Maine boater looking for someone to show him a few things

[MaineBassFishin]

Hey all, anyone here from Maine looking for someone to fish with? Have a boat, but if I'm honest, I feel like I study structure fishing and when I get on the water I try to fish it, but always fall back to old habits and end up skipping docks or hitting shallower cover. Have sidescan and a unit on the bow. Lookingfor someone who can help get me started on fishing structure like humps and points. I live in the Durham area, if that matters. Tight lines!

 

[CHIP-MAINE]

i live in lewiston and love to fish for smallies in the androscoggin and largemouth in the cobbesecontee.  i have 2 kayaks . love to fish for big and many fish. i do the same thing falling back on places and lures but it seems to work VERY well for me. am willing to try new things. maybe we can share some secrets and catch fish at a better level.

[MaineBassFishin]

12 minutes ago, CHIP-MAINE said:

i live in lewiston and love to fish for smallies in the androscoggin and largemouth in the cobbesecontee.  i have 2 kayaks . love to fish for big and many fish. i do the same thing falling back on places and lures but it seems to work VERY well for me. am willing to try new things. maybe we can share some secrets and catch fish at a better level.

Pm sent

[MaineBassFishin]

Anyone else around?

[nmatthes]

Best advice I can give is only bring two or three rods setup for off shore fishing and only do that until you find success. It may suck and it may be tough fishing but it will be rewarding and you will learn a ton. 

[James Engle]

I do the same thing. Always have an excuse to fall back on soakin a senko around thick cover . I fish around the house mostly , arrowhead and smaller places around southern Maine. I’ve always fished out of a kayak until last week . Now that I have a nice boat I’m looking forward to fishing some bigger water and expanding my skills offshore.  The handful of times I’ve got into em good out on deep structure have been on a smallmouth bite @ places like winni, great pond, andro lake, north pond. Places I could find the  offshore stuff pretty easily. And knowin that’s how they catch em there always helps my confidence sticking it out till I put my thumb down on em.  Arrowheads the hardest  for me , it’s got some of the best shallow water cover / forage you can dream up. I get worn out quick fishin all the junk. lately been enjoying fishing very slow, searching for unicorns in the tight channel .

 

[MaineBassFishin]

On 7/6/2020 at 10:56 PM, James Engle said:

I do the same thing. Always have an excuse to fall back on soakin a senko around thick cover . I fish around the house mostly , arrowhead and smaller places around southern Maine. I’ve always fished out of a kayak until last week . Now that I have a nice boat I’m looking forward to fishing some bigger water and expanding my skills offshore.  The handful of times I’ve got into em good out on deep structure have been on a smallmouth bite @ places like winni, great pond, andro lake, north pond. Places I could find the  offshore stuff pretty easily. And knowin that’s how they catch em there always helps my confidence sticking it out till I put my thumb down on em.  Arrowheads the hardest  for me , it’s got some of the best shallow water cover / forage you can dream up. I get worn out quick fishin all the junk. lately been enjoying fishing very slow, searching for unicorns in the tight channel .

 

Hell yeah! Good luck to you! Feel free to message if you ever want to bounce ideas around!

[MainelyBASS]

Im in southern Maine. I have always had the smallest or slowest boat in almost every tournament, so about 15 years ago, I began to adapt to the water that I had to pick from when I got to certain spots on the lake during a tournament. As long as the water isn't super stained, a drop shot will always put fish in your boat, and eventually boost your confidence. I have won a few tournaments in the Sebago region, catching all of my fish in 40ft of water. If I understand you correctly, it's more of a question of understanding where to find them, not how to catch them. You have the right tools on your boat, just keep using them. I've spent more time idling over stuff and marking spots than I have fishing on most lakes in Maine. Every tournament I have ever won has been won off shore. As you mentioned before, points and humps are great places to look, but theres something that makes certain points, and humps better than others, thats what separates good fisherman, and average fisherman, the ability to duplicate the process of finding and catching quality fish. The most textbook hump on the lake might be worthless if it has nothing but muck on it. Conversely to that, the small point 100 yards from the boat launch may have scattered rock around it in 21ft, surrounded by deep grass. The common angler will look at the obvious text book point and fish it, but wont take the time to scan both, and mark even the smallest amount of rock or grass, anything that differentiates one point from another. Often times, theres even spots within the spots that are key. Theres a lake in the Sebago region thats mostly grass, but has a point with about 4-7 rocks on it. None of the rocks are bigger than a soccer ball. If I drag my drop shot weight through the area, and don't bump a rock, I wont get bit. I have the waypoint marked, but I need to be on the waypoint and cast at the rope swing that is across the lake, and drag back towards me. If I miss the spot, I miss the fish. This specific spot has never yielded a fish over 3, but schools of 2-3lb fish live on it, and it's always an easy way to fill my limit before hunting down bigger fish. The spot is on a very large point, 75 yards off shore. The spot within the spot is the size of a bathtub. Seems easy to cast accurately into an area the size of a tub, but factor in wind, and waves and I miss it more often than I hit it with casts. Sorry to be long winded, but this is a passionate area of the sport for me. To sum it up, become very acquainted with Navionics as your first move at getting better. Pick a handful of humps or points based on what you see with Navionics. Next step is to stop fishing. My best producing "spot" out of every lake in the entire state was found scanning a point while I was eating a ham itialian. I marked some rock, never fished it that day, went back during the tournament and caught some megas off the spot. Lastly, when you do go to fish, just throw a drop shot. Whether fish are pressured, lethargic, inactive, or in a feeding frenzy, a 3 inch drop shot bait always gets chewed. When it comes time that you are comfortable with all things, don't cheap out on your drop shot setup. By setup, I mean line/leader/weight/hook. Rod and reel doesn't have to break the bank, any 2500 size reel, and a 6'10 - 7'2 M or ML rod is fine. Spend the money on some hi-vis braid, 10-15lb, and a 6 or 8 fluoro leader. Tungsten drop shot weights round out the perfect setup. The hi-vis to see your line jump as it's sinking 20-40ft possibly. The braid to cast better, and better hooksets on deep bites, the fluoro leader for its lack of stretch, and invisibility, and the tungsten weight to really transfer the bottom contact. Tungsten is so dense that I can feel the difference between anything I drag across on bottom. Tungsten is 3x the price of other materials, but coming from someone who fishes competitively, and has been able to pay some bills as a result of some of my winnings, Tungsten was really the key factor in being able to let me know I was fishing my bait in the exact right areas. Good luck and feel free to reach out to me anytime. Sorry again for the longer than necessary rant. 

[MaineBassFishin]

7 hours ago, MainelyBASS said:

Im in southern Maine. I have always had the smallest or slowest boat in almost every tournament, so about 15 years ago, I began to adapt to the water that I had to pick from when I got to certain spots on the lake during a tournament. As long as the water isn't super stained, a drop shot will always put fish in your boat, and eventually boost your confidence. I have won a few tournaments in the Sebago region, catching all of my fish in 40ft of water. If I understand you correctly, it's more of a question of understanding where to find them, not how to catch them. You have the right tools on your boat, just keep using them. I've spent more time idling over stuff and marking spots than I have fishing on most lakes in Maine. Every tournament I have ever won has been won off shore. As you mentioned before, points and humps are great places to look, but theres something that makes certain points, and humps better than others, thats what separates good fisherman, and average fisherman, the ability to duplicate the process of finding and catching quality fish. The most textbook hump on the lake might be worthless if it has nothing but muck on it. Conversely to that, the small point 100 yards from the boat launch may have scattered rock around it in 21ft, surrounded by deep grass. The common angler will look at the obvious text book point and fish it, but wont take the time to scan both, and mark even the smallest amount of rock or grass, anything that differentiates one point from another. Often times, theres even spots within the spots that are key. Theres a lake in the Sebago region thats mostly grass, but has a point with about 4-7 rocks on it. None of the rocks are bigger than a soccer ball. If I drag my drop shot weight through the area, and don't bump a rock, I wont get bit. I have the waypoint marked, but I need to be on the waypoint and cast at the rope swing that is across the lake, and drag back towards me. If I miss the spot, I miss the fish. This specific spot has never yielded a fish over 3, but schools of 2-3lb fish live on it, and it's always an easy way to fill my limit before hunting down bigger fish. The spot is on a very large point, 75 yards off shore. The spot within the spot is the size of a bathtub. Seems easy to cast accurately into an area the size of a tub, but factor in wind, and waves and I miss it more often than I hit it with casts. Sorry to be long winded, but this is a passionate area of the sport for me. To sum it up, become very acquainted with Navionics as your first move at getting better. Pick a handful of humps or points based on what you see with Navionics. Next step is to stop fishing. My best producing "spot" out of every lake in the entire state was found scanning a point while I was eating a ham itialian. I marked some rock, never fished it that day, went back during the tournament and caught some megas off the spot. Lastly, when you do go to fish, just throw a drop shot. Whether fish are pressured, lethargic, inactive, or in a feeding frenzy, a 3 inch drop shot bait always gets chewed. When it comes time that you are comfortable with all things, don't cheap out on your drop shot setup. By setup, I mean line/leader/weight/hook. Rod and reel doesn't have to break the bank, any 2500 size reel, and a 6'10 - 7'2 M or ML rod is fine. Spend the money on some hi-vis braid, 10-15lb, and a 6 or 8 fluoro leader. Tungsten drop shot weights round out the perfect setup. The hi-vis to see your line jump as it's sinking 20-40ft possibly. The braid to cast better, and better hooksets on deep bites, the fluoro leader for its lack of stretch, and invisibility, and the tungsten weight to really transfer the bottom contact. Tungsten is so dense that I can feel the difference between anything I drag across on bottom. Tungsten is 3x the price of other materials, but coming from someone who fishes competitively, and has been able to pay some bills as a result of some of my winnings, Tungsten was really the key factor in being able to let me know I was fishing my bait in the exact right areas. Good luck and feel free to reach out to me anytime. Sorry again for the longer than necessary rant. 

Thanks for the reply! Pm sent