Been so busy that I haven't fished many of the Thursday night tournaments this year. This last week was the 3rd one I've fished this year and first one I've won, also got big bass. Could have done much better if I didn't miss some chances at bigger fish. Really hurts to miss good bites when the fishing is as tough as it was.

 

Friday was weird. Started good, 2 keepers over 18" in about 10 minutes on top, then it just died and a big storm moved in. Once the storm passed they were acting really strange and no fish of any size would cooperate. I did catch 7 channel cats on bladed jigs once the storm moved through, which was kind of fun.

 

 

Best day of the year so far....12 over 3lbs in 3 hours all on a Fat IKA, with the best best being just below PB at 5.7 lbs for the North East

 

55 minutes ago, NHBull said:

...12 over 3lbs in 3 hours

Holy cow!that's insane!  I'm doing cartwheels if I catch 12 over 3 in a MONTH. CONGRATS!

i caught my pb spot this morning on a 5” Zoom june bug lizard, off brush in 18 fow. short of my goal of 4 lbs this year, but not by much. she was 20” long and 3.84 lbs. i caught 15 spots in all, but no largemouth today. life is good ?

GP Green Flk Pitboss swam near ambush points to imitate the bluegills. First time fishing the Havoc Pitboss and I’m loving the versatility and action of this classic bait 

 

Finally landed a LMB on the Livetarget Sunfish Hollow Belly. I modified it by taking pliers to make the hooks protrude at an upward angle. I’ve gotten more strikes on this top water lure than any other top water lures combined. 

 

 

Took the kid to the culvert across the road from our house for some panfish. Ultra light rod and some fresh caught worms did the trick, only thing is, we didn’t get one perch or sunfish, and usually we catch dozens there. Nope, today it was all smallies, he caught 6, and our best 5 would’ve gone about 18-19lbs! The culvert is about 20’ deep as they dredged it out a couple years ago when they fixed it up, so I guess the bass came in from the connected lake and just lay in the shade in deep water waiting for food to drift by. It was a pretty exciting half hour, and we even got to watch a 4lber come up and engulf a huge moth that was skittering across the surface about 2’ from where our legs dangled off the culvert. My son then promptly dropped his worm down and caught the same fish ?. 

This guy wasn’t even the biggest one!

No big ones Friday, but did get this 14 incher. Thought about keeping it with the bluegill I had on the stringer,  but she looked a little skinny from the spawn, so I out her back to let her recover.

Happy to find that the shallow pond I thought got killed out over the winter seems to be alive and well. Managed 10 mostly decent fish before a fast moving storm pushed me off the water...but not before getting soaked  Spent 10 minutes watching and observing this cruiser before I was able to figure out how to trigger it to bite. Nothing like observing bass behavior up close and personal.

 

Today was a great day for the frog! Csught about 20 on frog all day in the pads ! Then some others weightless with swimbait. Only got a pic of this decent one around 3 pounds

I have been catching a lot of spots recently and I'd like to think I have been getting better at telling the difference between them and largemouth and now my entire existence has been called into question. What is this? 

 

 

Maybe it's just the picture and the way I'm lipping it, but it seems like the jaw doesn't go far enough back to be a largemouth. 

100% largemouth

Picked this one off before dark on a watermelon red yum dinger .

First cast of the day today from shore before I launched my boat produced my best of the year. 5-12 on a jig. Got 9 more on frogs and toads once I got out but nothing over 2 or so. Did have one looked about 4 blast my toad but I couldn't close the deal.

1.67 lb and a 2.50 largemouth caught on my ultralight. both were real fun fights.

Got a nice one at my local pond this morning.

 

I was able to pull 2-3lb bass out of it with good regularity last year and even got enough 3-4lb ones to make it worth the crowds, but this year I have not had much success there.  After spending 90% of my time fussing with a chatterbait and a small glidebait I went and grabbed a finesse combo out of the car and within a few dozen casts I had that one and one just a bit smaller.  It's the largest bass I have got on that rod so far (MB Phase 3 Criffhanger) and it was a hell of a fight.  It took a bit to get her head turned and maybe 2 min to get her under control and landed.  It's not a noodle rod by any means but I have been on such a big-bait kick of late that it took me a moment to remember what to do.  

 

I also think I have at long last found the perfect way to rig the 4" Easy Shiners:

It's a 1/8oz-1/0 Sled/Draggin' head with a Medium Owner Twistlock screw on it.  The Sled head shape is very very snag resistant in weeds, wood, and rock, it also really protects the lure-scewlock connection from impact with said cover so it gives crazy long plastic life.  That head was new when I tied it on and that single plastic has caught half a dozen small smallies, a small striper, and the two decent LMBs today and just now is the keeper starting to pull out of the nose.  The head shape is designed for bottom dragging and while it excels at that, it's also great for swimming, it does not swing as much as a normal weighted swimbait hook and keeps the plastic's action to a tight wiggle even at high speeds and in current.  

A nice 18” bass from SC PA a couple days ago. 

That is so sweet!! How fun

Post front. Couldn’t get on the pond I wanted. Only got one bite at a different lake. Turned out to be a good one ? Zman Finesse WormZ

 

13 hours ago, TonynswAR said:

A nice 18” bass from SC PA a couple days ago. 

great looking fish, nice color.

10 SM this AM with a 4.1 LM on a FAT IKA.

The Bass God's are smiling on "Golden Pond"

After four days of nothing but grinding, a dink finally broke my skunk. Been fishing from sunup to sundown. Rough lake.

8 hours ago, BubbaBassin’ said:

After four days of nothing but grinding, a dink finally broke my skunk. Been fishing from sunup to sundown.

Nice spot, way to stick with it!! Those things are like tuna, just roaming open water chasing baitfish. 

 

 

 

Well my two fishing partners both caught the biggest fish of their lives tonight after work. The largemouth was 21” with a good belly and the smallmouth was 20.25”. I caught a mere 18”........ the current is raging and the fish were caught with Texas rigs. They used worms I used the menace. Water temp around 72. Great evening on the TN river

 

8 pound hybrid on live bluegill, was fishing for largemouth 

I hope you are not in California, yesterday I saw a guy fishing for bluegill so I said are you gonna use bluegill for bait (I saw a few more bass/catfish gears plus a basket for keeping fish). He stopped after I told him it is illegal here, but once I left he went back for bluegill again.