B I G baits B I G bass revisited

[Maineiac]

I tracked down the original thread on this after it was mentioned in the present favorite crankbait thread and read my way through the entire string that looked to have gone on for a good part of the last 2 years. Found it fascinating to folow others thoughts on the subject but thought as was suggested by another poster that it might be time to revisit and update. First off I'm not from Minnesota and do my fishing about 1500 miles or so East of you in the state of Maine but I started following some of the Midwest forums a couple years ago when I realized that you folks liked to do many of the same things I like to do and that other than walleyes you have fishing conditions especially for bass that are so very very close to what we face up here. When an E-friend put me onto this site I couldn't wait to see what thoughts you Minnesota bassers had and haven't been disapointed.

But on the issue of Big Baits for big bass I think I might have a few new wrinkles for you to consider and best of all telling you folks shouldn't come back to bite me in local tourneys .

For starters your largemouth record and ours is about the same I think with Maines LM record being 11-10. Not sure on the smallie record for you folks but ours is 8 pounds even and while it is challenged about every year no one has moved the marker for a while. But where we really have a commonality is in the weights that it takes to cash a check in tourneys. We generally think in terms of a 3 pound average be it a 5 fish or 8 fish limit and generally I am lead to believe that is the same for you be it a LM lake, Smallie lake or a lake with both species present. And just like you we have those lakes where the numbers can and do go way up on occasion. Our club 5 fish limit is at 24-3.5 (no not mine I broke the previous record of 21-10 with a 23-8 and had it beat by the 24-3.5 the same day) but that is an exceptional lake. The unofficial state 8 fish bag has beeen 38.25 for a while now but I saw a 37.45 bag in a tourney last summer. So we have some good quality of fish as you do but come up with the question of how to up the odds on attracting them and getting them into the boat.

Not all lakes have populations of big fish and even those that do will only have them in certain places so I like to focus my efforts on those places that afford me the option of getting 5+ pound fish and hopefully those 6's and 7's that greatly up the chance of cashing a check. Obviously with those I am talking LM but some of the same factors play into the game when the quarry is SM. The sizes will normally be less, more in the 3-4 pound range with the occasional 5 but the same isolated humps, deep points and deep cabbage beds next to deep water is where I spend my time. Yes you can catch big fish near shore and those who beat the bank frequently come in with an ole baster to prove it but I haven't seen it as a good way to get numbers of better fish as I have found off shore and this affects what I tend to throw. I fish mostly team tourneys and the 3 different guys I fish with all play into what I throw but here are the common elements after we have a limit in the boat and are into culling mode.

1. Seven inch Senkos or Senko like baits are one of my major go to baits for big bass. Fished off a 7'6" H flipping stick, Ambassador 4600 reel and 30-40 pound braid attached to a 5/0 EWG Super Braid hook I will rig them Texas weedless style and weightles. After slathering them up good with scent I chuck them out into deep weed edges and work them back very slowly or even deadstick them if that is what the fish want. This works almost as well for big smallies as it does for LM and the SM you will get will be worth catching. For deeper situations I will go to the same rig but add a fairly heavy Mo/Jo weight up the line with a rubber peg so I can adjust the distance from weight to bait.

After that I may use the same bait but Wacky rigged with an O ring and weedless hook and no weight or Mo/Jo weighted depending on the depth and wind/current. If necessary I will go down to a 6" or even a 5" but we are talking looking for size not numbers.

Others quite correctly identified the Jig and Pig and all its many cousins as a good percentage bait and it is here as well as in Minnesota even when fished out in the middle of nowhere on a flat or hump. But this needs to be played with as I have seendays where the big fish would only hit 7" Senkos or 1/4 ounce Bitsy Bugs. With J&P fishing let the fish tell you what they want. But for big fish in numbers get off the bank and slow down. I personnaly like the big 4" Chompers Techno tube on a suitable weedless jig head and will use fairely heavy jigs most of the time. Those and standard J&P jigs with big trailers like Brush Hogs or 5" skirted grubs has worked well for me. Slathered up and chucked out it is generally a hit it on the fall or shortly after impact sort of bite. Makes for a pile of casts but it produces fish. I like to fish these big jigs off fairly heavy rodas but have moved to 14-17 pound flurocarbon as a prefered line.

3. Big cranks are another way to get into the game if they are at all active and 2 of my favorites have been the 7/8 ounce Berkley Frenzy Mag divers (no longer produced but still available if you hunt for them.) and a 1.25 ounce 4" lipless crankbait originally built for salt water striper fishing. These 2 and a full sized Big O fished through deep wood piles will surprise you on some days.

4. Swimbaits that have taken some areas by storm have been slower to catch on in more northern areas but work with a little modification od process. I have scant success with some of the swimbaits with the heavy molded in weights because at most of the depths I fish them I find them to be more of an anchor than an effective lure, but shad bodies are another story. Still in the swimbait genere you can get 6 and 7 inch shad bodies and when mated with a proper weight jig head can be fished slowly across and through prime areas and pick up some killer fish. This calls for big cranking rodas and my 2 favorites are both 7-6 in either MH or H and I haven't settled on a line of choice yet. But I tend to use bodies that look like alwives or white perch or yellow perch and in lakes where they are present brown trout or brook trout. Many good ones out there and as long as they look the part and are very soft they will fit the bill, again slather them up let them down and fish them slowwwwww and steady.

5. One last rig that comes to mind are big grubs fished off jig heads, fished almost like a slow subtle crankbait. I tend to go with the 6 inch Mogambo from Kalins but every area has favorites. I also have used even bigger ones from my saltwater box but generally if they want a big grub the 6" wll work.

What else? Well various Musky and Pike baits, monster topwaters. B I G spinnerbaits. 10 inch worms. Oh and really big Rapalas. So any thoughts on any of this diatribe?

[Boedigheimer]

Mainiac, good post, I found it interesting that you included swimbaits in your list of BIG bass baits. This past season I dabbled alittle with 5" swimbaits(berkley of course), and found them equally effective on largemouth as well as smallmouth. Move over jig-worm now theres something that covers more water. Not only does the thumpin' tail look good but the rocking side to side motion gives the bait a double thump that seems to seal the deal sometimes. The average size of the bass caught seems to rival that of the jig-n-pig. Throw in the fact it can be fished fast or slow, and its 'almost' weedless makes it my favorite bait.It is not as species specific as a bass jig either. Although I have to admit I didn't fish bass as much as I should have, I was chasing walleyes. But this year I vow to unleash the power of the swimbait. By the way, have you read anything by Rich Zaleski, he's a writer from your neck of the woods, Connecticut I believe. Excellent articles that definitely applied to Minnesota waters.

[ikeslayer]

long as a book but a good read. I always dig new things for my brain so thank you for your time you put in. ike