Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Swamp Girl]

@CastingClinic: What are you wearing on your hands? I ask because my hands and feet are my weak spots. Keeping my torso and limbs warm is easy-peasy, but when the cold reduces my hands' effectiveness by 50%, it's hard to fish well. I do have pairs of fingerless wool gloves and might try those tomorrow. 

[CastingClinic]

@Swamp Girl  Fingerless wool gloves are exactly what I'm wearing.  They make up the base layer for my hands and almost never come off.  I carry a pair of full wool gloves I can slip on an off over them as I see fit and a couple hand warmers to stuff onto the back of my hands if things get dire completes the system and I have no worries of my hand getting cold. 

 

I'm a big fan of wool and would dress myself with it completely if I could afford to do so.  My hands, head, and feet, however, are wool covered before the leaves are off, no exceptions.

[Swamp Girl]

Just now, CastingClinic said:

a couple hand warmers to stuff onto the back of my hands if things get dire completes the system and I have no worries of my hand getting cold

 

Great idea! Thanks. I own dozens of those and they've just sat in my basement, decade after decade. 

[gim]

Fishing was good again this morning.  Stunning fall day out there too.  Went with a friend and his son, caught 15 bass and 5 pike in about 4.5 hours.  We caught 4 fish over 4 pounds, including a 19.5 incher that I caught which was over 5 pounds.  I am done bass fishing for the season.  I intend to muskie fish one more time though.

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

 I am done bass fishing for the season.

 

After three fours and a five? However, I get it. That north wind has a bead on you and me. With @The Baron talking about winterizing his boat, we northerners are crawling into our winter dens and I fear I'll soon join you, as it'll be cold when our Indian Summer ends.

 

However, I'm not going to commit to a final day as I did last year because there's a chance we could have a few warm days in November.

 

Anyway, I get it and you southern boys are gonna have to represent for the next five months or so. @AlabamaSpothunter will soon be posting his sixes, sevens, and eights and @Pat Brown, @thediscochef, @Catt, and rest of you too.

[gim]

6 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

After three fours and a five? However, I get it. That north wind has a bead on you and me. With @The Baron talking about winterizing his boat, we northerners are crawling into our winter dens and I fear I'll soon join you, as it'll be cold when our Indian Summer ends.

 

It's hard to hang it up when the fishing is this good and the weather is cooperating.  I hear ya.  If I didn't have to get my boat winterized and get ready for hunting season on Nov 9, I'd keep right on fishing.  All good things must come to an end.

 

It makes things a little more tolerable when the season ends on a high note.  I've finished on a dud many times before, and it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth for 5 months.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Agree with the Swamp Queen🤣, I'm not quitting after catching a 20lb bag full of fat beautiful 4lb+ fish......that's like leaving the casino with money in your wallet 😆

 

All the fat short NLGM you guys up north post are the most beautiful fish posted in this thread imho.     

 

If you're able to have awesome days during October and November, consider yourself extremely fortunate in my eyes.    It's hard for me to pick a favorite month for 10/12, but those two months are easily my kryptonite.   

[Susky River Rat]

The river is the lowest it’s been all year. Still lake fishing 

[Swamp Girl]

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

All the fat short NLGM you guys up north post are the most beautiful fish posted in this thread imho.   

 

I like their look too, Alex. They're darker than your southern lmb and oftentimes, they're nearly black like this one from yesterday. I like the contrast of the white belly and dark back with green in-between.

 

[gim]

3 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

you guys up north post are the most beautiful fish

 

I did notice the fish had some good color today.  Normally I don't take note of that but today their blends of green with a vibrant black stripe along the side was more obvious.  I think it's the colder water.

[throttleplate]

These pics are from our last fishing trip on Oct 9 when the day was like late spring weather. I was fishing the culvert and was only getting small bluegill out and around the culvert.

Thinking the crappie moved out to their winter home a guy showed up with Gulp minnows using a bobber and he bomb casted as far a he could and he cuaght a 12 inch crappie, then he caught another and ...... I was blown away by all the big crappie he was catching so quickly.

 

So i changed my bobber to a weighted bobber and using 1/8 oz jig along with 1/8 oz split shot and crappie minnows I bomb casted within a few yards from him and i immediantly caught a huge crappie, we struck up a conversation and we were both catching 12- 13 inch crappie every few recasts, the crappie were on feeding frenzie, these were the biggest crappie we have ever caught in numbers.

I was so stuck on old habits of fishing close around the culvert i didnt bother casting far out so i thanked him for getting me out of a funk. We caught our limit and went home. The filets were thick and meaty, best crappie day ever.

 

I made a big boo boo when putting a crappie on the stringer which we hung from a rail leading down to the culvert, as i put on the crappie and it slid down the stringer i pulled the stringer completly out of the water to see our catch and when the crppie hit the fish the stringer slipped completly out of my hand and was going into the culvert so my wife grabbed my fishing pole with my  Pflueger president XT and stuck the whole rod into the water, reel first to hook the stringer which she was successfull. I was going to put some oil on the line guide bearing but to this day i havnt botherd to.

 

 

[thediscochef]

Well I caught bass today 

 

This morning went well, caught some super dinks on the surface then headed to the ripraps for a later morning bite. Hooked into some with a chatterbait. Went home for a nap and some pork belly mac and cheese. Went back for a sunset bite. Decided to throw the 3/4oz red eye shad around for kicks and giggles. Had some adventures with other people's cut/stuck line, eventually lost that lure. I tied on my other one and immediately ran into a brick wall of a fish. I wasn't able to land whatever that was, but I was positive I had a rock for a few seconds until it started kicking. Given that I've caught multiple double digit flatheads right there on red eye shads I'm almost positive it was that. I broke off again. Then I caught this trailer bunk, which held the second lure I'd snapped off. What is old becomes new. After that it was a few more bass on a chatterbait along the ripraps and a warning from the sheriff on the way home. All in all a much less expensive day than it could have been. I'm tired.

[FishTax]

 Caught 3 yesterday on a random pattern I found offshore, thanks to something @A-Jay said a while back that stuck. It was 60/35 high low temps and I was very sure they would be in the Sun. I fished banks for 2 hours with no strikes and was getting irritated. Then I flashed back to what he said. As I was trying to think of a way to Target offshore bass. I had no crank baits with me but did have some chatter baits which I never threw, but I decided to throw them deep and let them touch bottom and then rip off the bottom. Doing that I found several three-pounders in the Sun in about 10 to 12 ft of water on gradual Banks. The sun went down before I filled my limit but I hope to give it another run this weekend and see if that pattern is still in play. I've never had luck with a chatter bait. this was new and fun for me. Fishing offshore with one when I am normally pounding the bank from my kayak. Fall fishing is always something new. 

[Swamp Girl]

I fished my second of four Indian Summer trips. It was cold when I launched and even though I wore wool, fingerless gloves with Hot Hands stuffed into them, I still had to take a hand warm-up break to keep using them. It was foggy when I launched too. See:

 

 

I rigged six rods and the wacky worm, spinnerbait, walking bait, and Sixth Sense crankbait all failed to elicit a single hit. All bass were caught on a Yo-Zuri popper and 6" Depps black and green fluke. I caught several around 17 inches, like these two:

 

 

Then I caught a thick 18.5-incher on my fluke:

 

 

Then I landed my biggest, a 19.25-incher:

 

 

There were other solid bass in the 17 to 17.5-inch range:

 

 

I caught smallies too. Some thinner:

 

 

And some thicker:

 

 

We catch bass so differently. I have leaned on my Yo-Zuri popper this fall, catching hundreds of bass on it. I even caught bass today with a high Sun under a blue sky on my popper. No fishing tome tells us to reach for that lure under those conditions, but it worked. Our bass want what our bass want and my trying to force feed them four other lures was fruitless.

 

If you were fishing with me this morning and I reached for my popper at 10:30 a.m. under a cloudless sky and cast into the middle of nothing, you'd think, "Whadda maroon." 

 

And I'd reply, "Fish on."

 

Going fishing again tomorrow morning to the same pond. I left my canoe and all my gear there!

 

Here's the pretty pic:

 

[BrianMDTX]

Not too bad a morning. Should have brought a jacket as I got a bit chilly. Pretty good breeze that blew all the pine needles and algae to the west side of the pond on the north bank. Very nasty lol, but it’s also where the bass were hiding. Caught four, lost one. 
 

First was on a squarebill. Second on a black 5” Senko TR and the last two on a black Zoom Magnum Trick TR. Tried an A-Jay special, a jig-and-craw, a green pumpkin Yum Dinger TR, a stupid tube and a Ned rig with no bites. 
 

[The Baron]

Well, that’s it for our 2024 season.  Wes and I fished for a couple hours this afternoon.  Water temps were 50-53F and we only caught 1 pike.  I don’t know where to find ‘em when it’s that cold, so we’re done for the year.  It makes me sad, but we had another great year in our little Bass Tracker.  Time to winterize the boat and spend more time in the fall woods.  (my biscuit topped squirrel pie just came out of the oven 😁)

[Swamp Girl]

I'll miss seeing your photos and fish, @The Baron. I also don't have much time remaining beyond fishing tomorrow morning and Tuesday morning. There are three more warm days and then the temps drop 15 degrees. Sigh. But who knows. The Maine bass pull hard...on me.

[N Florida Mike]

I reconnected with an old friend I hadn’t seen for at least 30 years. He came over to fish and catch up on our lives. It was super windy and cool .

We caught around 18 -20 fish on Culprit worms, Super flukes, uv speed worms, and yum dingers.  

[thediscochef]

On 10/18/2024 at 9:26 PM, thediscochef said:

Well I caught bass today 

 

This morning went well, caught some super dinks on the surface then headed to the ripraps for a later morning bite. Hooked into some with a chatterbait. Went home for a nap and some pork belly mac and cheese. Went back for a sunset bite. Decided to throw the 3/4oz red eye shad around for kicks and giggles. Had some adventures with other people's cut/stuck line, eventually lost that lure. I tied on my other one and immediately ran into a brick wall of a fish. I wasn't able to land whatever that was, but I was positive I had a rock for a few seconds until it started kicking. Given that I've caught multiple double digit flatheads right there on red eye shads I'm almost positive it was that. I broke off again. Then I caught this trailer bunk, which held the second lure I'd snapped off. What is old becomes new. After that it was a few more bass on a chatterbait along the ripraps and a warning from the sheriff on the way home. All in all a much less expensive day than it could have been. I'm tired.

An update: the recovered red eye shad has now been repatriated to its final resting place at the bottom of the lake. Blanked on a topwater bite before that, had some blowups but all missed the bait

[Swamp Girl]

I fished again this morning. Cold again, but with double gloves and Hot Hands warmers, I fared better. Not warm, but better.

 

I caught 20 in four hours, which sounds like a fairly busy morning, but it wasn't, as I had two flurries and lots of dead time. 

 

This was the biggest:

 

 

Several this size:

 

 

Even the smaller ones were well-fed:

 

 

Except for this super skinny smallie!

 

 

The pretty pic: I was admiring these three sugar maples all morning, so I paddled over to photograph them:

 

 

Most of my bass were caught with a Depps 6" fluke. A few were caught on my popper. I also caught three old soda or beer cans with my net, which made them my morning's best catch, as I love to remove lazy people's trash.

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

Got another tricky species, maybe a Kentucky strain spotted bass ? 

and a skipjack for catfish bait 

[JohnFromLisbon]

Here's a few from a trip this weekend

 

 

This one was 4lb 13oz - my new PB - and bit a walking bait. That was super fun.

 

 

My first A-Rig fish

 

 

 

We caught a bunch of these solid fish, mostly on a drop shot and a jerkbait

 

 

Yesterday we went bank fishing for about two hours before lunch and I was dragging this little Keitech football jig when I thought I was snagged... Until the snag started swimming off with it.

 

 

 

Turns out it was 13 lbs of pure disappointment. I was on 20 lb braid to a 10 lb fluoro leader so it took a couple of minutes to pull her in.

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

38 minutes ago, JohnFromLisbon said:

bit a walking bait. That was super fun.

 

They are super fun! Beautiful bass, John.

 

All your bass are beautiful...and dark, like many of the northern bass we catch in the U.S. Speaking of the U.S., I see your bass boat and wonder if those are made in Spain too.

 

 

[JohnFromLisbon]

59 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

They are super fun! Beautiful bass, John.

 

All your bass are beautiful...and dark, like many of the northern bass we catch in the U.S. Speaking of the U.S., I see your bass boat and wonder if those are made in Spain too.

 

 

 

Thank you! Ours are northern strain, yes - first introduced in the Azores, then on the continent in the 1950s in the town where my grandparents lived. It was a great weekend and some of the best fishing we've ever had.

 

That's our guide's boat, he bought it new a few years ago and had it shipped over. There's a Portuguese company making smaller fiberglass bass boats, but a lot of people around here get Nitros, Trackers, Rangers, etc., all made in the US. They just have to make sure to comply with Euro and local regs, both the boat and the trailer, and they're good to go.

[Swamp Girl]

Ah, I see. I was wondering because your guide's boat looks so American. 

 

16 minutes ago, JohnFromLisbon said:

It was a great weekend and some of the best fishing we've ever had.

 

I'm so happy for you and you sure look just as happy in your photos too!