Latest Catch Pics Thread

[TnRiver46]

I went back to where I was snagging shad yesterday equipped with a brand new 5’ dip net for shad from academy. Of course different generators were on and I could barely see any shad. I had also brought my cast net…… and tossed it enough times to get it stuck and lose it.
 

So I went back 45 minutes closer to home at crackhead creek and netted some shad on my first scoop and caught two bass. I also saw a snake that I thought was dead, I poked its tail and it slithered away. Then went to banff film festival with my wife, fun day other than losing my 25-30th cast net in the same spot 😂 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Not a danger noodle I surmise?   

 

I'll pour one out for your lost casting net 😢

[Aaron_H]

8 hours ago, gimruis said:

You best get it trimmed before I get my energy back. 😎

 

You're not my real dad, you can't tell me what to do!

[T-Billy]

3 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

 

You're not my real dad, you can't tell me what to do!

Do ya see that Andy? Do ya? What we have here is a complete and total disrespect for the law. You can't allow that. No siree. You gotta nip it. Nip it in the bud. He's got to learn to respect the law. Otherwise he's gonna grow up to be one of those long hair dirty hippies. Next thing you know, he'll be walking around in jeans with holes in the knees too.

[TnRiver46]

9 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Not a danger noodle I surmise?   

 

I'll pour one out for your lost casting net 😢

Northern banded watersnake (pretty sure anyway) 😂 

danger noodles don’t live here, at least in the water. We have rattle snake and copper head but typically only in on near the mtns. Too cold for the moccasins (thank god!) 

[Jmilburn76]

@TnRiver46  Aren’t you glad you are far enough East for no cottonmouths or Pygmy rattlesnakes?  I also only have copperheads and timber rattlesnakes in my area.

[Pat Brown]

Lately the biggest concern here has been the giant wasps that will menacingly investigate our boat a half mile from their nests lining the banks -  'winnie the pooh' style giant nests hanging from trees...let me tell you from personal experience - you do NOT want to hang a bait in that tree!

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Jmilburn76 said:

@TnRiver46  Aren’t you glad you are far enough East for no cottonmouths or Pygmy rattlesnakes?  I also only have copperheads and timber rattlesnakes in my area.

I don’t miss them 

[Blue Raider Bob]

15 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

It would be my absolute pleasure to have you come fish with me.....you ever get a bit more south, and a bit more in banjo country, hit me up friend!  I'm in central Alabama.  

 

That goes for all my friends in this thread, you got a spot in boat anytime!   

     Your on my bucket list Alex! It would be an honor to be your net man! Right now I'm trying to get my daughters bottle babies out of the house!  😬

     Sorry about the sideways picture. Don't know how to rectify.

11 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

crackhead creek 

Tell me there's not a place called Crackhead Creek! I'm loosing faith in humanity!

[TnRiver46]

@Blue Raider Bob, that’s not the actual name of it , but it’s what I call it based on the amount of crackheads that hang out there

[Swamp Girl]

16 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

It would be my absolute pleasure to have you come fish with me.....you ever get a bit more south, and a bit more in banjo country, hit me up friend!  I'm in central Alabama.  

 

That goes for all my friends in this thread, you got a spot in boat anytime!   

 

Thanks, Alex. Ditto.

[Blue Raider Bob]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Blue Raider Bob, that’s not the actual name of it , but it’s what I call it based on the amount of crackheads that hang out there

That explains alot! Whew! 😁

[bp_fowler]

Decided I needed a change of scenery today.  Went to Lake St Joe which is near one of my neighboring towns.  51 degrees and partly cloudy.  Winds west north west 11 mph gusting to 24. 
 

Only managed one, but it is the largest bass I’ve caught yet on this particular body of water.  Attempted to work my way completely around the lake but found that someone had posted no trespassing signs on the other side of the dam.  I don’t remember them being there last year but I decided to call it an early day.

 

 

 

[Blue Raider Bob]

2 minutes ago, bp_fowler said:

Decided I needed a change of scenery today.  Went to Lake St Joe which is near one of my neighboring towns.  51 degrees and partly cloudy.  Winds west north west 11 mph gusting to 24. 
 

Only managed one, but it is the largest bass I’ve caught yet on this particular body of water.  Attempted to work my way completely around the lake but found that someone had posted no trespassing signs on the other side of the dam.  I don’t remember them being there last year but I decided to call it an early day.

 

 

 

Looks like she's ready to drop a whole new generation....class of 24. Maybe you can get permission from the land owner. Hope so!    I own land on the Duck River in middle Tennessee and I've yet to be able to say no to someone who asks politely and is respectful of my property. 

[bp_fowler]

11 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Looks like she's ready to drop a whole new generation....class of 24. Maybe you can get permission from the land owner. Hope so!    I own land on the Duck River in middle Tennessee and I've yet to be able to say no to someone who asks politely and is respectful of my property. 

Yes sir, she’s a chunky gal.  I’m hoping I can get permission also.  I think this lake has a lot of untapped potential.  I only started fishing it late last year and by that time the weeds made bank fishing pretty tough.  If all goes according to plan I may be the proud new owner of a fishing kayak this summer so there’s always that option as well.

[Woody B]

I've been managing to catch a few but no big ones lately and not big numbers.  Most all I've been catching have been on the main lake.   Bass should be up the creeks and in coves this time of year.  I haven't been able to find them anywhere but on the main lake this year,  I committed to fishing up the creeks today.   I was "rewarded" with 2 Bass in 6 hours.   I caught the first one, (a 17 inch Spot) on my second cast.  I cruised up a creek looking at my side scan.  I saw 4 fish ~10 feet deep on a secondary point.   I turned the boat around and was able to catch one.  I didn't get a good picture, my hands were wet, cold and slippery.  I was afraid I'd drop my phone.   It's the first Bass I've caught this year that appeared to have been spawning.  It had a worn/bloody tail.  It still appears to have some eggs.  As I said earlier it was near the bottom in 10 feet of water.  I don't know if it was spawning there, had spawned somewhere else, or just had a bloody tail.   Morning water temp, after yesterdays rain was only 57 degrees.   

So I was hopeful to catch one so quickly, but they disappeared.   I stayed in the creeks.  I couldn't find them on sonar, and I tried quite a bit of "search casting" too.   

 

I caught my second, and last one ~6 hours later.  It was suspended under a floating dock.  I slipped a wacky in the space between 2 floats and it took it.  It was a nice healthy small Largemouth.  I didn't measure it, but it was small.  Look at my hand in the picture.   After than I called it a day,  came home and took Mrs B out for Supper.   

 

So why aren't Bass in the creeks, and why do they seem to be so scattered?   We've had record rainfall the past few months.  I wonder if "bad stuff" has washed into the creeks and something just isn't right with the water.  I'm sure a bunch of swampy stagnant water got washed into the lake via the creeks but the rain started several months ago.   There's some baitfish up the creeks, but not like years past.  There's a BUNCH of turtles up the creeks.   Do oxygen levels vary from one part of the lake to another?  I would think the levels in 57-60 degree water would be pretty stable.   

I was going to go to another lake one day this week (Monticello Reservoir SC) but it's been really windy.  Monticello is way smaller that Wylie but is basically a big round bowl.  It turns into the ocean in strong winds.   The wind was straight out of the North today, strong enough for big whitecaps.  I know where to go, and where to not go on Wylie in my smallish boat and strong winds.   

 

[Swamp Girl]

So, Woody, you basically fished six hours with wet, cold hands and not catching any bass, as you caught your first on your second cast and your last right at the end. That's hardcore, Woody. Hat's off to you!

[AlabamaSpothunter]

If they aren't up on the bank be it main lake or the back of creeks, then I'd expect for them to be staged up at the closest secondary and even main lake points leading to the locations you know they'll spawn at.     

 

If you found them good in the winter, and you know where they'll be spawning.....it's just a matter of drawing a line between the two points and concentrating on the fishy looking spots b/t the two.   

 

I think we as anglers get way too locked into water temps, or another of the main spawn trigger events like moon cycle, instead of just using our eyeballs, and fish catches (the color of the fish, condition of the tail, and often times pinkish looking areas that indicate stress) to put the puzzle together.   I wasted the first 6 weeks of the spawn last year, and a big reason for that was I wasn't up on the banks looking for bucks, beds, and eventually pairs. 

 

Once they make their push up shallow, I don't think they back that far out until they go true post spawn mode.   

 

[TnRiver46]

[Woody B]

20 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Once they make their push up shallow, I don't think they back that far out until they go true post spawn mode.   

 

I've never seen them "go back" but I think maybe for some reason they have this year.  I've caught 3 LM's over 5, and several Spots over 3 earlier this month 7 feet or less deep.  Maybe it's a different group of fish but I caught 9 today (all spots) and they were all at least 15 feet deep.  After struggling yesterday I decided to use my electronics.   The shallowest Bass I caught today was 15 feet deep at the end of a dock.  It was the biggest, but only 16".  (pictured).  The others were toward and off the ends of points 15 to 25 feet deep.  6 of the others were between 14" and 15" with a couple "micro bass".   Not what I was wanting, but it was nice to catch a "limit" that was legal length.  (even though there's no limit on Spots here)

I stopped by and talked to a friend of mine (who's a retired pro Bass fisherman) today.  He said this weather has the Bass scattered.   It's not been cold but the water temperature is 3 to 4 degrees cooler than it was 2 weeks ago.  I suppose, in addition to the crazy weather there's a diverse bunch of spawners.  A couple years ago I caught a Bass with a bloody tail (near the Nuclear plant discharge) in January.  Last year I caught one that was fat and full of eggs in late June.  

 

Katie, I had some "Hot Hands" hand warmers.  They just hadn't warmed up for the first picture.  My hands weren't cold and wet for long.   

 

[Swamp Girl]

I still think you're hardcore, Woody. 

[Buzzbaiter]

A couple of fish from this week. 

 

[FishTax]

Hit a family pond today. Put my nephew on a beetlespin on my 30 yr old zebco ultralight ugly stick I just cleaned up and he caught this one on second cast. Now he's interested in fishing 😎 my work here is done. Definitely the highlight of family Easter, for me at least. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Great job @FishTax!  

 

Nothing better than passing on the passion to the next generation.

[Texas Flood]

Saw some baitfish jumping out of the water. Made a couple casts with a chatterbait and ended up getting this hog.