2 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

I've learned the "feel" to worm a crankbait thru and over wood. It requires proper boat position, casting angles and cast length, retrieve speed, and depth the crankbait runs.

^This^ sounds like a lifetime of earned wisdom. I can feel the difference between wood, rock, and weeds with my soft plastics most of the time, but your challenge sounds much harder.

25 minutes ago, JonB2 said:

This was the big fish from yesterday.

There she is! Thanks!

1 hour ago, Lottabass said:

It happens but not often. When I do get stuck it's because I've let my attention span lapse. Every cast requires concentration. I've learned the "feel" to worm a crankbait thru and over wood. It requires proper boat position, casting angles and cast length, retrieve speed, and depth the crankbait runs.

A plug knocker works to free a bait most of the time.

There is a YT cooking show where the host says lifting the lid on your grill lets all the heat out.

He says, "If you're lookin', you ain't cookin'".

Same with squarebills, I say, "If you ain't hittin', you ain't fishin'."

It has been hot/humid/wild fire smoke here - to beat the heat I went out earlier on Saturday - no luck at first - then I threw this Baum BOFU 55 (bait in the picture) around some isolated reeds - I caught several nice LMB but the most fun one was when I threw the bait a bit too far and it got hung up on one of the reeds, so only the back appendages were in the water - WHAM ! this LMB came right up out of the water to grab it off the reed - an exciting catch !!

1 hour ago, WaskaCrank12 said:

this LMB came right up out of the water to grab it off the reed - an exciting catch !!

I LOVE when they do that. I caught my biggest lmb of 2026 (22.25") when my lure landed in a woody bush overhanging the water. I didn't want to ruin the spot by paddling to the lure, so I twitched it and the water stirred. I twitched it again and the water moved again. Then I twitched it free and the water erupted. So fun.

I'm launching this evening for a couple hours because it's been too windy to evening fish for a couple weeks or more and it'll finally be just barely okay (7 mph), but I worry I won't be able to see the Pond Weed beds where I've been catching bass. I might just go for an evening paddle and troll along the way.

Hit the Delaware today, weather was great and no smoke.landed 16 Smallmouths, 1 chub and a Walleye, lost a bunch on the jump.

Saw 2 Muskies. an eel and a good size catfish, also some big carp.

Water was clear and moving normal.

There's a lot of eel grass, but that's normal for this stretch.

Some caught on a 3" paddle tail, most on a Ned rig bounced off the bottom in 6' ft of water, biggest came on a fluke.

Nothing that big but those river smallies fight over their size!

I fished my pond for 2 hours and 15 minutes this evening. It was clear-skied and windier than I like, but I managed to boat ten, taking my 2026 total to 1,269. Look how fat this smallie was!

The smallie above makes this smallie look slender:

This was my biggest bass:

I caught these nice ones too, using a combination of a blue craw, a Deps Sakamatashad, and wacky worm on a jig:

Been getting out on and off the past month trying new lakes and stumbled upon some nice catches! I lost the rhythm on lakes I was fishing during Spring as they grassed out, and decided to mix things up by trying to learn the many deep, rocky, and clear fisheries in my area.

The highlight so far has been getting my girlfriend on a nice chunk of a largie, and catching my pb spot at 3lbs 10oz. On a 6ft ultralight!

Let that 1/8th oz drop shot sit with a Zoom trick worm while trying to adjust my raft fighting off the wind. Picked up line and felt a little weight so set the hook. It didnt fight so hard at first but the second I brought it about 10ft under the surface it did the classic spot maneuver of diving straight down like a freight train. After two strong runs the wind had pushed me right over a thick and gnarly tree where the spot decided it had its chance to break me off zipping straight into the tree. Meanwhile the lady had pulled up in the paddle board and was trying to tow me away from the tree but by then that thing was all wrapped up and I could see it down there about 8ft. Told her I was gonna swim for it hahaha because with the distortion of the water that thing looked 7 pounds!! Thank goodness letting some tension off the line did the trick and it worked it's way out of the tree and it was pretty tuckered out after the ordeal. Got it in the raft took a breath and celebrated. It feels good giving largemouth a break and going after these hard fighters.

I paddled 5 ish miles from the dock to a floating concert my buddy’s son was playing on Saturday. An older couple saw my fishing tackle and invited me on board their pontoon to talk fishing. Lightning delayed the concert and I was a tad apprehensive about paddling 5 miles back in a storm but they offered to load my kayak onto their pontoon to take me back to my dock, thanks to them !

Since I was back home by 7 i figured I would fish a while, got two SMB and a LMB

There were more boats at that concert than in Ft. Lauderdale ! I couldn’t zoom out far enough to capture it all