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It's simple addition: 4 hours of free time + 42 degree water + nominally clear turbidity + Siebert Finesse jig + Cosmic Chunk trailer = chunky largemouths. First Pic: 4 lb 9 oz Second Pic: 5 lb 11 oz

My two new sticks for 2018.

Hey y'all, just wanted to share this fine specimen I caught yesterday (12/14/17). After not fishing for almost a month, I decided to drive to a buddy's house to fish on his neighborhood lake. Big bass was the agenda, and the arsenal was swimbaits, and also a bulky jig for extra thick cover. This is my first year in the swimbait game, which I have taken semi-seriously. I started the year with a possible PB (no scale handy) on a Mattlures Bluegill. After yesterday, it looks like I get to close the year with a definitive PB, and a true swimbait passion. After throwing the Mattlures for the majority of the day without a bite, I managed to straighten my hook on a sunken branch. I decided to switch to a Huddleston 68 Special ROF 5 to finish my lap around the lake, my first time ever throwing the lure. I had gone all the way around the lake, getting used to the feel of branches and trees with the occasional false hookset. I approached the last spot, a steep point with cover strewn about right by my friend's house, and I decided to try something different. Instead of casting up or down the point (parallel) like I normally do, something told me to try casting across the point (perpendicular). I figured if a big fish was holding there watching lures go by all day in the same direction, maybe something different would trigger it. On my second cast I felt another tap, but something just felt different than the trees I was feeling earlier, so I set the hook. I had the fish moving fairly easily, and wasn't sure of the size until the mouth breached the water. I immediately told myself "Oh crap, this is it. This is happening". I was by myself with no net, so I reminded myself everything I have learned, read, or watched online about how to keep a Huddleston fish pinned. "Keep the fish moving forward. Don't let her turn. Keep the rod bent. Don't stop reeling". As I grabbed her lip, I let out a Ric Flair "WOOO!", then got her on the scale, as my friend came over to check out the commotion. The scale read 8-8 both on the boat, and on the dock, where she was released back go the cold depths. This experience opened my eyes in a number of ways, not only with swimbait and cold water fishing, but also just approaching things differently around big fish, as they didn't get that huge by being the same...

Went out with a buddy Friday morning for about 4 hours. I caught three nice spots, Only two pictured as I out-caught my buddy 10-1 and he was no longer interested in taking my picture, haha. 1st picture - 2.5 lbs spot caught drop shotting a tree. 2nd picture - 2 lbs spot dead sticking a roboworm

Just got back from a trip to see family in Nebraska and Colorado, and of course I couldn't leave my rod home. Got some bass out of a Nebraska strip pit on jerkbaits, but nothing real noteworthy. Colorado was a different story, we got on some giant rainbow trout and average sized kokanee salmon, and I even caught my first golden trout. The golden trout was only 13 inches long, but was fluorescent bright orange and gold with a vivid pink strip lengthwise through it's center. Prettiest fish that I have ever caught. We caught 9 rainbow trout in total, the two outlying smaller trout measured about 10-13 inches and the rest in the 20-25 inch range. The two kokanees were about 23 inches long each, but we didn't measure them. Caught them all on a drop shotted 3" chunks of nightcrawlers, fished along the dam of a sand pit used for drinking water storage. It's always fun to catch different species, especially with fish that fight as hard on light tackle as big trout and kokanee do, plus those kokanee and some of the trout smoked up real nice the next day

How 'bout free? Send me your mailing address and I will send you some braid to try.

Sure. Send me your address.

Nice fish but keep them off the ground and marine carpet. A few seconds is enough to jeopardize their health. Just because they swim off doesn't mean they survive.

Got two on the first two docks , both on a 10 inch watermelon seed ole' monster. This one was the better one. Not another bite after that.

Went out with a buddy of mine Friday morning. We got on the water at 9 and headed back in at 1. Launched out of Jones Valley. To my surprise there were about 10 rigs already parked along the ramp. We headed way up the Pit arm of the lake and settled on an inlet filled with trees. I starting fishing using a drop shot roboworm, while my buddy was fishing grubs. I instantly hooked up on a small bass, jigging my rig right at the base of a tree. By the end of the day, I had caught 10 bass, while my buddy ( who refuses to drop shot) only landed 1. We missed about as many strikes as we landed and saw trout chasing our baits several times. I found most of my success was deep, in the 35-50 foot range and the water had a cooled quite a bit since my last trip (54.5 degrees). I landed 5 keepers, with three nice spots, 1 at 2.5 lbs and the other two right at 2 lbs. I have two pictures, but my buddy was not in the mood to take a third picture of me, haha.

The hype around shimano is reel quality. You get what you pay for and they last forever.

When I fish lakes with just largemouth I will use a dark or light color crank, most of the time it doesn't matter. When it comes to smallmouth, that is a different story, and before going to a different style of crank or a different lure altogether I'll often just go to a different pattern first. When the water is clear in my area a chrome color rattle trap will do well, but with smallmouth I have had many days when a chrome/blue back wouldn't get as much as a follow and then we'd switch to chrome/black back and have 7 fish in 10 casts. A lot of what I use depends on conditions, if water temps, time of year, baitfish activity, etc. merit the use of a crankbait then i'll use a type of bait I think will work and from there I'll switch color or size, or both before going to something different. Square bills are funny, I was out back in September and I was fishing with a KVD 1.5 in chartreuse/black back and wasn't doing well and it looked to be perfect for square bills. So I went with a 6th Sense 50X square bill in the same color and the first cast with it yielded a 4lb 7oz largemouth followed by a 3lb 3oz smallmouth 3 casts later and I ended up catching 11 fish on that bait over the next 1.5 hours. I think it helps to change up hard bait colors and styles as well as size, sometimes you don't need to but I have had good days on baits that didn't seem to be working but a simple switch of patterns made all the difference.

Let's be careful out there guys! This weekend we had a ice fisherman die after falling through the ice in a pond here in Upstate NY. He spent 90 minutes underwater before he could be recovered. His friend was treated for hypothermia after a failed rescue attempt. It's not worth your life. Please wait for safe ice and don't venture to far.

The deepest water in this lake is between 25 and 30 feet. I was fishing the jig on the bottom in 17 - 22 feet of water among groups of trees that were closest to the deepest water. I would toss it out, let it sink straight to the bottom before engaging the reel, and then let it sit for 10 - 20 seconds. Then I would drag it slightly, let it sit some more, and so on. Both of these fish were sitting in the middle of groups of trees and brush on bottom. Sometimes I would have to drag the jig over limbs that were quite a few feet off the bottom, disengage the reel once it was over the limb, and let it fall straight down again to the bottom.

Like a Boss.

I've spent a lot of time on the water over a lot of years, but this afternoon, I had one of the coolest things I've seen happen on the water in a long time. We've been toying with ice-up conditions here in central Indiana for the past week or so. Yesterday, a pond near me that I drove by was 95% iced over even though the air temps hit 40+ degrees. Today, when I drove past it coming home, the pond was 95% open water. I grabbed a rod and walked over to the pond with about an hour of light still left. The air temp was 31 degrees, and there was not a stitch of wind. I knew something was a little different when I walked up to the pond and saw a small group of geese in the far corner. The small waves they made swimming to the bank and trying to get out of the water looked like they were moving across the pond in slow motion - liquid ice. I walked to the back end of the pond toward the deepest water and started fishing. There was a little bit of ice still edging the bank a few inches out, but not much. I was able to catch a couple bass, which made the trip worthwhile in itself (it's never too cold). However, as the sun set and the air temp started to drop even more, a super cool thing happened...the pond started to freeze over right before my eyes. At first, it started out as just a patch or two of ice floating just off the bank. I didn't think much of it. But as the minutes passed, those little ice islands grew bigger. Then I noticed the small shoreline ice lining the bank had grown out into the water, now extending in feet, not inches off the shoreline. Soon, whole corners of the pond were basically skimmed in, all this within about 20-25 minutes. I was able to hook a bass as this was going down on a long cast toward the middle of the pond, and the last 15+ yards of bring him in was like pulling him through a slush mug (giving my age up with that one). He actually made a path through the skim ice. It finally got to the point where I couldn't cast without my line freezing every time I lifted the rod and raised it above the waters surface. It was supercooling the lake water to the line on exposure, like ice does on a power line. At that point, I simply walked away with a grin

I have a wall of plastics, wall of cranks and a wall of terminal/wire/jigs. Luckily I have a 2.5 car garage that is strictly a dedicated fishing building.

Interesting time today. I went exploring other parts of the pond I’ve been wading in lately, felt like I was walking in quicksand. My knee-high boots were basically pointless, as it rained last night and the pond was up considerably. I managed to stumble on a sunken branch and puncture my boot, but thankfully it didn’t pierce my skin—it bruised immediately. And I also caught what I think might be a bowfin(can anyone confirm?). He was fun to bring in, and I’m super glad I didn’t try to lip him when I got him close. Also happy that I had my grippers nearby, put him on the scale for fun—3.2lbs.

My wife started fishing with me after I bought my first boat, [an old 14 ft sylvan v hull I gave 650 for] all she had caught the first 6 or so times out were small Crappie and a few bluegill. I told her we would try to go after some big bluegill one Sunday Morning so I stopped at the bait shop and bought a few dozen waxworms. She had only fished with lures to this point. I baited her hook and told her to just watch her bobber and when it started moving wait for it to go under and then she would have a fish. She sat there for a few minutes and ask me "is this all there is to this?" I said yes this is bobber fishing' well she starts daydreaming and looking around at the birds and such when I told her, Gayle, your bobbers gone. she pulls back on the rod but gets something she didnt count on, something VERY big on the other end. She was screaming what do I do! I told her you have watched River Monsters, pull up and crank down, about that time it took off nearly pulling the rod out of her hand, she grabbed the rod toward the tip I told her NO! It will break your rod keep your rod tip up, she raised the rod so far back she got the line tangled around the hood on her sweatshirt, yelling help me help me. So I took her rod and got the line untangled from her hood, handed the rod back to her and told her its your fish you land it. She did manage to get it to the boat and I was surprised to see a 28 Inch long Carp! She said after it was in the boat, Oh my god my heart is pounding, my hands are shaking! I told her, see fishing is not so boring now is it. We caught several more large carp that day all on waxworms. She has came a long way since then and after 3 full seasons can now hit her marks when casting, and spends lots less time in the trees and bushes, and on several trips has out fished me. She is still my sweetheart.

Enjoy your holidays. It’s the best time of the year, bill

I live amongst some of the best stickbait fisherman in the country. The Falcon weightless worm rod is very popular along with the McClelland signature. I fish both. Along with the Denali murphy rod which I believe is now in the lithium series and just called the jerkbait rod, buts its the same blank.

For the vision 110 , Mcstick and pointer I always liked the IMX 802 topwater rod. The length and action are good for stickbaits. Also makes a nice yellow magic rod. Personally I think there are better stickbait rods out there than Loomis but if that's the route you want to go that would be a good choice.

I agree that they're Roger's Slim Jims. Only place I've seen them in is the Roger's Sporting Goods in Liberty, MO.

I use a wide variety of colors, but black and blue is one of my big fish colors, even in clear water.

I'm bored already. Is it spring yet?

Bit of a hike for me. Just under 14 hours & 1,000 miles - Hope you guys have safe travels, great weather and Hammer them ! A-Jay

Like others, I want to thank Catt and all the others that have loaded this thread with information. This is by far the most informative thread I have seen on bass fishing, especially a bass fishing on a specific lake. I will be on Toledo the end of January for a tournament and just by reading through this thread has been extremely useful.

I am going to try and make this.

I wanted to take a fishing vacation to either El Salto or Lake Baccarac. After speaking to a few guys ( @A-Jay )and seeing reports of Lake Baccarac bigguns, I settled on Lake Baccarac from Dec 3 - Dec 8th. Multiple 10lb+ bass were caught in November and so I had to see what this lake was all about. Got there Sunday and fished Mon to Thurs and had an amazing time catching a bunch of 3-5lb bass who fought harder than I could ever imagine! These bass were MEAN and STRONG. They hit my lures like a mack truck and dove so hard I thought I was fighting small tuna lol. Top water got em early in the morning and then mainly big 12" worms, 7" senkos and 1oz jigs with 7" senko trailers were the big hit. There was no love for swim baits but I did manage some 2-3lbers on the 6.8" Keitech paired with the 3/4oz warbaits underspin and my Jackall Gantarel. Also, a bass pro mentioned how he loved Omega Custom Tackle's Raptor Bladed Jig so I bought a few of them and their football and structure jigs to take with me. I threw the Raptor Bladed jig in white/chart and paired them with a pure white Strike King Rage Tail Craw. I dyed the claws with spike it garlic chartreuse and got OBLITERATED at Baccarac. The action of the jig and rage tail craw were amazing and so erratic that my guide was super impressed and said the action was muy loco lol. I slew 30 bass on that setup alone in the morning, up to about 5lbs. It was my last day of fishing where we found the bigguns. I was using my Omega Custom Tackle Pro Structure Jig in Camo Craw with the 7" black senko and CRUSHED IT all in the morning. Landed a 7.81, 7.12, 6.94, 9.81 MY NEW PB!!!! and a 9.12 all from 6am to 10am and mainly in just two spots. I couldn't believe it. 9.81 9.26 7.81 7.12 6.94 I didn't break into the double digit club but I will next time! I'm so hooked on this place, can't wait to head back. I can see why there are a lot of repeat customers. Everyone at the lodge was great. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to experience big bass fishing heaven! I'll have some videos of the catches added later. Here's a link to all of my images:https://lensdump.com/a/JcKQ

I picked up a GLX 843c this fall and the longish rear grip kills it for me as a jerkbait rod. It's so clumsy and the butt cap is forever hitting my jacket sleeve. The rod's power/taper seems fine for working them, but the handle ruins it for me. Right now I am using a IMX CR721 as my jerkbait rod in winter and as a magBFS rod the rest of the year. I am thinking of replacing it with a St Croix Avid AVC62MXF as I think it would be a better rod for both and would "fit" better in my lineup.

the bladed jig is one of my favorite baits. It produced most of the bigger fish I caught this year. one key to my success this year was fishing just fast enough to feel the blade thump. In relatively open water I will usually use a paddletail swimbait as a trailer. usually some combination of white and silver. In cover or weeds I will use a craw style of trailer to get a bigger profile. in stained water black and blue. in clear water pumkin or green pumpkin.

I am going this direction. I am looking to get one shad solid color, one clear like clear water minnow, and a flash in silver like American shad. I think color matters the least and depth action and sound or silent being more inportant. I try to make things simple. I try and get the clear silent and one of the other two colors with rattle.

Limit your color selection but maintain different sizes and depths. I have chartreuse cranks, translucent shad patterns, a bluegill color, and a couple craw colors. Basically 5 different colors of Spro cranks in all their styles. Almost always use the translucent shad patterns

See a chance by week's end except for the fact I have to work everyday and it gets dark so early. I wrote this season off over a couple of weeks ago but I don't want to take no as an answer.

The bottom one looks like an old Renosky Deep Diver.

Light breathable low hiking shoes. With the pant legs on the rain gear long enough to go over the shoe tops.

waterproof hiking boots

$15 off any purchase $75 and up on ebay right now until 3 pm PT(5 pm cst). Works on most sellers. Use code : PSHOPAPP15

I don't know what the formula is Glenn's calculator uses? When I use it for my 28.5" long X 28" girth bass it weighs 22.37 lbs! Actual weight was 19.3 lbs, weighed on a accurate scale. Measuring a live bass accuraley with mouth closed to end of the tail and around the widest area for girth varies, depending on how it's measured, flat or curved surface, etc. Hard to debate a certified accurate scale. Tom

Pros stats or even how long you've been fishing has zero effect on the chances of catching a DD. Targeting them specifically, learning their behavior and wether or not they even exist where you're fishing does. I know people who have been fishing there whole life's and haven't caught one yet. And I have a buddy(member on here) who has been all saltwater his whole life. Then on his first bass trip I take him out on the big O and he smashes a 10.9lb on the scale. I agree that many do exaggerate but in the right state DD bass are not all fairy tales.

TW sale today discounted all the close out Daiwa reels. SV103 left hand in 6.3 retrieve for $169.99. That’s a steal right there.

BR latest sale thread has saved me far more money....and cost me far more money...than the TW X mas sale ever did I don't know whether to thank you or curse you IndianaFinesse.

While it hasn't been top of the line stuff the last couple of years I can always find 50-100 bucks of stuff that will get used in the next year. I like that they have added extra off on more brands on the BF sale so they get a pass off this one. For what it's worth TWs 25 days sale has been better than some other ones out there and still over half of the days left for something good to pop up.

Rico's didn't last long, and saw lower prices on the Seaguar lines that I wanted. Smackdown.

3 guys were trolling for musky on lk. st. clair all morning without a bite. They tried different sizes and styles of baits to no avail. Over by the shoreline they heard a lady yelling and looking like she was panicked. They motor over to see what was wrong and if they could help. She said her little dog was out swimming and she heard a big splash, she turned around, and the little dog was gone. One of the anglers asked the lady what color her dog was.

I've fished them both; Supreme & the XT. They're decent but eventually both models failed (anti-reverse issues). Not abused - worn out. Switched to Shimano Stradic's. Better now. So My Thoughts - Stick with what you're using. YMMV A-Jay

Well I was lucky enough to have this guy come to a light rattle on Monday morning after throwing the kitchen sink at him. Shot him at 35 yards.

I fish Shawano lake often, we have seen 7s, also 7s in another local lake. I would think Big Green stands a chance of holding double digits.

Start looking yourself - don't wait for the realtor to find it for you. I'm certainly no expert but after 3 buying three homes (in different states) I've learned that I know I can depend on ME. So I put the time in and eventually found what I was looking for each time. Like any venture, knowledge is confidence. Learn as much as you can about the process and hire your own inspector, not one recommended by the realtor. Finally, you are going to PAY whatever relator you use, and pay them well. Get your money's worth by using someone you like, trust and especially, one you believe has your best interest at heart. Many Don't - Co-worker or not. Good Luck. A-Jay