2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Dude I just got absolutely destroyed out in the middle of that crap.   I hate the weatherman so much lol 

 

 Nice one brother, glad you capitalized instead of capsized like me

I got lucky! I wanted to fish some more so badly but figured I didn’t need to push my chances and hightailed it back to the house.  

39 minutes ago, ScottW said:

I got lucky! I wanted to fish some more so badly but figured I didn’t need to push my chances and hightailed it back to the house.  

I was so mad about being forced off the water in such a rude manner earlier that I decided to ride the bike down to the dam and fish a Buzzer and then flip a D Bomb.   25 casts with the Buzzer, one small little blowup, picked up the D-Bomb, and 5 casts later I'm hooked up with a butterball 3lber who had me wrapped on a pipe, and in the weeds.   

 

At this point I'm like "yeah boy, night game is back on like donkey kong", release the fish, and watch it swim away with the headlamp, and something just happens to catch my eye about 2 ft away from where I just landed the fish.   

 

I have no idea if this is a small copperhead or a rat snake, but you better believe that was my last cast LOLOLOL.   

 

 

First fish of the morning on a spinnerbait.

 

Looked topwater-ish, so I figured I might as well give it a shot. Few casts later and the first topwater fish of the year.

 

Topwater is so addicting and now that the bite is on it's going to be a few months before I leave that rod at home.

 

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I was so mad about being forced off the water in such a rude manner earlier that I decided to ride the bike down to the dam and fish a Buzzer and then flip a D Bomb.   25 casts with the Buzzer, one small little blowup, picked up the D-Bomb, and 5 casts later I'm hooked up with a butterball 3lber who had me wrapped on a pipe, and in the weeds.   

 

At this point I'm like "yeah boy, night game is back on like donkey kong", release the fish, and watch it swim away with the headlamp, and something just happens to catch my eye about 2 ft away from where I just landed the fish.   

 

I have no idea if this is a small copperhead or a rat snake, but you better believe that was my last cast LOLOLOL.   

 

 

Rat snake. 

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Rat snake. 

 

Whew!

 

Anyway, congrats on the night bite, Alex!

 

Topwater, Norcal! 

 

I'm off to fish this morning and you better believe I have a Whopper Plopper on one of my outfits! I've also used a couple walk-the-dog lure this year, but haven't even triggered a strike, much less caught a bass with one.

@AlabamaSpothunter copperheads are identified by their hourglass-shaped markings that are dark on the edges and lighten towards the center. These markings may or may not meet, but are always thick on the sides and narrow toward the spine of the animal. See here:

 

 

Also note the following identifying characteristics:

• body is thicker than a rat snake
• Note how slender the head of the snake in your photograph is compared to this example
• Copperhead pupils are vertical slits, and rat snake pupils are round.

12 minutes ago, galyonj said:

@AlabamaSpothunter copperheads are identified by their hourglass-shaped markings that are dark on the edges and lighten towards the center. These markings may or may not meet, but are always thick on the sides and narrow toward the spine of the animal. See here:

 

 

Also note the following identifying characteristics:

• body is thicker than a rat snake
• Note how slender the head of the snake in your photograph is compared to this example
• Copperhead pupils are vertical slits, and rat snake pupils are round.

Also, you can feel the evil when you actually see a pit viper. It’s a no doubter when it happens, there’s a reason timber rattler species name includes the root word horrible or terrible haha, can’t remember which 

Great stuff guys thanks a bunch for the ID info.

 

It was a smaller guy, and I guess that's why it's better to give things the benefit of the doubt instead of just killing every nope rope I see.   

 

Little guy was likely having himself a huge buffet.  Matt Allen from TB during a video was just talking about how his favorite time to throw a rat is after a big rain when all that stuff washes down into the water. 

 

Bet the bite was fire last night ?

34 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Also, you can feel the evil when you actually see a pit viper. It’s a no doubter when it happens, there’s a reason timber rattler species name includes the root word horrible or terrible haha, can’t remember which 

Man there's a huge difference b/t the venomous snakes down here in central AL, and then in TN.   I've never seen a rattler in person, got a buddy who lives in the mountains in TN, dude can't rid of all the Pits that call home in those boulders.  NOPE, NOPE, NOPE ?

2 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Great stuff guys thanks a bunch for the ID info.

 

It was a smaller guy, and I guess that's why it's better to give things the benefit of the doubt instead of just killing every nope rope I see.   

 

Little guy was likely having himself a huge buffet.  Matt Allen from TB during a video was just talking about how his favorite time to throw a rat is after a big rain when all that stuff washes down into the water. 

 

Bet the bite was fire last night ?

Man there's a huge difference b/t the venomous snakes down here in central AL, and then in TN.   I've never seen a rattler in person, got a buddy who lives in the mountains in TN, dude can't rid of all the Pits that call home in those boulders.  NOPE, NOPE, NOPE ?

I know of a high end house in the mtns that had 5 copperheads and one big timber rattler all in the same den 

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I know of a high end house in the mtns that had 5 copperheads and one big timber rattler all in the same den 

They make flameflowers now for civilians.....is that a tool your toolbox? ?

They called me and I said Im not entering the same zip code as that den. They won’t bite it you don’t fool with em haha

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

They called me and I said Im not entering the same zip code as that den. They won’t bite it you don’t fool with em haha

Yeah this guy has all the snake handling tools and removes them from his property, but they keep showing back up.   He thinks he built his home on a huge denning site. 

 

There is just such a visceral reaction for me when seeing a snake, creeps me out big time lol.

That’s exactly what happened at this place, it’s changed owners 2-3 times over the last decade and they’ve all seen lots and lots of copperheads in the same tiny area 

Had a pretty good afternoon yesterday with a good LM and Alabama both caught on worms shallow.

Way to go, Alex from GA! You look so happy and that makes me happy!

 

I fished this morning and caught nine fish, but five were pickerel and two of the bass were bitsy. I did catch a 17.5" and 17.75 bass, one just under three pounds and the other just over. I keep thinking I'm going to enjoy a 35 bass outing, but it hasn't happened yet in 2023. However, I am so spoiled. As a kid, I never once caught fish equal to either of the bass I caught this morning. 

 

I caught eight fish on a Whopper Plopper and one on a wakebait. I also used a Rage Swimmer, Senko, chatterbait jig, lipless crankbait, and swimbait, but couldn't buy a bite below the surface. 

21 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

There is just such a visceral reaction for me when seeing a snake, creeps me out big time lol.

 

You should meet Julius Squeezer. He's pretty chill.

 

6 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

You should meet Julius Squeezer. He's pretty chill.

 

Oh wow, now that's a beautiful snake.

 

I watched a buddy feed his pet snake a rat.....we were sitting around drinking beers just watching this tank for like an hour, and then WHAM, zero to 100% violence in like a nanosecond.    I finally got a bit better around snakes after getting into landscaping last year.   Never realized how many baby snakes were all around you if actually look for them.  

SWMBO knows all about what kind of color morph he is and probably most of his DNA sequence, but I can't remember. He's some kind of fancypants ball python.

 

Astonishingly picky eater, but he's a good boy nonetheless.

Nice ones Katie and Alex!

 

I suspect your big number days come as it gets hotter and hotter, and your frog bite gets better and better.  

 

What your water temps, and depth?    Are you seeing concentrations of baitfish?

13 minutes ago, galyonj said:

SWMBO knows all about what kind of color morph he is and probably most of his DNA sequence, but I can't remember. He's some kind of fancypants ball python.

 

Astonishingly picky eater, but he's a good boy nonetheless.

He looks like a good boy alright ?

 

I was very surprised at how long it took my buddy's Python to eat the rat.   He said some will eat them dead already which is safer, but his wanted them alive.  

I was fishing one to eight feet of water, Alex. I hooked a nice one in about 18" of water, but there was a thicket of zombie wild rice reeds just below the surface that bass used the weeds to gain a second of slack and free itself. I'm not carrying my thermometer, but I'm guessing that the water is in the low fifties. I'm not seeing any baitfish, but clearly the Maine bass are eating well. I only caught one bass this spring that wasn't fat and even that bass, a 19" fish, wan't exactly skinny. 

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I was fishing one to eight feet of water, Alex. I hooked a nice one in about 18" of water, but there was a thicket of zombie wild rice reeds just below the surface that bass used the weeds to gain a second of slack and free itself. I'm not carrying my thermometer, but I'm guessing that the water is in the low fifties. I'm not seeing any baitfish, but clearly the Maine bass are eating well. I only caught one bass this spring that wasn't fat and even that bass, a 19" fish, wan't exactly skinny. 

I would have to guess baitfish = bluegill in a bog? 

14 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I was fishing one to eight feet of water, Alex. I hooked a nice one in about 18" of water, but there was a thicket of zombie wild rice reeds just below the surface that bass used the weeds to gain a second of slack and free itself. I'm not carrying my thermometer, but I'm guessing that the water is in the low fifties. I'm not seeing any baitfish, but clearly the Maine bass are eating well. I only caught one bass this spring that wasn't fat and even that bass, a 19" fish, wan't exactly skinny. 

It's wild how different our fisheries fish.   Then again I didn't even throw topwater in the 50s, but I would have been stupefied if that was the only thing I could get them to eat at those water temps.  

 

As your water warms, I'm positive those numbers are going to skyrocket.   I remember in August you were having raw thumb days every trip out.  

 

 

16 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I would have to guess baitfish = bluegill in a bog? 

I think she fishes some places with Alewives, wonder if those guys do a "Shad spawn"

 

Katie would have destroyed the fish on my homelake the last three weeks with her crepuscular nature.....you had to get up at 4am to really get in on the Shad spawn bonanza here, and I'm not getting paid to fish ?

8 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I think she fishes some places with Alewives, wonder if those guys do a "Shad spawn"

My son in law was at an alewife lake on Saturday. Surface temps were between 67-70. The shoreline was boiling with alewife spawning. This lake has a natural inlet from the salt, so the numbers of alewives coming in is impressive. Osprey were divebombing and pulling out big alewives whenever a zone would erupt with activity. I've witnessed this myself in the past. It's something to see.

I think they're eating golden shiners and pumpkinseeds. I was casting sub-surface lures at least half the time and I too was amazed that they were only looking up this morning. 

 

Yeah, I think the numbers will increase, Alex. I've already decided that I'm fishing a quantity pond next. 

 

13 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

It's wild how different our fisheries fish. 

 

So true. Did you notice the landscape in kingfisher's amazing bass photos. It's a desert. So, he's catching bass in a desert and I'm catching bass in north woods swamps and Alex, you're catching bass on water ringed with mansions, and Phish is catching bass wading in ponds at night on New York City's de facto lawn. Their range is stunning. 

 

Thanks for this word, Alex: crepuscular, I did not know it.

3 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

My son in law was at an alewife lake on Saturday. Surface temps were between 67-70. The shoreline was boiling with alewife spawning. This lake has a natural inlet from the salt, so the numbers of alewives coming in is impressive. Osprey were divebombing and pulling out big alewives whenever a zone would erupt with activity. I've witnessed this myself in the past. It's something to see.

 

Man, I want to see ^this!^ I've seen gulls do that with white bass and saltwater striped bass and it's a blast!

43 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Man, I want to see ^this!^

Very soon for you.

Alewife (ct.gov)

 

Get one of these in Ginrin :Bull Nose – Livingston Lures