Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Swamp Girl]

With a creek as beautiful as yours, you don't have to catch anything to have a great fishing trip.

[TnRiver46]

Nice work @Jmilburn76, that’s a great eagle photo. It’s getting to be where I see one almost every time I’m on the water year round 

[Jmilburn76]

@ol'crickety it really is a pretty area that’s right outside a state park. At the very top and a little to the left in the pic is an historical house that was built in 1802. I enjoy the area anytime I can get my kayak on the water.

@TnRiver46 I try to keep an eye out but I’m usually zoned out with fishing and controlling my kayak.  I just happen to look up and see him, stopped fishing for a good 10 minutes to watch him. 

[Team9nine]

Second day post front, so changed up water bodies and hit a more stained reservoir today. Had a decent mixed bag for about 3.5 hours of fishing with 4 bass (3 keepers) and about a dozen crappie. Had 5 crappie between 1.25-1.70 lbs, and the rest were just nice chunks. Water temps surprised me, only hitting 57-59 deg. today. Couldn’t really tell though if the fish were running a little behind some of the other warmer lakes or not.
 

 

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

Had a very success day of catching on Sunday, just not really what I was after. The bass were hard to come by, but I also caught a bunch of trout, several drum, a couple walleye, a catfish, and a wiper, most of my fish fell for a Ned rig, couldn't get them to eat a moving bait hardly at all. 

First fish of the morning, I pitched a RI Sweet Beaver into a tree, got a tap and slight pull down into the tree, not at all what I was expecting.

I actually hooked another that bit the exact same my next pitch into that tree, but it came off. 

It took close to a hour to get my first bass bite, but it was at least a pretty nice one.

Again, not the flavor I expected but I'll never complain about a 18.5" 3.57lb smallmouth, especially for my first one of the year. It just barely breathed in a Ned rig in 6' of water.

I made myself some "scoping jigheads", and found a flat loaded with fish so I tossed that rig, and caught another trout that could barely fit the plastic in it's mouth.

Jumped across to a shallow bank I'd never fished before, but I spotted a nice laydown I had to pitch to, worth it.

Kept picking up fish steadily, mostly trout and very small largemouth on the Ned rig, but then hooked a much heavier fish. Not a big surprise to catch one, but I've never seen a walleye that big from this lake. Not my longest kayak walleye, but she was super fat and 4.51 pounds, for sure my heaviest kayak walleye ever and probably my second heaviest I've ever caught. Released to get even bigger.

I caught 1 more walleye I thought about keeping but couldn't remember if the length limit was 15" or 18" so I just tossed him back.

 

This was the last trip before I head to Oklahoma this weekend to prefish for the Kayak Bassmaster Classic. The tournament is Wednesday and Thursday, the nerves are starting to set in 😬

[Swamp Girl]

Multi-species days are a blast, @Bluebasser86! Plus, you caught quality to go with your quantity of species. Good luck at the Bass master Kayak Classic! Is this the big tournament you qualified for last year?

[Bluebasser86]

@ol'crickety yes it is. I've paid my entry fee, signed my waivers, done my tax forms, and got most everything ready to be packed into my truck. I need to get a couple more big micro SD cards for my GoPro. 3 days of practice, 2 days of tournament, then we're going to the Bassmaster Classic after that, so I'm going to need plenty of storage space to get everything. 

[Swamp Girl]

I know I've never met you and likely never will, unless I spend my days driving at 100 m.p.h. back and forth across Kansas, but I'm still excited for you. I'm sure the whole BR crew is. It's clear that you're also excited, as you should be, for your participation is a big deal and you've the skill to land in the money. 

 

Speaking for all of the BR crew, we're proud of you. I'm an Ohio State Buckeye and our arch rival is Michigan. Michigan's battle cry is, "Go, Blue!"

 

Well, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm saying it now, albeit about you: GO, BLUE!

 

 

[GreenPig]

Best 3 of 14 today.

[OHBuckets]

Still hard work around here - can only seem to get them on ayu jerkbaits at the moment.

 

Good thing I like throwing ayu jerkbaits

[TnRiver46]

Good luck @Bluebasser86! We are cheering for ya !!!

[Mbirdsley]

went walleye fishing on the saginaw river today.  River was high, fast and dirty after the rains we had last week.  I tried vertical jigging at the confluence.  current was ripping and i had trouble keeping a 1/2 oz jig vertical.  so i decided to see if the smallies were in that same spot as last time as i brought some boot tails and jerk baits.  i tied on a 1/4 oz gamakatsu ball head jig that i pour and threaded on a blue and black strike king boot tail.

 

 i’m shallow out of the current at this point in 3-5 ft of water.  i toss my boot tail into a creek lagune that empties into the river.  boot tail gets hit as im working it like a slow lift jig retrieve.  2nd cast boom get something on water is so dirty though that it got off at the boat and i never saw it. I keep moving up stream ( trolling motor at run 7 )  12-15 minutes later i throw up into 3 foot of water and nail this nice 21 inch walleye.  walleye of that size actually fight.  that was a nice walleye.  left the cooler at home so i let it go.  10 minutes later i caught this 14 inch smallie which, it put a good fight for its size.  same boot tail swim bait. 

 

 

i moved down to the first turning basin in the shipping channel and nailed a 22 inch channel cat.  it was very windy and called it a day around 5pm. 

 

 

im really getting the itch to switch over entirely to bass.  However, i picked up my first bait store and i have sold a decent amount of walleye jigs. I might keep on the walleye untill april.  we will see how it goes. 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

@Mbirdsley, bet that channel caught fought too! Those things are wild as a buck 

[LrgmouthShad]

This is not the kind of fish you hope to catch jig fishing. 
 

I caught this one and let another small one have an “early release” this past Sunday. Conditions were not great. It was the second day of a cold front. I looked for fish in all stages of the spawn. Fish were nowhere where I expected them to be. I learned some stuff for my next outing. While difficult, this was my first real trip in TX for 2024!

 

3/4oz jig, 14-20ft of water on points for the two fish. I actually didn’t expect a jig to be what got me bites. Some wanted it, I guess. I got the photo’d fish early off of a magic tree that I’ve caught many bass off of.

[Swamp Girl]

 

@LrgmouthShad: Congrats on your first Texas bass 2024! I have yet to catch a Maine bass, but fingers crossed it happens today. I was struck by how pale your bass above is. I'm contrasting it with an exceptionally dark 2023 bass below. They almost look like a different species.

 

[LrgmouthShad]

19 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

@LrgmouthShad: Congrats on your first Texas bass 2024! I have yet to catch a Maine bass, but fingers crossed it happens today. I was struck by how pale your bass above is. I'm contrasting it with an exceptionally dark 2023 bass below. They almost look like a different species.

 

If I’m not mistaken, they can get pale while laying on the bottom for a while. Graphing around, it was apparent that bass were predominantly glued to the bottom. 
 

That dark back and golden/white hue belly looks really similar to bass I’ve caught out of New York and Michigan ponds 

[Swamp Girl]

6 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

If I’m not mistaken, they can get pale while laying on the bottom for a while. Graphing around, it was apparent that bass were predominantly glued to the bottom. 
 

That dark back and golden/white hue belly looks really similar to bass I’ve caught out of New York and Michigan ponds 

 

I didn't know that they grow pale from lying on the bottom. So, thanks for the education!

 

The black bass I caught above came out of stained water and was pulled from a forest of lily pads, so I expect she turned black to blend into the shadows.

 

It's cool to consider that in different conditions, your bass would look like mine and mine would look like yours.

[LrgmouthShad]

21 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I didn't know that they grow pale from lying on the bottom. So, thanks for the education!

 

The black bass I caught above came out of stained water and was pulled from a forest of lily pads, so I expect she turned black to blend into the shadows.

 

It's cool to consider that in different conditions, your bass would look like mine and mine would look like yours.

I do think region of country plays a role as well. On top of that, some of my bass here are either Florida strain or Lone Star (Northern/Florida) hybrids. 
 

But for some good fun, here is the palest bass I have caught and some others with various colorations

 

NC, winter, small pond

 

NY, stained pond with lily pads (notice how similar coloration is to yours)
 

 

NY small clear lake, maybe one of the prettiest bass I’ve caught.

Michigan pond, lily pads and very clear water

 

PS I look like a dork in half these photos I’m about to strangle my younger self.

[Swamp Girl]

@LrgmouthShad: Your top bass and your bottom bass are so different that I laughed! Your bottom bass is gorgeous. 

 

@Bluebasser86 is fishing in his big tournament today. Fingers crossed! Actually, I pity the fools who have to fish against him. 

[TnRiver46]

Pale bass are pretty too……. 

[Bluebasser86]

@ol'crickety it's actually the 20th and 21st, so 1 week from today. 

[Swamp Girl]

@Bluebasser86: I'll uncross my fingers then. It's hard to get work done with them crossed. 

[Bazoo]

Not had a lot of fishing days lately, and thus, not a lot of action, but I did manage a few.

 

This is a Warmouth. I'd never caught one before. He was plenty feisty.

 

 

 

Makes a man wonder how much his cheapo scale is off. Guess I'll have to have something weighed at the post office and see how close it really is.

[TnRiver46]

@Bazoo, you don’t have to go to the post office. Weigh a 4 lb sack of sugar 

[Bazoo]

15 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Bazoo, you don’t have to go to the post office. Weigh a 4 lb sack of sugar 

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that.