Alex, whenever I see the eagles, ospreys, and loons, I think, "I wish Alex were here. He'd like to see and hear these great birds."

 

And when I catch a dark and beautiful fish, I think of you too! 

 

The smallmouth did have great shapes and color. I can tell within a second or two if I've hooked a smallmouth or largemouth. The smallmouth like lateral runs, whereas the largemouth are bulldoggy, hunkering and holding their ground. 

 

I'm going to fish my big fish swamp tomorrow morning. It's an A-Jay place, with quality over quantity, so I might just catch three fish and I'm hoping one of them is scale-worthy. I'm going to use my new Rage Swimmers tomorrow morning. I've got a pumpkin-colored one and one that's red and blue. 

6 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

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.

That’s how they stay off the grill 

Only now noticed that peacock bass sort of look like a LM and a redfish had a love child.

When I grow up, I wanna be a HAMMER like @ol'crickety!!! What a morning Katie!!! Congratulations!!!

6 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

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. 
 

Good job ???

6 hours 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."

Dang girl! Now that’s a day fishing.

41 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

When I grow up, I wanna be a HAMMER like @ol'crickety!!! What a morning Katie!!! Congratulations!!!

Thanks, Tim. I always laugh when you call me "a HAMMER." I told my mom that you called me that. Remember that she's 88.

 

"Why would he call you that?" she asked. "Is he being mean to you?"

 

"No, it's a compliment."

 

"Why is a hammer a compliment?"

 

"Because I hammer the fish."

 

"You hit the fish with a hammer?"

 

"Trust me, Mom, he's being nice and I'm nice to the fish too."

 

 

Hey,

 

Decided to fish for a little this evening and landed a decent largemouth ?  was around 12"-13" 

I don't know...looks pretty weak for a Florida bass. I would not consider this a "decent" bass

or picture worthy. You guys need an 8 lb bass just to be "average".

4 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Alex, whenever I see the eagles, ospreys, and loons, I think, "I wish Alex were here. He'd like to see and hear these great birds."

 

And when I catch a dark and beautiful fish, I think of you too! 

 

The smallmouth did have great shapes and color. I can tell within a second or two if I've hooked a smallmouth or largemouth. The smallmouth like lateral runs, whereas the largemouth are bulldoggy, hunkering and holding their ground. 

 

I'm going to fish my big fish swamp tomorrow morning. It's an A-Jay place, with quality over quantity, so I might just catch three fish and I'm hoping one of them is scale-worthy. I'm going to use my new Rage Swimmers tomorrow morning. I've got a pumpkin-colored one and one that's red and blue. 

Haha, and if I ever start catching Bass one after the other, I'll think of you ?

 

Back to us mere mortals, I caught a couple Spots, and two quality LGMs.   Both were short chunky fish, with the bigger going somewhere in the 3lb range.   Absolutely inhaled a Jackhammer with a 4" Live Magic Shad.   Both fish did, yet besides those two fish and the couple of Spots, it was a really tough outing.   

 

Biggest catch of the day was getting back my brand new Jackhammer that got stuck right before dark.     I got this rigged up homemade lure knocker hook thingy that is working pretty good.   

I love the quality of the evening light where you fish, Alex. 

 

BTW, ospreys go, "Scree, scree, scree!"

 

A lot like hawks.

 

And loons sound like melancholy angels singing. 

 

P. S. - Nice fish!

32 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

I don't know...looks pretty weak for a Florida bass. I would not consider this a "decent" bass

or picture worthy. You guys need an 8 lb bass just to be "average".

Lol thanks for..commenting, your opinions have been noted 

I had my best outing of the entire season today.  Ironically, its probably going to be my last attempt to bass fish too with water temps plummeting.  I might muskie fish once more.  I caught 31 largemouth and 1 pike in about 4.5 hours.  13 of the bass were over 17 inches, including my biggest this season, a 20 incher.  At one point I caught fish on four consecutive casts.  I never saw another person out there the whole time either.

20 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I love the quality of the evening light where you fish, Alex. 

 

BTW, ospreys go, "Scree, scree, scree!"

 

A lot like hawks.

 

And loons sound like melancholy angels singing. 

 

P. S. - Nice fish!

thanks friend! 

 

5 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I had my best outing of the entire season today.  Ironically, its probably going to be my last attempt to bass fish too with water temps plummeting.  I might muskie fish once more.  I caught 31 largemouth and 1 pike in about 4.5 hours.  13 of the bass were over 17 inches, including my biggest this season, a 20 incher.  At one point I caught fish on four consecutive casts.  I never saw another person out there the whole time either.

Way to go brother, beautiful fish!    That's some seriously hot fishing.

 

I wish you Yanks would weigh some of these fish, I have no context for length

 

A 5lb Bass down here can be super short and fat, or longer and skinner.     What do you think that 20" fish weighed?      Seriously, this is like half the forum using Metric system, and the other half using Imperial lol 

5 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

What do you think that 20" fish weighed? 

I normally don't weigh my fish even though I have a digital scale.  I did weigh a couple of them though, including the 20 incher.  It was just over 5 pounds.  A different time of year (like post spawn) it probably wouldn't be that heavy.

 

I bought that white hawg trough with black numbers so its easy to see what size the fish are.  They lay in there really nice to take a photo.  I'm in a work contest and they require a photo of the length for proof.

6 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I normally don't weigh my fish even though I have a digital scale.  I did weigh a couple of them though, including the 20 incher.  It was just over 5 pounds.  A different time of year (like post spawn) it probably wouldn't be that heavy.

I have a thing where I won't weigh a fish if I think is under 5 for LGMs.    I thought that looked like a 5lb fish.     

 

Congrats on the pig, 5lbs is a fantastic fish anywhere Bass swim.   That's the size that gets me giddy like a kitty, and gives me that false sense of "yeah I'm a pro" feeling ?

1 minute ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Congrats on the pig, 5lbs is a fantastic fish

Finishing the season on a high note!

Beautiful fish, Gimruis! They've all got that great football shape. 

4 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Beautiful fish, Gimruis! They've all got that great football shape. 

They look like those Maine Bass just lighter in color, he got into some of that Krazy Katie fishing ?

7 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Finishing the season on a high note!

Lol......that's what Katie said too.

 

You'll be back, they always come back ?

It's amazing how much power these guys have even as a juvenile lol... You feel like you're fighting a larger fish until you see it on the surface ? caught this a couple hours ago just casting out in the backyard 

Steve, thanks for the peacock bass photos. They dazzle me!

 

Gimruis, last night and this morning, I was thinking about your yesterday of fishing. Wow! A-Jay's tagline is "Quality over quantity," but yours should be, "Quality and quantity." 

 

So, I've decided to surrender Maine to Minnesota on ONE condition: We absolutely refuse to bleach our bass to look like Minnesota bass!

 

I went to a foggy bog this morning. It's not a numbers pond. It's an A-Jay pond with quality over quantity. I did manage to catch 12 fish. The first bass made me laugh as it tried to eat a lure its size. The second bass was the typical size. The third bass was an especially nice 17-incher. The last bass was my FIRST 19-incher of the fall. Woo-hoo! The photo quality is horrible because there was some water on the lens. 

24 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Steve, thanks for the peacock bass photos. They dazzle me!

 

Gimruis, last night and this morning, I was thinking about your yesterday of fishing. Wow! A-Jay's tagline is "Quality over quantity," but yours should be, "Quality and quantity." 

 

So, I've decided to surrender Maine to Minnesota on ONE condition: We absolutely refuse to bleach our bass to look like Minnesota bass!

 

I went to a foggy bog this morning. It's not a numbers pond. It's an A-Jay pond with quality over quantity. I did manage to catch 12 fish. The first bass made me laugh as it tried to eat a lure its size. The second bass was the typical size. The third bass was an especially nice 17-incher. The last bass was my FIRST 19-incher of the fall. Woo-hoo! The photo quality is horrible because there was some water on the lens. 

Early bird gets the worm I see, great job again Katie.  Way to take advantage of the weather.

 

If Bass only bit in the morning, I'd be a golfer ?

15 hours ago, gimruis said:

I normally don't weigh my fish even though I have a digital scale.  I did weigh a couple of them though, including the 20 incher.  It was just over 5 pounds.  A different time of year (like post spawn) it probably wouldn't be that heavy.

 

I bought that white hawg trough with black numbers so its easy to see what size the fish are.  They lay in there really nice to take a photo.  I'm in a work contest and they require a photo of the length for proof.

Your work colleagues might make you close their mouth to measure! 
 

nice bunch of chunky bass 

5 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Your work colleagues might make you close their mouth to measure! 

I'm actually not currently leading it.  Someone else has an entry that scores about 3 percentage points better than me.  Its based on the In-Fisherman North American Master Angler rules.

 

https://www.in-fisherman.com/content/master-angler/375360

4 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I'm actually not currently leading it.  Someone else has an entry that scores about 3 percentage points better than me.  Its based on the In-Fisherman North American Master Angler rules.

 

https://www.in-fisherman.com/content/master-angler/375360

That’s pretty cool! Rule 6 does say the mouth has to be closed 

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

Gimruis, last night and this morning, I was thinking about your yesterday of fishing. Wow! A-Jay's tagline is "Quality over quantity," but yours should be, "Quality and quantity." 

There is usually a point in the fall around the first half of October here when the water cools into the 50's and there is a really good bite with an aggressive approach.  That pattern has played out here for about 3 weeks now; last fall it never materialized, presumably because it was so warm all the way into November.  I also think that it is beneficial to wait until midday or so to start fishing after its warmed up some, as opposed to starting early in the morning when its midsummer.

 

Another item to keep in mind, at least here, is that the pressure has dropped significantly lately because hunting season has opened.  Duck, pheasant, grouse, and deer archery seasons are all open here now and I think a fair number of anglers switch gears to that (which is what I'll be doing soon too). 

5 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

That’s pretty cool! Rule 6 does say the mouth has to be closed 

Yes, that is correct.  There is a panel of judges that look at entries/photos submitted and take that sort of thing into account.  As I previously stated, the primary reason I bought this white hawg trough with black numbers was to show the size of the fish as clearly as possible.  The less "subjectivity" there is, the better.

 

Someone has a 19 1/4 inch smallmouth which is the clubhouse leader.  I'm probably going to finish in 2nd unless a miracle occurs the next 2 weeks here.  I honestly think that the trophy class status for largemouth here in region 1 being 22 inches is a bit excessive.  Additionally, the trophy class status for a smallmouth here is only 20 inches, which I think it too low.  They should both be 21 inches IMO.