Fairtax4me Posted January 12, 2020 Posted January 12, 2020 41° Water surface temp, 65° outside air temp today. Big warm up from the snowy/sleety 33° high and 18° lows we had a few days ago. Surprisingly the bass were exactly where I left them last weekend. Wind swirling and gusting mid 20mph made it hard to sit in one place in the Kayak but I still picked up a dozen bass, mostly small except for two 4-1/2lbers. One on the Ned rig, the other on a 4” Keitech dragging it on the bottom around 16-18ft deep. Also forgot to upload my first Bass of the year! Jan 1 2020 She went just a hair under 5lbs at 20” long. Ned rig, what else? 18 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 12, 2020 Global Moderator Posted January 12, 2020 On 1/11/2020 at 9:20 AM, A-Jay said: First Off - haven't seen your face shadeless in a while - @Bluebasser86 You Look Great and you know what I mean. Second - Nice Bass Third - I'm liking the net. Which model & hoop size is it, do you like it & why ? Thanks in advance A-Jay Thanks, been working hard to keep it off through the holidays and have done a good job of it. Weird seeing pictures of myself without the round face and double chin. Thanks again, I was working hard for them I promise. The net is a Frabill Power Extend 1821 https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Frabill_Power_Extend_Net_1821/descpage-FPE.html -Hoop size: 18” x 21” -Handle length: 38” – 72” It's a hefty beast, but for guys like you and I that tend to run into large fish of other species, a beefy net is not a bad thing at all. There's also no concern of the net handle pulling out of the hoop at the worst time, like fighting a new PB smallmouth on light line last spring ? . The other net feature that I wasn't sure how useful it would be that I've actually really enjoyed is the built in LED light and lift assist for night fishing and lifting those XL sized catches. 15lbs of angry whisker fish fit in it easily and the light made locating and scooping in the dark much easier than relying on my headlamp. 1 1 Quote
Super User A-Jay Posted January 12, 2020 Super User Posted January 12, 2020 Thank You Sir ~ ! And Congrats Again - on all of that. A-Jay 1 Quote
Super User Catt Posted January 12, 2020 Super User Posted January 12, 2020 On 1/10/2020 at 12:05 PM, galyonj said: It turns out that one doesn't really need a voice to catch a fish. That lipless crankbait did all the talking necessary! 1 Quote
galyonj Posted January 12, 2020 Posted January 12, 2020 Man, I love fishing a lipless. It's the first thing I throw anywhere I go. 1 Quote
Super User PhishLI Posted January 12, 2020 Super User Posted January 12, 2020 Wednesday was cold. It was tough be outside in the afternoon, but Thursday was beyond cold. Woke up to a real feel temp of 3°. Water was iced over wherever I drove by it. We were nicely in the high 50s by Friday and in the 60s on Saturday. I wasn't hopeful though. I figured the deep cold would have them shut down for sure and the best case scenario would have me getting some swings in on my new rigs. Hit a spot with a wading bud at 8:30pm. Southerly winds were cranking, but we started at the southern end because we can almost reach the deeper water from there. No bueno. Threw the world at them without a sniff. Instead of working our way north stopping periodically we just jetted to the north end at 11:00. Rollers were crashing against the north cove and the water felt noticeably warmer. I downsized to the Berkley Champ swimmer rigged weedless and got short strikes immediately. Frustrated with that I downsized again to the 1/8oz Storm GT360 with its open hook. 2 casts later a whopper Pickerel took the bait. First fish of 2020! Crazy fight. I then switched back to the Berkley, but this time I pushed the hook point up. 3 casts later a nice well fed chunky girl chomped it. I knew she was a dandy as the drag slipped under my thumb. A fighter! I went right back at em, but after a Pickeral sliced through my 15lb flouro without ever coming close to setting the hook I cashed out right then. A good night for a northeast January. 9 Quote
Fairtax4me Posted January 13, 2020 Posted January 13, 2020 Only got one today worth taking a pic of. 68° full bluebird post-front sunny, steady 10-15mph wind out of the southwest. We got a ton of rain last night that brought water temp up a fair amount so bass were suspended but apparently they weren’t interested in eating. spent some time with a fluke, Ned rig, and blade bait working around bait schools and only managed to pick off 3 dinks with the ned. Put on a rapala deep diving jerkbait and first cast caught this 2lber, which was my biggest of the day. Hit it like a freight train after about a ten second pause and twitch. Spent another hour working jerkbait super slow after that and got nil. 14 Quote
Super User N Florida Mike Posted January 15, 2020 Super User Posted January 15, 2020 Got out on Saturday with a close friend I grew up with. I have known him and his family since was 11 years old. He was my first fishing buddy, and we would primarily fish the lake I now live on before we got vehicles. We fished all over north Florida together once we got trucks, and fished in the same club. Anyway, we got out on the St Johns river and it was rough. Tried fishing a few docks with no results. Hard to keep the boat in position with the wind. We ended up running up into Julington Creek, which I fished a lot as a teen and young man. I tried a chatterbait with a pit boss trailer with no success around some pads. He threw a spinner bait, also with no results. We eventually switched to worms and slowed down, still with no action. We decided to fish a creek off the creek and got 2 bites, both on beaver- style baits with orange bottom. Didnt catch much for the time we put in., but the “ catching up “ between friends was priceless. Already planning 2 more trips ! 17 Quote
Russ E Posted January 16, 2020 Posted January 16, 2020 Made my first 2020 trip to the local power plant. Prefrontal conditions made it tough. only caught one bass in 4 hours, but it was worth it. she was 22 inches long and weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces. Caught it on an H2O ultimate jerk shad jerkbait. I have caught a lot of fish on that bait last fall and early winter. 16 Quote
Super User J._Bricker Posted January 16, 2020 Super User Posted January 16, 2020 Beautiful way to start off 2020 @Russ E, we should all be so lucky sir! 3 1 Quote
Super User NorcalBassin Posted January 16, 2020 Super User Posted January 16, 2020 Able to make it out for a nice afternoon trip. Temp 52-53* with 12+ft of visibility. Tried some swimbaits and reaction baits but all they were interested in was finesse. Caught most of them on a 3" Hazedong Pops with his best of the day Doesn't take long to get a case of bass thumb with those! 22 Quote
Super User J._Bricker Posted January 16, 2020 Super User Posted January 16, 2020 @NorCal Bassin', those are some beautiful spots! Looks like it was another great day for you up in the foothills. 2 Quote
Super User A-Jay Posted January 16, 2020 Super User Posted January 16, 2020 Nice Bass & Great Hat ~ BTW - are you available - I hear they might need a manager ? A-Jay 1 1 Quote
Super User NorcalBassin Posted January 16, 2020 Super User Posted January 16, 2020 That was painful. I work with a guy that's a huge Astros fan and the hard time I was giving him was incredibly short-lived. Rumor is Beltran may have done some of the same things in his one year with the Yankees before heading over to the Mets... only hope is they get knocked off their righteous high horse about the Sox and Astros beating them the past couple years solely from "stealing" signs (even though the Sox beat them both games on the road, including 16-1 in game 3!). 1 Quote
WDE Posted January 16, 2020 Posted January 16, 2020 First time I’ve been out in a long while. First fish(es) of 2020. Big bass went for 3.5, and I caught a gar on a crankbait again. 22 Quote
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted January 16, 2020 Global Moderator Posted January 16, 2020 Congrats @Russ E!!! 1 Quote
Super User N Florida Mike Posted January 17, 2020 Super User Posted January 17, 2020 Got off in time to get on the lake for a couple hours. Stayed closed to home with the limited time .They’re saying it’ll be the last warm day for awhile . ( Think it was 82 today ) , so I really wanted to get out. I was determined to catch some on a tube( see the tube bait thread in the tackle section) So I got one on the small tube, and one on the bigger 3 1/2 inch one . Watermelon red . They weren’t biting it much so I switched to the zoom watermelon lizard and they were all over it. In a lunker slump , but got a few decent fish anyway. 21 Quote
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted January 17, 2020 Global Moderator Posted January 17, 2020 @N Florida Mike is adding all kinds of things to his arsenal! Look out bass. We caught some white bass today, are those bass or other species? Anyways Here they are. Current about 3 mph 13 Quote
ryanerb Posted January 17, 2020 Posted January 17, 2020 On 1/15/2020 at 7:25 PM, NorcalBassin said: Able to make it out for a nice afternoon trip. Temp 52-53* with 12+ft of visibility. Tried some swimbaits and reaction baits but all they were interested in was finesse. Caught most of them on a 3" Hazedong Pops with his best of the day Doesn't take long to get a case of bass thumb with those! That looks like a great day on the water. Similar to my local lake! It's great to see some other California reports in here, keep em comin! 1 Quote
NittyGrittyBoy Posted January 17, 2020 Posted January 17, 2020 Farm Pond close to my house, pond was white capping and I decide to fish a weightless wacky rig ? Need a bigger hook, more like a 3/0 wacky. But heat shrink is the trick for senkos. Caught about 12, missed a couple nice ones due to hook. All in all, very pleased! 17 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 18, 2020 Global Moderator Posted January 18, 2020 Tough fishing for me this week. Went to my super secret pond in the woods and it wasn't nearly as productive as usual. Then it was so cold Thursday that I couldn't do much and when it seemed like I forgot what to do every time I did get a bite. I tried really hard to take my shakyhead away from this one, for some reason I though I was lifting up a limb but I finally realized it was a fish. I got cold and had a feeling that I'd be pretty successful walking the bank since this lake was one of the only reservoirs open in the spring when all the others were flooded, I was right. 11 Quote
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted January 18, 2020 Global Moderator Posted January 18, 2020 Had some plans change this morning and ended up having the opportunity to jump in some friends boat. They had already boated 3 and missed a few when I arrived a little before 10 am. Water 51 degrees and clear, air somewhere in the high 30s and raining. We caught a decent amount of small fish but nothing over about 14 inches. The rain soaked through my buddy’s gear and they had to get him back indoors pretty quick so I stayed and fished off the banks for a bit. Caught one baby fish and found a rapala. My mountain hardwear rain jacket and layers underneath had me bone dry and toasty 14 Quote
Mbirdsley Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said: Had some plans change this morning and ended up having the opportunity to jump in some friends boat. They had already boated 3 and missed a few when I arrived a little before 10 am. Water 51 degrees and clear, air somewhere in the high 30s and raining. We caught a decent amount of small fish but nothing over about 14 inches. The rain soaked through my buddy’s gear and they had to get him back indoors pretty quick so I stayed and fished off the banks for a bit. Caught one baby fish and found a rapala. My mountain hardwear rain jacket and layers underneath had me bone dry and toasty were you fishing those as a jerk bait or straight retrieve like a crank ? Quote
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