1 hour ago, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

Also the first time in like 4 years catching a 5# not from the bank, boy that fight was incredible. Peeled drag, dragged me almost into a dock then a boat and then some overhanging trees. Took a lot of awkward, uncomfortable, and today,  painful paddling maneuvers.

 

Ha! ^This^ is my life. Bigger bass do the most awkward things to me in my canoe. They pull me into a tree one time and spin me backwards the next time, so that I'm fighting a bass that's behind me. 

 

1 hour ago, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

All in shallow grass of some sort?

 

Yeah, I pulled some off grass edges, but I ALWAYS catch some in the middle. I'll frequently work a weed line and then fan cast open water. I catch some of my biggest bass in deep, open water on. the. surface. Weird, huh? 

 

Congrats on two fives in one night. Quite an accomplishment. Here are a couple I caught one morning this summer:

 

 

And a couple more I caught another morning, both 21.15-inchers:

 

 

And here's a morning trio from about ten days ago:

 

 

I love bulky bass. It means they're thriving.

A drop in surface pressure turns the bass faucet off. Just the one little beat up spotted bass this morning. Gonna go throw big worms under a full moon tonight and hope for the best ?

 

 

                                                        

Had another tournament this past weekend on Saturday at a lake I hadn't fished in over 20 years. 4.5 hour drive to western Kansas was a little rough, but I carpooled with another member from our group (hauled his kayak on my trailer also), so we could split cost. Lake was really low, lots of timber and pretty clear water. First day we only had a few hours to fish. Drove around some of the nastiest dirt roads I've ever been on trying to find a ramp that was still in usable. Finally found one and decided to just fish and see what we could find. 

Took me about a hour to get a bite on a plopper that came off, a sign of life at least. 10 minutes later, I caught one off a tree on a 10" worm that was shorter than the worm. Next pitch to the same trees with a jig, I caught another, next pitch I caught a nice one.

I found a high spot covered up with trees and buckbrush that was loaded with fish. Shook off a bunch of bites and we ended the night catching a bunch of dinks on ploppers out of the brush.

 Next day we launched near the campsite. Started catching fish right away on a plopper and it never stopped. Caught well over 50 fish throughout the day but size was the issue. Tons of 14-16 inch fish, but the 17+ inch fish were tough to find. I sight fished a bunch of fish cruising the shallow buckbrush and pretty much caught fish at will, but only caught 3 over 17 all day, although one was a really nice one that caught my jig on the fall in some deeper trees.

I tried to fish a bunch of deeper trees and never could get any more big bites. 

 

That night, storms rolled in, bringing torrential rain, 60-70mph winds, a tornado, crazy lightning, all the fun. My tent got battered and all my bedding got wet, had to brace my tent up with my cooler and a couple of gear totes. 

 

Tournament morning, I went against what my gut told me and went back into the cove, away from where I had been fishing. Lost a really nice 18ish inch fish right away that hurt pretty bad. The weather was 30* cooler and very windy and the bite was noticeably tougher and the bites I was getting were much smaller. I caught a few small ones on a swim jig before finally catching a decent 15" fish on a swimjig.

At the very back of the cove, I was fishing a laydown in dirty water that was only 3' deep when it got smacked. Hammered a good fish on the hookset that was on the top thrashing right away. Of course it turned out to be a nearly 23" walleye??

I caught a small limit back in that cove before I kicked my way into the heavy wind and rolling waves and through this mess;

to get back to the better area I'd fished the day before. The bite was much tougher than I'd found the day before. There was one tree on a high spot that was laid down on a clean spot and out in front of it was covered up with milfoil. I'd caught a good one out of it in practice so I really wanted to fish it again. Caught a small one quickly and started picking it apart. Several flips in, right when my jig got to the end of the tree, the line slowly back towards the tree and I hit another heavy fish that immediately wrapped me in the tree. I could hear my line squeaking and sawing on the tree. I was fighting strong wind and positioned myself right above the fish, just about ready to jump into the 4' of water to try to retrieve the fish. Then it popped free from the snag and swam for deeper water, towing me with it, and I quickly realized it wasn't a bass ?

I was getting disheartened with the lost quality fish and my bigger bites being non-bass species. I started down the bank I'd caught the most fish from the day before and pitched my jig into one of the only standing trees and got a little tap. Hooked up with a fish and finally landed a better quality bass.

I kept moving down that bank with a swim jig in the buckbrush and caught another small cull. All my fish were over 15" at this point but still needed a lot of improvement and the day was running short.

I fished all the way to the end of the point, something I hadn't done the day before, and had another better fish engulf my swimjig.

I was slowly making an afternoon surge but needed more good bites. I fished the whole way back down that bank and returned to the laydown tree. It had reloaded and I caught 3 more small fish. After picking it apart for several minutes, I was about to move on when I got another bite, and had one of the worst hooksets I've ever had on a jig fish, but despite almost dropping my whole rod in the lake, managed to land another good cull.

Unfortunately, that would be my last cull of the day. That one that I lost in the morning would have made a huge difference in the end. 

With 2 tournaments left in the season, I'm 4 points out of 1st place in the AOY. Didn't think I was having that good of a season, but we'll see if I can do okay the last 2 tournaments to keep it close at least. 

 

@Bluebasser86, your Kansas bass have the perfect shape: small mouths with big bodies. If they were just as dark as Maine bass, they'd be perfect. ? I hope you win the AOY. I'm cheering for you from far, far away. 

@Bluebasser86 appreciate the breakdown bro, good luck with AOY.

 

@ol'crickety now you're just making me feel bad haha ? killer fish, I can't even imagine a string like that in a season. if I had more time to risk I'd venture into a strange side road ME bog. For now I'm hoping to upsize in the ME clear water lake and maybe even jump into a bronzie or two.

 

I'd what they do at night though, LM still longer around cover and near shore, SM are a mystery if the deep to me.

19 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Sitting in la-la land on a slight ridge of low pressure with 5 fronts circling us today. Light winds, sunny skies, low humidity and temps in the low 80s, combined with the slow bite that's been going on here made be go finesse today - really finesse. Pulled out a ML outfit with 4 lb braid to a 4 lb leader, set up a split shot rig, and decided to see what would happen. Turned out to be a good call, with near perfect execution. Landed 12 bass total, never lost or broke off a fish, and caught them all on a single Roboworm that I still have left for the next trip ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Had another tournament this past weekend on Saturday at a lake I hadn't fished in over 20 years. 4.5 hour drive to western Kansas was a little rough, but I carpooled with another member from our group (hauled his kayak on my trailer also), so we could split cost. Lake was really low, lots of timber and pretty clear water. First day we only had a few hours to fish. Drove around some of the nastiest dirt roads I've ever been on trying to find a ramp that was still in usable. Finally found one and decided to just fish and see what we could find. 

Took me about a hour to get a bite on a plopper that came off, a sign of life at least. 10 minutes later, I caught one off a tree on a 10" worm that was shorter than the worm. Next pitch to the same trees with a jig, I caught another, next pitch I caught a nice one.

I found a high spot covered up with trees and buckbrush that was loaded with fish. Shook off a bunch of bites and we ended the night catching a bunch of dinks on ploppers out of the brush.

 Next day we launched near the campsite. Started catching fish right away on a plopper and it never stopped. Caught well over 50 fish throughout the day but size was the issue. Tons of 14-16 inch fish, but the 17+ inch fish were tough to find. I sight fished a bunch of fish cruising the shallow buckbrush and pretty much caught fish at will, but only caught 3 over 17 all day, although one was a really nice one that caught my jig on the fall in some deeper trees.

I tried to fish a bunch of deeper trees and never could get any more big bites. 

 

That night, storms rolled in, bringing torrential rain, 60-70mph winds, a tornado, crazy lightning, all the fun. My tent got battered and all my bedding got wet, had to brace my tent up with my cooler and a couple of gear totes. 

 

Tournament morning, I went against what my gut told me and went back into the cove, away from where I had been fishing. Lost a really nice 18ish inch fish right away that hurt pretty bad. The weather was 30* cooler and very windy and the bite was noticeably tougher and the bites I was getting were much smaller. I caught a few small ones on a swim jig before finally catching a decent 15" fish on a swimjig.

At the very back of the cove, I was fishing a laydown in dirty water that was only 3' deep when it got smacked. Hammered a good fish on the hookset that was on the top thrashing right away. Of course it turned out to be a nearly 23" walleye??

I caught a small limit back in that cove before I kicked my way into the heavy wind and rolling waves and through this mess;

to get back to the better area I'd fished the day before. The bite was much tougher than I'd found the day before. There was one tree on a high spot that was laid down on a clean spot and out in front of it was covered up with milfoil. I'd caught a good one out of it in practice so I really wanted to fish it again. Caught a small one quickly and started picking it apart. Several flips in, right when my jig got to the end of the tree, the line slowly back towards the tree and I hit another heavy fish that immediately wrapped me in the tree. I could hear my line squeaking and sawing on the tree. I was fighting strong wind and positioned myself right above the fish, just about ready to jump into the 4' of water to try to retrieve the fish. Then it popped free from the snag and swam for deeper water, towing me with it, and I quickly realized it wasn't a bass ?

I was getting disheartened with the lost quality fish and my bigger bites being non-bass species. I started down the bank I'd caught the most fish from the day before and pitched my jig into one of the only standing trees and got a little tap. Hooked up with a fish and finally landed a better quality bass.

I kept moving down that bank with a swim jig in the buckbrush and caught another small cull. All my fish were over 15" at this point but still needed a lot of improvement and the day was running short.

I fished all the way to the end of the point, something I hadn't done the day before, and had another better fish engulf my swimjig.

I was slowly making an afternoon surge but needed more good bites. I fished the whole way back down that bank and returned to the laydown tree. It had reloaded and I caught 3 more small fish. After picking it apart for several minutes, I was about to move on when I got another bite, and had one of the worst hooksets I've ever had on a jig fish, but despite almost dropping my whole rod in the lake, managed to land another good cull.

Unfortunately, that would be my last cull of the day. That one that I lost in the morning would have made a huge difference in the end. 

With 2 tournaments left in the season, I'm 4 points out of 1st place in the AOY. Didn't think I was having that good of a season, but we'll see if I can do okay the last 2 tournaments to keep it close at least. 

 

 

I have heard for years that fishing is bad in Indiana and Kansas.

 

And then I see this kind of stuff by you two, and I don't know what to think.

 

23 minutes ago, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

if I had more time to risk I'd venture into a strange side road ME bog.

 

I was chatting with Pat Brown yesterday about not fishing my biggest fish bog for a bit. I'm thinking I'm going to wait until the weeds die back. We're at Peak Weed right now and I just can't wrassle those big gals out of the weeds. I wish I understood the mechanics of how they dive into the weeds and and immediately unhook themselves. They don't break the line. They simply pop free and it's not because they're not solidly hooked: I use MH rods, braid, and replace my hooks. That's why I fished a pond this morning, where there are far fewer weeds. 

 

For me, the creepiest thing about bog fishing is launching in the dark. The bogs themselves don't scare me. I'm at home on the water and I'm fine with the dark. I just don't like being in the dark on land. Once I launch, no bad guy could catch me, not with my swift canoe and my half century of paddling. 

18 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

 

I have heard for years that fishing is bad in Indiana and Kansas.

 

And then I see this kind of stuff by you two, and I don't know what to think.

 

You heard correct. Nothing but catfish, carp, and gar here.

35 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

For me, the creepiest thing about bog fishing is launching in the dark. The bogs themselves don't scare me. I'm at home on the water and I'm fine with the dark. I just don't like being in the dark on land.

Got out today about 1-5:30, until the wind chased me off, caught 7 bass, 1 on a buzzbait and 6 on a double wide beaver, with 2 good ones on the beaver weighing 4-1and 4-14.

 

 

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I just don't like being in the dark on land.

I'm with you on this, I've had some strange run ins and heard worse stories. There's a spot around I've heard from numerous people holds 7-8 pound bass, problem is its no boats allowed. Some of the spots I think would be good night spots are way in the woods, just a little too skeevy for me sometimes.

 

I bumped into a guy once at a different spot, really good spot that's no boats again, that's in a high crime area. He was holding an aluminum bat and fishing a lipless crankbait tied to a steel leader with a bobber on it. He asked me if he knew me, I expected from a college I went to not far from there. Then he asked me if I ever did time, I look just like a dude from his cell block.

 

After assuring him I've never been to prison I said good luck and headed back down the path. Then I heard him beating the crap out of some fallen tree with that bat. I don't fish there much anymore, definitely not at night, sucks because it's a good spot.

 

But sometimes the boga bug me out, tipping over in the weeds can be disastrous.

42 minutes ago, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

 

But sometimes the boga bug me out, tipping over in the weeds can be disastrous.

 

I've wondered and worried about falling into weeds. I wouldn't die because I always wear a PDF, but it would be hard to reach open water. 

 

I do feel safer launching in the early morning as opposed to evening. I've worked in some dangerous neighborhoods and they're typically quiet in the morning. Bad guys sleep late. Their awake time is late, not early. 

 

42 minutes ago, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

fishing a lipless crankbait tied to a steel leader with a bobber on it

 

Why stop there? Why not tie another lure and a box of cookies to his line too?

 

@T-Billy: How do you keep a gun dry and still have easy access to it?

 

@keagbassr: Do you sometimes not catch big bass and simply not report that? I ask because you report so many big fish.

 

@keagbassr helps keep the universe together. Hear me out. There’s just so much continuity going on there. His selfies are iconic, his shirts are similar, his bass are always big, he usually catches them on the same stuff, he usually has the same facial expression. @keagbassr posts and you know exactly what you’re getting. Someone’s whole life could be changing and things might feel like a dumpster fire to them, but then @keagbassr posts and they realize nothing has changed and everything is okay

@ol'crickety ,thats why I  post in the latest pics thread and never do full on reports,that way I can say I caught 7 fish and a couple nice ones,no mention of the others that maybe weighed a combined 2 lbs. @LrgmouthShad you kill me I just about fell out of my chair laughing

Not much going on here today. Very cool (70s) and sunny,, with winds over 10 mph from the north all afternoon. Picked off half a dozen on the finesse rig, but probably need to hit a different location tomorrow or Friday when I next get out.

 

 

46 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I do feel safer launching in the early morning as opposed to evening. I've worked in some dangerous neighborhoods and they're typically quiet in the morning. Bad guys sleep late. Their awake time is late, not early. 

I agree with this. The riff raff in down town Minneapolis is asleep when I go to work in the morning.

 

In a pinch, a good smack upside the head with a canoe paddle would work.

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

Minneapolis is asleep

Killer hip-hop scene out there though, Rhymesayers Ent been the underground kings for a grip.

 

@ol'crickety what do portable document formats have to do with this, do you work remotely from your canoe while you fish? Sick job right there!

 

Idk, I've had lilies wrap around my yak paddle just to prove to me that we are stronger when we unite! The fish like the thick stuff and sometimes you gotta go through a lilly field to get to the fishable water on the other side, if enough lilies swirled around an arm and a leg it just might not take long for the other limbs to get locked up too. Never mind throwing in an extra 25 pounds of milfoil clinging to you like a panicking lost child.

 

I went swimming off a jetty with my cousins when in was younger, the rocks were sharp so they said I had to swim with my sneakers on. The second I started to surface it felt like I was kicking just to swoosh water through my Nikes (get it?). Wasn't just not helping, they soaked up water and turned into 10 pound sponges.

 

I never swam with my sneakers on ever again, practically impossible. Maybe some converse shoes wouldn't be bad, but those ain't sneakers. 

 

I guess gall8ng in would have to be like falling into quicksand, don't panic, don't struggle, slowly find a way to float with your head up and think about your next move. Assess and stay cool.

 

Let's just not fall in, especially at night, okay Katie?

 

@Team9nine good stuff man, always good gettin some.

 

I got skunked tonight, was dead slick and cold air. Can't always have the same great night again and again right? I'm gonna try another part of the lake another night this week, that has boulders for smallies. I'm hoping they'll be there at night still. Probably skip tomorrow night because the cold front temp drop. Unless the water gets choppy, then I'll hit some docks for LM again.

 

Ever since I've been catching on the buzzbait and mostly only being able to fish at night the buzz has become my new ned rig. I can't even remember how to throw anything else haha

6 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

How do you keep a gun dry and still have easy access to it?

On my belt. Getting a Glock wet won't hurt it a bit. Pretty tuff to make one rust. You can buy carry/duty ammo with sealed primers and case mouths.

9 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

How do you keep a gun dry and still have easy access to it?

 Yep.  Mines fell out of the boat with me.   I'm really anal about firearm care.   I clean and lube my weapon monthly, or whenever it gets wet.  I also empty my magazines monthly (by target shooting with it) and load with fresh ammo.   I carry a loaded firearm and 2 spare magazines.   Yes, it costs a few dollars to load fresh Gold Dots monthly.  

Water was a little fast, but a full moon evening session yielded some fish with one of them being yummy food 

@TnRiver46, I've eaten a lot of northwestern Ontario walleye, from cold lakes where the water's so clean you drink it. I wonder how warm water walleyes compare. BTW, I always enjoy your mix of photos. Nice smallies too!

The only Canadian walleye I’ve had were from grocery stores in Michigan so not exactly fresh but they were good! Fish from warm waters taste great to me, just think about all the fresh fish from the Gulf of Mexico. Just gotta keep them alive or on ice, I think some people slack a little on that and have a bad experience. I’ve never bought into the cold water fish taste better theory, our fish taste the same whether the water is 45 degrees or 75 degrees 

8 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

The only Canadian walleye I’ve had were from grocery stores in Michigan so not exactly fresh but they were good! Fish from warm waters taste great to me, just think about all the fresh fish from the Gulf of Mexico. Just gotta keep them alive or on ice, I think some people slack a little on that and have a bad experience. I’ve never bought into the cold water fish taste better theory, our fish taste the same whether the water is 45 degrees or 75 degrees 

 

Thanks! All good points. 

51 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

The only Canadian walleye I’ve had were from grocery stores in Michigan so not exactly fresh but they were good!

100% of the seasonal walleye they sell here in retail stores is from Canada too.  Its farm raised.  Says "Product of Canada" right on the label.  Not cheap either.  Last I saw it was $16.99/pound.

 

I ate so much walleye growing up that its absolutely ruined my taste for it now.  I know, walleye is good eating.  I can't argue that.  But when you eat it for 5 months straight, prepared the same way every time, it does get old.  I remember being happy about getting hot dogs for dinner several times instead of fish when I was younger.