Micheal,

 

The great thing about being a beginner fisherman is every day is an easy opportunity to break your PB, especially if you have the bug.  Nice catch.

 

Had about 15 minutes to fish before work.  On the last cast grabbed this solid bass.  Was 5 minutes late for work but well worth it.

 

 

 

6 hours ago, fatmaple said:

Micheal,

 

The great thing about being a beginner fisherman is every day is an easy opportunity to break your PB, especially if you have the bug.  Nice catch.

 

Had about 15 minutes to fish before work.  On the last cast grabbed this solid bass.  Was 5 minutes late for work but well worth it.

 

 

Wow! I'd be 5 minutes late to work if I had the time before work to go catch something like that too. Nice bass! How much did that big girl weigh? You're right, it's easier to top a 2-3lber than it is to top 8lbs plus. Any day now I expect to have a new PB, hoping so anyways.

3 hours ago, MichaelCopeland said:

Wow! I'd be 5 minutes late to work if I had the time before work to go catch something like that too. Nice bass! How much did that big girl weigh? You're right, it's easier to top a 2-3lber than it is to top 8lbs plus. Any day now I expect to have a new PB, hoping so anyways.

 

I don't weight them unless I think it's a record.  My guess is 5lbs +.

Right on. I was thinking somewhere in the 5lb + range.

I had a few free hours today so packed up one combo consisting of a Daiwa Tatula 7’0” Medium Fast spinning rod and a Daiwa Procyon 2500 loaded with 20lbs Super 8 Slick Power Pro in timber brown with about 7ft of 8lbs Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon as my leader.

 

I recently created a small “GO” box that I could just throw in the car when I want to get away for a while. In it are some topwaters, jerkbaits, crankbaits, and finesse baits including marabou jigs, shakey heads, and some 2/0 worm hooks for stick baits. Today was testing day, and the lures yielded positive results.

 

The intent for the next couple of weeks until Labour Day is to take only one rod and reel combo along with my “GO” box to water that I’m familiar with in hopes of catching both quantity and quality fish. I think it will help me learn to fish baits that I use a lot several different ways in hopes I can learn more about what makes them effective in various conditions.

 

I arrived and the lake was like glass. My first spot had an area comprised of a sandy bottomed beach area with a solid inside weed line which sat in about 2’ of water; visibility for me was about 10ft from my casting location. I selected a lure that I haven’t used all year, a size 10 Rapala Skitter Pop in frog colour.

 

I proceeded to fish the area for about 30 minutes and caught a total of five keeper bass, the biggest pictured below which came in just under 3lbs.  I tried a Zara Spook in the bone pattern to see if the big ones wanted something different but it only seemed to interest all the smaller fish.

 

From there I headed to spot #2, a fast water location which contained a rock and gravel bottom in varying water depths ranging from 3-7 feet.  I made a few casts with the Spook but there was no interest shown. I tied on a sized 1.5 Strike King KVD Square Bill in the natural red craw colour which I had success with earlier this year at this location and it produced fish but nothing over a pound in size. I was a bit disappointed but the lack of results provided just as much information as the success I had at my first location. Off to spot #3!

 

I arrived at my third location which consisted of a sandy beach area similar to spot number one however this time it was bordered by small rocky point off to one side which tapered down into the weed bed. The area was adjacent to a pier which I could stand on to cast to the outside weed edges of weed flats which sat in 5-6’ of water which were on both the left and right sides of the pier, with the area directly in front of the pier consisting of broken rock structure. I tied on the Skitter Pop and caught quite a few smaller fish, nothing over 12” in size.

 

By this time the sun was up higher so I figured that the topwater bite would be done. I tied on a Rapala Shadow Rap Shad in the yellow perch pattern and walked onto the pier to cast to the weed edges mentioned earlier. My first cast yielded a 2lbs fish and for the next hour I proceeded to hammer the smallmouth on that jerkbait with the biggest fish coming in just under 4 pounds. All of the fish hit on an aggressive retrieve and really gave my setup a great workout.

 

I didn’t get a chance to visit the four other locations I wanted to hit today so am hoping to get to them on Wednesday. The spots are perfect for trying out some crankbaits and finesse lures with docks sitting in 4ft of water with some rock and weed cover scattered nearby. Here’s hoping the weather cooperates and the fish are on those patterns when I get there.

 

Cheers, and have a great day everyone.

 

Finally something for me to report. 

I got quite abit of adventure this morning. It was pretty cloudy with chance of drizzle today. I told myself it might be a good fishing day today so I went out to a park 1/4 mile from my house. I lost WP110 in first cast to grass, I told myself I can come back with my kayak to retrieve that lure so I broke the line.

Switch to another rod. I got first bite from pretty good size bass on storm stick jerkbait  with excitement of not catching anything bigger than 6-7 inches for the past 3 weeks I locked down my reel and there you go the bass and my lure was gone. Tried different jerkbait in hope of catching that same fish but end up lost that lure to the same grass as my WP110. Switch to Chatterbait from siebert in bluegill color swam on top of weed with in a couple cast got a decent size bass hookup and land him.

Came back home to get a kayak and found out I lost my iPhone somewhere after taking picture with that bass. Drove back to the park with my kayak, found my iPhone on the ground and also got two of my lures back. Now time for me to go to bed. 

43 minutes ago, JustJames said:

Finally something for me to report. 

I got quite abit of adventure this morning. It was pretty cloudy with chance of drizzle today. I told myself it might be a good fishing day today so I went out to a park 1/4 mile from my house. I lost WP110 in first cast to grass, I told myself I can come back with my kayak to retrieve that lure so I broke the line.

Switch to another rod. I got first bite from pretty good size bass on storm stick jerkbait  with excitement of not catching anything bigger than 6-7 inches for the past 3 weeks I locked down my reel and there you go the bass and my lure was gone. Tried different jerkbait in hope of catching that same fish but end up lost that lure to the same grass as my WP110. Switch to Chatterbait from siebert in bluegill color swam on top of weed with in a couple cast got a decent size bass hookup and land him.

Came back home to get a kayak and found out I lost my iPhone somewhere after taking picture with that bass. Drove back to the park with my kayak, found my iPhone on the ground and also got two of my lures back. Now time for me to go to bed. 

 

Glad you got your phone and two lures back. Nice Bass on the chatterbait! I have been using mine as well lately. Unfortunately they catch as many Chain Pickerel as they do Bass around here.

I knew the town I was working in today had a nice little city lake so I took a setup with a few lures in my service van, and hit it on my lunch break. This small but nice bass fell for the T-rigged senko. 

3 hours ago, JustJames said:

Finally something for me to report. 

I got quite abit of adventure this morning. It was pretty cloudy with chance of drizzle today. I told myself it might be a good fishing day today so I went out to a park 1/4 mile from my house. I lost WP110 in first cast to grass, I told myself I can come back with my kayak to retrieve that lure so I broke the line.

Switch to another rod. I got first bite from pretty good size bass on storm stick jerkbait  with excitement of not catching anything bigger than 6-7 inches for the past 3 weeks I locked down my reel and there you go the bass and my lure was gone. Tried different jerkbait in hope of catching that same fish but end up lost that lure to the same grass as my WP110. Switch to Chatterbait from siebert in bluegill color swam on top of weed with in a couple cast got a decent size bass hookup and land him.

Came back home to get a kayak and found out I lost my iPhone somewhere after taking picture with that bass. Drove back to the park with my kayak, found my iPhone on the ground and also got two of my lures back. Now time for me to go to bed. 

How do you like the seibert chatterbait? I'm thinking of picking some up when I get some jigs from them. 

3 hours ago, Finesse Wayfarer said:

 

Glad you got your phone and two lures back. Nice Bass on the chatterbait! I have been using mine as well lately. Unfortunately they catch as many Chain Pickerel as they do Bass around here.

 

The kayak really help me not loosing too many lures. I alway throw into something either tree, brushes, grass and ever since I got kayak I lost maybe a few.

13 minutes ago, Bassin' Brad said:

How do you like the seibert chatterbait? I'm thinking of picking some up when I get some jigs from them. 

 

They are good, a tad heavier than Original Chatterbait but color and quality is way better.

@JustJames Glad you got out for a bit and happy that you got your gear back, phone included!  Sounds like it was a fun time and a few fish came out to play as well!

Couple days' worth of catches. Largest went for 3.9. The boys that ran over to watch me pull it in said it was 6 before I broke out the scales--I like their measurement better. More importantly, I caught a 2lb football on a top water frog for the first time ever. 

 

 

 

It's not very big, especially after looking through this thread, but this is my first punch fish and I enjoyed the hell outta it. Most excitement I've had in a few days.  Been fishing this spot for a while, and decided to try punching for the first time, today.  

23 minutes ago, Rollincoal420 said:

It's not very big, especially after looking through this thread, but this is my first punch fish and I enjoyed the hell outta it. Most excitement I've had in a few days.  Been fishing this spot for a while, and decided to try punching for the first time, today.  

 

Size only matters in tournaments, and possibly elsewhere in your personal life. As long as you're catching fish, you'll be having fun. I've never seen someone angry after reeling in a fish. 

 

And to your second point, catching them on bait outside your usual comfort zone adds to the enjoyment. Refer to above, I landed my first from a top water frog and I was more excited about that than the near 4lber off a lure I always throw(crank). It opens a door to new ways to fish, and you can build confidence and your repertoire from that. 

A little slow tonight. Couple over 3#, one more over 2#, bunch of dinks.

 

 

1 hour ago, WDE said:

 

Size only matters in tournaments, and possibly elsewhere in your personal life. As long as you're catching fish, you'll be having fun. I've never seen someone angry after reeling in a fish. 

 

And to your second point, catching them on bait outside your usual comfort zone adds to the enjoyment. Refer to above, I landed my first from a top water frog and I was more excited about that than the near 4lber off a lure I always throw(crank). It opens a door to new ways to fish, and you can build confidence and your repertoire from that. 

Totally agree! I've never gotten angry after reeling in a bass. I have laughed at some of the little baby ones I've pulled in though...lol. The smaller pond I've been fishing here lately in my neighborhood has a spot kinda in someone's backyard. They happened to be outside this evening while I was there and I got permission to fish along the bank of their backyard. Really psyched about that because there's a big ole tree a couple feet or so from the bank in that area and I've been dying to fish it. I did a little this evening, didn't have much time before it got too dark for me to see plus the bugs were horrendous. So I went on home skunked in an hours time. It's ok though, I can fish that spot when I can see better another day. Gonna try pitching or skipping a jig in there and hopefully have some luck with something other than the Ol' Monster. The bite on that has slowed down for now and I tried the Mann's 12" Original Jelly Worm with no luck. It was a short time out there though. Congrats on your first top water frog bass!

1 hour ago, Rollincoal420 said:

It's not very big, especially after looking through this thread, but this is my first punch fish and I enjoyed the hell outta it. Most excitement I've had in a few days.  Been fishing this spot for a while, and decided to try punching for the first time, today.  

Congrats on your first punch bass! I would have been excited to have caught that with something I haven't ever tried before too. Next time you'll catch a big un!

1 hour ago, deep said:

A little slow tonight. Couple over 3#, one more over 2#, bunch of dinks.

Time to update that PB of 0-1 lb next to your avatar 

Aiden explaining what happens to the bass when he sets hook!

17 minutes ago, Catt said:

Aiden explaining what happens to the bass when he sets hook!

Only if you're doing it right! 

A few decent ones from the past week or so.

4 hours ago, Catt said:

Aiden explaining what happens to the bass when he sets hook!

Yep! They get all cross eyed! Lmbo! ?

 What a perfect picture ~ and his first girlfriend as well as college admissions will love to see this one a few years from now.

A-Jay

I've looking forward to fishing today after working all week but forecast called for t-storms all day. Got some more lures in the mail from my DSG order last week. Forecast kept changing, and I figured I'd tie on one of my shiny new lures and make a couple casts at my usual spot.

 

Third cast with favorite striped bass topwater lure and this little guy whacks it! Feisty lol

 

No other blow-ups on topwater so I decided to go to my trusty yum dinger and caught these guys:

 

That was my last worm in that color, and after I lost it, I decided to clean up some garbage some inconsiderate people left scattered. I keep an extra plastic bag in my car and try to make it a habit to pick up some litter every time I'm out here. This quarry is on private property and people come out here to drink and take a dip in the water, often leaving bottles, cans, and other trash. 

 

As I was picking up the last bit of trash in the area I was fishing, I saw some fishing line with a t-rigged worm laying on the ground. Hook was rusting, but the plastic worm was in good condition and the same color as the ones I've been having so much success with recently. Figured I'd rig it up and fish til the rain finally came. Proceeded to catch a few more fish before I had to leave.

 

Anyone know what kind of worm this is? Been fishing senkos and yum dingers exclusively but I'll have to pick up a couple packs of these? PowerBait?

 

Sorry about the long post, this gloomy weather inspired me.

Looks like it might be a Culprit Fat Max worm in Grape Shad with the tail dyed chartreuse. It looks a bit like a Powerbait in one picture, but never seen a color at all like that from Berkley.

http://img.tacklewarehouse.com/watermark/rs.php?path=CULPFMW-GRS-1.jpg

Thanks @Bluebasser86

It looks a lot like that! I dipped it in Spike-It. I'm going to have pick up a couple bags.