Latest Catch Pics Thread

[AlabamaSpothunter]

51 minutes ago, Woody B said:

 

Big ol Skunk today.  (I did "touch the leader" but I don't count that)  I've got A-rigs.   I normally use 4 Money Minnows on 1/8 ounce jigs heads, with a 1/2 ounce Johnson Silver Minnow spoon in the middle.   I lost my favorite A-rig last week as well as my spoon.   The one I was catching bass on at Lake Norman is bare.  The others ones I have, and the one I was using today have small willow leaf blades.   I lost 3 fish today.   2 were an A-rig double that I "touched the leader" on.   Not much of a fight, but I could tell there was some weight.  I had my glove on to lip it.  When I saw it was a double I was fumbling to get my net.  I must have gave the some slack, both shook off right beside the boat.   They weren't huge, I'd guess 2 or 3 pounds.    The other one I lost might not have been hooked.  It grabbed my jerkbait as I was picking it up out of the water.   When I made that cast I decided that was my last cast.  I fished 15 more minutes after the boatside hit.  Water was 48 when I got there.  Air temp was 24 on the way.   The lake was still pretty bad muddy on the lower end.  I went up the lake ~15 miles to water that wasn't as muddy.   I saw one BIG log sticking out of the lake.   It wasn't sitting on the bottom, it's 40 feet deep where I took the picture.   

 

 

 

I believe attitude can effect fishing.  (and most other things in life)  The landing that I love is closed for construction.   There's one I hate a couple miles away.....but I HATE it.  The landing I used is near the dam, not near the section of the lake I normally fish.   I may go to some other lakes until my favorite landing is open again.  

You nailed it at least when it comes to me.....POSITIVE ATTITUDE is the most important thing to load on the boat before I fish.      It's a constant fight some days with yourself....."I suck", "you're just wasting your time" thoughts start to creep in, and once that happens it's like manifested destiny in terms of bad luck, and poor results.    

 

[TnRiver46]

4 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

 Love it when I can get them to eat a spinner. 

 

At this point I’ll just have to take your word for it 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

At this point I’ll just have to take your word for it 

I'm kinda scared that the A-Rig is nothing but a oversized Spinnerbait.....has me questioning my life ?

 

Fishing is wonderful because of the bitter as much as the sweet.   The old saying 'the sweet is never sweet without the bitter".

 

Today conditions warmed up significantly, beautiful skies, and NO WIND......but atlas I caught 4 fish, only 2 of which are pic worthy.   A 2lb class fish, and and 3lb class fish.   It's neat how this time of year that 2lb and 3lb fish would have been much smaller without these awesome bellies 90% of them have.     In the Summer and Fall I'd have to catch 5lb+ class fish to get bellies like these.   Now all the fish except a rare unhealthy fish or a dink have these beer bellies that make you smile even when the fish are smaller.   

 

3lb fish came on the 110jr +1, 2lb fish came on the Yum A-Rig.   

 

Ended the day snagging the brand new Yum A-Rig from yesterday's success, ran home and got my jerry rigged retriever, I recovered it but broke off a snap and mangled it up pretty good.   We all know the Monkey was down there and broke it, it knew I had a $25 gift card for the local Monkey hangout.    

 

So all in all, the opposite of yesterday ?

 

@TnRiver46  Can I get some help on these birds.......three of them that stayed pretty close to each other, and were hunting in the same area as Blue Herons, but unlike those they again were sticking together, and were giving the Blue Herons a wide berth.

 

Some stuff I was reading said Blue Herons could be all white as Juveniles, makes since but they weren't much smaller than the Blue Herons.    Then the wiki page for Blue Herons talks about Great White Herons.  Beautiful birds, and much easier to spot.....and shamefully I'll admit I use them very often to find active fish and then they fly away lol.    Poor man's SideScan sonar.

[TnRiver46]

8 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I'm kinda scared that the A-Rig is nothing but a oversized Spinnerbait.....has me questioning my life ?

 

Fishing is wonderful because of the bitter as much as the sweet.   The old saying 'the sweet is never sweet without the bitter".

 

Today conditions warmed up significantly, beautiful skies, and NO WIND......but atlas I caught 4 fish, only 2 of which are pic worthy.   A 2lb class fish, and and 3lb class fish.   It's neat how this time of year that 2lb and 3lb fish would have been much smaller without these awesome bellies 90% of them have.     In the Summer and Fall I'd have to catch 5lb+ class fish to get bellies like these.   Now all the fish except a rare unhealthy fish or a dink have these beer bellies that make you smile even when the fish are smaller.   

 

3lb fish came on the 110jr +1, 2lb fish came on the Yum A-Rig.   

 

Ended the day snagging the brand new Yum A-Rig from yesterday's success, ran home and got my jerry rigged retriever, I recovered it but broke off a snap and mangled it up pretty good.   We all know the Monkey was down there and broke it, it knew I had a $25 gift card for the local Monkey hangout.    

 

So all in all, the opposite of yesterday ?

 

@TnRiver46  Can I get some help on these birds.......three of them that stayed pretty close to each other, and were hunting in the same area as Blue Herons, but unlike those they again were sticking together, and were giving the Blue Herons a wide berth.

 

Some stuff I was reading said Blue Herons could be all white as Juveniles, makes since but they weren't much smaller than the Blue Herons.    Then the wiki page for Blue Herons talks about Great White Herons.  Beautiful birds, and much easier to spot.....and shamefully I'll admit I use them very often to find active fish and then they fly away lol.    Poor man's SideScan sonar.

I have heard tale of white herons but when I see a white bird like that I think great egret, lesser egret, or cattle egret. A cattle egret looks like it spilled a milkshake on its chest so I don’t think that’s it. I’ll guess great egret 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

I have heard tale of white herons but when I see a white bird like that I think greater egret, lesser egret, or cattle egret. A cattle egret looks like it spilled a milkshake on its chest so I don’t think that’s it. I’ll guess greater egret 

So this one?

Great egret - Wikipedia

I had that one first but then I read the Blue Heron page again.

 

Thanks!

[gim]

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

when I see a white bird like that I think greater egret, lesser egret, or cattle egret

Definitely an egret.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Just now, gimruis said:

Definitely an egret.

Awesome, thanks!

 

There are a lot of fish eating birds once you start paying attention.

 

That two species of Egrets

Blue Herons

Kingfishers

Osprey 

 

I see lots of Hawks, but not sure if they are fishing or not.   

[gim]

2 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

There are a lot of fish eating birds once you start paying attention.

 

That two species of Egrets

Blue Herons

Kingfishers

Osprey 

Seagulls and cormorants are very common fish eating birds in addition to those ones you already mentioned. We have loons here too, they are the state bird of MN.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

3 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Seagulls and cormorants are very common fish eating birds in addition to those ones you already mentioned. We have loons here too, they are the state bird of MN.

Dang I forgot to list the Cormorant that TNriver46 ID'd for me months ago.    

I have actually thought I saw a Seagull but dismissed instantly because I'm used to only seeing them at the beach be it Orange Beach or Outer Banks.     Great to know, I'll be on the lookout for them now.    

 

We have plenty of loons in Alabama too, just not birds ?

[Eric 26]

11 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Seagulls and cormorants are very common fish eating birds in addition to those ones you already mentioned. We have loons here too, they are the state bird of MN.

Man I miss hearing loons☹️. Although in my youth we only went for a weeklong fishing trip to Minnesota every summer,  the songs those loons sang would stay with me for quite awhile after we left?

[TnRiver46]

22 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Dang I forgot to list the Cormorant that TNriver46 ID'd for me months ago.    

I have actually thought I saw a Seagull but dismissed instantly because I'm used to only seeing them at the beach be it Orange Beach or Outer Banks.     Great to know, I'll be on the lookout for them now.    

 

We have plenty of loons in Alabama too, just not birds ?

You’ve probably got loons, we have tons in winter. Also we have massive flocks of ring billed gulls all winter, they were swarming me all day at the dam. The gulls also love wal mart and McDonalds parking lots 

 

I got a loon pic and some video the other day, they really cover some water when they disappear 

 

[Eric 26]

I see them crazy gulls in truck stop parking lots all the time. Watched one swallow a big bite hot dog from 7-11 whole ?

38 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

You’ve probably got loons, we have tons in winter. Also we have massive flocks of ring billed gulls all winter, they were swarming me all day at the dam. The gulls also love wal mart and McDonalds parking lots 

 

I got a loon pic and some video the other day, they really cover some water when they disappear 

 

I used to love watching the loons swim, I would try like all get up to follow them but man I never knew where they were going to pop up?

[LrgmouthShad]

10 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I'm kinda scared that the A-Rig is nothing but a oversized Spinnerbait.....has me questioning my life ?

A member who I haven’t seen in a while @Bubba 460, liked a spinnerbait in the wintertime and said that it is a mini A-rig. He told us about a crazy day in the winter where he and a buddy caught multiple 8+ lbers on spinnerbaits. Hopefully my memory is right there. 

[BrianMDTX]

Man, I had a good morning!

 

Second outing of 2023 and the first time I’ve taken the boat out in probably two months or so. Forecast was a high of 75° and overcast. Got on the water about 7:30 and started with a Zara Spook. No takers. Switched to a chatterbait (which I’ve never caught a bass on) and on the second cast it got walloped. Nice bass just under 2 lbs. Tried a Zoom Trick TR with no bites and then a jerkbait. Caught a bass as big as the lure lol. Then I switched to a 5” black Senko WR. That’s when all hell broke loose. 
 

In under 2.5 hours I caught 8 bass all between 2.0-2.5 lbs. Mostly while working the bait back to the boat but one actually jumped over a sunken branch and hammered it as it dove on it. That was pretty awesome. Had a dink throw the hook and had another that I’d say was 2.5-3.0 lbs. throw the hook as well (that one hit the bait immediately and I had some slack to reel in so I’m guessing the hookset wasn’t all that great. 
 

All of those bass really fought. Hard. They must have been in real attack mode. It made for a great few hours!

 

[N Florida Mike]

1 hour ago, BrianMDTX said:

Man, I had a good morning!

 

Second outing of 2023 and the first time I’ve taken the boat out in probably two months or so. Forecast was a high of 75° and overcast. Got on the water about 7:30 and started with a Zara Spook. No takers. Switched to a chatterbait (which I’ve never caught a bass on) and on the second cast it got walloped. Nice bass just under 2 lbs. Tried a Zoom Trick TR with no bites and then a jerkbait. Caught a bass as big as the lure lol. Then I switched to a 5” black Senko WR. That’s when all hell broke loose. 
 

In under 2.5 hours I caught 8 bass all between 2.0-2.5 lbs. Mostly while working the bait back to the boat but one actually jumped over a sunken branch and hammered it as it dove on it. That was pretty awesome. Had a dink throw the hook and had another that I’d say was 2.5-3.0 lbs. throw the hook as well (that one hit the bait immediately and I had some slack to reel in so I’m guessing the hookset wasn’t all that great. 
 

All of those bass really fought. Hard. They must have been in real attack mode. It made for a great few hours!

 

Those are some nice, healthy fish !

 

 

I avoided the skunk today in a new pond, but not by much…

[Swamp Girl]

I was skunked today, for the 73rd day in a row!

 

 

[BrianMDTX]

20 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I was skunked today, for the 73rd day in a row!

 

 

All I can hear is Smash Mouth lol. 

41 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

Those are some nice, healthy fish !

 

 

I avoided the skunk today in a new pond, but not by much…

For a relatively small pond that sees its fair share of pressure (although from what I’ve seen, it’s more panfish vs. bass fishing), they are rather healthy. And beautifully colored, too! 
 

And avoiding the skunk is avoiding the skunk. Beats nothing! 

[LrgmouthShad]

31 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

All I can hear is Smash Mouth lol. 

For a relatively small pond that sees its fair share of pressure (although from what I’ve seen, it’s more panfish vs. bass fishing), they are rather healthy. And beautifully colored, too! 
 

And avoiding the skunk is avoiding the skunk. Beats nothing! 

Avoiding the skunk, you say? Can you teach me this art?

 

I have skunked today. Nada. Zip. Zero. I don’t know man it’s like they just shut down 

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Avoiding the skunk, you say? Can you teach me this art?

 

I have skunked today. Nada. Zip. Zero. I don’t know man it’s like they just shut down 

 

Did you somehow get a white stripe painted down your back? I know that attracts skunks. Like this one:

 

[BrianMDTX]

12 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Avoiding the skunk, you say? Can you teach me this art?

 

I have skunked today. Nada. Zip. Zero. I don’t know man it’s like they just shut down 

Umm, no. One can try and avoid the skunk, but one is not always successful. Much to our everlasting dismay!

[LrgmouthShad]

I swear I have bad outings every time the weather all of a sudden turns really nice in the winter. Its almost 70 here. It’s like the fish don’t know what to do with themselves when it warms up all of a sudden. One day I’ll crack the code

[T-Billy]

20 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

You nailed it at least when it comes to me.....POSITIVE ATTITUDE is the most important thing to load on the boat before I fish.      It's a constant fight some days with yourself....."I suck", "you're just wasting your time" thoughts start to creep in, and once that happens it's like manifested destiny in terms of bad luck, and poor results.    

 

One thing that helps me to stay positive and focused on a tough day is, when/if I get bit, there's a good chance it'll be a good one. Seems to me, the average size is generally bigger on tough days.

[Team9nine]

Everything I checked yesterday was frozen. Today, one partly thawed and one completely thawed. Just 39 deg., breezy with rain and misty rain all day, but wanted to test out a float and fly setup I put together for winter…and what do you know, I scored a little one on my first attempt. About 45 minutes was all I was dressed to handle - lol. Partly sunny and breezy tomorrow, so hoping to have a little nicer conditions to keep experimenting with it.

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

3 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

Man, I had a good morning!

 

Second outing of 2023 and the first time I’ve taken the boat out in probably two months or so. Forecast was a high of 75° and overcast. Got on the water about 7:30 and started with a Zara Spook. No takers. Switched to a chatterbait (which I’ve never caught a bass on) and on the second cast it got walloped. Nice bass just under 2 lbs. Tried a Zoom Trick TR with no bites and then a jerkbait. Caught a bass as big as the lure lol. Then I switched to a 5” black Senko WR. That’s when all hell broke loose. 
 

In under 2.5 hours I caught 8 bass all between 2.0-2.5 lbs. Mostly while working the bait back to the boat but one actually jumped over a sunken branch and hammered it as it dove on it. That was pretty awesome. Had a dink throw the hook and had another that I’d say was 2.5-3.0 lbs. throw the hook as well (that one hit the bait immediately and I had some slack to reel in so I’m guessing the hookset wasn’t all that great. 
 

All of those bass really fought. Hard. They must have been in real attack mode. It made for a great few hours!

 

Awesome fish, keep throwing that Chatterbait!

[Woody B]

Speaking of birds.  I saw a goose fight yesterday.  I didn't get pictures.  It was still in the 20's.  My phone was buried under a bunch of layers of clothes.  There was a group of Geese, 10 or so on the bank.  Another group about the same size landing in the lake, near the bank.  The Geese on the bank started spreading their wings and squawking.   One of them went out into the water, it was flapping it's wings, squawking, and had it's neck/head stuck out almost horizontal.  One from the other group was doing the same thing.  They were swimming toward each other.  When they got pretty close the entire group that had just landed flew off.   The one from that group that was "flexing" flew off too.  I guess the ones on the bank won.