That's a dandy @A-Jay!!! Congratulations brother!!!

First of these of the year for me. I end up catching a couple every year fishing for bass. This one was only 20” but later in the evening I floated over a 40+” fish. One day one of those will eat and it’s going to be a wild ride in the kayak. 

A 1 hour and 25 minute fight to land a 125 lb Tarpon this morning. I need at least 1.25 tablets of Advil per hour for awhile to recover!!

@FryDog62: Years ago, in a fishing magazine, I read about a guide who gaffed a green tarpon and the tarpon took off, taking the guide with him. It couldn't run far towing a full-grown man, but the client took a minute to start the boat and fetch the guide. The guide climbed back aboard and they landed the fish. 

31 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@FryDog62: Years ago, in a fishing magazine, I read about a guide who gaffed a green tarpon and the tarpon took off, taking the guide with him. It couldn't run far towing a full-grown man, but the client took a minute to start the boat and fetch the guide. The guide climbed back aboard and they landed the fish. 

Crazy, but I can see it. An hour into the fight today, the fish made a hard run away from the boat that about pulled my 188 pound arse overboard!! 

@FryDog62: Just be thankful you don't weigh 187 pounds. 

 

Seriously, landing a tarpon is a BIG deal. Most tarpon escape, so congrats.  

@FryDog62 I bet that experience was worth the entire bottle of Advil though. Beautiful fish!

Still trying to figure out how to fish the flooded lake 

19 hours ago, Fishlegs said:

@FryDog62 I bet that experience was worth the entire bottle of Advil though. Beautiful fish!

My friend I fish with does this a lot. He times fish on until catch, plus monitors your pulse. It’s a helluva workout! I pretty much maintained a 120 bpm heart rate for 90 minutes, 2 blisters and bruised my pubic bone from the butt end of the rod digging in (TMI I know). 
 

Was it fun, am I glad I did it?? Absolutely. But would I do it again??? I have my doubts 🤔

Hey hope everyone is doing well, caught a few nice peacocks this morning 

Took advantage of ideal conditions for a couple hours to chase after the crappie before getting stormed off the lake. Managed a dozen fish - even got a rare post spawn two-pounder.  Here’s a few between 1.5 and 2 pounds.

 

 

 

Had a hour to fish while the clothes dried at the laundromat, caught a mud bass and a tiny pike.

1 hour ago, Jmurphy87 said:

Had a hour to fish while the clothes dried at the laundromat, caught a mud bass and a tiny pike.

 

Your mud bass looks like what we in minnesota call a rock bass.

34 minutes ago, throttleplate said:

 

Your mud bass looks like what we in minnesota call a rock bass.

That's what we always call em too. (I'm a couple hours north of @Jmurphy87)

2 hours ago, Jmurphy87 said:

 

 

Pike will really eat anything, won't they? 

1 hour ago, throttleplate said:

 

Your mud bass looks like what we in minnesota call a rock bass.

That’s what I always called them was rock bass, although my old 3rd shift supervisor calls them mud bass so I go with that term lol.

27 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

That's what we always call em too. (I'm a couple hours north of @Jmurphy87)

 

Pike will really eat anything, won't they? 

Yes, I agree on the rock bass part. I always find them in muddy areas so I call them mud bass like my old 3rd shift supervisor calls them. Pike eat absolutely anything for the most part, so do rock or mud bass from my observations.

Rock bass are an embarrassment to the rest of the bass family. They are like that distant toothless cousin who can’t hold down a job, that you only see sporadically, but wish you didn’t see at all.

@gimruis I always thought that were kinda cute. They also change colors depending on what color their environment is, so that's cool. 

 

If I don't want to catch rock bass, I just size my baits up so that can't eat them. 

18 hours ago, gimruis said:

Rock bass are an embarrassment to the rest of the bass family. They are like that distant toothless cousin who can’t hold down a job, that you only see sporadically, but wish you didn’t see at all.

 

They're a training bass. I loved them as a kid. 

 

 

Some other species from somewhere north. These are chain pickerel, not pike.

1 hour ago, MassBass said:

These are chain pickerel

Ya - caught those in my youth when my Uncle would take the cousins and I to Merrill Pond.

Meow.

Little brownie.

1 hour ago, MIbassyaker said:

Little brownie.

 

There are days I really miss trout fishing - so I have to live vicariously through those that do chase the Salmonids.

10 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

There are days I really miss trout fishing - so I have to live vicariously through those that do chase the Salmonids.

 

I'm pretty new to trout, but they're very popular here (traditionally much more so than bass), with lots of good coldwater streams in my area, as well as the anadromous runs starting in Fall. I've been here 15 years, and only in the last few have I really tried my hand occasionally at fishing for them. It's a nice change of pace. 

And... it's a 44" hat trick. Third one in a row. What are the odds? This girl was the best of the bunch. Super thick for this time of year, with a massive head. 

Followed up about an hour later by this 40" off the same big laydown. 

I think the 40" wanted to be friends. When it kicked out of my hand, it swam in a circle and just sat there looking at me for a minute before taking off. 

Also hauled a couple dozen small LM on a chatterbait before the lights came on. T'was a good morning.