Bass sure make good bait!

[Slyster]

Today I was bass fishing.. that's all I target anymore.. and caught a largemouth.. probably 12 or 13"... he was tugging away.. I could tell he was no trophy.. and he jumped.. REALLY jumped.. and made a HUGE splash.. I was amazed... dumbfounded that the splash was so big. THEN... "zzzzzzzzzz........." (the sound of my line going out at a very steady rate)... and I realized that I had a muskie on the line... ON the bass! VERY fun!.. 8lb Fireline.. medium-light rod.. floro leader.. at least I now know my Fireline to floro knots are good!

I knew I wouldn't net him in since he was only hanging onto the bass but after a good 6 or 7 minutes he got tired and I got him up to the boat close enough to take a good look.. was at least 36" I estimated.. maybe even 40" who knows... but he was huge! Definitely not a northern. I reached down to touch his back.. he splashed once more and was gone. I bet muskie anglers wish they could pop on a chunky largemouth on a big 'ol hook and bobber.

Oh.. and yesterday.. another muskie followed my senko right to the boat. It was huge!.. and it just stared at the senko. It didn't do a thing. I tried to jig right in front of him.. he just left. Strange critters those pike.

[Slyster]

On a side note.. there has been some discussion on deep water bass. I found the best fishing TODAY 16-20 feet. Deepest I've fished yet this summer. Loads of them were on weedless slopes below weedlines. Some really nice ones... in shallower water I only caught babies. Hmm.. maybe that's where they are hanging out in this hot weather.

[EBass]

Good story. Those skis can be aggressive. And thanks for the tip on the deep water. Now if I could only leave the river alone long enough to try:)

[ZOKU]

Insane!!

I've never had that happen before. Did the bass live?? Or was he basically eaten alive? That would be *so* cool to see!!

[Tonka Boy]

A hooked fish is a good target...it's very irratic and looks injured. Too bad it's not legal here in MN. I guess we'd have to go south for that.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

One day my dad hooked a little 10" bass, I saw it jump and knew it was small. All of a sudden he starts yelling and drag is flying of his reel. I thought he lowered the drag and was goofing around so I didnt do anything until I heard a huge splash, apparently a big muskie or pike had grabbed the bass. We didnt get the pike/muskie and the bass made it through with just a few small scars on him.

[Lunker]

I haven't had the bass attacked yet, but while bass fishing earlier this year I had a muskie attack my 4" senko 3 times. I was bringing it over the weeds and the muskie attacked it while on the surface. I cast back, did the same thing, cast back, finally got a hook set. I had thought it was a bass, but when it lepat I realized it had been a muskie. Landed him, probaly a 30-32 inch fish. Fun fun on bass tackle.

[Captain B.R.K]

I've never heard the story about bass being on your line and then having a muskie come up and hit the bass. I have had a walleye and have a nice size northern take a swipe at the walleye and give me a good pull on the drag only to let go as soon as the pike got into view!

I can definately relate.......what a thrill huh?

[ricqik]

When I was a lad, and used to keep some bass, we had a 16" bass on the stringer tied over my old little 14' rowboat and a upper 40" plus musky grabbed it. It was a great sight. It chompped down, jerked it left but the bass was attached to the stringer, it jerk acouple more time and finally with acouple of really hard shakes and splashes, the bass slipped out of its mouth and he swam off slowly back into the weeds. The bass was scarred down to the bone with numerous scales missing. Different day but same lake, we were moving slowly along in speed 1 and a mid 40" followed our boat right up to the trolling motor which was at the sterm, we didn't see him till he was a foot away. He came in real close and suddenly he took a bite at the prop. Heard a thud-thud and he turned away and sank slowly down into the weeds. Exciting moment.

[RobertELee]

Its a blast when your fishing for panfish with kids and bass and northern come up and grab on to them. Last year we had 2 bass and 3 northerns, all good sized, take the small sunnies.