FatBoy

Hey, RW. Is this the thread you're talking about? http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1108626008/ Here's a follow up to that one that might be relevant... http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1109697485/

I don't think there's any way a bass can get to over 4 lbs in 3 years in MN. I've seen the avg growth chart for IL. Don't remember exactly, but I believe it would take 6 or 7 years to get to that size.

In the words of my new hero... "If you ain't first, you're last." --Ricky Bobby j/k ;D ;D ;D

Do crayfish feel pain??? Just kidding... ;D ;D ;D

You might want to try posting this question in the tacklemaking forum. I don't read that one very often, but I've seen posts there about using markers to color baits and even draw different patterns. I believe I remember someone saying that the smell goes away pretty quick.

There's a guy around here who has stocked several small subdivision retention ponds with smallies (caught out of the river I believe). (And I'm not telling where... ) I've fished only one of them, about 4 acres. He stocked 9 fish in there two years ago. The other day, my buddy caught 14 in about an hour (I only got 2, but they were FUN!). Some were smaller than the smallest ones stocked, so they successfully spawned. I can't say what will happen in the long term. And I don't know if the fish are "happy" in that pond. But, YES, absolutely, they can survive and reproduce in a small pond. And yes, they are definitely smallmouth...

They both have the dark stripe right down the side. Spots often have dark splotches above that line, mixed in with the green. Also, the spots have neat rows of small dark spots along the belly under the line. Need a close up of your fish to tell which it is.

Thanks, Jim. I think this stuff must be watermeal since it definitely feels gritty. It covers a large portion of the surface, but it doesn't seem to be hurting the underwater plants. This place is absolutley FILLED with milfoil (or coontail, not sure which) that comes to 3-4' of the surface. The place looks like bass heaven to me.

Alright!! I'll keep trying then. I've been there twice recently, once in the evening and yesterday early morning, and couldn't get a hit on topwater. I tried buzzbaits and horny toads. I caught 3 nice ones yesterday - on a senko, a fluke, and the horny toad. But the one on the horny toad came on a cast up onto the bank and the bass hit it just as I yanked it off the bank into the water. I've also tried casting the toads onto the thick scum, jerking it around, and then pulling it off into the water, but nothing on that either. Hmmm...

Some of the ponds/lakes around here are covered with this floating green stuff (sorry, don't know what it's called). It's little green specks that gather together all over the surface, sometimes just near the bank but other times all over the place. There's a couple of pics of one such pond below. I know it's poor quality, but hopefully you can see the stuff on the surface (not the scum in the foreground). My question is, will bass hit a topwater bait through this stuff or not? It's not really a barrier to them, but I wonder if they can't see a bait on the surface or if they just don't want to come through it?

Holy smoke, Jim! Now that is dedication to your sport...or you're crazy...or both. ;D ;D ;D

OK...here's the deal. There's a pond I've fished a couple times during lunch, including today. I've caught two dinks only. The pond is a couple of acres. Little vegetation near shore or anywhere really. The water is pretty muddy with visibility of about 6-12". Today was overcast with a constant breeze. Each time I've been there, I've seen several bass jumping. They're pretty decent size too. So I know they are there and active. Most of the jumps are the distance of a long cast from the bank. Today I threw a 1/4 oz chartreuse/white and 3/8 oz blue/white spinnerbait, black buzzbait (which I figure the bass have never seen at noon ), and a big texan (that's the color) zoom trick worm on a split shot. In the past I've tried lipless cranks, shallow cranks, senkos (watermelon/red, black/blue and green/chartreuse) and chartreuse/white and black/blue chatterbaits. What would you throw (type of bait and color)?

I believe either hopping or dragging can work, depending on the mood of the fish on a given day. Check out the Bigmouth (not Bigmouth Forever) video clip here: http://www.questforadventure.com/videosamples.htm The hops clearly worked this time. The fish is just watching on the small hops, and then on one big hop...GULP! Once the fish gets up to the boat, you see who this amazing angler really is.......it's GILLIGAN!!! ;D ;D ;D

Good info, Jim, as always. And...um...."thanks" I guess for the recipe

Jingtao's post about gar reminded me of a question I've been meaning to ask... Do muskrats bother bass? Do you think they would spook the fish? Or worse, do they eat fish...God forbid!!! My home pond has 4 (I think) muskrats. They're constantly swimming up and down the shore, cutting the tops off of emergent weeds and carrying them off, I guess to build a "nest." They really annoy me, but I'm not sure if they should.

Sounds like that's a REALLY small pond. I think you may make the bass shy of certain lures and you'll probably do better to change up techniques every so often. But I don't think you can do any damage to the fish population in there...as long as you're practicing C&R. If anyone is keeping them, it wouldn't take long to clean out a small pond, at least to the extent that they hurt the spawning population badly. I've heard of several small ponds in my area that were raided by people looking for a few dinners that never recovered.

I can't give you any advice on the drop shot (sorry), but in some states and in some bodies of water it is illegal to have more than one hook on a single line. I don't know much that means to you personally, but just wanted to make sure you are aware...

The one you call a rattling fish like lure sounds like a rat-l-trap (or more generally called a lipless crankbait). Does it have two sets of treble hooks? The 'diving minnow' probably has a plastic lip on the nose and treble hooks also? If so, you may have trouble with either of these lures in weedy areas. Treble hooks will easily get snagged. Experienced fishermen sometimes like to reel in the lipless cranks at the proper speed so that it comes just over the top of the weeds, but that may difficult if you don't have much experienced with this kind of lure. The spinnerbait is probably your best bet. If you have time/money to run to the store before you head out, it would be worth your while to pick up a couple colors of plastic worms, hooks, and 1/16 oz weights for a texas rig. You can get all that for less than $10.

Thanks guys. Didn't realize those articles were here, Glenn. (Actually, I didn't even realize there was a tacklemaking forum until my post got moved here.) This site has everything!!!

Can someone point me to some info on how to pour your own soft baits and links to companies that sell molds and plastic? Well, I'm sure someone on this forum can, so the question is WILL someone?...please

In just the past couple of weeks I've have bass grab both fat ikas and super flukes almost instantaneously after the bait hit the water (on long casts). I think the bass turn to see what made the splash and look up and see a slowly falling fish shaped object. It probably looks like it was chased to the surface by another bass and got whacked or something enough to stun it. The bass decides to grab the easy meal before the other bass can get back to it. It's basically a reaction strike. At least that's how I imagine it. Watch the sample video clips from Bigmouth here: http://www.questforadventure.com/videosamples.htm In the first one, from Bigmouth Forever, you see this guy throw a spinnerbait at a stump twice, but nothing. No sign of a bass. Then he puts down that rod and picks up one with what looks like a t-rig worm. Tosses it to the other side of the stump. Out of nowhere TWO bass dart over as soon as it hits the water. One strikes but misses. The other sees his opportunity to grab the meal the first one missed and BAM, fish on! Watch it all the way to the end. I find something comical about the three fish that cruise by. Don't know why...

Hey, macdaddy. Ummm...I think that's my lure. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it is. I...um...lost it there last week. Yeah, that's it. I lost it. You said Lucky Craft, right? Yeah, that's definitely mine. I'll PM you my address and you can send it to me. Yeah, that's the ticket. You can send it to me. Thanks.

Man, you're making me jealous. I've only seen 2 smb in my life and they weren't on my hook. They were in about 6' of water harassing some bluegill on their beds. I floated right over them in a canoe, but they weren't interested in the fluke I had tied on at the time. This lake is the only place I know of in this area that has any smb. I'll have to hit it hard this fall and next spring and after the smallies specifically.

Hey, pondhopper, is that shelf something you can see from the bank? I've never noticed anything like that. But then I've looked for it either.

Well, I really don't know how the pond was formed. It's essentially a retention pond for my subdivision. There's no dam really. There's a drain of sorts at one end that maintains the maximum water level. There are absolutely no features on shore that give any clue as to what's going on under water. The plants consist of some 'pond weed' in places near shore, very thick bulrushes/cat tails in one corner (too thick for fish to get inside of), and LOTS of coontail around the whole perimeter that extends to about 6 feet from the bank (at a depth of about 4 feet). I think Randall may be right on the money (the bigger fish are suspended over deeper water). That had been my assumption until I was reading some old threads and started to think about structure. But there may just not be ANY in this pond. By the way, the pond is pretty wide...probably 200 yards across. So if the big ones are suspending over that deeper water, there's no way I can reach them from the bank. I'm going to be trying more at night and just waiting for the water to cool a bit and for the big girls to tie on the old feeding bag in the fall.