I spent two hours this morning fishing the pond. Couldn't get so much as a snag. Later this afternoon, we took the kids to the park and walked alongside the river. I fished a little, but mostly we just strolled and tried to enjoy nature in between the clouds of marijuana smoke.

 

Right before we had to leave I managed a very nice river smallie. My toddler boy about lost his mind with excitement when he saw it jump out of the water at the end of my line. "DEWEE! DEWEE! DEWEE!" (His best attempt to say "fishing.")

 

I didn't measure it. I'm guessing it was 15 or 16 inches, and fat as a sow. 

 

I'm happy for you, @IcatchDinks! That's a fine smallie.

 

I fished for two hours this evening on my pond. It was windy and I started fishing the protected shore and rustled up a few fish. Then I fished the windblown shore and caught a few more, all on the Junebug wacky worm with a chartreuse tip. 12 in all. A few here:

 

 

They were all healthy fish, but my big girl from this morning makes them all look scrawny:

 

 

I'm at 337 for the year.

I finally got out on the home lake today after 5. Hot, clear and breezy conditions.

Best they have bitten in 2 years. Nice average size today too, with several over 18 inch.  The biggest just under 20 . Caught several, including 2 of the biggest in the lay downs on the east side of our island. Caught another one of the big uns in a big eel grass patch. I had to keep the rod tip up high to get that one out ! . 
I caught most of the fish on the UV speed worm. Caught them on the pumpkin until I ran out, then caught some on watermelon red. As it began to get dark , I caught a few on junebug.

Also caught several On the super fluke and yum dinger. 

I ended up with 20 in about 3.5 hours fishing.

Quantity and quality, Mike!

 

Crushed it on the susky this weekend. Nothing huge but a good fun time out with lots of numbers 

1 hour ago, Susky River Rat said:

Nothing huge but a good fun time out with lots of numbers

 

Such. Fun.

 

I know it's heresy for some at Bass Resource to celebrate busy boat days, but I love 'em. And I have caught so many 2.5-pounders that pulled just as hard as five-pounders. 

 

Susky, you've had a good 2025, haven't you? You're always humble and funny about your struggle to catch bass, but if I remember your trip reports accurately, you're not struggling as much. 

I was able to get out on a boat with a friend over the long weekend. This friend is willing to let me help run the boat. The last couple of times I've fished with him he's been helping me learn how to operate a boat so that if/when I get one of my own I'll have some valuable experience. Every time he lets me do it I realize that there's a lot I have to learn so I really appreciate him doing it. If I had a boat as nice as his I'd be scared to let me operate it. 🤣

 

As we were leaving the ramp, he said that I was in charge, and to go wherever I wanted. Our first spot started off with my friend catching a feisty 3 lb 10 oz smallmouth right up against a grass line with a speed worm. He said he thought it was the biggest smallmouth he's ever caught. A PB is a perfect way to start the day, right?

 

 

We moved on down the bank only catching a couple away from the grass. We decided to run back up, and try the grass again. We caught a couple more pretty quickly so we decided to stick with the grass pattern until it quit working. It worked all morning. We caught 12 fish before lunch time, and 8 of them were caught on the edge of the grass with a speed worm. Nothing big. Mostly 2 to 2.5 pounders along with the 3+ lb smallmouth, but it was a fun morning. My friend's grandson joined us around lunch time, but we had no luck finding fish after that.

 

The picture below shows everything I threw all day. I caught none on the pink trick worm, one on the chrome lipless, two on the spinnerbait, and 4 on the speed worm. My friend caught all 5 of his on a speed worm, including the smallmouth which was the big fish of the day.

 

 

One interesting note is that I didn't notice how many bugs there were while I was behind the console driving the boat. I let the grandson take over when he joined us so I moved to the center seat. I found out about the bugs pretty quickly. I had to wash my hair 3 times when I got home to get all the dead bugs out of my scalp. It was definitely worth it though.

 

 

I made some mistakes navigating the boat, but I gained some valuable experience. I doubt that I'll ever own a boat as nice as my friend's, but I do hope to have one of my own some day. He's a brave man for letting me operate it, and it is appreciated.

@Swamp Girl I actually feel like I’ve struggled slightly more this year.  Much lower water temps than normal. Post frontal conditions. Heavy winds. Typical bites not happening that do under certain conditions. I have good days and bad days. All that really matters to me is having fun. 
 

 I think I am just getting more comfortable infront of cameras trying to do the whole social media thing. 

It got cold and rained non stop the past couple days - but Jake and I figured out how to get a couple to bite AND land them.

 

Got a tank on the Spro Pop frog in the freak color this evening in the rain - my first frog bass caught during rain!  Jake got a real nice one on the floating worm yesterday morning.

 

It's supposed to warm back up steadily starting tomorrow and the rain should let up Saturday - hoping we can take advantage of the warming trend and the blown out creeks!  🤫😎😎😉

 

Got out this morning in light rain.

Caught 14 on spinnerbait and Jackall flickshake, one fat Spot.

Water temp 67*

Haven't been out much so far this year but was able to go out Sunday for a bit and lucky for me my oldest son (19) came with.

 

We were fishing from the bank so I only brought 4 poles.

 

Spinnerbait

Jerkbait

Neko rig

Wacky worm

 

Goal was bass and maybe a big crappie from the jerkbait.

 

No crappies but we caught around 10 bass which was fun.

 

He got to use a jerkbait for the first time which he really enjoyed.

 

I tried a Neko rig for the very first time.

 

I used a package of homemade worms from a small town Iowa kid that tossed them out at a parade my nephew was at. I then took a Dremel and cut up some nails to insert. My son was like, "Dad there's no way you're going to catch a fish with that." LOL

 

I ended up catching 2 or 3, the biggest by far was around 16.5". Big to me. 

 

Good little outing and best of all I got to share it with one of my best friends.

 

 

@HawkeyeSmallie, that's a very nice fish. I know some of the guys here consider that size to be bait, but if I catch anything over 15, I'm happy. Congrats! 

I had a hour or less to kill and wanted to test out my conquest bfs with a roro spool for 1/16 oz to see if it compares well to a bfs combo that I lost on Saturday, still hurts $600 worth of gear gone. Oh well I guess I didn’t really need it lol. Maybe the moral of the story is don’t get drunk and have 3 combos while bank fishing, but she found a good home hopefully and that is all that matters. Caught a smaller one no photo biggest of the day came on a 1/16 oz jig head on a 4 inch culprit ribbon tail worm. Right were I thought it would be hiding, this place gets pounded lol.

11 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

@HawkeyeSmallie, that's a very nice fish. I know some of the guys here consider that size to be bait, but if I catch anything over 15, I'm happy. Congrats! 

 

Thank you sir, and yes, I was happy! 

Got back out this afternoon. Mepps #3

Been talking to @FishTax and @LrgmouthShad about how I have no confidence in all black frogs.  We all agree I just need to go ahead and commit to them more and see what happens etc and after an hour with my trusty tropical white Spro Bronzeye 65, I look to Jake who is wrecking them on a tiny live target frog with a hand made skirt I did for him and realize smaller is probably the ticket anyway and tie on the black Spro popper.

 

Normally I trim the legs very short but I joke to myself that I'm after a big fish and leave the legs long.

 

We walk past the boat house at our favorite ultra pressured pond and the bugs are swarming the surface of the glassy water and me and Jake are talking and laughing and I'm sort of slowly walking the black popping spro back gently with long pauses and literally 5 feet from where we were talking and laughing my frog gets toilet flushed into the abyss with a sickening thunk that immediately informs my unconscious mind that this is a mondo behemoth and my rod is suddenly over my shoulder and I'm feeling the instantaneous load brick wall down into my rod blank and I know she's hooked good.

 

I start reeling and I feel the familiar feeling of my reel turning and the line going away from me and then she breaches and then she breaches again and again and again all literally 10-15 feet in front of me.

 

I tell Jake calmly to clear the area and I start walking backward and holding tension and because it's been raining for 3 days straight the bank is flooded enough for me to pull her straight into the wet flooded grass And vegetation and lip her.

 

My black Spro pop 60 is gone - full length tails and all - and with it - my lack of confidence in the Black Frog is gone too.

 

Your storytelling skills are equal to your bass-catching skills. Well done on both accounts, Pat!

There's a retention pond behind the TJ Max in town. I've fish it a handful of times every year, but have never caught anything other than super healthy bluegill/pumpkinseed hybrids out of it. And then I was surprised one day late last summer to hook into a rambunctious little rock bass. It gave me hope that maybe there were other species swimming about. I'd heard a rumor that several years ago, a local guy pulled a five pounder largemouth out of it. So, even though I'd only caught sunfish, I kept going back, usually when I only had a little time to spare and wanted a little tug from some pumpkinseed. 

 

Today I finally got confirmation that bigger bass do live here. I hooked and landed possibly the fatest smallmouth I've ever seen. Only 14" long, but swollen as a football. I feel like I could probably get a pretty good spiral if I threw this thing.

 

I plan on going back tomorrow morning and circling the entire pond on foot, trying to see what else I can get to bite. 

 

But look at those beautiful markings!! Smallies are definitely the beauty queens of the bass world. 

 

 

@IcatchDinks that’s what happens when you get a haircut. Immediate improvement in life.

The duckweed is bloomin" and the frog bite is boomin'!

@Lottabass: SWEEEEET!

So I went out this morning. Neko rig snagged a few in no time at all. Fished a black zoom truck worm on. A 1/0 octopus hook. With a nail shoved in the head of the worm. I found the nail in the garage. Definitely gonna keep a spinning rod in the truck rigged up from now on. Love a black trick worm takes me back to when I literally started bass fishing 

11 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

So I went out this morning. Neko rig snagged a few in no time at all. Fished a black zoom truck worm on. A 1/0 octopus hook. With a nail shoved in the head of the worm. I found the nail in the garage. Definitely gonna keep a spinning rod in the truck rigged up from now on. Love a black trick worm takes me back to when I literally started bass fishing 

 

Hey I told you! LOL

 

Awesome. 

5 minutes ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

 

Hey I told you! LOL

 

Awesome. 

Yep! Thanks!!!

 

1st Ned bass of the year