Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Blue Raider Bob]

51 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

Went to the river on my lunch break today since it was such a gorgeous day. Didn't have any luck for the majority of the time I was there. White bass were jumping everywhere, but I couldn't even get one of those to bite. When I was just about to go back to work I spotted a jumping school of white bass. I decided to throw my fat albert grub right in the middle of them one more time, let it fall through, and call it a day. This fat smallie is what came back on the cast. Turned it into a mighty good trip.

 

Is the river a roiling, angry torrent where you are? I've been wanting to go below Nickajack but the spillway gates are open and the water is high and muddy.

[GreenPig]

Caught 21 Spots, 2 LM, and a Shellcracker today.

[TnRiver46]

11 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Is the river a roiling, angry torrent where you are? I've been wanting to go below Nickajack but the spillway gates are open and the water is high and muddy.

I’ll answer for him: Yes. If it’s rolling at nickajack it’s rolling at pickwick and all the way to the ohio haha

 

1 hour ago, Fishlegs said:

Went to the river on my lunch break today since it was such a gorgeous day. Didn't have any luck for the majority of the time I was there. White bass were jumping everywhere, but I couldn't even get one of those to bite. When I was just about to go back to work I spotted a jumping school of white bass. I decided to throw my fat albert grub right in the middle of them one more time, let it fall through, and call it a day. This fat smallie is what came back on the cast. Turned it into a mighty good trip.

 

Smallmouth love fat Albert, great fish 

[Fishlegs]

23 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Is the river a roiling, angry torrent where you are? I've been wanting to go below Nickajack but the spillway gates are open and the water is high and muddy.

Yes, sir. It's almost out of the bank, and the current was so fast I had a difficult time getting any lures to touch the bottom before getting swept away. 

 

11 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ll answer for him: Yes. If it’s rolling at nickajack it’s rolling at pickwick and all the way to the ohio haha

 

Smallmouth love fat Albert, great fish 

Thanks. It was a fun fish to catch. I probably should've done a better write-up. It did several missile launch jumps on the way. There were some small kids behind me yelling when it jumped. I let it run a little longer than I normally would because they were enjoying it. It was great.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

6 hours ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Alex in my experience the Bass will not communally bed. They are way to territorial for that. In my pond, they will be no closer than 20' minimum, and in most cases no closer that 30 to 40'.  Once again this is my experience in my particular pond. My water temps reached 65 yesterday and the bass were checking out the shallows but were not preparing nests.

Thanks Bob!

[TnRiver46]

50 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

Caught 21 Spots, 2 LM, and a Shellcracker today.

You’re slap on ‘em. Seeing spotted bass makes me hungry…..

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, Fishlegs said:

Went to the river on my lunch break today since it was such a gorgeous day. Didn't have any luck for the majority of the time I was there. White bass were jumping everywhere, but I couldn't even get one of those to bite. When I was just about to go back to work I spotted a jumping school of white bass. I decided to throw my fat albert grub right in the middle of them one more time, let it fall through, and call it a day. This fat smallie is what came back on the cast. Turned it into a mighty good trip.

 

 

5 hours ago, keagbassr said:

Had about an hour to kill after after hitting the bank and post office. only 1 bite on my 2nd cast but it was worth it. 5-6 on a jerkbait.

 

Awesome fish guys!   I see a pattern here.....Quality over Quantity.    I'll always take one toad over a bunch of little ones, finding the discipline for that is another story. 

57 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

Caught 21 Spots, 2 LM, and a Shellcracker today.

Dang nice Spots!   Bet that was fun ?

[Team9nine]

Gusty ENE winds and skies clearing and becoming sunny. Helped a bit with the temperature, but not sure about the bite. Ended up with a dozen bass split nearly equally between Ned and jerkbaits. Water is clearing quick, and east winds are supposed to stick around for the next couple days.
 

 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Went to lake in search of big trout eaters on opening weekend for trout season. Didn't find any big ones but lots of nice quality fish. Stony found one of the monster trout, a 6.38 pounder on a KVD 1.5. No idea how many fish we caught but it was pretty nonstop action all day for bass and trout.

 

Beautiful fish, and I'd LOVE to catch a 6lb Rainbow.    Do the big ones still taste as good as the stocker sized ones?  

[thediscochef]

Finally seeing some signs of fish back at my normal grounds 

This scrawny lil fella ate a red chatterbait with red trailer. Bait monkey bit and now I'm c-rigging floating 8" lizards. Hoping for a pig at some point with that, lol

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Beautiful fish, and I'd LOVE to catch a 6lb Rainbow.    Do the big ones still taste as good as the stocker sized ones?  

No idea, they all taste horrible to me ?. They male excellent cutbait for catfish though. I saved a few just for that reason. I've caught 3 over 6 from that lake, 2 of them were the same day about 15 minutes apart.

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, Bluebasser86 said:

No idea, they all taste horrible to me ?.

Gut em, ice em, then ship em up here....I LOVE broiled rainbow.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

Gut em, ice em, then ship em up here....I LOVE broiled rainbow.

I'd say they'd be a mushy mess but I can't imagine them being much more mushy than they already are. 

[Jmontgomery87]

I was finally able to fish again on Sunday. I only got out once in February and hadn't caught anything since January. I had clear skies and a strong southerly wind.

 

The bite was tough and I drove around to a few different pits. I tried a spook, spinnerbait, swim bait, and Texas rigged craw before I finally got one on a Texas rigged trick worm on a point. About 3.5 hours work for a little 14 incher, but worth it.

[PhishLI]

12 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

It's already stupid hot here lol, 83 with occasional wind and very sunny skies.   Water temps: 66.5 main lake - 70 in the backs of coves

Must be nice! We'll have high 20s-low30s overnights until the 25th, but water temps have tilted up to 41. Things should start moving here soon regardless with the new moon on the way.

 

It's crisp out right now. Stupid NE winds won't quit. Just sucks whatever heat we accumulate right out.

 

 

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Must be nice! We'll have high 20s-low30s overnights until the 25th, but water temps have tilted up to 41. Things should start moving here soon regardless with the new moon on the way.

 

It's crisp out right now. Stupid NE winds won't quit. Just sucks whatever heat we accumulate right out.

 

 

I'll take that over what we got going on.

[PhishLI]

10 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

I'll take that over what we got going on.

Well, you planted roots on the north pole, so...

[Swamp Girl]

@PhishLI, you catch big fish on Long Island, which surprises me. I would think your lakes would be pounded given their proximity to millions of people. Or are people focusing on beach combing, the city, and saltwater fishing rather than bass?

 

@Bluebasser86, whoa! Gorgeous fish!

 

@AlabamaSpothunter, your hot streak spoiled you. You're still catching quantity and quality. 

[ScottW]

4 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

I'll take that over what we got going on.

Been there, done that albeit a long time ago. Hard pass now but I’ll offer you high humidity and 90+ degree weather if you’re interested ?

[MN Fisher]

Just now, ScottW said:

Been there, done that albeit a long time ago. Hard pass now but I’ll offer you high humidity and 90+ degree weather if you’re interested ?

That type of weather makes it just as hard for me to fish as what we got going on here now...I wilt when it gets much above 85 degrees and/or 70% humidity.

[Swamp Girl]

Agreed, @MN Fisher. I actually enjoy winter. Viva la difference! My mom lives in Sarasota and she doesn't have seasons. It's hot or hotter. In my 11 years in Maine, it reached 95 degrees once. The low eighties are the typical summer high, but most summer days are in the sixties and seventies. 

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

In my 11 years in Maine, it reached 95 degrees once.

I'm quite familiar with Maine's climate - when I lived in Mass many years ago, one of our summer vacation spots was in Maine.

[Swamp Girl]

6 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

I'm quite familiar with Maine's climate - when I lived in Mass many years ago, one of our summer vacation spots was in Maine.

 

Ditto. I lived in Eau Claire for 11 years, which as you know, it's a hop and skip due east from the cities. I also lived in Mass for a couple years. 

[TnRiver46]

46 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Agreed, @MN Fisher. I actually enjoy winter. Viva la difference! My mom lives in Sarasota and she doesn't have seasons. It's hot or hotter. In my 11 years in Maine, it reached 95 degrees once. The low eighties are the typical summer high, but most summer days are in the sixties and seventies. 

Sarasota gets plenty cold, it only happens when we arrive for a week long vacation tho 

[thediscochef]

21 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

It's already stupid hot here lol, 83 with occasional wind and very sunny skies.   Water temps: 66.5 main lake - 70 in the backs of coves

 

Caught about 12-15 on the Buzzbait including a quality 3-4lb fish, and a single on the flashback mini.    Left them alone and moved on to look for bigger fish.....you guessed it zero fish.    Seeing them hit topwater again, and hitting a bait that I plan to dedicate a huge portion of my fishing time over the next 5 months is a positive step in an otherwise brutal start to my warm weather fishing season.  

 

Had some followers and then a fish that blew up that big Shimano flashboost swimbait about 5ft from the boat, scared the life out of me haha.   The more I fish big swimbaits, the more I see it should be its own sub category of Bass fishing.    It's intimate in a way that other baits just aren't.   You might catch your PB on one, but I'm finding just fooling fish on these baits seems to be a big part of the allure of putting in the work with them.   So many times they either destroy the bait at the boat, follow it right to the boat and flash when they see it, or you visually tease one into striking from cover.   Am I off base with this take @PhishLI, are guys like you more fly fisherman than Bass fisherman ??

 

Lastly, finally got around to fishing the new Berkeley SlobberKnocker and Berkeley Power Stinger 4.25 trailer made for them.    It's the most beautiful chatterbait I've seen perhaps when paired together, however it doesn't generate anywhere near the thump and tactile feedback of a Zman Chatterbait, and specifically in my back to back test today, a JackHammer with 3.5 Live Magic Shad.   One or two more days without something, and back to the proven Zman baits.   Startup speed is way off from a Jackhammer as well.   Very pretty bait swimming in the water and the hand, they put lots of thought into this bait/trailer combo.   Zman got that magic though it seems.   

 

 

I still haven't found a blade bait that thumps like the Zman does...there can only be one, I guess. Pretty fish!