FivePoundBluegill

I think my problem with winter bass fishing is I have never realy been committed to it. In the past when winter would come I would hardly ever target the bass and would go for other species most of the time. I just never realy had confidence in myself during the winter. Also I just got back into fishing at the start of this year after about a four year break from it. However before I took my long fishing break I would almost NEVER go for bass in the winter. I think this year I am going to target bass in the winter much moe than I used to... I bet il break my winter pb again this year actually since now I have a good idea of what kind of baits to use and how to use them at this time of year.

Oh I have caught largemouth bass bigger than this but just not in the winter time. In the past I never realy targeted bass in the winter since the bass bite is tough. In the spring and summer I have caught bass in the 7-8 LB range....

It is kind of sad to admit but I have NEVER caught a bass over four pounds during the winter season. I think the reason for this is because I target carp and catfish 80% of the time in winter since the bass bite is tough. Well today my luck changed and I was able to catch my first 4+ pound bass during the winter season. I went out at around 12 and the first hour was pretty tough. Only managed three dinks and had a nice 2-3 LB bass come unhooked on a jump which I was a little mad about. About 15 minutes after that nice fish came unhooked a got a huge hit on my baby bass patterned rattle trap when it was about 4 feet from the shore. The fish nearly ripped the rod out of my hands. After a short fight I landed the fish and guessed he was around five pounds. Unfortunately I had my scale with me and was able to weigh him. He turned out to be only 4LBS 4OZ but he is still my winter pb. Here is the pic... 4 LBS 4 OZ....

Ok guys that settles it im going to buy some junebug color senkos...

Hey guys I just started fishing senkos this year and had great success with them in the summer and early fall. They do not seem to be working as much right now though. What color do you think would work for murky water? I have been thinking about black/blue flake. What you guys think?

Yesterday I bought some new lures and today I found myself testing out the new lures in my swimming pool? Has anyone else ever done this or am I just strange....? I use my pool to test out new baits and also to tune crank baits with lips. I mess with the lips on my baits that are out of tune and cast the bait into the pool to test how it swims... Anyone else do either of these two things?

Those are some nice fish

For the largemouth bass I caught yesterday I used a high end $8 rattle trap type bait for three of the bass. The fourth bass was caught on a 6 inch finess worm.

I actually live in southern California... The fish in the picture is about a pound above the average size for bass I catch. I know there are some 7-8LB toads in my local lakes and I have caught a few of them long ago.... I have not caught a bass that big in a while though...

I have actually though of doing that yet I am worried about hooking into a bass and have a carp take my bait at the same time...

He was only 2 LB 11OZ... Thing is if you look at the photo I am holding him WAY out... Notice my arm is at full length in the picture making my bass look a bit bigger than he is. You can kind of tell the REAL size of the bass by looking at my hand in his mouth.. Notice my hand would not fit in there. On another note I am pleased with the look of the four bass that I caught. Non of the bass were skinny and unhealthy...they were all quite fat and were feeding well. The bass in the picture was the fattest of the four that I caught. He might not have been the longest but the fish had huge girth. He was a little football...

Well for the past few weeks I have not been doing much fishing and when I have gone fishing it has been for carp. Today I was bored with nothing to do and decided to go fishing... However I did not feel like sitting there and waiting for a bite which is what you do when you fish for carp. I decided to target bass since I have not done so in quite a while.... You cant fish for carp with a lure like you can with bass can you now.... I did manage to land four bass. Three of the bass were keeper size(when I say keeper I do not mean I kept the fish I just mean they were decent size)however the biggest of them was only 2 LBS 11 OZ. The size of the bass I caught today are about the size of the bass I catch whenever I target bass which is why I fish for carp often. My average bass only averages about two pounds while my average carp is around 8 pounds... Now here is paradox I am facing... I much prefer the process of bass fishing to carp fishing. It is much more fun to work a lure then sit and wait for a bite. However I love catching BIG fish and to catch big fish I have to target carp and catfish . This requires sitting there waiting for a bite. I am realy confused as to what species I prefer fishing for at this point....lol.... Here is the biggest from today weighing a whopping 2 LBS 11 OZ

I like the way avid takes his pics just because his pictures usually result in funny conversations in the forum where he posts the pics. Great fish, nice rainbows, and great abstract photography....what more could you ask for....

Wow I havent been on in like a week and have totally missed this great post. That is an azmazing day and amazing limit for both of you. I would be happy catching a largemouth limit that size. Heck id be happy to catch half the fish you caught. Great post and great pics....

Very nice fish. I have actually seen some better photos though. No fish photo on earth can compare with the greatness of the ones taken by our very own avid.

It may be worth some money but I would never keep a fish to sell it. Even if I could make money off it I would still release it so other people could catch him later. Even if I were to keep it to sell I would have no way to transport the fish to a petstore and no way to keep it alive. I would not want to risk killing a fish like that.

I honestly do not think they are worth as much as a lot of people think. At my local pet store you can buy small kois that are about 10 inches long for $12 each. If a 10 inch one is only worth $12 then a giant one cant be any more than $70-100. That is still a lot of money but not nearly as much as what most people think they would cost. Some people assume fish like that are over $500 which they are not. I also would not sell these fish. I release them all for them to grow bigger so I can catch them again later. I would also not be able to sell them since I have no where to keep them alive while i find a buyer....

Went fishing today with dough balls. I saw some carp feeding pretty close to the shore and decided to fish in that area. I only had a couple hours to fish and I only ended up with one fish. That one fish happened to be the strangest and most pretty carp I have ever caught. He weighed 11 LBS 5 Oz and was caught on 8 LB test line and spinning gear. For some reason the fight did not last that long...probably less than five minutes. Here is the pic of the koi

What is your least favorite fish to catch and why? Mine would have to be bluegill or any other type of sunfish caught while bass fishing with a hardbait. I have had some bad experiances with getting hooked while takeing the hook out of bluegills when they are flopping around going crazy. Any of you guys have a fish you HATE to catch?

I have visited that site a few times but I am not a member.....they have great pics there though

Great to see you listened to our advice. The water is getting cloudy right now and the bass love cranks that make a noise... you will have great luck with those baits the next couple months....

Nice fish. Sorry to sound like a pain, but that technique is also called "chumming" and this isnt Europe. It is illegal in many places. You may want to check your laws before someone w/ a badge sees you doing it. Wayne I know they let you use this method in the lakes that I fish. They are pretty much private lakes. I have actually used this method infront of the security gards and they have not said anything to me about not doing it. I dont actually see why they would not let you do it in some places anyway. In europe that method is called ground bait but yes it is pretty much the same thing as chumming.

The lake that I caught this carp in was actually stocked with some koi carp when it was first opened. There are now just as many common carp as there are koi carp in there though. I think at some point in the past someone transported common carp into that lake and now we have just as much common carp as we do koi carp in there. There is also another lake by me that is filled with big common carp but has a very low population of koi. This lake was not origionally stocked with carp either. Anyway I am realy glad they are in there since they usually average around 8-9 pounds and put up a great fight....

Went carp fishing thismorning and ended up catching two carp. The first one was a 5 Lbs 1 oz commmon carp which is a dink for me when it comes to carp. I did not even bother to take a picture of it. That is honestly the second smallest carp I have ever caught. The second carp I caught was a good one. He weighed 12 LBS 11oz and was a koi. I caught both of the carp on corn. I got a medium action spinning rod with 10 LB test line and baited a trebble hook with corn. I would also throw corn into the water in the area neer my bait. This method is called "ground baiting the area" in europe and is a very common practice for carp fishermen over there. The 12 pounder put up a great fight and almost ended up getting into the brush at the back of the lake. I had to put quite a good amount of pressure on him at a couple points in the fight to prevent him from going into the brush. I was realy worried about him breaking off. I ended up landing the fish after about a five minute fight.... Here is the pic of the 12 LB 11 Oz carp....

I think he actually has a digital camera now so he gets better pictures taken. I know he used to use his cell phone camera a lot