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Hey, guys, c'mon now. The way I see it, this thread has evolved into a New England thing, if for nothing else, than just for participation from others that understand our weather patterns, fronts, fish here in general. I for one welcome the input from anybody, but in particular, I pay attention to what's happening throughout the northeast. Mainebass's contributions to this thread have been very forthcoming, and helpful as well, to myself and others. In fact, this year he has smashed me,as far as big fish go. Let's all just fish, share, and have a good time.

your being a dooshbag..back off. This guy has been a consistent contributor to this forum for a year. Nobody else has questioned him about being in Maine. While its great that you started the thread years ago, it has become what it is now. Welcome back, glad you can participate more often now, but stop being a fartbox.

So, while the bite was decent tonight, the wife got her personal best and we didn't bring the scales. She said she almost puked when she saw it's mouth open to toss the lure. Measured 23.25" All I was doing was trying out different baits and she was pulling in 16 fish in just a little over an hour. She caught this fatty on a fat albert grub to add to the humor of the situation.

I consider this forum. North East. Keep posting. Don't let one guy deter you. There's only so many of us on this site. Screw them

Finally after getting skunked the last 3 or 4 trips I picked up a couple on a spinnerbait. One was ok, the other was a good fish. The bigger of the two I got on my trailer hook which was kind of cool. Never used a trailer hook before but I found the spinnerbait I was using a couple trips ago and it already had one on there. There were 2 more that got off. One hit it just as it entered the water and then ran towards me and I wasn't expecting it so it got off. I got the other one all the way back to shore and tried to swing it up onto the bank and it ended up getting hung up on some old line snagged on some logs. So the fish is just hanging there in mid-air and flopped off. It seems the fall bite is on and the fish are finally starting to move back up shallow.

I can't believe you just did that. It is a joy for us to look at Mainebass1984's fish all the time. He catches straight lunkers, and puts in a ton of hours of hard work for them. Just because he potentially smashed your PB about 900x doesn't mean that you have to kick him out of the thread. If anyone should not come back to this thread it should be you. Hopefully no feelings got hurt.

Trout Resource presents....

Oh yeah, and we are tearin up Maine this weekend, so be prepared for an onslaught of fatties pics! I'm looking forward to fishing with someone with as much passion for the sport as myself, and someone who works very hard on the water to find those bigger fish. There will be mayhem.

easily the best thing i've seen today.

Anyone know of this MAD CARP Fisherman??

I did not. Suffice to say "round" would be an adequate description.

I have personally seen MaineBass fish and he is a stud. Most of the time he doesnt even use a rod and reel...even saw him land a 4 with his toes this year.

I thought it said "shall not be infringed"( . )

Keep it NH only that's fine but calling me out on the biggest fish I ever caught and worked very hard to get that is insulting and bs. Like I said you want to see the video and the pictures you let me know

I have a good friend who is a bouncer at a few clubs and he is an active shooter, does the whole tactical shooting competition thing and he said he would never carry on the job even if he was allowed to. I asked him why and he said basically that no matter how good of a bouncer you are, things can go crazy fast and having a gun in the mix is usually a recipe for disaster with the types of crowds at the places he works. Not saying you should do the same, just relaying the information he shared with me....

It does say any luck in southern NH. I was invited to participate on this thread from other guys that frequent it, Shane, Jiitterbugger, Nashua Nev, unh bass amongst others. Until very recently I did not see you regularly participating in this thread. If you care to look back on this thread you can see that I have been a very active participant. I have had the pleasure of meeting and competing against some of the participants of this thread. I have been more then forth coming when members that frequent this thread have messaged me with questions. I am actually supposed to be fishing with Shane this weekend. He wanted to come to Maine and target big fish. Jitterbugger started a similar monthly competition that was called "who wants in" check it out. We started it last fall and it was quite fun. It ended this past august. You want to keep it NH then that's fine. In reality all the fish I catch are less then 2 hours from southern NH, I fish in Southern Maine. If you want to call me out on the 9-1, if you don't believe me, believe that I caught a 9-1 then like I said I will gladly send you the video and the pictures.

Read & KNOW your state CCW laws. Also, you need to disclose this to your employer that you have a permit and are carrying. It is important to communicate this to your employer because you want to make sure the employer supports this while you're working. The employer's main concern is safety and making sure that you maintain order and control. However, if you are carrying and use your weapon on the job, the employer is going to be liable. Besides, dead patrons are really bad for business. A-Jay

Black, and rarely do I need to use anything else. Hard to explain why but it just does. Also excels at early morning and evening periods.

Yeah just save a bit more. $200 and you can have a very nice setup. My vote goes to a tatula rod and reel. You can get a 7'1 mh/xf rod on Walmart.com for $89 and a reel for $103. You can also look on that popular auction site and find the reel for $90-100.

There are a few guys on the swimbait forums and others that remain relatively quiet that have caught fish around 8 or so. I've heard of a couple guys with 9's. I know the fish are there too, I just don't believe there are many guys actually fishing for them.

Oh so we are on my topic with more money. Let me say what everyone will, if you save a little more you'll be golden. Do what you can afford, but you can always save money too.

Nice catch!

I have to add mine to this thread. I caught this little guy on a Rapala DT4. The DT4 was 15-20x bigger than this bass. It was hooked through the lip (no clue how this happened) and was successfully release. By far the smallest fish I have ever caught. Enjoy!

Nice fish.. yup got my spinnerbait always on.. love usin' it

Nice Bass ~ Congrats. A-Jay

Maine I hate to see you go because of one dink. But understand why you would

The answer is NO. I was at Loxahatchee Preserve, West Palm Beach. We went out expecting a good day. It was February and there is some bedding during this month, in South Florida. We fished all morning and with bright sunny skies, it was tough. It was noon, so to catch a few fish before leaving I put a weightless Zoom Fluke on my spinning rod with 10 pound test mono, my lightest rig. I saw some movement next to the bank and cast the Fluke into the mix. She took the bait in two feet of water, and the fight was on. I had to get her head up before she buried herself in the weeds. I knew right away it was a monster. She ran all over the place but I was able to get her to deeper water. She weighted 11.4 lbs, on my scale. I couldn't talk, or fish, for about 15 minutes. It was a special moment, I will never forget. Although I have caught a number of 8 and 9 pound fish, this one was special. I released her as soon as I could, and she was in perfect health, and swam away strong. That was 25 years ago, and it still feels like yesterday!

The NY record is 11-4 from Buckhorn Lake in Otsego County. in 1987. I figure there HAS to be a largemouth in Lake Champlain that will beat that (and the VT record). It is my intention to catch her. Eventually. Maybe. Tight lines, Bob

I am going to be moving in that area in next few years myself, but I have been fishing Cumberland for several years but have only been fishing it sporatically over the last 10 years. I fished it last year and keep an eye on the conditions. The lake had a major drawdown to repair the dam about 8 years ago, and was just this year filled back up to normal pool, during the drawdown period trees have grown up and created new cover for the fish. As for your creek arm question the black bass seem to stay more up in the creeks and closer to cover, they also have to compete with the stripers for food, but the stripers seem to be more main lake oriented. If you are looking for small mouth, that fishing seems to be better on the dam end of the lake, especially where you are going to be living. Hopefully this helps.

The Phenix is as close as I will probably get to a factory BFS rod. Instead of ordering a true BFS rod from Japan I would probably go with a custom on a spinning rod blank. I have a 5 1/2' light -power spinning rod and one of these days I'm going to put one of my Pixys on it just to see how it will load and cast (if the reel will fit in the reel seat and I don't get honked up by the first guide being so far off the blank... )

Wow - you be stylin' now...

I'm pretty much the same as you Catch, except for 1 day: I was field testing a spinnerbait I made with a zonker (rabbit) strip to see how the zonker strip reacted in the water. I had nothing with me, just my rod and phone. It was 7 days after ice out so I wasn't expecting to catch anything. After a couple of casts I started to experiment with different retrieves and can came thru some of last year's weeds and felt a snag. I pump my rod tip light to dislodge the bait threw back in again, Same thing, pump my rod tip slightly but this time the bait wasn't freeing up. I yanked up and the bait wasn't moving, until I felt a vibration. It was a fish swimming away with my bait. I'm like oh boy, this is a nice one! I finally got her to shore and unbuttoned her. I had no scale, but I was able to take measurements: 23 1/4" x 20" girth. I can honestly say, that was one day I wasn't fishing for anything to bite let alone a PB.

btw - when these measurements are placed in the "Fish Weight Calculator" it comes out to 13.70625 lbs. I WISH ~ ! A-Jay

They make other colors beside albino and pearl? Allen

I'm great with the idea and love the location. However, I'm out of town that weekend. Tues nights are generally best for me, but I'll be flexible

Keep it simple Grubs/tubes - 2.5-4" on as light a jib as you can run and still get it to sink. I've gone anywhere from 1/32 to 1/4 oz depending upon the depth or the river, the current, and the activity level of the fish. Colors - keep it lifelike- think crayfish when the water is clear/lightly stained (pumpkin, green pumpkin, watermelon, watermelon red fleck, etc) as it gets a little more stained, I like using those same colors with a chartreuse tail. As it gets more stained, I'll use more chartreuse and/or something dark - junebug or black perhaps. Also note - you want light line here. I like 6-8lb mono and no more than 10lb fluorocarbon. I've gone as low as 4lb with light jigs and finicky fish. Crankbaits - you first want something that's going to be one smashing into rocks without getting hung. (Flat bills are great for this) Second, I like something that has a wider wobble (right now, I like Rapala's scatter rap) for fishing flats on the river where I can't see the weed edges or all of the underwater structure/eddies. Those things kick up sand/dirt/gravel all over the place. Colors - if it's clear, match the baitfish and crayfish they're likely eating. If the water is muddier, high contrast colors work great - everything from Sexy shad to chartreuse/fire tiger/clown, etc. I'm not on the water 3days a week anymore, but my rule was always to get crazier with the color as the water got murkier. Also, when the water is dark, rattles can come in handy. Spinnerbaits - high visibility - willow blades, low visibility - Colorado blades. Keep appropriate weights to fish the water column. I treat the colors for spinner baits, just like plastics above. Also, if fish are coming up short or you're missing hits, a trailer hook is typically a good idea. Topwater - note top waters float on their own, so a heavier 12lb+ mono line-leader can be a good call to keep the bait on top where it's most effective. Walking baits - different sizes are great, but I've had a lot of success catching smallmouth on big ass Zara Spooks just walking he dog and pausing. I've been successful using spooks in the more lifelike colors and in stained water I keep crazy colored Yo-Zuri walking baits in my box. Poppers - probably my favorite way to catch smallmouth in a river - the classic Pop-R is still great, but I love the Skitter Pop. I like to keep the colors natural and I've had several completely destroyed by bass, pike, and musky over the years. Jerk baits - some people love them, but they haven't been my biggest producers. Colors are treated like above based on water clarity. Note - countdown and suspending jerk baits can be killers on lakes or ponds, but in the current, you'll be snagging/losing baits like crazy if you aren't super careful. Stick with floating options unless the rivers your fishing have some real depth. My .02 hopefully is is helpful.

Nice reel john !! That reel is on my list, might get a jdm shimano over the winter... 1. They are spacers you put under the spool. Ive had ci4's come perfect out of the box, also had a sustain that needed one or two to balance out the line placement on the spool. 2. You can spool your reel either way in the picture, just make sure the line is coming off the spool in the right direction if you decide to lay it on the floor.

Danforth anchor with chain & plenty of rope.

Depends on which line. InvisX or Tatsu, no issue. Something stiffer, yes.

Nice fish guys! I went to Lone Star Friday afternoon and caught a few. Nothing big but it was a lot better than sitting at home. On the plus side the steering that Chris and I worked on worked very well! The real question is... did you get your baby brush hog back? I plan on going back out there Wednesday afternoon to see if I can catch something that would be worth taking a picture of.

I make my own because I couldn't find any that held together very well or worked as well as I felt like they should. I do best with black and blue, bluegill, crappie, and sexy shad colors. I use a ton of different things for trailers; 2/3 of a trick worm or stick worm, grubs, pit boss, Rage craws or Menace, subwoofers, beat shads, C tail worms, just about anything. Lately I've really be doing well with a 4" Havoc Pit Boss trimmed down and rigged sideways, they have a ton of action rigged that way and you can catch a couple dozen before it either won't stay up on the hook or all the legs get ripped off.

Fishing for catfish bait a couple days ago when I caught this prize winner! That's shorten 2" grub on a 1/80th ounce jighead for scale

I fish from both land and from a boat. The same techniques you fish from a boat with you can fish on the bank with. The main difference I find is the accessibility and cover you have on the bank can limit the techniques you can use. However, if you find open bank with little obstructions you can throw many of the same type of baits and techniques you can from a boat.

The lady in the lower right seems to be watching the other girl grab the guy's goodies and is somewhat shocked at it. She is starting to say "O my God" or something like that to the lady next to her. What is funny is the guy never flinches.

I'll usually spend 8-10 hours on a full day of fishing. Numbers depends a lot on where I'm at. Lakes that are known to produce good numbers, I'm pretty disappointed if I don't approach or pass 50 fish in a day. If I'm on a big fish lake I'm not worried about numbers, just quality. On those lakes a really good day could be 10 fish, but a majority of them will be quality fish.

i always seem to need a few more bags of my 2 favorite senko colors, and another few topwaters.

So true...It seems that every week there is a new "must have" that pops up. I am currently in the market for the 6th Sense 75X, a recommendation from A-Jay!

July 3, 1956 22 lb 3 oz Chopped up, frozen, and sent to Alaska for the crab fishermen to use as bait.

My job is to design and make swimbaits. My job is to help people catch big bass. I do that wether they are using swimbaits or not. My job may also be to sell swimbaits but I am not a salesman. I do not go to any trade shows,.I have no decals on my boat or truck. I do not call or visit stores for orders. They call me and I fill orders. I am almost never able to accumulate stock as I sell what I make as its made. I also do not need to convince anybody that swimbaits are #1. the results speak for them selves. All you have to do is look at all the pictures and videos from the last 8 years and you will see that swimbaits have produced more huge bass then any other bait. And consider that only a small percentage of guys are using them. I am on these boards because I like contributing and helping guys catch big bass. I rarely if ever even mention my baits on here and I often recommend other brands and other baits.

I change something as soon as I loose confidence. I will either change the lure our change location. Usually location unless I just know there are fish there.