5 Dollar Fishing Game

Well, the past three days ot only has the pond gotten back to normal, but it is better! 6lbs. 7lbs. and the usual 2-3lbs.'ers are back and ready. We gave it about a 3 day break and not sure if it had anything to do with it or not but seems the spawn is done and the fish are VERY active. Switching up the ponds and lakes with a few days breaks between. Now will this activity intensify through August, stay the same or slow down during the summer? I know the fall and winter months have more lethargic bass but they are FAT too. :-)

I went out there this am and had 3 bass in 10 minutes. They are killing it today! The past few days were in the 90's and today in the 70's. Not sure if this had an impact on it but I also have left this pond for the past 3 days. Joe

May be both too. I will take that advise though. :-)

My friend and I have been fishing out of four local ponds here in NC since the first of April. We would hit the ponds 2-3 days a week and usually catch about 10-15 fish each in about 4 hours. Each pond is about half the size of a football field and the fish ranged in size from 2-6lbs. The temps were about 60-70 degrees in April. Well, about a week ago the number of fish caught went down to about 3-4 a piece and today we caught one each. For the past week the temps have been steady in the 80’s and sunny. I thought this would be the best time for them to bite. Now the new thing is once we arrive at each pond, there are 4 or 5 “schools” of small bass right near the shore lines. There are about 10-15 in each circle and they are about 6 inches long. They chase the spinners and nibble at them. My friend caught one today on a night crawler and the mouth on it was so small he had to use his pointer finger instead of his thumb to get it out. Now they are the only fish swimming around and all of the other fish that are bigger went lethargic. What happened? Is this the post spawn? Or just the hotter temps caused them to go quiet? Or did we “over fish the ponds” and need to let them relax for a couple weeks? I am going deep sea fishing tomorrow for a few days so it will be next week before I fresh water fish again. The kicker is this is occurring in all four of the ponds. Thanks!

Cool. That sounds good. It makes sense too. Granted they move around a lot but the fish finder shows movement too. Thanks man!

Don't ever be afraid to use a spinner bait; they are my favorite. The thing is, you can cover a lot of water with one and vary your reel in speed as well. If there is a bunch of water cover (moss, branches, leaves, etc.) you may have issue getting snagged. In that case from what you are describing, I would try the weedless lizards. Try and get the body in a red or green speckled in glitter with a neon green tail if possible. A 1/4 bullet weight is good and be patient. Rivers like that do hold good bass and if you can find a downed tree or similar big structure, then go for the lizard there too. You will get them! - Joe

About how many fish total (bass, crappie, catfish,etc.) are in a pond that is about half the size of a foorball field in length and width. I mean just a guess. The pond is about 50 years old. The shore line around it is about 6ft deep and the center is about 15ft deep. I just wonder how many fish are swimming around under the boat while I'm in there. Is there a general rule for lakes too, like 20 fish for every 20 foot square, etc. I am not asking for an exact number and tried to give as much details about the lake as I can. Just curious, thanks! Joe

That's right ! U too man. Stay after those big ones. ;-)

That sounds like a good idea. Makes sense to try that. Thanks. :-)

We tried everything. We are waiting to see what they will do when the weather warms up to about 90 instead of 80.

My friend and I tried a new pond last week. Ithasn't been fished in over 10 years. The first day we caught an 8 and two 5 lbs bass to back within an hour. The rest of the day we caught dozens about 2 to 3 pounds. The days after the big fish never bit again. We took about 3 days off from it and still no big fish. Do the big females "know" what we were up to for lack of a better term? We still catch 2-3 pound bass there but the big mamas seem to have gone slow. We took a small boat an trolled for 5 hours yesterday and got bass all day long, just not the biggins'. I was thinking that maybe since the pond hasn't been fished in 10 years they have never been exposed to those lures before and went for them. Or maybe thu will get active again in the summer.

By looking at the bass in your hand. As a general rule the vent or scaleless urogenital opening in a male largemouth bass tends to be more circular in appearance while the opening in a female largemouth tends to be more elliptical. Having said this, however, I should hasten to note that few biologists or fisheries managers rely on this method of determining the sex of a fish, because even to the well trained eye it results too often in mis-identification. Instead, at least during the spawning season, a much more reliable method of determining the sex of mature fish is to gently push on the fish's belly, back toward the tail. When you do this properly, you will often see a white milky substance (milt) flow from a male bass while a few eggs will be evident from a female fish. Beyond this very seasonal method, however, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between male and female largemouth bass. The only possible exception is when you catch a particularly large fish. As a general rule, largemouth bass bigger than eight or nine pounds are nearly always females.

One of the reasons I would go in if it was safe is because if I didn't I know I would live with the regret. And face it, even a good lure may have to come back home at the expense of my were clothes. Not to mention if a huge bass is hooked and my line is snagged on a structure of some sort. :-)

P R I C E L E S S !!!

Aside from tourneys. I mean just "fun fishing ". :-)

Well said! I will remember that advise. :-)

If I reel it in and I see that it is a "mule" (to put it in the words of Bill Dance) then the phone comes out of the pocket, and in I go. Or as mentioned if it is a lure I love, then I'm in. It's only water and plus it makes for a good story too. LOL

Always wondered. Let's say you are fishing and for some reason, a possible tragedy strikes. You either are stuck on a limb in the boat sticking out of the water, or in a spot the fish might get hung while reeling in at the pond shore, etc., and then you set the hook on a HUGE bass. Would you swim in and get the fish "thumb in mouth" or not?

Caught 7 bass today on spinners. 20mph wind. Ty all!!!

ALWAYS! ;-)

Thanks all! Once I felt the bite, I set the hook as normal but something felt different. Kinda like I was caught on a limb , but the area was clear there. Then I watched the end of the rod bob like crazy. I reeled it in and about five feet from me I saw it and yelled, " I found mama!". LOL. It was funny. :-)

That is a "mule" my boy! (Taken from Bill Dance's 13lbs. "mule" video)

I "liked" his comment. I am still laughing!!

I actually just tried it out and it works great! Suprisingly it is smooth as silk and it is easy to see being that it is neon green. I likey. :-)

Thanks, from Fuquay Varina. WOOT WOOT !!