24 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

Lol! It was worth it. Idk I guess I don’t mind the heat. And I’m going to work at 11am anyway to work outside. So going and sweating some before is just meh 

 

Oh heck nah.

 

I don't mind the heat, it's the HUMIDITY.

3 minutes ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

 

Oh heck nah.

 

I don't mind the heat, it's the HUMIDITY.

lol I get it. I don’t blame ya 

Was fishing in Garrett county MD, always very cool temps there...... not today.

Caught a dozen smallmouth and thought I hooked a good one, not.

Got home from work and my wife said the neighbor came over and asked if ya want to go fishing? I’ve talked fishing a lil with him but never gone. So I met him at one of my normal spots. 3rd cast on the same black and blue swim jig as this morning. Got this one. Definitely the biggest I’ve caught in a month or better. Sorry for the dorky pic with me in it haha. I never have anyone with me to snap a picture. Needless to say I think black and blue and rage bug trailers is a confidence bait now haha. 

22 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

  

 

 

SO close -- one of these days, I'm going to break six.... 

Congrats on the PB you are less than an ounce away from the magical 6lber. But sometimes the fish gods smile on you & your next PB jumps more than the next pound up like a 7lber. 

Fished 90 degree water this morning from 3 - 8am. All caught on a Shakey Head(T - Mac) and T rigged BPS 5" Stick - O in 15 - 25'. Conditions were dead calm and humid. Best 5 pictured.

Those are beauties, GP! I wish I were brave enough to fish at night. 

Visited the pond my dad I fished Sunday.  Once again the heat forced me to launch early in the morning.

I started off trying out a walking bait for the first time.  After about 15 minutes with no bites before I grabbed the tube which is becoming my confidence bait in these ponds.

 

I caught my first fish shortly after that...

…and then another the cast after that.

It would continue like that as I worked my way down the pond.  My tube got chewed up so I grabbed my Medium Light and tried a couple casts with the Ned.  I caught two fish in two casts a dink bass and another fat panfish.

I would switch back to the tube and catch a few more.  Including 3 from under this one tree.

On my return trip I changed it up and tied on the Mayor.  That would produce a few more fish for me before I wrapped it up.  
 

I finished with 16, my best three pictured below.

 

 

 

 

Truck still messed up, which means boat is still in the garage which means I’m still shore bound. The 90° day felt like a relief after 3 days of near triple digits, so I fished a bit at the camp pond. Dead calm, sunny, and 90°. Bass didn’t seem interested so I threw on a tiny popper to try to pick off some of the big pumpkinseeds.
 

Caught this nicely colored one on the first cast, and a decent bass followed it in right to shore, attempting to steal the popper. 

 

I unhooked the ‘seed and tried to entice the bass with the popper again, but it would only nose it and not grab it. Quickly retied to a wacky rig, and flung it back where the bass was but it was now out of sight. After 2 seconds of sinking, the bass darted out of the pond weed that it had retreated to. A short fight ensued. Fun sight fishing catch! 

@bp_fowler: I'm so happy to see how many bass have come into your canoe.

6 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

@bp_fowler: I'm so happy to see how many bass have come into your canoe.

It’s definitely been a game changer for me.  What you told me before about the canoes’s greatest strength is its ability to go places others can’t. So many places that normally I wouldn’t be able to fish from the bank, especially this time of year, are now open to me. The ability to bring someone along with me is a great bonus as well.  
 

I already have a list of modifications that I plan on doing this winter, or possibly even a new canoe. Haven’t made up my mind yet.  

@bp_fowler: I'd start with a set of wheels. I think I've seen you drag your canoe a few times. Once you're rolling your canoe instead of dragging it, you'll be able to reach even more remote ponds. I'd be cautious about adding too many accessories. Each one increases your load. 

 

16 hours ago, Joedodge said:

Sorry for the dorky pic with me in it haha

 

Nah, not a bit dorky. You look happy and you're holding a fine bass, so it's a great pic.

6 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

@bp_fowler: I'd start with a set of wheels. I think I've seen you drag your canoe a few times. Once you're rolling your canoe instead of dragging it, you'll be able to reach even more remote ponds. I'd be cautious about adding too many accessories. Each one increases your load.

A cart is first on my list.  After that I want to upgrade seats and add a rod holder or two so I can troll between spots.

14 minutes ago, bp_fowler said:

A cart is first on my list.  After that I want to upgrade seats and add a rod holder or two so I can troll between spots.

 

I like all those changes! I catch a lot of bass trolling between spots.

28 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

@bp_fowler: I'd start with a set of wheels. I think I've seen you drag your canoe a few times. Once you're rolling your canoe instead of dragging it, you'll be able to reach even more remote ponds. I'd be cautious about adding too many accessories. Each one increases your load. 

 

 

Nah, not a bit dorky. You look happy and you're holding a fine bass, so it's a great pic.

Well thank you very much. I was pretty happy. That’s a good fish for where I fish lol. My neighbor wasn’t so thrilled though. 

2 hours ago, Joedodge said:

That’s a good fish for where I fish lol

 

All we can do is to catch the fish that swim in our waters. 

1 minute ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

All we can do is to catch the fish that swim in our waters. 

Exactly. There’s bigger one lurking. And ive fooled a few this year. But they are wise to lures it seems. (Rightfully so) and intense pressure on these ponds doesn’t help. Yesterday morning I was all alone when I fish before work from about 8:30-10:30 give or take. It’s great. Last night when I went with the neighbor and every evening I pass them all going home. They will be loaded with all kinds of people. Live worms, minnows, lures. Kids throwing stuff in the water. Slapping lures against the surface to get pond scum or grass off lol. It’s so funny the difference. 

I spent a total of 3 and 1/2 hours out on the water today. 2 hours this morning before work, and an hour and a half wading the river after work.

 

Only managed two bass between the two trips. Both came on two different homemade lures. This morning I casted poorly and got the treble hooks tangled in my line. As I was pulling the spiraling bait back to shore an ENORMOUS smallie followed it into a foot of water and ENGULFED it. But, thanks to my poor casting, he never felt a hook and swam off confused about what had happened to his meal. That's two possible PBs lost this year due solely to operator error. I caught a little one a few casts later: 

 

 

This evening a caught a very healthy smallie half an hour into my trip, lost two, and saw no other fish. I did let a little girl and her father see the bass. Neither the daughter or father seemed to know anything about fish, but they thought it was cool. 

 

 

I did see a turtle though: 

 

 

And a beaver, though I didn't get a pic. 

 

I also ran into a fellow angler on a work trip from Illinois enjoying some down time on the river. He seemed to be doing better than I, although I have a suspicion he GREATLY over estimated the weights of the fish he claimed he was catching. (If any of you are on a business trip from Illinois to Michigan and ran into a bearded guy with an orange backpack while fishing, I totally believe you and would never accuse you of exaggerating your catches. 😉)

I had this spinnerbait tied on for practice in the yard, and decided to give it a few casts. It was in a small assortment I bought from Jigman a couple years back for only shipping. I put a skirt on it, and gave it to a friend. Well, he lost it. Then, another friend snagged it about a year later, and when I recognized it, he gave it to me.

 

The first friend had blacked it out with a sharpie.

 

 

 

 

 

I caught this one on his pole.

 

I tied a worm on for him to use on his other pole, and gave it a test cast.

 

This one was very pretty. I watched him set the hook - he really gave him the business.

 

Tied myself on one and went at it. This was a nice little fighter.

 

 

 

 

 

Caught this tiny one on Sunday when it was over 90 degrees outside lol. I saw a few cruising the bank and one shot out from under the bridge, at said point and time of my retrieve I couldn’t entice a bite. Casted back out and brought it to him and he ate it. Place gets crazy pressure so if you catch a fish here you are doing ok. Caught on a z man something or another on a 6th sense under spin jig head and it seemed to work. I also caught a small turtle but he came off and that doesn’t hurt my feelings any. I have caught a big snapping turtle on a Texas rig before and that was no fun to deal with lol.

I'm on sabbatical from fishing due to tendonitis in my right arm, which has weakened my thumb and fingertips to the point where I can't do many daily tasks. I wanted to push through it like I do so many things, but that was only making it worse, so I'm resting and will likely rest for several weeks. I also won't fish in August because of two cataract surgeries, so this summer's fishing has fizzled. On the plus side, I have caught 636 bass in 2025 and 15 that were four pounds or bigger, so fingers crossed I can heal and catch some more big northern bass come the fall. Meanwhile, I'll cheer for you guys and remember the bass I did catch this year:

 

 

@Swamp Girl rest up and get well soon! We will all miss the reports. 

14 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

so fingers crossed I can heal and catch some more big northern bass come the fall

You take care of yourself, Katie - we'll hold down the fort and post what we can so you can sit back and heal up. 

Came back with the frog rod and ripped that hanging popper down

My before work trips this week have been very productive. The shad have hatched at my local lake and the bass are schooling hard on them. It’s a small enough lake that they’ll often come up within reach of the bank. A wacky rig is getting bit well and a Spro popper on my St Croix GXR spinning reel have been picking up lots of fish before work. None of them big, but it’s a fun way to spend 30 minutes before work each day.