Culverts are always good. Just like trapping animals, it’s  a funnel/choke point . 

We have a bunch of them on the large reservoirs too, mostly when the water goes under a highway 

On ‎1‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 7:33 PM, NorcalBassin said:

Had another above average winter day with 30+ up to 3lbs. Definitely the most consistent winter action we've ever had. Not sure if I'm getting better or just lucky but I'll gladly take it either way. Water temp up to 54* and the lake has risen three feet in the past week with all the rain/snow.

 

 

Pops with the fish of the day (3.1 lbs)

Beautiful country...glad water is on the rise.

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Got in an hour or two off the dock. Can’t brag about the size but I suppose I can brag about not needing sleeves 

Nice....I got some that size yesterday.  Was crazy...haven't had that many dinks in awhile.

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Got in an hour or two off the dock. Can’t brag about the size but I suppose I can brag about not needing sleeves 

Nice! Right now I need about three sets of sleeves, my snowmobile coat and a toque and neck warmer along with heavy mitts! Oh yeah, and there’s about 16” of ice on the lake too, I’d take those dink fish all day long right now. 

20 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Better get you some Mattlures catfish swimbaits.

You think how long is that baby catfish? The tail is a little bigger than 1”. Maybe time to get my hudd out.

18 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Culverts are always good. Just like trapping animals, it’s  a funnel/choke point . 

We have a bunch of them on the large reservoirs too, mostly when the water goes under a highway 

And an ideal place, from within its dark recess, for a bass to plan an ambush.

Ok ok I'll say it, at -40 temps I say it's only fair we shut this thread down until mid-March. It's only fair. ?

21 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Ok ok I'll say it, at -40 temps I say it's only fair we shut this thread down until mid-March. It's only fair. ?

I can't imagine what-40 would feel like.

growing up in eastern Iowa I remember a couple -20 days.

It might get below zero tonight here in KC, but that is relatively rare here. by Friday it is supposed to be around 49 degrees. The biggest problem here is the huge swings in temperature. You never get conditioned to  the cold.

Don't want to shut the thread down yet. I plan on trying to catch a fat power plant lake Bass Friday.

 

Supposed to be 12 for a high tomorrow, 65 for a high Monday, crazy weather swing. Looks like there's a good chance I'll get out Friday though ?

That's nuts.  We're getting a deep freeze.  Currently 9° and dropping.

13 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Ok ok I'll say it, at -40 temps I say it's only fair we shut this thread down until mid-March. It's only fair. ?

In seeing this morning’s weather report, my thoughts are with you guys in that everyone makes it through the freezing weather okay. Makes me really appreciate the weather out in my neck of the woods....

Had a great evening fishing with my friend Mike tonight, who had never before fished for bass with a jig. Mike took to the jig and trailer like a fish to water and was setting the hook like a pro right from the start. We had steady action for an hour with 2 to 4 pounders one after the other, in spite of cold air (64 deg) and a north wind. Quote of the day from Mike: "Bass really seem to love this jig thing."

 

Nice ! I need to rethink this jig thing. All I catch with them is weeds.

Super bowl Sunday crappies. Caught all kinds of small bluegill and largemouth too. Basically I caught a lot of the same fish as @Bluebasser86, only much smaller 

Snuck out before the Super Bowl to the pond for 3/4 hour with a Chatterbait, and nailed the nice (3-7) female pictured here, followed by a half dozen bucks. The surprise for me was the iridescent crappie, the first I'd caught in years. If mine and the preceding two posts are indicative, crappie come out in numbers on Super Bowl Sunday.

 

Brand new Shimano SLX reel. First bass caught on it... 

3.48 lb Brown! After fishing mud all last year it felt so alien to fish crystal clear blue water! We could see bottom at 15 feet! 

 

Took some time to find fish but when we did they were piled up and they were all fat and chewing up a 3” swimbait. Caught a nice 3.2lb large on it not long after the smallmouth. 

But I had to cut that bait off after I had three largemouth in the 2-3lb range shake it within feet of the boat. 

 

The VMC jig hook and Strike king rage swimmer didn’t let me down though! 

I watched this 4.1lb largemouth follow the lure up to the boat. I kept a steady reel speed until the lure was about 3 feet below the surface then killed it and let it coast in just below my rod tip and the fish veered off under the boat. I waited what felt like a small eternity (probably 2 seconds) and gave the rod the slightest twitch, and that got her to thump it! She pulled drag when I set the hook, but she didn’t get far! 

Last weekend Ned was the bait of choice!

Local mud hole, starting to clear up some but still on the murky side. Maybe 4-5 foot visibility. 38° water. 

Couple fat 3.5 lbers liked the 4” TuRD Hula Stick worm. Had at least another 7-8 (kinda lost count) smaller bass eat it too. And the crappie liked to pick it up and swim away with it as well but none of them would just eat it so I could get a hook in them. 

My biggest of the day was this 4.5lb chunker, liked it so much she almost swallowed it before I got the hook set! Super fun fight on a medium spinning rod and 10lb braid! 

@Fairtax4me, those are some studs!

you guys are catching nice ones! all we are getting up here is freezing ca ca ca coldddddddd!!!!!!! beautiful peacock!and smallie  pics

Had to go to the dentist after work from 3-4. Figured I might as well go fish off the dock, got started about 4:45 and quit around 6. Caught a largemouth on a smoke grub on second cast, yellow perch on third. Two set lines with nightcrawlers got no action. While down there I saw Canada geese, wild turkeys, belted kingfishers, pileated woodpeckers (that have made some holes in my siding.... angry face emoji) and I almost hit a herd of 13 does on my way out. The turkeys were in the treetops of the picture with no fish, making all kinds of racket 

Went out Sunday and broke some ice with the new Hobie.  Only caught one, but she was as good as I get from that water.  Unfortunately,  I put a new, crap SD in the phone and this is all that's left of the pics.  Smidge over 4#...on brand new hair made by a couple local brothers.

Pic blows, but little else to brag about this time of year...:)

52 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Went out Sunday and broke some ice with the new Hobie.  Only caught one, but she was as good as I get from that water.  Unfortunately,  I put a new, crap SD in the phone and this is all that's left of the pics.  Smidge over 4#...on brand new hair made by a couple local brothers.

Pic blows, but little else to brag about this time of year...:)

I can tell from the picture that it’s big enough to eat most of the largemouth I catch 

On 2/4/2019 at 4:41 PM, lonnie g said:

you guys are catching nice ones! all we are getting up here is freezing ca ca ca coldddddddd!!!!!!! beautiful peacock!and smallie  pics

Yeah last week we had our coldest stretch yet this winter, with several days that never made it above freezing and multiple nights in the low teens to near single digit temps. 

Today it was 77°. 

@Fairtax4me great reports brother! Keep me coming!

Yesterday before work I hit the local mud hole again for about an hour from the bank. Found a sweet spot with crappie piled up in the shallows and bass sitting out a bit deeper. 

Two dinks and this nice one that went just shy of 4lbs! 

 

I spooked the crappie off the bank just beyond casting distance and saw a couple big swirls out in the middle of the school. I tried for about 10 minutes but just couldn’t quite get a lure out far enough to get any attention from the bass that were chasing them. 

 

I havent been out this year yet, just catching a few bank fishing. Today was very windy and cool but didnt feel like going and battling the wind. 

So I did me some lazy man dock fishing and caught me a 5.10 on a little bream.

The beddin' is starting too. They have began scooping right by my bank, like they do every year.

This fish was out away from the bank, but was holding just offshore gettin' ready !!