1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I'm just glad that somebody is catching fish and sharing their catches! 

Yeah! I'm glad too! Loll. Without these people on here and some really really good advice from someone on YouTube, I wouldn't have even had the confidence in fishing winter water haha.

Honestly kinda surprised that I managed to even get more than 3 in those 3 days there 😂😂

On 2/14/2025 at 2:05 PM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Almost sunk the S.S. Minnow,

The BR crew has ordained by Priestly authority the S.S. Minnow.... UN-sinkable!

The recent 4” of cold rain we received has put a nice stain throughout the lake and dropped water temps into the high 40s. Tomorrow, the next Arctic blast hits with a rain/snow/sleet mix, followed by a couple windy, cold days. But today was nice, topping 50 degrees with a light breeze and some sun…and I was able to scrounge half a dozen bass to the boat - happy, happy.

 

 

 

9 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

But today was nice, topping 50 degrees with a light breeze and some sun…and I was able to scrounge half a dozen bass to the boat - happy, happy.

Looks like you’ve upgraded your wardrobe too.

@Team9nine: I think your migration from bank fishing in the Midwest to boat fishing in the South is fascinating in large part because you consistently caught and catch bass in two starkly different environments.

 

 

I didn't see any learning hiccups, but were there? And if so, what was challenging and how did you overcome it?

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

@Team9nine: I think your migration from bank fishing in the Midwest to boat fishing in the South is fascinating in large part because you consistently caught and catch bass in two starkly different environments.

 

 

I didn't see any learning hiccups, but were there? And if so, what was challenging and how did you overcome it?

“Now, the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey would say. I’ve never been without a boat for the last 35 years. The Midwest bank stuff was just the most convenient for a stretch of time, but a lot of boat trips were still made, just often for crappie. Prior to that, though, I fished bass tournaments for 25 years, so I’ve seen a lot of water in my day. I was actually looking forward to the challenge of fishing completely ‘new to me’ water for bass. There were still some adjustments; mostly different types of structure and cover types compared to the Midwest, along with some deep water options now that we rarely had back in the Midwest. The suspended bass bite is all new to me, too. It took about 3-4 fishless trips to figure it out back in January, but the pieces are finally falling into place. But every day on the water is a learning opportunity.

Had a fun, productive trip after work despite the best efforts of the rowing club. I offered them $20 to go somewhere else after their fleet of a dozen row boats plus Jon boats at half throttle passed my me for the 10th time back and forth. Caught 4-5 bass and 4 crappie, with two of the crappie being keepers . Not bad for 1.5 hours! Also saw a pretty sunset. The mistake I made was leaving my canoe in the back of my truck all night and it snowed, was a little heavy this morning 😂 

 

"He chomped me." Heh!

Pretty brutal front moved through mid-week. First day post front and I knew it would be tough. Missed a good bite, broke one off, but was able to land a pair of 3 pounders…just so happens one was a crappie, and it was the bigger of the two (3.30) 😎
 

These fish are Lake Menderchuck Bait & Tackle approved (last pic) 😉

 

 

 

 

I know this is a bass thread, but if @Team9nine stopped sharing his mega-crappies in this thread, I'd sure miss them. 

Congrats @Team9nine That's pretty dang epic to catch two 3lb Crappies in one day, that's more than many Crappie anglers will catch in a lifetime.      

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

Pretty brutal front moved through mid-week. First day post front and I knew it would be tough. Missed a good bite, broke one off, but was able to land a pair of 3 pounders…just so happens one was a crappie, and it was the bigger of the two (3.30) 😎
 

These fish are Lake Menderchuck Bait & Tackle approved (last pic) 😉

 

 

 

 

@Team9nine those are complete freak sized crappie

AND

You know you just made my day.

Congrats

😉

A-Jay

@Team9nine: FWIW, we wear the same gloves. I hope I don't get cited for wearing your gloves! 

8 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

@Team9nine: FWIW, we wear the same gloves. I hope I don't get cited for wearing your gloves! 

 

We must share a bit of the same practicality (or is it frugality?)...at least until it comes to jeans  Then I probably get you there - lol

Finally had a good day in cold muddy water.   The past several winters it's been almost impossible to just get a bite, but I was able to get about 22.5lbs with an awesome 8.2 and 6.2.   Next day not as great but caught a nice 6.15.    Finally, fished again today with about 1.5ft of viz and only had 5 bites but one was a 5.15.    

 

This 8.2 had eyes on her that are just wild.     Thanks to the Zillion's audible drag she put on a good show as well.     

 

 

6.15

 

6.2 

 

5.15

 

Finally here's a fish that had a tail down it's throat, and a claw coming out it's butt 🤣

 

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

 

We must share a bit of the same practicality (or is it frugality?)...at least until it comes to jeans  Then I probably get you there - lol

 

My fingerless gloves are as hole-y as your jeans. I don't care. They work just fine. I don't wear jeans from my decades of wilderness tripping where we say, "Cotton kills."

 

@AlabamaSpothunter: Three BIG bass. Those eyes make me laugh! Alex, if you taught a class in Maine on catching bass, I'd be sitting in the front row and taking notes! I'd also give you an apple everyday! 

Why thank you Katie!   

 

One of many amazing things about Bass fishing is always thinking up new hypothesis on Bass behavior or biology.    The fact many, but not every big LMB have bug eyes is an interesting thought experiment.   

 

One thought I have is the big fish with bug eyes get that way from living the majority of their life as deep water specialist.   I feel like they can grow larger eyes based on the environment they predominately hunt in.   

 

Even better thought experiment is why I spend so much time thinking about Bass eyes 🤣

@Team9nine could turn Wally Marshall green with envy with those mad crappie skills. Good grief, those are some absolute monsters. Congratulations buddy!!! 

 @AlabamaSpothunter slayin those winter hogs. Congrats to you too brother. You're on a tear.

Thanks a bunch Tim, I'm just trying to do my best T-Billy Muskie season impersonation 😎

22 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Finally had a good day in cold muddy water.   The past several winters it's been almost impossible to just get a bite, but I was able to get about 22.5lbs with an awesome 8.2 and 6.2.   Next day not as great but caught a nice 6.15.    Finally, fished again today with about 1.5ft of viz and only had 5 bites but one was a 5.15.    

 

This 8.2 had eyes on her that are just wild.     Thanks to the Zillion's audible drag she put on a good show as well.     

 

 

6.15

 

6.2 

 

5.15

 

Finally here's a fish that had a tail down it's throat, and a claw coming out it's butt 🤣

 

Most excellent catches for brown water!

26 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Most excellent catches for brown water!

 

Most excellent catches for any water. Alex sure can fish.

@TnRiver46  Thanks brother!!

 

The main difference b/t this year and year's past I believe had to do with the fact the huge rains didn't crash the water temps.  I stupidly took a number of days off one of which was in the mid 70s(outside temps) because "muh never catch anything in cold dirty water" attitude 🤪 

 

Now the water temps have crashed to high 40s, and in another day or two the water clarity should be close to normal.......once again the puzzle has completely reset.   How can you not obsess over these green and brown fish 

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

once again the puzzle has completely reset. 

 

That's the way it works in Maine too. I'd go catch bass in a certain place with a certain lure and the very next day, that wouldn't work and I'd have to find them and determine which lure they wanted just then. They keep us guessing!

Had some lovely weather Sunday, was nice after a cloudy cold skunk on Saturday. My buddies invited me onto their boat and were skunking me again until late in the day when I got the lunker on a nightcrawler. Just under 19” and between 3.13 and 3.17 lbs. The mountains still had snow and loons were swimming around all over the place. Water temp 45

 

 

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Just under 19” and between 3.13 and 3.17 lbs.

 

And gorgeous. Look at those markings.