8 hours ago, Team9nine said:

A few from the weekend. Still able to sight fish several of these fish in the ponds which is always interesting...and fun. Got to watch a big bass corral and annihilate a bluegill just 10 feet from me today - it was pretty awesome to watch. You can learn a heck of a lot about bass behavior by just sitting in one good area for a while, being quiet and just watching.

 

 

 

 

 

Can't help but notice you focusing on small waters and fishing on foot this year. Are you finding it more productive or just less trouble than taking the boat out?

1 hour ago, The Bassman said:

 

Can't help but notice you focusing on small waters and fishing on foot this year. Are you finding it more productive or just less trouble than taking the boat out?

For the past 13 years I lived just 3 miles from the boat ramp of a local reservoir. In 10 minutes I could be there and launched, and it made fishing for even just an hour or two after dinner an easy thing, not to mention weekends. But last fall we moved, and the nearest reservoirs are between 25-45 miles away. With traffic, I have to plan on an hour out and another hour back, then fishing time on top of it. Makes all the weekday trips a thing of the past, and weekend trips have been hit or miss. Fortunately, having a bunch of small water within walking distance has become the substitute for the boat, and still getting out and fishing several times a week. 

Here was his PB from June 23 using topwater near downed tree.

Here's one a couple weeks later on a wacky worm. We didn't own a scale but measured against oar prior to release. It was 22 inches long.

caught my new personal best today,on a belly weighted fluke,at a Kansas power plant lake.

beat my old personal best, that I caught 25 years ago in an Iowa farm pond, by 1/2 lb.

 

22 1/2 inches long  

7lb 11oz.  

 

(weighed it on 2 different scales one read 7lb 13 oz.  the other read 7lb 11oz.)

I wonder what it weighed this spring when it was full of eggs.

Hit the banks for a few hours, and tried to follow Team9nine's Proven Guidelines for Fishing Success^TM. Caught a bunch of fish, but unfortunately fell far short of 101.

 

I was on vacation last week. We drove from NY to Indiana to see some sites and visit some relatives. Great trip.

 

I was able to get some fishing time in. I can add Indiana to the list of states where I have caught fish.

 

 

 

 

8 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

I was on vacation last week. We drove from NY to Indiana to see some sites and visit some relatives. Great trip.

 

I was able to get some fishing time in. I can add Indiana to the list of states where I have caught fish.

 

 

 

 

 

Where were you in IN?  We're not known for too many sites.  I grew up next to the Speedway.

Smallies! Found a bunch of these little guys stacked up in a long stretch of the river. Saw a couple good 2.5-3lbers in there too. Fairly easy for me to access so I'm gonna hit it a couple times in the next few weeks and see what I can drag out of there. Found plenty of gar too, and there's gonna be a special trip just for those as long as the current doesn't pick up too much. 

The photo above with my wife and me was also my season best. It's been a tough one in Illinois. That was a good fish though. 

took the little johnny out after supper this evening and hooked up with this 19” spot. she hit a Zoom lizard in 18 fow. 

Was out at our church farm this evening and noticed some topwater activity in the pond. So I grabbed an old cheap spinning combo that was there, and found 1 hook that would work, and searched diligently through my tool box and found 1 old rootbeer fluke. Caught this one reeling it across the grass near shore. Also caught a dinkand lost a few others.

Also saw a fair sized buck at the woodline, but too far away to get a pic.

Now that's being resourceful.  Once at church camp when I was a kid I had brought some mono and hooks to use for a handline. Got creative and used a cane pole tip from a skit (play) the night before and swiped a couple of slices of bread from the lunch table. Caught some really big bluegills.

Mishawaka Indiana and South Bend, right by Notre Dame and the Saint Joseph River. I was fishing in a place called Pinhook Park. We stayed there for a few days before heading to Indianapolis. 

 

There was some big Bass busting in that lake. If I only had my kayak...

This one won me and my partner some money Saturday on a 3xd 

Had one of my best Indiana fishing days yesterday.  I was catching fish sporadically and had about 4 fish in 5 hours with weights of 4.05,3.78, 2.25ish, and a dink.  Then the wind started to pick up bass started to hit a Big EZ almost every cast.  I stopped taking pictures after a few to get my line back out there asap.  The flurry lasted for about a dozen fish and most were in the 17" to 19" range.  Unfortunately, my GoPro was dead by then but I at least got the 4 fish from earlier that day on video.

 

 

Got on the Brown ones again tonight - right at last light.

She was a really Long Sally.

A-Jay

I am following @A-Jay example of fishing at last light. Not getting Bass quite the size of his but the activity is there at that time of day.

 

Last night the topwater bite was on just before the sun went down. Bluegill Whopper Plopper. Smallmouth love it.

 

 

 

Caught this one the other day. She hit a popmax hugging the bank.

Only had time for a couple hours this evening but the top water bite was on.   Got to say that the Impulse Zell Rowland Rod is awesome.  The fish in the pic was 21 inches ( couldn’t zero the scale )

A Zoom finesse worm and a little "old school" Buck Perry structure combined for 12-15 decent bass this afternoon on a local reservoir with air and water temps nearly identical at 85 degrees and a 8-10 mph breeze out of the SSE. Thermocline has set in at 19' on this lake.

 

Got this 22 inch football on a zoom ultravibe speed worm 1/4 oz Texas rigged. Hit on the fall on a cast to a patch of deep standing weeds, probably hit around the midway point of a 10-12 foot fall

Got a new ride today (craigslist)- she's an ocean kayak tetra. Thank you to everyone who posted in the many cheap kayak threads.

 

 

Also caught some fish. The tiny swimbait I bought last week has been working pretty well. Caught the biggest (if not the biggest, definitely the longest and the skinniest) and the smallest bass on it today, plus a few others.

 

 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, deep said:

Got a new ride today (craigslist)- she's an ocean kayak tetra. Thank you to everyone who posted in the many cheap kayak threads.

 

 

Also caught some fish. The tiny swimbait I bought last week has been working pretty well. Caught the biggest (if not the biggest, definitely the longest and the skinniest) and the smallest bass on it today, plus a few others.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice Bass and Congrats on the new rig.

btw - I think I might have seen the early stages of a smile right there.

Maybe not but it was pretty close.

Keep working at it - you'll get it.

A-Jay

 

We had the perfect prefrontal conditions last night and I literally smelled a record setting night.  I got out of work late and raced to some water.   2 hours and 10 solid keeper size bass was good, but add in this 5+ pound beauty and it becomes great!!  Funny how she made the other 2 pounders seem so small ? Its hard to find this size here in July.  1 beaten up zinkerz worm tossed in and around weed beds caught them all.  

 

 

 

July has been good to me this year.  Fished two tournaments and won both.  First, an ABA divisional at the beginning of the month on Cross Lake up near Syracuse, NY.  Weighed 18.19 with a 4.7 kicker flipping docks, grass, and shallow wood in 1 to 5 ft. Second, a Northern NY Bassmaster Team event on Black Lake I fished with my dad.  We knocked out our biggest bag ever out there, 20.37lbs with a 5.7lb kicker and another 5.5, both caught in the last hour of the day.  Flipped grass in 3 to 10 ft and threw a frog super shallow.  Not fishing a ton anymore, but I'm making my days count!