mainebasser

I agree. I bought my first scale about five years ago and it was the most humbling thing to happen to my fishing career. Also, like some have said. Test your scale for accuracy and then trust it. I know you don't want to sometimes, but you gotta. I once caught a smallie that I swore was over 5 pounds and it only weighed 3lbs 6oz. I went home and tested it with all kinds of stuff and it was right everytime. A pound of butter works well.

Thanks LB. That's a great tool. I had no idea that the site had it. Unfortunately I don't didn't measure the girth, but it was slightly overweight due to the time of year. It probably was my new PB (formerly 3-13, smallie), but I can't, in good concience call it that... or can I. Should I say my new PB is 3-14? JK. I'll stick with my 3-13. Thanks again LB.

I know that there are charts for getting an estimate of the weight of a bass according to its length. I recently caught a 19" smallie and I had a problem with my scales. I am wondering where I can get these numbers for smallmouth and largemouth. Also, how accurate are these charts. My club has decided to have a CMR tourney do to the fact that weight-in tourneys are not allowed through a few weeks of the season in order to allow the bass to spawn. Does anyone have any info or thoughts on this?

Man, the colors on that thing are beautiful. Nice goin'!

I have been trying for years to break the 4lb mark. I finally did it! My woman and I spent two really nice days slayin' the smallies here in Maine and we both had great luck. I caught 15 for the two days and she caught 8. We had luck using Timber Tigers, Huddlebugs, and Hula Grubs on Chomper heads, but the money lure was my old go to- the gold Husky Jerk (HJ10). My new PB was just over 19" and weighed in at 4lbs 5oz. Here's a photo. The above was the original post, but after fishing today I realized that my scale got ruined somehow. I somehow managed to calibrate it all wrong. The fish was probably not 4lb 5oz so I have to retract that. I know it was 19" because I have at least a little faith in my skills with a ruler. Oh well... I guess I'll just have to stick with my old PB of 3lb 13oz. Nice fish nonetheless.

If you are using a Medium rod try stiffening up to a Medium Heavy for a better hookset. But like RW said, sharp hooks are key.

+1 +2

Try 'em all. Let the fish tell you what they want. P.s. Don't rule out the real shallow stuff.

You know, it's probaly not real easy to do, but I use Worden's Timber Tigers quite often and they do a better job of keeping of weeds than any other crank that I use.

That looks real nice. I love having a small boat that is comfortable to fish from. It allows you to get so many places that other guys with the big boats can't get to. Cool boat! Is it a Smokercraft? If it is then that lip that runs along the sides of the boat make it really easy to put in flat deck there between the two benches. You may have already thought of it and ruled it out, but that's what I did to my 14' and it worked out great. I'll try to post some pics soon.

If you're going for a spinning reel I would recommend a Shimano Sahara. I have had one for several years and have been nothing but pleased with it. It goes for 59.99 a BPS. Here is the link. I have the SH2500FB- it seems to be a good mix between size and line capacity. Hope this helps. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_53106_100001002_100000000_100001000_100-1-2

Dude- that sucks. I know you've heard it before, but it can only get better from here. Sometimes the powers that be test your resolve before rewarding you with something great. It's their way of making sure you don't forget to appreciate the good stuff- like a 12lb bass.

Nice Job! Reaching those goals always feels good. I hope to break my smallie PB this summer (3-13). Me and my lady are heading out to Grand Lake Steam for a few days this weekend to give it a shot. Again, nice job.

So the club fished a tourney on Pocomoonshine lake here in Maine last Sunday. The day was mostly cloudy, cold, and breezy. The lake temp was pretty much all at 49 or 50 degrees. Me and my partner fished all the right spots for this time of year... or so we thought. The lake holds largies and smallies so we fished main lake points, secondary points, drop-offs, humps, and all that business. Well he caught one and I got absolutely SKUNKED. We threw everything and had only a minimal amount of interest on some suspending jerks. Well at the end of the day two of the boats came in with full livewells and they were culling fish all day. They were throwing mostly chatterbaits and senkos and caught all of their fish in less that ONE FOOT of water- right up against the shore! I can't say I'm a super experienced bass fisherman, but this day humiliated me. It never even occured to me or my partner (who is probably the best in the club) to fish that shallow this time of year. Everything I read and know, or thought I know, tells me that those fish should have been in deeper water. At least as deep as 5 of 6 feet. How many of you would have been fishing like that this time of year in this kind of environment? Like I said I just feel stupid for it not even occuring to me to fish that shallow. Maybe this will give some one a heads up if nothing else.

So this Sunday the club is fishing Pocomoonshine lake in Maine. It is supposed to be mostly sunny and in the high 50's. The water temp will probably be in the low to mid 40's. The lake is about 2,500 acres and only gets as deep as 40 feet. It's a wicked boney hole- rocks everywhere- and a lot of islands. The lake has smallies and bucketmouths. What would you tie on?

Real nice fish bub. I can't wait to get a few in the boat like that.

Welcome aboard. I have no doubt that women can fish. I have been out-fished by my 25 year old sister on more than one occasion. Here is one from one of our outings here in Maine.

Hey Bub! Good to have ya.

I agree Nick although my bait of choice differs. I tend to use a 5" Senko in dark colors and rig them on a 2/0 gammie and just cast them so they drift right through where I think the bass are. Also remember that you may need to make several passes before a fish takes. I put a worm past the same spot last summer on a river in Maine just below a dam about a dozen times before I latched onto a really nice smallie. This setup works for me almost all the time.

.....I don't even know what to say. That sounds like the most incredible day of fishing ever! Right On! That's one that you will be telling people about until you die. CONGRATULATIONS! I hope to be that fortunate someday.

I have read that some scientist believe that fish have sensors in their mouths that can detect traces of carbon- and we know that carbon is the building block of all things organic- then fish may assume that a craw scent, or something similar, gives it a natural carbon appeal. I know that I've gotten gasoline on my hands before an outing and not noticed a decline in fish caught- strange? Although I like justfishin's idea of rubbin them in my girlfriends armpits.

Well... The local judge knows you well enough to give you fishing gear... That's either an automatic "A+" or an automatic "F". JK-LOL. It seems like you've got some stuff that will work. I grew up on a farm in NY and I remember as a kid making my own lures out of anything I could find including everything from flower buds to cutting up mom's tupperware lids. (I only did that once- she wasn't amused- I caught some fish though.) If you can learn how to fish it you can catch some fish with it.

That is awesome! What a beautiful fish. I don't doubt its authenticity either. As far as the color goes- I am always amazed at the difference of color in smallies and the difference in patterns. This just happens to be a great catch. I *** this fella. I don't know if I'll ever catch and 8lber, but you can be sure when I catch one over 4lbs I'm gonna post it on this site.

I had a lot of luck trolling a Red XPS Rattle Shad at medium speeds in water between 8-20ft. I tried it on more than one ocassion and it seemed to work whenever the bass weren't keen on biting.

Steve- could you explain more about this?