8 hours ago, JWall14 said:

OH BOY. Felt like summer. With air temps in the 80s for the weekend (back in the 50s now), my brother and I hit the river and caught a decent bag of 12.5 lbs worth of smallmouth. My brother caught his new PB smallie for 2-7, and I added two 3-0s, and two 2-0s. All were around beds. Cool looking fish as well. We did leave some beds- only targeted the bigger fish to give the smaller ones a break.

Those are pretty smallies.  Colors look really good on them 

Just got back from a 3 day fishing/camping trip with my wife and boys and we had a blast. Wind was a bear the last couple days but I had a plan in case that happened and it worked out great. Nicole and I started out chasing smallmouth and they were about jumping in the boat. We had a lot of fun chasing them even though they were mostly small.

We did find some bigger ones.

and there was tons of wipers and white bass mixed in with them that really seemed to like small jerkbaits.

Plus the crappie were just starting to spawn so we were getting quite a few of those also.

Then the wind showed up. I went out early before everyone woke up and the wind got strong and caught a dozen white bass and tossed them in the livewell. When everyone woke up, I broke out the big rods and I had the perfect spot to park the boat where it would be protected and we could have a nice spot to sit on the gravel point. The next day and a half we just hammered the blue cats. None of them were very big, but my wife and boys really had a ball reeling them in and my ribs are bruised from setting the hook on so many of them. Had a few doubles and even a triple with the 3 rods I had out. It was all I could do to keep up with them a few times. The boys did a lot of looking for cool rocks, found 5 lures, some cool sticks, and peed on everything like a couple stray dogs in between bites. 

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Just got back from a 3 day fishing/camping trip with my wife and boys and we had a blast. Wind was a bear the last couple days but I had a plan in case that happened and it worked out great. Nicole and I started out chasing smallmouth and they were about jumping in the boat. We had a lot of fun chasing them even though they were mostly small.

We did find some bigger ones.

and there was tons of wipers and white bass mixed in with them that really seemed to like small jerkbaits.

Plus the crappie were just starting to spawn so we were getting quite a few of those also.

Then the wind showed up. I went out early before everyone woke up and the wind got strong and caught a dozen white bass and tossed them in the livewell. When everyone woke up, I broke out the big rods and I had the perfect spot to park the boat where it would be protected and we could have a nice spot to sit on the gravel point. The next day and a half we just hammered the blue cats. None of them were very big, but my wife and boys really had a ball reeling them in and my ribs are bruised from setting the hook on so many of them. Had a few doubles and even a triple with the 3 rods I had out. It was all I could do to keep up with them a few times. The boys did a lot of looking for cool rocks, found 5 lures, some cool sticks, and peed on everything like a couple stray dogs in between bites. 

 

I think your family will remember those days camping/fishing/catching for a long time. 

13 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Just got back from a 3 day fishing/camping trip with my wife and boys and we had a blast. Wind was a bear the last couple days but I had a plan in case that happened and it worked out great. Nicole and I started out chasing smallmouth and they were about jumping in the boat. We had a lot of fun chasing them even though they were mostly small.

We did find some bigger ones.

and there was tons of wipers and white bass mixed in with them that really seemed to like small jerkbaits.

Plus the crappie were just starting to spawn so we were getting quite a few of those also.

Then the wind showed up. I went out early before everyone woke up and the wind got strong and caught a dozen white bass and tossed them in the livewell. When everyone woke up, I broke out the big rods and I had the perfect spot to park the boat where it would be protected and we could have a nice spot to sit on the gravel point. The next day and a half we just hammered the blue cats. None of them were very big, but my wife and boys really had a ball reeling them in and my ribs are bruised from setting the hook on so many of them. Had a few doubles and even a triple with the 3 rods I had out. It was all I could do to keep up with them a few times. The boys did a lot of looking for cool rocks, found 5 lures, some cool sticks, and peed on everything like a couple stray dogs in between bites. 

Looks like you got some nice fish, and some happy little fishing partners. Hard to beat that!

Today was old school. Stopped off for two hours after work. We had a lot of rain the past few days and had thunderstorms earlier today. The water level in the pond is high, so I figured the bite may be off. It was. Started with a jerkbait. Then a Zoom Trick weightless TR, a XZone Adrenaline Craw...nuthin. So I went back in time and rigged a ol’ fashioned Mann’s Jelly Worm in blackberry with a 1/8 oz tungsten bullet weight on a Gamakatsu 3/0 EWG hook. Had that rigged on my Falcon Lowrider MHF and a Daiwa Fuego CT. It’s a rarity that I add weight to Texas rigs as the pond is mostly shallow and weights tend to get fouled in muck. I cast parallel to the bank and worked it back, and recast a bit further out. I don’t know if it sank more than 6” before it got slammed hard. I don’t even recall setting the hook. I think it hit it so hard it set the hook itself. It’s a nice bass, but I thought it was bigger. It really fought hard and it came all the way to the bank and into the weeds. I had no problem horsing it out with the Falcon. I’m really loving that combo! It spooled with 10 lb Berkley Big Game. 
 

1 minute ago, BrianMDTX said:

Today was old school. Stopped off for two hours after work. We had a lot of rain the past few days and had thunderstorms earlier today. The water level in the pond is high, so I figured the bite may be off. It was. Started with a jerkbait. Then a Zoom Trick weightless TR, a XZone Adrenaline Craw...nuthin. So I went back in time and rigged a ol’ fashioned Mann’s Jelly Worm in blackberry with a 1/8 oz tungsten bullet weight on a Gamakatsu 3/0 EWG hook. Had that rigged on my Falcon Lowrider MHF and a Daiwa Fuego CT. It’s a rarity that I add weight to Texas rigs as the pond is mostly shallow and weights tend to get fouled in muck. I cast parallel to the bank and worked it back, and recast a bit further out. I don’t know if it sank more than 6” before it got slammed hard. I don’t even recall setting the hook. I think it hit it so hard it set the hook itself. It’s a nice bass, but I thought it was bigger. It really fought hard and it came all the way to the bank and into the weeds. I had no problem horsing it out with the Falcon. I’m really loving that combo! It spooled with 10 lb Berkley Big Game. 
 

Nice one !

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice one !

Thanks. If you’re only going to catch one, it’s a lot better than a solo dink lol. 
 

Which is still better than the dreaded skunk! ?

I think I caught this bass in March. Here is yesterday’s pic:

 

This bass weighed 3.64 lbs on my scale. This is the bass from March. It weighed 3.48 lbs. 

 

It seems to have the same small marking under the lateral line, as well as a dark spot on the pectoral fin. Very close in weight as well and caught in the same area of the pond. 

Obviously that is a lucky shirt. @BrianMDTX ?

6 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

I think I caught this bass in March. Here is yesterday’s pic:

 

This bass weighed 3.64 lbs on my scale. This is the bass from March. It weighed 3.48 lbs. 

 

It seems to have the same small marking under the lateral line, as well as a dark spot on the pectoral fin. Very close in weight as well and caught in the same area of the pond. 

Sure looks like the same one to me!!!

38 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

Obviously that is a lucky shirt. @BrianMDTX ?

Agreed.  But unlike some MLB player that doesn’t wash his lucky hat, I do believe in laundry! 
 

But I do need to expand my choice in fishing attire. 

Hit the lake again for a hour. Found a 4-9 bed fish that was fun to work. We left 3 other bedders because they were small(er) and I don't love the idea of catching every bed fish.

 

My brother had one get so angry that he ate the drop shot weight, and not the bright white and chartreuse bait above it's head. We laughed about that for a while.

After some fustrating days of losing big fish, I finally landed a decent one. Just over 7lbs. It hit a Sugar Plum Yum Dinger rigged wacky. Also caught a couple of other nice fish.

21 minutes ago, Biglittle8 said:

After some fustrating days of losing big fish, I finally landed a decent one. Just over 7lbs. It hit a Sugar Plum Yum Dinger rigged wacky. Also caught a couple of other nice fish.

G-G-G-G-G-GIANT BASS!!! Great fish!

Spooled some 6# Maxima- which really has the diameter of 8# line- on my Curado MGL 71, and fished some little baits today- a Pointer 78, an Ima finesse popper, and a Spinbait 80. Gotta fish a ned one of these days; been over a year since I tried that 

 

The more I fish the medium power Curado rod, the more I like it. It feels more powerful than it is, but that's probably due to the extra-fast taper. Casts and fishes the little baits great, and anyway I bought it for 1/3rd off, so I'm a happy camper.

 

Caught 15 or so bass on the three baits, plus 2 big crappies, and 3 big bluegills. One bass turned out to be "pictureworthy".

 

 

The bite was on last night with lots of bass up shallow.  I lost more than I'd care to admit but it was the most fun I've had in a while fishing.  Here's a decent 2lb 8oz

Another nice lunch break river fish.  Good old ZMan TRD.

Went out last night for a couple of hours.  Caught 8 LM.  Most were pounders.  This one was 2.56.

 

 

Not sure what got him on the side but something tried to take a chunk.

 

 

The smallies were frustrating today. Working a large flat at depths of 10' - 15', we saw a few cruising and a number of others would follow close to the boat and then sit and stare at the suspending jerkbaits we were throwing. When the bait was twitched the bass would mosey off. Aargh!

 

The cooperative 3.99 lb. smallmouth above took a Pointer 78 in a perch pattern. 

Stopped to take a few casts before work Fri. Morn. Got this 4-5 on a buzzbait. 

It was a Menderchuck Kind of Morning ~

Fish Hard 

?

A-Jay

Great fish!!!

One question:  Have you ever caught a little smallie?

 

I don't think he has. He writes 4+ only on all his baits.