21 minutes ago, J._Bricker said:

The tule fog lifted, the sun came out and a friend and I were able to get out on the water with favorable conditions. The weather forecast is showing no rain for the foreseeable future this February, which means a lot of good fishing days. My first decent fish of 2018 was this 4.2lb largemouth.

I didn't catch a largemouth that big all of last year that I can recall. Excellent first bass of 2018

12 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I didn't catch a largemouth that big all of last year that I can recall. Excellent first bass of 2018

Thank you sir!

Been a crazy winter in a not so good way with very little precip and unseasonably warm temps, but on a positive note it seems to have jumped the prespawn action up a month or so. Caught 30+ yesterday in 74* t-shirt/shorts weather and 58* water temps.

 

I am fortunate enough to get to fish one of the coolest places in the entire world as far as I'm concerned. Snow on the ground, ice in my guides, and I'm watching them chase bluegill up on the bank, while sight casting to cruisers. I even got one to eat a frog but I missed him!

Tale of 2 days for me this week. Monday I worked hard for 1 bite, and it did not end well.

 

Tuesday I was catching so many fish I started trying to see what wouldn't work. When I was catching them on a 190 Plopper in 14 degree air temps in a foot of water, I knew the answer. They were tearing up my Donut Shad swimbait until the zebra mussels claimed it

 

@Bluebasser86good time with those wipers, too bad my lake only got LMB. Iwanna go catch some strippers at DVL, but don't have nobody to share the boat rental with me.

Ok...going to try and post pic's another way...son said it's better.....will see.  Here's a couple pictures from yesterday.  Was a beautiful day....started in the high 30's and got into the mid 40's.  Still wearing the gloves...and loving them.  I'm showing a picture of a beautiful boat ramp (almost like my private lake in winter but not)  The rain we had the other day has them chasing the jerk a LOT better....Tight Lines

Lots of aggressive 2-3 pounders have been moving up the past couple weeks... hoping the big girls aren't too far behind.

 

 

Apparently even carp like Ned rigs...

 

Big one of the day.

I made it out for an hour and a half before dark. The fish are bedding finally. Traditionally , the first batch of bedding fish on my lake relate mostly to wood bulkhead. Today was no exception. I used a 10 inch grape shad culprit to catch the first fish ( 3.11 ) against A wood b.head. A subtle presentation is best, so I either skip the worm into position, or cast to the bank and gently pull it in , which is how I caught the first fish.

Fished other areas, including laydowns near the island, with no results. Caught the 2nd fish ( 2.8 ) near a dock and b.head, with some kind of black grape with green specks ribbon rail worm. Had to winch him out from around the dock pilings. Turned around and skipped the next cast into a nice pocket between the bulkhead and grass bed. The 3rd fish 

( 3.14 ) Hit the same worm. 

Excited to see the fish up shallow !?

 

 

Prespawn is officially here. I love pitching jigs in the cypress knees when the girls start showing up, and the in close battle. This is the first one that looks like she's been fanning a bed. Bottom tip of tail is a little red

Here is my most recent fishing report from.......er, my office at work on Friday:

2.9lbs on a 6th Sense Baby Live Bluegill squarebill.

 

4 1/2 hours in the marshes are the Sabine River produced the following results skunked first time in 2018 ?

9 minutes ago, Catt said:

Skunked for the first time in 2018 ?

Gotta go back and revaluation all your posts lol.

 

He should try structure fishing off shore, instead of bank beating!

 

Maybe he forgot to have BOTH the jig and the texas rig tied on 24/7!

On 2/14/2018 at 6:51 AM, Catt said:

4 1/2 hours in the marshes are the Sabine River produced the following results skunked first time in 2018 ?

 

Newbies should take note: If it happens to Catt, it will happen to you too....

1 hour ago, Catt said:

4 1/2 hours in the marshes are the Sabine River produced the following results skunked first time in 2018 ?

There ya go ~ 

At least you got your One for the year out of the way early . . . 

Congrats

A-Jay

My youngest son & his friend were talking on the way home about; water was extremely low, low tide on the of that with little movement, very murky, & cold water.

 

I replied; the problem was operator error?

Always is!  Every time I came back from a difficult day, someone was catching.  Sometimes that person was me, sometimes not.

An old guide told me years ago, "the fish are always biting somewhere, our job is to find somewhere!"

 

Don't find it yesterday! ?

2 hours ago, Catt said:

4 1/2 hours in the marshes are the Sabine River produced the following results skunked first time in 2018 ?

That #@$&_ polecat has been climbing into my boat ever since it started raining. I hate muddy water. It was so muddy Monday you could see coon tracks on the water. I'm not good at shallow green fish

I posted this post already in "Other Species," but I wanted to post it here as well, because these photos, I thought, are pretty interesting. Well, actually it's these fish that are interesting. 

 

Many of our local waters are populated with the invasive, algae-eating, armor-plated catfish species known as Plecostomus (from the Greek for "folded mouth").  They apparently originated, like many invasive species, from home aquaria. It is pretty rare to catch one without deliberately snagging it with a weighted treble hook. But today this guy ate my lipless crankbait, or I assume he did, since, as you can see, he's hooked in the lip. Another surprise was that on the very next cast I caught another pleco with the same lure! But the second puppy was foul hooked in the dorsal fin. I found I needed a towel to hold these guys, because the tough overlapping armor plating opened and closed as they wiggled side to side, pinching my skin in the process.

 

 

Here’s the biggest LMB of the 10 I caught yesterday (2/14) in my neighborhood pond. I caught 6 and missed about 20 on Monday, but you had to pay very close attention and wait for your line to twitch or move. Never felt a single bite Monday. Not the case yesterday. Felt that good THUMP for every fish