Beautiful smallmouth, but I'm haunted by Mike's beast that "didn’t turn the slightest bit." 

 

 

Surprise extra early finesse jig LM off my Spot spot this morning. 20' deep hump surrounded 80 FOW. 

I’m going to preface this by saying that today has been the single best day of fishing in my life.  I have fished for many different types of freshwater fish through out my 40 years on this earth.  In 2017 I made the decision to primarily stick with bass fishing. 

 

I left out of the Saginaw river mouth Mi DNR Patterson boat launch at sun up today.  Wind was 10-15 blowing SE.  Water temp was 58-59F.

 

I didn’t think today would be a smallie day.  I’ve fished the Saginaw bay all summer and fall. Which, I have just caught Large mouths. the totals for individual fish caught are 5.5 lbs, 5.21lbs  4.9 lbs 4.5 lbs 4.04 lbs 3.6 lbs and a couple smaller ones. 

 

The 5.5 lbs is my personal best.  The first small mouth of day was the 5.12 lbs ( was my personal best).  When the first small mouth jumped. I thought it was a lost king salmon due to how black it was.

 

I caught the 5.5 over on a jerk bait rod that built 2 years ago. That’s makes more cooler/special 

 

 I Literally caught all of these fish in the same spot. Which, was in 5.5ft of water underneath an Army Corp dredging spoils dock.  

 

The majority came on a spro 55 rkcrawler gobey crank. The 5.5 lbs smallie came on a KVD 300 deep gold and black back jerk bait. I only started throwing the jerk bait because, I wanted to see if they were keyed on strictly gobeys or if i could throw something else in there.  I think what was going on is the smallesies were corralling bait fish into the dock pylons. So any time my crank or jerk bait went by the hammered it. 

 

Only thing that sucks is I ended up breaking the gobey rock crawler off.  I ordered 2 more from fish USA while on the water.  Between the last big smallie and accidentally throwing the jerk bait up against a metal part of the dock. The jerk bait was toast. as it split on a mold seam along the center line of the body.  Now the kvd jerk bait can retire to the hall of fame board where I out all good wore out lures.

 

This is a day i’ll remember for the rest of my life. 

25 minutes ago, Mbirdsley said:

I’m going to preface this by saying that today has been the single best day of fishing in my life.  This is a day i’ll remember for the rest of my life. 

Congratulations ! ! !

Such a really excellent bag of bass.

A-Jay

 

3 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Congratulations ! ! !

Such a really excellent bag of bass.

A-Jay

 

Thank you 

Savor this time of year.  All glory is fleeting.

They couldn't keep their lips off of a spinnerbait and plopper today.

See the beaver?

Mike hammers the browns.

 

Al hammers the greens.

 

And GP tries to hammer the spots, but cashes in with green.

 

Life is good. 

Another 40ish minute bank session netted me a couple northern maine smallies

It's Smalliepalooza at Bass Resource!

Just a 1 lb 11 ozer today on the board at season's end for my local lake. Had another hookup from a similar size fish but it spit the hook, and then I set too early on one that felt like it was in between 3 and 4 lbs. Bummed to miss that one but it is what it is.

 

Overall it was a successful bass season, I didn't quite catch the numbers of 4# like I did last year, but still had some solid 2s, 3s, a couple 4s, and one that would be in my top 3 I've ever caught. Mid May through June was a a massive struggle but it picked back up in July and stayed pretty consistent throughout the remainder of the year-- did not get skunked from July onwards. 

 

With the lake closing soon and a significant weather pattern change coming up, I will be transitioning into ultralight fishing at a reservoir a few more miles down the road focusing on shellcracker and hoping to finally find a crappie. If this winter season is similar to last winter, I could perhaps have some fun with some schools of smaller size bass there with Mr Crappie joker grubs on a 1/32 oz jighead. Also have a telescopic light action rod that impressed last week with the way it handled a nice size carp. 

You hung tough, Mr. Tightlines, through the doldrums, and then bass stirred again and you caught some big ones. Be proud of your tenacity. We are.

 

I love that @keagbassr is in Maine!

 

 

I had high hopes for this morning. Threat of rain this afternoon that I thought would amplify the bite. Alas, it was not to be. Caught six and missed one. 
 

But while quantity was down and the bite was slow, the bass I hooked fought with extreme vigor. I started old school with a blackberry Mann’s Jelly Worm TR with a 1/4 oz. tungsten weight and after a few casts I hooked a solid 3 lb. bass. No jumping today. They all headed out and for the bottom. That was the only one I caught on that bait. I switched to an A-Jay Special and hooked a solid fish but it threw the hook. More than that, it pulled the skirt off the plastic body. Couldn’t get it back on so I cut it off and put the remains in the tackle box and tied on a spare. Switched over to a spinnerbait with no success, then started casting a Siebert Fogy bladed jig. Been very successful with that lately, but not today. Caught one on a 5” green pumpkin Senko WR and then motored back to where I lost the bass earlier. I tossed the spare A-Jay Special and it got immediately hammered. Likely the same bass. This one did not throw the hook. Turned out to be a solid 4 lb’er. Caught two more on a 4” #956 Senko WR and that was that. 
 

I caught 16 at my pond, bringing my 2025 total to 1,440. I was in a melancholy mood. We're at peak color and there were at least a hundred geese on my pond, so I can't pretend winter isn't almost here. I spent the last hour just paddling and watching. See what I saw:

 

 

I did catch some thick fish and I caught my first five bass on a buzzbait. Here's my first buzzbait bass:

 

 

And here are another two buzzbait bass, caught back-to-back:

 

 

This was my biggest bass for most of the afternoon:

 

 

However, I paddled up a stream, which was narrowed by a beaver lodge. I've learned bigger bass like choke points, so I cast the buzzbait into the narrow strip. Nothing. I cast again and again and again and again. Nothing. However, this girl hit on the sixth cast, yet another 19-incher, albeit skinny. You can see the beaver lodge to the left and the shallow water were I hooked her just beyond the lodge:

 

 

My next bass was anything but skinny. She was only 18.25-inches, but thick with muscle and she used all that muscle in our fight. She ran for lily pads, but I turned her. Then she ran for wood and I had to turn her again. She's as thick as a bog bass:

 

 

You can really see her muscle on the bump board:

 

 

Three more well-built bass:

 

 

And a short, thick one:

 

 

My last bass was brown:

 

 

I fish again tomorrow morning at my pond. I'll be adding a wakebait to the lures I'll cast. 

Wow. The bass are nice! But that vista? OMG, fall in the NE is truly a thing of beauty! That view, with a fire and a cocktail, and I’d be in heaven. 

15 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

Wow. The bass are nice! But that vista? OMG, fall in the NE is truly a thing of beauty! That view, with a fire and a cocktail, and I’d be in heaven. 

 

Yeah, the trees were the stars this afternoon, which is why I quit fishing the last hour and just witnessed. Remember that I own five acres on the pond. Come build your campfire and enjoy Heaven on Earth. 

@Swamp Girl Us northern bassers know our seasons are on barrowed time. However here in Northern Michigan, I should probably have a good couple weeks left of solid brown bass fishing before it becomes working for a couple big ones; real big ones. I plan on riding out my bass season until it’s not feasible.
 

A man can change his ways in fishing, and this one certainly has. Hardcore bass fishing has been some of the funnest fishing I’ve done in a long while, and I can feel the drive fresh again! 

30 minutes ago, JonB2 said:

I plan on riding out my bass season until it’s not feasible.

 

This is good practice for riding the late fall fishing up north:

 

@Swamp Girl Love the scenery photos.  Love the location photos.  Love the fat bass photos.

12 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

@Swamp Girl Love the scenery photos.  Love the location photos.  Love the fat bass photos.

 

Thanks, Al! You can see why I stopped fishing at the end, huh?

24 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Thanks, Al! You can see why I stopped fishing at the end, huh?

YES I CAN!!!!!!

bite was slow but I didn’t get skunked 

 

what a day @Mbirdsley!!! Congrats!

 

@Swamp Girl, I’d say you’ll have 1500 bass by the weekend 

Need to try and fish the next few weeks Its that time of year and looking at the recent photos, big bass are hungry. Great job dudes, lets catch some more.

On 10/17/2025 at 2:51 PM, GreenPig said:

Surprise extra early finesse jig LM off my Spot spot this morning. 20' deep hump surrounded 80 FOW. 

I've caught scads of bass  deep points but never a spot like described. 

39 minutes ago, scaleface said:

big bass are hungry

 

Big bass are hungry! This was my morning's first bass. She just wouldn't stop shaking her booty, so her thick tail isn't quite clear:

 

'

 

When I caught her, I figured I wouldn't top her and I was right, but this one was long and solid too, but just not built like a water buffalo:

 

 

I only caught seven. Four were on a buzzbait, two on an underspin, and one on a T-rigged craw. Remember how my pond was blazing with color yesterday? Well, this was the same pond this morning:

 

 

Still beautiful, huh?

 

Speaking of beauty, here are some other beauties I caught:

 

 

Another bigger one to say bye-bye:

 

 

P. S. - I'm at 1,447, but I don't think I'll reach 1,500. Not in a canoe with the forecasted winds and my hands were so c-c-c-cold this morning with more and more cold coming, plus I leave for Tennessee on Tuesday to be with my ailing dad. 

49 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

I leave for Tennessee on Tuesday to be with my ailing dad

I'll keep your dad in my prayers Katie. 🙏

@Swamp Girl - travel safe, positive thoughts being sent your way

I will have to purchase a buzzbait, you are certainly catching good ones on them !

Beautiful pictures ! Yes, fishing days are numbered, yet my hope is you have the opportunity to get to 1500.

I will get out today (cold, 46, but much lower winds than the past 3 days) and hopefully once or twice next weekend - if I get really luck with weather maybe the first weekend in November - but that will be it. 

Sometimes you catch the fish, sometimes the fish catches you