IcatchDinks

Couple years ago I took two of my sisters fishing. They were 17 and 15 at the time. They'd never been fishing before, and I was trying to show them all about how it's done. Turns out they showed me. 😆 Even my wife caught a nice one, though she was too squeamish at the time to hold it. 😄 My largest catch of the day:

So is mine. Lol. It holds almost all the tackle and baits I own. It's pretty heavy. I take it off when I get to a spot, fish, and then pick it up and move on. Although, when I wade the river, I wear it the whole time.

I'm gonna be in NC the week of July 4th. Hoping to get some fishing in while I'm there. I will follow your progress with interest.

As a bank angler, that backpack makes me jealous. 😆 I've got a decent one myself, but that's got so much space.

Super cool idea! Thanks for sharing!

It really hurts me to see people handling fish this way. 😑

Caught a couple nice ones this morning. The first one I caught woulda been a new PB before yesterday. It was just a bit over 18", which ties a fish I caught last year, but this morning's was far healthier, and heavier. I didn't bother weighing it. 21.75" is the new mark to beat. It was a sick eat, too. I had reeled an EFH gold Banshee (a simple paddletail bait) all the way back to the bank, when this fella came zooming in from the weed edge and hammered it in about 4 inches of water. His back was sticking out of the water when he ate it. I was able to set the hook and land him all in one pull. 😄 The second bass was a bit over 15 inches. When I made my username, I didn't consider that one day it might not be accurate. 😆

From a dyed in the wool country boy now living in the city, that sounds about par for the course. And I promise, the country is way more chill at night than the city is. Being out after dark in the city makes me super jumpy. 😬

Somehow I missed this when you posted it, but wanted to drop in and say congratulations! That's super cool. What a special fish.

I hit up my favorite pond before work this morning. I don't usually fish finesse here. Most of my fish have come on crankbaits and spinners. But the weed beds keep getting thicker, and I've been trying to fish deeper into them under the suspicion that there are bigger bass hiding out in there. So I tied on a 1/16 oz weighted green pumpkin Yum Dinger Texas style, and started casting to open pockets. About my third or fourth cast I realized I had one on. She must have taken it on the fall, because I didn't feel a thing till I went to hop the bait up off the bottom. I'm glad I noticed her when I did, because she's was perilously close to getting gut hooked. I had my drag settings pretty light, and I realized pretty quick into the fight that I had a solid fish on- she was pulling drag while swimming towards me. 😅 I've always been bad at adjusting my reel as I'm playing a fish, but I handled it like a pro and was able to set the drag a bit tighter. I'm glad I did, too, because shortly after that she made a run for it, and even after my adjustments, she still pulled a good amount. She jumped just enough to put my heart in my throat, as by this time I realized I had a new PB. I was frantic to get her out of the water. As I got her to the bank, she made one desperate run for it, but she was pretty tired out by now. The fight felt like an eternity, but it probably took half as much time is it took to read my description. This is the biggest bass I've ever seen in person, weighing in at 4.29 lbs, and a bit under 22" long, which qualifies for Michigan's Master Angler program. Words can't describe how pumped I am. I had no idea the bass got that big in this pond, and I have the theory that however big the fish I catch is, there's always one bigger out there. I also owe @ol'crickety a debt of gratitude for her tips and advice on how to fish heavy weeds. Muchas gracias! After some fruitless casting with the Dinger, I switched to a homemade crank bait and landed a couple more smaller bass. Now I'm at work trying to survive the heatwave. Man, it was a great morning!

When you're first kid isn't even 9 months old and you've got another one due on Christmas:

Not only that, but he did it all in his signature tie-dye Crocs! What a legend! @Bluebasser86, I applaud you.

Pat, why you gotta sick the Bait Monkey on me like that?

Honestly, that's a pretty good rock bass. What a chunk! Also, looks like you had a great father's day! Ya love to see it. 🙂

I think of you every time I catch one.

Haha. Thanks! My wife says she can't take me seriously when I'm wearing it. 😄 But I take the sun seriously and yesterday was a day that I did not want to mess around with the sun.

When they're there. I know they're there. I can see they're interested in my lure, but they just won't bite. Their instincts make no sense to me and I can't figure them out sometimes. But I love bass, both largies and smallies. Some people fish as if the bass are their adversary. I fish like they're my friends. (The bass most definitely have different ideas about that.) Endless hours of fun and entertainment. If there's something driving me bonkers, it's probably something I'm doing.

Saw some pretty flowers on my walk back to the car this morning.

The tubers are usually college students, so I give a little bit of leniency for their youth and lack of wisdom. But it is heckin annoying for sure. He was a chunk for sure. I didn't get a weight on him because I'd already had him out of the water for too long just to get my phone out of my backpack and take a photo. I went out again to the same stretch of river at 5:30 this morning. Fished for about two hours before coming home. Only caught two smaller bass and a rock bass.

River wading today, I found some poor bloke's topwater lure broken off on a branch. Tied it on and caught my largest smallmouth of the year so far my third cast. He's only 15" (I haven't done a ton of river fishing this year.) But boy, did he put up one helluva fight! An absolutely massive explosion on the eat, and then the most acrobatic fight I think I've ever had. Three giant leaps, running this way and that, and then he tried putting another hook into me when I tried to lip him at the bank. (Despite my waders, I was standing right next to the bank when I caught him.) I actually hate the action of that freebee lure, so I'mma put it in a case somewhere and forget about it. Also, don't mind my derpy Riley Greene Hat. It saved the back of my neck from a nasty sunburn. I caught several other smaller fish too. I probably would have caught more, but every time I keyed in on some fish, a group of drunken tubers would come around the bend splashing, kicking off against the bottom, yelling, and scaring all my fish away. Of all the kinds of people on the river, tubers are the worst in my opinion. They're always drunk, always loud, always rude. It was a good day, despite the ruckus. Found two lures including the one I caught the 15 inch acrobat on. One of them is a deep diving crank that needs some TLC and maybe a new paint job. Same fish, but with me in the picture:

I've punched a lot of guys, but never amongst lily pads.

Spent two hours fishing this morning. Caught a lot of smallish largies. The only really big bass I saw chased my bait into the shallows, fully committed to hit it, and then a smaller bass dashed in and stole it from him. The cool thing is that a year or two ago, I would have considered these decent fish. But now they're just average. I take it as a sign of my own improvement as an angler that I've come to expect more and better fish than I used to

I also googled it at first. Not because I wanted to fish it (I don't have a boat), but because I was curious how far north in relation to myself he was. I don't remember what clued me in to the fact it was a joke, but I figured it out eventually.

Same

I bank fish and keep my two main poles and my backpack full of gear in my trunk. Forgetting my water bottle sucks on hot days, though.