Back in the saddle (short after work session). Loving the new graph! Fellow forum member @Jerminationshowed me lots of tricks with it. My side imaging does hit the foot of the motor (on the right) sometimes as I have no jack plate but I can trim it up and clear it (I think)

Absolutely fantastic!  Congratulations!  You worked hard on this all season long, and that work paid off.  Well done!

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Day 2 of the kayak series championship. Not surprisingly, there were several more kayaks fishing the area I fished on day 1 on the morning of the second day. We all talked at the ramp and everyone was generous in letting me decide where I was going to start since I was leading. I started the same spot I did on day 1 and started very similarly, dumping a fish on one of my first cast with the bladed jig. My very next cast back, I caught my first of the morning at 13.5". I continued down the bank and had no more bites. When I got to the marina dock walkway, I'd made an adjustment from day 1, swapping my 6th Sense Flush out for a black and blue Strike King Ocho to fish in the more stained water around the docks. It paid off with 2 keepers out from under the walkway, a 13" and 13.75" fish. Working back out from behind the docks, I decided to switch from fishing the bladed jig to a black and red Booyah Covert spinnerbait. It took 2 cast for a 15" fish to smash it. When I got past the point I'd started at, I switched back to the bladed jig and was actually daydreaming pretty badly because I'd caught no fish on that stretch all day the day before. Thankfully, the 15.75" fish that was there really stopped my bait hard so there was no way for me to miss the bite. 7:23AM, not even an hour into the morning and I had my 5th fish. Wasn't a big limit, but it was in the low 70's like I thought I'd need at a minimum to make it so someone would really have to work to overtake me. From that point on, it was a serious dink fest. I caught one more 13.25" fish on a spinnerbait to cull up 1/4" to 71.25" on the day, and lost a couple I think would have helped, but otherwise I caught a bunch of fish I didn't even have to measure to tell if they were bigger than 13.25". I did have a bass break me off on the hook set with the Ocho, then immediately eat the same bait when I retied and cast back in. Got my lost bait and hook back. I also had a white bass that I caught, and when I tossed it back in the water, it jumped right back into my kayak. It was a difficult day for everyone though and at the end of the day, my 158.5 total inches was still well ahead of second at 145.75 inches and my big fish was 4" bigger than any other caught. So I wrapped up championship weekend with first place, big bass, and also got my AOY award for the regular season. Really enjoyed the kayak tournaments a lot and met a lot of good people this year doing them. 

 

@Bluebasser86, congratulations on your trifecta Clayton! Well done and well deserved for a great season!

Congrats @Bluebasser86! Those are some nice looking trophies. Thanks for taking us along the journey with you. Always a good read.

I had a window from 4:30 to 6:30 and got a decent one on the poor man’s Ned rig 

Caught three largemouth, and a beautiful evening.  

Got a new swimbait the other day. 45 minutes after work resulted in 4 bites and 2 dinks on the bank. Not the size I was hoping for, but encouraging to have that much action with a big bait that fast. 

That bait is HUGE!!!

Most definitely not a “toad”, but my first fish on one. Haven’t really thrown top water much but was organizing baits and found a bag of toads I picked up at some point. Watched a few videos last night (including Glenn’s) on how to fish them so I stopped this AM on the way to work and caught two in about 20 mins. Now I’m wondering why I haven’t tried this sooner. Have another pond full of weeds that I cannot wait to check out after work. 

40 minutes ago, Holetail said:

Most definitely not a “toad”, but my first fish on one. Haven’t really thrown top water much but was organizing baits and found a bag of toads I picked up at some point. Watched a few videos last night (including Glenn’s) on how to fish them so I stopped this AM on the way to work and caught two in about 20 mins. Now I’m wondering why I haven’t tried this sooner. Have another pond full of weeds that I cannot wait to check out after work. 

Love the toad 

My buddy got a monster from the back of the boat this evening, it was around 21” and weighed 5 even. Definitely taller and fatter than what we usually encounter! I caught a few small bass and of course a drum 

Got up at 3:45am yesterday morning to meet my fishing buddy Robert Perez to drive up to Headwaters adjacent to Stickmarsh. We got there at daybreak & fished until 1:30pm. The plan was to fish the deeper basins & holes with crank baits and to get more familiar with some baits we are planning to take down to Mexico in October at lake Baccarac. We started catching random fish at each stop. Some dinks & some between 3-5. Caught fish on jerk baits shallow & deep, paddle tail swimbaits & crank baits. At around 1pm I put on a Bucca bull shad to try it out. I had never thrown it before. I casted parallel to a weed line off the shoreline near deep water & got an explosive hit after a one or two cranks. It was not nearly as big as we suspected based on the hit but was the best for the day. 

 

You're spoiled...Looks like a fine fish to me.

 

No pictures tonight lol, new phone and didn't know how to turn the flash on the camera on. Smartphone dumb owner, going from a iPhone to Android is polarizing. Got out late it was about dark when I got there planned on throwing the new spro jr frog in black. Walks extremely easy out of the box, tried the normal spots heading towards where I know they are for sure. Nothing at the first three spots now it's dark, that's not a problem helps me not overthink my cadence. Get to the good spot first cast I get a decent blow up completely blow the hookset and that's a understatement lol. Couple more blow ups no takers a few more mistakes and then I caught one probably between 14-16 inches. I was happy my first frog fish at night that's a blast just waiting to here that splash. I love night fishing it helps you develop your reflexes and concentration. 

12 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

At around 1pm I put on a Bucca bull shad to try it out.

That's a heck of a first fish on the first day you ever threw a bull shad... congrats!

If anyone wants some hints on how to catch dinks on a 110 jr+1 I'm pretty sure I have it dialed.

 

Pops with the only scoreable bass of the morning.

 

Most entertaining part of the morning... fella really wanted to get into the boat with us.

 

On 9/17/2021 at 5:32 AM, GRiver said:

That bait is HUGE!!!

Nah, the fish are just small. It's about 7" and 3oz. 

55 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Nah, the fish are just small. It's about 7" and 3oz. 

Working on catching your own bait now?

5 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Working on catching your own bait now?

Not mine, a local guy gave me one to fish to see if it would work or not. 

Got the kayak out today at a new lake all small fish on a green pumpkin watermelon creature hawg with a pegged 1/8 Oz weight. I caught 7 fish total not too bad I guess not the size I was looking for though. 

21 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Not mine, a local guy gave me one to fish to see if it would work or not. 

I was talking the fish you caught with it...it's about the right size to catch a hawg.

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

I was talking the fish you caught with it...it's about the right size to catch a hawg.

I've used bass for live bait for flatheads before, they work pretty well. I've had a few big bass eat little bass I was reeling in too, and there's some in that lake that could eat that smaller one I caught no problem. 

8 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I've used bass for live bait for flatheads before, they work pretty well. I've had a few big bass eat little bass I was reeling in too, and there's some in that lake that could eat that smaller one I caught no problem. 

Can't do that up here - bass, perch, sunnies, crappie...all illegal to use as bait in MN.

My buddy took me fishing in the rain, caught some decent ones and saw an osprey ripping a fish apart

Had a great day yesterday.  Did a dawn-dusk canoe/portage trip into a back lake with a buddy.  He showed me how to fish structure, incl. hauling a 5# largemouth off a downed tree.  We thoroughly worked a big log that ran down a steep slope 20+ft of water and he broke off what he guesstimated was 6#+ at the boat (8# fluoro, working a drop shot).  It did a wallowing jump right at the canoe and it was massive - visibly bigger than his 5#.  He needed a moment after that but laughed it off.  lol

 

I caught quite a few small bass and a handful of decent ones including my PB largemouth off that big log that we estimated at 3# and some change.  I grew up catching smallmouth and have really only started targeting largemouth this year, and what I learned yesterday will really help me on future trips.

 

As the sun was going down I tied on a brand new 100mm Yo Zuri 3D Pencil Popper that I really wanted to try, and tossed it out over a hard rock shoal.   Time was running out as we didn’t want to be walking the 3/4 mile out in the dark, so I said “OK, last cast” and cranked it out.  I walked it maybe 10ft. and it got whacked at but missed, then 10ft. later hooked up the orange-est smallmouth I’ve ever seen.  I have not done any adjustment to the photo attached, but would say he was even more orange in person.   It was certainly a great day!