9 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

They probably are stripers given the proportions

I'm better at catching bass than I am identifying them lmao

I’m not 100% either, I don’t catch ‘em enough to see real life examples haha. Now white bass, aka sand bass in Texas, I catch a blue million of those 

53 minutes ago, J._Bricker said:

Getting out at first light this morning paid off with this heavy 7.2lb senko fish. I gotta say it was kinda interesting fighting a fish, especially one this size on “spot lock” as she went around and under the boat before coming to net.

Nice! Thats a giant!

 

Those stripers are cool looking, if they’re anything like a wiper I bet they fought good,@thediscochef!

 

58 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’m not 100% either, I don’t catch ‘em enough to see real life examples haha. Now white bass, aka sand bass in Texas, I catch a blue million of those 

I know white bass tend to be proportionally taller than stripers, with only one stripe extending to the tail. Stripers have multiple stripes that meet the tail. Wipers I'm less familiar with; the wipers I could verify as a wiper in the past have had builds more like a white bass. My first inclination was that these are stripers, but I'm far enough inland that wipers seemed more likely. I do know that they hit like a FREIGHT TRAIN and fought HARD. BIG fun, I'll be back next week with a buddy.

 

When I'm home I'll read up a bit. Any further input from the forum is always considered a cut above imo.

 

Edit: these are definitely stripers, based on body depth alone. Wipers are deeper like white bass. Thanks for pointing me right @TnRiver46

1 hour ago, thediscochef said:

I know white bass tend to be proportionally taller than stripers, with only one stripe extending to the tail. Stripers have multiple stripes that meet the tail. Wipers I'm less familiar with; the wipers I could verify as a wiper in the past have had builds more like a white bass. My first inclination was that these are stripers, but I'm far enough inland that wipers seemed more likely. I do know that they hit like a FREIGHT TRAIN and fought HARD. BIG fun, I'll be back next week with a buddy.

 

When I'm home I'll read up a bit. Any further input from the forum is always considered a cut above imo.

 

Edit: these are definitely stripers, based on body depth alone. Wipers are deeper like white bass. Thanks for pointing me right @TnRiver46

Yep, those are pure stripers for sure. On some light tackle fish that size are a blast. 

18 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Yep, those are pure stripers for sure. On some light tackle fish that size are a blast. 

They really are, I had a blast with em. I did have two little wipers at first, I can tell because they look like Sandies with broken up lines. Six total in about 40 minutes of fishing, felt like I was hooking something just about every other cast. I wish black bass fishing was like that...

9 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

 I wish black bass fishing was like that...

It can be here fairly often, the trade off is they're not very big. I could pretty much all my shot last Sunday. Pull my jerkbait past any laydown, it was getting bit, but big fish didn't go 16" and most were under 12". 

On 4/5/2022 at 9:08 AM, HaydenS said:

I caught my PB smallie

Congrats! ?

21 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice catches, those look more like striper than wiper to me 

They kinda look like fish tacos to me ?

Rain was in the forecast last night, and I managed to sneak up for an hour before it hit. I couldn't buy a nibble throwing several reliable presentations that typically get bit in low 40 degree water. The other day I swapped out the day-glo yellow tail on my Rat 40 for a red/purple one. It's spring, right? It's kinda red, so why not? I did the old chuck-n-wind and a few fish followed and waked on it, but no bites.

 

Tied on a Yo-zuri 3DR just in case they wanted something smaller. Turns out a Pickerel wanted it. Total PIA as the treble pinned its top and bottom lips closed. Good thing I checked my line. One nice pull on the 15lb Big Game, and blink, it popped easily about a foot above the lure. I dropped the slimed Yo-zuri in the bag and went back to the rat. I chucked it as far as I could down the bank over an emerging pad field and a scrapper green bass hit it hard about 10 handle turns later. He fought well for his size. The wind was blowing, my hands were soaked and freezing, so I called it a win and scooted, but I have a feeling I left a lot on the table. It felt like they were just about to really turn on. Oh well. I'm pretty hard-boiled when it comes to cold weather, but wet and cold not so much.

My catch this morning fishing around an hour. Decided to fish plastic worms this time. Lost one fish, and Lost my hook and worm to another...the line must have been frayed/nicked and I didn't notice ?. It was a nice vmc hook too, with the corkscrew twistlock piece you twist in the head of the worm to retain it better. FYI the bass with just a hook threw the worm in the water when it was landed. It was a 5" yum dinger, black with gold flake ?

@BassSteve Peacock bass is on my bucket list, I just wanna catch 1 with some size to it!

2 hours ago, Jmilburn76 said:

@BassSteve Peacock bass is on my bucket list, I just wanna catch 1 with some size to it!

Lol just hang in there, you will. Hang on for the ride too, it seems to me that they fight more aggressively than largemouth do. They get pretty large too ?? happy fishing 

Well. I just can't stay away. 

I volunteered to do some logistics for my family today. My drive home took me right back by Lake Whitney. Gonna have to update my favorite. 

I did 15 bass in 3 hours, 12 stripers and 3 wipers. Heavy was a 3.7lbs striper. I hooked something heavy twice and had the megabass and 6thsense stock hooks both bend out on me. Gonna replace them with zowire. Also I love suspendots. Great little tool. Eventually the 35mph sustained/52mph gusts were enough to send me in. But I fished in 28/45 all day. I still plan on going back at least one more time next week despite the 4 hour round trip. It's so worth it, the fishing is great and the scenery is wonderful. 

I'll get back to largemouth this weekend lol

It's pouring rain right now and ya'll are making me wanna fish!

 

Let me at em coach!!

My humble catch today, lost a couple but I will take it ?. A snakehead ripped one of my finesse worms clean off the hook too...darn pest. Was a nice cool day for fishing 

I’m kinda upset. I have not killed a bass in a while but think I may have this morning. 
 

It started out crisp and cool with no breeze. I started with a Whopper Plopper (no bites) followed by a Megabass Vision jerkbait (no bites). Tried a Lucky Craft squarebill (no bites) and decided to try something different. Tied on a Jackhammer chatterbait (no bites). 
 

I wasn’t frustrated, just disappointed. I’m trying to avoid falling back on soft plastics, but with limited time, I tried a #196 Pumpkin /Black Green flake Senko wacky rig. Caught two dinks. Tried a #956 Senko Texas rig, as well as a Z-Craw worm in California 420 and a Fat IKA in Watermelon/Black and Gold flake (no bites). All these were rigged on a Gamakutsu 3/0 EWG. 
 

I tied on a Gamakutsu 3/0 round bend offset hook (which I rarely use) on my St. Croix Bass-X MLXF and a Daiwa Revros LT2000 with a Zoom Trick in Watermelon Seed. After two casts, I caught a dink. Tossed it a few more times and I thought I had a strike but wasn’t sure, so I reeled it in slowly. The line went tight then the bass ran with it. I set the hook and the fight was on. It jumped twice and I figured it was close to 2 lbs. (it was). When I boated it, I could see it was gut hooked. 
 

No biggie. I normally have no problems getting the hook out with no damage to the fish. But just as I got the hook free, it shook hard and the hook snagged a gill. It started bleeding pretty good. I got it back in the water as quickly as I could, and it swam off, but it swam on the surface about 25’-30’ before it submerged. I don’t think that’s a good sign. I hope it survives. 
 

3 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

I’m kinda upset. I have not killed a bass in a while but think I may have this morning. 
 

It started out crisp and cool with no breeze. I started with a Whopper Plopper (no bites) followed by a Megabass Vision jerkbait (no bites). Tried a Lucky Craft squarebill (no bites) and decided to try something different. Tied on a Jackhammer chatterbait (no bites). 
 

I wasn’t frustrated, just disappointed. I’m trying to avoid falling back on soft plastics, but with limited time, I tried a #196 Pumpkin /Black Green flake Senko wacky rig. Caught two dinks. Tried a #956 Senko Texas rig, as well as a Z-Craw worm in California 420 and a Fat IKA in Watermelon/Black and Gold flake (no bites). All these were rigged on a Gamakutsu 3/0 EWG. 
 

I tied on a Gamakutsu 3/0 round bend offset hook (which I rarely use) on my St. Croix Bass-X MLXF and a Daiwa Revros LT2000 with a Zoom Trick in Watermelon Seed. After two casts, I caught a dink. Tossed it a few more times and I thought I had a strike but wasn’t sure, so I reeled it in slowly. The line went tight then the bass ran with it. I set the hook and the fight was on. It jumped twice and I figured it was close to 2 lbs. (it was). When I boated it, I could see it was gut hooked. 
 

No biggie. I normally have no problems getting the hook out with no damage to the fish. But just as I got the hook free, it shook hard and the hook snagged a gill. It started bleeding pretty good. I got it back in the water as quickly as I could, and it swam off, but it swam on the surface about 25’-30’ before it submerged. I don’t think that’s a good sign. I hope it survives. 
 

That's never a good feeling man and we do what we can to try and turn them back with minimal damage...but unfortunately sometimes we kill em. Don't be to hard on yourself because it happens

First few bass of the year for me. Both were caught in that late march early april timespan, bite has been brutally tough for me since then, water won't warm up. 

Still can't get past 4 lb. This one was 3.96. Normally I've caught bigger by now but really can't complain. Action was fast today in spite of temps barely above 40 and occasional sleet squalls this morning. Crazy spring here. supposed to be 70 Mon. I really believe that bass are motivated by their pre spawn instincts even with the water still cold. They're very aggressive and hard fighting right now.

11 minutes ago, The Bassman said:

They're very aggressive and hard fighting right now.

That means it lost 0.04 lbs during the fight! 

2 hours ago, DitchPanda said:

That's never a good feeling man and we do what we can to try and turn them back with minimal damage...but unfortunately sometimes we kill em. Don't be to hard on yourself because it happens

Yeah, I know. But I haven’t caught many 2+ lb. bass from this pond lately, so knowing I likely killed one really stinks. 

15 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

Yeah, I know. But I haven’t caught many 2+ lb. bass from this pond lately, so knowing I likely killed one really stinks. 

Yep I hear ya bud...it sucks...but what can ya do. Its part of it.

My buddy was replacing the axle on his boat trailer, said he needed me to baby sit his boat all morning. It was snowing and the fish were chomping. Nothing big but I got to set the hook over and over and over. I lost several fish in trees, finally decided to switch to baitcaster for more winch power 

 

 

 

11 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

My buddy was replacing the axle on his boat trailer, said he needed me to baby sit his boat all morning. It was snowing and the fish were chomping. Nothing big but I got to set the hook over and over and over. I lost several fish in trees, finally decided to switch to baitcaster for more winch power 

 

 

 

Awesome! Hey man I need to fix my trailer and I need your help...oh what do you need me to do? Oh its pretty tough just take my boat out by yourself for several hours and catch a bunch of largemouth...you available? Um...yes please

1 hour ago, DitchPanda said:

Awesome! Hey man I need to fix my trailer and I need your help...oh what do you need me to do? Oh its pretty tough just take my boat out by yourself for several hours and catch a bunch of largemouth...you available? Um...yes please

My thoughts exactly