I didnt catch anything large this year. 4lb 14 oz  largemouth caught on a Cavitron buzzbait. 

My biggest was on a blk/blue 7" Culprit worm. I dug out an old sack of them. Not a big fish, around 4lbs.

5-11 on a 10" worm.

6’ 1” on a white Rage Bug 

 

Mag speed worm in green pumpkin with a pegged tungsten sinker got my 11 lb 5 oz bass in May of last year and then the grass jig in pats gizzard with a largo shad got me a 9-14, 9-3, 8-8 and a bunch of 6-7 lbers between March and May. Spro Bronzeye 65 also got a 9-3 for me which I was thrilled about.  Got an 8-8 on the black Spro popping frog and and 8-8 on the aaron martens hog snatcher buzzbait both from a public pond I love to fish!  Got some tanks in the 5-7 lb range on the red eye shad and the hybrid Hunter in the fall and the bladed jig finally made a come back for me this year picking up a couple nice ones this fall for me!

 

Floating trick worm got many 5-7 lbers in the post spawn.

 

Free rig ribbon tail came to play in July and caught everything I caught until about September including some tanks.

 

Caught a good number of 5-7 lbers in the post spawn on the 7” Zaldangerous swimbait on lakes and ponds.

 

Every season played a little differently from the previous season in a fun way this year - much less overlap in terms of bites fading and activating.  It was hard and defined changes for me on my lakes this year where they’d be on something and everywhere eating it for two weeks and then things would move and change and they’d be on to the next thing in the next area.  Most years they settle in to something for a while and usually you can still catch them on that bleeding into the next phase around here pretty good .  This year the fall feed in shallow flat areas was super hard and fast and lasted a very clearly defined two week period and then they were gone to deeper areas.  Not at all like 2024 for me where they were eating a frog while it snowed in December.  I feel like the winter was so hard in 2024 - it kinda made them more aware of the temps this year it seems like - hard to explain but they seemed to react very quickly to minor temperature shifts way more than previous years and I’m suspicious because we had ice for 3 months last year - wonder if it scared em!  😂

 

 

Between 4-5 lbs on a Spro Little John

7.3 LMB on a red Sieberts Fogy bladed jig

I caught a few smallies around 2.5-3 lbs this year. Nothing remarkable enough at the time to weigh. Green pumpkin tube. 

Nov 3rd.  7 pounder on a War Eagle heavy finesse jig with a PawPa E's pork chunk.

Black jig, brown chunk.  Stump in 6 fow on a steep channel bank.

Nothing big in '25, 4.5 lbs may have been my biggest on a chart/white willow leaf spinnerbait.  PB...8.5 lbs was caught in '24 on a KVD 1.5 sexy shad square bill.

9.9 pounds, T Rigged Junebug Zoom Ole Monster.  Same lure as last years biggest bass.

 

Drop shot 6" robo worm black grape.

Finesse swimbait 1/16oz crappie head with a 2.5 mayor.

Don't think any 2025 bass topped 5lb but I had some 4s

1 hour ago, Pat Brown said:

Mag speed worm in green pumpkin with a pegged tungsten sinker got my 11 lb 5 oz bass in May of last year and then the grass jig in pats gizzard with a largo shad got me a 9-14, 9-3, 8-8 and a bunch of 6-7 lbers between March and May. Spro Bronzeye 65 also got a 9-3 for me which I was thrilled about.  Got an 8-8 on the black Spro popping frog and and 8-8 on the aaron martens hog snatcher buzzbait both from a public pond I love to fish!  Got some tanks in the 5-7 lb range on the red eye shad and the hybrid Hunter in the fall and the bladed jig finally made a come back for me this year picking up a couple nice ones this fall for me!

 

Floating trick worm got many 5-7 lbers in the post spawn.

 

Free rig ribbon tail came to play in July and caught everything I caught until about September including some tanks.

 

Caught a good number of 5-7 lbers in the post spawn on the 7” Zaldangerous swimbait on lakes and ponds.

 

Every season played a little differently from the previous season in a fun way this year - much less overlap in terms of bites fading and activating.  It was hard and defined changes for me on my lakes this year where they’d be on something and everywhere eating it for two weeks and then things would move and change and they’d be on to the next thing in the next area.  Most years they settle in to something for a while and usually you can still catch them on that bleeding into the next phase around here pretty good .  This year the fall feed in shallow flat areas was super hard and fast and lasted a very clearly defined two week period and then they were gone to deeper areas.  Not at all like 2024 for me where they were eating a frog while it snowed in December.  I feel like the winter was so hard in 2024 - it kinda made them more aware of the temps this year it seems like - hard to explain but they seemed to react very quickly to minor temperature shifts way more than previous years and I’m suspicious because we had ice for 3 months last year - wonder if it scared em!  😂

 

 

Excellent!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

No giants for me this year.  My largest was a 3-13 lb on a weightless Creme Scoundrel worm.

1 hour ago, Lottabass said:

Black jig, brown chunk

That is my favorite jig n pig colors, that and brown jig black chunk.

This 5.37 lb Smallmouth bass came on a Megabass Vision 110 in Shrimp.

https://youtu.be/uurSA2M9X0Y?si=_UrIa-FIO0Spzu1B&t=209

A-Jay

I got a nice northern  bigmouth in september ... around 7 pounds, maybe a bit more.  

 

Got it in 2 feet of crystal clear water on a large ( 4.8) soft swimbait.  Color: smallmouth magic.

My big LMB for '25 was 5-2 with a shiner, through the ice (I don't really count it, but I landed it).  My next biggest LMB was 4-14 on a perch Berkley Stunna 112+1.

 

3-13 was my big SMB on a perch Berkley Stunna 112+1.

Between work and moving to an area where I haven't found squat for ponds, I was only able to fish four days this years. Miserable.

 

Didn't manage any big Florida bass this year, biggest was only 4.14lb, got it on a 1/2 oz Booyah One Knocker in Bling.

 

Hopefully 2026 is kinder to me.

I have 3 fish that I consider tied 

 

#1 Bladed Jig
 

#2 Bladed Jig

#3 You guessed it, Bladed Jig

 

Happy New Year Everyone… see you on the water soon.

My biggest wasn’t weighed but measured. It was 22 inches in a local pond on a black and chartreuse finesse jig I tied with a black zoom super chunk trailer. 

Largemouth, 6-3 on a DRT Joker. 

Smallmouth x Alabama bass hybrid 5-8 on a Yamamoto Ned Senko 

8 minutes ago, Drew03cmc said:

DRT Joker

I had to look that one up. That is one expensive bait.

Caught more bass this year then any year I can remember but nothing over 5 lbs.

This was my biggest fish in 2025 on a bone WP 120........10 minute fight.

And a nice spot.

 

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

I had to look that one up. That is one expensive bait.

As far as swimbaits go, it's on the lower side. I have 3 of those, 3 Tiny Klash and 2 Klash 9. DRT stuff is pricey, but it's so fun to fish.