Some topwater smallmouth chasing shad over deep water 

Went fly fishing today, Still fairly new to this type of fishing i was hoping to land a rainbow trout on it.

I ended up going to the river with some slow current and had a few fish eat my fly but not for very long.

But the fly ended up getting hung up and snagged after trying to set the hook.

I use everything trick i knew and it still wouldn't come loose.

After many attempts, I gave up and accepted defeat.

I broke the line and it caused me to lose my fly and float.

I headed back home and grabbed my other rods and went to the lake instead and it was totally worth it.

I got a rainbow and two large mouth bass.

Rainbow: Weightless trapper dropshot hook paired with a PowerBait Floating Trout Worm, Color: Bubble Gum.

Bass:Weightless 3/0 Gamakatsu Offset EWG Worm Hook paired with a Yum Dinger T-RIG,Color:Watermelon Red Flake.

My reel was having a hard time pulling in this "grass" little did i know there was a huge hog on my line.

I don't have a scale but she felt quite heavy and seemed like a good 5-6 pound bass.

She was feeding up for the winter, That's for sure.

The fish are still acting funny. Junk fished to catch my first bluegill of the year, half a dozen crappies, and 10-12 bass. A couple in the 3# range.

 

 

The outlaws are coming out of the woodwork now! Must be a full moon. 

11 hours ago, Angealy said:

Went fly fishing today, Still fairly new to this type of fishing i was hoping to land a rainbow trout on it.

I ended up going to the river with some slow current and had a few fish eat my fly but not for very long.

But the fly ended up getting hung up and snagged after trying to set the hook.

I use everything trick i knew and it still wouldn't come loose.

After many attempts, I gave up and accepted defeat.

I broke the line and it caused me to lose my fly and float.

I headed back home and grabbed my other rods and went to the lake instead and it was totally worth it.

I got a rainbow and two large mouth bass.

Rainbow: Weightless trapper dropshot hook paired with a PowerBait Floating Trout Worm, Color: Bubble Gum.

Bass:Weightless 3/0 Gamakatsu Offset EWG Worm Hook paired with a Yum Dinger T-RIG,Color:Watermelon Red Flake.

My reel was having a hard time pulling in this "grass" little did i know there was a huge hog on my line.

I don't have a scale but she felt quite heavy and seemed like a good 5-6 pound bass.

She was feeding up for the winter, That's for sure.

I think it might be time to get yourself a scale, something like This.  Walmart even sometimes has one on sale for less than $10 or $15.

My tournament partner and I fished a tournament on Stonewall Jackson Lake (WV) on Sunday and we won it with 16lbs. We had never been on the lake before, and spent more time on the trolling motor than anything else, putting together a pattern as we went! Most of the fish came on a whopper plopper 130 and a strike king 1.5 and 2.5.

 

Felt good to whoop up on some locals who didn't expect much from the college kids in the aluminum boat

Outstanding ~ Congrats to you both !

btw -  Miss Hand on Hip there in the background, does not appear to be sharing your enthusiasm for this win. 

A-Jay

 

On 9/28/2017 at 12:52 AM, Angealy said:

Any advice on the correct way of handling these fish would be much appreciated.

You can grab a small pickerel just behind the head and gill plate. Just squeeze it a little bit.

Got two for ya.

 

 

 

6 lbs 23 1/2" long

Chrome W/blue back RattleTrap

5 1/4 lbs 21 1/2" long

Chrome W/blue back RattleTrap 

My biggest in 5 years, but definitely not my pb, I guess him around 5, my scale died when I grabbed it to weigh him. 

On 9/29/2017 at 12:36 PM, everythingthatswims said:

My tournament partner and I fished a tournament on Stonewall Jackson Lake (WV) on Sunday and we won it with 16lbs. We had never been on the lake before, and spent more time on the trolling motor than anything else, putting together a pattern as we went! Most of the fish came on a whopper plopper 130 and a strike king 1.5 and 2.5.

 

Felt good to whoop up on some locals who didn't expect much from the college kids in the aluminum boat

well done. it's more about the fisherman than the boat anyways!

Fall has definitely made its arrival... Look at the build on these fish! FYI these 3 would weigh 10-11lbs together

Small lakes have been a little slow with this weather and lack of rain, but managed a couple dozen this weekend including this guy - score another one for finesse fishing

 

Took my dad out for a quick trip to Clear Lake last week. Timing with the weather (cold front) was terrible considering how great it's been, but we still had a great time and caught a lot of 2-4 pounders.

 

Every fish was thick with a big ol belly. Should be a great spring considering the ridiculous amount of bait in there...

 

 

 

Even saw a bobcat that couldn't have cared less about us being right there

Fished my favorite little stretch of river today and had a nice day.  Light rain showers scared most people off so I mostly had the stretch to myself.  Turned out to be sunny out and combined with the solitude it was beautiful.

 

But, the bite was slow.  The first fish was this one on a keitech paddletail,  it was probably around 3 lbs?  I had to look it up and I think it's a mountain whitefish (I'm fishing an offshoot of the Columbia river).  

 

The bass bite was slow. Showers stopped, wind slowed and the sun came out and I was able to start getting bit on a grub on a jighead.  Caught a few small smallmouth and decided to drag a jig and trailer.  I'm reluctant to do that at this spot because it's easy to get hung up on the rocks (any tips for jig fishing the size/shape of rocks in the pics?  Football head doesn't seem to help).

 

I only got maybe two bites, but one of them was this nice smallmouth.  Not sure the weight, but I think it was the biggest I'd caught.  May be 2.5?  MAking a hard hookset into a jig bite is so satisfying.  Looking for that feeling again is addicting.

 

Was awesome being able to see the fish come up in the clear water and having the place to myself.  

@StrikePrince,

That top fish might be a pikeminnow.

9 hours ago, BASS302 said:

@StrikePrince,

That top fish might be a pikeminnow.

Yup, looking at pics of pikeminniws and it was definitely that. Thanks 

Last tournament of the year is over with. Here's the biggest fish I could muster up out of the city pool of the 3 rivers in Pittsburgh. If you're familiar with how the 2005 Classic and 2009 Forrest Wood Cup tournaments went, you'll know that this fish is pretty good sized. 

 

Funny you mentioned the '05 classic. I was going to say that one fish you got would 've been good for a top 10 finish.

My bag went for 3.71. That weight alone would have put me in 26th in the '05 Classic with just my one day of weight alone. Had I put up that number all 3 days, I would have had 11.13 pounds. Putting me around 5th place in the Classic.

Man, that's a sad fishery.  Sounds a bit like lake Monroe in Indiana..

I have a tournament on the Mon this upcoming weekend, and my friend who has been practicing a TON for months is making a run to Pittsburg that will give him 2 hours to fish because of locking (Think there are 4 in between).

 

That should tell you a little something about the fishing on the Mon around here

 

 

Tough bite lately, but I think we are finally over the hump in terms of constant 90+ degree days. Air temps in the upper 70s/low 80s the past few days. Picked the 3 bass off a giant school of shad, possibly the biggest I've ever seen that spanned about 100 yards down the bank. 

 

Happy with what the pond gave me, despite the size. I believe I blew a bearing in my Tatula my last time out, so I was using my dad's rig with an ultra fast action tip...so the little bass were a lot more fun to catch, albeit deceiving.