1 minute ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

We all strive to attain Katie's level but some mountains are just to tall to climb!

My several thousand dollars worth of electronics can't compete with her stealth approach as she zones in on her unsuspecting quarry. Sniper quiet and just as deadly. Quite the opposite of how I approach the Chinese buffet!

Beautifully written Bob, Katie puts in more work before she even launches than I do all day fishing.   She works hard for those beautiful fish of hers.   

Just now, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Beautifully written Bob, Katie puts in more work before she even launches than I do all day fishing.   She works hard for those beautiful fish of hers.   

Alex, I have seen your videos and fish. You put your work in for sure! I may crush them numbers wise (116 in the past two trips), but yours could eat all mine and still be hungry!

COLD and breezy morning today, but a spring big girl came out to play! 

Fish were all in a chasing mood. Everything on a spinnerbait today. Surprise surprise, I know haha.
A cold day and night yesterday had the fish backed off from the shallows so I was targeting depths of 6-8’ with sparse weeds coming in. 

 

And to top off a great mroning, my spinnerbait got tangled up on someone’s braided line, so I pulled up the braid and on the end of it was a fully rigged Yumbrella in perfect shape! Score!

This is the time of year that I get extreme FOMO whenever I’m not on the lake. Even the tiniest window of time I’ll be on the lake. This lake has been extremely kind to me in only 3 trips here. It’s a little different from my normal clear/ultra clear water with lots of deep structure and changes in contour. This lake is a shallow, murky bowl type lake with minimal contour changes. But based on the first couple weeks of 2023 fishing, I think it’s gonna be a banner year! 

3 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

COLD and breezy morning today, but a spring big girl came out to play! 

Fish were all in a chasing mood. Everything on a spinnerbait today. Surprise surprise, I know haha.
A cold day and night yesterday had the fish backed off from the shallows so I was targeting depths of 6-8’ with sparse weeds coming in. 

 

And to top off a great mroning, my spinnerbait got tangled up on someone’s braided line, so I pulled up the braid and on the end of it was a fully rigged Yumbrella in perfect shape! Score!

This is the time of year that I get extreme FOMO whenever I’m not on the lake. Even the tiniest window of time I’ll be on the lake. This lake has been extremely kind to me in only 3 trips here. It’s a little different from my normal clear/ultra clear water with lots of deep structure and changes in contour. This lake is a shallow, murky bowl type lake with minimal contour changes. But based on the first couple weeks of 2023 fishing, I think it’s gonna be a banner year! 

Hot Dang Jar, what a stellar day!!!

 

Beautiful big fish!  Somebody will find two of those fully rigged Yum rigs in my homelake from this winter of mine.  The line wraps in between the wire leads into the head, and it weakens it enough to when you bomb cast or set the hook it just pops ?

 

Those things are dynamite, you need to rig that bad boy back up and start chunking it.      

6 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Alex, I have seen your videos and fish. You put your work in for sure! I may crush them numbers wise (116 in the past two trips), but yours could eat all mine and still be hungry!

I've seen plenty of tanks from you Bob, and variety is the spice of life......I'd love to have the opportunity to catch all three in a trip. 

 

I'm thrilled over your recent success, 116 Bass is 116 Bass in my book......I'm going to be grinning ear to ear for a week, and posting raw thumb pics in this thread ?

19 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Hot Dang Jar, what a stellar day!!!

 

Beautiful big fish!  Somebody will find two of those fully rigged Yum rigs in my homelake from this winter of mine.  The line wraps in between the wire leads into the head, and it weakens it enough to when you bomb cast or set the hook it just pops ?

 

Those things are dynamite, you need to rig that bad boy back up and start chunking it.

I said I was going to spend a lot of time throwing an A rig this year based on seeing you and @T-Billy slaying them with it, but never got around to getting the gear over the winter. Now that I have this one I will definitely be throwing it. I don’t love the hardware on it so I’ll do some tweaking but I’m excited to start huckin this thing. 
 

Still really looking forward to the shallow timber jig bite I get on every spring but it’s still a little too early. May should be all about the jig in shallow water. But the prespawn feed is definitely on!

54 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

but a spring big girl came out to play! 

Fish were all in a chasing mood. Everything on a spinnerbait today

 

Maybe its just the angle of the photo, but this one looks like a freaking tank.  My kind of bite too, spinnerbaits.  @TnRiver46 has to be jealous.

56 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

COLD and breezy morning today, but a spring big girl came out to play! 

Nice NY piggie!

56 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

This is the time of year that I get extreme FOMO whenever I’m not on the lake.

It killed me not being able to get out early this morning. This is the time to be there, anytime.

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

 

Maybe its just the angle of the photo, but this one looks like a freaking tank.  My kind of bite too, spinnerbaits.  @TnRiver46 has to be jealous.

Nah that went away in 1993 when I realized I just can’t do it 

17 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

Maybe its just the angle of the photo, but this one looks like a freaking tank.  My kind of bite too, spinnerbaits.  @TnRiver46 has to be jealous.

This was a NY tank. 20.5”, scale flashing between 4.88-4.94. Soo close to being able to call it a 5. The spinnerbait bite is addicting. Especially big ones like this that set the hook back after you stick em. 

3 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

This was a NY tank. 20.5”, scale flashing between 4.88-4.94. Soo close to being able to call it a 5. The spinnerbait bite is addicting. Especially big ones like this that set the hook back after you stick em. 

At least I know I’ll never have to be in addiction recovery 

5 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

This was a NY tank. 20.5”, scale flashing between 4.88-4.94.

I'd call it a 5 pounder lol.  Good enough

22 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Nice NY piggie!

It killed me not being able to get out early this morning. This is the time to be there, anytime.

Yeah this is THE time. And if you miss you gotta wait until next year to see the same caliber of fishing. FOMO is real!

4 hours ago, gimruis said:

Snot rockets!

Those are the prime bait stealing size.  Catching legal sized pike don’t annoy me as the risk out weighs the reward. Well at this lake they are so numerous we can only keep one over 24 inches as many as you want umder which, is reversed how it is normally 

30 minutes ago, Mbirdsley said:

Well at this lake they are so numerous we can only keep one over 24 inches as many as you want umder

Most of the state here in MN is almost exactly like that.  The daily bag limit is 10 and 9 of them have to be under the 22-26 inch protected slot.  There's just so many of the danged small aggressive ones that are lure wreckers.  Hence the nick name snot rockets.  The bigger ones are very beneficial to the ecosystem, as they help keep stunted panfish and smaller pike populations in check.

 

Do you ever keep any of them?  The slime is kind of nasty but in colder water and fileted properly, they aren't bad eating.  There is a line of y-bones in their filet that should be removed.  I'm not very proficient at doing that.

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Beautifully written Bob, Katie puts in more work before she even launches than I do all day fishing.   She works hard for those beautiful fish of hers.   

 

You guys are too kind. I'm going fishing tomorrow morning, as much to be on the water as to fish. My beloved dog died in my arms yesterday. He was my shadow even at the end of his life, when he had cancer and a failing heart and was deaf. Still, if I left the room, he'd rise and follow me. I buried him in the Japanese garden and in a week or two, I'll plant a flowering ground cover on the mound. 

 

When I taught tough boys, each spring, I'd read them "Where the Red Fern Grows." Those hardened boys, all quick and ready to fight, softened and leaked at the book's ending. It hurts and hurts to say good-bye to a good dog. They're better than us, more loyal and loving than we can ever be. 

@ol'crickety so sorry to hear that. Heartbreaking. I have a senior dog myself, and she never let’s me out of here sight. I cherish every moment with her because I know we’re in the 4th quarter. You deserve a PB or 2 tomorrow morning. Good luck. 

17 hours ago, Mbirdsley said:

As far as being able to pattern, find, stay on and catching numbers of bass this year has been my best to date.  I’ve had better years as far as big fish but, I’d go trips between fish.  
 

The air temp dropped 30 degrees since last Friday.  Which, dropped the water temp back down to 49 degrees. Which, pushed fish out to 6-8 feet instead of 2-4 of last Friday.  I caught 12-15 bass ranging from 12-14 inches.  I also caught ten northern pike between 18-24 inches.  

 

jerk baits we’re hot again as the majority of the fish came on that same lucky craft blue gill pointer. I tried going out to deeper water on the drop offs for bigger fish but, basically caught a bunch of pike and 3-4 bass that came on a kvd 300 clear ayu jerk bait.  The biggest pike came on a lucky craft 3/4 oz 500 Lv lipless crank.
 

 Supposed to be 80 again tommrow    And then 50’s this weekend and consistent 60’s next week.  Who knows how the fish respond.  I’ve spent a lot of time studying bass patterns and behavior in the last couple months. 

below are the highlights 

 

Nice job….

50 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

You guys are too kind. I'm going fishing tomorrow morning, as much to be on the water as to fish. My beloved dog died in my arms yesterday. He was my shadow even at the end of his life, when he had cancer and a failing heart and was deaf. Still, if I left the room, he'd rise and follow me. I buried him in the Japanese garden and in a week or two, I'll plant a flowering ground cover on the mound. 

 

When I taught tough boys, each spring, I'd read them "Where the Red Fern Grows." Those hardened boys, all quick and ready to fight, softened and leaked at the book's ending. It hurts and hurts to say good-bye to a good dog. They're better than us, more loyal and loving than we can ever be. 

Been there and it doesn't get much worse.  No words really help so I'll just say I'm sorry you lost him and I hope you can remember all the amazing times that make the loss so difficult.  Enjoy your morning tomorrow.

10 hours ago, gimruis said:

Most of the state here in MN is almost exactly like that.  The daily bag limit is 10 and 9 of them have to be under the 22-26 inch protected slot.  There's just so many of the danged small aggressive ones that are lure wreckers.  Hence the nick name snot rockets.  The bigger ones are very beneficial to the ecosystem, as they help keep stunted panfish and smaller pike populations in check.

 

Do you ever keep any of them?  The slime is kind of nasty but in colder water and fileted properly, they aren't bad eating.  There is a line of y-bones in their filet that should be removed.  I'm not very proficient at doing that.

I’ve actually been thinking about keeping a few. You catch a lot on this particular lake that are chunky for bring 20-22 inches.  I caught some ice fishing 2 winters ago before I found out the lake had special pike regs on it and threw them back. I wouldn’t keep the straight hammer handles though.

 

 Catch and keep for pike and walleye dosent start untill the last Saturday in April.  I actually think pike is one of the better tasting inland fish 

10 hours ago, gimruis said:

 

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

You guys are too kind. I'm going fishing tomorrow morning, as much to be on the water as to fish. My beloved dog died in my arms yesterday. He was my shadow even at the end of his life, when he had cancer and a failing heart and was deaf. Still, if I left the room, he'd rise and follow me. I buried him in the Japanese garden and in a week or two, I'll plant a flowering ground cover on the mound. 

 

When I taught tough boys, each spring, I'd read them "Where the Red Fern Grows." Those hardened boys, all quick and ready to fight, softened and leaked at the book's ending. It hurts and hurts to say good-bye to a good dog. They're better than us, more loyal and loving than we can ever be. 

Dang Katie, my heart breaks for you, and I'm so sorry that you lost your pupper.   

 

I loved that book, and surely cried at the end.   Really hope you have a great day on the water tomorrow!  

@ol'crickety I’m truly sorry for your loss. The most loyal and loving companion someone can have. He was fortunate to have you as a friend. 

5 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

The line wraps in between the wire leads into the head, and it weakens it enough to when you bomb cast or set the hook it just pops ?

 

I solved that on the rigs I make by building them with a 70# single strand titanium leader. Very seldom wraps, and if it does, no damage. The heat shrink keeps it pointed straight to the front. Dunno if you could get it to work with the yumbrella or not. A heavy mono leader, say 65# or more may work for you. Tie one end direct to the rig and the other to a crane swivel.

 

 

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

You guys are too kind. I'm going fishing tomorrow morning, as much to be on the water as to fish. My beloved dog died in my arms yesterday. He was my shadow even at the end of his life, when he had cancer and a failing heart and was deaf. Still, if I left the room, he'd rise and follow me. I buried him in the Japanese garden and in a week or two, I'll plant a flowering ground cover on the mound. 

 

When I taught tough boys, each spring, I'd read them "Where the Red Fern Grows." Those hardened boys, all quick and ready to fight, softened and leaked at the book's ending. It hurts and hurts to say good-bye to a good dog. They're better than us, more loyal and loving than we can ever be. 

Sorry to hear Katie. I'll keep you in my prayers. That's one of my favorite books. I should buy a copy. I haven't read it in many years.

@ol'crickety Sorry to hear about the loss of your dog. They really do have a place in our hearts.

14 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

I solved that on the rigs I make by building them with a 70# single strand titanium leader. Very seldom wraps, and if it does, no damage. The heat shrink keeps it pointed straight to the front. Dunno if you could get it to work with the yumbrella or not. A heavy mono leader, say 65# or more may work for you. Tie one end direct to the rig and the other to a crane swivel.

 

 

Sorry to hear Katie. I'll keep you in my prayers. That's one of my favorite books. I should buy a copy. I haven't read it in many years.

Awesome job, beats losing $50 worth of A-Rigs ?

10 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Awesome job, beats losing $50 worth of A-Rigs ?

Thowing them on 50# braid also helps with that. You're dragging a chandelier through the water, and they try to eat it. Fish don't give a crap about seeing that line. ?