Bob's on FIRE! A big smallie followed by a big largie. Go, Bob, go!

 

3 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Bob's on FIRE!

 

Thanks again Katie!

     Every time I fish, I go with the hope I can catch a bass big enough to put in my pond. When the Gitzit got this one, naturally I was thrilled with the prospect of bringing her home....alas, it was not to be. She was very old and her jaw look like it had been broken before. Her tail and body were in poor condition and she only weighed 4-7. I would have liked to have seen her in her prime! That, and the fact that she is a river fish and had lived her entire life in the Tennessee river current, I just didn't want to remove her from her natal home. Also, she would have moved from 84deg. river temp, over an hour transport, then dumped into 92deg pond water. Reluctantly, I put her back. I was in such a hurry to release that I forgot to measure, but she was certainly one of the longest in my fishing journeys. 

     One really big disappointment was the total eel grass coverage on the river these days. It started showing up a few years ago, and now the entire river below the dam has eel grass mats from the bank to 30' out, growing in as deep as 12' water. My fishing preference does not allow for this. I enjoy tossing to the bank and drifting with the current. Those days are gone. So long Tennessee river. My favorite place since moving to middle Tennessee so many years ago.  😞

     Another disappointment was what I witnessed at the dam. I went to try to catch shad for the pond, and there was an older couple fishing the wingwall between the spillway and generators. The guy was tossing live bait against the wingwall and catching bass on every cast. Many of the bass were deeply hooked and he had to use long pliers to remove hooks time and time again. He would catch a bass, pose for a picture, then toss the bass back. I watched this in agony until I had to leave. I get live bait fishing for meat fishermen, but what is the point for catch and release? There are no sporting qualities what so ever. Nothing but a couple dozen damaged bass with a high mortality rate.

Lake and I fished a little kayak tournament Saturday morning from 6-12 on a city lake I hadn't been on in a few years. I thought it would be pretty easy for him to get bit but it turned out to be a little tougher than I expected. A combination of recent heavy rains and stronger than expected winds made it difficult for him I think. Add onto that his difficulties keeping them hooked when he got bit, he wasn't able to get a limit but I was proud of him for battling all day and getting the fish that he did get.

He had at least 6 other fish bite/hooked, but only ended up with 3 bass on his score.

 

I did a little better, ending up with a limit for 85.75" and a 19" big fish, which was good enough for first and big bass.

I caught all my fish on a black and blue bang stick or a blue bladed jig. My last cull of the day, the 17.25" that culled out a 15.50" fish, was caught with 10 minutes left, it was pretty exciting. 

 

On 7/18/2025 at 8:14 PM, Fishlegs said:

Nice fish, @Blue Raider Bob…not sure why you’re wearing a sweater in July though. 😂

 

Dang beat me to it!  LOL

 

I'd definitely be wearing blaze orange around hunting season.   

36 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I did a little better, ending up with a limit for 85.75" and a 19" big fish, which was good enough for first and big bass.

 

I'm only surprised by Clayton when he doesn't win. He sure can angle. 

1 minute ago, Swamp Girl said:

He sure can angle.

Aint no doubt about it. 

Just now, Jar11591 said:

Aint no doubt about it. 

 

You and I should board his kayak one day. We can hunch behind him and just watch...and learn. Anyone else want aboard?

3 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

You and I should board his kayak one day. We can hunch behind him and just watch...and learn. Anyone else want aboard?

Went with the wacky rig this morning. Bumped into a couple dozen keeper green bass.  Retained 3 in the pool. They'll be introduced to the Ducane gas grill later today. Cue the hot fat !

👨‍🍳

A-Jay

 

Flappin Frog gets chewed!  This frog was new when I started this morning!

55 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

Flappin Frog gets chewed!  This frog was new when I started this morning!

 

Nice. Ever measure those hawgs?

My general impression of Iowa is a lot of flat country full of cornfields and pig farms. Mostly void of trees and lakes.

 

But @Lottabass posts from an unknown oversized pond with bucketmouths makes me wonder if my initial impression of this featureless state has more than meets the eye.

Went out after work today. Threw a bluegill jig. Same as usual hop it drag it and swim it. Hooked 5 landed 3. Tail biters kept biting the tails off the xzone swammer paddle tails. That got  annoying lol. But a nice afternoon. 

3 hours ago, gim said:

My general impression of Iowa is a lot of flat country full of cornfields and pig farms. Mostly void of trees and lakes.

 

But @Lottabass posts from an unknown oversized pond with bucketmouths makes me wonder if my initial impression of this featureless state has more than meets the eye.

It’s a wonderful state! It has a lot of great things. But everything you named too haha. After living here a year I’m shocked how good the fishing can be here. Coming from Florida. 

I fished my pond tonight. I landed five in the first hour and I assumed I was going to have a hot evening. Then I could only catch four in the next 2.5 hours. Nearly back to my dock, I landed another two for a total of 11. There was a kayak angler also fishing my pond this evening. He said he'd fished it for 50 years, but he skunked this evening. It's fishing tough right now. Still, I caught some fine bass:

 

 

This was my last bass, a little smaller, but you can see even the smaller ones are thick with muscle:

 

 

Al sure caught some big ones! I think that Iowa is like Maine, I.e. a sleeper bass state.

3 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

I fished my pond tonight. I landed five in the first hour and I assumed I was going to have a hot evening. Then I could only catch four in the next 2.5 hours. Nearly back to my dock, I landed another two for a total of 11. There was a kayak angler also fishing my pond this evening. He said he'd fished it for 50 years, but he skunked this evening. It's fishing tough right now. Still, I caught some fine bass:

 

 

This was my last bass, a little smaller, but you can see even the smaller ones are thick with muscle:

 

 

Al sure caught some big ones! I think that Iowa is like Maine, I.e. a sleeper bass state.

Looking good Katie! And yeah it’s hot and tough this time of year it sucks. I went after work today about 1:30 and my eyes were burning with sweat lol. 
 

gotta love those sleeper states lol. I like fishing here so much better than Florida. 

51 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

This was my last bass, a little smaller, but you can see even the smaller ones are thick with muscle:

 

 

Fashion Police noticed no glove in this photo. What gives?

13 minutes ago, gim said:

Fashion Police noticed no glove in this photo. What gives?

 

I had just removed it, thinking my fishing was done, but once it was off, I made one last cast and caught that bass. It wasn't a big one, but lawdy, did it fight! Either that, or I'm growing weaker.

Fished a couple times on a couple different rivers and it was tough fishing. I’ve been fishing both steady all season, but the home river more for sure. The big river seems to have really scattered fish right now, so I’ve got some figuring to do there. Second river had lots of action, but just some bad misfortune losing all of my good fish. Lost one that felt real weighty and solid man
 

Dinkers and small fish were hungry, even for 10” worms. My first big worm attempt actually went well I’d say, as I fished midday in the bright sun(started at noon) and had 4 solid bites. A t-rigged creature bait is fast becoming my favorite switch up to a jig 

 

Great photos again, @JonB2!

 

I fished my pond for 2.5 hours this morning. I caught 14 total, which is normal for July. My main lures were a T-Rigged blue Senko and an underspin with a shad-colored Crush City Mayor. I also caught one bass on a green T-Rigged ribbon worm. My last four bass were the best, so I'm showing them first:

 

 

This was my very last bass caught. I wish she'd held still. She was an official Wilson football:

 

 

I fish in some crazy, tight places, huh? I've caught many bass in this slot. Hooked one there this morning, but lost her. 

 

 

First bass of the morning, a skinny guy:

 

 

And an open water bass. I had two bass hit a trolled underspin so hard that my canoe shuddered:

 

 

Fun morning!

Fished a reservoir yesterday, 14' visibility.

11 fish landed, 7 largemouth, 3 smallies and a rock bass.

Nothing of size and fish were in 16' to 25' all on a drop shot.

Sunday heading out for a 5 day camping/fishing trip on the Delaware river.

 

I almost had something to post here. Biggest bass I've hooked all year got 90% of the way in, jumped a fourth time, and sent my walking bait back at my face. Only bite I got this morning. Its been an OK year for numbers but size is nowhere to be found, and when I do run into it I bungle it. All freaking year. Ive done my best to keep a good attitude this year but it just ain't happening today lol

24 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

I almost had something to post here. Biggest bass I've hooked all year got 90% of the way in, jumped a fourth time, and sent my walking bait back at my face. Only bite I got this morning. Its been an OK year for numbers but size is nowhere to be found, and when I do run into it I bungle it. All freaking year. Ive done my best to keep a good attitude this year but it just ain't happening today lol

Yep....the big ones win often. Keep pluggin'!

Decided I wanted to try and catch some smallies today.  Asked around and got some intel on a creek about an hour away and decided to give it a shot.  
 

Turns out the guy was right there smallmouth  present in the creek.  I waded a good distance up the creek and caught a cool dozen. I used a micro jig with a craw trailer. Working outside bends with rocky cover seemed to be the ticket.  
 

Most were this size.

 

This one was the biggest of the day.

Random LMB dink.

 

Caught 3 including the big one around these rocks on the right.

4 hours ago, thediscochef said:

I almost had something to post here. Biggest bass I've hooked all year got 90% of the way in, jumped a fourth time, and sent my walking bait back at my face. Only bite I got this morning. It’s been an OK year for numbers but size is nowhere to be found, and when I do run into it I bungle it. All freaking year. Ive done my best to keep a good attitude this year but it just ain't happening today lol

🎶 Bungle in the jungle 🎶