Super User J._Bricker Posted July 1 Super User Share Posted July 1 1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said: Took my oldest out in the kayaks for a couple hours Saturday morning. He had a fish caught before I ever got the kayaks set up. Took a last second comeback for me to even the score with him before we had to head home 😅 I had him a little more official with my spare measuring board and a net this time. Hopefully he'll want to try out one of the Tuesday night tournaments before too long. @Bluebasser86 it’s when the student starts to surpass the master is when you know things are as they should be. I gotta say Lake and Finn are well on their way to being great tournament partners with you, and their smiles holding up a fish says it all. Continued good fishing! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Brown Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 We met @IcatchDinks at the secret lil spot™ and we commenced to get learned by Jake on how to catch pond bass on a fluke at sunrise: Just a couple of his many catches including a giant snapping turtle - he really put on a clinic. Well when he stuck a fish on his first and second casts with a fluke I tied one on and fished it hard for an hour or so - never got a bite - Jake was doing something special they really liked! @FishTaxrolled up with a hot cup of coffee and a buzzbait that he claimed didn't run right and that he was having to reel too fast to get on plane......'here, lemme show ya' he says - 'yeah you show me, bud 🫢' I says Yeah he casts it out and it commenced to look quite tasty and got smoked on his first cast and nailed his very first buzzbait bass right before my eyes - on cue! That's a happy @FishTax Well Pat started to get antsy and jealous of all the action and wasn't feeling the fluke so went back to the car for Ole Scummy™ 🐸🐸🐸 Wind picked up and blew back into a drain and a nice pine straw mat formed. A few missed blow ups later I stuck #1 and #2 out of that spot on the shad scum frog: Feisty dudes! I tell the fellas where they're at and start walking the wind blown bank in search of another school to frog and run into @FishTax who claims it's nearly time for work and is feeling distraught with only one catch - he ties on his favorite swim jig with his secret sauce trailer and started doing a very subtle mid stroll technique and within minutes hooked a near 3 lber - the big fish of the day! I tell him about some blow ups that were incredibly subtle and required a very specific cadence to my frog. He asked me to demonstrate before moving on - I cast out maybe 30 yards and demonstrate a subtle twitch walking retrieve 3 feet off the bank and while talking to him my biggest of the day demonstrates the efficacy of my retrieve - on cue! 😂😂😂😂 Snapping turtle got scummys skirt and off to work I went but scummy is ready for some night fishing adventures with Josh and Jeremy and Jake (the three 'J's) - Scummy got a new skirt. Hoping for a giant tonight....stay tuned Bass Resource....🦉🦉🦉🎣🎣🎣 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User ol'crickety Posted July 1 Super User Share Posted July 1 I'm out of reactions, @Pat Brown, but I loved, loved, LOVED your trip report. You are a joyful angler and a fun storyteller. I'm fishing again Wednesday morning with near perfect conditions: 1 m.p.h. wind and partly cloudy. I'm going to launch at a big bass pond. Yeah, I'm a quantity angler, but here and there, I'm hoping for a bigger bass. Maybe with the kid and his dad. Maybe not. I don't yet know if they're up to rising and shining at Crickety o'clock. Shining is the hard part. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishlegs Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said: Hopefully he'll want to try out one of the Tuesday night tournaments before too long. If he had a top notch angler like you chasing him all day then I'd say that's a good sign that he's about ready. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User MIbassyaker Posted July 1 Super User Share Posted July 1 6 hours ago, IcatchDinks said: @Pat Brown, @FishTax, Jake, and myself hit up another urban pond this morning. I hooked a skinny 17 inches right away just after 5:30, and the rest of boys absolutely slaughtered them while I dipped my lure in the water and watched. 😄 I'll post mine and let the others speak for themselves. It was a heckuva fun morning, with more fishing planned for the week. 4 hours ago, Pat Brown said: We met @IcatchDinks at the secret lil spot™ and we commenced to get learned by Jake on how to catch pond bass on a fluke at sunrise: Just a couple of his many catches including a giant snapping turtle - he really put on a clinic. Well when he stuck a fish on his first and second casts with a fluke I tied one on and fished it hard for an hour or so - never got a bite - Jake was doing something special they really liked! @FishTaxrolled up with a hot cup of coffee and a buzzbait that he claimed didn't run right and that he was having to reel too fast to get on plane......'here, lemme show ya' he says - 'yeah you show me, bud 🫢' I says Yeah he casts it out and it commenced to look quite tasty and got smoked on his first cast and nailed his very first buzzbait bass right before my eyes - on cue! That's a happy @FishTax Well Pat started to get antsy and jealous of all the action and wasn't feeling the fluke so went back to the car for Ole Scummy™ 🐸🐸🐸 Wind picked up and blew back into a drain and a nice pine straw mat formed. A few missed blow ups later I stuck #1 and #2 out of that spot on the shad scum frog: Feisty dudes! I tell the fellas where they're at and start walking the wind blown bank in search of another school to frog and run into @FishTax who claims it's nearly time for work and is feeling distraught with only one catch - he ties on his favorite swim jig with his secret sauce trailer and started doing a very subtle mid stroll technique and within minutes hooked a near 3 lber - the big fish of the day! I tell him about some blow ups that were incredibly subtle and required a very specific cadence to my frog. He asked me to demonstrate before moving on - I cast out maybe 30 yards and demonstrate a subtle twitch walking retrieve 3 feet off the bank and while talking to him my biggest of the day demonstrates the efficacy of my retrieve - on cue! 😂😂😂😂 Snapping turtle got scummys skirt and off to work I went but scummy is ready for some night fishing adventures with Josh and Jeremy and Jake (the three 'J's) - Scummy got a new skirt. Hoping for a giant tonight....stay tuned Bass Resource....🦉🦉🦉🎣🎣🎣 Sweet collab. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishTax Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 I had to let @Pat Brown tell the story because he's an awesome story teller. My accountant self is missing that poetic sparkle. I'm about to head out for night fishing. Time for @IcatchDinks to score a huge NC nighttime jig bass! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User ol'crickety Posted July 2 Super User Share Posted July 2 55 minutes ago, FishTax said: I had to let @Pat Brown tell the story because he's an awesome story teller. My accountant self is missing that poetic sparkle. I'm about to head out for night fishing. Time for @IcatchDinks to score a huge NC nighttime jig bass! Go, ICD, go! Yeah, Pat spins a yarn like a spinning jenny. See here: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User scaleface Posted July 2 Super User Share Posted July 2 I counted 28 caught today with the majority 10 to 15 foot deep on worms and 3/4 oz Red Eye Shad. This 4lb 6oz was the largest. Caught on a June Bug Yum Dinger. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcatchDinks Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 Well, @Pat Brown is a great fishing guide and an excellent fishing buddy. There weren't a lot of fish biting during our night fishing trip, but Pat put me on the biggest one that was, and gave the perfect advice of how to cast and retrieve to catch him. It wasn't a monster, but fought like the Dickens. We had loads of fun. I owe a debt of gratitude to Pat and @FishTax for showing this Michigan boy how it's done the North Carolina way. Edit: fish weighted 2.6 lbs 18 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CastingClinic Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 Another quick but slow morning trip. Chased the skunk off with this guy caught pitching a Texas rig into some slop. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User ol'crickety Posted July 2 Super User Share Posted July 2 Anyone else wishin' that they'd be fishin' with @IcatchDinks, @FishTax, and @Pat Brown? 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User T-Billy Posted July 2 Super User Share Posted July 2 3 pounder... 3 footer... The surface temp has dropped 5 degrees in the past week on the back side of that heat wave, and the night bite has cooled right off with it. I only caught this 3.19# and a couple dinks in the 2.5hrs I was out before dawn. I caught the 36" muskie and lost another on an assault eel in the early morning light. It ended up being the only one I caught. I lost five others and had 12 follows, so I moved a total of 18 fish today with only one to show for it. They were back to just nipping at my baits again so I struggled to get solid hookups. Grrr... MUSKIES SUCK!!! 😂 Until they don't that is. 😉 I had the right game plan. I was on good numbers with some quality fish in the mix, I just couldn't close the deal. Five of the follows were in the 40" - 46" range, and one that I lost was a low 40's. Hopefully they're more cooperative next week. I work the next five, then I'll be on fishcation for 11 days. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Baron Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 Today I got up at 3:30am (aka way too early), to capitalize on the dawn topwater bite. I got zero love on topwater 😕 and in fact had zero bass bites at all in what’s “usually” a great morning spot. So I switched gears and tried dragging a Carolina Rig. Didn’t take long until I had the bass of my dreams pulling drag, which quickly degraded into being about 6-7# pike that snipped me off just as I botched the net job and only had him 1/2 in. A bunch more drags, then I threw a chatterbait and flashy swimmer for a 1/2 hour with no more bites. I was now annoyed at getting up so early for nothing, so decided to stop fishing for a bit and map more of this uncharted lake on my Garmin. I explored a shallow weedy bay with pads at the back and some bits of floating mats, that just screamed frog so I reached for my frog rod only to find I’d left it in the garage in my 4am stupor. I cut my flipping bait off, tied on a frog and after changing frogs 3 times to find one I could walk with a telephone pole of a rod, proceeded to get zero bites despite working the entire bay for an hour. So I switched bays, right to the other end of the lake and frogged a bit more with zero bites. Decided oh well they’re not biting shallow today, so I’ll go dropshot on my secret honey hole… which was part of my original plan for the day… too bad my drop shot rod was also in the garage, right next to my frog rod.🙄 By now it was 8:30am - 3.5 hours of fishing and not a single bass, plus two of the rods I intended to bring were somehow left behind. After questioning just why I was even here and wondering how much I money I could get for all my fishing stuff I started dragging a 10” worm along a weed line… and finally caught a couple. But that was for another 1.5 hour of effort. I think that brought me to plan F or G which was continue learning how to use a Carolina Rig. I managed to catch a few more off the edge of a weedy, gravel hump where the weeds start to fade out from 10-15ft. of water. By then it was 11am and I decided I’d had enough mediocre fishing for one day. Ended up with 6 bass between 1-2.5# for about 6 hours of trying.😒 I didn't get skunked, and it was a beautiful morning, but holy cow I feel like I got my butt kicked. I’ve just started 2 weeks vacation, and I sure do hope the fishing gets better.😬🤞🏻 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User ol'crickety Posted July 2 Super User Share Posted July 2 "Fishcastion" is so cute. Don't be mad at me, Tim, for writing that. I'm going fishing with the kid and his dad tomorrow morning. It'll be 1 m.p.h. and partly cloudy, near perfect for windblown canoes. This time, I want the dad to land a big one or three. 55 minutes ago, T-Billy said: I lost five others and had 12 follows, so I moved a total of 18 fish today with only one to show for it. I thought I was the top fish loser at BR, but now I'm thinking we're neck and neck, my friend. J/K. I know how hard it is to land a musky. I've got last place locked down. Anyway, good looking fish, Tim. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User LrgmouthShad Posted July 2 Super User Share Posted July 2 4 hours ago, ol'crickety said: Anyone else wishin' that they'd be fishin' with @IcatchDinks, @FishTax, and @Pat Brown? Hold my beer 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User ol'crickety Posted July 2 Super User Share Posted July 2 3 minutes ago, The Baron said: but holy cow I feel like I got my butt kicked We've all been there and done that. 4 minutes ago, The Baron said: After questioning just why I was even here and wondering how much I money I could get for all my fishing stuff Hey, you're still funny! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User LrgmouthShad Posted July 2 Super User Share Posted July 2 2 Badin today fishing on a boat with Shaky Head Wizard. 1/2oz zoom ol monster Texas rigged. Could not take photo of one because phone was overheating. Shaky head wizard caught 2 as well. Pretty slow day but we made do 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishTax Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 8 hours ago, ol'crickety said: Anyone else wishin' that they'd be fishin' with @IcatchDinks, @FishTax, and @Pat Brown? Come on down and join us! We'd love to have you Katie! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User ol'crickety Posted July 3 Super User Share Posted July 3 48 minutes ago, FishTax said: Come on down and join us! We'd love to have you Katie! I'd love to fish with you guys, but it's sooooooooooo far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Team9nine Posted July 3 Super User Share Posted July 3 Highs in the 80’s today, so snuck out for a couple hours because every day going forward through the weekend will be over 90. Slow bite as I expected, but still picked up 3 keepers on Ned along with a couple bonus bullheads. Could have been worse - lol 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Brown Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Last night was super fun times! Jake nailed two more bass at the spillway before we met up with @FishTax and @IcatchDinks for some night fishin' Sun started to get low and I told @IcatchDinksI wanted to let him do one of my 'big fish casts' that has produced many solid fish and a few big ones over the years from the bank - he did not disappoint! He got this 2.6 lber in as though he might even occasionally catch not dinks! Like a true NC bass angler! We made our way down to the marina to dodge the bat attacks and get some lights over head and see if we could find another fish. I nailed this one off a long laydown on a weightless speed worm. Unfortunately we mostly got bites and lost baits after that and called it a night after a fun group photo/proof of life photo: Had to do real work today and didn't fish til the evening but had a really fun boat trip out with Meagan and Jake. Wind was blowing into a pocket really nicely - saw lots of bream beds and some mayfly action happening along the shady wind blown bank and decided to get to work there and caught some dinks on a fluke. I figured we had the right area and bait - just needed to keep at it and was rewarded with a 5.5 just before we left: Going out super early to sneaky spot with the boys to see if we can get Josh a new PB before he heads back to Michigan this weekend - fingers crossed! 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User ol'crickety Posted July 3 Super User Share Posted July 3 Fingers crossed for Josh/@IcatchDinks! It's 2:46 a.m. here and I'm too excited to sleep anymore. Going fishing this morning with the kid and his dad. Speaking of kids, Jake is growing and growing and growing like a Castaic Lake bass! I've got a couple worms and a fluke rigged, along with a Whopper Plopper and a couple underspins. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Brown Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 We are ready 😎🌄🎣 Good luck to you @ol'crickety 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted July 3 Global Moderator Share Posted July 3 Drove up into some swift water and caught some, still got bugs in my eyes from the drive back to the truck in the dark 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User ol'crickety Posted July 3 Super User Share Posted July 3 The kid, his father, and I went to a quality pond today. We caught a few solid ones up to 18 inches and 36 total, but mostly we just enjoyed being out there together. Is there anything prettier than a red canoe on a northern lake? I mean it. A red canoe on a northern lake is the stuff of 1930s Field and Stream covers. The lake itself is quite a looker too. Oh, yeah, bass. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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