A friend of mine took me out to a couple ponds this morning. I decided to focus on throwing a Mattlures bluegill, as I am dipping my toes into the swimbait world. I quickly landed a smaller fish (my first Mattlures fish, and first of 2017). Feeling confident, I threw my bait past a fallen branch and *Wham*, stuck this pretty lady. Talk about a rush! I can now officially say I'm hooked on swimbaits...

 

Swimbaits can be a lot of work and fruitless hours, but as you now know, the payoff is worth it. Congrats on a great looking fish!

Good looking bucketmouth.  Nice catch.

Very nice 

Nice fish, great pic!

 

Wow!!!  Great looking fish!!!

Good looking pond fish. 

That's right bro. Way to stick them big girls!!

I wish I could hook something with a swim bait. I haven't caught one yet!

Awesome fish!

Congrat. 

Congrats on that beast!

Awesome fish! How much did it weigh?

Beautiful fish and a great way to start off 2017! Congratulations!

On 2/1/2017 at 5:19 PM, bma3 said:

Awesome fish! How much did it weigh?

 

Both my buddy and I agreed it was around 7 pounds or so. Her eyes and mouth weren't huge, but her body was thick, dense, and healthy. My guess is that she's relatively young, and she may be on her way to becoming Queen of the pond.

 

Gorgeous fish. That's the way to start the year. Another SB monster.

Are you kidding me?! That's a HAWG!!

 

Congrats!

Congratulations, she's a BIG girl!

When I read "Swimbait Toad" I was expecting a mutant lure, but this is much better 

 

Roger

Great fish man! 

Thats a pig, I would say more like 8lbs but pics are tough to judge. Either way that's a great fish for all fifty states.

On 2/10/2017 at 8:48 PM, kroberts9 said:

Thats a pig, I would say more like 8lbs but pics are tough to judge. Either way that's a great fish for all fifty states.

Great fish but not an 8 lb bass.  That's an arm extended pic of a fat 4 or 5 pounder.  

I still don't know why everyone doesn't carry a quality scale, because you never know when...

5 hours ago, NCbassraider said:

Great fish but not an 8 lb bass.  That's an arm extended pic of a fat 4 or 5 pounder.  

I still don't know why everyone doesn't carry a quality scale, because you never know when...

arm extended pics suck. I lay all mine on the lying tamer. before pics. like in my avatar. you can't mess up length or girth on them. keep fishermen honest is tough lol

And that's why if I don't have a scale, I don't even bother posting an estimated weight.

I prefer fish be held to the camera. I want to show people the fish, not my ugly mug. There's a big difference to me between presenting the fish like the OP is doing, and really long-arming them to make them look bigger. 

Mainly though, is it really that big of a deal? I see the OP's picture, I see a great looking fish, one that I'd love to catch myself. Maybe it's an 8, maybe it's a 5, I don't really care, it's a great fish. At least there's a picture instead of the story about the 6, 8, or 10 pound bass (because that's the only increments they come in for those stories for some reason), he caught but didn't have a camera to take a picture. 

TOTAL PIG! Congrats!

Congrats!  That's a nice size anywhere.  I looked up Mattlures.  With those prices, all I can think about is what if I get a snag?  Their baby hardgill lure is $60.  Wow!  My max is about $10 - $13 and I thought Livetarget was overpriced.  I've spent a lot of money on top of the line rods, reels, electronics, and trolling motor.  I just can't seem to bring myself to spend that much on a lure that I can lose on a snag.  Am I being too conservative?