Bass or Multispecies?

[ww2farmer]

Bass probably 98% of the time in open water.

I focus on Rock bass a couple times a year in the spring, esp. when I have the kids out. It's non-stop action for them on small cranks, spinner baits and jigs.

I focus on bluegills/perch/crappies when bass fishing is uber slow, and I see lots of them on the graph. It can be one after another for hours on end with the UL and a small gulp minnow on a panfish sized dropshot rig.

I won't go looking for Pike on purpose, but if they are on fire I am not complaining, as long as I am not losing too many lures.

I typically only ice fish for panfish.

I would like to  try to Muskie fish, but there are none in my home lake, and buying the heavy equip. and traveling for them is not in the cards right now. 

I never target walleye, bullheads, carp, trout, steelhead, salmon, or any other species that live in the waters around here..........just not my thing.

[contium]

Largemouth bass the vast majority of the time. But will fish for just about anything at times. Particularly stripped bass, pan-fish or ocean.

[YUT18]

I spend a lot of my time bass fishing.  The only time I stray from bass fishing is when I'm trying to get someone interested in fishing.  Only then will I target the easy catch (bluegill, crappy, etc.) in order to keep them from losing interest.  In some of the water ways in my area we have a nasty predatory fish called Snakeheads.  Now I absolutely love bass fishing.  In fact, that is all I am set up for.  But my love for catching bass goes out the window when a snakehead hits my hook.  They hit a hook like it's a fight between Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed.  Every time I fight one to the boat I just cannot help but to let my line out just to fight it again.

[mwh33]

I fish for bass primarily, but I enjoy catching bream, crappie, catfish, and multiple inshore fish. I do want to go fishing for salmon and some of those crazy amazon fish though.

[Further North]

On 12/6/2016 at 9:58 AM, ww2farmer said:

I would like to  try to Muskie fish, but there are none in my home lake, and buying the heavy equip. and traveling for them is not in the cards right now. 

I've caught more muskies (and pike) on what most folks use for bass fishing than I'll ever catch on the specialized musky rigs.

I remain unconvinced that huge lures are needed...or even that they produce more fish...or bigger fish.

A hungry Esox is gonna eat...you put what they think is food in front of them...or what ticks them off...you're good to go.

[slonezp]

1 hour ago, Further North said:

I've caught more muskies (and pike) on what most folks use for bass fishing than I'll ever catch on the specialized musky rigs.

I remain unconvinced that huge lures are needed...or even that they produce more fish...or bigger fish.

A hungry Esox is gonna eat...you put what they think is food in front of them...or what ticks them off...you're good to go.

I've caught them on bass jigs, swim jigs, senkos and topwater

[Further North]

2 hours ago, Further North said:

I've caught more muskies (and pike) on what most folks use for bass fishing than I'll ever catch on the specialized musky rigs.

I remain unconvinced that huge lures are needed...or even that they produce more fish...or bigger fish.

A hungry Esox is gonna eat...you put what they think is food in front of them...or what ticks them off...you're good to go.

45 minutes ago, slonezp said:

I've caught them on bass jigs, swim jigs, senkos and topwater

Yup.  It's not nearly as hard as a lot of people seem to want to make it.

 

[Bluebasser86]

Of the 13 muskie I've caught in my life, 2 were while targeting them, and I've spent a lot of time targeting them on the rare occasion I'm on a lake that actually holds muskie. Last time I went I fished for them for hours, switched to bass and caught 1 on a squarebill and 1 pitching a beaver to timber.

[long island basser]

On November 13, 2016 at 11:01 AM, Alan Reed said:

Are you totally focused on Bass and have no interest with any other species or do you spend some of you days fishing focused on other species? And why?

I target largemouth bass and largemouth bass only, 100% of the time every trip.

Now saltwater fishing is a whole different story.

[geo g]

On 12/8/2016 at 1:02 PM, YUT18 said:

I spend a lot of my time bass fishing.  The only time I stray from bass fishing is when I'm trying to get someone interested in fishing.  Only then will I target the easy catch (bluegill, crappy, etc.) in order to keep them from losing interest.  In some of the water ways in my area we have a nasty predatory fish called Snakeheads.  Now I absolutely love bass fishing.  In fact, that is all I am set up for.  But my love for catching bass goes out the window when a snakehead hits my hook.  They hit a hook like it's a fight between Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed.  Every time I fight one to the boat I just cannot help but to let my line out just to fight it again.

Enjoy the fight and the catch, but kill every one of those things!!!!

We have organized tournament in south Florida just to see how many can be killed in one day.

[JustinJ]

bass, trout and saltwater fishing (stripers, bluefish, bottom fishing).

[YUT18]

8 hours ago, geo g said:

Enjoy the fight and the catch, but kill every one of those things!!!!

We have organized tournament in south Florida just to see how many can be killed in one day.

In 2012 it was mandatory to kill every snakehead caught.  Today it is no longer a mandatory requirement, instead the game regulations request that you do.  I will admit they go good with some butter, onions, and seasoning.

[scaleface]

When I was in my teens and twenties , Pro anglers were my sports heroes . My Micky Mantle was Roland Martin , Bill Dance my Bart Starr.. I read and watched all I could about pro fishermen and they all had one thing in common . They were great anglers who grew up fishing for multiple species . 

[Mumbly]

Living on the coast I target both fresh and saltwater. Without a doubt my main love is smallmouth.

Saltwater: Stripers, mackeral, squid, pollack, cod, flounder and rock perch

Freshwater: Smallmouth, brook trout, chain pickerel, yellow perch, shad

[blckshirt98]

In in Northern California with the ocean only about 45 minutes away, so I'll fish both fresh and salt,

For freshwater I'll target bass most of the time, though being a shore guy once the temperatures drop and the bass move deep I'll switch over to trout.  It works out nicely because as the bass go inactive the Lassen trout plants come pouring in weekly and the trout are active and aggressive (plus I eat trout).

Every now and then I'll mix it up and go surf fishing for perch and/or whatever else I catch since I mostly use a C-Rig and that'll catch almost anything in the surf.

If I ever go to Southern California I'll tend to go saltwater more often, because of the warmer water and much wider variety of species in the salt there.  Also if you've never caught a calico or spotted bay bass on bass gear you're missing out, some of the toughest fighting fish pound for pound, they fight like largemouth bass on steroids!

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/fishing/california-saltwater-bass-fishing-tips/

http://fishtacochronicles.com/Inshore_Bass_Basics.html

When it comes down to it I just like catching fish - If I target bass and hook a carp or end up finding a school of nice bluegill or crappie, I have no problem catching and releasing any of those  fish - for me it's all about the tick of the bite, the hookset, the reel in, and the landing.  The kind of fish at the end of the line is the last thing I think about (unless it's a monster, then I hope it's a bass).