one of my favorite parts of early morning fishing. It feels so ethereal and mysterious . Lol The picture doesn't do it justice.

Some days just kick your butt. Yesterday I could only grab about 45 minutes of fishing time at the pond before work, but spent half that time picking cottonwood fluff off my line and out of my reel. Managed one largie. Then this morning I spent about 2 hours wading the Chippewa. It was a beautiful morning with the mist rising off the river. Saw a bi-coloured squirrel in the parking lot, a turtle on the bottom of the river, innumerable birds of all sorts, but only one fish. Caught him on a T-rigged EFH wyrm. Had another one hit the whopper plopper, but I totally whiffed on the hook set. That's all the action I saw.

@NorthernBasser very nice fish! And your camera takes crystalline photos!