Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted May 28 Global Moderator Share Posted May 28 Fun first couple days of vacation , got one with spinnerbait and a decent one ate a swim jig off the surface in water willow, fun fun fun . Then caught some in the middle of the day with some threadfins we netted. Tried a new spot below a dam this evening and we didn’t do any good but there’s big spotted bass potential (we think). 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironbjorn Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said: Fun first couple days of vacation , got one with spinnerbait and a decent one at a swim jig off the surface in water willow, fun fun fun . Then caught some in the middle of the day with some threadfins we netted. Tried a new spot below a dam this evening and we didn’t do any good but there’s big spotted bass potential (we think). Ummmm excuse me but you can't just drop "caught one with a spinnerbait" and leave it at that. This is front page bass resource news. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted May 28 Global Moderator Share Posted May 28 @ironbjorn, that’s two this month, not sure what to think. Might be a lightning strike headed my way 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmurphy87 Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 I got out a few more times the past few days. I went Thursday for a hour and got skunked lol. I fished the river for a hour in allegan and caught a decent small pike probably 26 inches on top water, I was using a chrome shower blow 105 walking it fast and got within 20 feet of the bank and couldn’t see due to the sun and heard the explosion and set the hook and thought I had a good size smallie. Nope pike got it right beside the bank and tried to lift it up and he got beached and flailing and threw the shower blow back at me. I didn’t get hit, he slowly worked his way back in to the water, no pic of that one. I got out yesterday and caught a few small large mouth, got bit off by a pike because I seemed to have misplaced my titanium leader. Then on my way back to the car I checked a spot in the river where I know the smallmouth hide and saw one swimming. I sneak down to the bank and make a pitch and I was off, second one was perfect. I am looking at the fish and I don’t think it sees me, slowly working it back and come over the rock and it just smashes it. A decent little fish. I bought my wife her fishing license and took her and my daughter out to the lake where we buy the annual pass. My wife caught the only fish there and my daughter let it go before we got a picture of it lol. I am happy, my family should be happy now and things are sort of getting better in areas so that’s a start that I will take. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted May 28 Global Moderator Share Posted May 28 20 minutes ago, Jmurphy87 said: I got out a few more times the past few days. I went Thursday for a hour and got skunked lol. I fished the river for a hour in allegan and caught a decent small pike probably 26 inches on top water, I was using a chrome shower blow 105 walking it fast and got within 20 feet of the bank and couldn’t see due to the sun and heard the explosion and set the hook and thought I had a good size smallie. Nope pike got it right beside the bank and tried to lift it up and he got beached and flailing and threw the shower blow back at me. I didn’t get hit, he slowly worked his way back in to the water, no pic of that one. I got out yesterday and caught a few small large mouth, got bit off by a pike because I seemed to have misplaced my titanium leader. Then on my way back to the car I checked a spot in the river where I know the smallmouth hide and saw one swimming. I sneak down to the bank and make a pitch and I was off, second one was perfect. I am looking at the fish and I don’t think it sees me, slowly working it back and come over the rock and it just smashes it. A decent little fish. I bought my wife her fishing license and took her and my daughter out to the lake where we buy the annual pass. My wife caught the only fish there and my daughter let it go before we got a picture of it lol. I am happy, my family should be happy now and things are sort of getting better in areas so that’s a start that I will take. Nice fish and a fine pair of liberty’s 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User ol'crickety Posted May 28 Super User Share Posted May 28 I took a couple friends to an area pond. The husband was fishing and the wife was paddling, so I did some fishing and some paddling, about 50/50. It was fun visiting with the wife and fun seeing the husband so happy, but he was fishing with 6 lb. test and lost a couple nice ones. I told him he needs to upgrade, that 6 lb. test in open water works for smallmouth, but not for the thickets were so many largemouth live. I caught a nice one, 21". Nice belly too and she had those strange bulging eyes like Alex's fish have. She took a Whopper Plopper in the Loon pattern right beside a laydown. I caught some smaller, fat ones too. It was cool to have the photo taken by someone else for a different perspective. I included a pic of a smaller bass so you can see they're all chunky, plus one of my friend's bass with a nice belly. 2 hours ago, Jmurphy87 said: I am happy, my family should be happy now and things are sort of getting better in areas so that’s a start that I will take. Well, ^now^ I'm happy too! I enjoyed your photos, @TnRiver46. I'm a sucker for photos of kids with fish. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted May 28 Global Moderator Share Posted May 28 Morning session was pretty good, I got a decent one with a fluke on top in some salad, managed to get it out with 8lb seaguar basix on a spinning outfit. @ol'crickety, I was outfished by my buddy’s son in the back of my boat 3-2 this morning, he’s a hammer! 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User ol'crickety Posted May 28 Super User Share Posted May 28 For your buddy's ^son.^ 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User DitchPanda Posted May 28 Super User Share Posted May 28 No pics for me...got out from 730 til 10 today...caught 13 biggest 4 were in the 2.5-3lb range. The other 9 were between 1-1.5lbs. Caught a few on a swim jig but a Texas rigged big bite baby creature did the heavy lifting. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowhunter63 Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 It’s hard to put that Wacky Worm down. They have been killing it 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody B Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 I went out in the mid 50's pouring rain today for 3 1/2 hours. I pretty much had the lake to myself with the exception of 2 jet skis, 2 law enforcement boats and one boat from the local fire department. I'm guessing the LEO's and Firemen were scheduled to work this holiday weekend. I suppose the jet skiers were just crazy like me. I caught 17. The "big" ones were only 17" and 18" but there were only 2 under 14". Most were on a bladed jig on channel swing banks. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmurphy87 Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 Got out today to recon the lake for the family, all dinks. There’s really big fish of all species in here, bluegill, sunfish, bass, gar pike. This is the lake that I caught my pb out of multiple times. I was fishing and they were biting, that’s a great day in my book. My conquest 844c mbr is proving itself to be the do all rod that I needed. Baits of the day, weightless wacky rig, owner jig rig, lv500, weightless fluke and something else that I am probably forgetting. I was surprised to see the tiny fish on the treble hook of the lv500, that’s the first time I ever pulled that one off. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User BrianMDTX Posted May 28 Super User Share Posted May 28 @thediscochef I tried that pond you told me about. Holey moley! I just fished Lake Raven yesterday and remarked about having little experience with hydrilla and weeds. That pond is absolutely choked! I fished for an hour, collected 42.5 tons of green stuff and left lol. Went to my local pond as it was now after 9:00. Caught 13 bass in 3.5 hours. All on soft plastics. Most were dinks. These five were the biggest. The last was #13 and the biggest. The dinks were true dinks. Like fugitives from a sardine can. 18 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbirdsley Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 Yesterday the family and I hit up peach lake in west branch. First 1.5 hrs was fishing for blue gills. My daughter caught her very first fish by her self ( made the cast, set the hook and reeled). Wife also caught some blue gill I caught. I caught one bass on a wacky rig before we went back to my grandpas cabin. today I fished clear lake also near west branch. I was lucky to grab 1 of 3 parking spots at the ramp. Spent a little over 4 hrs on the lake. Hour after I started fishing the lake turned into a zoo but, I still knocked out 3 smallies. All came on GB Hayes spine craw. The first fish was a bed fish. I had made the cast before I realized I had stumbled upon on some bedding smallies. caught the one than left the rest alone. I’m not judging any one for catching bed fish but, I just can’t do it. So I released him and continued on. Even with all the rec traffic still caught 2 more and lost 2 more. 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric 26 Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 @BrianMDTX I’m sorry as I’m the only one who left a laughing emoji but holy heck “refuges from a sardine can” I laughed out loud and I thank you for that. You should moonlight as a sitcom writer during the writers strike ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User BrianMDTX Posted May 29 Super User Share Posted May 29 1 minute ago, Eric 26 said: @BrianMDTX I’m sorry as I’m the only one who left a laughing emoji but holy heck “refuges from a sardine can” I laughed out loud and I thank you for that. You should moonlight as a sitcom writer during the writers strike ? I saw that and immediately figured out you must have left it due to that overly descriptive yet “factual” statement! You know it’s bad when the Zoom Trick is longer than they are! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User PhishLI Posted May 29 Super User Share Posted May 29 I'm never thrilled about missing two weeks of fishing, but it really doesn't bother me much either during this part of the season. Up until last year Bass fishing was closed from May 1st through June 15th, so I've been conditioned to not fishing during the spawn. I'm not into bed fishing regardless and have no desire to pull guarding males away from their broods. That's a self-defeating enterprise in lakes so depleted that catching 5 bass in an outing elevates one to god-like status. I think the powers that be had it right all along by closing it previously, but somehow that changed, but the "why" isn't a mystery at all. It was a revenue-generating decision dressed up in flowery language about access and opportunity, and one not made because of excess fish populations. That's for sure. That situation is worse than ever because of the commercial poaching problem coming out of NYC. I almost fished last Sunday night but left after finding an entire shoreline populated by the merciless bucket brigade who were live-lining under bobbers which is totally illegal. Taking bass here is not allowed in the first place, and so is selling them. The idea of a 15 year old lunker sold for peanuts then ending up in wonton soup or an egg roll really burns me up. Ultimately, it's depressing. My brother and I stayed far away from that scene last night by heading 60 miles east of the big city. The heat wave of 6-7 weeks ago during the still-cold-water period caused an algae bloom everywhere. Spring-fed natural lakes with an outflow along with dammed millponds with some flow have been affected, but their weed growth hasn't. A degree of water movement in those places seems to have alleviated the algae problem somewhat, however, particular natural lakes with no flow have been hit hard. Other than lily pads and arrowheads, weed growth there is nonexistent. Zero. So it was at the lake we'd mistakenly chosen last night without gathering any recent intel first. It's usually lush with weeds, but not a sprout was found while grinding crankbaits on the bottom. Fishing in zones where we'd caught them well in the past was a dead end. The entire place has been rewired and it was tough, but eventually we got some after we found the right spot and the half-moon dropped below the tree line. The spawn is over around here for sure as we ran into a bunch of starved-out males away from cover, but also landed two decent fish on the Spro BBZ1 Shad and a WP75. Honorable mention goes to the Keitech Noisy Flapper for getting work done too. I realize that most of this report is a downer, but it's nothing but awesome having my brother to go fishing with. We always have laughs no matter what. And to all you youngsters out there, honking-loud farts are still hysterical well into your 50's, especially in open spaces. Shoutout to barbeque with steakhouse baked beans. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilidog Posted May 29 Share Posted May 29 I caught this one this evening on a wacky worm. It measured 20.25 inches. 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Jar11591 Posted May 29 Super User Share Posted May 29 @Chilidog that looks like a brute! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Brown Posted May 29 Share Posted May 29 12 hours ago, PhishLI said: I'm never thrilled about missing two weeks of fishing, but it really doesn't bother me much either during this part of the season. Up until last year Bass fishing was closed from May 1st through June 15th, so I've been conditioned to not fishing during the spawn. I'm not into bed fishing regardless and have no desire to pull guarding males away from their broods. That's a self-defeating enterprise in lakes so depleted that catching 5 bass in an outing elevates one to god-like status. I think the powers that be had it right all along by closing it previously, but somehow that changed, but the "why" isn't a mystery at all. It was a revenue-generating decision dressed up in flowery language about access and opportunity, and one not made because of excess fish populations. That's for sure. That situation is worse than ever because of the commercial poaching problem coming out of NYC. I almost fished last Sunday night but left after finding an entire shoreline populated by the merciless bucket brigade who were live-lining under bobbers which is totally illegal. Taking bass here is not allowed in the first place, and so is selling them. The idea of a 15 year old lunker sold for peanuts then ending up in wonton soup or an egg roll really burns me up. Ultimately, it's depressing. My brother and I stayed far away from that scene last night by heading 60 miles east of the big city. The heat wave of 6-7 weeks ago during the still-cold-water period caused an algae bloom everywhere. Spring-fed natural lakes with an outflow along with dammed millponds with some flow have been affected, but their weed growth hasn't. A degree of water movement in those places seems to have alleviated the algae problem somewhat, however, particular natural lakes with no flow have been hit hard. Other than lily pads and arrowheads, weed growth there is nonexistent. Zero. So it was at the lake we'd mistakenly chosen last night without gathering any recent intel first. It's usually lush with weeds, but not a sprout was found while grinding crankbaits on the bottom. Fishing in zones where we'd caught them well in the past was a dead end. The entire place has been rewired and it was tough, but eventually we got some after we found the right spot and the half-moon dropped below the tree line. The spawn is over around here for sure as we ran into a bunch of starved-out males away from cover, but also landed two decent fish on the Spro BBZ1 Shad and a WP75. Honorable mention goes to the Keitech Noisy Flapper for getting work done too. I realize that most of this report is a downer, but it's nothing but awesome having my brother to go fishing with. We always have laughs no matter what. And to all you youngsters out there, honking-loud farts are still hysterical well into your 50's, especially in open spaces. Shoutout to barbeque with steakhouse baked beans. The bucket brigade has been out in droves this weekend. It's almost too much for me to handle and it takes everything in my being not to talk smack when I walk past them on the bank but I bite my tongue and smile and ask if anything is biting. Better to be kind and tolerant overall. To be fair they aren't catching doodle squat. The big bass in my pond laugh at live bait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User ol'crickety Posted May 29 Super User Share Posted May 29 No one does more with less than @PhishLI. He's fishes pounded ponds where the bucket brigade grow like kudzu. And yet he catches bass. And look at the length and girth on @Chilidog's bass! @Mbirdsley caught some beauties too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonnieP Posted May 29 Share Posted May 29 The Lipless bite was on fire yesterday. Caught this chunk on a Booyah Hard Knocker 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbirdsley Posted May 29 Share Posted May 29 First time in very very long time that I’ve had multiple 3.5lbrrs caught on the same trip. First big one was 19 inches 3.88 lbs. the 2nd one ( last photo) 18 inches 3.5 lbs .Also the first time in 2 years I’ve been up at 6 am to fish for bass. All the bass came from a wacky rigged general green pumpkin party. All caughtvwhile sight fishing in 3-6 ft of water. Also, caught 14 pike two of which, were 25 and 26 inches. Good last day up north at peach lake 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User BrianMDTX Posted May 29 Super User Share Posted May 29 Well, although I woke up stiff and sore, I made up my mind that I would end up this 4-day weekend fishing. Decided to just fish my local pond as it is close and I have to clean the house before my wife returns from over a week in Europe. Caught 10 bass in a little over three hours. All on soft plastics except one on a jig. Most were kipper snacks but a couple were nice and one was the biggest I’ve caught here in quite a while. About 3.25 lbs. 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted May 29 Global Moderator Share Posted May 29 Some pics from last evening and this morning, the kids are still catching the big ones @ol'crickety. That’s a 5 lb 21” on top, lunker of the week so far 26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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