Boxing Day, the best day of the year. Christmas is over and the smallies are hungry! 62 degree air (burning up!) and 54 degree water. Long day with not too many bites but got some good ones! My buddies were doing good with Ned rigs so I put a zoom dead ringer on an 1/8 oz head and thunk...... 18” fish. Release that one cast back out and thunk........ 20” fish . Also I forgot to mention there was a guy wakeboarding by us for a while 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Midwest Fisherman said:

Ponds finally opened up today and had great success with the TRD Spinz, landed about 15 using them for the first time. Not sure how popular they are but can be a little hit and miss, had at least 6 misses which I’m assuming were short strikes due to the cooler temps, think I’ll try inserting the Spinz below the hook next outing. Total catches were over 20 in a 7 hour day. 

 

 

 

Wait a few seconds before you set the hook. Usually if they pick it up by the tail and start swimming away they’ll thump it in the rest of the way 2-3 seconds later and you’ll feel the second thump. Just don’t put too much pressure on it if they feel you pulling back they might spit it. If they do don’t reel it back in just leave it on the bottom and twitch it a bunch, quite often they’ll pick it back up and hit it harder the second time. Majority of my ned fish lately I’ve had to wait 8-10 seconds to set the hook because they’re just grabbing the tail and swimming off with it. 

 

 

Long day and incredibly slow bite, but I got 9 in 7 hours. 
Most in the 1.5lb range, but got a couple 3s out in deeper water. 

Kicker was this 21” 5.5lb that I caught on my ultralight rod with a tiny jig head and a white fluke jr on the bottom in 25fow. 

On 12/25/2019 at 5:11 PM, Fairtax4me said:

I’ve been putting Ned to work the last  few weeks. Not catching huge numbers, but catching some quality fish thrown in the mix for sure. 
Lots of 2-3lbs, and in the last few days I’ve landed multiple 5lbers. 
There’s a long skinny 22” 4.5lb, a short fat 4.9 that was 19” from today. And a nice chunky 5.9lb 21-1/2” from yesterday. 
 

Sorry, pics loaded sideways and I can’t figure out how to make them right for some reason 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those are some nice fish for the Ned rig! Were you mostly dead sticking it or swimming it or.... ? 

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Boxing Day, the best day of the year. Christmas is over and the smallies are hungry! 62 degree air (burning up!) and 54 degree water. Long day with not too many bites but got some good ones! My buddies were doing good with Ned rigs so I put a zoom dead ringer on an 1/8 oz head and thunk...... 18” fish. Release that one cast back out and thunk........ 20” fish . Also I forgot to mention there was a guy wakeboarding by us for a while 

 

 

 

Quite the quality bag! Is that common for that lake or an unusual day?! Nice that you are able to get out and fish!

5 hours ago, ryanerb said:

Those are some nice fish for the Ned rig! Were you mostly dead sticking it or swimming it or.... ? 

Quite the quality bag! Is that common for that lake or an unusual day?! Nice that you are able to get out and fish!

This time of year it’s very common. We caught em good there all last winter from mid December to mid February. Then again a buddy sent me a picture of a big bag of smallmouth from a different lake yesterday also. Smallmouth and winter just go together like peanut butter and jelly around here 

Love the fluffy clouds over your head....weather is so warm here...I was out yesterday too...but only one good LMB over three.  Am taking out the aqua view....gotta see some of what's there!!!

Put in a quick afternoon trip and the spots rewarded us with the best action we've had in a while.

 

Pops with one of many that were all schooled up and around this same size. All of his came on a Ned.

 

Caught all of mine on a drop shot (horizontal).

 

They've all been eating well and had their post-Christmas bellies.

 

 

Nice and what an excellent pic ! 

Congrats

A-Jay

Caught this one this morning slow rolling a spinner bait in the cold water of my in-laws pond.  3.97lbs

 

 

19 hours ago, ryanerb said:

Those are some nice fish for the Ned rig! Were you mostly dead sticking it or swimming it or.... ? 

Neither. Kinda hard to explain the technique I use but it’s basically a very short twitch/hop. Like an inch at a time. Move about 8-12 inches then pause for a few seconds. The bait comes up off the bottom just barely enough to not get stuck in the leaves and mud. With water temps now getting down into the upper 30s on the lakes I normally fish, the retrieve is super slow. A long cast takes around 4-5 minutes to retrieve, depending how deep it is. 

Woke up to a deteriorating weather forecast, so nixed the boat plans for a day and went into work instead. Stopped at a pond afterward to try and catch some green. Took a while to figure out where they were grouped up at, but finally found them at the opposite end of a 4.5 acre lake from where I last connected with them. Was able to pick off 16 in under 2 hours, with a flurry of 10 in about 45 minutes from the best spot. A little better quality than what I'd been on. 1/2 ZinkerZ trimmed even shorter and fished slow continues to do all the damage. Here's a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13 hours ago, NorcalBassin said:

Put in a quick afternoon trip and the spots rewarded us with the best action we've had in a while.

 

Pops with one of many that were all schooled up and around this same size. All of his came on a Ned.

 

 

Caught all of mine on a drop shot (horizontal).

 

 

They've all been eating well and had their post-Christmas bellies.

 

 

 

 

Looks like a fun day and similar to a lake I fish. 

Great pics and thanks for the great report!!

Experienced a very good bite this afternoon. Seemed more like early spring than late Dec. Fished a large neighborhood lake near me that has a shad forage base. Shad were splashing on top and bass were eating my small lipless crank. Caught 5 between 2-4 lb. and several smaller. Good way to close out 2019. Like Sinatra sang it's been a very good year.

On 12/27/2019 at 8:22 PM, Team9nine said:

Woke up to a deteriorating weather forecast, so nixed the boat plans for a day and went into work instead. Stopped at a pond afterward to try and catch some green. Took a while to figure out where they were grouped up at, but finally found them at the opposite end of a 4.5 acre lake from where I last connected with them. Was able to pick off 16 in under 2 hours, with a flurry of 10 in about 45 minutes from the best spot. A little better quality than what I'd been on. 1/2 ZinkerZ trimmed even shorter and fished slow continues to do all the damage. Here's a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to ask.....  Where was this at?  I live in Indy and it sort of looks familiar.  

This was at a corporate pond I have permission to fish on the NW side of town (Park 100 general area).

Not much work yet today so guess what I did? 
Caught it on a 6 inch senko.

I had to get New brakes and the rotors turned on my truck today but lucky for me, my buddy Dave offered me a boat ride. Slow start with big waves on my offshore stuff, we had to find some sheltered areas. Caught a lot of 1 lb bass and saw loons. Finally right before dark, the waves were a little smaller and we were able to fish offshore (thanks to Dave’s big boat and 101 lb thrust driving skills). I got a 17 &3/4” on my poor mans shakey head and one pushing 20” (board stopped at 18) On a spoon
 

edit: my buddy just sent me the pics of the two bigger ones. Top two pics are the same Two fish laying on the measuring Board 

Wish I knew a shop here that turned rotors. Any more they all say they have to be replaced because by the time the pads are worn the rotors are too thin. Nice smallies, too. I miss creek wading for them.

This ole boy works from home so he doesn’t answer to anyone. I asked him why shops don’t turn rotors and he rubbed his fingers together and said “they’re after that quick money!” Hahaha

cherokee has been hot folks!

 

The best way to start a new year

 

 

 

Snuck in a quick trip late yesterday afternoon and the fish must've started drinking early because they just weren't cooperating. Only a half dozen to the boat, but a handful of 1-2 pounders still beats working a full day on New Year's Eve.

 

You know it's slow when my dad wants to take a pic of this one...

 

Pops with the 2# fish of the day

 

Most of my damage was on a butt ugly tube (quite fitting)

Haven't fished much since last August, but walked the banks for a bit today with a couple jerkbaits.

 

Water temps are in the high 30's, so I wasn't expecting much, especially from the shore. I covered a fair amount of water, and found a bunch of fish on a main lake point though, ~10 bass, ~5 or 6 jumbo crappies, and 1 unlucky rainbow trout.

 

I've caught dozens on brook trouts on jerkbaits, but never a rainbow, until today that is. Not a bad way to ring in the new year, and I caught some dinner too!

 

 

 

Not a bad day, air temps are hovering around 40°. Bite seemed to slow just a little but they still hit it with a good thump and the fight is more like spring or fall. Landed 14 total using a variety of Z-man finesse plastics. Looks as though this weather will continue for at least another week 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With most of the water frozen and the rivers mainly unnavigable, I took my annual trip to my secret warm springs (not actually a secret)

It's not much, but it keeps the cabin fever at bay since I can't manage to be interested by ice fishing.

1 for 1 in 2020. Only boat to get a limit. Was on some decent fish but the sky was high with absolutely ? zero wind. Made it a grind but picked up the faithful bitsy bug and put 5 in the boat.