Stopped off at my favorite retention pond for 10 minutes on my way home from work. Glad I did, was throwing a 1/16 oz crappie jig in black on the bps panfish elite ultralight ?

Today . 6lb1oz. Spook

21 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Today . 6lb1oz. Spook

My man, nice fish!!!   Bet it was explosive on a spook.    They should rename them, import them from Japan, and sell them for 20-25 lol.     I respect your game too, spartan as heck in that jon boat.     I don't even have a chair, just a blow up cushion.  I stand most of the time though.

 

Thought today would be better, fished relatively hard for 3 fish.   That said, one girl went 5.7 and was on my finesse Steez setup, so it made the slow day more than worth it.     Another LGM was quality as well and was b/t 2-3lbs.    Both caught off 7" Roboworm in Black Grape.   Caught a small Bama Bass on a 6" Roboworm as well.    Broke a fish off because I'm stupid and lazy and didn't check or re-tie after the 5.7 and smaller one.      Missed another 3-4 bites as well.   Quite a frustrating day, I need a lot of practice.    This high sided Jon boat on this big of a private lake beats bank fishing, but that's it if there is even a few MPHs of wind.    Shopping for a dedicated deck boat with front mounted TM atm.    The winds stopped right before dusk, and that's when I caught the fish.   

 

Anyways back to practice......I cast up into this spillover several times, kept missing my mark......then on the 4th cast I land in exactly the spot I wanted, right above where the water was dropping into the lake.   Less than a second after it hit, I hooked the nice fish of the lot.     This was the same location that produced 7-8 fish one night a week or two ago, today it seemed to only be holding the one hawg.    I'll never crack the Bass puzzle, never seizes to amaze me how random Bass fishing can be.   

 

 

On 8/31/2022 at 7:58 PM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Beautiful Spot!    How do you fish the flukes on the mushroom head jigs?   

I vary the six Midwest finesse retrieves but generally I'm hop n bounce or drag n shake. I use the tiny 1/15oz jigs. I haven't caught anything of size but I'm at least still catching, more than can be said for many right now where I'm fishing. Even managed some dinks at the sold out state park over the holiday. 

8 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I stand most of the time though.

I   stand most of the time .  

I haven't gotten to fish as much as I'd like lately due to life & the heat, but I got a little break this week was it was good to fish again. It started out with a friend who bought some property with a pond a couple years ago asking me to come see if I could catch a bass. He's seen them in there, but he hasn't been able to catch one. It only took me a few minutes to catch this guy. The pond appears to have a great forage base so they should grow quickly.

 

 

Later in the week we decided to take the boat out and see what was happening on the river. It started out slow, but we ended up catching 15 on the day. The only real question was which of these is smaller? lol

 

 

Fishing on the Tennessee River on a holiday can be tough, but the weather report gave a 60% chance of rain...so we decided to fish. Most people believed the weatherman so we had the lake to ourselves. The weather was perfect for fishing. It was overcast with temps in the upper 60s. The bass were schooling up, busting shad, and tearing up the lipless cranks. Nothing big, but we caught 25 about like the one below from 7:00-12:00. I'm really looking forward to fall. Around noon people realized that the weatherman was wrong so we decided to go grill burgers and hot dogs to celebrate Labor Day. Doesn't get much better than that.

 

 

 

                                                

59 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

 

 

                                                

A helgramite climb in there? LOL!

My buddy got a couple nice ones last night, current was raging 

Was only able to fish for a little over an hour, but I still managed to get a nice one yesterday. Ignore my frazzled looks. I went to the pond straight from work. ?

 

Mr. Dinks, here's my life motto: "Whenever you're frazzled, report to the pond."

On 9/4/2022 at 6:11 AM, The Bassman said:

I never have understood the disdain for rockbass from guys in the upper midwest and northeast. I've always viewed them as part of the whole experience when wading for smallmouth where I live in Indiana. 

Ha, ha, ha, maybe because we wanted a smallmouth or a largemouth because even if we tell someone we caught a giant rock bass, people will still tell us it doesn't count. It's got the right word in the name but isn't the right fish!

Fished from 6a - 1p today and covered alot of 85 degree water for 3 fish. One on Shakey head, one on a Shower Blows,  and one on a Rambler. 

4 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

Fished from 6a - 1p today and covered alot of 85 degree water for 3 fish. One on Shakey head, one on a Shower Blows,  and one on a Rambler. 

I'm was still at 85 degree water the last time out as well, but I think that's rapidily coming to an end with all the rain that's fell this last week, plus what's coming starting tom.     Highs are going to be in the mid 80s over the next 5 days IIrc.

 

I'm pumped, the number of bigger fish I've been catching hasn't been reduced, but the numbers certainly have over the last 4-6 weeks.   I caught my biggest of the year on 8/4, but since then outside of a 6lb, and several 5lb fish, the fishing has been slow.    

 

My guess it's about to heat up big time for our latitude.   I saw that same stunningly beautiful sunset this afternoon as well.    It's already raining though again.

2 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I'm was still at 85 degree water the last time out as well, but I think that's rapidily coming to an end with all the rain that's fell this last week, plus what's coming starting tom.     Highs are going to be in the mid 80s over the next 5 days IIrc.

 

I'm pumped, the number of bigger fish I've been catching hasn't been reduced, but the numbers certainly have over the last 4-6 weeks.   I caught my biggest of the year on 8/4, but since then outside of a 6lb, and several 5lb fish, the fishing has been slow.    

 

My guess it's about to heat up big time for our latitude.   I saw that same stunningly beautiful sunset this afternoon as well.    It's already raining though again.

We've got more rain coming and mid 60's lows are forecasted. They're bout to get fired up.

I’ve had some poor outings recently.  Went out on a lake I’d only been to once before, with a better plan.  The smallmouth were hitting topwater, but I failed to put one in the boat.  Third cast with my Choppo 105 I had a very good smallie pull off at the boat - fish and lure gone, but just a squiggly end on my line.  Must have missed one of the loops finishing my knot and felt like an idiot for not testing it better.  That was the only Choppo I had - 4 more at home, so I switched to a spook.  I then had 4 more really good sized smallies miss my spook, so I think the Choppo would have been the bait for the day.

 

Next trip, same place I didn’t get a single hit on the Choppo.  So I think I missed a good day because of one bad knot. ?

 

Went to a different spot yesterday, on a tip from a friend.  It was hot and sunny so I expected a great couple hours of midday of frog fishing.  But, the whole area is shallow and weedy and the weeds are dying so I think I was too late.  I caught one fish - only bite I had.  Water temps are 70F here now, down from 80F is the last 8-10 days.

 

I’ve been so excited for the fall topwater bite, but I’m actually thinking I might pack away the fishing gear and switch over to goose hunting. 
 

 

9 minutes ago, The Baron said:

I’ve had some poor outings recently.  Went out on a lake I’d only been to once before, with a better plan.  The smallmouth were hitting topwater, but I failed to put one in the boat.  Third cast with my Choppo 105 I had a very good smallie pull off at the boat - fish and lure gone, but just a squiggly end on my line.  Must have missed one of the loops finishing my knot and felt like an idiot for not testing it better.  That was the only Choppo I had - 4 more at home, so I switched to a spook.  I then had 4 more really good sized smallies miss my spook, so I think the Choppo would have been the bait for the day.

 

Next trip, same place I didn’t get a single hit on the Choppo.  So I think I missed a good day because of one bad knot. ?

 

Went to a different spot yesterday, on a tip from a friend.  It was hot and sunny so I expected a great couple hours of midday of frog fishing.  But, the whole area is shallow and weedy and the weeds are dying so I think I was too late.  I caught one fish - only bite I had.

 

I’ve been so excited for the fall topwater bite, but I’m actually thinking I might pack away the fishing gear and switch over to goose hunting. 
 

 

Beautiful lake

1 minute ago, GaryH said:

Beautiful lake

I’ll revisit it next July, for sure. ? ??

I continue to stack dinks, nothing of size out here right now. Water's still consistently 80 degrees in most shallows by 9:30a. But on a cloudy day, or before then...it's game on. Did 15 black bass about this size on a sungill ned rig between 7:30am and 9:10am. Five of which came in the first 10-15 minutes on consecutive casts. I'm having fun, but looking forward to bigger fish.

5 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

I continue to stack dinks, nothing of size out here right now. Water's still consistently 80 degrees in most shallows by 9:30a. But on a cloudy day, or before then...it's game on. Did 15 black bass about this size on a sungill ned rig between 7:30am and 9:10am. Five of which came in the first 10-15 minutes on consecutive casts. I'm having fun, but looking forward to bigger fish.

My, what a beautiful pattern on that dink!

2 hours ago, Drawdown said:

My, what a beautiful pattern on that dink!

For real though, Ray Roberts makes some really pretty bass. I've caught some up to 5lbs with this kind of marking. Great fishing lake once you find something they like. 

Had to miss the past week, but by last night I was ready to go. Too bad there was a gargantuan full moon hovering over the lake and not a whisper of wind or a cloud in the sky. I took a hard pass and decided to hit it nice and early just as the moon dipped below the western tree line. My timing was right.

 

Got things going with a crappie on a wake, then hooked a charged up little scrapper. Followed up with a nice one, then a few more scrappers after the sun rose. Called it a win and even made it home in time for breakfast with the wife.

 

The water's cooled down a bit, and they all fought hard for their size. I usually get spanked on full moon days, but the bassin' gods gave me a break today. No whoppers, but not bad for a quick morning sesh. I'll take it.

 

d**n it feels good to set hook and the fish set it back. I’ve been finesse fishing for too long, I guess. This type of satisfactory is why everyone love jig fishing.

11 minutes ago, Bass_Fishing_SoCal said:

d**n it feels good to set hook and the fish set it back. I’ve been finesse fishing for too long, I guess. This type of satisfactory is why everyone love jig fishing.

I think you're confusing a jig for catching hawgs ?

 

Catching fish that size on my Steez setup makes me smile ear to ear for about an hour or two. 

I caught 23 today in the rain.  12 Spots and 11 Largemouth.   Flatside cranks, spinner baits and texas rigs.  This 3 pound 15 ounce Spot jumped over a lay down to get a motoroil colored worm.   I attempted to cast right beside the tree trunk but the wind blew my line across it.   I crawled the worm over the trunk back into the water.  This spot jumped over the trunk following the worm.   Pretty much every one of them hit after the bait had bounces off of wood.