2 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

Your count right now is probably double (or more) the number I will have caught by the end of the year. 

 

Yeah, I fish fertile water. It also helps that I can fish when others can't or won't, like at five in the morning or workday evenings. 

I decided to give the rock bank a try with a stick worm. I don't fish much stick worms. The boy was using a lizard.

 

 

 

 

I wasn't having a good trip, broke my rod tip, gut hooked 1 plus the boys was gut hooked, couldn't recover my lost jig. It was super muggy and hot and I was sweating bullets (not to be confused with bullet weights). So I went back to church and did some cleaning.

 

Decided to give it another shot on the way back home and got 3 others on a drop shot with a finesse worm. Super hot, and I decided to fish down a bank with little cover. One of the drop shot bass came in from of some cattails, but the other 2 were just along the shore. I'm starting to get some confidence with the drop shot.

For Father's Day my wife told me to take the boy to the pond and fish with him. This might have been a ploy to get him out fromunder foot, but I've never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

 

We caught three and lost a fourth. 

First fish was the largest, and they got progressively smaller after that. If I would have landed the fourth it would have been a certifiable "dink." Not much larger than the bluegill the bass seemed to be preying on. 

 

Baits used: Rebel Wee Crawfish and a Crush City "Mayor" on an underspin jig from Great Lakes Finesse. 

 

 

 

Didnt fish long but got 1 anyway…

Fun on the boat with Jake and mom Saturday and then we fished Meagan's family land out west of us in NC and I caught a mess of little bass on worms fished a variety of ways.

 

No giant bass but a super fun weekend where many many fish were caught!

 

 

Rained and stormed off and on all weekend so none of the trips lasted super long but it sure made for some eager bass.

Of all the fish I hooked yesterday I only got my hands on less than half of them.  Only 1 bass ate the frog the way you want them to.  Switching to a compact frog and letting them eat it longer did not help.  It was cloudy and dead calm.  Sun and a breeze would have helped I think.  That's my excuse and I'm stickin' with it!

30 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

Of all the fish I hooked yesterday I only got my hands on less than half of them. 

 

I can only wish I'd landed half of yesterday's bass. It was 48 degrees when I launched and I wondered if the cool temps cooled their appetites. I got lots of half bites.

1 minute ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I can only wish I'd landed half of yesterday's bass. It was 48 degrees when I launched and I wondered if the cool temps cooled their appetites. I got lots of half bites.

That's why it's called "fishing", not "catching", I guess!  🤣

17 hours ago, gim said:

 

Your health and vision is more important than fishing.  I know its a tough pill to swallow, but you need your eyes more than you need to fish for a while.

 

I noticed no gloves on this outing too.  Working on your hand tan?

Fashion police is back !!!

Dink day with friends at the bass nursery corner

big fish of the day, maybe 1.5lbs. fun fight on BFS

New PB crappie again  unless it's the same fish that grew a little

3 hours ago, Lottabass said:

Of all the fish I hooked yesterday I only got my hands on less than half of them.  Only 1 bass ate the frog the way you want them to.  Switching to a compact frog and letting them eat it longer did not help.  It was cloudy and dead calm.  Sun and a breeze would have helped I think.  That's my excuse and I'm stickin' with it!

 

 

I've been dealing with a LOT of hot sunny ->cooler cloudy rainy -> back and forth.

 

It seems like the cloudy days with rain I gotta fish the bottom slower and sunnier conditions puts fish up high in the water column and you get them more near the bank or on the fall or on surface lures in shade etc.

 

I have done really well with reaction baits in cloudy conditions with rain and cooler weather but it always seems to be after the summer solstice once the days start getting shorter.

Another trip, another skunk, no bites. Getting too hot for me to tolerate out there now, and the gas spent and money I've spent on going and acquiring lures and equipment just hasn't been worth it. My rods and reels are going into dry storage for the year, my season is done. I just don't have the motivation to go anymore with the hot temps moving in and not even getting a slight bump, despite trying every adjustment I can think of, trying different bodies of water, and changing up lure and bait types and colors. I used to say I'd never lose the passion for fishing, but unfortunately that may be changing. I know it's not about catching a monster every time out or even catching numbers-- but when it's skunk after skunk like it is now when I could be utilizing that time for other more productive endeavors, the passion starts cracking. Looks like I bought the new rod for nought. Disappointing end to my season.

3 hours ago, BluegillsTightlines said:

Another trip, another skunk, no bites. Getting too hot for me to tolerate out there now, and the gas spent and money I've spent on going and acquiring lures and equipment just hasn't been worth it. My rods and reels are going into dry storage for the year, my season is done. I just don't have the motivation to go anymore with the hot temps moving in and not even getting a slight bump, despite trying every adjustment I can think of, trying different bodies of water, and changing up lure and bait types and colors. I used to say I'd never lose the passion for fishing, but unfortunately that may be changing. I know it's not about catching a monster every time out or even catching numbers-- but when it's skunk after skunk like it is now when I could be utilizing that time for other more productive endeavors, the passion starts cracking. Looks like I bought the new rod for nought. Disappointing end to my season.

Tried any bluegills? 

@BluegillsTightlines: Your post makes me sad, but it sounds like you gave it a solid effort. It's never too hot to fish in Maine. It is, however, too...

 

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Tried any bluegills? 

yes. no bites. when they ain't hitting bluegills, that's when I know to pack it up.

I finally got out yesterday late morning for about 2-1/2 hours. Went to a local pond that gets hit pretty hard and yesterday was no exception but out of the 5 of us fishing 3 peeled off to fish a much smaller pond behind the main pond. I caught 2 on a new to me BPS spinner bait with a single larger blade. I then hit my favorite pond but it was a bit of a disappointment with only 1 also on the same spinner bait.

Fun with ultralight gear

Fished two ponds today, one for the first time.  I launched this afternoon at 1:30.  I started with a tube and caught back to back dinks on my first cast. 

Working the corners of the lower end I added a few more dinks to my tally.  I worked my way towards the upper end I made some casts at some standing timber once of which produced my best of the day.

I caught a random catfish and another dink that had a gnarly scar on its back.

From there I packed up and drove to the next spot and launched at the pond that was new to me. Here I used a wacky worm.  Skipping it under overhanging vegetation and right up to the edge of the reeds the lined most of the bank. I paid special attention to points and indents as well as the seams where two different species of reeds met. 

I caught another five here with this one being the best.

 

Edited June 17, 2025Jun 17 by bp_fowler
Deleted duplicate picture

They treated one of the local ponds I fish in the business park again. So the grass died and water clouded up. Bite was just off. Temps are heating up here. So if it’s not a super early morning trip the bite seems off. I need to learn to skip lures now though! Found some overhanging trees and it had shaded the water. I’m not normally there when the sun is in that position. At this point I was screwing around waiting to go to work lol. So I casted under a tree and as far as I could at the bank with a choppo. And somehow didn’t get stuck in the tree. This guy crushed it on a reaction strike instantly when it hit the water. This one has some fat little fish in it. There was another one there after a few try’s I got it in the right spot but didn’t hook up just had a blow up. 

11 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Fashion police is back !!!

 

Northwoods Wardrobe Warden to you.

I managed to fit about an hour in before work at the local pond. I caught one very fat 15-in largemouth, and one very small dink. All in all, not a bad start to the morning.

 

 

15 hours ago, Joedodge said:

They treated one of the local ponds I fish in the business park again. So the grass died and water clouded up. Bite was just off. Temps are heating up here. So if it’s not a super early morning trip the bite seems off. I need to learn to skip lures now though! Found some overhanging trees and it had shaded the water. I’m not normally there when the sun is in that position. At this point I was screwing around waiting to go to work lol. So I casted under a tree and as far as I could at the bank with a choppo. And somehow didn’t get stuck in the tree. This guy crushed it on a reaction strike instantly when it hit the water. This one has some fat little fish in it. There was another one there after a few try’s I got it in the right spot but didn’t hook up just had a blow up. 

That one is eating quite well.

My area is currently under a severe thunderstorm warning. I thought if I could get out early enough, I could squeeze in some fishing before the storm moved in. But, between a malfunctioning kitchen appliance and a crying baby girl, I didn't get out as early as I had hoped. As I parked my car the clouds looked deeply ominous.

 

 

Regardless of the gathering doom overhead, I hooked into a smallish bass almost immediately, but he came free on one of the prettiest leaps you'll ever see. 

 

Soon after a caught another similar sized bass. Given the location I caught him in, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same fish. 

 

 

As I tried to release him, he decided to absolutely douse me with a flick of his tail: 

 

 

That pond water shower was just the prelude, because not 3 minutes later the skies just let go without warning. It was almost a wall of water coming down.

 

The worst part about trying to run to the car in a thunderstorm with two poles and a tackle bag, is that you have to store that gear before you yourself can get in. 😅

 

So, now I'm drying off in my favorite donut shop, huddled around a cup of coffee to warm up, waiting to go to work. 

8 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

The worst part about trying to run to the car in a thunderstorm with two poles and a tackle bag, is that you have to store that gear before you yourself can get in. 😅

 

Been there, done that!

 

9 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

So, now I'm drying off in my favorite donut shop, huddled around a cup of coffee to warm up, waiting to go to work. 

 

I love happy endings.

 

I like your bass splash shot!

2 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I like your bass splash shot!

 

Me too! I didn't even realize I had it till I was going through my camera roll to upload pictures.