BammerBass

That comparison to your shoe size gives a good clue. 12" shoe, that fish looks a good 8-9 inches longer, so 5 1/2 seems a high probability.

Solid 5 to 5 1/2 lb fish, looks like it has some beef to that belly. Nice catch!

^^ agree with you there. I too think as long as there isn't any heavy cover like milfoil, then one stands a decent chance of landing them 4-6 lb fish, but like weld said, better really watch that drag and loosen it so it dont snap the line. I had that 4 lb bass up out of the water, but that light rod didnt have the oomph to reel it all the way up, plus when I did see it, I got excited and tried to force it. With light tackle, need to be patient and ideally need to be at the water level. Fishing from a pier like I was with that light line makes it difficult to land those bigger fish.

Nice!!!! Bet those fought like heck, and man it sounded like you had your hands ful of fish, id have been like "which one do I go for?" Good "problem" to have. Lol

Have not tried ir but I have heard good stuff about it. And I totally agree about just getting out there to enjoy the time and to get a tug on the line, that is mostly what my goals are. Trying to find them big 5+ lb bass can indeed be frustrating, especially for novice and shore anglers like myself. And thrn getting them big ones to bite is another battle that can be really frustrating for people that aren't used to it (me). So usually I just toss my line out there targeting bluegill and crappie since it is relaxing and doesnt bring newr the frustration of swinging and missing on these big bass. But I have ran into some decent bass before with this little set up, and that was the cherry on top for me.

Right here im using my two big fingers to keep that barb suppressed. Not an ideal way to handle it, but given it was being uncooperative for the photo op, I had to improvise. Id rather have used the base of my palm to do it, but this one was small enough to use my two big fingers to keep that barb down.

And as far as handling catfish to prevent them from sticking you good, if they sre small enough, grab them right behind the head and just in front of the barb, then use the bass of your palm to suppress the barb so it wont grt you, worked for me every time I did it. As far as bigger catfish over 10-15 lbs, im not sure what would be the best way to handle them.

it does sting pretty good definitely, but the old wives tale of taking the area and rubbing it on the belly of the catfish to kill the sting actually works. I did it every time a catfish got me and it killed the sting on the spot. Something about the secretions on the belly of catfish seems to have analgesic properties.

Hmm guess based on a lot of the responses, it is not a good idea overall. Given whst they eat, that makes me wary. They like mollusks and things like that a lot, and those srr notorious for being major anaphylactic reaction induces, and given what I went through this past summer with allergic reactions, id be afraid to try it. If the fish has eaten mollusks, then there is a chance of having a reaction to eating the fish that ate it, so I guess nay on drum.

I should add white bass to my list. Dad and I used to go to a local dam to catch these things when they were running, they would come up to the dam when they would have the turbines on, that seemed to stir up the bait fish and cranked those white bass up. Used a heavy floater with a grub or hair jig a couple feet down, and there were times we would catch 3 dozen or more of them. Very fun fish to catch, and also very notorious for using those dang spines to poke you with, those suckers hurt when they get you right, but man they are fun to catch!!

Those are some good looking perch there, also some good eating too.

eh I doubt that'll happen any time soon, besides like you guys said, if one is going to target these big fish, then one had better bring heavier equipment and lures. I typically do very poorly when specifically bass fishing, except for buzzbaits, I have had luck with those. I do have 2 medium-heavy bait casters in my arsenal, equipped with 17lb and 14 lb test line. I feel the one with 17 lb should suffice for most places id be fishing. But again, I dont foresee catching anything 5-6 lbs or bigger any time soon, but so long as I can catch these smaller 2-3 lb fish on a decent basis, id be more than happy.And as far as for what I threw that jig on, it was a 5'6" light action zebco spinning rod.

And I thought I actually did pretty well with the presentation and the fight, felt like we I did everything I could do to give us a shot at it. Confidence (certainly not to the degree of arrogance though) is key to fishing to success, would you agree with that?

oh I know it, when I hung that 4 lber (my guess) I absolutely was not expecting it at all. I was actually targeting the bluegill, crappie, and smaller bass, but sometimes you do get surprises!!! Bass seem to know whenyou s re not properly equipped for them....... fish was 19 or 20 inches long in my bbest guess and fat. I knew I probably didnt stand a chance to grt it up to me with that light line, but surprisingly I did grt it up a good way and held it there for a minute or so while my dad tried to find a path down to go get it, and then it snapped the line...... thats where I was wishing I had 8 lb line and a medium rod, but then again, I may have never even felt the strike on thst though...... I got it up out of the water and dad just nearly got to it when it broke. I was gonna put her back anyway, so I guess for my ego, I will call it my "unofficial" pb had we found a way to actually get it before it snapped, no doubt it would have officially been my pb.

Nice, what a p orker of a fish!!

Very nice!!! The red on the tail of that one is a bit weird, you typically dont see that until the spawn when males fare fanning the beds.

Oh I certainly wouldn't count on these to land those bigger fish, like you said, but they do seem to catch them solid 2-3 lb bass with pretty good regularity. And while it indeed my be true in most cases the bluegill and crappie would go for it first, that day I hung my "big" bass, I could see the bluegill in the water plain as day, and they wouldn't offer, but the bass did, to my very surprised reaction. I used a light action rod and it tossed it out there a pretty good little ways, bass seemed to always hit about midway or the last third or so of the distance remaining. Water was quite clear and I thought for sure no way would I get bites (if they can see you, they usually wont bite), bluegill as I mentioned indeed did not offer, but the bass did, and as a result of this, I actually caught more bass than bluegill this year, which is a definite anomaly, back when I could go regularly, panfish always outnumbered my bass total. From my experience, these little jigs have a lot of potential, especially for those 2-3 lbers that one might like to catch for eats from time to time.

4 is a good starting point, could be bigger. Not seeing the entire picture, some say it is skinny, but I cant see the belly from here. I say a solid 4 for sure in my opinion, possibly a little bigger depending on thickness. Quality catch either way!! If you asked me if I would be satisfied with one like that, id reply heck yeah I would!!

Wow very nice way to start 2015 indeed!!! If I could have a day where I caught that many solid bass, id be beside myself.

First off, been a while since I've been here, hope you all had a merry christmas and a happy new year, ans hope some of you got to ring it in qith some nice fish. That said.... Saw an article on bass resource's facebook page that talked about how sometimes smaller lures can be better than those big ole heavy spinner baits, large plastic worms and crankbaits, etc, and they were spot on with it, as I have experienced it for myself. The few times I got to go fishing this year, every bass that I caught that wasn't a "dink"( less than 12" in my book, your definition may vary) was caught on a tiny jig, a crappie fishing jig actually. 1/16 oz jighead with silver minnow 1.5 inch long panfish assassin. There waa just something about it that they seemed to really like when I used it, perhaps the conditions had somethinf to with it, maybe it resembled alot like what they were foraging on at the time, or a combination of the two. Tried buzzbait, worms, spinners to no avail, but this little crappie jig did the job. Perhaps these may not elicit monster bass, but I think they are certainly capable of catching 2 and 3 lb bass with regularity. Heck I even hung what I estimated to possibly be a 4 lber, would have been my on, on one ofthese jigs. I toyed with the retrieval speed and prexpectation several ways, and they liked a slow retrieve with o ccassional twitches the most. And some may see this hook size and say "no way will that ever hold a bass for long", well it sure did, laa t bass I caught was 2.5 or so lbs, and I had to let my dad net the bass, cut the line because it was a lonf way down to the surface of the water, ans then remove it with pliers, dad said I didn't have to worry about it throwing the hook, and he was absolutely right. It took a few turns (no harm done to the fish) to get it off. If you haven't tried something like it before, give it a shot, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Lol no go on freshwater drum then.

Yeah 4 or 4.5 is a good ballpark estimate for a fish of that length. A 19" bass is a pretty darn nice size fish. Hate it you lost that bigger one though.

well then down the road when they are 5 and 6 lbers they will remember that distinctly and bite everything you throw at them a haha

Ive seen conflicting reports saying no they are horrible, and others saying they are quite good actually. What is the consensus here?

Oh yeah, better eat your wheaties before going and pack a lunch while carp fishing. They pack some serious wallop.