mrbassky

I will be fishing in the evenings so I would have to fish the apartment side. What about the city parks such as Bethesda park, Kathryn Abbey Hanna, Earl Johnson, William F. Sheffield. Are the parks any good? I also found that Doctors Inlet has good wade fishing I may try that.

Good thread. Two of my favorite swimbait makers have been on here. I like in Kentucky and have been fishing swimbaits for a couple years now and have been going with the bigbaits more and more. I am no swimbait expert but I noticed a few things that may help you. And many may disagree but this is just from what I have seen in my experiance. First off I think most people are way off in relating swimbait size to bass size. Baits will catch bigger fish and smaller fish than you expect at times but certain baits excel at catching certain sizes of bass. Obviously baits vary bluegill baits are bigger profile than their lenght suggests and long thin baits are smaller than their profile suggests. But generally speaking for me 4in baits are numbers baits and will get hit by the smallest of bass not that they wont catch big fish sometimes but they catch more small fish. Examples are 4in trutungsten and giron. 5in baits are keeper sized bass baits, most people think these are big fish baits but to me they really target fish in the 14-18in range. If thats the size fish you need in local tournaments then great-examples are king shad, paddletails, magic swimmers, bbz shad, 5in bullshads. 6in baits are good for quality keepers which means fish in the 3lb-6lb range. Again they catch bigger fish and smaller fish but do best on fish in this range. This is also the size of bass it takes well to do good on many BASS tournaments on great fisheries which explains why this the most popular size on the pro level. Examples include-Mattlures hardgill (big for its length), 6in huddlestons, 6in baitsmith, swimming ninjas. Baits in the 7in range are good for really quality keepers fish in the 4lb-8lb range. You see these used more on the big fish lakes like Amistad and Clear Lake in tournaments. 7in ospreys are a good example. 8in+ baits are mostly for trophy fish hunting and you wont see them in many major tournaments unless it is at a great great big fish lake like Amistad or Clear Lake. Not that they wont catch fish anywhere but with baits this big you are fishing for a couple big bites most of the time. This is the minimum size you see most diehard big bait throwing trophy hunters use especially in the west. Not saying big baits dont catch small or vise versa but this will give you a guideline to pick the bait of your choice. You mentioned knowing when not to throw big baits. For me I want two things going on before I throw big baits. The first is water clarity of 3 ft or more with ideal being 5+. Not that swimbaits wont catch big fish in dirty water but I find most of the time other baits work better. Also I want big fish to fairly active which is alot of the time on some lakes and not so often on others. I know this is vague I know but signs I look for are small fish being caught on spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Usually if I see this I know I have a chance at some quality swimbait bites. If the bite is dead and everybody is throwing jigs and finesse baits then maybe you should put the swimbait down. And knowing your lakes is a big part of it. I fish one superclear lake where the bite is brutal midday unless there is a low light condition. You cant catch 12 keepers on power baits so obviously I dont throw swimbaits unless it is early or late or some kind of condition is happening. Also fishing in the east coast is different than out west in some ways. Bass arent different but our lakes are. In the east there is alot more quality cover that big fish relate to. Also are forage is different in many cases. One last thing like matt I also see certain cant miss niches. I have two spots on a small grassy lake I fish where I can almost always get a follow or catch a quality fish (quality for here 18in). I also know banks with big laydowns on another lake that big fish always relate to. When you learn spots like these it will be much easier to put big baits into your routine. With swimbaits it really really pays to know a lake well.

Sweet sounds like what I was looking for. How big is it and any suggestions what to bring.

I would say most fish will be post spawn by then. It can actually be kinda slow there at that time because thats the time when fish are recovering from the spawn. If you dont do any good you may want to head up the lake where the fish spawn earlier and maybe recovered I would suggest Mud Creek.

I will be there for a week for work in June and want to know if there is somewhere to go in the evenings and fish. I would prefer bass but what else is there.

How bad? There are lots of great places to stay around Guntersville and I dont think its the best place by any strech. But I wonder if they are comparing to the nicer places around the lake. Here on lakes where there arent many options other than camping it may be the Hilton.

I could see that someday on certain waters. Fish swallow them and on rare occasion it can cause harm. I dont think it happens often enough to really make an impact but some people think it does on Dream Lake you cant use them. I could also see barbless hooks only in some places. I am totally against strict dead fish rules. I think everybody does what they can to keep fish alive. Even if there werent penalites we all know dead fish lose weight and we all want to catch and release in tournaments. I hate when somebody lose because of dead fish they had no control over. And I could almost see the Side Imaging. Its doubtful but underwater cameras are illegal in Walleye tournaments. But really it wouldnt make a big impact anyway if they were banned because you could use them in practice and get waypoints. The one thing people use now that I see a clear advantage is jet outboards. Not that anybody here uses them. But I think with the disadvantage to using aluminum it kinda balances out. But overall there will always be money advantages. A 21ft boat with a 250hp can make runs smaller boats cant for example. But what can you do. But thats another reason I love the Kentucky Pond Hopper tournaments.

Its probably different everywhere but here in Kentucky it seems 1 in 3 are jerks. I think alot of it has to do with the fact you can get a game warden job here with 2 years law enforcement experiance of any kind. So we get the nutty Barney Fife deputys looking for a better job and those cops that are on power trips. As for other Fish and Wildlife employees most have been curteous and very nice. I think if they looked for people with college degrees in Wildlife or something close to it they would have much nicer Game Wardens. As far as run ins the most interesting is when I ran into a Alabama Game Warden on Guntersville. He pulled his boat next to ours and checked our livewell when he noticed we were bass fishing. He took every fish out and measured each one. We told him we were releasing them all after pictures anyway but I guess that made us more suspicious. All the fish were legal of course. But I was impressed I wish all game wardens did this and he was really nice.

FYI I think stickbait is kinda vauge. I didnt know if you were talking about large Zara Spooks or what. Soft Stickbait is a little clearer. No offense meant I know terminology is different everywhere. Anyway for a while now dragging 7in senkos with a 3/16oz sinker has been a go 2 tactic on Amistad when the bite is slow. There was an article in FLW Outdoors about it. Might be something to try in clear water when you want big bites.

When, Where, and what time are the weekly small pot tournaments. I think there is a Wed evening at Goosepond, Thurs evening at Mud Creek and Sun Morning at Goosepond. Anybody got any more info on these and are there anymore around Midlake. Maybe Waterfront?

Wow nobody fishes Raccoon Creek. I will have to try it for sure.

We got reservations this year there. Its not a 5 star resort but its the best we could find on short notice. A couple questions for guys who have stayed there.. Can you tie your boat up anywhere close to the cabins so you dont have to launch everyday? And how many tvs per cabin? we may bring an extra one for the youngsters if there is only one. Thanks

I have noticed earlier in the year some good grass can be found up the creeks like Mud Creek and Dry creek.

About the only thing I throw this early in ponds is a jig. You wont get many bites but they are good ones when you do. I like a 1/4oz in ponds.

If anything get a talapia colored swimbait.

Well this one time I really needed some money. And this old sugar mamma :-*came up and started talking to me....wait sorry wrong kind of hooking. ;D

You can catch fish on them but I like others more. My least favorite.

I went a couple times. Until I went to Guntersville. Its good but no Guntersville. I agree with the other guys points are hard to beat. Stumps and docks are the main cover. I would throw a finesse jig and shakey head some as well.

Yeah I would reschedule if possible. I was there once when the big bass splash was there. Its fun if your fishing it but if not its brutal. All the boat ramps will be packed mid lake. Boats will be everywhere and I mean everywhere. It will be the worst weekend of the year. If you cant reschedule I would either go to the Dam or fish up lake at Mud creek. If you go to Mud creek you can stay in the little town north of Mud creek really cheap.

Color is so overatted. Natural in clear water except bright colors sometimes for smallies and spots. Bright colors for dirty water. Long as your in those ballparks you will be fine. I dont like certain colors at certain times but most have a place they work.

: Here in Kentucky we are just glad the ice is melting off the lakes

I talked to a buddy who stayed at Woodys lodge. Its not the fanciest but its ok for guys who are there to fish. Its not the nicest but its cheap and its not that bad he told me. He said it wasnt the nicest place but for the price on that lake it was OK.

I had another book in that same series and I wasnt impressed. But this one could be alot better who knows.

Its not a bad bag for sure. I just replaced mine. I think it last about 5-6 years but I fish alot. Eventually its just wears out one of the side pockets wore out and had big hole in the bottom. It is still functional if I needed it.

Looks like some fun fishing for sure. Too far for the money for me. I would got to Erie and get a guide and catch 4lb smallies all day before I did that. But if I lived closer I would probably hit it up every other year for the heck of it.