Latest Catch Pics Thread

[IcatchDinks]

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I like the mist too. 

 

Honestly, the mist is one of my favorite parts of early morning fishing. It feels so ethereal and mysterious . Lol The picture doesn't do it justice. 

[Swamp Girl]

9 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

 

Honestly, the mist is one of my favorite parts of early morning fishing. It feels so ethereal and mysterious . Lol The picture doesn't do it justice. 

 

Here's Mac Davis singing our song:

 

 

[JayMac89]

Great morning of fishing. Out of my 3 seasons so far, this has to be a top 5 day. Caught 4-5 bass. The fifth one I got to the kayak but lost him when I went for the net. Not really counting that fish so 4 fish this morning. 

 

As iv mentioned though, this season I'm really dedicating myself to improving. I always had luck. Good days, bad days. But I could catch a few pretty regularly. But it felt accidental if that makes sense. 

 

Well today I threw nothing but a t-rigged creature bait. Believe it was a strike king rodent? I'm not sure on that. But I had some minor success Monday with it. So I kept that going. Safe to say I went from not a lot of confidence to fully confident with that technique. Every got a brand new spinning combo last night (like I said, I'm dedicated to improving). Besides throwing a bait I could literally count with my fingers all the times iv thrown it before, and having great success. I also just knew where to find them. The pattern from Monday continued today. Plus iv been paying alot more attention so swirls and what not. Caught 2 by seeing movement and targeting that area. I must say though, I'm terrible casting with spinning gear. Holy cow I need to work on that. 

 

Here's the 2 better fish from today...

 

After getting 2 fairly quickly, I really wanted 5. Got to 4 and decided to stay a little longer even though I was feeling pretty done. Got that 5th to the boat and lost it... little bummed about that. But I was also only out for 4 hours. And had a few other fish I lost. Keep improving and today could of easily been a 7-8 fish morning. Just glad to have things come together rather than just catching them randomly. Today was the first day since I started fishing where I truly felt like I had a purpose and knew what I was doing. Very happy with the morning and broke the new combo in the right way. 

[BrianMDTX]

If one thing has remained relatively consistent, it’s that spinnerbaits, jigs and I go together like oil and water. Neither has ever done anything other than one bass here and there, if that. But jigs are starting to change for me. 
 

I started off with a squarebill and that bite was dead. I switched to a Texas rig with a green pumpkin Speed Senko and so was that. I later switched to a weightless TR with a Neko Macho and caught three bass and missed one. Two were on a #956 and one on a blue with black flake. As heavy as Neko Machos are, maybe it’s a semi-weightless. 
 

That bite petered off. I had a blue/black jig with a green pumpkin Rage Bug trailer and figured I’d give it a shot. 45 minutes later I boated 5 bass and missed two (one was pretty good but it was not hooked well and it threw the hook). This was a Nichols Mango jig, which uses a toothpick through a hole to hold the trailer on. I did not have any toothpicks with me and went through that Bug, a Rage Craw and a Rage Menace as trailers quickly lol. I got bites hopping it, swimming it, dragging it over wood and pulling it off the bank. For 45 minutes, that jig was gold! 
 

I caught one more on a weightless Speed Senko TR and called it a day. One bass, the tail was gone and I was left with, well, a Senko. 
 

@JayMac89 Nice bass! The more you fish, the better angler you become. Keep at it!

 

And yeah, while I can skip much easier with a spinning rig, overall I’d say it’s easier to be more accurate with a baitcaster. It takes practice! 

[gim]

I took my 4 legged partner out this morning for a few hours.  She did not like the family of feathered carp that swam by.  Caught 12 largemouth, nothing real big.  I got a new clamp for my cell phone that attaches to my windshield and tried a photo with it today.  Seems to work pretty decent.  I don't do selfies.  If I catch a muskie by myself this season, then it'll be put to the ultimate test.

 

 

[Bird]

@gimruis

My Border Collie loves the boat but can only take him when the wife and I are just cruising the lake.

Fishing with him is a nightmare especially top water......he dives in after it. 😔

[Swamp Girl]

@BrianMDTX: Congrats on your jig success. I always enjoy finding success with a new lure. The last time I was out, I used a long Rapala wakebait for the first time and caught a couple thick ones with that.  This sentence caught my eye: 

 

48 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

45 minutes later I boated 5 bass and missed two (one was pretty good but it was not hooked well and it threw the hook).

 

I think I lose more bass than anyone. It's not uncommon for me to lose five bass in a row. Of course, I can also catch three bass on consecutive casts, but gosh, I sure lose a lot of them. 95% of the time, if they hook a reed, they're free. If they hook wood, I often land them. I don't know why weeds free them so quickly. 

 

My last trip out, I'd paddled a couple miles just to cast into a stream mouth where big bass lurk. That stream is about six feet across and has good current. Alewives and even Atlantic salmon use it, so it's a fish highway. It has bushes arching over it, so it's also a tunnel, and the entrance is fronted/guarded by weeds.

 

It's unforgiving and you might have just one chance to cast into it, since fighting one means another likely won't hit. My first cast had a  bass charge like a bull. Usually, I wait a second before setting the hook, but it hit so hard it set the hook. I managed to land it and managed a second cast. The second hit was even more violent than the first. That fish came out of the tunnel and zipped past my canoe, pulling drag as if I were free-spooling. Then...free.

 

And that's my angling life: Catch one, lose one. 

 

I love dog pics, @gimruis. Thanks!

[Woody B]

I managed 8 this morning.  No big ones, but on really small ones either.  First and last are pictured.   Many of the fish are really skinny post spawn.  I was going to fish longer but my "gut" said no.  After my 4th trip to find a restroom I decided to call it a day.   I've pretty much been "sitting" since I got home.   Hopefully I'll be able to fish tomorrow without all the pit stops.   The last few nights have been fairly cool for this time of the year.  The water is 3 degrees cooler than it was Monday.  (78 degrees)

 

[gim]

1 hour ago, Bird said:

My Border Collie loves the boat but can only take him when the wife and I are just cruising the lake.

Fishing with him is a nightmare especially top water......he dives in after it.

 

I hear ya.  If my dog wasn't behaved in the boat, I wouldn't bring her along.  A misbehaved dog in a boat is a nightmare.  She would come with every time if it was up to her, but the sun/heat really take a toll, so I have to be selective when I take her with.  It was pretty ideal this morning - cloudy, cool, and local.

[IcatchDinks]

Had a great morning. As I was tying on my shoes at 6AM I wondered if getting up early was worth it. It is. 

 

Started out the day with a couple dinks that I didn't photograph. Then had something big absolutely HAMMER my crank bait. It ran for a few feet, my drag screaming. And then it came off. Nothing sudden. Didn't break. Just one second I had something massive on the line, the next my bait was cranking along like nothing ever happened. I was so mad. 

 

Then I went on a string of catches. Nothing massive, but I did finish the day with a beautiful 16 incher, which is about as big as I've ever landed out of this pond. Later today I'm gonna take my two little brothers back to this same pond for some worm N bobber fishing. Hoping they have as good a day as I did this morning. 

 

 

This bass I caught directly after that I lost that massive thing, hence my annoyed expression: 

 

 

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

59 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

Then had something big absolutely HAMMER my crank bait. It ran for a few feet, my drag screaming. And then it came off.

 

Hey, I have this happen every time I go fishing. Welcome to Katie's World! Congrats on all your bass! 

[JayMac89]

Belive it or not, today beat out yesterday. Still throwing the weightless t-rigged creature bait. Think I found a honey hole.

 

Pulled up to the ramp this morning and it was PACKED. Kayak tournament going on. Holy cow some of these guys are serious. Kinda cool to see, but also a bit annoying. Anyway I got out. Some jerk tried telling me I couldn't fish till 6AM (he thought I was in the tournament) then after explaining I wasn't he continued to tell me "don't beat up the area, we're fishing for money". I think it was meant as a joke, but it didn't sound like one the way it came out. Rubbed me the wrong way if in being honest. So I followed by catching 3 decent bass in about 10 minutes. 4 or 5 within the hour. It was cool to because there were 2 guys in that cove with me. Both in the tournament (one being the suspected jerk, the other being quite nice). Neither were having the same success. Which only solidifies that I definitely figured somthing out this past week. Continued fishing for 3 hours total, got 7 when all was said and done. Most fish I ever caught in one day by a long shot. 

 

[IcatchDinks]

11 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Welcome to Katie's World! Congrats on all your bass! 

Thanks! But if I were in Katie's world, I'd be pulling in 40+ bass a trip. Lol

 

@JayMac89, I'm super stoked to hear about your success! It adds a little extra garnish that you were fishing better than the tournament anglers too. Lol. Thanks for sharing. 

[Swamp Girl]

I want to congratulate you too, @JayMac89. It's cool that you're catching more and cool too that you're posting in this thread.

 

@IcatchDinks: I actually caught 52 this morning, but I always lose a lot. Always.

[MIbassyaker]

34 minutes ago, JayMac89 said:

 "don't beat up the area, we're fishing for money". I think it was meant as a joke, but it didn't sound like one the way it came out. Rubbed me the wrong way if in being honest.

 

If he mentioned money, he meant it seriously. There is a subset of tournament anglers who believe because there is money on the line, they deserve special privileges, and that every other angler on the water must defer to them.  It's a bad look on his part.

 

If it's public water, you're not violating a regulation, and he's not offering to share his purse, he shouldn't be telling you what to do or how to fish.  I hope he enjoyed seeing you catch those fish. He deserved that.

[Woody B]

Most tournament people are nice but there's an occasional jerk.  When they mention that "they're fishing for money" I tell them that I have a job, what I make, and that I can afford to fish for fun.  

 

I caught 10 today.  That seems like a good day to me.  I can't imagine catching Bass like Katie does.  So far this year (January through May) I've caught at least one 5 pound Bass each month.  I didn't catch a 5 pounder today, but I caught a 4.54 pound Spot.   Most including the biggest one came on a spinner bait with a couple on a shaky head.   Water temperature was 80 degrees.  2 degrees warmer than yesterday, 1 degree cooler than last week.  Pictured are the first I caught, along with the biggest one.  

 

[T-Billy]

2 hours ago, Woody B said:

but there's an occasional jerk. 

I had a pair of them run by me yesterday, WOT within 20', racing to their first spot, while I was fishing with my wife. Fortunately for that first guy, he buzzed the post Jesus Tim. The pre Jesus Tim would have launched that Medussa with it's pair of 7/0 trebles at his head. I hate fishing weekends.

[Fried Lemons]

Went for a float on the river today. I’ve waded this spot before and never gotten on any good fish. With the paddle board I was able to cover a lot more ground and I found that the first mile or so by the ramp was just dead water. Once I cleared the first set of riffles I started seeing life - suckers and big schools of 6-8” channel cats. The fish were mostly set up in deeper areas with moderate current and large boulders.
 

This was sort of an impromptu trip so I did not have much of a selection of lures - just what I had tied on last at the lake, a gantarel jr. Luckily the fish were all over it once I got into the correct areas. They ranged from 8-19”. The big one took me for a ride, one of the best fights I’ve had this year. Also had the biggest walleye I’d ever seen take a swipe at it. I’ve caught many in the 24” range and this one I would estimate was over 30”.

 

 

[Woody B]

43 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Fortunately for that first guy, he buzzed the post Jesus Tim.

 

Yep.  Every day I pay for patience.   Patience doesn't usually require bail money.  

[JayMac89]

I hear that. I'm a typical New Yorker quick to fly off the handle. Got in a good amount of trouble as a kid, really worked on calming down as an adult....discovered sarcasm helps. After catching the 4 th fish part of me really wanted to pedal by and say "how many fish do you need to catch to win this thing? I got 4 so far. Is that good? How many have you caught?". You know, just to push buttons. But I held back and figured it was better to just enjoy my morning. 

[thediscochef]

All my favorite places are closed due to flooding or tornado damage. Both my favorite state parks took a hit from an EF-3 tornado last week, and Ray Roberts has been closed to all non-boaters since. This is possibly the most significant tornado in my county's history. It hit very close to home - less than five miles to my mom's place. I haven't stepped foot at the lake since the day before the tornado. From the dam I have seen halves of boats floating midlake from the marina, whole oak trees with root balls and green foliage still attached. I have considered going to the unmonitored public hunting lands, but the chances of meeting hogs is high right now with the water claiming land for its own. There was a herd of feral hogs photographed at Johnson Branch State Park within the last week after storm damage. 

 

So I have fished two places. On Memorial Day i was privileged enough to visit a private ranch where the church I run sound for had an event. I was lucky enough to catch 16 fish between 9am and 2pm. 8 on a one knocker spook, 1 on a whopper plopper, 4 on a popper, and 3 on an A-frame. I missed 9 other topwater blowups. 24 strikes will raise confidence enough to handle mother nature for a short while. I also caught two snakes and a turtle on the bone one knocker spook. Apparently this is an accomplishment or something, but for me it was more of a nuisance. No venomous snakes just shad noodles. 

 

The biggest fish was maybe 3lbs but had the jaws of a 5. Despite the high water of the ponds and abundant bluegill, I caught many fish who looked both spawned out and also hungry. I took particular pride in more than doubling the next closest fisherperson at the event, who had 7 fish on 7 strikes, primarily senkos. Their percentage is a goal of its own for a senko bite, but I chose the opposite end of the pond and styles for a few reasons. #1 inflow. #2 bugs above the surface. #3 shade lines. All the older guys wanted to know about my setup and I told them everything they wanted to know. They started this whole thing so they get to reap what I've learned. But none of them asked why I fished where and how I did, and I think that was at least as important as the lures, casting, line, whatever. I thought it was wild that catching bass 15 different ways in a year is "diverse" to the people I talked to in-depth. Lol, boaters or whatever.

 

I went out to a local public pond and casted around the next few days. A small bass wanted my choppo. 

 

RIP Dallas Stars

[thediscochef]

9 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

All my favorite places are closed due to flooding or tornado damage. Both my favorite state parks took a hit from an EF-3 tornado last week, and Ray Roberts has been closed to all non-boaters since. This is possibly the most significant tornado in my county's history. It hit very close to home - less than five miles to my mom's place. I haven't stepped foot at the lake since the day before the tornado. From the dam I have seen halves of boats floating midlake from the marina, whole oak trees with root balls and green foliage still attached. I have considered going to the unmonitored public hunting lands, but the chances of meeting hogs is high right now with the water claiming land for its own. There was a herd of feral hogs photographed at Johnson Branch State Park within the last week after storm damage. 

 

So I have fished two places. On Memorial Day i was privileged enough to visit a private ranch where the church I run sound for had an event. I was lucky enough to catch 16 fish between 9am and 2pm. 8 on a one knocker spook, 1 on a whopper plopper, 4 on a popper, and 3 on an A-frame. I missed 9 other topwater blowups. 24 strikes will raise confidence enough to handle mother nature for a short while. I also caught two snakes and a turtle on the bone one knocker spook. Apparently this is an accomplishment or something, but for me it was more of a nuisance. No venomous snakes just shad noodles. 

 

The biggest fish was maybe 3lbs but had the jaws of a 5. Despite the high water of the ponds and abundant bluegill, I caught many fish who looked both spawned out and also hungry. I took particular pride in more than doubling the next closest fisherperson at the event, who had 7 fish on 7 strikes, primarily senkos. Their percentage is a goal of its own for a senko bite, but I chose the opposite end of the pond and styles for a few reasons. #1 inflow. #2 bugs above the surface. #3 shade lines. All the older guys wanted to know about my setup and I told them everything they wanted to know. They started this whole thing so they get to reap what I've learned. But none of them asked why I fished where and how I did, and I think that was at least as important as the lures, casting, line, whatever. I thought it was wild that catching bass 15 different ways in a year is "diverse" to the people I talked to in-depth. Lol, boaters or whatever.

 

I went out to a local public pond and casted around the next few days. A small bass wanted my choppo. 

 

RIP Dallas Stars

This is a top 5 flooding event on Roberts for this time of year. We narrowly avoided the emergency spillgates in the last 48 hours or so. Water over the road to the old family homeplace. Note that the lake record was caught in 2016 on a guided trip by Dannie Golden - during a lake recession. I can tell you the general area where it was caught, but the spot is less important than its characteristics at that water level. Who'd've thunk it? Channel swings with native creekbed and timber structure. Gasp. Couldn't be transcendental in bass fishing. Not Jimmy!! Couldn't be Jimmy! 

Also I have to consider the benefits that a lack of pressure in my favorite spots will bring to me when they are back open

[Choporoz]

What a difference a week makes.  Last weekend, they were thick on grassy flats, roaming and hunting in less than 7 FOW.  This past weekend, nearly every bite was more than 13 feet down.   I threw Crush City Mayor for the first time and came away thoroughly impressed.  Also got big bites banging spinnerbait through deep wood, and Magnum Rage Bug on swinghead on sides of rocky points.

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Choporoz said:

What a difference a week makes.  Last weekend, they were thick on grassy flats, roaming and hunting in less than 7 FOW.  This past weekend, nearly every bite was more than 13 feet down. 

 

I  hear ya. Maine bass are always moving too.

 

1 hour ago, Choporoz said:

 I threw Crush City Mayor for the first time and came away thoroughly impressed. 

 

I also love the Mayor. It's my new steady. G' bye, Keitech, my old love! We had some good times, but....

 

Big bass, buddy!

 

Woo-hoo, @thediscochef! Leader of the pack. Vroom,  vroom!

 

 

[casts_by_fly]

 

 

 

Even if the fishing aint great, sometimes you just kick back and enjoy some sunshine.

 

Went to my usual favorite lake Sunday morning.  Forecast called for no wind (maybe 2 mph) until 8 AM and then just a light breeze after 48 hours of 5-10 mph steady winds.  In his latest video Jason Christie said somethign to the effect of "you have to fish the current conditions, but you also have to think about the recent past", meaning if the wind has been blowing steady for a couple days, its probably pushed food and bait onto the banks it was blowing to even if the wind has died down now.  That bait wouldn't have gone too far just yet.  That made a lot of sense to me and since that's the conditions I was just about to hit (almost exactly) I figured to give it a try.  So instead of my usual route around the lake and fishing the best of the cover first, I did the opposite and went down the shallower side figuring it was still dark and if the bass were going to be up shallow and eating on top this would be the only time for that bank (the first 20 yards off shore are mostly plain, light weeds, couple rock piles, and down to maybe 3').  I've caught fish on that bank every trip but always later in the day on the deep edge of the weeds and on the bottom.

 

I knew it was going to be a tough day not long after I started.  On cast 3 or 4 I got one where I exepcted him to be and lost him just as I was swinging him to the boat (about a 15" fish).  Then nothing for an hour- not a blow up, not a fish, not even a bluegill grabbing the buzzbait and pulling it under.  Not even a pickerel.  I should have swapped lures after 15 minutes or so but I was trying to force feed them a buzzbait because I like it.  I finally had one eat it, maybe the same fish I caught last time, a solid 16-17" fish that just barely had the trailer hook.  Time to swap up.  I rotated through a couple things as I worked up the good bank, which wasn't treating me very 'good'. The water clarity was a solid 10' which isn't unusual but is still tough.  I could visually see some cribs on the bottom that were installed in an area I didn't know they put them in (in about 14' to the bottom).   About when I hit the end, 4 boats launched.  This lake has 1.5 miles of shoreline and off shore 'area' to fish.  (just over 100 acres).  That's a lot of boats.  I was hoping one or two might be multispecies guys fishing for something other than bass but no.  Fortunately, all three of them were fishing very slow and they ended up clustered in one section for a lot of the time.

 

I managed to work around and pick one here and one there.  Saw a 48" class musky twice (she kept going back to the same weed bed to relax).  Biggest one I've seen to date.  Two bass ate a shad colored swim jig, a couple more on a rage bug.  Looking back, every fish hit it almost as soon as it hit the water (or bottom) so I think I just happened to put it in front of them and they ate it.  A pickerel came to a frog in a big mat, but even they were limited.  I talked to one of the other boats and he had the same.  About a half dozen fish, mostly dinks.  I guess some days are just like that.