On 7/31/2025 at 8:51 AM, guidoStow said:

After wenging about the heat, I had no excuses not to go out when it broke. Back to the new suburban pond. Put in at 5:00am, probably a bit late... Water was 82 degrees air was 71. Found fish on an edge and the surface bite on. Five bass 12-16" lost one that hit right at the boat (so I couldn't get a great hookset) that looked bigger. 2 psycho black crappies one of which came entirely out of the water to destroy the fly. 45 hot minutes and it was done. Much later had a bigger fish on I could not stop with a 8wt who buried herself in the pads and slipped the barbless hook. Then it turned fully off and I just beat the rain which started on the drive home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those pictures look great. What camera/phone is that?

Went out for a bit this afternoon.  My weather APP said 7-9 mph winds .... HAH .... It felt more like 15+ sustained.  I managed 1.2 - 1.5 mph paddling into the wind but made it to my spot.  I spent as much time marking stuff with side-scan as I did fishing.  I worked deep and shallow.

 

After 2 1/2 hours of fighting the wind and not so much as a nibble, I packed up and went home.  It was windy, post-frontal, blue-bird clear, and the middle of the day - AND I EXPECTED A BITE !?!??!?!?!

 

Water temps were 76.x - 78.x, down a few degrees from the other day.  Air pressure was 30.2.

 

Thankfully my one lure challenge is complete and I'm going back to overthinking and overpacking.

 

Boss-lady's going to the ABBA concert tomorrow night with her friends.  I think you'll find me just over the bridge .... look for the orange Tundra with the BassResource bumper sticker.

5 hours ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

 

Those pictures look great. What camera/phone is that?

Thanks! Google Pixel 8a. Straight from the camera. 

Hit one of our local spots with my dad. Tough bite today but got into some mid morning before it got hot. He got a 4-1 on a psycho gill that hit it like a freight train, huge explosion right near the boat. Thought it was gonna break 5 at 20” but she was a couple meals short it looked like. I managed 5 on the spinner bait in the same area. This is actually a spot I do well in during the Fall as it holds some of the last good vegetation as it gets colder. A while back Tactical Bassin said the transition to fall starts a lot earlier than we think and I’ve noticed that the last couple years I feel like. Those first nights where you need a sweatshirt in the morning can have more impact than you’d think. 
 

The rest of the day was slow once it heated up. I went shallow looking for some punching fish. This lake is LOADED with pad fields and it’s tough to pick the exact spots they might be under. Loaded up on one quick but it got off in the thick stuff. From there we wandered around and I got two more on a small power worm t rigged and ended the day with 7. My dad only got the one big one but that’s swim bait fishing for you.

 

Tons of wildlife today. Saw some Ospreys, an Eagle, some Hawks, a pair of Loons with a chick, and a snake swam by our boat!

Got out locally yesterday afternoon for a few hours.  Visibility was almost NIL.  The launch looked like pea soup.  The west and south ends looked like coffee.  

 

I started on the shore with thick vegetation with a frog, changing to a T-rigged worm, bladed jig, punch rig, and 3.8" Keitech along the way.  Nothing happed there so I moved between deep and shallow areas, focusing on docks, points, and any structure I could find.  After three hours of nothing, I packed up and left.  

 

Water temps were in the low 80's (6 degrees warmer than my last trip here two days ago), winds were light and picked up about the time I left.  There wasn't a cloud in sight and air pressure was 30.2.

 

I spoke to one guy coming off the water as I launched.  He struck out.  Later in the trip I chatted with another guy panfishing.  He said he caught 3 when he usually gets 20.  I goose-egged the last four trips here over the last week.  I'm heading back to Plymouth/Cape Cod as soon as possible.

On 8/2/2025 at 6:54 PM, MassYak85 said:

A while back Tactical Bassin said the transition to fall starts a lot earlier than we think and I’ve noticed that the last couple years I feel like. Those first nights where you need a sweatshirt in the morning can have more impact than you’d think. 

I felt this way on Sunday when I fished in the morning. Probably a bit early but with the cold rain that happened something definitely felt different since the morning bite "cooled off" and the fish were way less aggressive. Water temps were 69 degrees when I first launched at 5am. 75 degrees in the evening.

 

Life happened to me on Wednesday and I had to take a couple of days to recuperate and gather my mind. I had a free Sunday so I went out twice. Over 8 hours I managed 3 fish and lost about 10. Some lost fish were from a bit of lost mojo but most were definitely because the fish weren't committing as much as previously. The post-cold front was felt strong. I caught two in the morning on a swim jig only after 3 lost fish on a whopper plopper and 3 bigger ones on the jig before sticking the dinks. Lost another on a frog and I packed it in to get a nap in before the evening session.

 

The evening session was on a new stretch of my favorite river, and the bite was DEAD. I landed my first bite, a healthy 2.5lber on a smaller frog before sticking and losing one quickly after. Nothing for two hours before missing 3 bites on a whopper plopper right at dusk. You see the woosh and feel the weight but for some reason they didn't connect. Time to change the hooks. While the fishing lacked the nature was absolutely stunning though, tons of turtles, loons, ospreys, and a mother deer walking with her fawn. So cute!

On 7/31/2025 at 9:51 AM, guidoStow said:

After wenging about the heat, I had no excuses not to go out when it broke. Back to the new suburban pond. Put in at 5:00am, probably a bit late... Water was 82 degrees air was 71. Found fish on an edge and the surface bite on. Five bass 12-16" lost one that hit right at the boat (so I couldn't get a great hookset) that looked bigger. 2 psycho black crappies one of which came entirely out of the water to destroy the fly. 45 hot minutes and it was done. Much later had a bigger fish on I could not stop with a 8wt who buried herself in the pads and slipped the barbless hook. Then it turned fully off and I just beat the rain which started on the drive home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Such cool pics!

The grandson and I went fishing this A.M.

He managed three LMB and I had one 21" pickerel, which came on a topwater lure. Jumped right out of the water too. Would have made a great magazine cover

We paddled into the lily pads and O, my goodness. One big LMB smashed my grandsons frog and full body length jumped right out of the water. Didn't hook'em but it was exciting. I told him if he landed it, it would have earned him a sportsman award. So, close!

Air temps in the A.M. was a chilly 60 degrees, water temps was a surprising 72-75 by lunchtime. Partly cloudy and hazy. Wind was 5-10mph. 

We had a good time.

Cheers.

2 minutes ago, Angler Andy said:

The grandson and I went fishing...

 

We had a good time.

 

 

You are truly a blessed man rich beyond man's greatest desires!

 

He will cherish these memories for a lifetime!

15 minutes ago, Angler Andy said:

The grandson and I went fishing this A.M.

He managed three LMB and I had one 21" pickerel, which came on a topwater lure. Jumped right out of the water too. Would have made a great magazine cover

We paddled into the lily pads and O, my goodness. One big LMB smashed my grandsons frog and full body length jumped right out of the water. Didn't hook'em but it was exciting. I told him if he landed it, it would have earned him a sportsman award. So, close!

Air temps in the A.M. was a chilly 60 degrees, water temps was a surprising 72-75 by lunchtime. Partly cloudy and hazy. Wind was 5-10mph. 

We had a good time.

Cheers.

This sounds like a great origin story for a lifelong fishing obsession, "My grandpa told me it could have been an award fish, and the rest is history," or something like that. lol.

17 hours ago, Angler Andy said:

The grandson and I went fishing this A.M.

He managed three LMB and I had one 21" pickerel, which came on a topwater lure. Jumped right out of the water too. Would have made a great magazine cover

We paddled into the lily pads and O, my goodness. One big LMB smashed my grandsons frog and full body length jumped right out of the water. Didn't hook'em but it was exciting. I told him if he landed it, it would have earned him a sportsman award. So, close!

Air temps in the A.M. was a chilly 60 degrees, water temps was a surprising 72-75 by lunchtime. Partly cloudy and hazy. Wind was 5-10mph. 

We had a good time.

Cheers.

For some reason I almost never catch pickerel on topwater. You'd think with how aggressive they are they would be all over that stuff. 

Fishing in Mordor.

Same pond. 5:00 start again but the lessening hours of day light made it plenty dark. But soon the sun was coming up and the blood red against the wildfire induced gray were quite unsettling. Water was 76 degrees, air was 64.
Unfortunately the Bass were off to a different pattern today (if only I'd remembered to bring an approaching rainstorm with me...). I fished hard from top to about 8 feet down (but I'd brought a 10wt for pad duty so the rod with the S5/S7 line got bumped so I couldn't go the last bit...) but larry was quite disinterested.
A feisty 18" Pickerel tried hard to save things by smashing a 4" bulkhead. I thought that would be the action for the day but two casts later a 9" Bluegill nailed the same fly. Forgot the phone, no pics.

7 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

For some reason I almost never catch pickerel on topwater. You'd think with how aggressive they are they would be all over that stuff. 

I think they usually miss, they have awful aim… however my first frog fish of the year was a pick. I devastated him with my braid and he devastated my frog with his teeth.

Another local pond. Put in at 5:30. Water 75 air 56 but rising quickly. Lots of pads to work with little reward until I found this larry and had two misses by big pickerel. 

 

Edited August 8, 2025Aug 8 by guidoStow
Forgot to say when I launched

Fat bass alert! I got out twice this week, once on Thursday evening and once last night. The Thursday session was tough but I landed one on a frog and one on a spinner bait. With the string of difficult outings I decided that it’s finally time to sacrifice the sleep and commit to a full night session, and boy was it worth it. I didn’t get the numbers I was looking for(lost a few on weak hooksets due to being disoriented at night) but I caught four, with one of them being my third biggest bass ever. 20.7 inches and 5.78lbs. 

For how heavy she was the body was really stocky, but that’s why I love this river so much. They get so fat off the abundance of forage in this area.

 

The other three were landed on texas rigs and a whopper plopper. Not as much surface activity as I thought I would see but they were predictable as to where they would bite; open patches in the choked out weeds and casting parallel to the emergent grass on points yielded all the action.

Awesome fish! Nice job.

I ventured 'over the bridge' yesterday and today to check off August.  I took the kayak yesterday, launching at 0630 and well, did what I usually do at this pond: two yellow perch, one white perch, two SMB (1 & 2 pounds, respectively), and a 4 pound pickerel.  Everyone except the toothy critter went after an emerald green Rapala PXR Mavrik 110 jerkbait.  The pickerel snatched up a white Yamamoto shad on a dropshot.  I called it quits a little after lunch.  Water temps were 76.x when I launched and 80.x when I packed up.  It was pretty bluebird with 5-7 mph winds from the SW.  Air pressure was 30.1.

 

I took the Ranger back to the Cape today to play around with the Active Target more.  I launched just before 0700 with another boat and two completely rigged kayaks.  I spent the first hour resetting my Ghost trolling motor in attempt to get the ANCHOR to work.  I started working again and off I went.  It was a grind, and the only fish I caught were three TINY LMB, barely bigger than the Rapala jerkbait I tossed.  Two of three were smaller than the lure.  The third might have been twice the jerkbait's size.  I can say they were my first fish I located and caught with FFS.

I tried a pile of different lures all over the place with only a few machine gun bites from perch.  My TM started acting up again and after checking and rechecking its programming and connections, I packed up and went home.  Water temps were 74.x when I launched and 78.X when I left.  Winds were 11-12 mph from the south.  It was fairly overcast.  

 

My Ghost is going to Bass Fishing Electronics in NH tomorrow.  My #1 kayak has a leak I can't seem to fix, so #2 might just go with me to NH.  Since I'm driving all the way up there to drop the TM off, I may as well fish for a while to make the trip, hopefully, worth it.

 

I'll add that I got a 20% code for Rapala a while back and bought a few of their PXRs.  They have a nice downward stance, come in really good colors, and catch fish.  They're $18 on Rapala's website, but $15/16 on other sites.  I'll now buy these over V110's, especially for the dough.

13 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

I'll add that I got a 20% code for Rapala a while back and bought a few of their PXRs.  They have a nice downward stance, come in really good colors, and catch fish.  They're $18 on Rapala's website, but $15/16 on other sites.  I'll now buy these over V110's, especially for the dough.

They're on sale on TW right now for 12.88 😉

 

It is quite painful buying the 110s lol so definitely open to alternatives. I'm hoping they don't go up even more in price with the tariff situation, especially since other JDM companies seem to be doing so. Their SV3 spinnerbait is my go-to and that's already up to 15 bucks (ouch). 

I brought my TM to Bass Fishing Electronics in NH this morning.  I brought my kayak too, coincidentally.  I hit a lake close to Steve's shop and spent 3 1/2 hours tossing a jig, bladed jig, T-rigged worm, Hula Grub, weightless Senko, lipless, shakey head, and 3.3" swim baits and came up empty.  I saw plenty of frye in the salad, but they wouldn't tell me where their parents were.

 

OTW back to the launch I came across a young couple in a kayak.  They asked how I did.  I told them how I'd done and within a couple minutes the young man pulled up two bass.  I stayed in that area for about 15. minutes, but still nada.

 

Water temps were 82.x when I launched and 85.x when I left.  It was hot, humid, and almost calm.

 

I've goose egged more than half my trips this month.... I can't wait until September!

 

5 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

goose egged more than half my trips this month.... I can't wait until September

I liked your post, not because I black and white looks good on you, but I appreciate the write up. 

 

Here's lookin at September 

It's been cool the last few nights...  here comes the FALL FEED .... get on it!

4 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

It's been cool the last few nights...  here comes the FALL FEED .... get on it!

Temps are going to drop this week...

Been doing a lot of hiking and not a lot of fishing this year. Next year I'm hoping to swap back. I still haven't caught a 5lber this year! It's probably been a decade since that's happened but there's still time! 

15 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Been doing a lot of hiking and not a lot of fishing this year. Next year I'm hoping to swap back. I still haven't caught a 5lber this year! It's probably been a decade since that's happened but there's still time! 

Prime time is coming up!

Does anyone know what happened to Rocky Ledge Tackle? I'd always see them at the fishing shows around here and they made some killer spinnerbaits but I don't see their website anymore? 

 

Edit*: Ugggh they retired (good for them) in the Spring. Wish I had caught that I would have gone to their last show and stocked up. 

14 hours ago, Don51 said:

Prime time is coming up!

 

I think prime time is here.  I took a ride to Plymouth this morning on the gut that the cooler nights we've had lately got things going.  Water temps at two ponds were 74.x and 76.x respectively.  I nabbed a dink smallie and a couple yellow perch with an Emerald Rapala PXR Mavrik jerkbait and a four pound LMB at the smaller pond.  I marked a few BIG bait balls with bigger targets around them and pulled up 2, 3, and 3.5 LMB, in that order in 20'-ish water in the bigger pond.  I had one top water blow-up but it missed.  All three LMB came on a bluegill flavored Rage Menace on a 1/2 oz jig head, tossed right through the bait balls (I'd like to think I was that accurate!).

 

Winds picked up significantly by 1100 hours, but that was OK because I told boss-lady I'd be home after 1200-ish.  It was mostly overcast and air pressure was 30.1.

 

Overall, one of my better trips this year.

 

Oh yeah, water levels at both Plymouth ponds was down at least 4' from earlier in the year.

On 8/20/2025 at 11:28 AM, MassYak85 said:

I still haven't caught a 5lber this year!

 

I have one this year but I only half count it.  It was through the ice in February.