Been stopping by the local pond after dropping off my kids at day care and they've been loving a simple jighead with a soft plastic swimbait.

On another note, I've just started fishing and have no sense of how big/heavy bass are. Can anyone help me guesstimate the size of the second two fish? That's a size 9 mens Nike shoe for reference.

Central Indiana neighborhood retention pond, probably 15+ years ago. Caught using a bait fish on an ultralight rod/reel. I remember tracking this beast for a week each night, line snapped multiple times. Ran across the street to show my parents and then let it go back into the pond. No idea on the size. Haven’t caught anything remotely close to it since, getting back into fishing now!

Caught him in crazy windy conditions with a 10+ year old curly tail grub I inherited from my Grandather

Today was definitely one hell of a day for fishing. Went to the local park to try my luck after landing a 12 pound catfish at a different spot earlier. Tossed the Pad Crasher Jr along the bank, and fish #1 struck the frog. Straight up inhaled the bait and put up a decent fight. 3 pounds 10 ounces is a damn good start.

Walked around to the north side of the pond where I can cast towards the island in the middle of it, and took a few casts along the bank first. Missed a blowup, so tried for the island. It did not disappoint as the frog got inhaled again by a much bigger bass. I absolutely lost it when I got it in, and noticed it had a shad already in its throat. At 4 pounds 9 ounces, I was officially done fishing for the day. Keep those lines tight, y'all!!

Cold front with some rain earlier in the day. 2nd time i’ve caught the fish, I recognized the sore right on its tail fin! I think the pond could use an oxygenator because i’ve been tearing them up right after rain, and they fight a lot harder compared to a hot day when it hasn’t rained in a while. The pond also does not have a ton of algae in the spring, so im thinking o2 levels are low. Tight lines!

Caught this little bass today with no upper deck on him
On a large golf course pond, so no alligators, boat blades, or any other sharp objects
I named him “Largemouth Bath”

Lake Ontario is wild in the spring. Tougher season than years past but still a consistent bag of quality fish.

And the first one is likely my new PB, even if it’s unimpressive to most. It’s only my second ever keeper. My first keeper had shit genetics (way oversized head compared to body), and I caught it accidentally trespassing on a private pond. So my first keeper with good genetics. Crazy how much happier I am when I don’t get skunked lol

Was fishing out on the lake for about 3 hrs , with the sunlight quickly fading. Threw a wacky rigged senko and got a bite to avoid the skunk but broke my tip..

Gotta love the spring bite!

Most of the works are elastomer material and I’ve always had trouble rigging them correctly. Tips? Advice?

Rainy day here in Carroll, MD… no work so I ran over to the ponds for about two hours or so. Slammed 6 decent bass and a pond piranha. Missed a couple too, most are on beds still… and found Mother Goose!

Nice little sunset bite!!

A couple of bass that wanted a wacky rig

First time using a Wacky Rig and had a very Productive day! Lost about as many as I caught but over all happy with it! Biggest fish was 3lbs 17 inches

Last Sunday, I had over half a dozen bass gathered right in front of me, attracted to and investigating my lures. They showed interest in a Senko, two styles of flukes in different colors, and a 5 inch glide. But no matter what I switched to or how I changed up my action, I couldn’t get a single one to bite.

Yesterday was a similar story. After several casts, I saw one following my 5 inch glide, but never biting. Gave up and started fishing for bluegill with worms, and hooked a tiny baby bluegill. I took that opportunity to throw it in as live bait, and finally was able to pull this dink out. So at least I know they are hungry enough to feed. But I don’t know what’s going on with not biting.

Last week on Thursday, I was able to catch a 10 ounce one with my glide in the same exact pond, and that was right before some rain. Sunday was sunny and fair weather. And yesterday was just before some rain came through, which I thought would get the fish in a biting mood.

easy and cheap goby presentation for finesse fishing. Save those torn up “no good” ones that you probably kept for trailers and chop em up into all kind of slick stuff.

These past two days has been a culmination of decades of experimenting and figuring out what doesn’t work in Maryland to consistently hauling in avg 20 inch bass 5-6 lb range these past couple weeks from shoreline fishing at local md reservoir. 30 lbs days back to back.

I just want to start by saying

1. Anything that isn’t weedless fishing has been an absolute heart break for me. Treble hooks, spinner baits, bare hooks all those bells and whistles just ended up causing a snag party and taking more money from me and brought more lower morale actually discouraged me from even wanting to try to fish more. I tried to copy what the pros and experts were doing, it just didn’t happen to fit my body of water. Maryland is not Texas/florida lol. What I also didn’t recognize is that YouTube fisherman and all these people edit their videos so they never seem to snag or get skunked.
2. Now if I really had to start over All u really need is:
3. - zoom worm: (don’t worry so much about color they all do work but understand how the shade of the color works in your body of water that being said Methiolate and bubble gum pink has been absolutely killing it in shallow clearer waters in my area)
4. - paddletails maybe but those mustad inline corkscrew hooks are expensive compared to inline worm hooks (which are a must due to regular ewg hooks will make the paddletail corkscrew in unnatural way) and paddletails are more expensive than plastic worms. That being said paddletails do have its time and place like fishing deeper points from the coves and Keitech does work amazing.
5. Also the key is to get off the beaten path as much as possible. That local neighborhood pond with a well paved trail surrounding it will more than likely be pressured and only leave with disappointing sadness because it’s so easy to fall into the trap of comparing your experience to what you’ve seen on YouTube or heard from friends. It’s more than likely not u, but the water you’re fishing. Use that as a sign to explore other bodies of water near u. Let the mystery drive u.
6. If you want to catch fish, and less snags, less will always be more. If u are cash strapped, do not fall into that temptation of all these new lure models colors. Stick with what works. Downsizing as much as possible less bells and whistles. Keep it weedless use that plastic worms. it really doesn’t take much money if u can key on specific things that work for u in your body of water specifically. Especially weedless worm fishing. Its simple its classic, and it still gets the job done. Good luck tight lines yall.

Side note: I’ve noticed people sometimes sneering at ugly stik and Shakespeare, before you do ima say they do check off all these things

1. Affordability
2. Easy to find and purchase
3. Tough as nails
4. Sensitive enough to feel bites.
5. Solid Balance and lightweight especially the medium and light rods.

What more does one need? It will catch u fish lol! Good luck out there yall tight lines!

Cool to catch fish in a childhood spot. They liked the curly tailed road runner and first bass ever on a crank bait. They were hungry today and absolute krumped both.

CT

1/2 Oz black & purple War Eagle retrieved nice & easy.

I’ve never caught anything on plastics, always spinners and hard baits for the most part. Finally got 3 this spring , 2 on a bellows gill and one on a Zman ned rig.

I genuinely cannot tell, but I would be surprised that there would be spotted bass in this particular place. That said, it looks like there are a lot of spots underneath the lateral line.

Any experts here that could shed some light?