FivePoundBluegill

Yeah crawlers will catch anything. I have never used any live bait besides crawlers and the few times I have used them I have managed to catch fish. They are also great because you never know what will hit a crawler. You can catch anything with them. I do not usually use live bait but crawlers are a great skunk buster.

Wow I totally forgot to mention the 4 inch roboworm you guys brought up. That happens to be the other lure I use as a skunk buster besides the bass assassin. I use the bass assassin more as a skunk buster because it is more fun to fish with yet that 4 inch roboworm is also a great skunk buster. I almost always catch a fish on them when i use them but usually a small fish. I guess some people try to avoid the skunk more than others....

Hey guys just wondering how badly you all try to avoid being skunked and what you do to avoid being skunked. Lets say you fish for about 3 hours without a fish touching anything that you throw and its only about 30 minutes till it gets dark. What do you guys do to avoid getting skunked? What I often do is tie a small size bass assassin on my line and just jerk it in. This bait will always catch me fish no matter what unless it is the dead of winter. Thing is most the fish I catch on it will be small probably one pound or less. Still catching a couple dinks is better than being skunked. Yestoday was one of these evenings for me. I went out and started throwing a 5 inch green senko which the day before caught me 4 largemouth bass within 3 hours and two of them were around 15 inches. However the senko didnt catch me anything despite the great success I had with it the day before. Then I tried several other baits without catching anything. It was about 25 minutes till it got dark so I tied on my "skunk buster" bait(The small bass assassin) and caught about a 12-13 inch largemouth and a 8-9 inch largemouth. Just wondering wether you guys will do the same thing and go after smaller fish rather than being skunked and what you guys will do to avoid the skunk if anything?

Ok that is deffinitly a different species of carp to the common or koi carp. I guess you should kill them then but you should still eat it or give it to someone who would eat it or something.

Asian carp have no business in American waters. They escaped from fish farms into central U.S. waterways during flooding and threaten to drive out native species. There is a huge battle going on right now to keep them out of the Great Lakes. Snag as many as you can. Don't throw any back. This is a serious problem that has been highlighted on several national news reports. Watch this story from CNN to learn more http://moldychum.typepad.com/moldy_chum/2007/06/cnn-reporter-le.html Dude...If your going to keep a fish at least eat it dont just kill it for the sake of killing it. Also I dont get why people HATE carp so much. They grow to huge sizes and put up a huge fight. Its like haveing a torpedo on the end of your line. They are not a trash fish at all. Infact they are a GREAT game fish. Also they are not that bad for the native species such as bass, catfish, panfish,crappie, trout that we like to catch. They are a vegetarian fish. The lakes I fish have both bass and carp in them and the carp population is not out of control and the bass population is very stable. Also in most parts of the united states large mouth bass are not a native species if I am not mistaken and they do not damage the population of other fish in the lakes. They have now become the most targed and favorite fish of most united states fishermen. Asian carp are NOT like common carp (which are not vegetarian) or grass carp which do not reproduce. PLEASE watch the story, and you will see what I mean. These fish are a menace. They are filter feeders, so the only way to catch them is snagging, netting, or with a baseball mitt. Again, watch the story...it's quite entertaining. Ok maybe I was wrong because I was thinking about common carp or koi carp which im guessing are a different species to these asian carp. Yes common carp and koi carp are vegetarian because I see them rumageing around weeds at the bottom of the lake kicking up lots of dirt looking for things to eat. They are a scavenger fish. I will also watch the video when I get home today( I am in my schools library right now and do not have sound on this computer). Thing is I am a person who believes that if your going to kill a fish at least eat it or give it to someone who wants to eat it dont just kill it and leave it on the side of the lake.

I always hold my bass out toward the camera when I take a picture. My pics never turn out that good though. many of my pics are taken by random people at the lake who walk a mile away before takeing a picture. My best fish pics are when I go out with friends who know how to take good pictures. I have a pic of a bass thats not even 2 pounds on my house computer that looks like a 3 pounder or bigger. Im just saying ita a great shot both with camera use and the way the bass is held.

That is a realy great looking fish. It also looks much bigger than 5lbs 8oz. It looks like a 8 pounder or bigger in that shot. I guess you are just a realy great photographer or she knows how to hold a bass to make it look bigger or both maybe. Anyway great fish as well as picture.

Well as its been said before " a bad day fishing is better than a good day working". And at least you caught something.

Asian carp have no business in American waters. They escaped from fish farms into central U.S. waterways during flooding and threaten to drive out native species. There is a huge battle going on right now to keep them out of the Great Lakes. Snag as many as you can. Don't throw any back. This is a serious problem that has been highlighted on several national news reports. Watch this story from CNN to learn more http://moldychum.typepad.com/moldy_chum/2007/06/cnn-reporter-le.html Dude...If your going to keep a fish at least eat it dont just kill it for the sake of killing it. Also I dont get why people HATE carp so much. They grow to huge sizes and put up a huge fight. Its like haveing a torpedo on the end of your line. They are not a trash fish at all. Infact they are a GREAT game fish. Also they are not that bad for the native species such as bass, catfish, panfish,crappie, trout that we like to catch. They are a vegetarian fish. The lakes I fish have both bass and carp in them and the carp population is not out of control and the bass population is very stable. Also in most parts of the united states large mouth bass are not a native species if I am not mistaken and they do not damage the population of other fish in the lakes. They have now become the most targed and favorite fish of most united states fishermen.

I have always wondered why bluegills get a much darker color when they get big. Nice fish.

Those are some pretty fat bass. Yes they are small around one pound but still fun to catch. You also got some crappie to mix it up and got to use a variety of baits. Sounds like a great day of fishing.

Good post hamer. I have had a bass hit a rapalla origional floating that was about the same size as the rapalla. I also had about a 6 inch bass hit a 6 inch senko. Thing is the metabolism of a bass, or maybe the aggression of a bass realy slows when they get to a decent size. Maybe this is because the bass does most of its growing in early life so it eats more or is more aggressive then. Everyone knows dinks are easyer to catch than good size bass. Also maybe its because decent size bass have been caught as dinks before and are more cautious of what to eat. I deffinitly think bass learn what not to eat throughout their life.

Just wondering do you guys go through a large amount of senkos very quickly. I just got in right now from fishing and went through a whole bag of them. It seems the plastic on the senkos tears very easily and bringing them through thick brush or setting the hook into a fish does a lot of damage to the bait. ALso the fish tear them up in general. They are quickly becomeing my favorite lure but I go through so many so quickly. Anyone else have this problem...? Also what are you guys favorite way to work a senko? I always rig mine waitless let them sink to the bottom and then start popping them off the bottom. (dont know if thats best way to describe it). Thats the way that seems to catch me a lof of fish? how do you guys like to use senkos?

I have caught 2 catfish on small yellow/white colored spinner baits. Both were around 4 pounds.

The topic of this thread has changed dramatically...anyway back to the origional topic great bass brokejew.

Thanks a lot guys. The only reason I thought fish with large heads got huge is it seems to be what most of my friends and other fishermen in my area have told me. I have always wondered about this because it didnt seem to make much sense to me. I know most of the people here know much more about fish biology and fishing in general than me and my buddies so I figured id ask here. Just from the first couple responses I can see what you guys are saying. I think im going to tell my friends what you guys have told me next time I fish with them. Thanks a lot and sorry for sounding like an uneducated dum-bass on this forum. Great job enlightening me guys.

I have no clue about this subject and would like to become more educated in this area. Often times I might catch a small-decent size bass of around 1-3 pounds with a very large head for its body. I often hear buddies or other fishermen around who see me catch the fish say things like "Hes got a big head so hes going to get realy big" Im just wondering if this is true. If a fish has a large head compared to his body does it mean that bass is going to grow into his large head and become a monster fish as he gets older. Just wondering.

That big bass is very dark.....almost black...nice fish

They have that color because they are dead! Haha, too funny. Wow I never noticed that before. Well maybe I did notice that dead bass floating on the top of the lake are lighter color but never realy thought of it. I feel like an idiot for makeing that comment now saying the bass were very light colored.

Just by looking at that lake I can tell it has good fishing. I love when bass hit the bait that way as well.

Oh by the way that is a very nice looking lake.

I have never used Jigs. Anyway great start to useing a new bait. They are not exactly monster fish but fish that size are still fun to catch. Nice job.

That is a very light colored LMB and yes he looks like an older fish. Even I can tell that. If I only got one bite in an outing and it was a fish like that I would be pleased. Of course if id already been out for over an hour without a bit I would probably figure the fish wernt biteing and go home. Interesting you say you dont catch fish before 9 am. I do not get that. I live in California as well and I seem to catch most my fish either before 9 am when it is still cool or after 6:30 pm when it isstarting to cool off again. I dont seem to catch much of anything in the middle part of the day when it is hot.

Ok that is deffinitly not a dink. Great fish man. Id be happy with one fish like that and a bunch of dinks.

It looks like some kind of sunfish hybrid...pretty big one too.