I call them air cows, tastes more like beef. Definitely red meat 

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

 

Its almost a daily occurrence here.  There is a small pond down the road and all kinds of lush, green, manicured lawns this spring in my neighborhood so they love it.  I refuse to allow them in my yard though.  They sh** all over the place and its disgusting.  And they carry avian influenza.  Once they step foot in the yard, I release the beast.  That sends em squawking outta here.  Whoever came up with water chickens has obviously never tried eating one.  They taste nothing like chicken lol.  Taste more like hockey puck.  My wife calls them pothole filler.

 

 

 

You've got a goose Krakken. My deceased mini-Schnauzer loved to chase the geese who'd use the adjoining cemetery as a rest stop. 200 geese. One 18-pound dog...a thousand-plus pounds of geese...and they'd yield. 

They can be aggressive with a nest or goslings around though.  When I used to hunt them, an injured goose was nasty to try and deal with.  I've seen them ward of a full grown black labrador.

 

I can only imagine the amount of goose crap laying around with 200 of them present.  🤢

You are spot on, @gimruis, about the poop. I wish a goose had opened its wings and charged my little guy because after he sent them packing, he'd roll in their poop. 

Just another susky beauty 

A little time on the lake yesterday… caught a few.

22 hours ago, gimruis said:

Like an old tire sitting on shore. “Pure Michigan” 🤣

You got it right there lol, you never know what is going to be on our shores.

Wife and I camped again on a small 19 acre lake that was beyond clear, 20 ft visibility.

Bluebird skies so every fish was caught early on Jackall flickShake GPC.

Same basic weather pattern as yesterday - maybe a bit more hazy and a little cooler. Very light NE breeze. Changed lakes to a bit more stained reservoir. Caught about the same - 9 keeper bass - but overall quality went up. Ned and jig for everything today.

 

 

 

 

Fashion police is on summer vacation but I am detecting the formation of a hole in the right knee of those jeans. 

17 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Fashion police is on summer vacation but I am detecting the formation of a hole in the right knee of those jeans. 

Was able to crop them out of 3 of the pics, but if you’ll look closer, you’ll see the fringes from another hole in the left knee, also. I’m a big fan of symmetry 😉

24 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Was able to crop them out of 3 of the pics, but if you’ll look closer, you’ll see the fringes from another hole in the left knee, also. I’m a big fan of symmetry 😉

Wont be long until your wife refuses to wash them anyways. Then they’ll just naturally get culled out of the fashion lineup.

Some days just kick your butt. Yesterday I could only grab about 45 minutes of fishing time at the pond before work, but spent half that time picking cottonwood fluff off my line and out of my reel. Managed one largie. 

 

 

Then this morning I spent about 2 hours wading the Chippewa. It was a beautiful morning with the mist rising off the river. Saw a bi-coloured squirrel in the parking lot, a turtle on the bottom of the river, innumerable birds of all sorts, but only one fish. Caught him on a T-rigged EFH wyrm. Had another one hit the whopper plopper, but I totally whiffed on the hook set. That's all the action I saw. 

 

 

 

 

Cool squirrel! I like the mist too. 

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I like the mist too. 

 

Honestly, the mist is one of my favorite parts of early morning fishing. It feels so ethereal and mysterious . Lol The picture doesn't do it justice. 

9 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

 

Honestly, the mist is one of my favorite parts of early morning fishing. It feels so ethereal and mysterious . Lol The picture doesn't do it justice. 

 

Here's Mac Davis singing our song:

 

 

Great morning of fishing. Out of my 3 seasons so far, this has to be a top 5 day. Caught 4-5 bass. The fifth one I got to the kayak but lost him when I went for the net. Not really counting that fish so 4 fish this morning. 

 

As iv mentioned though, this season I'm really dedicating myself to improving. I always had luck. Good days, bad days. But I could catch a few pretty regularly. But it felt accidental if that makes sense. 

 

Well today I threw nothing but a t-rigged creature bait. Believe it was a strike king rodent? I'm not sure on that. But I had some minor success Monday with it. So I kept that going. Safe to say I went from not a lot of confidence to fully confident with that technique. Every got a brand new spinning combo last night (like I said, I'm dedicated to improving). Besides throwing a bait I could literally count with my fingers all the times iv thrown it before, and having great success. I also just knew where to find them. The pattern from Monday continued today. Plus iv been paying alot more attention so swirls and what not. Caught 2 by seeing movement and targeting that area. I must say though, I'm terrible casting with spinning gear. Holy cow I need to work on that. 

 

Here's the 2 better fish from today...

 

After getting 2 fairly quickly, I really wanted 5. Got to 4 and decided to stay a little longer even though I was feeling pretty done. Got that 5th to the boat and lost it... little bummed about that. But I was also only out for 4 hours. And had a few other fish I lost. Keep improving and today could of easily been a 7-8 fish morning. Just glad to have things come together rather than just catching them randomly. Today was the first day since I started fishing where I truly felt like I had a purpose and knew what I was doing. Very happy with the morning and broke the new combo in the right way. 

If one thing has remained relatively consistent, it’s that spinnerbaits, jigs and I go together like oil and water. Neither has ever done anything other than one bass here and there, if that. But jigs are starting to change for me. 
 

I started off with a squarebill and that bite was dead. I switched to a Texas rig with a green pumpkin Speed Senko and so was that. I later switched to a weightless TR with a Neko Macho and caught three bass and missed one. Two were on a #956 and one on a blue with black flake. As heavy as Neko Machos are, maybe it’s a semi-weightless. 
 

That bite petered off. I had a blue/black jig with a green pumpkin Rage Bug trailer and figured I’d give it a shot. 45 minutes later I boated 5 bass and missed two (one was pretty good but it was not hooked well and it threw the hook). This was a Nichols Mango jig, which uses a toothpick through a hole to hold the trailer on. I did not have any toothpicks with me and went through that Bug, a Rage Craw and a Rage Menace as trailers quickly lol. I got bites hopping it, swimming it, dragging it over wood and pulling it off the bank. For 45 minutes, that jig was gold! 
 

I caught one more on a weightless Speed Senko TR and called it a day. One bass, the tail was gone and I was left with, well, a Senko. 
 

@JayMac89 Nice bass! The more you fish, the better angler you become. Keep at it!

 

And yeah, while I can skip much easier with a spinning rig, overall I’d say it’s easier to be more accurate with a baitcaster. It takes practice! 

I took my 4 legged partner out this morning for a few hours.  She did not like the family of feathered carp that swam by.  Caught 12 largemouth, nothing real big.  I got a new clamp for my cell phone that attaches to my windshield and tried a photo with it today.  Seems to work pretty decent.  I don't do selfies.  If I catch a muskie by myself this season, then it'll be put to the ultimate test.

 

 

@gimruis

My Border Collie loves the boat but can only take him when the wife and I are just cruising the lake.

Fishing with him is a nightmare especially top water......he dives in after it. 😔

@BrianMDTX: Congrats on your jig success. I always enjoy finding success with a new lure. The last time I was out, I used a long Rapala wakebait for the first time and caught a couple thick ones with that.  This sentence caught my eye: 

 

48 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

45 minutes later I boated 5 bass and missed two (one was pretty good but it was not hooked well and it threw the hook).

 

I think I lose more bass than anyone. It's not uncommon for me to lose five bass in a row. Of course, I can also catch three bass on consecutive casts, but gosh, I sure lose a lot of them. 95% of the time, if they hook a reed, they're free. If they hook wood, I often land them. I don't know why weeds free them so quickly. 

 

My last trip out, I'd paddled a couple miles just to cast into a stream mouth where big bass lurk. That stream is about six feet across and has good current. Alewives and even Atlantic salmon use it, so it's a fish highway. It has bushes arching over it, so it's also a tunnel, and the entrance is fronted/guarded by weeds.

 

It's unforgiving and you might have just one chance to cast into it, since fighting one means another likely won't hit. My first cast had a  bass charge like a bull. Usually, I wait a second before setting the hook, but it hit so hard it set the hook. I managed to land it and managed a second cast. The second hit was even more violent than the first. That fish came out of the tunnel and zipped past my canoe, pulling drag as if I were free-spooling. Then...free.

 

And that's my angling life: Catch one, lose one. 

 

I love dog pics, @gimruis. Thanks!

I managed 8 this morning.  No big ones, but on really small ones either.  First and last are pictured.   Many of the fish are really skinny post spawn.  I was going to fish longer but my "gut" said no.  After my 4th trip to find a restroom I decided to call it a day.   I've pretty much been "sitting" since I got home.   Hopefully I'll be able to fish tomorrow without all the pit stops.   The last few nights have been fairly cool for this time of the year.  The water is 3 degrees cooler than it was Monday.  (78 degrees)

 

1 hour ago, Bird said:

My Border Collie loves the boat but can only take him when the wife and I are just cruising the lake.

Fishing with him is a nightmare especially top water......he dives in after it.

 

I hear ya.  If my dog wasn't behaved in the boat, I wouldn't bring her along.  A misbehaved dog in a boat is a nightmare.  She would come with every time if it was up to her, but the sun/heat really take a toll, so I have to be selective when I take her with.  It was pretty ideal this morning - cloudy, cool, and local.

Had a great morning. As I was tying on my shoes at 6AM I wondered if getting up early was worth it. It is. 

 

Started out the day with a couple dinks that I didn't photograph. Then had something big absolutely HAMMER my crank bait. It ran for a few feet, my drag screaming. And then it came off. Nothing sudden. Didn't break. Just one second I had something massive on the line, the next my bait was cranking along like nothing ever happened. I was so mad. 

 

Then I went on a string of catches. Nothing massive, but I did finish the day with a beautiful 16 incher, which is about as big as I've ever landed out of this pond. Later today I'm gonna take my two little brothers back to this same pond for some worm N bobber fishing. Hoping they have as good a day as I did this morning. 

 

 

This bass I caught directly after that I lost that massive thing, hence my annoyed expression: 

 

 

 

 

 

59 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

Then had something big absolutely HAMMER my crank bait. It ran for a few feet, my drag screaming. And then it came off.

 

Hey, I have this happen every time I go fishing. Welcome to Katie's World! Congrats on all your bass!