Tested out my new NRX 873 today. Works amazingly. Even held up against a MASSIVE snapping turtle thrashing around. He was nice, though, and finally decided to spit it out after wrestling with him at the bank for a bit 😆

I sent my brother the pic of my white bass, and he responded with this pic. This is his pond at his house and he said he had no idea that he had fish that big. This is a 1/4 acre-ish pond…he didn’t weigh it either…

I went back to the same lake that I fished yesterday. The numbers of fish were there so where could they go? I was right. Conditions were different though so they were not doing the same thing. I tried to force feed them a topwater and not even a blowup so I gave up on that pretty quickly. The wind was 2-3mph but I was in the lee of a hill so it was glass slick and the bass were reacting accordingly by staying pretty close to the bottom in 20-30’. But the shad were around and every now and then bass would rocked up off the bottom and grab one, sometimes on the surface, sometimes below (FFS viewed). Since it was slick calm, I pulled out the jighead minnow and went to work. After some follows and some misses, I dialed in the right size bait and head (3/16 with a 5” freeloader mostly, 3/8 when I was chasing fish in the open that were moving). That was a good choice.

The wind kicked up around 830 and that’s what I needed to get them to set up like yesterday. It took them about an hour to get started, but then I caught 8 more in under an hour on the spinnerbait.

Biggest fish of the day was 3-11, but I had a limit of fish over 3.5# and another limit of 3-3.5# fish. There was only one fish that didn’t clearly top 2# and it would have been close to 2 if not over.

I thought I had a big one. When I put down the minnow and before I picked up the spinnerbait I went to a freeloader on a Scrounger head and was blind casting at the cover. Second cast I felt the thump and set the hook into a big fish. It was fighting like a largemouth and I thought it was a 5+. Then it rolled. Uggh. I had caught one earlier on a minnow that I thought was a monster smallie (behaved just like one on FFS). Fooled twice. Both were 9#.

@A-Jay - your silicon landing mat is just a dish mat, right? I have been using my FF cover as a makeshift mat but if I’m going to keep catching slimers like this I’m going to need something a little bigger.

8 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

Biggest fish of the day was 3-11, but I had a limit of fish over 3.5# and another limit of 3-3.5# fish.

You could have won many tournaments twice with those two bags. Well angled!

47 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

@A-Jay - your silicon landing mat is just a dish mat, right? I have been using my FF cover as a makeshift mat but if I’m going to keep catching slimers like this I’m going to need something a little bigger.

I use a 24 x 16 inch silicone food mat.

Does it all for me and has been for years.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D54KV4HH?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1

A-Jay

Thank you sir! It will be here tomorrow.

Best two from today. 25-27 mph winds with small craft warning. Most fish were caught on blade baits.

Dwight, that wind with that sky and those bass, well, that's hardcore.

Dwight sees my post and goes “hold my beer”.

Awesome chunks.

Remember I said no rain until 4:00? Never trust the weatherman lol. A slight drizzle turned into a hard rain. The second cast after the rain started the jig got hammered. Nice 2.5 lb. bass. No pic as it was pouring.

lol. I must have been having a senior moment. I did take pics lol.

I am the DinkMan, Coo Coo Kachu.

On the way to one of our favorite lakes, I spotted a body of water through the tree line that neither my brother nor I had any idea was there. We had to divert to see it. There was no signage or anything to indicate what it was, just an overgrown path between two houses in a cul-de-sac. From the road it looked to be about 40 acres.

I'd made a set of wheels for our Jon boat 'cause carrying that sucka loaded with gear into these off-the-beaten path places was getting to be a hassle for two older guys, so we strapped them on and began the trek. Must've been about 1000' long trail ending near a small dam. I found out later after a little research that this place was once a cranberry bog many moons ago.

About half of the place was only about a foot and a half deep, and the remainder was maybe 3' deep in spots. It was already almost topped out in coontail in the deeper water. I imagine that the shallow section froze right to the bottom this past winter as many similar places had 15" of ice on them. If better fish ever flourished here, I can't see how they survived that. However, plenty of dinks did, and they appeared to be starving. Some guy and his kid showed up and caught dink after dink from the dam on bobbers and worms, and they couldn't have been happier. We got to play BFS fishing, so it is what it is. On to the next...

1 hour ago, PhishLI said:

I am the DinkMan, Coo Coo Kachu.

On the way to one of our favorite lakes, I spotted a body of water through the tree line that neither my brother nor I had any idea was there. We had to divert to see it. There was no signage or anything to indicate what it was, just an overgrown path between two houses in a cul-de-sac. From the road it looked to be about 40 acres.

I'd made a set of wheels for our Jon boat 'cause carrying that sucka loaded with gear into these off-the-beaten path places was getting to be a hassle for two older guys, so we strapped them on and began the trek. Must've been about 1000' long trail ending near a small dam. I found out later after a little research that this place was once a cranberry bog many moons ago.

About half of the place was only about a foot and a half deep, and the remainder was maybe 3' deep in spots. It was already almost topped out in coontail in the deeper water. I imagine that the shallow section froze right to the bottom this past winter as many similar places had 15" of ice on them. If better fish ever flourished here, I can't see how they survived that. However, plenty of dinks did, and they appeared to be starving. Some guy and his kid showed up and caught dink after dink from the dam on bobbers and worms, and they couldn't have been happier. We got to play BFS fishing, so it is what it is. On to the next...

Maybe I look at bass differently, but dinks? A dink to me is a sub 12” or so bass. Those are not dinks to me!

Finally on the board😃

Was on a week long camping/fishing trip down in South Jersey.

The plan was saltwater fishing for inshore Tog, a hard fighting bottom fish.

Well that didn't work out, with the coldest winter we've had in 10 years the fish hadn't move in yet from the ocean. Spent 2 days trying that with out a tap.

Plan B was lakes in the area, didn't bring a lot to freshwater tackle with me but some of my basics.

We tried out 2 lakes we've never fished, one was just some Pickerel, with only a couple of small bass.

The other one was much better, we spent all day exploring the lake and caught Largemouths, crappie and Pickerel. We figured out some spots that produced and came back the next day.

The next day I landed 20 fish, 17 Largemouths, 2 Pickerel and a crappie.

Water was 72, and most fished were caught along what I call bull rush's along the bank with 5' of water up to them,I don't know what they are as there not up north where I mostly fish.

Most caught on a 5" green pumpkin Dinger, other's on a 2.8 Fat Swing Impact all along the outside edge of the "bull rushes" or in a pocket there.

Also lost a bunch, and of course bite offs from the Pickerel.
We saw the most turtles as I ever seen, I mean it was in the hundred's.

Weather was nuts for Jersey in the middle of April, day time temps were 85 to the 90's.

22 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

Maybe I look at bass differently, but dinks? A dink to me is a sub 12” or so bass. Those are not dinks to me!

Well, OK. What do I know? How bout we let the Fabulous Fashionista himself @gim decide. What say you, gim? Dinks or not dinks?

Jealous of these smallies some of y'all are getting on! Waiting for my Cali river spot to open up for the season.

Been getting on the largies night and day. Gotta squeak in time between work, school, and the pre-graduation job hunt. The bite has been especially hot at night and they are thumping anything from chatterbaits, to 8 inch soft swimbaits, to big wake baits. It amazes me how even the big baits will catch the smaller ones too. The fish have been changing their positioning by the day and water levels have been all over the place which keeps things interesting. Hopefully getting onto big water soon from the bank and seeing if any pre-spawn scragglers are left, have a feeling we are starting to shift into post spawn here but fish are still on beds at the smaller lakes so maybe the bigger water is warming up slower. We will see!

8 hours ago, herder said:

The next day I landed 20 fish, 17 Largemouths, 2 Pickerel and a crappie.

Solid.

8 hours ago, herder said:

We saw the most turtles as I ever seen, I mean it was in the hundred's.

And turtles too! I would have loved seeing hundreds. In all my decades on the water, I've never seen so many.

9 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

A dink to me is a sub 12” or so bass. Those are not dinks to me!

Dinkdom depends upon where you fish. At my pond, the bass range in size within a narrow band, from a rare 15-incher to an even rarer 19-incher.

My fellow anglers - Dink was clearly defined by our forefathers and was a term developed in tandem with the necessity to harvest fish for food!!! A dink is a fish of any species that is not worth the effort to clean and filet for a meal. Basically “under slot” if you saltwater fish.

32 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

A dink is a fish of any species that is not worth the effort

Dat's right. Won't be going back there.

8 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Dat's right. Won't be going back there.

I'd go back for those bluegills!

@Pat Brown - I love that definition. Small enough it's not worth the effort. I've always thought of dinks as 12" fish and under. Technially that's keeper size in every state I've lived in so anything under that is a dink.

@herder I'd call those water reeds. There are a couple lakes up this way that have them. White lake is surrounded with them. Spruce has a couple spots of them (when there is enough water in those spots). RV has a couple stands in the back, but that's a long way to get to in a kayak.

4-6

Couple of dinks unpictured

Missed several nice fish, bad hooksets and short strikes. The thing that frustrated me the most was the boat that rolled up in my little spot, I don't mind sharing but these guys didnt come off plane until the last second and then tried to ask me about bed fish. Brother, you just shut down the fishing for the both of us on that approach. Thanks but you can find your own beds. Would have been happy to share the spot if he'd had any measure of subtlety whatsoever. That little creek is so sensitive to boat noise.

Took the boys out in the kayaks Sunday and we all put it on them pretty good. Not sure what their final tallies were, but they both had good numbers of fish that were camera shy.

19 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

these guys didnt come off plane until the last second and then tried to ask me about bed fish.

Gosh, that's rude. Plus, they have a boat, so they can go EVERYWHERE to find the bass. You can't.

Caught a good one on Crankbait.

It makes me happy to see everyone catching fish, and making this thread active again.

I got to fish for the first time in a while. I fished for two hours before I caught anything. Rotated through a number of lures, and colors with no bites. I tried a red, nose hooked yum dinger, and caught 8 in the next two hours. All on the red dinger, but only if it was nose hooked. I tried TX rigging the same worm...no bites. I tried different color worms...no bites. So I quit fighting it, and stuck with the red, nose hooked dinger. The best being this 4 lb 8 oz LM.