Mainebass1984

I managed to find 3 hours of fishing time today in between the family Easter plans. It was pretty warm out today. I fished a small pond that was half ice yesterday. Surprisingly the water temperature was 48 degrees. The water is super clear on this small pond and the bass were really spooky. They would see my jig and spook. After fishing my jig for two hours and nothing I switched tactics. I started fishing a senko and crankbait. I caught a 2 lber and a 2.5 lber pretty quickly on a senko. Just before I had to leave I caught a 3 lb 9 oz largemouth on a crankbait for a total of 3 bass today.I will be on the water again tomorrow fishing moose pond if we can launch the boat.

Today was my first day in my boat this year. The lake was 6 feet high muddy and the wind was blowing 15-20 with stronger gust. Water temp was 41 degrees. The strong north wind made it feel much colder then 55 degrees. I fished for 4 hours and caught 2 largemouth both about 2.5 lbs. Both fish bit a jig. I will be trying another lake tomorrow and hopefully it wont be as windy or muddy. It felt pretty awesome to catch some bass !

Not sure exactly. I will be checking a few places this evening. I may have to go to arrowhead but first I went to check around.

Saturday will be the first day on the water for me

Nobody has caught anything in the last week ??

Unity College is an awesome college. Great place to fish less then 5 min down the road. Great job placement rates for graduates. I had a job before I graduated. If you can go there, do it.

Oh CMCC.. If you want to be a game warden it is hard to beat a bachelors degree in conservation law enforcement at Unity College. The job placement rate is unbelievably high. I think over half of the Maine game wardens graduated from Unity with that degree and several from New Hampshire. It is a well respected program.

You thinking about going to University of Maine Orono ? I actually went to college a little ways south of there in Unity at Unity College. Great four years and the fishing in the area is amazing.

I went to Fryeburg Academy back in the day

It is unfortunate that people are such slobs. I hate seeing litter, whether that is along the road or at the boat launches. I usually end up picking up trash every singe time I go fishing. Its such a disgrace...

One fish per Senko ? How are you rigging it ? I fish a lot of Senko's and usually catch several fish on one Senko. I usually fish them Texas rigged weightless. After catching a couple fish, I turn the Senko's around so the slimmer end has the hook through it. It comes through weeds better with the slimmer end hooked and it allows you to catch a few more fish on the same Senko. Sometimes I manage to catch 7 or 8 fish on one senko.. If I fish then wacky style I always use the small black bands that go around the Senko. When fishing the Senko like this my hook actually isn't even through the Senko. I prefer to use the gary yamamato's senko or the kinami flash. In my opinion these baits are much softer then most imitations and catch more fish. As far as color goes I fish natural colors.

Jigs catch fish ? Biggest bass fish I have ever caught was a 9-1 and it was on a jig. Jigs certainly do catch better then average fish. It is a big fish lure. Senko's catch everything from little 6 inch dinks to lunker bass. Biggest fish to date on a Senko is an 8-10. A lot of people don't like fishing Senko's but at times they certainly do out fish other lures. I have done well in tournaments fishing jigs and fishing Senko's. Three years ago a friend and I fished a tournament on a highly pressured lake. The jig bite died about 10 am. We had our limit by then but no weight. The Senko's saved us that day. We ended fishing second place, with lunker a 6-4 on a Senko at noon. Jigs are a great all season bait that catches big bass. I love fishing jigs and would prefer to fish them above all else. There are times though when you cant deny the catching power of the Senko.

I use 50 lb braid. I fish super heavy cover. If I hook a huge bass and it gets wrapped on a log, I want to pull the log in too.

I bought a bass raider last fall. It is awesome. Last fall I caught some huge bass in it. There already has been more big bass caught in it then any bass boat I have ever been in . I live in Vermont and fish Maine a lot. Last fall I managed to catch an 8-1, am 8-3 and a 9-1 in Maine. Going for a 10lber this year !!!

I was thinking about doing it. Last weekend they were still icefishing Mousam. I will probably pass on that one. The southern end of Moose Pond is opening up pretty good. I will be fishing it Saturday.

I heard around Rouse's Point was open. People have been out in boats. The fishing was slow. There is a bunch of open water around the northern end of lake.

It will be awhile before bass will be spawning. In general rivers warm up quicker then lakes and ponds in the spring which at times causes bass to congregate in and around inlets and connecting rivers. If the lake is still ice covered and the river is not then clearly the river must be warmer then the lake. Bass will seek out warmer water this time of year.

From Benson's landing south is open. Otter creek is open. The sandbar has a bunch of open water too. There are bass at the sandbar to be caught right now. Get em !

That formula is extremely accurate. Always within 2 ounces of the digital scale.

There was a hearing this past winter in February on soft plastics. A report by Maine department of inland fisheries and wildlife was presented to the legislative body in Augusta. I listened to it over the internet. Fisheries Biologists did in the field research to determine the effect of soft plastics on several ponds from each region of the state. They found that discarded soft plastics were more common in southern regions that were warm water fisheries. They also presented data from creel surveys that found that soft plastics found in the stomach contents of all species of trout, most common n brook trout and lake trout. The percentage of fish found to have soft plastics in there stomachs varied from water to water but, were quite low overall. Another part of the presentation cited scientific research done by Unity College ( my class did this study) regarding the effects of ingesting soft plastics. You can find the report Maine department of inland fisheries and wildlife presented to legislators on the state website. What the department found was that soft plastics is a non issue and that angler education regarding properly discarding their soft plastics would be the best policy. The department recommended no additional action regarding soft plastics. I do not discard used soft plastics into the water. I do lose a bait or two from tie to time though. The soft plastic issue must start with the companies that manufacture them. Even biodegradable baits take years and year to degrade. They will never ban soft plastics in the state or any state. Tod o that they would have to take on giant mutli-million dollar companies that would fight tooth and nail to have them not banned. The state doesn't want to spend millions of dollars on such a lawsuit. The study in itself is joke, done merely to appease trout unlimited and other trout fisherman that claim they kill trout when in fact they don't. The whole thing is joke, the bill was introduced by a trout unlimited member, representative davis I think of Brownville. He also introduced to other bills. He wanted to ban all recreational activities on the water with in the first 200 yards of the shoreline. That means no fishing from a dock, no duck hunting, no kayaking etc. In the other bill he wanted to ban metal hooks. This guy is a joke. He is a trout unlimited member and with out a doubt on there payroll.

Time to get a scale.

Does ice fishing count ?

Wow its a terribly small world on here. I have fished a bunch of the Wayne Hooper tournaments.. Mainely bass.... Looks like I will be fishing against you a bunch this year. I will be doing almost all the Wayne Hooper tournaments. My friend and I always have done a few each year. He drives a black 1984 Bronco with a black 2003 Skeeter with a 150 on it. The first open on Mousam is the 20th... I would assume it will be cancelled because of ice. The Moose tourney should be interesting. The first Maine bass trail I will be doing will be the Sebago tourney. Shane there are no bass in Maine.... None. Any pics of your brother in laws 10 lber ? I wonder if I know where he fishes...

There are a lot of guys on this thread that are from all around New England. Its a good group of guys. I tried starting a Maine thread last year but, it seems there aren't many Maine fisherman on here. Start up a Maine thread if you like, maybe there is a few more Maine guys on here then last year. I will follow a Maine thread for sure. Open water around Windham, ME ? Its going to be a couple weeks maybe a little less. Cobb stream is the only place you can launch a boat in Maine that I know of right now. Anyone else know of any ? You can also check out the bragging right competition we had for the area last year, its pretty fun, you should try it.

Bigbill, I haven't heard anyone reference a PH tester in a very long time. I heard they were very popular in the 70s and 80s. Fish are still there. They will seek current breaks and stay out of the main current.