What a spring it's been. So proud of my fellow BR anglers.

 

Special shout-out to @Team9nine for his great beast and to @Pat Brown for putting his boy and his buddy on bass. I always enjoy the Spot photos too. I've never caught one and likely never will, so they're as exotic as Golden trout and Peacock bass to me.

12 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Starting to transition off the crappie bite as it continues to fade. Caught 3 greenies today, but one of them was one of the right ones.

 

Edit: 7-1/4 pounds

 

 

 

 

Nice fish my friend.

Knew it was only a matter of (the right) Time. 

Congrats

A-Jay

Decent bite yesterday, but nothing of note size-wise. Did hook into something on the lipless right at dark that instantly had me hunkered over and was peeling drag, but I never got a look at it before the hook pulled. Most likely a big tilapia.

 

Managed 15 bass, dinkfest with the biggest two being just over 2lb each. Lipless and jerkbait did the work as they're corralling schools of small shad up shallow. This one t-boned the lipless perfectly.

 

Managed to cull two tilapia as well, both on the jerkbait. One was decked out in spawning colors.

Never imagined I'd fall in love so much with pixie wands, but after this winter and early spring that's the only way I want to catch big fish now.   

 

I've found a magical 75-100yd stretch that has produced a 8.5, 7, 6.12, 6.1, 5.9 within the last week.    

 

7 on the dot

Partly spawned out with some fresh tail damage

 

6lb 12oz 

 

5.9

 

Choked

 

Lastly, why orange and red work so good in the Spring

Alex's Great Streak not only doesn't end, it gets better and better. It's passed from Great Streak status to a BIG BASS LIFE or BBL. Alex is so supportive of BR anglers that it's super easy to cheer for him. Here's Bob (@Blue Raider Bob) and me cheering for Alex:

 

Haha, thanks Katie!   

However, Alex, we're getting 7 to 11 inches of snow tomorrow. So, I'm challenging you to go forth and live your big bass life here. Tomorrow. 

 

😉

I'd be in hibernation right next to the Bears if I lived by you Katie 🤣

 

You'll be making the place look like paradise in 4-6 weeks though 😎

 

 

Alex of the North living his Big Bass Life. Yeah, that's a northern strain largemouth with its black back and white belly. Fat bass, huh? 

 

Caught first one in the new kayak today. Spinnerbait in about 2’ of water right on a stump. Lost another on a crank trying to fumble for my net, should have just flipped him in. Live and learn! Bonus white bass on the crank as well! 

Finally got one worth taking a photo of! Not huge but a good start. 3 lb 3oz, my first chatterbait fish, and on the big blade orange chatterbait I've been waiting for the right opportunity to throw. She bit at the end of a long point in about 4' of water. Forgot to take the donkey leash off for the photo. 

 

I caught 2 more today but both got off, I'm struggling with hooksets sitting down on my kayak. I think I'm going to reconfigure a bit so I have more space to really put it on them. 

18 minutes ago, FishTax said:

I'm struggling with hooksets sitting down on my kayak.

 

Amen, brother. It is hard to set when sitting and being low makes it even harder. 

Had an hour or two free, decided to try the mouth of crackhead creek again while listening to the classic weigh-in. The blanket of shad was thick so I would just snag one and pitch it out on a different rod under a bobber. Nothing was chasing it for a while out in the current break so I tossed it right up into the garbage flow in shallow clear water and caught two LM. One was them was a decent one!  Pretty fish considering where they live amongst all the trash 

 

They're so beautiful when they're healthy and up shallow like that @TnRiver46, great job!

 

Is crackhead creek near methbilly point? 🤣

 

They are adjacent 

15 hours ago, FishTax said:

Finally got one worth taking a photo of! Not huge but a good start. 3 lb 3oz, my first chatterbait fish, and on the big blade orange chatterbait I've been waiting for the right opportunity to throw. She bit at the end of a long point in about 4' of water. Forgot to take the donkey leash off for the photo. 

 

I caught 2 more today but both got off, I'm struggling with hooksets sitting down on my kayak. I think I'm going to reconfigure a bit so I have more space to really put it on them. 

 

Nice fish -- I have found in the kayak I need to pay extra attention how my I'm holding the rod, and how my body is turned, in order to have enough room to swing.  And It always takes me a couple outings in the Spring before the hookset is fully dialed back in.  

 

 

 

 

 

All on Zoom Fat Albert Grubs, Texas Rigged. I also had 2 solid strikes during the day but didn't hook up.

Had a good morning on the lake. Much better average size today. All caught on the fluke and speed worms…

Nice ones, Mike!

 

Bazoo, I am always happy when you post because I love LOVE LOVE your screen name. It makes me laugh.

 

@MIbassyaker made some good points about setting a hook in a kayak. 

I'm off work for 10 days.  Myself and Mrs B are at a campground now.  It doesn't have wifi and my mobile hot spot data is limited.  Reports will be limited but I'll do a big one at the end of the week when we're back home.  I brought the boat this morning and fished for an hour,  then went home and got the camper.  I was able to fish another hour this afternoon.  It's still daylight but I'm tired.  I caught 6 cookie cutter Spots and one really small Wiper/Striper, White Bass hybrid.  The campground is near the Dam so that's where I fished today. I'll go back upstream tomorrow.   Picture is the last one,  but all were similar.   

 

How many spots can you keep per day where you live @Woody B?? Golly day id be busy cooking those things all day, they don’t have a limit here but we also don’t have very many. They were supposed to take over all the water, if they do I’ll be ready with yellow cornmeal 

There's no limit on Spots here.   The lake, and basically the entire Catawba river chain is full of heavy metals, PCB's and coal ash.  I'm not much of a sea food/fish eater anyway.  I take a livewell full of small ones to my Sister in Law (that lives on the lake) occasionally.   The fish in this pictures is a little Wiper isn't it?   I thought it was a White Perch at first, but haven't seen stripes like that.   My Son in Law is a Striper fisherman.  He says Wylie isn't cold enough for them.  I suppose the State (NC or SC?) thinks Wipers will survive.  I've caught a few little ones but never one over 10 inches long.  

 

@Woody B, ive never seen a white perch in person but if I caught the above fish in my waters I would call it a yellow bass . That could just be the light glowing on it, if not a yellow bass than a white bass 

@Woody B - that’s  just a marked up white perch. I caught a few wipers in Mtn Island last week (they’re not stocked there, they wash in from Lake Norman.) There was a group of them at the entrance of Gar Creek. And I’ve caught very nice stripers/hybrids below the Lake Wylie dam, but never any in Wylie itself. I guess they’re there kind of like yellow perch. Present but very tough to target.

Good day yesterday.   Wind and rain much of the morning; surface temps 55*.  Got some in backs of small coves on twin buzzbait and lizard early, then a few 3-4's on 5" paddletail/underspin fished tight to secondary points and main lake pockets,   Got this 5 on a Rage Bug off wood in the back of a pocket.  Around 1, the sun came out and spinnerbait killed it on windy flats.