Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Swamp Girl]

You did the right thing, Murph.

 

What an evening, @hokiehunter373! 

[Pat Brown]

Well, I was getting sorta jealous of all the dang giant bass everyone was catching and had to go and get me one too ??????

 

Thanks to @ol'crickety for encouraging me to keep tossing topwater, my admitted kryptonite.

 

I may have found a topwater bait I can fish at my pressured pond in the old hollow body frog!

 

Set up:

 

Right before going to the beach for the 4th of July I was getting out to the pond around sunset a lot and getting blow ups around the boat house consistently as the sun was setting and missing the hook sets every single time.  I was sitting the hook instantly as soon as the frog went underneath the water and pulling it out of the fish's mouth every single time. I switched to a popper and a walking bait with treble hooks and actually had the same experience.

 

I noticed that I got significantly less bites on those baits though, which made more noise and commotion in the water and projected themselves more. So I switched back to the frog when I got back from the beach and tonight was my first outing with the frog since giving the fish by the boathouse that were blowing up a little break.

 

I actually fished for about 2 hours in other areas with no bite from 5:00 to about 7:00 p.m. and then made my move to the boat house at 7:00 p.m. and started fan casting around the vegetation.

 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a huge swirl on a very shallow sandy flat to the right of where I was fishing where a large fish was corralling small fish right up against the bank.

 

The cast my frog to that area where the boil was and worked my frog through it with nothing.

 

I went back to fan casting the area and started my fan casting efforts on top of the flat.

 

I was doing a steady walking cadence with little brief pauses and I was trying to impart as little actual movement as possible to keep the bait in place as it was walking from side to side.

 

 The bite was very subtle.  She slurped it and I could tell by the boil around the frog which was in no more than a foot of water. It was a giant fish.

 

 I remembered all those fish I missed last week and waited til I felt her pulling THEN I set the hook.

 

My drag immediately started screaming out.  She jumped probably nine times and about gave me a heart attack on the way in.

 

 I locked my drag down. Took a deep breath and winched her to the edge of the bank where it became very quickly apparent that flipping her was not an option.

 

 I put my pole down giving her the requisite slack for me to go in and get her and thankfully she was pegged deep in her throat and was not coming off.

 

 The hooks came right out though with no damage or bleeding and she swam away with fervor after a brief photo shoot.

 

 Biggest fish ever caught in the middle of the summer and by far my biggest fish on a frog or top water!

 

Happy summer bass resource!!!

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

BOOOOOOM SHAKKALAKAA   G-G-G-GIANT BASS ON FROG ?

 

That's awesome Pat, what a way to catch her as well, congrats!  

19 hours ago, Jmurphy87 said:

Well I got out today and wanted to fish a worm. There was a little wind today. I was fishing a 1/8oz tungsten with a red glass bead and brass clacker, worm was a 5 inch crème worm black blue laminate. Took me a minute, water was warm but there’s a small creek that runs into the lake from a natural spring pond. That means cooler water and a nice 4 foot deep channel in a normal 2 foot deep flat. I casted out it landed and I felt nothing, kept working it back to me and then I felt tension and noticed my line running off to the left. I had a fish and never felt it hit, I was happy that I caught something. I brought it up to unhook it and seen the worm was deep in its mouth. The fish engulfed the worm and 4/0 hook, I got the hook out but noticed that it sustained a tiny cut from the hook on its stomach. It was bleeding when I got the hook out and gave it some water and observed it. The fish seemed spunky and lethargic all at the same time. I knew that it was not going to make it.

 

the bleeding stopped but it wasn’t quite normal so I decided to bring it home to cook up for the wife. I didn’t have a bucket so I cut my trip short and headed home to fillet the fish. I felt bad because I normally don’t take fish home. First one in 4 years, I know it happens but I still feel bad. I don’t let food go to waste or just discard the carcass and pretend that the fish didn’t mean anything to me. I enjoy bass fishing and like to keep them healthy, happy as can be for getting a hook stuck in there mouth and growing.

Agreed with Katie, noble thing to do, and hopefully it was tasty.   

[throttleplate]

Only 1 smallie today between the wife and I fishing the Sheyene river south of valley city, was the size of a stick of butter. I dont know where the brownies are hiding but it isnt at the dam. The dam is still high and with recent rain is running muddy.

Wife was using fat head minnows while i started out with lures and caught 1 walleye on a white mimic minnow. Wife caught a big walleye on a bobber with 1/8 jig and fathead. I got tired of casting so i put on a bobber and a 1/4 oz ballhead jig and a ugly fathead minnow, ugly meaning its head was black and body had no sheen to it unlike shiners which look much better to my eyes.

North Dakota does not allow shiners to be fished in the entire state because they are not native.

I did catch a big catfish with the ugly fathead which put up a nice fight. Scheels to me is skimping on what they call a scoop of fatheads at $3.50. I suppose instead of raising the price just give less fatties so i bought 2 scoops.

 

 

[DaubsNU1]

60° this morning, lots of rain yesterday. Slow day to start but around 11:00 a.m. I pitched a wacky Senko on a drop shot next to a dock.... didn't feel the bike, just saw the line moving sideways. 4 lb 6 oz. Less than 2' of water.

 

Ended day with two 16"s, one small bass, and a crappie that hit my square bill : ) 

 

[IcatchDinks]

@gimruis my wife was gonna cut my hair tonight. But now we've postponed it to flaunt the law: 

 

 

I went out again for several hours tonight. Didn't catch a lot, but enough that I was happy. I hooked a really good bass, but my drag was too loose and by the time I had adjusted it, he was able to unhook himself. He musta jumped 4 or 5 times. Oh well. I caught several other fish, but nothing as big as that first one. 

 

 

 

 

I also spent about twenty minutes distracted by wild blackberries... 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@Pat Brown, that was riveting storytelling. Frogs are my hardest lure. I don't know why I can wait until I feel a fish's weight on other surface lures, but with a frog, I don't. I catch bass frogging, but I mostly miss them. Anyway, great catch, Pat.

 

So many big bass were caught today! This is for all of you, the two, greatest cheerleaders of all time:

 

 

@IcatchDinks, in the world of LEOs, the Hair Length Deputy is the Barney Fife of Bass Resource. I, on the other hand, as the Sheriff of Hair Density, am the Andy Taylor, and since I've seen @gimruis without his cap, I'm taking his one bullet.

 

[Team9nine]

Big storm cell pounded us this morning to the tune of over 1.5” of rain in 2 hours. Drains weren’t running when I finally hit the lake late afternoon, but the cloud cover was still thick, and the water level was normal or above for the first time in months. Only caught nine bass, but they were healthy and pugnacious. Managed one over 5 lbs and several other chunky fish to go with it, all on wacky worm. 
 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

Why didn't I fish today???? The bass were biting!!!! ARGHHHHH!

[Jmurphy87]

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

BOOOOOOM SHAKKALAKAA   G-G-G-GIANT BASS ON FROG ?

 

That's awesome Pat, what a way to catch her as well, congrats!  

Agreed with Katie, noble thing to do, and hopefully it was tasty.   

I have not cooked fish in ages, lol. I can pan fry chicken thighs with the skin though. Just need to adjust cooking times. I really don’t keep enough fish enough to have experience cooking them a lot. I am a decent cook though.

[FishTax]

@Pat Brown great story and really awesome fish! Sounds like you got the frog figured out, hopefully you keep getting then on it and I look forward to reading more stories like this one. 

[A-Jay]

10 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

Happy summer bass resource!!!

 

TANK ALERT ~ !

Great Bass

Congrats

A-Jay

[Woody B]

 

I'm glad I've finally found a topwater bite.   I caught 6 today.  The first 4 were on a Devils Horse.  First one was 21 inches long, 5 pounds on my mechanical scale.   My electronic scale died, I guess due to all the rain I fished in a few weeks ago.   I've got to come up with a better night time picture method.  Using my phone holder with the timer results in pictures you can't see due to no flash on that side of my phone.   I also caught a 32 pound Flathead Cat that was 40 inches long.   (in the other species thread).   My normal Summer bass timing.  First 4 were between 5 and 6.   Only 2 more (and the Cat) between 6 and 10.   The last 2 (and the Cat) were in deeper water.   

[Jar11591]

Floated a small river today after some smallmouth. This river is all about numbers. Never caught anything over 16” here, but the fish are very willing biters so it’s easy to catch 75 smallmouth in a day. 
Wasn’t quite that good today. Between a buddy and I we boated 25 little smallmouth up to 14”. So much fun on light tackle with how acrobatic these river smallies are. Tiny poppers, rooster tails, crankbaits and ned rigs were the baits we threw. 90% of my fish came on a Rapala UL Pop. 

 

Also got a bunch of nicely colored longears, pumpkinseeds, and rock bass. 

 

Been so wrapped up in going after a new PB, so this was a nice little reset to float a calm river and go after numbers. 

[gim]

@DaubsNU1 is in compliance with the hair police.  @throttleplate I think he is too but he's wearing a hat so I can't tell for sure.  I'll let him slide for now.

 

@Team9nine shredded jean shorts are in violation of the fashion police but since his wife refused to wash his holey jeans anymore he simply cut them off and is using them for shorts now.  Pretty soon his wife will refuse to wash his shorts too.  Not sure what he'll be wearing when those shorts go.  We may have a serious violation on our hands later this summer...

[PhishLI]

Drove 56 miles out to a lake last night with my brother for a quick jon boat trip, but found a carnival set up across the street from it. Some nudnick parked in front of the boat ramp, so that was that. What a letdown. Our closest option is a bit of a nightmare because we need to hump the boat over a fence and tote it about 600 feet down to an entry point to the water, but ya gotta do whatcha ya gotta do. It was nearly completely choked with pads, but we had oars, so with very little wind to spoil the party we made it work.

 

It took a while to find a bite, and things looked sketchy, but I broke the ice first with a tribute to @IcatchDinks?

 

My brother got some on the Mattlures Strong shad, and several more on the Hazedong shad.

I got into some good fish on the Zman ProCrawZ in Black-Blue, and the bigger girl bit on a Black Gold Flake Yum Dinger. Our boat has leaky rivets, and I wasn't paying attention to things floating in the bottom, so my bag and scale got soaked. Scale said it weighted .047oz, then tried again and it read 3lbs, so who knows. Fought like crazy, so that was cool.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

22 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Drove 56 miles out to a lake last night with my brother for a quick jon boat trip, but found a carnival set up across the street from it. Some nudnick parked in front of the boat ramp, so that was that. What a letdown. Our closest option is a bit of a nightmare because we need to hump the boat over a fence and tote it about 600 feet down to an entry point to the water, but ya gotta do whatcha ya gotta do. It was nearly completely choked with pads, but we had oars, so with very little wind to spoil the party we made it work.

 

It took a while to find a bite, and things looked sketchy, but I broke the ice first with a tribute to @IcatchDinks?

 

My brother got some on the Mattlures Strong shad, and several more on the Hazedong shad.

I got into some good fish on the Zman ProCrawZ in Black-Blue, and the bigger girl bit on a Balck Gold Flake Yum Dinger. Our boat has leaky rivets, and I wasn't paying attention to things floating in the bottom, so my bag and scale got soaked. Scale said it weighted .047oz, then tried again and it read 3lbs, so who knows. Fought like crazy, so that was cool.

Considering the journey to catch that toad, who cares what the scales said.......made the trip and hard work totally worth it ?

 

Beautiful fish, not beat up at all.   

[PhishLI]

1 minute ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Considering the journey to catch that toad, who cares what the scales said.......made the trip and hard work totally worth it ?

I agree completely. I wasn't gonna but my brother really wanted to know. I figured someone might ask, so...

[Swamp Girl]

@PhishLI: Those bottom two are beauties! I like the other three too. Heck, I even like the dink. Dinks make me laugh. They're fearless!

[Way north bass guy]

Much like @Jar11591, I too spent a few hours this morning on a small river. Floated the canoe downstream from my house for about 5 miles or so. Caught a couple dozen this size on a frog, saw a bunch of wildlife and birds, and best of all not another human to be found!

[T-Billy]

4 hours ago, Woody B said:

 I've got to come up with a better night time picture method.  Using my phone holder with the timer results in pictures you can't see due to no flash on that side of my phone

If it's an android phone, just turn the selfie camera on, hit the settings icon up top of the screen, turn on selfie illumination, and set the timer. 

[Woody B]

18 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

If it's an android phone, just turn the selfie camera on, hit the settings icon up top of the screen, turn on selfie illumination, and set the timer. 

It's an I phone-  It kinda flashes the screen but doesn't shed much light.  It adjust the exposure so you can see.  At night it takes a second or so.  That results in a blurry picture, at least for me.   I accidently came across the setting for my avatar picture.  I'd make more like that but I forgot what I did.   

[The Baron]

@Pat Brown That’s one heck of a frog fish!???

 

@Jmurphy87 You did the right thing not releasing that fish and pretending it’ll be ok.  Our favourite way to eat bass is fish tacos.  Cook the fillets anyway you like (pan fried or baked) with some breading for a little crunch, then flake the meat.  Put it on warmed taco shells with some homemade cilantro/tomato/black bean salsa, a bit of shredded coleslaw and a sauce made of mayo, lime juice and Mexican seasoning to taste.  I love ‘em.?

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Way north bass guy said:

Much like @Jar11591, I too spent a few hours this morning on a small river. Floated the canoe downstream from my house for about 5 miles or so. Caught a couple dozen this size on a frog, saw a bunch of wildlife and birds, and best of all not another human to be found!

 

You live in Heaven.

[The Baron]

A buddy and I launched in the dark this morning, anticipating a great smallie topwater bite… that turned out to be about an hour of nothing. ? So we switched gears and hit a couple weed edges in 9-10ft. of water.  My buddy landed about 1/2 dozen on a 7” Power Worm in what seemed to be a brief 15-20 minute bite window before we got a rain shower.  That bite ended and we moved to a larger weedbed of similar characteristics.  My buddy was 3 fish in again and I was feeling a bit left out with a skunk so far, but had confidence in my 10” Power Worm.  Finally I’d just given my worm the first drag off the weed wall when my line started coming toward me.  I caught up, confirmed he was there and then did an on the tiptoes half turn, bowed rod hookset that I wish we’d filmed because I know I looked like a pro. lol. Turned out my first was big fish of the day at 3.83.  We then enjoyed another 15 minute bite window and landed another 8-10 between us.  My takeaway for the day was to be amazed at how fish can turn on and off so quickly.

 

We ended the day back at our smallie spot for a last try.  Great news is I found a sweet 10ft. hump in 25ft. of water, marked what I assumed to be a good fish on it and flipped a dropshot Roboworm down there.  A few casts later and I set the hook into what I hoped was a solid smallie, but turned out to be a 5-6# pike.  Seeing that fish on my new electronics and then catching it was a very satisfying way to end the morning.?