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Caught this nice 4 hungry for a crappie snack.

I typically start my early season with smallmouth fishing up here in NH. The smallies migrate in big waves late winter/early spring which makes it fairly easy to get them at certain pinch points along their journey. My first trip out and first fish of the year happened to be this 5lb 1oz smallmouth. Beating my previous 2 time PB by almost a pound. I casted to the bottom of a 20’ pool and bottom bounced the real prey 4” mean n nasty. As I was bringing the bait back in the fish must’ve followed the bait out of the hole and smoked it hard. These bigger smallies sure are fun to catch. Dobyns 744xp Shimano slx xt 8/1 real prey mean n nasty 15lb seguar invisx

G Flag 150 has just been crushing

Fishing again tomorrow........should be good weather

Well, until I get the funds aside for a PowerPole Micro as recommended by @chefchris, I put together this shallow water anchoring system for my 14’ aluminum boat. Might be a great alternative to those who have smaller crafts and on a budget: I used a Minn Kota transom mount trolling motor clamp on bracket ($25), a piece of PVC pipe and some stainless steel hose clamps to secure the pipe ($5 for both items). I opted for the PowerPole Heavy Duty Spike ($90 +/-). Figured I planned to get the Micro eventually, may as well get one piece of the puzzle at the time. IMG_3381.mov

Taker right before the storm

Been fishing the Tyrant a lot lately with not much to show for it. Well that changed yesterday when an 11.3 pound bass inhaled the bait on the surface. Biggest bass I've caught on the surface. The bass have had a HUGE school of trout pushed back into a cove that is extremely shallow for almost 3 weeks now. I've been catching fish there but the biggest was around 5 pounds. Glad to know there are bigger fish lurking there... Rod: F5 & Fallof74 collab Reel: Diawa Ryoga 1520 Line: Diawa Samurai Fluorocarbon

Been chasing this pattern for a month or so now, yesterday I finally hit it right and stuck the first fish of the year on a Deps 250. Fish was 19.5” and weighed 5.5lbs with fresh trout in its gullet.

The weather here in North Cackalacky is starting to heat up! Last week bass were up shallow munchin on whatever they could find, but the last few days of chillier weather have turned eaters into followers! I ordered a Klash 9 from Japan on Saturday, and it was on my doorstep this afternoon, so I just had to take it out for a spin! It took me a few minutes to figure out the cadence to the bait after throwing a Deps 250 for the last week. (I missed a freaking HAWG on it last Friday- heart=broken) Anyways! I was throwing the K9 on an oxbow wall in the creek that feeds the pond my buddy and I fish- and all of a sudden the bait gets t-boned! I was kind of in shock after throwing it all afternoon with just followers and forgot to set the hook- whoops! I was so excited to finally get one of these baits and am definitely looking forward to throwing it until I stick one! Hopefully it'll be soon! What do y'all think about the color? I know the opaque baits are great for those clear Japanese lakes, but how should it fare here on the east coast? Tight lines y'all! -appstlhd

First swimbait fish of the season. Tried a lake that I've been ignoring because I've only ever caught dinks there before. Water level and grass were up though so I thought it'd be worth trying a couple trips out. First day I didn't get as much as a follower. Decided to come back the next and stuck this girl halfway around the lake. She exploded on the 250 after the first couple cranks of the reel. Not a giant by any means, but respectable for a Northern CO shorefish.

That’s a respectable catch. Well done. Always curious if people have success with the Yunique hard baits.

here ya go https://www.7palmsweb.com/products/detail.php?product_id=148823

Hey everyone, I really enjoy reading all about your catches in this sub, especially the posts that go into detail and explain how they caught the fish. These stories really provide me with more ideas on what to test and ways I can improve my own fishing moving forward. Anyway, a few days ago, I decided to hit up a small city park lake I haven't been to in a while to get in a quick bank fishing session. This spot isn't really known for big fish and is highly pressured, so I went in fully expecting to catch some dinks. To my surprise, I ended up catching a couple of good ones! Here’s the breakdown: Setup: Megabass VKC-711XH Shimano Scorpion MD 300XGLH DRT Tiny Klash Joy Thief Lo - Stock Lip, V-Tail, G-Guard, Weighted To Suspend Weather: 50 Degree Air Temps 10 mph North Winds With Up To 15 mph Gusts Mostly Sunny Time and water conditions: Around 6pm ?? Water Temps (based on feel, guessing above 50 but below 60) - probably way off on that Water visibility - About 5 ft The Catches: The wind was blowing from the north, so I decided to start on the south bank, where the wind was blowing against it. This end is typically deeper and has more interesting structure. Another thing I noticed was the loons swimming in that area, which I took for a sign that it might be where a lot of the bait fish are holding. I figured that’s where most of the bass would be concentrated in this scenario. I started out by cranking the TK until it gained some depth, and then I would deadwalk it back with various cadences. Think jerk, jerk, pause for a few seconds, and repeat, testing various lengths of the pause, ranging anywhere from 3 to 5 seconds. I mainly focused on fan casting and paralleling any visible drop-offs or structural irregularities. I got a few small followers but no commits. Then, I saw what appeared to be some baitfish being chased near a small point about 40-50ft away. This indicated to me that the fish were probably more active and preferred something faster. So I switched up the retrieve to a faster deadwalk. Basically, a quick and erratic deadwalk by making quick quarter turns of the reel handle, with less than half a second pauses in between each reel turn, all the way back to shore. I walk over to where I had seen the movement and make a cast towards deep water, paralleling the side of the small point. I start the retrieve, and just as the TK approaches the tip of the point, I get bit Hard. I wasn't expecting it, so I barely set the hooks into it. It was a total textbook situation, from the cast angle to the retrieve, and even where the bite happened. I get her close to shore and go in to lip her, but then I end up slipping on a rock! She thrashes her head, trying to make another run, and as I quickly get up to lip her, I noticed she had T-Boned the TK! At this point, there was no way I was going to lip her bare-handed with those treble hooks swinging everywhere. So, in a last-ditch effort, I grab the line and bank her on the shore. Not the most elegant way to do things, but at least I land her. This lake isn't really known for fish bigger than 1-2 lbs, so I didn’t bother bringing my scale or measuring board. Something I really regret now, but regardless, she was definitely a good one for this lake. Nobody was around, so I snapped some quick pics and sent her back on her way. For the next catch, I reach the other side of the point and make a cast across a section that funnels into another part of the lake. There is a shallow flat on the opposite side that drops off into deep water, with what is usually a shallow hump beside it. However, due to the low water levels, the hump is currently above water. I make a cast parallel to the edge of the flat where it drops off into deep water, start the retrieve, and right as I pass the hump, I get bit again in another textbook scenario! I land her and see she must have really wanted the TK because she nearly choked it! Holding her up, I realize she's even bigger than the last one, though I have no weights or measurements to be certain. Fortunately, this time, I manage to get a random passerby to take some pictures for me. Overall, it was a pretty good session! Also made a quick sketch on the lake breakdown below.

Holding to my typical building routine, here are the early stages of a project that I've been slowly working on during my lunch breaks in the car. Like always, I'm getting way ahead of myself and the bait is nowhere near being fishable, but sharing my progress is a way of keeping myself motivated and accountable to push forward. I've been trying to build a bigger bluegill bait for a handful of years now, but I can never seem to get one just how I want it. Most of the time it's cosmetic issues with my initial draft not translating well into a three-dimensional form. The farthest I've gotten was with a four piece 7" swimmer, but I wasn't satisfied with how it looked, the soft fins were a pain to pour, and the body was too skinny. I've since attempted to build about 2-3 newer and more realistic versions, but I scrapped them all because I wasn't 100% happy with how they looked. Either the profiles were slightly off or the head designs/proportions/positions were wrong. Mid-June I finally drafted up another sketch that was good enough to compell me to try again. The plan is to make a 6" bait with a thicker body than the old four piece version. It so happens that this size perfectly fits the tail from a 5.5" crankdown gill that I make, so I'm already one step ahead. I've been really taking my time on the shape of the head and how it transitions into the body as that's where I normally mess up. Sizing of the gill plates and placement of the eyes are also critical for a realistic look. I opted for a smaller mouth than I initially drafted because I tend to oversize this feature more often than not. It's amazing how at this stage even the tiniest cut or pass of sandpaper can change the entire look of the bait. I'm really excited with how it is turning out so far but know from too much experience that one slip with the knife could ruin all that work. Regardless, I'm looking forward to sharing the outcome of my efforts with you all. Happy building SU! Dan

After catching my first two swimbait fish earlier this week, I was lucky enough to break my personal best today! I'm in law school right now, so I don't get to fish as much as I'd like- I probably fish more than I should already. That being said, spring break is upon us! My buddy and I have been hitting our local lakes and ponds hard this week with water temps steadily rising. Last year I had caught my previous PB, a 6lb 13oz fish on a wacky worm that came out of this pond in April, and I knew there was some serious swimbait potential here. The bank holding the concrete pad splits in the center with a dock going out about 30 yards. I had blown the side we came in on by walking down on the pad, and knew if there was a fish on the other side, I'd have to be a little sneakier. I positioned myself high up on the bank above the pad, made a few casts under the dock, and slowly inched my way forward. With the angle I was at, I only had about 10 feet of fishability before I had to swing my bait up the bank to avoid dragging it on the concrete. As I made my way forward, I pitched my TK on the other side of a branch sticking out of the water, where the depth was probably around 2-3 feet. I had been burning the Tiny Klash all morning with little success, so I slowed it down. Twitch, twitch, twitch, pause... and BOOM. She came out of nowhere and sideswiped my bait HARD. The whole event happened in about a second, but watching it felt like minutes. I set the hook in disbelief and yelled at my buddy to get his ass over here. I should NOT have landed that fish, that's for sure, but somehow, I did. My hookset was late, and she shook her head hard. Finally got her to the bank with one treble pinned in the corner of her jaw. This fish beat my last PB at 7lbs 3oz. SO close to 8, I'm almost mad about it. Almost.

Great first fish! Or hundreth fish for that matter

I held off a long time and thought they were probably just hype but my first trip out with one I was hooked. 3 nice fish on first day.

Awesome man, how you liking the new yuniques?

Solid ones right there. Seems like it’s become a confidence bait.

With the trolling motor on the back of the boat, turn the boat around and turn the motor on in reverse, then you need to find the sweet spot on the trottle for the wind that day. If you try to do this with the boat facing forward and the motor on the back the boat will just spin.

Lake Biwa pumps out multiple DDs everyday. Every spring, the lake will pump out a handful of 12-15lb fish. Even guys from shore will catch 12-14lb bass. The lake is very pressured but the fish are so wired there. So much forage to feed on all the time. It is illegal to release bass though but most of the Japanese anglers still release them anyways to basically give the government the middle finger. The government does shocking's every spring and takes out a lot of bass but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Less bass equals more food for the ones that are still in the lake making them grow extremely large. The reason most guys over here don't see the Japan catches is that algorithms here in the states don't recommend Japanese content to you, you yourself have to go and search it yourself before the algorithm decides to start regularly showing it to you.

I did a lot of homework this winter and picked a few brains to improve my cold water / early season tactics and it paid off yesterday. as always thank you Chris for the kind words

Laying the hammer down on them chilly bass. Always finding them clean and healthy ones.

Short bus bass

That’s going to be a no from me dawg

Congrats brother!! Just started catching and already sticking a new PB--big baits catch big fish right?? What a tank, the head on that thing is humongous. Great, detailed write-up too, felt like I was there with you!

Solid!

Solid one. It’s definitely a sense of accomplishment when you can get a pattern to work. Well done.