Big_Bass_Rich

Yeah sorry I gotta agree with Clooney on this. Those sleeves look tiny and it looks a little tight all around. Fishermen these days want to look good and be comfortable. I'm a lot more comfortable in a looser fitting sweatshirt (with a hood is a huge bonus!). Hey just offering my honest opinion! But I LOVE the hat, towels & tournament shirt!! The T-shirt well yes it looks good but maybe some different colors offered (personally I don't wear white t-shirts.. doesn't look too good when I start sweating like a pig lol) might be a bit better.

I fish a quarry pond like that sometimes in the summertime. Our best tactic has been 3 inch plastic grubs on a 1/4oz jighead fished on edges of drops or points. Another good tactic is topwater casted into the middle of nowhere, early in the morning. In these small pit ponds bass will often cruise around looking for bait, since cover is sparse. The low-light periods are their best time to hunt, therefore their most active period. Slim wooden crankbaits seem to do well too, especially in the afternoons.

Well to me it looked like they were hitting frogs and dragonflies after the sun went down - but another thing might have been that with the clear water in the ponds, maybe they just saw us fishing for them during the day. At night they cant see you as well so maybe it gives an advantage?? All I know is that around 9PM during the summer time those ponds exploded with topwater hits from both bass and pike!

I fish a couple of little manmade ponds like that and often had the same trouble. For me it turned out that the bass in the pond were accustomed to feeding only at night. Occasionally I could convince one to eat a texas rigged worm during the day but at night it is no holds barred topwater action! Spinnerbaits worked great too. Might be worth a shot.

I got mine at a local boat dealer but they've been increasing in popularity. Most local marine dealers will have them or be able to order them for you at a reasonable cost. Mine cost me about $1000 (roughly $750-800 USD) in total a few years back. Definitely worth it.

If you mean one of these: Then I have one and it is worth it's weight in GOLD!! It opened up a whole new world of fishing on the smaller lakes, ponds and rivers around here and has no trouble moving with a little Minn Kota electric motor on the back (or front). Mine has a working livewell and running lights so it is legal for night fishing. All the electronics are built right into the hull and I've never had a problem with it. Nice & light and fits perfectly into the back of my F-150. Way, way better than a canoe or kayak. This thing is like a little bass boat.

Bass season opens up here June 25th, best fishing for big smallies is September - November ;D ;D

My best day ever was last fall when we never got a single smallie under 5lbs the entire day. We weighed them all with a Normark scale and we ended up getting 12 or so between 2 of us, biggest being 6.2lbs. We're talking late late fall with huge jigging spoons. Almost too cold to keep the rod in my hand without dropping it lol. Lots of huge fish out there but it's all in the spot you choose. You can't go out to a big hump where everybody fishes but rather smaller humps near the big one, or spots that look like nothing. Half the time we'll find some sparse weeds in the middle of nowhere, mark it on GPS and fish it for a while and find a whole bunch of big smallies there. If we fish the main shoals that everyone else fishes a limit of 3lbers is pretty good. The thing is finding these secondary spots is kind of an unreliable way to fish and I wouldn't exactly count on them producing on tournament day. These are "here today, gone tomorrow" type areas but if you get onto them you can get a 4-5lb average no problem.

I agree with Lake Erie, although I'm partial since I live on it! ;D If you find the right spots, a 4lb average is not tough to come by. In the fall we can raise that to a 5-6lb average... just gotta know the right areas.

I know of a similar lake around here, Rice Lake. It is a very large, shallow and weedy lake that resembles my home water of Long Point Bay, Lake Erie. Around here - everybody's favourite bait is the spinnerbait. It catches fish like mad, not just bass. When I headed up to Rice Lake with my grandfather (who is a guide there) and he told me to leave the spinnerbaits at home, I was like.. yeah.. right.. that's gonna happen. So I tossed my spinnerbait for the entire first day and got NOTHING while my grandfather had an incredible day with grubs and plastic worms, and even buzzbaits. Day 2, I started with the spinnerbait, this time earlier in the morning, still couldn't get a fish while my grandfather was nailing them on buzzbaits. I gave up and switched to a buzzbait. I dunno if it's pressure on the lake from a certain lure or if it just doesnt resemble the food they're used to, but the spinnerbait by all means just doesn't work there! It's weird, I've never seen a place that I couldn't get a fish on a spinnerbait. Oh well, that's fishin'.

If I've got my fishfinder on board, then I use it. BUt I think that's an obvious answer. If not, I use something like a crankbait or soft bait and use it at different depths til I get a hit. If I get a couple hits say 5 feet down for example, then I guess that's where they're sitting.

I caught a 5 1/2 lb largemouth on a blue flippin jig one fall, I recognized her due to the roughed up tail and unusually black/red mouth. Well a week and a half later I lent the flippin jig to my friend and in the exact same spot he catches the same bass.. only this time it's about a half a pound bigger from the fall binge!! I told my buddy that he must have a horseshoe hidden somewhere inside his body. lol

Snagging. Yep, bust out the biggest ol' treble hook you got. ;D LOL I'm KIDDING!! Honestly suspending jerkbaits have always done it for me or if they're shallow enough - a topwater bait dead sticked above their head.. just given an occasional twitch. Spooks and poppers are good for this.

Absolutely not. If they stay within their limits, seasons and slot size (if applies) then they are doing nothing wrong and fisheries biologists have deemed it to not be harmful to the area. It is their choice to keep a few bass just as it would be my choice to keep as many steelhead as I'm legally allowed in the fall. Now on the other hand, I have had a few confrontations (a couple even became violent) with people keeping or harming a bass out of season. I call our wonderful Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and they say "we can't be everywhere at once".. well to that I reply "then I guess I'll take it into my own hands". I won't post it.. but the things I've done to these poachers can be kinda funny to those who know me - because I am not a violent person by any means. When I see people doing this though, it just turns my crank! >

Bass are great, panfish - awesome, walleye - can't beat 'em, pike - ooh wonderful pike, catfish - like 'em better smoked but great any old way, heck I've even eaten carp! (which aren't too bad if you eat only small ones!) Trout/Salmon are OK too but personally I don't like them that much. I'll eat a smoked fresh run steelhead once in a while that's it. MMMM This post made me hungry! It may be time to fry up some panfish next time I hit the ice!

In Fisherman and Bassin' are really the only good ones I get up here. As far as Canadian magazines go Bob Izumi's Real Fishing is my favourite.

QMaze you move to Ontario? If so what part?? Maybe we could hook up this summer for some bassin! I live right on the north shore of Lake Erie, lots of great large and smallmouth fishing here. Also if you have MSN add me - owf_2002@hotmail.com

Personally I prefer largemouth, just because I love shallow water fishing. Smallies are great don't get me wrong and I know they can be caught shallow but I guess all my years of watching the Bassmasters has given me this thought in my head that largemouth have more prestige. I just feel more fulfilled catching a nice largemouth. ;D

Multi-Species Fishing Sponsor Opportunity! Southwestern Ontario Angler Richard K Sims Port Dover ON Canada Known As "Big Bass Rich" On Several Outdoors Websites Occupation: Student/Labourer/Outdoor Writer Founder: Team Xtreme Personals: Age 19 Birth Date: 28 JAN 1986 Birthplace: Hamilton, ON, Canada Employment History: Formerly a Farm Labourer Full Time High School Student Attending Sir Sanford Fleming College in September '05 Objective: Full Time Professional Fishing Guide/Tackle Store Owner Tournament Fishing Results: Winner of 3 Consecutive St Laurent Paperboard Company Tournaments - 1998, 1999, 2000 Professional Training: 17 Years of on the water experience Have Worked in Tackle Stores Editing work for professional outdoor writers 2005 Sponsors: S&K Guide Service, Delaware Tackle, Dominator Lures I can not only wear patches, shirts and clothing during tournaments and while fishing anywhere in the country. I also run a few websites that can draw several people to your websites or products every day. I also write articles for several outdoors websites in which your products can be mentioned/promoted in. Also post in several fishing forums where promotion of your products/services can be done efficiently to hundreds of people. Some of the sites I write for are: http://www.geocities.com/bbrsims https://www.bassresource.com Plus several others! Please contact me with information on your product and I will probably be more than happy to promote it to the best of my abilities. Contact me by e-mail - owf_2002@hotmail.com or PM on this site for phone number or any other personal information (would rather not post on the internet). Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you!

I hate to be the one who does this generic response - but it depends on where, how deep, season, temperature, weather & a lot of other factors. There are a million ways to fish rocks, experiment a bit and you may be surprised.

Thank you thank you thank you Glenn!! ;D ;D ;D

It's rare that the season ever opens up here while bass are still bedding, but when it does I have never had a bass turn down a weightless 5" plastic worm on a bed.

White, black, blue or red.

How about a casting contest? Can never go wrong with that. Set up a few targets (you can make with cardboard boxes and some paint) and have some spincasting combos ready with practice plugs, somewhere out of the way perhaps even the parking lot. Let 'er rip! Top 3 or 10 kids win a little prize. Maybe fish trivia? Some simple questions for kids and prizes for winning! Great idea, always great to get families interested in fishing together. Hope it turns out well!

D. Taylor, I thought I was gonna be the only one who ice fished! I have lately been painting old lures like spinnerbaits/crankbaits, and mixing/matching blades and stuff. Also organized the tackle box (cuz it badly needed it) and bought lots of tackle... And a lot of times I will go flip around to various things in the backyard.