ICU812

You could probably call it a fluke as I don't think ppl usually catch big bass like that in that water. I told one of my friends who's from around here about it and he found it hard to believe that I caught that bass in Toddy Pond. I've seen smaller bass chilling out by the boat launch but nothing like that one. I'm new to the area and don't really have enough experience to speak on the quality of the fishery. Besides that one bass I haven't personally had much luck there. I don't have a fish finder though which I know would be of tremendous help in a lake of that size. I think most ppl fish for landlocked salmon and lake trout there - not too sure. As far as the terrain where I was, like I said I dont have a depth finder so I don't know too specifically, but it's VERY shallow where I was, (3-5 ft?) and I would assume there is some sort of channel leading to the outlet though I didn't see one. This hog took the lure right by the bank though. It's a mixture of weeds and rocks and stumps in that area. So watch out for your prop lol. HTH

So sorry to hear about that!! That's really too bad. Yeah depending on water temp I'd go swimmin

She was roaming the shallows near the outlet in the northern section there. You can see in the third pic on my post that I'm pretty close to the bridge. I know you're not from the area but as you approach the lake you'll see the spot I mean, pretty near the launch

Great Fish!! Leave some for the rest of us!!! Looks like they're loving that swimbait!!

Great Fish and great information everyone!! I wanna get out and catch some fall bass!!! I've been skunked so far this fall on bass

Honestly I don't have much experience with the pond. It gets real deep in the first section of it (northern section) and is shallower in the next two sections. I'd like to get back out there and try to pull a few more out as well - if you're planning on heading out let me know!!

lol yeah I was shittn a brick and not thinking straight - Hopefully I'll have more opportunities to get better pics with big bass like that in the future

I've been feeling poorly for the past few days but jsut wanted to say thanks for all the additional information and advice. I'm taking it all into consideration for sure. Hope ppl are out catchin fish!

Congrats on the PB that's a TOAD!!

Thanks. Looks like the Teramar Inshore is getting a lot of love. I'll be making a final decision here sometime soon. I gotta say, the rod/reel in this pic that this guy caught this smaller-size tuna with doesn't seem all that bigger than what I'm imagining for the 400B. Am I just imagining things? That tuna must have fought harder than these cod do lol

All very good info - thanks man, good to hear the perspective of someone else who is new to the world of baitcasting

The Palomar knot is easy enough but the thing about it, to me, is if I have larger lures I'm trying to tie then at times it becomes awkward having to put a loop around the whole lure if you know what I mean. It's not that big a deal but ideally I'd like to use a quicker knot. As far as leaders, I messed around a little with the uni uni knot and didn't find it that hard, but to me it makes since that a leader probably isn't really needed so I'll start with no leader for now. Just gotta start somewhere and go from there.

haha thanks man!! with the recent cold front I want to get out there so bad right now cuz I'm thinking the bite should be on but it's gonna be hard to make it work today, maybe some quick practice casts from shore lol I know a spot where I can catch a few 18"ers pretty quick from shore on a good day. So I saw the "braid knot" on a web page, I was assuming I'd just use the same knots as I would for mono but do I have to tie diff knots for braid?

got my 200e7 today hehe I'm thinking 20# braid?? 30??? Flouro leader? Mono?? No leader?? lol I wanna get out and check this thing out!!

there's a DICKS by me, I'll do that. I'd love to catch bluefish! I was mostly catching haddock and it was basically just a "steady reel in" situation, I'm looking for a little more fight than that.

As far as rod application I'd like something that I could take out on a boat AND be able to use from shore, lol probably too much to ask. But the thing is I went out an a party boat cod fishing, went with a friend who goes regularly, and had a lot of fun. I want to go back out but I'd love to be able to use my calcutta and use lighter gear than I was using. I used what I guess is the standard cod-boat rig when I went, the red penn reel (the senator?) with some big fatty rod, not sure what it was. We used 50lb test and switched between jigging and bait, with bait catching the best fish. Had a good time and caught a bunch of fish, mostly haddock, but some cod, cusk and pollock too, the biggest being around 20 LB (pollock). Some guy at the back of the boat hooked into a tuna but it broke off. The biggest fish of the day was a 24 lb pollock. But the things is I think I could catch those fish on lighter gear, with more feel. It was basically like hauling up dead weight, and I have to believe it's possible to get more feel out of these fish. Maybe the calcutta 400b isn't the best idea lol but I want to take it out there and give it a go with a more sensitive rod than the ones the boat supplies. lol anyway enough rambling lol thanks again for all the good suggestions!!

Hey that's all really good information, thanks so much! Yeah I got the calcutta pretty cheap (127.99 brand new) thinking it would be a good bigger game reel. Sort of an impulse buy I admit, but I had some $ to spend and had heard good things about calcutta reels and the deal seemed sweet. I'm getting back into fishing after some years off and so I'm basically getting all setup again and want to use bc gear - all I had was old spinning gear from the 90s lol. So I need to absorb all this good info and check out some of those rods - thanks again! Hey whats the ideal range of fish for the 400b anyway?

Man I think I'm gonna try to catch some cod/haddock/pollock on this reel lol I don't know if it's a good application for that but I'm gonna try. I still have to find the right rod for it though.

I've found using a rapala knot on spooks and jitterbugs improves the action.

lol 97 views and no responses. Looks like Maine gets no love

Thanks for all the help man you sound like you know ur gear

Thanks - looks like it's 200e cuz I want something right in the middle. I throw a lot of worms for bass but I want to be able to throw a variety of lures from smaller swimbaits to (if possible) weightless worms from time to time. I'm thinking I don't necessarily need the 7:1 and should go with the e5 or is this a mistake?

Great bass and story, pretty hardcore for sure. Really nice looking fish!

Are there downsides to a curado 300 over a 200, like does the 300 not do too well with smaller baits? Whats the upper end of what a 200 can handle? I'm trying to match to a 7' mhf st croix avid if that helps. Thanks again for the responses

Yeah I was looking at those too, there's one on ebay that I was looking at. Thanks for the link