Dink chilling last night. Bite's weird right now...I need to make myself get up early and get out before sunrise sometime soon before we get too close to the full moon and hopefully another bluegill spawn. Its just been so hot.

First day in a while fishing while it's not raining.  Lake was CROWDED with recreational boaters by 9.  Also had catfish and bass tournaments today.   I managed to catch 10 dinks between 6 and 10.   Mayfly hatch is starting.  Still no topwater action.  I doubt I've caught 5 this year on top.  All the rain from last week has the lake muddy, and floating with debris in some areas.   I plan on going earlier tomorrow.   On a side note, in NC and SC bridges are no wake zones.  I saw 2 boats go wide open under Buster Boyd bridge today.  Both were pulling skiers.   

 

6 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

Its just been so hot.

Isn’t it like 115 degrees there during the day??

Well, today was our opener here finally.

Got out for a few hours on my home lake. Didn’t want to travel too far cause they were calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon, so a 30 sec drive to the ramp it was. Caught around 30 or so, on a mixed bag of frogs, flipping a creature and a ned rig. About a 50/50 mix of green and brown ones today, no real giants, but did get this nice copper coloured guy on an epic frog explosion to end the day almost at the ramp. All in all, it was a decent start for me, and I was back in the boat shed before the storms hit??. 

55 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Isn’t it like 115 degrees there during the day??

Heat indexes anywhere from 110-120 where I'm at but actual temps around 100. I've been avoiding it so hard that my tan is fading

22 minutes ago, Way north bass guy said:

Well, today was our opener here finally.

Got out for a few hours on my home lake. Didn’t want to travel too far cause they were calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon, so a 30 sec drive to the ramp it was. Caught around 30 or so, on a mixed bag of frogs, flipping a creature and a ned rig. About a 50/50 mix of green and brown ones today, no real giants, but did get this nice copper coloured guy on an epic frog explosion to end the day almost at the ramp. All in all, it was a decent start for me, and I was back in the boat shed before the storms hit??. 

Those are some really pretty smallmouth

30 minutes ago, Way north bass guy said:

Well, today was our opener here finally.

Got out for a few hours on my home lake. Didn’t want to travel too far cause they were calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon, so a 30 sec drive to the ramp it was. Caught around 30 or so, on a mixed bag of frogs, flipping a creature and a ned rig. About a 50/50 mix of green and brown ones today, no real giants, but did get this nice copper coloured guy on an epic frog explosion to end the day almost at the ramp. All in all, it was a decent start for me, and I was back in the boat shed before the storms hit??. 

Those are exceptionally beautiful SM, almost a red tint on the last guy

1 hour ago, Way north bass guy said:

Well, today was our opener here finally.

Opener on June 24? And I thought Minnesota had a late start date in mid May. Sheesh

22 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Today’s report, Part 2: Around 8 o’clock this evening we had good cloud cover back, still no wind, but the start of cooling temps. Got an idea in my head, so grabbed a rod and set it up for fishing a topwater, a Splash-It in particular. Been a while since I’ve thrown a popper, but was reminded how much fun they are tonight. The trip ended when I lost the bait to a snapping turtle about one hour in, but not before landing 10 chunky bass, topped by a 4.5 pounder. Luckily, I’ve got a couple more duplicate baits hanging new in their package on the garage wall, so I’ll be pulling them out soon to check out that bite at a couple more spots with any luck, before the storms and rain arrive later this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice pond, Brian.  Lots of green space. Rebel Teeny Pop-R has been my go to for a good while this season. Lots of bites, some big ones. Neds, finesse worms, and such are bread and butter but nothing beats a topwater bite.  Good job.

44 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Opener on June 24? And I though Minnesota had a late start date in mid May. Sheesh

NYS bass opener used to be the third Saturday in June. They’ve recently changed it, thankfully, to open year round but December-June it’s C&R and artificials only which doesn’t  affect me anyway. 

4 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

They’ve recently changed it

There is legislation here in the works to change it too and allow C & R from February to May. As of right now during that time period it’s completely closed.

9 minutes ago, gimruis said:

There is legislation here in the works to change it too and allow C & R from February to May. As of right now during that time period it’s completely closed.

On 6/23/2023 at 11:42 AM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Awesome fish, and boat.......what kind of rig is that?  

 

Had that scale for 20+ years, but finally had to upgrade to the one with clips.  It was a great scale.  

Thanks again and a  Ranger Z520C and a 3/0 Trokar wacky rig. That’s probably about how long I’ve had that scale with is custom Cabela’s neoprene case, since I weighed the previous days big fish on it I figured I might as well be consistent ?. 

Did some evening fishing. Three hours. Launched in the rain. Then some Sun. Then mist.  Finally fog. I caught 25 and the biggest was 19.75" and I photographed her twice, the last two photos. Some fish are clearly post-spawn. Others are chunky. The bass were so strong this evening. Lots of leaping too. And the long girl just clobbered my bone-colored Whopper Plopper. I caught bass on a wacky Senko, a paddletail, and the Whopper Plopper. I was going to big fish hunt tomorrow morning, but I'm just too tired. I shoveled a lot of dirt today. 

 

 

I got out this evening with the wife, I caught one small chunky monkey and told the wife to go fish and I will watch the kid. She couldn’t land one unfortunately, makes me sad. I like to see my wife succeed. I caught mine roughly 350 yards down the bank on the back side of a slightly visible emergent weed line near the drop. I caught it on a smoke red flake tube with a owner phantom 3/0 hook in 1/16 oz. I will say that it was a small fish but it’s poor tummy looked like it was going to burst, must be eating good.

 

 I saw a couple guys fishing and they were struggling so I gave them some advice on where to fish and they started catching some fish. I figured they were crappie fishing but they said they were fishing for anything. Hey what can I say I like to see people succeed at anything that they are doing. I give advice to most people who are struggling fishing, I don’t have any secret spots or tricks to hide. The way I look at it is that skill and luck plays a big part of what people catch.

Been a slow week until today. Haven't been able to get out much, what with our Church's VBS and it being pretty dang hot (for Michigan. We don't hold a melted candle to you poor chaps down there in Texas). 

 

Tried a new pond on Wednesday. Kept getting tons of little bumps from the bluegill, but nothing big. Figured I'd at least downsize the bait to have some fun with the little fellas. I did not catch a bluegill:

 

 

Today was a much different story. We have a series of little ponds here in town that get pressured pretty heavily, but still seem to yield pretty good numbers of fish. One of them had become almost filled with weeds, so anything with treble hooks is really hard to fish with. I went out this evening to try the topwater bite, but got nothing but swings and misses on the popper. I've never used a weedless frog before, but own two of them. I tied one on and started fishing among the weeds. Bass were hitting it, but I really struggled to resist the reflex to set the hook. Had one bass hit it three times before I finally relaxed enough to wait before setting the hook. Then I had to drag the poor fella 15-20 feet through dense vegetation. But I finally landed my first ever weedless frog catch

 

After about an hour, I went down the road to try another pond. As I pulled up, two jacked up, very nice pick-ups driven by young guys about my age were getting ready to leave. They were all kitted out: nice baitcasters, nets, go-pros, etc. Everything looked brand new. I had my grandpa's old fiberglass rod and a couple topwater lures. 

One pick-up leaves, the other guy hollars at me as I get out of my car:

"There's no fish here. We've been trying for hours. We're leaving!"

 

I said, "No fish? I've caught tons of fish out of here. If you're not catching anything you must be doing it wrong." 

 

The guy replies with, "they're just not biting tonight then."

 

As he says this, I dropped my line in the water and immediately had a big blow-up. 

 

I'm not a very good angler, and maybe those guys could kick my butt at fishing any other day, but it made me laugh.

 

Managed to land two more fish in the next hour, before calling it a night. 

 

I know these aren't huge bass, but they're pretty decent for around here. Boy I love fishing. 

 

Sorry for the book. 

And the streak goes on! Got home late, was raining a bit, but went out anyway to get a midnight bass. This counts for Sunday 6/25. Got it off the Mach Patroller. 

 

Had a nice fish on a chatterbait with a swimbait trailer, but it got off....got a decent hook set in it though.....hmm..

 

Got out for about four hrs last night. Five LM between 12"-16", this 5.14# LM, a small saugeye, and a 3# ish channel cat. First 5'r of the year for me.

The bite on the flats still ain't happening. This is the latest I've ever seen that bite go down. It's usually on by the first week of June. With the cool nights and recent rains, the surface temp is still hovering around 70. Need the gills to hit the beds in order for the mayhem to ensue.

@T-Billy, that's a beauty, Tim. As you might recall, I was raised in Ohio. Ohio is where I caught my first bass. And I NEVER caught a bass like that. 

 

Cool story, @IcatchDinks!

 

Keep streaking, @Dominat0r! I mean, uh, er, never mind. 

 

That is a fat one, @Jmurphy87.

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

@T-Billy, that's a beauty, Tim. As you might recall, I was raised in Ohio. Ohio is where I caught my first bass. And I NEVER caught a bass like that.

I didn't know that. Where abouts did you grow up?

5 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

I didn't know that. Where abouts did you grow up?

 

Columbus. North side. My brothers and I would tie our fishing outfits to our bikes with string and pedal to farm ponds. Like @PhishLI, we'd wade, casting Mann's Jelly Worms and Creek Chub Plunkers. 

 

AND we NEVER caught a three-pounder, much less a five-pounder. Ohio fishes hard. Lotta people. 

 

In my head, I add and deduct for the catches in the Latest Catch Pics Thread. For example, I multiply my total catches by 0.25 to compare my catches to total bass caught in more fished places. For big southern bass, I deduct a pound since they grow year-round. And for five-pound bass caught in Ohio where millions of people live, well, you caught yourself a six-pounder, Tim. Congrats.

Nice Ohio tank @T-Billy! 

21 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Columbus. North side.

10-4. Been there. I bought my boat at Paul's Marine, a bit north of Columbus in Lewis Center near Buckeye Lake. I live in a tiny town called Dellroy about 2hrs ENE of Columbus. I fish the MWCD lakes, Atwood, Leesville, Clendening, Piedmont, and once in a blue moon, Tappan. Also have the Tuscarawas river near by. It has a good SM population.

OH isn't exactly a meca for bass fishing, but it ain't horrible either. 5's are hard to come by, 6's are really hard to come by, and 7+ is for sure the fish of a lifetime. Most of us never get one over 7, I've been pretty close at 6-10.

7 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

10-4. Been there. I bought my boat at Paul's Marine in Lewis Center, a bit north of Columbus in Lewis Center near Buckeye Lake. I live in a tiny town called Dellroy about 2hrs ENE of Columbus. I fish the MWCD lakes, Atwood, Leesville, Clendening, Piedmont, and once in a blue moon, Tappan. Also have the Tuscarawas river near by. It has a good SM population.

OH isn't exactly a meca for bass fishing, but it ain't horrible either. 5's are hard to come by, 6's are really hard to come by, and 7+ is for sure the fish of a lifetime. Most of us never get one over 7, I've been pretty close at 6-10.

 

I fished farm ponds both north (Delaware area) and south of Columbus (Canal Winchester, Lithopolis, and even Lancaster). Yeah, we'd ride our bikes through all of Columbus to go fishing. For those southern towns, we'd take a leaky tent and camp beside them.

 

Those towns, which used to be rural, are highways and strip malls today. Sigh. 

 

I looked at your lakes online. I like how Tappan has protected shoreline. 

 

Tim, don't forget that in my mind, you already caught a 7-10 bass!

6 hours ago, Dominat0r said:

And the streak goes on! Got home late, was raining a bit, but went out anyway to get a midnight bass. This counts for Sunday 6/25. Got it off the Mach Patroller. 

 

Had a nice fish on a chatterbait with a swimbait trailer, but it got off....got a decent hook set in it though.....hmm..

 

The Joe DiMaggio of fishing

That was a pretty good morning. I fished for only 2.5hrs because the wind got brutal, but picked up a limit. My first on this lake. 

 

I fished three spots. I caught at least one bass at each. First two fish were on a zoom uv speed worm in junebug red. This is while it was still early in the morning. Once the sun came up, I switched colors to watermelon candy, and then got another fish, but it was while I was swimming it. By this time, the wind was already pretty crazy, so I figured since I got a bite swimming, and it was so windy, I should tie on a spinnerbait. I almost didn't bring any, but before leaving I saw the wind forecast and thought, yeah, that'd be a good idea to bring em. The two that I got on a spinner were actually the larger fish. They made it out of dink status. I winched both of them out of bushes. Heavy tackle and accuracy were keys today. I was in some thick stuff. Like the kinda stuff you'd see @T-Billy run 100mph across the lake for, dropping some heavy braid on em ?.

 

I fished a little differently today and I think it worked out for me, but there is no doubt they were chomping today.