BooyahMan

Most definitely a successful year! You got fish to bite, and that's more than half the battle already. Means you're doing something right and next year you'll know just where to start.

Nicely done. I love catching trout out of small streams and creeks and your video brought back some great memories.

Most memorable one is a Steelhead pushing 20lbs; hooked him in the middle of the river and had to try 3 times before I could land it. Have yet to come close to that since.

GORGEOUS fish there. Stellar colours to boot!

Glad to hear you had a memorable year! We're in the same boat; I cracked my local lake and figured out where and how to fish a frog effectively, not to mention also a PB bass for me. Here's to an even more memorable year next year.

This is the same mentality most people have when the salmon start running here. Once you hook a fish you'll have another 5 guys surrounding you. Can't stand it and this is part of what makes me despise fishing salmon fishing these days. Luckily this has not happened to me while bass fishing.

Making me jealous seeing beauty fish like that while I'm stuck indoors. Nice job! Did you get a measurement?

Thanks again everyone for such awesome advice. I can't wait to try these techniques next season! As far as I know, it's just me and a couple of friends, though a group of kids recently discovered it as well. It's a very short stretch as most of it is protected salmon habitat, so there really are only 2 or 3 spots depending on water level. It gets real tough in the dead of summer when it's running low as those fish seem to bolt no matter what I do haha. I have had them come back to grab lures though if I let the run calm down for half an hour. No snakes thankfully. The only thing we have to worry about is the odd cougar and in very rare instances, bears. I think I'm more worried about being mugged at this spot as it's not well lit but still in an urban area. Now THAT must have been something! Well done! The creek I fish never gets near to that depth, and when the water does come up after some rain the bass seem to vacate. I'm guessing Largemouths don't like current too much. Wish we had Smallies!

Sweet man. Is that from shore? Didn't think they would come in so close when it's cold enough to snow.

I plan to try it next summer. The short section of creek that's fishable had a few trees come down which created a couple of logjams; should make for some interesting fishing and hopefully some good bass will hide there.

Great advice and stories so far! I definitely agree with the stealth aspect; these fish are always incredibly easy to spook but they are d**n aggressive when they don't notice you. The largest one I've seen was a chunky Largemouth that looked to be in the 3lb range but the second I saw it, it saw me and bolted. Forgot to mention that I also use 2" plastics (curly tails or swimbaits) to catch them too. I mostly sight-fish for the bigger ones and if I don't spook them first, a well positioned cast will usually elicit a strike. Even if I can't spot them, a long cast and burning the lure back many times would get an aggressive chaser or two. There is one exception to this that sticks out in my mind though. There was one bass that I thought I had spooked after making a couple of terrible casts. Moved down the creek a bit to where it had settled but couldn't get it to strike the swimbait when I was just burning it back. Decided to kill the retrieve right in front of the fish and saw it inhale the lure in the blink of an eye. I don't think I've set the hook faster since. I think creek fishing and frogging are my two favourite ways to target bass.

Anyone fish small shallow creeks for bass? If you do, what is your method of choice for targeting these fish and what is your PB creek bass to date? There is a tiny creek that is maybe a foot deep in the summer and 10 feet wide (huge estimates as I'm bad with guessing distance) and I target the Largemouth with size 0 or 1 spinners that I put together myself. Here is a photo of my PB, a 14.5 incher. You can sort of see the creek in the background:

I am far from being a seasoned vet but no one has the right to laugh at you for that. It's all about personal goals and in the end, if you had fun then who cares what anyone else thinks? My PB was a 16 incher up until a couple of months ago. Believe me, I paraded a photo of it around to all my friends haha. Besides, a 2lb bass on light gear is just as fun as catching a 5lber on heavier gear in my opinion.

Thanks! And it was on a Booyah Pad Crasher Jr.

Ahh ok. I'm 5 inches shorter than you so fish like the one you got look a lot bigger when I hold them. For example: This is why I take a quick pic or two with the fish against my rod, especially if I don't have a measuring tape on me. Sounds like it's time to buy a scale!

Sorry for the double post. I've been thinking about getting a scale like this for some time. Does weighing a fish like this damage the fish at all? Also, how accurate do you find that Berkley scale to be? I believe we sell them at my work and if it's a worthy investment then I will pick it up during my employee appreciation day (30% off!). Beauty slab by the way!

How big are you? You make that sixteen incher look small (or as others mentioned, could be the angle too). But yes, if it is a 16 incher then it looks to be at the very least a 2. Nice fish regardless!

Unfortunately, that is not the case out here. Many people floss them here with float rigs either drifting through holes where they stack (and using a long leader) or picking them out of white water pockets. Spinning, baitcasting, centerpinning, fly fishing, they've all been proven flossing methods if the intent is there. If anything, the baitcasters and pinners have somewhat of an advantage as they can just keep drifting until their hook runs into a fish.

It's funny because my friend is trying to convince me of the exact opposite. I'm still holding dearly to my pins haha.

A Booyah Pad Crasher turned my bass season into one worth remembering. Can't get enough of top water frogging and have had blow ups on the Booyahs, Koppers Live Targets, and River2Sea Bully Wa.

I have the 13' Shimano Clarus and last Steelhead season I paired mine with an Okuma Aventa that I use as a beater for salmon fishing. I normally use an Islander with an 11'3 Sage but honestly was just as happy with the Clarus setup this year even though most people would consider it a down-grade. The Clarus loads up well for casting; a slight flick can send your presentation quite far. Nice flex when fighting fish too but definitely not a rod with a ton of backbone if you are fishing pockets in white water (which is my favourite type of water to hunt for Steelhead). I might get jumped on for saying this but in my opinion the budget pins are not much worse than their more expensive counterparts. My dad is a collector so I've gotten to use a wide variety of pins over the years, but I still return to the Aventa as it's a great workhorse and if I fall on the ice I won't devalue a $400+ reel. I recently tried an Amundson Steelhead Tracker (dirt cheap $99 on sale) as well and enjoyed using it for Chinooks back when they were running. Here's one of the fish I landed on the aforementioned Aventa/Clarus setup from this season: And here is my largest Steel, caught on my Islander/Sage setup:

Same here. Made one last attempt tonight and while I got one two day ago on a Koppers Live Target, we got skunked tonight. A little chilly too. Time to look forward to next season.

Glad I could sneak in my first fish on a Live Target before the bass completely disappeared from the shallows for the year. I'm a Booyah man but I am loving the Live Targets too now.

Ba dum tsshhhhh!!

Funny enough, 6lbs was the marker that the locals at the lake I frequent told me had been caught the year before I started bass fishing. I took it with a grain of salt but at the same time, I figured there had to be some truth of "big fish" to the rumour so I kept fishing the lake. I spent a whole year and a half catching dink after dink after dink after dink until I started figuring out techniques to catch 2-3 pounders consistently. Then on one random outing I nailed the biggest bass I've ever seen come out of this lake (see avatar). I'm another one that doesn't carry a scale and I think 6lbs is probably pushing it, but it was a solid 5 and dwarfed my second biggest bass. Regardless if it was a 6 or not, what's not to say that there's not another one just a bit bigger swimming around that is true 6lber? Moral of the story: everyone might be lying/embellishing, but doesn't mean a few lunkers don't lurk in those waters!