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I don’t know what it weighed. I didn’t have a scale. It was quite a bit bigger than the 6 lb I caught last year. It had not been a good day. Nothing much had worked for me. I found some bait and was just content catching stripers, a few crappie etc. I had to be somewhere and I was just trying to catch one more fish before I left when the big one hit. I’m guessing it was between 7 and 8 lbs. I was fishing with a 20-year old 6-foot Berkley Tournament spinning rod and 8 lb test. Never thought a new best would come that way. I’d been stuck on 6 lbs and caught one that size each of last 3 years.

Usually I tend to stay off the water on the busy holidays, but fortunately for me, the weather was projected as iffy all weekend which kept a lot of crazy people away from the lake. Had a pretty decent weekend of fishing, the passing fronts had them tuned up a bit and had a blast with dad catching our share of northerns and bass, including a few nice ones. Given that the lake our cabin is on is still in rebound from a die off roughly 6 years ago it was good to see the numbers coming back along with some size as well. That was great, but Labor Day itself turned out to be one for my record books. The day also coincided with my aunt's birthday. She enjoys fishing, so I decided to take her out on a lake that's been on fire to have some fun hoping for her to hook into some good fish. She did get a few, but in the meantime, I managed to put together quite a bag of fish. I wasn't catching the numbers I'm normally used to there, but every other spot I'd pull up on, we'd work for a while and I'd smoke a good one cranking. It was later in the day after we had went up shallow in hopes of her getting a little more action, when I decided to hit a small hump not too far away. I caught my smallest keeper right away, and then had a giant engulfed my crankbait a few casts later. When I first hooked into her, I actually thought it was a little one. Not much of a pull, not much of a hit like the others I'd caught that day and just some small head shakes. However, about a quarter of the way back to the boat she decided to come up. Despite jamming my rod tip down into the water almost the whole body came out of the water and after that the fight was on. She started pulling like a freight train coming up and jumping at least one more time. My heart had just about stopped as bass very very rarely reach that size in northern Wisconsin. Between the battle and my aunt freaking out in the back of the boat I was beside myself at what was going on. I was just praying that she'd stay on. With my aunt having somewhat limited mobility, I was left to battle and land it myself. Luckily, I was able to get the net under her and get her up in the boat. Fighting this fish I knew it was big...but being up close with it, it started to set in just how big this bass was. I had the shakes pretty bad and my whole body just about felt like jello, but I had put keeper #5 in the boat...my kicker and it tipped the scales at 7.34 lbs bringing my days total to 21.73 lbs. I could have fished slightly longer, but we decided to head in a little early to get some good pictures not only of the fish, but my limit as well. I almost wish I would have stayed out a bit longer as I feel like I could have made another cull to put me into a minimum of the 22 lb range and the way the day was going...maybe even higher. Days don't get much better than that around here, but it was a blast and some great memories were made! Not a day I'll soon forget. All fish were released to be caught again another day, but I've got the measurements to eventually get a reproduction made. Link to the whole bag --> https://www.facebook.com/michael.mudgett.9/videos/10214557160715206/

So last Christmas I was bought myself a brand new Flippin’ n Pitchin’ setup. It was my first rod that I bought for a specific technique and above all it was my very first Baitcasting Rod/Reel setup ever! Well I haven’t had the opportunity to use this rod how I imagined I’d be using it until yesterday. I started out yesterday morning casting spinners and lipless cranks around some local ponds, caught a few dinks, nothing even remotely big but still nice. But once it hit around Noon - 1 o’clock ish all the fish had left the shallows and I couldn’t find anything. That’s when I pulled out my flipping and pitching setup I had been hauling around with me all day. And yah know, I have to admit, there’s something a little intimidating about purposefully chucking a lure into the branches of a big tree thatsfallen in the water. But I quickly remembered all the YouTube videos I’d seen and posts I’d read about guys pulling absolute pigs out of laydowns and I was able to convince myself that losing a soft plastic isn’t the same as losing a $5 lure and went ahead and started flippin and pitchin all the lay downs I could find. And boy and I glad I did! My first few lay downs weren’t super productive but I’m still rusty at getting my bait in the water quiet enough not to spook any fish and I basically had to stand on the tree that I was pitching to because I couldn’t get a good casting angle off the bank. So I’ll attribute my lack of fish from those spots to that. But after a few not so good pitches and flips I found myself at the laydown that has taken at least 5 or 6 of my lures over the years from casting at it from the other side of the pond. I could see two big bass hovering around the branches of the tree and my heart immediately started racing. I tried my headrest to very quietly get into a good casting position and once I did I pitched out my T-Rigged soft plastic as quiet as I could. It landed on the trunk of the tree and immediately all of the nearby bass were super interested. I could see a few 2 pounders just hovering over my bait. I ever so slowly twitched my lure up the body of the tree, watching one of the bigger bass get closer and closer as it inspected my bait. My heart was pounding at this point. I had gotten my lure as far up the tree as I could before I had to twitch it off the side of the trunk. As my bait fell down into the deeper water, immediately the big bass rocketed down to the bottom! I held on for dear life for what I thought was about the be the most jarring bite I’ve ever gotten in my entire life!... but nothing. I was so fired up that I immediately pulled my bait right back out of the water to do the exact same sequence of events over again, but as soon as I pulled it up I had wished I left it down there for an extra second with a few good twitches. When I pulled it up I saw the bass follow it up and then swim back into the deep part of the tree once my bait broke the surface. I didn’t let that discourage me though. I pitched my bait right back out there. This was the pitch that will stick with me for a very long while, and to be honest I’m not sure when I felt the bite but all of the sudden I knew I had a head shaking largemouth bass on the end of my line and II wasn’t about to let it get away. I set the hook hard and with a grunt ripped that fish right out of the water as soon as I possibly could. The fight was short but the reward will be with me forever. I pulled up what was easily one of the biggest bass I’ve ever seen pulled out of this pond. I let out a celabratory ““Yeah!” While holding my fish and the guy across the pond from me did the same! Even he knew it was a big fish or this pond too!! Luckily I managed to snap a few pictures while trying to awkwardly hold the fish and position myself in view of my phone camera. I know this fish is only about 2 pounds (maybe) but it was still a catch I’ll always remember!

Stealing my start directly from Geo G Loxahatchee 2/18/18 7-10am Clear sunny day Wind ESE 2-4 mph Water temp 72.5* No current Water light stain Was able to get out on the kayak for a few hours this last Saturday morning. Always get excited when the forecast calls for light wind conditions when fishing from the kayak, and the weather guys were dead on this time around. Wind was nonexistent up to a light breeze for the large majority for the morning. High bright skies and overall a beautiful day to be out on Lox regardless of the fishing. Paddled directly back into one of the more secluded flats that I typically target just north of the Lox boat ramps. With the high water levels it was very easy to get back there. Actually with water levels so high, this was the first time I saw a bass boat back in the same flat I typically fish. Looked possibly like a guide with his client who clearly knew where he was going. He went directly to an area that I just fished through 10 minutes prior and only caught one small LMB (less than a lb). Difference is they were live baiting and from what I could hear from the constant splashing of fish on the other end of their lines, they did a LOT better than I was doing. Although I'm not a live bait fan, it looked like a fun time. On my end, mainly fished that back flat and had a great time doing it. Started with a HB frog and had two on early but wasn't able to bring either to the kayak. Never got a good hook set. Then it went flat for the remainder of the first hour or so, I continued with the HB frog, switched to a grass pig swimbait, also threw a swim jig for a bit with no takers. A bit discouraged, I tried to slow it down and switched over to a watermelon fluke and the bite turned on immediately. I'm guessing by the color and presentation that it was resembling a baby bass in nature. In any case, the bite for the next couple of hours was fairly steady. Caught 10 fish in total all on the same watermelon fluke (9 LMB, 1 Cichlid , 3 got off (including one rather large mudfish that hit about a 5 feet from the kayak). 2 of the bass were in the 2-3lb range, otherwise most of the others were less than a lb. but still fun to catch of course. The highlight of the morning was hooking into my new personal best pictured below. She was the bedding bass I was searching for. Her tail was all bloody from making her bed. Unfortunately I didn't have a scale but I'm guessing she went at least 5.5 to 6 lbs, thinking maybe more judging by her gut. Pretty fish! Made my morning. Looking forward to getting back out this weekend and continue the hunt for these big girls. Hope you all are doing well. Good luck out there!

I know there is already a catch pic thread and probably numerous other ways to brag about the best bass you have caught, but I thought it would be cool to have it all in one place. Feel free to post about how you caught it, or just post a picture. I caught my personal best, 4 lbs 9 oz Spot, using a tri-colored grub on a 1/4 oz ball head. I threw it down a rock wall and bam, PB.

No doubt. Just caught this sucker today! And AGAIN... didn't have my scale lol sorry. Definitely at LEAST 3lbs. Biggest in size from the last 2 I posted. This was the biggun. Good fight!

So, while the bite was decent tonight, the wife got her personal best and we didn't bring the scales. She said she almost puked when she saw it's mouth open to toss the lure. Measured 23.25" All I was doing was trying out different baits and she was pulling in 16 fish in just a little over an hour. She caught this fatty on a fat albert grub to add to the humor of the situation.

Went to the newly found local pond and caught my personal best, 2 times! 1st one was on my 3rd cast with a spinner bait. the 2nd was about 4 minutes later on the same spinner bait. I do not know the exact weight, but my guess is around 4-5 lbs for both of them. I WILL be getting a scale soon though. I was super pumped! It reminded me why I love fishing so much.

I caught my biggest walleye yet a few days ago, and I managed to get it on video so I thought I'd share it with you guys. I know there's a lot bigger walleyes out there, but I really don't fish for them all that much so it was sweet to hook into a bigger one!

We all have them, some true, some slightly exaggerated (now I now it is a hard idea to accept that anglers could lie, but I have slowly come to expect that we fisherman sometimes, albeit rarely, blow stories out of proportions.) So post any you've had or heard, be they true or lies. Mine occured when I had started fishing for crappie and baby bass. A small bass bit and as I was reeling him in, I could see him flare, and what I figured to be a log, suddenly darted and my rod bent double. The spines on the baby had caught in his throat I suppose. Just as I lifted him out of the water, I forgot that I was using 4 pound test, and I heard the most sickening sound an angler can hear. TWANG! She fell back to her world, never to be caught be me again. Sigh.