Bite is slowed back down. I think we may have just finished a shad spawn, the bass seem to have moved back deeper and I'm not seeing the hand-sized shads up in the rip rap like I was last week. Until rain and further cooling take place, I expect this to be the pattern until the next food spawn. Caught 5 total today, this one had the prettiest markings but was the runt of the group. Still catching at least a bass per day, I'll take it.

I suspected today was going to be slow with low pressure and strong storms having just passed by, and so I willed it to be so ?

 

Caught 4 and it was a beautiful day, still a winning scratcher in my book.

 

That poor Spot had some kind of crazy sore on it's tongue, wasn't anything lodged in there as I tried to pull it out.....I'm sure it hated me extra at that point lol.   

 

Tried a Crank, and Jerkbait, but only the 7" Roboworm and a Minimax in 1/2oz Gizzard Shad produced.

 

ETA:   Saw a Blue Heron eat a 8-10" fish which I strongly suspect was a little Spot.   I've seen the ones that got away, many in fact, but never one that got eaten.   This bird took it down in one clean swallow.     Impressive birds.

 

@TnRiver46 Can I get an ID on this flock of small Ducks.....couldn't get any closer.   They were flying and swimming as a single flock.    Looked to be mostly brown, and again small in size.   

10 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I suspected today was going to be slow with low pressure and strong storms having just passed by, and so I willed it to be so ?

 

Caught 4 and it was a beautiful day, still a winning scratcher in my book.

 

That poor Spot had some kind of crazy sore on it's tongue, wasn't anything lodged in there as I tried to pull it out.....I'm sure it hated me extra at that point lol.   

 

Tried a Crank, and Jerkbait, but only the 7" Roboworm and a Minimax in 1/2oz Gizzard Shad produced.

 

@TnRiver46 Can I get an ID on this flock of small Ducks.....couldn't get any closer.   They were flying and swimming as a single flock.    Looked to be mostly brown, and again small in size.   

I sent them to my buddy that hunts waterfowl , he said the one in the front with white on it might be a blue winged teal. Hard to tell, when you zoom in it gets blurry 

4 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I sent them to my buddy that hunts waterfowl , he said the one in the front with white on it might be a blue winged teal. Hard to tell, when you zoom in it gets blurry 

Awesome, I know we got some teal on the lake, but never seen such a huge flock of ducks on the lake like this.

 

The other day a couple of Ducks very similar to these were going underneath the water for 3-5secs, and then popping up 10-15 yds away seemingly.   Very cool, and again they wouldn't let me get close enough for a shot.

 

Really appreciate your help as always.   Nice to know what critters are out there.  

I was actually having a pretty good morning of catching this morning. Just took the UL with a 1/16oz jighead and micro TRD. Had a half dozen crappie, 3 bass, and a bluegill, before this guy decided he had to fish the tiny cut I was in. I'm standing on the bank, it's about 20' to the other side (an easy cast with a 1/16oz jighead and micro TRD anyways). He went all the way to the back (another 20-30 feet maybe), banged his TM into the bottom, turned around and trolled past me again, never looked at me once. Pulled his TM and started his gas motor to make a short move right after he got back past me. Had a lot of things I wanted to say, but none of them would have fixed his condition. 

10 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Had a lot of things I wanted to say, but none of them would have fixed his condition. 

We need an 'Angry' emoticon here. That's just so wrong, but I guess some people are just selfish and unobservant.

12 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I was actually having a pretty good morning of catching this morning. Just took the UL with a 1/16oz jighead and micro TRD. Had a half dozen crappie, 3 bass, and a bluegill, before this guy decided he had to fish the tiny cut I was in. I'm standing on the bank, it's about 20' to the other side (an easy cast with a 1/16oz jighead and micro TRD anyways). He went all the way to the back (another 20-30 feet maybe), banged his TM into the bottom, turned around and trolled past me again, never looked at me once. Pulled his TM and started his gas motor to make a short move right after he got back past me. Had a lot of things I wanted to say, but none of them would have fixed his condition. 

Would have taken everything in my power to not give that guy a piece of my mind.   

 

I don't understand why folks don't understand giving others a wide birth when in nature.    I go well out of my way to avoid fishing near others, even when they are fishing a place I had pre planned too.

 

Hope he got skunked, and lost a bunch of Japanese baits lol 

24 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I was actually having a pretty good morning of catching this morning. Just took the UL with a 1/16oz jighead and micro TRD. Had a half dozen crappie, 3 bass, and a bluegill, before this guy decided he had to fish the tiny cut I was in. I'm standing on the bank, it's about 20' to the other side (an easy cast with a 1/16oz jighead and micro TRD anyways). He went all the way to the back (another 20-30 feet maybe), banged his TM into the bottom, turned around and trolled past me again, never looked at me once. Pulled his TM and started his gas motor to make a short move right after he got back past me. Had a lot of things I wanted to say, but none of them would have fixed his condition. 

42 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 

Pontoon Buffoon...

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

We need an 'Angry' emoticon here. 

 

                                                        

I went to Academy yesterday to see if I could snag any more clearance deals, but no dice. Did happen to see a little Lew's 6' spincast combo rated 1/32-1/4 oz for only 50 bucks. Rod wasn't a wet noodle and the spincast reel was convertible to LH (and not held together with a plastic pin like the new Zebco 33, shame on you Zebco) so I snagged it. Been looking for a decent replacement for my panfish rod and this seems like the ticket for now.

 

Fished with it for a little bit today, 1/16 oz jighead with a white/chartreuse grub and then a 1/16 oz roadrunner underspin with a white grub. Two bluegill smaller than my intended size and did manage to get one little ~10" bass on it. Got me all up in the grass but I was able to put some pressure on him even with the 6lb line. Pulled some drag and fought like a champ on the little combo. Definitely want to try and get some crappie on it here soon, I'll be dragging it along with me to a few spots.

Caught 10 yesterday on a Evergreen Showerblow and one on the Bull Herring.  Water temp 72.

How many days can you say that you set a PB on a species, and equally lost a PB on a species after an epic fight.     In between those two events lots of smaller 1-2lb Bass were caught.  

 

The heart breaking bit first:      There I was Yo Yoing a 1/8 Chatterbait Flashback Mini on a 7'2 MH F SLX rod with an old Team Daiwa 2000 series spinning reel with Stren 8lb test mono across a very deep point off the main lake channel.     Midway retrieve on the fall of the Yo Yo, I saw the line screaming before I felt the strike, I immediately hit the fish with everything I had in me.      Immediately upon setting the hook, a 2ft+ dark object briefly came within about 6" of the surface, and as it dove back down and offshore it left what seemingly looked like a small boat wake.     

 

At this point the fish is running for the deepest water offshore possible, and there is nothing I can do to slow it down, never heard a freshwater drag tear loose like this today.    Over the next minute or two in open water I struggle to keep line on the reel with anything but max drag, and it's clear to me max drag is going to break this fish off in a nano second.    With the boat starting to be pulled by the fish, it began to tire to the point it decided to do the notorious big catfish "line twist/roll/thump" thing they do, and this fish must have wrapped himself up really good because the fight stopped, and I was left with the entire dead weight of this fish on the end.    It was only at this point while trying to literally winch what I'm honestly guesstimating a 15-20lb Channel Catfish the old classic Stren 8lb mono decided to give way, can't blame it really.       I pray and believe 99% this was a huge Channel catfish.   If so, it would have unquestionably been the biggest catfish I've ever caught.

 

If you read all that, here's some joy......caught my PB Crappie today, and caught lots of small Bass on a Crank, Roboworm, and Chatterbait.      Not a Crappie guy, but this one is twice the size as any I've ever caught, so much so I had to weigh it.   

 

 

 

Love this shot just because it's got my favorite tree in it 

Not bad with the free rig. At this state I just try to improve my hookup ratio, using lighter weight and sideway hookset. Caught 5 today most in 2lb range, missed only a couple bites with ragetail bug.

11 minutes ago, Bass_Fishing_SoCal said:

Not bad with the free rig. At this state I just try to improve my hookup ratio, using lighter weight and sideway hookset. Caught 5 today most in 2lb range, missed only a couple bites with ragetail bug.

First one don't look 2lbs to me, looks double that at least ?

 

What's the rod/reel combo?   I assume some type of calcutta.    Looks Gucci, and I like Gucci lol 

You can say Gucci of Shimano lol. The rod is zodias 7’2” M, the reel is Shimano Calcutta conquest dc 101hg. 
The first one might be in 6-7lb range.

4 minutes ago, Bass_Fishing_SoCal said:

You can say Gucci of Shimano lol. The rod is zodias 7’2” M, the reel is Shimano Calcutta conquest dc 101hg. 
The first one might be in 6-7lb range.

Yeah I'd say so lol   Fat healthy big fish.    

 

Great looking combo.   

On 10/13/2022 at 9:17 PM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I

@TnRiver46 Can I get an ID on this flock of small Ducks.....couldn't get any closer.   They were flying and swimming as a single flock.    Looked to be mostly brown, and again small in size.   

I concur, they’re Blue Winged Teal—the white at the edge of the bill is pretty clear on one of them, anyway. Possible that it’s a mixed species group with a few gadwall thrown in, but I bet it’s a flock of Blue Wings.

4 minutes ago, Drawdown said:

I concur, they’re Blue Winged Teal—the white at the edge of the bill is pretty clear on one of them, anyway. Possible that it’s a mixed species group with a few gadwall thrown in, but I bet it’s a flock of Blue Wings.

Awesome, thanks for the info.   Much more spooky than Wood Ducks and some of the other bigger ones on the lake.  They don't want to let you get within a couple hundred yards of them.

Hey,

 

Have not fished for several months but wanted to share this nice peacock bass catch this morning on a green inline spinner 

Today was not a bad day!

 

I started with a Whopper Plopper and a jerkbait. Nothing but pine needles lol. Switched to a black Senko WR and caught a 6” dink lol. Then I tried a black Senko weightless TR and caught another 6” dink. Took the stickbait off and switched to a Zoom Trick in green pumpkin. 
 

That changed everything. My first cast I caught a decent bass and they came real quick until the bite died off about 1-1/2 hours later. Caught 9 total including those two dinks. I have to say that I’m kinda impressed how well that St. Croix Bass-X MLXF sets a 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG. And what a blast catching bass like these on a ML rod. 
 

I keep thinking I'm done fishing for 2022 and then a warm, calm morning yanks me out of the sack. Plus, we got 4.5" of rain yesterday and last night and I thought that all the new water might stir some fish.

 

The day started out well with a strike on my Whopper Plopper on the my first cast, but for the first 1.5 hours, they were pecking at my lures. I caught more smallmouth than I usually do and they were chunky and hard fighting. I also caught six largemouth bass on a wacky worm, cast to the swirl where they just hit my Whopper Plopper.

 

I couldn't catch a single fish on my wake bait and recently, that was the only thing they'd hit. I also did well with a jointed, shallow-running crankbait and a pumpkin-colored paddle tail swimbait. I couldn't buy a bite with my normally reliable Mepps.

 

I was not the only fisher on the lake. There were eagles, ospreys, and loons. The loons are singing fishers. As is nearly always the case, there were no other fishers in boats, banging and clanging like they ain't got no sense.

 

I caught 41 fish. Only one pickerel. I don't know how the other fishers fared. I looked at them and thought, "I wish I were a feathered fisher too."

 

Maybe they looked at me and thought, "I wish I were fishing from a canoe too."

WOW!  What a morning...

 

                                                                

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

I keep thinking I'm done fishing for 2022 and then a warm, calm morning yanks me out of the sack. Plus, we got 4.5" of rain yesterday and last night and I thought that all the new water might stir some fish.

 

The day started out well with a strike on my Whopper Plopper on the my first cast, but for the first 1.5 hours, they were pecking at my lures. I caught more smallmouth than I usually do and they were chunky and hard fighting. I also caught six largemouth bass on a wacky worm, cast to the swirl where they just hit my Whopper Plopper.

 

I couldn't catch a single fish on my wake bait and recently, that was the only thing they'd hit. I also did well with a jointed, shallow-running crankbait and a pumpkin-colored paddle tail swimbait. I couldn't buy a bite with my normally reliable Mepps.

 

I was not the only fisher on the lake. There were eagles, ospreys, and loons. The loons are singing fishers. As is nearly always the case, there were no other fishers in boats, banging and clanging like they ain't got no sense.

 

I caught 41 fish. Only one pickerel. I don't know how the other fishers fared. I looked at them and thought, "I wish I were a feathered fisher too."

 

Maybe they looked at me and thought, "I wish I were fishing from a canoe too."

I'm turning a light shade of green with extreme envy Katie, absolutely incredible day you had!

 

I think that's the best day I've seen you have, and that's saying something.  

 

Those Smallies, especially the first one is really beautiful!