I finally got a new (to me) phone. Took it with me today after church.

 

I tried some various things, but it seemed that today they wanted something more subtle.

 

Got a few on a Shallow Shad Rap, and then got one on a fluke. So.. I decided to try the double fluke rig a while. I'd previously had gotten one on it, but today I did well on it and it was quite fun. No doubles. I want one bad though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a fluke man.

I launched at my pond for 1.5 hours and caught nine, which is a good clip for me at this point in the season. The last three were the best, all 17 to 18 inches. Two were caught on a spinnerbait with no trailer and one was caught on a big, blue Yamamoto crawdad. I'm at 1,193 bass for 2025 and I'll be fishing a bog tomorrow afternoon, the bog where I caught my PB in 2024.

 

It was a steamy/humid MN day - did not catch many - but this was a solid catch - it is a SMB PB for me !

 

Edited September 15, 2025Sep 15 by WaskaCrank12
adding in that it is a PB for me

WaskaCrank, that's longer than ANY smallie I've ever caught in Maine. Well done!

The next month is pretty busy with trips and tournaments, but this last weekend I had nothing planned so I decided to check out a lake that I've had on my radar for a few years now. I knew really nothing about it, other than it was supposed to be very shallow with dirty water, which is my favorite kind of fishing. I couldn't find any information about the fishing, no reports, videos, nothing, which is the main thing that had me cautious about making the little over a hour drive to give it a chance. I should have checked it out a lot sooner. 

 

Buzzbait, bladed jig, T-rig, and jig were the only baits I really needed to catch all 30 of them, a majority were over 15", fat, and mean. I will be back for sure. 

 

33 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

WaskaCrank, that's longer than ANY smallie I've ever caught in Maine. Well done!

@Swamp Girl - thank you ! This is a new SMB PB for me 

Clayton could fish a mud paddle and catch bass. 

16 hours ago, BluegillsTightlines said:

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

OK I'm so glad you did this on purpose. LOLOLOL

 

I went straight to the pictures and it's the first thing I noticed.   

17 hours ago, gim said:

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

 

 

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Clayton could fish a mud paddle and catch bass. 

It basically was. I was a good cast off the bank and in less than 2’ of water for a lot of the lake. I think the deepest I saw was 16’ by the dam and probably 80% of it was shallower than 8’.

Told ya, Clayton!

6 hours ago, T-Billy said:

 

He killed a moose with that thing too !!!

I was going to fish a bog this evening, but a complication had me leaving late and so I switched to my pond. @FloridaFishinFool suggested a solunar app and it predicted lousy fishing. Well, it was right! I hooked five fish in 2.5 hours and only landed three. Luckily, one was a football. Unluckily, I had to catch it twice. I netted it when it was still green. Then I left it in the net, opened my reel's bail, and busied myself with the camera and bump board. Then I saw that my reel was peeling line. The bass had someone escaped. So, I had to play it again and it fought as if it were the first time. Having played it twice, I skipped measuring it to not tire it even more, but you can see it's a Claytonish/Kansasy bass:

 

 

1,196 for 2025.

 

 

PB alert!  Congratulations @WaskaCrank12.  I’ll bet that smallie put up a good fight - they’re feisty!

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

I was going to fish a bog this evening, but a complication had me leaving late and so I switched to my pond. @FloridaFishinFool suggested a solunar app and it predicted lousy fishing. Well, it was right! I hooked five fish in 2.5 hours and only landed three. Luckily, one was a football. Unluckily, I had to catch it twice. I netted it when it was still green. Then I left it in the net, opened my reel's bail, and busied myself with the camera and bump board. Then I saw that my reel was peeling line. The bass had someone escaped. So, I had to play it again and it fought as if it were the first time. Having played it twice, I skipped measuring it to not tire it even more, but you can see it's a Claytonish/Kansasy bass:

 

 

1,196 for 2025.

 

 

Your lousy fishing is a dream trip for the rest of us mortals 

Bass fished on a whim for the first time in a while it feels. With the warmup, I wondered how my river was faring. My last trip was two weeks ago in the middle of that steady cooldown and things had changed drastically. I was worried the outmigration had begun, but today eased that worried thought. Bass in good numbers and set up as they’ve been all summer mostly. I did see several good fish and lost two nice fish; one big.
 

They’re down in the thick weeds and flooded shoreline vegetation during midday and come cruising later day. I went simple and easy since I didn’t know what to expect and senko fished with two spinning rods; M@wacky and MH@texas. Got a handful of keepers, and a good spattering of now football dinkers/ smaller fish 10-13”. Felt d**n good to bass fish again, not gonna lie!

 

I took my pooch for a walk in the woods this morning and took a fishing rod too. Caught an 18-incher on my first cast, but that bass made such a ruckus that I couldn't catch another in three more casts. 1,197 for the year and whereas I'm not fully sold on the solunar calendar, I did note that my five hits last night and one hit this morning were all light, so light that a beginning angler might have missed them. Then there are times when I'm trolling with my rods in a rod holder and a bass hits so hard that my canoe shudders. So, if the solunar calendar is right, a "poor" day means fewer hits and much lighter hits. 

Went out back to feed the bream and saw a good size swirl. Cast the watermelon seed uv speed worm and had it back about 10 feet from the dock. Then I saw the bass swimming in a way that would be in a direct path with my worm retrieve. I reeled it up to him , dropped it right in front of him, and he took it. 
4.7 pounder. 
I nearly lost him because he was gut hooked, but I got it out with no blood or gill damage. It took me awhile to revive him, but he swam off finally!

Big one, Mike!

Yeah it was a long fish for the weight-22.5 inches !

Did a quick bank fish in the same area today and while slower overall, still some nice action for very high sky and straight E winds. I saw 3 pike(2 good ones) and 5 bowfin! The bowfin will surface and leave a big boil right in the middle of slack water weeds. I also had a weird first in hooking a fish on a senko wacky rigged, and losing it only to pull another (hookless)senko out of its gullet with my hook! Likely the reason I lost that fish. This is why I often take “senko breaks” lol. I finally was able to and got fish on jigs here again. My first couple were goodn’s 

 

 

 

Pulled this pair off the same exact cast about an hour apart. Funny how two fish of identical length on the same structure can look completely different. Both took a jig. 

 

 

 

After a mostly fishless summer it was great getting back out on the water. Bite was slow but I can't say that I even minded.

 

Pops picked up a solid one

 

 

Go, Pops!