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lol yeah and now that it's fixed my post makes no sense lol and I look like a dick haha

d**n! Big O really wanted to congratulate you!! lol Hey man your Uncle looks awesome and so does your dog! I LOVE dogs! Sorry the fishing wasn't epic but at least you were landing fish! Gotta leave a few pigs for the rest of us!! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks guys!! Hell yeah Mainebassman I'm gonna be basically living out on that body of water and Toddy! I'll be hunting a new PB for both species!!

Thanks for all the tips guys!! If I had more access to the ocean and ocean fishing I might have gone a different route, but ordered the 7'11 xheavy okuma swimbait rod and it came today. Gave it a few casts this evening and it seems like a real nice fit. Thanks again for all the information and advice guys!!

Well I'm running back and forth a lot lately, helping family out with some work on some property, and I've been trying to hit up spots on the way there and back. Today I hit a spot on the way where I've had some luck and on my 5th cast I pulled in this little decent largemouth. T-rigged small green and white senko, 4" maybe? Didn't measure or weigh the fish but it was around the same size as one I caught yesterday that went 14". Then on the way home I tried a different spot, where I haven't had a lot of luck from shore. I went up on a boulder and tried to throw my new swimbait setup just to see how it all worked. I only threw it a few times because it wasn't really the right situation; shallow water with lots of stickups and a sinking $14.00 swimbait that isn't weedless. Got hung up once and thought I was gonna have to go swimming to get the bait back. Pulled it free and put the swimbait rod down, reached for my regular baitcasting rod and tied on a jig. I don't have a lot of confidence with jigs because I had never caught a fish on one, but I saw a submerged rock that looked like it might be holding a fish, so I threw the jig a little past it and hopped it up over the rock and let it drop down over it. Gave it a few small hops and then on the fall I felt a "Tap Tap" and swung on it, setting my first jig fish! I was afraid I would lose it hauling it up on to the boulder, but I got it up pretty easily, ran to the truck to snap a shot, and let her go smoothly. Pretty much the same size as the first, maybe a little bigger and it felt quite a bit stronger. Felt really good and I feel like the bass gods are finally smiling on me again

Man that's amazing! You give new meaning to the word "toads". Caught my first ever jig fish on a strike king football jig and rage craw trailer today! I believe a big THANK YOU is in order!!!!!

Hey thanks!! Yeah lets hope the season is gearing up for some lunkers for both of us! Lunkers for all!!!

Hey thanks for hitting my thread! I always love reading you're threads and seeing the amazing bass you catch! BTW I Caught my first jig bass today with a rage craw trailer!! I think you may know a thing or two about those plastics??

You are correct in your assumptions, good sir. lol yeah man this is one of the only local spots where I can pretty much count on a bass at least looking at my lure from the shore. Anywhere else around here from shore I just feel like I'm wasting my time. Got another one there today luckily! Felt so good. I only tried getting out on those rocks once before but now that I know it's a good area to try I'll be there tomorrow for sure

Haha thanks! I know it's a crappy pic but the fish was pretty and it felt great bringing her in!

Great fish! I was curious if you meant live sunfish as well.

Great fish and thanks for the tip on the technique! Something I'll have to try! Great job and good luck on the lake!!

I've been having a little trouble getting on the bass this season, or getting on the fish at all for that matter, but I finally pulled in a largemouth from shore today! Stopped by a local spot where I've had some shore-luck on the way to a family member's house and hooked into this 14" lmb on probably my 5th cast. She took a texas rigged zoom worm pretty close to shore. Not sure if she was spawning or what. She got a little sandy while I was landing her but after her photo session she was released and swam away fine. Nothing huge at all but it felt good to get a decent bass on my line again. 14" but pretty chunky Sorry for the crappy pic quality - it's a screenshot from a video that was recorded by a cellphone

Haha 8lb test with swimbaits!! That's pretty crazy! Yeah all I use is braid nowadays - I've really come to like it though I'm still learning. Yeah if you're ever at Toddy and you see a big tall goofy-looking guy in a 14 ft princecraft with a look of determination on his face you'll know it's me haha! Maybe you can show me how real fishermen do it!

I don’t believe you about the jigs, I’m convinced you’re offering them candy to get them in the boat!! No but seriously, thanks for the tips and information it’s really generous of you and really helps those of us who are still learning!! I used to fish ALL THE TIME as a kid and really fell in love with it but for some reason between my late teens and late 20’s I never picked up a rod Luckily for whatever reason the bug came back and bit me again and I’ve fallen right back in love! Man I’m having a lot of boat issues lol and haven’t been out to Toddy yet. Ever since seeing the bass you catch there and the 8.2 lber that was caught at the last tourney I’ve been wanting to go but haven't been able to put all the pieces together. Haha soon enough I’ll be out there though – I really want to take a swimbait out there and hunt some trophies! I can’t help but think there must be a DD Largemouth in there somewhere! I should be all setup with a working motor and a few new toys hopefully towards the end of the month. Lol right in time to miss the spawn right?

Does anyone on here ever hit the Penobscot River for bass?? It's supposedly a tremendous smallmouth fishery! I'd like to try it out sometime but it's a little daunting. Been doing a little research and I've learned a little about how and where to target them. I don't think I've seen any reports from there on the site and was curious if anyone had any stories/pictures to share!!

Don't forget STRUCTURE too. think about where a fish would hide from predators. look for stickups, rocks, submerged stumps, etc. Try texas rigging plastic worms - work them SLOWWWW - you should get a bite. If they're spawning where you are, try some topwaters over the beds too maybe. Dusk and Dawn are key times too! Good luck!!! Keep at it!!!

Man!!!! I don't know what you're doing to get them to jump in the boat and take pics with you, but I realllllllly wish you'd let us know hahaha Way to go!! You should change you're nick to "toadsticker" lol

Man that should be a great trip if you end up doing it! If the lake's got smallies in it I know you'll find the pattern and snap us a few pics of some beautiful fish! That looks like it's only a little further northeast of Dow Pines/Great Pond, where I took my dog's a week or so ago and tried my luck from shore to no avail. Doesn't seem to far from me, maybe I'll try it out sometime to up my pb smallie from like 1 lb

congrats on the great fish!

let us know how it goes! I look forward to mackerel fishing this year! Caught quite a few last year but I wasn't aware they were running this early.

In theory the bite should pick up before a storm as the barometric pressure drops - they say this "pre-frontal" condition is supposed to be some of the best fishing.

Man that's crazy! On 2 lb test?!?!?!? Impressive!!

Haha you catch fish every day man! Great job! I knew I'd log on tonight and you'd have pics up of like 5 more good looking bass lol Congrats on the trout too!! Fish just can't stay away from you

Hey thanks man! Yeah that's what I was thinking about - mid 60's should be spawn and I was hoping it was finally getting up to around that temp due to the recent weather! I'm SOOOOO close to getting rigged here with a trolling motor and fish finder. Then I'll be asking half as many questions! lol thanks a lot man for all your help I'm gonna dedicate my first lunker of the year to you Good luck today if you go out! I'm gonna hit a spot from shore today where largemouth were hanging out last year and hopefully now are starting to spawn!!