2 hours ago, Drawdown said:

Perhaps Maine will experience the OOS interest its turkey hunting did, recently.

In a world of fish finders and pedal-controlled trolling motors, I don't think lugging canoes into bogs will ever trigger a Cabbage Patch doll rush.

29 minutes ago, GaryH said:

Dang boy. Not even a hurricane stops you…

 Well, it IS in South Carolina now…

3 hours ago, Tim Kelly said:

I was luck enough to be invited to Canada to fish with my friend Tim from his cottage on the Rideau chain. So very grateful to be invited over. Such an amazing place. 

After the void that was COVID it has been a spectacular summer. Spring with Tim at his place on Smith Mountain lake and September in Canada. So lucky to have such generous friends. 

The fishing was very different to how it is when we have been before in July and August. The fish were everywhere and nowhere. Big fish were thin on the ground, but the numbers were good. Spinner baits. Chatterbaits were the mainstay over grass flats, but on Saturday we went through to Upper Rideau and with the best weather of the week, sunshine and lighter winds, we caught smallmouth on jerkbaits, spybaits and Neds. After Saturday the fronts moved through again and the average fish size dropped, with occasional exceptions. One day, the pike were supercharged and while we only managed a dozen or so keeper bass, we caught about 40 pike. All horrible skinny tiny things compared to what I'm used to trying to avoid here in the UK. ?

 

So grateful to Tim and Mary Johnson for their friendship. 

Awesome fish, and friends!

 

Maybe a dumb question, but are there Bass in the UK?  

3 hours ago, Tim Kelly said:

I was luck enough to be invited to Canada to fish with my friend Tim from his cottage on the Rideau chain. So very grateful to be invited over. Such an amazing place. 

 

You’re very close to my neck of the woods - I fish the Rideau system between Kingston and  Seeley’s Bay fairly regularly.  Lots of great water around here. ?

46 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

Went surfing today on my Jon boat and caught ten on the Bull Wake and Z - Man Goat Toadz. Water temp dropped from 79 Wednesday to 75 today and they're hungry.

Hang 10 bruh 

A-Jay inspired me to try out the GoPro today.    Fish had lockjaw to put it mildly, huge drop in pressure, and the wind shifted directions in last 24 hrs.     

 

Trying to document some parasites I'm finding on some fish, this fish had them, and I'd love if anybody could help me identify them, and how big of problem they pose.    Never heard of beneficial parasite on Bass, but I'm really hoping that's the case.    

 

Lots of wildlife out today, and as promised, I present Hitler and Saddam

 

 

Lastly, this is a perfect screen grab of what the Bass were doing today, just locked with their bellies in the mud, meanwhile bait is right above them, and you can see the Crappie blowing them up.

5 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Awesome fish, and friends!

 

Maybe a dumb question, but are there Bass in the UK?  

No, it's always a plane ride to fish for them. Spain, America and Canada so far. The nearest thing to bass we have in the UK are perch, which are very similar to yellow perch, but grow bigger.  Funnily enough my pb perch and smallmouth are both the same weight at 5lb 4oz, but that perch is a much rarer fish than the smallmouth ?

5 hours ago, The Baron said:

 

You’re very close to my neck of the woods - I fish the Rideau system between Kingston and  Seeley’s Bay fairly regularly.  Lots of great water around here. ?

Maybe, if I get invited again, you can give me some hints on how to find the smallmouth there. Those things blow my mind. People talk about how easy they are to catch, but I am clearly missing a vital piece of the puzzle, as I really struggle to find them. ?

2 hours ago, Tim Kelly said:

Maybe, if I get invited again, you can give me some hints on how to find the smallmouth there. Those things blow my mind. People talk about how easy they are to catch, but I am clearly missing a vital piece of the puzzle, as I really struggle to find them. ?

Absolutely - hit me up if you're coming again.  September has been very tough though, with fish scattered at every depth.  I've caught most of my smallmouth on a spook the last few outings, partly because I enjoy fishing a spook so much that I'll just do that when things are slow so the odds are in it's favour.  That said, dropshotting is always productive.

16 minutes ago, The Baron said:

Absolutely - hit me up if you're coming again.  September has been very tough though, with fish scattered at every depth.  I've caught most of my smallmouth on a spook the last few outings, partly because I enjoy fishing a spook so much that I'll just do that when things are slow so the odds are in it's favour.  That said, dropshotting is always productive.

I love how the fishers here help each other.

 

7 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

A-Jay inspired me to try out the GoPro today.    Fish had lockjaw to put it mildly, huge drop in pressure, and the wind shifted directions in last 24 hrs.     

 

Trying to document some parasites I'm finding on some fish, this fish had them, and I'd love if anybody could help me identify them, and how big of problem they pose.    Never heard of beneficial parasite on Bass, but I'm really hoping that's the case.    

 

Lots of wildlife out today, and as promised, I present Hitler and Saddam

 

 

Lastly, this is a perfect screen grab of what the Bass were doing today, just locked with their bellies in the mud, meanwhile bait is right above them, and you can see the Crappie blowing them up.

That is so cool how you can read that screen. I paddled the Thames source to sea and literally squealed with delight when I saw my first swan. 10,000 swans downriver with a couple that buzzed me, I wasn't quite as excited. 

3 hours ago, Tim Kelly said:

No, it's always a plane ride to fish for them. Spain, America and Canada so far. The nearest thing to bass we have in the UK are perch, which are very similar to yellow perch, but grow bigger.  Funnily enough my pb perch and smallmouth are both the same weight at 5lb 4oz, but that perch is a much rarer fish than the smallmouth ?

Maybe, if I get invited again, you can give me some hints on how to find the smallmouth there. Those things blow my mind. People talk about how easy they are to catch, but I am clearly missing a vital piece of the puzzle, as I really struggle to find them. ?

Tim, I fished the Kenora, Ontario region for years. I don't know if you've read any of my posts, but I fished lakes without ramps, cabins, and lodges. 100-smallmouth days per person were not uncommon. When my dad hit 80, I started buying him trips to lakes with cabins and lodges and the quantity and quality of the fish dropped sharply. If you're up for it, portaging a canoe and sleeping in a tent multiplies the size and number of fish you'll catch. 

9 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

A-Jay inspired me to try out the GoPro today.    Fish had lockjaw to put it mildly, huge drop in pressure, and the wind shifted directions in last 24 hrs.     

 

Trying to document some parasites I'm finding on some fish, this fish had them, and I'd love if anybody could help me identify them, and how big of problem they pose.    Never heard of beneficial parasite on Bass, but I'm really hoping that's the case.    

 

Lots of wildlife out today, and as promised, I present Hitler and Saddam

 

 

Lastly, this is a perfect screen grab of what the Bass were doing today, just locked with their bellies in the mud, meanwhile bait is right above them, and you can see the Crappie blowing them up.

Auburn has one of the best fisheries departments in the country, if you could email them some pics and descriptions of the parasite they might be able to offer suggestions. I think we even sent them a trout once so they could diagnose a disease 

3 hours ago, The Baron said:

Absolutely - hit me up if you're coming again.  September has been very tough though, with fish scattered at every depth.  I've caught most of my smallmouth on a spook the last few outings, partly because I enjoy fishing a spook so much that I'll just do that when things are slow so the odds are in it's favour.  That said, dropshotting is always productive.

The weather was certainly very up and down with cold front after cold front. We had a good smallmouth day on the best day we were there, went through to the Upper Rideau and caught on jerkbaits and spybaits. The next day we went back but it was colder and darker, we had some on neds, but it was much slower fishing.

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I love how the fishers here help each other.

 

That is so cool how you can read that screen. I paddled the Thames source to sea and literally squealed with delight when I saw my first swan. 10,000 swans downriver with a couple that buzzed me, I wasn't quite as excited. 

Tim, I fished the Kenora, Ontario region for years. I don't know if you've read any of my posts, but I fished lakes without ramps, cabins, and lodges. 100-smallmouth days per person were not uncommon. When my dad hit 80, I started buying him trips to lakes with cabins and lodges and the quantity and quality of the fish dropped sharply. If you're up for it, portaging a canoe and sleeping in a tent multiplies the size and number of fish you'll catch. 

I fish the Thames at home all the time, do you mean my Thames or is there a Thames in Canada?

 

Camping fishing sounds super cool. I love how you guys have so mach opportunity to do stuff like that. Over here everything is privately owned and very restricted, so very little opportunity to do that kind of thing.

 

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Auburn has one of the best fisheries departments in the country, if you could email them some pics and descriptions of the parasite they might be able to offer suggestions. I think we even sent them a trout once so they could diagnose a disease 

Absolutely and excellent idea.  All the money I spent with that school, they should answer a stupid fish question ?

Well went fishing friday but didnt go to the dam in north dakota, decided to give the muskie a break and went to a dam in minnesota on the ottertail river for some smallies and walleye.

I only caught 1 smallie, a rock bass and then it happened again, I hooked into a river monster with the berkley cherry wood rod. I didnt know what i had as it was pulling a locked down drag on the pflueguer supreme so i loosened up and took my time.

A fisherman close by came over to help land this fish by hand, finally the fishes fight was over. Again with the rivers by the dam you just never know what ya gonna catch.

 

 

 

Ok, its not a muskie but it was sure fun to haul in this buffalo carp.

7 hours ago, The Baron said:

Absolutely - hit me up if you're coming again.  September has been very tough though, with fish scattered at every depth.  I've caught most of my smallmouth on a spook the last few outings, partly because I enjoy fishing a spook so much that I'll just do that when things are slow so the odds are in it's favour.  That said, dropshotting is always productive.

By the way, we had a pretty solid largemouth pattern fishing spinnerbaits, chatterbaits or swimbaits over shallow grass flats. Interestingly the size of the fish altered each day, depending on how difficult the fishing was. On the poorer days the grass flats fish were smaller, on the better days they were larger. No idea whether that's typical, but it was very stark. One of the poorer bass days the bass were small on the flats and the pike were absolutely demented! Most days we'd get a pike or two, but mostly manage to avoid them, but that one day we caught over 40 of the critters! ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Absolutely and excellent idea.  All the money I spent with that school, they should answer a stupid fish question ?

Uhm, War Eagle? ? 

4 minutes ago, sdw215 said:

Uhm, War Eagle? ? 

Tough times to be an Auburn football fan ?

42 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Tough times to be an Auburn football fan ?

I’d offer sympathy but try being a Chicago Bears fan?

Tim, your photos AND fish are beautiful. Yes, the Thames in England. Great river in a great country!

 

Alex, I didn't fish the bog. I went exploring instead,  paddling up a river. I did catch five bass as I explored, but it was mostly exploring. I paddled until I could paddle no farther due the river shrinking and deadfalls. 

22 minutes ago, Eric 26 said:

I’d offer sympathy but try being a Chicago Bears fan?

LOL....I was a Falcons season ticket holder, you can't phase me friend ?

1 minute ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

LOL....I was a Falcons season ticket holder, you can't phase me friend ?

Out of posts for the day…so I’ll use this instead ??

First two wacky rig bass I've ever caught this morning. Neat

Got an early start this morning, 3am, hoping to run into some saugeye before daybreak. Started with a chatterbait. Had three fish just drill it, knocking slack in the line, with zero hookups. Thought, enough of this, and switched to a paddle tail. Couldn't buy a bite. Wind was blowing a steady 10 or so. I don't think the swimmer had enough thump to get their attention, so I picked up a black/chrome RES. First cast a musky stole it. Tied on another. Five minutes later it was gone too. Grrr. OK, back to the chatterbait. Three more bites. Three bitten off tails. Grrr. Time to change things up. Moved to a rip rap point and caught two small LM and a nice smallie that weighed 3.24# on the chatterbait. All three had it choked. It was interesting how they went from swatting at it, to nipping at it, to choking it over the course of a couple hours.

Spent some time switching between the chatterbait and a spinnerbait after first light. After an hour or so without a bite, I laid 'em down and picked up a flippin stick. It was the right call. Water's down to 64 and the fall flippin bite is under way. The front moving through had 'em all buried up in the brushy stuff. Ended up catching 16 LM including my second 5# of the year. This girl just squeaked over the line at 5.02.

Winched her out of the middle of this tangle. She was buried up deep in it, under the trunk of the tree. Say it with me, STRAIGHTBRAIDBRIGADE!!! ?

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Got an early start this morning, 3am, hoping to run into some saugeye before daybreak. Started with a chatterbait. Had three fish just drill it, knocking slack in the line, with zero hookups. Thought, enough of this, and switched to a paddle tail. Couldn't buy a bite. Wind was blowing a steady 10 or so. I don't think the swimmer had enough thump to get their attention, so I picked up a black/chrome RES. First cast a musky stole it. Tied on another. Five minutes later it was gone too. Grrr. OK, back to the chatterbait. Three more bites. Three bitten off tails. Grrr. Time to change things up. Moved to a rip rap point and caught two small LM and a nice smallie that weighed 3.24# on the chatterbait. All three had it choked. It was interesting how they went from swatting at it, to nipping at it, to choking it over the course of a couple hours.

Spent some time switching between the chatterbait and a spinnerbait after first light. After an hour or so without a bite, I laid 'em down and picked up a flippin stick. It was the right call. Water's down to 64 and the fall flippin bite is under way. The front moving through had 'em all buried up in the brushy stuff. Ended up catching 16 LM including my second 5# of the year. This girl just squeaked over the line at 5.02.

Winched her out of the middle of this tangle. She was buried up deep in it, under the trunk of the tree. Say it with me, STRAIGHTBRAIDBRIGADE!!! ?

 

 

 

Congrats on the pig, but you know it would have been a bigger fish had you used mono/fluorocarbon....say it with me, "no serious Bass fisherman only use braid" ?

25 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Congrats on the pig, but you know it would have been a bigger fish had you used mono/fluorocarbon....say it with me, "no serious Bass fisherman only use braid" ?

Darn right it woulda been bigger. Because it woulda broke me off!!! No way I coulda pulled her outta there with that see through sissy line!!! ?

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Got an early start this morning, 3am, hoping to run into some saugeye before daybreak. Started with a chatterbait. Had three fish just drill it, knocking slack in the line, with zero hookups. Thought, enough of this, and switched to a paddle tail. Couldn't buy a bite. Wind was blowing a steady 10 or so. I don't think the swimmer had enough thump to get their attention, so I picked up a black/chrome RES. First cast a musky stole it. Tied on another. Five minutes later it was gone too. Grrr. OK, back to the chatterbait. Three more bites. Three bitten off tails. Grrr. Time to change things up. Moved to a rip rap point and caught two small LM and a nice smallie that weighed 3.24# on the chatterbait. All three had it choked. It was interesting how they went from swatting at it, to nipping at it, to choking it over the course of a couple hours.

Spent some time switching between the chatterbait and a spinnerbait after first light. After an hour or so without a bite, I laid 'em down and picked up a flippin stick. It was the right call. Water's down to 64 and the fall flippin bite is under way. The front moving through had 'em all buried up in the brushy stuff. Ended up catching 16 LM including my second 5# of the year. This girl just squeaked over the line at 5.02.

Winched her out of the middle of this tangle. She was buried up deep in it, under the trunk of the tree. Say it with me, STRAIGHTBRAIDBRIGADE!!! ?

 

 

 

Tim, you da man! I love how your tenacity was rewarded. Big time.