Latest Catch Pics Thread

[throttleplate]

32 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@throttleplate: I'm jealous. I'd love to catch bluegills like that!

 

I myself was surprised on how ferocious the bluegill were biting this day, best day ever for us when it comes to bluegills, we tried minnows but not one bluegill was caught on a minnow, it was all about the wax worms. I hope the gills stick around for a few more weeks, the crappie bite was terrible as we usually get our limit on them but only caught 3 this day.

[FishTank]

So outside of the usual dink fest, I found the master of my favorite local pond. I have been chasing this fish for a few years, I believe.  I couldn't believe it when it crushed a buzzbait. It was as epic as any catch I have ever had. It came out from under a mat, jumped two or three feet out of the water and crushed it.  

 

[Swamp Girl]

Yee-haw, @FishTank! it looks like you caught your beauty on a beautiful day, at a beautiful pond too.

[Swamp Girl]

Fishing tomorrow. So, I get a "Yee-haw!" too. 

[Woody B]

I caught 7 today.  6 cookie cutters and a new PB Spotted Bass.  1 cookie cutter pictured along with the 21.3/4 inch long 5.26 pound Spot.  I didn't think the Spot was that big.  I knew it was too big to boat flip so I lipped it.  I decided to weigh it and it weighed 5.26 pounds.  I re zeroed my scale and it weighed the same thing.  Then I measured it.  It was 21 3/4 long with a girth of 14 inches.  It appears to be freshly spawned or either has some other kind of recent injury on it's tail.  It was dripping blood from it's tail.  I've read that (some?) Spots spawn deeper.  I caught it on a shaky head, on the bottom in 18 feet of water.  The other 6 were all caught on a Devils Horse.   I didn't fish long.  My back is hurting some.  My last several jobs at work last week were all bending over working under a hood so I've got a sore back.  I'm on vacation next week.  I'm going to take it easy the rest of today and tomorrow.  I'll be back on the lake Monday when it isn't crowded.  

[Choporoz]

Finally settling into summer patterns.  Plenty 3+ yesterday and today, all on chatterbaits and Magnum Rage Bug on swing head.  Best two went 5.2 and 5.9

[lunkerboss923]

 

Went out to try out my new rod for Father's Day. I got a Kistler KLX 703LMH. This rod is incredible. Throws senkos, Dark Sleepers, light Texas Rigged Worms, Speed Worms and Squarebills. I'm telling you this rod is a dream. 

 

No luck all morning, throwing the usual spinnerbait, buzzbait, and chatterbait. I figured I'd put this new rod to the test and throw a Rapala OG Rocco and see if the specs hold up from the description. Sure enough 4 or 5 casts, I landed her. I love a crankbait bite. You're reeling and all of a sudden it's like a wet sock. Fun bite. Great rod, highly recommended. 

[LrgmouthShad]

@Choporoz nice fishing! I forgot about that magnum bug on a swing head. You just reeling that thing slow?

[T-Billy]

Over slept and didn't get started until 03:00. The action was fast and furious for the couple hours I got to fish in the dark. Caught about a dozen LM and a few SM on a chatterbait and lost at least as many more. Dunno why I couldn't keep so many of 'em hooked up, the ones I landed all had the bait choked, even the small ones. Best bass of the night was the 4.58# LM pictured below, and I lost a SM about the same size right at boatside. I know why it came off. Fargen thing was leaping like a crackhead on a pogo stick. Lol. Staying tight on it was all but impossible.

Also caught a nice 4.75# eye, to soon be released to the grease.

The muskie continue to torment me. Lol. The 33" pictured below is the only one to make it into the net out of SIX hookups. Also had another five hot follows that spooked coming into the 8. They were chasing, but continue to be skittish about eating in the clear water. Hopefully the coming heat wave will bring some thunderstorms with it to get the water stained up a bit.

[BrianMDTX]

No big gals today. But, besides one bass on a popper, the other 8 were all caught on jigs! And I lost two at the boat. My jig fishing has really taken off this year. 
 

One of the bass had a bad eye. Doesn’t seem to bother it that much as it smashed the jig. 
 

[Susky River Rat]

New area on the susky paid off

[Choporoz]

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

@Choporoz nice fishing! I forgot about that magnum bug on a swing head. You just reeling that thing slow?

Only if dragging uphill and I want to maintain bottom contact.  I have little confidence in my ability to maintain consistent depth off the bottom, so I feel better when I bounce hop or very slow drag.  The swing head seems to get hit on the fall more than jig and t-rig for me, also.  But that may just be because I use heavier weights, generally.

[gim]

20 hours ago, throttleplate said:

I hope the gills stick around for a few more weeks, the crappie bite was terrible as we usually get our limit on them but only caught 3 this day.

Sunfish spawn after crappies do. My guess would be the crappies are done and have moved back to their summer haunts. The sunfish will be doing that soon too.

[OmegaDPW]

40 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Sunfish spawn after crappies do. My guess would be the crappies are done and have moved back to their summer haunts. The sunfish will be doing that soon too.

 

 Mine are gone from the bank already (one hour North of the Florida line). It got up to 98 today and was 78 when I got to the pond at 0700. I stayed for 4 hours and only targeted panfish. Only caught one fish- a 5+lb LMB on a 2 inch black curly tail grub and 6lb line on my ultra-light BPS noodle rod. Can't complain- it was fun reeling him in on that set up. 

[throttleplate]

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

Sunfish spawn after crappies do. My guess would be the crappies are done and have moved back to their summer haunts. The sunfish will be doing that soon too.

 

Looking at minn regs, how do i interpet the possesion limit of bluegills, sunnys, regs say 20 in possesion, does that mean 20 per licensed angler?

[MN Fisher]

1 hour ago, throttleplate said:

 

Looking at minn regs, how do i interpet the possesion limit of bluegills, sunnys, regs say 20 in possesion, does that mean 20 per licensed angler?

Yes - so long as you and your wife both have licenses - you can have 40 total between stringer and freezer.

[IcatchDinks]

River wading today, I found some poor bloke's topwater lure broken off on a branch. Tied it on and caught my largest smallmouth of the year so far my third cast. He's only 15" (I haven't done a ton of river fishing this year.) But boy, did he put up one helluva fight! An absolutely massive explosion on the eat, and then the most acrobatic fight I think I've ever had. Three giant leaps, running this way and that, and then he tried putting another hook into me when I tried to lip him at the bank. (Despite my waders, I was standing right next to the bank when I caught him.) I actually hate the action of that freebee lure, so I'mma put it in a case somewhere and forget about it. 

 

Also, don't mind my derpy Riley Greene Hat. It saved the back of my neck from a nasty sunburn. 

 

I caught several other smaller fish too. I probably would have caught more, but every time I keyed in on some fish, a group of drunken tubers would come around the bend splashing, kicking off against the bottom, yelling, and scaring all my fish away. Of all the kinds of people on the river, tubers are the worst in my opinion. They're always drunk, always loud, always rude. It was a good day, despite the ruckus. Found two lures including the one I caught the 15 inch acrobat on. One of them is a deep diving crank that needs some TLC and maybe a new paint job. 

 

 

Same fish, but with me in the picture:

 

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@IcatchDinks: The Blue Angels, hummingbirds, and Cirque du Soleil can only dream of doing what smallmouth do when airborne.

 

Dang drunks. Why isn't floating down a river enough for them? Why do they have to turn the river into a noisy bar full of too loud people telling stories not worth telling...again and again?

 

That's a chunky bass for a river.

[IcatchDinks]

9 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@IcatchDinks: The Blue Angels, hummingbirds, and Cirque du Soleil can only dream of doing what smallmouth do when airborne. Dang drunks. Why isn't floating down a river enough for them? Whey do they have to turn the river into a noisy bar full of too loud people telling stories not worth telling...again and again? That's a chunky bass for a river.

 

The tubers are usually college students, so I give a little bit of leniency for their youth and lack of wisdom. But it is heckin annoying for sure. 

 

He was a chunk for sure. I didn't get a weight on him because I'd already had him out of the water for too long just to get my phone out of my backpack and take a photo. 

 

I went out again to the same stretch of river at 5:30 this morning. Fished for about two hours before coming home. Only caught two smaller bass and a rock bass. 

 

 

 

 

[The Baron]

Our bass opener finally arrived yesterday.  It felt great to get out.  I’d watched a few YouTube videos about speed worms and it intrigued me, so I had a couple packs of Reaction Innovations Machete worms to try.  TR with a 3/16oz. tungsten weight and a 5/0 EWG this produced 1/2 doz. fish very quickly, with a 3.1# and a 3.9# in the mix.  So I handed that rod to my son and one ate it on the fall on his first cast.  I picked up a TR Bandito Bug and caught a couple more bass and a decent pike - odd for one to grab a bottom bait and can’t believe I landed him on straight braid.  Our first hour was fire, then the next two were dead but it was still a great opener. 😎

We did have an unusual occurrence.  We’d only been fishing 1/2 hour and hit a good spot, landing 4 good bass almost back to back.  I then realized a boat that had been stationary at about 100 yards from us was now less than casting distance away (he came from further out in the bay, to almost right along side us).  I considered speaking my mind, but he had a couple kids with him.  So I just said hi, how are you and cast right up the side of his boat where I’d been casting anyway.  He didn’t get the message, but after catching nothing after 5 minutes he looped around right to where we’d been, the whole time within 60ft. of us, as we slowly moved on down the bank. 🙄 

 

[throttleplate]

12 hours ago, IcatchDinks said:

River wading today, I found some poor bloke's topwater lure broken off on a branch. Tied it on and caught my largest smallmouth of the year so far my third cast. He's only 15" (I haven't done a ton of river fishing this year.) But boy, did he put up one helluva fight! An absolutely massive explosion on the eat, and then the most acrobatic fight I think I've ever had. Three giant leaps, running this way and that, and then he tried putting another hook into me when I tried to lip him at the bank. (Despite my waders, I was standing right next to the bank when I caught him.) I actually hate the action of that freebee lure, so I'mma put it in a case somewhere and forget about it. 

 

Also, don't mind my derpy Riley Greene Hat. It saved the back of my neck from a nasty sunburn. 

 

I caught several other smaller fish too. I probably would have caught more, but every time I keyed in on some fish, a group of drunken tubers would come around the bend splashing, kicking off against the bottom, yelling, and scaring all my fish away. Of all the kinds of people on the river, tubers are the worst in my opinion. They're always drunk, always loud, always rude. It was a good day, despite the ruckus. Found two lures including the one I caught the 15 inch acrobat on. One of them is a deep diving crank that needs some TLC and maybe a new paint job. 

 

 

Same fish, but with me in the picture:

 

 

 

 

Nothing wrong with your hat.

12 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Yes - so long as you and your wife both have licenses - you can have 40 total between stringer and freezer.

 

Thanks, we could have kept 40 fish but i was unsure of the wording of the regs. I have in the past 2 days ate 15 blugills thats 30 filets, not huge filets but makes for a great dinner with salad and such.

[IcatchDinks]

2 hours ago, throttleplate said:

Nothing wrong with your hat.

 Haha. Thanks! My wife says she can't take me seriously when I'm wearing it. 😄 But I take the sun seriously and yesterday was a day that I did not want to mess around with the sun. 

[BrianMDTX]

For an absolutely gorgeous day, it was a bit disappointing. I went back to the “quantity not quality” pond to give it another shot. Here’s what I was greeted with when I got out on the water. 

Other than a cloudless sky, it was perfect. I started with a popper but topwater action seemed dead. So I switched to a 1/4 oz. blue/black swim jig with a green pumpkin Rage Craw trailer. Three casts in and it got hammered. About 10 seconds into the fight my jig was gone. I had just retied it on, so I was baffled, until I remembered seeing that big gar the last time.  I tied on another 1/4 oz. green/brown swim jig with a Rage Bug trailer but wasn’t getting anything. So I switched rigs that already had a 3/8 oz. blue/black swim jig with a black sapphire Zoom Z-Craw Jr. trailer.  A short time later it got hit and I had my first bass. On a jig. 

 

 

I cast right into that wood and he smashed it. Not that big but a good fight. After that the bite really died. I wasn’t getting anything, or seeing anything, until I saw a bass really go after something twice. It was right on the bank of a small island and way under overhanging brush and dead wood. I tried skipping a jig in there but couldn’t get it where it needed to go. So I picked up my spinning rig and skipped a weightless watermelon red Zoom Trick back about 4’ through all kinds of limbs until it reached the bank and it got immediately crushed. Although using a MLXF rod, I got it out of there but boy, oh boy did it put a bend in the rod! Twice I got it close and it dove, but finally I grabbed the line to pull it in…and my line snapped at the hook. And that was the last bite of the day. Not sure how big it was, but it looked between 4 and 5 lbs. 

[Swamp Girl]

You were the bug, not the windshield, @BrianMDTX, but you had an exciting afternoon, for sure.

[gim]

20 hours ago, OmegaDPW said:

Mine are gone from the bank already (one hour North of the Florida line).

@throttleplate is in northern MN so my guess is the water temps there are about 70 degrees. Where I am in Central Mn the water is 73 and all the bass and panfish are done spawning now. I don’t really target panfish outside of a couple trips in the early spring. I have no interest in them once the other seasons open here.