Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Woody B]

Speaking of mansions on the lake.  My Dad was a building contractor.  He built several houses on various lakes.   Most of the owners didn't own a boat and none of them fished.   

 

My Sister in Law (my wife's sister) and her husband live on the lake I fish most of the time.  They have a pontoon boat, and a Boston Whaler.  The ' whaler has been sitting on it's trailer for years.  The pontoon is on the lake on a boat lift.  They take it up the lake to a restaurant a few times a year.  I had to repair a bunch of fuel system parts a while back because of dead/stale old gas.   Neither of them fish.    I see a BUNCH of boats on boat lifts with expired registration decals.  I'm not talking about expired a few months.  I saw one a couple weeks ago  from 2015.   

 

A guy I grew up with lives on Moss Lake (Shelby NC).  He has a pontoon, but keeps it on his trailer.  He goes to Lake Marion (Santee Cooper) a few times a month.  He takes his boat sometimes, and get's a guide other times.  He's after catfish.   He said he rarely fishes the lake he lives on.  Earlier this year I caught a 10 pound catfish on a jig, under his dock.   

[TnRiver46]

Y’all know me , I’m about to go set some catfish bait out of our dock with an impending ice storm. (I’m not too far from a clothes dryer after all)

 

47 degrees right now, supposedly 7 at sunrise 

 

edit: pic added. Walked down there in sandals 

 

[gim]

31 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Y’all know me , I’m about to go set some catfish bait out of our dock with an impending ice storm.

Bear in mind here that this is the “latest catch pics thread.” Posting photos of your setup, chairs, or sandals are not permitted unless there’s a fish photo of a bass. You’re setting a poor example, moderator Russ. Move along!

[TnRiver46]

21 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Bear in mind here that this is the “latest catch pics thread.” Posting photos of your setup, chairs, or sandals are not permitted unless there’s a fish photo of a bass. You’re setting a poor example, moderator Russ. Move along!

Somebody photo shop me a big bass in there…….

[Swamp Girl]

Bass come in many shapes and colors. Some might see a chair, but I see a DD PB.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Had a lot of fun and fished for almost 6 hours with the incoming huge drop in temps.  Figure it will be at least 3-4 days before the fish recover.     

 

Ended with a magnificent sunset, but the majority of the afternoon it was drizzling, windy, and in the high 40s, low 50s.   

 

Caught 16 Bass, and 5 big Crappie.    The biggest fish was a LGM that was close to 3lbs, and a Spot that was a chunky 2lb.       Lots of just fat little fish, but no big fish.    MB 110Jr +1 and the Flashback Mini did almost all the damage.   The big LGM came off a 7" Roboworm T-Rigged.   

 

First two fish are from yesterday, rest of the action is from today.  Not to exciting, but it's not a video full of ice and snow ?

 

 

[NorthernBasser]

Well it's the time of year us northerners get to live vicariously through all of you lucky son of a guns! Love seeing all the pics, keep 'em coming! 

[Swamp Girl]

@AlabamaSpothunter, in his latest video, said, "You talk about fun!"

 

Okay, let's talk about fun.

 

Fun is watching an Alex video in winter. As @NorthernBasser said, we "northerners get to live vicariously through all of you lucky son of a guns."

 

Alex, I know we're just cyber-pals and it's presumptuous of me to request a Christmas gift, but all I want for Christmas is to hear you say, "Guys and gal...." just one time on one of your videos. 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

33 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@AlabamaSpothunter, in his latest video, said, "You talk about fun!"

 

Okay, let's talk about fun.

 

Fun is watching an Alex video in winter. As @NorthernBasser said, we "northerners get to live vicariously through all of you lucky son of a guns."

 

Alex, I know we're just cyber-pals and it's presumptuous of me to request a Christmas gift, but all I want for Christmas is to hear you say, "Guys and gal...." just one time on one of your videos. 

 

Hahaha.....you wish is my command

 

[T-Billy]

12 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Had a lot of fun and fished for almost 6 hours with the incoming huge drop in temps.  Figure it will be at least 3-4 days before the fish recover.     

 

It was near 40 degrees at midnight. It was -5 with wind chills around -30 by 7am. Might take more than a few days for the fish to start biting here in OH!!! Keep the vids/reports coming. It'll be March before I get to wet a line again. On the upside, once the ice lid comes off, I should be able to pick up right where I left off with the A-Rig and the Esox.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

It was near 40 degrees at midnight. It was -5 with wind chills around -30 by 7am. Might take more than a few days for the fish to start biting here in OH!!! Keep the vids/reports coming. It'll be March before I get to wet a line again. On the upside, once the ice lid comes off, I should be able to pick up right where I left off with the A-Rig and the Esox.

All that epic Musky action you recently had should stave of the withdrawals for a little while I'd imagine ?

[T-Billy]

1 minute ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

All that epic Musky action you recently had should stave of the withdrawals for a little while I'd imagine ?

Nope. Just makes me crave more of it. That rig is addictive. Everything hits it hard. Bass, eyes, muskie... I've never had a subtle bite on it from any species, but man, when a 40"+ muskie T-bones it going full tilt...... POW!!! Crazy fun!!!

[Swamp Girl]

22 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Nope. Just makes me crave more of it. That rig is addictive. Everything hits it hard. Bass, eyes, muskie... I've never had a subtle bite on it from any species, but man, when a 40"+ muskie T-bones it going full tilt...... POW!!! Crazy fun!!!

 

Tim, do you ever get to see those V's in the water right before the muskies hit? I love that moment. I once fished a musky lake for a week in northwestern Ontario. The fishing was tough because of a cold front. Then the wind suddenly shifted, from the northwest to the southeast. There was a strait that ran southeast to northwest and I correctly guessed that the hungry muskies would pile in there to feed as bait was pushed through it. At one point, I had two V's racing to my buzzbait. In the hour while the wind roared, I caught five and missed a sixth. Considering the time it takes to land and release a musky, it was pretty much non-stop action. When the wind died, the bite died. 

[TnRiver46]

16 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Bass come in many shapes and colors. Some might see a chair, but I see a DD PB.

well it took me several hours and wasn’t a DD or PB, but I got one haha 

 

I definitely Wouldn’t have been able to brave the elements if it wasn’t our dock and I could just run in by the fire occasionally 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Nope. Just makes me crave more of it. That rig is addictive. Everything hits it hard. Bass, eyes, muskie... I've never had a subtle bite on it from any species, but man, when a 40"+ muskie T-bones it going full tilt...... POW!!! Crazy fun!!!

Muskies just seem epic in every aspect.    I didn't think people could catch that many in a day until you were posting all those multi fish days.     

 

The rarity, and size of these fish is what I grew up romanticizing about.   The whole fish of a thousand casts.    In your case it's the fish of a dozen casts ?

[T-Billy]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

Tim, do you ever get to see those V's in the water right before the muskies hit?

I've had them do that when rolling a spinnerbait just below the surface. Makes ya pucker!!!

[TnRiver46]

7 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

I've had them do that when rolling a spinnerbait just below the surface. Makes ya pucker!!!

I was reeling in a fish and a Musky ate it once, it closed my hook gap shut it bit so hard. Granted it was a crappie jig but I’ve had many buddies catch 40” + Musky with a crappie jig 

[T-Billy]

5 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

The rarity, and size of these fish is what I grew up romanticizing about.   The whole fish of a thousand casts.    In your case it's the fish of a dozen casts ?

It ain't always that way. This fall was epic. The A-Rig was the difference maker. They love that thing. I turned my new musky guide friend onto it, and shared how I fish it, and in return he shared lots of info with me on different aspects of muskie fishing. Our newly formed friendship has been mutually beneficial. He averaged four fish per trip through Nov and Dec. I averaged three per trip in the same time period. COME ON MARCH!!!

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 minute ago, T-Billy said:

It ain't always that way. This fall was epic. The A-Rig was the difference maker. They love that thing. I turned my new musky guide friend onto it, and shared how I fish it, and in return he shared lots of info with me on different aspects of muskie fishing. Our newly formed friendship has been mutually beneficial. He averaged four fish per trip through Nov and Dec. I averaged three per trip in the same time period. COME ON MARCH!!!

Don't you go rogue on me Braided Wonder.....there's a reason you were branded with a Bass where the sun don't shine ?

[T-Billy]

16 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I was reeling in a fish and a Musky ate it once, it closed my hook gap shut it bit so hard. Granted it was a crappie jig but I’ve had many buddies catch 40” + Musky with a crappie jig 

Oh yeah. I can't keep 'em off the TRD bug in the early spring. I have a video of me fighting a muskie that has a smallmouth I'd hooked on a ned T-Boned in it's mouth. It ended up breaking/cutting me off, but I fought it for several minutes first. It wasn't gonna let go of that smallie for anything.

8 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Don't you go rogue on me Braided Wonder.....there's a reason you were branded with a Bass where the sun don't shine ?

He's trying hard to convert me!!! The muskie are a fun diversion when the water's cold, as are those yummy saugeye and crappie, but I'm a bass fisherman at heart.

[Swamp Girl]

The reason I quit musky fishing is because casting those big lures hurt. I'm guessing Tim's A-Rig isn't easy to cast. Same with those swimbaits.

 

What I miss about them is their utter fearlessness, how they'd sidle up to my canoe and stare me down.

 

And one of the great thrills of fishing is successfully figure-eighting a musky and having a green, furious fish a few feet from your rod tip. 

 

@T-Billy What rod, reel, and line do you use to cast an A-Rig? Considering I caught two bass at a time four times in 2022 on a Whopper Plopper, I'd love to see if I could catch three at once on an A-Rig.

[T-Billy]

9 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

What rod, reel, and line do you use to cast an A-Rig? Considering I caught two bass at a time four times in 2022 on a Whopper Plopper, I'd love to see if I could catch three at once on an A-Rig.

I've used several and found my favorite out of my lineup is the 7'10" Shimano SLX H MF. My Ark, Tharp Series, Guntersville Special 7'11" flippin stick is a close second. Both have tons of backbone as far as bass rods go, with pretty limber tips.

 Most any aluminum frame casting reel will work fine. The A-Rig isn't a high resitance bait on the retrieve. Similar to a spinnerbait in that regard. I prefer a 7 speed reel for it personally. 50# braid is all I throw 'em on. You're pulling a dang chandelier through the water. Nobody's gonna convince me mono or fluoro makes a difference in getting bit. Braid lets me straighten out hooks and get my rig back when I snag, and they snag anything that get's within 10' of them it seems.

I run three 1/8oz jig heads in 15' of water or less. Dummies on screw locks on the top two arms. The dummies are not a disadvantage. I've only had ONE hit on them ever, and that's two less hooks to snag up. I'd run three hooks on my rigs even if we were allowed five in OH.

[Swamp Girl]

Thanks, Tim. I'm thinking of buying one and throwing it on my froggin' rod, which is 7.5', MH, and has 50 lb. braid. Like I said, I'd love to double and triple up on bass. Just for giggles!

 

Do you have an A-Rig to suggest for bass?

[T-Billy]

12 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Thanks, Tim. I'm thinking of buying one and throwing it on my froggin' rod, which is 7.5', MH, and has 50 lb. braid. Like I said, I'd love to double and triple up on bass. Just for giggles!

 

Do you have an A-Rig to suggest for bass?

Yumbrella, regular or the finesse version will both work fine. They're inexpensive and pretty well built. Your froggin setup will work fine for ya, at least to get you started. If you decide you like it and end up throwing one a lot, a longer, heavier action rod will make it easier on ya.

[roadwarrior]

39 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Thanks, Tim. I'm thinking of buying one and throwing it on my froggin' rod, which is 7.5', MH, and has 50 lb. braid. Like I said, I'd love to double and triple up on bass. Just for giggles!

 

Do you have an A-Rig to suggest for bass?

 

Don't buy it yet, I will send you one all rigged up.