Thought the Ol' Monster bite had slowed, guess it was just the junebug red color. Bought some more Ol' Monsters today in red bug color and they loved it, at least these three did. It's gonna be a good fishing weekend, I can just feel it! ?

Redbug, blackberry, and watermelon red candy are some of my best Ol' Monster colors.

 

Have to add plum apple to the list. Something about that one seems to work everywhere I go.

I've got the blackberry in Mann's Original Jelly Worm 12". No luck yet, but I'm sure it's just lack of trying. I got some 5/O EWG offsets today also. They may work better with those big ole Jelly Worms. Fixing to go to bed now so I can get up early and hit that pond again at first light. May try some Booyah Pad Crasher first, but will end up throwing the Ol' Monsters I'm sure...lol! ?

 

I did think about the plum apple color they had also, but finally decided on the red bug. Glad I did!

The Ned Rig does catch decent sized bass.

it was a tough day on a local lake.  Catching dinks, until this guy hit. he was 20 inches long and 4lb. 8oz.

Sucked pretty hard today.

 

Started great with a 2.5# class fish on the second cast (on an 110+1). I forgot my scale, so I'll call it a 5#.

Lost another about the same size boatside on the next cast. Big deal I thought. I'll probably put half a dozen 2-3# in the boat by the time I'm done.

 

Well, didn't quite turn out that way; and it all went downhill from there.

Dink after dink after dink, with an occasional small keeper in the mix.

Caught a scrawny 17" fish right before sundown, and called it a day.

 

 

It did suck pretty hard today for me too. Didn't catch a thing. Glad you caught a couple good ones though. Oh well it's part of fishing. Going to Lake Buhlow in the morning. Gonna give the pond a slight rest...lol. Of course if it starts getting too hot out there with the limited shade, I'll be back under my tree at the pond. 

On 8/10/2017 at 11:57 PM, hawgenvy said:

Caught my first smallie ever, today!  My wife and I are visiting friends in Cape Cod. Caught this guy by wading out in a bathing suit into Lake Seymour behind my friend Ron's house. Gorgeous summer afternoon. I tossed a chartreuse spinnerbait towards something busting bait in the shallows, and voila! Fun! Then we went clamming in the bay at sunset and harvested a pail full of quahogs in 20 minutes. Tomorrow we eat clams and lobstas. I like it up here!

 

If that's your first ever smallmouth you might want to retire! Excellent fish 

On 8/13/2017 at 2:31 PM, IneedAnewScreenName-334513 said:

Absolute lunker on Ft. Loudon Lake

 

Didn't have a scale with me but she definitely looked like a easy 5 pounder.

Nice fish! I was out there yesterday myself got 3 non keeper largemouth a smallie and some white bass and a catfish 

Caught a bakers dozen this morning, with the largest coming on a 5 3/8 " BPS Stick-O, green pumpkin violet fleck.

 

5lbs 6 oz.

 

 

 

Jumped a good one off today, but that's going to happen from time to time. Still managed a decent catch given the conditions - near 90 degrees with almost no wind and not enough clouds. Going to keep toying with some different setups if I get the chance.

 

Ned rig success.. sort of.

 

I have a ritual. Once every few months, I'll dust off my spinning rod, clean the guides, find the spinning reel, mount it on the rod, thread line through the guides, and tie on something stupid.. like a ned rig or a wacky worm or whatever.

 

Just to check if I still dislike spinning gear as much as I used to (few months back). It's a pretty big commitment, considering I only take 2 or 3 rods with me.

 

Caught 7 dinks and a 16" fish on a 1/16 oz mushroom head with a TRD in about an hour before I got tired of it.

I'll try it again after three or four months lol. Still don't like spinny poles or spinny reels.

 

 

 

Also caught two lean and mean bruisers.

 

 

 

Had to see what all the fuss was about so I bought a Whopper Plopper 90 in bone color on Friday. I used it this weekend and it works! Had 2 catches, Pickerel, Smallmouth Bass and 5 blow-ups that failed to hook up.

 

This lure sure does get the blood pumping with adrenaline when they hit it. I am sold. Gonna get one in loon color next.

Really digging the topwater frog. Booyah Pad Crasher. 

 

Managed a 2.99 lb smallie this past weekend trolling a leech on a 1/8 oz gold jig.  Wish the scale could have just read 3.00 but that was alright.  Took a few minutes to revive, but gave a healthy tail-kick and swam off.

 

Well the Ol' Monster bite has officially stopped for now anyways. Been trying some of my different lures/baits to see if I can find what they really want. Got some bites here and there, but nothing committed to them except for a 3/8oz bluegill Arkie jig with about a 3" piece of a watermelon red black Strike King Shim E Stick for a trailer. I just cast it out there and kinda slowly reeled it in because there's too much along the bottom to get snagged on. It seemed to work, a little anyways. Thought I was gonna catch my first jig bass, Saturday evening, got it almost to the bank and it come off. Man I was so disappointed. Kept trying it and nothing. It was like that Sunday too. Nothing committing to anything I was throwing. I must've used every bait/lure I have or almost every one. This evening went to the smaller pond by the house hoping since I haven't been there in a few days I could catch something. Was getting skunked again and finally tied on my 1/4oz(might be 1/8oz can't remember) Strike King mini spinnerbait black and blue. Just before dark I actually caught something again. It ain't really anything to brag about other than it's my first ever spinnerbait bass. Thank you little fella for breaking it in. Now I guess I'm gonna keep throwing that mini spin or my other spinnerbait (gotta put it back in the rotation box) and my jigs to see how I do with those. Gotta learn something else when the Texas rigged worms/craws/sweet beavers/stick baits, hollow body frog etc ain't working. 

Nice Fayette Co. 6 pounder

Nothing real special about this fish except that it gave no fight and basically committed suicide.

I was lifting the CB from the water and it dove on to the rear treble.  My partner almost p*ssed his pants.

I got a couple smallies on the drop shot this weekend. Drop shot is quickly becoming my favorite summer technique. 

caught my personal best Smallmouth on a Shakyhead today on Wyandotte County Lake In Kansas City Kansas.

21 inches. 4lb. 4oz.

 

 

Cold front smallie fun...

 

[August 21, 2017]
(Monday)
-----Conditions-----
Time: 6:15am - 4:30pm
Sky:  Sunny + Hazy Clouds + Eclipse (Slightly Dim Afternoon) 
Wind: Light Wind Morning to Strong Wind Early Afternoon to Light Wind Late Afternoon

Water Temps: 66-74F
Water Clarity: Clear (~4-10ft)
--------------------

 

"Day of the 2017 Eclipse"

 

 

Over the past week, Jeremy and I have been talking about fishing on this day as we were excited to see what the fishing results would be like. We both have Monday off from work as it's part of our weekend schedule, so we planned to get up early and spend most of the day fishing. The Eclipse is said to have 90% Obscuration for our area, and take place around ~10:15am - ~1:00pm. We expected some fishing pressure from the past weekend as well as possible increased activity on the lake due to the eclipse event. (Today is also the New Moon)

 

As it is now late August, the fall season is right around the corner. I have noticed the mornings are getting darker, and the temps getting colder. The highs still average in the mid 80's to mid 90's, but the lows are dipping down to the mid 50's to high 40's. The smoke from the wildfires has dissipated now, however farmers have begun burning fields so you can still see some smoke on the horizon. I've been thinking about seasonal patterns as the conditions are beginning to change. As the main lake begins to cool, more bass should start moving up from their deep summer area's.

 

We planned to fish shallow first during the early morning, and if needed we would move to deeper area's later in the day. Our first stop was a new spot that we haven't fished yet this year...

 

 

Water temp was 69F and had a bit of color to it (~4ft clarity). Upon arriving we quickly noticed a lot of surface activity from fish of various sizes, we couldn't tell if any were bass or not.

 

I couldn't decide on bait selection prior to this fishing trip, so I opted to wait until I was on the water to see the location and conditions first, then just adapt as needed as the day progressed.

 

 

I rigged up a 1/8oz jig head with a Zoom Fat Albert Grub (Green Pumpkin) for a confidence bait, Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 (Ghost Minnow) since I seen the surface activity, and a Strike King 1/2oz Spinnerbait (Gizzard) for a search bait since the water had a bit of color to it.

 

We both fished a good while without a single bite, all the while seeing surface activity all around us including behind us where we had just fished. Not even a single blowup or follower while using the Gunfish. I didn't want to do it, but out of frustration I decided to just lock the Grub in my hand and toss it to shoreline rocks and cover. I knew fish were in the area, if any of them were bass I was confident that should do the trick. Though the bite was soft, it didn't take long to put the first one in the boat... 

 

14 & 1/2" - 1lb 06oz

 

The first 3 hours of our day was spent fishing that first spot, and that was the only bite... Time to move.

 

 

We headed north to one of the main lake points where the water was much clearer, deeper, with a good weed line and heavy enough wind to cause occasional white caps...

 

 

First cast to the point I instantly hooked into my 2nd bass of the day. Just a dink, but with the slow fishing this morning I'll go for some numbers...

 

 

A few minutes later, Jeremy makes a cast and hooks into a nice 3lb 3oz Largemouth...

 

 

Shortly after catching his nice bass, was when the Eclipse was starting. We watched as the daylight began to dim, and throw the ambient light off as if you were wearing a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses.

 

 

Sadly, it never got any darker than that. Fishing seemed to slow, or at least was less productive at our current location (we were on the move) so I experimented with some other baits. Tied on a Strike King 5XD in (Green Gizzard) and caught 2 more small bass, roughly the same size as the last one. After the eclipse ended, we noticed a few deer down by the waters edge getting a drink.

 

 

After that we changed locations a few more times, I caught another little dink at the first location, then hooked into my fish of the day at the second location on the 5XD...

 

17 & 1/2" - 2lb 01oz

 

Release Video

 

Decided to experiment with baits again and gave topwater another chance. Tied on a Rapala Skitter Pop in (Silver) and this bass torpedoed it hard twice to finally get it...

 

10" - 05oz

 

Changed locations yet again, and between the two Jeremy managed to catch two good sized pike, one being 6lb+. I caught a few more small bass for a total of 10 today, Jeremy caught a total of 7 bass (big one being fish of the day), and the two pike. At 4:30pm we had to call it and head back to the ramp...

 

 

All in all it was a good day, we managed to catch a couple of nice bass, some small ones for numbers, and two bonus pike. Would have like to see the eclipse have more of an effect on the light levels like other locations, but it is what it is. Moving around was key to get the bites we did today, would have liked to visit a few other spots but we just didn't have the time.

 

 

WolfyBrandon

 

 

Okay, I know this isn't a bass that 3 year old Colin caught, but since it's his first fish I thought I'd throw these photos in. This is from last week at Colin's great grandma's stocked farm pond in NH.  My son in law is teaching his nephew Colin how to fish.

 

 

Don't tell anyone about this. It's the latest and greatest. Key components are the 50lb braid mainline, 15lb fluoro leader connection, and a bright green 1/32oz crappie jighead for the swimbait. Patent coming soon.

17 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 

Do you like those bladed jigs in clearer (3-4 feet of visibility) water, in lakes that don't have any brush to bounce them of?  They are one bait that I cane seem to catch a fish on.