NateFollmer

I'll expand on the black Jitterbug: ANY black topwater bait. HA. No, seriously, I use black Jitterbugs, Torpedos, Poppers or Buzzbaits.

I usually just hold the fish upright by it's tail and I'll push it forward a few times. They will swim away when they are ready. Although, I have never hooked a gill yet, I have hooked fish close and sometimes in the eye (hook came OUT in or near the eye). I try not to mess with getting the barb back through when that happens. I'll cut it off and push the hook through.

NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! You can't take a banana in the boat with you! I eat pumpkin seeds (they are amazing) and walnuts.

I thought about that too, but I wanted to make it as simple as possible for the people. I guess that wouldn't be too much to ask that everyone had a camera, but it may be hard trying to take photos of fish in a kayak...

Just wet the net and your hands before the fish enters it and they should be ok. If I'd fish tourney's I'd be netting everything. I don't net when fishing for fun though, not because I don't want to, I guess it's just 1 more thing I have to carry... I always net my trout when I'm fly fishing though, simply because I have too much line out and usually can't land the fish without scooping it up.

Thanks! I totally forgot about tinboats! If anyone is in the Pa region and would be interested in something like this, please let me know. We have plenty of lakes in the area to get this rolling!

Yes, Bluegill and Baby Bass are my go to colors for the lake. In the river, smallies seem to like watermelon/copper. I need to buy some more though, I have 1 Bluegill left and nothing else

More time to fish! Always look on the bright side, I know it's tough too when you aren't making money, but it can only get better...

I think anything is worth chasing in a tournament You just have to learn when to quit and try a different technique. That's why its a good idea to have multiple rods rigged with multiple baits. Throw the topwater a few times, if it doesn't work, toss out something else OR if you have a missed topwater strike, toss out a soft plastic where the strike occurred and see if you can grab the fish that way.

Tubes seem to always catch smallies. Depends on what is living in the stream or creek though (I never fished for smallies in creeks, but I would assume its close to what you use in rivers). Tiny Torpedos work good for topwater as well as poppers. I usually downsize my baits when I fish for smallies. For example, for largemouths I usually use a 6 or 7 inch curly tail worm, with smallies I usually use a 4 inch worm. Most of the same things will work for large and small mouths, just depends what the major forage is where you're fishing.

Cranks work best for me and then pretty much any plastic texas rigged. I was standing in about 2 ft of water one day and had about 6 inches of line out, in the water (It was hanging in while I was looking for a new lure). A smallie came out of the grass beside me and swallowed my Sexy Shad. I think that's proof enough of how well cranks work on the bank Oh, and don't get into the "I'm gonna cast straight out in front of me" crowd. I bet probably 80% of my fish came from paralleling the banks. Fan cast an area also, work it to death then move on.

Did you notice any crawfish? They may have been hitting them underwater. I've never really seen largemouths ambush crawfish in packs but small waters have a whole set of different rules Now smallies on the other hand, they will school regardless of size. You'll catch dinks and monsters all in the same area. They LOVE crawfish too and I have seen them pack up and destroy crawfish. It's funny how different these two fish are, yet they are so similar.

Great tip! I never knew that and I could give it to the fish because I hate 7-up

You have until May 30th to enter so you're fine. There actually running this until July 28th but you have to enter each 2 week phase.

I use fluke's during post spawn on the river. I can't seem to get them to bite on them any other time. If you want to use soft plastics for smallies, nothing beats a 3 1/2 inch tube or a 4 inch curly tail worm. Smallies are partial to dark green and brown tubes around here.

Bass will normally school until they are around 3 lbs. after that, they are normally loners. Is it rare to see big fish together? No, especially on small bodies of water like a pond, they may school up even after reaching a larger size. There are exemptions to every rule though, nothing is definite with fish haha. Honestly, they may have been ignoring your lures because you may have been spotted. I've came up on some massive bass that just wouldn't take anything, but weren't spooked enough to leave their spot. They may have been guarding a nest (I doubt it though with 4 of them together) but they usually won't move unless you put something inside their nest. Big bass are smart, you really have to work hard to fool them. They didn't get big by being stupid You'll get 'em eventually, just keep tryin'! Try a lure that you think isn't very popular. Maybe they are used to seeing what you were throwing and know not to eat it.

This is a great way to learn new stuff about fishing. I have fished with some great guys and girls in the opens. In Oct, start looking at BassMaster.com for info. I never knew you could do that! I think my wife would kill me to pay $300 to enter 1 tourney, guess I'll have to start saving now Anyway I digress... Nice write up, it seems like a great opportunity. Congrats!

Maybe you could have told her it wasn't her fault and it was sick before she caught it? That's a tough one really. I mean, you don't want to flat out lie to her, but then again, you don't want her to feel bad (it was an accident). Anyway, I've seen a few kids hook bluegill and it actually went through their eye. FYI, cut the hook as close to the eye as you can and push it back through. You'll do more damage trying to get the barb back out.

Oh yes, he had an awesome time. He actually will sit there for a long time and watch his bobber. He isn't like most kids that get bored after a few minutes. He was watching me as I pulled that first fish in and I asked him "Do you wanna rip some lips?" he replied, "No, I want to catch a bass".

The day started off great. I got to fish with my cousins husband (Curt) and their son (Blake) who is 3. We wanted to take him to Faylor because it's a great place for panfish. Blake fished the pants off of us, with a total of 13 fish (mostly crappie and bluegill, but he got his first bass! A nice 12 inch LM). Anyway, here is how my tactics went for the day: I knew the carp were spawning and it had the baitfish ALL over the place. I started off throwing a crankbait (Strike King Sexy Shad color) trying to match some of the forage I had seen. I was targeting the quicker transitions to deep water. I had a lot of followers (some HUGE followers) but they just wouldn't commit. I tried slowing it down a bit with a suspending jerkbait, still a lot of followers but nothing would take it. After throwing just about every baitfish imitator I had I decided to switch to a tube (can't go wrong there). I Texas Rigged a Bluegill colored tube I had left over from El Grande Lures (a buddy of mine had some and gave me a few). As soon as that tube hit the bottom, it took off. I caught about 4 fish in that same spot, all around the same size. After those 4 fish, the bites stopped as quickly as they started. I moved out further and targeted a lone tree that was on the end of an eddie. Again, as soon as that tube hit bottom, it got smashed. I caught 3 fish off of this tree and that was it. We fished for 1 pm to 5 pm and totaled around 25 fish. Enough of my ranting, here are some pics:

I caught her on a sandy bottom Ah cool! I always liked catching the smallies down on the sand flats in the Juniata. They get so light like your fish, but if you catch some just 20 yards off the sand, they are really dark from being in all the wood structure. It's amazing how fast they can change color!

Has anyone had any experience with this? I was thinking of starting a small craft tournament trail for all the small lakes in the area. I think it would be a great opportunity for people who don't have a bass boat, but want to get a small taste of tournament fishing. Plus, I wanted to start something up that didn't involve joining clubs and paying a bunch of fees. I'm trying to get organized at the moment and wondered if anyone could give me any potential ro***s they have run into before. I was thinking of allowing kayaks, canoes, and small electric only boats in and doing a 'paper' tournament. I can't really come up with any good way of doing this though. The honor system will just fail and I don't want to have people going back to checkpoints once they catch a fish. I was thinking of having a few people that would man a section of the lake and go to the people once they catch a fish, but I don't know if I could come up with enough people to help... Any ideas would be helpful! Thanks!

NICE! My grandfather used to have a Ranger, they were decent boats! I want to see some pictures Sounds like a good deal on your end.

If you take me out on the lake I'll come up and say Hi Erie's a good 4 hour drive for me but I really want to get up there! I hope to hit it next spring when the Steelhead are running through the streams, that way I can fly fish and then also fish for bass

Zoom Baby Brush Hog for smallies (they like the small profile ) Can't go wrong with the Sweet Beaver for Largemouths though. Heck I have even pitched Yum Money Minnows before.