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His pb small mouth

Momma 8 me SKUNKED until big momma got hungry! 4 lbs 1oz! Frog bite!

Caught this on a five acre pond in the middle of a suburban subdivision surrounded by houses.

I could easily cast across the pond this fish came out of, probably not 20 yards across in any direction.

Kastking Assassin arrived in the mail last night. Spooled it with 12lb Trilene XL and put it on my *** rod. The weather was iffy for Kayak fishing today so I went to the local pond to break it in. Got 3 Bass and a Chain Pickerel on a Zman Chatterbait Greenback Shad color with a Yum Warning Shot in watermelon candy color as a trailer.

Suspended bass are there for a reason, figure why they are there. I keep repeating this fact "active bass are easy to catch", the opposite is inactive bass are very difficult to catch. Suspended bass not feeding on baitfish are inactive bass or maybe I should start saying they are sleeping bass. Crankbait fishing is all about making your lure look wounded to the bass and a easy meal. Steady straight retreives rarely get strikes, change your cadence. My typical retreive is a combination of making 1 to 3 reel cranks along with a few rod pumps, changing the cadence from 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 1 to 3 and pause, etc until a bass strikes, then try to repeat what worked. You can't retreive a crankbait to fast, it tends to roll if you do. The key to success is varying the speed from slow to fast to slow and creating the lures path to change direction about 6" or so, not a big change. If my crank bait never hits anything, I am using the wrong lure and change it. Don't over look a Scrounger jig with a soft plastic baitfish profile/color trailer and fish it anywhere you would a crankbait, the don't hang up! Tom

Absolute lunker on Ft. Loudon Lake Didn't have a scale with me but she definitely looked like a easy 5 pounder.

Still on the short leash for another month or so, so back to bank walking again tonight. Two dozen in about 90 minutes. Not bad considering they just did a lake treatment from the looks of it. A couple of the nicer ones, though they are all little chunkers in this place - no shortage of food for these guys.

Got off work at 3, torrential downpour. Sun finally broke through around 4, so I got after it for about an hour--no bites. Went back home and power went out around 7:30. Had a few minutes of daylight to take advantage of, so I went back out and nailed this one through the nose after a few casts. Sidenote/advice needed: what's the typical choice of bait during the waning hours of sunlight? Top water?

[August 09, 2017](Wednesday)-----Conditions----- Time: ~2:30pm - 7:30pm Sky: Sunny + Smoke + Partly Cloudy (Claustrophobia/Surreal) Wind: Light Wind Afternoon to Calm Evening Water Temps: 75-80F Water Clarity: Clear (~4-8ft) -------------------- The summer heat is here, with temps in the mid 90's every day. It's been a while since Jermey and I have fished, July 26th was our last trip out and it was tough, we struggled to catch numbers or size. I even tried some deep cranking, but it didn't quite work out the way I would have hoped... - - - - - Well some time has passed, and the conditions have changed. The local area has recently been surrounded by wildfires to the north, south, and west... The wind during the day has pushed in all the smoke, and the calm evenings have made it settle where visibility has been down to only a few miles at times. Early every morning when the sun rises it's been so thick you can look directly at the sun and it's less intense than a full moon, being a red / orange color. In the evening when the sun is low on the horizon the smoke almost blocks it out completely. Sometimes I try and think how smoke like this can affect fishing, since it tends to be a common thing in my area from wildfires to burning fields. First I obviously think about light levels, like a sunny day vs an overcast one, but I also think about insect activity. I believe it can stir things up, possibly increase feeding activity. I remember last year I hadn't seen a praying mantis all year long, but found 4 on a smokey day similar to this one. Well after work today we geared up and made it to the lake around ~2:30pm. Here is a picture of the lake atmosphere... Water had a bit more color to it than before, clarity depended on area but in general was clear 4ft+, water temp at the ramp was 80F. Also noticed some clumps of broken up vegetation debris floating on the surface. We decided to first try an area that was productive earlier this year, we could see the vegetation had come up a lot since we last fished it. Since it was near the main lake channel, the water temp had dropped down to 75F. Could visually see a lot of small bluegill swimming around, and I even hooked into a little Perch. There were a lot of seagulls in the area and even a blue herring. With all the activity I figured the fishing might be good - we fished for a good 1 & 1/2 - 2 hours and not a single bite for either of us. It was that time where I start to think of the time invested in an area vs the results so far to consider moving to a new location, but the way we were fishing - we were fishing "into change" as we were coming up to a rock jetty which acts like a funnel with a bit deeper water near it. I had made a cast with the worm and let it hit the bottom on slack line. A few seconds later I went to check it and could see my line running to the right. I reeled up the slack then swung hard and the rod loaded up good, from the weight I figured it was a pike... that was until I got it close to the boat... SLAUNCH! 20 & 3/4" 5lb 0oz Release Video Bait 1/8oz Lead Bullet Weight + 4/0 Berkley Fusion 19 Offset EWG Needle Point Hook with a Zoom Mag II Worm 9" (Green Pumpkin) This year has been tough, struggling to catch a bass over 2lb, and today I landed my 3rd largest bass. I took a moment to try and take in the atmosphere of the day I caught this good one and learn from it, but the day was just unique. I can't really put it into words, I just know there probably won't be another one like it. We continued to catch bass, all of them were sizable little chunkers around a pound with good belly's on them. lot of topwater strikes on the Zoom Horny Toad buzzing it over big clumps of floating vegetation. I managed to catch one bass that had ate a small pike... As the evening progressed, fishing slowed as things became very calm... The Sonar was going off with activity in ~20ft. Using the worm I managed to catch one largemouth that was 11 & 1/2". We both managed to catch 7 bass each, Jeremy also caught a good pike. At 7:30pm we called it a day and headed home. WolfyBrandon

May get a chance at some smallies later this week, but for now, it's more small lake hopping for the time being. About 40 in 2 hours today on 2 different lakes. Sunny, hot and calm, so had to work for them. Rain in the forecast for later in the week, which would actually be nice. Might energize the fish a little.

Small ponds & lakes can def hold big fish. My biggest 2 so far this yr have come outta small bodies of water. This one came from a pond not much bigger than a football field. Around 7 lbs. Bank fishing with a popper. This 9 lb 4 oz fatty came from a small 30 acre lake. And this 8 lb 13 oz came outta of a small lake about 20 acres in size.

I caught my first 10+ lber in an one acre pond, that day I was on fire because I caught 2 more and lost another one right at the bank. Want to hear something interesting ? My friend Pedro and I had fished that pond for years and the only thing we caught were 10-12 inchers by the truckload.

Ended the day catching 3 more. All 1lbers. Not bad for about 4.5 hours total spent over three visits. On my way back home a lady told me her husband caught a 6lber in that small pond and released it. I'm confident if it's still out there, not only will it be bigger now, but I'll catch it. Besides there has to be a momma and daddy bass out there somewhere. Those baby bass and 1lbers didn't just appear there one day...lol! ?

Walked to the smaller pond in my neighborhood at 6:30 this morning. It's only 10 mins. from the house. The baby bass were biting...lol! Caught these 2 dinks and threw em back to get bigger. Had to be back at the house at 8:30am to watch my granddaughter. Gonna try to get back out either to that same pond or the bigger one that's a little further walking to later as long as the weather permits. Already had a little rain this morning and it wouldn't surprise me if it rained some more.

First, I apologize for rambling. I know I'm going to be windy because I'm still wired from my experience yesterday. Second, I know most of you would consider this fish (2.8 pounds) as bait, but I'm just thrilled I got it into my kayak. Finally, as far as I can tell, this guy is either goofy or a heckuva rugged individualist. Anyway, last evening I was fishing for largemouth using a Zoom Ol' Monster (South Africa Special) along a weedy shallow sandbar with nary a rock in sight. I'd caught a couple of dinks and was pouting because action was slow and other than weedless rigs or topwater toads I was limited in lure selections. Milfoil and assorted floating salad were driving me nuts! Anyway, I chucked a long cast out and instead of the typical "tap tap" I expect from a LMB, my line suddenly took off across the lake. I gave it a second then set the hook and almost soiled me pantaloons when this thing came out of the water! I mean he came seriously out of the water! Some guys in a pleasure boat even stopped to watch. After four amazing jumps I lost count, but it took me nearly five minutes to land him because I couldn't keep his butt in the lake and the closer he got to the yak, the worse it got! Talk about an adrenaline rush! I've caught a few small mouths from shore on this lake, but usually it was using Chigger Craws or Craw Fatties around rocks bordering deeper water and none of them jumped like this! My PFD was soaked, I couldn't see out of my glasses, and my hair looked like I just stepped out of the shower. Here's a pic. Compared to most, this guy looks like a deflated football. But for me, he provided the most excitement I've had in years. Thanks for letting me blow off a little steam, but I'm still pumped up.

My new Mattlures bait, I think this is my new most prized lure. It's the most I've ever paid for one that's for sure... But would you just look at this piece of art. Can't wait to fish this thing.

Well I went out to the pond.. got a couple smalls then this guy appeared !

It's not only ingredients. Chicago is the home of pizza, Italian beef, Chicago style hot dogs, Plenty of great food to be found in Greek town, Little Italy, Chinatown, Little Village, Korea town, Jew town, numerous 5 star steak houses and seafood restaurants and the likes. Taxes and cost of living are out of control. The high crime rates occur in certain neighborhoods and as long as you stay out of those neighborhoods, you have a fighting chance. Traffic is something I am accustomed to. The fishing may be less than stellar but, in addition to an IL license, I hold an annual Wisconsin license as well and spend plenty of time fishing Door County, SE and central Wisconsin. Also, no fishing seasons except for smallmouth on inland rivers. I can soft water fish from ice out to ice up. I don't hunt but a buddy of mine does and we make venison jerky annually for as far back as I can remember. While I'm not bragging about living in Crook County, I have learned how to adapt and overcome.

Absolutely! I have a friend who has a 20 acre pond that's 3 1/2-4 yrs old, it producing 6-7# bass. #1 is genetics & second is food source This pond is stocked with F1Tiger bass & it has become very difficult to catch anything.

Got an Okuma Helios TCS 8.1 and one of these that should arrive early next week

The cool thing about ponds is that, if you can get to all of it, you can present a bait to a big fish if there are any. They may not bite, but that's better odds than in a big lake.

I agree with @smalljaw67 – suspended fish are often super hard to trigger into biting. You’ll most likely have better success if you target bass on or at the very least, relating closer to the bottom. Suspended bass that are relating to cover that’s up off the bottom, like timber for instance, are a different story and will often respond to baits crashed into the cover. When I find suspended fish in the fall – I’ll look around for the some decent bottom cover in the area with the hopes of coming back later and fishing it. Sometimes those suspenders will move in there & feed. If what I find has bait on or near it – even better. A-Jay

Unseasonably cool weather had the fish acting funny . They were just nipping worms and close mouthing crankbaits . I hit the banks with a homemade buzzbait and they would just sucki it under . No explosions . Caught 8 keepers over 15 inches . 7 came on the buzzbait .

If the small or pond is deep enough to servive winters, has abundant food source and not over populated with bass, a bass can grow big as several photos prove. My 1st DD bass came from a rock quarry about 5 acres, spring and stream fed with water over 30' deep. Caught the bass on a 6" jointed Pikie #2618 using Langley Lure Cast reel, Connolin rod and 12 lb diamond back Dacron braid. There were several big bass in the quarry lake and watched them for hours in the clear water. There was 3 quarry lakes connected by a canal, the biggest was about 20 acres, the smallest 2 acres and the middle where the big bass were in was the deepest and had a big pump for water supplying the sand and gravel plant we called the rock crusher. Fresh cool spring water and a stream from the river a about a mile way kept this pond full all the time. Ideal big bass envorinmemt with lots prey being replenished year around. The problem was it was on private property and as a teen ager a challenge to fish without getting caught by the patrol. The bass were northern strain in these small lakes. The Castaic lagoon, Lake Dixon are small lakes less than 1/2 mile long, both are deep and have Florida strain LMB and legendary giant bass lakes. I don't know how long Montgomery oxbow lake was when Goerge Perry caught his WR bass in 1932, it dried up in the early 50's, couldn't have been very big or deep. Florida is full of small lakes with big bass as the late Doug Hannon proved by catching hundreds of DD bass. Tom

Dang Sloan! Now you made me homesick again! ? Mike If you get one you'll never want another from anywhere! Mike

The Fuego CT is every bit as nice as the Tatula CT. Just no t-wing. Worth every penny even at full retail.

It is really good frogging. Caught this one on a horny toad. White river was good to me yesterday. Caught several good ones. Hopefully the rain will stay away this week for a good tournament on Saturday.

Sv103. Never look back

I fish about 75% Shimano reels. Having over 3 dozen reels that is a lot of Shimanos. The rest are Daiwa mainly with a stray Abu round reel and a few Phfleuger spinning reels. What stands out to me about Shimano? For one the reliability and longevity. If I purchase a quality Shimano reel (not one of their cheapo-plastic reels), I know it is something that will last many years with regular maintenance and a little TLC. I have several E series reels that I bought years ago that still look and function like new. On top of longevity I also get consistency especially when I have the reel set correctly. It is pretty much set and forget and that is it. I have used other reels where I had to do some tweaking when casting into a wind or when I chanced baits but most of my E series reels don't. Not that it is important but I also know that there are many aftermarket options and tuning options for Shimano reels should I ever need them. Lastly, I know due to the quality and desirability I can sell the reel for a very good price, sometimes in certain cases they appreciate in value but nevertheless I know that I won't be taking a huge loss selling them. For the quality, construction, longevity, price, dependability, and function they are just hard to beat. Sure there are some models that aren't the best or ones that they struck out on but it seems like 9/10 times they are superior reels.

Since last report: Sunday 8/6: Fished Silver all day. Some other outfit had a club tournament going on out there. So to stay out of the way I just played around doing goofy stuff, in dead water until they were gone. Goofy stuff in dead water was not very productive. I caught 2 fish the entire time. Once they left and I started fishing "right" I had a decent afternoon. Monday night 8/7: Fished Silver for a few hours after work. It was probably the best evening of the season so far for big fish. Tuesday night 8/8: Fished Silver for a few hours after work. It gave Monday a run for the money for top evening outing for the season so far. Thursday 8/10: Fished Conesus from 7am-2pm. It was SLOW. Worst day I have had there this year. I only caught 8 keeper bass all day, and nothing much bigger than low 3lb range. Had my last Thursday night tournament of the year on Silver in the evening...evidently Monday and Tuesday were a tease. My partner and I struggled our way into a middle of the pack finish. Saturday 8/11: Fished Silver all day. Same old same old on Silver. Morning bite was brutally slow. Only having four fish by noon. But then the afternoon was on fire with size and numbers. And then they shut right off at 5:30-6:00 and I struggled for 2 bites from then till dark.

Only good Italian joint I know in St Charles is Francesca's. Is that where you went? My favorite https://gio1.ultracartstore.com/#_ga=2.255109761.882177371.1502631928-337212842.1502631928 Another local favorite https://www.tastesofchicago.com/category/Lou_Malnatis_Pizza and another https://www.unos.com/theoriginal43/ and another https://ginoseast.goldbely.com/

Our trip went well at Mille Lacs. I was worried we wouldn't get the trip in because there were storms around but the weather held out. We boated a 6, 4+, and several other keeper SM. We also caught some nice walleye (released) while using swim baits and a couple of pike. Our guide landed a big 39" Pike which was fun to watch. Its amazing how fat those SM are. You are lucky to have a great fishery like that near by. I'll definitely be back.

I have caught big bass in very small ponds. The major pond I fish is a seven acre farm pond that is where I have caught my person bests. I have caught big ones in small golf course ponds and in an office complex pond. Of course, caught ones over four ponds in the Historic James River, too. Go figure.

My biggest fish come out of unassuming ponds. My buddy has an 8 pounder on his garage wall; he caught it in a pond 10 minutes away from us.

Imo. You should choose the power of your equipment relative to cover and structure first and the bait second. If I was fishing a Senko In. A wide open area with no grass I'd probably fish 8 or 10 pound test on a medium fast bait or spin cast. If I was in Okeechobee I'd probably fish a mhfast with 50 pound straight braid. Here at lake fork I like a 7 foot mh fast with 15# flouro

This ^^^ & learn this

I'm 34 and caught my first one last year after about 15 years of walleye fishing in the Bay de Nocs and I'm hooked!

P-line cxx. Super cheap. But is almost double it's breaking strength per lb test. All I use.

Yes. Definitely. I fish several ponds and one that I frequent has a LM that is 24"...confirmed, and the pond isn't even 4 acres. And hasn't been stocked in over a decade. Genetics and proper (also abundant) forage are most key. Not an opinion . This is fact.

I fished a farm pond last week that was maybe 300x150 ft and caught 12 fish between 2 and 6 lbs in about an hour. Im sure its shallow, and its never fished. There are literally hundreds of bullfrogs so im sure thats what is letting them thrive.

It's hard to say... If you're seeing/catching a lot of middlin' sized bass, it's possible the competition for forage is heavy enough in that pond that it's hard for a big mama to grow. But, it's at least as likely there's something bigger in there. I've caught my best fish out of very small bodies of water... So, I don't think one has to fish big water to get big bites. One thing you can do is to upsize your presentation or use big-fish oriented baits (like jigs, for example) to try and ensure that you're not just hooking the aggressive, competitive little bucks before the bigger fish get a chance to munch on you. It'll reduce your catch rate, but might produce the size you want more quickly.

Thanks Doug ~ as a matter of fact I did . . . To Me. A-Jay

I have no Idea. I certainly wouldn't miss the taxes in Crook County IL if I moved, but giving up the greatest food on the face of the earth would be extremely difficult

Big smallies are a blast. Don't let their name fool you, they're not afraid to hit a big bait.

Elaztech doesn't play nice with many dyes. Using colored jigheads became a way around that issue. Flo. red ("firetail") and chartreuse are the more common head colors used, though blue and orange have also seen some regular use by MF anglers. Gopher makes a wide variety of colors, and some simply use nail polish to get whatever color they like. -T9

Caught my first smallie ever, today! My wife and I are visiting friends in Cape Cod. Caught this guy by wading out in a bathing suit into Lake Seymour behind my friend Ron's house. Gorgeous summer afternoon. I tossed a chartreuse spinnerbait towards something busting bait in the shallows, and voila! Fun! Then we went clamming in the bay at sunset and harvested a pail full of quahogs in 20 minutes. Tomorrow we eat clams and lobstas. I like it up here!

It's been a slow summer for me, I admit, I've been doing more saltwater fishing recently but finally caught a decent fish (decent for this little pond atleast). I'm loving this combo for worms, it's all I've been able to catch fish on recently.

The "Lucky" part of my August binge (huge discount)...

Yay! Finally a 2 bass day, well it was this evening. Almost dark actually. They just love that Ol' Monster worm I keep throwing out there. Went back to the pond that's about a 30-45 minute walk from the house. It was lightly drizzling some of the time I was there. When I first got there I threw that big ole worm out there and about my 4th cast was dragging it across some matted grass and a bass blew up on it and snatched off the tail. So I thought maybe it was time to throw my frog. Tied it on and threw it a few times...nothing. Put the Ol' Monster back on and tried there again, still nothing. I began walking up and down the bank, stopping here and there making some fan casts. Still nothing but a few little bites. It was almost dark and I decided to hit the spot I first tried. I noticed a boat in the pond, in a spot that I couldn't get around to, that was almost completely sunk. I cast towards it and bam a 1lber smashed that Ol' Monster. Got it reeled in, took a pic then unhooked and released it. Very next cast, right back to the same spot, and bam again. A much bigger bass slammed it. That one had to be at least 2lbs, I'm guessing a little more. Took pics and let it go. They both swam off quickly and ok. I really need a new scale. The one I have doesn't work. Below are the pics. 1 of the one pounder and 3 of the 2lber+(maybe). Hard to take selfies in the dark...lol. There's some big uns out there in this pond. I could hear the big splashes they were making. I'm guessing at least 5lbers. Definitely gonna try to get me one of those another day/night. It was getting too dark to see and I was getting hungry. So I went on home a happy beginner angler. I'm gonna keep throwing that Ol' Monster until it stops getting bit. Then I guess I'll have to figure out another lure/bait...lol!