17 hours ago, softwateronly said:

if you’re unaware and interested in lmb health post release, there’s been studies that conclude we can damage a bass’s jaw by holding them horizontal without supporting their weight with our other hand. The best practice for continued catch and release angling is one hand vertical or two hand weight supported horizontal.

 

I immediately thought this when I saw those photos too.  I'm glad someone pointed it out (and that someone wasn't me).  Thank you

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

 

I immediately thought this when I saw those photos too.  I'm glad someone pointed it out (and that someone wasn't me).  Thank you

@softwateronly said it better than I did. I'm super glad he clarified what I was trying to say. 

I went Tuesday morning for a few hours and caught 8, nothing huge.  Went again Wednesday night around 11 and fished until 4:30am.   I caught 12 none huge, but at least none were tiny.   After bragging on not losing many decent fish I lost one that would have been around 5 pounds.  I was fumbling with my net and basically pulled up and switched directions with my rod.   I should play like I was trying to unhook it without getting it in the boat.  I simply pulled the wrong direction and removed the hook.   Examination of the hook revealed the barb was broken off, but I would have got it in the boat had I not changed directions on it boatside.   2 trips covering 3 days.  One from each day is pictured.  

Water temp varied from 84 to 86 depending on time of day and area of the lake.

 

I'm going to a different lake tomorrow morning.  

@Woody B: I wish I could report that I lost a single bass, but I lose so many. This morning, I tried fishing with the Crush City Mayor on an underspin swim jig, but I had to retrieve so quickly to keep it above the weeds that bass weren't interested. So, I reverted to a nearly buried hook on a Harmony underspin and lost more bass than I boated. So did the kid. Part of the problem is that I, like @AlabamaSpothunter, don't want to wound a bass, so I set the hook early, knowing that they will swallow a Mayor on an underspin if I give them a few seconds. Anyway, Woody, you land way more than you lose, unlike me. 

Trial run for the new boat umbrella setup - and everything worked great. Sets up and tears down in about 2 minutes. Made a big difference out on the water.

 

High of 88 deg., partly sunny, NE breeze at 7 mph. Scored a couple largemouth on Ned and two dozen nice crappie. Only snagged the umbrella once 😉

@Blue Raider Bob

 

 

 

 

 

I went fishing at Presa Pocho yesterday and today.  I landed one 10.2 pound bass 25 inch first picture, on a Junebug Zoom Ole Monster( My hot lure this spring), a 6.8 pound bass 23 inch second picture, on a square bill, numerus smaller bass on a variety of lures, and one 205 pound 72 inch  fisherman third picture, also on a square bill.

 

                                                                                                                                                             My first cast I got a bite and missed, second cast I  landed a 4.5 pound bass.  Great way to start the day.  I continued to catch small bass suspended in trees in deep water.  The water temp. was 79 degrees, which is the warmest I have ever seen it at this lake.  I was thinking the bigger bass must be still in the trees but deeper cooler water.  The trees have large horizontal branches making it difficult to get lures below them. There is a fence line running in to the water from shore not far from one of the trees I like to fish.   I always make a cast or two at some of the fence posts just because I have a hard time passing up visible targets even if they are only in 4 feet of water this time of year.  I have never caught a bass over a pound on one of these posts, and doubted there were any bass this shallow, but as usual I had to make a cast while I was in the area.  First cast I hooked and landed a 10.2 pound bass.  It just goes to show how often I am wrong about where the big fish should be, and I usually catch my biggest bass at random times, due to dumb luck.  Dumb luck or not, a DD is still a DD, I wont complain.  Of course I worked many more shallow fence lines over for nothing but baby bass.

 

I went back to fishing the deep trees.  My first cast I set the hook hard into what  I thought was a tree but right when I was going to pedal over to try and get my lure the tree almost jerked the rod out of my hands.  The bass wrapped me on a limb, and after a few minuets of give and take, she managed to wrap it solid, and snap the line.  I guess my dumb luck was over, and I was back to my normal bass fishing style complete, with a giant that got away story.

 

Mid day I hooked a 1 pound bass and reached down to release it.  I grabbed the leader, and the small bass jumped over my arm, hooking me with one of the treble hooks.  It took a minuet to release the bass a and I have never seen a 1 pound bass fight so hard.  Maybe it didn't fight any harder than normal, but my arm just might be more sensitive than any rod I have ever had.  Luckily there was a couple commercial fisherman taking a siesta in hammocks not to far away.  I pedaled over to the bank and walked over to where they take their brake.  They helped remove the hook and I gave them the lucky lure.  I was back to fishing with only a small delay in my day.

 

Today was slow.  I caught a few small bass at my regular spots, and decided to try exploring a bit down the lake.  I always troll while moving and caught a couple small bass after only a short distance trolling.  I debated not putting the line out again, because I didn't think I would hook anything of size, and I was wasting time stopping to unhook 1 pound bass.  I was travelling over a featureless flat, and didn't expect to catch anything, but I put the line out because it can't hurt to have a bait in the water.  I went about 10 yards and hooked a 6.8 pound bass.  I spent the next hour criss crossing that spot looking for any kind of cover or structure, but found nothing.  The flat was a consistent 8 feet deep, mud bottom, with zero irregular features.  Again just dumb luck.  

 

The other end of the lake didn't produce any more bass, and because it was raining hard I decided to troll back to the launch and go home.  I didn't even get a small bass on my way back.  I should have stayed and fished all day in the rain, but it sure is nice being warm and dry at home.  Even in Mexico it gets cold fishing all day in the rain wearing only shorts and a T shirt.

 

 

 

@king fisher  Amazing fish, congrats on the mega!!!!!

 

I'd take a treble through the arm for a DD any day of the week and twice on sunday 😁

@king fisher: You are a heckuva angler and storyteller.

 

@Team9nine: Cool umbrella rig. Literally and figuratively. 

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

Trial run for the new boat umbrella setup

I’ve got one very similar on my deck. Just a word of advice. Don’t use it if there’s some wind. Mine folded upward like an accordion in a gust of wind, broke into 3 pieces, and ended up in the neighbors yard.

13 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I’ve got one very similar on my deck. Just a word of advice. Don’t use it if there’s some wind. Mine folded upward like an accordion in a gust of wind, broke into 3 pieces, and ended up in the neighbors yard.

I’ll try and remember that. Mostly for those sunny, hot, calm days (dog days) where you feel like you’re baking out in the middle of the lake 🫠

Every Thursday evening I play volleyball in a recreational league at the park. The park surrounded by a river. We had an hour in between games, so I waded around in the river looking for a bite. The stretch I was fishing has never been a big producer for me, but I caught a couple rock bass and one tiny smallmouth to confirm to myself that I do indeed still catch dinks. 

 

Rented a pontoon for a few hours tonight on Gun Lake with Wifey for our Anniversary.  Less a fishing trip than a cruising-around trip, but I brought some rods and got a couple on the Ned rig:

 

5 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

Rented a pontoon for a few hours tonight

 

These fish are always a letdown - they hit like a ton of bricks, then you feel the characteristic death roll. I think they are spawning now, that’s when the males can get super aggressive hence the moving bait bites. One on a buzzbait in a hole through the weeds and another on a glide along a rock ledge.

I dumped two good smallies early on before the heat sent them deep. I got a dozen dragging a swinging jig through a deep hole. Nothing big but good practice with strike detection. 

Also this was in the sky while I was catching. Not a rainbow, more like rain circle.

11 hours ago, gimruis said:

I’ve got one very similar on my deck. Just a word of advice. Don’t use it if there’s some wind. Mine folded upward like an accordion in a gust of wind, broke into 3 pieces, and ended up in the neighbors yard.

I second that! Had a triple canopy caught a huge, sudden squall on the Cumberland river. Broke the pole and sent the umbrella into the drink. Now it's structure.

9 hours ago, IcatchDinks said:

Every Thursday evening I play volleyball in a recreational league at the park. The park surrounded by a river. We had an hour in between games, so I waded around in the river looking for a bite. The stretch I was fishing has never been a big producer for me, but I caught a couple rock bass and one tiny smallmouth to confirm to myself that I do indeed still catch dinks. 

 

I love this! Took his gear to volleyball games and waded the river between games. All the people in the stands were wondering, "Who is that nut"?  All the BR crew is thinking, "Yep, one of us"!

15 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

I love this! Took his gear to volleyball games and waded the river between games. All the people in the stands were wondering, "Who is that nut"?  All the BR crew is thinking, "Yep, one of us"!

 

Funny post, Bob. Funny 'cause it's TRUE!

Caught a bunch of dinks this morning before work. Caught around ten. These were the three biggest ones. 

 

 

 

57 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Had a triple canopy caught a huge, sudden squall on the Cumberland river. Broke the pole and sent the umbrella into the drink.

 

Umbrellas are not meant to fold upwards.  They are meant to fold downwards.

 

Luckily, the base of mine survived when that wind took it.  So I simply just had to buy a new shade umbrella and I could use the same base.  Now, I wrap that sucker with 3 bungee cords when not in use too.

Hit the crappie hole this morning from 5-7 am.  Caught 4 on 6 bites.  Unfortunately all smaller than average for this body of water. Trying a new body of water Sunday, from a kayak no less.  Hopefully I can report back that I boated some quality fish. 

I went to a different lake today.  Monticello Reservoir in Fairfield County SC.   It's a man made ~7000 acre lake.  It's a "pumped storage facility" for a nuclear plant.  I was hoping to catch some Menderchuck reject Smallmouth Bass.   I started out in a rocky area and quickly caught 3 decent Largemouth.   The first 2 were ~3 pounds (guess, first 2 pictures).  The 3rd was 4.26 pounds (actually weighed, 3rd picture).  There was a little bit of mayfly action early.   The shallow bite died so I moves off shore.   I caught a BUNCH of tiny Largemouth 25 to 40 feet deep but now decent Bass.   (one dink pictured)   I'd find schools around deep brushpiles.  I've been keeping my Active Target depth at 25 feet (and range at 100 feet) for a while instead of "auto" so I could gauge the size of fish.  I had to change that to 50 feet so I didn't have a good idea of the size of fish in the schools.   I'd catch a couple dinks at a location, then move to find some more.  I never found any decent sized deep Bass or any Smallmouth.   I've got Bass thumb, but it doesn't count since there were only 3 Bass over 14 inches.   I'm not sure where I'm going tomorrow yet.   I'm considering a Broad River trip to try and catch some Brown Bass but I'm not sure about my boat in a river.  There's a dam, and a 238 acre "lake" but it's over 100 years old, and probably full of silt.  

 

One more test for the umbrella setup today. High of 90, just a few clouds, and NE breeze at 5-7 mph. Definitely makes a difference when out in those conditions. Found a few bass on one structure that I was able to trigger on a deep crank. Couldn’t buy a bite on slower stuff. Also picked off a dozen crappie on a brushpile I found in the area. That will be it most likely until we drop back to 90 or below, which isn’t supposed to be until late next week.

 

 

I got out with a buddy of mine on a guided trip he invited me to. I haven't really fished since my big day at Texoma a while back. A new lake for us, a very small one compared to our normal (but closed) territory. We threw mostly worms and jigs today. Tough conditions; super still with big sun and an obvious thermocline setting up. Max depth 20 feet, very muddy sort of bath tub type place, basically all the relatable structure or cover is around the rim with the exception of a couple brush and rock piles. I dragged a shakey head across a ledge though and hooked into this 4-7 midway through the day. She wound up being big bass for the day. I caught two small dinks otherwise. Slow tough day but it's the first 4+ I've had in several weeks so I feel good about it.

I fished for 2.5 hours and struggled to catch ten bass, catching the 10th, a smallmouth, in the dark on the paddle back. However, the ninth bass was a nice one and she's the third one down. The temp here is dropping fast, about 30 degrees in 30 hours, so that might be why they weren't hitting like they normally do. Still, I was happy to be on the water.

 

Congrats, @thediscochef!

 

Nice one too, @Woody B!

Caught a couple of good ones the past few days.  The first was on a Megabass Siglett.  I caught fish of all shapes, species, and sizes on this bait. It's just a blast. BFS gear once again. 

 

 

I also broke in my new Tatula BF 70. Fun reel but it has a few issues, like the random backlashes (as though there are no brakes), load noise on casting (sounds like screech and a rattel) and line getting between the spool and the frame. It does bring in the fish though.  I caught about 15 small ones and a couple of good ones. All on 5lb Sunline Invisible and a trout bait.

 

 

 

 

I caught this little guy in the first 10 minutes and then it went dead for 2 hours and I called it good. But hey a fish in 10 minutes after it’s been over 2 weeks is a win in my book.