Latest Catch Pics Thread

[TnRiver46]

Spot, sunset, then smallie

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Thanks, Bassman. I've selected three colors. I LOVE vicious strikes and am excited to use them. Thanks too for the hook swapping tip.

 

Well, I fished this evening and caught two bass. I threw my tackle box at them and they threw it back in my canoe. The water felt cool as the bite, but the evening was gorgeous. A Maine bog with gin clear air and sugar maples beginning to blaze. At times, I just drifted, witnessed, and gave thanks. 

Sounds beautiful, and I think it's slow fishing for everyone on this forum right now.  I know it is for me.   Maine sounds like a remarkably beautiful place anytime it's not cold.    Wimps like me from the South just can't tolerate snow, and freezing temps.  

 

94 degrees today, just boiling hot, felt temp was close to 100.   Almost no wind as well.   I finally located and hooked my first big offshore LGM because of my sonar....have enough time to start congratulating myself on accomplishing something I've been trying to do for a few months, and this fish pulled the hook about 10ft from the boat.    Had a solid 30-45 seconds of fight in open water, lots of jumps.   I'd say it was likely in the 5-6lb range.     Big enough to break my heart for sure. 

 

Then I tried a RC25 Lucky Craft in bluegill on some flats off the main channel and had another big 5lb+ fish hammer my lure about 2ft from the boat, one of those strikes that happens so close you see it all happen and it scares you a little or surprises you.      I'm so mad about that one because I would have finally been able to justify having a hundred or two invested into beautiful looking LuckyCraft baits that I'm usually too afraid to throw when StrikeKing and Rapala baits get the job done ?

 

Then finally right at dark I killed the skunk with a chunky 2lb Spot taken off a Chatterbait.  I got a rod for these baits that has changed the whole game for me on them.   Went from missing over half my bites, to catching 80-90% of the fish that bite it now.    

 

Bird of the day is a Blue Heron.    Before TNRiver46 I had no idea the other types of fish eating birds on the lake.      

46 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Spot, sunset, then smallie

Awesome fish brother!    Spotted Bass are just so exquisite to look at.    That one was frisky enough to have bitten another angler's hook in the past.   How can you not love a fish that gives multiple anglers a thrill

8 hours ago, The Bassman said:

Got out for about an hour and a half before noon. Good breeze ahead of a our first real fall cold front so I figured that bass would be aggressive. Caught 15 on an old Azuma Wake-Z that's seen a lot of action. I also lucked into it being bogo Wednesday. Got two for the price of one!

How did I miss this earlier.....dude that's awesome!

 

What a really nice fish that first one is.....wonder what it weighed?

[Swamp Girl]

Nooooo, Alex! However, I think about the Twilight Zone episode where the gambler dies and thinks he's gone to Heaven because he wins at every game he plays, but then he's told that he's not in Heaven, but Lucifer's pad, for there's no elation in winning when we always win. Your two lost hogs will make your next caught hog so much sweeter.

 

However, I get that those lost fish gut hook us. Remember when I lost three four-pound bass in consecutive casts a couple weeks back? I still pine for such a chance again.  

[AlabamaSpothunter]

29 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Nooooo, Alex! However, I think about the Twilight Zone episode where the gambler dies and thinks he's gone to Heaven because he wins at every game he plays, but then he's told that he's not in Heaven, but Lucifer's pad, for there's no elation in winning when we always win. Your two lost hogs will make your next caught hog so much sweeter.

 

However, I get that those lost fish gut hook us. Remember when I lost three four-pound bass in consecutive casts a couple weeks back? I still pine for such a chance again.  

Yeah I do remember that, losing them right by the kayak is vastly more gut wrenching like yours.   Yours were all but caught fish.

 

I don't think the crankbait fish ever got hooked, it happened so fast.    And the other one was still a bit away, far enough that I hadn't reached for the net yet.   

[NorcalBassin]

Awesome being one of the first people out on the lake on a beautiful morning.

 

Little fella but still great catching em on a rat.

 

More topwater action.

 

 

Pops getting in on the action.

 

Decent one on topwater.

 

Fish of the day on a magdraft. One of the fattest and roundest fall bass I've ever caught. Still went 5.6 despite only being just a tad over 20".

[AlabamaSpothunter]

19 minutes ago, NorcalBassin said:

Awesome being one of the first people out on the lake on a beautiful morning.

 

Little fella but still great catching em on a rat.

 

More topwater action.

 

 

Pops getting in on the action.

 

Decent one on topwater.

 

Fish of the day on a magdraft. One of the fattest and roundest fall bass I've ever caught. Still went 5.6 despite only being just a tad over 20".

LOL....second time now I've seen that rat of yours and I laugh every time.  It's a big as the fish that will hit it.   Crazy the things Bass will hit.    Beautiful fish, and congrats on the pig.     A real fish to be proud of to be sure.   That's a very healthy looking Bass, the ones that give you motivation in the belief a fish is twice it's size is in the same body of water.   

 

Down here usually if a lake produces fat 5 and 6lb fish, you can count on it having DD Bass in it.   My old fishing buddy who also fishes my home lake sent me a pic of a fish he caught in February from it that went 10.6.    So much more exciting when you think or know DD Bass swim in the waters you are fishing.   

[galyonj]

8 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

LOL....second time now I've seen that rat of yours and I laugh every time.  It's a big as the fish that will hit it.   Crazy the things Bass will hit. 

 

Fish are ridiculous and I love them for it. Little while back, on another trip with @TnRiver46, I caught a bluegill on a squarebill, then I caught a largemouth on a Choppo that wasn't much bigger than the lure.

 

The bluegill cracked me up. All it had was the rear treble, and it couldn't fit but one little hook in its mouth, but it went for it. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 hours ago, galyonj said:

 

Fish are ridiculous and I love them for it. Little while back, on another trip with @TnRiver46, I caught a bluegill on a squarebill, then I caught a largemouth on a Choppo that wasn't much bigger than the lure.

 

The bluegill cracked me up. All it had was the rear treble, and it couldn't fit but one little hook in its mouth, but it went for it. 

It is amazing to see the predatory instinct of game fish, had the same thing a month or so ago on crankbait 

[galyonj]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

It is amazing to see the predatory instinct of game fish, had the same thing a month or so ago on crankbait 

 

Exactly. Fish are nuts. I love it.

[Team9nine]

Can't buy a bite hardly on moving baits lately, so sticking with the micro jig. Post-frontal a couple days ago, then 20-25 mph winds today (and another frontal passage). I think this particular pond is just too pressured much of the time. All that blue sky in the background of both pics probably isn't helping much either, but I prefer it most days. Need to check out some different water soon.

 

 

[gim]

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

Need to check out some different water soon.

Hole. Jeans.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

What a difference 24 hours can make.   Kind of a 2part report:

 

Today for a period of about an hour, it was as close to saltwater fishing as I've ever experienced while Bass fishing.   By that I mean I was watching hundreds of 1-3lb Bass launching themselves out of the air over about a 5acre section of water.    They were pushing all these threadfins back into a huge creek arm of the lake.   You could see the entire lengths of full sized Bass going aerial.    You could see all these little tiny wakes rushing towards your boat, and then Bam, a Bass would bust the top and shad would go flying 2-3ft in the air.     

 

I hooked and caught a Spot that jumped about as high as I've seen a Bass jump.   I'd say 2-3ft in the air, seriously.    Mid flight it spit out several threadfins.    Really incredible visuals, I'm gonna setup a GoPro after today.     

 

The fish were so riled up in this one hour period that I didn't have to pick up a single bottom contact bait, everything was a moving bait.    Caught a number of Spots using the Chatterbait Flashback which is just a fish magnet I'm finding out.     Also caught a number of fish finally on a high dollar crankbait....that same RC 2.5 in Bluegill from yesterday.      I got so excited in the heat of the moment that somehow on a bomb cast the line severed, and the rest of the line on the reel backlashed LOL.   Thankfully it was a floater.   I didn't have time to retie another setup so crankbaits were done for the day.      

 

Part 2:   During all this madness, I was near one of my favorite places for big fish, so I decided to put down the small tackle stuff, and slow roll a chatterbait over a big pine tree laydown in about 10ft of water.    On the first cast I was rewarded with my second biggest fish of the year....a 6lb 7oz LGM, and the biggest since I caught a 7lb 14oz on Aug. 4th.   This is the first fish I've wanted to measure because of how short it and round it was.   Jumped 3 times, really great 1min+ fight, and one of those fish that when you release you just sit down and soak it all in.       

 

The piggy and chatterbait setup.....this is the best big fish bait I've seen, I thought a big lizard was until I started throwing these chatterbaits in July.       It's a big bait though in general, and doesn't get hit by small fish unless you have Spots in your waters I've found.         

 

   

Next pics are representative of the size fish I was catching in the frenzy, both LGM and Spots.   Note the one Spot's belly ? 

Lastly, an Alabama sunset

 

[Team9nine]

14 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Hole. Jeans.

I can only hope the size of the bass I’m catching increases proportionally with the size of the hole in my jeans over the next couple months  

[Swamp Girl]

What an evening! And what a bass! I sure would have loved to see the spots herding shad, but thanks to your explanation, I kinda did.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

14 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

What an evening! And what a bass! I sure would have loved to see the spots herding shad, but thanks to your explanation, I kinda did.

Thanks Katie!   I wish all my new friends on here could have witnessed it, again nobody else gets it.

 

I was so excited that at points I was casting straight into the air, straight into the water, casting lures off.......I've just never seen anything like it ?

 

If you could get any moving bait to where they happened to be blowing up at that moment, it was an instant hookup.    

[gim]

27 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

I can only hope the size of the bass I’m catching increases proportionally with the size of the hole in my jeans over the next couple months  

LOL that was a good one.

[The Bassman]

8 hours ago, Team9nine said:

 Need to check out some different water soon.

 

 

 

 

Haven't heard much mention about the reservoirs this year. I'm guessing fall crappie fishing is going to change that?

[Swamp Girl]

8 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Thanks Katie!   I wish all my new friends on here could have witnessed it, again nobody else gets it.

 

I was so excited that at points I was casting straight into the air, straight into the water, casting lures off.......I've just never seen anything like it ?

 

If you could get any moving bait to where they happened to be blowing up at that moment, it was an instant hookup.    

I've seen seals compress mackerel, alternating between a picket line and Pickett's Charge, but seals are mammals' big brains to coordinate. Dolphins do the same thing, compressing prey into bite-sized balls. And I've fished for white bass when you could chuck a roll of nickels into the water and they'd eat every one, but to do it with spots?!? What an evening! I laughed at your casting, in your overwhelming excitement and joy, hither and yon.

 

Nobody "getting it" reminds me of the Beetles' song: "When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads. They might as well be dead."

 

If you're not thrilled by bonkers banzai spots, you might as well be dead!

[ScottW]

Caught a lil o baby bass this morning followed up by a 4+ pounder just now. Lipless One Knocker crank in shimmering red. ? Back at it to see if I can get papa (bass) bear

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Wow, very nice fish friend!   We can basically use each other's fishing reports to know if the fish are biting.....seems the fish turned on for both of us within the last 24hours.

 

More importantly it's great to see your hands feel well enough to hammer a pig like that

[AlabamaSpothunter]

7 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I've seen seals compress mackerel, alternating between a picket line and Pickett's Charge, but seals are mammals' big brains to coordinate. Dolphins do the same thing, compressing prey into bite-sized balls. And I've fished for white bass when you could chuck a roll of nickels into the water and they'd eat every one, but to do it with spots?!? What an evening! I laughed at your casting, in your overwhelming excitement and joy, hither and yon.

 

Nobody "getting it" reminds me of the Beetles' song: "When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads. They might as well be dead."

 

If you're not thrilled by bonkers banzai spots, you might as well be dead!

And if you ever start feeling bad for the Mackerals....?

 

I often think about the circle of life while fishing, it's so easy to observe all around you.  It's sometimes easy to forget that we as humans are the supreme predator on the planet.   

[ScottW]

54 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Wow, very nice fish friend!   We can basically use each other's fishing reports to know if the fish are biting.....seems the fish turned on for both of us within the last 24hours.

 

More importantly it's great to see your hands feel well enough to hammer a pig like that

It was like they switched on for a few hours and sent the baby out as a scout. Ha! It’s died off now so I’m going to try again later this afternoon. Hands are feeling better today so I took full advantage. ?

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

I give up. I kept trying to guess what a DD bass is. I failed. A little help?

[Eric 26]

Double Digit ?

[Swamp Girl]

Ahhhh. No wonder I couldn't solve it: IT'S BEYOND ME!