Latest Catch Pics Thread

[thediscochef]

On 6/5/2024 at 4:14 PM, MIbassyaker said:

 

Great smallies!  4# would be a PB for me too -- mine are all lean and mean fish from small to medium rivers...not so much "footballs" as "torpedos"

Catching a 4lb smallmouth was a thing I will never forget, I hope you both get that experience this year 

 

This is that fish:

[casts_by_fly]

Managed to hit my favorite three times in 11 days now and have a decent idea what’s going on. I posted about my anniversary trip on Memorial Day. Two more trips (one early morning and one late evening) have yielded 9 and 15 bass plus a few more lost fish. Nothing over 16-17” but I’ll take the constant action in a time period I’ve struggled in the past. 
 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@casts_by_fly: Nice fish and an awesome boat.

[gim]

On 6/5/2024 at 4:22 PM, ol'crickety said:

They were strong, but not as strong as fish that fight the current all day.

That’s my experience too. Lake run versions are thicker, river versions were leaner and stronger.

[casts_by_fly]

19 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@casts_by_fly: Nice fish and an awesome boat.

thanks!

[Dan N]

Recently decided to work on fishing the jig, both standard and swim jig, and am loving it. Soon as I caught a couple, my confidence went way up, can’t stop throwing them now!

[Pat Brown]

@Dan N

 

Swim Jig is one of my all time favorites.

 

Some fun things to try:

 

Shake your rod gently with your rod tip high using some kind of chunk of craw trailer and a lighter Swim Jig like a 1/4 oz or 3/8 oz and try to keep it just in sight through out the retrieve killing the reel for a millisecond here or there at random and hold on tight!

 

BOMB a 1/4 oz swim jig with a lighter wire hook, thin out the weed guard or even remove it if there's mostly open water with a bigger swimbait trailer (4"+ pick your favorite) on lighter monofilament line (12-15 lb test) out on a flat or paralleling some rip rap or into a pocket etc and let the jig get to the depth the fish should be at and point your rod at 11 o clock and just reel sloooow and steady.  When you feel the thump, point the rod at the fish and reel as quick as you can and pull.  No fanfare with the hookset.  It catches giants even in clearer water with pressured fish.  Long cast and lighter line and hook and pressure hook set are the key to this technique.  @WRB is a big fan of this type of jig hookset and it works.

[BrianMDTX]

Had an ok day. I fished another new pond. Long, and narrow at one end and wide at the other with a small island in the wide end. Some weeds but apparently no algae. I only pinched a bit of algae off once. Zilch on topwater and a chatterbait, as well as a wacky rig. I caught two bass on a black Zoom Trick Magnum TR, two on a purple Zoom Mag II TR, and surprise! surprise! Three on a blue/black jig with a green pumpkin Rage Menace trailer. And I hooked three more that tossed the hook. That’s two trips in a row that I have been having success with jigs. 
 

Caught nine and missed a few so quantity was ok. Quality was lacking. I caught one nice 3 lb’er on the Zoom Trick Magnum. The rest were 1 lb. and under. I’ll try that pond again one day but it was a little disappointing as good as it looked. 
 

One thing that caught my eye was as I was working that TR, I saw a fish partially surface, very slowly, like a dolphin breaking the surface. It was very long, about 2’. I believe it was a gar but not 100% sure. But it was big. 
 

The second thing that caught my eye was the tip guide on my Falcon Lowrider. That’s the rod I was using for the jig. About 15 minutes after I started fishing the jig, I noticed my tip guide was no longer aligned with the other guides. I thought it was bent, but it wasn’t. It was loose. How or why I do not know. I was able to turn it into alignment, but I’m going to have to remove it and re-glue it back on. 
 

@ol'crickety The space in between the trees on the shoreline is where I caught the biggest bass. 

[Team9nine]

Finally got back out for a few hours after several very hot and humid days, along with over 4” of rain. Found a few keepers moved out into 15’-20’ of water, including my second smallie from a res that you almost never hear of one being caught from. Just a Menderchuck reject, but a cool catch for me.

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@Team9nine: My smallies are all Menderchuck rejects too.

 

@BrianMDTX: I too would have cast between those trees. Bass love cubbies!

 

 

[JayMac89]

Another fun morning. Caught 6 bass, 3 dinkers and 3 normal (2-2.5) bass. Still on the weightless creature bait. Not only am I having success with it, but it's quickly became my favorite way of catching them. The 'tick tick', the weight on the other end, setting the line take off in one direction or another. That suspense gets me excited every time. So much fun. 

 

Been fishing one lake the past 3 weeks just because of the success iv been having. Think I'll switch it up tomorrow. See if I can replicate the success else where. 

 

[Woody B]

I went last night(this morning) from 1 until 5.  I caught 12, mostly on points.  None were tiny.  Biggest was a 18 inch Largemouth(pictured).   I saw something interesting.  There's a dock that usually has a Bass or 2 hanging around.  There were 3 or 4 green lights under the water.  There was a BUNCH of small fish 2 inches long or so swimming in a circle, in a tight group above the lights just under the surface.  There were enough, and swimming fast enough they were forming a vortex.   Every now and then a fairly big Flathead would come up and grab one....or maybe a mouth full.   I caught a 15 pound Flathead at this dock, at night a few weeks ago, but these lights weren't on then.   I've seen baitfish swimming in pretty much every way possible, but I've never seen them swimming that fast, in a circle that tight.   I don't know what species the small fish were.  I think I could have netted some.   There were some Bluegill around that dock....bigger than the 2 inch long circle swimmers.   

[BrianMDTX]

Ok, maybe I’m channeling Will Smith, but I’m starting to get jiggy with it. My two previous trips yielded three bass each day on a jig. Which is about double the amount of bass I’ve caught on a jig in my lifetime. So today was an eye-opener as I caught six bass on a jig. All on a 1/4 oz. black/blue Dirty Jig Finesse swim jig. One with a Rage Craw trailer (the first one, which ripped both claws off) and the other five with a Rage Bug trailer. Five hit the jig right after the cast or as I started to move it, but the last bass hit it right off the boat as I was reeling it in. 
 

I normally use my Falcon Lowrider MHF but had to use my Kistler Helium TCJ MHF as I need to reinstall the tip top on the Falcon. I really like the Helium for Texas rigs but may have to keep using it for jigs. It’s a great rod for jigs.

 

Caught three more on a watermelon red Zoom Trick weightless TR and one on a black Zoom Trick Magnum TR for a total of ten. Missed three more on the jig as well so they were really diggin’ the jiggin’. 
 

The highlight may have been the fact that while reeling in the jig on the left side of the boat, I heard something and looked to my right to see a bass turn and head for the bottom. It’s the biggest bass I’ve ever seen there. It looked to be 7-8 lbs. May have to try some big swim baits next time. 
 

[MIbassyaker]

42 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

Ok, maybe I’m channeling Will Smith, but I’m starting to get jiggy with it.

 

 

 

(sorry, Brian -- couldn't resist)

[BrianMDTX]

LMAO! 

[RenzokukenFisher]

 

Was at work doing a foot patrol and got a nice one on a roboworm. Been having a blast with finesse and light gear, put up a great fight!

[Pat Brown]

Well fishing has been top water tastic and I'm very okay with that.   🥹🥹🥹🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

 

 

I shrink wrapped the hook and bent the hooks out and sent Jake down the bank with this little Lunker Hunt spider we haven't caught anything on that fills with water.  It floats now.  AND it catches bass.  😎😎😎

 

 

Couple on the shad color scum frog but nothing big.  Missed a lot of takers.

 

 

First cast on the boat and I stick a real nice one.  First cast fish curse?  Jeeze I sure hope not.  Weather looks really good.

 

 

Wind picks up, sun starts to peak through for an hour or two.  We hit little shadey toad holes in overhanging thickets and timber along the bank.  I didn't even see this one bite.  Just heard that sicky toilet flushing sound and saw my line jump and set the hook instantly.  5 lber.

 

 

Storm rolled in before the lake closed and I got my June buzzbait bass on the way in!

 

What a great start to the summer on the week of the new moon!

[Fried Lemons]

Explored a different section of river on foot. Kind of a low percentage thing without wading or floating because from my experience there are long stretches of dead water on the river. I was fishing a nice drop off on the end of a sandbar and had 5 fish between 8-12” following my bait. They were being pretty aggressive and swiping at it but had no hope of fitting it in their mouths. Just as my bait approached the drop this 19” fish rocketed up from underneath and ate headfirst.

 

[T-Billy]

It's mixed bag Monday!!!

I got started around 02:00. Night bite was steady. Mixed bag of LM, SM, and two eyes. The 4.8# eye pictured and a 2# will be dinner tomorrow night. Switched to muskie about 06:00 and had five follows and caught the 30" pictured. Of course I caught the smallest fish that I moved. Lol. Last follow was around 08:15. Fished till 11:30 and never saw another fish. Not a bad way to spend the morning.

 Sure would be nice if those skis would start eating though. I'm getting lots of aggressive follows, but it's been a struggle to close the deal.

[gim]

@T-Billy floater season I see.  😂

[gim]

On 6/7/2024 at 8:36 PM, Team9nine said:

Just a Menderchuck reject

 

Hahaha.  That's a good one.

 

Pretty much every smallmouth out there would fit this description is that's the standard...

[BrianMDTX]

I’ve been fishing some different ponds lately. One I fished last week had quantity but not much in quality. It is loaded with muskweed which makes it difficult to fish. And while it was bad last week, today was outrageous. 
 

I started with an H2OX popper and caught one bass, but it wasn’t worth fishing as I was hauling in pounds of grass. The same with a Texas rig, even with a 1/16 oz. bullet weight. And the wacky rig that did well last week was a nightmare as well. So I started working a jig. My jig fishing has really gotten better lately and today I caught three on a blue/black Finesse Dirty Jig with a Rage Bug trailer. I had a fourth, but it took me into submerged wood and broke off. Man, I was not happy to lose that jig! 
 

I eventually caught two bass on a weightless Senko TR and another on a Nichols Mango Jig in JT’s The Best Color Ever (long name for a blue/black jig) and a green pumpkin Rage Craw trailer. All the bass were 1.0 to 1.5 lbs. 

 

As I headed out, I passed a small bridge (looks like a dock) that is part of a nature walking trail. I can skip lures with a baitcaster as well as Garo Yepremian can field fumbles (Google that for a laugh), but figured what the heck. My first cast was horrific. My next cast went about 4’ under the dock and it got hammered. I set the hook (I think the bass did that itself) and hauled in a nice 4 lb. bass. That was it for the day. 
 

That may be it for that pond. It’s nice, but that grass is unreal. However, I am definitely a convert to fishing with jigs. I’m sure the Bait Monkey is happy to hear that! 
 

[thediscochef]

Went up to Texoma since it's open and stuff. I had a good day. I wound up on Denison Dam chasing boiling schools of tiny striped bass. Managed a decent smallmouth which was the big fish of the day. But I landed 41 striped bass before I ran out of water and the schools got further off the bank. That's the most fish I've caught in one day just not the species I prefer. Either way it just felt good to get bit non stop 

[Fishlegs]

@BrianMDTX, you're getting pretty good with that jig!

 

40+ fish from the bank? Nice job @thediscochef!

 

[thediscochef]

58 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

@BrianMDTX, you're getting pretty good with that jig!

 

40+ fish from the bank? Nice job @thediscochef!

 

Across about six or seven hours. But yes it was a day for the books, numbers-wise. I can already feel the chiggers digging in