10 pounders in Ohio?

[Johnpenguin]

19 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

   How are you gonna get to know anyone unless you try? They don't bite, y'know.

   Well, most of them don't, anyway....    ?

   As for the fact that you didn't serve, that's OK. Some Americans did, and some Americans didn't. Thank the ones that did; they'll appreciate it. After all, they did it for you.       jj      

I just don’t want to make anyone angry

3 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

Jimmyjoe is on the right track most people are good and much more friendly than you'd think so I'd just ask...worst case they will say no or if it's worse than that you wouldn't want to fish there property or have anything to do with them anyhow...Also a PB under the conditions im describing illustrates my point outsized fish seem to bite in non optimum conditions... a 5.42 is a very respectable fish and remember this isn't a race to 10...enjoy the big bass hunting process and keep doing the right things maybe you get there and maybe you don't but I bet you'll have a great time trying and learning...and if you do you can show us all without a doubt that 10s exist in Ohio!

Idk you, but you’re a good guy

[TnRiver46]

53 minutes ago, Johnpenguin said:

Idk I don’t know anyone and I didn’t serve 

 

1 hour ago, Johnpenguin said:

I feel like it wouldn’t be acceptable for me to go to one of these hangouts

Ive never been to Kent but it appears to be a fairly populated area with lots of water. The pond suggestions are coming from people because the odds are better for a 10 lber there. It’s possible in the public waters but less likely. We are just trying to give you suggestions on how to gain access to big bass. In a larger town/city you don’t have to get invited to a VFW, there should be all kinds of places and people to talk fishing with and potentially gain access to a lunker spot. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that, you’ve just got to fish the public water hard and hope for some good luck. A 10 lb bass from public water in Ohio could be hard to come by, I would try Erie if that was my goal. 

[Johnpenguin]

10 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

 

Ive never been to Kent but it appears to be a fairly populated area with lots of water. The pond suggestions are coming from people because the odds are better for a 10 lber there. It’s possible in the public waters but less likely. We are just trying to give you suggestions on how to gain access to big bass. In a larger town/city you don’t have to get invited to a VFW, there should be all kinds of places and people to talk fishing with and potentially gain access to a lunker spot. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that, you’ve just got to fish the public water hard and hope for some good luck. A 10 lb bass from public water in Ohio could be hard to come by, I would try Erie if that was my goal. 

A 10lb Lmb in Erie is less likely than a 10lb smallie 

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, Johnpenguin said:

A 10lb Lmb in Erie is less likely than a 10lb smallie 

I would agree

[Michigander]

Not sure about Ohio but up here with your neighbor Michigan, our natural resources agency puts out an annual report with the tournament data since we are required by law to report such things. Along with a bunch of other data, they list the top ten biggest fish weighed and where they were caught. If Ohio has something like that then it would help narrow your search at least.

[Bluebasser86]

Kansas produces 10lb largemouth nearly every year and it's not much further south.

[The Bassman]

6 hours ago, Johnpenguin said:

I just don’t want to make anyone angry

 

Get to my age and you realize that's an exercise in futility. I do think that with your concern for being considerate you'd be well received.

[frogflogger]

When I lived in the midwest farm ponds were the ticket to bass over 5lbs. Take a day and drive around and visit with folks. Be straight forward and honest - I would send a Christmas card to folks who let me fish.

[Bluebasser86]

Nobody gives permission to fish their ponds around here, too big of a liability.

[FishinBuck07]

I believe there are some double digit bass to be had in Ohio, and most likely in the strip ponds down in the AEP Recreation area near McConnelsville.  I personally have caught one pushing 7 pounds down there and know a guy that caught one close to 9 pounds a week after I caught mine.  You just have to work for the big bass down there, and a lot of guys are not willing to do so.

[Hower08]

I live in North east Ohio and fish pretty much all over the Eastern part of the state. I can say without a doubt theirs some 10s in Ohio 

[kayaking_kev]

13 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

   I've heard this said many times, and not just up North. First guy who told me that was in Texas about 1982-ish. All these years I've wondered one thing: what the heck do you feed a LMB?  I know what you feed catfish, but bass aren't scavengers. What do you feed bass?  Koi? Shiners? Do you go out and seine something, and how often?  Do you stock normal forage fish yearly?

   And how do you know that they're healthy?  

   Sorry. Don't mean to derail the thread. Just been wondering for many years.         jj

I don't know all the specifics, but I imagine some of them just go and catch bluegill and other baitfish from other places and bring them back to their pond, even though I'm pretty sure it's illegal, but so is transferring the bass to begin with.

 

 

[Hower08]

1 minute ago, kayaking_kev said:

I don't know all the specifics, but I imagine some of them just go and catch bluegill and other baitfish from other places and bring them back to their pond, even though I'm pretty sure it's illegal, but so is transferring the bass to begin with.

 

 

Transferring fish to private waters with the permission of the owner is legal. Transferring fish to public waters is illegal

[kayaking_kev]

1 minute ago, Hower08 said:

Transferring fish to private waters with the permission of the owner is legal. Transferring fish to public waters is illegal

Oh ok, maybe some States have different laws or something cuz I'm pretty sure I seen a youtube video from 1rod1reel where they came knocking on his door because he took some fish from public water and put in a private pond, but maybe I am just mistaken.

[Johnpenguin]

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Nobody gives permission to fish their ponds around here, too big of a liability.

That’s what I’m thinking

[kayaking_kev]

6 minutes ago, kayaking_kev said:

Oh ok, maybe some States have different laws or something cuz I'm pretty sure I seen a youtube video from 1rod1reel where they came knocking on his door because he took some fish from public water and put in a private pond, but maybe I am just mistaken.

 

[DitchPanda]

I appreciate you saying I'm a good guy...not sure how true it is but I appreciate it nonetheless. I was just trying to help you focus on the fun of learning the process of targeting big bass. Big is relative as guys on this site have caught fish twice the size of my PB. I'm just trying to figure out the biggest fish in my local systems and if I run across a 10+ doing so that's even better.

[BassNJake]

15 hours ago, Johnpenguin said:

I live near Kent because I go to Kent state. And what’s the VFW?

Some very nice fishing in this area.

I never caught anything larger than a 7.

I did catch a 5 fish limit for over 30 lbs though, I had them weighed at the bait shop next to LaDue reservoir

 

I have also caught several 6's from Mogadore, Portage Lakes, Nimisilla, LaDue, Lake Rockwell and Deer Creek

 

The Kent Bass team now runs the electric motor only league out of LaDue.

Rory Franks jr is on the KSU team and his dad used to be the tourney director at Ladue.

 

http://www.dobass.com/

[Johnpenguin]

3 hours ago, BassNJake said:

Some very nice fishing in this area.

I never caught anything larger than a 7.

I did catch a 5 fish limit for over 30 lbs though, I had them weighed at the bait shop next to LaDue reservoir

 

I have also caught several 6's from Mogadore, Portage Lakes, Nimisilla, LaDue, Lake Rockwell and Deer Creek

 

The Kent Bass team now runs the electric motor only league out of LaDue.

Rory Franks jr is on the KSU team and his dad used to be the tourney director at Ladue.

 

http://www.dobass.com/

How’d you fish Rockwell? I’ve been fishing Mogadore a little but I’ve never got anything over 4. Have any secret spots you wanna share lol? As for ladue I’ve caught some nice smallies but no lmb. I live like 15 from Ladue so maybe I should put some more time on the water there. Any advice for me? You seem like you know your stuff

[BassNJake]

I had to sneak into Rockwell and that was early 90's. I'd put the canoe in up river in a development. Then work my way down. They had a fence that went across but it was smashed up and you could get through.

I have since heard that they reinforced the barrier that blocked access from this way.

 

There used to be a guy named Mark that ran a baitshop out of his garage on lake rockwell too.

He had some impressive pics of fish caught there.

 

As soon as the ice breaks fish the breakwall on the 422 bridge.

Not sure if they even let guys walk down there to fish anymore?

This is when guys will catch 5lb+ walleyes. Wait too long and they scatter.

 

 

[BassNJake]

As far as Bass go- the lake has 3 sections North of 422(top), between 44 and 422(middle) and west of 44(bottom).

In the early part of the year I'd fish as far back as I could in the bottom part of the lake.

There is a defined channel that cuts thru there and bass will spawn in the shallower areas.

If you see a piece of wood, flip something to it.

 

As the year gets later and bass move out, I move deeper and fish the humps/islands in the middle and the top section.

 

I'll mark some places on the map.

The humps will show themselves later in the summer as the weeds grow to the top.

You can rotate between the humps and at some part of the day the fish will be on/near them.

sometimes they move right to the top, other times they will be hanging off to one side and I have found quite a few times they will be 20-30 feet off of the bottom of the hump in the deepest water.

 

There is a sunken bridge out from the boat launch, its a money spot when they are on it.

At the dam there is a channel that the original creek followed, there are some stumps that are on the bottom if you can find these, they can be a gold mine.

 

[BassNJake]

Red circles represent areas where there are humps that come to within 5 feet or so of the surface

 

Good luck, still my favorite lake to fish.

I have not fished there in several years and most of my experience was from the 90's - 2008ish

 

Good luck!!

[Johnpenguin]

2 hours ago, BassNJake said:

As far as Bass go- the lake has 3 sections North of 422(top), between 44 and 422(middle) and west of 44(bottom).

In the early part of the year I'd fish as far back as I could in the bottom part of the lake.

There is a defined channel that cuts thru there and bass will spawn in the shallower areas.

If you see a piece of wood, flip something to it.

 

As the year gets later and bass move out, I move deeper and fish the humps/islands in the middle and the top section.

 

I'll mark some places on the map.

The humps will show themselves later in the summer as the weeds grow to the top.

You can rotate between the humps and at some part of the day the fish will be on/near them.

sometimes they move right to the top, other times they will be hanging off to one side and I have found quite a few times they will be 20-30 feet off of the bottom of the hump in the deepest water.

 

There is a sunken bridge out from the boat launch, its a money spot when they are on it.

At the dam there is a channel that the original creek followed, there are some stumps that are on the bottom if you can find these, they can be a gold mine.

 

For the start of the year should I fish below 44? 

35 minutes ago, BassNJake said:

Red circles represent areas where there are humps that come to within 5 feet or so of the surface

 

Good luck, still my favorite lake to fish.

I have not fished there in several years and most of my experience was from the 90's - 2008ish

 

Good luck!!

Have you had any luck with smallies? 

[BassNJake]

The top section of the lake is where I have caught all my smallies.

I got into a school of them early in the year in that top right hand side about 100 yards from the dam

I caught about 10 that were over 3 and the biggest was a little over 5

 

We went back the next week and still caught a few but not like the magic I stumbled on the week before

 

Other than that my smallmouth catches were 1 here and 1 there.

 

I like fishing below 44 in the spring as that is where I have seen the biggest fish caught

I would fish the middle section quite a bit leading up to summer

After June or so I'd just cycle between those humps that get weeds on them 

At different times of the day, the bass would pull up on them and would be feeding pretty good

so it was a timing deal

[Johnpenguin]

10 minutes ago, BassNJake said:

The top section of the lake is where I have caught all my smallies.

I got into a school of them early in the year in that top right hand side about 100 yards from the dam

I caught about 10 that were over 3 and the biggest was a little over 5

 

We went back the next week and still caught a few but not like the magic I stumbled on the week before

 

Other than that my smallmouth catches were 1 here and 1 there.

 

I like fishing below 44 in the spring as that is where I have seen the biggest fish caught

I would fish the middle section quite a bit leading up to summer

After June or so I'd just cycle between those humps that get weeds on them 

At different times of the day, the bass would pull up on them and would be feeding pretty good

so it was a timing deal

What were you typically throwing when you were fishing for smallies and lmb under 44?