JAKE!!! Here's the Jake Big Bass Dance:

 

Tried a brand new lake with a buddy for a quick hour and a half before sunset yesterday and snagged a small bass each.

 

Spinnerbait is still hooking up.

 

Had to miss the better part of the past two weeks and was surprised to find weeds topping out this early which is unusual for early May, but great! Lord, give me salad. Found some nice bites before the rain came in and spotted my first bullfrog.

 

Phish, those are nice ones! Well done, my friend!

Wind was supposed to blow a bit, but from a good direction that should have allowed me to fish the best area I found a couple days back. Turned out they were way off, and the wind was ripping (25 mph) right into most of the stuff I wanted to sit on. By the time I came off the water just about 3 hours later, they had already closed the ramp due to possible safety issues. Had to just scrounge around in a few protected areas I could find, and ended up with 4 small keepers. Did hook a nice channel cat that for a good 60 seconds, I thought was a bass that would have made the trip a big success 😆 Much cooler next week, so hopefully we’ll get to try again.

 

 

 

 

 

I was following a shad spawn up shallow and came around a corner where this guy was waiting for me. I could hear him yelling, "You want a piece of me?" in his best Frank Constanza voice.

 

Fish moved out a little deeper than I expected for this time of year, so I figured it would be a good time to practice with a free rig. They loved that Bellows gill.

 

DoLive beaver also delivered.

 

Got 3 in our small church pond , all on the bandito bug…

Went paddling this morning for a bit during a shad spawn, no takers and I could hear my dogs barking like crazy so I paddled home real quick and put them inside off the porch so the neighbors wouldn’t hate me . 
 

paddled back out and got two with a fluke still on shad spawn, 5/0 EWG nano alpha gamakatsu on spinning gear and 8 lb basix, never tried a hook that big with light tackle but it poked them well

 

gettin toward 10 am and the sun is bright and shad spawn dying down, saw carp eating cicadas. My buddy texted and said put a live one on a hook . Tried that and pitched it to a cruising carp. A big ole bass came out of nowhere and got it, long fight on 4 lb mono paddling backwards and using backreel to keep it away from shore but I won (all 3 pics below same fish)

 

 

next cast with fresh cicada I got a carp that splashed water everywhere upon hookup, same deal paddle backwards and wear it out 4 lb mono 

 

all before 11:30 am , fun morning . I reverse my opinion about the cicadas , they are no longer disappointing 😂. I had to paddle out of our creek to clearer water to get in on the action, that was apparently the key 

I was expecting to struggle today.  We had storms last week (including a tornado a mile from my workplace) along with a BUNCH of rain.  We also had a sudden cold snap.  It was 50 degrees this morning.   I went later than I've been going incase there was debris floating in the lake.  With blue bird skies, North winds and a cold snap I wasn't expecting much.  I lost a decent (2 or 3 pound) Bass on my first cast.(spinnerbait)  I followed up with a wacky, and broke my line on the hookset.   (way too easy to break, I hadn't retied since last week)  I spot locked my boat, retied everything, and sharpened/repaired the bent hook tip on my spinnerbait.  On my 4th cast I caught the biggest Bass I've caught since getting my current boat.  7.91 pounds, 24 1/2 inches long with a skinny 15 7/8" girth.  My PB was 34 years ago.  Typical big Bass strike, but not typical big Bass fight...at first.  I felt the blade stop thumping on my spinner bait and set the hook.  I thought I had snagged a piece of wood, or something.   It was dead weight.........until I saw the boat.  Then.........she freaked out, went under the boat and took off toward deep water.   Luckily I had trimmed up my motor, so I could follow her around the boat with my rod, and not interference.  She ran 50 feet or so, then commenced to walk on her tail......like a big Bass is supposed to do.   After she was good a tired I got her to the boat, and lipped her.  After that I caught 6 more.  The smallest was 13 1/2"  the others were well over the 14" mark on my boat.   The water is "kinda" muddy,  but not as bad as I expected.  Water temp was 73 degrees, the same as last Sunday.   It's ironic that many times when I expect to struggle due to weather, or for other reasons I do real well.  When I think I'm going to slay them I either catch dinks or skunks.   7 isn't great for many here, but it's good for me and a 4 hour trip.  Especially with an almost 8 pound kicker and no dinks.  

 

 

Well done @Woody B!!

Here's my single word commentary on you BR boys:

 

 

Woody, I love your story. You lost two bass. Then you sat and attended to details. Then you landed that beast. The big girl I caught about three weeks ago never fought. She was dead weight all the way. At least yours woke up, took line, and danced for you. 

 

@TnRiver46: Nobody at BR fishes from so many different platforms as you. Beautiful bass. Catching it on four pounds from a tiny boat means you get to add two pounds to her weight.

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Woody, I love your story. You lost two bass. Then you sat and attended to details.

 

There's a lesson there though.  I should have "attended to the details" last night instead of stuffing my face with Pizza and playing my guitar.   

26 minutes ago, Woody B said:

 

There's a lesson there though.  I should have "attended to the details" last night instead of stuffing my face with Pizza and playing my guitar.   

 

Ahhh, pizza and music are fine things too. I know this is heresy and I might be burned at the stake, but bass aren't the only wonderful thing in this wide world. 

 

1 hour ago, Woody B said:

On my 4th cast I caught the biggest Bass I've caught since getting my current boat.  7.91 pounds, 24 1/2 inches long with a skinny 15 7/8" girth. 

[...]

After that I caught 6 more.  The smallest was 13 1/2"  the others were well over the 14" mark on my boat.  

 

 

 

Awesome bass @Woody B! 
 

thanks Katie, it’s a rare day I catch a LM the size of your avg fish but I found one today. I measured a mark on my

rod to see how long it was, I’ll check later. I’m guessing it was at least 4 lbs maybe getting closer to 5 

Strange day. Boated 5; missed 5. 
 

No bass on anything but soft plastics. Struck out on frogs, chatterbaits and squarebills. Caught two on a WR and the rest on a weightless TR. Three on a 5” green pumpkin Senko and two on a black Zoom Magnum Trick. The five I lost hit the TR. But they never got hooked so they still must be picking up baits and moving them off beds. I can blow a hookset like anyone at times, but not five in a day. 
 

All the bass were about 1.5 lbs. except the last one of the day which was about 2.5 lbs. Really put up a good fight!

 

@TnRiver46 intentionally targeting carp. 🤦‍♂️ Never thought I'd see the day. 😂 

 Kidding aside, I bet that rubber lipped bass was a hoot on 4# line. I had a 13 pounder eat my ned on 6# and take me for a half hour ride a few years ago. That fight ended a few hundred yards from where it started, and there was no current involved.

Fished a perfect day, dark overcast and no wind.

The fish were very cooperative with Shakyhead and flickShake, both GPM.

I did keep one of the Alabama bass for the wife, delicious. 

Nice trip @Bird, spots are a fine food 

Caught a carp, a tiny smallie, and a PB pike today. Pics of the carp and the pike and the full story of my day are posted as a status update on my profile page. If you don't like reading, pics of the pike and carp will be in the "Other Species Latest Pics Thread."

 

Well @FishTax and myself and Jake and Josiah participated in a culling tournament amongst friends today and had a FANTASTIC time.

 

We all arrived around 7:30 and Jake started things off with a solid 3 on a frog.  Following his lead I threw a buzzbait and caught a couple and missed 7 bites - all short striking.

 

I start seeing the bugs getting munched on the surface and tie on a spook jr and proceed to wax them pretty efficiently until about noon at which point a pencil popper/jerkbait/drop shot and pop'r caught some more.  The wind picked back up and I tied the spook back on and finished the day with 20 bass - the biggest of which went probably 3.5 and had a fat belly! 

 

Between us all we culled over 200 bream/crappie/catfish/small bass!

 

It was my best day fishing top water ever and it was so fun to see the boys showing such promise and independence!  Josiah caught his first fish all by himself and Jake won the tournament with 80+ fish total (mostly on worms/shiners/plastics)

 

 

We saw some big ones and lots of fat little bellies means next year will be even better!

 

What a Saturday!  Tight lines to all this evening and tomorrow !

Just now, Koz said:

I guess others know about it, too. I see lots of boats steaming for my place then peel off when they see me fishing out there. A few even cursed me. Really? You’re ticked off because I enjoy fishing off MY back yard?

 

Childish, disrespectful, and immature.  It's one thing to see someone fishing there and move on, but to get ticked off and swear?  Gimme a break.

 

BTW I fish a lot of docks in the summer time and I never fish one that has a person on it.

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

 

BTW I fish a lot of docks in the summer time and I never fish one that has a person on it.

I ask and am usually told go for it.  I've had the standers ask for pictures of the fish pulled out from under their dock too.  That being said it they aren't engaging or don't respond I don't ask.

That's just sad, @Koz. Shameful and pathetic too. Nice bass though!

I've never had a bad experience with a dock owner.  If they are out, i usually keep my distance, maybe just wave -- It seems like obvious etiquette to not roll up and start pitching sharp hooks at their stuff when they're standing right there.  But they are often very chatty and want to tell me all about the best spots...so of course I let them (I think they just love their lake and are eager to show it off).   Whenever a dock owner has seen me catch something near their property -- under a dock or boat or whatever-- they are always very excited, want to know what it is and how big, what I caught it on, and they are always happy to see me release it.

 

Granted, this is usually morning, before they have had a chance to become annoyed by everyone else on the lake.