Latest Catch Pics Thread

[FishTax]

Wow what a fish! Great job Katy, please bring the scale next time you're torturing us  

[thediscochef]

Found a couple dinky LM at roberts before I committed dum dum and high sticked my tac40 to death. Sucks because I can't replace it, they don't make these anymore. So I got an Abu Vendetta as a replacement, it's similar but not the same. At least it's lightweight and feels similar to the old one. Oh I also yoinked this crawdad off the ripraps last night. Yall think I should throw a Z craw up there?

 

[LrgmouthShad]

1 minute ago, thediscochef said:

Yall think I should throw a Z craw up there?

 

[Swamp Girl]

Here's a better pic showing her length.

 

14 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Also you clearly gotta fish this pond a whole heckuva lot more now! 

 

I don't even consider this pond to be in my top three for big bass potential, but the other three are bogs, which you know I'm avoiding until it gets a little warmer. T-Billy is my life advisor, as in stay-alive advising and he thinks I should play it safe until the water's safe. 

 

16 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

hate to be that guy but you miiiiiight have been pushing 8 with her 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

 

You would know better than me, Pat. I just know that she was ridiculously fat. Even now, she makes me laugh. 

[MIbassyaker]

37 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I was fighting the wind, Alex, so I ducked into a cove to call home and dropped my cell phone in the water, losing it. So, I was distracted and sad coming out of the cove into the main lake, which is only 49 acres. I think being distracted and sad actually helped me land her, as I was calm through the fight.

 

She hit a trolled shad-colored Keitech on an Owner underspin shortly after I exited the cove. My rod went back and stayed back. I paddled hard for about four strokes to set the hook and buy me a couple seconds to switch from my paddle to the rod. As I reeled, for a second, I thought I might have hooked a floating log. She was heavy, but not angry. I slowly worked her to the canoe and then she stayed put under the canoe. I worked her up until I could barely see her, confident my long-handled net would reach her, which it did. Only then did I realize how big she was. I snapped a quick photo, but she was flopping, and then remembered I'd left my bump board and scale at my waterfront lot, so I laid her on the tape measure on the floor of my canoe to get her length.

 

Then I set her free. I thought I'd hold her by the lip for a sec and let her catch her breath, but wasn't having any of that and scooted. 

 

Today's pond is a very good pond for four-to-five pound bass. I caught five four-plus-pounders one morning there last fall, including two on consecutive casts So, I'm thrilled that this pond grows them bigger than the fine bass I've caught there. 

 

She might be my biggest ever. She was long and fat and was hard for me to hold. 

 

However, the support of the BR crew means as much to me as catching her, and to be frank, you lead BR in being supportive of all of us, Alex, and in catching the most big bass too. 

 

Did you notice the Catchall lure in the first bass's mouth?

 

 

You're right about her health, Alex. I don't think she's ever been caught. Not a nick or mark on her. 

 

So the formula is:

(1) Troll Keitech underspin.

(2) Enter, then exit cove.

(3) Drop phone in water.

 

Got it!

 

 

#patternfishing

[AlabamaSpothunter]

What's a catchall lure Katie, and I only saw one pic you posted with an absolute freakzilla in it 😁

 

I honestly try to emulate you Katie in terms of being supportive of our fellow members and anglers in general, I'm far from your level but I appreciate that! 

 

I hate to hear about your phone, but it made the catch and story more compelling.  That's a very special fish, and equally special day.   Money can't buy that, or I'd be living in a cardboard box by the river.   I honestly couldn't put a dollar figure on catching fish like that.    On your own, in a canoe, in Maine, less than two years of hardcore green fish chasing, on and on and on......I call you the unicorn for a reason.        

 

Lastly on the fish's weight/ultimate size, the girth/belly/eggs on her tell the story for me.    Since I've been a member here, only a handful of fish were posted with similar visually off the chart girths.    

 

Never caught a fish built like that didn't go over 7lbs.   The real guessing game in my eyes is where does she fall b/t 7 and 8lbs.   I feel she just as easily could be a 7lb 14oz fish as a 7lb 6oz fish.     

 

You have to highly discount the Relative Weight chart when you catch a lottery PEAK pre spawn female.    There are no metrics short of a weight that capture such rare outlier fish during pre spawn.    

 

Bottom line, that fish 100% is an outlier, lottery, .01% fish....I don't need a scale to tell me that.   

 

 

ETA:  For those that don't know, this time last year Katie committed to slimming down all the lakes she was fishing the previous year, and focused on fewer ones where she caught the larger Bass.   She had to make the choice b/t quality or quantity. That lead to a ridiculously good year for her in terms of 5+ fish.  

 

So now when she says she caught this fish in one of those lakes she chose to focus on last year and learn with lots of 4-5lb fish in it.......well, it's just flat out awesome to see that level of diligence, effort, and angler growth rewarded.   

 

@PhishLI   I know my brother wholeheartedly agrees with that last part.  

[Swamp Girl]

Thanks for all that info, Alex. You have caught so many big bass that when you talk, I listen and try to learn. 

 

What's funny for me is looking at her head. It looks comically small, but I grabbed her lip. Her head is big. So is her mouth. It's just the rest of her that makes her head look small. She'll soon lay about a bluhzillion eggs, all with her genetics and that's a beautiful thing, huh?

 

19 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

On your own, in a canoe, in Maine, less than two years of hardcore green fish chasing, on and on and on......I call you the unicorn for a reason. 

 

So kind of you to say, Alex, but I have canoed for half a century, so I'm at home in those little boats. And I have caught thousands and thousands of brown bass. So, I didn't start from zero. Still, I get your point, but BR helps a LOT. I didn't understand half of what you guys posted for my first few months. I still Google terms and names regularly. And I still ask a lot of questions too. 

[Team9nine]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

My length to weight chart says she's about 6.5 pounds being a tad over 22", but with her belly, she might be seven. What do you think?

 

Using your measurements, taking the time of year into account, along with known high end/max GSI's, I'd say your guess is very close. Running the calcs, I come up with either side of 7.25 lbs., but would bracket the range between 7.1-7.5 lbs., bumping the high end with an outlier. Great fish regardless - congrats!

[PhishLI]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Here's a better pic showing her length.

 

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Freakin' TOAD 👊

 

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I ducked into a cove to call home and dropped my cell phone in the water, losing it.

That's the worst. 4 times for me. Once when I dumped my yak, and the other times bumbling the phone with wet hands. When I'm way out on the flats by myself I won't risk a picture for anything but a monster.

[MediumMouthBass]

@ol'crickety all the above guesses are wrong, its cleary a 8lb bass if you factor in those poor 3 bluegills it had for lunch! About time us northern anglers start catching up to those guys down south

[Fishlegs]

North, South, East, West...doesn't matter. That fish would make anyone, anywhere ecstatic @ol'crickety!

 

That's a great fish even in lakes like Okeechobee, Guntersville, Toledo Bend, OH Ivie, Menderchuck, Baccarac, or Biwa! You caught it in Maine!

[thediscochef]

Lost some today because I was using too soft a rod for the red eye shad. But most importantly, this bass boat rolled up on me after finally sticking a dink. All he really did was backlash while throwing a senko, and then troll away. He said "it shouldn't be this hard" and I told him that it isn't that hard, especially when you don't get rolled up on by some guy in a bass boat with his sonar clicks. Cue the bass in the second photo, and the hasty exit of the inconsiderate boater. 

 

Shads are starting to move up for spawn, I had whole schools following my lipless around the ripraps. No predators to be found there today, but soon. Those summer pier nights are near. I finally gave in and bought a green pumpkin jig + trailer after seeing that one the other night.

[Jmurphy87]

Went fishing after work today, I have only been up 23 hours so far. Caught this one on a sungill fluke jr weightless on my bfs setup. They were shallow at Austin lake today and very skittish, but I put a pattern together to catch this tiny one. This park is very pressured so catching anything is a win. I hooked two smaller ones that got off before I could touch them.

[Swamp Girl]

2 hours ago, Fishlegs said:

That's a great fish even in lakes like Okeechobee, Guntersville, Toledo Bend, OH Ivie, Menderchuck, Baccarac, or Biwa! You caught it in Maine!

 

Pat Brown made the same point last year, that a bass like her is harder to grow in Maine. The water temp yesterday was 51 degrees and about ten days ago, it was in the low forties. Spring's a long time coming this far north. 

 

2 hours ago, thediscochef said:

He said "it shouldn't be this hard" and I told him that it isn't that hard, especially when you don't get rolled up on by some guy in a bass boat with his sonar clicks. Cue the bass in the second photo, and the hasty exit of the inconsiderate boater. 

 

When I fished the Mississippi River, I'd be sitting atop a school and setting the hook as soon as my bait reached their depth. First one boat would join me. Then another and another and another. Sometimes I'd be the hub of twenty boats, many circling me and staring because even atop the fish, they couldn't catch them. If they'd asked, I would have shared why I was catching them and they weren't, but they'd rather circle me and stare. 

[A-Jay]

Seasonably Cool & Windy on #lakemenderchuck this morning.

Of the couple of dozen landed, best two went 5.58 lbs & 6.48 lbs respectively.

A-Jay

[MIbassyaker]

7 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Seasonably Cool & Windy on #lakemenderchuck this morning.

Of the couple of dozen landed, best two went 5.58 lbs & 6.48 lbs respectively.

A-Jay

 

[Swamp Girl]

Huge brown bass, A-Jay!   

 

 

[LrgmouthShad]

7 hours ago, thediscochef said:

I finally gave in and bought a green pumpkin jig + trailer after seeing that one the other night.

Greg Hackney approves of this message

[Mbirdsley]

spurt of the moment fishing trip.  I was able to get things done around the house yesterday and this morning.  Headed back to duck lake around 11:30 today. 

 

Had a pretty good day.  the bass and pike started out hitting a terminator spinner bait which,  i bought on clearance for $1.99 at northwoods.  I caught the biggest bass and pike on that spinner bait.  

 

So i’ve really like the idea of the carolina rig.  However, our natural weedy lakes kinda make it hard to do.  So i’m sure im not the only one to do this. I combined a free rig, mojo rig, and a carolina rig.

 

I call it the Michigan rig. i threw it in a 7ft MH fast mhx mb843 and my shimano slx sc bait caster.  the mainline ( probably use what ever you want) was 40 lbs braid run through the loop of a  1/4 oz pencil drop shot lead weight that i pour.  i tied a swivel with roughly 14-16 inches of berkley big game 12 lbs mono (. just what i had lying around) with a 2/0 hook.  For plastic i used a yum lizard and a summer craw bandito bug.  the rig worked really well and is basically weed less. the bottom of duck lake is all weeds.  I caught the biggest pike of the day on the rig and than one really nice bass and a couple smaller ones. I need to get something other than big game for the leader.  i might pick up some 12 lbs berkley xt.  im sure ill be able to use heavier weights. 

 

looks like at least on the duck the bass are thinking about spawning the water in this shallow lake was 58 degrees. seems like other than not spawning it feels like we are a month a head of schedule. 

[Swamp Girl]

Nice bag, Michael. 58 degrees? I envy you. You're about the same latitude as me, but the small pond I fished yesterday was 51 degrees. 

[Mbirdsley]

14 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Nice bag, Michael. 58 degrees? I envy you. You're about the same latitude as me, but the small pond I fished yesterday was 51 degrees. 

thank you. it’s been unseasonably warm here the last 2 weeks.  The lake  I was fishing on is a decent sized lake but, very shallow.  the deepest it gets is 10-12 feet.  However, the majority of the lake only anver only 2-4 ft deep. 

 

the lake i was on last weekend was only 50-52 degrees. 

[Team9nine]

Hot, sunny and almost calm. Fished 4 hours for 4 bites. Landed 3 - of course, the one I didn’t land was a 5 pound class fish or better. She cleared the surface on her first jump and that was that. Positive spin - learned a new big fish spot though.

 

 

[Woody B]

On 4/17/2024 at 8:46 PM, ol'crickety said:

Here's a better pic showing her length.

 

That Bass is well over 7.  I caught one in March that was 21 3/4" and weighed 6.51.  It had a belly but didn't have the body of your Bass.  From the picture it looks to be over 22 inches also.   

[AlabamaSpothunter]

@A-Jay  You ever catch any small SMs?  🤣

[MIbassyaker]

10 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

@A-Jay  You ever catch any small SMs?  🤣

 

Goby says "No"