2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

 

Wow, hope that was a good buddy, or he might have been diving or swimming ?

 

He's my guitarist and a close friend, helped me replace it with nicer gear. I do miss that fuego, I had to chase that thing down to buy it in the first place. Would have been a perfect rig for these weightless flukes I've been throwing...
I claim some responsibility for placing it in his range, though I did say "hey don't catch this on the backswing" maybe two minutes before he launched it. I was impressed by how well his gear handled it, first time I ever considered buying an Abu Garcia rod. Was supposed to be a momentary placement, but not like that LOL

 

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

 

that's a pretty sight

34 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

He's my guitarist and a close friend, helped me replace it with nicer gear. I do miss that fuego, I had to chase that thing down to buy it in the first place. Would have been a perfect rig for these weightless flukes I've been throwing...
I claim some responsibility for placing it in his range, though I did say "hey don't catch this on the backswing" maybe two minutes before he launched it. I was impressed by how well his gear handled it, first time I ever considered buying an Abu Garcia rod. Was supposed to be a momentary placement, but not like that LOL

 

that's a pretty sight

Thanks, and you're a good man for recognizing the value of a rare friendship over a material object.   

9 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Thanks, and you're a good man for recognizing the value of a rare friendship over a material object.   

Money comes and goes, rods and reels do too. We're only here a short time. I do also reserve the right to give him grief about it, but only once in a while ?

19 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

LOL, sorry to laugh but you have such a fantastic way with words, shallow like a bimbo ?

 

When you gonna fish the potential camp out dream looking lake?

 

I'm thinking June for the camp out trip, Alex. Thanks for asking. I KNOW that I know less about LMB fishing than 90% of the BR community. However, when it comes to pitching a camp on an island, well, that's my wheelhouse and I'm not just the captain. I'm the admiral, having pitched tents on rocky islands in wolfy boreal forests to way down in the buggy bayou and everything in-between: sand bars on the Wisconsin River, Ohio's beech forests, and the Appalachian Mountains. 

 

I'm glad the bimbo line made you laugh! 

 

10 pounds in two bass made me smile!

Finally got a chance to go fish yesterday but the ‘nature trail’ leading to Lake Oklawaha was blocked by a felled tree. Turned out both ‘trails’ to the lake go down a fairly steep bluff. Not so good for a 66 year old with 5 stents so I loaded up the truck and drove the 5 miles to Rodman dam.

 

Wind was gusting pretty much the whole day and the current above the dam was pretty fast. On the opposite side there were fishing piers on both sides of the spillway plus a boat ramp. I tried a few jigs, a spinner bait and a couple of Ned rigs. Nada. Got to watching the other folks and no one was getting any bites so I moved to the boat ramp. Lots of Lilly pads around the little cove so I tossed a frog in them to see if my luck would change. Still nada. So after packing things up and heading back to the Ft. McCoy KOA I figure this leg of our trip was a bust fishing-wise. I did take a quick pic of the sign at the boat ramp though. It did keep me very aware of where I was. ?

 

8 minutes ago, ScottW said:

Finally got a chance to go fish yesterday but the ‘nature trail’ leading to Lake Oklawaha was blocked by a felled tree. Turned out both ‘trails’ to the lake go down a fairly steep bluff. Not so good for a 66 year old with 5 stents so I loaded up the truck and drove the 5 miles to Rodman dam.

 

Wind was gusting pretty much the whole day and the current above the dam was pretty fast. On the opposite side there were fishing piers on both sides of the spillway plus a boat ramp. I tried a few jigs, a spinner bait and a couple of Ned rigs. Nada. Got to watching the other folks and no one was getting any bites so I moved to the boat ramp. Lots of Lilly pads around the little cove so I tossed a frog in them to see if my luck would change. Still nada. So after packing things up and heading back to the Ft. McCoy KOA I figure this leg of our trip was a bust fishing-wise. I did take a quick pic of the sign at the boat ramp though. It did keep me very aware of where I was. ?

 

Sorry about the Skunk Scott, but thanks for the report.   Hope you guys are having a blast on the trip!   Stay safe, and have more fun ?

20 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Sorry about the Skunk Scott, but thanks for the report.   Hope you guys are having a blast on the trip!   Stay safe, and have more fun ?

What he said ?

Scott, I'm also 66 and stink like a skunk, so you're not alone. And after I descended a steep hill yesterday to fish on tipsy rocks, I came home and took a nap, feeling the double-six. Thanks for the gator sign photo!

I hacked my way through an acre of pure briar to get to this fish. Remarkable how many boats rolled up on us that far out. Even on weekdays Ray Bob is getting hammered right now. One guy asked how we got out there and I raised the machete lol

Also if anyone has recommendations on how to repair the gloss finish on a rod, there was an errant swing today that stripped some clear off the back of my St. Croix ?? lessons were learned

One of these days, it will be worth the messy hikes 

Got out for about 3.5 hours this morning, until the wind gusts started getting into the 30+ mph range. Boated 5 with the best one weighing 4-14 on a spinnerbait.

2 hours ago, thediscochef said:

I hacked my way through an acre of pure briar to get to this fish. Remarkable how many boats rolled up on us that far out. Even on weekdays Ray Bob is getting hammered right now. One guy asked how we got out there and I raised the machete lol

Also if anyone has recommendations on how to repair the gloss finish on a rod, there was an errant swing today that stripped some clear off the back of my St. Croix ?? lessons were learned

One of these days, it will be worth the messy hikes 

Dang.. you are persistent ?

Saw the first two nesters today in the shallowest micro lake I fish. The first one I spooked intentionally, and he swam to the deep weedline edge, sat for a minute, then returned. That told me he wasn’t just sunning. I let him settle back down while I finished working the rest of that bank, then switched to a soft plastic and caught him on the return. He was about 2 pounds and is the one in the pic. Another 50 ft down the bank I spotted another nester, and was able to catch it, too. That one was a little bigger, closer to 2-1/2 lbs. In total I got 20 today.

Got out for a short trip today after my morning chores. Caught 9 dinks, a 3.55# and a 2.68# in 3.5hrs. Best part was pulling the two quality fish and two smaller ones out of used water. Pulled into a cove to catch a break from the wind, and there were a couple guys starting down the same bank I intended to fish. I figured, what the heck, I'll give it a go, and pulled in a respectful distance behind them. The 3.55 came from the middle of that gnarly pine behind me in the pic. Notice how it didn't break me off @AlabamaSpothunter? ? 50# Vicious braid.

Two laydowns later came the 2.68 and a dink. The guys ahead of me fired up and left. Lol. 

4 hours ago, keagbassr said:

Got out for about 3.5 hours this morning, until the wind gusts started getting into the 30+ mph range. Boated 5 with the best one weighing 4-14 on a spinnerbait.

Get a load of that belly, magnificent!   Congrats on the toad! 

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Got out for a short trip today after my morning chores. Caught 9 dinks, a 3.55# and a 2.68# in 3.5hrs. Best part was pulling the two quality fish and two smaller ones out of used water. Pulled into a cove to catch a break from the wind, and there were a couple guys starting down the same bank I intended to fish. I figured, what the heck, I'll give it a go, and pulled in a respectful distance behind them. The 3.55 came from the middle of that gnarly pine behind me in the pic. Notice how it didn't break me off @AlabamaSpothunter? ? 50# Vicious braid.

Two laydowns later came the 2.68 and a dink. The guys ahead of me fired up and left. Lol. 

I might have motored off in shame, but I would have binoc'd your lure before I did so ?

11 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Get a load of that belly, magnificent!   

Yeah!!! The fish ain't bad either. 

8 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Sorry about the Skunk Scott, but thanks for the report.   Hope you guys are having a blast on the trip!   Stay safe, and have more fun ?

We’re working on it. Found out from another camper that he caught a 10+ pounder in this very lake. He’s a full time rv-er here and says this Lake is home to some huge bass. When we finally got back from St. Augustine late this afternoon the skies were scudding up with rain clouds so tomorrow may be hit or miss on another fishing trip to the lake here.

 

7 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Scott, I'm also 66 and stink like a skunk, so you're not alone. And after I descended a steep hill yesterday to fish on tipsy rocks, I came home and took a nap, feeling the double-six. Thanks for the gator sign photo!

I hear you Katie! I thought for sure that I’d be doing somersaults down the bluff after tripping over an exposed root. ?

Fished little, and caught even less since last June. Here's an 8 lb 6 oz fish, and a 6 lb 2 oz fish from Monday though. One rod, one reel, one bait.

 

 

4 minutes ago, deep said:

Fished little, and caught even less since last June. Here's an 8 lb 6 oz fish, and a 6 lb 2 oz fish from Monday though. One rod, one reel, one bait.

 

 

Awesome fish, congrats!

Another weird day......but then again not that weird when you account for the "first 15mins rule".    Time after time you hear about and see it firsthand, laying the hammer down in those first 15mins usually means you've seen the fireworks already.    

 

First 10mins, 25yds of bank I got 2 for #8.5........I'm thinking I'm Rick Clunn and about to put a 20-30lb bag together, LOL.   

 

7 fish total for about 3.5 hrs fished.    Big fish was close to 5, second one was close to 4, and the rest were 2-3lb fish.   Still a quality bag, but long gone are those sweet 20lbs+ bag days of winter.   Admittedly, I got Spring completely wrong, but have learned a massive amount.   

 

Something about this D-Bomb seems to make quality fish eat it.   6 fish were on it, 1 on the buzzbait.    Gonna buy several more colors tomorrow and reward the bait monkey.   Then I need a new camera.  

 

Big fish, Alex.

 

BIG fish, Deep.

Thanks Katie! 

7 hours ago, GaryH said:

Dang.. you are persistent ?

Thanks! I get lazy sometimes but I'm on a mission right now to catch some heavy bass. Still waiting on that last part to work out but I have faith in the fluke

5 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Another weird day......but then again not that weird when you account for the "first 15mins rule".    Time after time you hear about and see it firsthand, laying the hammer down in those first 15mins usually means you've seen the fireworks already.    

 

First 10mins, 25yds of bank I got 2 for #8.5........I'm thinking I'm Rick Clunn and about to put a 20-30lb bag together, LOL.   

 

7 fish total for about 3.5 hrs fished.    Big fish was close to 5, second one was close to 4, and the rest were 2-3lb fish.   Still a quality bag, but long gone are those sweet 20lbs+ bag days of winter.   Admittedly, I got Spring completely wrong, but have learned a massive amount.   

 

Something about this D-Bomb seems to make quality fish eat it.   6 fish were on it, 1 on the buzzbait.    Gonna buy several more colors tomorrow and reward the bait monkey.   Then I need a new camera.  

 

Nice sack of fish my friend. That D-Bomb will serve you well. I ALWAYS have a Sweet Craw rigged on a flippin stick, from ice out to ice over. Rigging it on a snelled straight shank with the hook point buried in the bait allows me to fish it in places I wouldn't dare put a jig. Easily the best big fish rig I've found.

 I love the look of those banks in your top couple pics. Overhanging bushes like that are my #1 producer in the summer. #2 would be weed choked laydowns, the gnarlier the better. LM love the shade and overhead protection they provide.

 The above applies to daylight hours. After dark, a chatterbait around weeds is #1. If they're short striking it, I'll switch to a paddletail swimmer.

8 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I might have motored off in shame, but I would have binoc'd your lure before I did so 

10-4. I don't get it. I was hauling fish behind a guy last week too. He was throwing a spinnerbait on a sunny, slick calm day, and I was hauling fish right behind him pitching the Sweet Craw. He didn't leave, but he didn't adjust either. Just kept chucking that spinnerbait. I never saw him catch a fish.

 I've been on the other end of the stick plenty of times, and they don't have to catch many before I started paying attention, and adjust accordingly.

4 hours ago, T-Billy said:

After dark, a chatterbait around weeds is #1.

Righty-O, Daddy-O. When the chatterbait bite is hot, fishing doesn't get much more fun than that, especially on straight braid. It's right up there with a hot larger swimbait bite. Ain't nothing subtle about either, but those straight-braid nighttime CB bites are usually violent.