Latest Catch Pics Thread

[MIbassyaker]

Power Worm finds a pair of 18"s hanging out on the weedline, around 12 feet:

3.38lb and 2.93lb respectively, best of 7 this morning

 

[Swamp Girl]

18 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

Power Worm finds a pair of 18"s hanging out on the weedline, around 12 feet:

3.38lb and 2.93lb respectively, best of 7 this morning

 

 

Way to fish my paddlin', bassin' brother!

[T-Billy]

Hit the water at 01:00 again. Was gonna go earlier but we had some storms roll through. It was a tough bite, as expected, lightning often shuts 'em down for awhile IME. Only managed six in the dark. Four dinks, a 4.09# LM and a 5.21# saugeye. Those two came about ten minutes and 30yds apart. Same spot that produced last weeks 4+ LM and that long skinny SM. This morning was only the second time I've ever fished this little stretch. I'm liking the quality coming from it so far. We'll see if it holds up.

Only managed three more dinks after daylight. Called it at about 10:30. Hopefully they're more cooperative tonight.

[PhishLI]

2 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Hit the water at 01:00 again.

Gotta love a night mission with some new moon velvety blackness. Yeah man. I don't think my mind is ever clearer.

[Swamp Girl]

You night fishers are tough hombres. I do a little  night fishing, but only because I launch before the Sun rises or linger after the Sun sets. So, I'm clinging to light, which ain't the same as launching deep into the night. To be frank, I'm a little fraidy. Not afraid of bad men so much, but bass wrasslin' in the dark. I imagine dragging my Whopper Plopper over the dark water and hearing the explosion and screaming. Bass wrasslin' is hard enough when I can actually see!

 

Big saugeye, @T-Billy. Sweet bass too. I assume you eat those saugeyes. They. are. delish! 

[T-Billy]

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I assume you eat those saugeyes. They. are. delish! 

Release to the grease. Olive oil actually, after a good heavy dusting of Zatarans blackening seasoning. I save the breading for other species.

8 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I imagine dragging my Whopper Plopper over the dark water and hearing the explosion and screaming.

LOL. Couple weeks ago I was going down a steep bank in the wee hours, fishing parallel to an outside hydrilla edge, and a big ol whitetail doe jumped to her feet and started bawling me out at a distance of about 20'. Darn near jumped clean outta my shoes. LOL. 

[gim]

16 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

You night fishers are tough hombres.

@T-Billy does it hardcore.  He doesn't even start until 1am and then fishes the graveyard shift until mid morning.  Guy must be part machine.  I used to walleye fish starting right at midnight and then quit right when the sun was coming up.  Fishing was really good sometimes but the riskiest part was the drive home.  I found myself dozing off and becoming very tired so I quit doing that for safety reasons.  When I fish at night nowadays, I start an hour before dark and then stay out there for a few hours after the sun goes down. 

 

Night time fishing has been well documented on this forum by several individuals and their success proves that it works not only to beat the daytime heat, but catch fish.  Plus, I can't question their violations by the haircut or fashion police as well as I can during the daylight lol

[T-Billy]

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Guy must be part machine

Nah. I get up for work at 02:00. Days off I just adjust my sleep schedule a bit.

4 minutes ago, gimruis said:

  Fishing was really good sometimes but the riskiest part was the drive home.  I found myself dozing off and becoming very tired so I quit doing that for safety reasons.

I don't often get down to my #2 lake anymore for that same reason. It's about a 50min drive. Pretty rough getting home sometimes. My #1 lake is only 15min. from home. Makes it much easier and safer.

 #2 is a better SM lake though. I've been itching to get down there lately. I sometimes run into some big schools of brown bass there at night. 

[gim]

12 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

I get up for work at 02:00. Days off I just adjust my sleep schedule a bit.

That greatly helps since you are used to it then.

[Dominat0r]

Streak, day 50. I finally beat my record in my ponds today. It took over a month to finally beat it, the old record was 3lbs 12oz. This guy came in at 5lbs even. So beat it by over a pound! I know there are lunkers in there. If there is a 5lbs'er, I know there is a 7-8 that ate better than this one did and is the same age. I am on a mission to find it. Got a few more, but only went out for a hour and a half, 97F out right now.....my biscuits were burning. 

 

3 of them were on a Carolina rig with a zoom junebug lizard and one (spinning rod) was on a shaky head. 

 

 

 

 

[LrgmouthShad]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

 

Night time fishing has been well documented on this forum by several individuals and their success proves that it works not only to beat the daytime heat, but catch fish.  Plus, I can't question their violations by the haircut or fashion police as well as I can during the daylight lol

Others may say differently but IME, fishing is as good during the day as it is at night. There are other advantages to fishing at night though. My favorite is that people won’t come over to fish what I’m fishing. Within like half a cast of my kayak. Can’t tell you how much that has happened ?. I’m about to tell anyone that tries to do that to beat it. 

[gim]

5 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

There are other advantages to fishing at night though. My favorite is that people won’t come over to fish what I’m fishing. Within like half a cast of my kayak.

I don't have enough time in specifically targeting bass at night time to say if the fishing is better or worse.  I do for walleyes, and I can say that its definitely better targeting ol' marble eyes at night.

 

I do agree though, there are multiple advantages to fishing at night time, even if the fishing isn't always better.  Far less people and lower air temps without the blazing ball of fire in the sky are just a couple of them.  There are usually more bugs at night time though.

[Dominat0r]

I have started night fishing after reading this forum. I have been doing more at night than during the day. The do seem to hit just as well at night, but yea...its either the the sun or the bugs. To me, there are more spots where the fish are active at night. Now this may be a good thing or a bad thing. During the day, if you find the fish in the shade, they are normally ALL there. You can keep casting into the same spot and catch a lot. At night, they are more spread out, so while you may get more fish at night, you need to move around more since there is no shade for them to all hang out in and for you to target. Personally, all my PBs have been caught during the day. Just because I never thought to bass fish at night. When we were younger, we catfished at night. Before this forum, I never caught a bass at night, just never thought about trying. Now, I go out ever night around 12am and fish for an hour or so. I can walk to my pond in 2mins, so I can fish anytime I want. I just wished I got back into fishing sooner, I have lived in this neighborhood for 3 years and never knew there was good fishing in here. 

[Swamp Girl]

2 hours ago, Dominat0r said:

Streak, day 51. I finally beat my record in my ponds today. It took over a month to finally beat it, the old record was 3lbs 12oz. This guy came in at 5lbs even. So beat it by over a pound! I know there are lunkers in there. If there is a 5lbs'er, I know there is a 7-8 that ate better than this one did and is the same age. I am on a mission to find it. Got a few more, but only went out for a hour and a half, 97F out right now.....my biscuits were burning. 

 

3 of them were on a Carolina rig with a zoom junebug lizard and one (spinning rod) was on a shaky head. 

 

 

 

 

 

5 pounds is this:

 

[Dominat0r]

 

33 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

5 pounds is this:

 

HAHA, I screamed LETS GO!!!! when I pulled it up. I knew it was big and I knew it wasn't a snakehead (they slither away when they run with the line, can feel the snake like movement). I got so excited, I did a few fist tosses when I lipped it and picked it up, I knew it was going to be the biggest so far (out of my ponds).  

 

[TnRiver46]

Pure Michigan! Top two pics are the same fish, bout 18” in a river full of hundreds of inner tubers, some of which were our family. Most were shocked there were fish in the river, I’ve never encountered a river without them……..

 

also got a 15” bass and a lot of rock bass for dinner, the 18” got a reprieve for the day 
 

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

Thanks for taking us along on your trip, @TnRiver46. It looks like a great day.

[gim]

52 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

and a lot of rock bass for dinner

The ugly loser cousin of the bass world.

 

That water is crystal clear. Takin’ a reprieve from chopping wood, mowing lawns, and catching critters in the southeastern swamps huh

[TnRiver46]

Got that right @gimruis! I even got a groundhog job back home for next week over the phone this morning. Although it was pretty hot up here and my Native American level neck got even worse despite all my sunscreen haha. Strangely it’s not as humid even though there is water in every direction. 

[A-Jay]

Bumped into a few green bass early this morning.

Topwater was the deal.

A-Jay

[MediumMouthBass]

@TnRiver46 ive caught several rock bass in the waters i fish but always have throw them back in, how do they taste?

[PhishLI]

1 hour ago, MediumMouthBass said:

ive caught several rock bass in the waters i fish but always have throw them back in, how do they taste?

Hopefully much better than they smell. The ones I've caught in Upstate NY were stinky little bastids. Pew.

[IcatchDinks]

1 hour ago, MediumMouthBass said:

@TnRiver46 ive caught several rock bass in the waters i fish but always have throw them back in, how do they taste?

I've had them here in Michigan. They don't taste bad. Similar to any other panfish, I guess. I'm not a huge fan of fish as a food, but they're not bad. 

[IcatchDinks]

Last night I caught several dinks. I know y'all don't wanna scroll through photos of tiny fish, so I made a nice collage for you: 

 

Tonight I caught two more dinks. (I'll spare you the pain of seeing them. You've seen one, you've seen them all.) 

And then I hooked a really nice bass for my ponds (just under two pounds):

I'm hoping to wake up early tomorrow and go fishing before work. We'll see how I'm feeling at 6AM. I'm not a morning person like some of you madmen and women. 

[Dominat0r]

Streak goes on, fish for 7/26. Just fished for about an hour.....both of blazing worm, black/blue.