Latest Catch Pics Thread

[thediscochef]

Well sportsball was disappointing so I decided to try some night fishing. Most of my good Largemouth catches last year revolved around full moon which we are approaching. So it seemed like a great time to go out and ... shatter my Smallmouth PB?

 

I was out for about an hour of casting, about to leave when I was rolling the lipless where I always do. Felt a heavy thump and a HARD kick...followed by that ominous sensation of line being rubbed on something. I know this set of rip rap like my bedroom floor; there's not a snag there. However, it is post-holiday weekend...someone else's junk. I sit there and try all my little "get free" tricks to no avail and decide to just let out 7-10 long pulls of line and see if the fish could get us out. Success. My red eye shad was hooked with one barb right in the corner of its mouth, along with the rogue crankbait that done the mischief and a big ole wad of monofilament. Whole thing was probably a five minute ordeal. Most time and slack line I've ever had in a fight. Now I have a PB (4lb 1oz), a story, and a free crankbait. I always said I would lose it a bit if I caught a decent Smallmouth down here...I'm about 40 minutes post fish and am just now calm. You can see it on my face lol. I can't believe it

[Pat Brown]

26 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

Over the weekend I saw someone posted a video of a bank side bass catch and cook "to make bass fishermen cry." 

 

In this day and age people will do anything for attention.

 

21 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

Well sportsball was disappointing so I decided to try some night fishing. Most of my good Largemouth catches last year revolved around full moon which we are approaching. So it seemed like a great time to go out and ... shatter my Smallmouth PB?

 

I was out for about an hour of casting, about to leave when I was rolling the lipless where I always do. Felt a heavy thump and a HARD kick...followed by that ominous sensation of line being rubbed on something. I know this set of rip rap like my bedroom floor; there's not a snag there. However, it is post-holiday weekend...someone else's junk. I sit there and try all my little "get free" tricks to no avail and decide to just let out 7-10 long pulls of line and see if the fish could get us out. Success. My red eye shad was hooked with one barb right in the corner of its mouth, along with the rogue crankbait that done the mischief and a big ole wad of monofilament. Whole thing was probably a five minute ordeal. Most time and slack line I've ever had in a fight. Now I have a PB (4lb 1oz), a story, and a free crankbait. I always said I would lose it a bit if I caught a decent Smallmouth down here...I'm about 40 minutes post fish and am just now calm. You can see it on my face lol. I can't believe it

 

That's such an awesome story and I'm sure she appreciates being freed up from that crankbait and wad of line!  Absolutely epic PB smallmouth!

[thediscochef]

10 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

That's such an awesome story and I'm sure she appreciates being freed up from that crankbait and wad of line!  Absolutely epic PB smallmouth!

Thanks! I don't often get a good story to go with a PB, usually just a run of the mill catch. It wasn't a fresh bait or line so I'm sure it's been waiting a while to get free

[thediscochef]

55 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

Over the weekend I saw someone posted a video of a bank side bass catch and cook "to make bass fishermen cry." 

I think doing something out of spite for no real gain is kinda dumb anyway, but intentionally consuming extra PFAS to 'own the bass fishermen' (or whatever) is some kind of galaxy-brain 9-D chess move. Those brain cells are workin overtime for sure. That said, I love seeing people take bass up to about 4lb...makes more forage available for more 5+ fish. When we start seeing people keep the big breeding fish though...that's a bit of a problem

[ironbjorn]

1 minute ago, thediscochef said:

I think doing something out of spite for no real gain is kinda dumb anyway, but intentionally consuming extra PFAS to 'own the bass fishermen' (or whatever) is some kind of galaxy-brain 9-D chess move. Those brain cells are workin overtime for sure. That said, I love seeing people take bass up to about 4lb...makes more forage available for more 5+ fish. When we start seeing people keep the big breeding fish though...that's a bit of a problem

The 21st century is just room temperature IQ.

[thediscochef]

Just now, ironbjorn said:

The 21st century is just room temperature IQ.

A great lot of it for sure 

[cvaicunas69]

Started this Memorial Day off with heading to my local river at around 9am today. Later than I wanted to start, but owning a bird dog requires I provide him with a long morning walk, or chance what his boredom will result in. The water temperature had risen 6 degrees or so with the last few days of warmer weather, so I was eager to find, what I hoped would be some post spawn funk fish who's metabolism's were charged up by the increase. Started off the morning at a location I do no often fish this early in the season, found an interesting looking pool, with a current seam to cast a rapala x-rap into, and with the second cast of the day we were off! And boy did it feel good to watch a smallie launch itself into the air again! The day consisted of consistent action until I decided to head off for a quick lunch around 12, so much so I found I barely had to wade much of the river today. Learned a few lessons today, such as why I normally tie a flouro leader, as the rocks weakened my braid main line enough to snap off a few fish during the outing. Taking pictures is a bit difficult wading waist deep in water, so none there, but the day was not over yet.

Charged back out after lunch, and brought my finesse setup with me as I had begun to use a ned rig as the day had progressed and felt that the new jig heads I was using were too small for a med power rod, well that and user error I am sure. Stuck a few at the same spot with the ned, and feeling satisfied that I had avenged some earlier errors, got back in the car and drove up river to a location I had discovered a couple years prior, but had failed to journey here last season with the water levels at an appropriate level. On the journey to the sweet spot I found a very eager participant, likely last years brood. In fact the size 8 x-rap was larger than himself.

Pushing forward to the steep rocky point that creates a current seam with these water levels, began casting, working the bait quickly to match the energy I had witnessed from the fish all afternoon. Nothing along the current seam, but perhaps further ahead? And indeed that was the sweet spot!

All in all an awesome day, definitely a learning experience, in some regards. Thought I might skimp on typing a flouro leader, and learned quickly how non abrasive resistant 6 pound braid is! This season has also rekindled my love of a good jerkbait bite, there is nothing else like it!

 

[T-Billy]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

They are still catching bigger fish than me, even on the doubles 

Have you tried a spinnerbait? They have a reputation for catching larger than average fish. ?

[Woody B]

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

They are still catching bigger fish than me, even on the doubles 

 

Good job.  When you take kids fishing they're supposed to catch more and bigger fish that you do.  In a few decades maybe they'll be taking kids fishing letting them catch more.  

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Have you tried a spinnerbait? They have a reputation for catching larger than average fish. ?

I did, and caught one! 

[Jeff Zurawski]

Lots of little ones yesterday

 

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, Woody B said:

 

Good job.  When you take kids fishing they're supposed to catch more and bigger fish that you do.  In a few decades maybe they'll be taking kids fishing letting them catch more.  

Hopefully that’s exactly how it goes in the future! But I don’t take it easy on ‘em, they are just good fishermen haha

[N Florida Mike]

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I did, and caught one! 

Wait, what?

Pigs must have flown…?

Congrats!

[LrgmouthShad]

37 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

Wait, what?

Pigs must have flown…?

Congrats!

Meanwhile I couldn’t buy a bite on ol spinnerblade this weekend. I was ticking and pulling em gently through grass and I was thinking “how in the world am I not getting bit doing this.” Spinnerbaits in grass are nasty good

[T-Billy]

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I did, and caught one! 

You're on a roll with that thing. You're gonna turn into Jimmie Houston if y'aint careful.

[thediscochef]

Dink Chillin 

[gunsinger]

A good memorial day weekend of fishing for me.  Caught 10 on Saturday and 10 more on Monday.  Saturday yielded a 4lb, a 5lb and a 6lb.   Most were caught on a black/blue Yumdinger rigged wacky.

 

 

Monday started off with a 3lb on the 3rd cast and was followed up with a 5lb and a 6lb.

 

 

She was my tenth and last fish of the day caught by the dam while waiting for the launch to clear so I could leave.  She weighed in at 6.24lb's and was caught on a TR Junebug Yumdinger.

 

All the rest each day were in the 1-2lb range with maybe one dink thrown in for good measure.

[TnRiver46]

@gunsinger, what a weekend!

 

@thediscochef, congrats on the PB smallie buddy! 

[thediscochef]

34 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

@gunsinger, what a weekend!

 

@thediscochef, congrats on the PB smallie buddy! 

Thanks! I'm still in shock

[Swamp Girl]

@gunsinger, quick, buy a lottery ticket before the magic fades!

[gunsinger]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

@gunsinger, quick, buy a lottery ticket before the magic fades!

No doubt...

[Jar11591]

I had no idea that Dink-a-Palooza 2023 was happening today. I never got the memo. But I found myself a part of the festivities today. Dink after dink. 
 

The significance of this trip was the fact that it was my first time out with the GoPro. Please excuse my sniffling and heavy breathing, I have a gnarly chest cold. And double excuse the terrible camera angle and brim of my hat in the shot. Like I said, this is the first time I’ve filmed myself fishing ever. So don’t be too harsh lol! ? I had no idea the standard SD card only holds an hour of footage, so I only filmed my first hour. But I had a blast filming. I had a natural urge to narrate, which made me feel more connected and in-tune with how I was fishing. Will be upgrading my SD card immediately. 

Fish didn’t want much other than a wacky senko today….the worst kind of bite. Managed to pick one off around noon that went 2.5 on the spinnerbait, but other than that it was short fish after short fish. 

[gimruis]

Facial expression in the bottom two photos says it all.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

14 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

I had no idea that Dink-a-Palooza 2023 was happening today. I never got the memo. But I found myself a part of the festivities today. Dink after dink. 
 

The significance of this trip was the fact that it was my first time out with the GoPro. Please excuse my sniffling and heavy breathing, I have a gnarly chest cold. And double excuse the terrible camera angle and brim of my hat in the shot. Like I said, this is the first time I’ve filmed myself fishing ever. So don’t be too harsh lol! ? I had no idea the standard SD card only holds an hour of footage, so I only filmed my first hour. But I had a blast filming. I had a natural urge to narrate, which made me feel more connected and in-tune with how I was fishing. Will be upgrading my SD card immediately. 

Fish didn’t want much other than a wacky senko today….the worst kind of bite. Managed to pick one off around noon that went 2.5 on the spinnerbait, but other than that it was short fish after short fish. 

That's awesome you are GoProing your sessions, and I loved the video.   That place looks super fishy, and beautiful.   You're gonna find that filming your catches brings a whole different level of excitement to your catches.     We spend way too much time and money on these fish, and then release them not to preserve some of our greatest highs in life with a camera.   I won't go fishing without a camera and scale, and if I intend to fish for more than 5mins, the GoPro has to come now.  

 

You really just can't put into words or pics what a video does so perfectly.   

 

eta;  like you I started out on my head, then I realized that it was too heavy.   Started with one battery, now I have 6 lol.   I got two 128g cards, so as of this last week, I can keep the thing going as long as I want....but atlas I still have to change batteries, and then also just turn it off going from one spot to the next.......and always that's when I catch a fish I wanted to have on film, just like yesterday lol.   It's a ton of fun to do though, makes the whole thing so much more enjoyable.  You're gonna find that if you're gonna bother taking it and filming, you want it rolling every second that line is wet, if not the stupid fish always come when it's off ?

 

Enjoy learning your way into the style and manner you want to make these videos in.    

[cvaicunas69]

So since this is the taking off point for "my season," when I can safely wade most of the waters of my local river, and yesterday's bite was encouraging, I took off again. Left a bit later in the day this day, at around 11:30 am, but this time of year I feel quite good about missing the early morning bite. I had committed myself to walking quite a bit today (it ended up being about 12 miles of walking after all was said and done), I started at the same location I fished yesterday. A couple takers on the ned rig again, an intentional bait choice as it is firmly on my list of tackle choices to garner a greater mastery of. A couple quick landings of some smaller fish, and the acknowledgement that the lower water levels today likely sent any larger fish moving on, and I was off on my adventure.

At the first spot, a deeper pool located at the edge of an eddy created by a bridge pylon, I found several smaller takers, and a 20 inch red horse face sucker (a first for me). However I noticed that they were in quite a mood to chase, as I caught a few while reeling up, so I decided I would tie on one of my favorites, an all black 3/32 marabou jig with a piece of berkely scented power worm on the shank for some additional casting distance.

I then moved to the next stop on today's tour, a river wide shelf, which is preceded by a pool, deeper than any water around for some distance. Started off with the same little fish I was seeing all afternoon to that point when suddenly I hooked up, and drag started peeling off of my reel like no other time with this 7'1" st croix md lght, xtra fst finesse setup. After 5 minutes or so I pulled up this first one. As someone who had yet to chase stripers in the river, I think this one hooked me in. Man what a fight. Obviously not a giant, but all of 28inch, and a personal best for me.