Janderson45

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll look into the guides you have recommended for me! @Dwight Hottle- when you fished with Steve were they full days? He list 4, 5 & 6 hour days whereas most other guides offer 8 hour days which is more of what I was looking for. Can anyone share some general information (a link is great too) about the fishery and seasonal habits of the bass on Okeechobee? I've found some decent information on google, but there's been so much written about Okee over the years that it's hard to sort through it to find useful/relevant information to my trip. Even when I go fishing with a guide I still like to know as much as possible about the fishery before heading out. I'll plan on either shipping or flying on the plane with a few of my favorite rod/reel combos to use.. I've never done this before but after my last experience with a guide where I used his equipment I realized I'd really rather have my own rods available. My assumption is that most guides don't give their clientele the same high-end combos that I'm used to fishing with. What is the safest and most cost effective way to travel via airplane with fishing rods or ship them to my destination and pick them up upon arrival? Thinking about bringing the following combos: How many is reasonable? Listed 4 here but 6 or 8 would be more ideal.. -7'11 HMF - flip/punch -7'8 MHXF - toads/trigs -7'4 HF - frogs/jigs -7' MHF - trigs/spinnerbaits

Hey guys, wondering if anyone can recommend a quality guide or guide service for largemouth on Okeechobee? I'm looking to bring my father down there on a fishing trip for his 60th birthday coming up in April. Figuring two days with a guide bass fishing on the big O and then a day or two or inshore fishing on the coast. A google search returns quite a few results for okeechobee guides, but it's pretty hard to tell what you're signing up for and who the guides are in a lot of instances. Hoping maybe some of you have done something similar or if you're a local you may have some better insight/advice? Also worth noting that my father is NOT an experienced bass fisherman. I've read that a lot of guides down there use large wild shiners for bass on guided trips, which I think is a good option to have for my father. I would like to fish mostly artificals myself, but I think pops would really struggle unless the fish are really fired up and slamming spinnerbaits. Also- I realize it's a massive body of water and this may not be a simple answer, but what does early April fishing on okeechobee usually entail? Post-spawn? A mix of pre and post spawn? When does the super heavy duty flippin and punching bite begin down there?? What would water temps be like? Thanks in advance for any info you can provide me with. I'm trying to get my father more interested in fishing, he's going to need a hobby in retirement!

Been there! Had a big pickerel anhilate my hand a few years ago.. I was in a canoe and he thrashed hard when I went to unhook him.. I had the same thought, "I can't believe how much I'm bleeding" .. fingers are pretty vascular though. Interesting and also strange that you started to light it up after switching to 40lb fluoro? I would think it's just a coincidence, but if they're not being line shy not a bad thing to beef up the leader size. Yes I do Plan on power trim and tilt... probably just going to end up going with a Mercury/Tohatsu 25ELPT...thinking about adding a TH Marine Mini Jacker jack plate as well.. gives about 4" of set-back while also gaining a couple inches of height. I think it should do well for a small aluminum V hull. ThayersMarine in Norwich CT has a few lund rebels in stock with 25hp... thinking of heading down there and checking them out soon. Currently leaning towards a tiller lay-out to save me ~60lbs... will offset the weight of a trolling motor battery in the bow.

Great question... I think the rules were adopted a while back when 2 strokes might have been a bit less environmentally friendly... I'd be scared to buy a 20hp 2 stroke for the Q as well.. feel like it's only a matter of time before they ban them all together. You also have to wear rubber wading boots when launching a boat, can't have carpeted bunks on your trailer, aren't allowed any contact with the water and are supposed to stay 500' away from the loons or something silly like that.. seems a bit excessive but I suppose it's part of what makes it such a beautiful and unique fishery. I'm halfway surprised they let you bring your own anchor for a rental boat.. it could have aquatic hitchhikers on it after all! That's very impressive that you were able to get 15mph by shifting some of the weight around in the boat.. fishing by myself the few times I've done it was miserable... got about 5mph and was plowing water the whole time. Got better speeds with a fishing partner in the front! That's good advice about moving the gas tank and battery to the bow.. I've never tried it but I'm sure it would help. I'm also betting that you were in one of the better rentals with a 10hp? All the rentals on the western side have 10hp outboards and I would typically get 11-12mph in those with my buddy.. but it seems like the majority of the boats at the two eastern launches have 8hp outboards, I've even seen some with 6hp. The Lund tiller I'm looking at is about 650lbs. Add another 150 for the motor, 150 for three batteries (1crank 2troll) and about 400lbs for two fisherman and gear. That adds up to about 1350lbs.. quite a bit of weight for that little 25hp to get up on plane. That's assuming an empty fuel tank and livewell too . I'll have to see what I can do to shave some weight off that total and move as much weight as possible forward..

Thanks DogBone - I've read through it many times. In all honesty the restrictions are really pretty ridiculous, particularly the "4 Stroke engines 1/2 the BIA or OBC rating up to a maximum of 25HP" and "No 25hp 2 Stroke engines are allowed" ... the 1/2 the boat's rated max HP rule really hamstrings private rigs out their... No one would ever advise you to buy a boat and rig it with an outboard that is 1/2 of the hulls rating... recommendations usually advise you to have 75-100% of the boats max HP rating in order for it to perform as expected while under a load... by only allowing 1/2 of the rated max it seems like they are really trying to keep you from getting your boat up on plane. 25HP is bad enough already, but making it even worse you have to put the 25hp outboard on a boat rated for a 50HP engine or more. Naturally they don't allow 25HP 2 strokes either, which just happens to include the motor with the best performance in the 25HP class, the Evinrude Etec. I came across a quick blurb not included on the fishing guide stating that 25HP 4 Stroke engines are permitted on boats with a 40HP max rating to discourage the use of 20HP 2 Stroke engines... but I can't seem to find it again. Can anyone confirm this or know where I read it? The restrictions are definitely a bummer and make your options very limited, but I suppose that's why the Q doesn't get pressured nearly as often as other large lakes/reservoirs in the state, which is a good thing. A 16' aluminum V hull (Like the Lund Rebel or Fury) should theoretically be able to get up to about 22-24MPH with an evenly distributed load and 25HP outboard. That's plenty good enough for me, I just want to make sure I can actually get this type of performance. My fear is that with 2 larger guys and fishing gear the boat might really struggle to get on plane... but I guess that's something I'll just have to live with or address down the road. I'd love to be able to take 3 people on the boat (myself and 2 others) but then I run the risk of plowing water and never being able to get on plane at all. Despite the restrictions limiting private boats to small aluminum hulls with small outboards, I really think it will make fishing a TON more enjoyable and successful... Just being able to have a nice bow mount trolling motor with iPilot and a boat with more storage will make a huge difference for me... When my buddy and I go out in the rentals we typically get 7-8mph and never get on plane, which is painfully slow as some of you know... There's been times I wanted to fish various spots on the reservoir that I chose not to simply because of the amount of time it would take to get to them and back to the ramp in time. It's not uncommon for me to target spots that are 7 or 8 miles from the ramp, so you do the math... that's an hour to get there and an hour to get back.. like I said, painful. Are you talking about Ice fishing? It's been crazy cold here in Massachusetts recently... I would expect most all ponds/lakes/reservoirs in the state are locked in ice with the possible exception of some of the larger bodies of water down the Cape/Plymouth ... even those might be iced over now. It's not supposed to get above 20 degrees until the end of next week... Maybe I'll try out ice fishing this weekend! I've never been before but have been wanting to try it out. I would think most of the ice in the state should be plenty thick/safe by this weekend?

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/New Year to all of you! looking forward to march/April.. put the kayaks away last weekend finally... 2017 was a pretty good year for me, I continue to grow as an angler with many thanks to all of you. 2018 is looking like the year I finally break down and buy a Quabbin rig. If anyone has any input on 25hp restricted rigs for the Q I'd love to hear it! Looking at a 16' Lund Rebel amongst others right now...

Ice starting to form on ponds/lakes by me.. might give it one last go if the weather looks good this weekend.. Plymouth or Cape should still have plenty of open water I think. Any recommendations on particular water bodies?

Yeah- my buddy has a boat that he trailers out of sandwich, we launched at Pamet, little sketchy at low tide this time of year.. Tuna hit a live lined mackerel somewhere along the SE corner of the bank, we drifted away from the pack of boats into a bit of deeper water, I think we were in about 110' FOW when the fish hit. It was pretty slow out there for everyone I think... we didn't see anyone else hook up while we were out there.

I've been getting out somewhere about once a weekend. Interesting reading about the success some of you have been having with a hair jig. I haven't fished one yet- most of my late season success has been with a curly tailed grub slow rolled around deeper water with remaining weeds. I was catching them on suspending jerks, slow spinnerbaits and paddletail swimbaits but that really seemed to slow once water temps started to approach 50 degrees. Haven't been exactly killing it since but I've gotten a few on grubs and blade baits since the water has dropped into the 40s. Just enough action to keep me interested and getting out there. I also recently installed a Humminbird helix 7 SI on my kayak too so that's been fun to play around with and get used to. Been on a couple successful saltwater voyages recently- went out Tautog fishing thanksgiving morning- me and my two buddies limited out with 18 keepers before 11am- headed back in for the thanksgiving meal- fun day. Saturday we went out for a little tuna hunting... things were pretty slow but around 1:30pm one hit.. and it was a giant.. we had it in the boat about an hour and a half later. 96" and 550lbs. It was no 5lb smallmouth but I guess it put up a decent fight... Here's a bit of go pro video from the fight.. apologies in advance for the language.

Ended up going with the 7"- I'm stepping up from 4" and 5" units without structure scan so the 7" seems like a Cadillac already. This will be bow mounted on the boat and a 9" will go at the console... decided on the Hds-7 because it will occasionally serve double duty on a kayak; the 9 just doesn't look right on the kayak and takes up significantly more room and battery power. I'll let you know how I like it!

Hi guys, looking to purchase a new unit... this is my first serious unit that will have side imaging (structure scan) and all the other various bells and whistles... I've pretty much decided on Lowrance because of my familiarity with their units and multi-touch screens in the specific price range I'm considering. From what I can gather it does still seem that Humminbird has better SI quality, but in order to get a touch screen from them you have to step up to the Solix- they don't have a touch screen model in the 7-9" range which are what sizes I'm considering. that said, currently an HDS-7 Carbon or HDS-9 Gen 3 can both be had for $1,500... which one would you choose? I know the advantages of the carbon vs the gen 3 and most of them don't effect my decision much.. the one that really does effect my choice is the screen. The HDS-7 Carbon has a screen with greater resolution and is supposed to be clearer and easier to view under all conditions. The HDS-9 gen 3 adds 2" for more effective viewing of split panel screens, but has less resolution (800x400) than the smaller Carbon unit.. kind of a bummer that the gen 3's have the same resolution at the 7" and 9" price point. I've read where others say the HDS-9 gen 3 basically just stretches the 7" screen an additional two inches and the end result doesn't look great. all that said, what would you prioritize? Newest technology and better screen resolution/viewing vs. 2" bigger screen ?? Also- the unit will occasionally be used on a kayak, how does power consumption of the two units compare? Would the carbon or the 9" screen require more juice? thanks!

I fish the quabbin pretty frequently, check out my posts in "eastern mass fishing reports" on it by running a search on the forums for the word "Quabbin". I'll likely fish it either Sunday or Monday this upcoming weekend. Good time of year for healthy and hungry smallmouth You can PM me if you'd like and I'll answer any questions you have and share pictures; the upload limit for forum posts is far too small for the amount of quabbin smallmouth pictures I've got on my phone.

Here's a 21" smallmouth that I caught, sadly it didn't break 5lbs like everyone is suggesting. That being said, the fish you caught appears from the photo to have more girth. I'd be comfortable calling it a 5lb fish.

I'm not sure exactly what the rule regarding that is either, although I have considered the same thing. I think I'll probably bite the bullet and just get a boat with a 25hp outboard which is the max that the quabbin allows... I'll be the slowest boat at most of the other lakes I fish, but still faster than my kayak! I just prefer to fish the Quabbin over anywhere else in Mass so buying a boat that I can't use at my favorite fishery doesn't seem to make much sense. I also figure a 16 or 17 foot boat with a 25hp engine isn't a bad "starter" boat for me to gauge if I really want to spend more money on a more serious boat in the future. With a 25hp I should be able to get 20-25mph depending on conditions... are there really that many lakes around here that I need to go 50-60mph on? I'm thinking not so much... sure it would be great somewhere like Champlain, Sebago or Winni, but how much am I really going to make the trip to those waters? Not nearly as much as I would make the trip to the Quabbin.. My next decision becomes whether to buy new or to search through used boats. What I'm looking at currently are boats like a 1600 Lund Rebel - no frills but effective, and I can add an awesome trolling motor and electronics which are more important to me than some other features might be.

I fished the Quabbin this past Sunday. I suppose I did alright but based on circumstances beyond my control I was unable to fish or run very far from the ramp for long portions of this outing. My fishing partner had a few too many the night before and was a mess on the boat.. we fished for about 2.5 hours 7-930AM on the same spot (he wanted to anchor) before I had to drive him back to the launch to get some rest in the truck. That is a real tough blow when those little rental boats are doing 6.5mph on you... Got him back to the launch and it was about 1030 now, and I was going to check back in with him at noon to see if he was able to rejoin me. Fished one more spot relatively close to the launch and did nothing. Moved to another spot a little further out before getting a phone call that it was time to go back and get him.. ended up picking him up again at 130 and we fished together until 5. I ended up with 12 fish, biggest was just a hair over 3lbs. He caught 2. Water temps were 75-76 degrees still despite our shorter days and lower air temps. I whacked them good in the AM for about 45 minutes on a Carolina Rig in about 35 feet of water. Struggled after dropping my buddy off to figure out what was different, where the fish went and what I needed to do. Took me a while to figure it out but they went real deep, Towards the end of the day I was marking and catching bass out of 50+ feet of water on a dropshot. Here's one of the C rig fish: Fishing in Maine this upcoming weekend but may hit Quabbin again on Monday, if not I'll be somewhere in the Kayak. I'm very seriously considering buying my first bass boat this fall/winter ... I've got a few ideas of what I want, but a large decision looms. The Quabbin is my favorite place to fish in the state, but their 25HP limit and boat seal program is a real bummer. I can either buy a nice quabbin rig with a 25HP outboard and the works, or I can buy a boat with a larger more serious (75-150hp) boat that is better for everywhere else but I cant even use on the Quabbin... I do also fish in a Bass club that does tournaments, so it would be nice to have a boat for that instead of being a co-angler.. I keep on trying to figure out a way to have one boat fill both of these voids, but it seems like it's not very plausible..

Congrats on the new PB smalljaw, they're always fun. I can't get out to A1 tomorrow, gotta work unfortunately. Good luck though, let us know how you do!

Been a huge problem at the canal for years. People think because there's lots of striper around right now they're not vulnerable to over fishing.. in reality that couldn't be further from the truth. Wasn't all that long ago there was a complete moratorium on striped bass on the east coast...

Hard to say to be honest. The fact that I got it to bite meant I was doing something right, and my gear wasn't seriously underpowered for the situation, I think I had a good chance of landing her if my rod didn't break but I guess we'll never know. if I had a chance to do it over again I'd probably pitch the same jig on a heavier setup (7'4 Heavy Fast) with 60lb braid instead of 7'8 MHXF with 40lb braid. I think the 1oz punch rig I had tied on initially would've done the job too but the jig was definitely the best bait for the situation. My drag was fully cranked down because of the super heavy cover and I don't believe that was a mistake or issue.

Yeah there are definitely some huge ones in there.. they just have so much real estate to tuck themselves away into it's really hard to locate them. After my past few trips I'm starting to think that they really get up shallow in the super nasty stuff and bury themselves. Pretty sure my last trip I heard a bass take down a bird in some of the super thick heavy cover. There's some really deep holes in the vegetation located throughout various spots toward the center of the lake too that they must hang out in. I feel your pain I've only ever actually caught one 5lb fish from there but my last few trips i think I've learned a lot about it. 370 dollar rod, 25 dollar anchor and two 10 dollar 1oz tungsten sinkers. Expensive fishing trip! Still would've left on top in my mind if I landed that beast. Heres the rod carnage.. And heres the jig that fooled her @MassYak85 let me know when you're back around and I'll meet up and kayak fish it with you if you're interested.

Sending you a PM. i fished A1 again yesterday in my Kayak. Managed 7 largemouth and a few pickerel out of the thick weeds with a 1oz punch rig. Biggest bass was about 3lbs probably. A relatively good day quickly turned into a heartbreaking experience... the trouble all started when the wind kicked up more than anticipated or forecasted. What was supposed to be wind topping out at 8mph was more like 15mph with gusts 20-25 out of the west. That was okay, I had my anchor. I anchored up in a field of grass and pads towards the middle of the lake, the wind was blowing directly into it and bass were stacked in the area. Quickly caught a bass and a pickerel from my anchored position, went to pull the anchor to maneuver around the weeds a little.. it was stuck. Like very stuck on a rotten stump. Tried for 10 minutes to get it loose to no avail. Cut the rope and moved on. So now I've got no good way to hold position, I'm doing my best to slow my drift so I can effectively fish still, but it was a challenge to say the least. Flipped into a small isolated clump of weeds about a half hour later, didn't feel a bite but saw a 4+ lber charge out from underneath the weeds and I said to myself "that fish must have my bait" set the hook hard and he was on for a few seconds, then he was gone. Not quite sure how my hookset didn't connect, I think in the excitement of him swimming out at me I didn't reel down enough and had too much slack in my line when I went to set it. I was frustrated to miss a good fish, especially since I saw the fish and knew it was a good one. It got way worse. Due to my inability to hold position I tucked in behind a small island where I could hide from the wind some. I fished in there for another hour without any signs of a bite. I was about ready to call it quits when I decided to check out another little area with some super heavy cover. I pitched my punch rig up in there, felt what I thought was a bite, set the hook and WHAM.. gone. Cut line. Unsure of whether or not it was a fish or what, I paddled up a little closer to investigate. There was a very nasty tree lay down in the water, much nastier than the other trees I had been fishing all day. Tons of branches and roots all over the place. I figure I must've gotten wrapped in it and broke off at my knot when I set the hook. I knew I didn't have the best snell knot tied but out of laziness i didn't retie it after a few fish. When I was up investigating the tree I saw my new personal best hanging out in a deep weed pocket right next to the lay down. We weren't leaving anymore I was going to catch this fish. It was huge, the largest bass I've seen in person in my life. If I had to estimate I would say 7 to 8lbs. My PB is a 6.36 and this fish was definitely larger. I didn't have a punch rig tied on anymore since I had just broke it off, so instead of rigging up a new one I decided to improvise, which in hind sight was a very very poor idea. I backed off the spot where she was holding and picked up a 1/2oz jig I had tied on. The jig was a perfect bluegill imitator and I knew I could get her to bite it. My first cast was slightly off target so instead of working the bait I quickly brought it in and pitched it again. This time I hit my mark. Let it drop in front of her face on the initial cast, then it settled to the bottom, I lifted it up again and shook it ever so slightly and she flew out and hammered it. FISH ON!!! Crossed her eyes with a hookset and the 40lb braid on my reel is now SCREAMING under tension, I've never heard braid make this noise before. Incredibly high pitched whine as it was under tension across some branches. She tried to dive but I took the fight too her too quickly and had her head turned. So with little other choice the bass headed for the surface where she gave me her biggest head shake to try and free the lure. This was one of those fish that was too fat to actually get out of the water, it was just able to lift its mouth out do the water and violently shake. I still had it pinned, but now with a bit more leverage on her side she dove down into the weeds again, dove down hard. Next thing I know CRACK... my rod broke. 18" down from the tip. Still thinking I had her hooked I reached for the line and tried to handline her in. Pulled it up to find nothing but weeds on my jig. Breaking the rod and my reaction time to grab the line must've created enough slack for her to shake free. I was devastated say the least. 370 dollar dobyns rod. Champion Extreme HP 784. Obviously not the right tool for the situation in hind sight, but I still never imagined that I was pushing the rod to the limit of breaking? Perhaps the blank already had a weak spot or defect where it broke? Good thing expensive rods come with good warranties... anyway, I left the lake disappointed and replayed that battle in my head probably 100 times. Now I know where she lives though, and I'll be back to do battle again.

Funny story, reading this thread made me book a weekend camping trip in Maine too... haha. I'll be at Kezar lake in Maine from sep 1st-4th. Rented a boat up there, same deal a 17' aluminum with 25hp outboard ?

I'd echo this pretty much. I still fish for them from time to time because I have respect for what a beautiful fish and respectable predator they are, plus they taste good and are far less common in much of the country than bass are.. That said, you're right... they don't put up much of a fight. I've taken a few in the 15lb class out of Lake Ontario.. it's cool to see a fish hit a spoon on a down rigger in 200 feet of water, but the resulting battle is pretty weak considering the size of the fish. King and Coho salmon on the other hand...

Hard to say or remember for sure as I was fishing in the thick of it, but in general yes I would think you'd be ok to throw a treble hook topwater in certain areas. I only have the Mini Slammer, which only has 1 treble in the middle of the body, so it's a bit more weedless than the other slammers which I presume have at least two trebles? Personally, I hate throwing treble hook topwaters around weeds at night, at least during the day you can see the weeds that are going to get your bait fouled up. There's certainly pockets of water that you'd have no problem, so as long as you stayed in those areas I guess you'd be fine. As you know with A1 though, you don't have to venture very far in any direction before you either find matted vegetation or emergent stumps to hang you up on. Sounds fun at any rate, I'm sure there's still some big ones swimming around in there.. I bought all the necessary gear for throwing bigger swimbaits, including a few expensive hard-bodied swimbaits, but I just haven't gotten into it at all yet. The Mini Slammer is the only one I've caught a fish on.... I rarely am in the mood to chuck them though and don't even bring them with me most of the time. Thinking about hitting the Quabbin on Saturday as long as the weather cooperates... past few trips were a big time grind and I'm not sure why. I haven't been out in about a month, so hoping things have picked up or I can figure out why the numbers weren't there for me the past two trips...

Hit the A1 on Saturday from roughly 8 to 4. Managed 7 largemouth for the day. Missed a few good hooksets in real heavy cover.. one that's gonna haunt me for a while, just as I was about ready to pull my jig out and pitch it somewhere else a fish nearly ripped the rod out of my hands. Reeled down and tried to set, it had already spit it. I guess we'll never know what was on the other end of my lure. 5 of the fish came pretty early, probably before 10:30AM... was a real grind after that. I told myself before I went that I was going to really stick to a jig in order to improve my skills. There were a few times when it was tough to resist the temptation of throwing a frog or a finesse worm, but I did. Fished the same jig all day and only adjusted my trailer once. Water temps were 74-78 degrees, caught all of the fish in shallow (less than 3 feet mostly) heavy cover. Best 5 bass probably went around 12lbs although I didn't weigh them all. Lunker on the day was 3.2lbs. Didn't manage to get any good photos (need a new gopro mount for my kayak) but here's one I snapped from my cellphone at one point. Weeds weren't as matted or plentiful as I was expecting(last year they were down right crazy), but there were still plenty of them to find some fish in. One challenge I faced when fishing a heavier flipping jig here was the grass on much of the bottom of the lake... it seems much of the bottom is carpeted in vegetation that only grows 6-8" in height off of the bottom... pitch a jig through some weeds it falls down through the water quickly and then is hidden from sight again in grass on the bottom.. I generally just tried to lift it a few inches off the bottom to expose it again and hold it in that position for various lengths of time before shaking it or lifting it for a drop again. Wasn't ideal, but seemed to work a few times at any rate. Most of my bites came on the fall after the initial pitch.

I've fished only two lakes in Maine but I loved them both for different reasons. China Lake, China ME and Cobboseecontee Lake, Manchester, ME They're both pretty sizeable as well, but not as large as Sebago. I did slightly better at China, but I've fished it twice now and Cobbo only once two years ago when I wasn't as good of a fisherman.