1 minute ago, gimruis said:

There is no difference in the filet. The only difference is that walleye grow much bigger, and therefore offer a bigger filet. That’s outta be right up your alley.

Haha! Yeah I did see a monster walleye with @galyonjbut it evaded. I don’t think they are common here but there was that one…….. 

 

I think we have similar size on sauger also, biggest I’ve seen was 21” my buddy brought into my boat. 
 

we don’t have saugeye but it seems like they get massive according to @T-Billy

5 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Well you can't have everything, I mean you live in one of the greatest places in the world to freshwater fish in my book ?

 

You have so much variety up there, that's what has always attracted me to that area.   You never know what it's going to be when you feel that tug. 

we have crazy variety, that’s for sure. I thought I caught a rare madtom while seining for hellgramites the other day. lots of experts looked at it and they think it was a color morph of a more common madtom. Also caught some pretty darters 

 

 

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Haha! Yeah I did see a monster walleye with @galyonjbut it evaded. I don’t think they are common here but there was that one…….. 

 

I think we have similar size on sauger also, biggest I’ve seen was 21” my buddy brought into my boat. 
 

we don’t have saugeye but it seems like they get massive according to @T-Billy

we have crazy variety, that’s for sure. I thought I caught a rare madtom while seining for hellgramites the other day. lots of experts looked at it and they think it was a color morph of a more common madtom. Also caught some pretty darters 

 

 

Very cool, the last little guy is magnificent.    Most anglers even don't know all the species swimming below them, me included.    You seem to know most species of critters. 

7 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Very cool, the last little guy is magnificent.    Most anglers even don't know all the species swimming below them, me included.    You seem to know most species of critters. 

Dem critters is my bizness!!! I try haha

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

we don’t have saugeye but it seems like they get massive according to @T-Billy

Ohio state record is 14.04#.

9 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Yeah I did see a monster walleye with @galyonjbut it evaded. I don’t think they are common here but there was that one…….. 

 

That thing grows in size in my mind every time one of us brings it up. I thought your lady was gonna make you jump in after it.

14 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Dem critters is my bizness!!! I try haha

He sure does…..

It was a fun summer

 

 

Whoa, Hayden! That pic where you caught two bass at once happened to me four times this summer and one of the pairs included a four-plus pound bass and a three-pound bass.

 

Thanks for sharing your pics. You're a heckuva fisherman!

2 hours ago, HaydenS said:

It was a fun summer

 

 

Good job Hayden. ???

I fished a long, shallow pond that looked like a lake, but had more weeds than water just beneath the surface. I caught five, which is known hereabouts as a Maine Skunk, given how typically ready Maine bass are to bite. Nothing of any size, but the leaves were rockin'. I was disappointed at the lack of spunk in the bass. I think it's getting too cold for them to tussle. It was like dancing with a saggy-backed shuffler.

 

I'm gonna fish tomorrow and again on Thursday, but then I'm done for the season, partly for safety reasons. If I were to Tippecanoe, there'd be one to help and if I managed to make it to shore, it'd be a long, wet, teeth-chattering walk to warmth. 

38 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I fished a long, shallow pond that looked like a lake, but had more weeds than water just beneath the surface. I caught five, which is known hereabouts as a Maine Skunk, given how typically ready Maine bass are to bite. Nothing of any size, but the leaves were rockin'. I was disappointed at the lack of spunk in the bass. I think it's getting too cold for them to tussle. It was like dancing with a saggy-backed shuffler.

 

I'm gonna fish tomorrow and again on Thursday, but then I'm done for the season, partly for safety reasons. If were to Tippecanoe, there'd be one to help and if I managed to make it to shore, it'd be a long, wet, teeth-chattering walk to warmth. 

Smart thinking Katie. Nice pic also.

Fishing has been tough lately. Air and temps are dropping fast in these parts. Patience and persistence were the key to beating the skunk yesterday.

 

Even Iggy is feeling the cold nights

 

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

I fished a long, shallow pond that looked like a lake, but had more weeds than water just beneath the surface. I caught five, which is known hereabouts as a Maine Skunk, given how typically ready Maine bass are to bite. Nothing of any size, but the leaves were rockin'. I was disappointed at the lack of spunk in the bass. I think it's getting too cold for them to tussle. It was like dancing with a saggy-backed shuffler.

 

I'm gonna fish tomorrow and again on Thursday, but then I'm done for the season, partly for safety reasons. If were to Tippecanoe, there'd be one to help and if I managed to make it to shore, it'd be a long, wet, teeth-chattering walk to warmth. 

 

You northerners and your "seasons." ?

 

Nice fish! You too, @HaydenS, looks like a nice handful of trips.

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I fished a long, shallow pond that looked like a lake, but had more weeds than water just beneath the surface. I caught five, which is known hereabouts as a Maine Skunk, given how typically ready Maine bass are to bite. Nothing of any size, but the leaves were rockin'. I was disappointed at the lack of spunk in the bass. I think it's getting too cold for them to tussle. It was like dancing with a saggy-backed shuffler.

 

I'm gonna fish tomorrow and again on Thursday, but then I'm done for the season, partly for safety reasons. If I were to Tippecanoe, there'd be one to help and if I managed to make it to shore, it'd be a long, wet, teeth-chattering walk to warmth. 

Wow, so beautiful, and great job on the fish Katie.      One of the few benefits of dealing with our almost unbearable summers, is the fishing only improves as it cools.    March and Feb. are the best months at least for catching DD fish.   

 

I've got faith that scale is going to make an appearance before the year is over

Mrs. B and myself went for an hour and half after I got home from work today.  We caught 3 each including this fat spot.   

 

11 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Wow, so beautiful, and great job on the fish Katie.      One of the few benefits of dealing with our almost unbearable summers, is the fishing only improves as it cools.    March and Feb. are the best months at least for catching DD fish.   

 

I've got faith that scale is going to make an appearance before the year is over

I'm trying, Alex, I'm trying. The pond I fished this morning has big bass, but so do Wednesday's and Thursday's ponds. I just need one, but there's always next year.

44 minutes ago, Woody B said:

Mrs. B and myself went for an hour and half after I got home from work today.  We caught 3 each including this fat spot.   

 

Outstanding, I love it when they get the more pronounced snake pattern above the lateral line.

 

I bet the one I got a little too over excited about today was that same weight.    Thought mine was going to be 3lbs for sure.   Got it on GoPro.....and you can hear the classic "Line ripping through the water" sound that is usually unique to big spots I've found.  Even my big LGMs this year don't scream the line like a 2.5lb Spot does.  

 

Today was bordering "hot" fishing....I'd say I was solidly in that 3 Bass per hour rate, and half the fish I caught were over 2lbs.       Caught them on a few things, and the biggest fish, a LGM that was solidly in the 4lb range blew up a Jackall SquidMinnow 95.    This bait has some of the best action I've ever seen from a Jerkbait, and it suspends nose down, and kind of rolls side to side with just a little movement.    

 

Caught them on the Chatterbait Flashback Mini, Chatterbait MiniMax 3/8th in gizzard shad, and Chatterbait Zman weedless series 3/8th in breaking bream.   That and the SquidMinnow 95 Jerkbait.

 

Also caught a few Crappie, but I'd say at least half the ones I hook come off.    I get just as excited catching these stupid fish as I did a pig LGM lol.   

 

This GoPro thing isn't as easy as it looks.    A-Jay makes it look easy.   Being on my person it's not hooked up to a battery so I have to turn it on and off, and find myself forgetting to.

 

Fish pics.....and do I get to count a Turtle as a catch ?

Now some wildlife, including a Blue Heron that is going to make a pontoon owner very mad 

Mallards I'd assume.... a female, and two males

I laughed all the way through your video, Alex! You get bass-cited just like me!!! 

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I laughed all the way through your video, Alex! You get bass-cited just like me!!! 

I felt embarrassed at first because of my reaction on that Spot, but they just make me so excited ?

Don't be embarrassed. If we don't get excited, those special bass are wasted on us.

 

I also smiled and nodded when your net caught on the boat. I've had that happen...more than once!

17 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Don't be embarrassed. If we don't get excited, those special bass are wasted on us.

 

I also smiled and nodded when your net caught on the boat. I've had that happen...more than once!

No matter how organized you think you got it, it all goes out the window the moment a hooked fish goes airborne ?

 

 

7 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Whoa, Hayden! That pic where you caught two bass at once happened to me four times this summer and one of the pairs included a four-plus pound bass and a three-pound bass.

 

Thanks for sharing your pics. You're a heckuva fisherman!

You caught four doubles!?!!  Big ones too!?

In that picture I didn't catch both bass at the same time, we just threw them in the live well for pictures, and let them go after.  Turned out to a really tough day, only two bites, so we left with those two decent fish. 

Hayden, in decades of fishing prior to this past summer, I caught ONE double. This summer, I caught four. Inexplicable, huh? The biggest pairing was a 19-incher and a 17-incher. I'll find and post the photos tomorrow.

My pre-work trips continue to be tough. I got some of the new Zman Micro TRDs in a recent TW order and decided to try them this morning. Of course the one time I don't bring a big swimbait there was a big fish blasting bluegills along a concrete wall. Did it 3 times in 15 minutes. Water was very low in the creek I was fishing and it had been fished out pretty badly it seems, even the sunfish were absent. Caught a handful of sunfish and little bass, they sure are pretty from that clear water though. 

The bait and my homemade head for the Micro TRD, a 1/16oz head with a #6 Eagle Claw Lil' Nasty hook

Here you go, Hayden. The 19 inch fish is under the 17 inch fish and then there's the 19 incher out of the net.