2020 Bass Pics

That’s dirty!

I was able to fish Mille Lacs on Saturday for about 5 hours on the east side of the lake (it was an east wind). Tough fishing but I did manage to catch 5 smallmouth and they were all quality fish between 17-18.5 inches long. I believe they are in post spawn now.

Finally got a decent bass off a dock. Shallow trees or shoreline cover has been good but the dock bite had been all dink’s for me this season. Came on a t rigged rage bug. The same setup also got choked by a pumpkinseed on steroids. Actually had the bend of my work hook past it’s lips. Couldn’t believe it.

Hey Mahto when are you going to do a chatter bait comparison video? I would like to see some action along the weed lines where the pike are lurking…

gimruis wrote:

Hey Mahto when are you going to do a chatter bait comparison video? I would like to see some action along the weed lines where the pike love to slice you off lol

I have the footage of that pike stealing my Thunder Cricket but I’m sure youtube would demonetize it before anyone would’ve seen it.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
Hey Mahto when are you going to do a chatter bait comparison video? I would like to see some action along the weed lines where the pike love to slice you off lol

I have the footage of that <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike stealing my Thunder Cricket but I’m sure youtube would demonetize it before anyone would’ve seen it.

gimruis wrote:

I was able to fish Mille Lacs on Saturday for about 5 hours on the east side of the lake (it was an east wind). Tough fishing but I did manage to catch 5 smallmouth and they were all quality fish between 17-18.5 inches long. I believe they are in post spawn now.

Well done.

The west side has been mostly unfishable the last 3-4 days because of the wind.

I came across this pic of a recent catch on the east side.

Some awesome markings on the bass, plus the angler is easy on the eyes too.

Really nice color on that fish!

Dock fishing has been slow so far this season but started picking up today with a 20 incher. Fish are hitting but not overly aggressive. Jigs, flukes and faster moving lures did not seem to work. Slowed way down by skipping a weightless 5 inch wacky worm deep into the shaded areas way under docks, pontoons, boat lifts and started getting bit.

Nice one Fry

A couple nice ones from this season. Opener, and a couple outings in the last 2 weeks.

Nice fish from everyone.

It’s interesting to hear some of you not finding good fish from docks. In the Brainerd area, I’ve actually been having good success with flipping under/around docks with a wacky worm the last couple of weeks, both with numbers of fish and size. Only problem is having to deal with all of the dang rock bass.

blank wrote:

Nice fish from everyone.

It’s interesting to hear some of you not finding good fish from docks. In the Brainerd area, I’ve actually been having good success with flipping under/around docks with a wacky worm the last couple of weeks, both with numbers of fish and size. Only problem is having to deal with all of the dang rock bass.

Funny you mention that… the only other time I really caught any fish under docks previously this season was in the Brainerd area 10 days ago. But it was on a dark-stained, shallow lake, water temp was 71-72. I came back to the metro expecting to find warmer water and fish under docks but it really hasn’t happened until yesterday. I noticed the water temps here are just getting to 71-72 where I fish.

I usually have a lot of success on fishing docks. Not always the biggest fish but 2-3 lbers with some big ones mixed in. Shoreline cover is a different story. Get a lot of my big fish up there. However since I’ve started going off shore more over the past year, I’ve gotten more big fish out deep. That being said, my last two outings today included, have been brutal size wise and the biggest fish have come off docks.

My 82 year old mom putting the smack down.

mplspug wrote:

My 82 year old mom putting the smack down.

The Grand Rapids “Hammer!!”

That is awesome Pug!

Fitting nickname given by Frydog as well!

Fantastic, pug!

Not a biggun but a different spin on dock fishing!

Ran into a bunch of these this morning. Top water was working well until it got light out, then I went to streamers on an intermediate sinking line. My thumb is all torn up. Feels great

Water temp in the east metro was 81 degrees, and it was already hot and sticky at 3:30AM. I guess it’s officially summer.

SR

Jeez Steve, 3:30am? Guess that’s one way to avoid crowds and beat the heat.

The lot filled up by 5:30. Holiday weekend and decent weather so it was busy. It was really comfortable out there until the sun came over the trees. You could feel the heat rise by the minute, so I bailed out and have been hiding in the basement all day.

SR

We got a couple decent ones on neko and wacky…lost a big one at boat….8-10 fow

Caught this yesterday morning on Tonka on a rattling hornet in 15 feet of water. The cast before I saw a fish on the graph come up from the bottom halfway while the crank bait was getting close to the boat. It was only diving about 8 feet. I took a shorter cast in the same direction as the preceding one and this bit about 5 feet down as the crank bait was coming up to the boat. Probably the same fish. 19.5 inches. The second biggest largemouth I’ve caught. Guessing it was picking off little sunfish that were suspended a few feet down. See the graph. After it hit a couple of cranks had it to the surface. Then it realized it was hooked and a great fight was on.

The water is bath tub warm but the bass are still biting. I took a friend of mine for a few hours and he caught a new PB largemouth, a 20.5 incher. Numbers seem to be dropping off with the heat, but still catching a couple big ones each time which is fine by me.

Got on some solid deep bass on a new lake. Neko rig and 5XD crankbait were getting thumped. My drag got a workout!

Had a good feeling about tonight. Finally cracked 20 for the year at league with this 20 3/4”.

Best of the year for me, right at 22 on the tape. Had an audience too, three guys in a Bass Boat made some wisecrack about fly fishing and then I stuck this guy. I just smiled to myself

SR

Last night made me think I have been fishing too deep. After striking out with the neko, ned and dropshot I moved up on the same main lake point I was fishing into about 15-18 fow with weeds coming up to 8-10 ft and threw a DT10 burning it just into the tops of the weeds. First five casts, 3 bass and one northern. Biggest being this 3 lber that absolutely inhaled the crankbait.

Steve Root wrote:

Best of the year for me, right at 22 on the tape. Had an audience too, three guys in a Bass Boat made some wisecrack about fly fishing and then I stuck this guy. I just smiled to myself

SR

Nice one Steve!

Best day of the season so far for this guy yesterday. 29 bass and 1 pike in 4 hours including 3 big ones.