SoDak_Bassman

Well the weather finally warmed up to about 60 degrees today and I hadn't been bass fishing in a while, so i ditched one of my classes and hit the bass pond. I really didn't know how I wanted to fish. I just recently purchased some smaller swimbaits, so I threw that along the dam for a while with no success. I finally went back up into the slough grass, slop and shallow water. The water must've warmed up enough to bring some fish up into the shallows. I was throwing a T-rig waveworm crawdude in black with red claws weightless and finally hooked up with a decent bass. I guessed him to go around 2 lbs. I ended up catch one more during the night on a weightless senko, but it only went around 9 inches or so. Might not be pulling in the big numbers, but got my first bass on plastics for the year and atleast i'm able to head out fishing. This week it is supposed to be around 60 the whole week, so hopefully i'll have more pics to come.

I've been reading a lot about the swimbait craze that has been going on and all the big fish that have been caught. I would like to jump on the band wagon. Now here in South Dakota, we don't have those big california or florida bass, just them little ol norther strainers. I was just wondering how well a swimbait would work up here in my area. I'm not thinking about throwing those big 4 ouncers or anything, just something small, around the 4 inch versions. Does anybody have any specific types of baits to try. maybe some cheapers one, just so i can try them out and see how it goes. Also i plan on throwing these baits with a 7' MH action crankbait rod, will this be a good choice? So just go ahead and give me some opinions and some different baits that might work in my area.

Sorry to double post, i just haven't had the chance to upload to photobucket yet. Here's the largemouth I caught a few days after the small mouth. Notice the red on the very bottom of the tail fin, and on the pectoral fin

Well i posted a couple weeks ago about going out and catching a few fish here in western South Dakota shortly after ice out. Well I finally got some film developed and got the pictures on my computer. I'm not sure of the order of the pics, but it's a nice about 2.5 lb smallie and a nice 2.5 lb largemouth. They were both caught on the same spinner bait using the same presentation, but in two seperate bodies of water. I was just walking along the dam of the lake and casting parallel with it. Notice the red fins on the largemouth, I found this kind of odd for being so early in the spring, specially in South Dakota. I caught a fish days earlier that had the same red fins on it. Do you think that these are just large males that are starting to clear out rocks for beds?

I finally got some film developed from a few weeks ago. I managed to catch a few largemouths and this good sized smallie. It was my first fishing trip since ice off. I caught him on a chartreuse and white spinnerbait casting paralell to the rocks on the dam. I was fishing from shore, i figure he goes around 2.5 lbs.

Fishing over on Newell lake, right outside of Newell, SD. Way on the other end of the state from you. also went to a little bass pond outside of Spearfish and caught a nice 2.5 lber that also had beat up fins, they were all red and beat up.

Well finally managed to make the first trip out here in Western South Dakota. It was an air temp of around 65, with pretty strong winds. I planned on just fishing off of the dam, casting crankbaits trying to catch some large and small mouths. Ended up on the opposite side of the lake casting into the wind on a nice muddy/rocky flat and had a large mouth hammer my spinner bait. Weird thing is, the tail of this fish was all red, almost like they are when they're spawning. I know that wasn't the case, because the ice only came off this lake probably two weeks ago. Real fat fish though, probably a nice 2.5 lber. Ended up going back to the face and just paralleling the rocks from the bank with my spinnerbait and had a nice 2-2.5 lb smallie crush my bait. Those were the only two fish I caught, but all in all it was a good first outing. sorry no pics, will get some next time.

i was gonna say a lipless crank, as in a rat l trap or a rapplin rap, until i saw it already posted, so i'll just second that. I have my best luck using these around submerged xmas trees in a local lake, then after finding what trees they are around, either me or my friend will switch to a weightless senko, or a drop shot to pick up the remainders that are just hiding out.

this is a neat idea that i have not seen much with bass, but have done before with carp while bowfishing. but hold the fish a little away from the body and turn it so that the mouth and head are facing the camera. it doesn't really show off how big the fish is, but it is a pretty cool picture. took a few of carp this last spring with that pose and they are pretty neat. it kinda has the fisherman out of focus and in the background, but has the fish right in the middle and in focus. again, it doesn't show the size of the fish very well, but is different than all the rest and is a pretty cool shot. try it

I may be mistaken, but don't they make some pretty big beetle spins?? Maybe upwards of 4 inches or so? When you think about it, it would be no different than using a rocket shad, or 1/4 ounce spinner bait. Either way, i wish South Dakota had bass that big, haha. Maybe i'll make a trip to Tx. someday.