15 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Gotcha beat!

I guess so! ?

My Father has both of you beat.  He landed this freak in July.  As to why he's smiling with it, I will never know.

32 minutes ago, gimruis said:

My Father has both of you beat.  He landed this freak in July.  As to why he's smiling with it, I will never know.

Ok, you made me brag!

BTW, have you never NOT smiled when catching a fish? Of course he's smiling!

39 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

BTW, have you never NOT smiled when catching a fish?

Actually every time I catch one of those unwanted slimy northern pike I let out a 4-letter swear word.  Aint no smiling with slime darts.

30 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Actually every time I catch one of those unwanted slimy northern pike I let out a 4-letter swear word.  Aint no smiling with slime darts.

 

You best steer clear of Maine, then, for if pike are slime darts, then pickerel are slime needles. So skinny! 

 

The only difference between @ol'crickety photo and mine is that hers doesn't show the middle finger. ?

I do note that we're both holding the fish as far from us as possible. 

 

Floated a small river today thanks to advice from @N Florida Mike. This is quite fun and more my speed than salt water haha. This may be the FLA paradise @AlabamaSpothunterwas referring to. Caught a Suwannee bass within the first ten minutes, then 2-3 little largemouth. Paddled into some springs and checked out the clear water! Ended up with 3 or 4 Suwannee and 3-4 largemouth, still can’t count as well as @ol'crickety. Missed a lot of machine gun bites I assumed were sunfish. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That river looks like it's on another planet to me. I've floated thousands of miles on rivers, but never paddled over a river bottom like that or past those trees. It's beautiful. Thanks for sharing! 

 

I'm guessing that the first, third, and fourth fish are Suwannee bass. Am I right?

 

 

P. S. - When I fish, I don't just count. I also multiply. 

 

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Floated a small river today thanks to advice from @N Florida Mike. This is quite fun and more my speed than salt water haha. This may be the FLA paradise @AlabamaSpothunterwas referring to. Caught a Suwannee bass within the first ten minutes, then 2-3 little largemouth. Paddled into some springs and checked out the clear water! Ended up with 3 or 4 Suwannee and 3-4 largemouth, still can’t count as well as @ol'crickety. Missed a lot of machine gun bites I assumed were sunfish. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's spectacular, and congrats on catching the Suwannee, I think I recall hearing that's one of the harder ones to catch.  

 

Magical place it seems, catching fish almost becomes secondary in a place like that.  

6 hours ago, gimruis said:

My Father has both of you beat.  He landed this freak in July.  As to why he's smiling with it, I will never know.

 

That may be more of a laugh. ?

5 hours ago, gimruis said:

Actually every time I catch one of those unwanted slimy northern pike I let out a 4-letter swear word.  Aint no smiling with slime darts.

 

Pike are definitely a nuisance to us bass fishermen. They've stolen/destroyed way too many baits over the years to keep count. I especially love it when they diminish my Jackhammer stock!

 

There are times when I don't mind them tho. One, if they're decent size and two, really early in the year if I'm targeting them. Here's a few decent ones I caught the past 2 years that I didn't mind, minus the part where one flopped around and put a hook in my hand (thankfully not the barb).

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

Pike are definitely a nuisance to us bass fishermen. They've stolen/destroyed way too many baits over the years to keep count. I especially love it when they diminish my Jackhammer stock!

 

There are times when I don't mind them tho. One, if they're decent size and two, really early in the year if I'm targeting them. Here's a few decent ones I caught the past 2 years that I didn't mind, minus the part where one flopped around and put a hook in my hand (thankfully not the barb).

Completely agree. Most are a nuisance. Every once in a while you pile into a sizable one.

50 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

That river looks like it's on another planet to me. I've floated thousands of miles on rivers, but never paddled over a river bottom like that or past those trees. It's beautiful. Thanks for sharing! 

 

I'm guessing that the first, third, and fourth fish are Suwannee bass. Am I right?

 

 

P. S. - When I fish, I don't just count. I also multiply. 

 

 

46 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

That's spectacular, and congrats on catching the Suwannee, I think I recall hearing that's one of the harder ones to catch.  

 

Magical place it seems, catching fish almost becomes secondary in a place like that.  

I believe you are correct Katie. Alex, the Suwannee were very easily caught, probably considered difficult because they only exist in one place. The river was beyond crazy, a few places it looked like a tributary was coming in. One of them my wife paddled into and started zooming downstream. That’s right, she branched off the main stem and was going downstream. Fast. And it was a dead end into a whirlpool that disappeared underground. There are springs that come out of the ground and flow into the river, that seems normal. But this was the exact opposite , some of the main river branches off, traveled fast, and disappeared in a swift whirlpool underground . Absolute crazy talk, water goes downhill where I live…………

 

then I’m pretty sure all that water that went underground came back into the river a mile or so downstream right in the center of the channel. It was a deep stretch and all of a sudden there was a swirling current coming off the bottom and going in all directions . 
 

 

22 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

 

I believe you are correct Katie. Alex, the Suwannee were very easily caught, probably considered difficult because they only exist in one place. The river was beyond crazy, a few places it looked like a tributary was coming in. One of them my wife paddled into and started zooming downstream. That’s right, she branched off the main stem and was going downstream. Fast. And it was a dead end into a whirlpool that disappeared underground. There are springs that come out of the ground and flow into the river, that seems normal. But this was the exact opposite , some of the main river branches off, traveled fast, and disappeared in a swift whirlpool underground . Absolute crazy talk, water goes downhill where I live…………

 

then I’m pretty sure all that water that went underground came back into the river a mile or so downstream right in the center of the channel. It was a deep stretch and all of a sudden there was a swirling current coming off the bottom and going in all directions . 
 

 

The limestone deposits make FLA crazy cool, and sometimes even deadly.   Sink holes stink in neighborhoods, but in nature they are awesome and get a cool name, Blue Holes ?

Yesterday I was only able to catch 5,  with one really nice Spot b/t 2.5-3lbs.

 

Today was supposed to be raining much earlier, but they missed it by several hours so I went out.   First 30 mins it was fish after fish with a 4.1lb being the largest.     Then I bumped into a friend who fishes the lake from another neighbors boat occasionally.    I decided to just talk fishing for a few hours mostly while shadowing him.   The one time I stopped to fish, I nailed back to back fat little LGMs, meanwhile he's been fishing steady for 1.5hrs......nothing.        

 

Right before the rains were coming and we were gonna depart for own respective docks, his rod doubled in that fashion that only big 5lb+ fish do, it was very cool seeing it all from 30 ft back like it was live action TV.      Turned out to be a 7.1lb fish, but sadly it was a significantly larger fish at one time.   The mouth was bigger than my 10lb+ fish if I had to guess, and it was a very long fish.   Sadly it was very skinny.     These are the fish end up wondering so much about......is she just old?   Is she sick?   You've never seen a 7lb+ fish excite two Bassheads less more than this one.     5lbs was in the head I bet.   I did not think it would go 7, and he wanted me to check on my new scale. 

 

Pics include his fish, then the most beautiful Spot I've seen in awhile......the perfect two tone contrast was incredible.    Lastly my big fish from today the 4.1.

 

Oh yeah, had two nice Spotted Bass hooked on the 110Jr +1, and one came off on the boat.   It's on GoPro so maybe I'll throw it in a future video.    So close to being like Katie ?

@TnRiver46

 

Okay, after what you shared, I modify my prior comment from it looking like an alien world to "It is an alien world!"

 

That branch with its own current that spins into a whirlpool is amazing. 

@AlabamaSpothunter

 

I caught about three fish in 2022 that looked like the 7 lber, non that reached seven pounds, but all worried me. The last one, I couldn't even bare to photograph even though it went 18". 

18 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Yesterday I was only able to catch 5,  with one really nice Spot b/t 2.5-3lbs.

 

Today was supposed to be raining much earlier, but they missed it by several hours so I went out.   First 30 mins it was fish after fish with a 4.1lb being the largest.     Then I bumped into a friend who fishes the lake from another neighbors boat occasionally.    I decided to just talk fishing for a few hours mostly while shadowing him.   The one time I stopped to fish, I nailed back to back fat little LGMs, meanwhile he's been fishing steady for 1.5hrs......nothing.        

 

Right before the rains were coming and we were gonna depart for own respective docks, his rod doubled in that fashion that only big 5lb+ fish do, it was very cool seeing it all from 30 ft back like it was live action TV.      Turned out to be a 7.1lb fish, but sadly it was a significantly larger fish at one time.   The mouth was bigger than my 10lb+ fish if I had to guess, and it was a very long fish.   Sadly it was very skinny.     These are the fish end up wondering so much about......is she just old?   Is she sick?   You've never seen a 7lb+ fish excite two Bassheads less more than this one.     5lbs was in the head I bet.   I did not think it would go 7, and he wanted me to check on my new scale. 

 

Pics include his fish, then the most beautiful Spot I've seen in awhile......the perfect two tone contrast was incredible.    Lastly my big fish from today the 4.1.

 

Oh yeah, had two nice Spotted Bass hooked on the 110Jr +1, and one came off on the boat.   It's on GoPro so maybe I'll throw it in a future video.    So close to being like Katie ?

Nice ones!!!!! Can’t trust a weatherman (no matter what BR members claim about 95% accuracy)

 

14 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice ones!!!!! Can’t trust a weatherman (no matter what BR members claim about 95% accuracy)

 

Lol, I finally learned my lesson the last time they called for early rain.    

 

Bass fisherman are the best weather forecasters I know anyways ?

38 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Yesterday I was only able to catch 5,  with one really nice Spot b/t 2.5-3lbs.

 

Today was supposed to be raining much earlier, but they missed it by several hours so I went out.   First 30 mins it was fish after fish with a 4.1lb being the largest.     Then I bumped into a friend who fishes the lake from another neighbors boat occasionally.    I decided to just talk fishing for a few hours mostly while shadowing him.   The one time I stopped to fish, I nailed back to back fat little LGMs, meanwhile he's been fishing steady for 1.5hrs......nothing.        

 

Right before the rains were coming and we were gonna depart for own respective docks, his rod doubled in that fashion that only big 5lb+ fish do, it was very cool seeing it all from 30 ft back like it was live action TV.      Turned out to be a 7.1lb fish, but sadly it was a significantly larger fish at one time.   The mouth was bigger than my 10lb+ fish if I had to guess, and it was a very long fish.   Sadly it was very skinny.     These are the fish end up wondering so much about......is she just old?   Is she sick?   You've never seen a 7lb+ fish excite two Bassheads less more than this one.     5lbs was in the head I bet.   I did not think it would go 7, and he wanted me to check on my new scale. 

 

Pics include his fish, then the most beautiful Spot I've seen in awhile......the perfect two tone contrast was incredible.    Lastly my big fish from today the 4.1.

 

Oh yeah, had two nice Spotted Bass hooked on the 110Jr +1, and one came off on the boat.   It's on GoPro so maybe I'll throw it in a future video.    So close to being like Katie ?

I sure wish I had spots in my lakes. 

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Lol, I finally learned my lesson the last time they called for early rain.    

 

Bass fisherman are the best weather forecasters I know anyways ?

Take rain coat and sunscreen, winner every time. 50 percent chance everyday, might rain might not 

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

 

 

@TnRiver46 Is that a turtle in the upper right corner of this photo?

 

@TnRiver46 Is that a turtle in the upper right corner of this photo? 

 

11 minutes ago, Eric 26 said:

 

Indeed, there were 75 of them every which way you looked on the river today. I put my iPhone underwater and snapped that 

23 minutes ago, Eric 26 said:

 

LOL, I thought I analyzed everyone's pic to the Nth degree......well done sir, I bow to your greatness ?

@TnRiver46

 

You were fishing on Pandora, right? 

 

Was this your ride?

 

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@TnRiver46

 

You were fishing on Pandora, right? 

 

Was this your ride?

 

My wife is a professional photographer, you should see the 500 pics she took