MaineBassMan

Only 14 days to go!!!!!!!!!!! 8-)

Maybe so, but I will catch my fair share of 5 pounders once the season starts. Last season in two hours of fishing from the bank on the first day of open water fishing, cause the landing was still iced in, I caught 25 largies. Two where 4 pounders, (4#11oz and the other was 4#6oz.), and the rest were in the 3 pound range. You all say that you have year round fishing, but isn't your better fishing in the winter months because it's hotter than the hinges of hell in the summer? I will take my 25 fish slow days and my 50+ good days from April-November and be tickled pink. I'm not going to lie though we have those occasional bluebird hot sunny days where the fish just aren't biting.

My MOS is 35H (Intelligence). My basic is at Fort L. Wood Missouri. Ian I didn't realize there was such a thing ;D. So I guess that means you will have co-ed basic training, you won't have any problems with basic. Goodluck and I forgot to thank you for your service!

Congratulations, remember it is all in your mind, don't quit and give it your all and you will make it. What is your MOS?, mine was 11M, (Infantry, was a dismount on a Bradley), 1999-2002. Best years of my life. 8-) Went to basic at Fort Benning Georgia. I scored high too but still chose to be a grunt. Everyone else is just a POG. ;D Don't trust your recruiter, I was told that I would have pick of my duty station too, I picked my 5 stations and they sent me to Germany, not one of my picks oh well. "i will be commissioned as an officer in the United States Army when i graduate college. greatest decision of my life. read up on basic and get yourself ready for your new life. hooah, murray" Great an officer they don't work for a living : Sniper check, Just joking congrats, and thanks for your service.

The only 09 pics I have are ice fishing pics. Lakes are still iced over. >

Yeah ! And when you go for the net or the lip ......... you'll use your strong hand. 8-)

Here ya go: By George Welcome Let's get technical, as there are in fact reasons, not just some lame holdover from days past that put the handles where they are. What will move the fish during retrieval is placed to the strong hand! A baitcast is designed to be used as a winch, so it is the reel that retrieves the fish. Hence if you are right handed the handle is in your right hand. A spinning reel is designed to pick up unloaded or loose line, not retrieve the fish. Hence it is the rod that does the retrieval, so it is the rod that is in your strong hand. If you are right handed then the pole goes to the right hand. Makes sense, but even though I'm right hand, reeling with my strong hand is like trying to throw a baseball with your weak hand to me. Different strokes for different folkes. 8-)

I got hooked because I was very fortunate to grow up in a bass fishing family at a time when a lot of the locals considered them trash fish, can you believe that? I use to get hell in class when I told the other kids that I fished for bass and not trout. They kept telling me that the bass were eating their trout and I reassured them that bass hated trout, ;D. Then when they asked me what my favorite color was for a bass lure I told them trout ;D. Spending time with my father and grandfather in a boat listening to them tell stories and catching bass until my arms fell off and when I caught my first 4 pound smallmouth at 10 years of age pretty much hooked me.

I know I'm not being helpful and will probably receive tons of flak on this but it shouldn't take much to figure something out on a 90 acre pond even with a kayak you should be able to cover everything. Pretty much what everyone has posted is spot on. I would fish some jigs too if I were you, I've always done good with a jig that has a slow fall rate in the early season. I've also done good with a 3/8 oz-3/4 oz spinner bait (chartreuse or firetiger for up here), with an over-sized Colorado blade in either chartreuse or gold. This gives off great vibration and I usually do best with a slow roll retrieve with the occasional jerk to get the blade churning, but you may want to vary speeds and use a stop and go presentation. Good luck and let us know how you did!

On behalf of the State of Maine I would like to thank the State of Florida for their marvelous Florida Strain Largemouth that inhabit a good portion of the lakes in this great state now. So are they still northern dinks? they may not grow as big because of the short seasons but they are Florida strain bass. We catch 5 and 6 pounders from time to time, and my dad caught one over 7 once.

Thanks for all the welcomes. I guess I should stop slashing the tires on all of the out of state trucks that are at my favorite lake ;D. We have probably been on the same lake at the same time, I've been seeing a few Mass plates at the landings. Good luck up here this year and remember to let the big ones go, It takes them awhile to grow big up here.

That was a cool video? I have actually lost a fish in a tourney because this, I didn't know I could do something about it and now I do. What online shops sell them and are they actually called a "fizz kit"?

To be honest with you, screw the loons, How many have you seen floating dead around the lakes? Unless they eat so much lead that they sink . Everywhere I fish there are loons all over the place, and I have not seen any dead loons. I use lead and will continue to use lead because I do most of my shopping online. I think it is just another environmental hoax, like global warning, just to get you to spend more money.

I learned how to fish on a spinning reel where if you are right handed you cast right hand and reel with your left hand. Four years ago I decided I wanted to start using a Bait cast reel and so I tried my Grandfather's bait cast, which was a right hand retrieve. I couldn't stand it, it felt so foreign to me. Then I went fishing with my Great Uncle, whom happens to be left handed and uses a Left hand retrieve. I tried his reel out and loved it and it felt natural. So my question is, why is a right handed bait cast reel retrieved with the Right hand? It doesn't make since to me to cast with your strong arm then switch over to your weak arm and retrieve with your strong hand, and fight the fish with your weak arm. It makes more since to me to cast with your strong arm, keep the rod in your strong hand, retrieve with the weak hand and fight the fish with your strong arm. Sorry for my ramblings, I've been fishing with a left hand retrieve for the last three years and was just wondering how many of you are in the same boat as me?

Bass-1 Do those lakes around Bangor have a mixed bag of Largies and smallies? Have you fished Pushaw yet? I have heard good things about it and one of these season I'm going to try fishing it. I totally agree with you in that the State is just starting to catch on to bass fishing. I wish they would do more to protect our bass fisheries, I think they are still stuck on the cold water species. I would love to see catch and release only on my home lake. Kind of wish people would get away from the thought that the largemouth are going to hurt the smallmouth. My favorite lake, (Lake X), has had largemouth in it for only 20 years, and they co-exist with the smallies no problems at all. The fishing has only got better and I'm still catching nice smallies.

This country if full of great bass fishing lakes. There are a lot of places that I would love to take a trip to and try fishing, Lake Fork and Erie are my top two. However I would not trade the fishing in Maine for any of them permenantly. We have thousands of lakes to fish, many of which get very little pressure. Most of the time I go fishing I may only see 1 or 2 other boats on the water, but most of the time we are the only boat. Don't have speed boats, partiers and jet skies bothering you, I have experienced this in southern Maine so I stay away from there now. We have great smallmouth and largmouth fishing. However our state has a high unemployment rate and the Winters can be long and not everyone can hack it up here. Plus the state is just starting to recognize Bass fishing as a great resource. Too many oldtimers stuck on salmon and trout. Not trying to say that my fishing is better then other states, its just what I know and its home.

Watermelon and June bug.

You can't buy it in Maine but you can use it. I oder mine through Bass pro.

well my fishing season hasn't started yet water a little too hard and open water doesn't legally start until April 1st. I didn't take many pics last season for some reason so I decided to just give a good representation of what we have here. I promise that I will take lots of pictures this season. However I actually catch more largies than smallies. I think this was last season 2008

By the way these are not gangsta signs we are just showing what they weighed. Once again sorry for all the pictures just got the itch bad and felt like sharing.

My Great Uncle My Father

I just realized I was too busy fishing last season and didn't take enough pics. I have a lot more but they are a little dated, hope you enjoy them. We may not have a lot of big ones but we have numbers and remoteness. Me: 5lbs 11 ounces 5lbs 6 ounces To the untrained eye one would think this moose was drinking but instead he is my pet and he is pointing to where the bass are! ;D This lake was still mostly iced in but my friend and I managed to squeeze the boat in.