Rich K

I caught my PB largie last year on a stanley ribbit bulllfrog. Didn't have to set the hook - the fish inhaled the lured and my rod tip was high enough that her sucking it down set it for me.

Megabass Vision oneten in Ito natural. Caught a 5 lb lunker yesterday on it when nothing else worked 0 guessing water was in the low 50's - winds out of he North gusting to 20 mph in about 7 feet of water. long pauses.

I just caught a 5lb 5 oz hog yesterday using a suspending jerk bait - from shore. Just using a jerk-jerk-pause retrieve with pauses as long as 30 seconds (or it just felt that long - could have been 10). I also have been able to catch them here on in-line spinners like Mepps Aglia and Blue Fox vibrax (up top # 5). They seem to really like the blue fox with the nickel blade and blue body lately. I cast that out deep and let it sink for a few seconds and then reel it back in just fast enough to feel the resistance of the blade turning. Attaching a pic of the fish. She measured 20.5" long with a 15" girth. Rapala digital scale = 5.3 lbs.

I was fall fishing a couple years ago and throwing a weighted texas rigged senko. As it was in sight, I would bring it up and watch it fall and saw a greenish golden flash chase it on the fall. Waited 2 seconds and go to set the hook and felt no resistance. Reeled in and my line was cut - the whole rig gone. I rigged up and cast out again. Same thing happens withing 30 feet from the boat. I started thinking it had to be a northern. I tie on my only leader and am out of senkos. I texas rig a sweet beaver and figure this pike had to be under the boat and just eating as I was coming in. After a half dozen or so casts, I am dragging the beaver on the bottom under the boat and sure enough I hook up. It was only a 28" or so pike, but rewarding to finally catch it! I also caught a 8-9 lb cat fish on a red shad colored senko on a hot summer night. They definitely are fish catchers!

I've seen the above described spotting in fish before, but mostly in panfish and it has never been as dark or big as the pics being shown in this thread. I have even filet some of said panfish and dissected these little cysts. Again, I do not think that is the same as the pics being shown in this thread.

Very Nice Fish! Congrats on your new PB!

That's it! I am moving to California! ;D

I have also heard, but never tried it, that you can remove a scale from the fish. If you are in a colder climate, there will be growth rings noticeable on the scales. But that only holds true if there is a growing season that is induced by cold weather. Renders that useless for FS bass...

This is the first year that I have taken fishing seriously and caught more and larger fish than I ever have. Both my PB's (LM and SM) were caught this year. I caught a 30" Northern a couple of weekends ago that is also my PB for that species. I learned how to use a baitcaster. I built my own spinnerbaits. I also managed to catch 14 fish on a buzzbait when I previously had not caught a thing on them. The biggest being just under 5 lbs. That was a cool story for me. I had been fishing my buzzbait and caught 4 fish and had 8 misses (typical). I felt a strike and started reeling, but it almost felt like a weed accept for the slight tugging. I knew it was a dink. As I am reeling it in through the weeds covering the shoreline, I see a wake chase it. I thought to myself (and maybe even said it out loud), that is a big fish! I quickly released the dink and cast back to the same area where the wake was. Wham! Fish on! That was the 4 lb 13 oz best on the buzzbait. Had my adrenaline pumping! Fishing has been slow around here for me lately. I think the water temps have fallen into the upper 40's to low 50's around here. Looking forward to maybe targeting Musky up in Wisconsin Saturday - the plans are not final yet... The sweetest part of the year for me is finally gaining fishing respect from both my father-in-law and uncle-in-law (experienced bass fishermen). That sounds simple, but everyone in my wife's family knows just how tough that is.

I am having a hard time locating them. They were biting like crazy a week and a half ago, but now they have lock jaw. I am guessing the water temps by me have dropped way down (I should take the temp) and they have become inactive. I also need to check in the deepest spots at the pond I have been fishing at. I am sure they are there, but just less aggressive...

I seem to have read a couple of recent articles from *** about dead-sticking a senko during such a phenomenon. Per the article. cast it into the middle of the bait ball and let it fall straight through it on slack line. Then you wait for the big ones that lie in wait under the ball to pick it up. The big fish do not want the ball to break up so they wait patiently for the ball to move a little and then scour the bottom for fish that were either wounded or are hiding at the bottom. I have no personal experience with this - just passing on information. Good luck!

I appreciate the relevant comments and information to the title of this topic. Let's keep it real though and avoid silly arguments about where we are from. If I remember correctly, that is addressed in the forum rules. We do not want to bring down the integrity of this forum, right?

I have a friend who fishes this lake in Wisconsin where he used to only fish a mann's -1 in parrot color at night and reels it in super slow. He usually catches fish, but the last time I went with him I brought my night time thumpers. I caught 8 fish - nothing really big, but they all counted. Sadly, I was with him for his first skunking on his lake. My most recent night time outing in Michigan I was out with my father-in-law. He was also using a thumper, but had no rattles. I was using one with a new glass rattle that I just picked up from my local BPS. I out fished him 3:1. If I remember correctly it was a new moon with a slight breeze causing a bit of a ripple on the surface. There are a lot of senses coming into play at night. Sometimes a little change in retrieve speed, tone of a rattle, and wind conditions can make a big difference.

Nice fish! I am looking forward to catching my first swimbait fish! Last year I was using a storm baby bass 3" swimbait (not same class as the HD BB). I had pretty good success with that. Last week I was fishing with a buzzbait and had caught 4 and missed 8 others (typical buzzbait ratio), then I thought I picked up a weed, but I could tell it was a small fish. Turned out to be a 4-5" bass, As I was reeling it through the weeds, I BIG wake came after it. I almost slowed down to give it a chance at the lure, but the fish turned away. I brought it in and released the tiny one and threw right back to the same spot - WHAM! a 5 lb bass hooked with the main hook in the top jaw and the trailer hook in it's lower jaw. One of the most exciting catches I have had! Tells me that the big ones feed on the juvenile bass quite regularly!

I bought last year's Cabela's Fish Eagle II bc rod and I love it. I think it was in their bargain cave for $29.99. Here is what they have there now - although this is a spinning combo (you did not specify).

I hear ya there Muddy....that is also the reason nobody will let you fish their private ponds anymore unless they are your buddy. I carry a cooler with me for trash and usually bring home mine and somebody elses. I third that! I usually bring trash home with me that I find laying around. This lazy, littering "fisherman" give all of us a bad wrap...

You can always call the local parks & recreation for the village/town you are looking to fish in. The director in my town is more than happy to talk fishing and will let you know which bodies of waters that have been stocked and more.

We were out night fishing Saturday night and had high hopes with the full moon. Dodged the skunk by catching one 14-15" fish off a deep point. I fished a lake for over 4 hours yesterday and caught 3 bass (2 were tiny; 1 was 14-15") and a northern that was about 30" and 5 lbs. I drifted past this point with a steep drop off and could see bass in the shallows, but they were totally negative - no matter what I threw at them they ignored every presentation. I am starting to think that I was fishing too slow. One of the dinks I caught hit a spinnerbait right after it entered the water. Thinking that was a reaction strike. I should have started fishing faster. That northern I caught put up a great fight. The typical ones I catch lay over after a couple of tugs and then give one last little fight before rolling over again. This one burried in the weeds. To the point where my rod started creaking as I was pulling him up outta there. When I first saw him I was really hoping it was a trophy bass - then it got closer and I saw it was a pike... 1 dink on a white spinnerbait - all other fish on a #4 mepps aglia - gold blade with brown/yellow squirrel tail. Not sure of what the water temps were, but it was very cold to me. We pulled everything out of the water and the initial adjustment to the water temp was tough. I felt my legs go kinda numbs - could be those cold night effecting the temp way more than any sun during the day.

Thanks for the clarification. I was thinking more in terms of auto racing. F1 = Formula 1.

This year is not even close to being over! I am so looking forward to catching the big ones that are fattening up for the winter here up North. I am sure you must have a longer season down there by you. I know there are some parts of Illinois where some bodies of water never see ice.

Smallies go ballastic! Seems like their will to live is that much stronger. Every one I have hooked into, I almost unconsciously say out loud, "this fish really does not want to be hooked!" Since, I have small kids and have seen "Finding Nemo" about 1000 times, the thought of Nemo saying, "swim down" also comes to mind. If you cannot get their heads turned, they do just that and will try to wrap you around stuff and break you off. And if you do get their heads turned, be prepared for some awesome acrobatics! Make sure you are keeping pressure on them when they jump - they will shake your lure otherwise. Great fighters!

Anyone one know some definite ways to tell if any given body of water has turned over yet? How many consecutive days/night below what temp will cause turnover? I am also wondering what happens when there is a post-turnover warm up. Does the water stratify again? Can there be more than one turnover? I am asking since the body of water I am fishing this weekend is in SW Michigan and I suspect it has turned over, but there are some close to 80 degree temps coming this weekend. Thanks for the input!

I think the biggest part of the equation here is how old a big Northern strain bass will be compared to Fla strain. It does not take very long for Fla strain bass to get to 5 lbs - could be only 2-3 years old. It will take a Northern strain 6-10 years to get that big. I have also heard the life expectancy of Northern Strains are longer than Fla strain - I guess "live fast; die young" holds true for them. A 10 lb Northern strain bass could be 15+ years old, where a Fla strain's life expectancy is 10-15 years. I think that is the biggest reason why catching a true lunker up North is that much more of an accomplishment. You know that lunker has seen LOTS of lures and your presentation, location, and timing has to be spot-on to catch one. However, I have also read that Northern strain bass are more aggressive than Fla strain - which makes them easier to catch. There are companies out that that have produced a hybrid (F1) bass that grows like the Fla strain yet tolerates cold and has the aggressiveness of the Northern strain. Can you tell that I researched this a bit? I was looking to buy some stockers F1's for my local pond. Here's a link if anyone is interested in reading more about the F1 strain. Here's another one.

Not arguing about this and I do believe we need to do all we can to preserve the fish we catch, but I have caught a few bass that had obviously had their jaws broken before. There was scarring right where the lower jaw connects and the jaw felt flimsy. They are obviously eating well as I was able to catch them again. I am guessing this was caused by mishandling with either a scale and/or a boga grip type gripper. I recently bought a lipper and am a little concerned about the jaw on it - they clamp down pretty hard and the inside edge is a bit too sharp. I have also done the gill hooked "surgery" that has been touted on this site and others to great success and not seen my bass floating belly up while intentionally looking for them. I have a small bass in a tank at home and watched him go through a lot and he is still happy and healthy today. I have seen him heal from my original hook injury, leech attacks, and self-inflicted wounds from bouncing around the tank. All to no avail as he is perfectly fine (and aggressive) today. My uncle-in-law has also expressed concern for tournament caught fish getting their slime coat damaged later causing infections. If that were a problem, we would see a lot more fish kills in the waters that see a lot of tournament pressure. In short, I think bass are more resilient than we think. I would add a caveat as my PB was just shy of 6lbs. I have heard that any bass over that should not be handled just by the lower jaw.

I hit Shelbyville the first weekend in May this year. Caught 5 different species of fish - but no bass and no muskie (target species). They were; white bass Gizzard shad Alligator gar (which I thought was a muskie at first - dang it!) bluegill walleye hooked in to 2 muskie, thought they were snags until they started taking line and eventually bit me off! Wish I could have eat least seen them...