It is pretty, Brian. We're 90% trees, more than any other state. We also have more coastline than California. It's the only place in the U.S. where the middle class can afford oceanfront property. The best thing is that the Maine strains of LMB AND SMB love Whopper Ploppers. 

@ol'crickety I consider upstate NY a sportsperson’s paradise, with the Adirondacks, Catskills, Heldebergs, Great Lakes, finger lakes, lake Champlain, Mohawk, Hudson and  St. Lawrence river valleys, and a lot of land designated as “forever wild”. I imagine the entire state of Maine as such. 

I don't intend to talk bad about Maine, or any other state........but our lakes don't freeze over down here.?

25 minutes ago, Woody B said:

I don't intend to talk bad about Maine, or any other state........but our lakes don't freeze over down here.?

 

No doubt, Woody. Every place has its positives and minuses. 

29 minutes ago, Woody B said:

I don't intend to talk bad about Maine, or any other state........but our lakes don't freeze over down here.?

Don’t jinx it Woody! ?

 

Spent a couple hours tossing a weightless Big Bite Baits coontail worm in hematoma (dark blue-ish) and caught a few. Just tossed it out and let it sink then gave it a twitch or two before slowly reeling it back. About midway every time after a couple twitches it’d get slurped up and the line would start running. Drove me nuts just letting it sink and sit but it was working so I put in the patience. Biggest one was 2.8# and put on a heck of a tail walking show at first.

 

 

I went out from about 7pm-9pm tonight and caught 6 largemouth. Two on a spook, three on a Senko, and one on a swim jig. The biggest one was 2lb 15oz. The weather was perfect this evening.

The news said haze from the Canadian wildfires would be upon us driven down by northern winds, and once it rose, we had a gauzy red moon overhead. Ran up to get some swings in, but by then the wind was gone and the water was like glass. No action dragging baits, but the weight-tweaked 6^th Sense Trace floater got some play. Most of my swim and wake bait bites this year have been slurp-and-runs, but I finally got a big kill-shot blowup when the bigger of the two smashed it nicely. Very cool.

Made a single pass on two micro lakes yesterday. Neighbor was already there fishing one of them when I arrived. He only got two bites, but one was a solid fish at 4 lbs or better based on the pics he showed me. He caught it on a big Chatterbait, which seemed out of place for this little spot, but it worked. I went finesse and caught over 2 dozen bass, a third on Ned and the rest on a Jackall Cover Craw, but didn’t have anything of size even close to his big one. Reflecting on the day in hindsight, I would have taken his two bites over my 25 just to have the big one, but I’m drawn to numbers and action, so it’s always tough for me to throw what feels like an “out of place” bait, knowing I might not get bit at all. 
 

 

Wife and I went fishin monday to a dam in ND. We brought minnows and gulp live minners. We caught a handfull of small walleye and kept 2 of them.

The smallies were small and the relentless catfish were devouring the live minnows so we put on the gulp live and they were just as crazy for them.

Also caught 2 white bass on minnows. Have any of you kept white bass to eat? I read on the innerweb that there is a mucus by the spine you need to avoid along with having to cut out the red parts of the meat as it has a bad taste.

I threw everything i had in my tackle box and couldnt catch but 2 walleye on a rattletrap and caught numerous catfish on square bills.

 

3 hours ago, throttleplate said:

. Have any of you kept white bass to eat? 

Never………

 

3 hours ago, throttleplate said:

read on the innerweb that there is a mucus by the spine you need to avoid along with having to cut out the red parts of the meat as it has a bad taste.

Fillet them, and just zipper the bones along the lateral line out like anything else. They're delicious. Don't worry about trimming out the red meat. I like 'em better than crappie myself.

They're okay. Lots of people eat 'em. My faves are brookies, yellow perch, and walleye. 

Fished a new lake today for largemouth and caught mostly Smallmouth. Lol

Water temp 68*

Largemouth were caught on Jackall flickShake GP candy.

Smallmouth were caught on 1/8 Shakyhead/Zoom speed craw.

@T-Billy Wife fileted them at the river last night. We asked another guy fishing there if they were good eating and he googled it and thats how we found out about the red meat areas tasting quite fishy. Will eat them tonight.

1 minute ago, throttleplate said:

@T-Billy Wife fileted them at the river last night. We asked another guy fishing there if they were good eating and he googled it and thats how we found out about the red meat areas tasting quite fishy. Will eat them tonight.

I always heard that too, and threw away a lot of good meat over the years. Last summer I tried frying a few without trimming all the red out, and it made no difference in taste.

If I catch a white bass it goes home with me.  Tonight we're eating Alabama bass, I kept one this morning.

@Bird, nice smallie

 

@throttleplate, it all depends on how long you freeze em and who you are feeding them to. Cut the red out if you are having a lot of people over or if they are being frozen for over a month or two. My wife also doesn’t like the red part, she calls it the grey meat (turns that color when you cook it)

 

my brothers in laws would slap me for cutting out that delicious fish flavor. 
 

some people want to eat fish that taste like chicken, some people like the taste of fish 

26 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

some people like the taste of fish

Not sure I would call fried fish dipped in tarter sauce as having the "taste of fish" anymore.  At that point it doesn't really matter what you're eating because all your tasting is the batter/breading and the sauce.

12 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Not sure I would call fried fish dipped in tartar sauce as having the "taste of fish" anymore.  At that point it doesn't really matter what you're eating because all your tasting is the batter/breading and the sauce.

Same rules apply grilled baked or fried 

Got the opportunity to hit a small lake I usually only get to a time or two each year. Light breeze and hazy/cloudy skies from the Canadian wildfires was a welcome respite from the hot sun we’ve been getting. Managed to pick off 40 bass in a couple hours fishing just soft plastics again today. Lots of smaller fish in the mix, but I did get one around 4 lbs. and a couple other decent fish to go with him. Hoping for one more trip there later this week if scheduling allows. Always enjoy going to somewhere different as a change of pace, as each lake is different with its own personality. 
 

 

 

Got out today about 7-12 ,caught 5, 4 on a frog and 1 on a buzzbait that weighed 4-1.

3 minutes ago, keagbassr said:

Got out today about 7-12 ,caught 5, 4 on a frog and 1 on a buzzbait that weighed 4-1.

Nice dark fish.

Got out for a few hours tonight and got 8 of them. Two pictured were on a 6" Trace swimbait and a Wacky rig. The rest were caught on a Siebert arky jig with a paca chunk trailer.

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

some people want to eat fish that taste like chicken, some people like the taste of fish 

 

Well we ate it tonite along with the walleye. Wife cut out the red parts, it tasted fine. It actually tasted like a largemouth which we dont eat anymore. Compared to the walleye the white bass has firmer texture while the walleye is more fluffy like.

This 4.18lb slurped a pumpkinseed Pop Max a little after dawn this morning. Best of 8 before I had to go at 10am.