Went kayak fishing after work, all my luck was trolling a paddle tail soft plastic bait in the dead center of the river, go figure. The first fish was tiny and by the time I got my phone out to photograph it, the current had pushed me into a set of stairs and made for an odd background. Fun evening

@TnRiver46: Russ, I trolled a Zoom Trick worm last night when paddling home. I figured I'd get a hit, but doubted I'd hook it since it's a long ways from the tail to the hook. Sure enough, my rod snapped back and I retrieved half a worm. It's a mistake I won't repeat.

It's a shame that those stairs have been abandoned. Someone worked hard to build them.

I have had many a bass grab a trick worm when I was reeling it in Mach 5

9 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I have had many a bass grab a trick worm when I was reeling it in Mach 5

What's weird about a bass grabbing a Mach 5 Trick worm is that it would pretty much be as straight as an arrow in the water without any twitched undulations. I knew that when I trolled one last night, but was curious to see if a bass would hit a rigor mortis worm scooting through the water.

14 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

HUGE white perch,

That's it! That's the enigma that I have been struggling with! The whole time we fished your natural pond, I looked for baitfish and never saw any. I could not figure out what they were eating because they were not skinny, out of balance bass, but seemed to be well fed and healthy. I am not familiar with a white perch so I regret not seeing a picture, but it does give some closure to my curiosity. Do you have yellow perch? There has to be large quantities of something to maintain your food chain.

33 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

That's it! That's the enigma that I have been struggling with! The whole time we fished your natural pond, I looked for baitfish and never saw any. I could not figure out what they were eating because they were not skinny, out of balance bass, but seemed to be well fed and healthy. I am not familiar with a white perch so I regret not seeing a picture, but it does give some closure to my curiosity. Do you have yellow perch? There has to be large quantities of something to maintain your food chain.

White perch look a lot like white bass but with less defined stripes. I’d reckon pond bass eat a lot of bluegills frogs and crawdads

I regret not having a pic too, Bob! That white perch was big.

Yep, there are also yellow perch. I saw a lot of baitfish fleeing predatory bass last night in one big lily pad patch. They kept leaping out of the water.

One kind of lure I wish I could fish in my pond in the summer is a crankbait. I see @Lottabass catch so many big ones with a crankbait, but crankbaits can't wiggle for long in my pond without snagging weeds. I had high hopes for a crankbaits suggested by a Bass Resourcer because it only dives to 2.5 to 3', but even that snares weeds with every other cast. This time of the year, I have to stay on the surface or fish with a single hook.

9 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

I regret not having a pic too, Bob! That white perch was big.

Yep, there are also yellow perch. I saw a lot of baitfish fleeing predatory bass last night in one big lily pad patch. They kept leaping out of the water.

One kind of lure I wish I could fish in my pond in the summer is a crankbait. I see @Lottabass catch so many big ones with a crankbait, but crankbaits can't wiggle for long in my pond without snagging weeds. I had high hopes for a crankbaits suggested by a Bass Resourcer because it only dives to 2.5 to 3', but even that snares weeds with every other cast. This time of the year, I have to stay on the surface or fish with a single hook.

If you remember the small crank bait I used our second trip was very successful but finally broke the lip. It caught bass but the problem with all crank baits is #1 they get snagged in the net everytime, and #2 they get snagged in my fingers every time. Nothing like lipping a solid, flailing momma bass with a mouth full of hooks! I'm a one hook angler from now on. Bad enough leaving Katies Pond with bandaids on both thumbs because of bass teeth, I don't want anymore treble hooks in my pinkie! 😀

Our third trip I tried the flatside shallow crank but didn't get a sniff. T-rigged craws got their attention.

River fishing, while landing this fish in the current it swam all crazy and got wrapped up into 3 broken off lines so I couldnt reel it in, wife to the rescue as she waded out to grab the fish and lines.

It was a beautiful summer day! Squarebill bounced off wood was the ticket. Water high and dingy. Dropped my clicker in the lake. 20 and change, I think!

@Lottabass: I envy you being able to fish that way, bouncing a crankbaits off of wood. The little wood I have is guarded by weeds. However, I did tie on a crankbait for tomorrow's fishing, as well as a paddletail and walking bait, trying to raise my SvF score. The 2/0s work just as well, if not better, and poke a smaller hole in the bass.

@Swamp Girl Don't forget Katie, you can always rip a lipless through those weeds you have. Do the yo-yo and let it fall just into them and rip it out, rinse and repeat. I think you'd have some success with your aggressive mean greens.

I'm pumped, I finally get to fish again and for two days. Storms developing tomorrow afternoon preceded by scattered light rain, so I'm early-birding it for a change and going for it from the bank. Friday will be yak day and I cannot wait for my first float of the season. Big worms, senkos and I'm actually gonna toss topwater for a change, a popping frog to start tomorrow.

2 minutes ago, JonB2 said:

Don't forget Katie, you can always rip a lipless through those weeds you have. Do the yo-yo and let it fall just into them and rip it out, rinse and repeat. I think you'd have some success with your aggressive mean greens.

Thanks, Jon. I've been meaning to thank you too for sharing that you use 2/0 hooks when worm fishing. I had been using 3/0s, but switched and love the change. I almost tied a lipless onto a rig this afternoon for tomorrow morning's trip, but I will next time.

11 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

@Lottabass: I envy you being able to fish that way, bouncing a crankbaits off of wood. The little wood I have is guarded by weeds. However, I did tie on a crankbait for tomorrow's fishing, as well as a paddletail and walking bait, trying to raise my SvF score. The 2/0s work just as well, if not better, and poke a smaller hole in the bass.

Katie, Some can fish a crankbait through weeds, but not me.

Never have figured out the feel for it.

A pattern that works in the summer on the dirty water lakes I fish involves a bladed jig. There are scattered clumps of coontail in 4 to 8 fow on the deeper end of flats. Not a solid weedbed but clumps here and there. A 1/2 oz bladed jig, a stiff rod, and braid are used to snap that bait out of those clumps. I've tried doing this with a crankbait and it just gets balled up but a bladed jig comes out fairly clean if you snap it hard enough. Bass love to hang out in those clumps and will wack that bladed jig on the snap!

Can't see these clumps with the eyes but you can on a depthfinder. An area with these weed clumps at the right depth I'll cast around and try and hit them with the bladed jig.

Fish two and three for the year caught Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

Life is full and wonderful and I can't complain. But the fishing has seriously had to take a backseat this summer.

On 6/24/2026 at 7:18 AM, TnRiver46 said:

Went kayak fishing after work, all my luck was trolling a paddle tail soft plastic bait in the dead center of the river, go figure. The first fish was tiny and by the time I got my phone out to photograph it, the current had pushed me into a set of stairs and made for an odd background. Fun evening

Those steps have a mysterious and enchanting look to them. I'm expecting to see trolls, fairies, and other netherworld entities at any moment. What an interesting spot!

18 hours ago, throttleplate said:

River fishing, while landing this fish in the current it swam all crazy and got wrapped up into 3 broken off lines so I couldnt reel it in, wife to the rescue as she waded out to grab the fish and lines.

Dang what a Wife!!

@IcatchDinks: I'm happy your life is so full and happy too you took some time to post.

Man, sometimes I just know better and go anyways. The rain was continuous and ended up pounding down, so I tried as long as I could. River will be high and dirty by tomorrow as it got an easy 1-2" of quick rain. I ducked under a bridge down low and got a nice largemouth, good smallmouth, handful of dinks-dink+ and lost another similar largie.

It was better than zero and I told myself "take what the Lord gives". All fish came on a 3/16oz bitsy bug with a ned bug trailer. I brought minimal tackle, but moving baits would've had their way.

On 6/24/2026 at 9:28 AM, Swamp Girl said:

What's weird about a bass grabbing a Mach 5 Trick worm is that it would pretty much be as straight as an arrow in the water without any twitched undulations. I knew that when I trolled one last night, but was curious to see if a bass would hit a rigor mortis worm scooting through the water.

They wiggle like wild when you reel them, it’s pretty crazy looking

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

They wiggle like wild when you reel them, it’s pretty crazy looking

I did not know that. No wonder I'm having good success when I troll them!

2 hours ago, JonB2 said:

Man, sometimes I just know better and go anyways. The rain was continuous and ended up pounding down, so I tried as long as I could. River will be high and dirty by tomorrow as it got an easy 1-2" of quick rain. I ducked under a bridge down low and got a nice largemouth, good smallmouth, handful of dinks-dink+ and lost another similar largie.

It was better than zero and I told myself "take what the Lord gives". All fish came on a 3/16oz bitsy bug with a ned bug trailer. I brought minimal tackle, but moving baits would've had their way.

Those are brutes! Glad you went and shared!