Yesterday I went fishing with a buddy that I haven't been fishing with in 15 years.

 

We hit several spots, first was a local small reservoir.

Fluke.

 

 

 

 

 

Then my buddy took me to a local Wildlife Management Area that has a pond. I'd heard about it, but not been there. The pond is not very inviting, so that means a lot of anglers turn their noses up at it.

 

I got a nice bass right off the bat on a fluke. I had to drag him across 10 feet of vegatation though.

 

It's a long pond, and fed by a creek. I saw very little sign others fish it; 1 old bobber, and 1 empty chicken liver tub.

 

 

 

Didn't get any more bass.

 

 

 

Then he wanted to check out my river spot, so we headed down there.

 

There was a walleye that I didn't get a picture of.

 

 

Roostertail for this gar.

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Today, I ran down to a private pond I have permission to fish.

 

I caught it, but he netted it and unhooked it.

 

 

 

My first jig fish, 4lb7oz.

 

The same fish.

 

Got dark on us.

 

Bream are energetic.

Wore the paint plum off one of my scum frogs!

A hole in the weeds about 6 ft across in 18 inches of water produced 3 good ones and 1 miss the first time I flogged it with the frog.  Came back later and caught 3 more and missed 3 in that same hole!

Had to go after that.  Needed Tylenol bad.

18 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Al, that bass in the bottom pic has linebacker shoulders.

@Swamp Girl Yes, I think she plays in the National Bass League and was mentored by Dick Butkus the way she slammed that frog!

We went on family vacation in Florida last week. I couldn't miss the opportunity, so I hired a guide to do the full Florida experience! 

Had some early morning top water action, then when the sun was up we switched to live shiners. It was my first time doing that, very different than anything I've done before but I had fun. Hard not to when you're catching bass like crazy! 

We were on a nice bass boat and I got to use live scope for the first time as well. Live scope with live shiners is so different from jig fishing from kayak. 

In total I caught over 20 in less than 4 hours fishing. Biggest was over 5 lbs, 22". Didn't get the Florida DD I was hoping for but that's ok!

I caught my largest bass of the year so far this morning at the same pond I fished yesterday. A bit over 17 inches long and kinda skinny. Caught another smaller bass a couple casts later. 2 fish for an hour long fishing trip isn't bad at all. 

 

 

Went out for a rare weekday afternoon trip yesterday and got many bites.  Lost two at the boat in the 2 range that I wasn't sure even had the bait when I set the hook. 

 

Water was the clearest I'd ever seen at this section of the lake, saw many 4-6 lb bass swimming off when I approached cover etc.

 

Decided to go looking for dirtier water on the way in and found some - saw a big fish shoot out from the bank and aggressively follow my boat for hundreds of feet.  She was darting this and that way and very visibly mad at me for being in the area.

 

I threw my Zaldaingerous swimbait to the wood cover she came out of and caught her 

 

Just shy of 6 lbs - completely spawned out - but a great big bass!

 

 

If you're only gonna get bit and land it once - a 6 lber on a big swimbait will do!!!

@Pat Brown

Went to the river with the boy about noon today. Got a couple nice fighers.

 

 

 

 

 

I was so tired after dealing with this monster I didn't do much more fishing. Foul hooked him, and was able to land him on 10 pound line in a strong current. Proud of that, but wish it was an 8lb bass instead.

Post Spawn Bite was Smok'in Hot To-Day !

Report to follow . . . . 

A-Jay

Yooooooooooo!!!!!

Today was my first time out since the 1st of the month.  Brought my nephew along and our intention was to wade the creek in the wildlife area.  However the water in the creek was high and fast so we called an audible and decided to fish our favorite pond in the area instead. 
 

We doubled up on our first cast.

After that we’d go on to catch another 17 fish between us.  With this one being my biggest of the day.  

Since I was planning on wading I only brought the one spinning rod and two baits:  curly tail grub on a jig head and the ned.  I caught my first 7 fish on the grub before a good sized one broke me off and I caught the next 4 on the ned.
 

 

Boy, a lot of tight lines lately. I'm happy for all you guys and Lynn.

Short paddle Sunday 

 

 

yesterdays adventures paddling near the dock then going up into the mtns

 

Got out on the pond as the sun was coming up. I was pretty determined. Yesterday I went and bought a black Berkley choppo 105 (plopper bait)   I’ve struggled over the years on poppers and never caught anything on them. Bought them tried and they usually got given away. 
 

I got 8 this morning. For about 1-1.5 hrs there was no wind and calm water. Sun creeping up. It had to be retrieved slow enough it just had a steady glurp to it. But you couldn’t burn it. Ran it along grass and mat. And over submerged grass.  
 

got a few on the Neko rig with a missle quiver worm too. But all in all really happy to have caught fish on a bait I had no confidence in.  

First fish of the night on a Pop-X

Right species, hit a silent spook in open water.

The most skin-hooked fish I've ever landed, I boat flipped this one not knowing.

All jig eaters in the dark, couldn't get anything on reaction.

Couple drop shot dinks to round out the trip.

On 6/7/2025 at 8:37 AM, IcatchDinks said:

2 fish for an hour long fishing trip isn't bad at all

That's a whole lot better than I did yesterday. I took a 7hr double skunking. Zero muskie in the daylight, zero bass after dark.

Caught 14 last night. 9 were keepers. I was fishing a main lake bluff. Here's best five.

Yesterday was a case of first cast curse. I casted out and saw a few 1-2lbers cruising the shallows; I was so focused on those fish that I didn’t notice the ~4lber at the end of my line. I’d have sworn it was sunfish pecking my line until I felt weight and set the hook. 
 

 

The picture doesn’t do justice to the length of this fish. I was worried I had gut hooked him, but he came out straight.

 

 

After that, it was short strikes and follows. Overall, a good day.

@LrgmouthShad: a 19 and a bunch of seventeens sounds like one of my trips.

Couple studs from today 

This flicker shad wouldn't have been my first choice, but the boy wanted it on. I gave it a couple test casts.

 

 

 

Got 2 more on flukes that I didn't get pictures of.

 

I have been watching a lot of TylersReelFishing videos, and he uses the drop shot sometimes and speaks highly of it, so I decided to give it a try today. Got 3 from one of the spots that's somewhat lesser productive.

 

 

 

45 minutes ago, Bazoo said:

This flicker shad wouldn't have been my first choice, but the boy wanted it on. I gave it a couple test casts.

 

 

 

Got 2 more on flukes that I didn't get pictures of.

 

I have been watching a lot of TylersReelFishing videos, and he uses the drop shot sometimes and speaks highly of it, so I decided to give it a try today. Got 3 from one of the spots that's somewhat lesser productive.

 

 

 

Nice! I’ve wanted to try the drop shot. For years I never have because everyone says it’s so hard to do from the bank. 

52 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

Nice! I’ve wanted to try the drop shot. For years I never have because everyone says it’s so hard to do from the bank. 

All of the TRF videos I've watched was his 100 ponds videos where he fishes exclusively from the bank. Now, granted I am just starting, but it sure seems easy enough.

 

In one of the videos he used a bullet weight because he didn't have a drop shot weight in the specific weight he needed. So, that's exactly what I did. I started by working it faster and didn't get anything. I slowed down and got those 3 pretty fast.

 

And this is one reason that I want to learn drop shot because many people don't fish it from the bank. The public lake I fish has so much pressure, I want to give them something they haven't seen before.

13 minutes ago, Bazoo said:

All of the TRF videos I've watched was his 100 ponds videos where he fishes exclusively from the bank. Now, granted I am just starting, but it sure seems easy enough.

 

In one of the videos he used a bullet weight because he didn't have a drop shot weight in the specific weight he needed. So, that's exactly what I did. I started by working it faster and didn't get anything. I slowed down and got those 3 pretty fast.

 

And this is one reason that I want to learn drop shot because many people don't fish it from the bank. The public lake I fish has so much pressure, I want to give them something they haven't seen before.

I gotta go watch some of his videos. See that’s the same boat I’m in. My local spots see a ton of pressure as well. So I’m always trying to be creative and find stuff they don’t see. Present something differently. 
 

just walking the banks the old lures and plastics I find. I can tell ya they see a ton of black/blue and green stick baits and craws, beetle  spins. 
 

it’s a shame we have these really nice ponds in our area. And people just leave all kinds of crap. I’ve found sunglasses, filet knives, pliers, lures, hot dog and chicken liver packages and beer cans. You name it lol 

2 hours ago, Joedodge said:

I gotta go watch some of his videos. See that’s the same boat I’m in. My local spots see a ton of pressure as well. So I’m always trying to be creative and find stuff they don’t see. Present something differently. 
 

just walking the banks the old lures and plastics I find. I can tell ya they see a ton of black/blue and green stick baits and craws, beetle  spins. 
 

it’s a shame we have these really nice ponds in our area. And people just leave all kinds of crap. I’ve found sunglasses, filet knives, pliers, lures, hot dog and chicken liver packages and beer cans. You name it lol 

I've had some limited success at the aforementioned lake by using soft split rings on crankbaits. That is saying something though, because this lake has some very high pressure areas.

 

The northern part is basically divided into two attached ponds, each attaching to the main lake but separate from each other. These have a nice parking spot attached and are nicely mowed with walking trails. As a result, they see a tremendous amount of pressure from after work and weekend fishermen.

 

Now... of course not everyone is throwing the same things, but for me to fish it after work hours and catch ANY fish I think is a success.

This 4-7 was caught during just such a time period. A nice day in fall, lots of traffic. But in a spot that is a little bit less pressured. By that I mean, the spots within 50 yards were both more pressured, but this bank appears innocuous. Soft split rings, but otherwise a stock H20X squarebill. But in a color that I feel is a bit less popular.

 

 

I think it's safe to say that bass, being that size, has seen it all.

 

Now, I can't consistently reproduce success with my methods, but I do catch fish there whereas others do not. I have talked to other anglers that say they haven't ever caught a fish there.

Other things I've had good success with is a texas rigged Zoom Fat Albert Grub, a Zoom finesse worm (or some vintage powerbait worms which I have 2 left of) on a split shot rig, weightless lizards.

 

Most of my friends hardly will fish it because the fish are so educated, but I like the challenge.