Went out yesterday afternoon and landed a nice 2 and 4 lber; lost maybe a ~3 lber getting it to the bank because we hung up in someone's junk line. Lots of aerials which was fun. All on a Watermelon Slice fluke. (my early morning effort yesterday had 4 little largies on a Gunfish 95)

 

Went out after sunup today and couldn't buy a bite at several spots. Watermelon Slice was not on today. But... I changed to to a white DShad and twitched it parallel about a yard from the bank. After about 20 ft of twitching, felt a nice bite. Set the hook and started the dance - thought it was a nice 3 lber collecting another few lbs of lettuce (as is common at this spot if you don't horse them up quick), until she came up and tailwalked. I thought, dear gawd stay on!

 

23", which is a d**n fine OH fish! Not the best pic, but you can see she'd have no trouble eating my hand  (special shout out to BKK Permalocks - she was pinned perfectly)

 

 

1 hour ago, OHBuckets said:

23", which is a d**n fine OH fish!

 

 A darn fine fish anywhere and longer than any bass I've ever caught. Congrats. Quite an achievement! 

Biggest I've had out of there prior was a chubby 20.5". A local gentleman next to me said he only pulls one 6 lb and one 7 lb out of there each year. I guess I won't go back until 2026

37 minutes ago, OHBuckets said:

Biggest I've had out of there prior was a chubby 20.5".

 

Wow, what an upgrade for you! We're all happy for you. Well, we're all happy except for @T-Billy who's trying to determine where you caught your big bass so that he can feed it to his even bigger muskies. 

Another cold and gray morning, but this time the wind was ripping on top of it. Got some on the Megabass Pop Max, both on main lake points and back in protected coves. When the topwater bite died, I went to pitching the Rage Bug to trees. Managed a few more bass on the Bug, and dumped a lunker next to the boat. Once it started blowing around 9:00, I braved the worst of the wind and fished deep, main lake structure for a couple hours but nothing. Most fish came from areas out of the wind. This week has been very cold and the water temps have dropped a few degrees. Fishing has been funky. Best fish of the day came on the Pop Max, way back in a cove. A stout 18" fish. No lunkers today.

 

Saw something cool that I hadn't before, a bald eagle attempt to grab a canada goose right out of the sky. The goose was flying over the lake, when the eagle swooped down from its perch and stuck its talons out attempting to grab the neck of the goose. The goose evaded and immediately flew down to the water and the eagle didn't follow, instead returning to its perch. It was a loud commotion. Pretty cool. 

2 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

a bald eagle attempt to grab a canada goose right out of the sky

 

Wow! I've never seen that. I'm surprised an eagle would target such big prey.

 

3 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

A stout 18" fish.

 

That's a beautiful, dark northern bass. 

 

Jesse, I think fishing is about to get HOT for us. I'm launching tomorrow morning on a bog and am planning on boating a big girl or two.  Fingers crossed and line tight!

@Swamp Girl I hope! It’s been an uncharacteristically slow spring. 

47 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

@Swamp Girl I hope! It’s been an uncharacteristically slow spring. 

 

I'm calling it here and now (This could be my Babe Ruth moment.): I'm going to catch at least 40 bass tomorrow morning and at least one four-pounder (I'm hoping this isn't my Mighty Casey moment.). 

 

 

My optimism is based upon how they were feeding last night...and last night was cold. 

Fished a little tournament yesterday and my oldest son Lake decided to join me. I had to put him together a kayak crate to be able to mount a light, flag, and a 3 rod holder. This was the longest tournament he’s done, only the second one, and he was by far the youngest of the 16 people competing. 
 

We got to our first spot a few minutes after lines in. I caught one my first cast on a homemade black and blue bladed jig (what I caught all my keepers on). I was giving Lake instructions on how to fish a wacky rig since he almost only uses a Ned rig. I told him to cast to the back corner of a dock and let it sink, and he made a perfect cast. I was telling him to lift it slowly to feel for a fish but a fish interrupted my lesson. I heard the splash and barely saw the fish in the early morning light, I could tell it was a good one. The drag was screeching on the St. Croix GXR spinning reel as the fish dove under the boat. He did a great job though and got it in the net. On a lake where the average fish is probably 12”, his 19.75” fish was a monster and I immediately realized I hadn’t entered us in the big bass pot.

I was probably more excited than he was, knowing that one fish 5 minutes into the morning gave him a real, legitimate chance to win some money. 
 

We kept going and I filled out a very small limit pretty fast. I was mainly focused on Lake getting his 5 fish and coached him and kept cheering him on. He picked up his next 3 pretty quickly and I thought he’d get a limit easy, but then the wind started blowing and it really made it tough in a kayak with no reverse and no motor. He still kept battling and looked like he’d been doing it forever out there.

I picked up a couple little better quality fish and Lake finally got his limit fish. It wasn’t a big limit but it was 5 and he could cull up some really small ones. Unfortunately, those culls never came. 
 

I was not really thinking about winning when I caught another small cull. Then my next cast, another fish boiled on my bladed jig. When I set the hook, it didn’t move, then it started moving away from me, fast. I thought it was going to break me off. “It has to be a catfish or wiper”, is what I told Lake. Then I saw the green fish swim by the boat and rio my whole rod down into the water, I told him it was a bass. I’ve never seen a bass shaped like this before, but it gave him some serious torque.

I thought that one put me around 75”, I thought I probably needed a little more to win but was running out of time. The sun finally came out and I tried a micro jig and had a fish pick it up. It ran straight to the kayak and jumped, tossing the bait. It was a solid 16” fish, would have been a good cull, I thought that was the fish I needed.  I only caught one more fish before we went to weigh in. 
 

When I tallied it up, I actually had 77.50”, which turned out to be enough for the win! Lake ended up in 7th place, not bad for an 11 year old fishing against adults.

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Fished a little tournament yesterday and my oldest son Lake decided to join me. I had to put him together a kayak crate to be able to mount a light, flag, and a 3 rod holder. This was the longest tournament he’s done, only the second one, and he was by far the youngest of the 16 people competing. 
 

We got to our first spot a few minutes after lines in. I caught one my first cast on a homemade black and blue bladed jig (what I caught all my keepers on). I was giving Lake instructions on how to fish a wacky rig since he almost only uses a Ned rig. I told him to cast to the back corner of a dock and let it sink, and he made a perfect cast. I was telling him to lift it slowly to feel for a fish but a fish interrupted my lesson. I heard the splash and barely saw the fish in the early morning light, I could tell it was a good one. The drag was screeching on the St. Croix GXR spinning reel as the fish dove under the boat. He did a great job though and got it in the net. On a lake where the average fish is probably 12”, his 19.75” fish was a monster and I immediately realized I hadn’t entered us in the big bass pot.

I was probably more excited than he was, knowing that one fish 5 minutes into the morning gave him a real, legitimate chance to win some money. 
 

We kept going and I filled out a very small limit pretty fast. I was mainly focused on Lake getting his 5 fish and coached him and kept cheering him on. He picked up his next 3 pretty quickly and I thought he’d get a limit easy, but then the wind started blowing and it really made it tough in a kayak with no reverse and no motor. He still kept battling and looked like he’d been doing it forever out there.

I picked up a couple little better quality fish and Lake finally got his limit fish. It wasn’t a big limit but it was 5 and he could cull up some really small ones. Unfortunately, those culls never came. 
 

I was not really thinking about winning when I caught another small cull. Then my next cast, another fish boiled on my bladed jig. When I set the hook, it didn’t move, then it started moving away from me, fast. I thought it was going to break me off. “It has to be a catfish or wiper”, is what I told Lake. Then I saw the green fish swim by the boat and rio my whole rod down into the water, I told him it was a bass. I’ve never seen a bass shaped like this before, but it gave him some serious torque.

I thought that one put me around 75”, I thought I probably needed a little more to win but was running out of time. The sun finally came out and I tried a micro jig and had a fish pick it up. It ran straight to the kayak and jumped, tossing the bait. It was a solid 16” fish, would have been a good cull, I thought that was the fish I needed.  I only caught one more fish before we went to weigh in. 
 

When I tallied it up, I actually had 77.50”, which turned out to be enough for the win! Lake ended up in 7th place, not bad for an 11 year old fishing against adults.

Nice job.

They grow up fast my friend.

Your boy is learning from one heck of a stick.

Congrats.

btw, how long do you think you can stay under the radar? At some point bassheads will see your name on the sheet and head the other way.  Might need to sign up last minute.

A-Jay

 

OMG!

8 hours ago, OHBuckets said:

Went out yesterday afternoon and landed a nice 2 and 4 lber; lost maybe a ~3 lber getting it to the bank because we hung up in someone's junk line. Lots of aerials which was fun. All on a Watermelon Slice fluke. (my early morning effort yesterday had 4 little largies on a Gunfish 95)

 

Went out after sunup today and couldn't buy a bite at several spots. Watermelon Slice was not on today. But... I changed to to a white DShad and twitched it parallel about a yard from the bank. After about 20 ft of twitching, felt a nice bite. Set the hook and started the dance - thought it was a nice 3 lber collecting another few lbs of lettuce (as is common at this spot if you don't horse them up quick), until she came up and tailwalked. I thought, dear gawd stay on!

 

23", which is a d**n fine OH fish! Not the best pic, but you can see she'd have no trouble eating my hand  (special shout out to BKK Permalocks - she was pinned perfectly)

 

 

Congrats on a real Buckeye Bruiser!!!

5 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Wow, what an upgrade for you! We're all happy for you. Well, we're all happy except for @T-Billy who's trying to determine where you caught your big bass so that he can feed it to his even bigger muskies. 

Actually, I'm fixin to start getting some late night bassin in. Shortly after this cold spell gets through, the gills are gonna hit the beds, and the night bladed jig bite will get hot for bass and big eyes. Then I'll transition to muskie in the cool gray light of dawn. 😉 This will be the S.O.P all through June and July.

 Come August it'll be back to all muskie fishing. The cooler nights in the second half of August will bring those big slimy girls shallow.

 

3 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 

 

Drum shaped bass?

 

Congrats to you and your boy!

T-Billy - quite the lipstick on that bass!

I thought I'd catch 40 this morning, but the weather is too unsettled. Warm air is coming, but it's not quite here, so the wind was coming at me from all directions. I sought shelter in a bay and took the prettiest photo I've ever shot of Maine:

 

 

The air was so cool and clean that it felt like fall.

 

I could only catch seven bass. Most looked like this, short and fat:

 

 

I did catch one 19-incher, giving me 14 northern bass at least 19" for May 2025. Here she is in the air:

 

 

And here she is on the board:

 

 

I caught her on a 7" shad-colored Deps Sakamata Shad. I also tossed a big popper and a big walking bait, hunting for big bass, but I could only catch the one. 

 

I've caught 325 bass in 2025, way behind my total last year, but I'm catching more big bass. 

@Swamp Girl  Maine is a pretty state with pretty bass!

21 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

@Swamp Girl  Maine is a pretty state with pretty bass!

 

I like it too! Maine grows some thick bass, for sure. Not as thick as @Bluebasser86's Kansas bass, of course, but thicker than many states' bass.

 

When I returned to my car, the parking lot was full, which confused me at first.

 

"On a Monday?" I thought.

 

Then I remembered it was Memorial Day. 

Great picture, not a ripple on the water.

Me trying to figure if I’ve even caught 325 in my entire lifetime.

 

Lost one good one, hooked up again 49 minutes later and caught this 3.5 lber-- in thinking she was likely well over 4 pre spawn given how big her head is, still healthy though looking at the belly. And caught a 1 lb 15ozer 10 minutes after that.  I had moved from the spot I lost the first bass at as some guy literally came in casting within 1 foot of me, which I didn't appreciate. I always give people 40 feet of bank or so and don't get right on them.

 

Turns out that ended up for the best as I feel like I probably wouldn't have got more bites at the first spot on the back side of the lake.  

 

Hooked into another good bass, roughly around the same size as the first one, almost had it but it got me into some very heavy weeds and unfortunately my rod broke and the fish got away. Not particularly upset that the fish got away-- that's just part of fishing, but ugh hearing and seeing that rod snap like that made my stomach drop, I was very fond of it. Replaced it with something in a post I made in the Rods, reels, line section of the forum.

A friend and I ventured to Devil's River near Del Rio, TX for Memorial Day's Weekend. We spent two nights camping, kayaking, and fishing the river and covered 15 miles - self-shuttling ourselves from our take-out and put-in points. Devil's River is beautiful. It is worth the effort to get out here and kayak and fish it. If anyone is interested in doing this, feel free to PM me because I learned a lot from the experience. The fishing was good but I would have approached it differently if I could have a do-over. We spent much more time paddling than fishing, as well. Nonetheless, we caught smallmouth, largemouth, and I got my first alligator gar. I will post my alligator gar in the other species catch thread. Here are some photos from our trip. 

23 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

A friend and I ventured to Devil's River near Del Rio, TX for Memorial Day's Weekend. We spent two nights camping, kayaking, and fishing the river and covered 15 miles - self-shuttling ourselves from our take-out and put-in points. Devil's River is beautiful. It is worth the effort to get out here and kayak and fish it. If anyone is interested in doing this, feel free to PM me because I learned a lot from the experience. The fishing was good but I would have approached it differently if I could have a do-over. We spent much more time paddling than fishing, as well. Nonetheless, we caught smallmouth, largemouth, and I got my first alligator gar. I will post my alligator gar in the other species catch thread. Here are some photos from our trip. 

 

Amazing-looking trip!

@LrgmouthShad: Awesome trip report! I love floating rivers and then add fishing atop the paddling: Bliss.

The boy got a catch of a different kind earlier.

 

I caught a few white bass... a first for me.

 

 

Then I caught a walleye... another first for me.

 

Look at that grin.

 

Target species.

 

Another white.

1 hour ago, Bazoo said:

The boy got a catch of a different kind earlier.

 

I caught a few white bass... a first for me.

 

 

Then I caught a walleye... another first for me.

 

Look at that grin.

 

Target species.

 

Another white.

 

Looks like you've got a little of everything swimming around in that river!