Latest Catch Pics Thread

[N Florida Mike]

Went again most of the afternoon on the home lake. 

Very windy / cloudy conditions.

I got the pictured fish off a lay down by the island on a speed craw.

It was a very frustrating afternoon for me. To start with , the bite was slow. Caught a few other fish at random locations on flukes , uv speedworms with the paddletail, and the speed craw. Tried a spinnerbait for awhile and the magnum speed worm to no avail.

Finally pulled out my most consistent bait of the year: the yum dinger. Got to a dock that I had caught a 7 at a few years ago. Felt the tap, set the hook…

and inexplicably, the line broke. I am meticulous about the drag, knots, retying after nicks,etc. 
So, I’m dealing with that loss as I drift along and re-tie. Next cast , I just threw out instead of in, as I fought the wind and felt another tap. Set the hook. Big fish… pulling drag. Wind is blowing me around as the fish is pulling the other way, he gets the perfect angle on me …. and he came off… Now I’m talking to myself out loud, and I don’t care if anyone hears.

The rest of the day was one problem after another, including bird nests , casting into trees, losing more fish, trolling motor getting bogged down in weeds. I finally got one more decent fish on a senko off a brush pile, and it came off and landed in the boat at least. 
I haven’t gotten so aggravated fishing in many years. Thanks for letting  me vent a little.  I will endeavor to persevere.! 
Still very blessed…

 

[RipzLipz]

3 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Went again most of the afternoon on the home lake. 

Very windy / cloudy conditions.

I got the pictured fish off a lay down by the island on a speed craw.

It was a very frustrating afternoon for me. To start with , the bite was slow. Caught a few other fish at random locations on flukes , uv speedworms with the paddletail, and the speed craw. Tried a spinnerbait for awhile and the magnum speed worm to no avail.

Finally pulled out my most consistent bait of the year: the yum dinger. Got to a dock that I had caught a 7 at a few years ago. Felt the tap, set the hook…

and inexplicably, the line broke. I am meticulous about the drag, knots, retying after nicks,etc. 
So, I’m dealing with that loss as I drift along and re-tie. Next cast , I just threw out instead of in, as I fought the wind and felt another tap. Set the hook. Big fish… pulling drag. Wind is blowing me around as the fish is pulling the other way, he gets the perfect angle on me …. and he came off… Now I’m talking to myself out loud, and I don’t care if anyone hears.

The rest of the day was one problem after another, including bird nests , casting into trees, losing more fish, trolling motor getting bogged down in weeds. I finally got one more decent fish on a senko off a brush pile, and it came off and landed in the boat at least. 
I haven’t gotten so aggravated fishing in many years. Thanks for letting  me vent a little. I’m still kind of in a bad mood about the day…😕

But I will endeavor to persevere.! 
Still very blessed…

 

Been there myself many a time, as I’m sure most if not all of us have. That is what makes it so fun when we do have those better days & why the big ones are so awesome (and addictive). Can’t wait to see the big one - you know what I mean.👍

[FishTax]

I slipped off early and fished the home lake a few hours yesterday. Very frustrating day, it was about as windy as I've ever been out on my kayak. The weather forecast was off or I wouldn't have gone out. I threw spinner bait and crank bait with no bites. Broke off my shaky head on second cast. Then got blown into some weeds just below surface I couldn't see and got prop wrapped up, and had to paddle into the wind out of it. Finally caught one good one on a jig on my way back in a random spot, but he got off beside the boat so no photo. 

On a positive note, I'm buying a new hummingbird this weekend so that was my last trip without electronics. Looking forward to sharing some great fish the rest of the year as December is probably my favorite month to fish in NC! 

[Pat Brown]

New buzzbait PB this morning on Thanksgiving with frost on the docks!

LET'S GO!!!!

 

 

Got a couple smaller ones but this is by far my biggest bass this month and my biggest topwater fish!

 

What a thing to be thankful for today!

 

Happy Thanksgiving to y'all!!!!

[RipzLipz]

1 hour ago, FishTax said:

Looking forward to sharing some great fish the rest of the year as December is probably my favorite month to fish in NC! 

Come to Indiana in December - it will quickly change your mind 🤣

 

Just kidding. I envy those of you fortunate enough to have nice enough weather to fish in the winter months. If it’s above 39° in 8+ days, I’m going for the first time in December.

[TnRiver46]

Nice one @Pat Brown, seems like only yesterday you were saying you had never caught em on a buzzer. Couple

dozen bigs later, I think you’ve figured it out haha

[RipzLipz]

5 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

New buzzbait PB this morning on Thanksgiving with frost on the docks!

LET'S GO!!!!

 

 

Got a couple smaller ones but this is by far my biggest bass this month this year and my biggest topwater fish!

 

What a thing to be thankful for today!

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving to y'all!!!!

Congrats Pat. Get a weight on her?  That tail though…

[Pat Brown]

1 minute ago, RipzLipz said:

Congrats Pat. Get a weight on her?  That tail though…

 

 

I did not put her on a scale but based on heft and girth and how she physically felt in my hands, I'd say between 7-8.

[RipzLipz]

11 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice one @Pat Brown, seems like only yesterday you were saying you had never caught em on a buzzer. Couple

dozen bigs later, I think you’ve figured it out haha

Time for you to get the spinnerbug out! 🤣

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, RipzLipz said:

Time for you to get the spinnerbug out! 🤣

[Swamp Girl]

@Pat Brown:

 

 

@N Florida Mike and @FishTax: I actually miss fishing the wind, which I could do when my Lund, anchor, and motors. As I've shared before, my canoe is a sail, being high, light, and wide. It's nearly 16' long, but weighs a mere 32 pounds, so it's a nerdy kid and the wind is its bully. Even the bigger bass bully it (and me), pulling and spinning my canoe. But it you can anchor a heavy boat on a windy shore, you can enjoy amazing fishing. I don't anchor my canoe. I tried. It was dangerous. If I anchor from mid-boat, where I paddle, the waves batter me. If I anchor from the bow, I have to crawl up to the bow where the canoe is narrower and even tippier...in the wind. 

[Pat Brown]

I love the spinnerbug but I love the buzzer even more!  Underspin has been my go to lately in lieu of the spinnerbait because our water got real clear this winter.  Haven't had enough stain to properly fish a spinnerbait in months.

[FishTax]

4 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

I love the spinnerbug but I love the buzzer even more!  Underspin has been my go to lately in lieu of the spinnerbait because our water got real clear this winter.  Haven't had enough stain to properly fish a spinnerbait in months.

Agree on spinner bait! I should listen to you and throw the buzz and catch hogs instead of throwing spinner and catching skunks 😎

[RipzLipz]

11 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@Pat Brown:

 

 

@N Florida Mike and @FishTax: I actually miss fishing the wind, which I could do when my Lund, anchor, and motors. As I've shared before, my canoe is a sail, being high, light, and wide. It's nearly 16' long, but weighs a mere 32 pounds, so it's a nerdy kid and the wind is its bully. Even the bigger bass bully it (and me), pulling and spinning my canoe. But it you can anchor a heavy boat on a windy shore, you can enjoy amazing fishing. I don't anchor my canoe. I tried. It was dangerous. If I anchor from mid-boat, where I paddle, the waves batter me. If I anchor from the bow, I have to crawl up to the bow where the canoe is narrower and even tippier...in the wind. 

Look into that Power Pole Spike, Katie, if you’re in shallower waters.

 

Same issue getting bullied when we use the Crawdad.😠

[N Florida Mike]

@ol'crickety I carry an anchor , but rarely use it. If I can catch a fish or two on a windward shore, I’ll anchor. Yesterday, the bite was so sporadic, I never anchored. A lot of the problem yesterday was the wind direction, which was coming from the Northwest at 20. That and southeast winds are the hardest to fish on my lake…

[Aaron_H]

Picked up a Kastking Zephyr on a decent black Friday deal to try my hand at BFS. I'm primarily interested in using this for panfish, throwing 1/16oz jigheads and similar, so if I can do that and get the ergonomics of the baitcaster, I figured it was worth a shot for the price to see if I liked it.

 

Definitely finicky to get dialed, it's a cheap reel. But it works so far. This little guy was the first fish on it this morning trying to get it dialed in out behind the house. Spooled it with 6lb Seaguar Basix, throwing a 1/16 oz Roadrunner underspin with a 2" grub for a trailer.

[N Florida Mike]

@FishTax I wondered at first if  you lived in N Florida because your report sounded a lot like mine yesterday! It was the same front that went through I reckon!

[Swamp Girl]

2 hours ago, RipzLipz said:

Look into that Power Pole Spike, Katie, if you’re in shallower waters.

 

Same issue getting bullied when we use the Crawdad.😠

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I researched them and watched some videos, but they're not for me. My canoe is already crowded with six or seven rods and my big net. 

 

 

[Woody B]

After Thanksgiving lunch I made it our a couple hours.   I launched at a landing up a creek.  I caught a few micro bass up the creek, but didn't count them.  (when I call them micro bass they're really small).  I went out on the main lake a caught 4 real bass on rocky points.  All on a shaky head.   The lake is still really low.  Only one of the four ramps were open at the landing.  The recent rain might have brought the lake up 6 inches or so but it's still the lowest I've seen it since the Summer drought ~20 years ago.  My Sister in laws boat lift has a couple inches of water under it.  Back then it was ~20 feet away from the water.  

 

[Pat Brown]

@Woody B the lack of rain has been felt tremendously here too.  The super shallow pond I fish is pretty much too shallow for a big fish up by the bank and when the fishing is good/water level is normal it's just barely deep enough for big fish up shallow.  It's been kind of a bummer to fish the pond so far this winter.  On the lake I can get to where they are and catch a few but they definitely aren't smashing a jig on every laydown like they did last November.

[Swamp Girl]

@Woody B just keeps catching and catching and catching.

 

[Woody B]

@ol'crickety  I barely avoided a skunk today.   I only fished a few hours this morning so I could spend the afternoon with my Dad.   The Bass simply weren't active, at least the ones I could find.   They were hugging the bottom in 15 to 20 FOW.   I couldn't "activate" them with anything.  I tried running a buzz bait over them, then following with various lures, no luck.  I put jigs, shaky heads, ect right in front of them.  No luck.  I tried everything except electricity and explosives.  (LOL)    I was going to have to leave by 12:30.  10 minutes before that I got this fat 18" Largemouth to take a shaky head.  I hate I didn't catch more, but was thrilled to finally see a Largemouth that wasn't skinny.   I considered my trying my recent "micro bass" pattern, but decided I'd skunk before I'd target 8 to 10 inch bass.   I think fishing would be better in the afternoon with the recent colder weather, and water.........but Pat is still catching hawgs before the frost even melts.   I've got some firearm training tomorrow afternoon so I'll be fishing early again.   I went upriver today.  The water is cooler than it was yesterday near the dam and looks like it might be starting to turn over.  I'll go back downriver tomorrow morning and see how that works.  I'll have fun regardless.   

 

[Swamp Girl]

@Woody B, I remember one morning in 2023. I must have launched at fourish and was likely fishing until after nine. I'd caught nothing. So, I had paddled back to my car, which was parked on a point, and I heard water rushing out of the bog, so I thought, "What the heck. One. More. Try."

 

And I paddled around the point to where the water was flowing and dropped a wacky worm into the current and caught one bass and I was so proud of that fish, even though it wasn't a fat 18-incher like yours. 

[GreenPig]

Fished yesterday and caught one on a OT 4 crank and 4 on spoons.

[RipzLipz]

Debating on whether I’m going today or not. Here’s today’s forecast for the town where Lake Shantbenamed is located ☹️

Wind laying down but probably little sun to warm things up.