16 minutes ago, Peacedivision said:

Biggest of 3 on the evo minimax this morning

Nice! I haven’t found any EVO minimax yet. But I’m liking the regular EVO. I tried red as well but no luck yet here in Iowa. Green pumpkin with a shad type trailer tho has done well. Great catch!

@Joedodge the Evo mini is a tackle warehouse exclusive so you won't find them anywhere else. First time trying them, I've always used the regular mini previously. Feels like they do start up and vibrate a little harder than the standard, and the skirt length out of the pack is perfect for the 3.5 spunk shad.

12 minutes ago, Peacedivision said:

@Joedodge the Evo mini is a tackle warehouse exclusive so you won't find them anywhere else. First time trying them, I've always used the regular mini previously. Feels like they do start up and vibrate a little harder than the standard, and the skirt length out of the pack is perfect for the 3.5 spunk shad.

Ahh that explains it have t looked there yet. I like that about the regular EVO it’s more of a thump than a buzz. I never had much luck on the minimax an I contribute it to the buzz. And they were hard for me to get started and keep running.

6 pounds 15 oz.

I confess , I weighed it several times to see if It would get it to 7 🤠

Released unharmed of course.

Just now, N Florida Mike said:

6 pounds 15 oz.

I confess , I weighed it several times to see if It would get it to 7 🤠

Released unharmed of course.

I would have too!!! Beautiful catch! What did it eat?

On 2/28/2026 at 3:13 PM, BrianMDTX said:

Much nicer day than last week, but much slower. I lost a nice bass on a weightless TR with a Neko Macho, but came back a few minutes later and it hit an A-Jay Special. Caught another on a weightless lizard on a WR hook through the head, and one more that completely inhaled it. The lizard was still on the hook but all you could see was a 1/4” of it. No pic as it took time to get the hook out so I got it back in the water ASAP.

Man, those fish have beautiful colors !

2 hours ago, Joedodge said:

I would have too!!! Beautiful catch! What did it eat?

A shiner.

8 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

A shiner.

Nice!!

Terrible weather, but great fishing, which usually seems to be the case this time of year. I caught over 30, but none were the big ones I was hoping for. This lake is typically my big fish lake, and I was seeing them and getting follows on my jerkbait, just couldn't get them to commit. The one time I did was textbook, saw her on the scope on the edge of a shallow drop, put the jerkbait just past her so it hit max depth right on her head. Immediatly had the fish moving up, ate the bait, pulled hard for a few seconds, then gone. Pulled the whole hook off my bait. That will be the end of the braided line, split ring experiment.

There was a bunch of big shad schooled up offshore and bass were out there chasing them. it was good scoping practice and I caught a couple of my biggest ones out of those fish. The fish along the banks were just murdering a jerkbait though. I really am surprised I never got a big one to eat.

February was rough. Lost over a week due to ice and the two storms. Not one fish over 5 and a few days three fish was about all. Once they moved up from the winter depths they were really scattered and not eating much. Bait was also scattered. Bite windows were short, maybe 30 minutes and then nothing. Today, they were eating all day. All in grass from 6 to 9 feet. The so-called pre-spawn may be on. Surface temps still only 44, so could still be some off days for a bit.

Found some time to hit the lake for a few hours.

Couldn’t get anything to bite in cover, but they were definitely hitting open water today.

Only caught this guy, but it was a great day on the water.

Finally on the board for 2026. Had a good night of sleep last night at work so I was rearing to go once I got home. I toyed with the idea of taking the canoe out. Even packed my big tackle bag and brought four rods. I had some second thoughts about how cold the water was so decided to go with plan B and fish from the bank.

Drove out to the AEP ponds but the area I was trying to had its gate locked. No that it mattered anyways, since many of the ponds in this are were surrounded by steep terrain that keep the water in shadow for most of day as a result they were still mostly covered in ice.

Plan C then, I drove deeper into the wildlife area for a trio of ponds that named the pork chops, because that what they are shaped like, or maybe I was just hungry while looking at Google Earth.

The first one was a skunk. I alternated between the underspin and casting the wacky rig at discolored spots I could just barely make out further from shore. Figured they were a rock, weed clump or different bottom composition but nobody home.

Had to walk another half mile further in to get to the next two ponds. Same story at the second but at the third I finally saw some small bass swimming shallow. Water was clear enough to see that they were not too interested in biting the underspin.

Switched to Ned got a few pecks from small bass and panfish. Looking across to the other side of the pond I saw there were three culverts made of chunk rock. Since those were the only real structures in an otherwise featureless bank I decided to concentrate on them.

I caught my first fish there. He was unimpressive and the one caught on the next cast was even more so.

I moved down to the next culvert and caught a decent one but no other bites.

Made to the third and last culvert and caught another dink. I think finesse fishing requires a high degree of patience and I’m not wired that way. I can force myself sometimes but the rain has started coming down and I was already cold and wet with a mile hike ahead of me to get back to the truck so I called it a day.

2 hours ago, bp_fowler said:

I can force myself sometimes but the rain has started coming down and I was already cold and wet with a mile hike ahead of me to get back to the truck so I called it a day.

Hardcore.

Got this lil 1.5 pound beauty after work today. I’m loving the bladed jig. Building a lot of confidence in it. Can’t wait for the bite to get more consistent. Note the snow that still hasn’t melted in background lol.

Great to see the Northern anglers getting bit again! Only a matter of time afore them old lady bass show up and then it’s game time!

23 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Great to see the Northern anglers getting bit again! Only a matter of time afore them old lady bass show up and then it’s game time!

I can’t wait!!!

Fished today from 7am - 1pm and caught this one. It was busting shad and I threw spoon to it. I threw a Deps 250 & a Baitsanity Chimera shad the rest of the time without even a follow, as far as I know. Water temp jumped from 51.6 last week to 57 this week but they pumped water into the lake which always upsets our sight feeders.

I mentioned 30 minute bite windows in my last post. Held true today. Fished for five hours today. Except for one 30 minute span, I had exactly one bite. But, from 3:30 to 4:00, I had a 20 pound limit anchored by this 6.94.

That's crazy cool, Choppy!

44 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

That's crazy cool, Choppy!

Thx. It would be way cooler if I could predict the bite windows. I'd get a lot more done around the house and yard if I knew when not to bother fishing. :D

First fish I caught yesterday. Water temp was 67* and the air was 80* . Great day to be on the water!!!

14 hours ago, Choporoz said:

I mentioned 30 minute bite windows in my last post. Held true today. Fished for five hours today. Except for one 30 minute span, I had exactly one bite. But, from 3:30 to 4:00, I had a 20 pound limit anchored by this 6.94.

Its weird bass behavior but happeens a lot. Good thing you were fishing instead of running to another spot.

10 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Good thing you were fishing instead of running to another spot.

Great point and this is one reason why I troll when paddling to the next spot. I want a line in the water 99% of the time I'm on the water.

First ice out fish, haven’t had open water for over a month. Bigger lakes are still iced.

4 minutes ago, Fried Lemons said:

First ice out fish, haven’t had open water for over a month. Bigger lakes are still iced.

Get it!