Tough morning. Killed two fresh spools of line and lost 4 of 6 bites and had to remove two snakes from the pompadour. I guess I just didn't have my head in the game. So much casting.

At least this isn't a skunk

The boys I boat captain for have their first tournament of the season coming up next weekend. It's an online tournament that they can fish 16 hours however they want to split it up over Saturday and Sunday to get the longest 5 fish limit they can, any public water in Kansas. I told them where I'd go a couple weeks ago so they tried to go fish there last weekend and caught 4 little ones. I can't go with them for this one because my championship is the same weekend, so instead of going and prefishing for my tournament, I took them and showed them how to catch the fish at the lake I told them to go fish. Big storms the night before had the water dirty and the bite a little weird, but we still caught plenty of fish to get a high 80" limit and showed them what they needed to know to have a good chance. 

 

Had a good day today with a longtime friend.  The paddle tail on an Owner Flashy Swimmer continues to put fish in the boat for me, with several including my new PB 5.35# boated today. My friend is a St. Lawrence River smallmouth/walleye fisherman and his 3.55# is his personal best largemouth.?
 

Tell me my buddy doesn’t look like Brandon Palaniuk! 

 

37 minutes ago, The Baron said:

Had a good day today with a longtime friend.  The paddle tail on an Owner Flashy Swimmer continues to put fish in the boat for me, with several including my new PB 5.35# boated today. My friend is a St. Lawrence River smallmouth/walleye fisherman and his 3.55# is his personal best largemouth.?
 

Tell me my buddy doesn’t look like Brandon Palaniuk! 

 

Beautiful fish, you can change that avatar now ?

Sometimes if I downsize enough I start getting bit. Creme Maxi Tail did the work tonight, one nice bass and a handful of dinks

I'll be able to tell if I catch this one again later this fall because of her fancy tattoo.

 

 

You guys are right about fall bass: Big ones being caught this fall.

 

I'm going fishing tomorrow evening and again on Friday morning. On Friday, I'll be fishing a pond that intimidates me. It's big and has big bass. It's the only two times in the last two years that I've had bass break the line and that's 20-pound braid. One broke the line in reeds and the other in open water. The bass just seem stronger in this pond. I'll be fishing peacefully, catching manageable bass, and then someone drops a grand piano in the water. No wonder this pond gives me the heeby-jeebies!

@ol’crickety - sounds like you should bring the big guns on Friday. ????

 

I took this week off - a last minute decision to use up my last week of vacation and enjoy a great looking fall forecast.  I got some little stuff out of the way this morning, then got out to another local lake this afternoon for a few hours.  I’ve only fished the lake a couple of times, but like what I see and have decided it’s worth investing some time in.  I caught several pike and only a few bass, but the one hard fighting 3#er that was hiding under a floating dock made my day.

 

I’ve really come to love chatterbait fishing.  From having almost zero luck on it before this season, it’s now vaulted into being one of my top choices.  

@The Baron I'd be curious to hear what changed to give you confidence? I've got zero luck or confidence on chatterbait currently, I'm sure partly because I rarely throw it. 

I took a page out of Katie's book & put a whopper plopper on. Made a bomb cast parallel to the shore line & let it rip. Before I could turn the reel handle I saw a splash & quickly realized I just got bit. Biggest of the day after a big rain.

 

Way to fish, @Dwight Hottle!

 

One part of the following story is a big, fat lie. See if you guess which part:

 

I fished for three hours this evening and the air was cold, the water was cold, and the fishing was cold. I caught six fish in the first two hours.

 

My phone rang. It was @TnRiver46. He said I better start catching bass pronto or I'd be ejected from Bass Resource. I asked him how he knew I was failing. He said "Glenn's satellite network."

 

Well, with an hour left, I tried a flat in a big bay. That's where they were! I then caught 18 bass in the final hour and measured my first fish with my new scale. It weighed 2.84 pounds. It's the short, fat one below.

 

The fishing was so good I didn't bother to photograph the bass, but they were good-sized, between two and three pounds.

 

I did photograph the last bass, which is the second photo.

 

 

Did you guess which part was not true?

 

 

@Dwight Hottle  That’s a beauty!

 

I’m loving my week off.  Other that more wind than I’d like, the weather continues to be fantastic.  I’m determined to make the most of these days - I can sleep in January.  lol

 

I went out and shot a limit of geese with a long time friend this morning, then came home to fill my belly and get right back out there.  Went to a small lake that I can just sneak my little bass tracker 165 into via a creek. The water is very clear, but a green tinge.  Not a lot of bites, but a nice mixed bag including a few right around 3#, some dinks and a couple small pike.  Most on a chatterbait, one nice largie on a paddletail on a swim jig head.

One fish again. Again, it was a good one. Shy of 6lbs. 

Had a fun and somewhat eventful evening. It was sunny and calm all day at work, we go to hit the river afterwards. Drive upstream a ways and start fishing , sky turns black. I look up the radar and there’s a line of storms heading right for us. The wind gets kind of wild and blows my hat off, I run for a bridge and we fish under there for about 30-45 minutes in the crazy wind. It was hitting certain trees and knocking poofs of leaves off that looked like swarms of starlings. Well somehow it stormed all around us and never hit so we just went back to fishing. They were biting like sharks but I lost the lunker, looked like pushing 20 inches when it jumped and threw my bait, oh well I’ve lost bigger ones haha. Also got a nice shell cracker and found an insect larva that bear grylls could slice up and live off of for a month. Maples are starting to turn a bit, fun day 
 

10 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

the fishing was cold. I caught six fish in the first two hours.

Only you would call that a cold bite. ?

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Had a fun and somewhat eventful evening. It was sunny and calm all day at work, we go to hit the river afterwards. Drive upstream a ways and start fishing , sky turns black. I look up the radar and there’s a line of storms heading right for us. The wind gets kind of wild and blows my hat off, I run for a bridge and we fish under there for about 30-45 minutes in the crazy wind. It was hitting certain trees and knocking poofs of leaves off that looked like swarms of starlings. Well somehow it stormed all around us and never hit so we just went back to fishing. They were biting like sharks but I lost the lunker, looked like pushing 20 inches when it jumped and threw my bait, oh well I’ve lost bigger ones haha. Also got a nice shell cracker and found an insect larva that bear grylls could slice up and live off of for a month. Maples are starting to turn a bit, fun day 
 

 

Another cool trip report. I love the line about the leaves looking like starlings.

 

9 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

One fish again. Again, it was a good one. Shy of 6lbs. 

 

Big one!

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Only you would call that a cold bite. ?

 

Well, I was thinking about last fall, when I was catching thirty-some bass and then suddenly ten bass and then, just as suddenly, five bass and then, on my final morning, two bass. I was worried I was already at that point. I know it's coming. It's 47 degrees right now and will be 47 degrees again tomorrow morning when I launch. That's winter's breath. 

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Well, I was thinking about last fall, when I was catching thirty-some bass and then suddenly ten bass and then, just as suddenly, five bass and then, on my final morning, two bass. I was worried I was already at that point. I know it's coming. It's 47 degrees right now and will be 47 degrees again tomorrow morning when I launch. That's winter's breath. 

 

Its inevitably coming here too.  Just part of doing business in the northern sector.

 

It looks very unseasonably warm here until mid-October though so winter isn't knocking on this door just yet.

32 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

Its inevitably coming here too.  Just part of doing business in the northern sector.

 

It looks very unseasonably warm here until mid-October though so winter isn't knocking on this door just yet.

 

Then we'll have to fish vicariously through @AlabamaSpothunter, @thediscochef, and the other talented Southern fishers. 

 

Gimruis, I lived in Eau Claire, which as you know, is right at the Twin Cities latitude, so I know what your winters are like and whereas inland Maine is just as cold, coastal Maine isn't. December can be pretty pleasant here, but still too cold for canoe fishing. I plan to quit in about three weeks. I fished too late into the cold last year and it wasn't safe. I also fished too early last spring. It's hard to not fish when seeing the Southern boys boat their beauties!

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Then we'll have to fish vicariously through @AlabamaSpothunter, @thediscochef, and the other talented Southern fishers. 

 

Gimruis, I lived in Eau Claire, which as you know, is right at the Twin Cities latitude, so I know what your winters are like and whereas inland Maine is just as cold, coastal Maine isn't. December can be pretty pleasant here, but still too cold for canoe fishing. I plan to quit in about three weeks. I fished too late into the cold last year and it wasn't safe. I also fished too early last spring. It's hard to not fish when seeing the Southern boys boat their beauties!

I'm ready for it to not be 95 degrees here. We're running 5-15 degrees above normal here and I'm over it. I'm mostly curious to see how much it actually cools off this winter. This morning was in the 60s which was nice. I didn't make it out this morning, I blanked last night and just wasn't feeling great when I woke up. 
Found a rod repair guy, gonna get some of my old pieces back in service. Gonna do one of them myself because I have the parts, but the more expensive rods are gonna go to him. And shoutout to Lew's customer service - they're replacing the spool with the blown brake shoe on my tournament pro even though it's like three months out of warranty. 100% customer satisfaction. Hoping I can post something nice in here soon 

Yesterday, caught 4 roughly the same as pictured below. Lost a very big girl that likely was a DD within inches of my net. She hit a 9" 5.3 oz Bull Shad as I was slow rolling it in 8 FOW. 

@GreenPig, oh no!!!!! 

@GreenPig Yeah, that’s gotta hurt. ?

 

@ol'crickety @gimruis  I hear you about winter.  Fall is such a wonderful time here in SE Ontario, but I know it can’t last.  We’re supposed to be unseasonably warm here for a couple weeks.  By early November, it will be time to winterized and store the boat. ?

 

I had a lazy morning today, only fished a couple of hours because I have to pick my daughter up early from school.  Wasn’t going to go but thought I’m crazy not to and can use the time to explore one of the lakes I’m focusing on.  I went to the far end where I’ve never been before, so was like being on a whole new lake.  Only a handful of bites but the first was a 4.43# that gave me a good tussle keeping her out of the tree she was hiding in.
 

I’m catching so many good fish on the underspin paddletail setup, I’m actually worried I may be getting addicted to one presentation. For now, I’m just telling myself I’m still building confidence in it.  lol

@The Baron, that underspin paddletail is always rigged and ready in my boat. You've been posting some big bass, buddy. Well done!

 

1 hour ago, GreenPig said:

Lost a very big girl that likely was a DD within inches of my net.

 

I've never met @GreenPig, but man, oh, man, I grieve with him. LIkewise, I've never seen a DD and likely never will. If it doesn't hurt too much to tell the story, GP, I'd like to hear it. 

1 hour ago, GreenPig said:

Yesterday, caught 4 roughly the same as pictured below. Lost a very big girl that likely was a DD within inches of my net. She hit a 9" 5.3 oz Bull Shad as I was slow rolling it in 8 FOW. 

PB Spot, or you mean you almost caught another teener LGM?  Either way, sorry to hear about that.....that pain is real for sure. 

 

I really need to find some better fishing spots ?