Sounds like a trip he'll never forget.

1 hour ago, Fishlegs said:

Sounds like a trip he'll never forget.

You know it! Haha. He comes twice a year and we document all things good and bad 

First time out in almost 2 months. Only had about an hour and a half to fish. We got about 2" of rain last night with more on the way. I didn't know what to expect. Started with a jackhammer and noticed the grass is really starting to take off so I switched to a frog. Only caught 3 but when you break the 5lb mark, it makes for a good day.

 

I finally got my granddaughter Mackayla back out this afternoon . We took the canoe . The fish were still all over the yum dingers...

Finally managed to get out again. Caught a couple real nice ones, both on poppers (one on a 6th Sense and the other on an Ima finesse popper); but otherwise it was a grind.

 

Also, I realized I have taken out the kayak just once this year, and fished with my buddy on his new boat once. Otherwise I'm back to the old days- walking the banks with one rod and one reel.

 

Both fish were about the same weight I think. The first one was longer, but the second one had a larger girth.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, deep said:

Otherwise I'm back to the old days- walking the banks with one rod and one reel.

Congrats on those studs! Don't sweat the bank fishing thing if those are your results! The other night my brother and I were musing about this very subject. It's been 3 years since we got our boat and Kayaks. We've done well in them, but all, and I mean all of our lunkers during this time have come from fishing on the bank, or wading, which is just glorified bank fishing around here.

Love seeing all the pics/reading your stories, guys! Keep them coming.

 

Got a few decent bedding fish this weekend. 

 

I spotted this smallie as I was working a canal off the river. I was right on top of it when I noticed it and I was only in about 1.5' of water, so figured it'd be spooked, so I backed off a bit. All of a sudden I notice a pike come into view and it kept chasing the pike away from the bed. He/she was fired up. 

 

I pitched a Rage Bug in there, and the pike comes flying in and nails it, tearing the claws off. I get the bait back in and quickly pitch back in there and this time the smallie killed it. Like, hit it hard hard and just took off. They REALLY wanted that bait off the bed. I have the pike to thank for getting them so riled up. ?

 

 

The next day I was on the lake and came across some bedding LM. They were very spooked so I had to back way off to have a shot at them. They wanted nothing to do with the Rage Bug. So I grabbed a Daiwa Yamamoto Neko Fat Worm I had laying in my console and trimmed it down to make a smaller profile, and threw it on a 2/0 hook. That did the trick. I caught 4 of them in a short span. Interesting how big of a difference just changing up your bait can make. To me the Rage Bug looks more threatening and bluegill-like than a worm. Then again maybe they were actually eating and the worm looked like an easier meal.

 

 

On 8/11/2014 at 8:54 PM, missouribigbass said:

Thanks! I've had a lot of good luck this year with the big bass. I keep a log book and after the 3 big ones I caught on Saturday that made 42 bass I 've caught this year over 5lbs 29 over 6lbs 8 over 7lbs and 3 over 8lbs. Haven't hit on a 9lb fish this year.I weigh everything over the 4lb range.

You sure you ain't fishing in florida with those numbers and weights? Lol killing it 

After work today.
I recommend the hat. The fish were drawn to it.

 

 

 

 

These mask fish selfies look bad. Maybe I’ll just do the fish by the lips from now on.

 

These are stockers, probably this year and last year. Lake was recently recreated after being destroyed by hurricane sandy. I broke with tradition and fished straight braid. The water was stained and I was practically flippin cover, not quite, but I broke off a lot of brush to get to them.

Had a friend over yesterday. We ended up with 14, caught on various baits. 

It was a strange day for me though. I missed a lot of fish  on the hookset, had one break the line,and lost another big fish in the deepest hole in the lake, and got hung up numerous times in brush piles due to the baits I had tex-posed and skipped up into. Ended up kind of frustrated but happy that I put Robert on some fish. 

Tournament on Saturday. We did well but I failed to land a 4lber that would have qualified us for state. I didn't realize the hook was dulled until after he pulled off. I fished a fluke all day and landed about 10. My partner had different ideas about what to hit and all of my spots (or really @slonezp's spots) produced keepers and we didn't get one bite from his spots. We finished with 7-10 and in 12th out of 41 boats. Not terrible but we missed state by one spot and that 4 would have put us top 5. 

Hit the river for a few hours on Sunday. My brother and I had a competition with my dad and other brother. We expected to win but they aren't that bad and it was a lot closer than we thought. We finished with a 12-6 bag and they had a 11-0 bag. Not too bad and it was a fun day of bed fishing. WE also doubled which made for a cool picture. Have yet to break 4 but I did learn from someone that there are 4s and 5s they are just in a section split by dams that I have yet to fish. 

Back at the water today after a lack luster week of fishing. Not a lot of fish over dink status... Today was an excellent day of catching, didn't get out until after 9am. First cast caught a nice fish on a jig tipped with Zoom Chunk Jr. The wind picked up and after that it was all Chatterbait action, I stopped counting at 10. Couple of decent ones all from the same spot. They were stacked up in a weed bed off a point. Used a 10000 saw craw for a trailer. Couple of pics below.

33 minutes ago, JWall14 said:

Tournament on Saturday. We did well but I failed to land a 4lber that would have qualified us for state. I didn't realize the hook was dulled until after he pulled off. I fished a fluke all day and landed about 10. My partner had different ideas about what to hit and all of my spots (or really @slonezp's spots) produced keepers and we didn't get one bite from his spots. We finished with 7-10 and in 12th out of 41 boats. Not terrible but we missed state by one spot and that 4 would have put us top 5. 

Hit the river for a few hours on Sunday. My brother and I had a competition with my dad and other brother. We expected to win but they aren't that bad and it was a lot closer than we thought. We finished with a 12-6 bag and they had a 11-0 bag. Not too bad and it was a fun day of bed fishing. WE also doubled which made for a cool picture. Have yet to break 4 but I did learn from someone that there are 4s and 5s they are just in a section split by dams that I have yet to fish. 

Glad I could help. 

Best fishing day I’ve had in all of 2021! 6 fish today, 4 of which were in the 1.5-2.5 range! First 3 were caught wading, and the last 3 were caught from the bank. I forgot to take a picture of a 1-pounder that I caught.

Got out for an hour and a half this evening. Yesterday was quantity. Today was more quality. Tried a much smaller pond that holds fewer, but bigger fish. Finessed one eyed willie out of a hole under a lay down. She’s definitely a senior citizen. I am assuming from the looks of her, this is post spawn. I will have to admit, when I got her into the shallow water, she jumped like 5 times.

 

 

The bad part of this pre-spawn is that 3.5 has been the biggest so far.

The good part is that I haven't had one under 3 lbs.

......still have a few weeks before spawn hits.

Took the old Ranger out to Sutton Lake this morning. Hit a nice hawg early... They were absolutely slamming the shad. Water temp was 78 degrees she hit a spinnerbait with a salty tube trailer.  Caught one more a little later in the trip on the same bait. 

4 minutes ago, Biglittle8 said:

Took the old Ranger out to Sutton Lake this morning. Hit a nice hawg early... They were absolutely slamming the shad. Water temp was 78 degrees she hit a spinnerbait with a salty tube trailer.  Caught one more a little later in the trip on the same bait. 

Sheesh! Those are big uns. You have a boat???? And here all this time I thought you were a golf pond hopper 

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

Sheesh! Those are big uns. You have a boat???? And here all this time I thought you were a golf pond hopper 

Yep... It's really convenient to hit the ponds in my neighborhood, so I can fish everyday:-) I love boat fishing also, but I don't do it as much. My buddy drags me out once in a while.

Bite has finally kicked up, here's a few from my latest adventures, also I went crappie fishing tonight and after catching like 30 of them in the 6inch range and a few nicer slabs I managed to get one Largemouth on the crappie magnet and caught another on a topwater spook! 

First Smallmouth Bass of the year!

 

Went to the reservoir yesterday and managed to get this chunky guy protecting his fry, he didn't like my morning dawn roboworm anywhere near his bed site. 

Biggest went 5 to 5.25 at 20” and 15.5 or 16 in girth . Flipped and split the paper ruler into three pieces as I tried to take the picture. Biggest fish taken from 18” of water. The Megabass Jerkbait Special hit the water for the first time. Love the rod. Hooked up on everything I’d usually miss.

 

If you look closely at the tape measure pic, you can see these fish have eyes that can face completely forward. You can also see all the poison ivy in the last pic.

Inside New York City limits. 90 degrees out.

 

Is it just me or do these fish have smaller mouths than LMB everywhere else?

 

 

 

 

 

S.I. or L.I. ?

First smallmouth of the year and I finally caught a fish in a spot that I have been fishing before with no luck ? I didn’t bring a tape with me so I used my rod as a ruler to measure it when I got home. I am assuming 13-15in and no clue on the weight