22 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Muskies make a V when they're chasing a buzzbait. One of the great fishing moments of my life was when I had TWO V's, one of each side, chasing my buzzbait. 

 

I've experienced that trademark "v" behind a surface lure or near surface lure when muskie fishing many times.  It sends my blood pressure sky rocketing.

 

Can't say I've seen two.  That would send me right into cardiac arrest.

 

For a work shortened weekend, I got quite a bit of fishing in. Had training from 0600-1400 Saturday, but as soon as I got home, I took the kayaks and my oldest son to the local lakes for 1.5 hours to practice some dock skipping, not me but him. I went and forgot my drive, so I got to paddle around, boy I didn't miss doing that.

Water was super clear and warm, sun was high, so I figured they'd be way under the docks and they were. He gave it a good effort but mostly caught weeds and docks. He did finally fool one dink right next to a dock that his Ned rig had just clanged into.

I took over for him then, skipping his bait way under the floats and handing the rod over. We made several cast at one of my favorite docks before what I initially thought was a snag, yanked his rod towards the dock and jumped in between the dock and weedline. Not a monster bass for me, but for my 9 year old on his little spinning rod under a dock, it was quite the tussle. Glad I brought the net because the hook fell out as soon as she touched the bottom of it.

Only fish the "guide" caught worth mentioning was a super dark warmouth.

 

Sunday was really nice, finally a chance to get the whole family out. My oldest had the hot hand from the very start. He caught fish his first 2 cast, lost a walleye his 3rd, then caught another his 4th. He really didn't slow down much all day either except when he'd take breaks for snacks or to play in the livewell with his younger brother. His first fish was a drum and Finn's face accurately depicts how I felt about taking a picture with a drum.

It got better after that.

Finn had just eaten a half melted Swiss Roll right before he caught this walleye, so he was feeling it when we took this picture.

I don't know how many fish we caught, but it was a lot. We caught smallmouth, largemouth, walleye, white bass, crappie, drum, channel cat, and green sunfish, so it was pretty non-stop action. 

 

Not wanting the weekend to end, I spent 20 minutes before work this morning at the lake with 2 rods, 1 big topwater crawler and 1 small homemade bladed jig. About 10 minutes into my morning, I had a decent fish just blast the crawler. Always nice when I get to come to work smelling like a fish. 

The face on Finn after catching that walleye all covered in chocolate is straight up the meaning of fishing.  You can close the book on that one.

 

Looks like a day to remember for everyone.

Wife and I went out today for a few hours. She caught six, I caught 3. Big was her personal best. Just shy of 5 pounds. The non-fish picture is at a place called hell’s gate. 

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

It's heresy to say this at BR, but I like pup pics even more than bass pics. I hope you guys can forgive me and don't burn me as a witch. 

You don't weigh the same as a duck do you? ?

 

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Alex, I like those popping lures too and used them a LOT as a kid. I've used buzzbaits mostly for muskies. Muskies make a V when they're chasing a buzzbait. One of the great fishing moments of my life was when I had TWO V's, one of each side, chasing my buzzbait. 

Epic, I can close my eyes and almost see it.

 

Such a healthy fish from an hour ago on the ole buzzer, she had a crawdad down her throat.    Last couple times out all the fish have had nice bellies on them, nice to see the post spawn funk coming to an end.  The ones that have such great girth to length that it makes their mouth look small are the ones that make me excited for the future.   

 

 

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

For a work shortened weekend, I got quite a bit of fishing in. Had training from 0600-1400 Saturday, but as soon as I got home, I took the kayaks and my oldest son to the local lakes for 1.5 hours to practice some dock skipping, not me but him. I went and forgot my drive, so I got to paddle around, boy I didn't miss doing that.

Water was super clear and warm, sun was high, so I figured they'd be way under the docks and they were. He gave it a good effort but mostly caught weeds and docks. He did finally fool one dink right next to a dock that his Ned rig had just clanged into.

I took over for him then, skipping his bait way under the floats and handing the rod over. We made several cast at one of my favorite docks before what I initially thought was a snag, yanked his rod towards the dock and jumped in between the dock and weedline. Not a monster bass for me, but for my 9 year old on his little spinning rod under a dock, it was quite the tussle. Glad I brought the net because the hook fell out as soon as she touched the bottom of it.

Only fish the "guide" caught worth mentioning was a super dark warmouth.

 

Sunday was really nice, finally a chance to get the whole family out. My oldest had the hot hand from the very start. He caught fish his first 2 cast, lost a walleye his 3rd, then caught another his 4th. He really didn't slow down much all day either except when he'd take breaks for snacks or to play in the livewell with his younger brother. His first fish was a drum and Finn's face accurately depicts how I felt about taking a picture with a drum.

It got better after that.

Finn had just eaten a half melted Swiss Roll right before he caught this walleye, so he was feeling it when we took this picture.

I don't know how many fish we caught, but it was a lot. We caught smallmouth, largemouth, walleye, white bass, crappie, drum, channel cat, and green sunfish, so it was pretty non-stop action. 

 

Not wanting the weekend to end, I spent 20 minutes before work this morning at the lake with 2 rods, 1 big topwater crawler and 1 small homemade bladed jig. About 10 minutes into my morning, I had a decent fish just blast the crawler. Always nice when I get to come to work smelling like a fish. 

Awesome stuff, way to go dad!

 

I'd spend a ton of time fishing for Warmouths if they existed in greater number and could be targeted easier.   I've found they like shallow rocks/boat ramps, and if you can see one, you can always catch it, so aggressive. 

 

As mean as beautiful.   Sunfish are so cool.  

Greetings All,

A weekend of extreme angling, let me explain. First, I was teasing blugills using my fly rod at a recently refurbished local pond. The bluegill are potato chip sized and are great fun when teased using the "fish whip". Besides I'm grateful for the practice too. I manage to place the fly next to a small stand of reeds and I see a flash with the tension on line.

Tiny and mighty!

The next day I'm cleared for a full day of goofing off angling. We are having lovely weather here in SE AZ with temps in the mid 80s. I enjoyed the entire day catching all sorts of fish all along the shorelines. I realized when doing a time check that it was later in the afternoon and that I would need to be departing. OK, there is just one more cove to explore. My weedless soft plastic landed near the base of a flooded tree. Instantly the line tensioned and was peeling from the reel with drag screaming loud. Wow, what have I found?! Of course the fish took the line across the trunk and over past the other side of the tree. I'm in total "Hot Mess" mode as the kayak is being dragged into the tree branches and I'm still struggling to keep the ultra light rig with four pound monofilament clear of snags. Since one hand was committed to the rod tension, the other hand was paddling and cranking the reel when possible or simply dodging branches. If that were not enough drama and stress I could feel the angle change on the tight line, this fish was going to clear water. Yup! It did on the far side of the tree, a good size bass, very strong. I simply was not sure this was going to end well for me. As I'm thinking that the fish changed things up and began to swim right back towards me. It didn't stop till it got to the other side of yak and was hauling me out toward the cove opening and deep water. OH golly, there may be a happy ending. The fish eventually relaxed some and I was able to convince it closer to the kayak. Normally I would have my full sized landing net when in the yak. However, someone was eager to go fishing so my backpack still had the very portable livewell net that I use when shore fishing, awe that should do just fine, right?

It mostly fit.

A nice way to end the day with a four pound bass in hand. So glad the line and knot held. It was also a great test of the Walmart OTX UL 5.0 foot one piece spinning rod, yes it passed my test.

 

Lessons learned:

> Remain calm no matter what happens.

> Always fish that last cove of the day!

> Use good line with a good knot.

> OH and bring enough landing net too.

Best fishes to all, be well and Cheers!

Well, I don't know who won tonight, the bass or me. I did catch a 4.5 pounder and a 4.1 pounder. I also caught some beautiful smallmouth, but they weren't big. I also caught a few 17" LMBs. 18 fish in all. 

 

HOWEVER, I was in the middle of a feeding frenzy and I caught ZERO of those bass. I threw seven different lures at them, but I think the lure that would have caught them would be a fluke. Maybe a jerkbait. Possibly a small floating Rapala. 

 

I fished an unusual body of water...for me. A pond with developed shorelines. For the first time this year, I shared the water with another fisher.  

 

I could only load a few photos, but I did load the two big girls, a couple 17-inchers, and a representative smallmouth. 

 

10 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Well, I don't know who won tonight, the bass or me. I did catch a 4.5 pounder and a 4.1 pounder. I also caught some beautiful smallmouth, but they weren't big. I also caught a few 17" LMBs. 18 fish in all. 

 

HOWEVER, I was in the middle of a feeding frenzy and I caught ZERO of those bass. I threw seven different lures at them, but I think the lure that would have caught them would be a fluke. Maybe a jerkbait. Possibly a small floating Rapala. 

 

I fished an unusual body of water...for me. A pond with developed shorelines. For the first time this year, I shared the water with another fisher.  

 

I could only load a few photos, but I did load the two big girls, a couple 17-inchers, and a representative smallmouth. 

Nice ones Katie, especially those bigger ones!   

 

I would have hit them with that Damiki Axe Blade if your water is still sub 60s.  That or Yo Yo a lipless or blade bait through them......I've found that many times the bigger fish will sit under all that frenzy above them and just slurp up the stunned and dying baitfish from the JV team.  

 

There is always a magic bait they'll eat, some days they'll eat most anything in that situation, others you can't cycle through enough baits to get one.  I spent 2 days cycling through baits this winter one week on some schooling fish that pushed shallow during a warming trend, then on the third day I found the bait and had 50+ fish in an afternoon.  

 

16 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I could only load a few photos, but I did load the two big girls,

Here's my rule: If a place has 19s, then it has 24s too. Keep going!

8 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

It's heresy to say this at BR, but I like pup pics even more than bass pics. I hope you guys can forgive me and don't burn me as a witch. 

37 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Here's my rule: If a place has 19s, then it has 24s too. Keep going!

 

Oh, I'll keep going, but a 24" fish is beyond my ken.

 

38 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

 

I would have hit them with that Damiki Axe Blade

 

Great idea! I'll try it.

 

38 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I found the bait and had 50+ fish in an afternoon.  

 

I think this lake will cough up 50 fish too IF I can find the bait. I have a very good feeling about the fluke. 

11 hours ago, Cbump said:

Wife and I went out today for a few hours. She caught six, I caught 3. Big was her personal best. Just shy of 5 pounds. The non-fish picture is at a place called hell’s gate. 

I had heard PK was fishing well, glad to see it's for real!

 

6 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Well, I don't know who won tonight, the bass or me. I did catch a 4.5 pounder and a 4.1 pounder. I also caught some beautiful smallmouth, but they weren't big. I also caught a few 17" LMBs. 18 fish in all. 

 

HOWEVER, I was in the middle of a feeding frenzy and I caught ZERO of those bass. I threw seven different lures at them, but I think the lure that would have caught them would be a fluke. Maybe a jerkbait. Possibly a small floating Rapala. 

 

I fished an unusual body of water...for me. A pond with developed shorelines. For the first time this year, I shared the water with another fisher.  

 

I could only load a few photos, but I did load the two big girls, a couple 17-inchers, and a representative smallmouth. 

 

That is a stout smallmouth for where I live and some nice northern LM. It does hurt to be on a school and get blanked...that happened to me in Central TX once, on a school of striped bass. Totally uninterested in the swimbait that netted like 18 in an hour the day before. I still can't make it make sense. But I would count any day down here with a chonky smallmouth as a win. Looks like an otherwise solid day to me. Great work!

27 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

I still can't make it make sense.

 

It's 3:45 a.m. and I'm back out to try to make sense of them again. I'll be fluking, jerkbaiting, and Axe Blading. We'll see! It's 41 degrees. Brrrr!

15 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

It's 3:45 a.m. and I'm back out to try to make sense of them again. I'll be fluking, jerkbaiting, and Axe Blading. We'll see! It's 41 degrees. Brrrr!

I never have any luck with LMB that are busting in a feeding frenzy. SMB are eager eaters for me during such times though.

 

Don't forget the Deadly Nedly... It's not fun, but it sure is effective. 

 

Good luck.

 Bass 2. OLD CREAKety 0 

 

I failed again to catch one in the feeding frenzy, much less entice a hit. The fluke failed. The clear Sammy (walk the dog bait) failed. The jerkbait failed. Next time I'll try a Ned and an Axe Blade. I though I had an Axe Blade with me this morning, but I didn't.

 

After a bass-less half hour, I moseyed and caught 16 and lost at least that many, which comes from fishing the morning after fishing the prior evening, thus I'm OLD CREAKety.

 

My biggest was 18.5". I caught an especially fat 17.5-incher and several 17-inchers. The top baits were the big, black Whopper Plopper and the shad-colored Rage Swimmer. The SMB were frisky. I saw an osprey catch a fish and a bald eagle flew overhead with its catch too. 

 

 

6 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 Bass 2. OLD CREAKety 0 

 

I failed again to catch one in the feeding frenzy, much less entice a hit. The fluke failed. The clear Sammy (walk the dog bait) failed. The jerkbait failed. Next time I'll try a Ned and an Axe Blade. I though I had an Axe Blade with me this morning, but I didn't.

 

After a bass-less half hour, I moseyed and caught 16 and lost at least that many, which comes from fishing the morning after fishing the prior evening, thus I'm OLD CREAKety.

 

My biggest was 18.5". I caught an especially fat 17.5-incher and several 17-inchers. The top baits were the big, black Whopper Plopper and the shad-colored Rage Swimmer. The SMB were frisky. I saw an osprey catch a fish and a bald eagle flew overhead with its catch too. 

 

 

Nice piggies, and you'll get them figured out.

 

Being around schooling/frenzied fish is one of the most exciting, and potentially frustrating things in fishing.    They'll either eat just about anything you can get close, or they won't touch anything but a particular magic bait that it seemingly takes forever to find.   Again I think there is always a bait they'll chew, just a matter of finding it.  

 

3 seasons of the year I deal with lots and lots of this behavior, I've missed it big time during the Spring.  I don't get up early enough for the Shad Spawn, and outside of that I never see them doing it.   The Winter and Fall is incredible, acres will erupt with this type of activity.  Now I'm sad it' not Winter ?

13 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

 Again I think there is always a bait they'll chew, just a matter of finding it.  

 

I think you're right and I'm afraid it might be a fly. I was sure the weightless fluke would work because I could drop it right on a feeding bass's head without scaring them. I was also sure the Sammy would work because it mimics a dying shad. Maybe live bait would work. Has anyone used live bait in a feeding frenzy?

 

13 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Being around schooling/frenzied fish is one of the most exciting, and potentially frustrating things in fishing. 

 

Amen to that, brother! 

 

What's weird is that when I move away from the frenzy, I can catch bass again. What was frustrating was the some of the bass sounded big, i.e. they were moving a lot of water like only big bass can do. It's going to be windy and cold the next two days, so I'll have time to ponder this and watch some videos. And REST!

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

Maybe live bait would work. Has anyone used live bait in a feeding frenzy?

 

I mean live bait always works, right?  That's why some look down on others it they're not using artificials.  

1 hour ago, hokiehunter373 said:

I mean live bait always works, right?  That's why some look down on others it they're not using artificials.  

 

I wouldn't use minnows and risk introducing a new species to the pond, but I'm thinking a nightcrawler a foot or two under a slip bobber might work. I'll try it. I'm also going to try an A-Rig, which would simulate a school of fleeing shad and a spinnerbait. BTW, I have no hesitation to use live bait if that's what works. A bobber going down is thrilling. 

4 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I wouldn't use minnows and risk introducing a new species to the pond, but I'm thinking a nightcrawler a foot or two under a slip bobber might work. I'll try it. I'm also going to try an A-Rig, which would simulate a school of fleeing shad and a spinnerbait. BTW, I have no hesitation to use live bait. A bobber going down is thrilling. 

I didn't know you had an A-Rig, sub 60d water that's the deal.  

 

Play around with the size swimmers you use.  Sometimes they want a big 4"+ one, other times they want a 3" size one. 

 

If you can get on an A-Rig bite, it will change your life ? 

57 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I wouldn't use minnows and risk introducing a new species to the pond, but I'm thinking a nightcrawler a foot or two under a slip bobber might work. I'll try it. I'm also going to try an A-Rig, which would simulate a school of fleeing shad and a spinnerbait. BTW, I have no hesitation to use live bait if that what's work. A bobber going down is thrilling. 

Oooh A-rig. Ding-ding-ding.  That might do it

 

And I didn't think/wasn't insinuating you would.  I imagine it's how the majority of us started.  It's certainly how I started my kids catching sunnies too.  I've just seen some of that attitude around here before.  I was also being slight tongue-in-cheek because nothing is a slam dunk all the time

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I didn't know you had an A-Rig

 

Oh, yeah, I have that dang monkey on my back. I bought lures all winter.

 

10 minutes ago, hokiehunter373 said:

Oooh A-rig. Ding-ding-ding.  That might do it

 

Something better work or I'm going or I'm going to die of a broken heart. Being in the middle of a frenzy with no working lures is like being surrounded by the very best of Brooklyn's pizza and you don't even have a couple bucks for a single slice.

 

Hey, a shout-out to @T-Billy, who told me last fall to chuck my Rage Swimmer into heavy cover (I had no clue what it would come through.) and now that's one of my go-to techniques, plus it's thrilling to pull a big girl out of big grass. Also, thanks to @PhishLI, who told me that bass wouldn't shy from braid on moving lures, for without it, I don't think I could set the hooks on bass in grass/pads/reeds. Even then, I sometimes fail to pin them, but it sure is fun trying.  

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Oh, yeah, I have that dang monkey on my back. I bought lures all winter.

 

 

Something better work or I'm going or I'm going to die of a broken heart. Being in the middle of a frenzy with no working lures is like being surrounded by the very best of Brooklyn's pizza and you don't even have a couple bucks for a single slice.

 

Hey, a shout-out to @T-Billy, who told me last fall to chuck my Rage Swimmer into heavy cover (I had no clue what it would come through.) and now that's one of my go-to techniques, plus it's thrilling to pull a big girl out of big grass. Also, thanks to @PhishLI, who told me that bass wouldn't shy from braid on moving lures, for without it, I don't think I could set the hooks on bass in grass/pads/reeds. Even then, I sometimes fail to pin them, but it sure is fun trying.  

Katie, in those weedy waters you fish, bass won't shy away from braid period. Froggin, swimbaits, T-rigs, senkos/flukes, PLOPPERS..... 40 or 50# Sufix 832 will serve you well for all sorts of things.

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I didn't know you had an A-Rig, sub 60d water that's the deal.  

 

Play around with the size swimmers you use.  Sometimes they want a big 4"+ one, other times they want a 3" size one. 

 

If you can get on an A-Rig bite, it will change your life ? 

That's the general concensus I know, and it dies off for me mid 50's, but I'm gonna spend some time with it on deep structure, at night, later this summer to see if maybe there's a bite window for it there too. 

 The night bite is about to get hot here very soon. It'll be all about weeds through June and july, but going into August that always slows down and lots of fish move to rock structure. I'm gonna try rollin a rig around on deep rock when that goes down this year. Might be a waste of time, might be a game changer. Only one way to find out.