Fun Day on the Water, Slow, slower, and slower still....

[Attila]

I’ll keep the post short, so as not to bore you with details about gear that I use as everyone has their own personal preference when it comes to what you use.

The 20” smallmouth was caught in about 5’ of water off a rock point, fooled by the Strike King Sexy Dawg Junior.

The 19.5” largemouth was caught in about 3’ of water in a lily pad bad that held multiple fish, and was fooled by a Spro Bronzeye 65 Hollow Body frog.

I also caught a lot of decent largemouth on the Strike King Bitsy Bug jig in black/blue paired with a NetBait Tiny Paca Chunk in a black/blue fleck pattern.

The key to all the fish I caught was an extremely slow, almost stationary retrieve. A snap swivel helped w/ the Sexy Dawg Jr retrieve, and the fish didn’t mind it being attached to the lure at all.

One last thing I’d like to mention….

It’s hot out there. The UV levels are high, and that leads to burns which could also lead to skin cancer down the road. I decided to start wearing a straw hat made by Huk to keep the sun off my face and neck, and my shirt provides extra protection against UVA/UVB rays. Normally I’d wear my gloves as well but forgot to get them out of the car today. There are several brands that make this type of clothing on the market, so if you feel like shopping, there are lots of options to choose from.

The quest for a shoreline caught five pound bass continues…

[Attila]

20" Smallmouth Bass

[Attila]

Lures

[Woodfarmer]

Those are some nice smallies.

[crappeeeman]

You were probably already on the road when I said the fishing would be great yesterday. I think you almost got your wish of a five pound bass. Those are some beasts, and the large mouth had to be 4.5 pounds at least. The picture of the small mouth would look great on the wall. The background is very cool, nice catches.

[Longshank]

nice.........that frog can do some serious damage when fishing stuff like pads

when iwas at my cottage my bigger fish were mostly caught on stationary topwater baits as well....for me it was skitterpops 3 inch..the 2 inch was not as good


good luck on the quest for the 5 pounder...it's waiting

[metalbuckle]

Thanks for the report and that's a trophy bass. Well done!

I'd say close to 5 as well.

Hmmmm. That frog looks familiar.. LOL..
I'm going to buy one off the wall at Gagnons. Thanks!

Cheers!

PS: I also like the Bitsy Bugs.. Have a few colours in the box..

[Drew]

I was thinking the same - that largie looks awfully close to 5 - good report

[Hank Jr]

Nice fish always fun to catch them on top water lures .

[sabmgb]

yeah lots of fun with top water baits. I used to go to a couple ponds and use hoopla poppers always fun

[flexkk]

Beautiful fish especially from shore.

[deepjigger]

Nice catch! And I like your detailed report. Always informative.

[Attila]

Thanks all for the kind words...it was a fun day.

The digital scale pegged the weight at 4.43lbs, so about 0.5lbs under my target.

I know I'll find the fiver soon enough...plenty of water left to fish.

I tend to pack more for big fish lately, and I find that topwaters (whether walking style or frog style baits) and flipping jigs produce larger sized fish for me, regardless of the conditions I'm fishing. The walking style topwater shown above also works well when there is some chop on the water, and being able to use both a smaller sized and regular sized flipping jig and trailer helps me easily dial in whatever pattern is working that day...

The frog is hands down the best bait for any type of pad or weed cover...I fish mine on 65lbs test braid along with a 7'6" MH baitcaster so that I can bring them all out efficiently.

Cheers all, have a great summer.