Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Hook2Jaw]

Nothing special besides the four hours I devoted to this fish in the morning slinging the Booyah Bankroll Jig in Money once again.  I got her to look at the YUM Craw Chunk in Craw quite a few times, but she never committed.  Returned that afternoon and slapped on a Christie Craw in Watermelon Red Flake and she hammered it on the first cast.

 

Picky girl.

[Fairtax4me]

23" at 5.2lbs The picture doesn't do it justice, this fishes mouth was enormous! 

Got this one on a shaky head. 

Seemed like most Bass were on beds up shallow and I can't be sure but this one came out of about 7 fow. No real signs that it was a bed fish, but it wasn't fat and fed like some of the smaller fish I caught out on timber in deeper water. It didn't have the shape of a big spawned-out female. Kinda thinking this was a BIG male bass and was guarding a bed that I couldn't see. I cast into a spot between two trees and when the lure hit the bottom it thumped and line started moving. Set the hook and it had carried it off under a branch. After a VERY tense 5 seconds of feeling flouro strain across tree trunk the fish shot straight for the surface and went 3 feet in the air. Back in the water, then it ran around and drug the line across another tree and jumped and tail walked into the net. All of this happened with 10 feet of line out.  Good thing it was 17lb P-Line. Really impressed with the VMC hook! Hooked it well in the fat part of the lip and didn't bend at all. 

 

Caught a handful of other 2-3 pound fish through the weekend, and also landed a nice 4lb honey dragging a lizard through her bed. Water was murky and the wind had it choppy so beds were hard to spot, but when we found cleaner and calmer water back in some of the coves we could pick a few bass off beds if they were willing to hit the lure. 

[Graham]

Was able to get an hours worth of fishing in a few days ago, this guy was a fun little catch! Nice way to break in the new set up ?

 

 

 

While I’m at it I’ll throw in another one I caught on my first outing of the season. Chunky little guy came off a fallen limb up shallow.

 

[NiX]

Did my first Kayak Bass Fishing tournament this passed weekend at Lake Berryessa. I placed 49th out of 138, I just couldn't get rid of my little guy! Oh well, it was a great experience and won't be my last.

Here is my best from tournament day. She smacked this itsy bug swimming over vegetation!

 

[MIbassyaker]

Finally!

 

Warming trend, at long last + free afternoon = first bass of the year!

 

2 hours on the riverbank, 10 fish total, some brown, some green...biggest one (bottom pic) went 2.34lb:

All damage done with 3.5" cane thumpers and 4" swing impacts

[wet_dream]

The weather up here in New Jersey has been pretty inconsistent but a string of a few warm days has turned the bite on. I’ve only been able to catch them on jigs and t-rigged senkos worked really slowly the last couple weeks. Today was no different. Really windy day and I was not expecting to do well. Barely felt her bite. I think the light tackle helped me out in today’s conditions. Landed about 10-12 fish, and was lucky to get some pictures of this girl before my phone died. No scale or tape measure, but I’m guessing she was approaching 4 lbs. 

[Hook2Jaw]

Awesome, you guys have been tearing them up!

[Graham]

They really wanted the black/blue rage menace swam shallow in the canal today, got on a good pattern, but had a lot of short strikes. Here’s my best of the day.

 

 

[scaleface]

4-25-18 First trip of the year . 200 acre lake northern Missouri .  Overcast sky high temperature 63 degrees , wind out of the NE at 8 to 15 MPH.  Water temp mid 50's with one foot of visibility .All  fish were caught off shallow  wood with a chartreuse Strike King Spin Dance spinnerbait . I also tried a chatterbait , various  crankbaits , worm and jig .

 

[deep]

Caught a lot of fish today; most were pretty small.

 

 

 

[Graham]

20 minutes ago, deep said:

most were pretty small

Total slab haha nice 

[Hook2Jaw]

Got on a few at my local public fishing area yesterday after work, which is surprising.  Normally I'm doing good if I manage one fish out of the three ponds ever since they opened Georgia PFAs to anyone with a license.  It used to also require a WMA permit, which, of course, costs a smidge more money and kept a lot of folks out.  Now, the place is swarmed with bank fishermen and a few boats and most of them have a bucket to toss whatever gets caught into them.

 

It's the place I go to figure out if a new bait will catch fish, considering they're so pressured and scarce.

 

Well, I've recently fallen in love with jigs, landing my personal best and probably my fifth jig fish a few weeks back on a private, unpressured body.  I wanted to see if they'd pass the test against very wary bass.  The old black and blue bankroll jig and Christie craw did well.  Four fish in three hours, which is whipping them for that spot.

 

This girl fought hard from 20' down to several jumps and a tailwalk from about 30 yards out.

 

 

 

@Bluebasser86 sorry about your boat, broheim.  The only cylinders I blow are in my calf muscles, but then again, the kayak tops out at 7mph!

[Gundog]

54 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

It's at the shop, probably getting a new cylinder put on it. Made it very clear that if it comes to that, to put one that the hoses run into the ends instead of the front on it. It's ruined 2 trips now and I probably could have paid for what it's going to cost me to get it fixed with all the time and money I've spent fixing it the last few times.

 

Sorry to hear about the problems @Bluebasser86 If you get a chance, could you snap a pic of where its happening? This is info I think all boat owners/future boat owners should know about and look to avoid. It might help prevent boat owners from going thru what you are going thru. 

[TnRiver46]

@Bluebasser86, that sucks. My motor is not allowed to trim all the way up either because the support arm that the motor rests on digs into the cylinder when it's maxed out. Problem is, all my buddies want to help put the boat on the trailer and they always trim it all the way up no matter how many times I tell them not to. They always say "well I didn't wanna drag the prop on the ramp." I may soon institute a "only I get to put the boat on the trailer rule"

 

 

[dgkasper58]

My New PB fishing with my students!!!  Huge girl for around here!

[A-Jay]

Nice Bass ~

Congrats on the new PB.

A-Jay

[J._Bricker]

Congratulations @dgkasper58 On your new PB! Way to show the kids how to get er done! BTW, how much did that big ole girl go?

[dgkasper58]

1 hour ago, J._Bricker said:

Congratulations @dgkasper58 On your new PB! Way to show the kids how to get er done! BTW, how much did that big ole girl go?

No scale issue.  I was going to call the DNR since I was pretty sure it is a lake record but she was tired and I wanted to get her back in the water ASAP. The Length to Girth chart put her at 7.3 but I don't know if she was that big. I asked the question in the  forum if the charts are accurate during the spawn most said yes.

 

BTW I am 6'3 295 lbs

 

 

[lo n slo]

an approaching front provided perfect conditions today and the spots were eager to bite. this 2.5 lb beauty fell for a GP Zoom 5” lizard in 6 fow. 

[J._Bricker]

3 hours ago, dgkasper58 said:

No scale issue.  I was going to call the DNR since I was pretty sure it is a lake record but she was tired and I wanted to get her back in the water ASAP. The Length to Girth chart put her at 7.3 but I don't know if she was that big. I asked the question in the  forum if the charts are accurate during the spawn most said yes.

 

BTW I am 6'3 295 lbs

 

 

Thanks for that additional info ‘cause she now looks even bigger or she makes you look small :). Again, well done and congratulations 

[Columbia Craw]

Part of a 21.90 limit.  Missed big fish by .05 pounds. Got lucky and won the event.

[scaleface]

Took my second trip of the year and second in two days . Today it was sunny with a north wind at 5 to 10 mph and air temp at about 65 . The bass were still shallow on wood and I caught them on the same Strke King Spin Dance spinnerbait  as yesterday . I got in one heck of an argument  with some guy who claimed they were not 15 inches . I was at the cleaning station and he was in his boat . I filleted one and tossed the carcass  out in front of him and told him "to measure that one " . LOL that made him mad and he was a big SOB . He beached his boat and I thought uhoh.  He grabbed his measuring board and started measuring my fish .  After he measured them and saw they were legit he then lectured me about catch and release . I just kept right on  filleting  .  

 

 

[WolfyBrandon]

[April 26, 2018]

 

1st Bass of 2018

 

 

19'', 3lb 03oz Smallmouth Bass

 

Winter is finally over, but it's been a rough early spring. The weather has been non-stop rain/snow every day, and it wasn't until last week my area finally got the warming trend I've been waiting for since the beginning of the year. I had plans with my buddy Jeremy that Monday (4-23-18) would be our first fishing trip of 2018. Monday is one of our scheduled days off from work, and having the extra time to fish would help us on our first trip out this year. The day was looking good with a forecast of clear skies and a high of around 62F. Sadly, while I was at work on the 21st (two days before our fishing trip), there was a big wind storm which got me sick later that evening. I was in bed all the next day, and Monday morning when I woke up at 4:00am for fishing, I was still sick and had no energy so I had to cancel our plans. Jeremy did head out with another friend that day since I couldn't make it, and they both managed to catch some good bass, which was their first fish of the year.

 

We rescheduled for Thursday the 26th, which would be a shorter after work fishing trip. We had till 7:00pm to fish, when we launched the boat and were headed to our first spot it was 3:30pm. We decided to start where he had caught them last Monday and adjust from there. I had 4 combos, and was throwing (1) a Lipless (2) a Crankbait, (3) a Chatterbait, (4) a Grub. Water temp was 50-53F, and Clarity was Stained 1-2ft. We fished the first spot for a good 30 min without a bite. I made a cast with the grub on the new combo I put together for this year and was working it slowly along the bottom. When I lifted it up it felt like it hit something, but then started pulling back, so I reeled and swept the rod back and it was fish on. It was a good fish, it felt heavy and I could feel it head shaking... then a few seconds later the hook popped out. Never got to see it, so it will be another one that haunts me. I had learned that the new Medium-Heavy combo I just put together for this year, was more like a Medium compared to my other combos. I just didn't make a strong enough hookset to really drive the hook in. We fished that first spot for over an hour and that was the only bite, so it was time to move.

 

Second location was a bit warmer at 53F, with more stain to the water around 1ft Clarity. 25 min into fishing Jeremy hooks into his first fish of the day which was a good Smallmouth probably around ~2 pounds (didn't weigh it). I was throwing all 4 baits, mixing up retrieves and nothing, not even another bite. By this time it was 6:00pm and we had an hour left. Started to think about the one I lost and how it might be a 1 bite a day deal and how I might have missed my opportunity. There was a lot of little things that day, like snags, multiple break offs from fishing an open hook, line twist since I recently put new line on all my combos for this year, etc. I still managed good Positive Mental Attitude though, knew the water was warm, we had bites / caught one, and we still had time. We both had different ideas on what should be our third (and last) location. I mentioned mine was near some deeper water which I found to be good during the early season in years past. It's also a place that I believe is over looked and doesn't receive a lot of fishing pressure. I mentioned we can run to it, spend 15-20 min fishing it, and if we don't get a bite we can head back. The one possible down side is that it's on the shady side of the lake, and our results today were in the direct sunlight. We decided to head to my spot for our last location.

 

Third location, 6:12pm, water temp was 54F. I decided to change Grub colors from Green Pumpkin to Junebug as the water was still stained at 1ft Clarity and we were in darker conditions being in shadow now. I also changed just to fish something new to see if it helps.

 

 

10 min into fishing our third location Jeremy hooks into his second bass of the day a Smallmouth probably around ~1.5lb (didn't weigh it). 5 min after his fish, I make a cast near the last dock and seconds after my grub hits the bottom I see my line moving off... I wasn't about to make the same mistake again, so I reeled down and gave a good hookset with the new combo and it was fish on. It had me wrapped around the last piling for a few seconds... got it to the boat and figured I had better lip this one, and that's the one in the first picture. Landed it at 6:27pm, and even managed to hook a second one at 12", 13oz. Jeremy hooked his third of the day (similar size to mine) at 6:48pm. We headed back to the boat ramp at 7:04pm.

 

Edit: Bonus picture from this day, Canada Goose nesting in a flower pot.

 

 

WolfyBrandon

 

[Bluebasser86]

3 hours ago, scaleface said:

Took my second trip of the year and second in two days . Today it was sunny with a north wind at 5 to 10 mph and air temp at about 65 . The bass were still shallow on wood and I caught them on the same Strke King Spin Dance spinnerbait  as yesterday . I got in one heck of an argument  with some guy who claimed they were not 15 inches . I was at the cleaning station and he was in his boat . I filleted one and tossed the carcass  out in front of him and told him "to measure that one " . LOL that made him mad and he was a big SOB . He beached his boat and I thought uhoh.  He grabbed his measuring board and started measuring my fish .  After he measured them and saw they were legit he then lectured me about catch and release . I just kept right on  filleting  .  

They look like healthy fish to me, I doubt the lake will miss a few. 

 

I had a guy do something similar at weigh in during a tournament a couple years ago. We'd already had words on the water when he didn't approve of me catching a keeper off "his spot", despite us being there first. I have a hard time biting my tongue with guys like that but I'd rather chew my tongue off than have someone do something stupid and end up on the news. 

[Bluebasser86]

16 hours ago, Gundog said:

Sorry to hear about the problems @Bluebasser86 If you get a chance, could you snap a pic of where its happening? This is info I think all boat owners/future boat owners should know about and look to avoid. It might help prevent boat owners from going thru what you are going thru. 

I won't be able to most likely, because hopefully the cylinder is replaced with a different model, but I can give a basic idea. It's a Bay Star steering system, with 2 "T" pieces that screw into the front of the cylinder (not my motor but this is the same system). 

 

The way my motor sits on a jackplate, if the motor is trimmed all the way up, the piece that screws into the cylinder will hit the transom and snap off, leaving a piece of threaded metal screwed into the cylinder. In the past I've been able to get the piece out with an easy out kit, but this time it actually snapped off also, leaving me with no possible way to remove the piece.