Mainebass1984

I have decided to give it a go as well. Heading to a different pond today. I will be targeting fish in 15-45 feet. Good luck !

Got to the lake today with high hopes. I was hoping to repeat the last couple weeks success. It was near 50 degrees mostly sunny with calm winds. After fishing the first couple hour with little success I realized everything had changed and that the pattern I was on was no more. The lake had come up 4 feet, the water clarity dropped to 1 foot. It was mostly sunny not overcast like it had been. There was calm winds as opposed to the 5-15 mph winds last weekend. After 4 hours I had caught 1 bass a 18.5 inch 3 lb 12 oz largemouth. I decided to adjust and change up location, lure and tactics. It seemed to be the right choice. IN the last 2.5 hours of fishing I caught 3 largemouth and 2 smallies. The largemouth were 2-10, 2-12, 2-13. The two smallies were 2-11 and a 20 inch smallie at 3 lbs 9 oz. The 3-9 smallmouth was very skinny. The day ended much better then it started. I caught three fish on a crankbait, one on a jig and one on a weightless worm. I think that the next day I will be fishing will be Thursday. Fish # 1 18.5 inch 3 lb 12 oz Largemouth Fish # 2 20 inch 3 lb 9 oz Smallmouth

I fish for bass and trout mostly. I get a lot more action going after bass and crappie then trout and cusk. I have had some pretty good days ice fising for bass. They love a nice big frisky 6 inch shiner. I have caught 30 bass in a day up to 6 lbs 8 oz. It is pure craziness when the bite is that good.

I do ice fish quite a bit. It isn't just sitting around and drinking beer. You can do that and catch fish, sure. I prefer to actively go and find the fish. The only time I really sit down and wait for fish is breakfast and lunch. You catch more fish if you go and actively look for them as opposed ot sitting around and waiting for them to swim by your bait.

I am in for the final competition of the year. Probably wont get out too many times this month maybe 5 or 6 times. I am fishing my favorite spot tomorrow though. All the places I fish ice over. There are years when there is almost 48 inches of ice, then there is 2 feet of snow on top of that. Probably will be two weeks around -20 degrees at night like every winter. Ice up on a normal year is early December and then ice out is usually around the second week of April. I am not sure the bass would like to be aid down on the snow or be outside of the water too long. They would literally freeze eyes first then there fins

Today should be a great day of fishing. I will be working... Hope you guys get a few ! Spinnerbaits, Crankbaits, and jigs...

I would go Saturday. It will still be significantly warmer then it has been. Sunday it is supposed to cool off again. It is also supposed to be overcast with light winds on Saturday as well. If your taking kids out fishing then I would choose the warmer of the two days so they don't get as cold. The calmer day should be easier for them to cast as well.

It was a great month. Some of the best fishing I have ever had.

This is quite an interesting topic. I think there certainly is a behavior difference in smallmouth and largemouth bass. I have dissected hundreds of bass stomachs. A smallmouths diet up in in New England consists mostly of crayfish and yellow perch. A largemouth will eat just about anything. I have even found a bird as well as rocks in a largemouths stomach. Heavily pressure fish do become more wary then in lakes that receive less pressure. I have experienced days when a color change can make the difference between catching two fish and twenty fish. I think that most of the time smallmouth are more aggressive. Most of my experience is with northern strain largemouth. Southern strain is an altogether different fish. When it comes down to it when a fish is hungry it will eat. Maybe science cant predict what a bass will strike when and where but experience can. Science can tell you a lot about bass behavior. Science along with experience allows me to follow bass year round. Oh and to get back to one of the original posts about bass not eating salamanders in the northeast. They sure do eat them in Maine. Black is my favorite color. Check out this salamander a bass had half way down his throat when I caught him:

I try to follow the bass seasonally. Each season they tend to congregate or follow a certain kind of general pattern. I try and figure out what the majority of the bass population is doing and then go from there. Then I try and find the bigger fish. I am detailed oriented fisherman. There are times when just switching up what your are throwing a little bit makes all the difference. Like switching from an all black jig to a black and blue jig. Or from a 1/2oz jig to a 1/4oz jig. I try to match as best as I can to what the fish are feeding on. When I go out on the water I like to through my "favorite" lures. Everyone has them and I do to. The important part is having confidence in what your throwing and where your fishing. I started out with one confidence bait. Then I threw another til I had confidence in it and so one. When I get on the water now I have confidence in every lure that I have tied on, knowing that they catch big fish. Then I let the fish let me know what to throw. In my opinion fishing success recreationally or professionally is all about putting in the time, making the effort and spending the money. I put in a lot of time and effort to figure out the lakes I fish.

LOL. There are some around for sure. I haven't caught them yet though. When I do though.. It will be getting mounted.

Let see some 10 lbers ! I thought Florida had big bass ?

I know I am not in southern NH but I just had to get in on this 8 lbs 5 oz 23.5 inches long Sept 16th 8 lbs 3 oz 23.5 inches long 18 inch girth Oct 26th 8 lbs 1 oz 22.5 inches long 19.5 inch girth Oct 25th 7 lbs 4 oz 22.25 inches long 17.5 inches girth Oct 25th 7 lbs 4 oz 22.5 inches Sept 13th Hopefully before the end of the season there will be a couple more lunkers caught !

This past weekend the bite was incredible. I have been doing real well on structure close to deep water. water temp has been around 50 degrees. The big fish have been congregated lately. I wont be fishing shallow anymore for the rest of the year. I will be fishing 15-45 feet of water. Crankbait bite has been red hot. Catching some fish on jigs and spinnerbaits as well. I have posted some pics on the October competition in the northeast section.

White Perch for sure

I was catching the fish on structure near deep water

One fish was on a crankbait, one on a jig, and one on a spinnerbait. hey smokinal if you want to hit kezar lake sometime send me a personal message. Its good to see some mainers on here.

You got to keep at it. The fishing in Maine this past weekend was incredible. Late fall fishing can be the best of the year. There are no pleasure boats, few fisherman and the lunkers tend to congregate. I fished 3 days this past weekend form about 10-4 each day. Fishing deep water structure. Air temp was high 40's to maybe 50 degrees each day. The wind was 5-15 mph each day. It was a little rough out there. The water temp was 50 degrees. The thing about this time of year is that you don't catch many small fish 3 lbs. Here are my biggest 3 fish from this past weekend. 8-3 8-1 7-4 Great time of year to catch lunker bass. Jig, crankbait, silver buddy, jerkbait drop shot and spinnerbait all work when the water gets cold.

What should I use to prevent scratches and scrapes on the bottom of my pelican bass boat ? Its plastic and has seen some use. I don't want it to leak and want to put something on it to keep it from leaking. What should I use ?

As you can see from the pics I am catching these fish way out in the middle of this particular lake on structure near deep water. A lot of the fish I am catching aren't on bottom. I have caught a few with a jig though. The shallow bit is done for me for the year. I will be focusing all of my attention for the rest of the year in or very near deep water in 15-45 feet.

Yesterday I went back out to the same place that had ben so productive the day before. It was mostly cloudy with winds out of the southwest at 5-15 mph. Day time high was 48 degrees, water temp was 50 degrees. I started out fishing with the three most productive lures fro the last three days a crankbait, a spinnerbait and a jig. The fishing for the day was a little bit slower but still pretty productive. I was not able to cull any fish today unfortunately. Still looking for that 10 lber. I caught 7 largemouth and 2 smallmouth. The biggest largemouth were 5-10, 5-2, 4-3, 3-6. I caught my biggest smallmouth for the year a 4-1. I lost the biggest smallmouth I have ever seen. It was so fat and round that it could not jump. It just kind of came off. That fish was huge. I wish Ianded that one it was going to go on my wall for sure. I figured I would post a couple fish from the day 5-10 Largemouth 5-2 Largemouth 4-1 Smallmouth I am hoping to get out fishing a few more times.

Yet again the starts aligned for me today. Got to lake at about 9 am til 4pm and it was pretty chilly. The wind was blowing out of the southwest at 5-15 mph with overcast skies. It was spitting snow and pretty d**n cold with the wind chill. The water temp was 50 degrees today daytime high was 48 I think. It was brutally cold with the wind chill. After figuring out were to go and what to do yesterday I spent all my day focused on where I had found fish yesterday. It ended up being one of the most memorable fishing days I have had. caught fish on a spinnerbait, jig and a crankbait. I landed 10 largemouth and 2 smallmouth today. I fished mainly off shore structure in some of the deep water of the lake. I landed one of the biggest bass of my life a 8-3. I caught another lunker earlier in the day a 7-4. I also caught a 5-1, 4-0, 3-6, 3-14, 4-8, and another 3-6, all largemouth. I did also catch my biggest smallmouth of the year a 3-14. Pretty insane unbelievably good day of fishing. Needless to say I am going back there again tomorrow. I was able to cull my two smallest fish today with the 8-3 and the 7-4. Cull # 1 23.5 inches long, 18 inch girth, 8 lb 3oz Cull # 2 22.25 inches long, 17.5 inch girth, 7 lb 4 oz Here is a pic of the 5 lb 1 oz I am heading out tomorrow fishing the same spot. I will try to upgrade tomorrow but I think that will be difficult. Biggest 5 for October: 23.5, 23, 22.5, 22.5, 22.25 113.75 inches

Got out fishing today for the first time in 10 days. Fished from 10-4. The wind was blowing pretty good today 10-25 mph out of the northwest and it was cold. I think the day time high temperature today was a balmy 46 degrees. Water temperature was 51 degrees. Started the day off fishing jigs which produce no fish and no hits. Started throwing a spinnerbait and I quickly caught a several pickerel and a 2 lb bass. after catching several more pickerel on the spinnerbait I decied to try a crankbait. The crankbait produced several nice fish in short order. I ended up sticking with a crankbait for most of the day and it really paid off. I caught 8 largemouth and 3 smallmouth for the day. The five biggest fish were 8-1 largemouth, 5-2 largemouth, 3-6 smallmouth, 3-4 smallmouth and a 2-11 largemouth. Despite the harsh conditions the fishing was pretty good. The 8-1 had some serious girth and I had to follow here with the boat a bit.. I was able to cull to fish today. Back to the water tomorrow. 22.5 inches long,19.5 inch girth 8 lb 1 oz 20 inch 5lb 1oz I am going to try and cull some more bass tomorrow but that will be tough. Hope everyone else is having luck this weekend too.

Nice I am not the only guy braving the cold to catch some lunkers ! Good luck to every one and lets see some pics !

Is anyone getting out fishing this weekend besides me ?