Mainebass1984

Keeping a fish in a live well any day puts stress on them. A hot day for multiple hours, puts even more stress on them especially if you are fishing for deep water smallies in the middle of July or August. Keeping them in a live well most certainly will always put stress on them but it is much more fish friendly then taking them home for the fish fryer. Keeping fish in your live well and keeping them alive, is a very important aspect of tournament bass fishing. Unfortunately in todays world you can not have one and not the other. It is more fish friendly then the first generation of bass tournaments where you would kill the bass you caught and bring them back on a stringer to the weigh in.

With out a doubt Maine has some great bass fishing. In my own opinion it is not the amount of "pressure" that determines the quality of a fishery. It is how it is managed and the fishery itself that determines its quality. The way that the sport has evolved catch and release is practiced by virtually all bass fisherman. There a few guys that keep bass and certainly quite a few meat fisherman that do so as well. Again, in my own opinion, you don't need to look any further then the bag limits to see how Maine is managing its bass fisheries for more and quality fish. In Maine you are allowed to keep 2 fish with a minimum of 10 inches, only one may exceed 14. That is a pretty stingy bag limit in my opinion. NH bag limit is a bit more complicated and allows for the harvest of more bass and more bigger bass. Jan 1 - March 31st, 2 fish only one over 16 inches. April 1 - May 14th 2 fish no length limit. May 15th - June 15th catch and release, artificial lure only. June 16th - 30th 2 fish no length limit. July 1st - Dec 31st 5 fish no length limit. With NH regulations as they allow harvest of more and bigger bass. From July 1st you could harvest 5 fish of any size and I am sure there are individuals that are targeting and keeping 5 fish over 18 or 20 inches. Vermont's regulations aren't that much better. April 11th - June 12th catch and release. Then from June 13th to Nov 30th you are allowed to keep 5 fish minimum length of 10 inches. Again with Vermont's regulation as it is a large portion of the year you could keep 5 20" bass. I have personally seen this first hand several times on Champlain. Of the three states regulations Maine has by far the most restrictive. This allows more fish to grow to bigger size and live longer lives. Maine is effectively managing for more and bigger bass. Another aspect of tournament pressure to mention is the size of the lake or pond that is being fished. As you mentioned Bob there are 55 tournaments on Winni, most of those are smaller tournaments less then 25 boats. Winni is a big body of water though at over 55,000 acres. The fish populations in that lake is so large and spread over such a vast area. I am sure there are many unpressured fish in that lake. There are unpressured fish in every single lake. There are still many unpressured lakes in your area. I know some guys that fish them. The most popular lakes get all the attention and most of the permits. If you want to fish unpressured lakes find a dirt boat ramp or a carry top only boat ramp. Those types of places see little pressure because bass fisherman cant launch there boats there. Fishing pressure doesn't effect the size of fish that a lake produces. It does in my opinion make them more difficult to catch. Some of my biggest bass have come from a tournament pressured water in Maine. Fishing pressure isn't only about tournaments. A non tournament anglers put the same amount of " fishing pressure" on a lake. It is all relative. Fishing pressure does not effect fish size. Bass fishing in the south is year round and the amount of tournaments is mindboggling. Yet even with the near constant pressure big fish are routinely caught out of the most popular lakes. As I said earlier fishing pressure does not effect the size of bass a lake or pond can produce. It just isn't that simple. They are a product of their environment. There are so many factors that must be taken into consideration that lead to a lake being able to produce big fish or not. Some lakes simply can not produce numbers of quality bass. There are other lakes that are big bass factories. I do think that Maine is managing it Bass fisheries more effectively then NH or VT. The notion though that if you want to catch big bass just go to Maine and 6's and 7s will be jumping all over your lures is far fetched. Its not that easy. Maine does have some amazing bass fishing opportunities, no doubt about it. NH, VT, MA all have great opportunities as well as long as you know where to go and what to do. You want more and bigger bass in NH ? Ask your biologists to make the daily bag limits more restrictive.

There aren't any bass in that lake.

I do not remember the exact weight of the NY fish. From what I do remember it wasn't huge. I think it was around 5 1/2 lbs. You can probably google it and find out. I have not taken any pictures. I think I explained how it was done earlier in this post. I am sure you can find some pictures online. I hope she is still alive. I wonder how big she is. She would be a very very old bass by now.

I just got back the results for the dorsal spine of the 9 lb 1 oz bass I caught in November of 2013 while fishing in Maine. I had also taken a scale sample and had it aged as well. A Maine Department of Inland Fisheries And Wildlife Fisheries Biologist aged the scale at 16 + years old, indicating it to be older then 16 years old. As a fish ages it becomes more difficult to age fish using scales, dorsal spines are the preferred method. I sent the dorsal spine to Vermont Fish and Wildlife for aging. They determined that the fish was to be at least 18 years old. Again the biologist suggested that it was probably a few years older. Both biologist that I spoke with said it was the oldest bass either of them had ever aged. I wonder if it is still swimming.

Yesterday I met up with my friend Brandon and fished from 4 until dark on a local pond in the Champlain Valley. A cold front had passed through the day before dropping the air temperature 10 degrees and shifting the wind form south west to north. As typical with a cold front it was bright blue skies when we arrived. The wind blowing 5-10 out of the north had some bite to it, it was chilly. I was dressed for winter and I was warm. The water temperature was showing at 55 degrees but we were under the impression it was reading warmer then what it actually was. I was excited to just get out there. I hadn't been out all year. Our fist couple spots were rocky points that dropped quickly into around 20 feet of water. I started off with a jig and my friend was fishing a crank bait. I had a fish hit my jig three times but couldn't get the hook set. I clearly saw it. Probably was around 2 pounds or so. I was disappointed to have missed it but was hopeful I would have more opportunities. After about half an hour we moved to another rocky point with some deep trees near by. No hits there. Onward to the next deep rocky point. Again we had no hits. We had been fishing an hour and a half with no luck, not a single fish in the boat. We came to the conclusion that we needed to make a move. We decided to fish an more spring like pattern. We went all the way to the northwest corner of the pond. Typically I have experienced consistent success fishing the northwest corners of ponds and lakes in the early spring. They tend to have the warmest water and get the most sun. Once we arrived with in the first 5 minutes we both had caught fish. Nothing big, I had landed one about 2.5 lbs. The area looked good not only was it the northwest corner but it also was were a brook came in, another text book spring spot. The two of us were catching fish on chatterbaits. WE both landed fish on either side of the inlet. It sure did feel good catching bass again. The wind let down a bit and was blowing maybe 5 mph at this point. Thinking to have found a pattern we went to another couple coves that had inlets that were in the northwest corner of the pond. The fish were there and they were slammin our chatterbaits. The action was good. It was very different then the first hour and a half fishing deeper rock points which to me is more of a winter/summer pattern then early spring. The last two hours of the day we consistently caught fish on chatterbaits. The final total of the afternoon was 18 largemouth most between 1 - 2 lbs. We did catch 2 fish about 2.5 lbs. I landed lunker for the day, a 3 lb 9 oz. It felt so good to be out on the water again catching fish and figuring something resembling a pattern in a short amount of time. I am so ready to get out there again.

Southern and Central Maine are excellent places to fish for Bass. You get great numbers and big fish. Plenty of places to choose from.

I tell very very few people my spots. There are people that you can trust and other people that just want your spot. They don't realize the time and effort that goes into finding a really good spot. They want all the benefits after putting in no work. I hate how people will steal your spot. Then comes tournament time and they are camped out on the spot you showed them or told them about. It is irritating. Apparently some people just cant find fish.

Some places are opening up. One of the guys from my club has been fishing everyday since Sunday out of Larabee's. I heard the Alburg passage is open as well as the majority of the main lake.

Sounds like it was a winterkill due to oxygen depletion.

Thanks Roger. I had to put in a lot of time to get on patterns that produce stringers like that. Time effort and dedication. Keeping a detailed fishing log helps a lot as well.

While fishing in Maine I catch my heaviest stringers in early spring and later in the fall. Late fall is my favorite time of the year to fish. My chances for catching fish over 8 lbs seems to increase in the fall. Spring and fall are when the patterns I fish work the best. I have had some excellent days during the summer as well. Basically you can catch a big stringer any time of the year but on average spring and fall the 5 fish bags are bigger on average. 5 bass @ 32 lbs 6 oz. April 27th 2012 5 bass @ 30 lbs 6 oz May 10th 2014 5 bass @ 29 lbs 0 oz Oct 26th 2013

Aside from a variety of swear words : "Must have been a pickerel" "That was just a kibby " (Out of stater term for a panfish) "She took me to school" My favorite: "She flipped me the fin" Its just like giving someone "the finger"

4 inches of snow here this morning. Still a bunch of ice in VT 18 inches or so. Back in Maine there is 13 inches of ice. Looks like spring arrives next week.

I think it is a tiger trout

I went ice fishing today. Still 13 inches of ice.

You are hilarious. I am still laughing. Watch out for those bears and there bear hoots.

I have seen none. I will be ice fishing the next 3 days if that I any indication of how much ice is left.

I have had success fishing black buzzbaits, chatterbaits, and spinnerbaits. Against everything that most people mention I do well with white. My biggest bass caught at night, a 7 lb 0 oz largemouth, was caught on a white spinnerbait. I do a lot of night fishing from late june until mid august. During the heat of the summer I have my best luck. I like to target the thickest weeds beds in a lake. Everyone insists on fishing black. Try fishing a white spinnerbait. Just give it a try. You will be surprised.

Bears DO NOT hoot. You heard an owl.

I will be going ice fishing this weekend

I prefer to fish wood. In an ideal situation I would be fishing submerged trees a mile off of shore.

Got to be the jig ! Every year they produce huge bass in the spring.

When you come up in early May I will show you how much color can matter. You will be pleasantly surprised by the results.

What are you throwing away ? I am sure there are people on hear that would be happy and willing to take some plastic of your hands. I also think there is a place on this forum where you can donate gear and baits you don't want.