Ended up catching 9LM today, and had a small musky shake off while I was fumbling with the net. Water's down eight degrees over the last six days. Surface temp was 42 this morning and lake #1 is down about four feet. The ramp will be unusable in a week or two. Time is running out on the 22 season. First bite today was five pounder #4 for the year, officially making this my best year for big LM. Come to think of it, it's been a great year for big fish in general, with a PB saugeye, and a muskie just an inch short of my PB. Todays ol battle scarred big girl came in at 5.11. The mighty Sweet Craw strikes again. Caught one LM on the A Rig, the rest came on the Sweet Craw pitched to shallow sun baked laydowns.

@T-Billy beautiful cold water largemouth. Looks like shes been through a thing or two. 

3 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

@T-Billy beautiful cold water largemouth. Looks like shes been through a thing or two. 

Yeah, she has some old scars all over her and is missing the top of her tail fin. Muskie had ahold of her at some point. 

22 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Ended up catching 9LM today, and had a small musky shake off while I was fumbling with the net. Water's down eight degrees over the last six days. Surface temp was 42 this morning and lake #1 is down about four feet. The ramp will be unusable in a week or two. Time is running out on the 22 season. First bite today was five pounder #4 for the year, officially making this my best year for big LM. Come to think of it, it's been a great year for big fish in general, with a PB saugeye, and a muskie just an inch short of my PB. Todays ol battle scarred big girl came in at 5.11. The mighty Sweet Craw strikes again. Caught one LM on the A Rig, the rest came on the Sweet Craw pitched to shallow sun baked laydowns.

 

 

Sledgehammer! I'm so happy for you, Tim. I'm so sad for you too, with your season ending. Let's rent a bus and go live with Alex for a few months!

 

 

P. S. - How big do you think the musky was?

9 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

First bite today was five pounder #4 for the year, officially making this my best year for big LM.

? ?

2 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Yeah, she has some old scars all over her and is missing the top of her tail fin. Muskie had ahold of her at some point. 

That's what makes that such a special fish brother, congrats.   That's likely a much older fish than a 5lb fish in my home lake, maybe 5-7yr old fish.    

 

Giddy Kitty sized fish down here have no predators outside of man that I know of.   

13 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

 

Sledgehammer! I'm so happy for you, Tim. I'm so sad for you, with your season ending. Let's rent a bus and go live with Alex for a few months!

 

LOL. Thank you Katie. I hopefully have a few weeks left. We'll see, it's getting to be that time of year when I never know which trip will be my last. My #2 lake has a ramp that will be usable as that lake's only being dropped 5' this year, but it's in the shallow upper end and it ices in early. The ice will determine when I'm done.

 I don't sweat the couple months of down time. I'll get some projects done around the house that I've been putting off, service my reels, and make a pile of baits. Plus the time off will have me chomping at the bit to get back on the water come March. To everything there is a season.

Edit to add: @ol'crickety the musky wasn't big. 32" ish. Sorry, I missed the PS earlier.

13 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

That's likely a much older fish than a 5lb fish in my home lake, maybe 5-7yr old fish.    

Yeah, for sure. I don't get a five every year, and only have three six pounders with a 6-4 being my PB SM and a 6-10 my PB LM. It's been a special year for sure. I'm not quite done yet, there's still hope for a new PB this year.

 

Edit to add: I looked around a little bit for growth rates for northern LM. Looks like a 5 pounder around here is likely an 8-9 year old fish, making a 6 or more 10+. Given the pressure our little lakes get, it's no wonder they're not exactly common.

Fished from 7a - 2p yesterday. Caught this ONE on a 6" Bullshad in the far back of cove. Nice overcast day I just couldn't find active fish. Water temp 58.

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

That's what makes that such a special fish brother, congrats.   That's likely a much older fish than a 5lb fish in my home lake, maybe 5-7yr old fish.    

 

Giddy Kitty sized fish down here have no predators outside of man that I know of.   

I’ve seen bald eagle swim a 3-4 foot musky to the bank and eat it ! Although I’m not sure what a giddy kitty fish is, there’s a predator 

4 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve seen bald eagle swim a 3-4 foot musky to the bank and eat it ! Although I’m not sure what a giddy kitty fish is, there’s a predator 

I've yet to see a Bald Eagle fishing around central Alabama, and even then, they'd have very rare chances to grab a 5lb LGM.

 

5lb+ fish makes me giddy like a kitty 

3 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I've yet to see a Bald Eagle fishing around central Alabama, and even then, they'd have very rare chances to grab a 5lb LGM.

 

5lb+ fish makes me giddy like a kitty 

Trust me, there’s not a corner of Alabama that bald eagles don’t know about 

 

and if you don’t think they can catch a 5 lb bass with no teeth, watch this 

 

56 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

Fished from 7a - 2p yesterday. Caught this ONE on a 6" Bullshad in the far back of cove. Nice overcast day I just could find active fish. Water temp 58.

Nice one, be interested to see you compare the BD Shad with the Bull Shad should you ever get one.    

I've seen hundreds of bald eagles in my fishing and paddling paddling. Maybe thousands. However, at one lake just down the highway, there's a bald eagle that's the Dot of bald eagles. Remember ginormous Dot in California? This eagle is a feathered Dot. It's much bigger than any eagle I've ever seen. It drops my jaw every time I see it. It does low passes over me too, feeling like a pterodactyl. Watching that musky/eagle video has me a little worried now. 

9 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I've seen hundreds of bald eagles in my fishing and paddling paddling. Maybe thousands. However, at one lake just down the highway, there's a bald eagle that's the Dot of bald eagles. Remember ginormous Dot in California? This eagle is a feathered Dot. It's much bigger than any eagle I've ever seen. It drops my jaw every time I see it. It does low passes over me too, feeling like a pterodactyl. Watching that musky/eagle video has me a little worried now. 

Don’t let the Yorkie swim alongside your canoe! 
 

Bald eagles can eat a wide variety of things, they are massive. A lot of the gut content studies we looked at in college said over half of what they eat is waterfowl 

 

there are a couple eagles that live near me, right downtown. You will always see another pair bout every 5-10 miles down the river the entire way 

22 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Bald eagles can eat a wide variety of things, they are massive. A lot of the gut content studies we looked at in college said over half of what they eat is waterfowl 

Many of them actually scavenge on dead things. Dead fish, road kill, and this time of year they pick away at gut piles of deer that hunters have shot. Lead poisoning is a controversial subject with eagles this time of year.

59 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Nice one, be interested to see you compare the BD Shad with the Bull Shad should you ever get one.    

Looking at them, I'd bet a fish that'd hit one would hit the other. If I get my hands on a BD I'll fish it and compare.

7 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Many of them actually scavenge on dead things. Dead fish, road kill, and this time of year they pick away at gut piles of deer that hunters have shot. Lead poisoning is a controversial subject with eagles this time of year.

I was on my way into the mountains last spring and I saw a big bird eating a dead raccoon and just assumed it was a buzzard. As I drove by it was a bald eagle, it jumped up into a tree and let me pass. Then I was telling my coworker the story and the spot and he had seen the exact same thing in the exact same spot. He said that bird lives off roadkill haha

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

I was on my way into the mountains last spring and I saw a big bird eating a dead raccoon and just assumed it was a buzzard. As I drove by it was a bald eagle, it jumped up into a tree and let me pass. Then I was telling my coworker the story and the spot and he had seen the exact same thing in the exact same spot. He said that bird lives off roadkill haha

A lot of people think they are these majestic efficient hunters but in reality most of them would much rather scavenge like crows than hunt because it’s just much easier. Free food.

7 minutes ago, gimruis said:

A lot of people think they are these majestic efficient hunters but in reality most of them would much rather scavenge like crows than hunt because it’s just much easier. Free food.

When I was in Alaska, all the tour guides said they don’t have vultures so the eagles clean it all up 

 

my buddy calls bald eagles “buzzards in a tuxedo”

10 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

When I was in Alaska, all the tour guides said they don’t have vultures so the eagles clean it all up 

 

my buddy calls bald eagles “buzzards in a tuxedo”

 

I once saw a bald eagle fighting a buzzard over some roadkill ?

1 hour ago, BayouSlide said:

 

I once saw a bald eagle fighting a buzzard over some roadkill ?

Glad I don’t have to eat it. The animal kingdom is ruthless 

All y'all and your beautiful eagles...best I got is the murder of crows that takes the shape of Roland Martin and follows me from my house to the lake

4 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

All y'all and your beautiful eagles...best I got is the murder of crows that takes the shape of Roland Martin and follows me from my house to the lake

21 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Ended up catching 9LM today, and had a small musky shake off while I was fumbling with the net. Water's down eight degrees over the last six days. Surface temp was 42 this morning and lake #1 is down about four feet. The ramp will be unusable in a week or two. Time is running out on the 22 season. First bite today was five pounder #4 for the year, officially making this my best year for big LM. Come to think of it, it's been a great year for big fish in general, with a PB saugeye, and a muskie just an inch short of my PB. Todays ol battle scarred big girl came in at 5.11. The mighty Sweet Craw strikes again. Caught one LM on the A Rig, the rest came on the Sweet Craw pitched to shallow sun baked laydowns.

Your posts are always incredible. I gotta get one of those hats. Has to be the secret. in Uncle Buck John Candy said his hat made a lot of people angry. Yours works on bass and muskies.

2 minutes ago, The Bassman said:

Your posts are always incredible. I gotta get one of those hats. Has to be the secret. in Uncle Buck John Candy said his hat made a lot of people angry. Yours works on bass and muskies.

LOL. Thanks. The hat gets lots of compliments, and that sucker is WARM. I think the fish bite my bait just so they can come in the boat and get a better look at it.