Bass-1

Awesome fish guys, I thought some of the scenery looked familiar... If those fish stay put, you should do very well....Congrats on a great day out, and good luck on the 25th.

While fishing this past Friday with a buddy. I was throwing a suspending rogue and got a hit. When I started to reel the fish in, I could see it was a 2 pound smallie but it didn't look right. Turns out I had hooked the loop of the leader of an Eagle Claw hook sticking out of it's mouth...that was special...

Made it out friday and saturday for my season opener. Caught 13 bass total, water temps 45-50. Weather was awesome, and felt great to get my first fish on......

If things keep going the way they are with this nice weather, looks like the boat is going to be in the water on April 1st, start of Maine's open water season. In the immortal words of Ren & Stimpy.... HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY...... ;D ;D ;D

If you already get Bassmasters, get Bass times too. I have both and they both have differant things on Bass.

Hey Mackkie, do a search of rentals in that area and I'm sure you will find one. There are some cabins right on Great Pond that would be a good place to stay.

Those are truly amazing smallies Dwight. Looks like if I want to catch a smallie over 6 lbs., I'll have to fish Erie.....

Swan lake as you know is CLEAR water. Go to the very North end and fish around the big rocks with natural colored baits. (browns and greens) Lite line is a must 6-8 lb. will cover it. HUGH smallies roam around in this lake, so if the wind blows, fish the wind blown shore with spinner baits. You can't go wrong with white. Use heavy line up to 14 lb. for this to help keep your baits up. Calmer waters use senko's, wacky rig or texas rig around rocks or grass. The drop right off the landing is a good place, so don't pass on it. And the flat with grass is also good. Good fishing, Bass-1

Congrats on your first of MANY smallies...NOW you know WHY we love them....

A good partner is hard to come by. As a boat owner, I feel that when in a tournament, I have to drive, make most of the plans to fish certain places, and position the boat. My partner takes care of "all" the duties of weights and culling without me having to stop what I'm doing. We've been fishing together for 8 years and know what we "both" have to do during a tournament. If the spots aren't producing, we "both" agree to move. If you are fishing with a partner, just get to "know" each other and "know" how each other fishes. That way, if you like to fish shallow like I do, and he likes to fish deep, you guys can talk and find what you both think the fish are doing at that moment and adjust "TOGETHER", that is what makes a great partner... Old or new spots don't decide if your going to win, it's team work....

An Alewife is a sea-run fish. They enter into fresh water from the ocean every spring around April by the millions to spawn. Once the spawn is complete, the adults head back to the ocean, and in about a week the young hatch. The young-of the-year will stay in fresh water until the late fall when they also return to the ocean. They number into the millions as well, and usually you can see them run the shorelines. They will be 1-2 inches. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, as it is feed for lots of things, I'm just saying the catch rate to hours spent fishing is going down quickly. I just fished a tournament this past Sunday on a lake with a 7 fish limit that usually takes over 25 pounds to win, and lunker is close to 7 pounds. It was won with 18 and lunker at 4.1. I could see all those young Alewife's all over the place. No matter how you look at it, it's good for the nature part of things, but for us, it's hard to catch fish on hamberg when they want steak...

Well, Maine weather, what can you say about it... (and keeping it clean). ;D I fished a local pond with my good fishing buddies which started a nice day and sunshine for once, but turned nasty. We caught some nice bass, both smallies and largemouth, but got wet doing so... Here's some pictures of the trip... And one after the rain... Thanks for reading.....

Go fish Great Pond that is close to Mess. GREAT smallie action with big largemouth and Pike as well. Your going to be staying in the area of "several " great lakes..... Long Pond, Salmon/McGrath, Great Pond, Mess., North Pond and East Pond... I hope you have a great trip...

Pro's and cons... The "GOOD", the "BAD" and the "REALLY UGLY".... As a Maine guide, I went through this back in the 80's at my home water body of the St. Croix river back in Baileyville. The guides wanted the alewife run "STOPPED" due to the lack of bass being caught by clients because of all the "bait" in the water system. Fishways were closed, and the alewifes were stopped up until the last couple of years where the state wanted the run to continue. Well, "THERE BACK" and all the tournaments up here are all showing the "lack of" weight because the bass are all feeding really well on them. Good for them, big bass, try and catch them... Anybody else think it's GREAT to have billions of bait in the water during a tournament???? >

Mark, if your going to fish smallies up here, you want to learn about the "ALEWIVES" that the state "LET" come back... > Good for the bass, not good for us. It's going to be like fishing with hamburg when the fish are eating steak. I've adjusted to fishing largemouth more then smallies just for this reason....

5 MILES to my favorite "pond"...

"TOO COLD" up here in Maine to me is when my Javelin can't break the ice anymore... ;D, and I can't cast to "ANY" open water.... Other then that, cold weather means NO DAM BLACK FLIES.... ;D ;D ;D

Sorry man, but if someone is "dragging" my makers away from where "I" put them, they better have a clue what "self defense" is, because SOMEONE is going swimming, and broken bones aren't out of the question... JMO.

YOU guys need to come to Maine and fish. Traffic on the water is none to small even on the week-ends. I'm talking about the BANGOR area only. I fish a "pond" that is 5 miles from my house that is about 738 acres that has a campground on it, and even on week-ends I see only a few boats. Even though we are "TAXED" to death on EVERYTHING, the fishing is second to none.... That is the "only" reason I have stayed here...

Bassaholic84, i do the same thing. When the "book"says to do this, I go in the other direction. Ripping the red eye shads out of grass or cranking through cabbage usually gets some nice fish. If you put in the time, the fish will come...

I thought the same thing back when VanDam won the classic on 3 rivers. When asked how'd he do it, his answer was his biosonic machine (something like that). He felt that helped him win by getting a few more fish to bite. Fast forward to Alton Jones win in the classic. He credits his new Humminbird 997 sidefinder unit for the win. He found the deep cut and trees that no one else knew were there and had the spot all to himself. Fishfinders that look down and sideways, machines to "make" fish feed, underwater cameras, bigger and faster boats, GPS, all of the newest technology makes those of us that know how to use it better fishermen, those that don't get left behind. The pro's prove that at every tournament. If you have the money to keep up with technology, you can fish for a living... 8-)

I love to fish for smallies, and as you know, smallies don't hold much to anything in a lake or pond, but travel around looking for food or follow schools of bait. The best way I use to locate the bait is by looking for loons that are actively diving in the same area over and over again, and try to see what they are eating. It may be young of the year perch or deeper for crayfish. This will give you an idea of "what" to use and "where" to look. Hope this helps you out, David

Tomorrow is a tournament day, so after getting up at 5am to get ready to go to work, I'm getting up at 4am to drive over an hour to my tournament, fish 7a-3pm, drive another hour home, then it's the hot tub and cold beer after the win..... ;D

SPINNERBAIT....

Hi guys, let me try this again. I had a great spring up here in Maine and wanted to share some pictures. Here are some pics from early spring to now... Thanks for looking, David