woodnut

I do, mine love to fish and is getting pretty good at it. She has set two PB this year a 6 pound large mouth and a 4.3 pound smallmouth. Needless to say she is hooked. I know this will sound funny but I think I catch bigger fish with her in the boat. I don't feel the presure and can slow down and fish a little slower.

nice tip Big-O, I'll use that one for sure.

Thanks everyone she will be happy to hear the kind words. Mrs. Matstone, believe it or not I like it when she catches the big one. It makes things around the house alot smoother, I let her rub it in and then she feels sorry for me and treats me like a baby. She has done this to me twice this summer though so enough is enough I'm not taking her anymore. LOL Just kidding baby LOL. Got to pick your battles.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. I enjoyed reading all the responses and I will read the book " The big bass zone" .

I was reading the thread " catching big fish" and it reminded me of a conversation I had with an older gentleman the other day. He was showing me a photo album of the fish he has caught. I made the remark that he had caught some nice fish , he said " if you want to catch big fish you have to fish for big fish, there is a differnce." he did not explain as to what the difference was. So to my question. Do you go out fishing for the big fish? Do you just go fishing and hope to catch fish and if you get a nice one thats just icing on the cake?. How do you fish for the big one? Do you throw a 6' 7' worm instead of a 4"? Do you throw a heavier jig with a bigger trailer? Do you use a bigger crank bait that dives deeper? I don't know if this has been asked before, but thought it would be fun and educational to see the different ways we fish. Thanks for reading.

I had to do the same thing, but after awhile she gave in and let me put it up.

I don't know if any of you will remember this, but awhile back I posted a thread about how to work a football jig. The reason for that thread was that I had hooked a good smallmouth, got it to the boat but it got off before I could land it. Well this morning my wife and I went onto the lake bright and early. I went to the same spot and started trowing a foofball jig again, but I started seeing a few bass working the banks after shad, so I crabbed a torpedo and bam got one in the boat about 12 inches I asked the wife if see wanted one and she said she would rather stick to her worm. Ok so a few more cast and bam another in the boat about 14 inches. She said I believe I would like one of those. I rig her up and about 6 or 7 cast later I hear a thomp on top off the water and look back and she has hooked a big one. I get the net for her and when it is all said and done she caught the smallmouth that I let get away. It was 4. 2 pounds and 22 inches long. What a morning. She has been all smiles all day. I caught about 10 bass all on top water and none to compare to her's. I have pics if she will let me post. She said she didn't look her best. Ha Ha.

growing up that is about all I fished for. would wade the creek all day and have an absolute ball catching red eye, oh and they do fight like a smallmouth, very fun to catch. around here the easiest way to catch them was always live bait, although they would knock the skirt off a roostertail. fun times

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Thanks for the great information, I've not been able to make it on the water since this post, but I am going to try my hand at a tournament on Tuesday night. Its a very local little tournament but I have never fished one, so it should be a good way for me to see if its my cup of tea.

Now you may have hit he nail on the head. I was using a 6' berkley rod with mono line, later into the fishing I changed to a 7' berkley with heavier braided line. I could tell a difference in the feel of the jig while working it on the bottom instintly, but never did get a hit while using that rod. Oh and both rods are heavy and medium heavy.. When working the jig is there a general rule as to how to wiork it along the bottom or just what ever works. I was picking the jig up off the bottom a couple feet then letting it fall back to bottom, should you just walk it across while staying in contact with the bottom? Thanks guys.

I hope I'm putting this in the right section. Tonight I went out fishing with a goal in mind, to learn how to fish the football jig.So found some good cover and pulled the boat to about 30' of water and cast to the cover with the jig I watched the line dart and stop twice so I tighted up a little on the line and felt him on the other end. I dropped the rode just above the water and came straight overhead with the hookset, fish on, get the fish to the boat and can see it's a pretty good smallmouth, he starts fighting alittle harder never breaking the surface and throws the hook. What did I do wrong? Was the hook set wrong? Should it have been a side action hookset? I'm asking because this is the first hookset for me on the football jig and it gets off. I worm fish alot and the over the head hookset just seemed right for the jig. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I have 5 or 6 in three colors black/white, silver/blue, silver. I love them and usually have one on a rod at all times.

Thanks for the welcomes

I will, it will be fun to talk to and get some advice from you. The two lures I have the worst results with are the spinner baits and the football jigs, love to get some advice on the proper way to fish those two. I love worm fishing and crankbaits, but do not have control of the jigs and spinners just yet.