Mainebass1984

Monkton, Shelburne, Bristol, and Lake Iroquois are supposedly all open.

There are a couple ponds in the Champlain valley that are ice free. As of this past weekend the inland sea still had some ice. Central Vermont and the northeast kingdom look more like February than April. Depending on the pond there is still well over a foot of ice closer to two feet. Sadly ice out seems a couple weeks away for those areas. As soon as it’s open Bass can be caught. If you get a kayak there is a pretty fun small kayak fishing series in Vermont through NEBassin.

My season is now over. However if I was to go out I would fish main lake points or humps with rock that have a steep drop from 15-35 ft using the above mentioned baits.

Ive been crushing smallies the past month. Typically I'm fishing in 20-35 ft using a blade bait and an underspin. Ive also had some luck with a football jig and drop shot. Water temps are definitely cold. Sat i was fishing a pond with a surface temp of 38 degrees... The best day this past weekend 81 smallies with 6 of them over 4 lbs. Lunker was a tie, two fish weighed in at 4-13. All smallies.

Right now is one of the best times of the year to target big smallies.

How did you do ? How big was the Brookie you caught ?

This past weekend the fishing was kind of tough... Not many bites. The few bites I did get though were quality fish. The biggest bass I got last weekend was 6 lbs 1 oz. That fish was in 1 foot of water. It was very hot though and I saw a water temperature of 82 degrees which is very warm for almost being October. I'm sure the temps have cooled a bit with the last couple of cooler nights and days. I wouldn't be surprised if they will be biting very well this weekend. It is time. What pond are you going to ? Perhaps I can show you a couple spots ?

Hasn't felt like fall the past couple days. Temps approaching 90 forecast for the next couple days as well. No wind and full sun has sent water temperatures skyrocketing to 80 degrees. I saw 82 yesterday at 230 pm. A few fish were still biting though. Later this week a huge cold front is pushing through dropping temps into the 60s. On Saturday a forecast of 55 degrees is expected for the high. This certainly is going to drop the water temperature and change what fish are doing. A couple weeks of cooler weather should really set up for some excellent October Fishing.

5 lber is a pretty good fish. Not to far from Mousam there are far bigger largemouth caught with regularity.

Mousam sucks. Plenty of places close by with better fishing and certainly bigger fish. Tournaments held on Mousam... usually take a 2 1/4 lb average to win.

Whopper Ploppers catch big fish. Right now they work better then any time of year. If your casting at visible targets you wont get nearly as many bites as covering water casting over flats. This lure attracts fish from a distance. I haven't got any giants on it yet but a 7-2 from Maine is my largest. If your not regularly throwing this bait -especially this time of year- you are missing fish.

Yep. Whopper Ploppers don't work.... Nothing to see here...

That is an amazing fish A-Jay. Congratulations ! Your hard work, dedication, and persistence surely have paid off. I agree 100 %. From now until ice-up is the time to catch some of the biggest bass of the year. Most guys I know put the fishing stuff away and hunt. I fish until the ice is too thick for my boat to break through it. Some of the best bass fishing of the year is now !

LOL. All that matters is that there are big bass in the boat.

Jeeze. Do I have to teach you everything..... Black Jigs work well all the time but don't forget a Brown/Orang Jig with a rage craw trailer.... Cranks def work too, 2 over 8 on cranks in late October.

Come on webertime ! No mention of a jig or a crankbait ? Well, at least you mentioned a silver buddy.

I was on Champlain last weekend as well. Had tournaments on sat and sun. There are still fish shallow if you can find them. We caught quite a few 3 lb largemouth in less then 5 ft of water. Our biggest smallie which was well over 4 lbs was caught in 10 ft of water. We did well but didn't win the weekend 2 day tourney, we got 3rd. We did end up winning AOY team though. The winning team was fishing Carolina rigs both days. Another couple weeks and the fall bite should be on. Water temps still in the 60s and even low 70s on hot calm days.

Anything over 3 lbs ?

Typically this time of year on Sebgao Lake a 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 lb average wins. There is a Northern Bass Open there in 3 weeks. You surely will see some bass boats practicing. You can see the results for the past several years on Point Sebago Resorts webpage. Good luck.

Terrible bass fishing. You would have better luck goin for lake trout.

Some good questions you have there... Message me and I will do my best to answer them if you like.

You picked an excellent lake there. Some giant largemouth swim in that lake. A couple weeks ago the biggest trail in Maine fished there, Man vs. Bass. A 7 fish bag of 25.40 lbs won. Another team had a 7.84 lunker. It is also my favorite lake. Amazing views of the white mountains and equally amazing fishing.

Sebago sucks. If you want to catch fish you should probably find another body of water. Not only is the fishing very slow there are a LOT of recreational boaters out there. It can be dead calm, no sign of wind, and the place will still be like an ocean because of boat traffic. Message me and I can point you in the right direction.

There are some decent largemouth in there too.

Maine is a pretty big state. There are a lot of quality smallmouth waters. I personally prefer to fish for them in lakes and ponds. What area of Maine will you be going to ?