1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Way north bass guy, I was unaware you had tough days on the water 

Even the most mediocre of fisherman like myself can have the odd off day?. 
In all seriousness, I just haven’t had near the time on the water this year, and haven’t been able to get a good feel for what they’re doing as the season progresses. When I was guiding and fishing tournaments, I was on the water constantly and found it much easier to keep pace with the movements of whatever I was chasing during that particular season. It’s all good though, still beats the heck out of going to work!

Well, I sure shattered the doledrums I was complaining about this morning. 

 

I caught seven fish this afternoon, all but one on a 1/4 oz spoon. The biggest was 15.5 inches, and they gradually went down from there to the last two at about 10 inches. Good fights. Nice jumps. Landed every fish I hooked. It was a good day. 

 

Also, I'm taking @ol'crickety's advice and holding the fish a bit closer to the camera so as they look bigger. Feels like cheating to me, but I guess it's what the people want. ??

(^^^Ignore the fish theatrics. He's fine.)

 

Now the nice fish: 

14 inches:

 

14.5 inches:

 

And 15.5"

 

There's two fish I forgot to photograph, but they weren't huge. One was thirteen inches. The other was too small to worry about measuring. 

 

also, feel free to ignore the ornery look on my face. I'm thrilled to death, but the sun is bright. 

Fishing continues to be slow for me, with so many cold fronts and rain recently.  Went out Saturday morning before more rain hit in the afternoon.  No smallies biting, only a couple small LMB on my go-to popper so I switched over to a frog.  Missed one on a standard walking frog then decided to switch colours and go to a popping frog.  The next fish hit that frog like it owed him money, then I picked up a second decent one not long after (both about 2.5#) in the same area.  That was it, so I moved on down the windward shore trying to decide what to do next.  I lost a pike on a small swimbait (didn’t get to see it, but a 3 second fight and then a snipped bait tells the tale).  The next two hours were fishless.?

 

Two decent fish is a lot better than a skunk, but not a very satisfying result for 4 hours’ on the water.  With poor fishing, rain coming and work weighing on my mind, I felt the pressure to call it quits at about 10am.

 

5 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Nice bass but that shirt is clearly defective

Beat me to it.

 

-Fashion Police

2 hours ago, IcatchDinks said:

Well, I sure shattered the doledrums I was complaining about this morning. 

 

I caught seven fish this afternoon, all but one on a 1/4 oz spoon. The biggest was 15.5 inches, and they gradually went down from there to the last two at about 10 inches. Good fights. Nice jumps. Landed every fish I hooked. It was a good day. 

 

Also, I'm taking @ol'crickety's advice and holding the fish a bit closer to the camera so as they look bigger. Feels like cheating to me, but I guess it's what the people want. ??

(^^^Ignore the fish theatrics. He's fine.)

 

Now the nice fish: 

14 inches:

 

14.5 inches:

 

And 15.5"

 

There's two fish I forgot to photograph, but they weren't huge. One was thirteen inches. The other was too small to worry about measuring. 

 

also, feel free to ignore the ornery look on my face. I'm thrilled to death, but the sun is bright. 

sometimes you just gotta gripe loud enough and the fish will respond, I have experienced this phenomenon several times. Gotta use different swears each time though or it doesn't work. Nice work!

  Good one. I saw a bass come up and eat a bigger bluegill. Glad I brought a bass rod. I was out here looking for BG. Threw a popper and started walking it. Came in on it the first cast but missed. 4 casts later, he hit it in the same spot he missed it. 

   Just hammered it. Only set the hook cuz of instinct. No need. He caught himself. Straight to the jaw bone. Clean set. 

   Took maybe 30 seconds to bring him home. Was ecstatic when I saw him take it. Good fish. 

The setup

JB3 Outlaw HXF/Kastking Assassin 631

20lb Matzuo braid/Rebel Mag Pop R Ol' Bass 

I fished a pond this evening instead of a bog. It was windy when I launched, so the first hour was mostly about canoe control. I could see and hear thunderstorms, but they weren't overhead. Had they been closer, I would have gone to shore. I caught 17, including my first bass on the River2Sea BIGmistake. It's a big lure, but the bass hit it. 

 

Good job, @IcatchDinks!

 

@ol'cricketyI'd never heard of the Big mistake and looked it up...

 

SIX AND 3/8 INCHES!?!? 

 

That's like a Muskie lure! 

 

Beautiful bunch of fish!

 

@Alex Ball Nice catch! 

12 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

SIX AND 3/8 INCHES!?!? 

 

That's like a Muskie lure! 

That’s a small muskie lure in my tackle box.

 

Some of my bulldawgs and medusas are so big it’s hard to imagine a muskie big enough to attack them. 

Sitting on a small ridge between a pair of low pressure troughs. Made for no wind, but lower dew points, so a decent trade off in the comfort category. Clouds eventually moved in making conditions even better. Ended the afternoon/evening with 23 bass today, all on Ned. Quality was better than yesterday, too. Also, including another random iPhone photo from today’s trips. Is it a cloud cover shot, or maybe the inside of my pocket  …who knows - lol.

 

 

 

 

29 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

@Alex Ball Nice catch! 

   Thanks. For whatever reason, that's about an average bass for me. I use nothing but Heavy power casting rods. Mag lures, braid, and big drag reels.

    Just on lures alone, I eliminate a fair amount of smaller bass because they aren't going to come to a mag lure. The braid is for safety. No leader, usually. They can't see it if it's moss green here. 20lb is best. Small but strong.

 And the 18lb drag helps end fights early. I set it low for better sensitivity, then I crank it up on a hookup. Get it to 6-7lbs then halfway up, they usually quit. 

    Downside is obviously volume. I'm happy with 1 that size a day. I get less hits, but it's almost always a thumper. Just some ideas for species targeting of big bass if they're there. I love throwing big lures. So fun. 

5 hours ago, IcatchDinks said:

Landed every fish I hooked.

 

I envy you. About half my fish escape. I hooked a beast at a river outlet tonight. So little water, So tight. Cover everywhere. Big current. It ran into reeds and peeled free.

 

Good looking bass, @Team9nine.

Streak day 68, went out earlier and had to run to the store after, but got my fish for the day. Really hot and rainy again, story of Florida. Got him off a chatter bait. 

 

 

 

So, I gotta tell you guys the full story on the big bass I lost last night. We've gotten a lot of rain in Maine this summer with more than five inches just this week. So, the ponds and bogs are high and the creeks that feed them and empty them are gurgling.

 

Last night, I paddled a couple miles to reach an outlet. It's just a narrow stream, but pretty famous for Atlantic salmon still run up it. If you're imagining yourself wading it and lofting flies to salmon, don't. It's narrow and bush-lined, almost a tunnel, but I know big bass like to park under the bushes and ambush prey.

 

Both sides of the pond where the stream exits are choked with weeds too. So, there's strong current, bushes, weeds, and tight quarters. In short, the bass are easy to entice, but hard to land.

 

I hooked four, but landed one and here's that one bass I landed:

 

 

 

The big one hit a white popper that I let drift past some weeds in the stream's middle and then twitched it. I saw a big wake come from under a bush followed by a bigger KERSPLOOSH! I had so little width of water to play the fish and it was all swift. If the bass had run downstream, I would have hung a sign at the entrance of the tunnel that warned, "Abandon all hope ye who fish here."

 

But the bass came into the lake and darted for some lilypads, which made me say a silent "YAY," for I can sometimes wrassle bass from pads, but then it did a 180 and rushed to the fibrous reeds on the other side. It plunged into them and parted them like Moses. All this time I'm trying to muscle her out of there, but she was a tank of muscle and I was spinach-less.

 

Then she freed herself and I wondered why I even picked such a fight, for I was Mike Tyson-ed seconds into the first round. 

 

However, I'll go pick another fight with her one day. I've a new bait casting rod with a new reel on the way, which is supposed to arrive on August 22nd, and they might give me the edge. 

 

 

^well that’s my birthday! 
 

nice LM 

 

 

                                                            

5 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

 

 

                                                            

 

I'm hoping the new outfit will be a horseshoe in my boxing glove when I meet Ms. Mike Tyson again. 

They really wanted the topwater today. Caught a nice smallmouth first thing, it slammed the pop-r after a single pop. Then a sand bass did the same thing. It mangled my thumbs pretty good, I took a gill plate to one thumb and two barbs into the other. That fish may have been tossed back into the lake with a little bit of disrespect. Still I persist. Got two spotted bass and two nice LM after that. Bite ded, morning done, no regrets.

@thediscochef those are some nice fish! 

 

I feel your pain: had a fish spine me pretty good in the hand yesterday. And then I dropped him out of pain and surprise, and as he fell down into the water, he managed to spine my knee on the way down.

1 hour ago, thediscochef said:

Caught a nice smallmouth first thing,

 

I know you treasure smallmouth, so ^this" made me grin. Nice lmbs too!

 

17 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

had a fish spine me pretty good in the hand yesterday. And then I dropped him out of pain and surprise, and as he fell down into the water, he managed to spine my knee on the way down.

 

Oh, no! You got to see The Revenge of the Bass and its sequel in the same second. 

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I know you treasure smallmouth, so ^this" made me grin. Nice lmbs too!

Thanks! The smallmouth really are a treat, such angry little fish. My first topwater smallmouth too. 

There is a uniquely Christmas-ornament sensation that comes with having a sand bass hanging from a lure that's hanging from your thumb meats. 3 stars, would not recommend 

Streak day 68. My girl keeps telling me I need to have a funny pic. So here we go. Gave the little girl a kiss before I put her back in. Got it off a zoom speed worm. Super super hot today. 98F and the feels line is 109F. My biscuits were burning. 
 

Come on.  You gotta pucker up and smooch that pretty thang!  ?

 

Is kissing a bass cheating on your sweetheart? 

 

My second question: As your face approaches the bass's face, is she thinking that "he's going to eat me" or "Yeah, I get to eat him!"?

I'm guessing the bass is thinking 'this is the last time I eat anything ever again'. ?

 

I reckon it's safe to kiss bass when it is the wife is behind the camera taking the picture of the smooch ?