And I like the lures you sent me, cast_by_fly and have already caught fish with them too, so we scored a win-win!

Iowa fishing

 

 

That is a great photo of a great fish! 

Quick morning session, with the moon and tide what it is I thought I might see some better bites in the dark.

Probably wasted too much time trying to force feed them reaction, finally got a little guy on a GLF underspin.

Switched to dropshot, third cast.

Bite definitely slowed down with the sunrise, took a while to get #3

Thought for sure this was going to be a striper, popped up chasing bait in the main channel current.

Final dink, headed home.

 

4 hours ago, chubaka said:

Iowa fishing

 

 

 

Was out catfishing with some cutbait, had to grab me a drink for my morning medicine. Before I could get back to it, this hawg had my rod dragged into the water. I was aggravated with myself for doing that, I should have reeled in while I took my medicine, I was very worried I had just lost my $190 Shimano slx-shimano convergence rod and reel. However there was a gentleman in a Jon boat who saw the butt of the rod still floating so he nudged up to it and picked it up. He said the fish was still on it and was quite big. I watched him reel it in and boat it. He then came to the island I was on and handed me the rod and reel. We confirmed the weight of the fish with both scales and both said 6-14. 

 

I am VERY grateful to him for going out of his way to get that rod. And i was happy for.him to get to catch the fish. Alas, the vain part of me still wishes I would have been smarter and either waited to take my medicine or just reeled in before doing that. May not have got the bite, but I wouldn't have had to experience another person catching "my" fish.  I just cant call it my catch when I wasn't the one who did the work even though it was on my equipment and setup placed where I had thrown to. I gave him a $20 for doing me a major solid and saving my combo, even if I did have to watch someone else catch "my" fish.

 

On the other hand i think now I have an idea on the size of the big one I caught a couple Fridays ago(one with me in blue work shirt)and I believe it was similar size. What do you guys think? Perhaps hard to tell with the differing angles and one being selfie mode and the one today being captured with rhe main phone camera lense.

Dang @BluegillsTightlines, close call!

 

I’m going bass fishing for the first time in a couple of weeks tomorrow, but went looking for coho for a little bit today. I decided to try something I was quite sure would work and indeed it did. This fish saw that little red wiggling menace, turned on it and zeroed right in! Bass baits for salmon, yessir. I knew a 1.0 squarebill would work, but it might be a little secret for me

 

@BluegillsTightlines - hard to tell in the pics from here but almost looks like the same fish - awesome fish story and experience though!  That’s a hawg!

17 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

 

Only 7lb and 7oz

3 hours ago, chubaka said:

Only 7lb and 7oz

 

"Only" 😂 That's a big bass anywhere, but a huge bass for Iowa. That's roughly 70% the size of the Iowa state record, equivalent to catching a 12lber here in FL.

   Some recent catches (experiencing some frustration trying to get the pics to a size that will fit)

 

 

Man it's hot out there, isn't it @WaskaCrank12?  I went muskie fishing for about 4 hours and it felt like late July.  So much for the arrival of fall.  Summer is back with a vengeance.

@gim - The temp is not that high here (currently low 80's) but the humidity level is almost matching the temp so it does feel like swampy/sweaty late July weather - and it seems tomorrow it might ramp up a bit more - yes, summer roaring back in. I am sure the southerners on here would feel right at home fishing in this weather !

Fished my pal's pond this morning. Nothing big, but I caught another 17 to bring my 2025 total to 1,184. I brought my Kevlar canoe home to start fishing some bogs again. Maybe I can catch more bass in the swamps. Three guys launched after me, but were skunked. I gave them lures that were working for me, two walking baits and some T-rigged crawdads.

 

 

Next to last day of vacation, so yeah, fishing! Basically the same weather conditions as Thursday. Hot, mostly full sun and maybe 5 mph wind. The bite was different, though. Only caught one on a TR. Did catch two on an AJ Special, but OMG did it cause some heartache. I hooked one that dove into submerged timber. I got close and almost had my hands on him and it dove and snapped the line. Lost the hook but saved the weight and jig collar and skirt. Tied a new hook on and put on a Rage Craw instead of a Menace. A few casts later it started running to the left so I reeled it slack and swept the hook. It dove, ran, jumped and my heart skipped a beat. Easily the biggest bass I’ve hooked in a couple years. Easily a 6, maybe close to a 7. But the bait went one way and the bass another. Reeled it in and the hook was still embedded in the craw. At least I know it’s uninjured and still there. Went to cast it again and heard this weird whirring sound and saw the lure and a bunch of line flying and no line on the rod. Thought I lost it, but it took so much line that enough was floating that I grabbed it and retrieved the bait. No luck on a chatter bait with the new flukes. So as I was out of Menaces, I put on a Rage Bug. All of a sudden I started getting strikes. Caught 3 in only a few minutes. A chatter bait is quickly becoming a favorite bait. Easy to cast, and you can fish it fast or slow, shallow or medium depth. 
 

And finally…in the morning I was casting under some overhanging limbs and heard light splashing. Didn’t sound like a duck. Turned and saw a tiny dog swimming across the pond. Came right up to my boat. I was afraid it was going to tire out and drown so I used my net to help it to shore. Didn’t boat it so can’t add it to my daily bag 🤣

 

Biked to the north end of the forebay once again attempting to catch some early fall striper.

Got a couple rats early and had a halfway decent bite break me off on the hookset

Little bass bite taking over

Last striper of the day, all bass from here on out

I think my personal record smallest bass to date

Last one at the parking lot after packing up the bike

Brian, you sure had an exciting day!

4 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Brian, you sure had an exciting day!

It was. Who expects a dog lol. 
 

I am glad to see my chatter bait success is rising. That’s a big plus. 

Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  Well, what does he know because we pretty much did that yesterday on Lake Ontario and it worked.😁

 

Wes invited a friend who loves fishing but has never fished from a boat (nice kid, and a very well mannered guest).  We blanked at our first spot even though we’d caught them there before the area looks great (10-14ft. with rock bottom and stones scattered all over).  After a poor start, we headed to a spot where we have reliably caught lots of 1-2# fish, the plan being just to get his buddy into some.  Wouldn’t you know it, we rolled up and Wes stuck a 5.3# about five minutes in.  Not long after, I got a 5.1#.  I caught a couple more 2# then we couldn’t find them again, so moved on.  Made a fairly long run to a spot I’d picked off the contour maps, and with no experience here I recommend we throw moving baits and l see if we get any bites or followers before we start finesse fishing.  About 8 casts in with a small bladed jig Wes landed a 5.7# 😎  Took us a while, but his buddy finally got one at the next spot - a fat 4.5# on a Ned.  I’d been trying to coach him to stay in contact with his bait, but he had a bad habit of slack lining and sure enough his fish was hooked in the gullet.  Luckily, I was able to safely reach in an cut the barb off so the hook slipped out and his fish swam off strong after a little rest in a well aerated livewell.👍🏻

 

By then the SW wind had picked up, so we left the quickly growing 2ft. waves to try for largemouth in a sheltered bay.  The protected south shore produced nothing, so we jumped to the windy north shore to try some docks.  I really liked the look of a big covered dock with metal posts, and sure enough I caught a 3.5# largemouth there to end the day.

 

It was a great day, very happy that maybe we’re learning a bit about these big Lake Ontario smallmouth.  I think we were doing the right things a month ago, but looking a little too shallow for big ones.  And we did enforce what a tournament angler told us, that once you find them at a certain depth on a given day you can pretty much shade your map and cut out 90% of the lake.  Yesterday we caught all but one of our big fish in 11-12ft. of water, nothing deeper and only the last one in 9ft after the wind and waves had come up.

 

@The Baron: That's about a 24-pound bag!!! Landing one big fish deserves a beer, but landing five, fine fish deserves a brewery. So happy for you. So proud of you and your lads too.

@Swamp Girl Yeah, a good day for sure.  And we did it without FFS.  lol

 

To put it in perspective though… there was big tournament out of Kingston a couple weekends ago.  There were multiple bags over 25# weighed in, two bags a hair over 29# the first day.  Yes… 29# for five smallmouth.  Big fish for the tournament was a 7.66# with several over 6# weighed in.  This smallmouth fishery is crazy.  But so are the boats we were ogling at the weigh-in… two or three big screens at both the bow and the console was standard.

I'm much more impressed by a 24-pound bag without FFS than a 29-pound bag with FFS. FFS is like killing a bear with a high-powered rifle with a scope. Fishing without it is akin to killing a bear with a spear. Yeah, in both cases, someone killed a bear, but that doesn't make the kills equal...or even close to equal. 

 

I look forward to you catching more of those huge smallmouth!

5 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

I'm much more impressed by a 24-pound bag without FFS than a 29-pound bag with FFS. FFS is like killing a bear with a high-powered rifle with a scope. Fishing without it is akin to killing a bear with a spear. Yeah, in both cases, someone killed a bear, but that doesn't make the kills equal...or even close to equal. 

 

I look forward to you catching more of those huge smallmouth!

Pretty much how I see it too Katie. I see so many muskie "fisherman" these days who won't make a cast until they have one on screen. 🤦‍♂️ That ain't fishing IMO. I equate the skill involved in that to killing a deer at night with a thermal scoped rifle. Anyone can do it. 

6 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

FFS is like killing a bear with a high-powered rifle with a scope. Fishing without it is akin to killing a bear with a spear.

 

So if I shoot a deer with a scoped rifle, that's like using FFS too I presume.  Never mind the fact that I've scouted, strategically placed a stand, and potentially waited for days on end for one timely moment.

 

Guilty as charged, 31 years and counting.

 

I don't really think anyone is hunting bear, deer, or any other big game anymore with a spear BTW

 

While I do agree it's more difficult to accumulate a nice bag without FFS, you chose a poor example to compare it to in the hunting realm.

Nothing big today but I just cant complain about a pair of 2 lb bass that fought like hell and were easy keeping size. Hole punched some weeds with braid to get the second one. Then transitioned to bream fishing on the UL when the bass bite stopped about 9am. Got this rather angry little 4 ouncer full of rage and teeth, eyes filled with contempt.

 

Also of note, inside-out pink t shirt remains undefeated this year, have not been skunked with it..... So every time I go to the lake, I purposely pull it inside out and wear the tag prominently sticking out. Whole month of June y'all remember when I didnt catch one bass and questioned my passion? I didn't wear the inside-out pink T. I've worn it since then every time and haven't regretted it.....Long as I am catching fish, I don't care how dumb or hobo I look 🤪