That is so kind of you to say, Tim. It's a shame more women don't fish.

 

There's so much to love about fishing: the mystery, i.e. trying to puzzle through want they want at each moment, the power and aerobatics of bass, being rewarded for paying attention, like noticing a ripple here or a wake there, the beauty of the fish, the beauty of the places we fish, and the camaraderie of fellow fishers. Then there's the actual dance, when they nudge your lure ten yards away, but you know that that tiny tick isn't a weed or a rock, and you set the hook, and it's on!

 

I'll still be on the board, though. I want to try some new things next season, so I'll be tapping on you guys' cyber-shoulders, asking for some mentorship. And I'll be cheering for those of you who fish on!

4 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

asking for some mentorship

I don’t know about that… With your catches you need to  do the mentoring !

2 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Got a couple nice chunks  on a wat. red baby brush hog in the eel grass field out back…

So sick and tired of all these ugly SEC hats in this thread ?

 

In other news, those are some fantastic Bass 

7 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Wacky rig continues to produce, as it does. Best this morning was probably about 4-5lbs best I could tell, didn't have my scale handy. My buddy got one that was about 3-3.5. Together we caught about 20 from the bank. Gotta love it.

The last pic......never seen a Bass look so much like a Crappie as that one, especially in the head region.   That's crazy.

Wasn't the session I hoped for based on weather forecast, so I tried to practice offshore stuff with 12-15ft Cranks.    Frustrating seeing the big fish on sonar that won't bite, meanwhile 5ft above their heads, smaller Bass are happy to gobble the bait down.  

 

Green circle represents the fish I was able to catch, red circle represents high quality fish that wouldn't sniff my bait seemingly.    

 

Caught several on the deep Crank, caught one on a 7" Roboworm, and lastly the hog came off a 1/16th Chatterbait Flashback mini.....thing is ridiculously small, both fish and lure lol.

 

Just this little fella on a Texas rigged trick worm before work yesterday.

9 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

So sick and tired of all these ugly SEC hats in this thread ?

I’ll wear my pretty one next time just for you!!?

9 hours ago, Jmontgomery87 said:

Just this little fella on a Texas rigged trick worm before work yesterday.

 

Gnarly scar, he looks like he was almost something’s meal. 

You can tell winter's coming 'cause they're puttin' on the lipstick. The wife and I have to go to a niece's wedding this afternoon and I resigned myself to knowing that this would be the first day in several months that I didn't get out. Saw a brief hour and a half window, though and hit a close by pond. Managed five this size on my One Knocker after giving up on a jerkbait.

1 hour ago, The Bassman said:

You can tell winter's coming 'cause they're puttin' on the lipstick. The wife and I have to go to a niece's wedding this afternoon and I resigned myself to knowing that this would be the first day in several months that I didn't get out. Saw a brief hour and a half window, though and hit a close by pond. Managed five this size on my One Knocker after giving up on a jerkbait.

Nice fish, when you said winter is coming I thought you must have seen a wooly worm hahaha

3 hours ago, The Bassman said:

You can tell winter's coming 'cause they're puttin' on the lipstick. The wife and I have to go to a niece's wedding this afternoon and I resigned myself to knowing that this would be the first day in several months that I didn't get out. Saw a brief hour and a half window, though and hit a close by pond. Managed five this size on my One Knocker after giving up on a jerkbait.

 

Last fall was my first time trying a knocking lipless. That Booyah One Knocker put in so much work for me, including a PB. Flashy Momma and Copper Shiner have been my best producing colors on it. Nice catch!

Caught a handful of river smallies today with a spinnerbait . This is the biggest . Lost a nice one , again .

I caught 7 spots, 7 largemouth and 1 small yellow perch today.   The bass were all between 13 and 16 inches.   No big ones, but at least they weren't tiny.    I'm 99% sure I never hooked the perch.  I had missed a couple bites on a plastic swim bait.  I felt a bite right beside the boat, set the hook, and flipped this little fellow into the boat.  I think it just had the tail.  The hook was as big or bigger than it's mouth.  It just kinda flew into the boat.   The bass was a 16 inch largemouth caught on a spinner bait.  

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice fish, when you said winter is coming I thought you must have seen a wooly worm hahaha

If the almanac is right they should be half tan and half black, pretty mild to start then look out after new year.

Had a nice day today, and the day that I actually thought I was going to have yesterday....go figure.

 

Caught a good number of smaller 1-2lb fish earlier in the day using Sonar chasing fish all around the place, and then caught a really nice pig and a 2.4lb Spot on docks. 

 

All fish caught on the Chatterbait MiniMax in Gizzard Shad 3/8th oz with a Armor Shad 3" trailer in smoke/black/silver.    Tried at least 6-8 other baits.....nada.   Since Aug. 4th some variety of a Chatterbait has taken a 7.8, 6.7, 5.8, 5.7, 5.3, and several more in the 4lb range.    

 

First up is the big fish.....the colors were just electric on this one, not a mark on it.   I think it was rich in color because it was living under the dock you see in the pic showing the bait setup.    I casted across the corner of the dock, moved the boat so that I could run the bait under it, and BAM!   Any deeper and I'd be posting with worry on my mind.   Fish absolutely inhaled this tiny bait.

 

Next up are the size fish I was catching roaming around the lake chasing them with sonar...first pic is of the second best fish of the day, the nice Spot caught on a dock.  

And finally, because today was like a Bob Ross painting

 

Well fished, Alex, well fished!

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

Well fished, Alex, well fished!

Why thank you Katie, high praise coming from an angler such as yourself

Caught 16 bass and 4 pike with a friend this afternoon/evening. It paid off to wait until later in the day to start, as it was a frigid 31 degrees this morning.

20 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Caught 16 bass and 4 pike with a friend this afternoon/evening. It paid off to wait until later in the day to start, as it was a frigid 31 degrees this morning.

Awesome, so do the Musky come as a by product or did you fish specifically for them as well....I'd assume it's hard to catch them on Bass tackle with their teeth and size

5 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Awesome, so do the Musky come as a by product or did you fish specifically for them as well....I'd assume it's hard to catch them on Bass tackle with their teeth and size

It’s actually a northern pike. We catch a lot of pike mixed right in with the largemouth, especially now that the water is cooler. They love the flashy vibration of a spinnerbait. And yes sometimes they bite you off or rip the skirt up. Just part of doing business here.

 

I do specifically target muskies too, but not today. This particular lake does not have them. I use bigger, beefier tackle to target muskies.

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

It’s actually a northern pike. We catch a lot of pike mixed right in with the largemouth, especially now that the water is cooler. They love the flashy vibration of a spinnerbait. And yes sometimes they bite you off or rip the skirt up. Just part of doing business here.

Stupid me.....first I said musky in my head, then I thought is that big pike, and then I went back to it being too big in my mind to be a pike.    Rednecks get a pass on Yankee toothy fish haha.

I love catching other things by accident, because I can't myself not fish for Bass.    All the fish are so beautiful, but something about the Bass takes your soul.  

Hit the water at 3am today for probably my last night trip of the year. Water's down to 58 and the saugeye haven't returned to the shallow flat like I'd hoped they might as the water cools. Only managed one dink LM before daylight.  Once again a musky smoked my chatterbait and provided me with some excitement though. 

The LM provided me with pretty steady action pitchin bushes once the sun came up. All  under 2# though with the exception of this nice 4.09. 

d**n @T-Billy it looks COLD out there!

 

I bet you hit a raccoon on the way there, skinned it, and then used the pelt as a hat while you were fishing!

More wacky bass. Didn't get out for very long and got out mid morning. No big fish today but every day of catching is fun. The st croix rod I bought recently makes every fish fun too. ??

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Hit the water at 3am today for probably my last night trip of the year. Water's down to 58 and the saugeye haven't returned to the shallow flat like I'd hoped they might as the water cools. Only managed one dink LM before daylight.  Once again a musky smoked my chatterbait and provided me with some excitement though. 

The LM provided me with pretty steady action pitchin bushes once the sun came up. All  under 2# though with the exception of this nice 4.09. 

I mean in Musky waters...okay, STRAIGHTBRAIDBRIGADE ?

7 hours ago, gimruis said:

d**n @T-Billy it looks COLD out there!

 

I bet you hit a raccoon on the way there, skinned it, and then used the pelt as a hat while you were fishing!

LOL. You have me confused with @TnRiver46. ? It was down in the high 30's though. That hat is really warm and really comfy.