Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Swamp Girl]

48 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Okay, I'm buying a Shimano ArmaJoint. I figure I'll cast it for 15 to 60 minutes and won't be ground down like I was by musky lures. Congrats on another fine day. My problem was solved by Glenn. 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

14 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

This one is slightly under two ounces, but more importantly is vastly more aerodynamic than anything else it's size so it doesn't require the same effort on the cast. 

 

Beyond that, I tell you Katie it's just got that magic in it.   I mean I'm throwing other baits these last two sessions, but nothing is really producing, the lake is still super hard, yet the amount of fish that at least follow and reveal themselves from this bait is a first for me.    I've had followers on other big swimbaits, A-rigs, occasionally on Jerks/cranks/etc., but this thing brings fish from a lot further away to check it out I think.   

 

I got some really cool strikes on video, hopefully I get some more tom and i'll post it up.   

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Big fish are slowly returning and this was the first time in a month with back to back sessions with a 5lb class fish, and only the second day of month where I got my new benchmark 5/15lbs.    These bigger LGM look post Spawn, especially the one today, beat up tail and looked hungry which is unusual compared to when I normally catch 5lb class fish.   

 

8 quality fish......I'm getting more and more committed to big swimbait fishing because of this Shimano ArmaJoint.   I threw it almost exclusively for about 5hrs, it's as addictive as Bass fishing itself.     

 

6 fish including a 5lb class fish and 3lb Spot came from the Shimano bait, and I had at least double that on follows and explosive blowups mostly at the boat.    

 

This is a HUGE sleeper bait right now friends, I've got a few hundred dollars into 5-8" hard swimbaits, and a few soft ones, this bait is so unique from all of those.     I really can't stress the drawing power on this bait.     

 

It has so much flash and electric action, that combined with its running depth of about 1ft., you can track the bait the whole time like a topwater which makes for indescribable levels of excitement and occasional fear.   You can almost just tease this bait in place or let it slowly float as it's quasi suspending out of the box, and the fish come absolutely unglued on this thing.   Every single strike is either at the surface, or visual and is like a freight train.    

 

Welp just wrote all that out and then tried to attach images.....no room left, went to delete pic in my attachments, no white boxes to click or green delete button.    It's always so hard to share pics on here.   Katie had this problem and started a thread about it but forgot the solution.    I wish we could just post pics from a photo hosting site and not use the forum, anybody know a  way to do this.   Oh well, you guys know what Bass look like.

https://postimages.org

 

this is what I use. Or if I have several I upload them to BR gallery and attach existing image 

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

vastly more aerodynamic than anything else it's size so it doesn't require the same effort on the cast.

 

Thanks for ^this info^, Alex. Now I won't worry that I'll pay for my purchase with sore shoulders. Should I cast it with my heavy action frogging rod (50 lb. braid) or a medium action baitcaster (20 lb. braid)? Or something else?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

testing

@TNRiver46  Beers on me if you ever get around central AL, you've helped me from forum troubles, to IDing critters, to helping grow my Bass fishing knowledge.

 

Thanks for being a huge part of BR!!!!

[Swamp Girl]

Alex, I know your first fish is the biggest, but I love the shape of your third fish. It's Orca-shaped! 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

17 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Thanks for ^this info^, Alex. Now I won't worry that I'll pay for my purchase with sore shoulders. Should I cast it with my heavy action frogging rod (50 lb. braid) or a medium action baitcaster (20 lb. braid)? Or something else?

I don't wanna post the short the tacticalbassin video I just watched a bit ago, but Matt said he threw it on a 7'4 H jig rod.      I think that will be just fine.   

 

It's been a bit over a month since I had confidence as in, "I can't wait until tom., I'm going to tweak this approach or lure and get even better results"

 

The more I play with this Shimano bait, the more I dedicate myself to only fishing it, the more magic is happening.   I mean the 3lb Spotted Bass strike today was the greatest I've ever witnessed, on top with a huge explosion of water and like a mack truck hit your line.   I thought the bait would be broken ?

 

I'm gonna get the Rainbow trout color maybe tom., that and the BW Shad that I got were the only two colors.   The Ghost Trout looked killer.     If I had them all at my local shop I'd grab the ST Gizzard.   The Purple looks awesome too.....HAHA, I want them all.   

[AlabamaSpothunter]

36 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Alex, I know your first fish is the biggest, but I love the shape of your third fish. It's Orca-shaped! 

Haha, yeah that's the tank that destroyed that made for such a pretty strike.

 

The bigger Spots are still fat, but the last two heavy 4/light 5lb class fish looked to have lost that awesome fat and eggs they had during the winter.    

 

This has been a very confusing time to be fishing, but it seems to at least be improving. 

[TnRiver46]

7 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

testing

@TNRiver46  Beers on me if you ever get around central AL, you've helped me from forum troubles, to IDing critters, to helping grow my Bass fishing knowledge.

 

Thanks for being a huge part of BR!!!!

Hahaha! No worries man I crossed the bridge of having no more upload space many years ago. Other members helped me 

 

oh yeah and nice fish 

[Swamp Girl]

@AlabamaSpothunter

 

I ordered the Ghost Trout, Alex. I just hope a chain pickerel doesn't steal it!

[AlabamaSpothunter]

7 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@AlabamaSpothunter

 

I ordered the Ghost Trout, Alex. I just hope a chain pickerel doesn't steal it!

Can't wait to see the first toad you post caught on it!   

 

The Ghost Trout actually looks better to me, looked like it would throw even more flash.  Your gonna have a blast fishing it.   You are constantly engaged with the lure which keeps things exciting.  

[T-Billy]

16 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I just hope a chain pickerel doesn't steal it!

That's the only reason I won't get into the swimbait gig. Y'all know what swims in the lakes I fish. It would get expensive very quickly.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

That's the only reason I won't get into the swimbait gig. Y'all know what swims in the lakes I fish. It would get expensive very quickly.

Yeah that's a big thing because just yesterday while chunking this thing I was thinking to myself that unless a giant Cat or Bass or breaks me off once hooked up, it'll be pretty darn hard to lose this bait.

 

It's a lot more fun throwing a $40 bait around when you know it won't get snagged deeper than you can get to, or that ESOX fish won't bite me off.   

[Swamp Girl]

I have a horror movie idea:

 

A feared musky hunter, who looks a little like Grizzly Adams, decides to throw musky-bait-sized lures to bass. Without a titanium leader, the muskies take all his big bass baits. With an empty tackle box and equally emptied wallet, the broken-hearted musky hunter drives his boat off into the sunset and is never seen again.

 

The title? "Revenge of the Muskies"

 

The sequel would be "Grizzly Adams Returns," and would tell the story of the former musky hunter making his way down to the Ohio River, up the Mississippi, and west on the Missouri River to grizzly bear country, where he befriends a griz and they live happily high in the Rockies. 

 

The last film in the series would be a return to the horror genre and would be called "You left me for a BEAR?" and would tell how an Ohio wife tracked her man down one river and up others, then up into the mountains, becoming madder and madder along the way, until she arrived many times more fearsome than a griz. 

[Functional]

I go from hardly ever a chatterbait bite to it being my biggest producer this year. Mini dragging two 4lbers in 2 weekends among 90% of my other fish. 

 

 

[Team9nine]

Another day on the bank. They’re not the biggest, but they’re not terrible either (lol), and they sure keep you sharp. You also learn so much about the fish, how they behave, as well as your setups and techniques. Picked off 20 this afternoon on a combination of Ned, swimbaits and jerkbaits. Bring on the snow ?

 

 

 

 

[ScottW]

I’ve been skunking out for a while now. Went back down to the pond with my Garmin to try to find the sneaky buggers. Found them alright. Made no difference though. They wouldn’t bite anything for some reason. Water temps were in the low 60s. Same as outside. Sky was going from partly cloudy to cloudy and back again. Finally called it and made one last cast with my KastKing Royale Legend 2/Daiwa MH rod with 15# flouro and a Booyah lipless crank bait. The fish that bit was barely larger than the lure. ? Still counts I guess.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by ScottW
Image size issues

[AlabamaSpothunter]

31 minutes ago, ScottW said:

I’ve been skunking out for a while now. Went back down to the pond with my Garmin to try to find the sneaky buggers. Found them alright. Made no difference though. They wouldn’t bite anything for some reason. Water temps were in the low 60s. Same as outside. Sky was going from partly cloudy to cloudy and back again. Finally called it and made one last cast with my KastKing Royale Legend 2/Daiwa MH rod with 15# flouro and a Booyah lipless crank bait. The fish that bit was barely larger than the lure. ? Still counts I guess.

 

Pretty wild, myself and another Crappie angler I was talking to on the lake today were talking about how frustrating it was to see so many fish on sonar without any of them biting.    

 

That 38d night last night put the lockjaw on them that's for sure, otherwise it's was a perfect day to Bass fish.

 

Caught one small guy, and 3 Crappie.     Only had three followers on the Shimano swimbait which I threw the vast majority of the time.    

 

Spring just sucks ?

[Swamp Girl]

@Functional: Beauties!

 

@Team9nine, 20 fish from the shore is impressive. So is your consistency. You are a fine fisher.

 

@AlabamaSpothunter and @ScottW: 

 

[Woody B]

36 degrees this morning.  Water temp is down to 56,  but I managed to catch 12 today.   I didn't weigh any.  Biggest was a 18 inch Spot.   So, everyone knows I do things different.   I caught 7 on a chatterbait......with a money minnow trailer.  4 on a 3X and 1 on a T-rig.   I was rigging my rods last night.  I couldn't decide between a chatterbait, or money minnow on my 3rd rod.  I decided to do both.  They weren't clobbering anything, not even the crank.   I probably missed some.  On the bladed jig all I would feel was the vibration stop.  The wobble would stop on the crank, but not much more. The one I caught on a T-rig was an accident.   I cast into the wind, and hit a dock post.  I cleared my(opps) backlash.  When I got the line tight after that the bass was there.   Weather forecast is BAD tomorrow.  I'll see how cold, how much rain, and how much of it is frozen before I decide about going.   

 

[Jeff Zurawski]

I'm new here and just put up an introduction post a couple days ago in which 'Ol Crickety asked me to post my fish here so I can get some attaboys.  Unfortunately I haven't been out yet this year.  It was looking good around here for a bit last week and the week before when water temps were hitting upper 40s, but I missed out.  Now we're back to Winter and water temps crashed back down to mid 30s the past couple days. 

 

I am chompin at the bit to get after them when water warms back up. 

 

Best I can do for now is show a nice 21.5" I got last year right about this time.

 

[DitchPanda]

20 minutes ago, Jeff Zurawski said:

I'm new here and just put up an introduction post a couple days ago in which 'Ol Crickety asked me to post my fish here so I can get some attaboys.  Unfortunately I haven't been out yet this year.  It was looking good around here for a bit last week and the week before when water temps were hitting upper 40s, but I missed out.  Now we're back to Winter and water temps crashed back down to mid 30s the past couple days. 

 

I am chompin at the bit to get after them when water warms back up. 

 

Best I can do for now is show a nice 21.5" I got last year right about this time.

 

Beautiful fish...and welcome.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

42 minutes ago, Jeff Zurawski said:

I'm new here and just put up an introduction post a couple days ago in which 'Ol Crickety asked me to post my fish here so I can get some attaboys.  Unfortunately I haven't been out yet this year.  It was looking good around here for a bit last week and the week before when water temps were hitting upper 40s, but I missed out.  Now we're back to Winter and water temps crashed back down to mid 30s the past couple days. 

 

I am chompin at the bit to get after them when water warms back up. 

 

Best I can do for now is show a nice 21.5" I got last year right about this time.

 

Truly a magnificent looking fish, and equal magnificent beard.   

 

That fish looked up and said, "this ain't no real Santa" ?

 

Welcome, awesome group of guys and GAL in this thread. 

[Swamp Girl]

@Jeff Zurawski

 

 

Jeff, I'm chompin' at my bit too. I live in Maine, so our water is still hard, but daytime highs are hitting the low forties some days, so it won't be that much longer before out water is soft and then hopefully just a few weeks longer before it's warm enough to wake the bass. 

[The Bassman]

Best one so far this season.  Relatively calm winds forced me to go midwest finesse. Coppertreuse TicklerZ did the trick. Plenty of bites from the usual suspects, too. Nobody told them it snowed last night.