15 hours ago, Lottabass said:

The bass hit so hard today they loosened my upper plate!

Frog and Ol' Monster did the heavy liftin'.

Al, I see pure joy! Thanks for taking me along! I'm afraid to ask what is an upper plate....at our age it might be something we need!

16 hours ago, Lottabass said:

The bass hit so hard today they loosened my upper plate!

Frog and Ol' Monster did the heavy liftin'.

11 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Al, I see pure joy! Thanks for taking me along! I'm afraid to ask what is an upper plate....at our age it might be something we need!

My plastic teeth. Yes, need 'em to eat! If you still have the real ones count your blessings!

Quick after work dink session from the bank. Wind is going to wreck the weekend so I had to get out while I could.

Got one 6.94lbs on a Heddon One Knocker. Broad daylight, open water.

@LrgmouthShad: Great photo of a great fish.

Fished a lake I haven't been on for a month and left a lot to be desired on the water. I'm still learning my way lake fishing with a kayak, but figured some stuff out, so I'll start putting together some days here eventually. Deep edge off the weedline was best; as the day went on, I saw some big cruisers inside.

I brought all spinning rods, and mostly ran my MH with a texas rig. Power worms in electric grape and blue fleck worked best, but I also got a fish on a junebug thumper worm. I had multiple drops(too much tension) that felt like decent fish, and misses which were probably small bass. Likely going back again tomorrow.

My bank trips the last two mornings have produced a larger than average fish both mornings.

Both of them fell for this tiny bait fished weightless.

woops, playing around with google photos, didn't mean to add this. don;t know how to delete....?

2 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

woops

No pic, Al.

I haven’t had much time to fish lately, but picked off a few here and there.

Got out this morning early to the lake I was catching all the smallies on earlier in the year. I figured with all the largemouth in it, there must be a morning dark time topwater bite. Nope. Not today at least. After a whole lot of “not even a sniff” on top, I swapped plans and started just covering water with whatever subsurface bait fit the cover. I caught two largemouth that were a little shy of 5# (by that I mean they are 3# shy of 5#). I wasn’t feeling that so I started with the electronics and had lots of lookers but only one taker and I didn’t even see her until she came off the bottom for my minnow as I was burning it back for another cast. She was pushing 20” and 3-08. Love catching them, but just wish I could get a little more consistency there with them.

Fished same lake as yesterday on a sunny, warm Saturday and feel I got it done all things considered. Started slower, with a couple scattered fish. I made a couple moves and one shoreline started producing steady. It honestly seemed like when the rec traffic started, the bite fired for a bit. Noon to 1 was the best bite believe it or not, and I even got three solid fish during this time. Rest were keepers and of course a half dozen what I call dink+ fish(12-13").

I brought two casting rods and one spinning. I got the first fish on a thumper worm, then a few on the MH spinning with a 3/16oz tungsten and electric grape power worm, but the hot hand was a MH caster with straight 15lb big game green and 1/4oz tungsten with a blue fleck power worm. That rig caught all three of my bigger fish.

At one point jet skis were ripping around out in the middle, paddle boarders were poking around, pontoons were cruising the perimeter and there I was inside the weedline casting out deep and working it back catching bass. Fished 9-2 and felt just fine with what I did.

Well, I got in some more fishing the last couple days. Caught a handful of tiny smallmouth on Friday. I'll spare you the pictures. They were not worth the memory they are currently taking up in my photos app. But it was fun to feel the tug, regardless of size.

Then today, on a whim after a shopping trip, I decided to hit a retaining pond behind one of the shopping plazas in town here. It's crammed full of pumpkinseed and bluegill, and they're big enough that they will often hit my smaller crankbaits. I've only ever caught one other kind of fish: a tank of smallmouth last year.

I walked out there with only a medium-light pole and one crankbait tied on. As I started fishing, I could see the shapes of some nice largemouth chasing after it, like they were protecting egg beds. They would chase it real aggressive, and then turn back after I had reeled it a few feet. Could not get them to commit.

I finally hooked one after a poor cast fouled the line around the treble hooks. The strange action got the fish to bite, but also resulted in a poor hookup. It was nice one— probably about 2.5-3 lbs. But I couldn't manage to land him, he slipped the hook at the bank after a water churning fight.

I finally ran back to the car and tied on a T-rig senko. First cast, and a big ol mama hammered it. I could just make out her shadow in the water as she struck. Best fight I've had with a bass in a long time. Of course, like an idiot, I didn't bring my scale or tape with me, and had to run back to the car for them.

The fish was about 18 inches long, but she was so active it was hard to get an accurate measurement. She weighed almost exactly 3.75 lbs. I thought she might be heavy enough to become a new weight PB, but ended up being half a pound lighter than my current heaviest.

Anyway, after all that reading, here she is:

Today was to be extra-crispy...Forecast of 95 degrees with heat-index of 104...so I was on the water @ 5:30 AM.

Fishing was slow, even had difficulty getting crappie to bite. The wind was howling @ 21 MPH with gusts to 30...not ideal. Died down a little...I managed a few LMB's on white chatter bait / bladed jig. Was about ready to call it quits when Mrs. Daubs called and said she wanted to float with me, and was preparing snacks(!) I'll meet you at the ramp. She brought crab stuffed mushrooms, and they were still warm. Along with some fresh veggies and home-made ranch. Tasty for sure!

Spot locked over a brush pile and caught a few bass and just a handful of crappie. Decided to tie on a jig and 4.25" Freeloader minnow. Water visibility less than 2 feet and I was barely able to pick up the jig falling on the LiveScope at 54 feet. Managed to keep the jig on the screen...and was working it back to the boat. I'm still figuring things out with the FFS...didn't see the bass on the bottom...but I did see it come off the bottom and head right towards my jig. Felt the bite and set the hook(!) Went 19.5" / 3lbs-8oz.

That was fun watching the fish come off the bottom and grab the jig.

Solid bass, guys!

Finally made myself get out Friday night and do some night fishing, boy am I glad that I did. The forecast was only calling for 4-7 mph winds, but they were blowing a lot harder than that, had me a little concerned right at the start to be honest. I got on the water right at 11, it's always kind of surreal at the power plant lake at night.

The benefit is that visibility is way higher out there at night than any other lake you'll find. I really felt out of practice fishing in the dark, having not done it for a couple years, but it didn't take long before the bites started happening. The first one was a little 15" fish on my blue bladed jig, but the next one was much better. I like fishing a football jig on the rocky banks, but I don't carry many dark colored ones, mostly craw colors. Thankfully, I did have one @Siebert Outdoors 1/2oz black and blue football jig in the box. My first cast got pounded but it came off shortly after the hookset. A couple cast later, it got thumped again and the hookset stuck this time. My first big fish of the night was 20.75" and almost 5.5lbs.

Not long after that fish, another big fish crushed my War Eagle night spinnerbait. A second 20.75" and nearly 5.5 pounder hit the net.

After that, it was really a blur, I was getting so many bites and catching so many quality fish, I can't really remember what caught what or when except that I switched to a black and blue homemade bladed jig and started stroking it off the bottom and they really liked that. It didn't seem like there was many times during the night that I made more than 5-10 cast between bites, which is just hammering them on a lake where catching 10 fish is a real accomplishment a lot of days. I worked a 10" worm into the mix and I know that it caught one of the fish that was in my final 5 bag for the night, either a 19 or 19.50 inch fish, the other would have ate the black and blue bladed jig I believe.

I do know for sure that one of my retrieves with the 10" power worm, I was just starting to reel in to make another cast when it was abruptly stopped, and then slowly pulled down. It was pretty obvious from the hookset it wasn't a bass. It had even my 7' 5" H rod folded over and that 20lb Tatsu was singing as it sliced through the water. I was not surprised at all to see what had engulfed my worm. I don't think I've ever made a night trip out there without catching at least one flathead, I caught 2 this night, the other was much smaller.

As the night sky started to change from black to dark blue, my bladed jig again got thumped on the drop by another 20" fish, this one going 20.25" and and 4.75lbs.

That fish put my total for the night at 100.25", the first time I've ever broke the century mark from the kayak in Kansas.

Outstanding!!!

Mike

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

That fish put my total for the night at 100.25"

So very impressive. Man, you sure can catch 'em, Officer Clayton!

a couple from today

@Bluebasser86 is the yak tournament held at night time? I noticed your number cards in the photos. Didn't realize they had yak tournaments at night time.

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I don't carry many dark colored ones, mostly craw colors

Don't sweat it. I've found green pumpkin to work just as well as black at night. It's actually become my favorite night color. White also works well when there's a decent amount of moonlight, or in your case power plant light.

I finally landed a bass over 1.5 pounds in 2026. I started fishing at 6:00 AM and by noon had only one 1 pound bass and I thought the 2026 curse might stretch in to 2027. Then I landed a 3.5 pounder, followed by one that was around 6 pounds. Definitely over 5, but not sure it would have made seven. I didn't measure get a weight, or take a picture, because it was hooked deep, and I wanted to get it back in the water immediately.

33 minutes ago, gim said:

@Bluebasser86 is the yak tournament held at night time? I noticed your number cards in the photos. Didn't realize they had yak tournaments at night time.

I'm in the year long Catch 2026 challenge, trying to CPR 2,026 bass like I did with 2,025 bass last year. I wasn't going to do it but when I was on the podcast for being the first person other than Marty Hughes to accomplish it, my son told me I had to do it again, so now I'm slogging through it all over again. I don't know how Marty does it every year, it's not a fun challenge. There are some night time kayak tournaments, but unfortunately, none around here.

34 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Don't sweat it. I've found green pumpkin to work just as well as black at night. It's actually become my favorite night color. White also works well when there's a decent amount of moonlight, or in your case power plant light.

I'm sure, kind of a confidence thing though and they always seem to really like the blues at this lake. I do agree that the white seems to be a better option when the moon is bright.

Hooray for @king fisher!

I fished my pond for a couple hours this afternoon and caught 14, giving me 1,067 for 2025. No clouds made for less than ideal fishing and the eagles were circling, so I fished mid-pond weed beds, figuring the bass would be bunkered. Today, lily pads were best, but I pulled a few from pond weed. Nothing from grass. All on T-rigged worms. My pond sure grows some slabs:

I've caught so many of them, but I never acclimate to their strength. Their power always dazzle me. Here's a well-fed smallmouth:

And here are some more green bass:

l

5 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

a couple from today

Couple nice smallies for the way the fishing has been!