1 minute ago, herder said:

Well, friend of mine called me up and said ya wanna to try a lake near him up in NY?
 He said he saw some guys come off the lake in kayaks and he went over to talk to them, they showed him some pics of really nice bass they caught that day.
 Went up on Wednesday, which was my first fishing day this year.
Temps were up to 90 and wind was outa the NW, we moved around for a while before I got bit.
First fish of the year was the biggest smallie I’ve had in years, then had pretty good action for the rest of the day.
 Wind really picked up and white caps on the lake, caught all the fish up to that time on jerk baits.
 We moved back to a cove on the south end and there we caught just largemouths, I switched over to wacky worms off the docks.
 I wound up with 10 landed and about 5 hooked but got off.
4 smallies and 6 largemouths, all were good size fish.                                        
 Went back on Thursday, pretty much same weather with high hopes of a repeat.
Well that was not to be, fished for 5 hrs for just 1 good largemouth.
 Had to get off the water as we were beat, hot and tired after paddling around for hrs.
Big thanks to BR enlightening me to using a jerk bait early in the season, my buddy was impressed with the action I had on it, I had landed 6 fish before he hooked 1.

 

 

 

 

Nice ones!!

3 minutes ago, herder said:

Well, friend of mine called me up and said ya wanna to try a lake near him up in NY?
 He said he saw some guys come off the lake in kayaks and he went over to talk to them, they showed him some pics of really nice bass they caught that day.
 Went up on Wednesday, which was my first fishing day this year.
Temps were up to 90 and wind was outa the NW, we moved around for a while before I got bit.
First fish of the year was the biggest smallie I’ve had in years, then had pretty good action for the rest of the day.
 Wind really picked up and white caps on the lake, caught all the fish up to that time on jerk baits.
 We moved back to a cove on the south end and there we caught just largemouths, I switched over to wacky worms off the docks.
 I wound up with 10 landed and about 5 hooked but got off.
4 smallies and 6 largemouths, all were good size fish.                                        
 Went back on Thursday, pretty much same weather with high hopes of a repeat.
Well that was not to be, fished for 5 hrs for just 1 good largemouth.
 Had to get off the water as we were beat, hot and tired after paddling around for hrs.
Big thanks to BR enlightening me to using a jerk bait early in the season, my buddy was impressed with the action I had on it, I had landed 6 fish before he hooked 1.

 

 

 

 

Impressive fishing!    That last LGM is my favorite, look at the belly on that girl 

Fishing is hot right now! You guys are going to sprain my jaw at the rate you keep dropping it. 

 

I finally got to go out for a longer session for me today, with everything that’s going on in my life. I decided to go fishing at my one pond that I have done ok at in the past few years, my daughter caught her pb at the pond. I had to replace some hooks on a crank bait before I went and decided what I was going to throw. I settled on a 1/2 jackhammer and full size zako trailer, the next bait I used was a magnum zoom lizard in black grape on a owner jig rig hook.

 

the first fish was the only one that I caught on the jackhammer, first fish took 10 minutes or less. I saw small ones just cruising the banks. I casted parallel to the bank and brought it back to me with a straight retrieve until I got to the brush in the water in front of me, that’s when I switched to a yo yo retrieve to work it through the wood. A tiny one came out of nowhere and just hammered it. I then tried a few more spots and got it hung up on a branch underwater and walked out to get it back. The water was probably 5.5 feet deep. Got that back and tried some more spots where the bigger ones are but no takers, tried multiple retrievals. Got hung up again. Made my way down the bank slowly to get it back and spotted the best bass that I saw all day under a sunken tree, it spotted me and swam off slowly. Got my jackhammer unhung and tried a few more places but nothing. 
 

I switched lures, now I was onto the zoom magnum lizard in black grape on the owner jig rig hook. I caught my second small fish of the day within five minutes of swapping lures. I then moved on to all the different spots and got some taps here and there but it was either bluegills or more smaller bass, I would swing and there was nothing there. I was getting ready to leave and get my tackle bag packed up when I saw another small bass hanging out near the bank casted past him a ways and worked it back and he appears out of nowhere and crushes it. 
 

I was out for three hours having fun, quantity wise was up quality was down. I will say that a dink a day keeps the skunk away though. I had taken tubes with me and if I would have used those I probably would have caught more numbers, although I was trying to target bigger fish and cut out the smaller ones. Either way I finally used the owner jig rig hooks that I bought and caught something on them so that is a plus. I really liked getting out there and having fun. I think that some of the fish get out every year when it floods over, it really flooded last week. But all in all it was a good day.

8 hours ago, JediAmoeba said:

12 lbs 1 oz of Bass - spent about 30 minutes fishing to catch them before work. Eastern PA

 

I woke up this morning thinking about these two fish. I have never in my fishing life caught two fish so big in mere minutes on the way to something else. It's 4:27 here and my canoe is atop my car and I'll be literally turning left in 15 minutes at the abandoned chicken barn and bouncing down an old logging cut to launch my boat in near darkness. It's also raining. If I caught ONE four-pounder this morning, I'd be thrilled. I often reflect too on A-Jay's trip to Mexico where he didn't even COUNT bass under seven pounds. Some of you guys fish beyond my ken. 

Not enough time to take the boat out today, too much stuff on my honey-do list. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t walk the bank for an hour before she wakes up! 
 

Ive never fished this lake before despite living 15 minutes from it. It gave me a warm welcome when I stuck a very fat

4-7 right off the bat. 
 

Got a couple more decent bass and the first accidental crappie in a long time. 

 

Man I wish I could take the boat out today because I have a feeling I’d be slaying them. But oh well, at least I got a couple good ones. The itch has been scratched! Until tomorrow at least. 

Back from this morning's trip. Saw one fox and one car on my way to the pond. 1/1 is a good fox to folks ratio. If I were to see more folks than foxes, I might just have to move farther north.

 

The logging road approach was challenging with a surprising amount of ice. It was also muddy and soft. I did some slipping. At one point, I got lost and had to stop the car and explore with a flashlight.

 

I launched in the dark and it was noisy: loons, three waterfalls, woodpeckers, beavers slapping their tails, kingfishers, ducks, and mourning doves. Also saw a bald eagle and a couple times, there was a critter in the brush that I couldn't see. Just heard the rustling. 

 

It was a foggy, cool, wet morning. I caught one bass. I didn't even get a second hit that I missed. I fished shallow, deep, and in-between with eight different lures. The bass bested me, but I still loved being on a lonesome lake. 

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I launched in the dark and it was noisy: loons, three waterfalls, woodpeckers, beavers slapping their tails, kingfishers, ducks, and mourning doves. Also saw a bald eagle and a couple times, there was a critter in the brush that I couldn't see. Just heard the rustling.

You had an interesting adventure before you even wet a line. ? 

Well I got out for 30 minutes again today, it was raining by the time I got to my spot. My first cast felt multiple taps and set the hook, felt the weight and then nothing. I knew that I had a pike just bite me off well time to re rig and use some of the new 4.5 flipping tubes that I just bought before I went fishing. I wanted some larger bodied tubes for my owner phantom tube hooks that are 5/0.

I got re tied and put a black and blue flipping tube on, which is more fitting for the dirty pond. Around 5 cast later close to the bank I felt a little weight. I didn’t set the hook too hard, saw that it was a bass and kept tension on the fish and got it onto the Bank quickly because I knew that I didn’t get a very good hook set. A decent little bass.

 

 I kept fishing a little longer and felt another bite and set the hook and got it in and it was a pike this time. Bait of the day was a 5/0 owner phantom tube hook 3/16 weight with a strike king 4.5 flipping tube in black and blue. Not too bad for 30 minutes if I say so.

48 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

You had an interesting adventure before you even wet a line. ? 

 

It was pretty rough driving down the logging road to the pond, but all morning, I kept telling myself, "It will be better driving out because you'll have the light."

 

Well, the light made it worse. I could fully see the condition of the road with the morning's light. Luckily, I didn't have a chance to fret because momentum is everything in the mud.

 

I'll return, but not until that road dries out. Meanwhile, I'll continue to read about guys tossing lures out their car windows on the way to a 7-11 and catching 6-pound bass. 

 

Good job, Murph!

 

 

Too windy for my inflatable this morning, so I fished the bank. Nothing on a frog. Caught one on a Neko Macho TR, one on a spinnerbait, one on a jig-n-craw and two on a Rage Tail Craw TR. The one on the jig was a true dink. But as I rarely catch bass on jigs, I was happy with the catch. Same with the spinnerbait! The last bass on the Rage Craw TR smashed it as soon as it hit the water. 

 

I've lost the big Mamas.   I caught 7 small buck bass today.  I could have caught more, I abandoned the spawning pockets and went searching for bigger bass.   I also caught 1 white perch.   Either the big mamas are resting or they're just hiding from me.  I've got to work all week.  Hopefully I can find them next weekend.   However, small buck bass are better than no bass.  The biggest one "might" have been 15 inches if I stretched it a little.  LOL

I saw a fire department boat going down the lake wide open with it's lights on.  I haven't heard any bad news.  Hopefully they were just airing it out.   

 

 

Edit:  By "lost the big Mamas" I never found them.  I didn't hook any big fish today.  

@Woody B, given your consistency, if you can't get it done, it couldn't be done. Not today at the lake you fished. 

9 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@Woody B, given your consistency, if you can't get it done, it couldn't be done. Not today at the lake you fished. 

I've always "misplaced" the big ones right after the spawn.  They'll be back for the Shad spawn, the Bluegill spawn, and the Mayfly hatch.  

First fish on a Baby Brush Hog for me (TX Rig 3/16oz). Had to flip it out because of steep bank.

Spent most of the day messing with gar and catfish and crappie but I did get a few small LM . This one hit a fluke 3 times, pitched in a worm and hooked it instantly 

Hit a local spot with one of the bros for a rare daylight session. The bite is still oddly tentative, so we both missed some, but we got some too. I even caught one on a spinnerbait which proves, I suppose, that @LrgmouthShad isn't totally batty after all.?

 

 Ernest Hemingway: “Anyone can be a fisherman in May.”   

"Anybody in Northern Illinois can be a moving-bait bass fisherman in April 2023" said, this weird mouth breather.

 

This past weekend was probably silly in Northern IL. Can't fish for more than 30 min at a time, so took advantage of the low pressure mornings after our first solid warm front of 2023. Nothing big, but that's fine as I'm recovering from insulting a few old spine injuries.

 

Had to rep Dirty Jigs while fishing MB Uoze swim jig, huh? 1/4 oz Uoze with 3.8 Keitech,  Dobyns Extreme 734 with 14# Samurai Flouro.

3/8 Mini Max w/ 3.5 spunk shad, on spinning with straight 15 # JBraid 8 and 7'2" Powell Endurance glass.

Bassman spinnerbait/4.5 spunk shad on Dobyns Champ 735 CB glass. Mini max definitely produced numbers and seemed to do cleanup before leaving spots.

1 hour ago, Fat Ika said:

Ernest Hemingway: “Anyone can be a fisherman in May.”   

"Anybody in Northern Illinois can be a moving-bait bass fisherman in April 2023" said, this weird mouth breather.

 

This past weekend was probably silly in Northern IL. Can't fish for more than 30 min at a time, so took advantage of the low pressure mornings after our first solid warm front of 2023. Nothing big, but that's fine as I'm recovering from insulting a few old spine injuries.

 

You quoted Papa + you self-deprecated + you wrote this phrase, "insulting a few old spine injuries" + you photographed your lures = I am so following you!

 

PhishLI, anyone who's been to Long Island, which is actually long Manhattan, could admire your catches, for people outnumber bass in your neighborhood by about a thousand to one. The gymnastic equivalent would be doing a balance beam routine in the dark during an earthquake. Long Island is the exact opposite of Maine, where bass outnumber people about a thousand a to one.  

Got out for a few hours Saturday afternoon in the middle of a passing cold front and caught my biggest kayak bass of the year so far.

 

 

Gosh, you catch fat bass, @Bluebasser86. What are those Kansas bass eating? Do you have them on high-protein sunflower seed diets?

First fish in the new Kayak. Hit a couple of ponds on Fort Sill and had about 7 shake off at the kayak

34 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Gosh, you catch fat bass, @Bluebasser86. What are those Kansas bass eating? Do you have them on high-protein sunflower seed diets?

Our bass eat gizzard shad like an unsupervised child eats Halloween candy. They may not be very long but they do get extremely fat.

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Our bass eat gizzard shad like an unsupervised child eats Halloween candy. They may not be very long but they do get extremely fat.

The state is building fish ladders along our south shore lakes and mill ponds to allow the Alewife back into their currently dammed old spawning grounds. One of my favorite spots is on the list and one was recently completed at another. Can't wait to see what a now 8lb gill eater looks like after chomping down American shad for a season or two.

55 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

The state is building fish ladders along our south shore lakes and mill ponds to allow the Alewife back into their currently dammed old spawning grounds. One of my favorite spots is on the list and one was recently completed at another. Can't wait to see what a now 8lb gill eater looks like after chomping down American shad for a season or two.

 

Me too, both for you and me, for as you know, I have two, recently restored ponds with fish ladders I'll be fishing this spring and summer too.