Bigzzzz………

 

dragged a big live gizzard to no avail, they were spawning all over the banks but nothing chasing them 

It rained a bunch overnight last night.  It was still raining when I left the house this morning but it had stopped by the time I got to the lake.  Lake is still muddy and full of debris.  I managed to find a few spots that weren't that bad.  I caught 6 between 8 and 11AM.   5 spots and 1 Largemouth, all between 14 and 16 inches.   I was going to go down to the dam and see if the mudline had made it all the way down there but the weather changed.  It was strange.  The wind was from the North, but there was a BIG BLACK cloud coming from the South.  I've said before, I respect lightning.  I've got an app on my phone that detects lightning, and how far away it is.  I got a notice that lightning was 50 miles away, to the South.   I decided instead of going South to the dam I'd stay where I was, try to catch one more, then leave.  (I like to catch a bass on my last cast when possible.  It leave me pumped for the next trip)   I caught spot on my next cast.  I ran into a storm a few minutes after loading up and heading home.  

 

6 hours ago, gimruis said:

 

 

At this point the spawn isn't going to be until July 4 here.

Does that defeat the purpose of the closed bass season ? 

12 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Does that defeat the purpose of the closed bass season ? 

Yes. The closure of bass season here really has nothing to do with bass though to begin with.

12 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Yes. The closure of bass season here really has nothing to do with bass though to begin with.

Hmmm. Well what’s it for then? 

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

Hmmm. Well what’s it for then? 

Walleye

 

Bass typically spawn after the closure ends here, sometimes up to a month after. They don’t want anyone accidentally catching the beloved walleyes while they are bass fishing. The  bass season closure conveniently aligns perfectly with the closure of walleye season.

 

 

I hadn't done much since I joined the forum. I lost my last few really big fish honestly. One I truly belive to have been comfortably over 10. I know they all say that. Anyway, this weekend I got 2 big girls at 7 lbs 15 oz, and 9 lbs 2 oz.  Both on Texas rigged gambler fat ace. Private lake in Central Florida. The smaller fish was sight casted amongst schoolers and the bigger was caught on the bottom in 10-15 ft. I release all my fish asap.

1 hour ago, Mattfish352 said:

I hadn't done much since I joined the forum. I lost my last few really big fish honestly. One I truly belive to have been comfortably over 10. I know they all say that. Anyway, this weekend I got 2 big girls at 7 lbs 15 oz, and 9 lbs 2 oz.  Both on Texas rigged gambler fat ace. Private lake in Central Florida. The smaller fish was sight casted amongst schoolers and the bigger was caught on the bottom in 10-15 ft. I release all my fish asap.

GIANTS!!!!

12 hours ago, Mattfish352 said:

I lost my last few really big fish honestly. One I truly belive to have been comfortably over 10. I know they all say that. Anyway, this weekend I got 2 big girls at 7 lbs 15 oz, and 9 lbs 2 oz. 

 

I believe it was a DD simply because you caught two fish close to a DD. You know when a fish is bigger, unlike me, who has never whiffed a DD and therefore haven't a clue.

 

If I ever hooked and lost a seven-pounder, I'd likely say, "It was a DD for sure!"

 

Congrats on those BIG fish! I encourage you to spend more time here. It's a great group of guys. 

On 4/26/2023 at 11:51 AM, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve caught a groundhog possum and chipmunk so far today……

Come catch my otter and you will get lifetime fishing in my lake whenever you want !

Got out a couple times this weekend. First trip was Friday evening for about 1.5 hours to a local lake. This was primarily a big bait trip and was a lot of fun for a short trip. Not many big fish in this lake, but they don't seem to know that and love trying to eat big swimbaits. 

This poor guy ate the Chad Shad next to the kayak, I think just so I could remove the hook it had hanging from it because there's no way it was hungry.

The wind was really calm and I was missing fish so I switched to a smaller Provoked swimbait, really seemed to fire them up and I got the biggest of the night right before I left.

 

 

Sunday the wind was howling, so I fished a marina at a local reservoir I thought would be protected, it was not, at least not very. The fish were very cooperative and whatever year class these 16" smallies came from must have been a great spawning year. Most of my fish were on a Ned or split shot rigged Zman SMH worm. I had one point I probably pulled 12-15 fish off of in short order before I caught the attention of some bank anglers and the party was over. Once the wind got too strong I put it on the trailer and parked in a different lot. I'd brought my catfish rods and had caught 1 big white bass I saved to use for cut bait while I rigged my rods with the intention to go fish in the creek above the lake, I never made it that far. I'd never caught a blue from this lake before this day, sure was a good time. I was only batting .500 on hookups to bites too. Not bad for a couple hours from shore. Doesn't hurt that I caught a half dozen 16-17 inch smallies from the bank while I was waiting for those bites either. 

This guy had 2 hooks in his throat, I didn't even have him hooked. 2 trips and I removed 3 hooks from fish left by other anglers.

This smallmouth somehow broke the space time continuum. Most of it's body was clear but it's tail is blurry because it flopped right as I took the picture.

 

 

 

                                                  

I love your fishing reports, Mr. 86. You are a versatile fisherman and you land so many beautiful fish.

A few from Havasu yesterday. Post spawn funk. A few on senkos shallow. 1 deeper off a secondary point on a chatterbait.

 

Saturday I fished a new area at Topock Marsh about 45 minutes away. Will definitely be back. 20+ bass day on an owner jig rig and keitech swimbait. All were dinks though. Nothing over 2lbs.

This is not bass fishing related but, here is a couple of cool photos I took on the Detroit river showing a salt water vessel anchored in the river and the Detroit skyline.  We pounded out 7 keepers.  Not a good fishing day by Detroit river standards but, we had fun. I make jigs for this guide we used who also, happens to be one of my brothers friends 

Nice walleye.  I need to make a trip up there.  Those freighters are massive.

40 minutes ago, Siebert Outdoors said:

Nice walleye.  I need to make a trip up there.  Those freighters are massive.

Thanks.  It’s definitely a trip worth taking.  I need to get back down there with my boat and do some bass fishing either on the river or on lake St.Clair. 
 

that’s just a medium sized one.  We picked a bad day as far as ship watching as nothing was passing through.  I know it gets real interesting when there are thousands of people fishing and they think they have the right away over a 700-1000 ft lower laker. My grand father was a charter captain for a while, and always instilled in me “ tonnage has the right away” 

On 5/1/2023 at 10:03 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

This guy had 2 hooks in his throat, I didn't even have him hooked. 2 trips and I removed 3 hooks from fish left by other anglers.

Nice fish, and nice report as always. Those light colored smallies are beautiful. Quite different from what we see around here.

 

I'm curious how you removed the hooks. Did you use the "through the gill" method shown on BR, or do you have another method? I think it's interesting (and comforting) to know that those fish are alive, and eating with the hooks in there.

I have been so busy lately I haven't had much time to fish, but I managed to sneak in a couple of short trips. I had 15 minutes before picking up my kid when I got the dink, and the other came on my lunch break yesterday. The wind was blowing incredibly hard so bank fishing was tough, but I'll take catching one fish on my lunch break over eating a turkey sandwich at my desk any day. Hopefully someday I'll learn how to take a good picture of a fish. lol

I swear, sometimes all I have to do is get on this website and gripe loudly enough and magically bass start to appear. Darndest thing. I like to think y'alls supportive nature plays a part in catching again lol

 

Wipers, Sandies, and spots, three of each around 8-9am. Felt good to get the line tight again but would like to find some LM. That tiny Spot had some pretty crazy belly proportions going on...it was up in some boulders going nuts on threadfin. No problem finding shads either, and the roughed up thumb is always a favorite tactile sensation. 

Atta boy, @thediscochef! 

 

#persistencecan'tbedenied

On 5/1/2023 at 7:44 AM, N Florida Mike said:

Come catch my otter and you will get lifetime fishing in my lake whenever you want !

That goes for me too!

45 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

That goes for me too!

 

Noooo, Bob! Don't let anyone fish for your pets!

 

Can never look at otters the same after I found remains of one of the ol muddy pond giants on the bank sometime after a family of otters showed up

4 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Can never look at otters the same after I found remains of one of the ol muddy pond giants on the bank sometime after a family of otters showed up

 

I once saw a nature show where the narrator said that otters have the energy to play because they're faster, smarter, and more nimble than their prey. Unlike most predators, who miss a kill a lot more than they make one, otters can eat whenever they want, thus they spend a lot of their lives just goofing.