bass fishing?

[nitro23]

who here does it and where do you like to go?

[CDay]

I do very little bass fishing but when I do it is off the holes of the Mississippi River. Work the rock banks with blue chrome rattle traps early in the morning. I used to do alot of it but now that I do not eat them any more I go after them less. I usually hang into a couple really nice ones every year crappie fishing.

[bowhunt2cbucks]

I live close to Lake Dardanelle and it gets most of my attention. Now that bow season is over it's time to get the boat out. Start really catching bass about the first week of March. Also have a small game and fish lake close by that is hard to beat in march

[cpeuban]

I've been to El Salto and would go back in a heart beat. I didn't catch a really big one on my trip (my fault), but the bass fishing there is better than the best dream.
I travel to a lot of fisheries with my job, and I would have to say that if I had to pick one fishing trip this year, it would actually be Lake Erie. Outstanding and better than all the southern trophy lakes. True the bass may not get quite as big, but you can catch 30 3-pound plus fish in a day, plus another 30 1 to 2 pounders...and they're all smallmouths. 4 and 5 pound smallies are common and 6 and 7 pounders are caught every year. Plus, in some areas, you get into some excellent largemouth fishing with 3 to 5-pound fish fairly common. The bass in lake Erie are pressured very little (most of the people there fish for walleyes or other fish) and are VERY easy to catch.
I am going to Lake Champlain in New York in June and that would be my second pick. ALmost as good as Erie. I'll give an update when I get back.
But I really can't complain about the lake 8 miles from my house Kentucky/Barkley lakes (connected by a canal). They're 250,000 acres and outstanding for all three black bass species. Just before Christmas, a friend caught 7 smallies in 45 minutes that weighed 34 pounds. The lake has more 3 to 5 pound largemouths in it than anywhere and the spotted bass are coming on strong. In 1992, a tournament fisherman caught 5 largemouths that weighed 39 pounds from kentucky Lake. Most one-day tournaments need well over 20 pounds to win.

[Rattle-m-up™]

cpeuban, have you ever fished for smallies at Dale hollow lake in tennessee?

[DrakeTaker]

I dont bass fish as much as I used to but I still enjoy it when I do it.Kind of like every thing else these days$$$$$$$$$$$Dierks was my favorite until the carp took over.I like Monticello in east Texas also full of big fish.

[cpeuban]

Rattle,
Not yet, but I hope to make it over to Dale Hollow this year. It's about a half-day drive. I've got co-workers that have fished it quite a bit. One even claims it is better than Erie, but everyone else disagrees with him.
DH is good, no doubt. It doesn't get the press it once did, but it's just as good for smallies as it's ever been. LOADED with 3 to 6 pound smallies with fish bigger than that caught every year.
Why do you ask, have you fished it before??

I forgot to mention in my earlier post. I really like fishing Table Rock. Those massive spotted bass are a blast, plus good smallies and bigmouths.

[Rattle-m-up™]

yep, i fish it once a year, i've caught a lot of 3 and 4 pounders there, the slot on the lake is 16-21 i think, i caught one there last april that was an 1/8 of an inch too short to keep, it weighed a hair over 6, would've looked good on the wall!

[deerhunter]

I love to bass fish and do most of my bass fish'n in back the waters of the StFrancis river. I also fish Lakes Dunn and Austel at Village creek.

[ February 15, 2004, 08:08 PM: Message edited by: deerhunter ]

[beltcutter]

I do quite a bit of largemouth fishing around the Texarkana area. Millwood is probably the most fished lake in this area, but I think she may be past her prime. They're trying to bring it back, but it does not offer near the cover that it used to.

Hey Cp,

When is the best time of year for lake Erie? I'm going to be near there in June. How's the smallmouth during that time of year, and how much would a guide service charge me for, say, a half a day? Got any names of any?

[cpeuban]

Right now, I don't know of a guide service on Lake Erie, but I can ask around and can probably find a good reliable guide. What part of Lake Erie will you be visiting?
June should be great. At the beginning of the month you can get pre-spawn fish on spinnerbaits and jerkbaits and plastics and by the end of the month you can catch post-spawners on anything.

[nitro23]

hey deerhunter, where do you live i love the river do you fish tolot

[dspeakes]

I fish the backwaters of the St Francis near Lake City.

[fairweatherhunter]

I bass fish with a buddy of mine...hes teaching me a few tricks on the Arkansas river. We mostly fish it in the summer and throw buzz and spinners. Usally end up drinking beer by afternoon.

[deerhunter]

Nitro23

Never fished tulot,but I fish behind River Vale and in the floodway. You do any good at Tulot?

[nitro23]

yeah we do real good hotter the better we have a tourament out there every year and it takes about 15lbs to win aleast. i have some pics of a day we had out there but i dont know how to put them on here

[deerhunter]

I caught 36 bass last spring in about two hours in them back waters. I kept nine and the stringer of fish would have weighed about 30 pounds.

That was my best day of fish'n ever.

[Earnhardt fan #1]

Hey nitro I noticed your from harrisburg is one of the graineries there called Mcneil grainery or something of that nature

[nitro23]

i can caught 15lbs every day

[deerhunter]

Those river bass fight much harder than lake bass.............................Ya gotta love it. graemlins/thumb.gif

[nitro23]

do any of you fish norfork

[cpeuban]

Just stripers, and I haven't been back in a couple years. We did catch 5 decent fish the one time I fished there.

A buddy tore up the fish at Lake SWEPCO near Siloam Springs. It's a hot-water powerplant lake stocked with FLorida bass and his 5 best bass went 16 pounds. But keep in mind, those bass were only stocked 3 years ago, so they're still young and growing at about 2 pounds per year.

[fireman512]

Mostly Oxbow lakes and chutes off the mississippi and white rivers.Plenty places here in phillips county to go.