Mainebass1984

I love fishing offshore structure. Fish located offshore see far less pressure then fish that are relatively shallow. I have my best luck offshore in the early early spring, mid summer and late fall. My favorite structure to fish is isolated offshore structure. A single log or a 5 by 5 foot section of weeds. If you are lucky enough to find isolated offshore structure there is a good chance that there will be good quality fish there that seldom see lures. Fish can stack up in such spots too.

I had them aged by the Maine bass biologist.

Still plenty of ice out there. There isn't much snow though. If we don't get much more snow it will be a low water spring.

I am all in. Hopefully the ice will be melted so we can all get out and fish in March.

Thanks man ! That sure was a lunker. I might never catch another bass that big, but I sure will try ! She must be bigger by now. Scales I took from her were aged at 16+ years old. She was spawned in 1998 !

Buy some tip ups. I think your allowed 6 lines NH. Find the biggest shiners you can buy. Set up near weeds in 10-20 feet water. Set up 5 of the tip ups with the big shiners on them. Drill some more holes and jig in those. Ice fishing for bass can be fast and furious. I usually use tips ups. There have been days when all five of them have flags at once ! You can catch some lunkers.

No way that bass is anywhere near 11 lbs. I highly doubt the fish was even weighed. He probably guestimated the weight.

IN your opinion what is the best line for crankbaits

It takes time effort and money. Attention to detail You got to go early and stay late.

"Get the net this thing is a monster"---- turns out to be a 2 lber "Man that could have been a record"----a nice fish breaks the line. "Cant catch them if your lure isn't in the water" When I run into other fisherman on the water the conversation is always very similar. " Hows the fishing ?" "slow" "Are you getting any" "a few nothing huge." (huge to me is over 7 or 8 lbs) "what are you using ?" "A lure" "Oh yeah. Just got it at walmart. Its called a spinner." ---- As I toss out a jig or crankbait.... On occasion I do give out helpful info to people fishing with kids, haven't caught anything all day or if they seem to be polite. Generally though most people are fishing for information.

Bass only gain 10% of there body weight for the spawn.

Well that was just plain not nice.

Catch a 10 lb largemouth bass in good ole' Maine.

Anytime I go fishing it for fun whether I am in a big money tournament or not.

This formula is insanely accurate. It is always within 2 oz of my digital scale. Most of the time it is spot on. That fish has an 8 lb head but looks thin. Could be sick or about to die. 27 inches ? That would be something. I would "guestimate" 7 lbs 12 oz. Just start bringing a digital scale with you.

No open water near me for awhile.

Get in touch with some local guys they should be able to help you out.

Yes it varies from lake to lake, season to season and most certainly which region you live in.

7 lbers are pretty rare anywhere in New England or the North East

Best day fishing ? That is a tough call. There are two days that stick out in my mind. I guess I would measure my success by the weight of my 5 biggest bass. I fish for big fish. I have had days when you can catch sheer numbers of bass. I would rather catch fewer bass but bigger ones. I would say my best day of fishing was in 2012. It was early early spring. A cold windy day spitting snow with water temps in the low 40s. I was able to catch a few fish on a black jig. They were spitting up crawfish. I switched to a crawfish colored jig and crank bait. That did the trick. I caught 20 largemouth and 8 smallmouth. Of the 20 largemouth 19 were over 3 lbs and the one that wasn't was 2 lbs 15 oz. 2 over 7, 2 over 6, 1 over 5, 5 over 4, 9 over 3. 6 of the 8 smallmouth were over 3 lbs. Big smallmouth 3 lbs 15 oz. Big largemouth was 7 lbs 6 oz. The five biggest were 7-6, 7-1, 6-8, 6-3 and a 5-4 for a total of 32 lbs 6 oz. 6-8 5-4 7-1 7-6 6-3 This past November I a great day that I would say is very close to as awesome as this day. It was Nov and had been very cold. A warm front came through that day and brought the temps up 20 degrees. I only caught 5 largemouth and 1 smallmouth. Of the 3 bass one was 3 lbs 3 oz, another was a 7-6 lunker and the other was my personal best 9 lbs 1 oz. 7-6 9-1 All northern largemouth. All from Maine.

Caught in good ole' Maine

New persona best caught in Nov 9 lbs 1 oz

You can catch big bass all year long. Everything freezes up year. No open water. If you want to go fishing there is only one choice, icefishing.

Icefishing can be a blast. They certainly do put up a fight. Its like you just them in like dead weight. It is completely different then fishing with a rod and reel. Your hand is the drag. If the fish want to make a run you have to give him line while maintaining tension on your line. I have had some pretty amazing days through the ice when you are none stop busy. Biggest bass through the ice was a 6-9 and he put up a hell of a fight.

I ice fish for bass quite a bit. It can be pretty fun. I usually target warm water ponds with decent weed growth. Big shiners work best. I use 12lb test flouro and a 10 foot leader. You will want to tie a barrel swivel at 5 feet. I usually fish in 10-15 feet of water a couple feet up off bottom.