Latest Catch Pics Thread

[softwateronly]

  Man, there are times when I think I have my lake figured out and then there's these last 2 weeks.  The cold air and rain left me finding only bucks on or near the flats for days with an occasional jig or jerkbait female off the breaks.  Then yesterday, I made a daytime run to the S end and got into 2 groups of prespawners on a finesse jig, all good and healthy in the 2-3lb range, finally.  So I went back S around midnight to the large weedy flat near there and found all the decent fish I'd been missing.  Nighttime, bright moon, glide/twitch bait was getting destroyed, so much fun!

 

scott

 

  

[Pat Brown]

This weekend I participated in my first small pond tournament amongst friends and I was able to get big bass with a beautiful 4.1 lb largemouth on the Siebert 1/2 oz dock rocker jig with a orange and green scounbug on the back.

 

I would have won the tournament if I hadn't lost a good one on the lipless and two more on the jerk bait, but that's life.

 

Thankfully my son walked away with it and the Bass Pro Shops $100 gift card so I'm a proud papa.

 

[Woody B]

I caught 21 today.  All spots.  One was tiny, the rest between 14 and 18 inches.   I caught a 15 incher on my first cast this morning at 5:51.   I caught a 14 incher on my last cast at 10:28.    I caught the 3 pictured back to back to back.  3 casts, 3 bass.   I caught all 21 on a Seibert bladed jig.   I threw other stuff, but they were liking the jig.  I also caught 4 white perch on crankbaits.  

 

[Jmurphy87]

I didn’t get skunked at least, caught 2 monsters. I mean small ones. I got to spring valley today to see where they were at. I got there about 9am after dropping my daughter off to go to her soccer game invitational. I started with my custom skirted thunder cricket. I walked into the water and started fishing. There was a couple people out on it fishing in a canoe and a small bass raider. I wasn’t getting anything but neither were they. I kept fishing my stretch of the bank and trying different things and finally caught my first one, about the same size as the one I took the picture of. I was in the water and didn’t want to get out to grab my phone. I switched to a lipless and caught another small one. The reason I took a picture of the second one is because I needed to grab my pliers to remove a treble hook without getting stuck with one. The little fish still shoved one treble into my finger a little but that’s normal at times. I never saw the other guys catch anything. Spring valley is a very odd place to fish and you have to know exactly where to go otherwise you will just practice casting, I have learned that by experience lol.

[GreenPig]

Fished 12am - 5am this morning with the Savage Gear Bat and caught 3.

[Jmilburn76]

Took the kayak out for a for a few hours this morning and managed two on a wacky rigged Yum Dinger.

[Pat Brown]

Got to the pond after the soccer game this afternoon and managed another lunker on the glide bait.  The glide has quickly become a confidence technique this spring!

 

[Swamp Girl]

Pat, I really like the quality of your bass AND the quality of your photos. They're suffused with color. What's your camera?

[Pat Brown]

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

Pat, I really like the quality of your bass AND the quality of your photos. They're suffused with color. What's your camera?

 

Google Pixel 4a

 

It's got a great camera which I use for work....and play ??

[TnRiver46]

@GreenPig, did those catfish end up on a plate? My stomach growled when I saw the pics 

[LrgmouthShad]

32 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

Google Pixel 4a

 

It's got a great camera which I use for work....and play ??

Pat you are in a great location in NC for fishing. Have you been on Randleman or Badin at all? I think your ponds and small lakes are tough to beat though

[ScottW]

Did pretty good today with 3 decent fish all caught on Ned rigged roboworms. 6” in morning dawn and a 7” in green pumpkin. I could see ‘em hanging out in the shallow water which was odd as they’ve been pretty skittish lately. Wouldn’t bite anything the past several days so figured I’d go back to the basics and offer up some worms. Just cast out past them and bounced it back with little hops spaced out around a pause. Wound up in the low 80s here today with clouds rolling in by late afternoon. Water clarity was maybe close to 2 feet and still a tad muddy.

 

[GreenPig]

57 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

@GreenPig, did those catfish end up on a plate? My stomach growled when I saw the pics 

No. I came straight home to work on fences all day and knew I'd be beat down. But tonight looks like it's gonna be calm like last night. I may just slip back out to the lake later after a nap.

[Swamp Girl]

I fished a pond for two hours this evening. When I launched, it was whitecapping. I hoped to catch bass in the protected end, right where I launched, but I caught nothing. They were, as I feared, at the windswept end. It was tricky fishing at the windswept end and it took 20 minutes to paddle the length of the pond, but they were there and they were hitting. I caught 8 on a Rage Swimmer in gray and white on a swim jighead and a Blue Fox brass-bladed spinner. Then the wind died and I cast my beloved Whopper Plopper (loon/black) and a rival's similar bait (clear and chartreuse). Both caught bass and I caught another 7, for 15 in total. I did lose three on the Whopper Plopper after the Sun set. 

 

Alex told me to weigh some fish to get an idea of what they weigh. The fish I caught were all 16 inches and I weighed three and they weighed 2.41, 2.43, and 2.49 pounds. Usually I catch 16.5 to 17" bass in this pond. I don't know they were shorter tonight, but they were round.

 

I'll be fishing a quality bog tomorrow morning, hoping for a big gal!

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Now that's the Katie I remember in all her glory, sore thumbs, and screaming "I am Spartan" ?

 

Great job on the measurements Katie, that's a nice sample size in order to guage the health of that bog.   For a bog that is untouched by man in terms of management, stocking, etc., your data supports what I've always seen in your pics.....amazingly healthy fish that a thriving, not just surviving.  

 

Throw your data into the Relative Weight chart that is the benchmark for LGM health, and that bog's fish are right on the money.   

 

Those fish got that pre spawn perfume as well ?

 

[Pat Brown]

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Pat you are in a great location in NC for fishing. Have you been on Randleman or Badin at all? I think your ponds and small lakes are tough to beat though

 

Those lakes are on my short list to try!  I got all sorts of lakes and ponds I drool at on Google all over the state.  Lake James has got my attention right now with it's ultra clear water and mixture of large/small/spot/hybrid bass.  

 

I love having lakes and ponds super close to my house that have big bass!  It's a blessing to be sure!

[LrgmouthShad]

2 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

Those lakes are on my short list to try!  I got all sorts of lakes and ponds I drool at on Google all over the state.  Lake James has got my attention right now with it's ultra clear water and mixture of large/small/spot/hybrid bass.  

 

I love having lakes and ponds super close to my house that have big bass!  It's a blessing to be sure!

For sure

 

Badin has my heart. I love that lake. Great fishing in the summertime, because it tends to stay cooler and there is a myriad of shallow water options, especially on the northern end of the lake littered with docks and water willows. 

 

Very very healthy lake, and I think it will continue to be for a long time. The fish have plenty of places to hide from anglers

 

Let me know if you ever are looking to go fishing there

[Swamp Girl]

Thanks, @AlabamaSpothunter! It was fun to catch a few bass and especially on the surface again. It was 70 here today and will be 70 again tomorrow. I think that's rousing the bass and especially on the surface. I used the 6th Sense squarebill that you like, but that didn't catch a bass, even though it had caught bass on earlier 2023 trips. I like it a lot. I like that it runs shallow, which I need a lure to do. I'm going to use a couple swimbaits tomorrow, as well as my Whopper Plopper and Rage Swimmer. Do you plan ahead what lures you'll be using like I do?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

Thanks, @AlabamaSpothunter! It was fun to catch a few bass and especially on the surface again. It was 70 here today and will be 70 again tomorrow. I think that's rousing the bass and especially on the surface. I used the 6th Sense squarebill that you like, but that didn't catch a bass, even though it had caught bass on earlier 2023 trips. I like it a lot. I like that it runs shallow, which I need a lure to do. I'm going to use a couple swimbaits tomorrow, as well as my Whopper Plopper and Rage Swimmer. Do you plan ahead what lures you'll be using like I do?

I'm so stubborn that I'll be inspired or learn about a new technique that I think targets the white whale in some manner, and then I tend to lock that in my hand for weeks at a time, intermixing baits that have had at least some success in the same window as well.   

 

So one week it will be hours on end with a Buzzbait looking for those big bites, then a few weeks of using a T-Rigged Creature bait, then back to a week of buzzbaiting.  When I catch fish on more than two baits it's rare these days, not so much when I first got back into it.   

 

As the months have rolled on, I've found myself gravitating to using baits that produce significantly fewer fish, but the size is significantly larger.   I feel slowly my patience level for dealing with hours on end without a fish is improving, and I think this might be the single most important aspect if I ever catch the fish I'm hunting.    Big Swimbaits taught me a level of patience I thought I already had as a fisherman.  

 

My last thought before I go to bed is what bait, and where on the lake is most likely to yield the biggest fish.....it works out about .0000001% of the time ?

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

Alex, I admire your ability to catch fewer bass to target bigger bass. A-Jay, Dwight, Phish, and others do the same. I've decided to alternate this summer between a busy boat and a big-fish-focused boat. Quality one trip. Quantity the next. I do have a couple bogs that offer both, but this morning's bog, at its hottest, produced eight bass. Most mornings or evenings are one to three fish and ONE might be a big, ol' gal. Anyway, it's 4:28 a.m. and I'm off! I'm taking my Alex-suggested Shimano swimbait too, as well as my G2, which Phish loves.

[Swamp Girl]

So, I fished the quality bog this morning and there was a problem: I am old. I only got four hours of sleep and I was just off my game this morning. When I was young, I could fish morning and evening, seven days a week. Now a morning preceded by an evening might be too much for me. For those who are still young, fish hard while you still can!

 

I did catch three bass, but lost five and one of the five was big, in the four to five-pound range. I saw her thrash at the surface and she came unbuttoned right beside the boat. However, one of the three I caught was 20" and 4.89 lbs., so I'm happy about that, but those big, lost bass stick with me like my shadow. Here are the three fish I caught with the big girl photographed twice.

 

P. S. - Look at the shape and the tail of the last bass. She's going to be big one day. 

 

P. P. S. - All bass, caught and lost, came on a loon-colored Whopper Plopper. My swimbait, wacky-rigged Senko, and Rage Swimmer didn't produce.

 

 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

So, I fished the quality bog this morning and there was a problem: I am old. I only got four hours of sleep and I was just off my game this morning. When I was young, I could fish morning and evening, seven days a week. Now a morning preceded by an evening might be too much for me. For those who are still young, fish hard while you still can!

 

I did catch three bass, but lost five and one of the five was big, in the four to five-pound range. I saw her thrash at the surface and she came unbuttoned right beside the boat. However, one of the three I caught was 20" and 4.89 lbs., so I'm happy about that, but those big, lost bass stick with me like my shadow. Here are the three fish I caught with the big girl photographed twice.

 

P. S. - Look at the shape and the tail of the last bass. She's going to be big one day. 

 

P. P. S. - All bass, caught and lost, came on a loon-colored Whopper Plopper. My swimbait, wacky-rigged Senko, and Rage Swimmer didn't produce.

 

 

 

Nice one Katie!    

 

Getting old really sucks, and you fish in a manner that would make a teenager tired.

 

Ah to go back to the days of pulling all nighters ?

[BrianMDTX]

Only two hours, but did catch early off a Whopper Plopper 90. This was the first. The second was two times as long as the bait lol. 
 

[IcatchDinks]

On 3/26/2023 at 8:53 PM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Got some love on a Spro Little Jon 50, Buzzbait, and Shimano big bait.    Tons of follows and strikes, and even a couple lost ones of that Shimano bait.   I think it was bucks just blowing it up out of anger, the ones that were hooked, were on the outside like they were just swiping it.    Easily the most drawing power out of any lure I've owned.      

 

Those are absolutely beautiful fish. Those last two pics are pretty enough to hang on the wall. 

We've had a lot of cold rainy days here in central Michigan. Spring has had a slow start. Been out several times in the last couple months and couldn't get even a nibble. 

 

Went to my favorite smallie hole today and got a feisty little 13incher on my second cast. Fished for three more hours, changing baits and waters and didn't catch anything the rest of the day. But it feels really good to have beaten the 2023 skunk. 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

6 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

Those are absolutely beautiful fish. Those last two pics are pretty enough to hang on the wall. 

Thanks, a Spotted Bass truly is a beautiful fish.