Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Bluebasser86]

5 hours ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

I believe that! Those bass could use Ozempic!   😁

But seriously, It amazes me that in a lake with such a huge shad population, it is even possible to catch any. Why would they go for anything that is not a shad? The shad are there for the easy taking. I mean "easy", because I have observed the bass in my pond pursue shad, and there is no question that once a bass decides, game over! The bass run down the shad in a blink of an eye, and none ever escape. This goes for creek minnows, and any other fish dropped in the pond.

It has one of the highest population densities in the state according to surveys, so there’s lots of fish in there and it’s still one of the toughest fisheries to get bit at. A lot of guys throw shad baits, but I rarely do for the exact reason you mentioned, why would they eat a shad bait with millions upon millions of the real thing available? So I catch them on Neds and craws and cranks in crazy colors.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Caught a beautiful 7.6 earlier on the A-Rig, along with a few other really fat 3lb class fish, hoping this marks the end of a nasty funk that's been going on for a few weeks caused by crashing water temps and stunned/dying young of the year Threadfin Shad.    All you can eat shad buffets make it almost impossible to catch fish I've found.   

 

 

 

Fat bellies 😍

 

 

 

 

[Aaron_H]

Finally managed to get out for the first time this year. Nothing crazy but it felt good to connect with some fish. Only fished for a few hours, managed 7, biggest one was a bit over 4lb on a bladed jig up against some reeds. Jerkbait and lipless got me a few, but bladed jig got the most. Also culled a tilapia, and had a nice little surprise with an ~11 inch crappie on the lipless.

 

First fish of 2025 was also my first on the Vision 110.

 

Best fish of the evening

[Swamp Girl]

Alex, your 7.6 reminds me of your near DD in her perfection. Sure, she's fat, but she's also pristine. 

 

And Aaron lands a four-plus-pounder, making me think that those southern bass are indeed stirring. 

 

Does anyone know if WoodyB is okay? I've PMed him a couple times, but he hasn't replied. I miss his posts and his presence at BR.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Thanks Katie!  They haven't been biting for me lately, but they've surely been pigging out 😁

 

Agreed about Woody, I've wondered a few times what's up with him.   Hopefully everything is okay and he's just taking a break.   

[FishTax]

I actually searched him on FB when I noticed he quit posting about a month ago and he is still posting on there, so I assume just taking a break. 

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, FishTax said:

I actually searched him on FB when I noticed he quit posting about a month ago and he is still posting on there, so I assume just taking a break. 

 

Thank you. I miss him. If you ever visit his FB page again, tell him he's missed.

[T-Billy]

On 2/3/2025 at 10:00 AM, BrianMDTX said:

Do they sell ice breaker canoes? 🤣

 

 

Nah. If they did @A-Jay would have had one years ago.

[T-Billy]

18 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

All you can eat shad buffets make it almost impossible to catch fish I've found.   

When the shad are schooled up in those mega schools, I've done best by fishing the perimeter of the schools and nearby structure rather than in the schools. Trolling that rig just off bottom over structure can be killer as well. About 2 MPH seems to be the magic speed.  I've caught lots of bass, eyes, and muskie trolling it like that. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Thanks for the tips Tim!    I've found that is definitely the case when the bait is deep and I use a Damiki Rig and 2D sonar.   There are times when I just don't think these fish will eat an artificial bait without putting the bait on their nose.   

 

Earlier I was around a ton of bait, typical frenetic schooling activity for hours with an untold amount of Bass, but these fish are dang near impossible to catch.   When you do catch one though, they are freak shows and usually spit up half dozen shad.    The fish are always really fat during the winter on this lake, but this year is just different.    

 

Did catch a nice 6.10 fish on the 1/8th Queen Tackle Rollin Strollin Jighead and the new elastomer Drift Fry 4.0 in flashing bait.   If you're in rolling action, you will not find a better combo than that.      

 

This 3lb class fish was a perfect football, and you can see some shad it discarded in the water.

 

 

[Team9nine]

Finally got back out again after nearly 2 weeks of down time. Sadly, two lakes nearby are currently closed, limiting my options. Bluebird day, but a high of 80 and light and variable winds. Only bites I could buy were on A-rig today. Cloudy and nearly 20 degrees cooler tomorrow if I get one more chance to go this week.

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

BIG bass being caught! Congrats, guys. Alex, I love the photo of your big bass in the water.

 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Thanks Katie!   It was a happy accident when the GoPro was pointed to far down to capture my normal angles😁 

 

It's so hard to judge a fish's size and quality from a 2D picture I've found, I struggle with my own sometimes.   Funny enough my brain has even more problems when I see them on bump boards.    I think the biggest thing is most people can't get the depth or distance away from the camera to give proper perspective.   

 

You really only get a few magical minutes with these special creatures, a picture, video, or memory can never capture how exquisite a healthy Bass looks like in the flesh imho.   

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

7 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I think the biggest thing is most people can't get the depth or distance away from the camera to give proper perspective. 

 

That's my struggle. I stretch my arm as far as possible and even lean back sometimes to fit a bass into my camera's frame, but there's no reference point for size. However, backdropped by the water I fish, they are handsome photos. In 2025, I plan to alternate between handsome photos and bump board photos, as I did at the end of 2024.

 

Of course, some kayaks and bass boats bristle with cameras, but that's not an option for me given the way I fish and my declining strength. I already struggle to carry my gear. 

 

The least informative photos for me are the ones with the bass thrust at the camera. With the angler as a backdrop and the bass in the foreground, the bodies of the bass can appear as big as the bodies of the fisherman and whereas the BR crew catch big bass, no one catches bass as big as them. 

 

To circle back to your point, Alex, no photo captures what we experience. 

[A-Jay]

22 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

The least informative photos for me are the ones with the bass thrust at the camera. With the angler as a backdrop and the bass in the foreground, the bodies of the bass can appear as big as the bodies of the fisherman and whereas the BR crew catch big bass, no one catches bass as big as them. 

 

I disagree. ~ I think @Team9nine does a very nice job displaying his many bass catches here.

 

11 hours ago, Team9nine said:

 

 

 

A-Jay

[Swamp Girl]

All the approaches have advantages and disadvantages. For example, @Team9nine's photo approach show both him and the bass, which is good, but looking at his second photo above, that bass goes from the top of his head to the top of his thigh. At first glance, it appears to be three feet long or thereabouts.

 

When I used to have a fishing partner who could take a photo of me with a bass, I put my elbow behind my head so that the bass would be right beside me to provide scale. I understand that I'm in the minority here and that a bass displayed this way looks small compared to a bass with extended arms. You can see that the bass below goes from near the top of my head to mid-torso. At first glance, it's a considerably shorter fish. 

 

 

I love having photos, but as Alex noted, I love my mind's memories even more. Even though I caught the bass above a decade or two ago, I could take you to the exact spot where she hit, as long as you were willing to launch just above a waterfall, paddle across one lake, bulldoze through the current of a narrows, wind through a reed field, and then cross another lake. There's an even better lake beyond the one above, but it takes crossing a couple swamps and four sets of rapids. Oh, I wish I were young enough to reach such places still. 

 

[Team9nine]

5 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

All the approaches have advantages and disadvantages. For example, @Team9nine's photo approach show both him and the bass, which is good, but looking at his second photo above, that bass goes from the top of his head to the top of his thigh. At first glance, it appears to be three feet long or thereabouts.

Agree with the advantages/disadvantages. I never ‘long arm’ fish. In my case, being alone in a 16 ft boat, camera propped on a seat or against the side of the boat, I can only get about 5 ft away from the camera, so all ratios of me-to-camera and bass-to-camera get exaggerated, and sometimes even more so depending on exact angle. If you look close at my arms, you’ll see they are nearly next to my body, with forearm slightly extended away from me, and the bass sitting right over my left thigh. It even dripped on my new ‘hole less’ jeans (which everyone failed to appreciate😆), but which I thought I might get a scolding from the wife over - lol. I’ll ‘uncrop’ them later when I get a chance as that probably plays into perspective, too.
 

The bump board ‘kayak’ shots are the best from a true length perspective, and as a former R&D guy, I can appreciate; but from a photographic eye and interest perspective, just one step above a bass-to-foot or bass-to-rod ground shot, IMO…same with holding a fish out into infinity from your wide-angle GoPro. But again, as you mentioned, we are all forced and dictated by our individual limitations in this regard to showing off our catches.

[Swamp Girl]

3 hours ago, Team9nine said:

The bump board ‘kayak’ shots are the best from a true length perspective, and as a former R&D guy, I can appreciate; but from a photographic eye and interest perspective, just one step above a bass-to-foot or bass-to-rod ground shot

 

Fully agree. Bump boards tell the truth, but its a drab truth, which is why I try to mix bump board pics with pretty background pics. 

[TnRiver46]

I’ve long armed short armed and everything inbetween. If you get the whole fish in the picture , you’ve done well. Bonus points if you post in on bass resource 

[Team9nine]

Hard to make ‘em look big if they aren’t, so I didn’t even try 😉 - lol. Kidding. Just 4 cookie cutters today on A-rig on another “too nice” of day. Water clear and floating around 48-50 degrees.

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

We had dinner with friends scheduled at 6:30, figured I would squeeze in a short trip to quarry from 5-6. Caught 5, all the exact same size. I’ve fished here for 3 or 4 years and never caught a bass of any different size haha. One of them had some black markings, pretty cool. Its eyes were bugged out too, I think I pulled it from way deep. It swam straight back down vertically when I let it go. Some parts of the quarry your lure never hits the bottom so no clue how deep.  Fun way to pass an hour 

 

[Swamp Girl]

Dive, dive, dive!

 

[Fishlegs]

Since we seem to be on a roll with the dinks I'll share one too. I caught some of the fish that @roadwarrior doesn't like to see in January, but this is my first bass of 2025. It's not big, but it had nice coloration. Hopefully, it will hang around this area so I can catch it again when it grows up.

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Way to get on the board @Fishlegs!  

 

Thread is a thousand times better when people post whatever fish made them happy enough to share it 🙂

[Swamp Girl]

48 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Thread is a thousand times better when people post whatever fish made them happy enough to share it 🙂

 

 

And that is a pretty fish, @Fishlegs.