Latest Catch Pics Thread

[LrgmouthShad]

5 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

I wonder if there's a Bait Monkey strain? Hmmm.

There is, and I believe I contracted it at Fitz Tackle and Supplies, MO yesterday. I need to stay away from that place. So many spinnerbaits. So many rods and reels 

[Bluebasser86]

10 hours ago, Team9nine said:

In pursuit of Murphy's bass - lol. I've been threatening (myself) to pull out a split shot rig the past couple years, maybe even start a good thread on it. Finally got around to doing it today, and now kind of kicking myself for not doing it earlier. Pulled 16 on it from a stingy summer pond that has been recently treated. Learned a bunch and got things dialed in pretty quick once I got that first bite. Very interested now in playing with it a little more on a couple other types of water first.

 

 

 

 

I culled several times in a kayak tournament earlier this year with a split shot rigged mid sized Rage Bug, enough to finish in the money. When they called me up to get my prize and talk and I said a split shot rig saved the day, I saw several guys just look confused and one even came and asked me what that was afterwards. I guess I didn't realized it was that long forgotten.

 

 

There was a couple kids fishing derbies yesterday but we went to the one put on by my old high school that now has a fishing team. I have only fished the lake it was at maybe twice so didn't know much but we set up just inside the only point on the lake going back into a little feeder creek cove with some cattails and grass. Both my boys were there as well as my 2 older nieces Lily and Zoey. There was little bluegills swimming all over right in front of us and a prize for first fish in all the age groups, so when the horn blew I had the girls drop their worms right in front of them and pretty much instantly doubled on 4 inch bluegill. We had an score keeper in a tent right behind us and both got on the board before the tournament was a minute old, so they both ended up winning "first fish", in their age groups. 

 

I set Lake up with a #10 mosquito hook and a BB sized split shot with a piece of nightcrawler and he was perch jerking as fast as he could go for awhile. I guess the Tournament Director actually called to make sure his score was right because he has 8 fish on the board in the first 5 minutes. I was casting Finn's for him but he was doing the rest, it was pretty much just cast and hand it to him and he could go ahead and reel the fish in. I also brought a rod to set out for catfish and saved a couple of the tiny sunfish they caught to put on it. First one barely hit the bottom before a little 12" bass ate it, Lily got that one. I put a bobber on it and floated the next one over the grass and a nice 15.5" largemouth ate it and did everything it could to get away but Finn finally beached him.

Lily got tired of catching bluegills and wanted to fish for bass. She's never fished much so I gave her a wacky rig and told her to try the back of the cove in front of the cattails. Wasn't long before she was carrying her own bass back, a 16" fish that was the second biggest fish in her age group. She was extremely proud of catching it on her own.

When the 2 hours was up, the girls got their prizes for the first fish in the groups, Finn won most fish in his age group with 36, and Lake won the most out of everyone with 46.

 

[Choporoz]

Fished a 45 yak tournament yesterday in 95 degree heat.  We had a choice of five local reservoirs.   I had never been on three of them.  The other two are somewhat similar - I like both, one sets up better for me in fall.  I chose the one I do best in summer.  It's a fairly clear lake with well defined weed lines throughout.  Lots of wood, but mostly inside the 20 foot contour lines.  Outside grass edge is in 15-16 FOW around most of the lake.  Surface temps were 86 at 6:30, and hit 89 by late afternoon.  I headed out to a favored wood spot, but passing a point, I found stacks of fish on a point at 17 - 18 feet, so I just stopped and started there.  I caught a couple 16 inchers early on the outside weed lines;  casting CutRs and 7" Thumpers into the grass and gently bringing out to the edge and stop.  That turned out to be the ticket all day.  I actually tried to shake off the second 16.  There was a fish twice his size following it in.  Needless to say, I spent way too long at that spot trying to find her again.  At 1030, I only had three keepers (12 in min).  Then picked up one of the better fish I'd ever caught in that lake, right at 22.  At that point, i was confident in the pattern and finally relaxed a little.  Of course that's when things shut down for a couple hours. I caught a few 13-15s when it picked up again, then hooked a 20" kicker near the end.  All the bass yesterday were in a foul mood, nearly every one jumped off the board.  Spent a lot of time getting jabbed by fins while trying to keep them under control.  Fortunately,  none got back in the water before getting the pictures.  First win since October felt pretty sweet.

[Ski]

Had to call a trapper this weekend to catch this little guy walking down our street Yesterday.

8 foot 3 inch but still caused concern for children and pets. 

[Bassfishingfred]

On a great ? bite lately. 

[MIbassyaker]

I've had fewer outings than usual so far this summer, but lots of action when I have been out. A sampling of the better fish from 4 morning trips to different lakes over the last month-- all cookie-cutter 2 and 3lb-ers, but they just kept coming:

 

 

Buzzbaits and texas rigged worms (mainly power worms and the Zoom speed worm in bottom middle) have done almost all the work.

[FishTank]

Love topwater. I have been fishing the Baby Pop-Max on BFS gear and it has been a blast. The bait in the pic alone has caught almost 100 fish in just a few months.  This guy was a fuzz over 3lbs and just destroyed it.

 

 

[PhishLI]

On 7/24/2022 at 1:14 PM, MIbassyaker said:

A sampling of the better fish from 4 morning trips to different lakes over the last month-- all cookie-cutter 2 and 3lb-ers

"Show me the fool who doesn't like cookies." Nice fish!

[Eric 26]

22 hours ago, Woody B said:

I caught 6 this morning.  3 on a devils horse, and 3 on a t-rig.   This particular spotted bass was 18 inches long, but only weighed 2 pounds 1 ounce.    I don't think the weight is a scale malfunction.  When I got home my 10 pound weight weighed 9 pounds 15 ounces on it.    Lake Wylie has plenty of forage.  Most of the bass I catch are fat.   I wonder if this one is sick, or just thin.   

 

Beautiful markings on that fish.

[gim]

10 hours ago, Choporoz said:

Fished a 45 yak tournament yesterday

These kayak tournaments are fascinating. @Bluebasser86 often tells his experiences in them here too.

[Choporoz]

50 minutes ago, gimruis said:

These kayak tournaments are fascinating. @Bluebasser86 often tells his experiences in them here too.

I really like the Catch, Photo, Release aspect.  Not having to worry about livewell management or culling.  The apps cull automatically.  The fish are back in the water after just a minute or so.  Of course there have been some low-lifes that have cheated and the rules are continually adapted.   The boards have improved over the years and the judges can see the meta data on the photos (time and location), so I'd like to think I can trust the system. 

[Drawdown]

Cast a jig + pit boss in the brush during the heat of the day. Didn’t weight but it was definitely 2-2.5lb at least.

[The Bassman]

Had an excellent day today. Started with the first pic, a 4.4 which is as big as I've caught since April. I had to work this morning and was killing a few minutes before I needed to show up. Took a few casts in a suburb park pond that I've never bothered with, having only noticed carp jumping. Well after only a few casts buzzing a Z-Man GOAT I got quite a wake up call.

Second pic represents six over three pounds that I caught this afternoon at one of my usual spots. They all came on a Mini Max chatterbait.  Cloud cover and a good breeze was icing on the cake after so much heat here.

[TnRiver46]

11 hours ago, Ski said:

Had to call a trapper this weekend to catch this little guy walking down our street Yesterday.

8 foot 3 inch but still caused concern for children and pets. 

8 foot ain’t small! I’ve fished around 12+ footers a lot but 8 is still long enough to………. Bite the fire out of you hahaha

[LrgmouthShad]

It’s a 10lber!! ?

 

Couple other small ones today. 

[Fishlegs]

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

It’s a 10lber!! ?

 

Couple other small ones today. 

You found a fun way to remove lily pads from the pond.

[Bassfishingfred]

Couple on a Swim jig:)

[IcatchDinks]

Been a slow summer so far. Finally caught a decent largemouth. He had a nasty cut on his side. And several previous wounds in his mouth from being caught before. Made me feel bad for catching him. I wish people would be nicer to the fish they catch. 

 

Also caught a beautiful little smallie the day before. 

 

 

 

[Jmurphy87]

Nothing special from me, got out yesterday and caught probably 10-15 small bass this small sheet of paper being the longest. He definitely needs to eat more.

[Bluebasser86]

Finally getting some rain today. Had to stop before work and see if it was getting them moving a little bit. I was moving slow getting ready, so I only had 30 minutes, but managed to get 1 on the FishLab Rat and one on the Fishlab shad.

[PhishLI]

Crazy heat lately with zero wind, even when some wind was in the forecast, so I took a hard pass since Wednesday. Yesterday was the hottest day of all at 97*. My neighbor's Koi didn't make it through the day. They were crushed. I've been feeding it forever when they'd be away. Sad.

 

Finally got some real wind late in the day, so I had to give it a go. I'm beginning to get very concerned about the water levels here. I've never seen them like this, and haven't ever been able to wade out so far out. A few places dried up completely about 20 years ago and needed to be restocked once they'd refilled. I think I'm gonna have to start doing rain dances soon.

 

I somehow picked the correct location right off the bat, and hooked up on my 1st cast, but it shook off. This happened four more times in a row. I sat on the couch for a few days and forgot how to land a fish. Finally, a squeaker was kind enough to thoroughly hook itself on a Rat 30. I kept doing my best Chuck Knoblauch imitation afterward, but managed a few more slims in between yips. I was expecting a screaming skunkfest, so I wasn't mad at all. This all made me laugh actually. The raccoons must've thought I was nuts. No bigs caught or lost, but better than a kick in the beans.

[Fishlegs]

The heat has made the fishing trips sparse, but I snuck out for a brief trip to one of my favorite bank spots. The wake boats, & jet skis had the water churning pretty good. I threw spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, swim jigs, 10" worms, topwater, & a Ned rig without so much as a nibble. My last option was the wacky rig. I got this 20 incher on a watermelon red Yum Dinger. The bite was not subtle. She smoked it. Good fighting fish.  She didn't jump until I reached to get her, but it was pulling drag the whole time. This is my first fish over about 2.5 lbs since April so it was a good trip even though I only got one fish.

 

It may be hard to see with the BR logo on the pic, but the tail was pretty beat up. The top half of the tail was practically gone. Any ideas why it would be like that in late July? Late spawner? Slow healer? Also, it's not easy for someone with t-rex arms to get a selfie with a long fish. ?

 

[PhishLI]

8 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

The top half of the tail was practically gone. Any ideas why it would be like that in late July?

Spawned twice maybe?

[Fishlegs]

1 hour ago, PhishLI said:

Spawned twice maybe?

Interesting. That would be good news for the future of one of my favorite spots.

[J._Bricker]

Regarding her worn tail, she was possibly sitting up underneath a ledge @Fishlegs