I should have placed this here rather than starting a new thread.

 

 

We have been getting pounded here with rain and thunderstorms for two weeks. But it’s been almost two days since the last downpour so I figured I’d give it a shot this morning. Bad news. Fished for four hours and only caught one bass. Good news. It was on my new rig, a Daiwa Tatula 100H on a Dobyns Fury FR705CB. And caught it on a new squarebill- a 3/8 oz 6th Sense Crush 50X in tipped crawfish. 
 

Not that big, but always nice to catch something on a new rig it’s first time out. 
 

Decided to walk the bank today. Majority of the bass are post-spawn here, with many cruising the shallows and the bluegill bedding areas. Pulled out the spinning rod and went wacky - same setup I’ve described in recent threads. Picked off 16 total, all on a single bait I was still throwing when I left. Should be good for at least that many more ? 

 

49 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Decided to walk the bank today. Majority of the bass are post-spawn here, with many cruising the shallows and the bluegill bedding areas. Pulled out the spinning rod and went wacky - same setup I’ve described in recent threads. Picked off 16 total, all on a single bait I was still throwing when I left. Should be good for at least that many more ? 

 

                                                                        Same in my neck of the woods.  A little over a week ago I caught the end of the spawn at a smaller lake I frequent an hour  north of me (Blind Photographer thread).  I went back this week to the same lake on Wednesday and caught 12 and what I caught were definitely post spawn fish.

New PB on Friday. Caught this 19” largemouth on a LC 2.5. Originally thought I was reeling a milfoil but then the line moved. Fight was amazing. Unfortunately hooked on fatty underside near pelvic fins. Debarbed the front hook and avoided any damage. Eastern CT.

Another day and more fish from up north.  Bass came on a baby bass general wacky rigged and another walleye came on a lucky craft lc 1.00Dd golden shiner( I don’t know why they call it that). That crank is Becoming a go to in water 6ft and under.  Can tell by all the character it’s developing 

Scoretracker update:  BigAngus has caught two fish back to back.  Or back to front?

 

 

 

First official bass on the new-to-me-boat.

 

Also the first topwater of the year.

 

My fairly short trip to avoid as much holiday traffic as possible. Local park lake that gets a lot of traffic but has some nice fish. Found one flipping a Backwater blue Rage bug in the grass and lost one on a Black Neon YUM Wooly Bug that made the trip worthwhile. Water was dirtier than usual, had them up shallow cruising the water willows, right where I like them. 

Was out at the crack of dawn. Calm to windy by mid morning  . 66-76 temps. The lake is a foot and a half lower than normal because of no significant rain in 3-4 weeks now.

I managed 11 ,10 of them coming on a watermelon seed super fluke. Caught 1 on the roostertail trying to catch bream.

Big fish was 3.15. I had cast the fluke out while drifting and casting to bream beds with a rooster tail. I had just hooked a nice bream and was reeling him in, when I noticed line peeling off the bass rod. The fish put up a reall good fight, making me think it was bigger than it was. 

I kept track and caught 11 of 13 fish that bit. Overall a good morning, but the numbers per trip has been way down this year for some reason...

 

 

12 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

My fairly short trip to avoid as much holiday traffic as possible. Local park lake that gets a lot of traffic but has some nice fish. Found one flipping a Backwater blue Rage bug in the grass and lost one on a Black Neon YUM Wooly Bug that made the trip worthwhile. Water was dirtier than usual, had them up shallow cruising the water willows, right where I like them. 

Nice fish! I know this is probably on here somewhere but what kayak do you run? It’s a very nice rig.

5 minutes ago, JWall14 said:

Nice fish! I know this is probably on here somewhere but what kayak do you run? It’s a very nice rig.

Old Town Sportsman 120pdl 

Was on the water by 6:30 ack-emma - came off at 11:30

 

Two bass caught - though had another one at one point but he tossed the lure before I got him in - looked to be a bit bigger than this pair

3/8oz Z-Man Original Chatterbait in Chartreuse with 4" Pit Boss in Skeet's Chartreuse Shad as trailer

 

One note - this was my first good test of the Patriarch I picked up last fall. I'm in love...once I got it dialed in (3-on/3-off on pins, 50% on mags) I could toss that chatter 40-45 yards... without thumb!

 

Anyway - a pair of 14"ers - didn't weigh them, but the chart says around 1.7# - just under keeping size.

What time is it? Plopper time! Finally the topwater bite is back in my neck of the woods.
 

Strong cold front pushed through here this weekend. Brought temps down to the 40’s at night and 50’s during the day. Mostly cloudy and rain. This morning was 46 degrees when I left the house. I debated on bringing my Lew’s LFS Inshore/St Croix Bass X combo with my new Whopper Plopper 60 tied on. Glad I did. It was my most productive lure. I was able to catch Smallies and Chain Pickerel chasing baitfish in a cove from the bank.

 

I could see the baitfish jumping out of the water to get away from these predators. It was a simple matter of casting the Plopper just past the commotion and reeling it fast or violently jerking it through that area to entice a feeding frenzy. 
 

Was doing pretty well with the bass and crappie before this rain decided to cool everything down here in Jersey, also caught my first pickerel of the year today! 

I hit a local river Sunday afternoon. Made a stop at a bait shop and bought some baits made locally to try out and they worked pretty good. I ended up with 3 smallies and a carp. Not a bad day.

Edited June 1, 20215 yr by Arobb2012

Leave it to me to show up to a popular recreational lake Tuesday morning following Memorial Day weekend, after it just got hammered for three days straight. I did manage 5 in as many hours, with 4 decent ones.

 

All finesse today, as nobody was in the mood for chasing topwaters or chatterbaits (of course, I wasted a fruitless hour trying).  Instead, it was a literal One-Worm Show, with a Strike King 3x elaztech finesse worm that has been in service going on 3 years, on an 1/8oz owner ball ultrahead. 

 

I never felt any of the strikes, and only once saw the line move...otherwise, just a slight heaviness a few times when I lifted to move it after it had been sitting on the bottom for a few seconds.

 

Bottom right is my first bass over 3lb in 2021 -- talk about a slow, small year so far:

Went out to the lake with a few buddies today.  I only caught one dink the whole time.   Caught em on a dbomb, jackhammer, big fish was on a lizard, and one on a frog (the dink).   Big fish was almost 4 pounds.  Had about a 12-15 pound limit for best five fish.   The fish in this lake were the hardest fighters ever.  It was a blast!

  

Vid for my two catches yesterday is up.

 

4 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Vid for my two catches yesterday is up.

 

Nice!  That canoe rig amazing!  What do you use to hold yourself in place, or do you have a trolling motor on there?

Just now, HaydenS said:

Nice!  That canoe rig amazing!  What do you use to hold yourself in place, or do you have a trolling motor on there?

Wind was mild during the second catch, so I was just drifting along.

 

First catch, I had my anchor down (seen in the floor during the second catch), and it's on an anchor-trolley.

Weird experience fishing topwaters today. Lots of blowups- on a popper, a walk-the-dog, and a buzzbait, but few hookups. Pretty sure most of them were bass too, and not bluegills.

 

Still caught around 10 or 12 though. Connected with this one on a 3/8 oz Cavitron near sunset:

 

 

Haven’t had a lot of time this Spring….The Fat Ika put 8 in the boat and 2 were just over 4lbs

Went out with @TnRiver46 and She Who Must Be Obeyed for an impromptu sesh on the French Broad this evening.

 

Only caught these two, both on a shakeyhead. I haven't had the opportunity to catch many smallmouth, so that's always a blast.

 

Didn't get weights on either.

 

 

The striped bass/white bass are really starting to bite well here in N. IL.  The only problem is getting the  cottonwood trees seeds caught in your line and constantly having to remove them.