58 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Memories!

Is he sitting in the back of yours???

Just now, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Memories!

Is he sitting in the back of yours???

Yes, I have 2 boards laid across the back well with his little camp chair sitting on top of them, with a rachet strap through the frame of his chair and racheted down so he can't dump out. He uses the back rod tube on my box and he's close enough to the water to splash his feet, which he did a lot of. I've been slowly saving because Dad wants one of the new PDL pros and then everyone could have their own, but until then, this will have to work.

28 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

All on the red dinger

Me too. I'm only catching bass with red lures.

Speaking of catching bass, I"m launching tomorrow at 10;20 a.m. It'll be 38 degrees and will only warm to 43 degrees, so with last night's hard freeze, I figure the water will be cold and the bass sluggish. Fingers crossed I can coax a few to bite.

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

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

I mean it is a great spot. Sometimes I learn something from them. I don't necessarily have a problem with them even being there. Just like, don't make such a scene on entry. If they had dropped troll about 200 yards earlier we all would have had a nice time

18 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Yes, I have 2 boards laid across the back well with his little camp chair sitting on top of them, with a rachet strap through the frame of his chair and racheted down so he can't dump out. He uses the back rod tube on my box and he's close enough to the water to splash his feet, which he did a lot of. I've been slowly saving because Dad wants one of the new PDL pros and then everyone could have their own, but until then, this will have to work.

Dang that's awesome.

Enjoy those kids as much as you can.

Mine are 16, 20, and 24. 😢

55 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

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.

Where’d you catch her? I was at Guntersville on Friday and dint catch anything and then 2 small white bass on the flint on Saturday. This week, I think I’m headed over to wheeler or Wilson somewhere…

Long float on Sunday with a buddy in his canoe w motor. Caught some nice SMB with worms, flukes , and flies. His motor wouldn’t go into gear about 6 miles in so we had to paddle a LONG way, barely beat darkness to the point B vehicle. Saw two eagles soaring as well

15 hours ago, RenzokukenFisher said:

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!

Nice. I'm gonna put my possum into the the rotation soon.

Took my new motor to the lake for some Break In run time from 8 - 12 this morning. I followed the rules and took some rods.😁 Caught 7 bookends in two hours of fishing.

Some sweet smallies coming over the gunnels, guys!

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Me too. I'm only catching bass with red lures.

Speaking of catching bass, I"m launching tomorrow at 10;20 a.m. It'll be 38 degrees and will only warm to 43 degrees, so with last night's hard freeze, I figure the water will be cold and the bass sluggish. Fingers crossed I can coax a few to bite.

Good luck. Nice fish everyone love to see it.

2 hours ago, Smirak said:

Where’d you catch her? I was at Guntersville on Friday and dint catch anything and then 2 small white bass on the flint on Saturday. This week, I think I’m headed over to wheeler or Wilson somewhere…

I'll try to make a long story short-ish. I took the day off of work to go up to Tennessee to fish with a friend, but when we got to the ramp his boat wouldn't start. We tinkered with it for a long time trying to get it going, but no luck. Since it was after 2:00 by the time I got home, and I had burned a day off of work I went to a friend's pond just so I could catch something. It was a disappointing morning, but the evening turned out alright.

This pond had no bass in it when he bought the property. We caught bass from the river to put in his pond, so it's possible that I have caught that fish before.

We need to find a time to fish together. I'll send you a PM.

I went fishing at my secret trophy lake Sunday, but didn't catch a bass much over one pound. This was my third time bass fishing in 2026 and I haven't landed a bass over 1.5 pounds.

The positive side of the day came at 4;30 AM when I landed a one pound bass caught on a buzzbait. This was the first bass I ever caught in the dark. Because I couldn't go fishing on Saturday, I decided to go early on Sunday morning. I started at fishing at 4:00 AM and landed three small bass before the sun started to come up. I had fished for bass at night before, but had always spent most of my time snagged, tangled, and frustrated. Even though there was no moon, and the night was as dark as it gets. I was able to keep from loosing my sanity, and even landed some small bass. I left at noon when the wind picked up to 30 mph.

I may try fishing all night next time I go. At least the wind doesn't blow at night on this lake, and I am tired of dealing with the wind.

Every time I go fishing at this lake, I expect to catch a 10 pound bass. Now I will be happy if my best five can make 10 pounds. There is a silver lining to this cloud I'm living in. I have only lost one lure and a few hooks in 5 days of bass fishing. I guess I can have my tackle, or I can have big bass, I don't know if I can have both, but I sure don't seem to mind losing tackle when the big bass are biting.

Maybe it's bad luck, or more likely poor angling skill causing my lack of success this year. I hope it isn't bad karma for my complaining about BASS having a tournament on the Sabine River. Right now those Sabine River bass are bigger than the ones I'm catching in Mexico.

Pretty cold day on Erie in the lower 30’s until late afternoon. Dirty water & winds made it dually tough. Here are our two best. Both on blade baits.

20 hours ago, PhishLI said:

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

A sub 12 incher is definitely a dink to me. I wouldn't even consider posting a photo of one. Most tournaments don't even allow you to enter one unless it's at least 12 inches.

They don't get photo consideration until they reach 17 inches here.

But, I will say, that many of us have different standards too. Bass grow much bigger in the south than they do in the north. Comparing a Florida or Texas largemouth is not the same as comparing it to a Wisconsin or Minnesota version.

And a rock bass is an embarrassment here so don't ever post them!

3 hours ago, GreenPig said:

Took my new motor to the lake for some Break In run time from 8 - 12 this morning. I followed the rules and took some rods.😁 Caught 7 bookends in two hours of fishing.

3 hours ago, GreenPig said:

Nice. I'm gonna put my possum into the the rotation soon.

Gosh that things a blast! Its my first year fishing it and I was suprised how subtle it really is and how slow you can work it. Can't wait to see what you pull out with it! Beautiful fish youve been posting

I’ve got the week to fish and tried today after a low of 21* and the second day in the 40’s for a high. Only good thing was nearly full sun and slight winds. The winds were what I would call come and go, and man did I struggle with positioning in the yak, but it’ll come around. I could quickly tell despite the chill, jig bite wasn’t happening…at all. Structure was hit or miss today with fish tight, but I did notice for the first time bass slowly cruising the slightly deeper flats just off the shallows.

I tried a jerkbait and nothing at all, which I thought was a bit surprising. I wanted to slow down, but still search around…so I ran a carolina rig for the first time and caught every bass on it today. A handful of 12-13” dinks, a lucky to be alive 17-18” male and heavy 20” female. A 3/16oz tungsten with a glass bead and since I couldn’t get an old school lizard in pumpkinseed-chartreuse, I used a knockoff baby brushhog in gp/chart tail. Both bigger fish choked it and the one absolutely was t-boned by a large northern, likely last fall. I loved easily feeling and working that c rig and the bite was cool. I only had a 7’ MH today, but will 💯 bring the 7’3” next time!

Sigh. It's 25 degrees right now. I'll probably still launch this morning, but the cold is starting to feel eternal. We've been above 60 degrees just twice in 2026. One day it reached 62 degrees for about an hour and the other time, it reached 64 degrees, but it's almost May! That's two, measly warm days in nearly four months.

Can I catch cold water bass?

Yes.

Do I want to fish cold water?

No.

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

Do I want to fish cold water?

Froze my tuchus off last night for about two hours before checking out. Each time I turned my light on I was surrounded by endless 6-8" stocker trout which made the whole endeavor pretty fruitless. I imagined every bass in the zone stuffed with dumb farm trout. By some miracle I somehow managed 4 bites and misses on swimbaits. How they missed the trebles on the Bucca, who knows?

8 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Froze my tuchus off last night for about two hours before checking out. Each time I turned my light on I was surrounded by endless 6-8" stocker trout which made the whole endeavor pretty fruitless. I imagined every bass in the zone stuffed with dumb farm trout. By some miracle I somehow managed 4 bites and misses on swimbaits. How they missed the trebles on the Bucca, who knows?

Y-y-y-you were f-f-f-fishing last n-n-n-night??? Hardcore. I got a pic of you with my trail cam, just after you shined a light into the water and saw all those easy-pickins trout:

Been a little while but we have been having a blast - finally got some frog fish!

Jake got some really nice ones on the floating worm!

And I managed a few good fish here and there on flipping baits etc

But what’s really been crazy has been the giant crappie slug fest in the backyard - here’s just a small sample lol

But also lots of perch and sunfish

Pretty much non stop action every day when I have time to get out and make a few casts - spring is my happy place!!!

Morning fish fired up for the rig

First fish on a fuzzy senko, I guess they work but can't say they're any better than a regular senko yet.

Second fuzzy senko fish was a trip. Cast at a tree, senko dropped in but my line was over one little twig. I made my call and said "I'm gonna fish this senko like a top water and a bass is going to rip it out of the tree for me".

Well, twitched the fuzzy senko on the surface a few times and this 4.3 did exactly what I asked.

A rig to close out the day

17 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Pretty cold day on Erie in the lower 30’s until late afternoon. Dirty water & winds made it dually tough. Here are our two best. Both on blade baits.

Dang.

I was trying to think of a word to describe those.

Pigs didn't seem right.

I'll go with SOWS.

It was 28 degrees this morning when I awoke and the last few days have had lows in the twenties and highs in the thirties. So, I didn't know whether to launch or not. It didn't help that it was 38 degrees, sunny, and blustery, but I launched and I'm glad I did. However, they weren't on the edge of the bog where I'd been catching them. Not a bite. So, I fished deeper and caught a Wes Unseld bass. Not long, but broad. Here are two pics of Wes:

Then I caught three bass from a laydown. I could hear @casts_by_fly coaching me to keep my distance lest a bass pull me into the tree, so I did.

Then I moved to the south shore and hooked a VERY strong bass that took drag and spun my canoe, but came free. Dang it!

Then I caught this slender 18-incher:

Then I caught Wes's two cousins, Stout Steve and Husky Harry:

Eight bass on a cool, blustery day in two hours of fishing. I saw Buffleheads, loons, ospreys, eagles, ducks, and geese.

I've caught 63 total bass in 2026.

I've caught a total of two 19-inchers.

Warm, clear, howlin wind. Air 79, water 70. Didn't need clicker today, caught 5 on a swim jig between the bank and inside weedline. Probably a foot deep. Watched every one shark it!

Lotta wild flowers on the bank but couldn't get close enough for pics. Birds singing, sun shining, I love spring!

9 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Sigh. It's 25 degrees right now. I'll probably still launch this morning, but the cold is starting to feel eternal. We've been above 60 degrees just twice in 2026. One day it reached 62 degrees for about an hour and the other time, it reached 64 degrees, but it's almost May! That's two, measly warm days in nearly four months.

Can I catch cold water bass?

Yes.

Do I want to fish cold water?

No.

I wish I could send you some of our heat!

You are doing great under tough conditions!