Buddy called me up yesterday and asked if I wanted to go fishing up by one of the lakes by him in Northwest Jersey, well yeah,,,,,,,

The choice was between one with bigger fish or the smaller lake with numbers.

We chose the numbers lake as we did well there a couple of weeks ago.

Temp in the morning was 52 with a pretty stiff NW wind, it was a little chilly.

Clear and high sun.

We did pretty well, I landed 26 and he got 21.

Nice size crappie for up here, with a bunch of small to decent size bass with a couple of nice pickerel to spice things up, no Rock Bass were harmed during this outing.

Most were caught on a 3" Swing Impact on a 1/8 ball jig.

 

 

That's a big pick, @herder. Good numbers too!

Went to my local pond to test out a theory with the free rig. I typically use a 1/8oz weight but stepped it up with a 1/4 and 3/8oz. I used a 4in OSP DoLive Beaver and an Evergreen Flop Craw with a 2/0 Owner Haymaker. I caught three nice keepers sitting in middle of the lake.

 

 

 

I fished yesterday morning and evening. Evening fishing is hard for a paddling angler in Maine because our winds don't normally die like they did in the Midwest. However, I had a one hour window, so I took it, fishing from six to seven. Having a canoe waiting for me at my lot makes this possible, as does having the pond being five minutes away. I only took two rods, one with a spinnerbait and the other with a small, chrome Whopper Plopper. The Whopper Plopper didn't trigger a single strike, but I did get six hits with my Dobyns Beast spinnerbait with a chartreuse and white Crush City Mayor. I landed four: 14", 15", 16", and 16.5". Unfortunately, the two I lost were 17" to 17.5". I can confidently assert their lengths because both jumped right beside my canoe, freeing themselves and I measured the four I did land.

 

What was interesting about the session was they weren't tight to the shoreline and they weren't in the lilypad/grass patches twenty yards off shore. They were out in the middle in the deepest water in the pond, which is about eight feet deep. One hit so hard that it hooked itself and did its best to yank my rod from me.

 

It was a little spooky walking back to the car. I heard a stick break and I thought I heard leaves rustling. Probably deer. I saw a couple deer pulling out of the woods. 

 

Anyway, I'll post a pic of the shoreline so you can see that it's FALL here. 

 

 

You can see the lily pad/grass patches about 20 yards off shore where I didn't catch bass and also the shoreline where I didn't catch bass. Yeah, they were out deep, probably hunting shad. Now, when I hook a bass in eight feet of largely weedless and woodless water, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Imagine  playing a bass without having the rough, woodtraps, and weedtraps littering your fairway. In such circumstances, I could catch bass with two-pound test. If they want to jaunt away from my canoe, they can have at it as there's nowhere for them to get me into trouble. 

Caught these guys across three outings at three different lakes over the past few weeks.

 

The one in the middle was caught yesterday evening while out exploring a completely new lake to me.  I don’t expect much when I’m out for the first time on a new body of water so this was a pleasant surprise.  I’ll be back for sure!

 

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

It was a little spooky walking back to the car. I heard a stick break and I thought I heard leaves rustling. Probably deer. I saw a couple deer pulling out of the woods.

Deer will follow you through the woods when it's dark, and they'll get pretty close sometimes.

 I had a buck come within 20' of me once while walking into my stand in the dark. He was snorting, stomping and acting pretty aggressive . It finally dawned on me that I had a bottle of doe urine in my pocket. I was fixin to get violated!!! 😂 He about turned himself inside out when I said BOO!!!

3 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Deer will follow you through the woods when it's dark, and they'll get pretty close sometimes.

 I had a buck come within 20' of me once while walking into my stand in the dark. He was snorting, stomping and acting pretty aggressive . It finally dawned on me that I had a bottle of doe urine in my pocket. I was fixin to get violated!!! 😂 He about turned himself inside out when I said BOO!!!

 

Well, Tim, given that you wear a fur hat, just about everything furry thing in the woods will be purring like Barry White when they see you. 

Had my final regular season tournament of the year last Saturday on El Dorado Lake, KS. Historically one of the more difficult lakes on the schedule each year but those are usually the type that I do pretty good at. 

 

About a 7k acre lake, very shallow and typically dirty with a decent amount of timber, all 3 of the main species of bass, and a few pretty large creeks that all hold fish. It also has vast amounts of water that seem to be barren and the wind never seems to stop blowing there. For a little bit of a plot twist this time, the wind was actually suppose to be reasonable and the water was clearer than I'd ever seen it on the main lake. 

 

I prefished my favorite creek, had several bites but only swung on 2 just to get a judge of size then left for the main lake. I actually struggled in the marina, but when I got out on the lake, I got on a pretty good bite for smallmouth in the wind on main lake points with topwater and spinnerbaits. I thought I could get maybe mid 80's if I got lucky doing that and avoid the crowds in the creeks. Problem was, Saturday's forecast was for 5mph wind, not what I needed to fire up these shallow smallmouth. So I opted to try my luck in the creeks.

 

Saturday was chilly as I hauled my kayak and gear down the steep 10' dirt incline to the water. To my surprise, nobody else ever showed up. I figured I'd have a limit in the first hour with nobody else there. I started picking apart the huge logjam under the bridge where I'd shook a couple fish off the day before when I saw lights rounding the bed of the creek. The AOY leader had launched at the mouth of the creek and picked his way through the minefield of stumps and and shallow flats to get back to the creek instead of pushing in from the embankment like I had. We talked for a moment and he started fishing back into the creek as I tried to remind myself I was lucky that there was only 1 person in there with me. I picked apart the entire logjam and to my surprise, got nothing. In fact, I fished all the productive laydowns and stumps at the launch from the day before and got nothing. Disappointed, I started to follow Scott back into the creek.

 

I finally caught a fish off a laydown, but it was short of the 12" minimum. A few yards further down the bank, I had one hit my T-rig so hard in a beaver dam that it threw slack in my line. I expected a monster, but almost 45 minutes in, I was happy with the 16.25" fish.

I was moving very slowly and picking everything apart. I rounded the bend and Scott was already around the next one and out of site. I pitched to a shallow laydown and had barely detectable pressure. I swung and had a 17-20 inch fish wallowing on the surface instantly. She bulldogged to the boat as I reached with the net, right as she popped off and was gone. I knew bites were going to be difficult, so losing a big one hurt even worse than normal. I fished on up to the next bend and picked apart a nasty tree when I got a light pull down bite. I hammered the hook into another big fish that rocketed out of the tree, and came off just like the last one. Another 17+ inch fish that just popped off a Texas rig for no apparent reason. I felt sick to my stomach but had to just keep going. A couple cast later I caught a 14.75" fish off a laydown next to the same tree. Good to have 2, but all I could think was I should have 4 with 2 big fish already. As I went around the next bend, I caught another small fish, 13", and saw Scott heading back out of the creek. Right as I saw him, he hammered his rod back into what proved to be one of the thickest 20" bass I've ever seen. I congratulated him on his catch and he told me that was his first of the day. We passed each other near the back of the creek. I fished the rest of the way back with only a missed bite to show for it. I decided to switch the bait on my T-rig and fish back out. Shortly after I started back out, I caught a 15.75" fish from a shallow laydown. 

I fished all the way back out of the creek, and caught another 15" fish that filled my limit, but I still needed to cull most all of them out and was seriously considering loading up and going to the main lake because the wind was blowing way harder than 5mph. Then I saw Scott motoring out of the creek, I had it all to myself now, it was making my decision even harder. I pulled my motor and pedals and floated around the logjam, fishing and trying to make up my mind. 

 

I'd gone almost completely around the logjam and had pretty much decided to leave, when I got a light tap next to a root wad and my line ran down the side of the logs. A big head wallowed out when I set the hook as I pleaded with the fish to get in the net. She cooperated with me and I put a 19" fish on the board, and I wasn't leaving anymore. This one culled my 13 inch fish.

 

Re-energized, I switched baits again and immediately caught a 15" fish that culled me up a quarter inch. I got back into the creek and pulled up to the nasty tree again, picking it apart with my tube. I pulled it over a limb and a fish swirled as soon as it sank. I whacked her and instantly had the fish on the surface. The hook had gone clear through the top lip and stuck around a limb on the way out. For a split second she stuck there on the limb, then shook loose and just sat there for a second on the surface so I could get a good look, before she sunk out of site again. I was stunned, 3 big fish lost and no explanation for how or why. Some days, it's just not your day is all I could think. I got all the way to the back of the creek with no more bites. I switched baits again to a blue Rage Bug and fished back out. Things really spiraled at this point. I had 4 or 5 bites on the way back out of the creek, 2 felt like heavy fish, but I never even poked one of them. I fished around the logjam, my nerves worn as they could get, then I got snagged and broke off with 20 minutes left. I wanted to quit, I wanted to just go home, but I grabbed my other T-rig rod and pulled the bait off it and put a black and blue Rage Bug on. I was going to put the trolling motor on and just flip as much as I could of my good stuff on the way back into the creek until time ran out. As soon as I started back into the creek, I pitched into the beaver dam and got tapped. The hook actually did it's job this time and a scooped a 17.25" to cull a 15. 

I jumped back up and quickly caught another short. Less than 15 minutes, I was dropping my bait by anything I could see. A lone stump I hadn't got bit off all day was sitting on a flat. Dropped my bait and the line took off immediately. I flipped the fish in the boat and the 16" fish culled out a 15.25".

I had 10 minutes left and took it to the final bell, but that would be my last bite. Found out at weigh in, if I'd have landed any of those other big ones, I would have won. Conversely, the guy that won, caught his 21" big bass of the tournament, with less than a minute left in the day.

 

 

The championship is the last weekend of the month. It's a 2 day tournament on the smallmouth lake I fish all the time with my family, so we'll see how that goes.

 

 

Last weekend I went out on the river fishing for big uglies. Got a 40lb blue and a 20lb flathead 5 minutes apart from each other after nothing for 5 hours. 

 

Great read @Bluebasser86 and great job working through the adversity for 2nd place! Good luck with the TOC

49 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Had my final regular season tournament of the year last Saturday on El Dorado Lake, KS. Historically one of the more difficult lakes on the schedule each year but those are usually the type that I do pretty good at. 

 

 

Having more than 1 or 2 fatties come unbuttoned ALWAY shakes my confidence.

Still a great finish.

Way to stick with.

Congrats and Good Luck at the Championship.

A-Jay

 

 

Well done, Clayton, and well told. 

Sorry for your bad luck but that was a fantastic read @Bluebasser86. Hopefully you cleansed yourself of all your bad luck for the upcoming championship!

I've heard some members claim that September can be slow fishing.

It was today, only caught 3 in 4 hours of fishing.

My partner caught this blue cat on a spinnerbait.

BIG kitty cat! I got some footage of the cat right before it hit the spinnerbait:

 

Caught five today, top three, big girl is 5.51.

Neighborhood pond action.

@GreenPig: Yoo-hoo!!!

 

@Pumpkinseed Lizard: Love the mouth on the top bass and the belly on the bottom bass. That's quite a pond to have in your neighborhood.

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

@GreenPig: Yoo-hoo!!!

 

@Pumpkinseed Lizard: Love the mouth on the top bass and the belly on the bottom bass. That's quite a pond to have in your neighborhood.

 

It's nothing like your grassy lake in Maine, but I'm lucky to have it at least until they figure out that I am in the HOA next door.

Only had two and a half hours to fish after an early afternoon appt., so switched to a closer reservoir today, but the pattern I’ve been on continues to hold with another limit of bass.

 

 

@Team9nine when was the last time you changed shirts? Your wearing it in the last 3 outings. You sleeping in that thing too?

10 minutes ago, gimruis said:

@Team9nine when was the last time you changed shirts? Your wearing it in the last 3 outings. You sleeping in that thing too?

 

Bad luck to change.

Just now, Pumpkinseed Lizard said:

 

Bad luck to change.

There maybe some truth to that given the quality fish he’s been posting lately.

On 9/10/2024 at 5:20 PM, herder said:

no Rock Bass were harmed during this outing.

Any outing that doesn’t include those fraudulent fake bass is a winner in my book.

37 minutes ago, gimruis said:

@Team9nine when was the last time you changed shirts? Your wearing it in the last 3 outings. You sleeping in that thing too?

Lol - they were clearancing out SPF50+ long sleeve shirts for $25, so I bought several. I wear a fresh one each trip 😉

 

26 minutes ago, Pumpkinseed Lizard said:

 

Bad luck to change.

 

Thank you! Can’t risk changing the “mojo” at this point. 

Nice trip after work, lots of numbers . My fly fishing buddy got the lunker for the evening, I missed a few monster topwater hits