4 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Nice, you taking a pole or two on your trip?   Have a blast and be safe! 

Yup, two medium spinning rods with 2500 reels. There are some lakes and ponds near and/or at most of the places we’re staying. My planning of the route may have had something to do with bodies of water nearby. ? ? My wife has wanted to visit the Keys so I figured a trip around Florida visiting family (fishing) and friends (fishing) would allow her to check that off her bucket list (did I say fishing?). I’m a thoughtful kinda guy. ? ?

8 minutes ago, ScottW said:

Yup, two medium spinning rods with 2500 reels. There are some lakes and ponds near and/or at most of the places we’re staying. My planning of the route may have had something to do with bodies of water nearby. ? ? My wife has wanted to visit the Keys so I figured a trip around Florida visiting family (fishing) and friends (fishing) would allow her to check that off her bucket list (did I say fishing?). I’m a thoughtful kinda guy. ? ?

Fishing the keys can be pretty fun, lots of mangrove snappers . I even hooked a small tarpon down there. I enjoyed the canoe trails thru John pennekamp state park the most 

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

Fishing the keys can be pretty fun, lots of mangrove snappers . I even hooked a small tarpon down there. I enjoyed the canoe trails thru John pennekamp state park the most 

That’s definitely one of the places I wanted to visit. Key Largo looks to be a beautiful place to kick back and enjoy the scenery (fish ?).

1 hour ago, ScottW said:

Yup, two medium spinning rods with 2500 reels. There are some lakes and ponds near and/or at most of the places we’re staying. My planning of the route may have had something to do with bodies of water nearby. ? ? My wife has wanted to visit the Keys so I figured a trip around Florida visiting family (fishing) and friends (fishing) would allow her to check that off her bucket list (did I say fishing?). I’m a thoughtful kinda guy. ? ?

My favorite place to fish on Earth is the Florida Keys.   What a fun sounding trip, look forward to some pics brother! 

Three bites today. I'll take 'em gladly after two skunkings in a row. One front after another rolling through here this week, with another rolling in tomorrow. Has the bite all kinds of jacked up. 

@T-Billy That is so cool. Three bites and three species, all beauties, made all the sweeter by a pair of skunkings. You're a heckuva fisherman, Tim.

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Three bites today. I'll take 'em gladly after two skunkings in a row. One front after another rolling through here this week, with another rolling in tomorrow. Has the bite all kinds of jacked up. 

Straight hammer bro!   Very impressive, and the jelly inside me says it's all because of the hat ?

 

----------------------------------------------

 

 

Went to the local Monkey hangout and bought my biggest bait to date in terms of length, an 8"/2.5oz Sneaky Pete in Bone.    Didn't fish today, as took the morning and cleaned trash from the lake.....found a Loomis IMX/Shimano Crappie rig lol.   Anyways, I had to see the action on this new bait, so I went down to the dock.   

 

I'd say the 10th cast, I watched this submarine track the bait for a yard or two and then absolutely crush it.   Took forever to get off the hook though which kind of soured it, but she swam off fine.   Honestly wasn't trying to catch a fish, go freaking figure.   Spend the last two days fishing hard for nothing even close to the size of this fish, and then bam I catch her from the dock with a single pole and lure.   Bass fishing is the most frustrating and exciting hobby I've ever had by a large margin.  

 

I completely see why there is a whole sub community of Bass anglers who dedicate themselves to throwing big swimbaits.  

 

Lastly, somehow while I was collecting trash this cool guy ended up at my feet.   Here I am throwing red baits like an absolute FOOL ?

 

 

16 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Didn't fish today, as took the morning and cleaned trash from the lake

 

What a mensch!

 

16 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

found a Loomis IMX/Shimano Crappie rig

 

Karma, Baby!

 

17 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I'd say the 10th cast, I watched this submarine track the bait for a yard or two and then absolutely crush it. 

 

More karma.

20 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Straight hammer bro!   Very impressive, and the jelly inside me says it's all because of the hat ?

 

----------------------------------------------

 

 

Went to the local Monkey hangout and bought my biggest bait to date in terms of length, an 8"/2.5oz Sneaky Pete in Bone.    Didn't fish today, as took the morning and cleaned trash from the lake.....found a Loomis IMX/Shimano Crappie rig lol.   Anyways, I had to see the action on this new bait, so I went down to the dock.   

 

I'd say the 10th cast, I watched this submarine track the bait for a yard or two and then absolutely crush it.   Took forever to get off the hook though which kind of soured it, but she swam off fine.   Honestly wasn't trying to catch a fish, go freaking figure.   Spend the last two days fishing hard for nothing even close to the size of this fish, and then bam I catch her from the dock with a single pole and lure.   Bass fishing is the most frustrating and exciting hobby I've ever had by a large margin.  

 

I completely see why there is a whole sub community of Bass anglers who dedicate themselves to throwing big swimbaits.  

 

Lastly, somehow while I was collecting trash this cool guy ended up at my feet.   Here I am throwing red baits like an absolute FOOL ?

 

 

Guess you solved that daily puzzle, ditch the boat and fish off the dock for $400, trebek 

 

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

 

What a mensch!

 

 

Karma, Baby!

 

 

More karma.

Thanks Katie!    Gonna try to find the owner of the rod/reel, as it has some weird name on it.    Could be someone's sentimental favorite, the rod is perfectly fine, will inspect the reel if I can't find the owner 

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

Guess you solved that daily puzzle, ditch the boat and fish off the dock for $400, trebek 

 

??

 

The key all along was to actually try and not catch a Bass, and do so with as little effort as possible......why didn't you guys tell me sooner ?

3 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Thanks Katie!    Gonna try to find the owner of the rod/reel, as it has some weird name on it.    Could be someone's sentimental favorite, the rod is perfectly fine, will inspect the reel if I can't find the owner 

??

 

The key all along was to actually try and not catch a Bass, and do so with as little effort as possible......why didn't you guys tell me sooner ?

Hahahah. That’s works sometimes if I recall correctly 

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Three bites today. I'll take 'em gladly after two skunkings in a row. One front after another rolling through here this week, with another rolling in tomorrow. Has the bite all kinds of jacked up. 

Looks like a fun time!

Somebody likes the watermelon Trick Worm....

 

 

Well...

 

@Catt recommended I keep tossing that red lipless and tonight in front of a cheering audience that literally lined up to take pictures of this beast, I caught my 3rd bass on a lipless ever, my first fish on a red crankbait and my second largest bass of my life.

 

I went to the pond with my wife and son after work today for a little line time and it was POPPING with live bait anglers and and dog walkers and people out enjoying themselves.

 

Water was slick calm and bluebird skies.

 

I paralleled the bank working my way down to the dam and on my fourth cast bringing my red 6th sense Quake lipless crank past the outflow I saw my line swimming left very slowly and felt very confused because I felt no bite at all.

 

I reeled down and felt her load up and then the drag started to peel out of my Daiwa Fuego like a truck was attached to my line.

 

I reeled this way and that convinced I had a catfish and then saw her hulking mass swimming in the clearer water just off the bank and realized I had a giant bass on.

 

I played her carefully trying to avoid treble hook /jumping catastrophe and in a few moments I was holding her up while panting in front of a clapping crowd!

 

My wife shot the pictures and we released her and she swam off happy as a clam.

 

Beyond thankful to hold that magnificent creature in my hands.

@Pat Brown, I hope the fire department was there because you are ON FIRE, man! I'm pretty sure they hold a festival out west to celebrate you each year, called On Fire Man or something like that.

 

 

45 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

Well...

 

@Catt recommended I keep tossing that red lipless and tonight in front of a cheering audience that literally lined up to take pictures of this beast, I caught my 3rd bass on a lipless ever, my first fish on a red crankbait and my second largest bass of my life.

 

I went to the pond with my wife and son after work today for a little line time and it was POPPING with live bait anglers and and dog walkers and people out enjoying themselves.

 

Water was slick calm and bluebird skies.

 

I paralleled the bank working my way down to the dam and on my fourth cast bringing my red 6th sense Quake lipless crank past the outflow I saw my line swimming left very slowly and felt very confused because I felt no bite at all.

 

I reeled down and felt her load up and then the drag started to peel out of my Daiwa Fuego like a truck was attached to my line.

 

I reeled this way and that convinced I had a catfish and then saw her hulking mass swimming in the clearer water just off the bank and realized I had a giant bass on.

 

I played her carefully trying to avoid treble hook /jumping catastrophe and in a few moments I was holding her up while panting in front of a clapping crowd!

 

My wife shot the pictures and we released her and she swam off happy as a clam.

 

Beyond thankful to hold that magnificent creature in my hands.

Magnifcent Pat!     Congrats!  

1 hour ago, BigAngus752 said:

Somebody likes the watermelon Trick Worm....

 

Looks like a toad to me, where's the rest of the glamour shots, I need some body shot action ?

@Pat Brown

 

 

 

10 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

 

Well...

 

@Catt recommended I keep tossing that red lipless and tonight in front of a cheering audience that literally lined up to take pictures of this beast, I caught my 3rd bass on a lipless ever, my first fish on a red crankbait and my second largest bass of my life.

 

I went to the pond with my wife and son after work today for a little line time and it was POPPING with live bait anglers and and dog walkers and people out enjoying themselves.

 

Water was slick calm and bluebird skies.

 

I paralleled the bank working my way down to the dam and on my fourth cast bringing my red 6th sense Quake lipless crank past the outflow I saw my line swimming left very slowly and felt very confused because I felt no bite at all.

 

I reeled down and felt her load up and then the drag started to peel out of my Daiwa Fuego like a truck was attached to my line.

 

I reeled this way and that convinced I had a catfish and then saw her hulking mass swimming in the clearer water just off the bank and realized I had a giant bass on.

 

I played her carefully trying to avoid treble hook /jumping catastrophe and in a few moments I was holding her up while panting in front of a clapping crowd!

 

My wife shot the pictures and we released her and she swam off happy as a clam.

 

Beyond thankful to hold that magnificent creature in my hands.

Fantastic fish! Well done to your wife on the pics too

11 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

 

Well...

 

@Catt recommended I keep tossing that red lipless and tonight in front of a cheering audience that literally lined up to take pictures of this beast, I caught my 3rd bass on a lipless ever, my first fish on a red crankbait and my second largest bass of my life.

 

I went to the pond with my wife and son after work today for a little line time and it was POPPING with live bait anglers and and dog walkers and people out enjoying themselves.

 

Water was slick calm and bluebird skies.

 

I paralleled the bank working my way down to the dam and on my fourth cast bringing my red 6th sense Quake lipless crank past the outflow I saw my line swimming left very slowly and felt very confused because I felt no bite at all.

 

I reeled down and felt her load up and then the drag started to peel out of my Daiwa Fuego like a truck was attached to my line.

 

I reeled this way and that convinced I had a catfish and then saw her hulking mass swimming in the clearer water just off the bank and realized I had a giant bass on.

 

I played her carefully trying to avoid treble hook /jumping catastrophe and in a few moments I was holding her up while panting in front of a clapping crowd!

 

My wife shot the pictures and we released her and she swam off happy as a clam.

 

Beyond thankful to hold that magnificent creature in my hands.

Congratulations Pat. Great fish and great story…

 

8 minutes ago, GaryH said:

Congratulations Pat. Great fish and great story…

 

 

Agreed, @GaryH. A great bass needs a great pic and great story.

3 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Agreed, @GaryH. A great bass needs a great pic and great story.

Which is why I love your post. ?

Brother in law sent me this while I'm stuck at work all day.

3 hours ago, Texas Flood said:

Brother in law sent me this while I'm stuck at work all day.

LOL. I enjoy doing this to my buddies. I work a rotating schedule, so I get a lot of weekdays off.

19 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

LOL. I enjoy doing this to my buddies. I work a rotating schedule, so I get a lot of weekdays off.

Yeah, he works from home and has a good size pond just down the street. Being able to fish during the weekdays would be awesome.

Clouds, wind and approaching storms fired up the bite a bit as you would expect. Picked off 26 this afternoon. The fish are healthy and fight good, but I’m convinced most of these smaller waters I’m fishing have suffered some kind of setback with the better quality fish. I’m now 500 bass into the year, and can count on 1 hand the number of larger fish caught. Something ain’t right - lol. Loads of 12”-16” fish bodes well for a couple more years down the road though. Should be able to start branching out and hitting the local reservoirs this next month though, so hopefully the better fish will come soon enough.