Latest Catch Pics Thread

[IcatchDinks]

Havent had a chance to go fishing lately, and the weather has gotten pretty coldish. Really enjoy seeing everyone's fish. Keep it up, y'all. 

[Swamp Girl]

I fished a bog for the first time in 2024. My prior trips were ponds. I targeted big bass with a big Shimano swimbait and focused on drop offs adjacent to flats, points, and wood. I caught a few, but nothing big.

 

So, then I started poking around and discovered some bass in a summer location, i.e. relating to structure against the shore. 

 

I caught 14 in all and lead with a photo of the bog, then four of the bass. I hooked and lost three nice ones at the end of the evening. My hands were just too cold at that point to work well.

 

I saw three eagles at once, two immature adults and likely one of their parents. I also saw loons, geese, and ducks. 

 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Awesome Katie, glad you caught a few on the Shimano, should have been fun to watch them eat that thing.   That bait creates some spectacular eats I've found.  

[Bluebasser86]

I FINALLY broke the 5lb mark for the year, in fact I jumped right into the 6lb club with one of the thickest fish I've ever seen.

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Awesome Katie, glad you caught a few on the Shimano, should have been fun to watch them eat that thing.   That bait creates some spectacular eats I've found.  

 

That lure really wiggles. I was afraid one of the five eagles I saw might eat it.

 

I also got my first hit on a Whopper Plopper. The water is 54 degrees, so surface feeding isn't that far off!

 

@Bluebasser86: That bass makes me laugh! Sooooooooooooo fat!!!! Incredible that she's under 20" and six pounds. Wow.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Congrats @Bluebasser86!   She's been spawning too.  

[Woody B]

Nice fish everyone.  @ol'crickety I don't usually recommend products but I use https://hothands.com/ to keep my hands warm.   They take a few minutes to warm up, but once they're warm they work great.(it's best to open and let them warm up before getting to the fishing spot)  I'm not much for wearing gloves, I just keep one in each coat pocket.  When my hands start to ache, (or worse cramp up) I'll reach in my pocket and give the warmer a squeeze for a minute.   It's raining and 60 now, but suppose to cool off as the day progresses.  I'll be using hot hands when I get to the lake today.  

[TnRiver46]

@Bluebasser86, I know that vibrating jig! Think I still have at least one. 
 

@ol'crickety, the eagles will dive bomb and grab big lures, as well as osprey. It’s quite terrifying, I reeled an osprey all the way to the bank the other day . Not good 

[A-Jay]

10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I FINALLY broke the 5lb mark for the year, in fact I jumped right into the 6lb club with one of the thickest fish I've ever seen.

 

 

Nicely Done ~

Fish seems almost as round as she does long ~

Congrats

A-Jay

[Swamp Girl]

53 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Bluebasser86, I know that vibrating jig! Think I still have at least one. 
 

@ol'crickety, the eagles will dive bomb and grab big lures, as well as osprey. It’s quite terrifying, I reeled an osprey all the way to the bank the other day . Not good 

 

I kept scanning the sky and kept rehearsing in my head what I'd do if an eagle dove on it. If I were an eagle, I'd dive on it: It looked delicious. 

 

Did the osprey free itself?

 

Thanks, @Woody B, for the reminder. I have a bag of those in my basement. I'll toss a couple in my knapsack. It had dropped into the forties by the end of my fishing and because a canoe is a wet boat and I had to step into the water to launch, I was soggy. 

 

@Bluebasser86's thickest bass should weight 4.49 pounds, according to my length to weight table, so it's more than 1.5 pounds above the norm. I share this so all can numerically appreciate what an exceptional fish she is. Of course, visually appreciating her is easy-peasy. 

[Bluebasser86]

Prefishing for my first club kayak tournament of the year Friday. I won this tournament last year on the same lake, also in April, so I felt like I knew what I wanted to do coming into it. After about 3 hours of fishing, I was sure I knew what I wanted to do. I had received some information about a little lake not too far away that was supposed to have real big ones, which always gets my attention, so I loaded up and headed down the road a little ways. Now it was not a numbers fishery at all, big fish lakes usually aren't around here, but it did not disappoint on the big fish. 

and of course, 2 cast after this one, I caught big momma.

I thought she might be an 8 when I saw her jump, just because of how thick she was and how big the mouth was. Once I got her in the net, I knew the length wasn't there, but still one of the thickest fish I've ever seen. 

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

 

 

Did the osprey free itself?

 

 

Yes with some assistance.

 

another time years ago my buddy was throwing a musky lure and an osprey would grab it over and over, carry it a couple hundred feet, then drop it 

 

Friday evening my wife was kayaking and saw a bald eagle eating a white bass . It flew away and she paddled up to the white bass and it was still alive but ripped apart. On the way back to the ramp a paddleboarder said he saw about a dozen white bass floating on the surface, I think the eagle had a busy afternoon 

[Pat Brown]

Nothing super crazy to report here but I did catch this beautiful post spawner yesterday morning.  Jake caught every male bass that he could find willing to bite expeditiously 🤣👍🏼 

 

Seeing big fry clouds out deep shimmering under the surface being guarded by big wolfpacks of male and female bass out on offshore structure at the pond has been very very neat.

 

It dropped nearly 40° over night and I plan on going fishing later this afternoon from the bank at the pond and I'm very very curious to see what I see.

 

Lost a fish that was 24" long skipping a senko under a dock yesterday evening.  She hit it right as I hopped it once after the initial fall and I set the hook.  My 30 pound braid starts ticking my drag real fast and I see her shoot out around a support beam 10 feet with my hook and Senko.  Gorgeous and super long.  I start to pull her back towards the piling and she shook hard and popped right off.  Heartbreak hotel but dang if it wasn't cool!

 

 

Still a 5 lber to start the day on the dropshot was cool and my biggest fish on a dropshot to date!  Let's GO!!!!

 

Tight lines friends!

[Swamp Girl]

Let's go is right, my friend. Well done and Jake looks bigger day by day. 

 

10 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Yes with some assistance.

 

Do tell. 

 

Pretty please!!!

[TnRiver46]

Who knows, we might have PETA reading in . It flew away 😂 

[Swamp Girl]

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Who knows, we might have PETA reading in . It flew away 😂 

 

Well, I'll just settle for imagining you heroically wrasslin' the dinosaur to set it free. 

 

8 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Seeing big fry clouds out deep shimmering under the surface being guarded by big wolfpacks of male and female bass out on offshore structure at the pond has been very very neat.

 

I would love to see that.

[TnRiver46]

I thought I was going to end up in the top of a tree 

[Pat Brown]

The fry look like glitter!  It's mesmerizing!  They get bigger fast but in that first stage it's like glitter mist just under the surface.  You can see wolfpacks of purple bluegill encroach and the 5-6 lb females plow through them like lightning while the males hover in the fry.  They position up on the hard high spots in the evening sunlight I presume for the warmth and so that the fry can eat phytoplankton and the water is so clear you can just sit and watch it.

[Swamp Girl]

Pat, you are a scholar of bass. Or maybe a poet, for you see the world with a poet's precision. And you appreciate it too, as a poet or a samurai would, but I repeat myself, for samurai are poets. 

 

I think the tannin in our water makes it impossible for me to see all that you do. Our water is black. Plus, I'm low in a canoe too, so I'm always at a bad angle. 

[JayMac89]

Since getting that 5 pounder 2 weeks ago its been slow for me. Mostly due to work and weather. Got out yesterday morning. Almost caught another giant, followed my jig back to the kayak then took a swipe. Unfortunately i was distracted by a gigantic snaping turtle on the other side of the yak. The bass d**n near jumped in with me but i blew that whole deal. Then it started raining and i called it quits empty handed. 

 

There was a kayak tournament at the lake iv been fishing most latley, so decided to go else where. Less than 5 minutes from my house. A lake iv been to a handful of times but never caught anything. Started off pretty frustrating. Pitching the jig into shoreline cover. Caught nothing but branches. Was pretty chilly out. Decided to throw the lipless crank in deeper water and ended up getting this nice fish. 

 

Didn't weigh it but probably closer to 3. Really nice fish. I was surprised honestly. Might have to put more work in at this lake. It's definitely convenient being so close to home, that's for sure

[Swamp Girl]

@JayMac89: Sweet fish. Sorry you lost that beast by your boat. 

[Woody B]

I caught 10 today in the rain.  The lens on my phone was fogged up by the 2nd one so I put it away.  My phone is supposed to be IP68 rated but I figure if the lens is fogged up it's not liking the water.   None were BIG or I would have gotten my phone back out.  Biggest were 16".  One LM and one Spot.  The rest were between 12" and 14".  About the time I released the first one I saw some fleeing shad on the other side of my boat.  I grabbed a rod and cast a Devils Horse toward the commotion.   A small (Longnose) Gar hit my Devils Horse, coming a couple feet out of the water with it in it's mouth.  It threw in on it's next jump.   I've never been able to land a Gar, but I'm not sure I want all those teeth in my boat on a fish that's considered a trash fish.  It's cool to watch them jump though.  I think I can almost hear them laughing when they throw my lures back at me.   It was 59 with light drizzle when I launched my boat at 9.  It was 50 with harder rain at noon when I loaded it back up.   

 

 

 

[N Florida Mike]

Got a couple on the horny toad right before dark. Lost 3 also,including a bigger one. They absolutely clobber this bait , like they hate it…

[FishTank]

I went out yesterday and only caught one dink in 7 hours of fishing. 

 

 

The wind was so bad I clocked the boat drifting at 5mph at some point during the day.  The wind seemed to be blowing around 20mph all day in two different directions. The boat at one of my spots just turned in circles without me using the trolling motor.

 

The water was really muddy as well with no visibility. 

 

About half way through the day I got snagged next the bank and fell in to about 10 feet water.  Luckily I was able get a selfie. 

 

 

When will the water clear up?  😁

[Swamp Girl]

@FishTank: Where do you live? It's bad in Maine too. I'm intending to fish on Wednesday and Friday, when it's supposed to drop to 10 mph, which might not sound like much, but in a high-sided, lightweight canoe, I'll spend half my time adjusting the boat. So, five hours of fishing is really 2.5 hours of fishing and 2.5 hours of paddling.