Tried the Zman Finesse Shroomz jig for the first time and it worked out like I thought it might 

A darker largie from the Kawartha region up here in Ontario...water is still pretty warm for this time of year and fish are relating to summer cover and still hitting topwaters.

Attila

 

Tricked out a Shadow Rap with different hooks...it worked.

To give everyone an idea of what I did, attached is a photo with the new hooks swapped in after a largish musky destroyed the regular stock trebles that you can see in my previous posting.

I have substituted the treble hook at the head of the lure with a slightly larger (Size 4 instead of 6) red hook for 2 reasons; first to give the predator the impression that the fish they are chasing is bleeding or injured; the second reason is that most gamefish attack at the head of their prey, so a larger hook will be able to give a more successful hook up ratio than a smaller one. The middle treble hook remains a stock treble hook, a size 6 1X Strong Round Bend Treble in black nickle. The last or rear treble is a size 6 2X Strong Barbarian Treble also in black nickle. I find that it's a good hook to use on this lure because there are times when the fish will strike short, leaving only the rear treble in contact with the hooked fish.

All the hooks are made by VMC, and they held up very well in the conditions that I was fishing. I'll be doing some more late night walleye fishing on some deep weed edges and hope to catch some larger fish at that time. 

15 minutes ago, Attila said:

Tricked out a Shadow Rap with different hooks...it worked.

To give everyone an idea of what I did, attached is a photo with the new hooks swapped in after a largish musky destroyed the regular stock trebles that you can see in my previous posting.

I have substituted the treble hook at the head of the lure with a slightly larger (Size 5 instead of 6) red hook for 2 reasons; first to give the predator the impression that the fish they are chasing is bleeding or injured; the second reason is that most gamefish attack at the head of their prey, so a larger hook will be able to give a more successful hook up ratio than a smaller one. The middle treble hook remains a stock treble hook, a size 6 1X Strong Round Bend Treble in black nickle. The last or rear treble is a size 6 2X Strong Barbarian Treble also in black nickle. I find that it's a good hook to use on this lure because there are times when the fish will strike short, leaving only the rear treble in contact with the hooked fish.

All the hooks are made by VMC, and they held up very well in the conditions that I was fishing. I'll be doing some more late night walleye fishing on some deep weed edges and hope to catch some larger fish at that time. 

 

Barbarians are sweet hooks.  Like 3x katsuages!  

Only managed one decent picture worthy fish yesterday. I caught her on a Rapala Shadow Rap Deep in the molten copper color.

Starting to chub up for winter...

2 hours ago, EvanT123 said:

Starting to chub up for winter...

That's a beautiful fish, thanks for the share.

 

I don't think it's my pb, but since it's my first on a scale I'm counting it as my pb.

Caught on the whopper plopper 90 in Monkey Butt color right before the sun came up.

55 minutes ago, Molay1292 said:

That's a beautiful fish, thanks for the share.

 

Thanks man. I'm lucky to have a great fishery in my backyard. About 800,000 gallons of raw sewage was dumped into the river over the summer, so I took some time off. River has bounced back though. Lots of young fish and some big ones still around. There tough fish. 

8 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Nice fish there amigo!

It's getting to that time of year again that there isn't much time to fish after work. I'm not letting that stop me though and it just makes catching one like this in that short window that much sweeter. 

Nice one ~ ! 

That's Old Blackie 

A-Jay

 

2 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Nice one ~ ! 

That's Old Blackie 

A-Jay

 

Most of the fish I caught last night were really dark like that. I know they're shallow river fish so that's probably why but I did catch a few smaller ones that were considerably lighter. 

@A-Jay is that all you ever catch is dinks ? 

On ‎10‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 1:08 PM, Yeajray231 said:

@A-Jay is that all you ever catch is dinks ? 

Apparently.

A-Jay

I'm just jealous. 

Those smallest aren't dinks ... I feel like since you posted another picture you couldn't tell I was joking. 

46 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

I'm just jealous. 

Those smallest aren't dinks ... I feel like since you posted another picture you couldn't tell I was joking. 

@A-Jay is a good dude as most know and I can say with confidence he knew you were joking and also feel he was joking back!

Ajay is also a master in photoshop

First he said "yup" now it says "apparently" Ha-ha. Regardless.. I was just playin. 

2 hours ago, MarkH024 said:

Ajay is also a master in photoshop

LOL ~ Hardy.  

Don't own it or know the first thing about it.  

 Besides, Photoshop can not save me from that hated feeling I get from . . . . . . . Jambalaya.

A-Jay

Usually, I'll fish right up through November. But with the truck in need of some TLC, I decided to call it a season and put the boat up for the year. But not before one last outing! I really wanted one more good fish to end the year on.

The fall season is in full swing here, with the daytime highs not even cracking 70° and the nights dipping well below 40°. With a strong cold front moving in, I was hoping the fishing would be hot. The pickerel were certainly active. I boated 10-12 big picks, with another half dozen coming off at the boat. But I wasn't there to catch pickerel!

In between the pickerel, I boated one 2lb bass and had another come off boatside. We started to head in, as the temps were dropping fast and it looked like rain. On our way in, we stopped and fished a mid-lake brush pile that sticks out of the water. I pitched a @Siebert Outdoors grass jig with a paca craw trailer deep into the brush pile. I felt it hit branches, then bottom, then a hard thump. I set the hook, and stuck the good fish I was hoping to end the year with. This 4lb football-shaped girl should be the last fish of the 2016 season for me!

Awesome

The WVU bass fishing team hosted a tournament on stonewall Jackson lake on Saturday. In between blast off and when I had to bump fish at the weigh in, I did a little bit of kayak fishing. Nothing big but a pretty spot and a 2.5 largemouth were the highlights.

Some shots from the last couple days on the water and my last regular tournament of the season.  Started out chasing smallies in practice, but the sunny/breezy conditions went away and we had rain and calm winds for the tournament day so I leaned more on largemouth.  It was sort of a grind since the dams weren't moving any water at all, which is usually the kiss of death on this lake/river.  Managed to put together a 12lb limit (3 LM, 2 SM) and take 2nd place .

This is probably the coolest fishery I get to fish...You've got 'traditional' largemouth fishing - flipping, grass, wood, etc...Then there's great smallmouth fishing on the main lake/river...Then, if you're brave enough, you can run far up river and get into true river smallmouth fishing.  Add in the great scenery and the fact that there's quality sized fish of both species and it makes for an awesome place.