IamNewbie

It's gotten better

Any ponds with fish in the Monticello, MN region? Everybody swears there isn't any ponds here in town that have fish, SO... looking to pond hop for my first time. Just don't know where to start. PM or reply, would love to Pond Hop anywhere that's probably in a 20 mile radius

Oh man my setup. I'm pretty sure I'm using an Eagle Claw J-hook Aberdeen and a splitshot. I have two stick baits, one Yum Dinger that's like a Chartreuse/Black/White belly color, then the other one being a strike king stick bait green pumpkin with red flakes. Spinning gear setup, one of those crappy Shakespear Rod/Reel combos, just the rod replaced. It's some sort of vintage rod that belonged to my dad. I switched to my only other option and got zip for bites. I had three fish who took the worm in the mouth and ran off with it, I set the hook and they ran and they spat it. One time I couldn't feel my bait when I went to twitch it and I never realized it was a fish that picked it up... could of been an easy fish. I did see some good sized Sunnys in a pool I tried to fish next to the lake try to take my worm. They bit at the end and I ended up bringing them almost to shore because they never let go until they jumped out of the water. Had one bass bite in that pool under some lily pads, saw it with my own eyes the water is so clear.

I just got majorly skunked yesterday and I decided to throw out a w-rigged senko and got tons of bites, but no fish ever actually committed. Had two spit the worm. Switched to a Red Eye Shad... no bites. Switched to a Yellow/Chartreuse Crankbait... no bites. I know the bass are there, but just don't know what they want. What would you of had done?

my mistake I didn't list lure type. I'm using a variety of plastics from Strike King Rage Craws to Zoom Ol' Monsters and Superflukes all T-rigged. I watched a few videos and one video a guy felt a bite and he jerked to set the hook and he kept missing. And I can see baitfish being the reason why... I had 3-4 bluegill attempt to absolutely demolish my ragecraw when I dropped it in the water to clear some backlash I had. (Understatement calling it some backlash.) But thanks everyone! I've felt some pretty nasty bites before and not just the "strikes" or "tapping" I'm describing as well. Also using a Zoom Horny Toad I've seen a bass physically just "Swipe it" or hit it and not take it, which made me wonder. It was about a 12 incher.

I just started plastic lure fishing and very often I often feel a "strike" or a hit but then nothing after words. My first lure fish absolutely inhaled my lure and it took me by surprise as I was about to take my line out of the water to make a cast. How would I go about getting a bass to commit to the bite ? Are there any techniques to setting the hook when you feel the hit or do I have to wait to feel the bass take off with my lure? If you can't tell I'm a new bass fisherman haha. If this has already been asked or whatever it'd be awful kind if you could redirect me to it if it was answered. EDIT: my mistake I didn't list lure type. I'm using a variety of plastics from Strike King Rage Craws to Zoom Ol' Monsters and Superflukes all T-rigged. I watched a few videos and one video a guy felt a bite and he jerked to set the hook and he kept missing.

Oh god, my first plastic was a Yum Dinger in Junebug color... I've had absolutely no luck on that thing. But it's awesome seeing old and new timers posting their memories! I went fishing the other day and the biggest fish I caught was a 7-8 inch Yellow Perch. What a monster. (For a perch atleast.) I thought it was a little shore walleye at first because it just let my reel it in after it hit my bait. I think the term is "Dead weight". I normally catch 5-6 inch Perch or little babies. I was gonna take a picture of it but it was all bloody after being foul hooked right in the head. I'm not sure if it lived since me and my family left just as I caught it. I was sad knowing that monster of a perch in a little lake didn't live. I'm gonna buy myself another pack of Rage Craws and I'm gonna buy a pack of Brush Hogs to try out. Last time I went out I had a few bites on a Zoom Ol' Monster Junebug and one on a Trick worm... but none ever commited besides nabbing at it over and over then going away. Sucked, but next time hopefully!

My second picture doesn't seem to be loading so I'll just attach it here

I've spent an upward of almost 200 bucks on lures and always get skunked using them so I always go back to my traditional hook, sinker, float, and nightcrawler and see what I can catch. Well, yesterday, me and my father tried out a new lake and we didn't know what to expect. This lake we went to... actually isn't a new lake, just a new spot to fish on it. The lake spot we normally fish is MUDDY and I mean you can't see past a foot into the water. And it's absolutely INFESTED with Bullheads that are big and fat and juicy. Also a bunch of Dogfish at the dock/pierre we normally fished at this lake. You can only catch 2-3 sunnies if you're lucky atleast. But expect a majority of your bites to be Bullheads or C. Cats or occassionally a Dogfish. But this new spot was the back of this lake and it had about 2-3 feet of visibility, and just across the road was a lake also. They were connected by a stream and a road crossed over it like a bridge. It's hard to explain. But we were tipped off on a spot on it and we decided to try it. Oh boy, was fun to be ensued. We caught a fish fry worth of Sunnies and we kept them for a fish fry. But I decided I was gonna try out my plastics again and I do not regret it like normal. I decided to try a pack of Rage Craws I bought and haven't tried yet so I was like "Okay something's gotta bite this." and after about 10 minutes flipflopping both lakes on both sides of the road, I suddenly hooked onto a bass on the fall of my Craw about 6 feet out in front of me and it about pulled me in, it scared me. But then I realized I just caught a bass on a lure I bought... and then Bass Fever ensued. I started freaking out calling my dad over to get the net to land the fish and it was BIG. Well big to me, I know 2 pounds is nothing to most of you forum goers, but after catching a lot of 8 inch bass and dinks... actually that's all I normally catch, it's pretty big. I've caught 3 bass that are big to me now, one pounder, a 3 pounder, and now a 2.3lber. I don't carry any scales with me so these are rough estimates. This is the first one I ever caught(On nightcrawler, sadly.) It looks to be about a 1.3lber This is the second one I've ever caught(Sadly.. on nightcrawler.) it was 19 inches long and I roughly estimate it to be 3 pounds. \ And I just caught this the other day on a Pumpkinseed Rage Craw. 15 inches, it was a chunker so I'd roughly estimate it to be 2 pounds. I had massive Bass Fever and I think you can tell. I'm just a newbie bass fisherman so if you guys have better estimates, please do tell me! But do you remember the first time you caught a big bass? Any pictures you have to share? Share them! I also have in my gallery tons of pictures of the dinks I catch.

I will make sure to try things out next time! I for sure have splitshots and I have some bullet weights coming in tomorrow, but I'm not sure if they'd do good on a crankbait haha. I'll try just tying my lure with my line. I have 20 pound mono on right now. I am looking invest in some heavy fluorocarbon leader line, possibly 40 pounds. Hopefully next time I fish I won't hook up on a pike... oh God so worrying, haha. I can't remember what exactly my Rapala is called... I think it's the DT Series Crankbaits in the Shad/Silver color. Thanks everyone for being helpful to my newbie question! Haha.