2 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

Went on a 3 day fishing trip with my business partner/best friend who has become addicted to bass fishing. We fished hard for 3 straight days and we were met with very active and willing fish every day. More decent large and smallmouth bass than we could count.

 

Topwater at dawn was productive around mid-lake rock piles. Megabass Pop-X caught a bunch of smallmouth of all sizes: 

 

Came across some smallmouth that were herding a massive school of perch to the surface over 30’ of water. A Skitterwalk worked crazy fast over the school worked well until they dissipated:

 

Some decent largemouth came on frogs in the lilies and Texas rigged Rage Tail Anacondas in downed timber:

 

We decided to float up a small river, and had a blast with light tackle reeling in smallmouth up to 15”, pumpkinseeds and rock bass every single cast for hours. They were slamming Ned rigs, tiny poppers, cranks, in-line spinners and jerkbaits like they were going out of style:

Nice job ??

Took the Kayak out for the first time this year this weekend and again today. Over 20 Bass ((LMB & SMB) all in the 1/4 to 3/4 lb size except 2 in the two pound range. 1 each trip. Broke in my new Shimano Nasci 2500 nicely.

 

This is all I caught today on a black/blue jig, better than a skunk and I found around $40 in lures so not bad.

From the boat and the bank, the jig has been doing most of the heavy work this past week or two around here. Having to try and reconfigure my next jig outfit after snapping my Loomis IMX jig rod this week. Have a few outfits that I think will work, but nothing I'm overly excited about, so may end up going all new.

 

 

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

From the boat and the bank, the jig has been doing most of the heavy work this past week or two around here. Having to try and reconfigure my next jig outfit after snapping my Loomis IMX jig rod this week. Have a few outfits that I think will work, but nothing I'm overly excited about, so may end up going all new.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice Bass ~

And may your Loomis IMX jig rod rest in peace. (or pieces)

Congrats - Condolences & Congrats (on the new rig)

    

A-Jay

26 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

From the boat and the bank, the jig has been doing most of the heavy work this past week or two around here. Having to try and reconfigure my next jig outfit after snapping my Loomis IMX jig rod this week. Have a few outfits that I think will work, but nothing I'm overly excited about, so may end up going all new.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't think you can justify the cost of a new rod...you only catch about 15000 bass a year

12 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

I don't think you can justify the cost of a new rod...you only catch about 15000 bass a year

 

Yeah, I may just have to go "new to me"  

A new personal best 20" 4-4.5 lbs estimate. Caught on a green pumpkin Arkie jig with a watermelon red flake wooly bug trailer. Lew's Speed Spool on a 7 ft MH Speed Stick with 50lb braid to a 12lb leader.

 

I never felt the bite. He caught it on the fall after a hop through some grass and my line just started going sideways. Jumped three times before I got him to the bank. Had a blast!

Came back from work and see some shade sky so I stopped at the lake. First cast on the drop feel something different set the hook and came up with this bass with 1 minute in. 

Was it my sensitive 10 year old rod? Was it my sensitive 10 lb braid line? Was it my perfect palming 6oz alphas reel? Maybe my accuracy casting skill? Nope I call it darned lucky catch. 
First bite cast myth, I don’t know and not gonna wait to find out. Stayed only 15 minutes under hot SoCal sun. I called it quit and be happy with this one.

2 hours ago, Bass_Fishing_SoCal said:

Was it my perfect palming 6oz alphas reel?

Definitely! ?

Fished the thunderstorm yesterday probably caught 20 fish in 2 hours on the Ned rig. They only wanted it jigged up and down not retrieving it, go figure. Fished today after work caught 4 on the jig had more hits but I am still getting there. Of course my ml casting rod and 5lb fluorocarbon are a factor to consider maybe. Caught 2 today on the Ned rig and one on a 3/16 underspin with a 3” keitech. All small fish but still fun none the less?

Nice morning with the sleeper gill and pitching creatures. River fish. 
 

 

Got out a couple times this week. The fishing was tough in the heat, but fishing is always good for me. The first largemouth hit a 3.75 Rage Swimmer, and the second one was on a baby brush hog. The smallmouth is my first smallie of '22 so I'm happy about that even though it's a dink. It always amazes me when a 10" fish attacks a 7" worm. ?

 

 

 

Biggest bass I've caught in just over a month.  Caught 22 largemouth this morning in about 4 hours, all skipping docks with plastics.

Love my remote work days. I can fish an hour or two before work. Today I fished a weightless worm and caught some feisty river Smallmouth.

 

I caught a small 2.16lb bass a few more smaller than that and this tiny guy all on the same jig, wife caught her fish on a black senko wacky rigged weightless.

This is a great bass! Because it’s the one that beat the skunk! Caught it on a 5” #906 blue/black laminate Senko TR. 

 

But that’s not the whole story. I know there are baby bass and bluegills in this pond, and as there are some good-sized catfish, there’s gotta be some baby cats as well. But I’ve never truly seen scads of baitfish in this pond like I did today. Got on the water just after first light. Had a Zara Spook rigged up and before I made my first cast, I saw several spots where baitfish were breaching the surface being chased. I’ve never witnessed that before here, and yet today it was happening all over the pond…for hours. I tried the Spook. A Whopper Plopper. A Pop Max. A fluke. A paddletail swimbait. A jerkbait. A squarebill (had something take a swipe at it as it hit the water). Several different plastic worms and stickbaits. A Fat IKA. A tube. Nothing until I caught this bass around 11:30. It looked so promising! If you have any suggestions on what I should have tried, let me know. 
 

Also, I did have another bass on the hook with that Senko, but I lost it. The braid-to-leader knot broke. And that was 100% on me. I tied a new leader on during the week. Twice. The first one I cut off and retied another as it didn’t look right. This one I thought was probably ok, but deep down I think I knew it wasn’t up to standards. Lesson learned! 

On Sunday afternoon I caught this 2lb 4oz spotted bass on a GP/blue flake YUM Spine Craw rigged on a 1/8 light wire jig head. Just below some rapid whitewater. Cast just beyond the boundary between the turbulent rapids and the calm eddy, let it sink and get pushed along, then slowly but erratically reel.

 

Quite a fun fight on my ML rod.

Once again another jig fish for me this year over 4lbs, that’s three over 4 lb fish all on the jig this year for me. This one was 4.74 lbs, my pb of the year for me and definitely my pb that has been weighed. Was a nice fight on my medium light casting rod, abu xenon rod  and a curado bfs reel. My bfs setup basically, jig was a beast coast hybrid hustler 1/4 oz in elite craw with a rage chunk in Okeechobee blue. I am starting to feel ok with a jig in my hand now lol, feels good and I am excited.

First ever topwater catch for me—white buzzbait after dusk. Nothing like seeing the lure get pulled down and the line load the rod tip.
 

Didn’t weigh this fish before releasing (I felt bad after accidentally dropping it on rocks while getting the hook out, and didn’t want to prolong things), but going by feel he was somewhere between 1lb 11oz and 2lb 4oz, comparing how he felt to two others. Going to have to get a lip-grabber to hold on (and weigh) safely.

 

Water level is 194 ft below full pool and unfortunately all three ramps are now closed on our side of the lake until we (hopefully) get some good winter rain and snow. Made the extra drive over to the only ramp on the lake in a neighboring county... great being out but fishing was pretty slow. My recent purchase of a kayak may have been perfect timing.

 

Pops with the first fish of the day.

 

Skinny fella but should be putting on some girth real soon considering all the bait he spit up.

I only fished 3 hours yesterday and won't go at all today.  I've got stuff to do today.    I've also got a sore left elbow the Dr said needs rest.   I caught 6 bass yesterday ranging from 14 to 17 inches.  Didn't weigh any of them.  The 17 incher was skinny.  

 

 

Interesting morning yesterday. Put in at sunrise and the water was raging from overnight generation and 63 degrees. We floated 4-5 miles with no luck (3 of us). I was throwing the FishLab gizzard shad, a huge bait, and it got rocked. I can tell it’s a smallie and it’s pulling hard. Then I get it near the boat and it’s a nice 3 lb fish but it’s hooked in the head, hence why he was pulling so hard. It kept diving under the boat and slamming the lure against the bottom of the boat, you could hear it. After several jumps I could see the hook tearing a hole and it finally jumped off. 
 

so then we floated another mile or so and as the boat was moving along I was dragging a purple worm and thought I was stuck. Turns out I was stuck to a nice 18” smallmouth that had been captured before 

 

 

Not the biggest around here but PB for me.  My apologies on the blurriness.  Was shaking from excitement lol.  Didn't have my scale with me.  Guesses on weight?  

 

17 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

This is a great bass! Because it’s the one that beat the skunk! Caught it on a 5” #906 blue/black laminate Senko TR. 

 

But that’s not the whole story. I know there are baby bass and bluegills in this pond, and as there are some good-sized catfish, there’s gotta be some baby cats as well. But I’ve never truly seen scads of baitfish in this pond like I did today. Got on the water just after first light. Had a Zara Spook rigged up and before I made my first cast, I saw several spots where baitfish were breaching the surface being chased. I’ve never witnessed that before here, and yet today it was happening all over the pond…for hours. I tried the Spook. A Whopper Plopper. A Pop Max. A fluke. A paddletail swimbait. A jerkbait. A squarebill (had something take a swipe at it as it hit the water). Several different plastic worms and stickbaits. A Fat IKA. A tube. Nothing until I caught this bass around 11:30. It looked so promising! If you have any suggestions on what I should have tried, let me know. 
 

Also, I did have another bass on the hook with that Senko, but I lost it. The braid-to-leader knot broke. And that was 100% on me. I tied a new leader on during the week. Twice. The first one I cut off and retied another as it didn’t look right. This one I thought was probably ok, but deep down I think I knew it wasn’t up to standards. Lesson learned! 

I admire your perseverance and love your joy at landing one after throwing emptying your tackle box. Well done! If I can't catch fish, bait can save the day.

51 minutes ago, Kongming said:

Not the biggest around here but PB for me.  My apologies on the blurriness.  Was shaking from excitement lol.  Didn't have my scale with me.  Guesses on weight?  

 

I'd be shaking too, Kongming! That's a beaut.