Latest Catch Pics Thread

[Gundog]

4 hours ago, WVU-SCPA said:

She decided that there was just enough room to fit a 2.75" trd in that belly.

Dude that bass is just ridiculous. That thing has been eating like me at Thanksgiving. 

[Fairtax4me]

Spent the day on the James river yesterday and caught a handful of largemouth and a couple smallmouth. The smallmouth were on wacky rig stick baits. Largies I caught on jigs and one on a Keitech, all way up in cover. Fishing wasn't easy, but we had one of our better days on this stretch of river. Saw a couple 3-4lb smallies cruising around and had one follow a lure but couldn't catch any of the big girls. Also trolled right up to a 40"+ Muskie sitting up on the edge of a rock pile, and saw maybe 2 dozen short nose and long nose gar cruising around chomping on all the fry that were literally everywhere. 

 

Almost caught my first Muskie on a jerkbait! Felt a couple taps on the bait when it was 8-10 feet from the boat and kept just barely twitching it. Finally got it close enough to see and there was a teeny tiny Muskie! Couldn't have been more than 6" long and was very interested in that 5" rapala jerkbait!  It hung around for about ten seconds then swam back down into the rocks. Just missed getting a pic of it. 

 

The smallie in the pic thought it had wings! I hooked it and it ran a few feet then jumped straight up about 5 feet out of the water! Couldn't shake that VMC hook though! 

[Team9nine]

13 hours ago, The Bassman said:

 

This seems to mirror what I experience. Loads of 2-3 lbrs. and the occasional 4-5. Would really like to hear your insights on this.  

@Paul Roberts and I have had some pretty in-depth discussions on this very subject over the years, and it largely boils down to adequate food supply and longevity. These ponds have to produce enough food of various size classes, and it has to be available to the bass at the right time/age Plus, the fish have to live long enough in them to be able to grow big. However, such conditions don’t exist very often in these man-made systems as there is little ecological stability. Many are borderline insufficient depth for survival or protection during severe winters or summer die-offs. They are rarely stocked intelligently/intentionally, and then managed afterward. They frequently receive excess nutrients from adjacent farm fields or home owners yards, then get treated by HOAs for excess weeds/algae, etc. due to this over-fertilization. Plus they tend to get a lot of foot traffic from anglers which likely crop off many of the few big ones that do make it against the odds. It seems like 3 pounds (give or take) seems to be the natural limit before fish start getting skinny and succumb to either insufficient forage (of appropriate size), harsh environmental conditions, old age or fishing pressure. Anything above that size is kind of a special fish in these little waters. Those waters that regularly produce a lot of bigger than normal bass, or have really good overall bass size structure, can probably attribute it to one of the above factors (or more likely several of them) falling into the basses favor (against the odds).

[Paul Roberts]

What he said ^^^

 

Little to add. Except maybe that length -frame length to hang that weight on- is important. In my small waters, instability simply doesn't allow it. Hot summers, cold winters, and variable vegetation growth take their toll.

[TnRiver46]

14 hours ago, WVU-SCPA said:

She decided that there was just enough room to fit a 2.75" trd in that belly.

Good gracious what a bass. Most folks would say that one was full of eggs! I think sometimes they just eat a lot, even during spring 

[WVU-SCPA]

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Good gracious what a bass. Most folks would say that one was full of eggs! I think sometimes they just eat a lot, even during spring 

We were prefishing for a tournament this weekend so after a quick photo she was quickly released to the depths.  The next few hours I kept wondering what was all in there....could she really have eggs in July? Did she swallow a plastic and have blockage?  If she spent the next few hours in the boat would we be cleaning 8 oz of shad out of the livewell?  Hopefully she keeps here eating habits through Saturday. 

[TnRiver46]

23 minutes ago, WVU-SCPA said:

We were prefishing for a tournament this weekend so after a quick photo she was quickly released to the depths.  The next few hours I kept wondering what was all in there....could she really have eggs in July? Did she swallow a plastic and have blockage?  If she spent the next few hours in the boat would we be cleaning 8 oz of shad out of the livewell?  Hopefully she keeps here eating habits through Saturday. 

Nothing more yummy than opening your livewell and smelling half-digested crawfish and shad!!!!

[boostr]

Took the boat out on the lake this past Sunday, it was to nice not too.

 

 

 

[WDE]

Bit of a frustrating day. Hooked up on a few, but my hookset game was not strong or my luck was incredibly bad. Time to trade out the value H2O Xpress hooks and go with a new brand. 

 

Anyhow, I pulled in this 4lb. He seemed a bit oddly shaped...big shoulders(?). 

 

 

[MIbassyaker]

I haven't fished much in the last 2 weeks, but made time for a short river float today.  A bunch of little smallies showed up, the best of which was this 15-incher:

 

 

On 7/8/2018 at 5:43 PM, CybrSlydr said:

Well, today was a good day. Went fishing at Burr Oak for a little bit and caught my new Personal Best Bass. Granted, those of you that have seen my previous bass, you'll realize it doesn't take much to break it. lol

 

Hard work and time-on-task pays off -- congrats!

[Bluebasser86]

4 hours ago, WDE said:

Time to trade out the value H2O Xpress hooks and go with a new brand. 

I use the H20 EWG and straight shank flipping hooks all the time and they work well for me, excellent for the price. 

[WDE]

51 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I use the H20 EWG and straight shank flipping hooks all the time and they work well for me, excellent for the price. 

I recently swapped 5/0 H20 for Mustad 4/0(LTB freebie) due to missed hookups. Had success on the 4/0, so I decided to go with the H20 version...and today was just madness with losing fish. 

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, WDE said:

I recently swapped 5/0 H20 for Mustad 4/0(LTB freebie) due to missed hookups. Had success on the 4/0, so I decided to go with the H20 version...and today was just madness with losing fish. 

Haven't ever used the 5/0 size, maybe that's the difference? The 2/0, 3/0, and 4/0 EWG's have been everything I could ask them to be though. 

[NHBull]

Noting like Ajay puts in the boat, but 4 like this on chatterbait and Craws.

My buddy was lighting it up on wacky rigged trick worms

[Fairtax4me]

8 hours ago, WDE said:

I recently swapped 5/0 H20 for Mustad 4/0(LTB freebie) due to missed hookups. Had success on the 4/0, so I decided to go with the H20 version...and today was just madness with losing fish. 

I know it's a pics thread so trying not to get too far off topic but what line and rod are you using with those?

I can get a 5/0 hook set with a medium rod and 10lb flouro but it's gotta be just right. I usually use 15lb flouro and a medium heavy fast rod at the least for good hookups 4/0-6/0 EWG hooks. 

[A-Jay]

On 7/11/2018 at 11:26 AM, NHBull said:

Noting like Ajay puts in the boat, but 4 like this on chatterbait and Craws.

My buddy was lighting it up on wacky rigged trick worms

 Nice Bass ~

And it's Much Better than anything I got today 

A-Jay

[Russ E]

air temp was 95 degrees water temp was 93 degrees. Still managed to catch my Largest bass of 2018, from a tough Kansas power plant lake, that has skunked me more than once.

21 inches 5lb. 12oz.

[WDE]

8 hours ago, Fairtax4me said:

I know it's a pics thread so trying not to get too far off topic but what line and rod are you using with those?

I can get a 5/0 hook set with a medium rod and 10lb flouro but it's gotta be just right. I usually use 15lb flouro and a medium heavy fast rod at the least for good hookups 4/0-6/0 EWG hooks. 

Medium, 12lb mono. I had at least 3 take the bait, set the hook(or so I thought), and they spit after a few seconds of running with it. One thing I did overlook is that perhaps my hook had dulled, even though it still looked and felt sharp. They weren’t small fish, so I don’t think they were just taking the worm. 

 

Just bizarre that I had no problems with the 4/0 Mustad and minimal with the 5/0 H20 previously(until I started hitting this particular pond frequently). 

[deep]

Bass fishing was fairly lackluster today. After 5 hours in the sun with only a couple 16 inchers and a boatload of dinks, I had enough of it.

 

So over the course of the next hour, I first reranged and then plusoned a bunch of crappies. Just glad that I released almost as many as I kept. I forgot that cleaning fish isn't half as much fun as catching them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fairtax4me]

3 hours ago, WDE said:

Medium, 12lb mono. I had at least 3 take the bait, set the hook(or so I thought), and they spit after a few seconds of running with it. One thing I did overlook is that perhaps my hook had dulled, even though it still looked and felt sharp. They weren’t small fish, so I don’t think they were just taking the worm. 

 

Just bizarre that I had no problems with the 4/0 Mustad and minimal with the 5/0 H20 previously(until I started hitting this particular pond frequently). 

I think You're probably sticking the fish with the point but not getting it to drive in. The stretch in mono combined with the flex in the rod just isn't enough to really drive that hook in past the barb and get a solid set. 

Flourocarbon or even braid will help, but you also need to start using a medium heavy rod with those sized hooks. 15lb flouro or 40lb braid on a medium heavy fast rod will certainly drive those home. 

 

Staying with the medium rod and mono line, downsize your hook to a smaller size and/or finer wire size. 

Mustad hooks are incredibly sharp. Talking almost molecularly sharp. Sharpness on a level that we can't feel with our own sense of touch. To us a mustad feels just as sharp as an eagle claw snell hook, but they're on entirely different levels if you put them under a microscope. The mustad also STAYS sharp for longer. 

[Looking for the big one]

 

The water levels were low so the fish were extra spooky but I still managed a few. This was the nicest one at 2.5 on a wacky GP 3” Dinger. Saw several 3-4 pound fish but I spooked them and they got tight lipped ?.  

[deep]

Caught me a butter balling ditch panda on a tiny swimbait today.

 

 

 

 

Pandasaurus rex is a strong animal, and tried to get away by bending out an ST-36. Not on my watch, not today though!

 

 

[NorcalBassin]

Apparently catfish like Keitechs as well...

 

After the disappointment of this catfish I also unfortunately caught a carp on a senko that was 30+ pounds and wouldn't even fit in our net. Thought I had a PB Clear Lake giant until about 10 seconds into the fight (no pic).

 

Pops with one of the nicer bass of the trip.

[Looking for the big one]

Got another nicer one from the creek. Was having trouble fooling them again but saw a pair chasing a bluegill at the surface and casted over towards them with the Keitech and this one hit it before I could even engage the reel. 2.93 lbs. Definitely one of my luckier catches. 

Then I got this guy in the deepest pocket. @NorcalBassin I feel your disappointment ?.

[shovelmouth83]

Took my nephew out  3.3 trolling with a chrome and blue back rat trap