Latest Catch Pics Thread

[A-Jay]

29 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

Wow ~ Another Very Chunky Monkey 

Heck of a big fish season so far.

Congrats

A-Jay

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Had a great day on the spin pole, caught about 30 on a whacky rig yamamato 5" senko.      23.5lb bag with a 8.5 big fish.     

 

Waiting on confirmation from the tag in the 8.5 fish, but she could have quite the story to tell if it's the fish I hope it is.    Think she was part of a recent shock study.  

 

Started going barbless a week or two ago on the whacky rig, and she's the first Bass I've caught that exceeded my lb. test line.......so I'm calling her my most "sporting fish" to date.   

 

6.1 was from a cpl. days ago but wanted to throw it in the video.  

 

She had already spawned at least once (Another data point that tells me the biggest fish spawn first and earlier than most anglers think)

 

6.1 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

@Pat Brown  Congrats on your amazing day friend, and love seeing Jake catch a toad as well!   Nothing better than that

[Swamp Girl]

Three eight-pounders!!! 

 

 

If you offered a class in bassin', Pat, I'd gladly pony up the tuition. 

 

And Alex caught an 8.5 and a 6.1???

 

I hope Professor Alex and Professor Pat don't offer their bassin' classes at the same time. I truly couldn't decide. 

[MIbassyaker]

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

 

Landed this gorgeous 8 lb 4 oz behemoth!

 

 

 

54 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

  23.5lb bag with a 8.5 big fish.     

 

 

 

Well, this is just getting ridiculous.

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

 

Well, this is just getting ridiculous.

 

They sure can fish, can't they, and by they, I mean Woody, Alex, Pat, and the rest of the BR crew. 

[MIbassyaker]

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

They sure can fish, can't they, and by they, I mean Woody, Alex, Pat, and the rest of the BR crew. 

 

It's like a parody of a fishing show: "Hey, there's a 6.  And here's an 8.  And here's another 8..."

[Swamp Girl]

Speaking of their amazing ability to catch big bass anywhere and everywhere, I can hear the narrator saying, "Join us next week when Alex pulls two seven-pounders out of a jar of olives and Pat goes big bass hunting in rain drops."

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

 

 

 

Well, this is just getting ridiculous.

Hahahahahaha you crack me up man . Bass don’t get much bigger than 5 lbs here, we need to take a road trip apparently 😂 

[Pat Brown]

Dang @AlabamaSpothunter ! That's a gorgeous fish and a cool story to go with her!  

 

I think this is gonna be one of the best 'growth years' for big bass NC has ever experienced.

 

We basically didn't have a winter and I'm fairly certain sunfish and baitfish have been spawning like mad.  

 

I've never seen bass seem so content to just eat eat eat in NC when there's such good spawning weather happening and you gotta figure it's just the bass capitalizing on opportunity and abundance?

 

@ol'crickety if you wanna learn what I know, watch old tournaments and fishing shows.  I learn a lot from guys like David Fritts, Denny Brauer, Paul Elias, Hank Parker, Rick Clunn and many others.  They have been educating through tournaments and fishing shows for decades!

[LrgmouthShad]

I told my Mom she obviously shoulda been fishing in NC yesterday after seeing the pics from @Woody B and @Pat Brown, lol. We all know that it’s just because these two are hammers though 🔨

[Jar11591]

Some spring time fatties showing up! Good catches, y’all. 

[TnRiver46]

@Pat Brown, how did you get no winter and I got triple winter ?? 😂 😂 🥶 

 

awesome fishes everyone 

[Pat Brown]

I mean it was kinda like the great Smoky Mountains were just buffering that nasty cold weather I guess.

 

I'll take it!  Nice weather suits me fine!

[Swamp Girl]

50 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Pat Brown, how did you get no winter and I got triple winter ?? 😂 😂 🥶 

 

awesome fishes everyone 

 

At least you can fish. We're getting another 3-7" of snow this week and when it's not snowing, there's cold, cold rain with nighttime lows around 20 degrees. I want to fish again, but then I think about how cold the one bass I caught was. 

[TnRiver46]

@ol'crickety, ouch!  That sounds brutal. This winter was the first since I started driving that I couldn’t fish for a spell and it lasted 9-10 days, roads were solid ice and some of the water was too. Old man winter likes to hang on too long sometime, hoping you thaw out quickly and get back after them 

[Team9nine]

13 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Hahahahahaha you crack me up man . Bass don’t get much bigger than 5 lbs here, we need to take a road trip apparently 😂 

Location, location, location 

[TnRiver46]

@Woody B, sounds like you forgot livescope is cheating and the fish just jump in the boat when you turn it on. Yours was off and got two 6’s???!!! I heard Andrew upshaw tell a story of the bassmaster open on santee where he wasted 3.5 hours on a bed fish he saw on sonar. Missed it dozens of times. He finally caught it and it was a 3 lb crappie 😂 

[BassSteve]

Hey

 

Caught my first largemouth for the year...almost forgot what it feels like!! 

[gim]

4 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

At least you can fish. We're getting another 3-7" of snow this week and when it's not snowing, there's cold, cold rain with nighttime lows around 20 degrees. I want to fish again, but then I think about how cold the one bass I caught was.

That’s what may be coming here too for the second half of March. Lows below freezing with possible rain/snow later this week. I got my boat and gear all ready to go but no chance I’m heading out in this. I’ll wait.

 

We are in dire need of moisture so whether it falls as snow or rain, I don’t care. Beggars can’t be choosers.

[Woody B]

Pat and Alex,  WOW!!!!!    Y'all catch Bass that would eat my little 5 and 6 pounders.    TnRiver, our Winter isn't over yet.  It's supposed to be in the 20's Tuesday.  I like pre spawn so maybe that will extend it.   

 

I got my wiring fixed.   None of my sonar was working right, but the problem happened gradually so it took a while to notice.   I was losing almost 3 volts in my fuse block.   The 2D sonar would show the bottom, but not much more.  I use it for "signs of life".  I have been wondering why there was so much barren water.  My Down/Side imaging basically shows a thin line that was the bottom.   Same with my Active Target and range was limited.   According to my Fluke meter I had 10.3 volts exiting my fuse block.  I'm surprised the graphs worked at all.    

 

So,  I caught 12 today.  No hawgs.  The biggest 2 were a 17 and 18 inch Spots.   (first 2 pictures)  The 3rd picture is a 13 inch...... something perhaps a Spot/LM hybrid.(I wanted it to be 14 so I measured it)  No tooth patch on it's tongue,(LM trait)  Same size scales all over. (LM trait, Spots have smaller scales on their cheeks)  Connected dorsal.(Spot trait) But it's color simply isn't "right".  I wonder if it's a Meanmouth but I've never seen or heard of a Small Mouth is Wylie.   

The 4th picture is a tiny Largemouth.   I'm pretty sure it's a juvenile female full of eggs.  I've never seen a belly like that on a buck bass.  Perhaps this is it's first spawn.  I wonder how old it is.   

I got broke off my something kinda strong and slow.  I had just got my spinnerbait loose from the rocks a couple casts earlier.  It hit and started to go slowly around the boat, like a Cat does.  I didn't have near enough pressure to break my line.  It must have had a nick from the rock snag earlier.  Check your gear often.  In my mind it was either a 20 pound Bass or 80 pound Flathead.  It could have been a lazy 2 pound Spot though.   

 

 

 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Thanks Woody!   

 

Agreed that's a very interesting fish in the 3rd pic, and I caught one like that not too long ago, but I came to the conclusion it was just a weird Spot because it had tongue teeth.

 

Appreciate the kind words @Pat Brown, right back at ya!   

 

 

[TnRiver46]

Nice fish @Woody B! For the record LMB SMB and spots can have a tooth patch so that’s not the best indicator. Spots have it way more often than the other 2 but it’s still possible for all 3 to have it, I’ve caught LM and SM with tooth patch. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

That's good info @TnRiver46, a biologist had just told me that he's seen green fish with them as well.   

[king fisher]

      I went bass fishing for the first time since last June.  I planned on fishing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  I didn't fish Sunday, because I sprang a leak in a radiator hose, and didn't know if my temporary fix with electrical tape and zip ties would last, so I chose to leave Sunday morning for the 5 hour drive home, instead of waiting until evening.  Most of the trip there is no cell reception, and I didn't want to get stuck in a remote part of Mexico at night with no communication, and a long walk.  The fishing was slow, I'm sure if the DD had been biting, I would have fished until the last minute of day light on Sunday after all I do have my priorities.

      It had been almost a year since I had last been to this lake.  Last May I caught a 42 pound bag, and was ready to top my success.   The water temp. was 71 degrees, 4 to 5 foot of visibility, and about 10 feet higher than last May, but lower than I expected it to be this early in March.

      Friday I started fishing main lake  points, then moved back in to the bays with zero luck.  I finally caught a few baby bass along with a 4.5 pound bass all in random locations.  There were other people camped at the launch so I decided to camp on a small island in the middle of the lake.

      Saturday morning I woke with no idea where to go.  The wind starts blowing hard at noon, this time of year so I didn't think I would be able to find any offshore spots before the wind made fishing offshore difficult in my kayak.  I decided to work my way towards the lake inlet, and fish points and the back of pockets in this long winding section of the lake which I had never been to.  The day ended the same as the day before, with many small 1 pound bass, and one that tipped the scale at 4.1 pounds.  This would be the only bass I stopped casting to take a picture of during two hard days of fishing.  The only lure that I could get bit was a Rattle Trap, and I tried the everything.  I have had days before when a trap was the go to lure, but never a time when it was the only lure.  Very strange.

      Looking back I wish I would have tried fishing offshore.  I don't know why I thought fishing points and pockets would work on a different part of the lake, when they obviously didn't produce well the day before.  At least I got to map another section of the lake, and found some spots I want to try when I go back in May.  I talked to the other fisherman at the launch, and they had about the same luck as I did.  They fished all similar places that I did, and obviously the fish were somewhere else.

      I didn't get skunked, and enjoyed camping on the recently exposed island.  I will plan on camping there when I go back in May.  All in all a good trip, and my car and I made it home well before dark with out any difficulties.

 

Pictures of Island I camped on, second day biggest bass, and kayak loaded with all my fishing and camping gear.