Paul Roberts

Looks like I got one too -from a Colorado pond:

Thanks all. Yep. I've had several like that. They are chowin' down and crankin' out the deuce (or whatever you want to call it lol). Roger, these bass are mostly bluegill fed. There are also young cats and carp, and crayfish of course. But bluegills are primary fodder. I have a couple ponds in which yellow perch fqctor in. I'm waiting for the mid-summer weight loss, when water temps hit mid-80s and bass get thin. I'm assuming there is a correlation. Since we've got a cool year so far, early summer temps are continuing into mid summer. Curious when, if, the bass thin out.

Wonderful trip! Thanks for sharing it.

Sounds like you were in the front. It's the bright skies following a front that tend to make for tougher fishing. I would have to venture that it wasn't the weather. Re-group and get back at 'em.

It was a cat or bullhead. At that size it would have to be a cat. With spots it would be a channel cat. They guard eggs and fry in old muskrat holes, but will dig into substrate too.

Hang in there rtb. I haven't been able to fish much either, but for much less troublesome reasons. Take care of yourself. Take it easy and get well. The fish will be there when you are ready to rock and roll.

This really is a good question -one every serious angler confronts. First, you have to decide where other anglers fit into your fishing. Dunno about you but my fishing time is precious. I am not much interested in talking about golf or girls when I'm fishing. I'm front, center and present on the water in front of me. Too much water, too little time that sort of thing. I make no apologies for it. It can be fun to fish with others, but that may end up being be a whole different thing from what you want. If it's social time great! You decide, ahead of time. Just who the other anglers are though, matters, a lot. Careful sharing can be beneficial to you and another angler. But, losing fishing time, or a good spot, sucks and can happen by sharing too much with the wrong person. And that's key. You have to feel out other anglers and see who they are, and where they fit in to your fishing. Many anglers will not understand the ethics that can be involved. Either they are willing to steal, or they just don't know any better. Good anglers have discovered a thing or two and it deserves respect. You should expect it from others as well. Here's my general rule of thumb: I share nothing (about locations) with anyone that I got from another angler that shared with me. That's just proper etiquette. If I share a location with someone, I am allowing them to fish that particular water anytime. Conversely, if someone shares a location with me, I feel free to fish it. But I won't pass that right along to anyone else. As hard-*** as this might sound, I for one am not secretive. Fishing opportunities come and go in time and space and we just can't come close to covering it all. There's plenty of room except in certain chunks of precious space-time. It's your job to identify these (either on your own or via a partner), and both a right and responsibility to share or withhold them. I share info, but the depth of that info depends on what I might get in return. This is not mercenary what I'm after isn't more fishing spots I'm overwhelmed as it is. It's good information I'm after, and to avoid the gut-ache of having 10 guys on something I shared with the wrong angler.

Thanks. Very nice fish and fishing.

Cool looking water! Nice to have that sort of thing nearby.

I've sold a lot of old lures directly to collectors or on ebay. Can be surprising what some collectors will pay. Don't expect 30k, but can help with the habit. Post some pics, get the names, and research online.

Very nice, as usual. Beautiful marked, healthy fish, and great scenery. Couple questions: -How hot is hot there? (temperature wise) -What did that last fish weigh?

Glassy and blue -OUCH! George, do you change hooks on your 'Traps? Or fish 'em as is?

Good post. So true.

It can be hard to wait! That explosion can cause an instant hook-set reaction lol. Really good advice above, but sometimes (a lot of times if mat is dense) the fish just plain miss. Sometimes they come back sometimes they don't. It almost seems like the strike scares them too!

OK...bringing this thread back up. FYI: Here's a pic of Chara, the other related macro-algae that is common in the north. It is the one with the "skunky" odor, and is gritty when crushed. It does well in fairly deep water and coats the bottom of my clearer ponds, reaching up about 2 to 3 feet high from bottom. Nitella, described above seems to be much shallower. (Thanks, Roger!) Here's a sonar screen shot showing this deeper Chara "carpet" in one of my ponds.

Depends on who they are, especially as anglers. I'm pretty intense in my fishing, and often am looking at particular, (even peculiar to many anglers) things. I think I fish alone mostly because my fishing goals are not always directly involved in catching. I'm out there to develop my knowledge base, not just pursue the same old stuff. The flip-side is, I enjoy fishing with knowledgeable anglers who can operate on their own and add some knowledge and observations. When I fish with someone it's not very often a chat session. Fish like hell and share what we found. Being connected with a knowledgeable group of anglers can be just great, allowing us all to keep tabs on the goings on in water's we share. None of us can be everywhere, so a good network can be valuable.

My understanding is bass can tolerate a wide range of temps. At the upper end they need a lot of food.

Nice post Todd!

Finally getting some fishing in! I've had SOoooo much work the last few months I hadn't gotten out to fish since pre-spawn. That hurts. :'( So it felt really good to get out and shake the rust off this month. I've been waiting for a cool summer to continue observing bass activity related to temperature, and this summer has remained cooler than previous -so far. Come mid-July daytime fishing can get spotty in many waters and I believe water temps play a role. Real curious how this'll pan out this year. I've fished four times this month. The first trip was just a couple stolen hours at a pond from shore. Talk about getting the rust out, I had a comical series of events happen. I call such events episodes, where a series of seemingly impossible events (tangles usually) keep me from getting a lure into the water >. Sometimes I just have to sit down and wait for the sunspots, or whatever bad vibes are going down, to pass. :-/ I started my fishing at the back end of a duckweed covered cove into which the water has flooded the willows with a good 2 feet of water, and which has a large female of about 20 inches that suns in there. Because of the flooded willows I had to get that lure tight to those willows. And on my first cast in almost three months I overshot my mark and buried my jig right in the willows >. It wouldn't come free so I set the rod down and hiked over. I had to push my way into the thicket, and found the water too deep in there to reach my hung lure. Back at the rod I just pulled tight and the lure shot out of the willows and skipped across the surface, and a big bass likely that same female ripped after it! I reacted at the splash : and the lure flew behind me into the trees. > After getting it out I found my braid tangled into a beauty of a knot so I took a deep breath, sat down, and picked it out. After the sunspots left, I managed to stick a few. Look at how fat these fish were. Not uncommon for June, into early July. STs peaked at 76F. Next two trips I decided to fish a pond with a strong class of 18"-20" bass in it. But it tends to kick my butt come mid-summer. I do fine ice-out through early summer, but it's about the 2nd week in July when we hit the wall. I've been challenged to try and figure this out each year, and burned two days, 6 and 8hrs, with four 12 dinks to show for the effort! > It did it again it kicked my butt! Both days under very nice overcast skies! The pond that kicks my butt. I'm still determined to figure something out there, but I needed to lip a few so on my next trip I hit a different pond. This pond has both LM and SM. Under sunny skies I planned to fish the slop, and crank and shaky away from shore. Smallies seem generally less perturbed by bright conditions, or at least hit better than LM under bright conditions, and indeed I found willing smallies at the edges of cover, as well as in the slop with the LM. Notice barometric pressure was high and barely eroding through the day (Wednesday). BP commonly drops as moisture builds and can really drop with a passing T-storm -which come nearly every afternoon here in the summer. This day though, it just didn't happen and the sun stayed with me. BP is known to affect some fishes anticipation of feeding. From what I've seen it needs to be a strong change to excite bass much. This day, they were whopping lures anyway. Damselflies were emerging and the 'gills were on 'em. They sounded like popcorn in the slop, which was probably why the bass were in there too. And the 'gills were all across the surface of the pond watching for damsels to drop in. During calm periods it looked like a light rain was falling. Loaded for bear: 61/2ft w/8fluoro(lt wacky/shaky), 7ft w/10fluoro(shaky), 6ft w/20braid/12XT(slop edges), 61/2ft 10XT(crankin), 61/2ft 30braid/17XT(slop). Sonar screen shot. Float-tube structure buoy -a large float, Fireline, and lead wheel weight. Still fat! ST at 81F. 77F at 12ft where thermocline began, dropping 8degrees to 69F at 14feet. Top smallie of the day. Look at the anal fin on this mutant! Man did she run and pull. Spun me round and round. Top LM of the day.

Russ, where are you?

Are you sitting on the vegetation and casting 6-10ft beyond?

Catt, can you discuss boat positioning? What do you look for, and do?

Good post. (I can still smell the X15 paper cookin'.)

April 10th, 2025. The year I retire to FL, or CA.

Rhino, you should definitely bring a rod and reel to that pond. ;D