Latest Catch Pics Thread

[IcatchDinks]

Been a slow week until today. Haven't been able to get out much, what with our Church's VBS and it being pretty dang hot (for Michigan. We don't hold a melted candle to you poor chaps down there in Texas). 

 

Tried a new pond on Wednesday. Kept getting tons of little bumps from the bluegill, but nothing big. Figured I'd at least downsize the bait to have some fun with the little fellas. I did not catch a bluegill:

 

 

Today was a much different story. We have a series of little ponds here in town that get pressured pretty heavily, but still seem to yield pretty good numbers of fish. One of them had become almost filled with weeds, so anything with treble hooks is really hard to fish with. I went out this evening to try the topwater bite, but got nothing but swings and misses on the popper. I've never used a weedless frog before, but own two of them. I tied one on and started fishing among the weeds. Bass were hitting it, but I really struggled to resist the reflex to set the hook. Had one bass hit it three times before I finally relaxed enough to wait before setting the hook. Then I had to drag the poor fella 15-20 feet through dense vegetation. But I finally landed my first ever weedless frog catch

 

After about an hour, I went down the road to try another pond. As I pulled up, two jacked up, very nice pick-ups driven by young guys about my age were getting ready to leave. They were all kitted out: nice baitcasters, nets, go-pros, etc. Everything looked brand new. I had my grandpa's old fiberglass rod and a couple topwater lures. 

One pick-up leaves, the other guy hollars at me as I get out of my car:

"There's no fish here. We've been trying for hours. We're leaving!"

 

I said, "No fish? I've caught tons of fish out of here. If you're not catching anything you must be doing it wrong." 

 

The guy replies with, "they're just not biting tonight then."

 

As he says this, I dropped my line in the water and immediately had a big blow-up. 

 

I'm not a very good angler, and maybe those guys could kick my butt at fishing any other day, but it made me laugh.

 

Managed to land two more fish in the next hour, before calling it a night. 

 

I know these aren't huge bass, but they're pretty decent for around here. Boy I love fishing. 

 

Sorry for the book. 

[Dominat0r]

And the streak goes on! Got home late, was raining a bit, but went out anyway to get a midnight bass. This counts for Sunday 6/25. Got it off the Mach Patroller. 

 

Had a nice fish on a chatterbait with a swimbait trailer, but it got off....got a decent hook set in it though.....hmm..

 

[T-Billy]

Got out for about four hrs last night. Five LM between 12"-16", this 5.14# LM, a small saugeye, and a 3# ish channel cat. First 5'r of the year for me.

The bite on the flats still ain't happening. This is the latest I've ever seen that bite go down. It's usually on by the first week of June. With the cool nights and recent rains, the surface temp is still hovering around 70. Need the gills to hit the beds in order for the mayhem to ensue.

[Swamp Girl]

@T-Billy, that's a beauty, Tim. As you might recall, I was raised in Ohio. Ohio is where I caught my first bass. And I NEVER caught a bass like that. 

 

Cool story, @IcatchDinks!

 

Keep streaking, @Dominat0r! I mean, uh, er, never mind. 

 

That is a fat one, @Jmurphy87.

[T-Billy]

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

@T-Billy, that's a beauty, Tim. As you might recall, I was raised in Ohio. Ohio is where I caught my first bass. And I NEVER caught a bass like that.

I didn't know that. Where abouts did you grow up?

[Swamp Girl]

5 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

I didn't know that. Where abouts did you grow up?

 

Columbus. North side. My brothers and I would tie our fishing outfits to our bikes with string and pedal to farm ponds. Like @PhishLI, we'd wade, casting Mann's Jelly Worms and Creek Chub Plunkers. 

 

AND we NEVER caught a three-pounder, much less a five-pounder. Ohio fishes hard. Lotta people. 

 

In my head, I add and deduct for the catches in the Latest Catch Pics Thread. For example, I multiply my total catches by 0.25 to compare my catches to total bass caught in more fished places. For big southern bass, I deduct a pound since they grow year-round. And for five-pound bass caught in Ohio where millions of people live, well, you caught yourself a six-pounder, Tim. Congrats.

[Jar11591]

Nice Ohio tank @T-Billy! 

[T-Billy]

21 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Columbus. North side.

10-4. Been there. I bought my boat at Paul's Marine, a bit north of Columbus in Lewis Center near Buckeye Lake. I live in a tiny town called Dellroy about 2hrs ENE of Columbus. I fish the MWCD lakes, Atwood, Leesville, Clendening, Piedmont, and once in a blue moon, Tappan. Also have the Tuscarawas river near by. It has a good SM population.

OH isn't exactly a meca for bass fishing, but it ain't horrible either. 5's are hard to come by, 6's are really hard to come by, and 7+ is for sure the fish of a lifetime. Most of us never get one over 7, I've been pretty close at 6-10.

[Swamp Girl]

7 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

10-4. Been there. I bought my boat at Paul's Marine in Lewis Center, a bit north of Columbus in Lewis Center near Buckeye Lake. I live in a tiny town called Dellroy about 2hrs ENE of Columbus. I fish the MWCD lakes, Atwood, Leesville, Clendening, Piedmont, and once in a blue moon, Tappan. Also have the Tuscarawas river near by. It has a good SM population.

OH isn't exactly a meca for bass fishing, but it ain't horrible either. 5's are hard to come by, 6's are really hard to come by, and 7+ is for sure the fish of a lifetime. Most of us never get one over 7, I've been pretty close at 6-10.

 

I fished farm ponds both north (Delaware area) and south of Columbus (Canal Winchester, Lithopolis, and even Lancaster). Yeah, we'd ride our bikes through all of Columbus to go fishing. For those southern towns, we'd take a leaky tent and camp beside them.

 

Those towns, which used to be rural, are highways and strip malls today. Sigh. 

 

I looked at your lakes online. I like how Tappan has protected shoreline. 

 

Tim, don't forget that in my mind, you already caught a 7-10 bass!

[IcatchDinks]

6 hours ago, Dominat0r said:

And the streak goes on! Got home late, was raining a bit, but went out anyway to get a midnight bass. This counts for Sunday 6/25. Got it off the Mach Patroller. 

 

Had a nice fish on a chatterbait with a swimbait trailer, but it got off....got a decent hook set in it though.....hmm..

 

The Joe DiMaggio of fishing

[LrgmouthShad]

That was a pretty good morning. I fished for only 2.5hrs because the wind got brutal, but picked up a limit. My first on this lake. 

 

I fished three spots. I caught at least one bass at each. First two fish were on a zoom uv speed worm in junebug red. This is while it was still early in the morning. Once the sun came up, I switched colors to watermelon candy, and then got another fish, but it was while I was swimming it. By this time, the wind was already pretty crazy, so I figured since I got a bite swimming, and it was so windy, I should tie on a spinnerbait. I almost didn't bring any, but before leaving I saw the wind forecast and thought, yeah, that'd be a good idea to bring em. The two that I got on a spinner were actually the larger fish. They made it out of dink status. I winched both of them out of bushes. Heavy tackle and accuracy were keys today. I was in some thick stuff. Like the kinda stuff you'd see @T-Billy run 100mph across the lake for, dropping some heavy braid on em ?.

 

I fished a little differently today and I think it worked out for me, but there is no doubt they were chomping today. 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

5 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Got out for about four hrs last night. Five LM between 12"-16", this 5.14# LM, a small saugeye, and a 3# ish channel cat. First 5'r of the year for me.

The bite on the flats still ain't happening. This is the latest I've ever seen that bite go down. It's usually on by the first week of June. With the cool nights and recent rains, the surface temp is still hovering around 70. Need the gills to hit the beds in order for the mayhem to ensue.

 

4 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

@T-Billy, that's a beauty, Tim. As you might recall, I was raised in Ohio. Ohio is where I caught my first bass. And I NEVER caught a bass like that. 

 

Cool story, @IcatchDinks!

 

Keep streaking, @Dominat0r! I mean, uh, er, never mind. 

 

That is a fat one, @Jmurphy87.

 

Well that makes three of us that grew up in Ohio. Akron/Cuyahoga Falls area for me. OSU fan for life even though I spent 4 years at OU in Athens. I fished Magadore & Portage Lakes mostly but did try Leesville & Caesar Creek plus spent some time fishing the western basin of Lake Erie & over in New York state at Lake Chautauqua while still living in Ohio before retiring & moving to PA to fish for smallies.   

[BigAngus752]

The ridiculousness continues.  Friday after work it took only a couple hours to catch a bunch with the top 5 weighing 15lbs 15oz.  I don't know why.  This lake is usually at it's toughest in the summer but the water is at 81 degrees and I'm still pulling lots of fish.  Going to enjoy it until it's over.

 

 

 

18 hours ago, Way north bass guy said:

Well, today was our opener here finally.

Got out for a few hours on my home lake. Didn’t want to travel too far cause they were calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon, so a 30 sec drive to the ramp it was. Caught around 30 or so, on a mixed bag of frogs, flipping a creature and a ned rig. About a 50/50 mix of green and brown ones today, no real giants, but did get this nice copper coloured guy on an epic frog explosion to end the day almost at the ramp. All in all, it was a decent start for me, and I was back in the boat shed before the storms hit??. 

That's not a filter on your phone camera?  That's one beautiful fish!

[T-Billy]

38 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

 

Well that makes three of us that grew up in Ohio. Akron/Cuyahoga Falls area for me. OSU fan for life even though I spent 4 years at OU in Athens. I fished Magadore & Portage Lakes mostly but did try Leesville & Caesar Creek plus spent some time fishing the western basin of Lake Erie & over in New York state at Lake Chautauqua while still living in Ohio before retiring & moving to PA to fish for smallies.   

Nice. Leesville is my #1 Lake. I live 15min from either ramp. Piedmont is #2. I live on the shores of Atwood. Leesville is where most of the muskie mayhem went down last fall, with Piedmont getting honorable mention.

[Dominat0r]

50 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

 

Well that makes three of us that grew up in Ohio. Akron/Cuyahoga Falls area for me. OSU fan for life even though I spent 4 years at OU in Athens. I fished Magadore & Portage Lakes mostly but did try Leesville & Caesar Creek plus spent some time fishing the western basin of Lake Erie & over in New York state at Lake Chautauqua while still living in Ohio before retiring & moving to PA to fish for smallies.   

 

 

Well, since I am from Florida and went to school there...Ill say GO GATORS!

 

Went out to have a quick smoke break, thought I would take the patroller out for another jaunt. 3rd cast in.....keeping the streak alive. #2 Sunday fish and probably the smallest all weekend. 

 

Still though, topwater fishing is the most fun I have had so far....when they hit the top of the water like a shark, its awesome. I do find myself forcing the topwater lure in just because I love to watch it happen. 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

That was a pretty good morning. I fished for only 2.5hrs because the wind got brutal, but picked up a limit. My first on this lake. 

 

I fished three spots. I caught at least one bass at each. First two fish were on a zoom uv speed worm in junebug red. This is while it was still early in the morning. Once the sun came up, I switched colors to watermelon candy, and then got another fish, but it was while I was swimming it. By this time, the wind was already pretty crazy, so I figured since I got a bite swimming, and it was so windy, I should tie on a spinnerbait. I almost didn't bring any, but before leaving I saw the wind forecast and thought, yeah, that'd be a good idea to bring em. The two that I got on a spinner were actually the larger fish. They made it out of dink status. I winched both of them out of bushes. Heavy tackle and accuracy were keys today. I was in some thick stuff. Like the kinda stuff you'd see @T-Billy run 100mph across the lake for, dropping some heavy braid on em ?.

 

I fished a little differently today and I think it worked out for me, but there is no doubt they were chomping today. 

 

Love me some Junebug red Speedies......they crush here in florida. Junebug and Junebug Red are the 2 best colors by far. 

[LrgmouthShad]

9 minutes ago, Dominat0r said:

Junebug and Junebug Red are the 2 best colors by far. 

Yessir I like em too. I like all the subtle little nuances in colors from zoom. Junebug red is a darker hue than Junebug and as another example plum apple is a darker hue than plum. 
 

I won’t spend time rotating through a bunch of colors but I will spend time trying to establish what are the hot colors on a lake and when do they work

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

 

Well that makes three of us that grew up in Ohio. Akron/Cuyahoga Falls area for me. OSU fan for life even though I spent 4 years at OU in Athens. I fished Magadore & Portage Lakes mostly but did try Leesville & Caesar Creek plus spent some time fishing the western basin of Lake Erie & over in New York state at Lake Chautauqua while still living in Ohio before retiring & moving to PA to fish for smallies.   

My wife went to hocking hills but was a bartender at a biker bar in Athens ohio a long time ago, small world 

[Dominat0r]

 

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Yessir I like em too. I like all the subtle little nuances in colors from zoom. Junebug red is a darker hue than Junebug and as another example plum apple is a darker hue than plum. 
 

I won’t spend time rotating through a bunch of colors but I will spend time trying to establish what are the hot colors on a lake and when do they work

I even got the red bug and have been mixing them in the bag with the junebug and trying to get some of the color to leak on there. I have got a few with the red bug color, but always like mixing my own colors. 

[Swamp Girl]

45 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

My wife went to hocking hills but was a bartender at a biker bar in Athens ohio a long time ago, small world 

 

My first teaching job was in Hocking Hills. And I loved visiting Athens.

 

OH-

[IcatchDinks]

For all the Ohioans: 

 

[Swamp Girl]

7 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

For all the Ohioans: 

 

And to think that I was going to take you to a lake where you'd best your personal best five times in a morning. Now, if you ever come to Maine, I'm going to suggest you fish in a puddle. A muddy puddle. Real muddy.

 

"Oh, yeah, big bass in there. Just. Keep. Casting. Never. Stop." 

[Dwight Hottle]

55 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

My wife went to hocking hills but was a bartender at a biker bar in Athens ohio a long time ago, small world 

I was bartender at the Inferno for several years. The only biker bar I remember was on the edge of town but like most college towns there was no shortage of bars in Athens. 

[IcatchDinks]

3 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

And to think that I was going to take you to a lake where you'd best your personal best five times in a morning. Now, if you ever come to Maine, I'm going to suggest you fish in a puddle. A muddy puddle. Real muddy.

 

"Oh, yeah, big bass in there. Just. Keep. Casting. Never. Stop." 

Honestly, compared to most of my local spots, a mud puddle in Maine probably would best my PB. 

[LrgmouthShad]

10 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

For all the Ohioans: 

 

Go Blue!!!

 

Born in Ann Arbor

[TnRiver46]

5 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

I was bartender at the Inferno for several years. The only biker bar I remember was on the edge of town but like most college towns there was no shortage of bars in Athens. 

I’ll ask her where she worked here shortly