Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch Pot Belly Bass

Caught this LMB on Sunday using Dave Davidsons wonderful tip he gave me! Thanks again Dave!! Sorry no measurements on this one had a bit of an issue with getting the hook out so wanted to get her back in the water asap! I would say it was about 3 in a half pounds. I wasn't sure if it was eggs in her or just eating real well..

Fat one RC. I've seen guys fish that way on a buddy's pond but the bass always seem to swallow the hook. How far down was the hook in this one? I'll have to give it a shot in my big pond this weekend. I'm going to fish it pretty hard and try to see how my bass are doing.

Looks like she's full of eggs to me. Sitting that low in the body cavity anyway...good looking ole girl!

Nice catch, RC!

Hey Cisco this hook was deep but not to bad. The trick is using a bobber about the size of a golf ball. The 2 to 3 inch BG can move it around and bounce it under but cant keep it under. Then all of a sudden it goes down and 3 seconds later it's still not up time to lay the hammer down!! 8 to 9 times out of ten I jaw or lip hook them. I don't give them enough time to swallow it. Now if you do this without a bobber I also have had them swallow it as I didn't even know they took it. The bobber is the key. Then count to about 3 mississippi and set it!

RC

Wow, that's 1 chubby LMB.

A few years back, we used to catch big ones on artificial. My wife caught the then pond record 23 incher on a Road Runner. Now we only catch smaller ones on artificial. When we really want to catch big ones, we use the same method as you. Last June I caught a fat 23 incher on a live BG. That LMB surprised me a little with eggs in June. She weighed 6Lb 4oz.

Jeez, bobad!!!!

Talk about the random appearance here and there!!!!

great catch man. looks like that one might have some trophy potential. ever try circle hooks with live bait? fewer deep hooking issues that way.

Hey Jig no I have not I need to get some though everyone says they are good. I have a few decent FL strain bass in my pond. We'll see about trophy.... I am trying to do what you told me to do a year or 2 ago. BG's, BG's, BG's.... as many as I can!! I think a LOT of us under estamate how much LMB really eat. I am starting to see why TP when they start to die must be a feeding frenzy for LMB. They can't stand not eating an injured fish!!

If I could get some 4 to 5 pounders in my 1 acre pond I'll be happy!

RC

Circle hooks are great. You have to use a different technique with them. Don't "set" the hook, just reel the line tight and keep reeling. That way when the hook goes to slide out of the fish's mouth it gets hung up in the corner of it's jaw.

Wow really that's gonna be hard to do. Not set the hook?? Been doing that my whole life.... Hmmm gonna be weird but I'll have to try it.

RC

RC said:

"The trick is using a bobber about the size of a golf ball. The 2 to 3 inch BG can move it around and bounce it under but cant keep it under."

can someone give advice on how they hook the bluegill that is being used for bait? in the lips, under dorsal fin, by the tail? The goal is to keep them alive but i would think hooking them in a way that they have to swim keeled over about 30 degrees would be like painting a bullseye on them for the bass.

I fish a clear cold northern michican lake in the dog days of July and can't scare up much bass action. The weed lines are deeper now that the zebra mussels have cleared the water down to about 18 feet. I can catch lots of tiny bluegill,

How can I rig the bluegill to get them down in the depths, maybe a slip bobber, or maybe just sliding weight on bottom and let bluegill swim? I've tried this a little in the past but the bluegill tends to swim to the top...

Canyon,

I hook my BG in the back about middle to 3/4 of the way down his dorsal fin. That way they can swim natural and they last for a few good casts sometime longer. I don't have the footage issue you have. My pond is only 8 feet deep so I can put my bobber at 15 inches or 2.5 feet and they will come up for it. A slip bobber would work.

If you use just a weight put it about 18 inches above BG and then just watch that line. Use a weight heavy enough so the BG cant just drag it around. Say a half or 3/4 ounce sinker then just wait till that line takes off. Course you may end up with a few gut hooked this way so be careful!

RC

You can use a small split shot pinched tight on the line 18"-24" above the BG, and a slip sinker above that split shot. They make some pretty big slip bobbers, so I'd use one that will float the weight needed to keep the BG in roughly the same area. A slip sinker will allow some strong dashes upwards, but when they get tired it will drag them back down to that 18' depth.

We'd use a slip (egg) sinker like that minus the bobber for fishing deeper in the ocean in 1,000's of feet of water when the Tuna were down 100' to 200'.