DBSULLY

Pick up some zoom super swimming flukes or a similar plastic, rig with a 4/0 wide gap hook and fish it weightless, or with a small 1/8 oz bullet weight. Swim it slow, with an occasional stop and twitch retrieve. The bite has been on for me with this technique for the past few months in farm ponds. Good luck, and post your results in the fishing reports. Brandon

Thanks for all the kind words yall. Brandon

Good looking fish man. Brandon

Shimmy, I am glad we can discuss this in an appropriate manner. I understand your concern, and I'll be purchasing a scale soon so I can remove all doubts. Thanks again for the kind words. Brandon

Shimmy, First off let me thank you for the compliment. Now, I dont mean to come off rude, or like my feelings have been hurt, because I have thicker skin than that, I just dont like to be accused of something I havent done. Im not "fishing" for compliments by lying about the weight of the fish I catch. If I wanted that sort of attention Id be claiming far more outrageous weights than 7 pounds. The picture is not very flattering to the fish, and I can see your skepticism I suppose, but I dont have a reason to BS, it doesnt give me any kind of gratification to lie and get praise from it, I'm just not that kind of guy. I dont have a scale so Ive been using a calculation. "Length X Length X Girth divided by 1200" I had one of my bass 9.4lb, weighed on a certified scale at the taxidermist. Then, learned about the calculations, punched in the numbers and it came out within half an ounce to the weight of my bass, so from then on I have trusted it. Is it perfect? No. Im sure it can vary a couple ounces, but thats no 4 pounder Im holding up. Here's one caught last week, within one inch in girth, and less than an inch in length difference in the bass in my above post. It went 7.6 by the calculations, only 3 oz. difference but it looks bigger, yes or no? http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/853/75bass008.jpg/'> http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/5/75bass006.jpg/'> Worst come to worst the calculation doesnt work, and I just got lucky the first time comparing it to the scale, but I know its not that far off. Thanks, Brandon

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on the catching.

Picked up a minn-kota trolling motor for my 12' aluminum boat the other week, just got it out in the lake today. I didn't have much luck for around an hour due to fighting the wind, but when it died down, I started working a drop off with a fluke, and this big girl ate it up. 24 1/4" long, 15 1/2" girth, 7lbs 3oz. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/689/74bass008.jpg/'> Here she is right after I took my hand out of her mouth, she did a big jump right after I took the pic. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/688/74bass011.jpg/'> Brandon

WTG, nice catches bluebasser.

Nice way to top off 2012. Id almost rather go out and catch a lot of 1-3 pounders than one big girl...almost. Brandon

Thats a nice fish, and congrats on the good day. The fact you passed Bill Dance on the way out is awesome. I grew up watching his show with my grandfather.

Nice fish, congrats on your personal best! If I had to guess on the weight, Id say it was a solid 8 - 9. Heres a tip on how to figure out the weight of your fish without a scale. Cut a piece of line, and get an overall measurement, then cut it at whatever length your fish is, then get the girth of the fish and tie a knot into the line to keep track of the girth. When you get home, measure the length and width, then calculate as follows- " length x length x girth and divide by 1200" , that will give a near exact weight on your fish. I was sceptical on its accuracy at first, but I have compared it to a certified scale and it was dead on.

Sounds like a good trip. The coldest Ive ever ran a boat in was about 30 degrees, so I can only imagine 18.

Sounds like a great year to me. Congrats!

Thanks yall. I hope to hook into a few more this evening, ill keep yall posted.

I appreciate the comments yall. Bluebasser, sorry to hear. I dont know what Id do if my lake iced over, I dont *** you fellas that have to wait it out. Brandon

Welcome!

Thanks guys.

It was a good day today. Started off slow, but the bite picked up. Caught three 1-2 pounders, one around 4, and then hooked up with a nice one. Lots of big headshakes and some drag ripping really put a test on the ol' nerves. 24" long, 15 3/4" in girth, 7lb 6oz. Sorry about the images not being rotated, Ive tried rotating them several times but it just reverts back. Here's the 4 or so pounder. And heres the big girl. Pefect end to the day.

Agreed. Biggest bass of my life 11+ lb was caught on a $15 ultralight combo from wally world.

Carolina Rig. Flukes are one of the most universal lures out there, in my opinion. They can be used weightless and twitched just under the surface for some awesome topwater action, or you can just kill it and let it sink, then give it a twitch and let it sink again, a lot of times that makes the bass strike. You can use a light split shot just infront of the nose and swim it at medium depth with occasional twitches, or rig up a carolina rig and bump the bottom with it. All techniques work great for me.

Sounds like a good time was had by all. Spending quality time on the water with good people is always a plus.

Heavy rain and wind yesterday morning, but the weather died down for the most part around 2 PM. Cloudy with 10-20 mph gusts, but it didnt bother the bass at all. No hawgs today, but broke off two good ones on the hookset. Both very close to the bank and I gave it to em' since I was used to setting the hook on long casts with slack in the line from the wind. Anyways, the wind had all the baitfish up against the bank and the bass were hanging out around the transition of muddy to clear water from all the rain. Caught 9, including one that I had just caught last Thursday. Let me know if I am boring anyone with all these smaller fish. All the bass were caught on KVD flukes in shad color. Weather conditions First cast of the day. If youre gonna dream then I guess dream big, huh? Here's the one I caught last week. You can see the hole in the other side of his mouth, and its already healed up.

Thanks for all the kind words guys.

Basswhippa, Im a little unhappy with the paintjob but, as for everything else it looks great.

When you stock your swimming pool with local caught largemouth in the off season. When you win bets telling people you can catch said bass out of your pool. When you open up a bag of manns jelly worms and have to resist the urge to try one. When you tear up a whole bag of swimmin' flukes catching bass, then attempt to melt them back together with a lighter to keep on fishing