WestMichiganBass

Me and a friend are in Sarasota Florida for the week and we can't find any body's that we can fish and the ones we find are all shallow and have know fish. Does anyone know of any small lakes or ponds in the area that are decent for fishing

Got to love northern Michigan

What do you guys think do you think these are the same fish? Me and a friend can't decide but I think they are. The markings behind the gill plate look identical to me.

Caught the same fish less than 24 hours apart in almost the same spot. Done it a few times with both bass and pike.

I understand that green pumkin and browns work well. I was wondering if you guys had any weird go to colors for smallies. I swear by a solid chartreuse tube and one friend swears by purple and one by blue. They seem to like those weird colors around here. I can catch more bass in clear ish water on chartreuse then green most days it seems

I've has quiet alot of sucess swimming jerk baits. I used to straight crank xraps on occasion because I liked the profile and action. I caught my personal best smallmouth straight cranking an xrap just to change things up. I've had more sucess jerk in and jerk bait but straight reeling is worth a try

I am curious what colors work for you guys for smallies. In my years of experience there is nothing compared to white tubes. Always have been and always will be my go too. Also chartreuse tends to pick up a considerable number of fish and is a close second to white. At times I find my self struggling to catch fish on other colors like black and blue or a crayfish color. What color works best for you guys?

A what? Never heard of one. I'll have to look it up

Looks like I need to try dropshotting never considered it but seems like a deadly technique in this situation. I've never dropshotted but I understand the basics enough to be able to do it (I think). Tips welcome

I went out today just to play around with a jig because it was windy and snowing just to see what it was like with the wind. Thw initial fall is challenging honestly. It will take practice to detect hits on the first fall. After that feeling a bite shouldn't be an issue.

It's just outside of lowell michigan. It doesn't have a name so it's hard to tell you which one. It's just southeast of lowell. A buddy's friends family owns it so I'm allowed to fish there

It's hard to feel a bait on slack line? I would say alot of places I fish have great water clarity so I like to fish mono/floro because I don't like messing with braid and leaders.

Thank you guys for the response. Some good information to consider. I've often been turned away from jig fishing in rough water because I can't watch my line on the initial fall but I'll have to not let the wind get the best of me

I've read multiple times that to be a sucessful jig fisherman you need to watch the line. What do you do when that's not possible when it's windy or rainy? Do you let it fall on a tight line? Or are these just not the time to fish a jig?

Many people mention throwing spoons, I've actually had decent luck there with spoons I used to throw spoons in their for pike because their are some monster pike in there. I've caught quite a few bass that way. I think I really need to drop shotting there I think it could be a deadly technique. I've heard hudlestons but I'm not ready to lose one of those to a big pike lol. There is no way to get a boat on it without dragging it a considerable way. Without a boat I am unable to really tell any of the bottem structure. Even though it's clear it's hard to tell.

It's a gravel pit yes. But it's still in current use I just happen to be good buddy's with the owners friend. Catching fish when they are shallow has never been an issue. It's when they are deep that's causing problems. I'm not sure how to target deeper fish

I wondering how you guys would approach this body of water. I can always locate fish when bass are shallow or suspended but it seems like sometimes (like lately) the bass have been hanging out deep. The water is deep, crystal clear and cold. To cold to even swim in the summer. And the bank immediately drops off to about 15 foot all the way around and probably goes out to about 30 foot. There are some giant fish in this lake and I want to try and land a giant during the prespawn/spawn. What would you guys be throwing and any other tips. Here's a picture of the lake but I doubt that will help much

Also I concerned with the strength of the boat. I know it'll float but the sides seem weak like I can grab them and wiggle them a little bit. Would this mean the boats to weak for this? I can't tell you how old it is, just that its old

Well the boats 5' wide and I was planning on using the middle row to the front for a deck. A good park of the boat would be deck

If I remember right the deck would be 5'x7' I'm thinking 5 foot should be wide enough?

I have a small aluminum v-hull boat that was given to me. I've been contemplating weither I should put a casting deck on it or just let it sit. I am concerned with strength and stability. Will the higher center of gravity cause issues? Is there a way I could tell the center of gravity on the boat is to high or not. How stabile are these things? Im a big guy BTW like 6'2 285 lbs would that affect stability. Thanks in advance

If it was up to me I'd trade you

Generally I do as well. I pretty much only use instagram. I just like seeing what other people catch

Oh trust me I plan on it. This is the first year being super serious about lmb fishing instead of going for smallies. I'm sure I'll beat this girl soon

So easter morning till about 3pm I was busy with my s/o family. Went to church then lunch the usual. My parents called and said that dinner was at 6:30 and they hoped to see me there. I got out of lunch and got in the car and drove off. Ive been searching for one of those pre spawn pigs that I always hear about and never catch. I'm a smallie fisherman by nature and have caught some huge bronze backs but never a largemouth over 3.5lbs, I was hoping to break that. I hade 3 and a half hours between meals. I drove an hour to a lake that I knew had alot of big girls in it thinking maybe id catch one. That only left me like an hour and a half to fish in order to make it to dinner. I fished all of an hour and a half and never set down the rod. I caught lik 6 bass in the 1-2lbs range but was discouraged I couldn't hook into anything bigger. Then I made the famous "last cast" I threw my red eye shad out as far as I could near a bubbler that I imagined held fish. I felt a bit of weight and set the hook at the fish didn't budge. I knew I hooked into the fish I was looking for. She revealed her size with the first shake and got me pretty pumped up. Fought her back to the boat and landed her. Tipped the scale at just over 4lbs. Not massive but a new personal best largemouth, tough to find big bass in michigan . Anyways after that rushed back to the launch ran to my car and speed all the way home and bairly made it in time for dinner. I guess it's important to use every last second on the water you have. Gotta say this easter was the best I've ever had.