Finally got a "big" one by my standards-- been since mid May catching one this size. Got another smaller one to add later thats on my other phone that died on me. 

 

Parting gift, big bass popped me in the jewels whilst unhooking it.

28 minutes ago, BluegillsTightlines said:

Parting gift, big bass popped me in the jewels whilst unhooking it.

 

3lber, best of 9 this morning, and only 2 that were keeper-sized.  Zoom Ultravibe speed worm.

 

 

 

Got back yesterday from a 5 day camping trip to the Delaware River.

Of course I had to pick one of the hottest weeks of the year, it was HOT!

 1^st day set up camp and by the time I was finished, well, I was finished, no fishing that day.

 2^nd day launched the kayak a couple miles north of the campsite, managed 8 smallies with the best one of the trip.

 3^rd day fished l launched from the campsite launch, caught 25 fish. 20 smallies, 2 sunfish, 2 rock bass and a walleye.

 4^th day launched again from the campsite launch, the forecast called for no rain,,,,,, fishing was a lot slower.

 Saw black clouds moving in and figured that I should drift back down to the ramp. Good thing I did as I had left my sunroof opened a bit so the car would only be 110 degrees instead of 130.

Rain had started but not much got into the car, then I drove back to my campsite as I left my rain fly opened on the tent, just in time as then the sky opened up and it was coming down hard.

Went back to the ramp to wait it out as the radar showed it would pass soon, it did and the sun came back out as did I back on the water.

 It must have helped as the fishing picked up after the hr rain delay.

Wound up with 18 smallies, nothing real big but those river smallies really fight.

Most fish were caught on a 1/8  ball jig on an ultra-light St Croix trout rod with 4lb test and a 2.8 Fat Swing Impact and a Ned Rigged Zman green pumpkin TRD bottom bounced drifting along the edge of the eel grass using a Fenwick Eagle which is a more moderate action rod with 10lb test 832 and a 8 lb mono leader

 5^th day was pack up a wet tent and canopy and head back home.

It was hot out on the water, I constantly was dipping my hat in the water and even beached the kayak and took my sun shirt off and dunked that in the water a couple of times. Also had to dip my carbon fiber paddle in the water as it got too hot to handle!

 Also had a “local” stop by for a drink on the river while I was out there.  

Caught 6 fish in a quick afternoon session, all on a jig. Excellent weather after 2 weeks of saunas.

 

This was about the average

Big fish of the day, a 4lber.

 

 

Wes and I finally located some decent sized Lake Ontario smallmouth.😎 We’ve been catching them, but hadn’t broke 3lbs yet (which is small, by Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River standards).  That changed this afternoon with a few 3’s and a couple 4’s in the net.  A Zman goby coloured Ned rig and  black minnow on a dropshot were the winners.

 

We’re headed out tomorrow to break 5# barrier (🤞🏻) before we start family “vacation” and can’t fish for a week.😢🤣

Went out this evening for about 45 minutes. The bite was good nothing insane and no big fish. But a fun time. First jig that I’ve powder painted installed the weedguard and thread tied the skirt. I’m calling it “electric slug”. Heavy strand count for a finesse jig but it works so well. 

No pictures for me, the phone is down currently. Rest assured, me and the boy are slaying them lol. Caught a nice 2 1/4 pounder today on a fluke. Not to mention a handful of smaller ones. Got to introduce them to the boss!

Wes and I were on Lake Ontario before sunrise, expecting a great day.  We had a good adventure, but Wes caught the only smallmouth of the morning.🙁 Made me feel moderately better talking to a guy at the ramp who had three screens up front, and said it was a slow morning for him too - said he only caught a few.  My only catch was a drum, which was a welcome minute or two of drag peeling fun.

I finally have some more fish to report. The last week or two have been crazy busy, and I've not had a lot of time to fish. I took the teenage son of a family friend fishing yesterday, and we caught a handful of small bass. Nothing very noteworthy: 

 

 

 

 

 

And then this evening I watched a crazy mayfly hatch on the river, and the wildest feeding frenzy I've ever seen. The fish were all after the mayflies and I didn't have any similar baits. I only managed to fool one little smallie with a floating crankbait. I'm sure he went back to his buddies feeling like an idiot for biting hard plastic when the real live thing was everywhere, twitching and fluttering on the surface. But the hatch and feeding frenzy were super cool to watch, even if I only managed to nab one small bass. 

 

Friday evening I took my neighbors son fishing after work. I caught 5-6 species of fish with a 2 inch curly tail grub on a dart head (SMB, yellow perch, redear, redbreast, rock bass, and I can’t recall if I got a bluegill or not ). He was getting lots of bites but not connecting , I I finally set him up with a panther martin and he caught 3 redbreast and a bluegill really quick 

 

 

Saturday we fished some primo waters but it just wasn’t happening, I got a smallie and a spot and my buddy got a drum. My new propeller made an unbelievable difference though! It smoothed out the way the motor runs and went way faster and shallower than before, I’ve been a stick in the mud for a decade , should have tried a new prop a long time ago 

 

 

7 hours ago, IcatchDinks said:

a handful of small bass. Nothing very noteworthy:

 

Considering how few bass are being posted, every bass is noteworthy.

 

7 hours ago, IcatchDinks said:

the hatch and feeding frenzy were super cool to watch

 

They are something to behold. I've caught bass so with half a dozen mayflies sticking out of their mouths. They were so intent on gorging that they hit my lure anyway. I used a tiny, clear Heddon Torpedo.

With the first of two back to back frog only tourneys over, I wasn’t overly confident about the bass wanting to eat a topwater offering. Water temps were 73 degrees to start the morning and with little wind things were looking promising. And the green fish only wanted the popper! The bass were either smashing the bait or just pulling it under the surface barely disturbing the surface.  After the morning bite subsided, I continued to catch fish the 1-2 1/2lb class throwing a worm or a T-rigged creature bait. * the only bad part of an otherwise great day of fishing was damaging my big motor’s prop on a submerged rock pile.

@herder which stretch were you on?  I put in on the big D on Wednesday evening to start exploring it. Kinda limited in a prop motor so only fished a single one mile stretch for about two hours (one dink). 

Early morning and some pretty fog made up for the tough fishing. Landed 13 plus two pickerel in the end but only one over 15” which was around 17” and 2.5-3.0lb. A couple more 13-14 and some dinks. 
 

It looks like a musky grabbed the 17” fish at some point. 

Fishing at my little corner has been tough recently, lost a couple nice 2-3lb fish in the last few days and the snot/filament grass is absolutely taking over below the tide line.

best 2 of the half dozen or so mini bass.

6 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

@herder which stretch were you on?  I put in on the big D on Wednesday evening to start exploring it. Kinda limited in a prop motor so only fished a single one mile stretch for about two hours (one dink). 

Worthington and Poxono 

25 minutes ago, herder said:

Worthington and Poxono 

Nice.  Water gap plus.  I was riegelsville which is 30 or so miles down.  I need to explore the gap and up, and it looks a little deeper generally because it is steeper.  

Tougher for me like errbody else, but gotta keep it real and 💯. I scrounged out a few fish in a couple of trips, but it was a frustrating grind. Not much for size really save for one potbellied 17-17.5”. A few 14-15” and some dinker 10-12”. I did blow it on a big one in a spot I know a really good fish lives. No real hot baits, stick worms and ribbon tails in the weeds. I think next trip I’m going heavy and bringing my two 7-3’s and throwing some big stuff in nasty areas. Might be fun…here’s some realistic MI late summer bassin’

 

 Had to cut the grass at the lakehouse, of course I took a boat. New prop pushed me up to 18 mph . Got the triple crown of bass (LMB, SMB, and spot) and of course the SMB was the bigger one. Caught it deep with a Texas rig among some massive yacht waves, pretty interesting in a 14 footer 

 

 

 

here’s where I got the smallie, it’s fairly swift current and a rapid drop from 0 to 35 to 50 feet deep. 

 

and here’s what it hit , Texas rig on Okuma combo with seaguar 40 lb braid to pounce 12 lb leader

 

 

Summer has been so busy that I haven’t been able to fish for smallmouth more than 5 times since May. I finally got a chance to go creek fishing, and caught 10 smallmouth and a redbreast. They were all fun-sized, as creek smallmouth tend to be. I’m just happy to be out.

 

 

@Buzzbaiter: Beautiful creek. Thanks for posting that pic.

Spent a couple hours in the afternoon wading the river yesterday. Between dodger tubers, and I slow bite during the heat of the day, I managed a mid sized largemouth and a fat rock bass. Also saw A LOT of turtles. I like turtles. 

 

Normally I complain about tubers, but both groups I ran into yesterday were super chill, took a lot of care to float past stealthily when they saw me fishing (which they absolutely have no obligation to do), and we're very friendly. Great weather, great people, and just a lovely day all around. 

 

 

 

Still at it but so far it's been a green bass type of morning.

 

A-Jay

On 8/3/2025 at 5:54 AM, Swamp Girl said:

every bass is noteworthy

Not a rock bass.