7 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

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

 

Added a different angle of the 7-7 to show build/belly to post above. She was a monster. Was fishing with a buddy & saw a bed near a drop off with a 4-5lb male on it. Told my buddy that I’d pitch in the bed to try & get the male off of it & maybe the female would show up. Made the worst pitch ever & fell short of the bed. Let my jig fall into the deeper water & saw my line jump as it fell. Set the hook & all I could do was apologize the rest of the day. I think we had an unbelievable day that day - best five were 23-24lbs.

 

Got a iPhone full of 4+ lbers from strip pits - had a 2 year run about 9 years ago that was unreal during prespawn & throwing jig & craws. That 3rd pic from top was a 6-12 from the pits - totally different build to those compared to the big ones coming from the public honey hole that shan’t be named. I find stuff like that interesting. Going to take my Solix to the public lake & Autochart it & see what I find when it’s too windy to fish at some point. Gotta get a separate battery or I will drain the trolling motor battery in a couple of hours.

Well I guess the underspin catches daggone giants!

 

15 hours ago, RipzLipz said:

Got a iPhone full of 4+ lbers from strip pits

 

I love those four-pounders. When they reach four pounds/19 inches, that's when they start to pull like pit bulls. Here's a four-pounder with nothing special at all about her build, but I will never forget her parking under my canoe, bending my MH rod until the far fourth of the rod was drowning. I was expecting to boat a seven-pounder, but it was this wiry, relentless lass:

 

 

Details, Pat, details! I'm dyin' for details!!!

Well, I was on my way to the store for some dish soap and me and jr decided we might as well see if they are on a buzzbait bite.

 

I tried.  I casted.  I buzzed.  Nary a whiff upon my buzzer.

 

I brought my underspin for my "low n slow" presentation for the evening since I'm trying to build confidence in it.  I worked a break wall and a dock that are fairly well lit and didn't get any attention.

 

Decided to try the shady rip rap wall and first cast slow rolling it back maybe 4 ft down from the drop off I felt the subtlest *tick* you ever felt and being that it was pitch black and I'm an optimist, I set the hook like my life depended on it and she jumped 3 ft into the air rather instantly.  I used her momentum to swing her up and onto the dock and got some photos and set her adrift upon her way back to hunt bream and crayfish and such.

 

Caught her on an Owner Flashy Swimmer with the gold Colorado and a Storm Largo Shad in the Houdini color with tail dipped in chatreuse and I did a red chin.

10 hours ago, galyonj said:

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

This is exactly why you keep ending up in the doghouse when you get back home. Blaming it on @TnRiver46 every time isn’t going to work.

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I love those four-pounders. When they reach four pounds/19 inches, that's when they start to pull like pit bulls. Here's a four-pounder with nothing special at all about her build, but I will never forget her parking under my canoe, bending my MH rod until the first fourth of the rod was drowning. I was expecting to boat a seven-pounder, but it was this wiry, relentless lass:

 

 

Details, Pat, details! I'm dyin' for details!!!

2 years ago in August, dad & I drove over to a strip pit for some late night bassin’. 15 minutes after sliding the boat in, my dad stuck this 6-6 chubby chick on a spinnerbait off of a mid-depth saddle:

She’d been gorging on panfish, obviously. Not 15 minutes later, I had this 4-10 chunk blast my 3/4oz Booyah Moontalker spinnerbait off the other side of the saddle near a weed line & it pulled harder than some of those 6lbers above. Thought for sure I had a new PB until I saw it at the boat. Gave me a bad case of crazy eyes for some reason. Check the belly closely - it was buttcheeked it was so fat:

Fingers over the lenses caused the pink flaring. Got my dad’s on video as he was getting her in.

9 hours ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

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

I do the chest pounding around my son & dad - we can be pretty brutal to one another & funny as well. Dad was with me when I caught the 6-12 on Tuesday & after I released her, I said, "I’m sorry" just loud enough for him to hear. Long running joke - similar instance but waited until we were well on our way home & I apologized & he asked for what & I said "for making you watch me catch that giant."  To add to it, we’ll exclaim “OW!" for days afterwards and act like thumb/wrist is sore. Tuesday night, I walked out with a Kleenex wrapped around my thumb that I’d "bloodied" with a red Sharpie.

 

Not that young anymore - in my 50’s but I try & sneak off like I’m still in my 20s whenever I can.

@RipzLipz: You and your dad are funny!

 

I catch many of my biggest fish in the dark, but your nighttime photos are way better than mine! Your dad's bass is a big-bellied beast! Here's a Maine fatty and you can see my fist would fit in her mouth. What you can't see is her hunchback, for she bulged every which way. You can also see what I mean about my lousy nighttime photos. Photography's tough if you're an old woman alone in a dark swamp in a tippy canoe:

 

 

@Pat Brown: I need to slow roll my underspins more. Mostly, I retrieve them lickety-split. 

17 minutes ago, RipzLipz said:

Told her my doc recommended fishing as much as possible for physical therapy.

 

You have a great doctor. You have great cameras/phones too. My camera is a waterproof Olympus about 40 years old. Holding it with one hand and a wriggling bass with the other is like juggling a baby seal and a newt.

 

You are smart to not name your lake.  

19 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

You are smart to not name your lake.  

My close friends know about it but none are fishing it. I wouldn’t tell anyone that I know wouldn’t release any trophies. After what A-Jay experienced this year in being followed, I probably would be smarter just not sharing at all. That public lake was a hidden gem up until the mid-80s. Caught my PB from there when I was still in grade school. The lake has come back strong - will PM you about it because it’s pretty cool IMO. If I tell the full story publicly, people from the area will figure it out & those trophies will disappear quickly I’m sure. It’s already testing my patience with the current visitors but I try to ignore what irks me & concentrate on fishing as best I can.

Temps made it up to the mid 50s during the day, but that did me no good. By the time I got up to my spot it was a chilly November 44 degrees. Low 30s during the overnights has the water cold. My feet were hurting only two hours in which was my fault for taking the easy route by wearing my PVC hip waders. Even with heavy socks, their integral boots transmit the cold directly to my tootsies. Brrr. Neoprene stocking foot waders with separate boots are so much warmer. Next time for sure.

 

There was zero wind, so even with a moonless sky the baitfish were locked down in place. They wouldn't move an inch even with a bright LED blasting them. Oddly, the Milfoil and Coontail have barely dropped except for right near the shoreline, and they're as crisp as they were in July.

 

Got a few subtle bass bites dragging a Blue/Green -flake fluke where I could find scattered bluegills staged up, but none got the hook. One was heavy for sure, but it just held on tight then let go. I rotated around to the eastern shoreline where I expected the water to be warmer, but strangely it was even colder. At this point my dogs were really barking, so I changed things up for one last go. 

 

Tied on a Black/ Blue-Flake-Blue tipped SK Shim-E Stick and chucked it into a long weed bed in about 1' of water. This zone is pickerel heavy, so I knew I was taking a risk with straight 15lb braid, but beggars can't be choosers and I didn't want to skunk. Got a hard bite, which was very pickerel-esque, then some heavy headshakes and wide runs which is very big pickerel-esque, so I was sure I was getting broken off. Once I saw the fat belly and large mouth my fears subsided. No razor teeth and I lipped a well-fed chunk. Skadoosh. Shuffled out of there, unfroze my frozen feet in the truck, and drove home with a smile.

Hey @PhishLI, that’s a funny looking swimbait ……..

 

nice LM 

I'm afraid of fishing because the water is cold. And then there's @PhishLI, another northern angler, who's not only still fishing, but wading cold water. At night, making me feel like a nimboo-wamby wuss. If Phish ever posts a report about catching bass in a hurricane, I won't be surprised. Here's the trailer for that upcoming hurricane fishing report:

 

"It was hard to concentrate on the water with so many bits and bobs of buildings and trees in the air, requiring me to lurch this way and dive that way. It was also hard to cast into those cat 3 winds, but I had to do that, for casting downwind would have meant I'd have had my back to the incomings."

15 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

If Phish ever posts a report about catching bass in a hurricane, I won't be surprised.

Believe me I've tried, thinking I'd be like a surfer catching a rare monster wave. But then I heard the terrifying report of a tree trunk snapping. That was a clarifying Uh-Oh moment for sure. All at once I realized a mere falling branch could kill me stone dead, or just knock me out cold while I was beans deep in the water only to be ravaged by snapping turtles or whatever slithering karmic vengeance the lake saw fit. By imagining the shame of my wife at my funeral and what the inscription on my tombstone might say, I straightened out my thinking on the idea real fast.

Got a couple of nice smallmouth yesterday. On the fish in the second picture. I felt a hard pull on the line, but when I pulled back it didn't budge. I turned to my partner and said, "I'm hung up", and pointed my rod directly at the snag to let it break off. As I was waiting for it to break the "snag" started running hard to the left. I kind of freaked out. About the time I got myself under control the fish launched out of the water like a rocket. I got a good look at it, and my heart started racing again. I was afraid that we were not going get it, but after several hard dives at the boat she was in the net. My partner got a couple nice ones as well. What a day.

 

 

13 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

Got a couple of nice smallmouth yesterday. On the fish in the second picture. I felt a hard pull on the line, but when I pulled back it didn't budge. I turned to my partner and said, "I'm hung up", and pointed my rod directly at the snag to let it break off. As I was waiting for it to break the "snag" started running hard to the left. I kind of freaked out. About the time I got myself under control the fish launched out of the water like a rocket. I got a good look at it, and my heart started racing again. I was afraid that we were not going get it, but after several hard dives at the boat she was in the net. My partner got a couple nice ones as well. What a day.

 

 

Nice soo-piggies @Fishlegs! Love those wide tails.

 

5 hours ago, PhishLI said:

….beans deep in the water….

Made me LOL

@PhishLI That's a genuine LI slaunch donkey 😎

 

@Fishlegs Great job on the pair of fatties, I really need to go SM fishing.  

Lost the two better bites I had on but that's the way it goes sometimes. Switched from a crawler to a lipless on the same rig and didn't switch up the drag too. Sometimes we get reminders. I still got one bass. I'm ready to get my other two reels back in service so that I can retie less, but neither lews nor daiwa have been quick to ship out in-stock parts

Caught 6 on spoons today in 30 - 40 FOW. Not at all where I thought they'd be in 63 degree water.

Quick after work early evening buzzbait bass:

 

 

Was paralleling a break wall when she slurped it down.  It feels very fishy today so I'm about to do an early morning session.  🎣🎣🎣

I had 15 minutes to fish a work route pond. Caught the dink of the week on a super fluke. The first time I fished this pond I caught 3-4 that were 14-15 inch fish. It hasn’t done me well since…

@Fishlegs: Big bass! Did you get a length or weight on them?

 

@GreenPig: You taunt me with that nasty cap.

 

Sincerely,

 

An old Buckeye

I caught 6 today in 3 hours.........kinda.  I launched my boat at 7:15.   I didn't get the skunk out of the boat until after 10.  The lake was crowded with a catfish tournament, as well as a kayak bass tournament.   I rode around some, then decided to go up the lake.  I got the skunk out of the boat with a 14" Largemouth under the I-85 bridge.  I followed it up with a tiny Spot.   The next was a 14ish (didn't measure it) Spot at the Mountain Island Dam.  Back toward the landing #'s 4 and 5 were a double on a Little John 50.   At first glance in the water I thought it was a LM and a Spot but they were both Spots.  The best 2 of the day.  One was 17" the other was 18".   I decided to fish until the first bass after 1.  I caught a 16" spot on my last cast at 1:13.   The bass were scattered, but I wasn't fishing the part of the lake I'm familiar with.   

 

 

 

Found em on the big lake and caught a few this size on the flashy swimmer/largo shad.  Missed two that were not small.  Going back tomorrow with more lily pad focused presentations.

On 11/16/2023 at 10:48 PM, ol'crickety said:

@RipzLipz: You and your dad are funny!

 

 

@ol'crickety

 

Ow ow ow ow! Started bleeding again! 🤣