u/Educational_Cry_6085

A storm a month or so ago blew a tree down into my favorite local pond, and the big girls have started hanging out there. Before today, I haven’t had any luck in getting to them because they are hanging out on the inside branches close to the trunk, and I either snag and lose lures or I can’t cast close enough for them.

I tried a new tactic today. Since I was using a medium light rod, I couldn’t try frogs, so I put on a Big TRD rigged weightless on a 3/0 ewg and let it float (it sank hook down only slightly, the tip of the tail stayed at the surface.) I was able to confidently cast it tight to the bends in branches, and the bass were hitting it almost immediately when I got it to them.

The 2 I’m in the photo with were both over 3.5 pounds. Biggest catches in there for a few months.

New SA Amplitude line I ordered from Sierra. I need to return this, right?

Dodged some raindrops and brought in this guy. It slammed my little paddletail then took me for a ride. I was expecting to get a bluegill with this lure, especially in the shallows where I was throwing it. Measured it at 19”.

Daiwa Tatula XT UL XF
Daiwa ‘23 JDM Legalis 1000S
Sufix Revolve 6lb Braid to Trout Magnet SOS4lb mono leader
Supercontinent Easy Shiner in green pumpkin/black flake on a 1/32 oz Zman Micro Shad HeadZ.

The fish were in the mood to chase this week, with all these catches coming on small paddletail swimbaits.

The first few were on a Supercontinent 63mm “Impact Ring Shad” which is their knockoff Keitech, without the scent. These things have great action! I’m going to order some bigger ones too.

The others were on Rebel Liveflex Shore Shiners, which I’ve had for a while, but used for the first time. These were getting crushed almost immediately when hitting the water.

I used the same 1/32 oz Zman Micro Shad HeadZ for all of these.

Little guy with a beat up tail, but he rushed over to hit my natural minnow streamer (which I don’t know what it was called, and lost to a snag 2 casts later!)

Added a few more redbreasts, too. Nice morning in the neighborhood creek.

Spent the morning at the local creek practicing my flyfishing. Got a lot of these pretty fish!

Picked up the TFO NXT Black Label the other day and took it out to try this morning at a little pond full of tiny aggressive green sunfish. I had several bad casts, a few tangles when I didn’t focus well, and a couple of excellent casts. I’ve got a lot to learn still, and I’m excited to get on better water for better fish!

Thanks for all the posts in here, it’s helped reading through a bunch.

A little topwater early morning action on the pond

Fun morning on the creek! These little guys were very aggressive, crushing the Betts popper and the Creek Life Moss Dweller. Looking like they’re close to spawning!

Continuing my run of using flies on my UL spinning setup, I caught this beauty in a new-to-me urban creek on a red sili worm. They were crushing it!

Caught a bunch of monsters!

Had a productive morning throwing weightless soft plastics on a #6 ewg hook. Most were caught on a Mule Horsefly (including the 17” LMB!), several on a Supercontinent Larva, and the rest on a Micro TRD.

The colors on this guy made me say “wow!” Out loud!

Off the top, I apologize for the ground photos. Both fish flopped out of my hands while trying to hold them for photos, so since they were on the ground anyway, I quickly put my measuring tape beside them. I always try to keep them off the ground, but I failed at that today.

This bass is my PB. I intentionally left my scale in the car because my recent outings haven’t needed it. So naturally I caught 2 giants. The bass was right at 22”, the bluegill slightly over 9”.

Bass caught on a black and blue Zman Finesse Worm on a 1/16 oz Ned head using a Tatula XT ML rod and Regal 2500 reel.

Bluegill caught on a brown and yellow Supercontinent Larva rigged weightless on a #4 ewg hook, using a Tatula XT Ultralight rod and ‘23 Legalis 1000S.

Used the 2.8” in Green Pumpkin Blue Flake. It looks like a bluegill eating off the bottom. This guy snapped him up aggressively!