Fished today from 7-12. Caught 13, 1 on a plopper, 3 on a toad, 3 on a bladed jig and 6 on a spinnerbait, with two decent fish on the spinnerbait that weighed 3-2 and 3-4. 

22 hours ago, hokiehunter373 said:

I'll be back at it tonight looking for something with some more size to it.

Unfortunately didn't find any size but found numbers.  Spinnerbait bite was off, they didn't want the savage gear bluegill swimbait, but they did want the roboworm... again.  Going to need to purchase a bulk supply here soon.  Caught 11 bass and a big bluegill in 75 mins.  Can't complain at all but need to find the bigs.  Might drag around a 10" powerworm the next outing and deal with a skunk if I have to to hopefully catch something with more size.  About half of last nights catch was 1.5-2# and the rest were pretty dinky.  Lot of fun though.

 

 

 

 

I took a friend fishing last Friday and, just after casting my worm, he had a malfunction that I needed to help him with.  So, i set my rod in the bottom of the boat and rendered assistance.  When i was through, I picked up my rod and it seemed hung on the bottom.  So, I gave it a tug and whatever it was hung on started coming up....then it started going back down.  I immediate set the the hook and the battle began.  I was certain this was going to be my first double-digit bass and when I saw it coming up, i could see the pectoral fins waving in the dingy water.  They were at least 6"- 8" apart and then I was convinced I was looking a record.  A few more cranks of the reel and this is what I found:

 

 

A snapping turtle with claws like razors.  Caught on 20lb braid and a Watermelon/Red Flake Yumdinger rigged TR.

 

I did manage to catch a few LMB's that day (8 all total) with these being the best of the bunch.

 

 

On 5/17/2022 at 9:51 AM, hokiehunter373 said:

No.  I was fishing a trick worm on a shaky head and the worm got bit off.  I had the roboworms in my pocket and figured I'd try them and see how the fish liked it.  Worked well enough that I fished it some more yesterday.  Didn't get anything else sizeable but absolutely hammered a pile of 1-2 pounders on it mid day. 

 

Speaking of, yesterday was a year since my dog passed.  Took the day off work to do fun things with the fam and figured I'd start off by watching the sunrise over the water.  Didn't disappoint.  

 

 

 

Of course the first fish was fittingly the smallest of the year 

 

 

The next was considerably better.  I switched to a spinnerbait and saw this guy come charging over right as the lure got to shore and I was lifting it out of the water.  I tossed it back out a few feet in front of me, spun the reel a few times, and got to watch him annihilate it.  The amount of eats I've gotten to watch already this year has been amazing and never get old.  A caught a few more on the spinner and saw a giant bass but had to leave for the morning right as the bite was heating up.

 

 

Came back midday for an hour and change and the spinnerbait bite was off even though the wind had picked up.  Broke out the above mentioned roboworm on a shaky head and stacked um up.  Full worm or even with the end bit off, it didn't matter.  Failed to take any pics with things happening rapid fire and nothing chunky.  I'll be back at it tonight looking for something with some more size to it.

hokie, I’ve used a pantload of different soft plastics but not Roboworms. I know @Spankey loves ‘em. Now I gotta heed the call of the BM and head to Academy and try some!

 

And agreed. Beautiful pics! 

22 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

hokie, I’ve used a pantload of different soft plastics but not Roboworms. I know @Spankey loves ‘em. Now I gotta heed the call of the BM and head to Academy and try some!

 

Morning dawn has been what's worked for me.  Make sure to try them on the drop shot 

58 minutes ago, hokiehunter373 said:

Morning dawn has been what's worked for me.  Make sure to try them on the drop shot 

That I’ll do. 

Had a couple little 6-8" guys hit the 110-sized bait I had tied on today before I got this fatty. Nothing huge, probably 2-2.25lbs, but look at that belly 

Had another great day kayak fishing, the 11.5" and 13" were caught on a Texas rigged Powerbait worm and the 14" was caught on a jig and craw trailer. Ive yet to find the 20"ers this year, hopefully soon.  The carp/buffalo are still shallow and spawning and Ill be glad when they are done and gone.

 

14 minutes ago, Jmilburn76 said:

Had another great day kayak fishing, the 11.5" and 13" were caught on a Texas rigged Powerbait worm and the 14" was caught on a jig and craw trailer. Ive yet to find the 20"ers this year, hopefully soon.  The carp/buffalo are still shallow and spawning and Ill be glad when they are done and gone.

 

Nice job! And great photos. One reason I’m not sure I would do very well in kayak tournaments is I’ve never been able to get a fish to keep its mouth shut without flopping around. If it’s borderline I just chuck them back because I can never seem to get a good measurement 

@TnRiver46  A trick I read about is to dunk the measuring board in the water first, not sure why but it helps and they generally will stay still. Ive had to re-situate them though which is fun when trying to get phone ready for pic and a left hand that partially works. Its all new to me though as this is the first tourney Ive entered.

5 minutes ago, Jmilburn76 said:

@TnRiver46  A trick I read about is to dunk the measuring board in the water first, not sure why but it helps and they generally will stay still. Ive had to re-situate them though which is fun when trying to get phone ready for pic and a left hand that partially works. Its all new to me though as this is the first tourney Ive entered.

Well, you look like a veteran from those 3 photos 

Didn't realize I had 20 more minutes to spare so here's a scrawny but healthy looking 3lb fish

Caught a couple more with the chatterbait  and lost one that got close to 3 feet out of the water and threw it.

Also got a couple on yum dingers…

5 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

Caught a couple more with the chatterbait  and lost one that got close to 3 feet out of the water and threw it.

Also got a couple on yum dingers…

What finally brought about the breakthrough with the chatter bait ? Any idea? 

It could be the speed craw trailer. I had used others without much interest. Today I fished it for a couple hours continually to get the 3 bites. Starting to

Get confidence in it now…

1 hour ago, N Florida Mike said:

It could be the speed craw trailer. I had used others without much interest. Today I fished it for a couple hours continually to get the 3 bites. Starting to

Get confidence in it now…

That speed craw is good for all manner of things, including Carolina rig ?

Two setups one lure? Why?
So I can switch hand when one get tired. I’m too old or what? cannot hold and shake a rod in one hand for too long. Not bad 7 nice little bass in less than two hours, shaking Fatika on top of the weed. Gotta love them finesse Fatika lol and thanks these two smooth, reliable, light weight reels.

 

a couple brush pile spots from this morning 

Nothing like breaking off yet another $10 lipless the first day you throw it in a spot you've fished for over six years. At least I managed to get a handful of cookie-cutter bass on it before I hung up, and it was only 95 degrees and 1000% humidity so great day overall. ?

 

3/4 oz Thunderhawk Sergeant lipless in the "Bait" color. Newer company but worth a look in my opinion, the lipless is quality.

Got out for an evening session tonight while the barometer was super low. I’ve never put much attention into it before, but my dad swears by it. It was super low, so he‘d say look high and fish topwater. That was the plan but it got sunny and still as soon as I hit the water and I just wasn’t feeling it. I had a slow follow on a buzzbait but he wasn’t committed. Swapped to an @Siebert Outdoors tremor in dirty shad (2’ water visibility) with a green pumpkin rage menace and started catching. Swapped to a black and blue swim jig and picked up two more including a 4lb fish and a 25” pike. Good night to be out and on the water, almost to myself on 2000 acres. 
 

thanks

rick
 

12 hours ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

Yeah when use fresh new Fatika, hookset always cumbersome but will get better and better after the first couple fish. I use 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG and always enlarge the hook point hole a little, just enough for hook to move freely and I hardly ever skin hook Fatika.

 

I normally use a 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG. I also do not Texpose them, as the “fatness” of that bait seems to leave the hook point laying flush to the surface of the bait and relatively weedless. 
 

The great thing (well, two) about the Fat IKA is that it has enough weight to rig weightless (but still casts far), and you can rig it tentacles forward or rearward (sometimes one orientation gets ignored while the other draws strikes). Not many soft plastics are that versatile. 

I was able to put in a few days on the water, early morning bite was the ticket. The majority of the better fish for me averaged 3lbs on bladed jigs, senkos, including a 5.1lber on a plopper.

17 hours ago, The Bassman said:

Ika has been a summer go to for me for several years but always had trouble with hooksets. How's your %'s? Any tips appreciated.

Take a look at this rigging. I don't miss many fish that bite it since I figured this one out. I do bend this particular hook slightly towards the eye, swap out the stock spring lock for the Large Owner CPS, then add a glass rattle. The L CPS won't core out the bait easily like the stock one does, even after several fish, and the glass rattle adds a little attractant.

 

3 hours ago, PhishLI said:

Take a look at this rigging. I don't miss many fish that bite it since I figured this one out. I do bend this particular hook slightly towards the eye, swap out the stock spring lock for the Large Owner CPS, then add a glass rattle. The L CPS won't core out the bait easily like the stock one does, even after several fish, and the glass rattle adds a little attractant.

 

Thanks for the tip. I use the same screw locks for the same reason. My problem might be that I slightly bend the hook away from the eye, the reasoning being that it will clear the dense body of the lure better but causing me to mess up the penetration angle. I also take my scissors and cut a piece of the body away under the hook point. Lately, I've been fishing a wacky worm instead and doing great anyway.  Good info Phish.

Went out last night like 5:30-7 with the kids.  Roboworm was the only thing catching bass again.  Saw another giant that wasn't interested in anything other than coming up once every few mins to check a bed before returning to the deeps.  My kids were fishing for bluegills and if a bluegill would pull on the worm, she'd attack the bobber on the surface.  That was the only time she was interested in anything.  Anyway, caught a handful.  The best was about 2 pounds that got the kids pretty fired up haha:

 

 

Caught this smaller one with a spot on him which I don't see too much around here

 

 

Managed to drive away with my kids lunch box and water bottle sitting on the bumper.  Went back this morning to look for them and was greeted by this.  Just wow.  Need to fish more mornings.