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I've been working in Northern Michigan lately and decided to fish the West Grand Traverse Bay at the mouth of the Boardman River. First smallie caught was 3.94, which sad to say for some, beat my previous smallie PB. Yay, right?! Well roughly 10 brown fish later, I catch a 4.04! Awesome, right?! At this point, I can't not catch one. It's almost silly! I ended the night, roughly 16 bass later, on a 6lb 22" CHUNK! So I beat my smallmouth PB twice, and 6lbs beats my overall bass PB.

Brief story. Pics are the best I could do seeing as I'm no @A-Jay I took some crappy long arm shots and selfies because dad's arthritis and lack of tech savyness gives him issues with taking phone pics. Day 1 Got up to Sister Bay around 3:00 Sunday afternoon. Took care of a few things at my folks summer home and then dumped the boat in the water. Water was 48*. Fished for 3 hours without a bite. Did see some fish cruising the bottom in 17fow, had 1 follow. Day2 Launched in Sturgeon Bay. Fished an area that is normally productive for an hour without a bite. Headed to Little Sturgeon and got my first bit an hour later. Dad got one as well about 45 minutes later. We're now 3 hours in with 2 fish. Head to another area for a short bit and then headed to where we would spend the rest of the day. Day 3 Was a bit foggy at the beginning of our trek. Visibility about 20ft. Without the graphs, I would not have been able to launch until 10am when the fog cleared. Be they fish or humans, the female of the species can be completely turned on one day, and completely shut down the next. Caught 1 female today and a bunch of males.

Decided to bank fish a residential pond after dinner tonight. I don't take for granted that I can drive to spots within 3 miles of home and have a phenomenal hour of fishing, even after putting in a full day at the office. Caught 20 fish between 7:19 and 8:19 PM, all on the U-vibe. These were some of the best fish.

We're proud of all our grand kids ( we have 12 ) but our oldest grand daughter took to schooling like we've never seen. Ate up any knowledge put in front of her. We found out today she ace'd her college entrance exams and has been accepted at a university. Here's the kicker, she's fourteen. Jim

after months of trying to talk my wife into getting in my small aluminum boat and going fishing with me on local ponds. [she doesn't swim very well]. she finally did. I even bought her a new outfit to use. after becoming comfortable about the boat being stable and she wasn't going to fall outside began casting. I tried to assist her in where to aim and how to retrieve, set the hook and so forth . she politely informed me "you cast where you want to and I will cast where I want". then almost immediately she landed her first beast ok ill be quiet ! we had a Wonderfull evening. she even said se wanted to go more with me. I am all in! great togetherness time. side note, if you see pic of me with black and blue marks she did threaten to hit me with the pole when I laugh at her when she looses one periodically.

Unfortunately didn't get the video from our whole day, my power cord quit working for some reason so my camera only went as far as the battery would take it. Thankfully did get a couple good ones we got in the morning. Turn your volume down, loud squeals ahead.

Just have to say that after some great advice here on BR I took a single rod and practiced on nothing but Texas rig and wacky. Worked nothing but these two methods for the past couple days. Took me a while but I landed several nice sized Bass. Feels good to take the time to study and practice and get a great return... thank you all who took the time out to give me great advice. .

I still use 'em...

Awesome day out today. Wasnt on fire by any means but we did finally figure them out. First fish came on a white spinnerbait then it went dead. I think because the water had about 1"visibility. Buddy tied on a chartreuse spinnerbait then bam they started hitting. Final 5 fish weight was 26lbs.

3 more in about an hour with the t rigged black/blue Dinger. I’ve got this neighborhood pond dialed in and I don’t ever want to leave. Largest went for 3.1.

I went by "Bird Dog" on this forum for several years because I had an old pointer who love to ride in my boat. I lost my faithful fishing companion a few years back, and the username no longer seemed appropriate, so I changed it to "S.Doolittle". I got a new pup about two years ago, but he was way too wired to attempt to put him in the boat. Finally, last weekend, I took him out for the first time. I'm happy to report that he loved every minute of it! He's not much of a net man, and he can't back a trailer to save his life, but I think I have found my new fishing partner. Bird Dog is back!

If you have time to map the bottom, cover the whole thing ? From the info provided, I would also become familiar with where the drop off occurs. It doesn't have to be significant in a pond that size to hold fish. Any ambush point is where I would target. The transition from dirty to clean water can also be productive, similar to a grass line. If your in a kayak, you have the advantage of working these areas from several angles. Mid-day summer time, I assume the water temps will be higher so much like we would, look for shaded or areas where water is feeding into the pond. Also, chances are if you find the bluegill, the bass won't be far behind. Hope that helps!

About a month away till bass opener here in Ontario and it can't come soon enough!!! seeing you all post your latest catches is killing me lol Gonna have to slide over to the NY side of Erie for some of them smallies to hold me over till we can get after them here

You may need to clean the areas where the trailers lights are mounted to insure you have a good ground connection.

Plastic worms are still my favorite way to fish

The main thing you don't wanna do is beat yourself up trying to decide where to start. When it all looks the same, flip a coin or go with an instinct, pick a spot and start fishing. Keep doing that til you find the fish. The sooner you start fishing spots the sooner you'll find them and start catching them. ?

I hear there are treatments for being basic which includes more fishing and feeding the bait monkey.

With a spinning rod and 12 pound Gliss, I can cast a 1/2 oz RES into any tree from anywhere on the lake.

Been lurking here for a while and just registered as a member: This is my first post. So, I'm fairly new to this forum. New to bass fishing. Been fishing (salt water), since I was 6 (in Florida Keys), I'm now 64. Lived in Los Angeles since I was a teenager, traveling down to Baja fishing from a 14' aluminum boat, as often as I could. PB was a 6' Dorado/Mahi Mahi). Moved up to Oregon 17 years ago. Trolled the local lakes as I did in Mexico and although I caught a lot of fish, most were pretty small. I had no idea what I was doing and just did what I did in Mexico, only using smaller/lighter gear. Haven't fished in over 3 years. I was sick (very!), this past winter (two months in bed), and spent most of it watching fishing videos. I think I've seen them all! LOL! Realizing that life can be very short, I decided to get back to fishing. (My boat OB needs work, but I wasn't going to let the lack of a boat get in my way!) After a few trips successfully targeting LARGE trout, I decided to start going for bass... I've read MANY... MANY threads here, both on tackle and technique. Read the opening "tips/advice" articles and decided to start with plastics (worms and swim baits). Still gravitated towards powerbait and trout though... Yesterday, I completed a project (I create prototypes for some of the largest toy companies.), and emailed my wife that I was done... Her reply: "Have fun fishing!" (Tresa's an avid angler. Native born here, mostly trout and Salmon... How lucky can a man be!) Thought about it for an hour or two and decided to go to the lake, only bringing bass gear... By then, it was almost 2PM... Hot, not a cloud in the sky... Even though I "read" about cloudy days being best, I decided to go anyway... After an hour, I almost gave up.... Then I decided to try out my then, unused NED rig... Hit after hit! Landed a few small bass. Then I decided to try CR and TR worms... Holy moley!!! Nothing over 1.5 pounds, but man! That changed everything! It was hard to pack up and go even though i was hot and getting sunburned. I read some advice here about sticking to only a couple/few baits and focusing on perfecting my techniques for a while.... So, I'm going with NED, Texas and Carolina rigs (Yes, I know there are a lot more and I have 5 tackle boxes full! (most are heavy deep sea gear, but still plenty of freshwater baits.), but I had never fished plastic worms before and had no idea that they would work. So, "for a while" for me, means until I get my boat back in the water... Until then, I'm bank fishing with plastic worms! May try drop shot, wacky etc, but probably sticking to those three for a while. Something in particular that I learned here that stuck and I tried was from threads about bank anglers not knowing where to fish... (I've seen LOTS of those threads!) Well, I remember a LOT of places I trolled when the boat was working that produced bass (small), but had no idea how to get to them from shore... The advice: Check out Google Maps... I did and scored, big time! The photos I found were when the lake/reservoir was low, revealing all sorts of structure, rocks, drop offs, lines, etc... (LOL! Now I know why my trolling was so productive in those spots! I didn't know why at the time... I only used my cheap fish finder to make sure I didn't crunch my OB prop on rocks! LOL! So, my intent for sharing posting here is to extend a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has participated in this forum! I have learned and applied a lot.... From being one of those posters who share they can't find fish or hook into them (I was getting ready to be one of those guys.), to feeling super confident in moving on to hunt down the big ones before the end of the season... THANK YOU! To those of you who are still frustrated... READ! READ! READ! There is so much useful information being shared here by people who know bass fishing! Also, check out the YouTube videos... especially from those that are not trying to sell you a specific product... Heck, I've even learned from young kids! I Made SURE to give THEM a thumbs-up! LOL! If I can do this... ANYONE can! =D Richard

No it's just I don't go on the internet looking at cat pics. I'm either on here or you tube. This one looks legit. ? Ima start looking at cat pics more. This one looks legit. ? Ima start looking at cat pics more.

its a bigfoot cat. totally legit.

Lets see.... There was this guy who first thing in the morning went and offered a days wage for a days work and some folks took him up on it. They went and worked. In the afternoon, the guy went and offered a days wage for workers to come and finish the day working for him. They took him up on it, went and worked. At the end of the day, he paid them all what he promised... a days wage. The workers who were there all day complained that they worked all day and it wasn't fair he was paying the guys who showed up for the last two hours the same as them. To which they were told, "you are all being paid according to what I promised you. This is the only fair thing to do, you entered into the agreement, you met your end, I met mine, you all received what you agreed to work for. I can do what I want with what is mine, why do you begrudge me being generous?" Sounds to me like you and these other people all enjoy the same rights to fish at this place as granted by the landowner. If he doesn't set restrictions, you certainly have no right to, nor do you have any right to be upset when others behave within the rules set by the landowner, who has the right to set limits, or no limits, as he sees fit. I will abide by your request to let this thread die and won't post again.

Thanks guys, had a very good trip and will be going back someday, Mike the guy's boat I was on said the top water action is awesome at times and would really like to go when they're hitting on top. Friday 4/13 air temp was 80 water mid 40s, Saturday 4/14 air was 84 water upper 40s, Sunday 4/15 air was 44 wind chill 35 with misting rain off and on water temp low 50s. Sunday was when we did the best, guess the few degrees rise in water temp turned them on. I haven't caught that many bass in one day in my life. Crappie maybe but not bass. I really need to learn more about fishing tubes. Mike was wearing them out on Sunday with them, I just couldn't pick it up. Should have been easy but I caught my fair share on green pumpkin rage craw. Switched to a jerk bait started picking up some numbers and size. Elbow was sore by days end from flinging that jerk bait so much. For those that have access to that river on a regular basis I'm really jealous of you.

A little off topic, but going to post anyway! ? The wife and I are headed up Saturday to start trying to find us a place on the lake. We are looking on the Texas side somewhere between the very south end and up to Palo Gacho. It will be on the water, would like to find one with a dock so I can get to fishing and not have to do any construction. Going to look for something that will still have water to float the boat when the lake is at 168. Anything that you would be concerned about (other than camp structure/quality) that I may not have considered?

Shimano G. Loomis Conquest MBR ?

The medium power should be more than sufficient. Just today I caught an 8lb carp on a st Croix mojo 6'8 m-xf spinning rod. It was a fight but it had the power to bring him in. If your mainly targeting bass I would choose the medium. Especially if you have or might be getting a medium heavy baitcasting setup.

Hit a metro lake last week (lake auburn) on Wednesday and got a 22 pound limit. Water temps were up to 68 by the evening. Not one fish with a red tail. Water temps were great for spawning, but the fish had not come up yet. I think the spawn is ready now. Prior to the cold front, I fished some lakes in ottertail county from Thursday to Saturday. Water temps were lower by a few degrees, but we caught a lot more spawning. Very interesting how each lake plays by its own rules. Highest bag was 25 lbs. One 6 pounder. Jigs outfished plastics, but plastics did better at getting the missed strikes. Hope you all get them.

I think that given the thousands of sightings across the country it's undeniable that people are seeing something, but the real question is what that something is. If this thing were a new undiscovered species or a presumed extinct species somebody would have found some form of DNA evidence to support this theory. For this species to survive it would have to be found in numbers large enough to reproduce at least as frequently as they die off, which would likely be somewhere between, I don't know, maybe 25-55 years just estimating from a human lifespan along with natural environmental factors like illness, parasites, infection. SO IN CONCLUSION- the theory that this species exists is silly assuming that it does not have any supernatural powers like interdimensional travel or time travel, which if it were capable of we probably wouldn't be looking for them because they would have wiped us out already. OK here's my theory, if the things people are seeing isn't just a mangy bear or lion... (yes it's wack, what'd you expect in a bigfoot thread ?) There's a secret society of people who dress up in Squatch costumes across the country, maybe even the globe. They dress up as bigfoot as a weekend hobby, probably have a forum (one could call it a "Squatchresource") with all the tricks of the trade. This theory would also give a good explanation as to how they can never find DNA evidence of a real sasquatch, and how sasquatches as a "species" are smart enough to avoid capture. Sounds like a dangerous hobby, I'd want some sort of kevlar in my squatch costume. And thermal vision so I could chase people like Predator...

The only thing I'd offer here is: Use enough rod. Long fights with pike and muskie really risk killing the fish, particularly in warmer water temps.

I've got an Avid X casting rod that I really like. It was quite a jump from the "regular" Avid series in my opinion. If you're after pike too...and you're really trying to catch "a monster", I'd bump up to the medium heavy. You're going to wind up throwing heavier lures for pike, eventually, if you target them. You don't need to throw huge, multi-ounce lures...but 5/8 oz. is way on the light end for bigger pike.

If you're wanting to target bass and stick to spinning gear I'd stay with the medium power rod and enjoy the fight when you get hit by a larger pike. The rod will be fine and the fight will be fun.

It's funny...cars and trucks developing smaller motors with bigger HP, then that thing comes along at almost 350 cubic inches...for a boat... Pretty cool. I don't even want to think about the gas bill...

I don’t think I have ever seen you with anything under 5 lbs lol, your just the hawg magnet!! Awesome catch

We'll be seeing 4 of these along the back of one of the boats on a saltwater fishing show pretty soon. Because you can never get to the wrecks fast enough. Or you can never outrun a storm fast enough. Dang. That thing's a beast.

Reading all these posts about skin cancer got me to thinking about better protection from the sun. I can't stand anything tight across my face or neck so a boony type hat and sun screen have been my go to. Problem is I always seem to miss a couple of spots and have been burned my ears and back of my neck more than once. The wife and I were out shopping over the weekend and came across these Sun Guide Caps, and bought a couple. We tried them out today and although they look dorky as all get out ( looks like I have beagle ears ) they were very lite weight and totally covered my neck and ears. You can also snap a front flap to cover the front of your neck. Here's a pic from todays trip. Try not to laugh too hard.

Just picked up boat,has a brand new lower unit.Took it in last tuesday,so amazingly fast service by mercury and especially my local marine shop.Can't wait to get back on the water.

Get rid of the Vanish leader though. Use almost anything else, just not Vanish.

If you buy the DX, you'll be wondering forever if the NRX would have been better. If you buy the NRX, you'll want another NRX.

Happy wife, happy life.

Here are some of my best catches from my Susquehanna river trip back in April. Thanks to all of those who gave me tips on how to fish it. Most were caught on Jerk bait and T-rig craw. I couldn't connect with the tubes and the others that were fishing them caught more than me. All in all I caught 50 plus in 3 days so I consider it a successful trip.

I'll try to talk you off the ledge. Not trying to sound like a jerk, but if you have to finance a $60 reel it's probably not a good decision.

Fishing all day is hard work.

Had the first run in with a flathead that there's been since winter time on Monday. Gave Lake all the fight he could handle.

Get's slathered on just about everything I throw ~ A-Jay

A nice 4+ on a black buzz bait before going to work. hit right over this fallen tree trunk that ive been casting at for the past 3 years. this was the first ever catch at that target.

www.autotrader.com But seriously....I've owned a number of 2-piece rods and with all but the lowest end ones, you'd never know the difference. Fenwick and St.Croix both produce great 2-piece rods

Personal Best Brown Trout Today ~ A-Jay

Going to be an uncle for the third time, and for the third time I'll be buying Barbie instead of Batman fishing poles.