Newman12Fan

I also prefer to fish very light, as I only shore fish. I walk alot and don't want to lug everything around. I have a small tackle belt that holds 3 bags of plastics, a small hard plastic case with some lures, hooks, weights, my scale, and of course it has a drink holder. RW - if I followed your suggestions, I would have to buy 2 more rods and reels. For the type of fishing I do, I don't feel I need to spend the extra money on that.

Big-O is just jealous because he bought the same exact pair of shorts last week and now he can't wear them because someone else already has them! I fish the same way, I use the same rod and same real for every type of bait. I can't justify buying extra equipment for certain baits, when I can do just as good with the same set up!

Come on over, I am in Plainfield and go fishing every night. I have caught 4 fish over 5 pounds this month, and usually catch 3 to 5 in the 2 to 4 pound range each night.

I don't like the sound of that ;D Must mean something different in your area. Dont get the wrong idea! It is the game where you throw a bag full of corn at a board with a hole in it!!

I live in Plainfield. Fishing on a retention pond near my house. Well it is 14 acres, so some call it a lake. Sorry about the brickyard, that stunk!

So there I was, starting off another great day of fishing. I throw out my little popper. After 5 casts with no action, it all starts on cast 6. I throw it out. I give it a pop and let it sit, then one more time. I can see the wake coming, the water explodes, I set the hook, and the popper goes flying, DANG I missed him!!!! I real it in, and to my suprise I did NOT miss him! I just could not tell she was there! She was soooo cute I just needed to take a picture. So here she is, my new PB SMALLEST bass! For reference, the lure including the trailer is only 2.5 inches! What the heck was this fish doing going after a bait this size! Any way, I know everyone likes to show off the huge bass we all catch, I thought I would give you all a laugh tonight. Maybe this will bring me good luck tonight, I am off for 2 hours of fishing, hopefully to catch this guys great grandmother!

I never go fishing without my Ipod, makes the slow periods go faster. If you want to hear what is going on around you, just put one speaker in, and leave the other ear for other noises. However I would suggest leaving both speakers out when the Mannilow songs come on!

Well I had not been fishing since Wednesday night. That is a long time for me, I usually fish every night. I live near Indy, so we took the RV to ORP Thursday night for 3 nights of racing and drinking. Went to the Silver Crown race Thursday, Truck on Friday and Nationwide on Saturday (GO KYLE!!!). Anyway, 3 days of drinking, playing corn hole, and lots of food with 10 people was a blast. On Sunday I watched the cup race from home, glad I did not pay for tickets to that horrible race! By the time it was over I was too tired from the weekend to go out fishing. So this morning I woke up and went down to the lake. First cast was at 7:55 and last one was at 8:55 - sun was coming out and getting hot! But in that one hour I got 4 bass, nothing huge, but the pic below was the largest one. It is funny how an hour on the lake can be soooo much fun! The best part is that it looks like it is about to rain now. I know a nice little pipe where the bass like to feed after a good rain, so I will probably get back out in a couple of hours for more fun! Only problem is this fish took my last *** worm I have left!! Don't know what to use now.

Try the Dirk Pitt series by Clive Cussler. You dont have to read them in a row, but they are all about the same guy. Action, adventure, SCUBA diving, history, science, and of course the girl. They are great books and an easy read.

I shore fish every evening. I am still catching them in shallow water. The Grass is real think right now, and most of my hits are within 5 feet from the shore. I got a 5 pound 4 ounce bass at 11:15 Sunday morning in less then 5 feet of water while it was in the mid 80's. I find the big ones still right at the pipes where any water is flowwing into the lake from the neighborhood.

FYI, this was on sale at my walmart last night. $10 for a 600 yard spool. I bought some and change my line last night. I went out for 2 hours and never had my line break, of course I did't catch anything

I am excited to try some swimbaits after reading all of the posts. I enjoy catching large fish, and I want to catch bigger ones. Here is my problem. I read the review of the mattlure blue gill lure that is linked to his site. I decided to price out the rigs the reviewer was using. HUMM!! The rod was $499.95, and the reel was $508. So once I spend $1000 I can then buy the $30 lures! As I am a motorhome salesmen, money is tight. In case you have not noticed, at $5 for diesel, the sales of $100,000 to $250,000 motor homes are a little off right now. I am low budget - $29.95 M/H Dicks sporting good rod and a real that can only take 10 pound test. I have lost enough lures to know I would cry when the line breaks with a $30 lure on it. So for us poor people. Is there a reasonably priced rod and real that you would recommend that is beefy enough for large swim baits and large bass? I know everyone says you get what you pay for, but the option is not available to buy a $1000 set up, no matter how nice it is.

Meant to add this to the last post. I really don't care if it was 6.5 pounds or 4.5 pounds, it was a fun fish to catch, and it made my night

From personal experience it can be the scale. At first I had a $5 scale from Wal-Mart. After weighing a 6.5 pounder, 6 pounder, and 4.5 pounder my buddy got a digital scale. He then caught a fish the next night that weighed 4.5 pounds on the wal-mart scale, but 2.5 pounds on the digital scale. Of course we both said the digital scale was crap because there was no way that fish was 2.5 pounds. That night I did some test with hand weights and some other things with both scales and with a bathroom scale. Sure enough the digital scale was correct. The cheap one was off by about 2 pounds. So my perception of a fish wieght before we got the digital scale was way off. In the picture of the "6 pounder" it was from about my shoulder to just about my belt, which is about 23 inches. According to the measurement estimates out there, that would be about 6 pounds. So bottom line is we measure now with the digital, but I am still claiming the others were over 6 pounds. Makes me feel better ;D

I know the pain. I had this happen last week to me. It was by far the largest fish I have hooked in my local pond, and I have landed 2 over 6 pounds. I fought it all the way in to shore, the whole time saying "please stay on, please stay on". I got him right to the shore, so shallow his back was right at the water line. I gave one last pull to turn his head toward me to land him when my line broke. He just sat there so I said "I am not losing this one!". I threw down the poll and jumped in the water. I got my hands less then 6 inches from her when she decided to swim away! Very frustrating, but a good laugh from the other 4 people fishing on the lake. I don't know how big she really was, but after one of her jumps the guy near me said "that fish scares me!" Oh well, I will get her one of these days

Thats great! Now catch her a 5 pounder!

I will be fishing from about 7pm until we decide to go to bed (or drink too much) I will also be there in the morning until about lunch time.

OK everyone, help me catch a big one tonight. I will be fishing on a small lake. The area I will be has no overhead cover (trees), but the shoreline has a 5 to 8 foot wide lilly pad bed from the shore outwards. I will not have a boat, I will be fishing from the shore. The prevailing wind blows towards the lilly pads, so the water is not super clear, it is a little dirty. I would say 4 to 6 foot depth on the outside of the pad line. So my question is which lures would you use? I do not have an overly extensive tackle box, so my options are: - Jig and pig - black or white - Spinnerbait - fished on the outside of the pad line - white, black, or green - Frog - fished on top of the pads - plastic worm Thanks for the help, and I will post pics of what I catch and what worked the best

I was typing in Large mouth bass in yahoo seach, and as I finished putting in large, the first suggested hit was "world's largest Catfish". I clicked on it for fun and OH MY GOD!!! That is a fish!!! http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/photogalleries/giantcatfish/index.html

That was a better video then any of the ones I have seen on you tube! Great catch!!

And for the real cheap people like me, you can get the same thing without the fancy yellow logo for $4.96 at Wal-mart!

any particular brand better then the rest if I do respool with braid? What pound test should I go with?

I like fishing, I use various baits, but I do not have multiple rods and reels. So I dont have one rod with braid, one with mono, one for spinning, etc. I have 10lb mono and I am going to a spot this weekend with a lot of lilly pads. I know if I hook a nice bass I will most likely lose it to a line break. I don't want to replace my entire spool of line for this one occasion, especially since I just put on the mono last weekend. So my question is should I put on a 5 or 10 foot braid leader on my line for this one application or take my chances with the mono?

It is kind of a wierd mix. Country, KISS, Jimmy Buffet, some hard rock and old school rap. I just hit shuffle and what ever comes on comes on

I went out tonight and it was the worst night so far. I caught one dink. I told my buddy this is by far the worst night in a long time.... (setting the hook)... until now!!!! Got a nice 6 pounder. 1 1/2 hours of fishing, only 2 fish, which stinks, but the 6 pounder made it a little better!