7 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Atta boy, Cbump!

 

Woody, you are funny! So funny (Did I already mention that you're funny?)!

 

But I rarely backlash.  LOL

I  had a better day today.  I caught 13, including a 3.92 pound spot that pulled like a submarine.  36 degrees and windy when I got to the lake, but not raining like last week when it was also 36.  6 on cranks (DT6 and Bandit 300) 5 on a shakey head, 2 on an Alabama rig.   I lost 2 big catfish, but I "think" I lost the same one twice.  It or they weren't as big as the 13 1/2 pounder I caught a few weeks ago, but bigger than the average blue, and strong as an ox.   The first one was on a DT6 off a brushpile at the end of a dock.   I got it up next to the boat, and was fumbling to get my glove on.  It done the catfish twist, and got off.  The next cast, a shakey head to the same brushpile was one that looked just like the first one.  (I've caught a bunch of cats on cranks, never on a worm).   It was barely hooked in the edge of the bottom lip.  It twisted off as I was reaching down to get it.   I wonder if it was the same fish.   I got a text from my wife between the 1st one and the 2nd one.  I caught a little feller at the next dock.  First cast I felt something hit my shakey head, I set the hook, and brought back a worm without a tail.  I put another on.  (7 inch, curly tail motoroil)   Same thing again.  Bite, set hook, worm broke off at hook.   I changed to a 5 inch, with a plain/no tail and caught this little guy on the next cast.  I wonder if he was the tail grabber.  Water is 5 degrees colder than 2 weeks ago, and 2 degrees colder than last week.   My boat is at the campground.  Mrs. B and myself are taking the camper in the morning.  I'm off work for a week so I'm going to get some fishing in, cold water or not.  

2 minutes ago, Woody B said:

I  had a better day today.  I caught 13, including a 3.92 pound spot that pulled like a submarine.  36 degrees and windy when I got to the lake, but not raining like last week when it was also 36.  6 on cranks (DT6 and Bandit 300) 5 on a shakey head, 2 on an Alabama rig.   I lost 2 big catfish, but I "think" I lost the same one twice.  It or they weren't as big as the 13 1/2 pounder I caught a few weeks ago, but bigger than the average blue, and strong as an ox.   The first one was on a DT6 off a brushpile at the end of a dock.   I got it up next to the boat, and was fumbling to get my glove on.  It done the catfish twist, and got off.  The next cast, a shakey head to the same brushpile was one that looked just like the first one.  (I've caught a bunch of cats on cranks, never on a worm).   It was barely hooked in the edge of the bottom lip.  It twisted off as I was reaching down to get it.   I wonder if it was the same fish.   I got a text from my wife between the 1st one and the 2nd one.  I caught a little feller at the next dock.  First cast I felt something hit my shakey head, I set the hook, and brought back a worm without a tail.  I put another on.  (7 inch, curly tail motoroil)   Same thing again.  Bite, set hook, worm broke off at hook.   I changed to a 5 inch, with a plain/no tail and caught this little guy on the next cast.  I wonder if he was the tail grabber.  Water is 5 degrees colder than 2 weeks ago, and 2 degrees colder than last week.   My boat is at the campground.  Mrs. B and myself are taking the camper in the morning.  I'm off work for a week so I'm going to get some fishing in, cold water or not.  

Awesome Spot, way to persevere. 

Big spot. Not Jupiter Big Red Spot big, but anywhere on Earth big.

Caught 8 today at my pond on the lizard. 

@GreenPig

 

Two questions:

 

Is Green Pig your nickname? I ask because it's on your shirt.

 

Do you have a pic of your massive PB?

51 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@GreenPig

 

Two questions:

 

Is Green Pig your nickname? I ask because it's on your shirt.

 

Do you have a pic of your massive PB?

No mama, GreenPig isn't nickname. I was just playing around with text on pics on my phone, covering my name on a old company jacket. It's just the online name that popped into my nugget. I used to hunt wild hogs alot, but now I only hunt the green girls. Here's the best pic. Sadly back then I wasn't as well versed with my phone. I'm still amazed it's not blurry because the adrenaline had me shaking something fierce.

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

@GreenPig

 

Two questions:

 

Is Green Pig your nickname? I ask because it's on your shirt.

 

Do you have a pic of your massive PB?

He services Bass, he's a Bass mechanic ??

Thanks for the explanation and for the photo. Clever and funny to paste GreenPig onto your jacket. My screen name is also meaningless. It was the first goofy thing that popped into my head. If you don't mind, I'd love to hear the story of your HUGE green girl. I'll never catch one that big, so I have to live vicariously through those who have. I know about shaky hands. My biggest fish in 2022 was 21.5" and I didn't even photograph it. My hands weren't working and I was in a tiny sit-on-top kayak and I didn't want to tax her even more by keeping her too long out of water, as she'd fought long and hard, so my primary concern was getting her back to her home.

Spent this past weekend on a very cold and windy Lake of the Ozarks being a boat captain for the Major League Fishing high school tournament being held out there this past Saturday. I didn't make it down to the lake until right after 6pm Friday night, so I got to prefish with them for about a hour. Enough time for me to catch a dink on a jerkbait on my 2nd cast, and then a 4.5 pounder to end the night on a Ned rig.

Water temps were around 44-45 and had a nice stain with 2 feet of visibility most areas we fished. 

 

Saturday morning was very cold and windy. 15-20mph from the NW had whitecaps rolling first thing in the morning, 18* with a feels like temp of 5*. We made a 20 minute run in it to a spot that one of the boys was told by the college guys the day before had a huge school of fish. I tried to talk him out of it, because I hate chasing someone else's bite and depending on schooling fish is so undependable, and this time was no different. There was very few shad and fish in the area. So after about a hour, we strapped everything about down and bounced back down the lake to where we had fished the night before. Our first stop produced a dink on a Ned rig, not a keeper but a sign of life. The next couple stops had nothing but followers on a A-rig. We moved to a cove near the ramp with a little dirtier water around 11 with pretty low spirits. After working 1 side, we were halfway on our way out when Gavin caught a super skinny but just long enough keeper on the A-rig. That got them up and going and 20 minutes later, Lucas caught another just barely keeper on the Ned rig. 2 keepers in the boat in 30 minutes felt like they were putting something together but a hour later, no more bites. So we moved to a spot I suggested on the bridge, and at the very end of it, Gavin caught their 3rd keeper on a Ned rig. There was 61 teams and they were taking 6 to Nationals. With 3 keepers in the boat, things were getting interesting with less than 2 hours to go. They fished down that bank and turned back around, working slowly with 2 Neds now. Right when they got to where Gavin caught the last keeper, I saw his rod twitch and he set into a heavy looking fish. Knowing how big another keeper could be, we all scrambled, just to disappointed when we saw that sad, gray face of a drum hit the surface. With 30 minutes left, we ran to the back of another cove they'd caught fish in during practice. When we got there, Gavin suddenly didn't feel well and stayed sitting down (he ended up with a 102* fever when he got home), so Lucas fished alone at the end. He was dragging a Ned slowly on the gravel when his rod loaded up. It was a heavy fish, fighting slow, looked like the fish they needed, and again, we all got heartbroken by a drum. Gavin pulled himself up and caught 1 more short on the Ned right before time ran out. 

 

At the end, they weighed in 3 small keepers, good enough for 14th out of 61 teams. Didn't make it to Nationals, but they fished through conditions that not many adults would have and caught 3 keepers on a day when only 28 of the teams even weighed a fish. I was frozen, I'm sure they were too, but it's still a great experience. If you ever get the chance to boat captain for some young fishermen, I highly suggest it. 

 

3 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Spent this past weekend on a very cold and windy Lake of the Ozarks being a boat captain for the Major League Fishing high school tournament being held out there this past Saturday. I didn't make it down to the lake until right after 6pm Friday night, so I got to prefish with them for about a hour. Enough time for me to catch a dink on a jerkbait on my 2nd cast, and then a 4.5 pounder to end the night on a Ned rig.

Water temps were around 44-45 and had a nice stain with 2 feet of visibility most areas we fished. 

 

Saturday morning was very cold and windy. 15-20mph from the NW had whitecaps rolling first thing in the morning, 18* with a feels like temp of 5*. We made a 20 minute run in it to a spot that one of the boys was told by the college guys the day before had a huge school of fish. I tried to talk him out of it, because I hate chasing someone else's bite and depending on schooling fish is so undependable, and this time was no different. There was very few shad and fish in the area. So after about a hour, we strapped everything about down and bounced back down the lake to where we had fished the night before. Our first stop produced a dink on a Ned rig, not a keeper but a sign of life. The next couple stops had nothing but followers on a A-rig. We moved to a cove near the ramp with a little dirtier water around 11 with pretty low spirits. After working 1 side, we were halfway on our way out when Gavin caught a super skinny but just long enough keeper on the A-rig. That got them up and going and 20 minutes later, Lucas caught another just barely keeper on the Ned rig. 2 keepers in the boat in 30 minutes felt like they were putting something together but a hour later, no more bites. So we moved to a spot I suggested on the bridge, and at the very end of it, Gavin caught their 3rd keeper on a Ned rig. There was 61 teams and they were taking 6 to Nationals. With 3 keepers in the boat, things were getting interesting with less than 2 hours to go. They fished down that bank and turned back around, working slowly with 2 Neds now. Right when they got to where Gavin caught the last keeper, I saw his rod twitch and he set into a heavy looking fish. Knowing how big another keeper could be, we all scrambled, just to disappointed when we saw that sad, gray face of a drum hit the surface. With 30 minutes left, we ran to the back of another cove they'd caught fish in during practice. When we got there, Gavin suddenly didn't feel well and stayed sitting down (he ended up with a 102* fever when he got home), so Lucas fished alone at the end. He was dragging a Ned slowly on the gravel when his rod loaded up. It was a heavy fish, fighting slow, looked like the fish they needed, and again, we all got heartbroken by a drum. Gavin pulled himself up and caught 1 more short on the Ned right before time ran out. 

 

At the end, they weighed in 3 small keepers, good enough for 14th out of 61 teams. Didn't make it to Nationals, but they fished through conditions that not many adults would have and caught 3 keepers on a day when only 28 of the teams even weighed a fish. I was frozen, I'm sure they were too, but it's still a great experience. If you ever get the chance to boat captain for some young fishermen, I highly suggest it. 

Cool write up. I loved the line “the sad gray face of a drum” I might have that etched on my gravestone hahaha

Mr. 86 isn't just a good fisherman. He's also a good man.

 

Good writer too, as Mr. 46 already observed:

 

14 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

sad, gray face of a drum

 

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

Thanks for the explanation and for the photo. Clever and funny to paste GreenPig onto your jacket. My screen name is also meaningless. It was the first goofy thing that popped into my head. If you don't mind, I'd love to hear the story of your HUGE green girl. I'll never catch one that big, so I have to live vicariously through those who have. I know about shaky hands. My biggest fish in 2022 was 21.5" and I didn't even photograph it. My hands weren't working and I was in a tiny sit-on-top kayak and I didn't want to tax her even more by keeping her too long out of water, as she'd fought long and hard, so my primary concern was getting her back to her home.

Absolutely. It's was February 11th 2017 at 4:33 pm and I was fishing my 1 acre ponds after feeding the cows. I quickly fished my way around the pond to and old pine that had fallen in, while throwing a 130 Whopper Plopper. As it plopped past the tip of that pine she struck at it and completely missed, but I could immediately tell she was a big girl. I stood there for a moment and decided to not cast to her again with the WP. I walked back around the pond to my side x side and swapped rods. That particular rod had a 5 & 3/8" BPS Stick - O in Black & Blue on a Gamakatsu EWG 5/0.

Armed with the weightless worm I started fishing my way around the pond again. I figured in doing so, it'd give her time to reset and calm down. I caught three or four small fish on my way back to the old pine. So there I was 25 minutes later and 15 yards away from her, I hoped. I pitched the Stick - O to the tip of that old pine and it immediately start heading out to deeper water. I swung on her and connected, she pulled a few feet of line and managed to get her head above the water, pulled a few more feet of drag and then basically just came on in to the bank. From hooking her to lipping her was maybe 45 seconds. 

It's a special pond that I'm blessed to be able to fish/manage. That little pond has produced a 7 lb 6 oz, 8.99 lb, 9 lb 1 oz, 9 lb 9 oz, and the big girl.

Wow, GP! WOW! Your account literally gave me chills and I'm so happy that you get to fish such a pond. You wrote "ponds." Are there two? Three? Amazing that such big fish come out of such little water. Incredible genetics and growing conditions. 

So how much did the "Big Girl" weigh?

51 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Wow, GP! WOW! Your account literally gave me chills and I'm so happy that you get to fish such a pond. You wrote "ponds." Are there two? Three? Amazing that such big fish come out of such little water. Incredible genetics and growing conditions. 

No, just one pond. My meat hooks and typing on a phone is sketchy at best. It was dug 70 years ago and has been fertilized by fresh cow manure since day one. 

50 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

So how much did the "Big Girl" weigh?

13.44

39 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

13.44

 

                                                                

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

Wow, GP! WOW! Your account literally gave me chills and I'm so happy that you get to fish such a pond. You wrote "ponds." Are there two? Three? Amazing that such big fish come out of such little water. Incredible genetics and growing conditions. 

Small ponds always produce the biggest bass from what I’ve seen. You can fish 3 lifetimes and never catch a 10 lber on my home lake. Usually only takes a day or two on cow ponds, my buddy had one growing up that was darn near automatic 

 

too many mouths to feed as well as other species in big rivers/lakes 

@roadwarrior Funniest GIF of all time!

 

@TnRiver46 Your observation would make for a cool thread, along the lines of "What's your ideal size body of water for a DD?"

1 hour ago, GreenPig said:

It was dug 70 years ago and has been fertilized by fresh cow manure since day one. 

Definitely something to that. One of our state record bass weighing 12-06 came from a small 3-acre cow pond. 

A bit brutal out there today. Post front skies and a 17 mph wind gusting to 25. Those couple nights of hard freezes took out all the algae and plankton that was starting to grow and give the water some color. It was pretty clear today - too clear for as shallow as it is. I’d guess it (vis) close to double my last trip there, plus it hasn’t had a chance to heat back up. Warmer with heavy cloud cover tomorrow, along with the strong winds might help the bite. Was thinking of trying to get the boat out, but based on how it was gusting and swirling today, predicted to be similar tomorrow, that’s not looking too promising. Only managed a few today, but they had good color in that clear water.
 

Took 3 days off while a significant cold front blew through, it was still chilly in the mid 40s for most of the day.   Water temps were at 56-58 throughout the various parts of the lake.    In a very shallow cove I saw 59.   

 

Caught about 10 fish after graphing for a few hours to find active fish.   One big post spawn that was a threadfin short of 6lbs.   Lost a big Spot right at the boat as well.   Few other quality fish as well.    Still looking for those 5/20lb days that were so frequent in the winter. 

 

One small fish came on a MB 110+1 in Sexy Shad, couple on the flashback mini, and then the rest on the Damiki Axe Blade.

 

After somewhere around 130-140 fish the Axe Blade finally lost an eye on one side, it's surely one of those "magical" baits that I wouldn't be talking about to people IRL lol.  

Got a small break between storms and the fish were semi-cooperative. Water has come up 100ft this winter and we're about 110' from full. Water temp 50-52*. Water is usually 8-10' of visibility this time of year but was down to about 2' with all the runoff.

 

Underspin to start off.

 

Another on the underdspin...

 

Spinnerbait...

 

Skinny spot on a senko

 

Pops also picked one up on a senko. Awesome getting a sunny day out on the water!

 

 

19 minutes ago, NorcalBassin said:

Got a small break between storms and the fish were semi-cooperative. Water has come up 100ft this winter and we're about 110' from full. Water temp 50-52*. Water is usually 8-10' of visibility this time of year but was down to about 2' with all the runoff.

 

Underspin to start off.

 

Another on the underdspin...

 

Spinnerbait...

 

Skinny spot on a senko

 

Pops also picked one up on a senko. Awesome getting a sunny day out on the water!

 

 

I smile every time you and your pops post an Alabama Bass from CA. 

 

Not only that, but from Smith Lake which is not far away from me.  We are linked through Bass genetics my friend ?

Still struggling this year with size, and between work, weather, and things in my personal life, I think I missed my window for any true giants. Still plenty of time left in 2023 for some big ones, though.

 

This has been about the consistent size of what I've been catching lately. This one yesterday slammed my Chatterbait but decided it fancied an ear piercing more than a meal, I guess.