My first "Lunker"

[BigEbass]

So I have only been bass fishing for a little under 2 years.  And of the times I have went fishing, I mostly go with my neighbor who is an experienced bass angler (68 years old been doing it since he was a kid).  The "big" one has always alluded me - seems that when someone caught a 5 plus lb'er, it would be my neighbor of course right where I had just casted with the same darn bait - some of that is experience I am sure....but today was my day to shine!!!

We started fishing out of his Jon Boat on a small lake in Marion, AL - feb. 28th, blue bird skies, mid 50's, water temp 54-57, started fishing just after 11am, and at 11:30am I landed a 4 lber on a bright orange lipless crankbait.  Way to start the day!!  We moved past that spot (a point) and worked around some shallow weeds, but came back to that point in 15 minutes - casted the same bain in the same facinity, and my rod loaded up, thought I had a snag for a sec - ended up landing a 5 1/2 pounder!!!  I was so excited I could have fell out of the boat screaming.  Took a photo and quickly made another few casts back to that area and again hooked something...barely got it to the boat with it just barely hooked in the lip - 7 lb'er - I could not believe it!!  There were a few others bank fishing around the lake, they probably thought I was crazy holding that monster up screaming.

And yesterday I fished a small lake in McCalla I had never fished before and caught 9 small bass.  I hadnt caught many fish this winter - really struggled at times - my confidence without needing to say it, is quite "unthawed".

YEAH BABY, YEAH!!!!

However, after those catches, we could not stir up many more bites after 1pm - there were shad jumping a few times and we could not get a taker - there were no bass hitting the shad - its a very shallow lake - max 7 ft. deep near the d**n, mainly stuck with lipless CB's most of the time, but also tried spinner bait, worm, craw, and shallow crank bait, oh and tried a jerk bait on that same point for about 20 casts....all in all I caught 4 bass, neighbor caught 4 pretty nice ones (2-3 lb'ers) - not bad for a chilly/windy day in feb  ;D ;D ;D

Not really sure how I could have approached the rest of the day differently to stir up another bite.....one thing we could have done but didnt do is just use a jig real slow on that point - hmmm, that could have been really good

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

sounds like a great time!!

I got out in the canoe today and other than a few bites on a Tightlines worm, nothing in the boat... Good to see the water there is warm... this lake I was at here in Northwest FL was still mid 40s

[BigEbass]

wow, hopefully that water will soon warm up more - hard to believe its that cold south of my location - the water at this lake today is likely much warmer than other places being that it is such a shallow lake.

[urban_angler28]

nice, sounds like fun

[b.Lee]

Sounds like a great time, glad you caught a big one!

[bassfisherjk]

Way to go!

[firefightn15]

Cool, nice and chunky! 8-)

[simplejoe]

nice fish.

[roadwarrior]

                                  CONGRATULATIONS!

[fishfordollars]

Congratulations. A true 5+ lb. fish makes it a special day. When you get two it's a day you will never forget.

[SMfisher]

nice fish. congrats on a great day of fishing sounds like you had fun.

[BigEbass]

Yep - I am still on a high from it  ;D

Now I have to break the 10lb mark 

[Grey Wolf]

You had a great day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[benito]

Nice one! Congrats....

[BigEbass]

Unfortunately we did not have our scales with us yesterday - my neighbor who has been fishing for a long long time said it was probably a 7lber....man I wish we had the scales - I know it was 7 lbs, but I wonder if it was 8 or 9..??  No way to tell in just the photo I am sure - he was long and his belly was broad....either way it was a huge bass for me so I will just need to shake off the question mark  :-/

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Unfortunately we did not have our scales with us yesterday - my neighbor who has been fishing for a long long time said it was probably a 7lber....man I wish we had the scales - I know it was 7 lbs, but I wonder if it was 8 or 9..?? No way to tell in just the photo I am sure - he was long and his belly was broad....either way it was a huge bass for me so I will just need to shake off the question mark :-/

Stick with 7 on this one and go buy a scale.  Excitement leads to guesses that sway toward higher numbers...

That will erase all doubting in the future.

[NOVA Angler]

To be honest, I don't think that fish is over 7lbs.  Like you said, you can't tell from pics.  Great fish either way.  Congrats!

[Siebert Outdoors]

thats a dandy.

[steezy]

Nice fish, congrats.

[benito]

Hey Man - Great Fish!

I saw your question about size on your other post on my thread....

Honestly, it's VERY tough to make a guesstimate from just a picture - and your picture the Bass is turned slightly, making it tougher.....

I would have guessed 6-7 pounds if I didn't know, but could be a bit more or less - Either way, a GREAT fish!

Catching a biggun and not knowing can be down right frustrating.....To make sure it doesn't happen again, do this:

1) Buy a Cheap Scale - can get them nearly any sporting goods place or Wal-Mart....

2) If you don't have a scale or it breaks/batteries go dead, always have a tape measure handy....Measure Length and Girth, and you'll be able to come up with a pretty close approximation later....

3) If all else fails, and you don't have either, cut some fishing line, and use it to measure the Length and Girth - later, when you get home, you can measure how long the pieces of fishing line is. No matter what, you should always be able to do at least this. Again, with simple length and girth measurements, you can get a pretty darn close estimate on weight....

Bottom line - CONGRATS! Great Fish.......

BEN

[bassman31783]

Great job, great fish. 

I agree with all the others in buying a scale.  Of course that means all your fish are going to start shrinking.   ;D

[Jim Grouch]

Congrats and cool story! All of you guys are making me jealous. Unfortunately I am working out of the country, but even if I was around there is still about 8" of ice on the lake. I have to resort to BR to get my fill of fishing enjoyment.

[BigEbass]

So get ready to laugh at me  ;D

I was riding with my neighbor during that day in the jon boat with just a trolling motor on this small lake - after catching these three lunkers in a row I was so d**n excited....when we pulled out the biggest one - my neighbor realized he had left the electronic scale in his truck....he suggested we kick it back to weigh my fish....I hesitated and told him to just forget about it cause the fishing was so hot and I didnt want to waste the window of opportunity....I wanted him to catch a big-un too - and wouldnt have minded catching another one myself - and why not - I had already caught 3 essentially back to back 4+ pounders.....So I got greedy - in retrospect I wish we had gone back to the truck (probably would have taken 10-15 minutes) since the fishing turned off after that...but I would have done the same thing again...cause when the bite is on like that you cant waste it!!

So....moral of the story....I will NEVER not bring my scales on any trip as well as my own quality point and shoot camera - I love the fishing line idea...I got to thinking that I will bring a tape measure all the time now in case I catch a 10 pounder in order to make a proper replica and release the fish back