They are excellent hunters. And no where near as friendly as they look.

24 minutes ago, GaryH said:

And no where near as friendly as they look

No, not friendly at all. I got too close to them one day fishing… things could have gone South for me. I didn’t know much about Otters. Now I do

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

No, not friendly at all. I got too close to them one day fishing… things could have gone South for me. I didn’t know much about Otters. Now I do

that sounds a lot like how I learned about the abundant beaver population at Ray Bob

4 hours ago, GaryH said:

They are excellent hunters. And no where near as friendly as they look.

Bite ya soon as look at ya……. You’ll have that on them otter jobs……..

12 hours ago, Fishlegs said:

Nice fish, and nice report as always. Those light colored smallies are beautiful. Quite different from what we see around here.

 

I'm curious how you removed the hooks. Did you use the "through the gill" method shown on BR, or do you have another method? I think it's interesting (and comforting) to know that those fish are alive, and eating with the hooks in there.

I always use the gill method. It's very easy and effective with a little practice. 

15 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

spend a lot of their lives just goofing. 

Sounds just like me!

They are also dock squatters. In more ways than one!

18 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Sounds just like me!

They are also dock squatters. In more ways than one!

I bet @ol'crickety could write a poem about the Squattin' Otter down by the water, doing things @Blue Raider Bob thinks he ought notta. ?

12 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

I bet @ol'crickety could write a poem about the Squattin' Otter down by the water, doing things @Blue Raider Bob thinks he ought notta. ?

Actually Fishlegs, she could write a whole book! I've seen several of her publishings and she could take this sophomoric thread and expand it indefinitely. Also her illustrator is superb as well. Can't wait for the release! 

Snuck in an early morning in-between-rain-storms sesh with my brother. Got a few bites before we were blasted out of there.

 

1 minute ago, PhishLI said:

Snuck in an early morning in-between-rain-storms sesh with my brother. Got a few bites before we were blasted out of there.

 

Nice ones, and that's great you and the bro got to get on some fish.   Great looking bait as well!  

Not a great day. Only boated five (one dink) in 4 hours, and lost a decent one that not only shook my jerkbait loose, it flew back and stuck in the heavy denier nylon cover of my inflatable. No damage but I broke one of the hooks off a treble getting it out. 
 

No topwater catches but I did have two hits. I was using a Whopper Plopper 130 that I found last time out. I think I prefer the 90. Caught two on the jerkbait, two off a weightless Zoom Trick and one off a Siebert chatterbait. Which, unlike my first chatterbait catch a few weeks ago that was smashed on the cast, this one was a legit “bit on the retrieve” catch. It can be frustrating pulling algae off every 2nd or 3rd cast, but that’s a fun lure to fish!

 

Brian, I'm just happy to see bass. Thanks for posting. 

Stupid high winds have had me off the water for a few days, but I chunked a Whopper Plopper around for about an hour.....we almost had a breakthrough Katie ?

 

 

The WP strikes are addictive, huh, Alex?!?

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

The WP strikes are addictive, huh, Alex?!?

Yeah it's funny you say that, just this morning I was watching the new tactical bassin video and Tim was talking about how when they hit a whopper plopper, they really hit it hard.

 

That fish was but a couple pounds but it surely blew that thing up.  It's a very fun bait. 

The whole fam headed north from Orlando and ended up in Tennessee. After a quick run to bass pro for some gear and licenses, my brother and I hit the little pigeon river this morning to try to catch some smallmouth. A species and style of fishing entirely foreign to us Alabama boys. Neither of us had ever caught a smallmouth over about 6" long, and those were caught on live worms bream fishing on Lake Wheeler. We seemed to figure it out though, catching 6 smallmouth, 2 rock bass, and a small sucker in just a couple of hours, all on a ned rig. Biggest smallie was 14.5”. Can’t wait to head back out and catch some more in the morning!

 

Couple of extra pics from yesterday’s report. 

Cold, breezy and drizzly morning, but I had a short window so I got out for a couple hours. Water temps have dropped to 51°(I marked water 65° over 2 weeks ago), so we’ve had a major cooling trend and it’s had the fish in a funk. I couldn’t get much going. Spinnerbait was the only thing they would sniff today. Had some short strikers as well. 
This has been the weirdest spring weather and fishing I’ve ever experienced. Getting up to my favorite lake tomorrow for a late morning/afternoon session that I’m very hopeful for. I’ll be looking to get back on the shallow wood jig bite. Next week has very stable spring weather so I expect the bite to get hot again like it was a couple weeks ago. 

Surprisingly heavy cloud cover rolled in out of nowhere last night to blot out a nearly full moon, which doesn't seem to happen often enough. I'd rather stay home and belt-sand my bunions than fish under clear skies and a beaming orb. It's the worst. Rain by itself is a close second, but with the spawn so near combined with an unusually good mixture of the two, they'd have to be biting. Right? Right! I just had to go. 

 

Got a nice Crappie pronto on the Livingston Bullnose, but then black clouds crept in. Oddly, there wasn't a lick of wind when the deluge began. It just poured. Got a fat little chunk on the Shellcracker G2, then another just like her on the S-Waver 168, but by then the rain was simply unbearable. It's about time for a waterproof case for me old iPhone 6, I reckon.

 

Slow but fun, tried spinnerbait forever to no avail. Thew a grub so I could catch something 

39 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Surprisingly heavy cloud cover rolled in out of nowhere last night to blot out a nearly full moon, which doesn't seem to happen often enough. I'd rather stay home and belt-sand my bunions than fish under clear skies and a beaming orb. It's the worst. Rain by itself is a close second, but with the spawn so near combined with an unusually good mixture of the two, they'd have to be biting. Right? Right! I just had to go. 

 

Got a nice Crappie pronto on the Livingston Bullnose, but then black clouds crept in. Oddly, there wasn't a lick of wind when the deluge began. It just poured. Got a fat little chunk on the Shellcracker G2, then another just like her on the S-Waver 168, but by then the rain was simply unbearable. It's about time for a waterproof case for me old iPhone 6, I reckon.

 

 

G2! Unlike you, Phish, I like the rain. It makes me even sneakier with those raindrops thudding the surface. No way can they see nor hear me!

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

Unlike you, Phish, I like the rain.

Yes, there's good rain. Then there's cryin' out for your momma rain. Tears mixed with raindrops...

Hey Alex, @AlabamaSpothunter they do hit the WP like a freight train! This one hit it right as it passed over. ?

7 minutes ago, ScottW said:

Hey Alex, @AlabamaSpothunter they do hit the WP like a freight train! This one hit it right as it passed over. ?

That's awesome, you got one on it before me.   

Fair warning: Fish can also avoid striking a whopper plopper for years at a time