F is for Fishing

Had a few minutes to fish this morning, so I tried my suspending jerkbait again in the same location where I caught my last bass, and came up with my PB smallmouth bass. For the record, I rarely come across them in my usual spots, so while this is a very nice fish, it's not going to be breaking any records other than my own!

Gave it a shot with a suspending Jerkbait today (Rapala Husky Jerk 7)

Hit a nice Chain Pickerel on my third cast in the early evening on the Canal

Tied on my new Fish Hawk Spinner and went out looking for trout on opening day. You can find this lure here- https://www.jandh.com/products/dark-matter-3-16-oz-fish-hawk-spinner.html

Went out this morning looking for Bass- but nature had other plans for me. I saw several swim by but they wouldn't even look at what I was throwing, but luckily, there were other fish in the canal...

I had a short window of time to fish, and it was a very nice day, so I swung by the small local pond that's always full of undersized bass and panfish to get a quick fix.

Went down to the Canal and tried out a few more of the crankbaits in my tackle box.

You can't win 'em all.

I've been getting better at using these small shad rap crankbaits, but I snapped off the black and gold one I've been using- luckily I had a backup in a rainbow trout pattern to keep going with.

First cast of the day at a somewhat secret spot that I had some good luck with last year...

I wanted to try a deeper diving small crankbait so I tried a size 4 UL Shad Rap. Just when I was getting ready to give up on it, this happened...

Had a short window of opportunity to get out to the canal right before nightfall, and hit a big pickerel on a little crankbait.

I got a pickerel on the canal during lunch, so I came back after work for another go with the mini-crankbait.

Caught one on a mini rebel craw pattern crankbait. Hit came on the pause right at the bank.

First day of spring on the local canal- was actually targeting two small bass I saw in the shallows when this guy came up and snatched it.

My first time trying a Googan Mini Klutch Lipless Crankbait in the Craw pattern. I don't usually fish lipless cranks because I worry too much about snagging and losing the lure, but I liked the action and the flash this one had while it lasted!

Throwing some grubs and micro crankbaits on the canal in early march. Water is high and cloudy with temps in the low 40s despite it being one of the warmer days this week, but the bite is starting to wake up for the spring already.

Made my first catch of 2023 on a chilly, early march afternoon by slow rolling a curly tailed grub in the local canal.

I've been having decent luck with the jerkbait this month, so I may as well keep going with it...

I don't really remember the last time I used a floating jerkbait- and I've never caught anything bigger than a bluegill on one, so it was about time I gave the old "twitch twitch pause" routine another shot.

I had a few minutes between running errands, and I had to drive past a local pond, so naturally, I stopped to make a few casts...

I clearly have a problem- I keep revisiting the pond that's loaded with baby largemouth bass that appeared to have displaced all the bluegill that I used to catch there. Yeah they're tiny, but it's fun to run over there and catch a few.

It was a really nice warm early november afternoon, so I grabbed my lighter gear to check in on the young largemouth bass that have taken over a nearby pond.

Found a pond I've never been to before in my area, so I tied on some moving baits to see if there was anything worth fishing for.

This fall, the spinnerbait has been the most reliable thing I've thrown when targeting bass. Find this catch on fishbrain at https://fishbrain.com/posts/6YoLc7jv