Fat albert grub.

 

Fat albert grub.

 

 

Weighed this one at 2lb4oz. Fat albert grub.

I caught a few today. One flopped out of the kayak because he was camera shy. I continue to struggle to get some of these bass out of their underwater tree hidey holes. Or, occassionally, I find a tree that I didn’t know was there and a bass completely embarrasses me by catching me off guard with a ML spinning rod in hand. I think I have homework to do. Having fun out here… crazy weather today though.

The river was blown out so I had to make a lake trip.

Definition of choked

 

My three biggest for the years far since march. I didn’t have a scale. But they are my PB fish for sure. Jigs and Texas rigs were the go to for these fish. Learning new waters in a totally new part of the country for me has been a blast and frustrating. Slightly frustrated resizing the pics mad them

grainy. Grrrrr

Those are big-bellied bucketmouths, Joe! What caught them? How did they fight?

15 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

My three biggest for the years far since march. I didn’t have a scale. But they are my PB fish for sure. Jigs and Texas rigs were the go to for these fish. Learning new waters in a totally new part of the country for me has been a blast and frustrating. Slightly frustrated resizing the pics mad them

grainy. Grrrrr

 

 

Dude let's go!

 

Glad our conversations have paid off and you're gaining confidence and having success in your new playground!

 

-Pat 

7 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Those are big-bellied bucketmouths, Joe! What caught them? How did they fight?

Thank you!!! Those were caught on a weightless 5 inch yum dinger  stick bait. Watermelon red. And a brown swim jig with green pumpkin trailer. . Literally had to dead stick them pauses were 30 seconds between movement. And then they hit so soft. It was all line watching. Honestly right spot right time I caught them with in 40 minutes  of each other according to my pics on my phone. 

2 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

Literally had to dead stick them pauses were 30 seconds between movement.

 

I have never waited so long in my life with a lure. Your patience is impressive.

 

2 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

It was all line watching.

 

Now ^this^ I know. Sometimes I'll feel a little tic, but mostly I see the line with Senkos do something odd.

 

4 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Glad our conversations have paid off and you're gaining confidence and having success in your new playground!

 

Pat's a great teacher. Continue listening to him. 

4 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

 

Dude let's go!

 

Glad our conversations have paid off and you're gaining confidence and having success in your new playground!

 

-Pat 

Thank you!! I can’t thank you enough!! The great advice and conversation has helped so much. Now I just gotta find them this big consistently. 

8 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

Now I just gotta find them this big consistently. 

 

Bass be tricksey! Bass don't do consistentsss-ly!

 

2 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I have never waited so long in my life with a lure. Your patience is impressive.

 

 

Now ^this^ I know. Sometimes I'll feel a little tic, but mostly I see the line with Senkos do something odd.

 

 

Pat's a great teacher. Continue listening to him. 

lol!! I’ve always been good with really slow methodical baits. Honestly power fishing style lures I’ve always been terrible with. I can barely cast and retrieve a spinner bait with out pausing and bouncing it lol. Buddies back in Florida would burn them. I’d be over there taking forever.  We both caught fish just in our won way lol. 
 

@Pat Brown truly is. An amazing teacher. Lots of knowledge and attention to detail. And honestly just great to chat bass with. 

Just now, Swamp Girl said:

 

Bass be tricksey! Bass don't do consistents-ly!

 

Well said!!! I’ll take a 1 pounder cast after cast though rather than getting skunked lol. 

38 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

Thank you!!! Those were caught on a weightless 5 inch yum dinger  stick bait. Watermelon red. And a brown swim jig with green pumpkin trailer. . Literally had to dead stick them pauses were 30 seconds between movement. And then they hit so soft. It was all line watching. Honestly right spot right time I caught them with in 40 minutes  of each other according to my pics on my phone. 

 

 

Those SLOW presentations really pay off in the spring down here.  Nice work.

2 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

 

Those SLOW presentations really pay off in the spring down here.  Nice work.

 

And I just rigged a burner worm. When the bass are chasing shad in Maine, I want to give them a fleeting look at my bait. I caught two busting shad my last trip out by ripping my bait over them. 

4 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

And I just rigged a burner worm. When the bass are chasing shad in Maine, I want to give them a fleeting look at my bait. I caught two busting shad my last trip out by ripping my bait over them. 

 

 

I fish fast and slow at the same time a lot. Took me a long time to figure out how to do that.  😂😂😂😂

 

Being super ADHD definitely helped.  😉😉😉😉 

 

The formula goes something like:

 

Slow Presentation (traditionally)

Super Heavy Weight

Large Trailer or Plastic with Action 

Heavy Line

 

This lets me fish very very fast and slow.

 

4 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

 

Those SLOW presentations really pay off in the spring down here.  Nice work.

They paid off in Florida and I guess now in Iowa lol. Just how I fish I guess. But I enjoy the methodical approach and picking apart a piece of cover or something 

6 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

And I just rigged a burner worm. When the bass are chasing shad in Maine, I want to give them a fleeting look at my bait. I caught two busting shad my last trip out by ripping my bait over them. 

I just ordered a bag of those! I’m excited to Texas rig them and burn them and drop them into holes in the grass and such 

This guy and a really tiny bass saved me from skunking today. I caught them in the very early AM on a shad spawn bite chucking a spinnerbait. After that, boy was it tough. I talked with a former guide after I helped him out with his truck and heard some neat things. But even he said it was a tough day, and he has FFS on his boat. Should get better soon! 

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get out lately.  

 

However in honor of Mother’s Day, here’s my mom with her PB.  
 

@LrgmouthShad: You're regularly catching those 18-inchers. They're fun!

 

@bp_fowler: Your mom is a thunderin' stick. How big was her beast?

@Swamp Girl 6 lbs 6oz.  Or as she likes to point out, a lot bigger than mine 😂

I went fishing at Presa Pocho today.  The day started out great, with a 7 pound bass within the first 15 min. of fishing.  Then the reverse broke on my peddle drive, and the wind picked up out of the East.  I only had a 15 minuet window of calm between the rare  morning East wind, and the Afternoon west wind, that was gusting over 30 MPH by 11:30 AM   

 

I was going to fish tomorrow, but I was to frustrated with the wind, and not having reverse I decided to pack it up and go home.  I know there are many anglers that only use a paddle, and can't imagine getting upset over not having reverse on a kayak, but I am used to fishing a certain way, and being able to reverse is important to me.  Twice I lost big bass because I was not able to back away from the submerged trees I was fishing.  One time I ended up loosing a giant bass, and one of my best square bills, so I called it a day.  I don't give up easy, but some time's it is best to call it a day. 

 

I hope to be able to get the part for my Kayak soon.  This is my peak season, and I only have about a month before the rainy season starts.

 

I may have had a frustrating day, but I did land 13 bass, including this healthy 7 pounder.  A few weeks ago I got skunked making this day not so bad.

 

 

 

On 5/10/2025 at 4:49 PM, Bazoo said:

Fat albert grub.

 

Fat albert grub.

 

 

Weighed this one at 2lb4oz. Fat albert grub.

This trip earlier in the afternoon wasn't enough to satisfy me, so I went back later, and got skunked. Or.. since I caught some earlier and only left for a few hours... did I really get skunked? The second go round, my wife and the baby came with me. So we had fun nevertheless.

Lost a massive pike today. Would have been a PB. It was an impromptu trip to the river with an ultra light rig I keep in the back of my car. Hooked into a monster with a crankbait and 6lb test. He pulled drag faster than I could reel it back. Finally got him tire out some, got impatient and tried to hand line him the rest of the way in. He instantly turned and snapped my line. My current PB is 36", and this one was definitely longer than that. Haven't lost a nice fish in a long time. Forgot how much it stings. 

 

Anyway: here's the only other catch of the day...

 

10 hours ago, IcatchDinks said:

Haven't lost a nice fish in a long time. Forgot how much it stings. 

 

It does sting and the sting lingers. Sorry, bud. Your impatience was your undoing, since when hand lined her, you lost the shock absorption of your rod and the slippage of your reel's drag. Big pike can be landed on 6 lb. line, but only with a rod and reel. Here's one on 6 lb. test, but there were other big ones I hooked with six-pound test while fishing for smallmouth in northwestern Ontario. Her tail is wrapped behind me and she's held against my PFD, so she's not long-armed or even half-armed:

 

 

Well - it was a really cool weekend.

 

My buddy had his annual cull session down the road and my family participated and was able to help cull out around 300 sunfish just between the three of us - many of them around 1/2 lb - and a mess of super small bass.

 

I caught a fish every 3 minutes for 9 hours straight just about - it was heaven.

 

 

4 lb line - salvaged ugly stick ultralight from a pond - tiny mosquito hook drop shot - little tiny worm pieces did all the damage.

 

 

Jake won the tournament with 10 bass total (I really just tried to cull panfish - he has an infestation 😂)

 

Next month he's coming to me and we are filling three livewells with donkeys and taking them to his pond along with all the golden shiners Jake can net!

 

We are gonna make this spot a giant fish spot yet!

 

Was able to fish the pond near my wife's work and caught a mess of bass on Mepps inline spinners - absolutely insane fun!

 

 

Got out on the boat Sunday for Mother's Day during a rainy cold front and didn't expect a ton of action but I got a new PB!

 

 

On the @Siebert Outdoors crappie swim jig 1/4 oz (bluegill flash) with a 4" largo shad.  11 lb 8 oz channel catfish - hooked in the mouth on a point in about 3 feet of water.

 

Best fight of my life.

 

She came up 8 times before we could get her in the net and stripped half my daiwa Fuego spooled with 15 lb big game multiple times.

 

On par with fighting a 40 lb redfish in a grassy windy bay - but honestly she fought harder.

 

Released back to the depths!  Gorgeous catfish!  Lake monster!!!

 

My thumb today: