Got out this morning and caught 4 dinks, all caught on the choppo 90 in maverick. I didn’t take a picture of one of them but that one was smaller, just unhooked him and let ‘‘em go.

2 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Got a nice 22 inch fish out of the church pond this morning. Caught it on a Bitters toad .

God rewards those who protect his flock!   

 

Church security is so important in the world we live in, thanks for doing it! 

3 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Got a nice 22 inch fish out of the church pond this morning. Caught it on a Bitters toad .

Good job Mike. Both ways..

Not a bad three hours this morning. Caught 5 bass, missed 3 and got a big cat trapped in the line lol. First one on a chatterbait. The rest on a weightless Fat IKA TR. The chatterbait bass was missing most of his tail. Tough spawning, unless it was a snapping turtle (haven’t seen any and no gators in this pond). The last bass was a dink. One I didn’t get pics as I needed to get it in the water fast. 

 

I went locally for a few hours this morning and did pretty decent, including my biggest largie of the season so far. Had to fish slow to get bit. By 10am, the recreational boats started to emerge and I left that circus.

Took a friend out this am. I boated 10 from 1 - 3 lbs. he scored 3.  This was only his second time to bass fish. This was his highlight of the day. 

 

I went from 5:30 until 10 today.  Got 13 Bass, a 12 inch Crappie and an 11 Pound Catfish.   Biggest bass was a 3.36 pound Spot.   

 

 

Fished from 5am until 10:30am. Was a cold, foggy calm morning. It seemed impossibly calm. 

 

Today was the definition of junk fishing. Never put a real pattern together but I caught em on everything I threw. Senkos, T-rigged Rage Bugs, poppers, weedless frogs, and spinnerbaits. I love a good junk fishin session.
 

Got on my first weedless frog bite of the year, as we finally have some emergent vegetation. Played cat and mouse with this one for 10 minutes until the cat finally got its prey:

 

Caught 3 different fish with sores like this on their face. If anybody has any idea about what would cause this, please share. I’m emailing photos to the DEC, as this has me a little concerned. 

 

This next fish was one of the crazier catches I’ve ever had. Was casting a PopX over a patch of pond weed, and got a blow up. Set the hook and my line broke at the reel. I was pretty upset at losing a fish and a $20 lure, but I noticed my line still sitting on top of the water. Put the TM on high and made it to the line while it was still floating. Grabbed it and started pulling, and to my surprise the fish was still hooked! Only a little guy, but I thought I had lost a fish and a $20 lure but turns out I saved both:

Got some good fish as well. Seems like the fish are in their summer pattern, because the big girls have started haunting their deep structure. As usual, spinnerbait picked up the biggest fish at 4-9.

 

Felt great to stick some good fish. It’s been a bit post-spawn dink fest here but ended that today. Bass thumb has been re-achieved ?

6 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Fished from 5am until 10:30am. Was a cold, foggy calm morning. It seemed impossibly calm. 

 

Today was the definition of junk fishing. Never put a real pattern together but I caught em on everything I threw. Senkos, T-rigged Rage Bugs, poppers, weedless frogs, and spinnerbaits. I love a good junk fishin session.
 

Got on my first weedless frog bite of the year, as we finally have some emergent vegetation. Played cat and mouse with this one for 10 minutes until the cat finally got its prey:

 

Caught 3 different fish with sores like this on their face. If anybody has any idea about what would cause this, please share. I’m emailing photos to the DEC, as this has me a little concerned. 

 

This next fish was one of the crazier catches I’ve ever had. Was casting a PopX over a patch of pond weed, and got a blow up. Set the hook and my line broke at the reel. I was pretty upset at losing a fish and a $20 lure, but I noticed my line still sitting on top of the water. Put the TM on high and made it to the line while it was still floating. Grabbed it and started pulling, and to my surprise the fish was still hooked! Only a little guy, but I thought I had lost a fish and a $20 lure but turns out I saved both:

Got some good fish as well. Seems like the fish are in their summer pattern, because the big girls have started haunting their deep structure. As usual, spinnerbait picked up the biggest fish at 4-9.

 

Felt great to stick some good fish. It’s been a bit post-spawn dink fest here but ended that today. Bass thumb has been re-achieved ?

Man that part of NY is stunningly beautiful, awesome fish on that spinnerwidget! 

 

I don't know what causes that mouth rash, but some fish I've caught recently have had it as well.   Likely just seasonal, these fish are so beat up after spawn, I assume it's just from either gorging themselves or from the actual toll of finishing up the spawn. 

41 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Man that part of NY is stunningly beautiful, awesome fish on that spinnerwidget! 

 

I don't know what causes that mouth rash, but some fish I've caught recently have had it as well.   Likely just seasonal, these fish are so beat up after spawn, I assume it's just from either gorging themselves or from the actual toll of finishing up the spawn. 

Yeah I’m lucky to live in such close proximity to the Adirondacks. The scenery and fishing opportunities are endless!
 

I’ve caught fish with all kinds of sores and wounds and other maladies, but it was weird to catch 3 in row with the same sore on the same spot. Hopefully no cause for concern. The lake and bass seem as healthy as ever. 

1 minute ago, Jar11591 said:

Yeah I’m lucky to live in such close proximity to the Adirondacks. The scenery and fishing opportunities are endless!
 

I’ve caught fish with all kinds of sores and wounds and other maladies, but it was weird to catch 3 in row with the same sore on the same spot. Hopefully no cause for concern. The lake and bass seem as healthy as ever. 

For folks like us, we're always thinking about the Bass's health the moment it hits our hands, it's a blessing and a curse......known plenty of CnR anglers that were oblivious to Bass biology, or the future view of a fishery in terms of fishery and Bass health....they just got to enjoy catching fish, seemed nice lol.   It's hard to rationalize my empathy for the Black Bass, I seemingly have more empathy for a fish than many humans, but then I like most dogs and cats more than people  as well.     

 

A single dead Bass has me CSI:Vegas out there ?

Headwaters in Fellsmere, FL. First trip out there with my buddy and he has been out there once before today. Going back in a couple of weeks to check out more spots. Weed line on the edge of the big square lake were good. 

 

This describes all y'all:

 

 

I've been land bound for two long. First wind and cool. Then a friend was rushed into surgery. But I just loaded the canoe and am going tomorrow morning, hoping I catch a fish like the ones ^above.^ 

 

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

It's hard to rationalize my empathy for the Black Bass, I seemingly have more empathy for a fish than many humans, but then I like most dogs and cats more than people  as well.     

 

A single dead Bass has me CSI:Vegas out there ?

 

Fishers like you and me consider it an honor to tussle with and then hold something wild for a few seconds. 

Took my daughter out for a afternoon session, I told her to tell everyone that she caught the fish she was in the picture in. She told me that she would not lie and say that she caught the fish if she didn’t catch it. All in all a good session, finally caught a decent fish on a  doob tube. That was a while to complete, odd sense I really like the color. The tubes are ok at best, I saw the fish when I was working it back next to a tiny mat, completely ignored it. I then lost sight of the fish and decided to pitch it right back where I saw it last, bingo fish on. I thought it was smaller until I hooked it and was like that’s a decent runt lol, I have high standards under 5lbs and it’s small. I also caught my first frog fish of the year, first blow up and hookup. Not huge but he was fiesty and right on the shade line up under a tree where they should be. I was sort of sad that my daughter got skunked but she still had a blast with dad and that’s more important than me catching any fish at all.

Great photos, Murph!

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Great photos, Murph!

Thank you, I try to take decent pictures. I like showing the baits that I use. Like the frog it’s one of my favorite models, I want a darker one but can’t find them locally.

Caught a few dinks today… You can’t catch the big ones all the time…

13 minutes ago, Jmurphy87 said:

Thank you, I try to take decent pictures. I like showing the baits that I use. Like the frog it’s one of my favorite models, I want a darker one but can’t find them locally.

What kind of frog is it? I can cruise the aisles of the bait stores around here for ya along my work route. “Just doing some R&D boss!”

7 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

What kind of frog is it? I can cruise the aisles of the bait stores around here for ya along my work route. “Just doing some R&D boss!”

That would be a jackall gavacho frog, they walk amazingly easy and on top of that it’s a popping frog also so it has the best of both worlds. Maybe not the best choice for heavy mats, but light to medium cover there great.

1 hour ago, Jmurphy87 said:

That would be a jackall gavacho frog, they walk amazingly easy and on top of that it’s a popping frog also so it has the best of both worlds. Maybe not the best choice for heavy mats, but light to medium cover there great.

Gotcha. I haven’t jackall terribly often but I bet the specialty stores have it 

28 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Gotcha. I haven’t jackall terribly often but I bet the specialty stores have it 

Probably, last year they had a better selection at the local store near me. They have a lot of stuff. Since last year they are down to 2 colors now. I own 3 of them, but even when they had more colors they didn’t have the one with a black bottom. I am trying to simplify my tackle system a little. Less colors is easier with choices and makes the tackle bag smaller. Currently have poppers, walking baits, ploppers, buzz baits, spinnerbaits, square bills, wake baits, lipless, frogs, terminal and plastics, a couple jigs and bladed jigs, along with the appropriate trailers. I also have 3 reels loaded with different lines and my tools, clippers and scale, getting heavy now lol. I am good to go though from top to bottom and that all fits in this.

I had a devastating day yesterday. Wrote about it in a sperate post in Fishing Reports. Had a better day today. 

Started out with top-water. Only fish I caught on that was a very aggressive bluegill/pumpkinseed hybrid. I mean, look at the size of that lure. What was this guy thinking? 

 

 

Then I caught a dink largie.

 

After about an hour of casting, I couldn't get anymore strikes on the top-water. So I switched to my trusty Rebel Wee-Craw crankbait. (I love those things. The weecraw has saved me from many a skunk. I keep three of them in my tacklebox at all times, and two of their deeper diving older brother.)

 

And that did the trick. The last fish I hauled in for the day was a new PB for me: 2.1 lbs, 16 inches. And unlike yesterday, this hog didn't get away. 

 

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good day. 

1 hour ago, Jmurphy87 said:

Probably, last year they had a better selection at the local store near me. They have a lot of stuff. Since last year they are down to 2 colors now. I own 3 of them, but even when they had more colors they didn’t have the one with a black bottom. I am trying to simplify my tackle system a little. Less colors is easier with choices and makes the tackle bag smaller. Currently have poppers, walking baits, ploppers, buzz baits, spinnerbaits, square bills, wake baits, lipless, frogs, terminal and plastics, a couple jigs and bladed jigs, along with the appropriate trailers. I also have 3 reels loaded with different lines and my tools, clippers and scale, getting heavy now lol. I am good to go though from top to bottom and that all fits in this.

 

I owned that bag for about a year until the side pocket linings tore out. I switched to this Ozark Trails backpack: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-Elite-Fishing-Tackle-Backpack-with-Bait-Cooler-Black/486216949

 

This thing has worked great for me so far. And a backpack is way easier to carry than a shoulder bag.

14 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I don't know what causes that mouth rash, but some fish I've caught recently have had it as well

Bass Herpies Slimeplex 1. It's usually transmitted on Friday and Saturday nights, sometime after midnight. ?

 Silly comments are all I have to offer. The post spawn funk has me in a major slump. I can't catch anything worth mentioning day or night lately. Some much needed rain coming in tonight, I'll be out there in it winding a chatterbait around. Hopefully the low pressure and showers will get 'em chewing.

8 hours ago, IcatchDinks said:

 

I owned that bag for about a year until the side pocket linings tore out. I switched to this Ozark Trails backpack: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-Elite-Fishing-Tackle-Backpack-with-Bait-Cooler-Black/486216949

 

This thing has worked great for me so far. And a backpack is way easier to carry than a shoulder bag.

Thank you for the recommendation on the backpack, I appreciate it.I have had my bag for 3-4 years now, it’s starting to show signs of wear but it keeps going. I will probably get a backpack in the future. Although I have been downsizing quite a bit, I use to own way too much stuff. The problem is that I like to throw different things than most people, that’s how a collection starts.