There’s a lake 20 minutes from my house that I rarely fish due to the fact that it’s the most pressured water in the state. It has big fish but due to the pressure they are hard to catch. I call this lake the cursed lake because I’ve never caught a bass over 5lbs here despite catching a handful in the 21-22” range that should have hit the mark.

On this particular day I decided to go, figuring that it being mid week and pouring rain would keep the hordes at bay. I could not have been more wrong. As soon as I got on the water I could see five shiny, decked out bass boats. As I tried to get away from them I kept running into more boats around every corner. I counted fifteen in my corner of this not very big lake.

At this point I was seriously considering aborting the mission but decided to stick it out long enough to at least check out this one little spot I had in mind. Luckily it seemed the boats managed to overlook this spot and I was able to capitalize on a nice fish. I thought this one was for sure the one to break the curse but to my dismay, despite her large head and 22” frame, she came in at just 4.62lbs.

Pretty soon after, the sun came out and I decided to quit while I was ahead. On the way out I could see three boats sitting on the spot I had caught this fish on.

Took a 9 yr old boy fishing today.

He's never been on a boat and fell in love.

We had a great day and even brought the wife a couple of bluegill to eat.

Bird is the word and the word is good.

Went to my recent favorite and location of my new PB 3 weeks ago. Last time there the grass was almost matted out in 6’ or less which is 1/2of the lake. I had planned to punch it all night but when I got to the lake there was a heavy algal bloom which must have been there for a while because all the grass in 3-6’ was dead. The grass in < 3’ was spotty in places too. On top of that, the duckweed was in full bloom which when mixed with the dead strands of milfoil made for some challenges. Alas, the bass were still chewing. Ended up with 19 for the evening with a 5-fish limit of 15-17” fish. Nothing big tonight, but a few decent ones. Not the night I was expecting, but I’ll take it any day. A thumper of a spinnerbait did all the heavy lifting tonight.

I also found a new way to be injured by a lure. Hooks in the hand are a dime a dozen. Snagged hook ricochet to the shin? Been there done that. How about boat flipping a bass and as you’re reaching for the line to catch it, the bass flops off the hook and the jig you’re throwing wraps around your wrist, accelerating as it swings around, and smacks you right on the bone of a finger with the tungsten head of the bait. I thought I broke the bone it hurt so bad.

Glenn's latest post about June is spot on. The bite was slow until I switched to a 1/16 ounce, 4 inch wacky worm on 6 lb line and BFS. The 5 inch was getting nipped at, but not bit...

It's been a looooong 7 month layoff from fishing, and today felt REALLY good!

1 hour ago, FryDog62 said:

It's been a looooong 7 month layoff from fishing, and today felt REALLY good!

I'm so happy you're fishing again! Your bass look like they're floating in the air.

Hit the home lake today in hopes that they were on the summer pattern. Started off pitching a jig at shallow wood but only picked off some small ones doing that. I moved to some offshore rock piles in 10’ and right away picked up this thick 5.04lb fish on a Carolina rigged ol’ monster.

Turns out that was what they really wanted today. I caught 6 more on consecutive casts with the worm.

After that cooled off I picked off a few more on some other spots. All on rock in 10-15’. 11 in total. It was very hot out.

@Fried Lemons: It's amazing what you do with a paddleboard. I love how you outfished the bass boaters the other day.

I caught 48 this morning, giving me 102 bass over the last two mornings. I caught quite a few walking the dog and the rest on a craw or worm. The worms were Zoom Trick worms and Roboworms. I failed to catch a 19-incher, but I did have a big girl briefly hooked. I saw her come out of her lair and take my worm. I set the hook and she ran for some reeds, but then popped free. I wasn't taking many pics, but here are a few:

I went back and added up the bass of the last couple weeks or thereabouts. I've caught 700 bass in 2026. My goal is 1,800. If I can reach 1,000 by the end of June, I'll have a good chance of making it.

Shore fished my favorite river and it was pretty slow. Weird year, wish my reports weren’t lame

It always amazes me that I can frog a mile of duckweed and catch 0, then 33 in one small area (about 20 yards long)!

4 over 4, 1 over 5.....

11 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

4 over 4, 1 over 5.....

Good work ol’ top…I always dig your style

25 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

4 over 4, 1 over 5.....

Al, you sure can wrangle bass. I wish we could fish for a week together. I wouldn't aim to catch bass. I'd want to learn from you. Watch. Ask questions. Take notes.

Then take some Al wisdom back to Maine and fish with Al's Thunder and Lightning!

I'm fishing my pond tomorrow morning, Al. Then I'll fish my pal's pond again Wednesday morning.

36 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

4 over 4, 1 over 5.....

That’s a heckuva bag!

@Swamp Girl " Al's Thunder and Lightning!"

Katie, my left shoulder is thunder and my right shoulder is lightning! I know you're not supposed to leave fish when they are biting but I did. I admit I couldn't take any more. It was painful turning the steering wheel on the way home.....but I can't wait to do it again.

Paddled my wife’s kayak around the dock in the morning, caught a spotted bass. Then me and my buddy drove the canoe upriver in the afternoon and went up a creek, caught some little bass. Came back out near the main channel and skipjack were going wild on the surface, he even caught a small striper. Then I got a walleye in the middle of the main channel

Went to the biggest lake that I fish with any regularity in search of some big smallies. The smallies refused to come out to play, but the largemouth were into it. Poppers, walkers, and spinnerbaits were the hot baits today.

Biggest went around 3 on the spinnerbait. Had some huge blowups around rock piles from presumably large smallmouth, but they wouldn’t actually make contact with the bait.

2 of 8 I got off the rocks in a short afternoon session. 4.2 and 4.5 on a worm and a wobble head, respectively.

Weekends…are terrible. I can’t believe the thought process of some people. Anyway, fished around 2.5-3hrs before I just had to get out of there. My first spot I actually got to fish gave up two good smallies, another solid keeper and a mixed handful of dinkers. A texas rigged 4” senko in baby bass took every fish. A dark watermelon variant and 1/16th ounce t-rigged morning dawn roboworm never got bit.