Targeting striper on Sunday but still picked up a couple green bass on the A-rig.

7 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

Underspin is something I felt weird throwing being a 6'4 250 lb guy from NC that caught his first 6 lber on a spinnerbait 🤣

 

 

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I use my underspins with paddletails mostly in the thickest cover. Heck, I've even used them as surface lures, i.e. a frog, casting them onto a lawn of lily pads so thick that that the underspin scooted atop them until there was an opening...and I've had bass bust through the pads to clobber them before they ever reached an opening. But my bread and butter tactic with underspins is casting into or on the edge of reeds, lily pads, and grasses. I also cast them at shorelines like a surface lure and they've worked in a foot of water many times for me. 

 

There's nothing dainty about the underspins I throw, for I saddle them with five-inchish paddletails. They're big lures that I can chuck beyond yonder. 

 

Alex, I enjoy fishing with them because I can cast them everywhere and because a paddletail has terrific action and the flash of the underspin's blade is a siren's call for bass. They're my mid-column lure, along with inline spinners, squarebills, and jerkbaits, but my underspins catch more bass than my other three mid-column lures combined. If I'm casting to open water, I'll let them sink sometimes before retrieving, counting to five and then six on the next cast and so on until I find the fish.

 

I like the Owner underspins:

 

 

Last spring when the water was cold, the underspin was the lure that caught 'em. However, it's a warm water lure too. 

 

#theoldkatlovestoplaywithunderspins

Katie, you just let the Tackle Monkey back in my house! Now I'm ordering spinner baits and underspins!

1 hour ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Katie, you just let the Tackle Monkey back in my house! Now I'm ordering spinner baits and underspins!

 

 

The 4.5" Storm Largo Shad and the bigger size Owner Flashy Swimmer are *chefs kiss* 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼

Only had 4 bites all day but this 6-12 glutton crushed a 1/2oz white/chartreuse Colorado Booyah Blade spinnerbait near some laydowns yesterday. My PB for fall/winter timeframe. Lake seems to be settling down after turnover. Built like a tank, I don’t believe I could put my fist in her mouth. Pics don’t do her gut justice - she was feeding hard & didn’t have any problem stripping line off my baitcaster. Felt like I set the hook into a log. Released to fight another day & have some babies in the next 6 months or so.

 

 

Sorry for the markups - public lake that gets hit hard for its size.

 

Tight lines!

 

The evening buzzbait madness continues.  Guess they wanted black and white Buzzbaits equally.

Great catch, @RipzLipz! Big belly on that big girl.

@ol'crickety Thanks Katie! Have been waiting on a fat gal like this one since this past late winter/early spring - late February or early March. Lost one I’d estimate close to this size back then while fishing jig & craws with my son. Hopefully not the last for this year (going back tomorrow) but if it is, I couldn’t think of a better way to end it!

 

I think I could fish days for one bite from one 5lbs or better, I’m that addicted to the bite, hookset & head shake from larger fish. Much larger fish swim in that place - potentially a double digit or close to it from a pic I saw on another angler’s phone who I’ve seen fishing at night many times this summer. Dude said he didn’t have scales & estimated it to be 7-8lbs - looked quite a bit bigger to me but pics can at times be deceiving as many of us here know & some of the larger fish from this place have small head/mouths & short bodies but are just fat slobs/butterballs. Upping my fluoro on jig rod from 15lb to 17lb test this off-season - I should have never looked at that pic! 

@RipzLipz: Fingers crossed for you to land another, Tim! Those fat bass are so rare. I caught two over 22" in 2023, but the ones I treasure are the big-bellied ones like yours. They're the apex bass, at the peak of their power, whereas the long, skinny ones are the grand ol' dames, great for sure, but past their predatory prime. 

 

You know, Tim, that I photograph a lot of my bigger bass on my bump board and looking back at them through the long New England winter, I smile widest when I see that they're sloped, built like mountains. So, I for sure noticed that your girl had recently swallowed what appears to be a softball!

6 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@RipzLipz: Fingers crossed for you to land another, Tim! Those fat bass are so rare. I caught two over 22" in 2023, but the ones I treasure are the big-bellied ones like yours. They're the apex bass, at the peak of their power, whereas the long, skinny ones are the grand ol' dames, great for sure, but past their predatory prime. 

 

You know, Tim, that I photograph a lot of my bigger bass on my bump board and looking back at them through the long New England winter, I smile widest when I see that they're sloped, built like mountains. So, I for sure noticed that your girl had recently swallowed what appears to be a softball!

I caught one fish three different times and she was  9-1 the first time 8-12 the second time and 7-12 the third time.  I now believe that bass fluctuate in size a lot annually!  I think this is why down south you really got to get on them in the pre-spawn if you want a gutted out football fish.  I think some years fish have better luck feeding themselves than other years just like we do and that accounts for the occasional late season lunker!

18 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

I caught one fish three different times and she was  9-1 the first time 8-12 the second time and 7-12 the third time. 

 

I love when you tell this account and look forward to the next telling. Seriously. It's an amazing story and the best stories should be told again and again. 

 

When pythons swallow a deer, they chill for a month or two, but not the big bass like Tim's. She had clearly recently fed, again and again, and yet she wanted more...like Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. 

12 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

 

The evening buzzbait madness continues.  Guess they wanted black and white Buzzbaits equally.

Let me guess.......you were supposed to go to the grocery store but you ended up at the lake instead!

I mean…who here hasn't taken a wrong turn on the way to where they were supposed to be, only to find themselves fishing?

19 minutes ago, galyonj said:

I mean…who here hasn't taken a wrong turn on the way to where they were supposed to be, only to find themselves fishing?

 

Gosh, I wish! 

It happened to me yesterday on the way home from the dentist. Blinked and I found myself chasing skunks at the water's edge.

40 minutes ago, galyonj said:

I mean…who here hasn't taken a wrong turn on the way to where they were supposed to be, only to find themselves fishing?

Very good point!   We are all guilty of this and feel no shame!  At least Pat admits when he gets sidetracked. His wife MUST be a bass-a-holic like the rest of us, that would explain his survivability!😁

Went out for a bit yesterday and got onto a dinkfest with the walking bait. This morning I absolutely destroyed a skunk about a quarter mile from the ramp, didnt get any stink on my car. So thats always a good omen. Too windy to fish a walking bait today, so I went for the lipless. First bass and biggest one inhaled a red eye the second it hit the water which made me think I should throw a weightless fluke. I caught 6 more on that fluke. Asked the lake for one more bass and I would leave, so I caught a little one and then bounced. They wanted that Disco Green this morning lol

11 hours ago, galyonj said:

I mean…who here hasn't taken a wrong turn on the way to where they were supposed to be, only to find themselves fishing?

I just finished loading the Coleman Crawdad juuuuuust in case.

 

Cloud cover just rolled in & wind not a factor just yet. Should be taking that "wrong turn" in about an hour.

 

@ol'crickety

 

Not beating my chest, just sharing some of my fat bottomed gals from over the years. These are from strip pits (old coal strip mines) & some of the prettiest bass in color & build I’ve come across around here (quite clear water & very green vegetation, as you may tell from markings & coloration). Last 2 are of my PB, a 7-7 donkey that couldn’t resist the jig & craw:

 

3 minutes ago, RipzLipz said:

I just finished loading the Coleman Crawdad juuuuuust in case.

 

Cloud cover just rolled in & wind not a factor just yet. Should be taking that "wrong turn" in about an hour.

 

Preparation! That's what's up.

50 minutes ago, RipzLipz said:

 

Not beating my chest, just sharing some of my fat bottomed gals from over the years.

 

No need to explain yourself. We all love looking at fat-bottomed gals! You catch fish that make me go:

 

50 minutes ago, RipzLipz said:

I just finished loading the Coleman Crawdad juuuuuust in case.

 

Cloud cover just rolled in & wind not a factor just yet. Should be taking that "wrong turn" in about an hour.

 

@ol'crickety

 

Not beating my chest, just sharing some of my fat bottomed gals from over the years. These are from strip pits (old coal strip mines) & some of the prettiest bass in color & build I’ve come across around here (quite clear water & very green vegetation, as you may tell from markings & coloration). Last one is my PB, a 7-7 donkey that couldn’t resist the jig & craw:

Dude! Beat your chest and don't apologize for it. Those are beautes!

 

     So glad the younger generation stays prepared to sneak off and fish as often as possible, just like my generation did/does.  Remember these "Truths to be self evident", Hug your mom and dad every chance you get, hug your spouse and kids every chance you get, play catch with your kids every chance you get, AND, go fishing every chance you get. There are just so many opportunities....don't miss a one!

10 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

11 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Hug your mom and dad every chance you get, hug your spouse and kids every chance you get, play catch with your kids every chance you get, AND, go fishing every chance you get. There are just so many opportunities....don't miss a one!

 

 

Picked up a new to me kayak last weekend from a friend that was getting rid of it. Decided to take it for a spin on probably the last available day of the year here in Ohio plus I wanted to try my new curado I got on sale. Pulled in a 2.91lber, just around/over 18” to break in the kayak!! Missed a giant just before, drag wasn’t set as much as I thought and he ran line out and I lost tension. Fun day for sure, love the fall bite!!

7 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I caught one fish three different times and she was  9-1 the first time 8-12 the second time and 7-12 the third time. 

Pat, we all know you're a legit hawg snatcher, but you really need to work on your story telling. The fish are supposed to keep getting BIGGER with time. YOU"RE DOING IT WRONG!!! 😂

Sunny at lunch, but some good cloud cover rolled in shortly after, so I started on bass today. Spent 2 hours chasing a scattered bite, but managed half a dozen on a trick worm, including a  couple 15"-16" keepers...then I got distracted by the big crappie again