I launched at my pal's pond this morning wanting to catch 50 bass and at least one big one (19" or more). I failed in the former, but succeeded in the latter and maybe had a 90" bag, but if so, just barely. Still, bags are my bag. What was interesting was catching bass in basically three habitats. The first and best habitat was a drop-off. The bottom was flat, rocky, and weed-free, which I determined by dragging a T-rigged, weighted Senko over it, not catching on rocks or weeds. I caught nine there. Here's one:

I left the productive flat to fish the outlet stream, which is the best big bass spot on the pond. It looks like this:

You can see the opening is quite narrow and around the corner is a tunnel created by overhanging trees. I tossed a weightless, T-rigged Senko into the opening the bass below hit it. Luckily, she ran for the lake rather than down the stream:

She was 18 inches. I cast again and this 19.75-incher hit:

Here she is in the air:

Here's one I pulled out of reeds:

And here she is on the board:

I caught another five in the bay where the river is, but then something happened. I stopped catching bass for about an hour. I might have simply not been fishing where bass were biting, but I think it's more likely that an ancient gypsy saw my success and cursed me for one hour. I see gypsies skulking in the woods, always out of the corner of my eyes, and I've managed to photograph them, but their photos are always fuzzy, like UFO and Bigfoot pics.

Anyway, when the curse passed, I found some feeding bass in both the structure and cover of a mid-pond area. I could feel the rocks and boulders as I retrieved my weighted, T-rigged Senko and I hooked some weeds too. I also hooked some bass, taking me to 32 bass for the day and 859 for the year. Here are some of those fish:

Thanks for reading about my little trip! As I've already shared, I want to reach 1,000 bass by the end of the month. I need 141 more. I think I can make it, but who knows, right?

We need an AWESOME emoji around here! Like is just not enough!

Great catchin'!

I would do some of the same things you are doing but I would also try some cranking techniques from spinners to rat'l traps to minnow lures.

You are very fortunate to have so much clear open water. Here in our Florida jungle even our lakes are jungles below the surface and on the surface. About half the time I am fighting the jungle as much as the fish. And then fighting the fish in the jungle. But hey, that is what makes it so fun. Well done Swamp Girl!

I just showed my son your last line about needing only 141 more fish to make 1000 for the month. I said see what you gotta try and top? His response was priceless.

Nice fish Katie!!!

You’re talking about catching 1000 bass in a month & I’m just hoping to exceed 300 for the year. 🥴 Right now my count is 137. Life just isn’t fair! 🤣

52 minutes ago, wdp said:

Nice fish Katie!!!

You’re talking about catching 1000 bass in a month & I’m just hoping to exceed 300 for the year. 🥴 Right now my count is 137. Life just isn’t fair! 🤣

I'm shooting for 1,000 bass in 2026 by the end of June. So, that's 1,000 for the year so far, not for the month. Sorry for the confusion!

2 hours ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

Here in our Florida jungle even our lakes are jungles below the surface and on the surface. About half the time I am fighting the jungle as much as the fish.

It's that way in the two nearby bogs I've fished a lot in the past, which is one reason why I'm not fishing them in the present.

I'm a happy man when I'm working heavy cover, and going toe to toe in the thick. Welcome to the Jungle, we've got fun and games indeed.