Epic!

If I wasn't already green with envy, I would be jealous! HA!

Way to go!

A wild weather day today. First line of storms came through midday bringing wind, rain and hail, along with our warmest temps at 52 degrees. After a couple hours, the back side of that frontal line had moved through and there was a decent gap on radar before the next line hit…so I made a dash to my best numbers spot to try and hook a fish or two.

 

Was able to stay out there for 1 hr and 45 minutes with constantly changing weather. Brief minutes of sun followed by waves of threatening clouds; temps dropped 10 degrees in that time frame. Wind variable at 29 mph gusting to 38 interspersed with brief periods of near calm. Got sprinkled on a few times, too, but nothing drastic. 
 

Despite all that, I managed 14 bass that I know of - lol. Fishing a Ned rig in those winds, I might have missed a few bites. It was a challenge, but found a good group of fish actively feeding in one small pocket/corner for the majority of the action. Here’s a few pics…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Bob and Kyle! 

 

Well I was Catfished by the wind today lol......I literally looked at the weather report before I left at 11am said 10mph winds, by 1pm I had to hug a bank in the back of a creek for an hour before calling it with those 35mph gust headwinds back to the dock.    At times my mighty 50lb motor on high was just barely getting the job done, white caps on the main body.    A real Moby Dick saga, Captain Ahab was almost lost to 1.2ft seas, and 35mph gusts ?

 

Caught a nice Spot on the A-Rig, then thought I had a white whale for a second when I caught a solid sized Channel on the Flashback Mini and spinning rod.   Catfish jumped right away which I never seen them do, and I thought it was a DD ?

 

 

20 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

A wild weather day today. First line of storms came through midday bringing wind, rain and hail, along with our warmest temps at 52 degrees. After a couple hours, the back side of that frontal line had moved through and there was a decent gap on radar before the next line hit…so I made a dash to my best numbers spot to try and hook a fish or two.

 

Was able to stay out there for 1 hr and 45 minutes with constantly changing weather. Brief minutes of sun followed by waves of threatening clouds; temps dropped 10 degrees in that time frame. Wind variable at 29 mph gusting to 38 interspersed with brief periods of near calm. Got sprinkled on a few times, too, but nothing drastic. 
 

Despite all that, I managed 14 bass that I know of - lol. Fishing a Ned rig in those winds, I might have missed a few bites. It was a challenge, but found a good group of fish actively feeding in one small pocket/corner for the majority of the action. Here’s a few pics…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great looking fish!   There are days when the bank is the best boat.   Not to mention my two biggest fish were caught from the bank.   

Got out briefly today. Other matters (wife got rear ended by a hit and run Wed. eve.) have consumed most of my time. Did manage a decent one in spite of low 30's and wind. Yesterday probably would have been great with 50's before a vigorous cold front.

First fish of the year!

25 minutes ago, Chris Catignani said:

First fish of the year!

Congrats, looks like a tank of a SM....love that fat belly! 

this was the last bass I caught it was sometime in December 

What a memorable day for a variety of reasons.  

 

I managed to catch two of the big three on a single cast......this now has me obsessed with the thought of catching all three on a single cast.     TNRiver46 lives in prime country to pull of this feat.  If anybody knows about someone catching all three on a single cast please let me know!

 

Got into Katie numbers level of hot fishing, I stopped trying to keep count after 30.   So many 1-2lb butterballs, and then I had the EXACT opposite thing happen in the exact same place as yesterday (thought a 5-6lb Channel was a big Bass on the Flashback Mini), today I knew I had a big Cat like yesterday, NOPE..... schoolgirl mode activated ?

 

I managed to best my Flashback Mini best fish on that girl by 3ozs......4lb 10ozs.    I'm gonna get a fish over 5 on it, I just know it.     Lost one a week or two ago that might have done it.   

 

15+ on A-Rig

10+ on the Flashback mini 

5+ on the MB 110jr sexy shad 

 

Took 1.5hrs to find them, but for 4hours straight I watched 2 acres of water at the mouth of a creek in 2-6ft erupt with half pound fish all the way to at least 5lb fish......if you just sit still in the boat you can watch the Sharks swarm through Shad that numbers in what I can only guess to be millions.    Little Bass getting sometimes 3ft in the air, other times dozens of fish clearing the water at the same time, constantly watching dozens and dozens of silver flashes dance across the air all around you in every direction.  Every fish slap full of Shad.    Incredible spectacle.    

 

pics:  4lb 10oz Flashback Mini fish, and biggest Spot of the day.  I'm in love these two species but for totally different reasons, to get them together was a privilege and joy I won't ever forget.  

 

 

This is my prayer tonight:

 

For Alex, here's my wish

evermore winter fish.

Alex loves January

with no swarms of boats, Johns, and Marys.

In this first month, the lake's his own

He's free to cast, free to roam.'

He boats the bigguns

Two at time

By patience and pluck, by skill and clime.

Twenty, thirty,

Too many to count

An ever, ever growing amount.

So this I wish and this I pray

For Jan-a in 'bama to last one hundred days. 

 

 

 

On 1/18/2023 at 9:48 AM, ol'crickety said:

 

Heck, yeah, they do! I love fat bass. It tells me the lake and fish are healthy. Likewise, skinny fish worry me. I actually feel bad when I catch a skinny bass because I used some of their energy and they don't have any to spare. You could catch Alex's bass above ten times in a row and they'd still be plump.

 

@Bluebasser86 You took a great photo of your friend.

 

 

I don't know if many of you are nerds (I know Bob is, thank goodness. Nerds are my people!), but in "a few short months," all your bases will belong to me!

 

“A few short months”? You mean like half of your fishing season? Yeah okay, I’ll keep waiting. Once I’m done waiting, maybe I can hear about how you caught 20% of your frog bites. 

9 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

This is my prayer tonight:

 

For Alex, here's my wish

evermore winter fish.

Alex loves January

with no swarms of boats, Johns, and Marys.

In this first month, the lake's his own

He's free to cast, free to roam.'

He boats the bigguns

Two at time

By patience and pluck, by skill and clime.

Twenty, thirty,

Too many to count

An ever, ever growing amount.

So this I wish and this I pray

For Jan. in 'bama to last a hundred days. 

 

 

 

I love it Katie!   You are amazing writer, and poet.

 

"He's free to cast, free to roam"     Put that on my tombstone that's such an epic line ?

1 minute ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I love it Katie!   You are amazing writer, and poet.

 

"He's free to cast, free to roam"     Put that on my tombstone that's such an epic line ?

 

Just now, LrgmouthShad said:

 

Yeah that'll get the Saturday off to a rocking start ?

The judge: "You stand accused of being a froggin' failure. How do you plead?"

 

Me: "Guilty, your honor."

 

The judge: "Before I pass sentence, do you have anything to say on your behalf?"

 

Me: I hold up a pic of the fish below and say, "I did catch this gal froggin'."

 

 

 

The judge squints, studies the fish, and then says, "Then I delay sentencing and place you on conditional probation."

 

Me: "Conditional?"

 

The judge: "The condition being that you have to catch five more like her this summer or be sentenced to a lifetime of fishing in Missouri!"

 

People in the courtroom faint at the severity of the possible sentence.

 

My father screams, "NOOOOO!"

 

My mother weeps. 

 

Your wheels are always spinning and running smooth. ?

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

The judge: "You stand accused of being a froggin' failure. How do you plead?"

 

Me: "Guilty, your honor."

 

The judge: "Before I pass sentence, do you have anything to say on your behalf?"

 

Me: I hold up a pic of the fish below and say, "I did catch this gal froggin'."

 

 

 

The judge squints, studies the fish, and then says, "Then I delay sentencing and place you on conditional probation."

 

Me: "Conditional?"

 

The judge: "The condition being that you have to catch five more like her this summer or be sentenced to a lifetime of fishing in Missouri!"

 

People in the courtroom faint at the severity of the possible sentence.

 

My father screams, "NOOOOO!"

 

My mother weeps. 

 

Hey now, even though I’m leaving Missouri soon, it ain’t all that bad… fishing wise that is. Decent largemouth opportunities, can generally fish through the winter, trout in some streams and rivers, and probably the best is the Ozark river smallmouth fishing that you can enjoy. 
 

Now, the judge’s sentence is bad purely because you would have to live in Missouri for the rest of your life, not because it doesn’t have good fishing opportunities. ?

 

By the way I was shaving when I read your reply and I burst out laughing, almost cut myself. 

 

 

@LrgmouthShad Heck, yeah, Missouri is pretty. I'd paddled along it a couple times on the Mississippi River. I've been to the Ozarks too. Gorgeous country. 

 

Glad I made you laugh! 

17 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@LrgmouthShad Heck, yeah, Missouri is pretty. I'd paddled along it a couple times on the Mississippi River. I've been to the Ozarks too. Gorgeous country. 

 

Glad I made you laugh! 

Yup. Going to enjoy it soon. May not wind up to be the wisest decision I’ve made because I’m really busy, but I’m trying to squeeze in a few hours fishing today. I’ll be on the water within the hour 

@LrgmouthShad Let us know how it goes. Smallmouth in the Ozarks sounds like Heaven. 

On 1/18/2023 at 10:14 PM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I can now officially say I've joined the double up A Rig club.    

Your first double tops mine Alex. LOL.

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

@LrgmouthShad Let us know how it goes. Smallmouth in the Ozarks sounds like Heaven. 

Two dinks. Not really picture worthy. 
 

Okay day ??. Avoided the skunk

Got a couple bass and a 31” drum on some new water today. Purple worm and 8 lb seaguar basix 

 

 

 

Hottest day I've ever had on the water in terms of Bass aggression.      I'm going to try and make a video just showing the indescribable Bass and Shad activity on this same 2acres of water at the mouth of the northern most creek as the last few days.     I've never seen so many Bass of all sizes feeding for hours on end like this.  One Bass will erupt, and then 20sq feet will erupt nano seconds later with sometimes a dozen fish clearing the air.   This scene repeats itself every minute for every hour I'm out there in every part of about 2acres of water, there is no end to the feeding window......that I can't stress enough.    

 

50+ fish caught today(most fish I've caught fishing this lake my entire life), maybe 5-10 were less than a pound.    Big fish was a 7.1lb old girl taken on the Picasso finesse bait ball A-Rig.    This big girl was clearly on the downside of her life, she didn't look sick or emaciated, but her mouth and head were the size of a fish I've never seen before, bigger than my PB.  Hoping she's just lived a nice long life.    For a brief moment I thought I got my White Whale.   

 

Watched a Red Fox for a few minutes as well, very cool animal. 

 

Someone should have told me Winter fishing was like this ?

 

45 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Got a couple bass and a 31” drum on some new water today. Purple worm and 8 lb seaguar basix 

 

 

 

That's a big sheepie