MIbassyaker

Drum do not know they aren't game fish. I catch them only rarely, but I promise you, my next one will be posted right here on this thread, shamelessly.

Still haven't seen any ice in SW Michigan. Sure wish I had some free time. My wife is originally from Fergus. I only fished your area a few times, 25+ years ago, back when we were dating (her grandparents' lake home, and a couple other spots), but it strikes me now that west-central MN is probably pretty underrated for northern largemouth.

Ahem...

Maybe I'll actually remember to get my picks in for more than half the events this year...

Here are my own data from 1521 bass caught over the last 7 years from public waters in the Grand Rapids, MI area, April through October (about half are from May and June). These include both largemouth and smallmouth, and come from 35 different bodies of water, all but one under 500 acres: Bins go from .0 to .9, so "12.5" is all bass 12 inches and above, but less than 13. And so on. About 1/3 of the bass I catch are above the minimum keeper size limit of 14" About 1 in 10 is 16" or larger About 1 in 38 is 18" or larger About 1 in 95 is 19" or larger About 1 in 218 is 20" or larger. And 1 in 761 is 21" or larger. But there are only a little more than 3 dozen 18"+ fish in the sample. To answer the initial question, my ratio of 19 to 20 inchers, and from 20 to 21 inchers, have each been about 2 to 1, but altogether that amounts to less than than 20 fish. (BTW, I'm guessing the steeper drop from the 14.5 range to the 15.5 range is harvest pressure.)

Good lord, Jar! A 19" is probably about once out of every 75-100 bass caught for me. Granted, I do fish some places that just have a lot of dinks. But even if I were to take my top 5 waters for biggest average size, I wouldn't come close to a 19" every 7 fish. Maybe one in 20 or 30. I have the numbers to calculate ratios like this at home. I'll take a look at it tonight.

Haven't thought about it much yet, but I'd like to spend more time on the rivers. I really need to get back up to the Muskegon..

With respect, as much as I would greatly prefer to watch the next BR video than whatever chore I am doing at the moment, the very last thing I need in my life is more notifications.

I don't know, but it seems like the more lures I buy, the fewer I use.

Believe it or not, I have a bunch of 20+ year old --long discontinued-- Mister Twister Hellgrammite baits that I got from ordering one of their "grab bag specials", years ago: I have never used them but I really should!

I have a 6'10" ML/XF St. Croix LTB from a generation ago, and it's terrific for all things finesse. I haven't tried the Victory, though, or the new LTB.

Oof. I'm not going to pull them all out of storage just for a picture, but here are my season's "heavy lifters", with a few pics from the archives: 4.3 Keitech+flashy swimmer underspin 3/8oz Pepper Custom Spinnerbait: 5" Yamamoto Hula Grub + 1/4oz Title Shot Jig 3/8oz Cavitron 3/8oz Jackhammer + Yamamoto Zako 3/8oz Siebert Fogy + Blade Minnow 7" Power worm 6.5" Zoom Trick Worm 6" Mister Twister Phenom Worm 6" Zoom Lizard 5" Zoom Super Fluke 5" Senko/Sassy Stick/Ocho/General Rage Tail Space Monkey Rage Tail Menace Grub Whopper Plopper 75 Megabass Pop Max Duo Realis Pencil 100

I fish about 40 small bodies of water within an hour of my house. All are public. Most are small natural lakes between 30 and 500 acres. The smallest is about 16 acres, the largest is a bit over 2500. a few man-made lakes/ponds as well, and several free-flowing sections of 4 rivers. A few of these I may visit 2 or 3 times a year, but most only once a year. I try to add a new place or three every year. I have to stay close because my time to get out is limited, and I can usually spare a morning or afternoon at a time. I rotate between so many places because I have a strong itch to fish the biggest variety possible that I can access reasonably. But what I want most out of fishing is variety in solitude, which is extremely hard to achieve when you're fishing public waters in and near an urban area, and you can't go far. I prioritize small, out of the way places, at times when I'm least likely to encounter a lot of other people. There is no way to avoid crowds and fishing pressure completely, but some places certainly get more traffic than others. And some were actually quite hard to find; I am very careful about not revealing those, even when they aren't loaded with giants.

I don't do tournaments, but I have used a hawg trough for a several years. The black numbers have worn off, although I can still read it. It does get banged around a bit in the kayak. I'm about ready for a new one, and will probably get a Ketch.

They aren't going to win any awards around here, but some bests for my year: Largemouth - 19.5" 4.59lb: Smallmouth - 17", 2.5#-ish (river bass get to add a bonus pound or two, right? right?) Channel Catfish -- best and only for the year; didn't measure but probably around 4#: White Crappie - 14"...i'm sure this was a PB White: Pumkinseed Sunfish -- the only one: Brown Trout: Eh....8"? best of three, the others even smaller: Didn't get any Pike or Bowfin pics, as I usually don't bother taking them out of the water.

"I'll take 'Predictable Debacles' for 400, please, Alex..."

But...aren't you always about to go fishing?

My last PB was August, 2021. As soon as i get another I'll post it, but when, exactly, is not entirely up to me.

Your intuitions sound reasonable, as long as the current isn't very fast. Generally, though, moving water tends to be cooler and better-oxygenated than still water, and so tends to become more advantageous in summer, and less so in the spring unless it's actually delivering bait and heat (as mentioned above). the only way to know, though, is to check. Bring a thermometer and check temps in the main basin, mouth of the river, and in the river itself, to see what the variation is like. Actually, what you're describing sounds not too different from a situation examined earlier this year by @Paul Roberts on The Nature of Fishing channel, in that case following a spring heat gradient between a deeper main basin and a shallow "back bay" area connected by a creek channel:

Currently tied on: Lunker! (1975) by Bob Underwood. Observations of bass behavior from 1700 hours of scuba diving:

have a look at the VMC finesse rugby jig or the Brewer wide-gap slider head. I don't know if these will fit a 3", but they work well with 4" grubs. They permit texas rigging without a separate slip-sinker, which is what I usually prefer for a swimming presentation.

Yeah, the novelty of snow and ice wears off fast, lol. Summers, though, in the upper midwest are glorious and highly recommended.

Grand Forks area, MN side. Good lord, the wind.

27 here right now. We'll hit 14 overnight tonight. Only very rarely go below zero here, though. I grew up in northern MN, and remember being out, shoveling the driveway in 15 below. When people here complain about the cold, I just shrug.