p-funk

Thanks for the observation. : ;D That's what happens when you are fishiing from the bank and have to pull it up through grass and weeds to get to you.

A friend and I were looking at pics of some of the fish we caught this year and we got to talking about this particular one. He think he is some sort of hybrid or something because of how small the mouth was on this thing. The fish was 17" long and weighed just shy of 4lbs. I just say it's a small mouthed largemouth. It is the only fish we caught like this all year long. Anyone else seen any like this? Fish caught in a small pond, less than an acre in size. Muddy water. Same fish I believe caught a week later.

Here's a pretty good video I got the other day that is helpful for learning about and how to use your sonar. I think it is worth the price and you may want to check it out: http://bazzclazz.com/Videos/Skills_Videos/Sonar/sonar.html

I've read a lot about Bass following shad into back of coves and so forth in the fall. What about lakes that don't have shad where bluegill and crappie are the main food source? Do these baitfish make similar movements to shad and do Bass follow them or is it a whole new ball game? Just curious because a lot of the lakes we have locally here do not have shad in them. One lake specifically has a lot of coontail weeds and lily pads that have not died out yet. The water temp has dropped down to about 55 degrees. Water depth in this section of the lake is anywhere from 4-10'. The main part of the lake is approx 14-16' deep at it'd deepest point. It's an 80 acre lake and all of my larger fish have came from the weed area of the lake. Will these fish continue to hold in that same area or will they move to the deeper section of lake? Do the bluegill and so forth still hold in that weedy area?

8lbs, 26.5" long....she was skinny. Caught on a lucky craft g-splash popper in american shad pattern.

For me it's a different way of thinking. I don't really even consider a fish "caught" unless it's in the boat. I still let them go afterwards, but it's not too exciting to me to lose fish by breaking off line or shaking loose outside the boat.

I net anything I think is of good size. I'd hate to lose a big hawg because of a line break or trying to lip it when I could net it. It's pretty easy to net and hold the rod at the same time.

I've got a membership to insider. I really do like the videos, "how to's" and such that they offer. There does seem to be a lot more extra info in it. It is pretty expensive though and am not sure if I'll renew my insider subscription next time.

I also got it a few weeks back and I'm a big Ike fan. I honestly would not tell anyone to buy this video. I feel I wasted $30 bucks after I watched it. You could purchase a couple BPS videos which go into a lot more depth on certain subjects. I feel like the Ike video was just a breeze through a few topics. I would have liked to see him go a bit more in depth on maps for example. Why he chose what points to highlight on his maps. I was also dissapointed once he got on the water. He makes a big deal of finding this spot to fish and then he catches one fish off that spot and then the next clip he's fishing a totally different area with no feedback on why he went to this spot or why he decided to move to the weeds later on. If you're thinking of buying it, borrow it from someone first or buy it off ebay if you can find it. If not invest your money into some Bass Pro Videos, cheaper price and better info. Just my .02

This could be a mute point, but it's tough to catch big bass when there are very few to catch. Isn't it possible that after seeing that there were 50 bass caught in 2 hours that it is overpopulated and the bass are stunted? Just one thing that I've always heard is fish water that is known to have big bass. if that is what you're after. I fish a few lakes where you could catch dinks all decent fish almost all day long, but catching a big one is not very likely because of the over population. All information given by everyone else sounds good! ;D

Any of you guys ever tried replacing the factory hooks on some of these frogs? If so, did you notice any better results of keeping them hooked? I lost a pretty good one yesterday on a popping scum frog. Gave it plenty of time to take it before I set the hook, thought I had a good hookset and she came out of the water and spit it out on me. I went and ordered some Owner replacement hooks as soon as I got home. Just curious as to if this will make any difference. Also, has anyone tried rigging up a third hook that runs in the middle of the other two hooks to help with hookups? I've got something rigged up that I think may help and I'll post back with results after I give it a shot.

I'm guessing it'll catch more fisherman than fish. What stops the hook from setting when it is brushed against limbs, weeds, etc? Also I think it's funny how they say catch more and "bigger" fish and the ones they are catching in the video don't even look like keepers ;D

Thanks guys! ;D

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Got out tonight for a few hours with a buddy. Extremely slow start to the evening. Water temp was up near 89 degrees. Was throwing a lot of topwater in shallow weedy/lily pad areas without much luck. My buddy finally picked up 3 on a black and white torpedo. Finally I switched to a firetiger pattern pop-r. Caught one a 1.75lbs and one right at 2lbs right away. Then picked up another small one. Then moved up the lake to fish real quick since it was becoming dark and you have to be off the lake 1/2 hour after dark. Threw out and got a good hit from the bass. Didn't think it was that good of a fish till it jumped on me. Had to pull it through a big mess of weeds and she put up a great fight. She finally gave up once the weight of the weeds was too much for her. We had to pull weeds off the line and fish to find where she was to finally net her. She was 23.5" and as mentioned before 22" is considered a trophy in VA. Finally got to weigh her and she weighed in at 7lbs 1oz. Took some pics with her, had my buddy verify the measuremnt and let her go. This is my second citation (trophy fish) here in VA in the last month. Needless to say I am very pumped.

Thanks for the reply and suggestion. My main reason on asking is to find something else more effective to use when the topwater bite isn't working well and also to get a better understanding of the weeds and how to fish them. Thanks again

I fish a 75acre lake that is covered with lily pads and hydrilla in the upper half. The hyrdilla comes up and touches the top of the water in some spots but mainly is anywhere from 6" to 24" under the water surface and it covers the WHOLE bottom. I'm curious as to how to fish the thick weeds. It's pretty much impossible to penetrate the weeds and fish effectively I think. At the same time, there is really no "edge" to the weeds to fish because they cover the whole upper end of the lake where the fishing is best. Will a bass bust through these weeds to hit a lure being dragged across the top of the weeds like a worm/jig/etc? The stuff is so thick, I don't see how fish move in them. I'm just trying to get a better understading of how fish relate to these weeds and how to fish them and what is actually below the surface as to what I'm seeing. Here are some pics of the upper end of the lake. You can see the weeds pushing through the top of the water in some of the pics and in all places where you don't see it above the surface it is below in various depths. The last pic doesn't really show what I was hoping it would show because of the weather conditions. The lily pads stretch back to the tree line in the background which is about 250-300yds. Here are a few fish I've caught in the last month out of here. 3.5lber - 18.5" caught tonight 4.75lbs - 19.5" caught Sunday 6.5lbs - 23.75" caught 7-19-05 Along with these have been quite a few 2-2.5lbers as well and losing one I'm confident saying was at least 10lbs due to knot failure. Almost all of them have been caught on topwater lures of some type. I'm just not sure what to fish these conditions with lurewise other than topwater, but would love input on what to use and how bass may be relating to the hydrilla to help out on days where topwater is very slow. Thanks