Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Dwight Hottle]

2 hours ago, T-Billy said:

2024 night ops are officially underway. No bigs, but decent numbers of these guys running the inside weed edges. Got started at 02:30 this morning.

 I don't know the reason, but my hook/land percentage isn't good on those super hard bites. My theory is that they have it so tight in their mouth, that it's hard to move the bait in their yap enough to bury the hook good. Dunno, it always leaves me wondering how the heck those fish didn't get hooked.

 Anyway, the night bite should only get better from here. In a couple weeks we'll have lots of topped out hydrilla beds up shallow, and the girls will be getting over their post spawn funk and come shallow looking to fatten up on spawning gills.

@T-Billy That's been my experience especially with wood baits since they get a couple of teeth into the wood & you can't move it for a hook set. That's why I prefer hard plastic or metal so you can move it enough to get a hook set.  

[bp_fowler]

Went back to the Crappie Hole today.  After thinking about it last night I realized that every fish I’ve caught over 2 pounds I’ve caught there with one exception.  
 

Overcast skies, 64 degrees and winds 3mph from the NE.  Overnight showers had the water up about 18-24”.  The overhanging bushes where I caught 2 pounder yesterday were now flooded and the water which was already pretty murky was now chocolate milk.

 

I started fishing the same spot I had caught the 2 pounder yesterday Interestingly enough on my second cast I caught this fish which turned out to be 3.8 pounds.

 

Unfortunately I couldn’t get anything going after that and moved on to a different body of water.  I caught another three fish.  One of which (last fish pictured) looked a little different to me I’m not sure what it is if anyone can help me out it'd be appreciated.

 

 

[TnRiver46]

Last one is a smallmouth @bp_fowler, heckuva day 

[bp_fowler]

@TnRiver46 Thanks!  I suspected that’s what it was, that makes it my first smallie.  Wouldn’t have expected to catch that there.

[Bazoo]

Got these the other day at a city pond I frequent. I don't fish there a huge amount.

 

 

Today, I had a small one, then this 3 lb 4 oz monster. It hit that H2OX crank, and man, it was on. Started stripping line off of Abu Black Max. Praise God!

 

Finished the trip with a nice fighter. Always glad to welcome another to the party!

 

 

Needless to say, I'll be frequenting there more often!

[Swamp Girl]

Well played, you bank anglers!

[Pat Brown]

Jacob got a biggin tonight- 5 lber at the pond on his ultralight while panfishing from the fishing dock with 10 other people - complete with boom boxes and snack eaters and screaming children throwing stuff at ducks.  It was a riot of a night and his fish was the talk of the dock.  Proud of my little man.  😎🎣

 

 

Tomorrow after school we will probably hit it again before we do tackle prep and rest up for a small tournament/culling session in Durham!  @FishTax will be there this year and we are thrilled to have him!

 

Hoping to help my buddy keep his pond moving in the direction of being a giant factory.  Can't wait!

[IcatchDinks]

For some reason I decided to try my luck at the most pressured pond in town and made an impromptu fishing buddy. A twelve year old kid named Hunter was there ahead of me, with a "Sporting Goods store that apparently BR thinks is a swear word but is really just short for Richard's" shopping bag of fishing gear he'd just bought with his birthday money and had no idea how to use. Nobody ever taught the little man about stranger danger, cuz he immediately approached me as I got out of my car and began peppering me with questions about fishing. I spent the better part of an hour showing him how to rig up and fish with the different baits he'd purchased. Gave him some jig heads and EWG hooks because he'd bought plastics but no appropriate hooks.

 

He says he wants to start a fishing YouTube channel, but needs to "find all the good spots first." 

 

I was the only one to pull in a fish though. Hooked a tiny guy on one of my homemade cranks. Well, at least I know the little ones think my baits look edible. 😆

 

[MIbassyaker]

 

30 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Jacob got a biggin tonight- 5 lber at the pond on his ultralight while panfishing from the fishing dock with 10 other people - complete with boom boxes and snack eaters and screaming children throwing stuff at ducks.  It was a riot of a night and his fish was the talk of the dock.  Proud of my little man.  😎🎣

 

 

Tomorrow after school we will probably hit it again before we do tackle prep and rest up for a small tournament/culling session in Durham!  @FishTax will be there this year and we are thrilled to have him!

 

Hoping to help my buddy keep his pond moving in the direction of being a giant factory.  Can't wait!

 

Holy Mic-Drop by Jake!

 

 

11 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

For some reason I decided to try my luck at the most pressured pond in town and made an impromptu fishing buddy. A twelve year old kid named Hunter was there ahead of me, with a "Sporting Goods store that apparently BR thinks is a swear word but is really just short for Richard's" shopping bag of fishing gear he'd just bought with his birthday money and had no idea how to use. Nobody ever taught the little man about stranger danger, cuz he immediately approached me as I got out of my car and began peppering me with questions about fishing. I spent the better part of an hour showing him how to rig up and fish with the different baits he'd purchased. Gave him some jig heads and EWG hooks because he'd bought plastics but no appropriate hooks.

 

He says he wants to start a fishing YouTube channel, but needs to "find all the good spots first." 

 

I was the only one to pull in a fish though. Hooked a tiny guy on one of my homemade cranks. Well, at least I know the little ones think my baits look edible. 😆

 

 

Talk about satisfying -- a high-quality outing.

 

 

[gim]

6 hours ago, T-Billy said:

2024 night ops are officially underway.

The annual search for the floater begins.

[MIbassyaker]

8 minutes ago, gimruis said:

The annual search for the floater begins.

 

Absolute masterclass in Minnesota humor -- water-related, indirect, sardonic, and pitch-black.

 

[Swamp Girl]

JAKE!!! Here's the Jake Big Bass Dance:

 

[CastingClinic]

Tried a brand new lake with a buddy for a quick hour and a half before sunset yesterday and snagged a small bass each.

 

Spinnerbait is still hooking up.

 

[PhishLI]

Had to miss the better part of the past two weeks and was surprised to find weeds topping out this early which is unusual for early May, but great! Lord, give me salad. Found some nice bites before the rain came in and spotted my first bullfrog.

 

[Swamp Girl]

Phish, those are nice ones! Well done, my friend!

[Team9nine]

Wind was supposed to blow a bit, but from a good direction that should have allowed me to fish the best area I found a couple days back. Turned out they were way off, and the wind was ripping (25 mph) right into most of the stuff I wanted to sit on. By the time I came off the water just about 3 hours later, they had already closed the ramp due to possible safety issues. Had to just scrounge around in a few protected areas I could find, and ended up with 4 small keepers. Did hook a nice channel cat that for a good 60 seconds, I thought was a bass that would have made the trip a big success 😆 Much cooler next week, so hopefully we’ll get to try again.

 

 

 

 

 

[NorcalBassin]

I was following a shad spawn up shallow and came around a corner where this guy was waiting for me. I could hear him yelling, "You want a piece of me?" in his best Frank Constanza voice.

 

Fish moved out a little deeper than I expected for this time of year, so I figured it would be a good time to practice with a free rig. They loved that Bellows gill.

 

DoLive beaver also delivered.

 

[N Florida Mike]

Got 3 in our small church pond , all on the bandito bug…

[TnRiver46]

Went paddling this morning for a bit during a shad spawn, no takers and I could hear my dogs barking like crazy so I paddled home real quick and put them inside off the porch so the neighbors wouldn’t hate me . 
 

paddled back out and got two with a fluke still on shad spawn, 5/0 EWG nano alpha gamakatsu on spinning gear and 8 lb basix, never tried a hook that big with light tackle but it poked them well

 

gettin toward 10 am and the sun is bright and shad spawn dying down, saw carp eating cicadas. My buddy texted and said put a live one on a hook . Tried that and pitched it to a cruising carp. A big ole bass came out of nowhere and got it, long fight on 4 lb mono paddling backwards and using backreel to keep it away from shore but I won (all 3 pics below same fish)

 

 

next cast with fresh cicada I got a carp that splashed water everywhere upon hookup, same deal paddle backwards and wear it out 4 lb mono 

 

all before 11:30 am , fun morning . I reverse my opinion about the cicadas , they are no longer disappointing 😂. I had to paddle out of our creek to clearer water to get in on the action, that was apparently the key 

[Woody B]

I was expecting to struggle today.  We had storms last week (including a tornado a mile from my workplace) along with a BUNCH of rain.  We also had a sudden cold snap.  It was 50 degrees this morning.   I went later than I've been going incase there was debris floating in the lake.  With blue bird skies, North winds and a cold snap I wasn't expecting much.  I lost a decent (2 or 3 pound) Bass on my first cast.(spinnerbait)  I followed up with a wacky, and broke my line on the hookset.   (way too easy to break, I hadn't retied since last week)  I spot locked my boat, retied everything, and sharpened/repaired the bent hook tip on my spinnerbait.  On my 4th cast I caught the biggest Bass I've caught since getting my current boat.  7.91 pounds, 24 1/2 inches long with a skinny 15 7/8" girth.  My PB was 34 years ago.  Typical big Bass strike, but not typical big Bass fight...at first.  I felt the blade stop thumping on my spinner bait and set the hook.  I thought I had snagged a piece of wood, or something.   It was dead weight.........until I saw the boat.  Then.........she freaked out, went under the boat and took off toward deep water.   Luckily I had trimmed up my motor, so I could follow her around the boat with my rod, and not interference.  She ran 50 feet or so, then commenced to walk on her tail......like a big Bass is supposed to do.   After she was good a tired I got her to the boat, and lipped her.  After that I caught 6 more.  The smallest was 13 1/2"  the others were well over the 14" mark on my boat.   The water is "kinda" muddy,  but not as bad as I expected.  Water temp was 73 degrees, the same as last Sunday.   It's ironic that many times when I expect to struggle due to weather, or for other reasons I do real well.  When I think I'm going to slay them I either catch dinks or skunks.   7 isn't great for many here, but it's good for me and a 4 hour trip.  Especially with an almost 8 pound kicker and no dinks.  

 

 

[LrgmouthShad]

Well done @Woody B!!

[Swamp Girl]

Here's my single word commentary on you BR boys:

 

 

Woody, I love your story. You lost two bass. Then you sat and attended to details. Then you landed that beast. The big girl I caught about three weeks ago never fought. She was dead weight all the way. At least yours woke up, took line, and danced for you. 

 

@TnRiver46: Nobody at BR fishes from so many different platforms as you. Beautiful bass. Catching it on four pounds from a tiny boat means you get to add two pounds to her weight.

[Woody B]

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Woody, I love your story. You lost two bass. Then you sat and attended to details.

 

There's a lesson there though.  I should have "attended to the details" last night instead of stuffing my face with Pizza and playing my guitar.   

[Swamp Girl]

26 minutes ago, Woody B said:

 

There's a lesson there though.  I should have "attended to the details" last night instead of stuffing my face with Pizza and playing my guitar.   

 

Ahhh, pizza and music are fine things too. I know this is heresy and I might be burned at the stake, but bass aren't the only wonderful thing in this wide world. 

 

[MIbassyaker]

1 hour ago, Woody B said:

On my 4th cast I caught the biggest Bass I've caught since getting my current boat.  7.91 pounds, 24 1/2 inches long with a skinny 15 7/8" girth. 

[...]

After that I caught 6 more.  The smallest was 13 1/2"  the others were well over the 14" mark on my boat.