Congrats to Mom, @LrgmouthShad! Do you have a pic of the pond too?

43 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Congrats to Mom, @LrgmouthShad! Do you have a pic of the pond too?

I’ll send one later. Pat and Jake are coming to fish it later today

Yes folks - the great 2026 Ol Muddy summerstravaganza is about to commence - we are eating breakfast and taking care of the animals and getting our tackle ready and on this cool and cloudy day with low pressure on the heels of a new moon - we will be throwing all manner of orthodox and unorthodox bass fishing presentations in an effort to elicit a strike or two from lurking predators…..hopefully we catch one or two that are related to Momma Shads beautiful fish!

Stay tuned…..😎

42 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I’m back home in North Carolina right now on leave from work. Some of you may be familiar with “Ol Muddy”, which is a small pond that my family and I fish somewhat frequently when I’m home. My Mom caught a new “record” out of it on Sunday. The biggest we’ve pulled out of it. 6.86lbs. She was using a green pumpkin magic senko.

Hopefully @Pat Brown and possibly @FishTax and I get on some fish soon, too.

Way to go, Mom! That is a BIG bass!

47 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Yes folks - the great 2026 Ol Muddy summerstravaganza is about to commence - we are eating breakfast and taking care of the animals and getting our tackle ready and on this cool and cloudy day with low pressure on the heels of a new moon - we will be throwing all manner of orthodox and unorthodox bass fishing presentations in an effort to elicit a strike or two from lurking predators…..hopefully we catch one or two that are related to Momma Shads beautiful fish!

Stay tuned…..😎

I love when Bass Resourcers fish with each other. I wish @Lottabass didn't live half a continent away. Codgers and crones should fish together!

3 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

I love when Bass Resourcers fish with each other. I wish @Lottabass didn't live half a continent away. Codgers and crones should fish together!

If you and Al fished together, you would sink the boat. A boatload of ya'lls bass would spring a leak. That and your camera would melt!

1 hour ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

If you and Al fished together, you would sink the boat. A boatload of ya'lls bass would spring a leak. That and your camera would melt!

What would actually happen is that Al's big bass would keep trying to eat my smaller bass and I'd have to yell at Al, "For the love of my bass, control your bass, Al!"

Been out a number of times Jan thru last week. Have had a tremendous season thus far. Great being back out fishing regularly, especially with my boys and my great friend, Randy who is a great bass fisherman in his own right with some real beasts to his name.

Lots of bass, pickerel, and a magical day of crappie fishing back in Feb with Randy. Between us we caught/released at least 60 crappie most of which were 1.5 to 2.2# slabs. All on swimbaits. Never had a day like that before or since. And we have visited the same area for months. Nada.

A few of the bass I've caught most recently (last couple weeks) post-spawn. Pre and during spawn zman swimbaits were king supreme, with wacky, Ned, etc. working well during. Post has been a mix of these, but best has been a 1/16oz Keitech micro jig with about a 1" Zman cut off TRD trailer, often with DIY fuzz (pic is about 1.5-1.75" of TRD). Oh, and all were caught on a ~6' ML Premier with 6# P-Line Floroclear leader and a Stradic 1000. :-)

I fished my pond for an hour and 45 minutes this evening. I went a little too Thoreau, as I grabbed three rods, but no tackle box. I caught 21 bass on the two rods rigged with T-rigged, weightless Senkos, but lost both hooks. Down to a walking bait, I caught another four and headed home. It must be post-spawn, for I'm no longer catching 18,19, and 20-inchers, but the 16 and 17-inchers are beefy, strong, and fun. I came up on a sleeping loon. I spoke to it softly to awaken it, but even then, just ten feet from me, it was calm and didn't move for five minutes. Then it started to fish. This is the second wild animal in a week that's had zero wariness around me:

Here are a few of the bass:

I've caught 827 bass in 2026.

@Swamp Girl Katie, 80 bass!!!!!! I think you should be "lottabass" and I should be "ol'crickety"! 🤣

8 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

I fished my pond for an hour and 45 minutes this evening. I went a little too Thoreau, as I grabbed three rods, but no tackle box. I caught 21 bass on the two rods rigged with T-rigged, weightless Senkos, but lost both hooks. Down to a walking bait, I caught another four and headed home. It must be post-spawn, for I'm no longer catching 18,19, and 20-inchers, but the 16 and 17-inchers are beefy, strong, and fun. I came up on a sleeping loon. I spoke to it softly to awaken it, but even then, just ten feet from me, it was calm and didn't move for five minutes. Then it started to fish. This is the second wild animal in a week that's had zero wariness around me:

Here are a few of the bass:

I've caught 827 bass in 2026.

And I thought you were just the Bass Whisperer!

I didn’t quite beat Mama Shads Ole Muddy PB - but I got my biggest bass of the year at Ole Muddy and I got it on a popper which was really exciting!

The day started at around noon and we had a good balance of sun and shade mingling with intermittent bursts of cloud cover with fairly steady breeze - we tried all manner of worms and crankbaits (things we have all had success with in years past at Muddy) and struggled and then a nice 3 lb popper fish to start the day for @LrgmouthShad gave us our first clue that perhaps topwater would be worth our while.

I picked up my frog rod and wandered over some flotsam and debris in a windblown pocket to where water met the bank and could see lots of sunfish beds and in this pocket there are a few really nice laydowns and the banks are lined by buck brush - I threw my frog to the laydown sticking out into deep water and I can’t even engage my reel and I see a 3-4 lb bass breach the surface (full body) eating the frog instantly! I reel down as quickly as I can and set the hook and my frog comes flying back at me but now I’m getting excited - getting blow ups like this in full sun at 1 pm is usually a great sign.

Next cast back to the laydown I slow way down and start barely boiling my frog and then letting it sit for 5-10 seconds and then making it boil again - very little horizontal movement.

I feel my line go slack and hear a deep thunk and the water around my frog boils in a very ominous and subtle way and my frog is gone - I am ready this time and reel down and set hard and fast and connect BOOM - my rod is bent over and a GIANT bass is doing backflips 100 feet from me with my frog completely gone down its throat. I manage to get her about half way back to me and she dives hard right and throws enough slack in my line to come off - I saw her come out of the water 4 times fully and she was super tall and wide and long and had a huge head - probably 7-8 lb fish.

I toss my frog back in there and do the same retrieve and this time my frog is crushed violently - it’s only a 4-5 lber this time doing backflips and she does a similar zig zag move throwing slack in my line and comes off.

I toss the frog back in there and they are wise to it at this point.

I slow way down in the area and can’t get a bite on anything else and decide to tie on a spook. I toss my spook to the lay down and about halfway back a 3 lber slurps it down lightning fast. She swims to the right (like the big girls) but I’m throwing my spook on a spinning outfit with 8 lb mono and my drag is set pretty loose and she drags me straight into a big tree and I lose my spook and the fish.

Jake and @LrgmouthShad are smashing 2 and 3 lbers all over the pond the entire time I’m transfixed with this corner and I’m getting sad and antsy missing all these fish and decide to go for a walk and flip some cover and try some other stuff. I have no success doing this for a relatively long period of time.

Eventually I make my way back to the side of the pond with my pocket around 2-3 pm and decide to cast from the lone boat dock over into the general area of that corner using a small Rebel Pop-R in chrome shad pattern on my spinning rod and I decide to work it very very slowly.

I’m about 1/3 of the way back to the dock - bait is probably 80-100 ft from where I’m standing and I’m just barely boiling it and letting it sit 10 seconds and my attention is truly beginning to wander other places and I notice a very very large boil under my popper. The kind that typically means a carp or catfish or big snapping turtle is about to make life interesting.

Against my better judgment I don’t reel the cast in quickly- I let it sit and barely twitch it again - the popper barely gets slurped down - a bite that usually means sunfish is hitting it - but the sound is LOUD and DEEP - before I know it I’m setting the hook and my drag is screaming out and a GIANT bass is doing backflips out in the middle of the pond.

This time she doesn’t have a bunch of wood between me and her and after a really fun fight on 8 lb mono - I get her dock side and lip her - a true giant - spawned out but tipping the scales at 6.5 lbs! Notable because not only is it my biggest fish of the year - it is also my biggest fish on a popper!

The rest of the day we caught more fish on poppers and frogs and floating worms and had a blast and even missed a few more really big ones - but that was where the day peaked and we got another giant at Ole Muddy to take the bait!

It was a blast and @LrgmouthShad and his families hospitality and kindness sharing their wonderful spot were truly savored by myself and Jake and it was a wonderful day fishing with friends.

Recently returned from a two night camping trip at the gorgeous Lake Almanor up near Mt. Lassen in Northern California. Took a solo trip to get out, relax, and of course find some fish. I was limited to the bank this trip which gave me a good workout and made it a hair tricky to get on deep summer small mouth. I finally got on some good patterns with dropshot 4 inch roboworms in green pumpkin, and 1/16th and 1/8th jighead's and Ned rigs with a mini hula grub trailer; fished on rock walls and steep banks with chunk rock and boulders.

Lake Almanor's smallies spawn early so by now these fish were DEEP! Tackle shop fella said bank anglers have been struggling so I'm glad to have pulled out three, biggest going 2.82lbs. Without electronics I narrowed in deep water bank access on the maps and was glad to stumble on some bait balls with smallies ripping through them, thank gosh for polarized glasses lol.

After a slow day on Almanor I checked maps and found a lake only 4 miles away and much smaller, and with better bank access, Butt Valley Lake. Man now this pivot was a game changer! Its a few miles long and maybe a mile or two wide with plentiful coves and points to easily trek. Better yet the fish were still up shallow here so much easier to target. I believe the spawn was still going on and I was able to entice some roaming males into biting with craw imitations and pulled out some potbellied ones too! Biggest here ended up my humble new small mouth PB at 3.2lbs, and I think the trip may have convinced me bronzebacks reign supreme. I mean I don't know what mother nature thought when making these beasts because they pull ridiculously hard, and they don't seem to ever give up. That three pound smallies pulled like a 5lb largemouth it was incredible. Ultralight gear made the battle even more intense.

This trip solidified the small mouth bug after my previous light river trips over the past year. More to come in the future!

@RenzokukenFisher: Good trip report, good pics, and good fishing!

@Pat Brown: Way to stick with it! So happy you guys are fishing together.

Lately I've been putting in time at one lake instead of exploring new water every time and it's been paying off.

Just a few big ones from the last couple trips plus a bonus small mouth glide bait fish.

Finally had a solid day from shore on my favorite little river. I still had the usual "obstacles", this time in the form of a couple survey workers and a full sized bass boat with a huge motor on the back who couldn't look more stupid on a river suitable for kayaks and canoes. You're a poser goofy, go back to the city. I was able to hit double digits despite that, and the usual handful of dinkers.

I had four rods with me, but just used my two spinning rigs, leaving the casters in the car. I got a few smaller bass and one good keeper(last fish) on a finesse jig on the M, but my MH and ol' stinko senko were the bite. I got mostly greenies, but did land three good bronze bombers. I pulled two big ones out from under the same bridge; one coming, one going. Senko color didn't really matter as long as it was black/blue flake, purple-pearl or junebug. I really need to get the kayak on here while theres still post spawn smallies hanging around. There is something about being knee-deep in the muck, weeds and river that just cleanses my soul...love it. Seems like I kicked up fawns every spot..good grief

@dwong: What a maw on that second bass!

@JonB2: Great pics!

She got 99 problems catching bass ain't one ~

A-Jay

Got out for a late afternoon trip. 79 and cloudy winds 6-11 wsw. Small murky pond ringed on 3 sides by cattails. The fourth was overgrown with trees and bushes.

Long story short caught 6. 5 keepers 1 dink. All on the Mini Max except for one which was a wacky worm fish. Biggest one below.

All the action was along this bank. They were relating to it loosely enough that I caught most on parallel casts, although I did get a few making casts deep into the pockets.

@bp_fowler: Cool pics!

Few of these guys this morning out on "Lake 9", with the biggest two each going 3 and change:

Overcast skies had me thinking topwater, but after a lot of nothing the first hour, I went back to the t-rigged lizard that was doing so much work a couple weeks ago...and sure enough, that's what they wanted again.

Got completely soaked but it was worth it. Fished in the brief window when a storm blew through and found two good bites burn-pausing around wood. Spent probably more time than advisable bombing off points hoping for a striper but no luck with that. Bite died when the rain ended and sun came out. Excuse the blurry photo, everything was wet.

Got one Tuesday on a short trip