I cut one out of my arm last year.  I cut the hook off, made a small cut near the point, and pushed it through.  This was an Owner ST58, size 4 buried to the shank.   I'm pretty tough, but I needed some deadening to cut that deep.  I "should" get a discount.  The Dr (probably PA) at the urgent care was shaking like a leaf trying to get it out, after deadening it.  I talked her into handing me the blade.  They didn't prescribe anything.  I had my tetanus shot last year.  I'm a mechanic, always getting cuts and such.  I keep my tetanus shot current.  I'm curious about the cost.  This place is really slow to bill.  I went there last November with an ear infection.  I didn't get a bill until April.  I've got really good insurance.  The last visit cost me $35.  

@Bluebasser86 you crushed it.  Not only did you make it through, you darn near won it.

 

Hats off.

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

@Bluebasser86 you crushed it.  Not only did you make it through, you darn near won it.

 

Hats off.

 

Heck, yeah. I'd never bet against @Bluebasser86. Plus, he takes his wife and kids fishing, so he's all that and a family-sized bag of chips.  

Well it ain't much. But it's bass. Finally broke a week-plus skunk streak with this lil guy and a couple nice crappies. Feels good to get bit again. This cold spell of 95 degrees really made for a better weekend ??? back over the century mark the rest of the week. I'm ready for fall fishing 

I fished a bog again this morning. The approach to the bog was cool, as I paddled down a twisting river in the near dark. 

 

Today is the start of our first heat wave, i.e. six days in the low to high eighties. I know that's not hot for some of you, but Mainers aren't acclimated to the heat, so I probably won't fish until it breaks this coming weekend when we're back in our typical seventies. Or maybe I'll fish a couple hours one evening.

 

I didn't fish as long this morning, but still caught 25 bass and only lost four. My lures were my usual suspects: wakebait, Whopper Plopper, a wacky Senko, a paddletail, and a plopper. Most were caught on the wakebait. I caught another 19-incher with a softball tummy, but there were other chunks too. The photo of the fifth fish down makes me wish I'd measured her. Same with the last one.

 

The first two photos are my big girl.

 

 

I believe I caught the same fish as I did last Wednesday.

Same stump, same bait and even the same time of day......10am.

1 minute ago, Bird said:

I believe I caught the same fish as I did last Wednesday.

Same stump, same bait and even the same time of day......10am.

 

That's a beauty! Next time, let me catch her, okay? You've caught her twice and that's quite enough for you for now, mister. ? 

@ol'crickety

You don't appear to be struggling in the Bogs ?

13 minutes ago, Bird said:

@ol'crickety

You don't appear to be struggling in the Bogs ?

 

I was struggling when I first started bog fishing. I started a thread seeking advice about a year ago. I came to bog fishing from catching smallmouth in clear, rocky lakes and sandy rivers, catching muskies with near winches for rods and reels, and catching white bass in big lakes.  Fishing between, over, and sometimes on weeds was so challenging at first. Heck, it's still challenging. 

Today is one hard day....the last of the family coming in and we laying him to rest on Weds. With everyone coming in at different times, we have had to the discussion about what happened, multiple times. 

 

It was too much for me to do at the moment, so I grabbed my pole for a quick few casts. 

 

Streak is on day 49!!! LETS GOOOOOOOO!!! Fish for 7/24. Really loving this St Croix as my crankbait rod. 

 

26 minutes ago, Dominat0r said:

Today is one hard day....the last of the family coming in and we laying him to rest on Weds. With everyone coming in at different times, we have had to the discussion about what happened, multiple times. 

 

It was too much for me to do at the moment, so I grabbed my pole for a quick few casts. 

 

Streak is on day 50!!! LETS GOOOOOOOO!!! Fish for 7/24. Really loving this St Croix as my crankbait rod. 

 

Hang in there big D! You be the crutch everyone needs to lean on! You be the Rock for a few days longer. Help everyone get over this, then when you are alone on the water with your thoughts and your dad's memory, then you can break down and let them flow!

4 hours ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Hang in there big D! You be the crutch everyone needs to lean on! You be the Rock for a few days longer. Help everyone get over this, then when you are alone on the water with your thoughts and your dad's memory, then you can break down and let them flow!

Thank you for those kind words. Yea, holding it together for my family and Ill bleed later. 

A fun afternoon fishing the slop. The storms just missed me, but the heavy cloud cover didn’t, which provided some welcome relief from the sun and heat for about 90% of the trip. A total of 18 “blow-ups” on the afternoon…a few were pretty chunky, even.

 

 

On 7/23/2023 at 11:37 AM, Woody B said:

My night fishing didn't work out as planned.   I fished from 1:30 until 6:30.  I caught a couple Perch,  1 decent Largemouth, and a 205 pound 69 inch long sucker.  I caught the bass on a DT6.  When I lipped it and pulled it into the boat it flipped.  I dropped it but ended up with the bass on one hook, with my thumb and index finger on the other.   I cut the hook off the lure to get me loose from the bass.  I got it loose from my thumb but the hook was buried all the way up to the shank in my right index finger.   It was buried too deep to work it on through.   I ended up going to an Urgent Care to get it cut out.  I've got a couple pictures of the hook in my finger, but I don't want to look at it so I figure no one else does either.   I cropped it out of the Bass picture.   

 

That sucks....been to the ER twice for hook removal.  Now that I go barbless, it will not happen again.

Power Worm finds a pair of 18"s hanging out on the weedline, around 12 feet:

3.38lb and 2.93lb respectively, best of 7 this morning

 

18 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

Power Worm finds a pair of 18"s hanging out on the weedline, around 12 feet:

3.38lb and 2.93lb respectively, best of 7 this morning

 

 

Way to fish my paddlin', bassin' brother!

Hit the water at 01:00 again. Was gonna go earlier but we had some storms roll through. It was a tough bite, as expected, lightning often shuts 'em down for awhile IME. Only managed six in the dark. Four dinks, a 4.09# LM and a 5.21# saugeye. Those two came about ten minutes and 30yds apart. Same spot that produced last weeks 4+ LM and that long skinny SM. This morning was only the second time I've ever fished this little stretch. I'm liking the quality coming from it so far. We'll see if it holds up.

Only managed three more dinks after daylight. Called it at about 10:30. Hopefully they're more cooperative tonight.

2 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Hit the water at 01:00 again.

Gotta love a night mission with some new moon velvety blackness. Yeah man. I don't think my mind is ever clearer.

You night fishers are tough hombres. I do a little  night fishing, but only because I launch before the Sun rises or linger after the Sun sets. So, I'm clinging to light, which ain't the same as launching deep into the night. To be frank, I'm a little fraidy. Not afraid of bad men so much, but bass wrasslin' in the dark. I imagine dragging my Whopper Plopper over the dark water and hearing the explosion and screaming. Bass wrasslin' is hard enough when I can actually see!

 

Big saugeye, @T-Billy. Sweet bass too. I assume you eat those saugeyes. They. are. delish! 

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I assume you eat those saugeyes. They. are. delish! 

Release to the grease. Olive oil actually, after a good heavy dusting of Zatarans blackening seasoning. I save the breading for other species.

8 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I imagine dragging my Whopper Plopper over the dark water and hearing the explosion and screaming.

LOL. Couple weeks ago I was going down a steep bank in the wee hours, fishing parallel to an outside hydrilla edge, and a big ol whitetail doe jumped to her feet and started bawling me out at a distance of about 20'. Darn near jumped clean outta my shoes. LOL. 

16 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

You night fishers are tough hombres.

@T-Billy does it hardcore.  He doesn't even start until 1am and then fishes the graveyard shift until mid morning.  Guy must be part machine.  I used to walleye fish starting right at midnight and then quit right when the sun was coming up.  Fishing was really good sometimes but the riskiest part was the drive home.  I found myself dozing off and becoming very tired so I quit doing that for safety reasons.  When I fish at night nowadays, I start an hour before dark and then stay out there for a few hours after the sun goes down. 

 

Night time fishing has been well documented on this forum by several individuals and their success proves that it works not only to beat the daytime heat, but catch fish.  Plus, I can't question their violations by the haircut or fashion police as well as I can during the daylight lol

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Guy must be part machine

Nah. I get up for work at 02:00. Days off I just adjust my sleep schedule a bit.

4 minutes ago, gimruis said:

  Fishing was really good sometimes but the riskiest part was the drive home.  I found myself dozing off and becoming very tired so I quit doing that for safety reasons.

I don't often get down to my #2 lake anymore for that same reason. It's about a 50min drive. Pretty rough getting home sometimes. My #1 lake is only 15min. from home. Makes it much easier and safer.

 #2 is a better SM lake though. I've been itching to get down there lately. I sometimes run into some big schools of brown bass there at night. 

12 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

I get up for work at 02:00. Days off I just adjust my sleep schedule a bit.

That greatly helps since you are used to it then.

Streak, day 50. I finally beat my record in my ponds today. It took over a month to finally beat it, the old record was 3lbs 12oz. This guy came in at 5lbs even. So beat it by over a pound! I know there are lunkers in there. If there is a 5lbs'er, I know there is a 7-8 that ate better than this one did and is the same age. I am on a mission to find it. Got a few more, but only went out for a hour and a half, 97F out right now.....my biscuits were burning. 

 

3 of them were on a Carolina rig with a zoom junebug lizard and one (spinning rod) was on a shaky head. 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

 

Night time fishing has been well documented on this forum by several individuals and their success proves that it works not only to beat the daytime heat, but catch fish.  Plus, I can't question their violations by the haircut or fashion police as well as I can during the daylight lol

Others may say differently but IME, fishing is as good during the day as it is at night. There are other advantages to fishing at night though. My favorite is that people won’t come over to fish what I’m fishing. Within like half a cast of my kayak. Can’t tell you how much that has happened ?. I’m about to tell anyone that tries to do that to beat it.