7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Caught a rare "Holstein" bass today ?

 

Article in In Fisherman says these blotches have no explanation but come and go. Funny, when I was younger I don't remember seeing these. (Could be because I caught a lot less fish then, too).
 

 

I've never seen a black-blotched bass, except for a bruising.

I've been told/heard that it's a sign of healthy bass...And most of the tattoo'd ones I catch are healthy.  I catch way more  (probably 10 to 1) blotchy bass in tidal water than I do in normal lakes/rivers...But I have caught them in those non-tidal places too.  They are fairly common on the Potomac, I probably catch a handful each season at least.  These were both same day, same area (one is my profile pic).

 

@Frog Turds posted a good calico colored largemouth that he's caught twice now a few pages back. It has something to do with water temp. I've never caught one from warmer water, it's always during the cold weather months, kind of like how a person's cheeks turn red in the cold.

 

Made my first "winter" trip to the power plant today. Seemed slow for everyone else but it was pretty steady for me despite fighting with a leaves floating everywhere. Caught 15-20 on a shakyhead, squarebills, jerkbait, trap, and spinnerbait that all looked like this;

Had a couple white bass that oddly enough never bothered my baits fishing a shad colored bait but hammered my squarebill when I switched to a red craw colored one.

 

I lost 2 good ones on the squarebill, needs different hooks on it. I did manage to keep a good one stuck on the shakyhead though. 1/8oz shakyhead with a GP YUM Magnum Finesse worm.

About as healthy of a individual as you can catch. Clearly it needed to eat something soon.

I did a swimbait fish bank busting.  The one I lost on the S-Waver 168 a few weeks ago still haunts my dreams.  She would have been the best fish of the year.

 

I didn't weigh her, but she smoked that Huddleston 68.  Did just like the boys from Tactical taught me, set the hook and grinded her right in.

 

Any guesses on the poundage of my first Huddleston girl?

On 11/18/2019 at 9:58 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

 

 

About as healthy of a individual as you can catch. Clearly it needed to eat something soon.

Chunkin' up they are. Same here.

Lunch break! 

Jelly.

Another lunchbass. Caught it on a lipless between bites of my sandwich. 

I read somewhere on this forum that the Cabela’s Mean Eye jerkbaits were an excellent budget jerker. Well last winter when they were clearing them out I found the last one in the store and have been aching to get it out all year.

 

The crappie loved it, I was getting one nearly every cast, then got a surprise!

Water temps were only 41-43, and the 20+mph south wind wasn't helping me hold the bait still on the pause like I needed to, but I still managed to catch several after work. Most were dinks like they usually are out of this lake, but the first one was a better quality fish than it usually gives up. They were really smacking it if I could let it sit long enough.

5 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Water temps were only 41-43, and the 20+mph south wind wasn't helping me hold the bait still on the pause like I needed to, but I still managed to catch several after work. Most were dinks like they usually are out of this lake, but the first one was a better quality fish than it usually gives up. They were really smacking it if I could let it sit long enough.

I'm challenged with jerkbaits the same as you are with blades. Gotta think they'd be good in the ponds I fish. Clear water that's clean enough for trebles but my results have always been less than impressive. Maybe not staying with it enough.

And so it begins...... (Queue the maniacal laughter)

Fishing has been slow this fall on our home lake, but it was still great getting out. Really hoping our first big storm of the season next week triggers them into getting more aggressive in anticipation of winter. Water temp still in the low 60's during the day.

 

Nice healthy spot that thinks he's bigger than he is.

 

Another spot.

 

 

Only one Pops landed, but still beats a skunk.

“Yes, bass fishing is a competitive sport”, and this was the competition the other day outside of Herman & Helen’s Marina. I tried to get all four of ‘em together for a group photo  but they weren’t having any of it and this was the best I could do
 

After a short move, I was able to put a few in the boat on the dropshot and a jerkbait.

Air temps in the 40s. Lucky to get out for an hour and catch three on a swimbait. My buds were in kayaks and caught nothing (haha) while I caught 10lbs of bass from the shore. All three came in a period of 6 minutes, 4 casts. In the order of the pics below: 4'5, 2'14, 2'7. Trying to get out this week over thanksgiving but it might be a little cold. 

I had called it a season a few weeks before but couldn't not accept an invite to fish a new location. This was my first time fishing for largemouth (as opposed to smallmouth) in a few months and might have to go back soon. 

Got out for a few hours this evening. Nearly bluebird skys, temps in the 70s , slick calm on the lake- which is usually the least productive weather around here . I fished the West shoreline all the way to the south end of the lake. The weeds have died out some- this part of the lake, esp. the Northwest part, has been covered with weeds all summer- now it’s clear again. First cast- bam ! ( first fish pic) Caught the   First few on the watermelon red trick worm, all on the retrieve. Caught the rest on the Bama bug 5 inch yum dinger. Ended up with 12 . Most of the fish were caught in 2 spurts. 

No big fish again, they have really been hiding lately.

Thankful for a relaxing afternoon , along with many other blessings. 

Happy Thanksgiving Y’all !??? 

 

I tried to go catch bass Monday, and I had a feeling it would be tough because it was supposed to be a little too nice. Turned out I had a hard time getting my bait past everything else to the bass. I've caught a lot of flatheads while bass fishing, but never seen one choke a trap being burned over shallow riprap like this one did to me.

Probably what he thought he was getting, off the same bank a few cast prior.

Only crankbait fish of the day.

These guys were everywhere.

Testing out my new homemade finesse football jigs and got thumped dragging it through the same tree I caught my 7.5 pounder out of a couple years ago and man did I think I'd gotten a hold of the fish I'd been looking for for a few seconds. It was the right size, 10.21 pounds, just the wrong flavor.

It had a BIG tail sticking out of it's throat, and it's stomach showed it was clearly eating good.

 

I did catch a bunch of bass, but they were tiny for some reason. My normal big fish lake kicked about over 2 dozen bass and fewer than a half dozen were over a pound. I was catching them so fast at one spot, a couple guys asked if I was catching crappie. This was my big fish of the day I caught pitching to a standing tree on top of a rock slide, which is a very unusual way to get bit there.

After sitting out the hot summer months I've started to go to the lake now and again. The water level at my local lake (Lake Perris) has dropped around 17ft or so from it's June peak. It's in a limbo phase for me as my better spots are either high and dry or a little on the deep side still. I've been looking around for spots and have had some luck here and there from time to time.

 

Last Tuesday the 19th I went to the lake at 4pm for some quick shore fishing to at least practice some casting. It was the leading edge of a cold front with some decent wind and chop blowing straight in at me. I only fished for just under 1hr as it got dark pretty quickly and was a little on the nippy side.

 

I wound up catching 5 Bass in a 45 minute time span. Overall it was a great 45 minutes or so of fishing. All caught on a rattle trap that I've since lost.

 

Here's the kicker! 6.3 lbs and I was lucky enough to have a fellow angler around to take a couple of quick photos. I would have like to get a better photo or two of her, but she was a bleeder. I looked inside her mouth before releasing her and could find where or even see any damage. I would have hated to keep her, but would have if I didn't think she would make it. 

 

 

 

 

Caught a funny lookin' dink yesterday afternoon. Everything I know to look for points to a largemouth, but the color's like nothing I've ever seen.

 

I know a little about snakes and stuff, but not all that much about fish. Is it amelanistic, maybe?

Looks like it’s been in open, clear water. The more they are under cover or in dark water they are darker.

Interesting. I would characterize the water I caught it in as "murky," at best. And I'm probably being real charitable with that.

 

I've seen how wide the color variance can be with LMB, but nothing like this before.

I catch a lot of pale bass in muddy water 

6 hours ago, galyonj said:

Caught a funny lookin' dink yesterday afternoon. Everything I know to look for points to a largemouth, but the color's like nothing I've ever seen.

 

I know a little about snakes and stuff, but not all that much about fish. Is it amelanistic, maybe?

 

5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I catch a lot of pale bass in muddy water 

Looks like it came out of cold, muddy water to me. It's 100% a largemouth bass though.