Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Jeff Zurawski]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Jeff, is that a tiger musky? What do you think, @T-Billy? That must have been a blast on bass gear. 

The ones in that size range are a lot of fun, for sure!  You can still get them under control, in the net, and back in the water pretty quickly with bass gear. 

 

The great big ones are troublesome - just hang on while they spin the kayak around hoping not to drift into a deadfall or t-bone a rock or something and flip.  If you make it that far, then you got to find a decent place to pull over before the next rapid and hand land the beast since it don't fit in the net.   That all can take a long enough time to where I worry about accidentally killing the fish from over-exhausting it. 

[Swamp Girl]

24 minutes ago, Jeff Zurawski said:

The great big ones are troublesome - just hang on while they spin the kayak around hoping not to drift into a deadfall or t-bone a rock or something and flip.  If you make it that far, then you got to find a decent place to pull over before the next rapid and hand land the beast since it don't fit in the net.   That all can take a long enough time to where I worry about accidentally killing the fish from over-exhausting it. 

 

I have lived everything you described ^here.^ The only time I ever had trouble on a musky release was with a musky that I netted and released quickly. It just wasn't ready to swim away. I spent at least 30 minutes babying it and it did swim away, but I've always worried about it. Are you catching your smallies and muskies in the New?

[GaryH]

16 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I caught my first 2023 bass! It was windier than I like, about 10 m.p.h., which means more corrective paddling in my canoe, and I fished from 1:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. It was sunny too. I went to a lake I fished several times last year and my two best spots produced nothing. So, I went to the windy end and caught nine and lost two. I started the fishing with finesse lures, i.e. a Senko and Ned. I got some taps, but couldn't set into anything solid. Maybe they were panfish. So, I tried a spinnerbait and jerkbait. Nothing. I'd bought a lipless crankbait that looks like a golden shiner and there are golden shiners in the lake. That worked. A rage swimmer that was white on the bottom and gray on top also worked. None of them were long, but a few were fat.

 

It was great to finally catch some bass after watching you guys catch so many. Here they are, with the two lures at the end.

 

I must admit that these are my first prespawn bass ever. I watched a lot of Youtube videos and read pre-spawn articles to learn how to catch them. I had my unpaid consultants too. 

 

Great job Katie.

[Jeff Zurawski]

9 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I have lived everything you described ^here.^ The only time I ever had trouble on a musky release was with a musky that I netted and released quickly. It just wasn't ready to swim away. I spent at least 30 minutes babying it and it did swim away, but I've always worried about it. Are you catching your smallies and muskies in the New?

You know exactly what I'm talking about then! 

 

I'd rather not hook up with those big ones on bass gear, really.  I ended up getting some muskie gear and occasionally target them specifically, but have never seen one while I'm prepared like that and actually trying to catch them.  Ain't that something?

 

I've caught them on the New, Greenbrier, and Upper James Rivers.  They also live in sections of the Gauley and Elk that I don't fish. 

[PhishLI]

I was frozen like a popsicle early Monday morning, and yesterday it was 90*. Go figure. When I got to the lake last night it was so slick-calm and breeze-less that it was hard to believe wind existed anywhere else on earth. I'd forgotten my neck gaiter, so I was in dread over the idea of being engulfed by huge plumes of gnats and huffing them in, but they were nowhere to be found. Consequently, not a single fish broke the surface once in 3 hours. Not even a swirl. Things seemed quite hopeless. The really odd thing was that I was getting lots of short strikes in the same locations, which felt precisely like bedding bass bumping me off their nests. Doesn't seem possible being this early, but perhaps the water temps in the shallows got supercharged just enough to fake them out? Who knows?

 

Got the stuffed crappie on a Rapala Shallow Runner in Perch, and the basslings came on a Berkely The Champ Swimmer in crappie. Beat the skunk somehow and maintained my dignity, sort of.

[Swamp Girl]

41 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

it was so slick-calm and breeze-less that it was hard to believe wind existed anywhere else on earth.

 

^This" is a fishing report. It's also literature. 

[thediscochef]

Another solid 3, still looking for bigger fish but we'll get there. Had a couple little ones to go with. Flukes always money.

[Jar11591]

What a grind today. Air temperature went up to 86°, and all the coves that were iced in on Monday had warmed to 64°. Had the fish all kinds of messed up. Saw a lot of shallow cruisers near timber but were extremely skiddish and weren’t interested in biting. My normal deep structure seemed to be devoid of life. So I fished shallow and was able to grind out a couple 14”ers pitching a Rage Structure Bug deep inside the timber. 

 

Definitely not the prespawn day I had hoped for, but I can’t remember ever fishing when it was 86° in mid April. Especially when the lake was 20% frozen a few days ago. Back at it tomorrow! 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

40 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

What a grind today. Air temperature went up to 86°, and all the coves that were iced in on Monday had warmed to 64°. Had the fish all kinds of messed up. Saw a lot of shallow cruisers near timber but were extremely skiddish and weren’t interested in biting. My normal deep structure seemed to be devoid of life. So I fished shallow and was able to grind out a couple 14”ers pitching a Rage Structure Bug deep inside the timber. 

 

Definitely not the prespawn day I had hoped for, but I can’t remember ever fishing when it was 86° in mid April. Especially when the lake was 20% frozen a few days ago. Back at it tomorrow! 

Nice one, I did a double take when I read your air temps.   That's crazy hot for here right now, let alone upstate NY.  

[Jar11591]

2 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Nice one, I did a double take when I read your air temps.   That's crazy hot for here right now, let alone upstate NY.  

Yeah this weather is crazy. Next week is getting back to spring temps (days in the 50s and nights in the 30s-40s), and hopefully that’ll get the fishing get on a more normal ice out/ prespawn pattern. And I look forward to it because today was one of the weirder days of fishing I’ve had. And a total grind! At least it makes the

14”ers more rewarding. 

[gim]

11 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Looks like a pure strain to me. A Lot of the young ones I catch are spotted up like that.

My vote is also pure strain. Tigers have bars but have the color of a pike. Like this one last September.

12 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

we're all fishing for our beloved bass. 

Not all of us. I can’t target one until May 13. ?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I feel like this D-Bomb has really saved my Spring to some degree, today I only caught a limit, 4 Spots, and a 6.2lb beauty.   I believe that's three straight sessions in a row with a 5lb+ fish on this particular bait.    The first fish in the video is from today, the other ones are from the previous two sessions.    4 fish came on the D Bomb, one came on the Flashback Mini while I was trying to get on a Shad spawn bite.  

 

All these quality LGMs are spawning I believe, I'm not sight fishing them, but they are where one would expect them to be spawning.   I did play around with a buck for a second, showed him the bait and he didn't care at all.   I left the big girl alone beside the boat slip she felt like a pet there for a few days lol.  

 

Also backed down to a 4/0 red Gama EWG, and increased the Tungsten size to 5/16th and pegged it with a 6th Sense Peg-X.   Fantastic little spring spawn bait, so happy I've found it.   Give it a try if you are looking for a new creature bait.  

 

 

[Mbirdsley]

Fished crystal lake again In Montcalm county Michigan.  Water temp had warmed up almost 20 degrees in 4 days.  It’s been 80 degrees the since Tuesday.  As I was motoring out I happened to look into the water and I saw a wolf pack of 10-14 inch bass schooled up and just roaming around in 3-4 ft of water.  I investigated this and picked off three.  However, the entire shallows was full of schools of what I’m assuming were males roaming around.  Shows how much I’ve matured as an angler I would have stayed all day catching these smaller fish. They were not in a chasing mood. 
 

Tried moving out deeper looking for bigger fish I was mildly successful. I finally figured out that they wanted  either a blue gill or perch jerk bait.  I caught around 20 14-15 inch fish on a LC blue gill jerk bait.  I lost 3-4 bigger fish on a mega bass perch +1 in 8-9ft of water. I’m finding out blue gill is the hot color on crystal .  I caught 1-2 fish on a 6th sense lipless crank.  Also 1-2 on a sun gill Keitech swing impact.  Need to find bigger fish 

[GreenPig]

Great day. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

25 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

Great day. 

Laying the hammer down with that Ned Rig, fantastic day!  

28 minutes ago, Mbirdsley said:

Fished crystal lake again In Montcalm county Michigan.  Water temp had warmed up almost 20 degrees in 4 days.  It’s been 80 degrees the since Tuesday.  As I was motoring out I happened to look into the water and I saw a wolf pack of 10-20 12-14 inch bass x hooked up and just roaming around in 3-4 ft of water.  I investigated this and picked off three.  However, the entire shallows was full of schools of what I’m assuming were males schooled up and roaming around.  Shows how much I’ve matured as an angler I would have stayed all day catching these smaller fish. They were not in a chasing mood. 
 

Tried moving out deeper looking for bigger fish I was mildly successful. I finally figured out that they wanted an either a blue gill or perch jerk bait.  I caught around 20 14-15 inch fish on a LC blue gill jerk bait.  I lost 3-4 bigger fish on a mega bass +1 in 8-9ft of water. I’m finding out blue gill is the hot color on crystal .  I caught 1-2 fish on a 6th sense lipless crank.  Also 1-2 on a sun gill Keitech swing impact.  Need to find bigger fish 

Smells like peak pre spawn to me, man I miss those days.   Awesome stuff, the bigs will come......a hot jerkbait is a blast whatever size they are. 

 

[Swamp Girl]

9 hours ago, gimruis said:

22 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Not all of us. I can’t target one until May 13.

 

Arrrgh! 

9 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

 I believe that's three straight sessions in a row with a 5lb+ fish on this particular bait. 

 

Whoa! That's pro-grade consistency. 

 

That's a lotta fish, @Mbirdsley and @GreenPig!

[Team9nine]

A rare trip for me to the local large river system yesterday afternoon. It had been many, many years since I last visited, but it is unique in its smells and scenery compared to the micro lakes and reservoirs I usually play on. As it turned out, falling and clearing water had the bigger fish turned off, but still managed 15 smaller smallmouth, along with a mixed basket of largemouth, bluegill, crappie and rock bass. Saw more turtles in one day than I’ll see all year, along with ducks, kingfishers, and two separate pairs of nesting bald eagles, not to mention all the things you only see on these old river systems, both good and bad.

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

29 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

A rare trip for me to the local large river system yesterday afternoon. It had been many, many years since I last visited, but it is unique in its smells and scenery compared to the micro lakes and reservoirs I usually play on. As it turned out, falling and clearing water had the bigger fish turned off, but still managed 15 smaller smallmouth, along with a mixed basket of largemouth, bluegill, crappie and rock bass. Saw more turtles in one day than I’ll see all year, along with ducks, kingfishers, and two separate pairs of nesting bald eagles, not to mention all the things you only see on these old river systems, both good and bad.

 

 

 

God loves a river. You can tell by the extra care that went into their design and construction. 

 

It's cool to see you fish different water, @Team9nine. 

[BigAngus752]

2.5hrs out this morning.  9 bass and this was the best of the bunch at 4-12.  This is the best pic I could get of her because she was bleeding.  Finally seeing identifiable spring patterns around here.  The weird weather had the fish all confused. 

 

[treble hook]

Me and a friend went this morning. I can’t get out of the small ones. We caught 9 like this one. Was a heck of a fun morning though…

[The Bassman]

7 hours ago, Team9nine said:

A rare trip for me to the local large river system yesterday afternoon. It had been many, many years since I last visited, but it is unique in its smells and scenery compared to the micro lakes and reservoirs I usually play on. As it turned out, falling and clearing water had the bigger fish turned off, but still managed 15 smaller smallmouth, along with a mixed basket of largemouth, bluegill, crappie and rock bass. Saw more turtles in one day than I’ll see all year, along with ducks, kingfishers, and two separate pairs of nesting bald eagles, not to mention all the things you only see on these old river systems, both good and bad.

 

 

Have had some wonderful experiences there in the past. Just don't like to leave my car unattended where I used to go. Times have changed.

[Woody B]

16 Bass today.  15 Spots and 1 LM.  None big enough to weigh.  Biggest was 16 inches or so.   I think I caught the most number of different species I've ever caught in a single day bass fishing.  In addition to 16 Bass I also caught a White Perch, a Yellow Perch, a Crappie and a 17.54 pound Flathead cat.  The weight on the cat may be off a little.   The lake was rough with waves. I couldn't get the scale to settle.  It was bouncing from 17 to 18 pounds with the waves.  I snapped a pic that read 17.54.  It was 34 inches long.   I caught the bass on a bunch of different stuff.  Bladed jig, shakey head, Devils Horse and a couple cranks.  The "off" species fish all came on cranks.  

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

5 minutes ago, Woody B said:

16 Bass today.  15 Spots and 1 LM.  None big enough to weigh.  Biggest was 16 inches or so.   I think I caught the most number of different species I've ever caught in a single day bass fishing.  In addition to 16 Bass I also caught a White Perch, a Yellow Perch, a Crappie and a 17.54 pound Flathead cat.  The weight on the cat may be off a little.   The lake was rough with waves. I couldn't get the scale to settle.  It was bouncing from 17 to 18 pounds with the waves.  I snapped a pic that read 17.54.  It was 34 inches long.   I caught the bass on a bunch of different stuff.  Bladed jig, shakey head, Devils Horse and a couple cranks.  The "off" species fish all came on cranks.  

 

That's awesome, would have been a heck of a day in my book.   I love to catch fish, all fish.....but my obsession over big Bass precludes me from fishing for other species.    I'm thrilled with by catches, it's usually big for whatever species it is if it hits Bass lure too.   

 

That cat would have likely stolen my bait, it's a crap shoot anytime I hook a nice cat lol

[Team9nine]

Back to the “green fish grind” today ? Continued warm, dry weather has the weeds up, the water clear, and the males continuing to move in and start setting up nesting areas. Breezy with clouds when I started, so casting the weedline was the best option. Wind died a bit later and the sun came out, and I was able to locate 7 or 8 bass staking out nests. Was able to catch 4 of them, landing 16 total. No signs of bigger females today, and much cooler and windier weather moving in tomorrow through Tuesday will probably knock back the spawning efforts for a while.

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@Woody B, you had a busy day. Must have been fun!

 

@Team9nine, that first bass is a fatty. Good numbers too.