Best of 2023. Lets see 'em.

[T-Billy]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Yeah, I know, but what you see are the bass I catch. What you don't see are the bass I lose to weeds.

You're gonna remedy that next year when you start fishing the thick stuff more vertically. No messing around either. H or XH rod and 50# braid. 😉

[bp_fowler]

3.5 lbs, with a black&blue swim jig. I caught it in what was probably the smallest body of water I fished this year.  Sorry for the mean mug I was kinda PO’d I had just dropped my phone in the mud trying to take this picture.

[RipzLipz]

22 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I'd love to have a crack at some of the action south of the border someday.  Seems it would be a fun time for sure.

I can be packed & ready in 2-3 days. Let me know when you’re ready.

[Fried Lemons]

First fish I caught this year was a pb, 7lb 10oz on a tiny klash

Most notable bycatch,  31” striper on a tiny klash

 

Walleye season is just starting, biggest so far this year 23” on a tiny klash

[Swamp Girl]

@Fried Lemons, I saw your three beauties and thought, "I should get a Tiny Klash too! That lure catches everything!"

 

And then I googled it. Gulp.

 

[RipzLipz]

11 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

That lure catches everything!

Especially dolla bills & anglers. 🤣

 

I have no room to talk. Rods & reels is where I spend the most but those won’t get broke off in 25 FOW & then found by Bluebasser86.

[N Florida Mike]

[thediscochef]

7-5 LM caught at dusk on 8/8

4-1 SM caught at 10:35PM on 5/29

 

Both on a red eye shad

[RipzLipz]

@thediscochef Nice toads. Like the blonde-ish color on the SM.

[N Florida Mike]

Forgot about these …

 

 

[RipzLipz]

@N Florida Mike I see the forecast in northern FL is calling for gusty winds with a strong scent of BACON. Nice pigs!

[Dwight Hottle]

@thediscochef I know of two other PB's over 11lbs caught on the red eye shad so clearly they do produce. 

[thediscochef]

28 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

@thediscochef I know of two other PB's over 11lbs caught on the red eye shad so clearly they do produce. 

They sure do. Lost a PB class fish on it this morning, had my drag too loose and it dove into some invasive milfoil. Game over. Only bite I had today, this Bluebird crap is really birddoggin my quail 

[scaleface]

Had a good day last spring with a 6 fish 24 lb limit .

[Swamp Girl]

On 12/4/2023 at 5:44 PM, T-Billy said:

You're gonna remedy that next year when you start fishing the thick stuff more vertically. No messing around either. H or XH rod and 50# braid. 😉

 

I bought a H rod yesterday. I'll be buying 50 lb. braid too.

 

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

Had a good day last spring with a 6 fish 24 lb limit .

 

 

 

 

If that's just a good day, I'd love to be in the boat with you on a great day!

[Bird]

I fish so much I can't even remember where I caught them. 😂Here's a few.

[The Baron]

Wow, some great fish pics.  We don’t grow largemouth quite like that up here, but I upped my PB by a considerable margin with a 5.35# in September.  Was fishing an Owner Flashy Swimmer with a white paddletail when she entered my life.  I’d just had a birds nest and used the locked drag trick to help fix it.  Pretty sure she came up out of a tree laying down a steep drop from about 3-12ft.  I knew I got bit, but she was coming toward me on an angle and I saw the line swimming when I set into her.  When she turned and made her first dash I had to give her all the length I could with my arms and rod as I spun the drag star quickly, so she could get some line.  I got a good hookset as a result, but darn lucky she didn’t break me off on that first run on a locked drag with 14# fluoro.  She gave a great fight and a good friend netted her for me.  We’ve been friends for over 20 years, used to hunt together a lot but both got into fishing in the last few years.  This was the first time we fished together, and both caught our PB largemouth - his 3.55#.  He fishes the St. Lawrence River for smallmouth though and has caught several 5+ smallies, so the trade for me taking him on a back lake largemouth trip will be him putting me on my PB smallmouth.🤞🏻 (I need to beat 5lb. 7oz. and dethrone my son.  lol)

 

[The Baron]

On 12/6/2023 at 12:08 PM, N Florida Mike said:

Forgot about these …

 

 

Oh yeah, I also forgot about the other dozen 5-plus’ that I caught…

 

… kidding.  😂😫😎😝

[N Florida Mike]

23 hours ago, The Baron said:

Oh yeah, I also forgot about the other dozen 5-plus’ that I caught…

 

… kidding.  😂😫😎😝

I kind of forgot. Just caught most of those early in the year so in my mind they were in 2022. When I went back and checked, they were mostly spring of ‘23…Getting old 🤠

[bassman53]

caught this bad boy at "an over pressured" bank on a stormy day in north FL, condtions were crap, and we were ready to pack it up, when i felt the littlest tug at my worm, did not expect to pull this in and was in utter shock the entire time i was handling it, of course i had no scale on me but i like to assume this was over 8#

[LrgmouthShad]

Tentatively this beaut from my arch nemesis lake, Lake Somerville

 

But I’ve still got some time left in NC! I am guessing enough for 6 trips. It ain’t over!

[Fishingmickey]

Beautiful fish, from what can be at times a be a very stingy lake!

FM

[LrgmouthShad]

4 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

Beautiful fish, from what can be at times a be a very stingy lake!

FM

Oh so you’ve been on Somerville? What do those fish do? Roam around aimlessly with the white bass, maybe chasing shad, and occasionally popping up in the right places? 
 

I’ve located quite a bit of underwater goodness there, but it often seems like those places can only be described as community holes. If I find something, everybody and their mother already knows about it. 
 

Frustrating lake. I will take any advice from you that I can get and I will be grateful for it

[Bluebasser86]

https://ibb.co/jV0Kv2m

 

[Fishingmickey]

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Oh so you’ve been on Somerville? What do those fish do? Roam around aimlessly with the white bass, maybe chasing shad, and occasionally popping up in the right places? 
 

I’ve located quite a bit of underwater goodness there, but it often seems like those places can only be described as community holes. If I find something, everybody and their mother already knows about it. 
 

Frustrating lake. I will take any advice from you that I can get and I will be grateful for it

Yes, I have fished a couple of KATS tournaments on Somerville. Did very well in the 2017 event and decent in the other 2018 event. I fished shallow to dirt shallow chunking a spinner bait at anything I could see.  I was running the banks (miles of bank). Chunking at anything that had reeds or wood. 

Caught some good one's on the jackhammer too.  Chartreuse, white or that combo, 3/8 - 1/2 oz with either bait. I know some of the other guys did well fishing deep cranks and carolina rigging deep in the channels.  The 2018 winner busted a 100" plus with his five and he was throwing a (dirt shallow) senko to prespawn and maybe spawning fish.

     Next couple of months if you can find good weather windows between fronts you might be able to go out and catch some big ones like you posted.

FM