JG233

Thanks man. I'll actually have mine with me for the summer!

First baitcaster. Booyah! Can't wait for spring. Three months to go if we're lucky.

I hated fishing in AZ. There are only like five bodies of water and everyone fishes them. It was always super crowded--absolutely terrible for kayak fishing.

Hey Tom, I didn't know that happened. Here's to a speedy recovery! And at least it happened at the end of the season rather than the middle of the summer. See you in March for some prespawn fishing.

Can anyone recommend articles or posts here that discuss fishing for bass in muddy water? Thanks!

Send it off to DVC.

Man, I think I'm packing it in for the year. Last two times out = one bite, one fish. And it's starting to get down to the freezing temp at night.

So I'm fishing Ross Lake tomorrow. Let me know how you guys do in OH thread I created. Let's start sharing some reports - not exact spots or anything - just basics. Good luck!

@emowens English - I got my MFA and taught at UMass Boston for a few years. I've been able to go out fishing once we week for the last couple weeks. So far so good. I'm planning on going to Tycoon or Burr Oak this Thursday.

Thanks for the feedback!

Alright so I'm being gifted a brand new bait casting combo of my choice! It will supplement my ML and M spinning setups. I plan on using the bait caster to throw everything that's on the heavier side, so jigs, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, lipless cranks, silver buddy, ect... I plan on buying another, cheaper one somewhere down the line for treble hook baits. But for now, I'm thinking: Tatula CT 7.3.1 paired with a St. Croix Avid X 6'8 MH. Thoughts?

Thanks @DogBone_384! I fished Tycoon again today and struck out. I only had two hits. One was pretty light and the the other came unbuttoned when I switched angles. So you're not the only one with the skunk! Water temps were right around 70. I expected better fishing since we're supposed to get rain tomorrow.

Post up a map of the place here so people can help.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I wish I had known to buy a 9 amp initially, but I guess it never hurts to have a backup.

@Scott Fit's 2.3 amp @DogBone_384 I've got a Dewalt drill with 2 20v battery packs, but I've no idea how I'd hook those up to my finder

Twelve hours or so. I don't have a volt meter, but the pack's light was green. It should've been full.

I fish out of a kayak and the battery life on my fish finder stinks. It only lasts around five or six hours. I've tried turning the brightness down, but then I can't see my screen with shades on. I'm running a Lowrance Hook 4x off the Berkley Battery Pack. What gives? Ideas from the pros? Thanks!

I fished Tycoon Lake this morning. It's the perfect size for a kayak. I lost quite a few plastics to stumps early on so I eventually wised up and switched over to a weedless rig. The Fat Ika was the money today. I caught five or six LMB, mostly dinks with two keepers. The last bass I caught felt like a mack truck hitting because I've been catching so many little bass over the last two weeks. That last one weighed in a little over two lbs. It was a nice healthy fish, full of fight. I had the place to myself for the two hours after dawn. By the time I left around 1:00 there were three bass boats on the water. When I was packing up, one of the boaters swung by and asked how I did. I guess they weren't catching anything, which made me feel pretty good. I think I'm going to fish this same spot next week since I now have the lay of the land.

Way to revive this thread @emowens! I'm out in Athens, OH for the next few years (except for the summers). I'm in the first year of my PhD at OU. I'm hoping to get my kayak out on the water at least once a week until it gets too cold.

Alright, after a month of living in Athens I'm settled in. I decided today was the day to catch my first Ohio bass. I fished Dow Lake in Strouds Run State Park from dawn to about 1:00. I caught a dozen fish, all LMB except for a single anomaly SMB. All of the fish were dinks. I fished a paddle tail, ned rig, and wacky rig. The water temp was 74 when I left in the afternoon--lots of dying weed along the shores. I wasn't able to spot any off shore structure in my kayak. I'm going to try somewhere different next week. I've heard there aren't a lot of big fish in Dow, but it was still good to get out. So next week I'm going to try Logan, Tycoon, Ross, or Burr Oak. Can anyone make a recommendation on which spot might have the best fishing right now? I hope to see some reports from other Ohio people here soon. Happy fishing!

Thanks guys! I hope to fish with you again next summer @DogBone_384. I'm getting settled in out here. I have meetings and events all this week. Next week classes start, and I start teaching. I'll get some pics up once my kayak arrives from AZ and I start getting out there to catch some fish.

Caught a bunch of small LMB and pickerel down in windy Fall River yesterday. The catch of the day was a 4+ lb bass on a 4.3 keitch rigged up a jig head. Hooked into it a ways out from the boat and had an excellent airborne fight. I started the day fishing a fat ika and kept getting hits and missing fish--not sure why. Maybe they were smaller ones? I tried to wait more time before setting the hook, and then I gut hooked two fish. I couldn't win.

Sounds heavy for that depth.

Big SMB this week on the Quabbin:

On Tuesday I hit up the Quabbin with Rhino. We were the first ones in line and the first on the water. Things started very very slow. We didn't catch anything for the first few hours. It was overcast and little rainy--perfect fishing weather, but they wouldn't cooperate. Slowly we began catching very small SMB, all under 1.5 lbs. Rhino probably boated 15 of them. Then I hooked up with what looked to be a huge SMB, maybe 3 or 4 lbs. I got a good hookset and it started pulling drag immediately. Of course it then jumped and spit my hook. I groaned and put my head down on the side of the boat. Nothing was working except for a wacky worm. We changed spots a few times, to no avail. We changed baits innumerable times, no bites. Things finally got quite interesting in the last few hours of day. I switched over to the Fat Ika and immediately caught a decent SMB. A little while later I caught a big one, maybe 3.5 lbs. I really struggled to get him in the boat. It took forever to tire him out and coax him into the net--hell of a fight with me swearing most of the time--especially after losing a big one already. Rhino caught 2 great big SMB after that. The larger one looked to be well over 4+ lbs. We got a picture, but it doesn't do the fish justice. Below is a pic of my big one. His was quite a bit bigger. Overall, a great day, albeit a long one. I'm glad we hung in there. We were on the water until maybe 3:30. I also caught a wicked sunburn because my UV shirts were all dirty. No fight to that fish.