Leaderboard

It definitely took a little while to finally get on the water, however my first trip of 2025 was a personal success with this 4.4lber coming aboard. With 58 degree water and 71 degree air temps it sure seemed like better fishing is just around the corner.

Latest Just talked to the surgeon who did the biopsy, said he did two & neither appeared to be cancer.

Went out Sunday hoping to find some big prespawners with the warming trend. If I'd put every bass I caught together, I could have made a good 5 fish limit, problem was, I caught 52 of them. 52 bass, and the biggest was 13", smallest was 9.25". I don't know how I caught that many fish and not a single one was any bigger, but I sure did. I did manage to Ned rig a limit of trout, including a nice 20.5" fish, and this really fat 18" rainbow. This was my last trip locally. I'll be headed to Texas Friday.

It sure ain't much of one, but it's one!!! 😂 Too small to even count toward the season total, but I was just happy to get bit on my first outing after a long cold winter. Surface temp was 38 when I started, and 41 when I left. Calm and sunny with a high around 60 today. Not much in the way of activity, but it won't be long before the action picks up. Highs in the 60's and 70's for the next six days.

It's been a really long winter in Maine. 😀

@Will1248 I rarely use "follow up baits". If & when a bass 'misses' a moving bait, I call it "a Poke", as long as I do not believe she felt the steel, I throw the same bait right back at her. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. But I'm for sure able to get a bait back out there much faster with what I'm already throwing, than putting it down, picking up another rig and making that exact cast. Besides, she deserves a second shot anyway and so do I. Good Luck & Fish Hard A-Jay https://youtu.be/oIoNOk6kf8o?feature=shared&t=301

@J._Bricker: Nice bass, but I couldn't take my eyes off your outerwear. I see an undershirt, a hoody, and a jacket. And it's 71 degrees! If you came to Maine, I think you'd have to wear five sleeping bags. I'm not complaining. I'm as jelly as Smuckers...both about the bass and that warm breeze.

I don’t have a universal follow up, as it depends what I was throwing. If I swing and miss a bottom contact bait I’ll just stay with that and maybe change the follow up angle, bounce it, slow it down or even speed it up. It’s more of change up presentation type deal. If a moving bait, since I already got a reaction out of her and she was moving to get it unlike a bottom bait, I bank on her awareness, reaction and aggressiveness to come back. I may throw something different or not. A lot depends on how she hit it I got her attention with what I threw, I may not with something completely different. But that’s me Mike

I'll sling a wacky worm or fluke if there's a hit and miss. Something quieter and slower.

I can't tell ya what they call me, at least not here on this PG forum. 😂 I really need to get some new friends. 🤦‍♂️😂

With as many high speed problem solving ideas presented to the OP here, if the casting distance is not resolved by now, there can only really be one cause left. That rig is cursed and or possessed by the devil monkey. Perhaps consider an Exorcism. May need to be performed by either KVD or Tommy Biffle. The evicting of demons, jinns, or other spiritual entities from a rod & reel is serious business. Good Luck and stay safe. A-Jay

I usually follow up a lure that gets bit with one that doesn't. If I am already fishing a lure that doesn't get bit, I follow that lure up with a more expensive one that doesn't get bit.

It's official! Heck yeah! NEO unlocked today - I literally watched the ice dissolve with the wind and water. Thank gawd, on the 2025 board. Chocolate milk water, 1-2" visibility dragging a t-rig dark chocolate senko with sapphire flakes. Didn't think I'd have water, so went for a haircut and thought WTH take a rod. So one rod, one weight, one hook, one worm -> one good fish!

I went out yesterday for about six hours. Started off at a pond fishing with jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and lipless crankbaits. Never got a bite. After about three hours I headed over to pond #2. I got my first bass of 2025 on my third cast with a creature bait on a free rig.

I've struggled fishing from the bank so far this year so I was excited about my first trip of 2025 in a boat. The air temp started out in the upper 30s, but warmed up to a perfect 70 degrees. Bluebird skies, 50 degree water temp. It started immediately. I hooked up on the first cast! I was pumped...until it turned out to be a drum. Sorry, no picture @TnRiver46.🤣 That was the last bite for over an hour, and the next bite was just a dink smallmouth. After the dink we got nothing for about two hours. The wind was blowing hard against the current which made it tough to manage the boat. We were getting frustrated, but things finally started improving. After only catching two fish for the first three hours, we got 8 in the next two hours. The best two are pictured below. It slowed down again after that burst of activity. We only managed 2 more over the final two hours, but these two fish are enough to make it a good day. 4 lb 9 oz smallmouth 4 lb 13 oz largemouth

I'll throw the same bait back in. I'll change the retrieve somehow, or hit the same spot from a different angle.

I like the 1st get Tatula Type Rs which is still around today as the pre 2025 Tatula 150. I've had this one in service since 2016 when I bought it on clearance. I have added a Ray's Studio SV type spool to it and have spent the past 9 years sending weightless plastic baits under docks and bomb casting with 12# fluoro on a 1st gen Zodias 72M as well as jerkbait and crankbait duties in between. Also changed out the handle shaft to a recessed one from a Zillion TW to use the bolt type nut instead of the normal type as pictured above. It's a subtle thing but part of the treatment high end Daiwas of this era got so I chose to apply it here when the parts fell into my lap. Notice how the handle nut appears to be almost flush with the handle? That is because it is actually a bolt that threads into the handle shaft instead of the usual nut

Oh dear Lord. Here we go again with the youtube-get-rich-easy comments. "I heard that (fill in the blank) makes (BIG MONEY) on his Youtube channel!!!" I hear those claims, and be like As for all the pros having YT channels, all companies offering sponsorships require it these days, plus social media. Most pros I talk to don't like it. And, frankly, if they made "BIG MONEY!!" on YT, they wouldn't need to fish tournaments to earn a living.

That's great news Catt. Good to hear this. Remaining positive.

When I was guide in Alaska, I would get clients that would tell me I had the perfect life. Living on the River fishing, without a any stress of the outside world. I would then ask them if their car starts every day, they would respond yes, I would reply mine doesn't maybe it is because I only paid $500 for it. They would be wearing brand new waders and mine would be patched more with more patches than most tire shops have in stock. All my clothes were bought at a flee market, or given to my by clients as a tip. I would ask them if they had a wife or girlfriend. Of course they always did, and were surprised that I didn't. After all I was young and in great shape with plenty of free time in the winter months, to find a significant other. I had to inform them that most women like a man who has a car that doesn't need to be push started, with a heater that works, especially in Alaska. None of them had eaten Ramen noodles every day for a month. They didn't even know they would go on sale 6 packs for a dollar from time to time. Living in a cabin without electricity and running water was something they had never experienced, let alone a trip to the outhouse when the temperature was hovering around -40 degrees. Long and short of it is, after they heard about the other side of a guides life, they weren't so jealous of my life style. That is why most guides would work two or three summers then move on to something else. Some guides would always complain about low pay, and not enough tips. I would tell them they get paid what the industry can afford, and as far as the tips go, they simply need to earn them. Most would say they were through working for nothing even if it they were making their living fishing. I wished them luck, and many of them are very successful working their new careers. My long winded point is it isn't easy to make your living fishing. Making you living tournament fishing is even tougher than surviving as a guide. But in the end it isn't about making the money, it is about the fishing and I wouldn't trade a single day I had on the water for all the money in the world. Now that is just me, and I'm sure there are others that feel the same, but fishing for a living isn't for everybody, not even close, but for the few that love the life, nothing could be better.

If that's the way it works, I'm going dink fishing too!

A bladed jig has accounted for 3 of my 5 biggest fish and IMO the spring is the best time to fish them. When the water is in the low 40s i fish them just like a jig and speed up as the mood of the fish changes.

Classic 🤣 Sometimes we just wanna be left alone on the water.

Humbug!!!

Back to back to back posts of members getting on the board for the first time in 2025......Let's GOOOOO gents!

Great to hear!

My approach is KISS: Keep it simple, Swampy! Interesting.

Oh Man!! Atta Boy!! Outstanding! Mike

I don’t have specific search & follow up pairs. Like @Swamp Girl I will follow up a missed strike with a weightless senko or fluke.

Guys- he’s talking about 8-10’. I don’t care if you are using 80lb power pro on a 500 size reel or a double quad uni knot connection- you’re going to get more than that. You can pull out 10’ of line from the reel (past the tip) and get more than that. There is a fundamental rigging issue here that requires a picture to diagnose.

Every lure is capable of producing your personal best Location + timing Not location + lure

If the wife has a job making $100K a year and the husband is a professional fisherman and he’s good at it, that $75K-$80K of family income. Most families can live on that. 😂

Ha! I'm as far from a pro as an angler can be. First off, I'm scruffy. I tend to wear the same pants for months because they're treated with Permethrin. And my shirts are 40 years old. No lie. Plus, my canoes are scuffed and old too. And I'm old! Contrast me with a young buck who's adorned with 52 logos atop a glitter boat with more electronics than NASA circa 1969. Lastly, another way I'm different is that I catch more bass than many pros!* *I can't believe I'm talking trash, but I did. Today, at least, I'm saltier than the sea!

After my diagnosis the range of emotions has been unbelievable. Then I realized yesterday is gone, tomorrow isn't promised, we have today. Just like before! This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

I know a guy. He's the one that approved the ad. I showed this to him, and he said

I don't doubt the difficulty in penetrating the social media market. I don't even think I said 'Youtube Get Rich Easy' comment. Being a 'youtube phenomenon' is like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles; there is a lot of work involved, and there is no guarantee you'll be successful. I was just making a point that there are guys that make way more money making fishing content for entertainment than being just a pro fisher. If you have nearly a million subscribers (like Norm and Ayo have), it's not impossible they carve out a decent living for themselves doing it; and they aren't top ten placers in pro fish tournaments. Before social media was a thing, pros utilized pre-social media (legacy media). Bill Dance and Roland Martin come to mind. They are good fishermen, but they are equally good salesmen. How many hunting and fishing shows to you see nowadays where there is always a product pitch, the guys wearing their sponsored clothes and utilizing their sponsored equipment and telling us how great the equipment is? That's the business. It came from guys like those two. Pro fishing doesn't have the mainstream appeal of something like Football or Baseball, where a mass amount of people watch it for the pure enjoyment of it. So if it doesn't have mainstream appeal, the sport has to make its money somehow. I love it, but there are people that love watching bowling too. Doesn't mean it's widely popular. Eventually, I'd like to compete in local tournaments for nothing more than the thrill of trying to win it. Competition is something that still stirs me up even though I'm pushin' forty. I'm not going to be a 'youtube phenomenon' <smirk>, and I don't want to even try.

Not a mountain lion, but got this snap last week 3/4 mile from the house.

What would @roadwarrior say about this?

@Swamp Girl I’ve found it to be true more times than not Mike

Tiger muskie. As far as this specific thread topic goes, I have no doubt there is a state record smallmouth swimming in Mille Lacs. Way back in 2016, Brent Ehrler caught nearly a 7 pounder during the elite AOY event. My only hope is that a bass angler catches it. Not a walleye angler as bycatch. We’d never hear the end of it if a walleye angler caught it on live bait.

We rescued our Great Pyrenees under similar circumstances. Hank is the best dog we’ve ever had.

Incredible news Catt!!!!! Those poor Toledo Bend Bass, imagine how sore their lips will be in the upcoming months 😎

Over his 33 year career minus taxes and expenses that's less than 60k yearly. Obviously tournament winnings are one of multiple income sources for these guys.

I agree on the no-info rules starting to cause more issues than their worth. Something needs to change, IMO. However, just based on what I've read...so take it with a grain of salt as it might just be Internet chatter - lol - but "Buck" was his traveling roomate. If "Buck" had driven past him during the event and he asked him how he was doing, there would be no problem. However, since he asked a camera guy who is not in the tourney to share how he was doing, he is basically soliciting info to gain an advantage. Being roomies, you know he knows pretty much where, what and/or how his buddy is fishing. If the camera guy says, "Yeah, he's killing them," then that tips "Skeeter" off about the bite and where and how the weather or water is affecting it, allowing him to adjust his strategy. Likewise, if the guy says, "No, he's struggling, too," then he knows not to waste time trying to duplicate what or where his buddy is fishing. Just my thoughts on this one instance, as I don't follow NPFL.

Well Roland Martin & Bill Dance are still working in their mid eighties although both men's net worth would suggest they doesn't need to. Maybe it's just the love of the sport.

Fished a few hours with my wife, only got one drum but it was a fun battle. Good test for the drag on my new st croix GXR combo

Uhhh how would one go about getting one of these jobs? Asking for a friend of course.

Pro Bass fishing is just a marketing engine that has a competition side. It's a bit like racing. They survive and operate based on sponsor dollars, business to business deals, going into debt and some lucky ones are financially independent.

Looks like he's a straight braid guy. No leader.