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"Man what a perfect cast!", I thought after I watched my zoom lizard fly around a bush and land straight down the middle of a culvert drain pipe. Steady rain the last two days has had a mixture of clean and muddy water flowing down the creeks and into the ponds, and the bass and bluegill are stacked up just on the edges of the current flow waiting for any morsel to drift by. Lots of bass 6-10" long populate this pond with the occasional 18"er that's usually skinny and not surviving well. I've fished this pond for three years and I have a pretty good idea of what's in it, so boy was I in for a shock as I watched my lizard flow out of the drain with the current and disappear into the murky water, then felt that normal little "thunk" and watch my line start moving out towards deeper water... I set the hook. But this hook set didn't follow with a fish coming towards me as usual. Instead the rod loaded up, and I listened to 12lb flouro SCREAM as the drag started peeling off my curado 70! Then I saw the belly flash and the enormous head and mouth come up and roll just under the surface. She took off again pulling drag but quickly gave up. I let out a few choice words in the process, followed by "you've got to be kidding me!" I drag her onto the bank in complete shock and amazement, and immediately pick her up and runto the car, and my tackle box in the trunk, 50 feet away! I just had the rod and a bag of lizards in my pocket. This is a giant, and I needed my scale!? What?!? She weighed in at 6.74 lbs and stretched just a hair over 23". My new PB weight LMB! I weighed her three times because I really couldn't believe it. She's full of eggs and getting fed up for the spawn. Solid and healthy in a pond I never imagined could support a bass larger than 3lbs. I weighed and measured her, snapped a couple pics and got her back in the water for that beautiful release. I was still pretty much in disbelief when I took the pic, and was getting rained on having a hard time getting a good shot and angle to show just how big she was. Her length makes her a citation fish in VA. She's my 4th citation this year. Following up the 23" bass I caught on Sunday. I feel the bass gods are treating me well this year, and this will not be my last, nor my biggest giant bass of the year!

Caught a lot of fish today; most were pretty small.

4-25-18 First trip of the year . 200 acre lake northern Missouri . Overcast sky high temperature 63 degrees , wind out of the NE at 8 to 15 MPH. Water temp mid 50's with one foot of visibility .All fish were caught off shallow wood with a chartreuse Strike King Spin Dance spinnerbait . I also tried a chatterbait , various crankbaits , worm and jig .

My New PB fishing with my students!!! Huge girl for around here!

Got on a few at my local public fishing area yesterday after work, which is surprising. Normally I'm doing good if I manage one fish out of the three ponds ever since they opened Georgia PFAs to anyone with a license. It used to also require a WMA permit, which, of course, costs a smidge more money and kept a lot of folks out. Now, the place is swarmed with bank fishermen and a few boats and most of them have a bucket to toss whatever gets caught into them. It's the place I go to figure out if a new bait will catch fish, considering they're so pressured and scarce. Well, I've recently fallen in love with jigs, landing my personal best and probably my fifth jig fish a few weeks back on a private, unpressured body. I wanted to see if they'd pass the test against very wary bass. The old black and blue bankroll jig and Christie craw did well. Four fish in three hours, which is whipping them for that spot. This girl fought hard from 20' down to several jumps and a tailwalk from about 30 yards out. @Bluebasser86 sorry about your boat, broheim. The only cylinders I blow are in my calf muscles, but then again, the kayak tops out at 7mph!

They really wanted the black/blue rage menace swam shallow in the canal today, got on a good pattern, but had a lot of short strikes. Here’s my best of the day.

We've got the crazy static hair look down!

The topwater frog bite was on today in Virginia! Missed one bigger than this but this 7.5 pounder hit it as soon as the frog landed. Awesome fight! Overcast and no wind = topwater heaven. Tight lines!!!

Part of a 21.90 limit. Missed big fish by .05 pounds. Got lucky and won the event.

Fallopian

Another sign of spring here. Picture quality isn't the greatest but if you look closely you can see two little chicks. We happened upon them at a pond just down the road from us. I've never seen their chicks before.

The weather up here in New Jersey has been pretty inconsistent but a string of a few warm days has turned the bite on. I’ve only been able to catch them on jigs and t-rigged senkos worked really slowly the last couple weeks. Today was no different. Really windy day and I was not expecting to do well. Barely felt her bite. I think the light tackle helped me out in today’s conditions. Landed about 10-12 fish, and was lucky to get some pictures of this girl before my phone died. No scale or tape measure, but I’m guessing she was approaching 4 lbs.

Have given some serious thought concerning my treble hook baits after mortally gill hooking a nice bass this past weekend. I modified one of my Ripp'n Raps and took it for a test drive. Caught several including this good one with none getting loose. Notice that even the barbs are crimped. I'm not quite ready to change out all my lures but it is something to consider.

No scale issue. I was going to call the DNR since I was pretty sure it is a lake record but she was tired and I wanted to get her back in the water ASAP. The Length to Girth chart put her at 7.3 but I don't know if she was that big. I asked the question in the forum if the charts are accurate during the spawn most said yes. BTW I am 6'3 295 lbs

Fishing pressure can make a big difference on a lake that size. If possible, pay attention to what methods others are using and then choose techniques & lures that are different. If everyone is throwing small crankbaits, use a more subtle, small swimbait. If everyone is dragging the bottom using slow moving baits, do something that doesn't give the fish a chance to look over the lure. Make your presentations different than others,

I don't worry so much about the little hook holes as I do the giant holes a culling clip tears in their jaw. I caught a skinny largemouth out of a lake last year with a hole/slit torn in it's bottom jaw so big that a hand sized shad could have escaped through it. Caught a smallmouth last week with holes in each side of it's bottom jaw. I'd like to see pressure cull tabs made mandatory across the board asap to get away from the puncture style.

PROvider Tackle Bite Size 3.5" performance tubes - Durable - heavily salted - enhanced with natural crawfish/baitfish/garlic scent- that really stinks!!! BBQ Melon is like smallie Crack ! http://www.providertackle.com/store/index.php?route=product/category&path=66_70 A-Jay

Finally! Warming trend, at long last + free afternoon = first bass of the year! 2 hours on the riverbank, 10 fish total, some brown, some green...biggest one (bottom pic) went 2.34lb: All damage done with 3.5" cane thumpers and 4" swing impacts

Did my first Kayak Bass Fishing tournament this passed weekend at Lake Berryessa. I placed 49th out of 138, I just couldn't get rid of my little guy! Oh well, it was a great experience and won't be my last. Here is my best from tournament day. She smacked this itsy bug swimming over vegetation!

It's just a little stocked one I caught over at Wolf Run - but I finally caught one. Using chartreuse PowerBait on a little treble along with a long leader, about 3 split shot and a slip bobber. This was back on... 24th of March. Was windy and chilly that day.

I love Big Ugly Plug Knockers (ebay.) However, I'm not certain how well they'd work from the bank. They work best when the line is as close to straight up and down as possible.

This is what I look for in reels given I live with both fresh and salt water fisheries. Though I only recently started fishing salt, because I live here, I chose to buy Shimano Stradics (and a couple other models and brands over the years). Had a Daiwa Lexa 2000 in the mix for the same reason. So big respect for Daiwa and Shimano. FWIW, you can take any reel into salt fishing, just needs extra TLC to keep it in good shape.

My first choice would be a Daiwa Fuego CT. Can be found for about $57 on ebay. TackleTour gave them the "Best Value" award. Or keep an eye on the classifieds on different forums, and pick up a $120-$140 reel in excellent shape for that price ($60-$70). EDIT: Used is often a good way to go. There is currently a thread on another forum with 3 Tournament MBs for sale at $70...normally a $140 reel...but can sometimes be found around $110. If you can increase your budget to $110, the same site has Patriarchs used 2-3 times at that price. They are $200 reels and highly underrated by most.

1. Rage Tail Menace, T-rigged, 1/4 bullet weight and 3/0 EWG hook 2. Rage Tail Swimmer 3. Megabass Ito Vision 110 Bonus: BPS Tender Tube #71

Seth Feider has a really great video on dock fishing. He uses 20 lbs. fluorocarbon, doesn't like braid. But, one of the main points he makes is to not spool up your reel with a lot of line. It looks like the reel he uses is about 25 to 50% spooled. He says this really cuts down on backlashes. Makes sense, and if you are going to make long casts, a rod and reel dedicated to pitching and skipping, you don't need it anyway. Brad

Strike King coffee tube in varied colors.

Dry Creek...watermelon candy....done

Hello all, hope all is well. I will be returning to Louisiana after being away for awhile. I am a casual weekend fisherman who is looking for a partner or friend to fish with and maybe a learn a thing or two. I have been fishing a few years so you won't have to worry about being hooked during one of my cast. Lol. If you have a boat that's great and I would pay for gas. I typically fish near pirates cove (Florine) . Thanks

River Rock Custom Baits 3.5" pro tube in dark melon candy. It is a hand dipped tube that is really soft and it gets bit even in tough conditions and the fish don't spit it, they eat it!!

I believe they've nearly cleaned out a couple ponds I used to fish. Fished one this morning and there were several of them on the pond. Used to be nothing to catch a couple dozen bass out of this pond in a hour or so after work. This morning I struggled to catch 7, and 2 had very noticeable scrapes on them like they'd narrowly escaped being dinner already. They're kind of like otters in my mind. A pond or lake with an overabundance of small fish could probably really benefit from them, but a well balanced body of water, or a small pond that is easily impacted by a sudden rapid increase in removal of fish by predators, could easily be negatively affected and take years to recover if they ever come back.

A trophy bass fisherman and muskie fisherman are very similar to each other. Both fish with larger than normal lures. Both target very difficult to catch fish. Both spend more days fishing than catching but they tend to catch several "fish of a lifetime" when most fishermen are lucky to get 1-2 of these fish in a lifetime. These type of fisherman are a different breed than most fishermen...they are so persistent and determined than many see them as obsessed and stubborn in the way they fish. I am one of those fishermen and all the hard fishing trips I have endured and will continue to endure are all worth it when I land my next trophy bass and my next muskie. Yes a glide bait is a good lure for big bass. The little bass will hit it too but the average bass will be bigger. You will have to be very patient to fish these types of lures.

Check out Jason Sealock on *** video... talks about how the Owner has good hook up ratio. Apparently it’s the only hook Gary Yamamoto uses on his Senkos... I don’t know... it just seems to work for me on a lot of plastics but especially the Caffeine Shad. My daughter too, who is 90 pounds and doesn’t exactly set the hook very hard...

I agree that the Keitech's are amazing baits. But don't give up on a grub fished the same way. A Kalin's Lunker Grub has caught me a lot of bass over the years and they're 10 to a pack for $3.00!

I have just recently started seeing Cormorants back in this area. The past few years I have seen their population grow. I started to get worried until last year when I saw one sitting on a dock I was paddling toward. As I got closer the bird got nervous but didn't fly away and instead jumped in the water and attempted to swim away from me. It was then I noticed it's left wing was almost broken off and facing the wrong direction. I scanned the area to see if anything around could be the culprit and sure enough a bald eagle was perched in a pine tree over us waiting to finish the job.

Protected bird nationally as endangered species....and they are if they fly anywhere my duck blind. Tom

Makes no sense to me either. A 1500 or 2000 size is lighter and has twice as much line capacity as you'll need for bass.

My boat went in the water after work tonight for the first time in 2018. It still floats, everything (important) still works. I fished one area for about 45 mins before it started getting dark. One walleye, and one upper 3lb smallmouth.

Glasses are good for more than just UV protection. My buddies Dad lost an eye jerking on a snagged line. He took a 3/4 oz chunk of lead right into his eye. Bad things can happen fast.

Fun to catch. Hell on bass lures. You know what i find funny is our local musky fisherman complain about all the bass they catch

It depends on whether they wear a ring in it or not. Those that do not close pretty quickly.

I did really well on Saturday, over 30 with a couple limits worth of keepers but nothing big. Might have seen you guys launching if you launched from Aunt's Creek? I was putting in at the north ramp while a small tournament was launching at the south ramp. Small Keitech and a small jerkbait is all I could get bit on, white was by far the best color. Sand and gravel banks with a little bigger rock mixed in was best. If a bank looked good, I couldn't get bit on it. Never had a bite on a bottom bait. Sunday was good too but only had about 4 hours to fish before we had to head back.

Fake News? I found a dead 41 inch musky with a 13 inch bass lodged in its mouth so I figure he took one for the team... Thought this was Bass Resource not Musky Fan club?....

Pin me the location, I've casted 10,000 times like they told me and still haven't caught one of those suckers!

Start fishing in areas with no fish in them. Your baits will last much longer.

Zebco 33 Platinum, 4.1:1 gear ratio, 5 stainless bearings, aluminum frame, continous anti-reverse, mirco fine drag control all for $35 Can handle Hawgs ?

Was able to get an hours worth of fishing in a few days ago, this guy was a fun little catch! Nice way to break in the new set up ? While I’m at it I’ll throw in another one I caught on my first outing of the season. Chunky little guy came off a fallen limb up shallow.

23" at 5.2lbs The picture doesn't do it justice, this fishes mouth was enormous! Got this one on a shaky head. Seemed like most Bass were on beds up shallow and I can't be sure but this one came out of about 7 fow. No real signs that it was a bed fish, but it wasn't fat and fed like some of the smaller fish I caught out on timber in deeper water. It didn't have the shape of a big spawned-out female. Kinda thinking this was a BIG male bass and was guarding a bed that I couldn't see. I cast into a spot between two trees and when the lure hit the bottom it thumped and line started moving. Set the hook and it had carried it off under a branch. After a VERY tense 5 seconds of feeling flouro strain across tree trunk the fish shot straight for the surface and went 3 feet in the air. Back in the water, then it ran around and drug the line across another tree and jumped and tail walked into the net. All of this happened with 10 feet of line out. Good thing it was 17lb P-Line. Really impressed with the VMC hook! Hooked it well in the fat part of the lip and didn't bend at all. Caught a handful of other 2-3 pound fish through the weekend, and also landed a nice 4lb honey dragging a lizard through her bed. Water was murky and the wind had it choppy so beds were hard to spot, but when we found cleaner and calmer water back in some of the coves we could pick a few bass off beds if they were willing to hit the lure.

I have dedicated over 50 years targeting big bass and know 1st hand the hours of dedication required to study and fine tune presentations to catch the biggest bass in the lake on artifical lures. Right now pre spawn is the seasonal period with the highest odds to catch a bass of your lifetime. Location, location, location then timing and lure selection are keys to success. There aren't any panaceas or magic lures. Tom

How do you know when their looking up or down?