I was back to trying floro again, after swearing I would never use it again for the hundredth time, but I will say the 15 pound fluorocarbon was up to the task.  Now for the real test, how well it performs next week after being stressed to the limit.

 

Maybe respool?

10 hours ago, Eric 26 said:

@AlabamaSpothunter I love your enthusiasm for everyone else’s fish pictures. “Mother of god” dang near made me choke on my Cheerios I’m currently enjoying ?

'

Heck, yeah, Alex is a BR rock star!

@king fisher job well done. Two thumbs up.

11 hours ago, king fisher said:

First bass of the day was a good one.  27 inches, 10.76 pounds.  

       It was only the third time I have been able to go bass fishing this year.  I tried to go last Sunday to the lake I was at today, but the road was closed to the lake because of a bad buss accident, so I had to turn around and go home.  Four hours of driving and I didn't even get a line wet.

      I planned on going to Trigomil for three days this weekend, but work got in the way of that trip.  Finally last night my wife told me to go before I drove her crazy.  I left at 3:00 AM and was fishing by 7:30.  I  Started off fishing a large tree in 25 feet of water with some surface lures, but not much going on the top.  Ran a square bill around the outside of the tree nicking a few branches, but didn't want to throw in the middle of the tree until I had tried some more tree friendly lures first.

      I tossed a T rig Magnum Trick Worm in the middle of the large branches. and  Felt a bite on the first cast. I set the hook and instantly new I hooked a good bass, but as soon as I felt the fish, I was stopped cold by a tree branch.  I assumed the bass was gone and I was now fighting a tree, but then the line started to give a little, and I was in a seesaw battle with the bass wrapped around one or more branches.  I would free spool and let the bass take line hoping he would unwind himself, then I would tighten up and pull all the while feeling the line go back and forth across the tree wondering when the line would snap. I pulled the anchor and tried getting on different sides, at different angles, but after 20 minuets trying every angle, I didn't feel the fish anymore and was sure I was simply wrapped on the tree.  I got straight over the snag, wrapped the line around my hand and started to pull hard enough to break the line.  About the time I was ready for the line to break, the bass started moving and was suddenly free.  I grabbed the rod out of the holder, and faught the bass to the surface.

    I was surprised at it's size.  I have caught bass this big off of the very same tree at the the same water level before, but had assumed if it couldn't be much over 6 pounds or it would have broken the line.  I am glad I had respooled my line the night before.  I was back to trying floro again, after swearing I would never use it again for the hundredth time, but I will say the 15 pound fluorocarbon was up to the task.  Now for the real test, how well it performs next week after being stressed to the limit.

     The pictures tell the rest of the story.  I landed a few smaller bass on a variety of lures, but was forced off the water by 1:30 because the afternoon West winds were exceptionally strong today, with gusts well over 30 mph.

     I didn't mind leaving early because I was sure I used up all of my luck and them some for one day.

 

 

         

 

What I can't get over is the thickness of the lower jaw. I've never gripped anything like that and never will, but if I did, I'd squeal like a little girl unwrapping the coveted Pretty Pink Princess Pony on Christmas morn. 

 

8 hours ago, 928JLH said:

dropshotting by the London Bridge.

 

You casually mention this and I know the London Bridge is in Arizona now, but I still went "Huh? What? You...?"

 

Well, if you're so good at catching bass from London's bridges, I double dog dare ya to go catch a bass from London's Tower Bridge!

 

I thought the London bridge was falling down….. falling down 

Magnificent fish @king fisher! What a story too. Well done.

Congrats on that pig ole pig @king fisher and thanks for sharing one hellova good day on the water! 

I had a couple of spare hours between other scheduled events on Saturday so I decided to see if I could catch a fish. I decided to go to the river rather than a friend's pond because I expected a crowded family event to be there. Little did I know there was a MLF tourney at the river. ?‍♂️It wasn't too bad. Just me, and 115 of my closest friends fishing my spot. The picture below is of the overflow parking because every lot was full.

 

 

I got to the park just as the weigh in was starting so everyone was speeding in to fish the rip rap where I was for one last fish. When I'm on the bank, and a tournament angler comes up I usually try to give way. Most people seem to appreciate that & are willing to chat as they pass by. All five boats I talked to said the same thing. They caught a few small fish, but no keepers. I looked up the results and it was a tough day for most. 68 of the 115 boats caught 1 fish or less. I was at zero fish myself. One guy suggested that I move down the grassy area if I wanted to catch a small fish. I had about 15 minutes left before I had to leave so I decided to try it. Sure enough I hooked one little smallie. It was only 8-9 inches long, but it was extremely angry. Hit my TX rig Rage Menace like a freight train. It turns out that my zero pound bag would've tied for 74th place in the tourney. ?

 

4 hours ago, Fishlegs said:

68 of the 115 boats caught 1 fish or less.

You out fished 68 pro anglers!  Way to go!

That’s one heck of a bass @king fisher! Well done sir.

Finally had a drama-free session at one of my favorite spots. No Junkies, flunkies, or weirdos showed up to harsh my mellow. It was just the rain and me. Missed a few, but I got some too, so the action was good. The Black and Blue Zman Pro CrawZ loaded with a glass rattle rigged on a Gamakatsu 5/0-1/8oz/Owner Large CPS continues to get a nice amount of nighttime attention, and I've gotten more bites lately on the WP75 in perch than I have in a few years.

Had a few hours over the weekend to sneak in a post frontal solo trip. The hot spring bite wasn't happening, but I was still able to get quite a few by slowing down.

 

 

Been fishing this lake regularly for nearly two decades and never caught a pikeminnow/squawfish. Thought I had a biggin' until I saw how long and skinny it was.

 

Water vis was around 10ft everywhere I fished, but on my way back to the ramp I noticed a big mudline along the edge of an island on the main lake. Figured I'd make a few more casts with a spinnerbait and ran into a wolfpack of 2 pound spots that kept me entertained for about 20 minutes. Fun way to finish the day.

 

This fella was either mad as heck or had bloodshot eyes from hunting in the mud. ?

Well fished, Phish!

 

Norcal, a squawfish is new to me and I've only read about spotted bass wolf packs, which sounds like a hoot and a half.

Probably my favorite bite of the year on these micro lakes. Still getting a few on swim jig, but have largely transitioned over to  floating worms - such a killer when you only have 12” of water to work with and moss quickly filling up the shallows.

 

 

 

 

@Team9nine, the water you fish is so different than the water I fish, but I'd still love to fish where you do because I learned to fish on micro lakes and doing so again would be like going back to my childhood. I rigged a floating worm this spring, but didn't catch anything. What's your technique?

33 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@Team9nine, the water you fish is so different than the water I fish, but I'd still love to fish where you do because I learned to fish on micro lakes and doing so again would be like going back to my childhood. I rigged a floating worm this spring, but didn't catch anything. What's your technique?

Nothing terribly complicated or technical. It’s surprising just how shallow these fish will hold, literally in inches of water or nose to the bank. So long casts really tight to the shoreline, and up and over snot moss along the bank gets a lot of work. Casting either the inside or outside weed edges is also very effective. Then throwing over any dark spots or holes in the shallow weed flats is another great option as that is frequently where the bass nest, though you can’t often tell until you walk right up on them. 
 

Retrieve is like a jerkbait or fluke, whatever personal style or flair you want to add to a twitch and pause type retrieve.

Thanks, @Team9nine. That's pretty much what I did. The floating worm looked amazing in the water. I think I was just fishing it too early. You are ahead of us, warmth-wise. 

King ? of the 1.5-2.0 fish.  Fished back and crystal today.  Caught around a dozen.  First smallie of the year.  Shallows are full of males again.  Some were in beds.  Saw a lot of empty beds.  Bigger fish came on a green pumpkin w/blue flake spine craw free rigged in 6-8 ft of water. Caught the smallie and a couple others on LC ghost pointer 78.  Caught a couple on a general baby bass wacky rigged.  
 

i might fish the Saginaw/titabawassee/Shiawassee rivers Friday. 

I returned to the bog that puzzles me, the bog with some nice bass, but few bass. Again, I only caught three bass. I also caught four pickerel. Alex said that the more I weigh bass, the better I'd get at estimating and I estimated the first bass, a 19-incher, at under four pounds because she wasn't as chunky as most 19-inchers. I was right: 3.74 pounds. I caught two 17-inchers too. All in 2.5 hours and I lost a nice bass too.

 

 

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

I returned to the bog that puzzles me, the bog with some nice bass, but few bass. Again, I only caught three bass. I also caught four pickerel. Alex said that the more I weigh bass, the better I'd get at estimating and I estimated the first bass, a 19-incher, at under four pounds because she wasn't as chunky as most 19-inchers. I was right: 3.74 pounds. I caught two 17-incher too. All in 2.5 hours and I lost a nice bass too.

 

 

Those Maine Bass just have a different level of dark green to them, always stand out.   Beautiful healthy fish, great job Katie!  

11 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Those Maine Bass just have a different level of dark green to them, always stand out.   Beautiful healthy fish, great job Katie!  

 

Maine puts the black in black bass! Thanks, Alex. 

Big Fish Jeff Making it happen Day 1 

Fish Hard

A-Jay

 

2 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Big Fish Jeff Making it happen Day 1 

Fish Hard

A-Jay

 

Big Fish Jeff hit the lottery when ever he met you ?

 

Must be a special person to you to share such a special slice of Brown Bass heaven with.  

26 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

a 19-incher, at under four pounds because she wasn't as chunky as most 19-inchers. I was right: 3.74 pounds. I caught two 17-incher too

Our Minnesota bass probably very closely mirror the size range that Maine bass do. I would take those quality fish every time I went out. An 18-20 inch largemouth is a sizable fish here, much better than the average one. I will finally be legally able to target them in 4 days, and god willing, post my first report since last October.

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

Our Minnesota bass probably very closely mirror the size range that Maine bass do. I would take those quality fish every time I went out. An 18-20 inch largemouth is a sizable fish here, much better than the average one. I will finally be legally able to target them in 4 days, and god willing, post my first report since last October.

Yes those are good size - but I think Maine would average a little larger given that their state record is almost 3# more than ours.

MN state record largemouth = 8#15oz

ME state record largemouth = 11#10oz