Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Swamp Girl]

4 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Set the hook as soon as you detect a bite. It's not like fishing a frog.

 

They can take a foot of soft plastic into their mouths that quickly, huh, Kent? 

[roadwarrior]

Generally, the bass is expelling the worm when you feel the bite. 

Tap-tap = in and out.

[TnRiver46]

10 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

They can take a foot of soft plastic into their mouths that quickly, huh, Kent? 

 

[thediscochef]

20 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I have some 12" worms and have thrown them, but not caught anything yet. How long do you wait to set the hook on a 12" worm?

 

Kites:

 

 

Robocop meant to add: And keep rock bass off the Latest Catch thread!

as they have all said, i've done best when I set the hook immediately. i would also add that I felt the smaller fish more than the larger ones, I didn't feel the 5lb pick up the worm at all I just lifted my rod and it was heavy. Same with today's little chunk. but not the smaller fish I've caught with it. that plastic is soft ☁️?️

[Swamp Girl]

Thanks, guys!

[Pat Brown]

Soft plastics and heavier faster rods are like peanut butter and jelly.

 

I like lighter wire hooks.  Offset worm or straight shank are great.

 

I don't use huge hooks.

 

In my experience small fish (8-12 inch) and huge fish (24 inch +) are both generally gonna inhale that thing all at once.  I've caught more dinks than giants on big worms and in the summer you can't keep the sunfish off of them in the brush piles!  ????

 

When a bass hits it I set hard and fast on plastics.  They gut hook themselves far too quickly.

[Team9nine]

Expected a brutal bite and pretty much got it. High pressure was centered over the state today. Highs in the mid 70s, blue-blue skies due to dewpoint readings in the 40s, and an E/NE breeze between 8-12 mph. Combine that with shallow, clear water, and not much was active. Went with the light line finesse outfit again and managed to catch a dozen. The first 11 came on the exact same Roboworm as my two previous trips, so that made 29 bass on a single little Robo - kinda hated to see it go (got flung off), but there wasn’t much solid body left to it ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

A short evening trip turned out quite eventful…….

 

We got some supplies and the dogs to the lake house for the holiday weekend, won’t have my boat down here

til tomorrow. Got everything squared away by 6:30 and figured I’d try some kayak fishin. Got a largemouth right away with a tiny fluke on jighead , then got it stuck and rendered it nearly useless. Tried a finesse worm and smallies were chewing it , got 4-5 in a hurry. I was getting swamped by big yachts coming and going and thinking about heading home…….. then striper started blowing up! Or at least I think that’s what it was. Big explosions. All I had was 6 lb line and one spinning rod , tried some paddle tails but I think they were gone before I switched baits. Got to paddling swiftly on the way in with the $20 kayak and spooked a gar when I almost ran it over, it jumped way up right next to me in the dark, ? 

 

[gim]

46 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Highs in the mid 70s, blue-blue skies due to dewpoint readings in the 40s, and an E/NE breeze between 8-12 mph.

At least you had a stunning day out there.  It was lovely here too.  Sure beats scalding heat and tropical dew points.

[Dominat0r]

Well, storm was here and gone, back and forth...still went out and on the really bad times, I took some time to upgrade some of my gear. I got a great deal locally on a Shimano Metanium and 2 SLX DCs. I have to admit, I think I am a Shimano fan. Lews is good, really good for the money, but Shimano, especially the Metanium is a step above for sure. I may have to upgrade all my gear to Shimano now, arrgg....Only downside is the drag, will have to see how it pans out, but 3 Shimano's in a couple of days should tell you all you need to know. I did get a nice one with the first run of one of the SLX DC, tighten the drag all the way down pretty much, maybe a few clicks out just for fun haha. I really think, just by pulling on it, its more than 11lbs, it seems more like 13-14-15 maybe. Just judging from my Lews reels, which are all 20. I do have another St Croix coming, a Legend Extreme 7'1 MHXF coming for the Metanium. Its just tied up to my Texas rig rod to test. I have to admit, the Metanium casts a lot farther than the DC, even with a lighter lure (1/8th tung and zoom 6" speed worm). I like them both, but I think I am leaning towards the Metanium a little more. 

 

I got these the past couple of days, one off a zoom speed and a Keitech swimbait on a VMC jig head. 

 

[The Baron]

Not much topwater love today, but a white 3.75” Strike King Rage Swimmer on an Owner Flashy Swimmer hook put four 2-3#ers in the boat for me this morning.?  All were in the shade, tucked up close to a blast rock/sparse weed shorelines in 1-3ft. of water.  Sunny, little wind and it was a cool 50F overnight.

[N Florida Mike]

Finally got out this morning with a friend after it rained hard the first hour of daylight. Got 13 total, mostly on watermelon seed super flukes, and a few on dingers.

These were the 2 biggest. 

[Fishlegs]

On 8/28/2023 at 11:20 AM, ol'crickety said:

I turned 67 today

I haven't been able to get on here much this week, but I'm trying to catch up. A little belated, but Happy Birthday @ol'crickety!

[MIbassyaker]

Four this morning at the "tough lake" which has good-sized bass for this area, but a low catch rate, and gets a lot of bass fishing pressure for its size.  Today they were about average. Here are three:

Bass on left is not orange, just reflecting the sunrise -- it was very long and skinny, nearly 18". I should have taken the pic on the measuring board.  The other two were 15". a fourth that I didn't take a pic of was 16".

 

All were caught on a spinnerbait along the edges of pad fields. 

 

Spinnerbaits seem very popular with the bass in my lakes this summer. Maybe they're  just sick of chatterbaits...

[LrgmouthShad]

2 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

All were caught on a spinnerbait along the edges of pad fields. 

Well duh

[T-Billy]

Finally made it down to lake #2 this morning. Launched at about 01:00. Figgered I better go catch some bass to maintain my membership here. ? The muskie addiction has been getting the better of me lately. 

The plan was to chatterbait some weedbeds that have been good to me over the years. That changed in a hurry. They NUKED that place. I haven't been there since June. Whole lake is baren of weeds except for pads in the upper end, and a little patch of pondweed here and there. 

So I decided plan B would be chasing the shadows cast by that big blue moon overhead. I ran down to mid lake and got on some dark chunk rock banks. It was on from the git-go. I had a pair of 2.5# chunks within ten minutes, one LM one SM, and so it went until daylight. Chatterbait the whole time. I caught a pile of em, and there were quality fish up on that shallow rock. Average was around 2#, and my best five would go right about 17#. Mixed bag, about 3/4 SM. Best two pictured below. I also lost a really good smalljaws boatside. Heck of a fun night.

3.69# 

My kicker. 21 1/4" and 5.67#. My new all time #3 SM, and this fish will bump my all time best 5 smallies up over the 28# mark to 28.24#. 

Tomorrow's dinner bit a little after daylight. 

Picked up a few more LM after daylight, pitching cattails, biggest was just shy of 3#. Called it quits on the bass and went chasing muskie for a few hours to finish out the trip. Zero luck with that. Back to lake #1 chasing muskie with the wife in the morning. I'd rather go back down chasing those big smallies in the wee hours, but I think she might have the muskie bug worse than me, so that's what we'll do. Lol.

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

my best five would go right about 17#

 

Whoa!

 

3 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

My kicker. 21 1/4" and 5.67#. My new all time #3 SM.

 

Double WHOA!

 

4 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Tomorrow's dinner bit a little after daylight. 

 

Yum.

 

4 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Back to lake #1 chasing muskie with the wife in the morning. I'd rather go back down chasing those big smallies in the wee hours, but I think she might have the muskie bug worse than me, so that's what we'll do.

 

Whadda woman!

[Pat Brown]

Tank @T-Billy  I'd LOVE to catch a 5 lb smallmouth end of this month when I fish/camp Lake James out in Western NC.  Not many pure SM left in James but I'm hopeful.

 

It'll at the very least be the first time targeting smallmouth since I was a teenager!

[Woody B]

Pat, have you ever been to Lake James?  I caught my PB smallie there when I was 18.  (6 lbs)  The 12 year old kid I took with me caught on that was 8 lbs 3 ounces.  He was hooked on fishing for life after that.  

 

Anyway, look on your maps.  The Linville side is good for Smallmouth with the Catawba side being good for Largemouth.   I haven't been there this year.  I went once last year (during January) and caught 3 smallies including a 4 1/2 pounder and 3 largemouth.   I didn't catch any spots, but I've heard they're there now.   My Grandfather had a cabin on the Linville river just above the lake when I was a kid.   I've hunted and killed bear and deer in the mountains above the lake.   It's pretty country up there.   There's some Walleye's there.  I've caught some in the past.  I've been told there's a few Northern Pike and Tiger Muskys too.   

[Pat Brown]

This is my first trip @Woody B

 

We researched places we wanted to check out pretty extensively and this fishery looks incredible.

 

It's on top of a flooded city complete with remaining submerged architecture!

 

Max depth of 50 ft in some places.

 

I'm just beyond excited to hit it.

 

If I caught an 8 lb smallmouth I'd probably fall out of the boat and drown from shock.  ????

[Woody B]

50 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

If I caught an 8 lb smallmouth I'd probably fall out of the boat and drown from shock. 

It was 40+years ago.  It was during the spawn.  There's a section of the lake near the Linville River that's called James bottoms.  It's a big flat, with huge smallmouth spawning everywhere.   I had taken a 12 year old kid with me.   I pointed at a big girl on a bed.  He made a perfect cast with a t rigged lizard.   The water was clear.  We could see her pick it up by the tail and move it out of the bed.   I grabbed him basically in a bear hug to keep him from setting the hook.   He made another perfect cast, same thing, she picked it up by the tail and moved it.  His 3rd perfect cast she clobbered it, nearly jerking the rod out of his hands.  She put up a heckuva fight, like you'd expect from an 8 pound smallie.   He kept it, it's on his wall.  It weighed 8 pounds on my old "de liar" scale.  It was 8 pounds 3 ounces on a grocery store scale.  30 minutes later I caught one that was 6 pounds on my scale.  I released it.  The kid that caught the 8 pounder is a heckuva bass fisherman now.  He sold his Ranger, and now has a super nice Vexus boat.   I call him my "mentor" now.  When I'm struggling to catch bass I call him for advice.   

 

 

Sorry for the hi jack everyone.   I get excited, and feel like a kid again talking about this.   

[Dominat0r]

Ok, another pB, this is officially the smallest fish I have caught in here. I didn't even know I had a fish on, thought I got some eel grass and was dragging it. It didn't fight one bit, not a single tug. I pulled up on my line and boom, on the new rod and reel. Have to admit, really liking the Metanium, wow.....so smooth its insane. 

 

Fish off a zoom speed worm, junebug and I dipped the tail chartreuse. 

[LrgmouthShad]

1 hour ago, Woody B said:

The 12 year old kid I took with me caught on that was 8 lbs 3 ounces

That’s absurd

[gim]

 

4 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Tomorrow's dinner bit a little after daylight. 

Found another floater did ya

[1984isNOW]

41 minutes ago, Woody B said:

It was during the spawn...

 

He kept it...

 

It's great to change a kids life like that, that's awesome! I just need some clarification. It already spawned and was guarding a bed or it was pregnant and ready to spawn?