5 hours in the morning on a little natural lake nearby.

 

This 3.21lb topwater (pop max) smallie a little after 6am was a big surprise, as I have never seen, or even heard of smallmouth in this lake before:

A 19", 3.58# largemouth a little later:

 

Those ended up being the best of 20.

 

...and then there was this little guy I couldn't quite place...is this a Warmouth?

 

https://imgur.com/9B5m9ia

 

Havent been fishing near as much this year due to health issues, and what times I have gotten out have been largely fruitless. I did however manage this one yesterday on a live minnow. Came from under the dock directly below where I was standing and slammed it. Unfortunately it managed to run around a dock post and jumped over a wood brace that made for an extremely challenging retrieval. But with assistance from another angler, we were able to use his net and I stretched the line enough for me to cut loose from the post and it fell right in the net.

 

I usually dont ask for help from other anglers so as to not disturb their day, but I felt I didnt have a choice here. If we hadn't been able to get the fish loose, it likely would not have been able to get out on it's own and likely would have died. And that would have been an absolute shame.

56 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

5 hours in the morning on a little natural lake nearby.

 

This 3.21lb topwater (pop max) smallie a little after 6am was a big surprise, as I have never seen, or even heard of smallmouth in this lake before:

A 19", 3.58# largemouth a little later:

 

Those ended up being the best of 20.

 

...and then there was this little guy I couldn't quite place...is this a Warmouth?

 

That's pretty awesome. I've never caught a smallmouth before-- don't think we have any around me. Which one fought harder, the SMB or LMB? And I do believe that is indeed a warmouth, awesome coloration and pattern.

First fish of the day just happened to be the best one. She had a big ol mouth on her but she needs to eat lol. She weighed in at 6 lbs even and hammered a green pumpkin 7" power worm as soon as it hit the water right by a tree she must have been sitting by. Nothing else worth a pic the rest of the day. Lots of action on the frog but all little guys.

1 hour ago, Brandon O'tinger said:

That's pretty awesome. I've never caught a smallmouth before-- don't think we have any around me. Which one fought harder, the SMB or LMB? And I do believe that is indeed a warmouth, awesome coloration and pattern.

These two today were about the same but pound for pound, smallmouth virtually always fight harder, especially in current where they feel like they must be at least twice their size.

 

The Tennessee River is famous for smallmouth, and google tells me "Sylvania, AL" is pretty close (although I understand some of the TN river lakes fish better than others for smallies).  I found this: https://www.outdooralabama.com/black-bass/smallmouth-bass

@MIbassyaker that is a warmouth. I had heard of them before but never saw one until 6poundbass caught one last year off our dock. I initially thought “funky looking bluegill with a huge mouth”, then I got to looking on line and realized what it actually was. Only one we’ve caught so far. 

17 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

@MIbassyaker that is a warmouth. I had heard of them before but never saw one until 6poundbass caught one last year off our dock. I initially thought “funky looking bluegill with a huge mouth”, then I got to looking on line and realized what it actually was. Only one we’ve caught so far. 

I was like, "ah, rock bass......no, wait a minute, that's not a rock bass, what is it?"

 

When I got home and looked up sunfish ID, warmouth was the only thing that jumped out.

 

Smallmouth, Largemouth, Warmouth.....that should count as completing a slam of some sort.

 

 

 

 

24 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

I was like, "ah, rock bass......no, wait a minute, that's not a rock bass, what is it?"

 

When I got home and looked up sunfish ID, warmouth was the only thing that jumped out.

 

Smallmouth, Largemouth, Warmouth.....that should count as completing a slam of some sort.

 

 

 

 

Michigan bass slam perhaps? 

My wife and I got a few green bass from the Old Town Canoe today.

A-Jay

Pretty good morning bite after work yesterday. No big ones, but several keepers and they were hammering the Pulse Tail bluegill, which is a fun bite despite my inability to hook them for some reason. Caught most of my fish on a Neko rigged YUM Magnum Finesse worm or Genie worm.

I've heard of bass with this gold coloration, but never seen one in person. Only a touch of it on his lips, but still neat to see.

23 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

These two today were about the same but pound for pound, smallmouth virtually always fight harder, especially in current where they feel like they must be at least twice their size.

 

The Tennessee River is famous for smallmouth, and google tells me "Sylvania, AL" is pretty close (although I understand some of the TN river lakes fish better than others for smallies).  I found this: https://www.outdooralabama.com/black-bass/smallmouth-bass

Yeah I believe we have some in lake guntersville but I don't go that way very often. When I fish the Tennessee river, I usually go between scottsboro and Stevenson. I personally havent encountered smallmouth there, but I'm sure other anglers do.

Nice smallmouth from Table Rock today

 

 

My biggest Smallie of the year so far. 17.75" but only weighed 2.25 lbs, pretty typical for my skinny river. The 2nd one wasn't bad either. First one was caught on a a Champion XP 704 Glass rod with a Whopper Plopper size 90 Loon color and the 2nd was caught on a Fury 663c using a 5" Yum Dinger Wacky Rigged with a nail weight.

 

"My brother and the five skunk funk"

 

I hit a lake with my brother that we've been to five times over the past two years. Each time I've hooked up, but he's been blanked. When we got there the last time this past November he said "If I don't get a fish I'm never coming back here". When we left he said "I hate this place". Skunked again.

 

I convinced him to return this past weekend and was surprised he gave in so easily. It's a nice football field walk from the parking lot to the water. Our 12' Jon boat is light, but starts feeling heavy quicker than you'd think, especially since we had to lift it over a fence first. The wind was kicking up too, which meant a battle to stay put was on the way, and it was. The temps had also dropped like a rock into the 50s and nothing was happening throwing topwater. I got a few nips dragging baits, but couldn't convert. My brother tied on a Eco Pro swing jig with a Googan craw then chucked it into the pads. He hauled in a nice 4.3er and the curse was finally broken! He got a few more smalls grinding the G2 into the bottom. We were blown a few hundred feet in just the amount of time it took to unhook one of the G2 fish. He's a large human, so I suggested that his giant head was a acting like a sail. Brothers can joke once the skunk is off the boat!

 

So much for stealth: Here's where it gets interesting.

 

We motored back to the sandy shore where we launched. Right before we got there I pointed my flashlight into the water and spotted a bunch of bass hanging out about 15 feet from shore. The Jon boat boat's aluminium hull made a racket as it scraped against the rocky bottom and we got out with headlamps blaring white light. My brother ran up to the truck to grab the rod sleeves and I began casting and getting hits right away. When he got back I told him they were biting, so he grabbed the rig with the Eco Pro/Googan craw and lobbed it out. He knew right away he had a nice one. She broke the surface with a big tail slap and I saw it was a dandy. 5.7 lb. He went from zero to hero in the course of an hour, and I was happy for him. This guarantees a 7th trip now. Good stuff.

 

 

If I stopped bowhunting places due to being skunked, I’d own no bows lol. 
 

I know you’re glad your brother beat the jinx, but from that large head comment, you’re probably a bit sad you’ve lost that “Bro, you suck at fishing!” comeback lol. 

Worked 1/2 midnight shift last night. Stopped at pond on the way home. 2nd cast!

 

 

 

18”. 5” green pumpkin Senko wacky rig. I CAN’T stop throwing them out! 

5 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

I know you’re glad your brother beat the jinx, but from that large head comment, you’re probably a bit sad you’ve lost that “Bro, you suck at fishing!” comeback lol. 

Lots of things are fair game in service of a laugh between brothers. Body shaming, including weight, height, or lack thereof, clubfeet, hammertoes, hairline, you name it. But teasing about the skunk is a real no-no! Way too sensitive of a subject. It's totally taboo, and who'd be foolish enough to drop that type of bad karma on oneself?

Good point. Bad juju!

Went back out this evening. Caught two dinks on a 5” watermelon Senko wacky and then tossed it to a different spot and this bass was hungry!

 

 

 

Almost broke the 4 lb mark. Had my fish grippers on it before I weighed it, dropped the bass and it almost swam away with my grippers! Grabbed it just before it got away lol. 
 

Bites stopped on the wacky, so I had a green pumpkin Zoom trick work weightless Texas rigged. First cast and the line shot out. Only 1.5 lbs or so but I was not expecting that quick a strike! 

Huge thanks to @brgbassmaster for taking me out yesterday on the Colorado River for my first Whopper Plopper fish! Including my PB top water fish (see pic) We had a solid day with some violent hits! 
 

While most of my fish were caught on top water, had a nice one off the jackhammer. 
 

Had a nice break from the heat this morning and although I hadn't planned on going fishing, when I woke up and saw it was cloudy with a little rain, I couldn't help myself. Fishing was great, didn't need much other than a FishLab Rattle Toad and FishLab Bio Minnow. They weren't the biggest, but man they were slamming the frog and swimbait.

 

@Bluebasser86, not that big........ why I oughta........ looks like some beauts to me! 

Date night with the wife last night. She won big bass for the night. 
 

 

That bass looks healthy. Nice coloring!

I posted a pic a week or two of my first LM I ever caught at this Reservoir where I usually only catch Smallies, well last evening I caught 5 of them and 3 of them were pretty big for my area.

 

All my friend I have talked to said they have never caught a LM out of this place and a guy who lives 2 houses down from the place and fishes it more than anyone said he can count on one hand the number of LM he has caught out of there in his lifetime.