Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Aaron_H]

Tried out a new pond today, got a recommendation from someone who has caught a handful of plus sized bass out of it. Did okay numbers, but no size. Main producers were spinnerbait, jerkbait, lipless, and some senko fish.

 

I made a promise to throw the spinnerbait more often this year and try to get some nice fish on it. Did decent numbers on it today but nothing sizeable.

 

I did get some excitement when a hefty fish slammed my jerkbait and had the rod doubled up ripping some drag, but turned out to be......

 

A 4lb tilapia. Still a good fight but very disappointing to see when I thought I had a quality bass on at first.

 

My biggest bass of the night was right before dark, 2lb 10oz smoked the chatterbait right up against the bank. Had a bigger fish follow me in not long after but spooked off when she saw me.

 

Just nice to get out there, between work and weather the fishing trips have been a little less numerous lately.

[LrgmouthShad]

Fantastic @Aaron_H!

 

@Cbump I’m liking the forecast for this weekend, my guy

 

 

[Mbirdsley]

You know it’s a bad day when the fish either totally ignore a wacky rig or run from it.  Fished a new lake to day called derby lake.  It’s a small deep lake in central Michigan.  I saw a lot of nice large and small mouth bass along with a ton of crappie and a big pike.

 

I threw everything at them cranks , deep cranks,  Carolina, free rig, mojo rig, wacky rig, lipless, swim baits and jerk bait. I’m sure I’m forgetting what else.
 

managed one 14 inch bass on a mega bass jerk bait.  With weather in the 70’s next week the spawn should be on in central Michigan 

[NorthernBasser]

Managed to get out for a few hours yesterday afternoon. Caught a few solid but not spectacular bass. Most were caught on a Jackhammer with a Pro Point Lure Machete Minnow trailer (really liking these). And then this huge carp took me for a 20 minute ride. There's some big muskie in this lake so  that was my initial thought. It didn't take long to realize it was likely a carp the way it was fighting.

 

Needless to say the Bill Lewis ATV 1.5 comes with some solid hardware! Snagged him in the back with my squarebill setup. My arms were tired after that fight! ? And my hands still stunk later that night after washing them I don't know how many times. 

 

 

 

 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

9 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

Managed to get out for a few hours yesterday afternoon. Caught a few solid but not spectacular bass. Most were caught on a Jackhammer with a Pro Point Lure Machete Minnow trailer (really liking these). And then this huge carp took me for a 20 minute ride. There's some big muskie in this lake so  that was my initial thought. It didn't take long to realize it was likely a carp the way it was fighting.

 

Needless to say the Bill Lewis ATV 1.5 comes with some solid hardware! Snagged him in the back with my squarebill setup. My arms were tired after that fight! ? And my hands still stunk later that night after washing them I don't know how many times. 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of emotions, but that smells like pre spawn to me, a smell that is most certainly the sweetest perfume known to man.....why must I wait 8 more months.....can I reverse snow bird? ?

[NorthernBasser]

The smell came from handling that carp. Wooo weee it S T U N K! 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Just now, NorthernBasser said:

The smell came from handling that carp. Wooo weee it S T U N K! 

Haha, Matt Allen ain't got nothing on that ATV torture test ?

 

Been since I was a kid since I caught em, but I always love to go Carp fishing.  Even as a young boy I put way too much pressure on myself Bass fishing.   I need to make myself fish for other stuff, as that's when my love of fishing isn't tethered by my obsession over catching a single huge Bass.  

[gim]

24 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

Snagged him in the back with my squarebill setup

That’s funny. That is one ugly looking fish.

 

[NorthernBasser]

19 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Haha, Matt Allen ain't got nothing on that ATV torture test ?

 

Been since I was a kid since I caught em, but I always love to go Carp fishing.  Even as a young boy I put way too much pressure on myself Bass fishing.   I need to make myself fish for other stuff, as that's when my love of fishing isn't tethered by my obsession over catching a single huge Bass.  

It was definitely a fun fight. That thing was peeeeling drag. I had 3 other boats stop and watch to see what I had going. After about 10 minutes they were like "ok that's enough, we're out of here". Haha.

[treble hook]

Caught a nice one yesterday evening…

[hokiehunter373]

11 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Had my boss and his son over today . Primary goal was bream. The 2nd bream Alex hooked , as he had it almost to the dock , a bass clobbered the bream and he hooked the bass right in the corner of the mouth!!

First bass !

4.06 pounds…

Talk about a way to be hooked for life! That smile on his face says it all.

[Swamp Girl]

32 minutes ago, treble hook said:

Caught a nice one yesterday evening…

 

You sure did!

[Jar11591]

Calm, cloudy and warmish day, and I went up to my favorite lake. Fish are still in a funk. Water temps still way lower than they were 2 weeks ago, 52-54°. I spent a lot of time pitching wood, but never able to get much going. This was the best fish at 3-9:

Pitching the Siebert brush jig and Paca chunk into timber and watched her shoot out and inhale the jig as soon as it hit the water. Unexpected downpour chased me off the lake because I didn’t bring my rain gear so I wasn’t able to hit all my spots. Probably could have put something together had I been prepared for rain. 
I got to say hi to my loon friends, saw hundreds of rainbow trout gobbling bugs, with several of them going completely airborne, a bald eagle, and had the lake to myself. 
 

 

[TnRiver46]

That’s a big un 

[Pat Brown]

 

Put my buddy Ty on his PB largemouth today on a glide bait I gifted him at the beginning of the trip.  Caught some nice smaller bass but this 4.25 lb beast was the highlight by far.

 

Saw some 6-8 lb monsters that I plan to go back for this weekend ??

[T-Billy]

Much to my surprise I put a beating on 'em today. Dinks that is. LOL. Slick calm and bluebird skies behind nearly a week of cold wind and rain had my expectations low. I started out pitching pine laydowns and it was on from the start. Could hardly buy a bite pitching anything else, but the thick, bushy, pines who's boughs hadn't rotted off yet were loaded. There were fish shallow, but they were SUPER spooky. The fish in the pine tops from 8'-14' were chewing though. Caught a few dozen, but only two decent ones. Two best weighed 2.84 and 3.28.

This poor little fish is off to a rough start. Looks like a heron recently had a go at it, and it's got an old scar clear down it's side. Fat, otherwise healthy looking little bass though.

Highlight of the day was a lost fish. I pitched into a huge green pine top in about 13', let the 'ol Sweet Craw hit bottom, lifted up and there was a fish on it. Cracked the whip, and got stopped dead. BIG fish. Kept leaning hard on it and winching away, and when I finally got it up through that jungle it turned out to be a 40" ish muskie. Just as I got it pulled clear of the tree, it bit me off. Not landing it didn't bother me in the least. What an epic slugfest it was winching that beast up through 13' of gnarly pine boughs. Hopefully someone will catch it soon and get that 4/0 flippin hook out of it's yap. Twas a fun day on the water.

[FishTax]

Caught about 25 in our boat between 2 of us yesterday. This one was the largest, didn't weigh it but well over 3 lbs. Fat belly. 67 water temp. Black and blue jig, and black shaky head was all they wanted on points. I was surprised this girl didn't appear to have spawned yet, thought it was over but apparently not. 

[MIbassyaker]

Finally got a chance to put myself on the board for 2023 this afternoon! 

 

Bass #1 & #2 of the year were scrappy little 14-ers:

 

Bass #3 was a chunky 18.5" with a belly full of eggs (probably near 4lb, but couldn't confirm because I forgot to replace the batteries in my scale?)

 

Green Pumpkin 3/8 Jackhammer (1 & 3) and a trick worm (2).

 

Two more got away on the jackhammer, including one about 3+ .....rusty hooksetting on my part after 6 months of inactivity...

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Third giant fish since Aug of 2022 I've lost, I can picture the first two as vividly today as when they happened in Jan., and Feb.    

 

100% my fault.   Bought a brand-new reel this morning, dialed spool tension and brakes and off I went.   Little did I know the first fish I hooked up on this new reel would be a giant, potential white whale fish.   If I simply had the drag set she'd be in the boat.   I knew the second I felt a dead reel, and realized I had no drag on her she was coming off, she waited to break my heart at the surface and threw the buzzbait right back at me.   

 

Still managed a 4, 3.5, and 2.5 on the buzzer and new buzzer reel, but you don't get over these fish destined for the scales, sickening.   I need this fish so I can move on with my life at this point....joking/not joking ?

 

[NorthernBasser]

6 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Third giant fish since Aug of 2022 I've lost, I can picture the first two as vividly today as when they happened in Jan., and Feb.    

 

100% my fault.   Bought a brand-new reel this morning, dialed spool tension and brakes and off I went.   Little did I know the first fish I hooked up on this new reel would be a giant, potential white whale fish.   If I simply had the drag set she'd be in the boat.   I knew the second I felt a dead reel, and realized I had no drag on her she was coming off, she waited to break my heart at the surface and threw the buzzbait right back at me.   

 

Still managed a 4, 3.5, and 2.5 on the buzzer and new buzzer reel, but you don't get over these fish destined for the scales, sickening.   I need this fish so I can move on with my life at this point....joking/not joking ?

 

 

Heartbreak hotel! Those are definitely the times you take a seat and ponder life for a bit before you get back at it. Nothing beats a good buzzbait bite! 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

4 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

 

Heartbreak hotel! Those are definitely the times you take a seat and ponder life for a bit before you get back at it. Nothing beats a good buzzbait bite! 

You got that right brother, it's literally a nauseating feeling for about 10mins, and then just sadness until you manage to at least catch another fish.   

 

The first two might have been boated if I backed the drag down as one pulled on a blade bait, the other was just on the stinger tiny hook on an Axe Blade.   You just replay these fish over and over to try and get closure.   At least on this one it was quite obvious lol.    

 

This would have never happened to you or some of the habitual monkey offenders, goes to show I should buy more reels ?

[NorthernBasser]

43 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

 

This would have never happened to you or some of the habitual monkey offenders, goes to show I should buy more reels ?

Hey, at least you live in a region where a hog is more common than up here. So you have more chances to redeem yourself. 

 

And yes, the answer for everything in life is to buy more tackle. ?

[Swamp Girl]

Dang it, Alex. Those lost big fish haunt me too. Still, you caught some fine fish. 

[TnRiver46]

Fun Friday!!! Got done with work a little early and my buddy met me at the launch around 4. At our first stop I missed a good hit on a worm. Pitched right back in there and he swam off with it again and I got a 16” smallie. Then drifting around in the current my buddy’s pop R got slammed by a nice 18” smallie. After that I tossed a fluke in some shallows and dozens of fish were chasing and biting it, white bass mother lode. They would follow the lures and attack some of them violently. They kept knocking the pop R up into the sky. I had the most fun using a piece of a white trick worm, you could see it get railed in the distance. A small grub hooked them much better and is what I was using in the video to acquire meat,  but that half worm was just comical how they would follow and shred it 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@TnRiver46, "we're gonna need a bigger livewell."

 

 

I LOVE white bass and for years, I focused on them. I caught them mostly at Lake Pepin on the Mississippi River, two and three at a time. I'd drift with two minnows on 4 lb. test, hook two, and then cast a jig for my third. Such fun! Speaking of fun, I'm going quantity fishing tonight for a couple hours (a pond with good numbers but they top out at 18") and quality fishing tomorrow morning, (a pond with few fish, but they grow big there).