Well I guess they wanted the revolver again tonight lol, I think I am going to change out the hooks on them though. The stock hooks seem huge, so now I have caught fish on the lure I bought the black one and the lure I found in a tree the bone one. Nothing special really just a couple fish, although it’s my first time catching bass at night though ?

Fished today from 7-12 caught 7 total with 3 good ones in the mix. Got a 3-4 (no pic) on a double wide beaver, a 3-10 on a toad and a 3-15 on a frog.

 

8-hour float on a stretch of a local river I hadn't done before.

 

10 minutes in, this coupla-pounder hit the Whopper Plopper, and I'm thinking "A topwater bite  -- lets do this!"

 

....and proceeded to catch nothing on topwater the rest of the trip.  Along with the WP I tried a Pop-R and a Tiny Torpedo.... I mean, if they won't hit one of those...

 

In the end, I managed a three more (undersized) smallies on a hula grub, 4" power worm, and rebel craw crankbait, a couple of little largemouth on the hula grub, a couple of little pike on a spinnerbait, and one undersized walleye, and one rock bass on the worm.  Not entirely a bust, but not quite what I was hoping for out of this part of the river.

**I had set a goal to catch a 4+ lb smallie wading this year. I think catching a 4+ wading is very challenging but felt I could do it.

 

Made the drive to —————— (you can probably guess the state  ) for a camping/wading trip and boy was it worth it! We had the river all to ourselves and smashed over 100 smallies with most of the fish going in the 2-3 lb range. My fish fell for a tube and my brothers both threw neds. 

 

I had caught a 25ish Muskie and was trying to use fly fishing pliers (I know I’m stupid) and he thrashed and I cut my thumb up pretty bad. probably should have gotten a few stitches but I’m ok now. My next fish was this HOG OF A SMALLMOUTH which made up for the DIY trauma center on the river immediately. I saw him eat and everything. Pretty big fish for a river under 100ft across.
 

He went for 4lbs even so I hit my goal! I guess I have to try and hit 5 now!?! This will be almost impossible for Illinois rivers so I think I will be trying to get into Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan more. 
 

Anyway enjoy the pictures we didn’t take many because we were catching so many but the few we have turned out pretty good.

Haven't been able to check the forums so here is my catches from last weekend, I missed it here! 

 

 

36 minutes ago, JWall14 said:

**I had set a goal to catch a 4+ lb smallie wading this year. I think catching a 4+ wading is very challenging but felt I could do it.

 

Made the drive to —————— (you can probably guess the state  ) for a camping/wading trip and boy was it worth it! We had the river all to ourselves and smashed over 100 smallies with most of the fish going in the 2-3 lb range. My fish fell for a tube and my brothers both threw neds. 

 

I had caught a 25ish Muskie and was trying to use fly fishing pliers (I know I’m stupid) and he thrashed and I cut my thumb up pretty bad. probably should have gotten a few stitches but I’m ok now. My next fish was this HOG OF A SMALLMOUTH which made up for the DIY trauma center on the river immediately. I saw him eat and everything. Pretty big fish for a river under 100ft across.
 

He went for 4lbs even so I hit my goal! I guess I have to try and hit 5 now!?! This will be almost impossible for Illinois rivers so I think I will be trying to get into Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan more. 
 

Anyway enjoy the pictures we didn’t take many because we were catching so many but the few we have turned out pretty good.

 

That is a lot of fun!!! 

My grandparents live in Illinois, up near Chicago, and we're going up there for a few weeks next summer, might have to do some river exploring...  Beat my 1.5-2 pound smallie pb 

Just caught my first three Illinois largemouth in a park pond by their house this weekend.  All swimming a ned.

Well tonight was productive for sure got a new pb and of course I still don’t have a scale. No clue how much it weighs but it’s definitely bigger than my one from earlier this year. I actually had someone with me who could take a picture for me ? I also got my wife to catch her first fish on a soft plastic so it was a good night. Caught it on a Tennessee shad gunfish lucky craft, who said going to ollies to get dog poop bags wouldn’t pay off lol. The only one they had to, it is hard working one on a spinning rod when you’re use to using a casting rod lol.

32 minutes ago, Jmurphy87 said:

Well tonight was productive for sure got a new pb and of course I still don’t have a scale. No clue how much it weighs but it’s definitely bigger than my one from earlier this year. I actually had someone with me who could take a picture for me ? I also got my wife to catch her first fish on a soft plastic so it was a good night. Caught it on a Tennessee shad gunfish lucky craft, who said going to ollies to get dog poop bags wouldn’t pay off lol. The only one they had to, it is hard working one on a spinning rod when you’re use to using a casting rod lol.

Nice! You could measure the rod in the picture and get somewhat of a length estimate 

10 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice! You could measure the rod in the picture and get somewhat of a length estimate 

Yeah that’s the first thing I did when I got home. I am guessing around 20 inches long, the label on the rod is at 18 inches or so.

On 7/19/2021 at 9:45 PM, DitchPanda said:

33 in an afternoon? Jesus that's more than I've caught so far this month. I suck!

you and me both. Good outing for me is a limit. 

I have training all day today, so didn't work last night, so I jumped in a Thursday night tournament with a buddy last night. 12 boats and a really tough bite. CPR, length tournament. We managed a measly 80.5 inches, which was 7" better than 2nd. Nice little chunk of change in a winner take all deal.

 

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I have training all day today, so didn't work last night, so I jumped in a Thursday night tournament with a buddy last night. 12 boats and a really tough bite. CPR, length tournament. We managed a measly 80.5 inches, which was 7" better than 2nd. Nice little chunk of change in a winner take all deal.

 

Keep winning all the time and they will ban you from local tourneys under suspicion of cheating. Gonna get a raw deal like poor innocent Mike Long!

1 hour ago, DitchPanda said:

Keep winning all the time and they will ban you from local tourneys under suspicion of cheating. Gonna get a raw deal like poor innocent Mike Long!

Difference is I have actual C2C videos of my fish ?

21 hours ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

Future 10 pounder...  What did you catch him on?  

Hope his great grandmother shows up soon ~

Fish Hard

A-Jay

 

12 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Hope his great grandmother shows up soon ~

Fish Hard

A-Jay

 

Thats a great fish!

3 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Difference is I have actual C2C videos of my fish ?

He does as well..but for some reason his bass all have an unrelated snagged treble in the side

21 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

He does as well..but for some reason his bass all have an unrelated snagged treble in the side

His aren't really C2C, they just show the catch part. Or if they are, you can't see the landing or bait used on the landing. I make sure to try and show all that part. 

6 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

His aren't really C2C, they just show the catch part. Or if they are, you can't see the landing or bait used on the landing. I make sure to try and show all that part. 

Yep I watch your videos...I don't feel like you are trying to fool anybody

Water temperature in the upper 70’s, air temperatures trying to reach triple digits and drought conditions contribute to turn the delta’s waters a fluorescent shade of green daily. Even though every day on the water now looks like a St. Patrick’s Day celebration, the fish don’t really seem to mind. In some ways, the worse the algae bloom gets the more aggressive the bass became.  This 3.85lber smashed a crankbait and was my best fish of the day…

Hard day on the lake but I managed to put 8 on the boat. The big ones eluded me so I had to settle for this one as my only picture worthy catch of the day. 
 

Maiden voyage of my new kayak today. Finally a nice day, low wind and no rain. I launched at my local river which is running high and fast. I paddled upstream and floated down hitting my  productive spots. The most useful tool was my brand new backwater assault hand paddle. I wish I had bought one sooner. It was helpful making minor corrections while holding my rod. It fit nicely in my front bungees.

No giants today. I managed to christen my new yak with fish slime instead of champagne.

 

It's been a tough summer so far but was able to get this one in the boat today.