BluegillsTightlines

3rd straight skunk, no bites, zilch. Easily the worst trip of the year. Called it after 2 and a half hours and went to work.

Lost one good one, hooked up again 49 minutes later and caught this 3.5 lber-- in thinking she was likely well over 4 pre spawn given how big her head is, still healthy though looking at the belly. And caught a 1 lb 15ozer 10 minutes after that. I had moved from the spot I lost the first bass at as some guy literally came in casting within 1 foot of me, which I didn't appreciate. I always give people 40 feet of bank or so and don't get right on them. Turns out that ended up for the best as I feel like I probably wouldn't have got more bites at the first spot on the back side of the lake. Hooked into another good bass, roughly around the same size as the first one, almost had it but it got me into some very heavy weeds and unfortunately my rod broke and the fish got away. Not particularly upset that the fish got away-- that's just part of fishing, but ugh hearing and seeing that rod snap like that made my stomach drop, I was very fond of it. Replaced it with something in a post I made in the Rods, reels, line section of the forum.

I had a nice bass run me into very heavy weeds this morning and not only got off, but snapped my Lew's Xfinity Speed Stick IM7 basically halfway up. Losing the fish sucked, but man I hated seeing that rod snap-- caught lots of nice bass with it and it was an awesome pitching stick. What I replaced it with was an Abu Garcia Vengeance 7'6 heavy action and I slapped some Daiwa J-braid x4 on the old Daiwa triforce-z 153iV that was seated upon it. I figured since I tend to fish heavy weed eds a lot that was a good learning lesson on getting a heavier action setup for that. How did I do with the replacement?

Got these two today on another trip to the shallow weedbeds. Super aggressive and both hit almost instantly. The chubby one got caught up in some weeds and I had to let it work its way out, needed some manual percolating in the water to revive it as such. Gave me a nice splash literally right in my face as it jumped up while I was on the ground getting it ready to turn back loose. Brought the 30 year old daiwa triforce 153iV reel with me today and it handled both well.

Caught this 19" 3+ over in the weeds, I've been following the fish and moving as I see them instead of stubbornly staying in the same spots like I sometimes get into a trend of doing. Caught this one while it was simultaneously pooping out a full length senko.

Had a couple weeks of some very lousy fishing, so I was desperate to catch a bass, I went with a live bluegill and tossed it out in front of some weed beds, and my goodness gracious 3 VERY aggressive and hungry post spawn bass came after it HOT. They kept the top of the water in a constant boil chasing and blowing that thing up, popping it up like popcorn with each swipe. And mind you they were no more than about 2 feet off the bank from me, didn't seem to give any hoots I was there. They were HUNGRY and determined to eat no matter what. I had to apologize to the boaters out there cuz I let out a very loud "OH SH.....!!" as they were popping after it. I have never seen bass keep after something like that. Especially so after a failed hookset, but dang these bass were committed. Finally got this one in 19.5" and about 3.5 lbs. I was kind of just going through the motions before that, as it had been slow again and I actually thought I might doze off. Needless to say they got my attention and the drowsiness quickly vanished. The shirt is indeed inside out, but purposely so-- each time it's been like that, I've caught a good one so I decided to stick with superstition 😉

Got another good one this morning. Is there a way to tell or get a general idea on if it is male or female? Sitting on that table it kind looks more like a male from what I understand. Mature females have a fuller looking body whereas males look more slender and more like a torpedo shaped body. But there just what I've heard so I don't know if it can be ascertained by that. Either way, good fish and good fight, lots of jumps and a couple digs towards the bottom.

First big girl of the year. I've been on a struggle bus when fishing with this orange Lew's combo I bought for $110 last fall-- did not get one fish on it, all my catches came either on my 25 year old Daiwa paired up with a white and green Lew's speed stick, or my 20 year old Shimano Bantam Coriolis paired to a heavy action Shakespeare uglystick. Finally got the new one properly christened in with a very healthy(and quite angry) female off a bed with a rage craw, which she shook off during her acrobatics. Felt great to feel that tug and fight from a a big one again and definitely feels nice to finally have a fish out on that newest baitcaster which is by far the most I've spent on a single combo. No weight, but tape measurements were 20" length, 14" girth.

Been slow bass fishing around here so I pan fished some creeks while waiting for the weather to warm up and get the bass moving to shallows for pre-spawn. They have now began to fan beds and been seeing them swim in pairs. Plucked these guys off beds. No giants, but I would have had a decent couple filets if I wanted to keep em. I've historically been terrible at fishing when they've been on bed, but something told me that I could get them to bite the way they were acting-- chasing away pretty much every bluegill, bait fish, and even other bass. Even when nothing was there they seemed to be on edge, looking for anything that may intrude on their bed. Throwing in with a moderate fast retrieve and some slight twitches triggered reaction strikes. Heck of a lot of fun on the ultralight Sienna 500 combo.

same here. lots of elbow grease, skills and hours put into that. and i saw probably 25 bass in that spot that day. several very nice ones too.

Me too, unique looking place and you know you don't have to worry about that road washing out. I love finding places like that. next time I go down there and if I catch a couple largemouth that size, I may just keep em and eat them. it's been a minute since I've had bass. my usual fishing spot doesn't let us keep bass at the moment, none over 13 inches anyway.

Its been a minute since I last posted here but I've got into ultralight fishing lately and yesterday I got this pleasant surprise by that wall. I thought about keeping it with some of the gills I caught but I didn't have a tape measure on me. Do you think it's 15 inches(minimum legal length for largemouth, spotted, and smallmouth here)? Fought like a demon on that ultralight.

Both fights were pretty epic. The 5 lber hit a little closer in so I didn't have to work as long, but it still made 3 aerial jumps before I got it in. 7 lber was about 30 feet out and I had to really work for that one. It took drag and I had to let it tire itself a bit. Reeled up and down like fighting a carp. It did two very big runs and 2 jumps right before I got it into the net. Bit a Mike Iaconelli 90mm gilly blue gill swimbait.

I decided to ignore doctor's orders and went fishing this morning. Caught a 5 lb bass and 15 minutes later a 7 lb bass. Needless to say I was STOKED. Beat my PB twice in a matter of minutes. I was able to bump the hook out of the 7 lber's mouth with my palm.

Another trip, another skunk this morning and probably d9ne for the year because I've been breaking out in hives and they can't figure out why. Fishing has been absolute garbage this month and looks like I'm ending the year on a lousy note.

Got the nasty old skunk today for the first time since late february. Had a bunch of other stuff go wrong as well-- spilled my hooks and couldn't find them, baitcast reel locked up and needs to be dressed down and inspected to find fhe issue,Alternator went out on the way home. I decided to go on into work in my other car I had such a miserable time this mornint

Not the biggest I've caught this year by far, but one of my favorites. Fought harder than the 4 lber last week, and absolutely hammered a Texas rigged silver shad fluke. Love the colors on this dude. And caught him on my old Shimano Bantam Coriolis I've had for about 22 years. Another reel my dad bought me in school for making good grades. With fresh line on and the guide oiled up, that thing throws and reels quite smooth now. Also, even though I didn't catch anything on it, I was pleased with how my new Lew's American Hero baitcast reel performed. I slapped a buzzbait on it and I've got the spool tension and mag brake set to where I don't have to even use the thumb to kep it from backlashing-- just press the button and cast. Both over head and sidearm it casts well, and covers a nice amount of water, and I'm improving on cast accuracy as well. Only caught that one bass but, one fish over 2 lbs is plenty enough to satiate me. I treat anything more than that, or anything bigger than that an additional blessing and cherry on top.

I will, I just picked this one up in a pinch until my Berkley scale with a clamp comes in. I had one, but it stopped working and my local stores didn't have any like it.

Is that a dang chicken in its gullet?

Here is another pic I took of yesterday's big bass(I personally consider anything 4 lbs+ to be big, anything 8+ huge). Is it just me or does it have more teeth than the average bass? Or perhaps my phone just got more detail of it. Either way I think it's a cool shot and it's currently my wallpaper. She darted right off immediately after being revived.

Hot as heck at times, but I've found a spot at the lake that helps shield off the sun and significantly reduces surface heating. The east end of this lake is coveted by a lot of very thick and tall trees, making for some nice shade where the temperatures fall about 8-9 degrees compared to the open. That 8-9 degree cooler differential makes a massive difference both for me as far as having the stamina to stay for a few hours, and for the fish to come up and be active and forage. I have not beat my PB this year, but I have definitely caught the most 4-5 lb bass I have in a single year already just this summer, and I am beyond thrilled about that.

Caught this 4 lber today. I had just turned my head for a second(used live bait). Was going to get me a drink and take my morning BP med when I turn around to find my rod literally in the water. I was like "sh...... where did it go?!?!?!" Then I saw it gently bobbing along the bottom. Fortunately it was just a foot or so off the bank and I was able to use my net to get it close enough to scoop back up. Knew a nice size bass had to do that. So I started cranking the reel a bit and sure enough saw the head poke up in the weeds about 15-18 feet away. It felt like it was going to definitely be a lost fish, but I lifted my rod up a good bit and just sort of let the fish do the work and swim itself out, and then the fight began-- lots of darts to the left and right, and a big jump that made me pucker big time. Gotta keep your head on a swivel here when live bait fishing, they can and will drag your stuff in. I just happened to turn around in time and not only catch the fish, but save my recently purchased rod and the daiwa reel my dad got me all those years ago.

Going to give the Lews another go round hopefully this Saturday or Sunday. Gear ratio seems like it would make for a good topbwater set up at 7.1:1. I know on my daiwa and my Shimano I really have to crank it to keep a buzzbait going like it needs to, but this should help with that, and not only hopefully help result in more buzzbait strikes, but also reduce fatigue.

Right? Lol Nothing wrong with his feelings of course, but a 19" bass thrills me too. That's a nice quality fish in every definition of the book. And anything 20+ for me is the cherry on top. I've caught more 19 and 20 inch bass this year than I ever have before, and it never ceases to amaze me just how big these things are and how much surface area they take up at that size.

Not a giant like the 2 I caught last week, but it still put up a nice fight and gave an aerial display. It actually popped off the hook right at the bank edge so I dove on it like a fumbled football lol. Fumble, recovered by the offense!! Scale went back and forth between 2.24 and 2.33 staying on 2.29 lbs the longest, so I'm calling it 2.29 lbs.