my first open water bass of the year!

[carpmanjake]

went out today. was fishing a backwater bay for crappie

ended up finding a bunch of bowfin in a small crick. sadly i lost the only one i hooked up with. the fishing was slow. but i finally hooked up with a fish

my first open water bass of the year. 2lb 7oz =]

eventually i got a couple crappie both were small but crappies none the less

[Deitz Dittrich]

Looks like your bass is a proof positive that catch and release works.. Looks as though its been caught a time or so before. Those Bowfin can be quite pretty this time of the year and as it gets closer to spawn.. Love how blue their bellies get.

[bassNspear]

nice looking fish! Deitz, i think your right, just by looking at the mouth of that largy, had a few hook ups!

[Cecil]

That's a rough start. Already one under 2.5 pounds...

[slopmaster]

i cant wait to hit the water and catch some fish. Just seeing that bass gets a guy a bit excited. Thanks for sharing.

[carpmanjake]

That's a rough start. Already one under 2.5 pounds...

haha ya. it was still alot of fun on 2lb line

[carpmanjake]

nice looking fish! Deitz, i think your right, just by looking at the mouth of that largy, had a few hook ups!

ya she has!

[carpmanjake]

Looks like your bass is a proof positive that catch and release works.. Looks as though its been caught a time or so before. Those Bowfin can be quite pretty this time of the year and as it gets closer to spawn.. Love how blue their bellies get.

oh ya. the neon green. i was talking to a guy about that yesterday. im gonna try and get the really bright male thats down there and show him tonight. the get just beautiful

[Craigums]

How do you catch a bowfin? besides on accident

[TNFL]

a big fat minnow!

[carpmanjake]

How do you catch a bowfin? besides on accident

you can bottom fish for them with dead shiners, smelt, crawlers, frogs, cut bait. anything

i often stalk bowfin (walking the shoreline and look for them) then i pitch a shakey worm, bass jig, or preserved shiner on a jig. gets em everytime

[carpmanjake]

a big fat minnow!

it can be as simple as that. lol. but often its alot more complicated

[EBass]

Hunk o Hotdog will get dem doggies. Well it did when I was 12 off the dock:)

Small bassjig (bitzy bug) put right in front of their face works almost everytime. They are pretty aggresive

[itchmesir]

How do you catch a bowfin? besides on accident

i've also caught a few on dardevle's

[Ray Esboldt]

I'll grab just about any fish, but a barker is always removed via pliers.

One quick dog story. I was fishing a club tournament on Farm Island flipping the rushes. I stuck a largemouth right around 5 lbs. Next flip, I stuck another monster fish, towed him in and it was about a 6 lb. dog. After tieing on a new jig, I flipped in again, and stuck another big fish. Another, barker and this one was bigger. After tieing on yet another jig (the first two were mangled), we relocated.

Biggest one I ever caught was on a buzzer.

[ocf1]

Farm Island is loaded with dogs, they were almost easier to catch than bass there!

[Deitz Dittrich]

I fished a gander mtn proam on Minnetonka about 6 years ago.. Was throwing spinnerbaits on a weed flat.. I caught one that measured 42" if i remember right, on my tournament scale it went 13.2 lbs.. I knew it was the state record at the time, but I had 5 nice bass already in the well.. and knew that thing would pert near kill all the bass.. so I put it back.. my only witness was the guy in the boat with me.. Dont really even care if any one believes me..

[polarsusd81]

I fished a gander mtn proam on Minnetonka about 6 years ago.. Was throwing spinnerbaits on a weed flat.. I caught one that measured 42" if i remember right, on my tournament scale it went 13.2 lbs.. I knew it was the state record at the time, but I had 5 nice bass already in the well.. and knew that thing would pert near kill all the bass.. so I put it back.. my only witness was the guy in the boat with me.. Dont really even care if any one believes me..

Was it Matty? He had a question like that for a give away a few weeks back. It wasn't like that, it was that exact situation.

[st.crioxfishin]

haha @ ray, i also will not touch those things! Nothing like sticking a big dogfish in a tournament and thinking you got a good bass... what a disappointment!

[mngirl]

Nice fish, I'm getting excited for the season .

[NCLaker]

.... so I put it back.. my only witness was the guy in the boat with me.. Dont really even care if any one believes me..

I always keep my cheap digital camera with me just for thsee occasions ... Ironically, I caught my personal best pike while fishing alone, only to realize I took the camera out of my tackle box

That fish must have been an absolute beast and a crazy fight to get that one landed. My son-in-law caught a 7#er on wacky worm setup .. lots of fun.