Anyone else?

[papajoe222]

Am I the only one here having difficulty catching quality bass this year?  Here it is July and I’ve yet to boat a bass over 20in.  Pre-spawn didn’t even produce one. Grant you, I do catch most of my biggest fish of the year in July and August, but by the end of June I normally log a half dozen or so.  You could blame the unstable weather, but I don’t. For me, tough conditions swing the odds in my favor for catching some big girls. 

[Bluebasser86]

Not really. Quality has been fine but top end size hasn't been great. I do blame the weather. Hard to find them when lakes are doubled in size or closed completely in a lot of cases.

[Ksam1234]

No it’s not just you, pre spawn was “ok” this year but nothing amazing. I fish for smallies mostly but did managed a 6 pound 13 oz largemouth.  But now it’s dead, weather has been so weird. It was 48 degrees at night two weeks ago mid June which is crazy. 

[papajoe222]

Luckily, the lakes up here are only a foot or so higher than normal for this time of year. I think, maybe, I just need to stay on the water longer.  Haven’t had many days with over five hours out there. 

[BadContrakt]

I'm in your neck of the woods. Minnesota. Haven't struggled to find bass yet this year (fish once to twice a week, always on a different body of water ((LAND OF 10,000 LAKES AND I INTEND TO FISH THEM ALL)) and haven't struggled too much to find fish, or quality fish for that matter. Been doing pretty good and keying into what they're wanting as of late.

 

The key has been 5 foot or less in the shade. They don't seem to have any interest in moving into the main lake yet. Degrees here are still mostly 72 or less in all of these lakes and been finding them shallower still. Try it out. Texas rig worked with a craw (color depending on clarity) has been working really well.

[TnRiver46]

It's been a great year for 20"+ fish for me. I usually have to wait til December to land the big ones 

[Black Hawk Basser]

I haven't gotten any "bigs" either this year, but I have gotten a good amount of healthy fish.  And not many dinks either.  I can't complain considering that I've logged considerably less hours on the water this year than most.

[Bankbeater]

I’ve gotten one bass over 3 lb and one bass over 2 lb. The rest have been between 1 and 2 pounds. The water is starting to go down now so hopefully the second half of the year will be better. 

[Dens228]

I don't think my numbers are down that much, but they have definitely been harder to find.

[jbmaine]

Been a very strange year so far in southern Maine. Catching fish, but mostly not where they usually are this time of year.

[Brew City Bass]

As far as size goes, it's been an above average year. The numbers have been low though. 

Usually I go out and crush 15-20 bass a night, with a mixed bag of 3's and 4's. This year it seems I'll catch 5-15 fish, but have a solid 5 and 6lber thrown in the mix. I'm not complaining. 

[Dennis1972]

its been a real good year for me so far in both quantity and quality, i was just saying this to a guy at the bar last weekend and he said the same. i moved to a new county and found a couple honey holes here that i never fished before this year, that may have something to do with it. ive found some real nice largemouth and smallmouth.

[Sam]

Due to my wife's back surgery and recovery, I have not had the boat out this year so I have been fishing ponds and local lakes.

 

Caught 10 out of two ponds and then quit after 35 in my double secret pond on June 27th.

 

All were under 1 pound. No big ones what so ever.

 

Pond management is a problem but in the past I have always nailed a three or four pounder. But this year I have landed 45, all dinks, missed around another 15 others, all dinks.  They are still fun to catch.

[Jleebesaw]

I'm in the low numbers but big fish camp. I caught my pb smallie 2 weekends ago. 6lb 3/4oz.

[Koz]

So far everything this year has been under 6 pounds. I have caught a lot of 4 and 5 pounders and I can’t complain about that. But we have double digit bass where I fish and I would prefer one of those to two five pounders.

[Glaucus]

I only have a few LMBs over 3lbs this year so far and the best SMB was 18in. It's been a terrible year. Cold and rain has messed everything up. Last year I was on the river catching quality SMBs starting May 4th all the way through October-ish. This year I just want the river to stop going from 4~ ft to 8~ ft every week, which is maintaining a chocolate milk color rather than the clear to green tea that it should be. I play pool in the winter months but right now I'm playing a lot of pool and doing little fishing. Until things clear up I'm not wasting my time. I figure by this weekend or next things might even out.

[Russ E]

The average size for me has been a little smaller this year. I have fortunately caught a few nice fish, but not as many as most years.

I think several factors are at play.

weather is probably the biggest problem. rain and flooding has most boat ramps closed on the reservoirs.

One other factor for me is my Favorite lake made the Bassmaster top 100 last year.

It still has big fish, but there are a lot more anglers to work around.

With the larger reservoirs closed to flooding and the extra publicity, it is getting hit pretty hard this year. 

It was not on the list this year. Maybe everyone will forget about it and move on.

[Munkin]

Fished a local Thursday evening tournament and 5 fish for 5.4lbs won. I caught over 30 bass that were not 12". So tell me how bad your fishing spots have been again this year. 

 

Allen 

[Harold Scoggins]

9 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Hard to find them when lakes are doubled in size or closed completely in a lot of cases.

It was a spring for rain that's for sure.

[nighthawk25]

Haven't fished as much this year but size is definitely lacking in northern Indiana. Have also had a few days where I struggled to get a few.

[CHIP-MAINE]

been catching great large mouth numbers and size on  cobbesecontee stream. smallmouth fishing on the androscoggin river hasnt heated up yet because i believe the high water still because of runoff. if you havent tried either of these they are my 2 favorites. deffinatly worth the drives.

[813basstard]

First part of the year was fabulous.

7 fish over 6lbs, one over 9 (all largemouth). 

Last 3 weeks ?

Logged 28 hours on the water with 4 bites...oh and swung and missed on all 4.

When you go 7 hrs without a bite, you tend to be like a 16 year old on prom night...slightly overzealous 

[soflabasser]

So far it has been another great year of bass fishing for me. There is 6 months left until the year ends so let's see what happens for the rest of the year.

[The Bassman]

I've had an excellent first six months with many fish, a couple over 5 lbs. I fish smaller neighborhood lakes almost daily. With hot weather now I like to transition to wading creeks which are finally dropping.

[TriStateBassin106]

All dinks this year. I fish a private lake in Northern NJ from time to time on a friends boat and was able to land a decent 2 lb largie but other than that most of my fish just barely miss 1 lb back when I was a multi species angler I could land some nice bass but now that I devoted my fishing to bass alone it's been tough.