Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Swamp Girl]

No doubt, that 2-incher is hard to cast. I suggest you go only slightly larger with hooks. Too big and they'll impede its action. 

[Susky River Rat]

I still do it better on the susky. 

[FishTank]

Well I don't what is going on but I hit a large local pond and caught 30 bass (at least that's where I decided to stop). I only caught 2 or 3 keepers though.  It was a two hour dink fest but it was fun. 

 

And I caught another massive bluegill, around 11 inches if I measured it correctly.  

 

 

 

[king fisher]

I finally caught a good one on Saturday.  I was going to do some work this weekend, but my wife told me I should go fishing.  I always try and do what I am told so I put the kayak on the car.  I didn't plan on going until late Friday afternoon, so I wasn't gong to have time to go to a lake I wanted to try.  So I went to my old favorite, which has let me down so far this year, but was worth giving one more try.

 

I got to the lake early Saturday morning, and started fishing at first light.  The water temp was 74, wind calm, and water clarity was around 2 foot.  The water was at a perfect level, and any other year I would have had greet confidence.  There were two other anglers in a small boat, that went to the other end of the lake.  I was glad they passed the best fishing spots for this water level.  They must have been there before, when the water is up, and the far end of the lake is a flooded pasture.  I new they wouldn't be at the far end of the lake for long, so I was in a hurry to try most of the visible cover before they came back to the deep end of the lake.

 

After a couple hours I had caught a few one pound bass but hadn't had a decent bite.  The other anglers came by and reported they were skunked.

 

At 10:00 AM the afternoon winds came early.  By 11:00 the other anglers had left, and I was really wondering why I was still there.  The wind was blowing 20 MPH. and I hadn't landed a bass over 1.5 pounds.  I was working hard to get even one good cast into one of the offshore trees, before loosing control of my kayak and having to reposition.  The bass wouldn't hit my moving baits which was odd for this much wind, so I had to try and fish soft plastics.  I ended up catching a 4 pound bass on a Skinny Dipper so the day wasn't going to be a complete disaster.

 

By 6:00 PM I was tired and thinking about calling it a day.  The wind was blowing to hard to set up my tent, and I was even contemplating cutting the trip short and going home.  I decided to stay and fish hard until dark, after all that is what I came there to do.

 

I peddled over to the tree I had caught the 4 pound bass from and made a cast with a T rigged June Bug Ole Monster I had just put on.  First cast I hooked the 8.1 pound bass in the picture.

I landed a couple other 2 pound bass on the Ole Monster, then fished a rock bank with a square bill until dark, landing a bass around 3 pounds.

 

I am so glad I didn't give up.  Sometimes all it takes is perseverance to catch bass.  That and a lot of luck is what I count on most of the time.  The wind died about 10:00 PM and I was able to set up my camp.

 

The next morning I started off with the Ole Monster, and landed a 5 pound bass along with a few small 1 pounders and hooked a big bass I wasn't able to get a look at.

 

The wind started early again on Sunday.  This time of year has the strongest winds, but I have never seen it start blowing before noon.  I had to leave for home around 12:00 so I was in a hurry to fish everything I had planned on casting to.

 

I ended up at my favorite tree from past years, that so far this year hadn't produced, but it is hard not to fish history.  After a few minuets of hard peddling I had the kayak positioned to make a perfect cast.  A small bass bit the tale off the Ole Monster so I got blown way out of position while I put another one on.  The next cast I hooked what I assumed was the same small bass.  When I had the bass close to the boat I saw a flash out of the depths, that looked like a good size bass trying to grab the worm.  I got the small bass a few feet closer to the kayak when a giant bass came up and completely engulfed my small bass.  I instantly put the reel in free spool and watched the line go away from the tree.  With as much experience  I have fishing in saltwater I would have thought I would stay calm and not make any mistakes.  I didn't, I got excited and made a rooky mistake.  When the line stopped going out, I should have waited until it started running off again before doing anything, but I just had to feel if the bass was on the line.  I lightly thumbed the spool, and felt the heavy weight of the giant.  I clicked the reel in gear and was going to set the hook when suddenly the heavy weight was gone.  The big bass had let go, and I had ruined my chance at a fish of a lifetime.  I reeled the small bass back to the kayak, and when it was a few feet away the giant came and swiped at the bass.  Of course I frees pooled the small bass again, but the big one was just showing off, and wasn't about to get fooled again.  

 

All the mistakes I made were ones I never would have done saltwater fishing, but seeing a bass that size made me panic causing me to completely choke, and loose the opportunity of a lifetime.  I don't know how big the bass was, but the small bass was 12 1/4 inches and completely disappeared when the big bass hit it.

 

I had to leave early so I decided to make cast at a tree near the launch.  I hooked and landed a five pound bass, and of course I turned on more last cast into 20, but finally had to call it quits and go home.

 

I am glad to see my favorite lake still has at least one giant that will keep me going back.  Maybe with more perseverance and some more luck, I will catch one.  The lake is not anything like it was, but that only means I will have to work harder.  For now I will have to be happy with an 8 pounder, and a good one that got away story.

 

 

[Functional]

Memorial day weekend was a bit rough figuratively and literally. I've never in my life regretted owning my tracker until this weekend. The lack of length and weight made it a FIGHT just to stay on plane without rattling the teeth out of my head. I worked that throttle probably more times than I have in the past 11 years of ownership. 

 

Fishing was also tough. Saturday we drove up to my inlaws in the morning and by the time we said hi,  got everyone together and set out it was 1pm already. Full sun,  no clouds and not even a gnat fart for wind. Caught 2 ripping a swim jig through weed edges in 5-7fow in about 3 hours. Took me a while to find them,  wasn't sure if they were still sitting near their spawn locations or working their way into summer spots. They were off main lake points but didn't get much time once I caught my 2 with dinner and such. 

 

Sunday was same conditions except I had a little wind.  I was down by the dam Saturday so I made a 30min run up the lake hoping fit less boat traffic but it was a muddy mess. Wasted the first part of my day I there and then spent some time with the family. Did 2hrs before dinner and ran back down to a hump off a main lake point I found on my way out the day before. Fished the points weed edge first with no luck and then hit the hump. Tried spinnerbaits, jig and swim jig over the stumps on the hump and no dice. Then I figured I'd pretend I was Ajay and broke out a jerkbait (I've caught maybe 2 fish in my life on one). Second cast and it got crushed. In about 15 minutes I picked up 4. I just released the 4th and cast my beautiful megabass vision one ten jr+1 in pro blue and hard SNAP. Off she went into the netherworld. Wasted 20 minutes trying to grid search for it but it was gone. Went to tie in another and realized the first guide on my used poison adrena cracked, likely cause of the break so now I'm down a 110 and gotta find someone to replace a guide. Caught 2 more off another rod and then it was time for dinner. Size was nothing great but it was nice to catch on a lure I had little confidence in. 

 

Looks like 3 spots and a LM?

[TnRiver46]

Nice trip @king fisher! Junebug worm > spinnerbait …….

 

@Functional also nice trip, I’d say 4 spots 

[Swamp Girl]

26 bass this evening at a pal's pond. Some samples below. In order, a long one, a fat one, the thickest one, and the prettiest one. 

 

 

@king fisher, your account of the lost monster was thrilling. Congrats on the 8-pounder, the 5-pounders, 4-pounder, and the others. 

[Bazoo]

Got this one at the local heavily pressured place this evening.

 

[softwateronly]

Feels good to get back on the water, spent the last 8 weeks out of town for work.  Saturday first light was one of those epic feeding frenzies for about 20 minutes.  A bluegill crank down was getting bit on every cast.  After that, a weightless 7" fluke, jig, and free rig were picking them off.  I had a handful over 20" and another in the 18-20" range, one of them could easily have been my lake pb if she wasn't all spawned out, though the pics don't really show it.

 

scott

 

 

[softwateronly]

[OHBuckets]

Had a recent smallie fest 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@softwateronly: I caught back-to-back 19-inchers once in my life (2023) and will die with a smile on my face just thinking about those two beauties, but with your feat of multiple 20-plus-inchers in 30 minutes, you should die doing this:

 

 

@OHBuckets: It was generous of @A-Jay to share one of his bass. 

 

12 hours ago, king fisher said:

the small bass was 12 1/4 inches and completely disappeared when the big bass hit it.

 

Am I the only one who has reread ^this^ sentence several times simply to savor it?

[Pat Brown]

18 hours ago, IcatchDinks said:

 

Thanks! I think the 2" is a little lighter than I would like. It's hard to get it to any sort of depth, but I think if I put larger hooks on it, it will give it just enough weight to give it the action I want, and help remedy the hook-up issues I mentioned. 

 

I was actually quite surprised at how effective it's been at getting strikes. I almost never use it. 

Try 6 lb stren if you haven't already!

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, Pat Brown said:

Try 6 lb stren if you haven't already!

 

6 lb. Stren used to be my only line. You can cast even light lures into the next county with it. However, fishing bogs ended my marriage to Stren 6 lb. test. Bogs are a harsh mistress and will brook no light line.

[Pat Brown]

12 lb power pro?  That stuff is like ultrafine razor sharp frog hair!

[Swamp Girl]

25 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

12 lb power pro?  That stuff is like ultrafine razor sharp frog hair!

 

I use Cabela's brand 30-lb. braid that I bought many years ago. It works, although I did have it break last night on a cast, but that was my fault since I hadn't retied in too long, I could see it was fraying at the knot, and I'd caught a LOT of bass on that knot. 

[N Florida Mike]

I was on the water long before the sun came up. Clear and warm with a nice 10 mph breeze. Started out at the south end of the lake.
 I Tried the pad crasher for awhile , and had one half hearted blow up that I missed. I went to the Bama bug dinger and  immediately caught 2 good fish.  Then I moved to the southeast corner of the lake , and caught another good one on the dinger .                   I picked off a couple fish on the horny toad in the deepest hole in the lake, and one on a red bug truck worm , then began fishing around the east side of our island , hunting for shade. Got several on the June bug speed worm and lost several in brush piles. Came around the south end of the island and switched to a watermelon seed super fluke, and caught a few going up the west side of the island, including these 2…                     I caught a couple more on the fluke as I headed home , and stopped at the north deep hole on the way home. I had switched to a Houdini super fluke because it was so bright, and got this 4.25 pounder to close the morning.          It was the best day I’ve had in several years on my lake. The lake is clearly rebounding since the otter has been gone the better part of the year… Ended up with 16, with a 16 pound bag for the top 5…

It was one of those rare days where nearly everything went right! Got a good case of bass thumb to go along with it lol .

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

[roadwarrior]

Ain't it cool when EVERYTHING works!

 

 

 

                                                      

[IcatchDinks]

4 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

Try 6 lb stren if you haven't already!

Thanks! I definitely will give it a shot. 

[Swamp Girl]

Mike!!!

[A-Jay]

26 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

..  Th         .        

It was the best day I’ve had in several years on my lake.

Ended up with 16, with a 16 pound bag for the top 5…

It was one of those rare days where nearly everything went right!

Got a good case of bass thumb to go along with it lol

.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Nice Done Sir !

Congrats

A-Jay

[IcatchDinks]

My brother in law, my brother, and I went fishing in the rowboat this morning. My brother in law slaughtered the crappie, I caught mostly small bass, although I did get my first top water catch of the year on the bone colored whopper plopper. (About dang time!)

 

 

 

 

 

Then we took the kids fishing at the river behind my brother in law's house (the Flat River). The kids all got hooks into something. I caught several little smallies, my niece and nephew (bro-in-laws kids) both caught rock bass. And then my brother's five year old landed a super healthy 15" smallmouth using ultralight gear. We cooked and ate it. (Pls don't kill me, C&R only Crowd. It wasn't my decision.)

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

ICD, I hope you all enjoyed that bass. I don't think you'll get any grief at BR. 

[Woody B]

I had a rare holiday off.  I went early.  I caught 4 between 5AM and 9AM.  The lake was already getting full or recreational boaters so I called it a day.  (FWIW I'm not a fan of all the pleasure boaters, but I suppose they have as much right to the water as I do) The Bluegill spawn is starting but the Bass are still scattered between post spawn, and summer.  I think the hot cold hot cold weather as well as all the rain messed up the Bass spawn this year.   I saw very little Bass action during the Shad spawn.   The water has really warmed up.  It's 9 degrees warmer than it was 9 days ago.  (81 degrees this morning)    Oh well, back to work tomorrow.  

 

[IcatchDinks]

I was driving home from my earlier adventures when I received a call from my wife: her brother and his wife were coming into town to do some shopping and were planning on doing some fishing afterwards and would we like to join them? 

 

Well, sure! 

 

So I landed three more bass to cap off the day and now I owe my wife something fierce for all the time she's granted me to chase my favorite hobby this weekend.