BackwoodsBassr

Never used one.

 

Its probably a lot like using a christmas tree for trout: you'll probably catch fish but you'll barely feel them hit or fight compared to when using a lighter setup.

 

With a bit more patience you can catch the same big bass with a single jig and plastic minnow as you would pounding the area with an bama rig...and it's really exciting when the fish hit. I think the main advantage of the bama is in tourny situations where your time is limited and you want to make your target immediately visible to as many bass as possible.

 

If there's something to be said for the bama rig it's that it has correctly identified the feeding habits of many big bass...With temperatures in Canadian lakes on the rise you'll find the biggest bass schooling baitfish deep. that being said though these bass will hit a minnow/jig combo even if they're keying in on schools...just like trout and walleye.

Our day started off really late, at about 3pm. My brother and I went out with 2 Medium spinning combos, 1 with 20lb braid, the other 6lb mono, and my baitcasting combo was loaded up with 10lb mono. I tied up some 40lb fluoro leaders beforehand and we were off to the races!

 

It was a spoon and spinner day, and soon we had to upsize because the little ones (mostly OOS smallies) were everywhere. By the end I was only casting my larger spoons and mammoth spinners.

 

Highlight of the day was this bad boy, sorry my arm is covering him up I'm still getting used to posing for the camera haha:

 

 

This one smashed the yellow/orange spoon in the top left. It was a little overcast and chilly so this pattern was getting a lot of attention from pike and bass that had no business even looknig at it lol.

 

We had been planning this trip since September, and it really came down to the wire. I had been in contact with the owners of the bait shop by the lake and it wasn't until Thursday afternoon that I got the green light: the ice had finally melted off!

 

Sure enough, when we arrived at the lake we saw a bunch of gloomy faces. The tackle shop owner was down on the conditions due to the very recent ice-out...and said barely any bites were reported and it would be another week before things turned on...but whatever, I was about to go fishing! I'm used to a canoe so even the little 14 footer with no electronics, a 9.9, and garbage oars was luxury to me. My buddy took us to a beauty location right off the bat, a huge shoal in the middle of a very large bay. There were a few other boaters there so we stuck off to the side a bit.

 

I brought a couple of rods and lines but stuck with my Medium 6'6" spinning combo and 6lb test mono. After some casts with a nice fat 4" white tube I had a big hit, but unfortunately we rowed to meet it too fast and it got off about 15 feet from the boat without us getting a glimpse.

 

Soon after I switched to a white gulp minnowgrub on a 1/4oz pink jig head and started casting towards the shoal and letting it drop. A few casts later, as I was twitching the bait back to the boat, I got another hit, smaller than the last time. No way was I letting this one get away haha. We stayed in place and I brought it in quickly. It wasn't a very large laker but it was my first so I was super pumped!

 

Fun times for the rest of the trip and I hope I'll be able to post about it in another (more brief) report...but for now I'll shut up and let you enjoy the pic of this little trout...hope to catch him when he's mature!

 

Turd I think u nailed it. Both bright and Natural colours have a place and time for sure but at the beginning of the season I'm throwing yellow chart, neon pink, blaze orange...whatever I think will get noticed.

That being said I wouldn't want to be stuck with a box full of brights and no greens or browns come mid july...although when its starting to rain hard or pre-storm I like to throw on a chart grub on a black jig head no matter what. In those situations its been my experience that the bass like to relate to structure and often won't chase after a bait on the retrieve but if they can see something dropping nearby you bet your ass they'll slam it.

Good on ya for getting back in to the sport dude. CA87 is right if more youth were like you fine lads the world would be a better place lol.

 

Cheers and good luck on the water!

The gulp minnowgrub never let's me down... Any swirltail grub can do the trick IMO but I find the minnowgrub is really deadly. I'll usually just throw it on a 1\4 or 1\8 round jig head or a plain #4 or #2 hook. Its also great to add as a trailer to jigs, spoons, and spinners...I've hit bass, pike, and panners galore on these and this weekend I added a laker to the list of gulp minnowgrub victims lol.

G10 sweet fish, nice pics and solid write up.
Your drag must have been set ferctly man right on.

As a net user I'm happy to discuss this. I'm not really "pro" or "anti" net, I just like to try to do what I think will provide the best outcome for myself and the fish.

 

Even though I've never really taken pictures with fish I can understand GnT's perspective, it is nice to be able to share them with friends and family.

 

Pics aside though, I think there are a few other things to consider with net use and I'd be happy if others could comment on my perspective to help improve my understanding of best practices and also to help me gain insight in to the reasons behind other people's preferences.

 

I found steelheads tails (or the one that I had to release anyways) were really well suited to the no-net landing. They're firm and large...very easy to keep a hold on them.

 

Bass can be another story...

 

Most of the time, when the fish is hooked nicely in the side or top of the mouth, I can just grab the fish by the jaw and pop the hook out while it is still in the water. This way the body is supported, there is no impact, and very little, if any, slime is removed.

 

The trouble is when you are dealing with a large, energetic fish-- or a fish that is hooked too deep or in an awkward manner.

 

In cases such as these I find it hard to bring them in properly without a net...as you either have to clamp down on their bodies very firmly (which isn't good for them) or grab them by the jaw to bring them out (in which case they shake around violently and sometimes injure their mouths). I hardly ever use nets on smaller bass but when I'm dealing with something sizable I like to use them because it prevents me from either clamping down on the jaw really hard and having the fish damage itself; clamping down on the body hard and injuring the fish's organs (and removing protective slime); or (and yes I've done this many times by accident) dropping the bass in the boat when it shakes free at which point it flops around like crazy removing a ton of slime and damaging god know what else lol.

 

A lot of people simply grab the jaw and then support the body with their hands...this works great but takes off just as much slime as a net IMO.

 

Look forward to hearing some comments, cheers!

Noob: I think soon you're going to have to change your OFF name haha, those are sweeet! I know we're all noobs but suriously brah you're gonna start making some people (me) feel bad lol.

 

 

34ric: go home you suck. JK dude awesome ties . Pardon my total lack of knowledge but are those coachman variations?

Wow great advice guys.

Braedon I'm not too experienced with baitcasters yet but I got an okuma calera for about 80$ and I really like the feel of it and the tuning components so far. If you're willing to go up to 150 tho then I'm sure u could get something better.

If you choose to use a net make sure it has a "fish friendly" bag and not a coarse nylon type bag.

 Thx for the input man. I agree, nylon is a fin shredding slime removing machine. I like the thick rubber as opposed to the fine mesh, any opinions?

 

 

i will strap in when we fish,i just hope the lure doesnt miss and i get shanked..

 

Best bring tha vest and protect ya neck bro

As a rookie at snapping pics I'm glad this was posted. I'd like to share my thoughts and if anyone could give me pointers on how to improve my technique I'd be grateful.

 

My philosophy with landing fish is pretty simple: Get it to the boat/shore as fast as possible, get the hook out, and release. With big fish, I use the net. I find it takes too long to "tire them out" to the point they can be safely handled without a net. I find if you pick the fish up too early your hands end up all over it and you usually have to really grip it to keep it from flopping around and hurting itself either on the shore or on the bottom of the boat.

 

My plan for snapping pics was to net the fish in the water, keep it in the water, pop the hook out, lift for a quick pic, then release.

 

Anyone think using the net will be more harmful than landing it by hand? Any pointers?

 

Thanks!

I don`t think this is the place for us to have our own little back and forth. I`d like to apologize to everyone, but especially to Andrew, for continuing this far on someone`s thread. I understand wanting to have some friendly chirps and personally I have no problem with that. I doubt anyone else on this site would either.

 

The thing is, you haven`t really bothered to join in the conversation and get to know anyone before pulling out the jokes so they come off as unfriendly and because they lack context they are not really that funny to be honest. This is an internet forum so obviously you can only get to know people so well but if you don`t want to chat with anyone then your jokes probably won`t be well received.

 

Maybe share something about your chrome hunt today, or your other experiences? You`ll probably find that others will be pretty receptive to that and will enjoy having a few laughs with you.  

 

If you`re not here to talk about fishing or get to know people who share your interest it seems to me like you`re wasting your time but then again that`s your decision to make.

yah it was a messy breakup. He got to keep whatever he found between the couch cushions and I got his comedic talent. Still feel like I'm holding the shitty end of the stick, no gay joke pun intended

lol wow what are you dane cook's joke writer? Grade 5 me would have been really pissed off at your insult man good job.