Caught a couple decent ones over the past few days. Seems like each day they’re wanting something different from the menu. ? Yesterday it was a weightless plastic creature and today it was back to the popper. The one in the last two pics weighed 3.11 and looked like it tried to inhale the popper.

 

 

 

Date night with Mrs. 12poundbass last night produced this 2lb 10oz smallie. I can’t take credit for the catch. She caught it, she just hasn’t warmed up to holding fish again. 
 

 

19 hours ago, throttleplate said:

Memorial day went bass and crappie fishin in minnesota. Caught a handfull of 1-2 lb bass on the lizzard texas rigged. This other guy caught this strange lookin fish we both never seen before.

I looked it up and it looks to be a Bowfin? if not that than its a burbot but it shouldnt be because they burbot like deep cool water and this was caught in 3 feet close to shore unless it was spawning?

 

 

 

Yep Bowfin. They're really cool looking when they're lit up in their spawning colors.

Don't get your finger in their mouth if you want to keep it. Once they bite down on something they're not big on letting go.

I've been catching Bass early so I went earlier today.  I launched my boat at 4am.  Caught my first bass at 6:49.   I fished until 11 and ended up catching 11.   5 Largemouth and 6 Spots.  All but 1 were 14" and over.  Biggest was a hair shy of 18".  I also caught 1 Bullhead and lost a Blue Cat that was probably 10 pounds or so.  Most were on a Seibert Bladed jig.   A couple (and the Cat/Bullhead) on cranks.  1 on a Carolina rig. 

 

 

Not a bad morning. I boated 13 bass and missed out on 4. Started with a Whopper Plopper and got one swirl. I was in a shallow area so I passed on the chatterbait and started tossing a 4” Rage Tail Craw in Summer Craw on a 5/0 EWG with a 1/8 oz. tungsten bullet weight. Oh man, that was a wise/lucky choice. The next nine bass were caught on that bait. The bass were hitting it hard! Also caught one on a 5” Senko, two on a Zoom Trick and one on a Zoom Mag 2. But I lost all the bass on the Mag 2. As one came back tailless, they may have been hitting the tails. All I know is I need more Rage Tail Craws! 
 

Today I was “that guy”.  There were at least four anglers beating the bank. The first two were together. They got their gear ready and as they started walking, I caught my first bass. One of them yelled (humorously) “show off!” After that, all I could hear was “blah-blah-mumble-mumble-that guy-fish” as I kept reeling them in and no one else caught a thing. Gotta say, I liked being “that guy” today! ?
 

I got out today and caught 3, no pics. Phone was in the car. Biggest small fish of the day came on the second cast, around 15 inches. Next small one came about 15 minutes later. I was using a d-bomb in hillbilly magic with a 1/4 tungsten bullet weight and a chartreuse glass bead with a brass clacker. I just re spooled my tat 80 with 10lb big game, I thought the reel was acting weird with the braid on it so I stripped it off. When the local shop put the braid on there backing knot was non existent lol. The backing just came right off the arbor with no sign of a knot at all. The reel was great after I put mono on it, last one came on a z man goat in green pumpkin blue. It was windy out there but with the mono I still felt pretty darn connected to my bait. I definitely feel better about my tat 80 now and that’s a good thing.

5 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

Not a bad morning. I boated 13 bass and missed out on 4. Started with a Whopper Plopper and got one swirl. I was in a shallow area so I passed on the chatterbait and started tossing a 4” Rage Tail Craw in Summer Craw on a 5/0 EWG with a 1/8 oz. tungsten bullet weight. Oh man, that was a wise/lucky choice. The next nine bass were caught on that bait. The bass were hitting it hard! Also caught one on a 5” Senko, two on a Zoom Trick and one on a Zoom Mag 2. But I lost all the bass on the Mag 2. As one came back tailless, they may have been hitting the tails. All I know is I need more Rage Tail Craws! 
 

Today I was “that guy”.  There were at least four anglers beating the bank. The first two were together. They got their gear ready and as they started walking, I caught my first bass. One of them yelled (humorously) “show off!” After that, all I could hear was “blah-blah-mumble-mumble-that guy-fish” as I kept reeling them in and no one else caught a thing. Gotta say, I liked being “that guy” today! ?
 

I was struggling with the same thing with the mag 2 the other day, I upped the weight to trigger more of a reaction strike. It worked on the mag 2, it’s worth a shot. My next idea is using a 7/0 worm hook to get the point back closer to the tail, will try that when I get a chance. I love the rage craws, and craws in general they are one of my favorite confidence baits they work everywhere.

@Jmurphy87 I’ve caught bass on craws before. Rage and X Zone craws in particular. But I never had so many bite on them in a morning like today. I made the BM happy. I stopped at Academy and bought more Rage Craws and also decided to try some Rage Bugs. 

I continue to discover the joys of ultralight fishing. Spent about 2 hours in my usual spot tonight until the state parks police fussed at me for where I was standing, said I have to be on the pier after a certain hour. Funny cause I've had whole conversations with him while I was standing on that same rock...after midnight...while I was fishing. Whatever, I still caught 3 bluegill, 2 crappie, three spotted bass, two largemouth, and a smallmouth. One of the better numbers days I've had in a while and catching decent bass on tiny line is tons of fun. 

Don't know why, but it's the year of the 5+ pounders.  I haven't caught large numbers of bass this year but I'm way, way ahead on the 4 and 5 pound bass.  I'd tell you my secret, but it's secret even from me.  Quite a blessing so far this year. 

 

@BigAngus752, that's a GOOD-lookin' fish! I like your humility too. 

 

@thediscochef, the coloration on your first bass and second to last bass is stunning. 

Night fishing under a full moon around here is typically a recipe for hurt feelings. I refuse to be seen blubbering uncontrollably in public, so I'll usually find something else to do, but last night was different because of the cold front that landed on us. Sometimes odd combinations of historically unfavorable elements mix to produce favorable outcomes, so I decided to give it a whirl. By some miracle, the bucketeers were wrapping it up just as I got there, and I had the entire place to myself for once.

 

Just as expected topwater wasn't happening even a little bit, but I got plenty of soft nips and bumps dragging the bottom. The rattle augmented swimbait-hook rigged black and blue Zman Pro CrawZ concoction continues to get their attention, but I could get none to commit. Then a band of puffy clouds moved through and temporarily softened the moon's electric white glow, and they decided to eat. This was short-lived though and, as if a light switch had been thrown, the hard bite evaporated instantly once the clouds blew away, so I called it a win and boogied.

 

45 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

I'd tell you my secret, but it's secret even from me.

You’d think they’d (the bass) share once in a while, but nooooo! Gotta leave the ‘hooman’ guessing! 
 

Went out to the pond this morning to try out some of the new worms I got from Big Bite Baits and only took one rod. A baitcaster. Figured with 12# flouro I’d be good. Hit the shallow end and after a few casts I switched out worms (colors). First cast with the ‘new’ color and the reel birdnested enough a pterodactyl could lay eggs in it. ? Picked at it until I noticed the line running on the ground. Looked up to see something had taken the worm. Dropped the rod and started hand-reeling the line back until whatever it was spit the worm and ‘finned me off’ as it swam away. ?

 

Suffice it to say I’m now cutting the nest out so I can respool with some new line. Knew I should have brought a spinning rod. ?

59 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

 

@thediscochef, the coloration on your first bass and second to last bass is stunning. 

 

The native spotted bass at Ray Roberts are absolutely beautiful....they don't get much bigger than 3-4lb but the markings on them are just so pretty

Greetings All,

Some great catching fun in the SE AZ sunshine. There was plenty of both catching and sunshine at Parker Canyon Lake. I managed to get a full day of angling adventures in my kayak working the shoreline to find all sorts of fun from bluegills, green sunfish, and large mouth bass. All fish were caught within 15 feet of the shoreline. Yes, I tried a few submerged reefs with no response, so we'll come back another time to see how that goes once all the weeds get going. I did tease about the standing reeds for a few bass. It was a bit different for me to use a heavier rig with 8 pound mono from my typical 4 pound. Still all said and done there were fish caught with all the rigs. I can't help but notice the trend of the larger quality fish caught on the 4 pound mono. The two most successful baits are the 2 inch curly tailed grub on 1/32 oz jig and a weedless short three inch worm. All three species took to those baits aggressively when presented near the shoreline and allowed to settle before moving. Most of the time within two seconds of entering the water the line would simply go tight and move off laterally. Simply wind down and help the rod load up to a modest bend. Those sharp fine wire hooks pin easily and generally stay that way as long as there is some bend held in the pole.

 

While all fish on line are fun there are some that are additionally fun.

I will say it is always a bit of an act to get a selfie with fish. There is the hot mess of managing the fish carefully. This time of year the fish are drying out as soon as they are out of the water, so to minimize the stress I keep them held in the water. That leave the other hand to position the phone on the front deck of the yak so a self timer shot is possible. Then there is getting the yak in a reasonable position with all that bright AZ sunshine. It is very exciting to eventually get everything set to trigger the self timer and hope the fish cooperates with the pose. Even with all that fussing about it was so much fun catching so many throughout the day and pretty much everywhere.

 

It was also good to meet up with some very nice folks on the water too. The post holiday visitors were all very polite and cordial. I provided some encouragement that helped a few folks get on fish. Plenty of catching fun to share with all. We have to make the most of this short widow before the real heat sets in. There after it becomes a safety gamble as our seasonal monsoons get going and the storms are no joke dangerous. You would rather not be out on the water during monsoon without access to safe harbor. So get out there have a great time catching while the catching is GREAT! Be well and Cheers!

I slept in this morning.  I caught a 17" Spot on my 2nd cast at 6:03am.   I caught my 13th, a 17" Largemouth on my last cast at 9:07.  All on a Bladed jig.  Those 2 are pictured.  I'm kinda pleased with the size of them.  Only one was under 14".   I figure as long as I'm catching "keepers"  a few big ones will come along.  A few weeks ago all I was catching was dinks.   

 

On 6/3/2023 at 1:30 PM, T-Billy said:

Don't get your finger in their mouth if you want to keep it. Once they bite down on something they're not big on letting go.

I’ve had them close their mouth on jaw spreaders designed for pike and muskies. So ya, their mouth is like a vice.

Got started this morning as the Strawberry Moon was setting over the lake down the street. 

I started out pitching bushy stuff like pictured below, but only managed three over four hours. No pic worthy fish today. Biggest was about 2#.

Decided to switch gears, and started rolling a rage swimmer around all these laydowns. That put six in the boat over three hours, plus had four more come off. 

I sure wish the MWCD would quit spraying the grass in this lake. There used to be a big milfoil bed on this flat, and it held tons of LM and saugeye. Fishing here can still be decent, but it's a shadow of it's former self. The watershed caters to the sailboaters and pontooners on this lake and sprays the grass most years. Back when they let the grass grow this was one of the best LM lakes around. 

 

 

I posted two weeks ago that my arm was going to fall off from casting as I was going to fish as much as possible while my wife was in Europe with our oldest daughter. She’s due back around 5:00 and had some chores to do this morning so I didn’t hit the water until 10:30 or so. 
 

I learned something new (to me) today. I’ve read numerous times that varying weight (to vary the fall rate) can make a difference, but I’ve never seen that in action until today. With limited time I only brought two rods, but only planned on using one. Once again, after yesterday‘s results, I brought my Kistler Helium MHF with a Rage Tail Craw on a 5/0 hook with a 1/8 oz. tungsten bullet weight. It was the same exact set-up as yesterday. Even the craw was the one I caught nine bass with on Saturday. Today, it was dead. I thought about switching over to a 5” Senko TR on my finesse rig, then on a whim, I re-rigged with a 1/4 oz. tungsten bullet weight. Bingo! That bit of difference made a big difference. Caught four bass and had to go. Sad to say, I had to retire the Rage Tail Craw. It gave its all for catching 13 bass over two days! I bit two of the segments off and it still kept catching bass! 

 

5 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

I posted two weeks ago that my arm was going to fall off from casting as I was going to fish as much as possible while my wife was in Europe with our oldest daughter. She’s due back around 5:00 and had some chores to do this morning so I didn’t hit the water until 10:30 or so. 
 

I learned something new (to me) today. I’ve read numerous times that varying weight (to vary the fall rate) can make a difference, but I’ve never seen that in action until today. With limited time I only brought two rods, but only planned on using one. Once again, after yesterday‘s results, I brought my Kistler Helium MHF with a Rage Tail Craw on a 5/0 hook with a 1/8 oz. tungsten bullet weight. It was the same exact set-up as yesterday. Even the craw was the one I caught nine bass with on Saturday. Today, it was dead. I thought about switching over to a 5” Senko TR on my finesse rig, then on a whim, I re-rigged with a 1/4 oz. tungsten bullet weight. Bingo! That bit of difference made a big difference. Caught four bass and had to go. Sad to say, I had to retire the Rage Tail Craw. It gave its all for catching 13 bass over two days! I bit two of the segments off and it still kept catching bass! 

 

Was this Raven in the weeds? 

No. I fished there last weekend but this weekend I stayed local. Neighborhood pond. 

Full moon fever on the boat today.  Cold front hit and dropped the temps a lot.  Wind and grey skies rolled in.

 

I hit some sandbars and rocky humps with a black and blue jig and did pretty okay.

 

 

My buddy caught his PB at the pond with me again!!!!

1 hour ago, BrianMDTX said:

Today, it was dead. I thought about switching over to a 5” Senko TR on my finesse rig, then on a whim, I re-rigged with a 1/4 oz. tungsten bullet weight. Bingo! That bit of difference made a big difference. Caught four bass and had to go.

 

I think fall rate is one of or maybe the most important thing for sinking baits.   I've seen a big difference by changing 1/16 of an ounce.   I also think most times, for most baits color is one of the least important things.   I fish murky water pretty much all of the time.  Clear water may be different.   

 

Nice bass,  both you and @Pat Brown

Have a pond with an overgrowth of algae still, so had to grab the frog rod and have some fun before they treated it again. Managed 15 or 16 good blowups, though nothing big, except the fun

 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Got started this morning as the Strawberry Moon was setting over the lake down the street. 

I started out pitching bushy stuff like pictured below, but only managed three over four hours. No pic worthy fish today. Biggest was about 2#.

Decided to switch gears, and started rolling a rage swimmer around all these laydowns. That put six in the boat over three hours, plus had four more come off. 

I sure wish the MWCD would quit spraying the grass in this lake. There used to be a big milfoil bed on this flat, and it held tons of LM and saugeye. Fishing here can still be decent, but it's a shadow of it's former self. The watershed caters to the sailboaters and pontooners on this lake and sprays the grass most years. Back when they let the grass grow this was one of the best LM lakes around. 

 

 

 

As much as I love looking at pics of bass, photos of where you guys cast are just as great, if not better, for they're instructive. So, thanks, Tim.