Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Fried Lemons]

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

@Fried Lemons: You catch huge fish! Are you always fishing the same lake? If not, how many lakes do you fish and why are they so full of big fish? I would think that water that grows bass so big would be pounded.

 

P. S. - Looking at fish pics doesn't bore me, whatever their size. 

I primarily fish 3 lakes which I determined through lots of trial and error have big fish potential. In my state I found the best lakes have either gizzard shad or rainbow trout forage. The trout lakes are small and fly under the radar for sure.

[Swamp Girl]

Just now, Fried Lemons said:

I primarily fish 3 lakes which I determined through lots of trial and error have big fish potential. In my state I found the best lakes have either gizzard shad or rainbow trout forage. The trout lakes are small and fly under the radar for sure.

 

Well, you're a heckuva angler. You catch BIG bass.

[Jmurphy87]

I caught a couple more today, one on a wacky rig and one on a swing head jig.

[Woody B]

Nice Bass Fred, especially the double!!!

 

I had a good trip today.  I caught 9 Bass in 4 hours today.  (that's a good day for me)  6 Largemouth and 3 Spots.  All but one were "keepers" (14 inches).  Pictured are the first, a chunky 15 1/2" Largemouth caught at 5:58 on my 3rd cast, the biggest Spot, a 16 incher that fought like a 16 inch Spot, and the 4.48 pound Largemouth I caught on my last cast at 9:45.   Most including the biggest came on a spinnerbait, a couple on a wacky, and a couple Spots on cranks.   I was surprised by the water temp.  It was a couple degrees colder than last week (68.5) if I'm remembering correctly.   I don't keep "records" but I've decided to start taking a picture of the water temp every trip in case my memory get's "off".  

 

Added: The Shad Spawn is just starting.  Action should be good by next weekend.  

 

[Swamp Girl]

Nice bass, Woody!

 

You sure are catching those smallies, Murph.

[Jmurphy87]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Nice bass, Woody!

 

You sure are catching those smallies, Murph.

Yes I catch a lot of smallies out of the Kalamazoo river for sure. Not huge but they make up for it with there fiesty behavior lol. And I get to fish some of the craziest spots for them. Like today I was standing on a concrete wall on the edge of the spillway that was seven plus feet tall and I had to pull myself up to climb it. Along with traversing a wet moss covered rock with a rod in one hand and a backpack on my back. It’s always a fun adventure and that’s why I love it.

[keagbassr]

Got about an hour of fishing in from the bank.before work today, caught 2 both on a buzzbait with this one weighing 3-12

[PhishLI]

Algae blooms and the effect they have on water bodies is a strange thing. There are two lakes we like to hit that are less than a ½ mile apart from one another with each draining directly into a salt bay via dams. One month ago, the western lake we fished already had pads popping up everywhere along with flourishes of almost fluorescent green bushy weeds emerging in the middle. However, the eastern sister lake which is nearly its carbon copy with regard to depth and shape is murky, practically pad less, and seems to have no new weed growth. Only filamentous algae laced zombie weeds still standing from last year were found. In past years, and at this point in the season, this place was nearly topped out with a carpet of weeds from shore to shore and had sporadic but dense pad fields. Both lakes have a good flow from inlet to outlet, so it's odd how one has been affected and the other hasn't. Kettle lakes usually don't fare well against an algae bloom, but dammed mill ponds seem to overcome them because they have flow, but not this one.

 

Still, they were bitey until un forecasted rain and a chilling wind drove us out after two hours. My brother caught a huge pickerel that nearly swallowed his Tiny Tum. Just a nightmare to unhook it, but no blood, so it darted away with vigor. He shook off one buck bass at the boat, so his skunk was off. I got a buck pitching into zombie cat tails with a Zman ProcrawZ, then a nice chunk swimming a Berkley Grass Pig out in the middle in a patch of zombie weeds. Not bad for one of the few spots we can back right up to and dump the boat in and leave just as easily. Too bad we had to stop on a good bite, but it was miserable getting soaked and spun all over the place by wind. A win is a win.

 

[bp_fowler]

Went out yesterday to the New Reservoir it was slow going for a while at least until the forecasted clouds showed up.  80 degrees with winds gusting to 30mph out of the SW.  Managed 4 dinks on the DT4.    

Photo shows the typical size.

 

Went home grabbed a bite to eat and went back out, this time to the public pond I visited last week.  The dink parade continued with another 4. 

Went down to Burr Oak early this morning hoping to add some size to my weekend haul but was thwarted by the skunk.  Still some great views.

[Swamp Girl]

More great storytelling, @PhishLI, and a beautiful bass.

 

I've fished Burr Oak, @bp_fowler. Beautiful photo.

[bp_fowler]

@ol'crickety probably my favorite “big lake” to fish.  I’m not sure why I don’t fish it more often since it’s only a 25min drive from my house.  

 

Actually I do know, It’s because it’s so big and spots are so spread out that it’s a lot of walking/hiking in order to cover water.  That wouldn’t normally be a problem for me on smaller BoW.  I have caught decent fish there but never more than 1 in a trip with a lots of skunks in between.

 

In any case the scenery there is great, and I think that more than anything keeps me coming back.

[Woody B]

Short trip today.  I would have fished a little longer, but my shoulder was hurting.  A few years ago I avoided surgery on my shoulder with PT.  I kept doing the PT even after all my appointments.  For some stupid reason I quit doing it a couple weeks ago.  I've already done my reps for today since getting home and won't be skipping them anymore.  I caught 5 Bass,  4 Spots and 1 Largemouth.   The first (pictured) was a 16 inch Spot within my first dozen casts at 6:57.   The last,(pictured) a nice 18 inch Largemouth was at 8:38.  I thought the Largemouth was bigger.  It hit like a BIG Bass.  No bump, or tap, I just felt the spinnerbait blade quit spinning.   I swung on it and connected.  It walked on it's tail like a BIG Bass does too.   I considered fishing longer but decided to give my shoulder a break for the rest of the day.  The rest of the Spots were between 13 and 15 inches.  I also caught a several small White Perch, and 2 small Channel Cats.   (no pixels on the perch or cats)

 

[Bazoo]

On 4/27/2024 at 12:27 PM, Fried Lemons said:

Carrying on with the theme last time I found them even hotter on the same pattern. Got a couple dinks and was getting swiped and slapped at every 5th cast. I’ll only bore you with one of here.

 

Reached a spot with immediate access to the deepest water in the lake and had another small fish miss on two consecutive casts. On the third I felt the bite and swung. Imagine my shock to find two fish on! The small one that had been missing and a much bigger one! They had a combined weight of 9lbs which is more bass than I’ve ever gotten in a cast.

 

Wow that's awesome, thank you for sharing, and congratulations!

[Jmurphy87]

Caught one today on a tube. On my 7 foot wall lol.

[Swamp Girl]

Murph, you don't seriously think I can comment on that bass given it's right next to your bare naked chin, do ya?

 

Nice one, Woody! Those 18-inchers are hard fighters.

[Jmurphy87]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

Murph, you don't seriously think I can comment on that bass given it's right next to your bare naked chin, do ya?

 

Nice one, Woody! Those 18-inchers are hard fighters.

Yeah the beard finally went after 4 months or so lol. My pants got wet do to the water level being higher do to the recent rain today, along with climbing on the hill like a spider monkey with my two rods in my hand and tackle bag on my back to reach my wall.

[Mbirdsley]

I was able to fish today for a couple of hours. I fished crystal lake in montcalm county.  it rained all morning and then when I arrived at the lake it was over cast and slick calm.  around 2 o clock the wind picked out of nowhere and than at 3 pm it started raining again at which, I called it a day.  it had been spitting and shuddering a little all day.  I can handle some ran or some wind but not both.  I left my gloves at home seeing how forecast was calling for a 70 degree day.  

 

Anyhow, Things are definitely progressing into pre spawn.  The 12-14 inch males are roaming in 2-3 ft of water.  I did not see any nests made yet.  However, i’m sure within the next week they will start to see best building pick up.  I was trying to concentrate in 6-8 ft looking for bigger fish. I really wanted to crank and use jerk baits but, with the lake being slick calm that did work. I was able to get one bass on a tube. 1 bass on a michigan rigged bandito bug. the rest including a 22 inch walleye and a small smallie came on a LC LV 500 gold lipless crank.

 

 I’d do anything for consistent weather and no wind.  the wind has been blowing 15-20 mph for the last week.  With the atmosphere this riled up it’s probably going to be scorcher of a summer. 

[Jmilburn76]

@Jmurphy87 what kind of tube is that? I haven’t seen one that looks like a craw.

[wanderful]

Over the weekend I picked up a 4lb pond mama on a chatterbait, and a 6lb cat on a spinnerbait.

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, Jmilburn76 said:

@Jmurphy87 what kind of tube is that? I haven’t seen one that looks like a craw.

I also like the looks of that tube 

[Jmurphy87]

3 hours ago, Jmilburn76 said:

@Jmurphy87 what kind of tube is that? I haven’t seen one that looks like a craw.

Great Lakes finesse juvy craw I think.

[Blue Raider Bob]

16 hours ago, Jmurphy87 said:

Yeah the beard finally went after 4 months or so lol. My pants got wet do to the water level being higher do to the recent rain today, along with climbing on the hill like a spider monkey with my two rods in my hand and tackle bag on my back to reach my wall.

It was your choice though wasn't it Murph? Gimruis didn't file a complaint did he?

[Jmurphy87]

1 hour ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

It was your choice though wasn't it Murph? Gimruis didn't file a complaint did he?

No he didn’t file a complaint lol. I was starting to get tired of it and saw my electric trimmers setting around while moving some stuff around and thought that I should use them again. Oh well I can grow one again if I get the urge to not shave for a while.

[gim]

Haircut and fashion police has put in a 2 week seasonal notice.

 

With heavy heart, I will no longer be able to police all the bird nests, facial jungles, holey jeans, and over night re-worn outfits until November again (when I'll be done fishing again for the season).

 

With our gamefish/bass season finally opening up in 12 days, I've got better things to do again than point out all the problems with people's hair and clothes.

 

Voluntary compliance is appreciated.  Funding is nearly impossible to come by for deputy help.

 

[MN Fisher]

31 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Haircut and fashion police has put in a 2 week seasonal notice.