Lost a few. Caught a few. As I was fantasizing about either stomping it to pieces, lighting it on fire, or launching it into orbit on a huge bottle rocket, I finally, finally, finally caught a bass on a freakin' MegaBass PopMax. There's a god in heaven after all.

11 hours ago, DitchPanda said:

Whats your rig consist of?

6’6” ML spin, 10# sinking braid to 8# leader, 2/0 Owner hook, #7 shot (.04 oz) and a 4”-5” finesse worm.

Both the wind and my work load were quiet this morning, so my son and I slipped out for some more canoe fishing.  It was a gorgeous morning - zero wind and we actually wore hoodies to stay warm.  We were on the lake before sunup and off again by 8:30 when the bite slowed down.  He landed mostly largemouths with a GY wacky-rigged senko and I continued to explore the world of Keitech swimbaits, landing a couple good smallmouth (19.5” and 20”) plus a few smaller ones.  I definitely prefer the 1/4oz. jig heads.  I was fishing a 4.3” FAT today with a 3/8oz. head, but will be experimenting with 4” Swing Impacts next - thinking maybe better hooksets with a slimmer bait.  I was also trying out some new rod holders for the canoe - a big help, just need some tweaking.

I caught one again after a few days of catching nothing, struck out at my normal pond that I go to frequently at times. I decided to head back to spring valley, place was busy and I was already feeling discouraged from the past couple days. Decided to throw the frog in a spot that I have caught a couple out of last year, definitely requires braid lol. First fish missed the frog completely, threw it back a couple times and it gets smashed in the thick stuff that it sort of walks across the top of. Waited a split second felt it set the hook felt the fish but it came off, don’t think I got good penetration. There was a huge gob of weeds on my frog, I was gutted a little bit more. From what I saw of it looked to be a decent fish, kept persevering and caught this small 1.98lb one at the end of my cast. I got five walks in if lucky and wham, I watched it grab it and knew that it had it reeled down and set the hook. I felt it and started reeling like crazy to get it to the surface and in, it’s not super deep but very thick with weeds and vegetation of different kinds. Last year I had to use a 1 oz punching weight to get through it. I feel a little bit better now.

Got one on the spro pin tail stick worm casted into the middle of the river.
I lost a nicer smallmouth (18-20” skinny one) that fought like crazy on the Fishlab craw bait, it tail walked several times and threw the bait boat side 

We are finally getting some good flow from the dams above that is cooling the water off nicely, saw 69 degree surface temp 

Skipping a FishLab Nature Series Bird with just a nail weight in the nose gets a great glide just like I thought it would. It also got me a few bites before work this morning.

This one could have been a pretty nice fish if she's eaten anything in the last month or so.

 

I've been known to over-use the phrase 'they aren't jumping into the boat'.  

This one tried.  Hit a buzzbait as I was lifting it out of the water.  She got the hook and then slammed into the side of my kayak almost completely airborne.   She meant business. 

I’d like to coin a new monkey: the fishing monkey

 

He tells you that you must go fishing when you haven’t in a few days, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

 

So I go out for a little while and fishing monkey leads me to some okay river smallmouth. Thanks ?

With guests staying for a long weekend, I got out this morning before work as my last few free hours for a couple days. Again, it was supposed to stay cloudy but the sun came up with clouds and burned them away quickly. There was no topwater bite before or after daylight like I hoped, and after the sun popped up I could see there was an algal bloom happening. The lily pads had grown in like I was hoping for and the milfoil that was sprayed last month was dead, however the stalks were in a mixed state of clumping, floating around, drifted into the pad edges, and generally everywhere. It was a mess and made throwing anything into the pads difficult. If you landed on the edge you were immediately covered in dead strands. If you managed to find a hole in the pads you could work a swim jig to the edge but were then hung. I opted to stay just outside the edges with a chatterbait and then pitch a beaver into the middles. The beaver didn’t produce but the chatterbait did. A pair of 3.5 lb fish plus a smaller 14” fish made for a nice start to the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Launched out of center street today and ran up the titabawassee to m-46. Water is way low but, I could still launch my 17 ft sea nymph with a 90 hp. Just had to back a ways in. Didn’t have any problems going up river and could still run wide open. 

Caught 3 fish and lost 1. Biggest came on a pb&J jig with yum craw junk. The smaller large mouth and the little smallie came on a black and blue jig with rage menace as a trailer. I lost a nice bass on a smith wick rattlin rouge chrome and silver jerk bait 
 

 

Another nice smallie with the spro pin tail 

 

 

 

7 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Another nice smallie with the spro pin tail 

 

 

 

I’m intrigued by this style of soft lure. How do you retrieve it?

I caught 14 bass today, including the 8 1/2 Spot.  (inches, not pounds lol)

 

Biggest was an 18 inch 3 LB 5 OZ largemouth.  

 

Son and I fished a tournament today. Put 9 in the boat, zero keepers ?

 

 

Good job taking your son for the tournament.   I take 1 kid fishing occasionally.  His Dad won't take him because he's always "fishing with the club".   

1 minute ago, Woody B said:

Good job taking your son for the tournament.   I take 1 kid fishing occasionally.  His Dad won't take him because he's always "fishing with the club".   

 

Thank you sir. And I’m glad you take that kiddo. Hurts my heart a little. This is a bass club but I don’t care to fish with anyone but my son. He’s learning and having fun and one of these days we will win one together. 

Who says BFS fishing isn't fun or for big fish?

 

It's around 14 inches on a Baby Pop Max.

 

 

1 hour ago, Woody B said:

Good job taking your son for the tournament.   I take 1 kid fishing occasionally.  His Dad won't take him because he's always "fishing with the club".   

Good for you to take him...always fishing with the club? Saddest thing I've heard in a while...I'm thankful I had a real dad growing up.

I've been using a bladed jig a lot lately after a stretch of doing so well on my small blade baits. I'm getting more convinced that the best lure is the one you're keying on. This stout girl came on a Z-Man Mini Max with a short worm trailer. No need for paddle tails. The blade gives it plenty of action.

11 hours ago, Drawdown said:

I’m intrigued by this style of soft lure. How do you retrieve it?

Just kind of swimming it along, ticking bottom or grass tops occasionally 

110+ degrees out today, and perfectly miserable, but I did manage to get a few fish, first and biggest fish came on the pictured jerkbait, everything else came on either a Texas Rig, Pop-R, or a paddletail, just in case folks think that they don't fish around big enough fish to justify something like an Ol' Monster, here's one I caught today on it, caught a bunch even smaller than that on the jerkbait too.

 

23 minutes ago, Sphynx said:

110+ degrees out today, and perfectly miserable, but I did manage to get a few fish, first and biggest fish came on the pictured jerkbait, everything else came on either a Texas Rig, Pop-R, or a paddletail, just in case folks think that they don't fish around big enough fish to justify something like an Ol' Monster, here's one I caught today on it, caught a bunch even smaller than that on the jerkbait too.

 

Well...one last cast netted me one very upset Seagull, once he calmed down I managed to get the Sexy Dawg Jr. Out of his beak, and he flew off, but boy wasn't that something lol.

Pulled a long overnight trip last night in the kayak. Not something I would have done if they'd have been even remotely close with the wind forecast. Somehow, 1-4 mph winds had small whitecaps rolling across the lake and pounding into the shorelines I was trying to fish after midnight, good times. Glad some fish were biting to keep it from being a total bust.

Last one right by the truck before I loaded up and went home.

Boy was yesterday a bit of a heartbreaker. I laid eyes on a walleye that was well over 5-6 lbs, might have been getting closer to 10 lbs!!!!! Argh………… 

 

So we fished a while, catching some smaller fish and then I got another decent one on the spro pin tail 

 

 

so once I get the skunk out of the boat, I like trying different stuff. I brought out the big guns, the massive FishLab gizzard shad

and that’s where the sea monster walleye came into play. I was reeling the bait on the surface and talking to my wife on the phone. A large fish started following, I thought it was about a 10 lb striper. Then I saw the walleye markings and the teeth and pretty well soiled my linens and hollered out “walleye!” Of course I didn’t continue cranking the handle and the fish took a little dainty nip at the treble and disappeared back into a logjam. And I didn’t even attempt a hook set. I informed my wife I missed a giant walleye and she says “well go back and get it.” So I tried that too, didn’t work 

9 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Somehow, 1-4 mph winds had small whitecaps rolling across the lake and pounding into the shorelines

Dont you love it . The overcast day that was forecasted on Friday turned out to be almost completely sunny . They did get the mild winds correct .