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2022 Bass Fishing

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  • Sasquatch

    TGT Addict
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    3   0   0
    Apr 20, 2020
    6,590
    96
    Magnolia
    I haven't fished a lot this year yet - my MIL's health issues have required a lot more doctor trips, now she's on frickin IV meds 3X a day, and the cold weather has also kept me around the house a bit more.

    I've gotten out a handful of times and managed a few fish so far this year.

    While waiting for the MIL at a doc appointment last week, I went to a tiny public park in Tomball with a mud puddle sized pond, and managed a chunky little fish on a big wake-bait.

    NQXU2MV.jpg


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    Got another chunky little guy from a different pond in Tomball a couple days later.

    z2fgjyu.jpg


    I've also pulled off my first top-water catch of the year. Not worth bragging over, size wise, but it was an honest to god popper-caught fish in February. That was worth the entertainment.

    jbpxKmN.jpg


    2022 has already claimed a couple of my favorite lures, which now I have to replace. I want to get my first 10lb largemouth this year. Probably have to do a little travel to do it, did not get nearly as much travel in last year as I wanted. I've got the baits and the rods to hunt the 10+lb fish, I just need to be in the places where they're likely to be found!
    Texas SOT
     

    Sasquatch

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    Apr 20, 2020
    6,590
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    Magnolia
    Where we fished is real shallow out some ways. I heard during the draught you could walk out to the tree tops.

    Do people still fish from inner tubes with swim fins & waders?

    Yep. They're fancy now, called float tubes. The round tubes gave way to U-tubes years ago - MUCH easier to get in and out of, more stable too. You sit on a fabric seat, there's a stiff bar holding the U ends open, you get an apron/skirt for a work space. I used to fish out of one a lot, still very popular with fly fishers out west.

    Kayaks, small boats, and pontoons (personal, inflatable kind) are a lot more popular these days though.
     

    baboon

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    May 6, 2008
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    Out here by the lake!
    Yep. They're fancy now, called float tubes. The round tubes gave way to U-tubes years ago - MUCH easier to get in and out of, more stable too. You sit on a fabric seat, there's a stiff bar holding the U ends open, you get an apron/skirt for a work space. I used to fish out of one a lot, still very popular with fly fishers out west.

    Kayaks, small boats, and pontoons (personal, inflatable kind) are a lot more popular these days though.
    Kayak would never work with my back. Might
    be able to do a canoe for an hour.
     

    Sasquatch

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    Apr 20, 2020
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    Magnolia
    Kayak would never work with my back. Might
    be able to do a canoe for an hour.
    I think you'd find a Jon boat with the right seat system to be the most stable and comfortable. Could do it on the cheap / easy picking up a Jon, bolting a swivel base on one of the thwart seats, and getting the most comfortable seat you like and attaching the base. Boat seat options have never been better - you can get lumbar support, high back, low back, arm rests or no arm rests. A good seat might cost as much as a cheap old used jon, but the right seat would make life a lot better. Plus with a Jon, you could stand up if you want to stretch, and not necessarily risk capsizing easily. You also have the ability to throw a decent motor on the back, which is especially nice if the wind / waves pick up and you need to run for shore.
     

    ACCIII

    New Member
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    0   0   0
    Jan 9, 2022
    6
    11
    Ohio
    Up here in Hudson OH, we prefer to ice fish.

    But only if the recent Hudson mayor comes along with his little black book. ;-)
     

    baboon

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    May 6, 2008
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    Out here by the lake!
    I think you'd find a Jon boat with the right seat system to be the most stable and comfortable. Could do it on the cheap / easy picking up a Jon, bolting a swivel base on one of the thwart seats, and getting the most comfortable seat you like and attaching the base. Boat seat options have never been better - you can get lumbar support, high back, low back, arm rests or no arm rests. A good seat might cost as much as a cheap old used jon, but the right seat would make life a lot better. Plus with a Jon, you could stand up if you want to stretch, and not necessarily risk capsizing easily. You also have the ability to throw a decent motor on the back, which is especially nice if the wind / waves pick up and you need to run for shore.

    I had a Jon boat for about 5 years. It took me everywhere I wanted to go with the oars. Next door neighbor had a small motor I would use from time to time.

    It was kept at our recreational club( strip mines). Then a scored a canoe which was much nice paddling the rowing the Jon boat.

    My dad came across a snowmobile motor making a mini air boat out of the Jon boat. A buddy came buy to get the canoe in it was never seen again
     

    Sasquatch

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    Apr 20, 2020
    6,590
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    Magnolia
    Its that time of year again - bust out your bright red, orange, or red / orange lures. Early pre-spawn behavior, red / orange trigger something in bass this time of year. Doesn't matter as much what TYPE of lure, as the color and speed of the retrieve. Warmer water = faster retrieve, cooler water, generally slow retrieve.

    This afternoon I snuck away for 40 minutes of fishing, when the air temp was 38 degrees. I landed 8 bass from one of the neighborhood ponds - mostly 1/4 to 1/2 lb dinkers, but a few that went 2-4lbs. Moderate pace retrieve with this swim bait. I could not for the life of me find my crank baits in this color - this was my *only* red / orange lure. It worked great. Hands were too cold to get pix of some of the better fish - but here's some highlights.

    idaUVaO.jpg


    rtMKHWv.jpg


    AijGcWX.jpg


    6zbwh9Z.jpg
     

    Sasquatch

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    Apr 20, 2020
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    Magnolia
    Been an interesting last week or so. I've caught a number of decent fish lately - almost exclusively on swimbaits. I caught a god-damned soft shell turtle that snapped my swimbait rod, so I had to replace that. Same turtle wrecked what was my most productive swimbait recently too.

    Prior to the last week, the bite has been really really slow since most of the bass in our ponds have spawned, as have the sunfish. I hadn't been able to pin down a pattern, despite trying all my normally productive baits / tactics.

    The big fish finally moved shallow - could be late spawners, could just be up chasing late spawning sunfish. I think both might be true, because my sunfish pattern swimbaits have been THE ticket of late. Shad style baits haven't been nearly as successful. I've had *some* success on stick baits / worms, but not nearly as much as the swimbait bites.

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    BFr5Psf.jpg
     

    Sasquatch

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    Apr 20, 2020
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    Magnolia
    Some smaller fish have also been hammering the swimbaits:

    ja6SonX.jpg


    9GgWxWy.jpg


    PWO73Gq.jpg


    RjuAozV.jpg


    E4yLa3N.jpg


    NkNm12y.jpg


    9XYBvto.jpg


    Caught my first "frog" fish of the year, though the "frog" was actually a bluegill shaped bait.

    w12AruS.jpg
     

    Sasquatch

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    Apr 20, 2020
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    Magnolia
    So I got something in the mail today, intended to catch BIG bass:

    sJoDIVq.jpg


    Gun for reference on size.

    RVSoqSM.jpg


    Its a 10 inch gizzard shad imitation, a line-thru style swimbait by Savage Gear. Weighs in at 7 ounces.

    Watched a video on YouTube of a guy down in Florida when I was trying to see if people were rigging these differently than they come in the package (a very common thing among swimbait anglers) - dude caught a slew of BIG fish, with his best five totaling a bit over 27lbs, and the two best in there over 7lb each.

    I had a few minutes to kill this afternoon between helping a neighbor put a new fuel filter in her zero turn, and getting the boy from the bus stop. I stopped at the neighborhood pond and gave this a test swim in a spot where I caught a few bigger bass last week, and had some surprising but pretty damn fun results:

    X29fIbT.jpg


    XlTcF5b.jpg


    I'm 6'4" and 260lbs (per my last trip on the scale) for reference. That kitty was hefty, and I had it pinned with all three barbs of the treble hook (only one hook for this bait) in the corner of the mouth - perfect hookup. Seriously couldn't ask for better.

    As I was unhooking it, a couple of neighbor ladies were walking the path around the lake too, and I heard one call out "don't put it back yet, we want to see it!" so they scooted over. One lady says "Oo, I want to get a picture to show my husband there really are big fish in the lake" so I say sure, please send it to me as well.

    While not a largemouth - I'll happily catch catfish all day, especially if I get 'em on lures. I've caught a few other cats on swimbaits and crank baits, but I really was not expecting this big ol' kitty cat to be my first catch on my new bait. I'll be ordering more of these baits. I'm going to see if they make a slightly smaller version - that 7 ounces got tiring when I went back to the lake after getting kiddo from the bus. I fished about an hour and a half or so - talked to Axxe on the phone for a while while I was fishing too.

    The addage "big bait, big fish" certainly rings true.
     

    Bully

    Active Member
    Rating - 100%
    9   0   0
    A thousand beats a hundred all day long.

    You're certainly putting in the work and it's paying off. Congrats.

    I am new to Texas fishing and wasn't very good at it in my home state. I caught my PB about 5-6 weeks ago: 6#3oz on a swimjig. I've been exclusively throwing them and having a lot of fun. It's fun using just one style of bait and learning as much about it as possible before moving to the next. That's what I'm currently doing and it's a hoot. I just came off a Ned Rig roll on an UL spinning set-up. That was fun as well. Not sure what'll be next up but I'm sure I'll exhaust it.
     

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    Sasquatch

    TGT Addict
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Apr 20, 2020
    6,590
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    Magnolia
    The heat has made bank fishing tough on our neighborhood lake.

    Recently I've noticed the fish going ape by the deepest of the three bubblers in the lake - normally I *never* get hits or catch fish around the bubblers (which always confused me, since its high oxygen water!)

    I recently repainted our janky, ugly canoe, so the boy & I took it for a rechristening last weekend. I don't have a trailer hitch on the mini van yet. The *only* think I have with a hitch at the moment is the zero turn. Work with what ya got!

    glxtgux.jpg


    Right off the bat, I got a 2.5lb fish on a swimbait. Good start!

    Then I got a 4lb'er

    lsdNNrs.jpg


    tk4mfFj.jpg


    After getting a few more good fish (2lbers mostly) I convinced my boy he needed to switch up from a plastic worm, to a swimbait.

    A few casts with the swimbait, he hollers "I got a big one!" and I see his rod doubled over.

    SFZu0UC.jpg


    Solid 2lb fish. His best of the year so far, but still only half the size of his biggest ever.

    All in all, we landed about 12lbs worth of fish in 8 bass, mostly 1.5-2lb fish, a few 1/4lb dinkers (impressive apetite for such small fish) and my 4lb was the big one of the day.
     

    topoccxx

    New Member
    BANNED!!!
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Jun 1, 2022
    11
    11
    California
    Its that time of year again - bust out your bright red, orange, or red / orange lures. Early pre-spawn behavior, red / orange trigger something in bass this time of year. Doesn't matter as much what TYPE of lure, as the color and speed of the retrieve. Warmer water = faster retrieve, cooler water, generally slow retrieve.

    This afternoon I snuck away for 40 minutes of fishing, when the air temp was 38 degrees. I landed 8 bass from one of the neighborhood ponds - mostly 1/4 to 1/2 lb dinkers, but a few that went 2-4lbs. Moderate pace retrieve with this swim bait. I could not for the life of me find my crank baits in this color - this was my *only* red / orange lure. It worked great. Hands were too cold to get pix of some of the better fish - but here's some highlights.

    idaUVaO.jpg


    rtMKHWv.jpg


    AijGcWX.jpg


    6zbwh9Z.jpg
    Congrats, Good catch
     
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