BassB8Caster

No problem. I have been in your shoes. Not losing anything that big tho. Up here in Maine finding bigger fish (over 6lbs) is a feat. They do exist, but its a challenge. Im not going to say 50lb braid is a must, i think 30 would do the trick. I think with your set up you may be at the mercy of your rod and reel drag limits. Fluoro may be fine, i would personally want braid. There is a good chance she is going to make a run for cover. Braid may just give you a little more protection.

I have a 130 in loon and havent done very well. Do i think it will work? Yes. Maybe this fall when the big girls want a big meal. Problem is, i find it hard to fish anything besides my spro 40 rat in morning dawn. Slow retrieve just getting that "S" motion....bass cant resist. A much better producer by far for me.

Being a small pond, you need to be very careful with your presence. She will be on alert now. Dont let her see you standing on shore. Dont wear bright colors. Do everything you can control. I would tie on a big worm, cast it across the pond onto the other shore (depending if the shoreline will allow you), and drag it very slowly into the water and be VERY patient. Take your time and work the worm slowly. I would also switch to braid and tighten your drag. If you hook up, you need to get the battle over as quick as possible. Strong hookset and reel her in. dont stop. Dont let her change directions or jump. Control her head and you control her. You may want to upsize your hooks (quality and size if necessary). Be sure of your knots. I would give her a little time. She will eventually need to eat again. Night may be a good time as well. Go get her!

They are the smaller ones. The hold up better with smaller swimbaits. Ill try getting some bigger twist locks before giving up on the keitech! Thanks for the tip!

I caught 2 3.5lbers today off a square bill by hooking them from the outside right between their eyes. Was very odd. Bite felt normal, set the hook, reel them in and hook is between the eyes. Very odd. A first for me.

Honestly i dont remember. I have had them a while. I think they are either owner or mustad. Thats what i usually buy. Those 2 times were the first times ive had that happen.

I was a big fan of the keitechs. A good value for what they are and the action they have. Last weekend changed my opinion. I fish them on twist loc hooks so i can fish them through cover. Twice in a row i caught 3.5lb fish. Both times hook was right through the side of its mouth (where it should be) and the bait was no where to be found. It ripped off the loc and probably fell to the bittom of the pond. Now there is a good chance a fish eats it and possibly dies from future complications. I dont like that. So now keitechs will only go on a jig head. Im ordering a couple savage gear swimbaits to replace the keitech when they are gone (the bigger ones....ill continue to use the smaller ones as trailers).

Just got an email from DSG. Tomorrow and sunday is 20% off entire purchase. Time to order the savage gear 6" line thru trout and 7" real trout swimbaits.

I fish mostly small (100 acres and less) ponds from a kayak. Baits really depend on time of year for me here in maine. I typically start off in the morning with a topwater (spro rat, whopper plopper) along weed edges and channels. If that doesnt produce ill go down a little deeper with a square bill. All depends where the fish are. Right now they are out 30 to 50 feet off cover. I hammered them last sunday with a sexy shad square bill and 5.8 keitech. If they are up close to shore in vegetation im tieing on a TR worm or lizard, mixing in a swim jig. Find em first, then pick area apart!

I have been a big believer in oakley polarized glasses. If i look hard enough i can find a pair i like under $100. I too looked into the costas but just hard to justify that $ for me right now. Eye surrender is another brand. They look pretty good. $60 for polarized lenses with good lens color selections. Worth checking out

Nice work! 6-8 is a d**n nice fish, especially here in Maine. I was stuck under 5 for the longest time, then got a 6.01 a few months ago. I went out sunday and did real well. biggest was a 5.5 with a 4.5 and several 3.5. Mostly on square bill and keitech 5.8. i tried topwater but didnt have any luck (only used the whopper plopper 130). I dont know about the ones you caught, but the ones i caught hammered the bait. Hit very hard. I had a 3.5 hit so hard that once i started reeling her in i swore it was a 10lber. What a fun day. Im in Western Maine btw.

Do some reading about fishing with swimbaits. I havent gotten into the big ones (over 6") but will once i can upgrade my gear. Expect to have days without bites. The bigger fish are less numerous. These are the ones we are after. They don't always eat. What works one day may not again for weeks. Keep throwing them and grinding it out. Just because you think there are less fish, dont think you shouldn't fish there. It could be possible that that area belongs to a big momma. Big fish will eat big baits (small ones will to....they dont know how big they are). Check out tactical bassin on youtube. Matt allen is big into swimbaits

You will have to experimentwith colors. Trout patterns are good. Perch, etc. There is no magic color. Your visibility is ok. Not the best for swimbaits (clearer the better). Slow rolling them on the bottom works. Depends on the fish's mood. If active, it may not matter.

Is there a drop off near by? Are they setting up looking deep for trout to come by? If so try bringing a big swimbait slowly up that drop off over the flat (deeper to shallow) Try a big worm dragged slowly over the flat. You will have to experiment day to day. Good luck!

That's why it will be a while before i buy anything too expensive. The big keitechs out are great values. I just need to upgrade to a swimbait setup capable of working those heavy baits. It took me 2 years to splurge and buy a bbz rat @ $25. I love throwing that bait tho. Not sure if i will ever see the need to buy a $50 on up bait when there are decent ones half that. Guess it comes down to sizes. Bigger baits tend to cost more.

A little of topic but on topic....i have 2 baitcaster combos. First ever is a black max with vengeance mh rod. Second is a lews laser speed spool with laser stick (i think) mh rod, $99 combo. I have gotten by fine for 2.5 years. Have 30lb braid on the lews and 12lb mono on the abu setup. I have lost some good fish on the abu set up where i just didnt get a good hookset, even though i felt i set it pretty hard. For the heck of it i decided to respool both. However this time i out the braid on the abu and mono on the lews. What a WORLD of difference. I liked the lews rod previously with the braid set up. But by switching line, the braid gave the abu rod a little more strength and mono on the lews was better as the rod has more backbone (although both are mh). Goes to show that your rod makes a huge difference. Just because company A says mh rod, it is not going to be the same mh as company B. Get a stouter rod and you will be a MUCH happier and successful fisherman!

thanks alot. i had been doing a good job to fight the urge to buy some bigger swimbaits. Throw that out the window. First step: identify your budget

Didnt notice if anyone mentioned it, but possibly setting the hook a little too early? With topwater, or really any lure we can see get bit, we may get over anxious and set too early, hooking the out side of the mouth or a spot tjat is easily shook loose when she jumps. I know im guilty of it way too often. Would think we would learn the more we fish. Just get so excited. Def want some backbone in the rod for topwater hooksets

Ask him?

Maybe you are forcing things too much? Relax and slow down. Think back over those 2 days. What are you using? Maybe you are using "the same routine"? Think outside the box. The last few times out prior to yesterday were a grind. Fish were not where they should be doing what the should as the water cools. Yesterday i had the best day ever. It can change in one day....in one cast.

Man thats a tough one. The mouth and head on that girl is huuuge. Then it looks a little skinny. My PB was 6.01 at 22". Was a stout fish. Not big and fat belly, just solid. Ill take a wild guess of 5.10.

i say 3.8 to 4.3lbs.

This weekend was a grind. i caught fish (nothing big) but i had to work for all of them. They just didnt seem to be where i expected them to be. This time of year i thought i would find them in and amongst the vegetation roaming and feeding. But i didnt really find that. They were very scattered. Almost like i had to drop it on their nose. Im guessing it was a brookie through process of elimination. I have caught brook trout all my life (all brooks and small ponds...biggest fish around 14 inches). This fish was 20 inches. Looked very different than any i have ever caught. Camera on my phone is broke, so i mentally made notes of distinguishing characteristics. Body was a uniform olive green with bright red spots. There were no halos around the spots (like browns would have). I do not recall the worm like markings on the back of a brookie. I also didnt look carefully at the tail (now i know how significant the tail can be for identification). After i caught it i thought it was a brown (as i had never caught one and this fish was so different), but figured with these characteristics i would be able to identify it looking online. I havent found any pictures that tell me "that was it". Just after talking with a few people, we kind of came to the brook trout conclusion. Was neat thats for sure. With few trips left, i really want to try to target big fish. Contemplating hitting up Kezar Lake again, or somewhere i may "luck into" a 6 plus pounder. My problem is, like i have stated before, fishing out of a kayak i dont want to have to paddle miles to get to places. My brother in law has a canoe (no motor just us paddling). Do you think its worth the trip out to Kezar Pond? Sounds like an interesting endeavor, and you said it can fish tough. Two of us paddling could make the distance in much quicker. Or better off launching at the narrows on kezar and going up (or down)?

I am using more swimbaits this year than last. I have some of the keitech 5.8 (cant wait to try the 6.8 and 7.8). Im fairly limited as i only have a mh rod. So im not into the bigger swimbaits yet. One that im super impressed with is the yum pulse. Only 4.5" but great side to side wobble and tail kick. And they are very affordable. I have done well putting them on a jig head and fishing deeper. They are my go to throwing it on a twistlock hook weightless and bringing it through and over vegetation. Great action with slow retrieve.

Im seeing the opposite up here in maine. I have been fishing small ponds (larger than those mentioned above @ 100 acres) and have had to work very hard for those i catch. I am catching them, they just are not where i would think they should be. The last pond i fished sunday was a shallow pond being 10 feet at the deepest spot. It had a ton of vegetation and flats with 1 to 2.5 feet of water. To me, the fish should be all through these flats. The water was clear and they would be able to feed very well. The water is also getting cool. Should be roaming feeding time. But i could not find them relating to this cover. Only a gew pickerel hanging in a few spots. The fish i caught were scattered around. Just one here, one there. Now i dont know how many fish are in here as i have now only fished twice there. But i know there are alot more than i caught and im sure there are some good ones too. Biggest i caught was 2.66lb. Think its this transition period people talk about? The fish havent quite turned on?