Hey everyone, first off just wanted to say hello to you all, my name is Alex, and I live near Folsom, California (around Sacramento for those that don't know). I'm new to the site, but have been reading up quite a bit here for the passed few weeks and want to thank everyone for all the great info I've gathered.

Anyways, yesterday I was able to go out on Folsom lake and do some fishing with my dad. I've been shore fishing at folsom for a little bit now, but haven't caught anything other than a few really small bass...the water is down extremely low in folsom right now, limitting the whole lake to 5 mph, leaving fisherman with the whole lake to themselves, however most of the fisherman I've talked still have been going through tought times lately and not been getting much at all. So, yesterday we decide to take the boat out for a bit and try our own luck on the water.  We left the house at around 11:00 a.m. got all launched, tried some different spots with no luck, until finally we head into a well known fishing cove where at about 2:30-3:00 my dad gets a little guy.  Gives us a bit of excitement to stay in that spot, and the great reputation of the spot and the occasional fish jumping don't steer us away either.  We fish that spot for a little bit more, no luck, so we decide we'll go explore the lake a little more.  We come up to some water where it's getting pretty shallow, sitting at around 5-6 feet, and are about to turn around and head back, until we decide to just go over to a drop off type area where the water gets a little deeper and decide to fish there for a little.

We notice a fish kind of floating along the top of the water, but it didn't look right, looked injured or something just because of the way it was swimming.  So I grab my rod, chuck a spinnerbait out there right passed this guy, reel it in a bit and as I'm bringing it near the boat my dad see's a fish following it, so I slow my retrive just a bit and wham he hits it, he puts up a little fight to move him just a few feet to the boat and we pull him out, and decide he's pretty good size for all the complaints we've been hearing about the fishing lately, and especially not a bad fish to grab at 4:30 in the afternoon  

Anyways, sorry for the long story, just was a fun day for me and to finally grab a fish out of there after trying a few times from shore and a whole day on the boat about 2 weeks earlier and still getting nothing just made the trip very worth it.  Here's the fish, I'm guessing it's just a spotted bass (please correct me if I'm wrong, still new to bass fishing).

(Yes I'm gonna work on keeping my eyes open  ;D)

Can anyone give me an estimate on his size? I know it's hard to tell from just pictures but I forgot my tape measure this trip, but will definately bring it next! I'm about 6' 195 if that helps at all.

Again sorry for the long story, and thanks to everyone on the forum for the great info I've gotten from you all.

No apologies necessary.  That's a good fishing report .  And, welcome to BR.

Very nice Bass and I'd guess it went about 3 lbs? 8-)

Dan

Great report.

Just so you know that is not a spotted bass, it is a largemouth bass.

Anyway that is a realy great looking largemouth. Id say hes around 3 pounds as well.

Anyway that is a realy great looking largemouth. Id say hes around 3 pounds as well.

Ah, thank you.  I really wasn't quite sure, came home and looked at some pics and most of the largemouth I saw were a much darker color and the spotted I saw were a little lighter and had a more distinguished pattern, either way I'm happy with it  

Sure looks like a spotted bass to me. Either way, that's a great fish!

The easiest way to tell is to run your finger over it's tongue, if there's a rough patch, it's almost certainly a spot.

Maybe I just couldent tell because its a small picture, from the pic it looks like a largemouth to me

You may be right FPB. When I saw the speckles on the belly and the little downward hook of the top lip I thought spot, but it is sooo hard to tell. Sometimes I can't even tell when I'm holding one in my hand! Around here the spots are usually a little shorter and a little fatter than the LMB, but the rough patch on the tongue is normally the surest (though not 100%) way to tell.

Awesome report and nice fish too.  

Welcome aboard!

Nice fish. It looks like a 3 lb largemouth to me, too.