4 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

This is the quiet before the storm of Katie being back on the water

 

There's going to be a lot more quiet before any storm. Another six inches fell last night and another six inches is forecast for Saturday. On the plus side, beneath the snow and ice, those bass have to be getting hungrier and hungrier. When they finally see my lures, they'll think, "FOOD!!! FINALLY, FOOD!"

 

 

4 hours ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Alex there is about as much chance as you "Taking a few weeks off" as there is of me going to Maine and sitting on the ice with Katy!  Although I would love her company, especially the taters and sausage, (no Katy I have not forgotten).

 

Dang it! I thought the pulling power of sausage and taters was infinite, but it clearly only reaches to Western Mass or thereabouts. 

March 1st and It’s the final count down!!!! Traditionaly within the last 5 years I start bass fishing on or around March 25th.

 

Extended forecast still looks like nights in the teens untill mid March.  Hopefully it starts climbing to the mud 30’s and 40’s soon at night.  Days are getting to the 40’s already 

Almost took the boat out again today when the wind underperformed the forecast by quite a bit…but I found the exact trailer part I needed to fix my wiring issue locally, so hit a pond first before grabbing and installing it. Managed 10 bass on a day with record highs, most on Ned but a few on jerkbait.

 

 

Bob was right, 12-16hrs seems to be just enough for the frustration to reside and the stubbornness to kick back in.   

 

Burned the crap out of my three finger tips stupidly touching a battery terminal that the TM lead wasn't fully tighten down on.   Spent about two hours with my hand in the lake on and off fishing.    

 

Today I just embraced Spring, and broke out a 8" Mag Zoom Lizard, and Rapala OG Tiny 4 in Gizzard Shad, and most importantly a 15-20yr old Terminator 3/8th Spinnerbait in a chartreuse shad kind of pattern, Gold and Silver blades and went very shallow.   Put a Crappie curly tail type grub on the back to just have a little kick behind the standard-length skirt.   Needed to keep it really compact due to bait size.   A-Rig gave me a whole new level of confidence to throw these stupid things ?

 

Caught a solid 3lb fish on a piece of cover on the Lizard, caught a few smaller fish on the Tiny 4, but was able to pick up a quality 5lb class fish on the spinnerbait along with a few other quality fish.  A few fish came on the Flashback Mini as well, it's the only constant day in, day off lure that always catches a fish.     First day in some time that I might have hit that 5/15lb benchmark.  About the same amount of fish (15).    77 outside temps/ 65-67 water temps.   

 

Beautiful fish, Alex! The first, second, and fourth look like bulldozers, but the third fish is built like a sports car. I also like the jaw on that first fish. Good job catching them on various lures too. I always enjoy going deeper into my tackle box. 

Nice bunch of fish Alex.  The water sure warmed up quick there.  It just got into the 50's here.  My GPS lattitude is 35 degrees North.  I doubt I'm more than 1 degree North of you.   So far it's warmed up quicker here this year than last year.  I just looked through my pictures.  I've got one that's 49 degrees water temp on March 13.  The air temp was 22 when I launched the boat that day.   Water wasn't into the 60s here until April last year.  We don't have the pollen here that you have yet, but we will soon.  

Here's my latest big catch. He's a DD!

"Alex" entered the world about 7:00PM last night, bawling his brand new little head off! He is a big O'boy! He was followed shortly by "A-Jay"! Mother and sons doing fine!

 

20 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Here's my latest big catch. He's a DD!

"Alex" entered the world about 7:00PM last night, bawling his brand new little head off! He is a big O'boy! He was followed shortly by "A-Jay"! Mother and sons doing fine!

 

Wow how cool is that Bob!!!  Busy year at the Billy Goat factory ?

 

It's a perfect name for such a stubborn animal ?

3 hours ago, Woody B said:

Nice bunch of fish Alex.  The water sure warmed up quick there.  It just got into the 50's here.  My GPS lattitude is 35 degrees North.  I doubt I'm more than 1 degree North of you.   So far it's warmed up quicker here this year than last year.  I just looked through my pictures.  I've got one that's 49 degrees water temp on March 13.  The air temp was 22 when I launched the boat that day.   Water wasn't into the 60s here until April last year.  We don't have the pollen here that you have yet, but we will soon.  

Thanks friend, and also thanks for the data point.    Man this weather is wild.   As a kid we had our biggest snow storm/blizzard in March of 93.....2.5ft of snow.   

 

Ever since then it seems March has gotten warmer and warmer, and then these last two years are just crazy.

11 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Beautiful fish, Alex! The first, second, and fourth look like bulldozers, but the third fish is built like a sports car. I also like the jaw on that first fish. Good job catching them on various lures too. I always enjoy going deeper into my tackle box. 

Thanks Katie!   You know desperation is creeping in when I'm chunking a spinner widget ?

 

I need you start back fishing so I can realize the lures I don't have, but clearly need ?

 

I still can't wait to catch a fish on the Whopper Plopper, love how it fishes, much easier to chunk and wind than a buzzer.

7 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Wow how cool is that Bob!!!  Busy year at the Billy Goat factory ?

 

It's a perfect name for such a stubborn animal ?

Thanks friend, and also thanks for the data point.    Man this weather is wild.   As a kid we had our biggest snow storm/blizzard in March of 93.....2.5ft of snow.   

 

Ever since then it seems March has gotten warmer and warmer, and then these last two years are just crazy.

Thanks Katie!   You know desperation is creeping in when I'm chunking a spinner widget ?

 

I need you start back fishing so I can realize the lures I don't have, but clearly need ?

 

I still can't wait to catch a fish on the Whopper Plopper, love how it fishes, much easier to chunk and wind than a buzzer.

We had a pretty decent snow in march last year too! 

@Bluebasser86 @AlabamaSpothunter and the rest of you guys catching big bass, imagine Ted Baxter in Caddyshack saying this:

 

"You think you're soooooo good at fishing. Well, why don't you come up to my house and go fishing here. You know there are bass in Maine, right? However, don't come today, as it's supposed to snow into the night. And don't come on Saturday, since it's supposed to snow all day that day too. Come tomorrow. Here's a photo of my house to help you find it. Well? I'm waiting!"

 

Back to Katie: Whoa, Bob! What a kid!!! DD for sure. Poor mama.

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@Bluebasser86 @AlabamaSpothunter and the rest of you guys catching big bass, imagine Ted Baxter in Caddyshack saying this:

 

"You think you're soooooo good at fishing. Well, why don't you come up to my house and go fishing here. You know there are bass in Maine, right? However, don't come today, as it's supposed to snow into the night. And don't come on Saturday, since it's supposed to snow all day that day too. Come tomorrow. Here's a photo of my house to help you find it. Well? I'm waiting!"

 

Back to Katie: Whoa, Bob! What a kid!!! DD for sure. Poor mama.

 

 

 

 

That is pretty!!!

8 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@Bluebasser86 @AlabamaSpothunter and the rest of you guys catching big bass, imagine Ted Baxter in Caddyshack saying this:

 

"You think you're soooooo good at fishing. Well, why don't you come up to my house and go fishing here. You know there are bass in Maine, right? However, don't come today, as it's supposed to snow into the night. And don't come on Saturday, since it's supposed to snow all day that day too. Come tomorrow. Here's a photo of my house to help you find it. Well? I'm waiting!"

 

Back to Katie: Whoa, Bob! What a kid!!! DD for sure. Poor mama.

 

 

 

 

Right out of some novel or something, that's beautiful!   

 

You got to at least give me credit enough to know not to come and get embarrassed by those Maine Bass ?

 

You put Maine on the map in my brain, before seeing your tremendous success I never once thought....Bass + Maine = epic days.    

@TnRiver46, it is pretty. I enjoy a snowfall. 

 

@AlabamaSpothunter, Maine bass wouldn't embarrass you, not with your earned acumen. Do you ever watch Old Lady Angler's videos? She's a kayaking Floridian who fished Maine last August and now is buying land up here, which confirms, to me at least, the quality of our fishing, since she fishes the Everglades and has 40/50/60/70 bass days.  

 

 

20 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@TnRiver46, it is pretty. I enjoy a snowfall. 

 

@AlabamaSpothunter, Maine bass wouldn't embarrass you, not with your earned acumen. Do you ever watch Old Lady Angler's videos? She's a kayaking Floridian who fished Maine last August and now is buying land up here, which confirms, to me at least, the quality of our fishing, since she fishes the Everglades and has 40/50/60/70 bass days.  

 

 

No, but I'll go watch some of her stuff.    Talk about extremes, be nice to fish the winters in the south, and summers in the north.  

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

@Bluebasser86 @AlabamaSpothunter and the rest of you guys catching big bass, imagine Ted Baxter in Caddyshack saying this:

 

"You think you're soooooo good at fishing. Well, why don't you come up to my house and go fishing here. You know there are bass in Maine, right? However, don't come today, as it's supposed to snow into the night. And don't come on Saturday, since it's supposed to snow all day that day too. Come tomorrow. Here's a photo of my house to help you find it. Well? I'm waiting!"

 

Back to Katie: Whoa, Bob! What a kid!!! DD for sure. Poor mama.

 

 

 

 

I love fishing when it's snowing. Snow equals low pressure system, usually means biting fish and as a nice side effect, it also keeps other people off the water.

29 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I love fishing when it's snowing. Snow equals low pressure system, usually means biting fish and as a nice side effect, it also keeps other people off the water.

 

Are you talking ice fishing or are you talking fishing in warm current? I do think that fishing in the snow would be a thrill. I have paddled in the snow. That was beyond beautiful. It was otherworldly. 

40 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Are you talking ice fishing or are you talking fishing in warm current? I do think that fishing in the snow would be a thrill. I have paddled in the snow. That was beyond beautiful. It was otherworldly. 

I mean fishing open water. I'll never forget several years ago catching a 5 and 7 pounder off a rockpile on a jerkbait in heavy snow. It's such a surreal setting to be catching big fish in.

I wish I'd been there to see that, @Bluebasser86. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. If get an open water day in late March or early April and it snows, I think I'm going fishin'...'cause of you!

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I love fishing when it's snowing. Snow equals low pressure system, usually means biting fish and as a nice side effect, it also keeps other people off the water.

 

47 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I wish I'd been there to see that, @Bluebasser86. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. If get an open water day in late March or early April and it snows, I think I'm going fishin'...'cause of you!

I’m also a fan of snow fishing! When you live in TN you are just a fan of snow anything because it only happens about twice a year 

18 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Bob was right, 12-16hrs seems to be just enough for the frustration to reside and the stubbornness to kick back in.   

 

Burned the crap out of my three finger tips stupidly touching a battery terminal that the TM lead wasn't fully tighten down on.   Spent about two hours with my hand in the lake on and off fishing.    

 

Today I just embraced Spring, and broke out a 8" Mag Zoom Lizard, and Rapala OG Tiny 4 in Gizzard Shad, and most importantly a 15-20yr old Terminator 3/8th Spinnerbait in a chartreuse shad kind of pattern, Gold and Silver blades and went very shallow.   Put a Crappie curly tail type grub on the back to just have a little kick behind the standard-length skirt.   Needed to keep it really compact due to bait size.   A-Rig gave me a whole new level of confidence to throw these stupid things ?

 

Caught a solid 3lb fish on a piece of cover on the Lizard, caught a few smaller fish on the Tiny 4, but was able to pick up a quality 5lb class fish on the spinnerbait along with a few other quality fish.  A few fish came on the Flashback Mini as well, it's the only constant day in, day off lure that always catches a fish.     First day in some time that I might have hit that 5/15lb benchmark.  About the same amount of fish (15).    77 outside temps/ 65-67 water temps.   

 

Good job Alex.. ???

14 minutes ago, GaryH said:

Good job Alex.. ???

Thanks Gary!   

 

Glad I caught a few yesterday because our wet, warm, and windy Spring has me off the water today with t-storms all day, and then tom. a wind advisory with gusts up to 50mph.     

6 hours ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Here's my latest big catch. He's a DD!

"Alex" entered the world about 7:00PM last night, bawling his brand new little head off! He is a big O'boy! He was followed shortly by "A-Jay"! Mother and sons doing fine!

 

Now I'm confused. Is Alex the G.O.A.T, or is A-Jay the G.O.A.T? There can be only one.

5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

That is pretty!!!

It ain't nowhere near pretty enough if it shuts down fishing.

Caught 8 Spots and two LM earlier today in my kind of weather, wind & rain. Waters 64 degrees. 

I had to take a sick today at work.  My arm was in a cast.  (don't tell anyone).   I caught 13 between 12 and 17 inches.  I didn't weigh any.  9 spots and 4 largemouth.   The 17 inch largemouth had an injury.  I don't think a boat prop could hit in where it was injured.  I wonder if a turtle got a hold of it, but it got away.  If fought good, and walked on it's tail like is was healthy.  Water temp is up to 58.  Speaking of weather, my birthday is in ~3 weeks.  When I was a kid it snowed us out of school on my birthday 3 years in a row.  

1 hour ago, Woody B said:

I had to take a sick today at work.  My arm was in a cast.  (don't tell anyone).   I caught 13 between 12 and 17 inches.  I didn't weigh any.  9 spots and 4 largemouth.   The 17 inch largemouth had an injury.  I don't think a boat prop could hit in where it was injured.  I wonder if a turtle got a hold of it, but it got away.  If fought good, and walked on it's tail like is was healthy.  Water temp is up to 58.  Speaking of weather, my birthday is in ~3 weeks.  When I was a kid it snowed us out of school on my birthday 3 years in a row.  

Fantastic, and get to feeling better!    

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Now I'm confused. Is Alex the G.O.A.T, or is A-Jay the G.O.A.T? There can be only one.

I'm the literal Goat, A-Jay is the G.O.A.T., what more proof do you need, do I need to start eating your New Balances ?

1 hour ago, GreenPig said:

It ain't nowhere near pretty enough if it shuts down fishing.

Caught 8 Spots and two LM earlier today in my kind of weather, wind & rain. Waters 64 degrees. 

Man those fish are pretty, and so is that MegaBass 110 ?