soflabasser

Looks like good weather to make a snowman.

Swai is a type of catfish that has decent fillets for its size.

Welcome to the forum.

Its not my PB, It's @WDE's PB.I qouted his post to congratulate him on his catch.

Congratulations on your new PB!

Is the lake still frozen?Many people catch some quality sized bass right after all the ice melts away.

I usually throw away hooks in the garbage.

Sounds like someone is a little grouchy and needs to go fishing soon,maybe even catch a biggin in the process.People been catching big peacock bass this month and its all over Instagram, I am not the only one who's been catching them.I am having a blast catching these big peacock bass,and so are other people.With that said, nothing that somebody says online can change the fact that me and other people are catching big peacock bass this month.I am looking towards to fishing this weekend, since the fishing has been on fire for me.

Well said!

Thank you, I have done well both for Peacock bass and largemouth bass this month and I catch all these fish from the shore.You might want to check Instagram,lots of guys have been catching +6 pound peacock bass this month in South Florida.There's even a guy that recently caught 2 peacock bass each over 7 pounds in less than 2 weeks time(he also caught these peacock bass from the shore). I have over 22 years experience catching peacock bass, so catching big peacock bass is something I am very familiar with. P.S. South Florida has been experiencing a warm winter this year(many days of +80 degree weather)maybe that has sometihing to do with people catching lots of big peacock bass this season.Regardless the reason I am having a blast catching lots of big peacock bass.

Grass carp can be a tricky fish that's for sure. What has helped me is using light mono(6-8 pound test) with a small hook. I chum the area I want to fish first, wait a couple minutes, then cast a bait and patiently wait for the carp to bite.

Stay in one spot as long as you feel you have to stay there. Sometimes that means a couple cast, other times it means fishing a spot for several hours. Every location and day is different, so there is no perfect answer.

This thread reminds me of a +7 pound bass I caught from land 2 months ago that bit my topwater less than 15 away from me. A far cast was not needed for that bass and is usually not needed for most of the bass I catch down here( most of the lakes I fish down here have clear water).

Another option you have is to fish for peacock bass since the bite has been on fire for them. Last Saturday I caught a +19 pound 5 fish limit of peacock bass and read reports of others getting +20 pound 5 fish limits these past couple weeks.

Mill Lacs also has great Muskie fishing, with lots of +50'' fish caught from here.

Yes I have visited the Great Lakes before and know about the infestation of round gobies. People have tried for years to get rid of them, but have failed, it's very difficult to get rid of these little fish. The zebra mussel is another animal that people have tried to get rid of for years, yet the zebra mussel population has only gotten worse and will probably continue to get worse. The Great Lakes area has some of the best bass fishing in the world right now, which shows that the bass population has to be good. Salmon don't eat gobies( or rarely eat them) from my understanding, so hopefully other predators help control the population of the round gobies. I agree with you, fighting these exotics has been very difficult and will continue to be difficult. Maybe introducing a known predator of gobies and other exotics might work, but it can also cause problems since these exotic predators can complete with the native predators.

I did not even know the Superbowl was on Sunday until yesterday. Spent Saturday and Sunday fishing, so I did not have much time to sit down and watch t.v.

I consider anything over 100 feet a long cast, but you can catch lots of big bass with a cast that is less than 50 feet.

Nothing compares to putting in your time on the water, plain and simple. Reading information about bass fishing, seeing bass fishing videos, etc may help but these sources are a supplemental form of bass fishing knowledge at best. People who make a living in the bass fishing industry will always hype the products of whatever company sponsers them,its their best interest to do this. With that said, its best to put in your time in the water and with time anyone who is truely dedicated in bass fishing will be very successful in bass fishing.

I agree, it is extremeley unlikely these fish will be completely removed from the environment. These exotics are extremely adaptive and reproduce at a astonishing rate,so not much can be done. On the plus side, these carp are a good sportfish to hunt with bowfishing gear and people can eat them if they wanted to. Another exotic fish that they wont be able to get rid of is the round goby. These fish are everywhere in Lake Michigan and are a common prey to smallmouth bass. In fact, there are many reports of bigger than average smallmouth bass being caught the past couple years since these bass gorge on round gobies( according to many freshwater biologist in the Great Lakes area).

Spring will come soon.

I use Big Game mono on most of my spinning reels for freshwater and saltwater fishing.

Nice looking pond. You know there's big bass in there so its only a matter of time before they present themselves to you. You need to be 100% prepared when one of these big bass bite, there is no room for error. Its better to have a story about the big bass you caught than the one that got away.Don't be discouraged and try to find someone who knows the lake very well and fish with them if possible. This will make your learning curve much shorter and possibly save you years of figuring out that pond.

Come down to South Florida and you will find plenty of lakes with +10 pounders in them that rarely bite, no matter how good you are as a bass fisherman. These lakes will test your skill and patience to the highest level, with many days of only 1-2 pounders. One of these lakes is in a public park where thousands of people fish it every year, yet less than 1% of those people have caught a bass over 8 pounds in it...some say the lake is not worth fishing because its such a difficult lake to get a big bass out of(but I disagree with them based on my experience fishing that lake).

Interesting subject with good timing. A couple weeks ago I caught a bass with my bare hands since the bass beached itself like a Orca while attacking some baitfish on the shore.