NorthwestBasser

There is video of bass cracking ice striking at topwater... pretty telling

Top water, frogs and buzzbaits excel in ponds. Depending on how close to the surface your "slime" problem is you could also try a spook/topwater walking bait. As long as the treblea don't snag that gunk you might be surprised how aggressively the bass will attack them, makes for a fun day. And don't be afraid to stick with one bait all day. I do it all the time. Sometimes committing to a certain presentation can pay huge dividends. The trick is knowing when enough is enough

Scratched the itch today, two Buddha baits snooze alarm buzzbaits (3/8, 1/2) both in blugill, 660yd spool of 12lb sunline FCsniper, my favorite pitboss's green pumpkin green and Okeechobee Craw, 4" and 3", some new Trokar big nasty's, a new Rod Glove in the ogre color, a lews BB1 speed spool 6.4:1 lefthand retrieve to go on the Megabass Orochi xx extreme mission type F that I bought from Luke Clausen. Sure is nice having a local pro on the Elite Series!! He switched to Phenix rods and sold all his megabass rods so I had to jump on the chance to get one on the cheap!

1. Bassresource 2.BigBass Dreams 3. Lake Fork Guy 4. Fishin' with Flair Granted, i start watching these once my eyeballs start to bleed from reading everything on Bass Resource, haha

I don't own a pond or private lake, but I gotta say, I watched the video posted here of Bob Lusk talking about myths and facts about bass and it was such an informative entertaining piece. I recommend it to everyone. Wish I could sit and talk to that man in person for hours!

I wasn't calling b.s. on you, just stating pics never do justice. I've caught 5lbers that were chunky monkies, then look @ the pics later and almost don't wanna show anyone, haha... so like I said, good job breaking 7, hope I can do the same

Pics never do justice, this fish looks 4-5 at best. Nice job breaking 7lbs man, I'm hoping to get there this year!

I think we're saying the same thing, i peg my weights, i dont use the hooks with an attatched weight.

This is what I do, seems like it would be cheaper and way more customizable to me. Need smaller? Go smaller. Need bigger? Go bigger. Wanna add a skirt? Easy.

See I've never looked at "strike zone" relating to an individual fish. Here's my idea, and it is more of a patterning thing, but maybe strike zone and pattern need each other to exist. I'm throwing a crankbait at a riprap bank in "x" f.o.w., i hook into a fish. Next cast I repeat, hook into a fish. That depth now became my "strike zone" and I will now focus on that particular depth and then try to pattern that situation finding similar banks, same distance on a point, same relation to the sun, wind, etc... never guaranteed but it's worked more times than not... I think, haha

No one knows dworshak... it's massive and it all looks the same. Had a tournament there at the end of summer, it's tough to figure out but if you do, you could get into some smallmouth fishing of a lifetime! CDA I fish regularly, right now I'd fish blade baits in 20-30 f.o.w. find some nice hard bottom on the northern end of the lake. LMB will be very hard to find right now, smallies are what you should target there as Well. If you come back in the summer, head up the chains for huge largies in cave, medicine, blue, and Anderson lakes...accessible up the river from Harrison slough.

I've wondered that too. I've had bait boiling around me, small perch. assuming they were being chased by bass, i threw my dropshot with a 5" senko right in the middle of the boil. Caught a 4lber and then a 3lber. That worm didn't look or behave anything like the frantic perch it sunk through. But I wasn't gonna argue with a hungry bass.

Yes you are! I certainly have zero issue with someone keeping a bass that will likely die, or keeping a legal limit for the dinner table. I choose not to, bass just isn't my favorite fish to eat. I would rather see guys keep the little ones though, but I'm certainly not here to tell another man or woman what they can and can't do

Biggest LMB of 2017: 5.26lbs buzzbait (snooze alarm) WA State Biggest SMB of 2017: 4.91lbs Crankbait in 10 f.o.w, color: perch pattern Idaho

It's true, but it doesn't work any faster than plain old water.

Tongue hooked bass bleed, major vessels run through there. Getting her back in the water quickly was the best thing you could have done to try to save it. Water coagulates a fishes blood like air does ours. I don't eat bass, ever. And unlike alot of people, even if I think a bass may die, i still release it. If there is any chance at all of it surviving, it's in the water. And if it does die, also contrary to popular belief, it's not wasted. Tons of organisms in the water, microscopic and large, feed on other dead organisms. Circle of life man, we violently rip these fish from their environments for our enjoyment, some of them will die. I'm all about healthy live release, but i dont bother myself or worry about the one or two fish that dies once or twice a year. Usually less actually. If it died from mishandling or being purposely abused i could see you feeling guilty. But you can't control that the fish was tongue hooked. Move on, enjoy the sport and tight lines!!

I like using a tungsten slither rig with my creatures and craws pitching. Unless the fishing gets tough then I'll loose the skirt to present a bit of a smaller profile

The pitboss is my favorite, I've caught too many 4+lb bass on them to count. Bonus: their CHEAP!! I use a 4/0 big nasty trokar or gammy superline...

Dropshot 20-30 fow... blade baits...long pause jerkbaits... slow drag, and I mean slooooowww drag a neko rig.

Bare foot when the weather is nice, for some reason i find it more comfortable and easier to feel my trolling motor pedal. Then some comfy running shoes in early spring/fall... winter is hiking boots until the water gets hard and I move ontothe ice with my cold gear

I agree with the above posts, crawdads will vary in color but reds orange, brown and greens will cover it. Trapping some would be the quickest easiest route to see what's in your pond. However, like stated above, the exact color probably won't be a huge difference maker. I live in Washington state, we don't have shad here. But if I were to dump a few hundred shad into one of my local lakes I guarantee the bass would feast on them having never seen a single shad in their entire lives. I know this because I catch bass with shad pattern lipless cranks and squarebills.

Lake Roosevelt isn't exactly a bass fishing mecca... walleye, sturgeon and trout are the kings of the current there. However, if you fish farther north say from Lincoln to Hunters you will find a seven population of sizable smallies 3-4lbs. Good luck with the largemouth, far and few between. Since you have range limitations with your boat, i suggest launching from, Lincoln, seven bays or fort spokane, that way you can fish both the Columbia and Spokane arms of the lake.

No reason to use snaps on a jig, if you're fishing heavy veg, a liability like a snap is the last thing you want between you and the big girls. Not to mention it's gonna catch more grass and ruin your presentation. Studies have been done on fish with lures and hooks left in them. It's actually quite impressive how fast the fish can shake a hook. Bass thrive in the thick stuff, that's it's comfort zone so releasing it and watching her swim into the grass shouldn't cause you a bit of grief, she knew exactly where she wanted to go.

Haven't been on the forum in a while, but this was discussed a while back. Someone here contacted a biologist, and between him and others here it was determined the indent is an anatomical condition that occurs when the fish opens it's mouth. It's not visible when the jaw is shut. It's perfectly normal and just a function of the mouth opening and closing.

Nice to get an answer, after seeing this post originally, I started paying closer attention and it has definitely been on every fish I've caught. Fat ones, skinny ones, didn't matter. For sure not a disease or deformation.