Susky River Rat Posted October 18 Share Posted October 18 The river is the lowest it’s been all year. Still lake fishing 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted October 18 Super User Share Posted October 18 2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: All the fat short NLGM you guys up north post are the most beautiful fish posted in this thread imho. I like their look too, Alex. They're darker than your southern lmb and oftentimes, they're nearly black like this one from yesterday. I like the contrast of the white belly and dark back with green in-between. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User gimruis Posted October 18 Super User Share Posted October 18 3 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: you guys up north post are the most beautiful fish I did notice the fish had some good color today. Normally I don't take note of that but today their blends of green with a vibrant black stripe along the side was more obvious. I think it's the colder water. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throttleplate Posted October 19 Share Posted October 19 These pics are from our last fishing trip on Oct 9 when the day was like late spring weather. I was fishing the culvert and was only getting small bluegill out and around the culvert. Thinking the crappie moved out to their winter home a guy showed up with Gulp minnows using a bobber and he bomb casted as far a he could and he cuaght a 12 inch crappie, then he caught another and ...... I was blown away by all the big crappie he was catching so quickly. So i changed my bobber to a weighted bobber and using 1/8 oz jig along with 1/8 oz split shot and crappie minnows I bomb casted within a few yards from him and i immediantly caught a huge crappie, we struck up a conversation and we were both catching 12- 13 inch crappie every few recasts, the crappie were on feeding frenzie, these were the biggest crappie we have ever caught in numbers. I was so stuck on old habits of fishing close around the culvert i didnt bother casting far out so i thanked him for getting me out of a funk. We caught our limit and went home. The filets were thick and meaty, best crappie day ever. I made a big boo boo when putting a crappie on the stringer which we hung from a rail leading down to the culvert, as i put on the crappie and it slid down the stringer i pulled the stringer completly out of the water to see our catch and when the crppie hit the fish the stringer slipped completly out of my hand and was going into the culvert so my wife grabbed my fishing pole with my Pflueger president XT and stuck the whole rod into the water, reel first to hook the stringer which she was successfull. I was going to put some oil on the line guide bearing but to this day i havnt botherd to. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thediscochef Posted October 19 Share Posted October 19 Well I caught bass today This morning went well, caught some super dinks on the surface then headed to the ripraps for a later morning bite. Hooked into some with a chatterbait. Went home for a nap and some pork belly mac and cheese. Went back for a sunset bite. Decided to throw the 3/4oz red eye shad around for kicks and giggles. Had some adventures with other people's cut/stuck line, eventually lost that lure. I tied on my other one and immediately ran into a brick wall of a fish. I wasn't able to land whatever that was, but I was positive I had a rock for a few seconds until it started kicking. Given that I've caught multiple double digit flatheads right there on red eye shads I'm almost positive it was that. I broke off again. Then I caught this trailer bunk, which held the second lure I'd snapped off. What is old becomes new. After that it was a few more bass on a chatterbait along the ripraps and a warning from the sheriff on the way home. All in all a much less expensive day than it could have been. I'm tired. 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishTax Posted October 19 Share Posted October 19 Caught 3 yesterday on a random pattern I found offshore, thanks to something @A-Jay said a while back that stuck. It was 60/35 high low temps and I was very sure they would be in the Sun. I fished banks for 2 hours with no strikes and was getting irritated. Then I flashed back to what he said. As I was trying to think of a way to Target offshore bass. I had no crank baits with me but did have some chatter baits which I never threw, but I decided to throw them deep and let them touch bottom and then rip off the bottom. Doing that I found several three-pounders in the Sun in about 10 to 12 ft of water on gradual Banks. The sun went down before I filled my limit but I hope to give it another run this weekend and see if that pattern is still in play. I've never had luck with a chatter bait. this was new and fun for me. Fishing offshore with one when I am normally pounding the bank from my kayak. Fall fishing is always something new. 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted October 19 Super User Share Posted October 19 I fished my second of four Indian Summer trips. It was cold when I launched and even though I wore wool, fingerless gloves with Hot Hands stuffed into them, I still had to take a hand warm-up break to keep using them. It was foggy when I launched too. See: I rigged six rods and the wacky worm, spinnerbait, walking bait, and Sixth Sense crankbait all failed to elicit a single hit. All bass were caught on a Yo-Zuri popper and 6" Depps black and green fluke. I caught several around 17 inches, like these two: Then I caught a thick 18.5-incher on my fluke: Then I landed my biggest, a 19.25-incher: There were other solid bass in the 17 to 17.5-inch range: I caught smallies too. Some thinner: And some thicker: We catch bass so differently. I have leaned on my Yo-Zuri popper this fall, catching hundreds of bass on it. I even caught bass today with a high Sun under a blue sky on my popper. No fishing tome tells us to reach for that lure under those conditions, but it worked. Our bass want what our bass want and my trying to force feed them four other lures was fruitless. If you were fishing with me this morning and I reached for my popper at 10:30 a.m. under a cloudless sky and cast into the middle of nothing, you'd think, "Whadda maroon." And I'd reply, "Fish on." Going fishing again tomorrow morning to the same pond. I left my canoe and all my gear there! Here's the pretty pic: 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User BrianMDTX Posted October 19 Super User Share Posted October 19 Not too bad a morning. Should have brought a jacket as I got a bit chilly. Pretty good breeze that blew all the pine needles and algae to the west side of the pond on the north bank. Very nasty lol, but it’s also where the bass were hiding. Caught four, lost one. First was on a squarebill. Second on a black 5” Senko TR and the last two on a black Zoom Magnum Trick TR. Tried an A-Jay special, a jig-and-craw, a green pumpkin Yum Dinger TR, a stupid tube and a Ned rig with no bites. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Baron Posted October 19 Share Posted October 19 Well, that’s it for our 2024 season. Wes and I fished for a couple hours this afternoon. Water temps were 50-53F and we only caught 1 pike. I don’t know where to find ‘em when it’s that cold, so we’re done for the year. It makes me sad, but we had another great year in our little Bass Tracker. Time to winterize the boat and spend more time in the fall woods. (my biscuit topped squirrel pie just came out of the oven 😁) 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted October 19 Super User Share Posted October 19 I'll miss seeing your photos and fish, @The Baron. I also don't have much time remaining beyond fishing tomorrow morning and Tuesday morning. There are three more warm days and then the temps drop 15 degrees. Sigh. But who knows. The Maine bass pull hard...on me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User N Florida Mike Posted October 19 Super User Share Posted October 19 I reconnected with an old friend I hadn’t seen for at least 30 years. He came over to fish and catch up on our lives. It was super windy and cool . We caught around 18 -20 fish on Culprit worms, Super flukes, uv speed worms, and yum dingers. 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thediscochef Posted October 20 Share Posted October 20 On 10/18/2024 at 9:26 PM, thediscochef said: Well I caught bass today This morning went well, caught some super dinks on the surface then headed to the ripraps for a later morning bite. Hooked into some with a chatterbait. Went home for a nap and some pork belly mac and cheese. Went back for a sunset bite. Decided to throw the 3/4oz red eye shad around for kicks and giggles. Had some adventures with other people's cut/stuck line, eventually lost that lure. I tied on my other one and immediately ran into a brick wall of a fish. I wasn't able to land whatever that was, but I was positive I had a rock for a few seconds until it started kicking. Given that I've caught multiple double digit flatheads right there on red eye shads I'm almost positive it was that. I broke off again. Then I caught this trailer bunk, which held the second lure I'd snapped off. What is old becomes new. After that it was a few more bass on a chatterbait along the ripraps and a warning from the sheriff on the way home. All in all a much less expensive day than it could have been. I'm tired. An update: the recovered red eye shad has now been repatriated to its final resting place at the bottom of the lake. Blanked on a topwater bite before that, had some blowups but all missed the bait 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted October 20 Super User Share Posted October 20 I fished again this morning. Cold again, but with double gloves and Hot Hands warmers, I fared better. Not warm, but better. I caught 20 in four hours, which sounds like a fairly busy morning, but it wasn't, as I had two flurries and lots of dead time. This was the biggest: Several this size: Even the smaller ones were well-fed: Except for this super skinny smallie! The pretty pic: I was admiring these three sugar maples all morning, so I paddled over to photograph them: Most of my bass were caught with a Depps 6" fluke. A few were caught on my popper. I also caught three old soda or beer cans with my net, which made them my morning's best catch, as I love to remove lazy people's trash. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted October 20 Global Moderator Share Posted October 20 Got another tricky species, maybe a Kentucky strain spotted bass ? and a skipjack for catfish bait 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnFromLisbon Posted October 21 Share Posted October 21 Here's a few from a trip this weekend This one was 4lb 13oz - my new PB - and bit a walking bait. That was super fun. My first A-Rig fish We caught a bunch of these solid fish, mostly on a drop shot and a jerkbait Yesterday we went bank fishing for about two hours before lunch and I was dragging this little Keitech football jig when I thought I was snagged... Until the snag started swimming off with it. Turns out it was 13 lbs of pure disappointment. I was on 20 lb braid to a 10 lb fluoro leader so it took a couple of minutes to pull her in. 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted October 21 Super User Share Posted October 21 38 minutes ago, JohnFromLisbon said: bit a walking bait. That was super fun. They are super fun! Beautiful bass, John. All your bass are beautiful...and dark, like many of the northern bass we catch in the U.S. Speaking of the U.S., I see your bass boat and wonder if those are made in Spain too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnFromLisbon Posted October 21 Share Posted October 21 59 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said: They are super fun! Beautiful bass, John. All your bass are beautiful...and dark, like many of the northern bass we catch in the U.S. Speaking of the U.S., I see your bass boat and wonder if those are made in Spain too. Thank you! Ours are northern strain, yes - first introduced in the Azores, then on the continent in the 1950s in the town where my grandparents lived. It was a great weekend and some of the best fishing we've ever had. That's our guide's boat, he bought it new a few years ago and had it shipped over. There's a Portuguese company making smaller fiberglass bass boats, but a lot of people around here get Nitros, Trackers, Rangers, etc., all made in the US. They just have to make sure to comply with Euro and local regs, both the boat and the trailer, and they're good to go. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted October 21 Super User Share Posted October 21 Ah, I see. I was wondering because your guide's boat looks so American. 16 minutes ago, JohnFromLisbon said: It was a great weekend and some of the best fishing we've ever had. I'm so happy for you and you sure look just as happy in your photos too! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User FishTank Posted October 21 Super User Share Posted October 21 Caught 6 total and one good one yesterday. It was a strange day. It started out around 42 degrees in the morning but by noon it was 78 with 15mph winds and it brought out the pleasure boaters and nut jobs. It was hard to stay put and fish but this 22in of smallmouth fun made it worth it. Once again on BFS gear and 5lb test fluorocarbon. It took about 10 min to bring it from the 20+ feet of water I was in. I would have taken a better pic but it took a long time to get it out of the net and I wanted to get it back in the water. In the pic below is my Yakattack net. It's 21in wide and this guy was an inch or two wider. This also my PB smallmouth. It was a blast. 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted October 21 Super User Share Posted October 21 IF I fish my friend's pond tomorrow morning, I'm going to be non-Crickety and fish a Ned bait. I'm a run and gun angler, throwing big lures for the most active fish and paddling, paddling, paddling, always moving, but I've been thinking about the two flurries yesterday where I caught most of my fish and they were at two weed beds that are still green. And I'm guessing that I could have mined more bass from those beds with a subtle, stay-on-site presentation. I'm going to scout the busted dam today. If it's safe to launch there tomorrow morning, I might. Otherwise I'm Ned fishing my pal's pond. 4 minutes ago, FishTank said: I would have taken a better pic but it took a long time to get it out of the net and I wanted to get it back in the water. Thank you for protecting our beloved resource. And CONGATS on the new PB. My longest smallies ever were some 21.5-inchers, so you've surpassed me and that makes me happy. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted October 21 Global Moderator Share Posted October 21 This past weekend I went on an adventure to catch a Missouri muskie from my kayak. Went to a little lake with a very healthy population of toothy fish as well as some really nice bass. Hadn't been there in many years, to say I was excited would be an understatement. Getting to break out my muskie baits and rods really got me going. It was a little cooler and way windier than I expected after making the 3.5 hour drive to the lake. Glad that I had tossed a set of thermals in last minute but was regretting the decision to tough it out in the Crocs. The lake was way down and had a lot more vegetation in it than last time I fished it. I started right at the ramp, alternating between tossing muskie and bass baits and actually had a couple muskie surface near the boat but none were interested in anything I had to offer. I was catching a decent number of bass but nothing of any size. Worked a few coves and points before I pulled into a cove I had caught one of my biggest bass ever from the lake out of some brush. I was working a Rage Bug through the brush and picked off a few more small bass. I got hit in one but missed it. After a few more pitches back, I got bit again and didn't miss. The weight on the other end told me it was a good one, and I quickly caught sight of it and realized it wasn't a bass, it was my muskie. Trying to control it and hoping my 17lb Tatsu would avoid the teeth, I reached with my net that felt so huge until I was trying to put that fish in it, but got it scooped up. My soft tape showed it right around 40". No good way to take out of the water pictures by myself, but I'll have some screen grabs from the video once I'm done with it. 10:30 in the morning on the first day and I'd already made my trip, that made the rest of the weekend easy. I worked through some more coves and picked up a nice bass out of a laydown. I'd figured out the bass were really liking a little finesse jig. I was working a Berkley Slobberknocker around some pads on a mainlake point and just finishing up a cast when a shadow flashed up behind it. The muskie was close enough to almost touch the bait and followed through the turn at the boat but then disappeared. I ran several more baits through the area but it never came back. Worked across the dam, which I never do but with the trolling motor, I was really able to cover water. I tried a lipless crankbait and started picking up fish steadily all across the dam, including one fairly healthy fish. I ran to the back of the next big cove that had some standing timber because I remembered catching some nice bass off the trees. Well there wasn't much water around most of the trees with the water being so low. Disappointed, I kept picking through them and found one big tree that was actually still in 10' of water sitting off by itself. I hopped my jig a couple times and felt the thump through the wind and bow in my line. I thought I'd hooked another muskie until the big head clear the water. She wasn't my heaviest of the year, but at 21.75", it was my longest bass of the year. I ran through a lot more water. Nothing I really liked and didn't catch much. I was running out of daylight and needed to setup my tent still, which I had to do at another lake 15 minutes away because camping isn't allowed on this lake. I wanted to check out as much of the lake as I could the first day so I knew where to spend my time the rest of the trip. I was getting close to the far end of the lake where I'd caught some good bass off some laydowns in past trips. Well those laydowns were mostly dry to my disappointment. I was cruising by one laydown that was actually in the water when a big swirl suddenly caught my eye. I grabbed a muskie rod with a Mepp's Giant Killer and tossed it along the laydown. I didn't get many cranks in when a muskie shot out of nowhere and engulfed it. After a brief fight, I netted my second muskie of the day! A much thicker but shorter fish at 37" inches. This one was mean and didn't want me to get the hook out, got me a little bit in the process. That would be my final fish of the first day. The second day was a day of frustration. It started off right away when my new GoPro wouldn't even turn on. The first day I had issues with it shutting off and "repairing file", constantly towards the end of the day, which caused me to miss most of my second muskie on video. The bigger issue to me, with no GoPro, I had no way to take any pictures of a muskie except the in the net picture. Bummed, I even took it back to the truck and messed with it, no luck (of course it turned right on when I got home). The bright side in all of this, while I was messing with my camera, I noticed fish constantly messing around in the weeds by the ramp. I had a rod with a YUM Tip Toad rigged up, so I started working through those weeds. It didn't take maybe 3 cast before a muskie blasted it but missed it. I ran several more baits through but no luck. Switching back to the toad, first cast it waked back up behind it but didn't it. Next cast back, another alligator wake behind it, this time complete with fin and tail out of the water, then a head, mouth and teeth popped up and my bait was gone. This fish was another fighter, taking me around the front of the kayak twice before I got it in the net, which was received with a golf clap from the guys on the ramp that watched the whole thing go down. Muskie #3 was a 39" toad eater, my first ever topwater muskie. My hook and toad were understandably trashed, so I switched to a Booyah Toadrunner and kept working that grass. It wasn't 10 minutes later when I had another muskie go airborne with my bait in it's mouth. When she went back down, I hammered the hooks home. The fish surged under the kayak, and the hooks pulled out. After the morning, it got hot, sunny, and calm. I never saw another muskie and the bass I was catching were really small. I did have a few bites on a jig that felt bigger, but I either missed them or they broke me off in the wood. With my camera no longer working, and only going to have a few hours to fish in the morning, I decided to just head home a day early. It was an amazing trip and I'm not going to let it be 10 years before I go back next time. 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted October 21 Super User Share Posted October 21 Clayton's accounts are just as exciting when he's fishing on his own as when he's competing in a tournament. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User T-Billy Posted October 21 Super User Share Posted October 21 Nice work @Bluebasser86!!! Congrats!!! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User MIbassyaker Posted October 21 Super User Share Posted October 21 Well, I've managed the three outings I'd hoped for this month before hanging things up for the year. First trip I got skunked. Second trip was to a lake I have never fished before; I caught one small pike and one tiny largemouth. Third trip was better, with 12 in 3 hours --a pretty good rate for me-- but this pair of 17"s were the only ones of any size: BFFs Lizard and Spinnerbait, enjoying the fall colors: And that's probably going to be a wrap for me on the year. I might find a spare hour here or there to walk the riverbank and make a few casts, but the chances of actually catching any more bass before Spring are pretty low. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted October 21 Global Moderator Share Posted October 21 1 hour ago, T-Billy said: Nice work @Bluebasser86!!! Congrats!!! Thanks @T-Billy! They don’t get nearly as big here, but anybody who chases them knows that each one feels like a real achievement. I’m hoping to do it again next year and drag a couple buddies along who have never caught one before so I can get them addicted to chasing them also 😂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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