BassObsessed

It was caught from the bank but this is the biggest bass for me this year. DD caught on a 4'' swimbait in a neighborhood while on vacation on Fl. The biggest lost bass would have been my biggest to date. We were fishing Lake Toho the same week I caught the one in the neighborhood and it was early morning . I watched the bobber go down and set the hook and the battle was on. The boat was getting slightly turned by the bass. The fish made one last ditch effort to change directions and when it surfaced it was curled up and the football gut was showing in a big way. The guide said that's a 12+ lb fish and I don't doubt it he's been guiding Toho for 30 plus years and many DD come out of there . Unfortunately after changing direction and trying to make a dash for the grass nearby the big girl got off. That was within the first 5 minutes of fishing that day and it wore on me for quite a while. I have a picture of a giant bass the guide's client caught the next day in practically the same spot that went 13.5...could of been a different fish who knows.

If there ever was a dictionary sample of a stunted pond it would probably be one of the private ponds I fish . 10 acres , depths up to 28ft and clear enough to see the bottom in 12fow is some areas. The pond was supposedly established with fish in the 80's and has thousands of bass but the biggest ones Iv'e caught in 10 years of fishing it is about 2lbs. Most bass are in the 1lb range. Catch rates are very high and some of the bluegill accidentally caught on crankbaits were 2lbs. It needs a major reduction in smaller bass but it's not my place to do it.

You can definitely catch bass on trout swimbaits no matter if trout are present or not. Being in Florida I would throw all sort of swimbaits big and small. This big girl inhaled a 4'' River2Sea swimbait . Landing her was a treat on a flimsy 2 piece travel rod.

Iv'e used them years ago wacky rigged and from what I remember the action wasn't too good and they started to dissolve . They caught a few bass though.

They make way too many color worms. Iv'e probably caught bass in every state and pond Iv'e fished in with just a black/blue or junebug worm in all water clarities.

A buddy of mine and I sight fished yesterday at one of my private ponds and picked them off the beds like flies with several different color wacky worms.

For the most part when other baits don't work for me the wacky worm will. It's my last resort because I like action baits. During the spawn here in the last few weeks I've caught alot of bass on and off beds with senkos, stiko's etc. Black/blue and green with a chartruese tip have been slaying them. Don't give up on them. Keep at it. Most times I get hit on them just letting it sit.

Thanks for the info on the guide. They were hard to reach. Definitely a lake I would like to visit again, without a cold front slowing the bite.

A little late on the report. Been really busy. What an interesting and partially frustrating day. I met the guide at one of the marinas at noon and we headed out to do some sight fishing. The wind was blowing hard and a cold front came through recently. We searched around certain areas where the guide knew beds were and threw shakey heads . One of the first beds we approached had about a 4lber that was swimming in a large area and not staying in the bed long at all. We tried to catch that one for a few minutes but moved on to another spot after seeing how much area the fish was covering. The next bed we slowly drifted up to had 2 bass hovering around the bed. I threw the shakey head a few times until I got it in the bed and twitched it just enough to get it to move and the bass snagged it up but during the hookset it got wrapped up in some weeds and got off. We eventually came back to that bed and the fish bit again but I wasn't expecting it and didn't set it hard enough so it was bass 2 Greg 0 on that fish. On to another bed we went and saw a nice size bass that was staying on or real close to the bed . I threw a shakey head with a modified brush hog for atleast an hour trying to get this fish to bite. There was a slightly smaller bass swimming nearby that bed and wasn't interested in what we threw at it. As we were still trying to get the bed bass to bite we looked down and saw 2 Giant bass swim under the boat that came from under a dock in about 4 fow. They were atleast 7lbers. The short time we saw them they werent interested in our baits. Finally on one cast I threw the shakey head and twitched it right into the face of the bass and it inhaled it. A quick hookset and it was game on. The bass was much bigger looking when we saw it in the net than when it was on the bed. Didn't weigh it but it was in the 3lb class. Ended up catching a smaller bass on the same bait on a nearby bed. Something resembling a bluegill was caught also but I forget what he called it. It was a slow windy day and the numbers werent there compared to just a week or so ago. All in all it was nice to hit a new lake and sight fish . Water in alot of the areas was really clear in 5 fow.

Nice one!

Transbrake launches are the deal.

Toho is a good one for a new PB.

Today I had alot of running around to do and along the trip I stopped at my private pond to pellet feed the fish. One of my rods had a rig walker swimbait tied on so I threw that along the windblown bank and a big bass whacked it hard. She pulled like a tank. I didn't weigh her but it was chunky had to be in the 4.5lb class. I didn't think to throw the Hudd Gill and probably would have got nailed by the same bass. One of my clients was going to meet me at the honeyhole so off I went. He was flyfishing and I threw the Hudd Gill in along a laydown way out in the water and immediately a bass choked it down. I threw again to another laydown in the same area and as soon as the bait swam past a branch sticking out of the water a big bass ( looked to be 4+lbs) grabbed the Gill and got wrapped around the branch as I was trying to set the hook. Ended up losing the fish after she got off the branch. Several casts in the same spot resulted in no takers so I moved down to another laydown. There were numerous bass that were smacking the bait and a few that would eat it but after a hookset attempt they were off. A stinger hook on the bottom would really help catch more but it's real risky with all the wood magnets underwater. Ended up catching a total of 3 or 4 bass on the Hudd Gill before we headed out of there. I'm going to see if I can rig up a stinger hook and only throw that setup in certain waters. A chunky bluegill from one of my private ponds caught by a client.

This. It works great. I picked some up at Lowes.

Have you ever been out on Toho or The Butler chain?

I'll post them if you want to email them to me.

And a giant magnet in California.

That would be awesome if nothing else comes through. I'll keep you posted on how my guide search goes.

I received some call backs today and everyone is booked up. I'll keep poking around to try to find someone. Thanks again for any suggestions. I'll call Charlie to see what he says.

If I'm not mistaken you can put various swimbaits for trailers on that setup. I threw one of those a few weeks ago and liked how it was working until a pickerel chomped it off.

Any other suggestions for guides? Nobody wants to return my call or emails. Not someone I want to deal with.

Does it have the 5.4 triton?

Good deal.Looks like a nice pond.

I managed to get a little time to chase some bass around today. Water temp was 62 and I threw swimbaits, swimjigs , worms and a frog at the very end. The wind was like 30mph gusts which made trying to throw a worm in a precise spot near some laydowns 100ft out in the water tricky. Caught a few pickerel , one crappie and 5 bass. I wasn't expecting any topwater explosions but had 3 or 4 but only landed one on the frog.When the wind kicked up the frog was surfing out of control. No big girls wanted to play today. They must be on beds or getting ready.

Nice fish. Keep at it and catch some hawgs.