Mainebass1984

Nice fish. Well done.

1130 am in the morning mid November in Maine. 9 lbs 1 oz. 23 3/4 inches long, 19 1/2 inch girth. Probably would have weighed a bit more in the spring ?

Right location. Right lure. At the right time.

Great post topic. So many variables are involved when targeting big bass. I may fish in Maine and Vermont but I prefer to target big bass. Lots of great information on here. I would consider myself a big bass hunter. It is what I fish for, BIG bass. I think that along with all the afore mentioned information time of year and weather has a lot to do with catching big bass.

Toss a hollow bellied frog right into the middle. It is an excellent bait for super thick vegetation.

China... Oh man there are a lot of lunkers in there. Great place to fish. Very interested to see how they do.

Tournament on Lake Champlain on Sunday. 1st place 15.6 lbs of fish. Missed lunker by .07 lbs. My 2 biggest at 4.95 lbs and 4.5 lbs Went after smallmouth on Monday. Nothing huge but a 3 lb 5 oz.

The fishing the past few days has been pretty good. There were times though when I went HOURS with out a bite. Saturday I got up real earlier and made it to the northern end of Lake Champlain. The fish were biting as soon as we launched the boat. I was getting a bunch of blow ups on a frog. We found fish in 2 weed beds. All the other areas we fished sucked. We tried for smallmouth and there was not much happening there. I did loose a big smallmouth but tat was about it. We started an finished the day on the same productive weed bed. For the day the two of us boated 35 bassour biggest five went around 17 lbs with a 3 lb 11 oz largemouth lunker. Sunday I fished a tournament out of Larabee's point on southern Lake Champlain. Between the tournament I was fishing and the 4 other tournaments that day there were over 80 boats fishing tournaments on the southern area of Lake Champlain. Then of course there were other fisherman not in the tournaments and recreational boaters. The place was a zoo. I didn't catch very many fish at all. The morning bite was good though. My first 2 fish in the boat were good ones and we needed them. The first fish slammed a jig pitched into some Milfoil at our first spot. At the second spot we went too after the fog lifted I was getting some frog blow ups. I got my second fish of the day here a nice one that exploded on my frog. The rest of the day was pretty slow. Nothing of any size the rest of the day. My partner and I went hours with out a bite. At the weigh in everyone said they had a tough day like we had had after the morning bite. We finished in 1st place with 15.6 lbs of fish and missed lunker by .07 lbs. Without the two bigger fish bites we would have not finished well at all. The two biggest fish 4.95 and 4.5 lbs Monday I had a few appointments in the morning. I decided to fish for smallies in the afternoon. It was hot with almost no wind. They didn't cooperate at first. I hadn't fished this lake for 2 years. After fishing a few spots and figuring them out I started catching fish. They were holding in deep weeds. I caught 26 bass for the day. Mostly around 2 -2 1/2 lbs. I saw 2 big smallies swimming by my boat. I toss my jig out there and they both go for it. As my jig was sitting on bottom both of them were nose down on it , one on each side. I hop and the bigger one inhaled it. The fight was on and I could see it was a real nice smallie. The fish was making strong runs and on one run the hook pulled out, bummer. It was a good one. In the same spot I hooked into a big fish I didn't see. It was like setting the hook into a stump, big fish. Big fish and 8 lb flouro carbon... The fish broke my line, bummer. I did manage to catch a couple better fish but nothing the size of those two. I finished the day with a 3 lb 1 oz and a 3 lb 5 oz. Definitely going to go back there soon. 3 lb 5 oz

Id love to know what lakes they are fishing.

Fishing in the rain can produce excellent fishing and big bass. Who cares its raining if your catching bass !

Not every time, I wish it was every time. 5 lber is a big bass where I fish in Maine or New England. Takes a lot of time on the water to figure out where the biggest fish in a lake hang out. Once you get that figured out you catch them a bit more often.

5lber is a big bass anywhere in New England

I have got 30 days of vacation I am using this fall. It is my favorite time to fish. I will be taking time off in Sept, Oct, and Nov. The biggest bass I have ever caught at night was in Oct weighing in at an even 7 lbs 0 oz on a spinnerbait. The biggest bass I have ever caught was in Nov at 9 lbs 1 oz. I love fall fishing. The fishing is great day or night. I often have great luck on low wind days which are common in the fall with lots of cloud cover. Rainy days can be amazing too. The areas I target vary quite a bit from Sept to Nov. I try and target isolated off shore structure like sunken trees a mile or so off shore in 15 feet of water in Sept and Oct. In late Oct and Nov I fish pretty deep sometimes as much as 40 feet deep. My go to baits are a weightless worm, a 1/2 oz jig, a square bill crankbait and a spinnerbait. In Nov I do like fishing a blade bait. I need to get some swimbaits. A-Jay what are your top 3 swimbaits and why ? I usually quit fishing when my boat cant break through the ice anymore. Usually around thanksgiving or so.

Ive been catching a few skinny bass this year in the waters I fish too. Sucks catching a big, long fish with no girth. 23 1/4inch fish with no girth. Should have weighed much much more then 5 lbs 4 oz.

It has been feeling like fall outside the past couple weeks. The leaves are starting to change. It was 43 degrees the other morning. The water temps are down to the low 70s. It seems like the fish have been thinking the same way. I have been seeing more and more shallow fish. I am excited for the fall bite. Late Sept through Oct the fall bite is red hot. November can be a magical time of year too. Big bass seem to bite really good in the fall. How many of you guys fish the fall ? How late in the year do you fish ?

I agree. If I had to choose just one lure it would be a jig.

Rivers are great places to catch big bass ! Most are under fished, have plenty of cover, and have plenty of big fish !

That is really cool. I saw a bass eat a swallow the other day. Then I caught the bass a 4-12 on a frog. It spit up the bird.

A "trophy" fish depends on many different aspects. Its definition changes from region to region and person to person.

I have yet to catch a double digit bass. It is very very difficult to do in Maine and Vermont. Biggest so far has been 9 lbs 1 oz. A 10lber would be close to a state record in all the northern New England states. The 9 lb 1 oz was a very very old fish at 16 years old.

My goal is for the number of bass I catch on average to increase and for the total number of bass caught over 5 lbs to go up as well.

I am never satisfied after a day on the water. I think there is always room for improvement and new techniques to learn. Losing big fish hurts. I do not know where I rank on your rating system. I have fish for bass 64 times this year. A total of 1122 bass, 20.7 bass on average, 38 bass over 5 lbs so far. I wont be satisfied until I catch a 10 lb bass from New England. I am sure even then I will try for a bigger one.

I went fishing after I got out of work at 4. I fished wit my friend Tim until dark which was about 815. The fishing was good. We were catching the out in 8-15 feet of water off of the primary drop off. The first fish of the day was the best. A 5 lb 2 ozer. Most of the rest of the bass we caught were 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 lbs. Did get a 3-0. Between the two of us we caught 30 bass.

Got this 5-2 after work today.

Top 3 from this past weekend. Maine doesn't have any bass. 6 lbs 8 oz 5 lbs 10 oz 5 lbs 10 oz