FivePoundBluegill

How big exactly is that "dink"...almost 2 pounds?

Those are some nice fish man. I also see you do the same thing I do when takeing pics of fish(Hold the fish way out with outstretched arms to make them look bigger).

Anyone ever had this happen when fishing a senko? Im sure other people have caught cats with them before but it is a first for me..... This guy was only about 2.5 pounds its just a good picture that makes him look bigger.....

I honestly dont get the point on spending $200 on a rod or $200 on a reel? I just dont get it. I can understand paying extra for braded line because that makes a huge difference but haveing your rod and reel combo be $350+ is just silly I think. I have landed many carp and catfish over 10 LBS easily with rod and reel combos that cost less than $100 total. I just use ugly stick rods with around $50 spinning reels yet I am still able to land the monster fish when I hook into them. The biggest fish I ever caught in freshwater was a 34 inch long carp. I caught him with a cheap $30 ugly stick rod and about a $50 reel. So I honestly dont get the point of those $200 rods and reels when you can get much cheaper equipment that works just as well?

By looking at those pictures I think there might be a shortage of bait fish and other food for bass to feed on in that lake. They are 24 inches long and only in the 4 pound range. Shouldent a bass of that length be around 6 pounds? Anyway my challenge for september is to catch a good size bass on shallow running crankbaits. You got any tips for me?

I have only ever caught one perch. I caught him when I was visiting my cousins in England on vacation. He has a small creek neer his house which is filled with many small european game fish. I caught a 13 inch perch on a live worm fishing under some cover at the back of the lake. It was my first and only perch ever.

I had a salad fish today as well....mine was smaller than that.

Yes I keep a set of needle nost pliers in my backpack I take fishing. I used them to remove the gut hooks from the 14 and 12 inch bass. I would have tried to get the hook out of the big 15.5 inch bass but when I got him out of the water he was already bleeding quite a lot. It was the worst gut hook I have seen. Next time no matter how bad hes gut hooked il try to get it out with my pliers though. I just thought that in the case of this bass removeing it would cause so much damage id end up killing the fish. The 15.5 inch bass swam away fine though after I cut the line and released him. I just hope hes alright and that I didnt kill him....

Been practicing slow fishing at mid day recently. Went out at around noon again today and had a realy good day. I managed to catch 7 bass all on finess robo worms. The biggest was 15.5 inches. I also got one a little over 14 inches and another a little over 12 inches as well as 4 little dinks. Even so im not happy with myself. All three of the decent size bass were gut hooked. The biggest one was actually bleeding when landed him. I didnt want to risk causing more damage removeing the hook so I cut my line. I dont know if this was the best thing to do but it was a realy bad gut hook and I think trying to remove it would cause more bleeding. The other two fish I gut hooked I was able to get the hook out with no bleeding and released them fine. Question is what am I doing wrong? Am I just letting the bass have the bait for too long which gives the big ones a chance to swallow it. I usually dont set the hook when I first feel the fish on my line. I let them take some line, wait for the line to tighten and then set the hook. This seems to work for me. Today with this methode I only missed one fish and all the fish I hooked into I was able to land. With senkos I have almost as good of a hook up ratio as this as well but I dont seem to gut hook my fish. Just wanted to ask if im useing my robo worms wrong and what the reason is that im gut hooking my bigger fish?

The first step to learning is just to find a pond....or a spot on a big lake that has a big population of fish. Right now is probably one of the best times of year to learn because the bass will take any bait under the right conditions. Pick a bait that is easy to use and go out in the evening when fish are most aggressive. Senkos are a GREAT bait and the easyest to catch good size fish with but if your just looking to catch your first bass they might be hard to use. Maybe try an origional floating rapala...its the simplest bait to use and I always catch something when I throw one at this time of year. Actually I usually catch about 5 small bass and occasionally a big one per outing with this bait when I throw it in my local lakes. At this time of year I catch more bass with this lure than the senko.... I still do prefer the senko though since it catches me bigger fish. Easyest bait ever to use that will always catch lots of small bass and panfish is rooster tails though.

Never saw this thread yet....love the first pic of your son with that bass.

Its amazing what a small bass will try to eat.....you should have that second fish mounted.

Looks like you had a great day...that 4 pounder is nice.

Just thought id share the pic of the my first ever big fish that got me hooked for like on fishing for life! I was in 6th grade at the time and caught this 23 inch largemouth bass on a rapala. After I caught this fish I would not fish with anything but my lucky rapala for about a month. With this fish my PB bass jumped from about 2 lbs to about 6.5LBS(Guess). I also remember I was fishing with my sister and a friend at the time and when I caught the massive bass I tied him to a stringer and sent my sister running home to get my father to take this picture. I then released the bass. I did have a little help landing the fish though. Another fishermen who was fishing neer the same spot as us lipped the fish for me.

Wow looks like you had fun. Good size fish as well

Wouldent it be horrible if you had one of these lures and lost it to a snag, or a big bass pulling it into dense cover or something....thats why I never buy any lures over $15

Just wondering what the most expensive lure you guys have seen is. I also dont mean funny novelty lures like that dimond plated spoon that cost $2000. I mean lures that you are actually supposed to use to catch fish with. The most I have seen a lure cost is $40. I saw two $40 lures thismorning browsing the internet online and you can see them in my strange lures thread. Just wondering if any of you have seen more expensive lures than this?

They look like very nice soft baits but are way too expensive. Im sure you can get them much cheaper than that though? How much do they usually cost?

LOL... hope this doesent get violent. ...jk i know your jokeing

I use a lot of fast retrieve lures this time of year in the early mornings or late afternoon/ evening. I tend to catch lots of nice fish with them at these times. The first time I went out at noon a couple days ago I tried a fast retrieve a few times with a fluke and I would often see bass come up to it but not take it. It seems they only like fast moveing baits in morning or evening. Or maybe they will hit a fast moveing bait most days at noon but not when its this hot. Or maybe they will take a fast moveing bait at noon in your lakes but not mine. I dont know...maybe I should try a jerk bait, or a spinner bait, or something fast moveing at noon a couple of times. I will give it a shot.

That is real percistance man. I would give up after about 3 hours if I wasnt catching anything.

A couple days ago I decided to go out fishing at around noon and spent three hours on the water to catch two dinks. I decided to make it my goal or challenge to catch a decent size bass at this time of day. Yesterday I tried again and managed to catch three dinks. Two on sekos and towards the end one on a 6 inch straight tail worm. Right before I left I managed to hook into about a 3 pouner on the straight tail worm but he shook his head and spat out the bait half way in. At this point I didnt feel like fishing anymore and went home. Today I decided to try it again and had much better luck.I went out a little after 11 and just got in now at about 12:45. I decided to try the straight tail worm again. Usually when I fish plastics I prefer to fish senkos or flukes over worms but I thought the worm would be best since a big bass hit it yesterday. I went to a shady spot with deep water and some weed cover toward the back of the lake and on my third cast fishing the worm painfully slow I hooked into a nice 2 pound bass. I went around to the back of the lake with the straight tail worm and about 15 minutes later caught another bass. This one I actually saw take the worm since the water was shallow and it was not under cover. He was only about one pound though. I walked around most of the lake with nothing else until I came accross another spot that had a good amount of weed cover. I threw my worm out and it landed on top of the weeds. I then pulled it off the weed cover so it fell just infront of the weeds. At this point another bass took it on the fall. I landed this bass and he was also about 2 pounds. I think I have figured out how to catch the bass at mid day. You just have to fish much slower than usual with a much smaller bait. I dont think I have ever felt more happy with a couple of two pound fish than I am right now. Here is a pic. Both fish were around this size. First fish

I think that wether a lure works or not depends on the lake. Maybe where doug lives they work great so he promotes them. However in many areas or maybe in different types of lakes to the ones doug fishs bass dont like them. A lure can work amazing in one lake and not catch anything in another.

ROFL

LOL