rejesterd

I think largemouth give up earlier in the fight, but they feel heavier on the line. Smallmouth are more ferocious and come unbuttoned more.

Same at my lake, basically. I've caught more largemouth this year in smallmouth areas. It's been interesting. This year, the big ones seem to be more on deep water (20-25 feet) rock piles and ledges.. Cranking is king lately for larger fish. Jerkbaits were the most consistent this past weekend though.

Lake Wentworth, NH 1. Follow the loons.. they hunt for the same baitfish as the bass. 2. Use anything that imitates a crawfish, yellow perch, white perch, bluegill, or baby largemouth. 3. Fish the northern half of the lake. 4. The best deep water structure is between Wiley Brook and Stamp Act island, between Turtle island and Stamp Act island, and just south of Loon island. These rock piles are good all the time, but especially when a tournament is going on. 5. On windy days, fish large points that go out to deeper water (Moose Point, Hersey Point, and the sand bar entering Wiley Brook). 6. Mind the buoys, or you'll hit a boulder.

You don't need to worry if bass are feeding or not, because you can just use baits that trigger them to bite. I do quite well at dusk, but I do well during the day too. It's about triggering the bite, not timing everything just right.

I think the only buildup of unused stuff in my boat is soft plastics. Just certain colors that have never seemed to work in my lake, or things for which I don't currently have the right hooks for. Other than that, I use everything in my 4 flat boxes. I have baits that I use less often than others, but I still use them all at least once a month or so. Experimenting blindly with different baits has yielded great results over time, so I think it's a good idea to dust off whatever you haven't been using. I did that just this past week with topwaters, and caught a couple nice ones. I have 6 rods for convenience only.. but like you said, I could do everything I want to do using only 2 of them. I'd just rather not have to tie on/off as often. I think the expensive rods/reels market is a bunch of hype for the average fisherman. To this day, I still have 3 Ugly Stiks that cost me $40 each. My most expensive rod is a St. Croix Mojo, and I wouldn't buy it again. It's a nice rod, but the only advantage over a cheaper-but-good make is that it's lighter in weight. Not a huge deal for me, as I only go out for 2-3 hours at a time.

I think that's what it really comes down to.. Some people just like going out and catching little to no fish, so long as they don't have to think too much about what they're doing lol. But I like figuring them out and catching more. That's the only reason I spend energy cranking heavy 10XDs or spend money on dropshot weights that I constantly lose in the rocks.

You've just expanded, not gone backwards. I'm the opposite.. I never had a baitcasting setup until maybe 15 years ago. I spent the previous 15 years using only spinning rods.

The intent is irrelevant when it comes to what effect it has on the ecosystem. Both are almost insignificant, but that pollution from most fisherman is worse than a few dead fish in the water.

3/0 is a fine size, so you might have just caught some bass that were really inhaling your worm. You can certainly try a smaller hook, but I doubt it's anything specific you did when setting the hook. When I get them near the eye like that, I either cut the barb off then pull the hook out, or I cut off the eye of the hook and pull it out by the barb end.. same as you would if you hooked yourself in a place where you couldn't yank it out quickly with braided line.

Definitely evenings, because it's low-light, but the water has been warming up all day up until that point. Also it's when most of the largest fish in the lake start feeding, so they're easier to catch. I've had way more flurries at dusk as opposed to dawn. Dawn is also low light, but the water has been cooling overnight and most of the big fish have full bellies by then.

For small pressured waterways, you typically need to find a certain color that triggers them. Something no one else is using. Definitely try some jerkbaits and experiment with different pause lengths between jerks. Also a spybait if you have one or can find one nearby. Last resort.. fish an odd-looking worm extremely slow. Everyone and their brother fishes senkos and curly tailed worms, so I would try something else.

I didn't need clarification. You asked "what would you do?", so I answered: I would put it in perspective, and realize he didn't do a super terrible thing that's worth calling in the authorities. He did a lazy thing that wasn't nearly as bad as what most fisherman do all the time. If the fish somehow laid out there long enough for it to stink, you could've just removed them yourself rather than complain about them and the pike.

I would say 70% of the time, I'm by myself.. but my girlfriend likes to fish a lot, so she comes out often with me. I think I typically catch more fish when I'm alone and I learn more, so that's good. But I like being more of a guide and spectator sometimes too. It's fun to say "I told ya!"

Christ, it's been over 30 years now.. but maybe only 20 years fishing regularly and seriously. It's a combination of linear and non-linear. It's non-linear in the sense that every now and then, a big lightbulb goes off in my head and I realize I've learned something important. Then it becomes linear for a while as I progress based on that new important thing I've learned. I think the best thing you can do is keep experimenting, even if it doesn't make sense to you at the time. It puts the odds of learning a new important lesson in your favor.

I'm not saying bass in a lake are exactly like bass in a river, but non-feeding bass don't sit in ambush points and attack anything that looks like food. Of course you can catch feeding bass on just about any color or lure if you get it near them. But most of the time, bass aren't actively feeding.. those are the ones that require more thought about color and presentation.

The same things generally work imo. I think the only thing smallmouth probably eat more of is crawfish. So they respond to tubes and craw-colored crankbaits a little better. Otherwise, just fish them like you would largemouth. I catch both in my lake almost every day, and I catch them in the same spots schooled up with each other. For a very clear rocky lake (which is just like the one I fish on), think more about the color than the baits. You want to use natural colors that aren't too bright during the day, unless it's very windy.. then you can use more chrome/shiny versions of those natural colors for things that run high in the water column. But otherwise, natural colors.. green pumpkin, bluegill, brine/perch, orange/brown, white, etc. And light fluorocarbon line when finessing.. loosen that drag a bit and just let them run around.

I think success around pads depends on what else is nearby. A good example is the cove where my boat is docked. Every year, there's a set of pads that grows about 40-50 feet from my dock in about 2 feet of water. I must have fished that set of pads 300 times over the years and never caught anything. However, I've caught plenty of good-size largemouth in the same cove all around the docks and on the banks where it's shady. But there's another very windy cove in my lake with no docks around (but no real shady areas on the banks because there aren't any tall trees close to the banks) and I've definitely caught a few bass around the pads there (again, in about 2 feet of water). I generally get annoyed fishing in heavy/weedy/pad cover, so I don't go there much, but I think it reinforces the idea that it depends on what else is around.

I'm not saying what the guy did is a great thing.. I'm just saying it's less worse for the ecosystem than what you and I (and almost every other fisherman) does every year by losing plastic baits, metal weights, hooks, and fishing line in the water. It just seems your concern is really about the fact that you're not catching as many fish there as you would like, and you're taking it out on this guy. It's obviously not a moral thing for you, because you're not upset about the perch. Also, pike aren't a problem for bass. They eat little bass, but big bass also eat little bass. Bass live quite well along with pike and pickerel.

A white/silver suspending jerkbait. It's the most versatile thing I can think of, because you can fish it very fast (which I do all the time in the summer) or very slow (for colder weather). You can also control how erratically it moves from side-to-side. And that color will work in almost any type water (clear or dirty).

I just installed snap studs on my boat and got a generic cover from Walmart that fits my size/type of boat. Then I just installed the snap fasteners and 2 vents with poles to hold them up. Works great.

Interesting.. I thought California would have a lot more red in there.

Thanks.. didn't think they existed up here, but someone on another site was convinced that the middle one is a spot. Hadn't thought about it much before then, so figured I'd ask.

I'm especially curious about the one in the middle, as his mouth is a bit smaller and his spots are more pronounced. I'm sure the one on the right is a largemouth, but I can't tell for sure with the other 2. My lake doesn't list spotted bass as a species, but it also doesn't list yellow perch (and I know those are definitely in there). Just wondering if these are just spotty-looking largemouth or actual spots. Thanks.

Oh, that sounds like a great spot. Definitely try bumping a heavy tube up the ledge. And if you can get the angle right, a crankbait would also be good I think. Dropshotting in heavy current is tough, but it can certainly be done. Just use a really long leader between the hook and the weight.

I agree, it's better to bag them up and take them, but 6 fish left in the water will get eaten up very very quickly as soon as the guy leaves the area. It's not something that has a serious impact on the ecosystem.. certainly no more than losing some plastic baits and leaving them in the water (which we all do).