BooyahMan

...come close to beating your PB? Do you constantly catch fish that you think may have bested your record but, upon closer inspection/measurement, was just a tad smaller? Or is your PB considered an anomaly (at least in your personal fishing experiences) and you haven't come close to it since? I happen to fall in the latter category. How about you?

Getting really excited for this year's bass fishing, and especially intrigued by hitting the pre-spawn. Are there any other indicators that the spawning-aged bass are moving into shallower water besides getting water temperature readings? The reason I ask is because I kept a log of my observations last year in terms of when the lily pads started growing (May) and when Sunfish and juvenile bass started showing up near the shoreline, as well as when I managed to hook/catch anything. However, I didn't have a means of measuring water temperature so I don't have any data on that. I started getting bites during the last week of March last year from dinks (10 inches or less...yes true dinks) just off the shore in water that ranges from 3 to 6 feet deep; would this be a good indication that the big bass are starting to come shallow looking to feed as well? Better yet, are there any correlations between prespawn and some other phenomenon such as when the cherry blossoms start to bloom, for example? Thanks for any insight. Don't want to miss out on this opportunity to tangle with some trophy fish!

Right on! Absolutely beautiful rainbow. I too went out for some trout today of the sea-run variety (Steelhead) and managed a 12lb doe, but sadly no pics as it came off just as I was about to tail it. When Bass aren't biting, trout are such an awesome alternative.

That's pretty cool. The closest I've come to that is lassoing a small rock while drifting for Salmon.

Posted this one multiple times now but caught my PB last fall. October 24th: And here's a couple more caught during the fall that I'm proud of: Fall is my favourite time of year for bass fishing at the moment. Love the top water action!

Sounds like an outstanding trip! I am incredibly envious right now. I absolutely LOVE fishing frogs for bass but my local waters are too cold for frogging right now (or at least they seem to be). I'm going to start again in the spring and I REALLY can't wait.

You're going to hate me but where I live, I can fish year-round for the most part WITHOUT ice. In the winter when Bass are hard to come by and the Salmon have all died off, I still have Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout, and Steelhead I can target, not to mention the by-catches of Bull Trout and Mountain Whitefish. To actually answer your question though, I spend a little time making videos/slide shows of the past year's fishing adventures (I take a lot of pictures/videos when fishing). Or I play fishing games. Or I sit around and think about fish....oh wait.

Has anyone ever used Kinghawk ultralight spinning rods and can give me a little information as to their durability/build quality? I'm looking at the ND (1 piece, 4') and the ODS (2 piece, 4'6") rods in particular, but any information would be appreciated. There doesn't seem to be much information about this brand in general out on the internet so that already has raised a red flag in my mind. Very tempted to snag a short ultralight for small creek trout though, and I can get the ND for $10 and some change... Thanks!

Holy crap...pie.

Strange that you are having trouble with a 5' Shimano. I was just out fishing a local river (more like a creek) today with a 5' Daiwa ultralight and had no problems casting spinners across to the other bank. Are you able to add a little bit of weight, even a small split shot? I use a size 7 split shot in front of a non-weighted spinner and it works great. Your line thickness may also be a factor in your casting as well. As for the Spinmatic, I have never used that particular Daiwa but I do dabble in cheap ultralights for small bass/trout fishing. If you are concerned about casting distance go with the 6'6" as it will help a little with that. If the three Daiwa ultralights I have are anything to go by (Laguna, D-Shock, and Sweepfire), the Spinmatic would be a good bet too. If you can, handle one at a local fishing store and see if it feels good or not in terms of weight, action, and build quality. Really can't knock those budget Daiwas. They're cheap, durable, and a heck of a lot of fun to fight fish on.

Incredible fish. It's catches like this which keep me fishing. I can only hope that one day....

Oh goodness, I'm glad I'm not the only one that has given this some thought. I work in a fishing department and before I've had my lunch break I have to avoid the artificials section as any of the Berkley Powerbait worms or fighting bugs sure look tasty. Oh, and Jensen Eggs dyed blue or hot pink look a lot like candy to me. I'm insane aren't I...

I caught a couple; nothing to write home about really. Was a difficult day even for the locals that I talked to. Apparently I'm about a month too late for some of the big Sea-run Cutts that come into this system. Was a great day out though; beats sitting at home playing video games!

Nice fish as always! Will all your posts about trout, you have motivated me to get off my behind and visit a little creek I know for Bows and Cutties tomorrow. Hopefully I can get some half as nice as the ones you've gotten.

Strange...I have had the exact opposite experience of most on here. I haven't caught any DD bass, but all of my "bigger" fish have all been 2 hours before dusk or between 9:30am and noon. From 1-5pm I usually have very little luck. This coming season I'm going to approach things a little differently and see if I can replicate this 10am-2pm theory. If it's true, then I can fish confidently all day long!

Maybe I shouldn't have asked for frogs when Santa asked what I wanted this year...

Not for bass neccesarily but I picked up an older Mitchell ultralight spinning combo at a thrift shop for $7. Got me into the whole ultralight thing for a while and still one of my favourite light rods to this day.

Steelhead! Nothing quite like drifting a river with centerpins, frozen guides, numb fingers, and a float that suddenly buries itself into a flash of silver.

According to your profile your PB basss is 8-9lbs...sounds like you've got those fish figured out decently well too.

That's some nasty browsing you're doing there. Just kidding, nice trout! And nice BR advert haha. Seems like you've been slaying them lately.

Hollow-body frog and an in-line spinner!

This thread reminds me of why I dislike using barbed hooks, and especially barbed trebles. Most of the big fisheries here require single barbless hooks so if we do hook ourselves, it comes out cleanly.

Down by my workplace they put in a bunch of new shrubs to make the neighbourhood greener and more inviting (not the nicest area in town). That evening when I walked by to go home i noticed one of of the plants had been taken, leaving a random gap in the line of shrubs haha. If it can be taken, someone somewhere will figure out a way to take it...

This is what I was afraid of. It looks pretty flat in the pictures but when you see the belly in the video there's a lot of thickness there that isn't evident in just the photos. It looks like this will probably be my best option. Since they are professionals it'll more than likely be much more accurate (and less stressful) than me trying to figure out the exact girth measurements. I'm a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to this kind of thing as if this were someone else's fish and they were in my shoes, I would have said the exact same thing to them. I definitely will be happy if I get this done, regardless if it's exact or not. The only thing is I'm a little bit OCD about measurements when it comes to my own (personal trophy) fish. Which, I realize, kind of conflicts with the next few responses: Unfortunately no scale. I'm guessing it's between 5-6lbs but that just from what others have told me and from online length-weight charts. Thanks. I do have a few more pictures where the colours aren't as washed out so I should be ok with that. Definitely a gorgeous fish and I was more than happy to see it swim off to produce more of its kind. I can't believe I haven't thought of that! Definitely will keep in mind using mono to measure. Although I now carry two tape measures with me (one soft and one hard), so if there is a next time I will use that equation. To be honest, up until that point I didn't believe that that particular lake would have any bass of that size (even less so that I would be able to catch one), and I was already using my rod as a measuring stick for any fish 17 inches and under. I now carry two measuring tapes; one retractable one that will be used for length and one sewing machine measure to obtain the girth. In addition I will also be carrying around a small roll of spare mono for me to take quick measurements if I need it in a pinch. Now I just need to catch another one this size and I'll be golden. Thanks again everyone for the input. I have a much better idea as to what I need to do now if I do get a replica of this fish. I guess the bait monkey will have to take a back seat for now so I can save up some big bucks!

Thanks for the responses! I do have a scale for the cork lengths as can be seen here: I just wasn't sure how to go about doing the girth since the fish is three dimensional.