I was out at daybreak this morning and fished til mid morning. The first 3 fish I caught were on the TRD popping frog. Only lost one out of the 4 that bit. 2 were blow ups, and 2 were so subtle I didn’t even realize I had a fish until I picked up and felt the fish swimming off.

I tried a couple different swimming toads/frogs for a while, and lost one .

The sun had gotten over the treetops( yes, I thought of the song), and  I got the notion for a trick worm. I immediately caught one on the watermelon seed. It started getting hot , so I moved to the shady side of our island. Ended up with 7 more on the trick worm. Called it a day and ended up with 11…?

Had to get out this weekend and get after them after getting my teeth kicked in at my tournament last weekend. The bite wasn't great, but I would have only needed 4 of these fish to beat my 5 fish limit from last weekend?

 

Fished last night 8pm-4am and caught 8, missed several. 6 were in the 3-4lb class. Weirdly, these fish were pretty close to the same size. This is my second limit on this lake and a big upgrade from the last.

 

A gambler burner worm in Backatya did most of the damage. It did not matter to the fish how I presented it as long as it was in the water. They bit it on the initial fall (1/2oz), after I worked it, and while swimming it back to the boat. The largest fish bit on the latter retrieve. 

 

First time getting out with my main fishing buddy this year. Fished a shallow, extremely weedy lake. 
 

Started out a wet, rainy daybreak but that gave way to a beautiful morning on the water. 

 

Fishing was ok. Lots of bass boated, including a couple chunks. Spinnerbaits, poppers, weedless frogs and senkos did the damage today. 
 

 

Also saw something I’ve never seen before. Loons in trees. Like way up at the top. Didn’t know loons perched on trees so I though it was pretty cool:

 

Also saw a couple bald eagles. Watched one grab a fish right out of the water. 10 years ago eagle sightings were pretty rare around here. Now, I don’t think there is a body of water I fish that doesn’t have a resident eagle. 

Nice man

 

That crazy looking spinnerbait strikes again. Killing me with that thing. Major bait monkey impetus.

@LrgmouthShad that brass/copper willow leaf and green tomato skirt combo is killer! 

@Jar11591 well I'm about to go to academy because I need more 1/2oz weights. I think I got hung in trees 2-3 times last night with a t-rig, lol. So if I see that bait, I will at the very least take a closer look. I know they carry that series of spinnerbait

 

Thanks man

3 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

First time getting out with my main fishing buddy this year. Fished a shallow, extremely weedy lake. 
 

Started out a wet, rainy daybreak but that gave way to a beautiful morning on the water. 

 

Fishing was ok. Lots of bass boated, including a couple chunks. Spinnerbaits, poppers, weedless frogs and senkos did the damage today. 
 

 

Also saw something I’ve never seen before. Loons in trees. Like way up at the top. Didn’t know loons perched on trees so I though it was pretty cool:

 

Also saw a couple bald eagles. Watched one grab a fish right out of the water. 10 years ago eagle sightings were pretty rare around here. Now, I don’t think there is a body of water I fish that doesn’t have a resident eagle. 

Nice ones! Our loons have mostly left for the season and now we have cormorants everywhere. They stay in trees all day and crap on unsuspecting fishermen below . 
 

do y’all have cormorants? 

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice ones! Our loons have mostly left for the season and now we have cormorants everywhere. They stay in trees all day and crap on unsuspecting fishermen below . 
 

do y’all have cormorants? 

 

They are pooping digested fish. Collect it, package it in tubes, and sell it as fish attractant. 

@TnRiver46 I’ve seen cormorants on the bigger bodies of water. My first thought was possible cormorant but they flew just like loons, and when I used the binoculars they looked to be loons. I’m like 90% sure. I’ve seen loons on this lake before. But as I type, the less sure I get….

Got out not a small-ish back lake today.  I thought it was a hidden gem, but we were first to the launch spot (no ramp - it’s a bit rough) at 4:30am and two more guys showed up while we were backing up.  When we left at 10am, there were 6 trucks/trailers parked along the road and another guy just showing up.

 

I enjoyed a decent topwater bite on smallies throwing a popper - my buddy had no bites on a whopper plopper.  I lost an est. 3lb. and then a 3.5-4lb. on jumps, but of course landed all the dinks.  haha.  Topwater slowed and I was marking lots of fish moving 8-10ft. deep over 20ft. of water so I clipped on one of my favourite jerkbaits - a Rapala Ripstop.  1st cast, about 1/2 way back and whack - a 4# pike.  Netted him and he rolled and thrashed, but came free of the lure.  So I quickly retrieved the lure and flipped it out of my way into the lake.  Released the pike and then realized when he thrashed he’d bitten through my line, so my $15 jerkbait was gone. ?

 

Went on to find a good worm bite right along a weed edge in 8-10ft. of water.  Best of my morning was about 3.5#, but we boated about a dozen 1.5-2.5#.  I do love the 10” worms and really leaning into a decent one with a 5/0 on 40# braid. ?  Despite the unlanded smallies and the jerkbait whoopsie, it was a great morning.  I’m LOVING our little Bass Tracker 165 setup.

That's both comedic and tragic about your lure, @The Baron. Very nice bass, though. 

 

I'm surprised the popper outperformed the whopper-plopper. Usually for me, when I can't get bit on a popper, I'll switch to the whopper-plopper. And if they aren't hitting that, I just rule out topwater entirely. 

 

I went out in a light rain last night and realized that I quite like fishing in the rain. It's cool, there's not nearly as many people out. And if the rain isn't too heavy, the sound of the rain falling can be quite cathartic. I caught a little rock bass on a 6.75 inch Wyrm from Engineering Hooksets. And then hours later, just before dark, I caught a LMB on the Rebel Wee Craw; a lure I usually throw out of pure desperation when they won't bite anything else. I plan to go back out this evening after dinner. We'll see if I have better luck then. 

 

 

58 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

@TnRiver46 I’ve seen cormorants on the bigger bodies of water. My first thought was possible cormorant but they flew just like loons, and when I used the binoculars they looked to be loons. I’m like 90% sure. I’ve seen loons on this lake before. But as I type, the less sure I get….

In either case don’t linger below that tree, they got me good once. Plum ruirnt my shirt 

Saturday was one of those magical days. While waiting for my expected fishing buddy, I made a few casts with my TR stick bait. On the 3rd cast I snagged a 4.5 LM. My next catch was a 3+. My next was another 4 lb’er.  I was on a roll. My 4th fish was this 23” beauty who weighed in at 5.9 lbs. 
 

 

I was thinking, “This can’t last.”  And it didn’t. Mr next catch was a 12” dink ?

 

I wound the day up with a couple of 2 lb fatties. 

@gunsinger: The next time you have one of these days, please give me 24 hours to get there first. Thank you.

Got a chance to fish for about an hour, got 4....3 on the Carolina rig (zoom 6" lizard) and 1 on the drop shot (Zoom trick worm). Really liking the carolina rig and right now. Getting that bait down deep is really doing the trick. They have moved deep for sure. Was really raining all day, so wet and nasty out. No lighting though, so that was a go for me haha. 

 

I threw a zoom speed worm, Rat-L-Trap, whopper plopper 75, a few casts with a buzzbait....nothing else was hit. 

 

Worst picture of all time but we won a little evening tournament today. 5-8pm on the Brazos river. $250 ?

 

 

1 minute ago, Cbump said:

Worst picture of all time but we won a little evening tournament today. 5-8pm on the Brazos river. $250 ?

 

 

 

congrats! Nice ones 

NEW PB ALERT! 

I'm feeling very proud of myself, so if you'll allow me to narrate a story, I'll tell you all how it went down:

 

There are three small ponds all within the same 1/2 mile radius, right in the smack dab middle of town. Two of them are only separated by about 20 feet of culvert. These three have been my go to fishing spots all summer. Tonight was no different.  

 

I started fishing at about 7:15 tonight at the largest of the three. I caught three from that pond, nothing notable: two small bass and a bluegill:

After a lot of casting and no more success, I decided to move on to the other two smaller ponds. Unfortunately, the pond I usually fish (the one closest to the road and therefore more accessible) was crowded with people enjoying the holiday week. So I decided to try the other back pond. Now, despite the fact that these two ponds are connected by a very large culvert and occasionally flood into each other, the fish behave very differently. The front pond has tons of vegetation, and the bass DESTROY topwater. The back pond has very little vegetation, is much deeper, and the bass just aren't aggressive at all. I've only ever been bit on senkos and crank baits. I almost never fish it anymore because I have very little success. Also, while both ponds have a lot of carp in them, the back one seems to have a far bigger population. 

 

I fished for about an hour with zero success. Much like my previous experiences, there was zero topwater bite. So, I finally switched to my favorite crankbait, the Rebel Wee Craw. Idk what it is about this bait, but it works. My grandpa introduced me to ot when I was seven years old, and I've been catching fish with it ever since. 

 

I don't know if it was the change in bait, or the fact that I moved to a different spot on the pond. But I finally started catching fish. Nothing big. But it's fun, even when they're little:

 

 

 

 

I was about ready to call it a day. The sun was setting. It had been a fun evening. 

 

I wasn't paying attention on the next bite. I was lazily cranking the bait back to me, when suddenly there was a THUMP, and the drag started peeling out. I could have sworn I'd snagged a carp. After adjusting the drag I finally got the fish coming my way. I thought for sure it was a carp, albiet a small one. But as he surfaced, I realized I had a new PB. Landed him without incident, and now the evening was complete: 18.5 inches at a very skinny 2.66 pounds. 

 

 

What a day! 

 

Oh yeah, and I caught one more tiny dink: 

 

I am so happy for you, @IcatchDinks! An 18.5-incher is a fine fish! I love your evening pond photo too. That's a Midwestern sky and I miss them. Maine skies just don't look like that. I think it's our humidity, which is nearly always low.

 

P. S. - Please change this: "My PB: Between 1-2 lbs"

I went fishing with a buddy this morning. We only caught 31, but the following three were sweet and we caught some chunky 17-inchers too. For approximately the last 15 fishing trips, I've caught at least one 19-incher or longer. A couple times, I caught the 19-inch or longer bass as the trip was about to end, so there's been some luck in my streak, but I'm proud of my consistency. 

 

 

 

 

                                       

19 hours ago, The Baron said:

 I lost an est. 3lb. and then a 3.5-4lb. on jumps, but of course landed all the dinks.  haha

Nice fish.  I have some insight, at least how things work for me.  On moving baits or bottom contact baits I usually have really good success landing the bigger ones.  The little ones get off due to dull hooks or lack of quality hook set.  It's my belief that the weight of the big ones against the hook set insures the hook get's buried good.    However, things are different for me on topwater bites.   I believe at least I have a tendency to jerk the bait out of their mouth on hooksets.   Little ones usually strike harder, and hook themselves.   I concentrate on not setting the hook until I feel the fish, but it's hard.  I think one of the reasons I have more luck with a Devils Horse is I usually have a little bit of slack line.   This delays my too quick hookset and allows them to get the bait into their mouth.   Just my 2 cents worth.  May not work for everyone or anyone else.  

 

@ol'crickety  as far as I'm concerned you're the bass fishing champion.   You catch more in a couple hours than I normally do in a month.  Keep it up.   

• 2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I went fishing with a buddy this morning. We only caught 31…

Edited July 4, 20232 yr by The Baron
won't let me add my own text

17 minutes ago, Woody B said:

It's my belief that the weight of the big ones against the hook set insures the hook get's buried good.   

I agree 100%. The bigger/heavier gauge the hook, the bigger a factor this becomes. When using straight shanks, with the point buried in the plastic, the thickness and hardness of the plastic is also a factor.