IcatchDinks

For Father's Day my wife told me to take the boy to the pond and fish with him. This might have been a ploy to get him out fromunder foot, but I've never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth. We caught three and lost a fourth. First fish was the largest, and they got progressively smaller after that. If I would have landed the fourth it would have been a certifiable "dink." Not much larger than the bluegill the bass seemed to be preying on. Baits used: Rebel Wee Crawfish and a Crush City "Mayor" on an underspin jig from Great Lakes Finesse.

I have been having this same issue and had no clue how to fix it. This comment and @Jar11591's thoughts have really got me considering using a leader. Not sure if I'll use a long or short one, but there were certain crankbaits I've recently started ignoring with braid because more often than not they would tangle with my line up on impact with the water. Thanks, you guys! I've also been figuring this technique out. But I'm not very good at it. 😅

Saved to my watch later list. I'd never heard of them before.

Well, you listed almost every type of major bass bait. But to avoid sounding facetious or dismissive, I complied a little list of my main takeaways: Soft plastic worms are a great choice: ribbon tails, roboworms, and stick baits in particular. Use the color that best suits your situation. Topwater opens up in June: lots of options from poppers to spooks to buzzbaits. Or, you can fish deep: drag the bottom with jigs or Carolina rigs, or use deep diving cranks. Make sure to hit the bottom with your cranks. June is great, lots of bait options, lots of fun.

What I gathered from this article: "Throw anything and everything. June is the best." 😂

So humble. No pizazz, no fanfare. Just "caught a big fish." Like Barry Sanders handing the ball to the ref after every TD. But I'm with @A-Jay, we need the story! Congrats on an excellent fish, man!

I have several small pond options, and several miles of river and park systems I can utilize. But every so often, I get tired of it. I usually have one or two trips a year to a distant body of water to fish. And I usually find that I suffer and struggle to catch fish, because I don't know the body of water, and where and how to fish it. I love exploring and learning new areas, but my most fruitful fishing comes from water that I know intimately.

Some great bass, @Pat Brown! Tell Jake congrats on that nice fish.

Took another homemade lure to the river with the kid this afternoon. Caught a nice little smallie before the tubers ruined the fishing.

People say a bad day on the water is better than a good day at the office, but I had a bad morning at the pond, and looks like it's shaping up to be a pretty rough day here at work, too. 😂 Only caught one little teeny-tiny bass this morning. On the bright side, though, I have noticed that when I get up early and go fishing, I feel far more prepared and eager to face the work day. To quote Richard Gene The Fishing Machine: "Go fishing when you can, cuz it's good for ya!"

Same, brother. Same. Lol It adds a whole other level of excitement to hooking a fish. You spend a couple hours building a lure, and the joy of knowing that the thing you make works just like you wanted, and the fish think it's attractive, and then you manage to land it... I've found fishing to be near addictive. It's so satisfying landing a good fish. When that good fish is caught on a lure I made myself, it feels that much more rewarding. Tune in next week when I start braiding my own line. 😂

Hit the pond this morning to test several lures I made. The only one that found any fish is the one pictured hanging off the fish, and boy does it work great! It's a fast sinking crankbait, but the lip angle is so steep that when you crank it, it stops the fall. It has a beautiful cranking action, and apparently the fish love it. I caught four this morning in an hour and a half, which ties my most successful trip this year. I caught three similar sized fish all back to back: And the last bass of the day was a microscopic dink, making sure I live up to my username: All the other handmade lures need some help and adjustments, but that little crank seems to work as good as any commercial lure I've used.

Absolute unit!!! What a fish! Congrats man. That's super cool.

That has to be the cutest walleye I've ever seen. Lol

@FishTax what a beast!!! That's so cool!

@Pat Brown

I caught my largest bass of the year so far this morning at the same pond I fished yesterday. A bit over 17 inches long and kinda skinny. Caught another smaller bass a couple casts later. 2 fish for an hour long fishing trip isn't bad at all.

I hit the pond at 5:30 this morning and fished until 7:45. Couldn't catch a thing. I was using a homemade bait for most of the time, and even though it had good action, it didn't seem to GET much action. I did have one nice bass hit it: probably would have been my biggest of the year (that's not saying much), but it was barely hooked, and one good head shake popped him free. It was national donut day or some such nonsense, so I went and consoled myself with a coffee and a free donut from a place in town before work. But hey, the scenery was beautiful: After work, I took my boy back to the pond and spent most of the time catching bluegill for him to hold. Finally hooked into a decent largie to end the day.

Gonna resurrect this thread with a couple baits. The first one was a super sick suspending jerk bait I made. The action was super cool, I really liked the color scheme, and then I casted it into a rock and broke it in half. (My fault for using a piece of wood with the grain running the wrong way.) It was cool while it lasted. And crankbait I just finished this morning. Gonna take it to the pond and see if I can catch something on it. I have mixed feelings about the paint scheme. I was going for a bluegill type paint job, but I was limited with color, and I'm doing everything by hand with paintbrushes. But I've seen bass eat worse color patterns than this.

@HawkeyeSmallie I don't think anything fights quite like a big bluegill. Good luck on your quest. Looks like you're fishing the right waters.

I can't imagine catching 4+ and not weighing it. We are in different classes of angler, my friend. What a great trip!

That quote is spot on. They were great for the kid, though.

We had a family picnic at the park with a little fishing added. Caught three rock bass on three straight casts and then got hammered by a sudden burst of rain and had to go home. The toddler had a lot of fun but got very frustrated that I wouldn't let him wield the fishing pole without help. The "trophy" of the day. When I pulled this guy out of the water, his coloration was so dark he was almost black. By the time we got a photo snapped, the hue had lightened a little bit: