Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Swamp Girl]

@RipzLipz: Yeah, but...bass...big bass...biiiigggg basssssss!

[RipzLipz]

@ol'crickety I know, I know. A trip to MX might be cheaper in the long run. 🤣

 

[N Florida Mike]

Tried a new pond today for 45 minutes or so.Got a couple on the june bug dinger. Also Tried the magnum speed worm awhile to no avail…

Crystal clear water, so the color of the fish were different than most I catch around here…

[thediscochef]

😒😒 I'm tryna birthday fish, I wish nature would chill for like 5 hours 

[Swamp Girl]

@thediscochef: Happy birthday, buddy!

[RipzLipz]

@thediscochef Happy birthday! Sorry the weather isn’t cooperating.

 

I think your winds are blowing up this way. We have gust advisory today followed by ~60° & rain tomorrow & then decent temp drop Sunday. 🤬  I probably won’t be able to get out until Tuesday but forecast looks much calmer just not warm. I feel sorry for the one getting my first hookset.

[The Bassman]

Gave work a break today because of a favorable forecast. Wasn't disappointed. No braggers but steady action on the ned. The bait in the pic has caught several dozen bass along with a few crappie and 'gills the past couple of weeks. I keep sharpening and reshaping the hook and remounting and gluing the bait. Still got some life in it. The lake shot illustrates what the perfect conditions are to me, a decent breeze, not too cold (45-55) and no one around. Doesn't get any better than that.

[Woody B]

I made a short post Covid fishing trip today.  I slept in.  I thought it was supposed to be clear today, with rain tomorrow.   I caught 3 in a couple hours.  It started raining so I came back home.  I normally love fishing in the rain but it's only be a few days since I had a fever and felt like I'd been hit by a bus.  I figured getting back indoors would be best.   I couldn't get a good pattern figured out.  (I kinda hate the word pattern).  I saw activity on ledges near channel swings.  My first was a 13 inch spot.  I lost a smaller on a couple casts later so I abandoned that approach to look for bigger fish.   I went to a hump, off of a point.  I saw some activity on sonar.  I caught a fat 13 inch Largemouth on an A-rig.   Action stopped there for a while until I broke off a big Flathead cat.   I pretty much never break off fish.  I use 50 pound braid for A-rigs instead of my normal 12 to 14 pound mono.  I decided to lean on it and it broke.  The knot was several months old.  I suppose I need to maintain braid like I do my mono.   I went across the channel to another hump and caught a 16 inch Spot on a shaky head.  It was starting to rain so I decided to come back to the house.   The last forecast I looked at was for rain really late today, and all day tomorrow.  Maybe with the rain getting here earlier today it will leave earlier tomorrow.   I may decided to go during the rain.   I wish the Sun would have been out for the last fish picture.  It was a classic snake skin Spot, but it literally glowed.   The picture doesn't do it justice.   

[RipzLipz]

@Woody B There’s no stopping you. Glad you’re feeling better, good to hear. 👍

[Swamp Girl]

46 minutes ago, Woody B said:

(I kinda hate the word pattern). 

 

Me too. I watch YouTubers catch two bass and they start using the word, "pattern."

 

47 minutes ago, Woody B said:

 I went across the channel to another hump and caught a 16 inch Spot on a shaky head. 

 

Woody, what did you have on your shaky head?

 

I'm glad you're feeling better, Woody, and I'm also glad you didn't push it.

[Pat Brown]

Latest topwater fish ever today on the buzzbait and a nice chunk at that!

 

[FryDog62]

Caught some Peacocks on hard jerkbaits this morning… switched to a soft plastic jerkbait this afternoon and caught a 23 inch largemouth/pig.  

[gim]

1 hour ago, RipzLipz said:

There’s no stopping you.

The only thing that's going to stop him is the haircut police.  Mrs Woody B needs to trim up that mop.

[RipzLipz]

@gimruis COVID might stop haircuts or might just be some bed head going on. Unless you’re gonna plow your way out of MN & head him off at the ramp, I don’t think the haircut or fashion police will be stopping Woody anytime soon. 🤣

[Woody B]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

Woody, what did you have on your shaky head?

I get way too simple with plastics, and I'm also a cheapskate.   I used to use Zoom trick worms, any dark color, but switched to "Dizzy Diamond" worms from Bizz Baits after Pat Brown pointed out that Bizz baits in an NC company,   I had good luck most Summer using the entire 6 inch Dizzy Diamond with a 3/16 ounce shaky head.   6 weeks or so ago I noticed Bass ignoring them.   I cut them down to 4 inches(for a faster fall rate?) and they're clobbering them again.   A heavier weight with the full size worm might be the trick, but I've got a bunch of 3/16's.    As long as cutting a little off the worm works I'm sticking with what I've got, and keeping the bait monkey in his cage.  LOL

 

However,  the monkey is rattling the cage.  It's it's rainy, windy and cold tomorrow, instead of going fishing I might make a BPS/Academy run.   I've got a couple local tackle shops I really like,  but I'm usually either working or fishing when they're open.  This helps with the monkey too.

[RipzLipz]

1 minute ago, Woody B said:

keeping the bait monkey in his cage.  LOL

 

However,  the monkey is rattling the cage.  It's it's rainy, windy and cold tomorrow, instead of going fishing I might make a BPS/Academy run.   I've got a couple local tackle shops I really like,  but I'm usually either working or fishing when they're open.  This helps with the monkey too.

Good luck with that - my door all week long:

[gim]

A haircut has proven to result in catching 33% more fish per outing.

 

[RipzLipz]

Has to be hard to drive these with hands like that.

[Swamp Girl]

Don't do it, Woody. American men spend $3,500,000,000 on hair loss, i.e. to replace the hair that you already have.

 

Thanks for the trick worm info. I have some shaky heads and I like the look of them, but have never used one because my ponds and bogs are soooooo weedy and shallow. 10' is about as deep as they get. 

[T-Billy]

12 hours ago, Woody B said:

I use 50 pound braid for A-rigs instead of my normal 12 to 14 pound mono.  I decided to lean on it and it broke.  The knot was several months old.  I suppose I need to maintain braid like I do my mono

I'll often go several trips without retying braid. Never been an issue with lighter baits, but I've learned the hard way, with heavy baits you need to retie a few times a day. I've casted a couple rigs into orbit, and broke off a muskie on 50# and 65# that hadn't been retied that day. 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@T-Billy: What do you think happens to braid when using big baits that it needs to be retied? 

 

The last time I was in Canada stretching my mono for three weeks, by the third week, my mono was seriously compromised. 

[Functional]

He isn't much at all and honestly not worth posting, BUT I am pretty thrilled I was able to get on the water,  read the conditions,  take a guess where the bait/fish would be, select the right bait and then actually have that all play out and have him in the boat in less than 30min. Despite catching really nice fish this year I'd be lying if I said it all comes together as easily as it did this time. All clones of him but putting together the pieces yesterday felt good. 

 

Question... why do fish sometimes bleed when all the hooks are in the jaw? 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@Functional:

 

A. I had a couple jaw-hooked bass bleed in 2023 and I don't know why.

 

B. However, I did read that bass blood can't coagulate unless the fish are in the water, so releasing them ASAP is best for the bass.

 

C. Unlike @gimruis, I'm happy to see pics of bass that aren't bodacious because this thread isn't a bragging board. It's a trip report board and if we don't catch big bass, well, that should be in the report if the report is to be accurate. 

 

D. Congrats on it all coming together!

 

E. The whole notion of locating the bait is beyond me. I'm guessing that's for sonar-owners. I fish more by light, chasing the shadows rather than the bait that I can't see. 

[Pat Brown]

@ol'crickety I locate bait with my eyes 90% of the time.  I like to look for birds, surface disturbance, main lake structure and current breaks and go from there.  If I can't see bait doing stuff with my eyes or at least the evidence of bait in the area, I have learned that it's probably gonna be a pretty big waste of time to fish it on a bigger impoundment.  Especially this time of year when fish are very very grouped up.

 

Yesterday I puttered around on a lake I haven't fished in a little while looking at my cheap little sonar unit and the ONLY place I saw any fish at all in 4 hours of graphing was in 10-23 feet of water (really more like 17-23 of water for 90% of the fish) and they were carpeting the bottom out in the middle of the main lake relating to absolutely nothing but slightly warmer deeper water.

 

I caught my only fish in 1 foot of water on a buzzbait casting my way in back to the marina.

 

If I was to go back to that lake today and fish again I'd probably sit on top of that carpet offshore with Damiki rigs, drop shots, Alabama rigs, Jerkbaits and blade baits because it seems to me like that's about how you're going to have to fish to catch many at this lake in the winter!

 

Most of the year I'm able to work cover and targets up shallow but around this time every year that becomes a struggle down south and the electronics are a big help adapting to that drastic migration.

 

[Swamp Girl]

7 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

I locate bait with my eyes 90% of the time.  I like to look for birds, surface disturbance, main lake structure and current breaks and go from there.

 

Now that you mention it, I think I do the same thing. I'm always scanning the water, looking for anomalies. Even if I'm retrieving a surface lure, I'm still scanning, for I can always feel and hear a surface lure hit; I don't have to see it. By looking, I'm setting up my next cast. 

 

9 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Yesterday I puttered around on a lake I haven't fished in a little while looking at my cheap little sonar unit and the ONLY place I saw any fish at all in 4 hours of graphing was in 10-23 feet of water (really more like 17-23 of water for 90% of the fish) and they were carpeting the bottom out in the middle of the main lake relating to absolutely nothing but slightly warmer deeper water.

 

10 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

If I was to go back to that lake today and fish again I'd probably sit on top of that carpet offshore with Damiki rigs, drop shots, Alabama rigs, Jerkbaits and blade baits because it seems to me like that's about how you're going to have to fish to catch many at this lake in the winter!

 

^This^ sort of comment is one of the most useful I encounter at BR. I like to hear the reasoning behind decisions to use this lure or that.