shimmy

I would add that the V&M mudbug usually floats up. Tackletour gives a great review. I absolutely love the V&M mudbugs. Several lakes I fish have my lakes best from a jig with this trailer. Remember that some plastics can lose their float for various reasons.

NO SHOUTING ON AN ONLINE FISHING FORUM! MIGHT SPOOK THE ANGLERS...

Furthermore, any ideas for the best plastic that has the best imitation of pork?

One of the troubles I have had in the past with making pork trailers. The dye usually bleeds out and will not be a dark black like uncle josh is after it gets wet. Any solutions to this?

Wow, what a great fish!!! Congratulations

What an awesome day! Always good to give props to guides who help create an incredible experience.

hope this deal was extended a week...hint hint hint...

So sorry to hear. I hate that accidents happen like this to good people. There is nothing worse on this earth than losing a child. I am amazed at the courage for you have to even type this out. Nothing can really be said to ease the pain, only time. While it is terrible that other parents suffer similar circumstances, i advise you to seek grief groups. Everyone grieves differently, but for many it helps to process it with those that have suffered as well. I have run grief counseling and deal with it frequently in my profession. It will be inevitable that someone will say, "i know how you feel," and this will probably only add fuel to your fire and invalidate the uniqueness of your situation. Grieve in your own way, don't avoid processing the emotions of it, and above all else, don't ever allow yourself or even entertain the idea of feeling guilty. My heart truly goes out to you. God bless my friend.

One big oversight here is remember that the pros who fish their home waters blow the competition away. Not because they are better fisherman, but because they know the lakes better. This is why KVD gets whooped all the time, even though he is one of the best fisherman of all time. Keep in mind, and from what I have heard, he got a lot of flack for winning a classic after learning about certain waypoints from someone else. The pros are alotted a limited amount of time to call guides before fishing a lake for a tournament. They get their info from people who are not labeled as a pro. Now with all that said, I know KVD would whoop me all day long on any lake we have never fished. But, location is and always will be the most important thing in fishing. He fishes my home waters, I got a great chance of beating him, not because I am better, but through blind luck and a ton of time on my lakes, I happened to find the channels and shorelines that hold better fish even though they logically do not look like they would be better. Yes all! We all would have a chance on our local waters, even against guys who will always be better fisherman than us.

Hey Jon, thanks. I am currently living in Fond du Lac. Right next to BIG lake Winnebago. You still in VA? Still making money in those tournaments on the Occoquan?

What an incredible day and bag!!! Do you have a couple lakes you rotate between that have these giant bass or do you catch all of your 7+ fish on one particular lake? Excited to see how the next few weeks play out for you. Your 7.1 looks skinnier than it should be, I can only imagine when that thing is fattened up how big it will be. Great report

Thanks all. Was interesting this time of year. Half of the lake had hunters set up in their huts. I would get all excited heading to a great looking point only to see 20 fake ducks outside the point with hunters waving at me. I would of course turn immediately around. Always glad i would wave at them so they at least knew i was there. Given that i work in a prison, i guess the thought of being on a lake with people shooting guns nearby didn't bother me...maybe it should have though. Having people hunting nearby on the lake you are fishing made it a new experience.

Went up to Minnesota for the weekend and 3 hours in the morning on Monday. Was expecting the water temps to be 60 degrees and was quite surprised to see it read 49 degrees. I have never been up there after early September so I really had no idea what to expect. First 3 hours I snagged a northern, caught two more northern, and had one of them snip off my lure. I was a bit nervous and was not quite sure that the bass would bite. So I pulled out of the coves, secondary coves, and culverts, and fished a different depth at the main lake. As I was trying to pull my jig out of a weed line, the weed line started to move...it was a giant bass, had him on and then he pulled and came unbuttoned. While of course I was upset for missing him, I was quite happy that I was on to something. A few casts later, I caught a 4 lb 15 ounce bass. Then I found a point that was loaded with big bass. Pulled off the point for a little bit and started having an incredible time. Ended up camping on two points for the whole day throwing the jig and rapala shad rap. Was by myself so there may have been better lures to use at certain times but I was having great success. It was incredible fishing. Every fish was fat, energetic (not jumping though) and would bite super softly. Here was a list of my 4 pounders: 4.3, 4.3, 4.4, 4.6, 4.8, 4.8, 4.10, 4.10, 4.11, 4.15, and 4.15. Here was my top 5: 4 lbs 15 ounces 5 pounds 0 ounces 5 pounds 9 ounces 5 pounds 10 ounces, 6 pounds even Total 5 fish limit was 27 pounds 2 ounces. Not bad for Minnesota! Went out the next day to another lake. Fished for a few hours but was blown off the lake and batteries eventually died. Jig did nothing, shad rap for the win ripped over grass. Top 5 were a 4.0, 4.3, 4.7, 4.9, and 6.1 6 pounds 1 ouncer Went out the last morning for 3 hours since I needed time to charge the batteries before I made my 7 hour drive back to Wisconsin. Had an incredible morning. Was able to pinpoint the bite a bit quicker than prior. Fished slow and things just worked out. Top fish were 4.0, 4.3, 4.7, 4.13, 5.1, 5.7, 6.1, 6.2. Total 5 fish limit 27 pounds 8 ounces. Another great 27 pound bag. The fish were super active still but it was time to go. Great weekend. Will definitely plan a longer trip next fall. 4 pounds 13 ounces 5 pounds 1 ounce 5 pounds 7 ounces 6 pounds 1 ounce and 6 pounds 2 ounces Fishing is such an incredible thing. Minnesota fishing is truly something else. Shimmy

Eric, I notice that most of your fish are from the same golf course pond/lake even though you identify it as a different lake in Davenport? I think to reiterate what others have said, the electric shocking of fish does not take place (in general) on smaller bodies of water. As for being a fishing anomaly and wanting to share your abilities with the world, slow down cowboy. Becoming an anomaly has to be earned on this site and there are a lot of guys on here who have proven to be great resources of knowledge for big fish. No doubt those are great pond fish, but keep in mind, that is common for people who fish ponds in Florida. Any pictures of your PB? Ever use a scale? As always, post youtube videos. People always like them, especially during the loooooong winter months. Welcome to the site,

Just got back from a guided trip there. I wish you luck. There will be increased pressure and you have the ELITE tournament coming up and they should get there a few days prior (3 days i think) to prefish it for Sept. 17th. To give you a background to my trip, i originally had the guided trip scheduled for a week earlier but the guide called me and cancelled since he and his clients had not caught a bass in over 5 days. While the guide had hooked 1 fish the day before, he told me he has never seen the bay this bad. So i rescheduled. When i got there a week later (Aug 31st). I saw at 1:00 PM dropping off his clients and they were not happy. The guide was quiet and only one client shook his hand... So, it made for an awkward truck ride to the ramp 30 minutes away. Turns out since he talked to me last, his clients had not caught a bass that week. He hooked into a 4 pounder at the boat earlier in the morning and lost it which also made his clients mad since he was "catching their fish." Needless to say, the Bay was going to be tough and he told us, "i am really eerie about us catching anything." So, i was just excited to get out and i did not see any benefit to dwelling on how bad it was going to be. Me and my buddy focused on the positive with him and i just flat out told him, "look i get that we could get skunked, let's just go have fun." I think that completely changed his mindset (and i get it, that has to be hard since he takes his job seriously). He works hard, i just didn't want any negative attitude affecting a trip i was paying a pretty penny on. So we go out and try some shallow waters and get nothing. Try an 8 feet ledge and he catches one small bass and i catch an nice size goby... So, i was still having fun and it was great to be in a great boat and i got ALL of my money's worth with him since i asked him every question i could possibly ask about smallmouth and the Bay. I loved it, he probably thought i needed a muzzle or something but i was going to make sure i got my money's worth. As we continued to catch nothing, he then went to deeper water at 20 feet deep and we fished a new spot with a short drop to 15 feet. But in all honesty, i was having fun and with fishing, regardless, there is always a chance to catch one! So as we are fishing this new spot, i am working the tube bait and hook into a smallmouth over 4 pounds. It was great and even better, the guide was super excited to see something. So we spent the rest of the evening fishing this deeper drop and caught over 10 with our top 5 going around 20 pounds. The guide was as happy as a clam and we just had a great time with him and he really is a great guide, just has had bad luck. He will be housing Skeet Reese and other anglers coming up. He is the former world record holder for walleye through the ice. He had a plethora of tv appearances and front page covers on magazines for smallmouth and walleye. I think it was no coincidence that we did better than he had done in a very long time. Definitely lucky, but i think that luck increased with helping he guide to relax, not having big expectations, and having fun realizing there is always a chance. Best lures were a 4" green pumpkin tube 20 feet deep ledges worked relatively slow. Who knows, maybe you destroy them with your own approach. All i can say is that a lot of guides are struggling with the Bay due to poor fishing regulations. Let us know how you do. It was gorgeous out there and the smallmouth were so unbelievably fun to catch from 20 feet down. Guide was excellent in my mind and did the best he could and it was a great service. WackyWalleye guide service: Captain Dale

Great advice here folks. The comment right above me may be too intellectual for me to understand. I contacted a few guides around the area and am starting to gather some data around sturgeon bay. This fishery is something else. The big tournament is coming up mid September and will be fun to watch. I have booked a trip and will see how it goes and will report. All the advice from anglers and guides on this thread really helped and is quite interesting to see both sides and i feel comfortable proceeding in my first (of many) expeditions. Plus, been forever since i have gone fishing but that will soon change. After this trip will hopefully be Baccarac within the year (already getting planned out...). Shimmy GTN (get the net)

As title states, what is expected to pay for a fishing guide (stateside and/or abroad)? Have a break coming up and am thinking of fishing at sturgeon bay WI. Love to here some ideas for tips and what people's general approach/rule of thumb is.

Congrats. We want to see pics

Pushing 7 pounds.

What you are looking for won't be confirmed here. Get a scale. I am guessing you are getting better at fishing and this is the next step. Much easier than guessing. Congrats

Whatever you did with that artificial intelligence arm to catch that bass constitutes as cheating... Kidding of course. I'd say get better but by the looks of it you already are, nice fish.

atta boy Deep. Been waiting to see you post a hud fish...

Great job. Even a better job taking your girl out, true fisherman right there. Love when they just stare at the bigger bass and make crazy comments. Despite the loud noises and crazy boredom games they play in the boat, i think taking your girls with you always is a lucky charm for bigger bass. Seems to hold true for me. Congrats on a great fish.

You have a golden ticket. Just go fishing as much as you can. You will eventually update that PB. Let us know when you do.

Thanks. Combined we always had some relatively heavy bags each day. The big trick was finding the right lakes to fish. We tried plastics of various sorts but the fish were capping out at the low 4 pound range so we changed predominantly to jigs and swimbaits. Heavier jigs were not cutting it so we had to go really light (1/4 ounce to 1/8 ounce). Kinda hard to cover ground with lighter jigs but we caught more and the fish jumped in size once we lightened the jigs. Would love to get out there in the prespawn to learn more about these lakes and try for a bigger one. I hit some of the lakes in late September last year for a weekend and had an unbelievable time with a few bigger ones. Had one day on the water by myself (7:00 am to 6:00 pm) and caught 143 fish by myself. Most i think i have ever caught in one outing. Caught so many over 4 pounds, i had to start texting myself the numbers halfway through the day to make sure i did not lose track and caught over a 25 pound bag and a 23 pound back-up bag. Just crazy. Seems like you have figured out where a few of the better lakes are as well. To me, i feel like that is most of the battle in catching big fish on these Minnesota lakes, just identifying the best waters takes a lot of time and patience. Knowing when it is ok to only catch 5 smaller fish and continue to fish the lake since you know the lake has them over 6 and 7 pounds, while other people write the lake away. I will have to join you and the crew some time so i can double the size of my fish and progress out of peewee league.