BassB8Caster

Nice job, congrats!

Regarding the trailer hooks; are the bass swalling these hooks at all? Or does it push to the side when they grab the frog? Im all for increasing hook ups with frogs!

i use the booyah popper hollow body frog. It does have the long silicone strand "Legs". On my last frog (same kind) that i put into a tree, i did cut the legs. But honestly, i dont see any difference in results. I have yet to cut the legs on the new one. I do need to bend the hooks up a bit. I tried a little while out on the kayak one day, but they didnt bend much. I will do a better job on land with the right tools. As far as the setting the hook issue....yes i do know about waiting. But do i always? No, i get too d**n excited. It seems like im either right on the money, too early, or actually waiting for it to take it, allowing it to surface back up when they dont take it. No real consistency yet. But i do love fishing it. So i will improve the more i fish it. Just something about that topwater blow up that makes you excited to set the hook.

i agree. i often try to change things up. I dont have the patience to keep trying the same thing for hours on end. Lately what has been killing me is the winds. I have been having 20 plus winds the last few times fishing. That blows my kayak all around. I have an anchor but it is only around 15 feet. When i have been trying to find smallies on deeper points its been very windy. This is killing the attempt at putting a tube on the bottom or fishing a soft plastic. And lately the spinners, chatterbait etc havent been producing. I do need to try the lipless cranks more. They cast great in wind too!

Excellent review. In the next year or 2 I will be in the market for a boat. This boat will be at the top of the list. If you don't mind, what did you pay for that with all those options?

You are doing fine. A 3 to 4 lb is a good fish. Use the lilies to your advantage. It's a perfect ambush spot for largemouth. Especially if deeper water is close by. Throw frogs on the pads. Texas rignore a swimbait over the pads. Punch holes with jigs. They should be around that pipe as well. Just keep fishing. Don't over complicate it. Some days the fish just don't bite. Mornings and evenings I would be all over the shore / pads area

Great information there! My original post was geared more towards trying to learn how to address that situation when it happens again. Rather than losing a great fish, and having the attitude of "oh well, life goes on", i wanted to learn what to do to catch that fish again. Dont get me wrong, i love fishing and am not a trophy fisherman. I do want to catch the biggest fish possible every time i go out. But thats not what it is all about. It is very valuable to learn bits and pieces from the vast range of successful fisherman we have on this awesome forum. Learning that big bass learn a specific bait is extremely valuable to me. Knowing that the bass will lock down and possibly not feed for a good amount of time is valuable as well. Rather than spending an hour after a loss trying to get bit again, i know to move on to another area and give her some time. This is very valuable information for new bass fishermen like myself. Thank you everyone for your imput. The best lessons are learned first hand. But any i can get taught ahead of time puts me that further ahead and makes me that much better of a fisherman.

thats awesome! I just started fishing for bass last summer and i am hooked!! I absolutely love it. The one thing i look forward to most aside from fishing myself, is being able to take my kids fishing. We are due with our first child (daughter) anytime over the next couple weeks, and man i cannot wait to introduce her to fishing. Im already receiving fishing stuff from my wife and family. Congrats to you for taking her fishing, and even better that fish were caught.

Good job! Persistence does usually pay off.

My plan was to fish at a fairly large lake (for my area anyway) around 900 acres. I usually fish smaller ponds, but usually access is more challenging. I have fished this lake before, and have caught a few. It has both smallies and largemouth. The reason i pick this lake is because it has a great boat launch providing easy access at night. My thought was (to get my feet wet) that first night and go along the shoreline, fishing both shallow and deeper (as you did). Usually when i fish smaller ponds, i have a more detailed game plan and sometimes paddle a bit before fishing. Being my first time night fishing, i was going to keep it simple and see how that first night went. There are some islands about a mile from the launch, but im not going to make that trek at night (first few times out atleast). I always wear a pfd so got that covered. I would def go the headlamp route (perhaps with a colored light to keep bugs down) along with a couple other flashlights and batteries. From what i read, everyone seemed to agree on the same few lures (chatterbait, a topwater or 2, soft plastics and crankbait. No need for all the lures we normally carry with us taking up more room for night fishing.

I too have been reading all the night fishing conversations on here lately. I am super excited to try this out. Like you, i fish out of a kayak, so it is great to hear about your night from a kayak. Next time you go out, anything you would do different? Improve upon? Thanks for posting!!

I have gotten used to it. I definitely got frustrated at times. Got a little wet. Not bad. Had extra jacket and a towel to cover my lap. I basically just used good casting lures (rat l trap, frog, spinner and chatterbait). For all the work, the bite was not what I thought it would be with the wind and water motion. Nothing of any size was feeding.

I went out Sunday in my kayak. Here in Maine we had 20 plus winds. Was quite the adventure. It gets frustrating at times, but at the end of the day, got to spend some time on the water fishing and even caught some fish. Win win!

Yes! that was great, very insightful. I have never been night fishing, but the more i read on here the more i want to try it. Couple questions: are you keeping the red light headlamp on all the time? Or just turn it on as needed (tieing a lure, unhooking a fish etc)? Do fish roam more at night? Or are they just not as tight to that cover as they are during the day?

nice fish and nice pics!

Like most have said, if you dont like it move on. Its there for entertainment. Some i like, others i do not. Some are actually pretty awesome. I have directv and often i will (or at least used to) look ahead to saturday and sunday mornings to see what there is on tv for fishing shows. I would record all i found that were bass fishing. But you talk about commercials, and infomercials, trying to sell you on everything. It is rediculous. Really 5 minutes of fishing for a 30 minute show. Some are ok. I do enjoy the bassmasters on espn/2 or whatever channel it is. They are very thorough and go in depth to describe what was working, the conditions etc. I learn a lot on that show. For myself, youtube is very valuable. I dont get all my info from there. I greatly rely on this site for its articles and member content. There are some extremely knowledgable and successful guys on here. And i put into action a lot of what they say. This site is an amazing site and has made me the fisherman i am today (albeit a green one...going into my second summer bass fishing).

That has been my experience as well. My biggest smb have been aggressive, on spinner bait and square bill.

Yeah, you can't NOT go back. Just knowing a big bass is around is enough motivation for me. you just never know what the next cast may bring.

i spoke with the campground manager and he said he talked to another fisherman who went out that weekend and caught one around 6lbs. Was it the same fish? no idea. Was their fish actually 6lbs? no idea. biggest one i did land was 3.6lbs. It seems as though im taking baby steps to what im landing. Keep getting big ones on, then losing them at the kayak. But keep landing quality fish, slowly beating my pb as i go. I guess my mistake was paying any attention to the wind blowing me around. between her pulling me and the wind, i was going right into the bush she came from. SO i mistakingly tried to control both. Next time its all concentration on landing the fish. The more i think back on it, there was one instance before i lost her that the line went a little slack. She was still on, but im sure the frog came a bit loosened. Then the head shake, change of direction and poof. Gone. I really enjoy froggin in the kayak. I feel im closer to the action and i can get in to the back of the slop, where it seems it ends, but there are fish further back there. Leverage is a challenge between setting the hook good, and keeping them out of the weeds. But for the most part it works out pretty good. Going to braid line really helps. Anyway, thanks for all the replies. One of these days i (like many others on here) will be talking about the monster i landed, Not the one that got away.

This was the 4th big fish I have lost since picking up bass fishing last summer. The way I look at it is at least I'm getting them to bite. But it is frustrating. Maybe I'm not setting the hook hard enough (sit in kayak is a little tough). Mostly I'm asking how to approach round 2. How long to waiy etc. Unfortunately this was at a pond my wife and I were camping at. So it's private to campers. I will try to get back though. My wife works with the managers wife. Before the rain I couldn't find any decent fish in these bushes. Just smaller pickerel. Then the rain adding 3 feet of water made perfect homes. At some point I'm sure the water level will go back down. Pushing her and others back where they were before. I was able to find the better fish tied to cover. Mostly wood over the grasses. Lilies with extra pads and accumulated grass and debris held fish too.

Tried to word this thread so it wasn't like all the other "the big one that got away" discussions. So this weekend I was fishing a 75 acre pond. Overnight we got lots of rain which raised the water level around 3 feet. The raised water level made bushes great deeper water (3 feet) homes that held no fish before the rain. Anyway, weather was overcast and foggy. So I brought out the frog. I saw some splashing around a bush so I made my way over. Throw out my frog and slowly start working it. I see a swirl to the left then boom. She inhales the frog. I set the hook and fish on! I start bringing her to the kayak (I'm fishing with 30lb braid, so I'm confident in my line). After a bit I'm gaining confidence in a good hook set. Wind picks up so I'm keeping tension on my line with one hand and trying to control kayak with other. A few seconds later she surfaces, thrashing, head shaking, goes back under then slack. She spit the frog. She was a big one. So, what would you do now? I left the area and went back about 45 minutes later. Tried several things, no dice. Went back later that night, and again nothing. No signs of her. Was she still there? I did not try the frog later that night. Should I have? I tried jitterbug but nothing. What do you do when a big one is lost?

I have had some success over the last few days with berkley havoc grass pig swimbaits. I have been rigging them on a 4/0 ewg hook with center pin screw lock. I have been running them weightless Texas rigged and bring them through grass, around trees, and over grass / pads etc. I will have to try it with a weight to get down at depths. One issue I have at times is the bait will spin/spiral. I'm thinking this happens due to the rigging being a little off angle

I agree. I'm seeing them kinda all over the place. Some spawning. Some post spawn. Some shallow, some off shore. Mix that in with different places different times of the day. Makes it quite a challenge. But it is just so much fun. Nothing beats that feeling of accomplishment when you look at something and say to yourself "there should be a fish right there".......and it works out.

Have you caught fish in there before? Do you know it holds the fish you are trying to catch?

keep trying. keep changing things up. think outside the box.