Hit up a small lake in north jersey, usually a numbers lake with not many real good ones.

Second cast got a 14" largemouth on a paddle tail and thought here we go,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Well, it didn't work out that way. Spent too much time throwing the paddle tail with only a crappie to show for it.

Tied on a ned and lost one on the first cast with it, then was able to scratch out some more tossing it shallow.

Wound up with 11 largemouths, one crappie, one sunfish and 2 pickeral.

Lost 5 largemouths on the jump, of course they were the biggest largemouths. 

Tons of small sunfish around, they were even hitting the line where it entered the water.

Only got one picture of the better pickeral. 

 

 

Thanks @Bazoo, that fish fought like rocky Marciano 

That's a loooonnnnnggggg pickerel, herder. 

 

Russ, I caught a bass yesterday that I didn't photograph. Perhaps two pounds. I thought I had a five-pounder. Yeah, I caught a Rocky Balboa bass. 

That lake does have some big pickerel in it.

Crazy thing is those are the first pickerel I've ever caught using a Ned rig.

@Swamp Girl, balboa’s got nothing on Marciano 😂 

 

in the ring anyway, don’t know about in the water haha

I may have 1 more trip left before I start running chainsaws in preparation for next winter....... like to stay a year ahead.

Got out yesterday morning to a lake with at least 15 ft of visibility, very clear.

 

Caught several on drop-shot and most on a Ned in California craw.

Overcast and no wind at all, water temp 72*.

Bird, I would fish a Ned if I could and I might be able to cast a Ned once or twice, but then I'm finding weeds. The fish I caught yesterday were on the fall. I was casting to floppy grass and the bass were hitting my crawdad before I hit bottom, but seeing as how the floppy grass was the dominant weed in those areas, even when I hit bottom, I could retrieve weed free most casts. 

@Swamp Girl You can get weedless ned heads. Or, you can snag the weeds and then pop the ned free, which they like.

15 minutes ago, Bazoo said:

Or, you can snag the weeds and then pop the ned free, which they like

Yup. That’s how I was getting my fish yesterday mostly. I was using a bitsy bug with a small finesse trailer that would come into weeds, so I’d pop it hard out of them and often when it would become clean bottom again, I’d get bit. Sometimes I’d have to pop it multiple times out of weeds. It’s a nice feeling when your jig tears free, falls to bottom and gets thumped 

Thanks for the suggestion, Bazoo, but going forward, I will focus on the lures I already own. I have entire classes of lures that I bought and have barely used, like jigs and chatterbaits. I know that these two classes of lures are two of the most popular and I'll get to them someday. Maybe.

 

Had a day off today finally, slept in. Took the canoe out for the first time in a while.  It was raining steady and I got soaked completely through within about 10 minutes of being on the water.  

 

Caught an even dozen fish, unfortunately no big girls.  

 

Used a combination of Texas rigged craw, DT6, and an under spin.  Still no luck with the Buzzbait.  

It's good to see you in the canoe again, BP. Catching bass too is frosting on the cake.

Recently got into kayak fishing and have had some good success.

Good chunky fish @Jonny15678. I spell my name the same way my man lol

Ran into a school of biguns' today!

A wad of these too!  All on Ol' Monster!

Mr. Clicker said 41...

Man, oh, man, Al sure can catch bass. I caught 11 in the final two hours of the day, not as big as Al's, but still well-built beauties. Here's a typical one:

 

 

This thick one was caught on my second cast, dropping a T-rigged crawdad on the edge of grass:

 

 

I caught three bass on a Whopper Plopper, a lure I haven't used for a long time. Here's one, the biggest of the evening:

 

 

The bass are growing thick for winter:

 

 

I caught this beautiful smallmouth too:

 

 

@AlabamaSpothunter used to comment how beautiful Maine's bass are and I didn't understand what he meant, but now I see it. They're so dark and beautifully marked. 

 

My 11 bass give me 1,285 for the year. You might remember that I caught 2,044 last year, but that required a lot of bog fishing with a couple 70-bass mornings. I'm taking it easier this year, but having great fun. I also saw an eagle overhead while a loon sang. Perfection. Northwoods perfection. Well, close to perfection. I wish there'd been a floatplane overhead too.

 

I'm 215 bass from my 2025 goal of 1,500 bass.

 

P. S. - My nearly perfect evening ended perfectly. I hooked a 12th bass on my Whopper Plopper and because it charged my canoe, I couldn't fully set the hook and I couldn't feel its weight. Then it jumped and I saw her size and she swam free, leaving me hungry for the next time I launch. 

Stopped by the lake for about half an hour. Got this real nice 2 pounder on a fluke. 2lb2oz. Let the boy reel it in! He got to feel some big fish fight!

 

10 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Man, oh, man, Al sure can catch bass. I caught 11 in the final two hours of the day, not as big as Al's, but still well-built beauties. Here's a typical one:

 

 

This was caught on my second cast, dropping a T-rigged crawdad on the edge of grass:

 

 

I caught three bass on a Whopper Plopper, a lure I haven't used for a long time. Here's one:

 

 

The bass are growing thick for winter:

 

 

I caught this beautiful smallmouth too:

 

 

@AlabamaSpothunter used to comment how beautiful Maine's bass are and I didn't understand what he meant, but now I see it. They're so dark and beautifully marked. 

 

I landed 11, giving me 1,285 for the year. You might remember that I caught 2,044 last year, but that required a lot of bog fishing with a couple 70-bass mornings. I'm taking it easier this year, but having great fun. I also saw an eagle overhead while a loon sang. Perfection. Northwoods perfection.

 

I'm 215 bass from my 2025 goal of 1,500 bass.

 

P. S. - My perfect evening ended perfectly too. I hooked a 12th bass on my Whopper Plopper and because it charged my canoe, I couldn't fully set the hook and I couldn't feel its weight. Then it jumped and I saw her size and she swam free, leaving me hungry for the next time I launch. 

Another great report and photos from FrauleinFour-Pounder!  Katie, you have the heart of a great angler!

7 hours ago, Bazoo said:

Let the boy reel it in! He got to feel some big fish fight!

 

What a good dad!

 

7 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

Katie, you have the heart of a great angler!

 

I do love it. There are so many pleasures in life that have dimmed for me. For example, 60 years ago, if you told me we were going to an amusement park, I would have squealed. Now I'd shrug. However, I still love fishing as much as when I was I nine. When I'm  padding through the woods to my pond, I'm old, slow, and creaky, but I still pick up the pace to reach it a second sooner. I hope it's the same for you, Al; I see you have snow on your roof too, but I hope your fishing furnace still burns bright. 

@Swamp Girl Katie, as I've said before, you have a wonderful way with words!!

"I hope your fishing furnace still burns bright."

I think you and I will always keep the furnace stoked!

51 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

@Swamp Girl Katie, as I've said before, you have a wonderful way with words!!

“I'm old, slow, and creaky” Agreed! Lol

Kinda slow day. Caught five. One a green pumpkin lizard TR, two on a green pumpkin Senko WR and two on a…spinnerbait. 

I have never had much luck with spinnerbaits. But as my chatter bait success has taken off lately, I decided to give a spinnerbait another try. The first was a bass about 1.5 lbs. A little later on I casted the spinnerbait and it got whacked as soon as it hit the water. By a catfish. That was unexpected. But two on a spinnerbait in one outing was good for me lol. The biggest was on the lizard TR. 

 

 

Multi species day for me. Went out at dawn with my two

eldest boys. We all caught. Today was TX rig and micro-jig

with a trailer day. Final bass was a 3.5 pounder on the micro

jig with a little paca chunk trailer (pic was taken under a 

bridge, not very good so not uploaded. Had two breakoffs

that I'm 99% sure were pickerel. We pulled in a number of

them today, all active on the ambush.

 

 

And two weeks ago, my eldest caught his first (the family's

first) muskie on the James River in Lynchburg.