adolson

Hey man, nice catch! Glad you ended your season with a bang like that.

Congrats! A 16" bass is a great catch.

So, finally, today was a nice day with little wind, in contrast to the previous two days of the weekend where I caught nothing and .. Rather than waste cleaning lures that are already clean at Liberty, I met up with Rod Caster to try our hand at lake trout, brook trout, and walleye - going for the trifecta of perfection. So we troll around the stocked laker lake, and not even a bite after around 3 hours or so. At this point, we thought we wouldn't get our three species... Not off to a good start. So we headed off to a brookie lake, the same one I went to last week. Within minutes, we had bites and he landed the first one of the day: We putted around the little lake, casting into shore. I had lots of bites, missed a big one early on, and several others throughout the day. We even saw a few of them attacking the lures, including a reeeeally nice male that I wished I had hooked into. Even from where we were sitting, it looked pretty. I was sad. To cheer me up, he decided to show me a magic trick... TA-DA!!!!! He caught the second one, and the biggest I've seen from here so far. We weren't at the lake for long, as we had an appointment with our walleye lake and a third fishing partner, but the minutes turned to hours as I sat there, without a brookie for my plate. Finally, I got one. The pic doesn't really do it justice. It was 11 inches, as big as my biggest the first time. Not as big as either of Chad's, but boy was I happy to finally catch something this weekend! About 4:30ish, I spot one jump near where I had hooked and lost one last time I was here. I cast over to it, hook into it, and lose it a few seconds later. Bah! Oh well, we're off in a hurry to meet up with a third partner at the third lake. Somehow I beat Chad and his dad there, and thought this was all some elaborate plan for him to steal my lifejacket and hard foam/brick canoe seat... After checking out the lake and seeing I was alone, I drove back to the main road and there they are, waiting for me... lol By now the sun is getting low.. We pack in quick and get in the water as fast as we can and paddle off to our spot. The bite was decent, but not great like the previous two times. We still pulled in probably 18-20 fish between the three of us, and we each took a couple home. We only took a handful of pictures, and some are blurry because it was getting dark and I didn't flip the flash up. Oh well. The biggest one of the night, the other half of a double-header withe one of my keeper-sized walleye. It was a tad over 17" so it had to go back. The sun went down, and we occasionally pulled up a fish here and there. It died off, and after Chad pulled up a rock bass, we had our trifecta. We paddled back to shore and headed off. Thanks for the invite again! Even though you wouldn't trade my walleye for your specks...

Wow, congrats to him on landing that on 10lb PP!

I watched the whole video. I didn't think it would ever end. haha. Nice work.

Big numbers, I'm glad someone out there was getting some action!

Wow, you done good today! The patterns on them bass look real nice. I did terrible today, caught nothing, lost a brand new lure to rock snags. But then, I wasn't fishing at the part of the river that I wanted to be fishing at.

Yep, years ago I went a few times.. Didn't enjoy it as much as real fishing. hahaha In all seriousness, I want to get into it because it'll help make winter pass quicker and with company it could be a good time. I wish I had a snow machine but I need a truck long before toys like that. If I get a hut myself, it'll probably be a portable tent type I think, because then I can carry it to various lakes and it'll fit in my car and stuff... I need an auger and some other gear too, so this might not happen this year. I don't even know much about it all to be honest, like when is it safe for a fatty like me to step on the ice, or where to drill holes, etc. I have a lot to learn because prior to this year, almost all of my fishing was done with adults when I was a kid or teen, and I didn't pay much attention.

I hope so! Let's skip straight to spring!

Lucky for you! Too bad the snow has been postponed for this year. It will resume its regularly-scheduled stupidity in November 2012.

Not if you watched the first three. It's been so slow, soooooo slooooooooooowwwww. Unlike the other seasons. I debated not even watching anymore, but it's only redeemed itself in the past couple episodes. At least it's done that, unlike Weeds, which has steadily tumbled downhill since Agrestic burned.. This is my last season of that trash, that's for sure. I'll miss Andy, though. And Shane. Y'all oughtta be watching Sons of Anarchy, too, though I haven't started this season yet (Kurt Sutter has yet to disappoint me, though).

Hope this finale makes up for rest of the lackluster season...

Did I ever!

My grandpa told me a big pike once hit on a 20lb orange anchor as he was pulling it into the boat, so a 10" bait should be fine!

Full moon on Monday? sounds like my best bet for an aurora if ever there was one.. Wish my cuz would make time to go..

The only bass I caught in October were on tube jigs. I'd start with that. They were close to shore, near their usual hiding places - downed trees, to be specific.

I catch these all the time, they're known as the aurora trout.

In my limited experience (which began in June), the lures the fish want changes from day to day and from body of water to body of water. The one lure that I've taken fish at my three main bass lakes with is the topwater Hula Popper. The original floating Rapalas work well too (perch color for me). I've caught them on tube jigs as well, Cordell Super Spots, Matzuo Rattle Eye Joes, gold Rattlin Rapalas, gold Wally Divers, and green Mangler Frogs. I also had fish on or follows with white spinner baits, Jitterbug, Live Target Frog, and Beetle Spins too. Lots of options, but for excitement, I say make sure you grab at least one topwater in your mix and give it a shot when the water's calm.

I went there with Rod Caster and we caught nothin'.

Thanks for clarifying, Lota lota. I know it's hard to say, but if I do a lot of alone fishing, I have nobody to help guide when I should release. I just don't want to unnecessarily keep fish that are either too big that they should be returned to continue breeding, or too small that I won't get much meat. I mean, an 8" brookie I'm told is good to keep now, but I woulda never known that if I hadn't asked. To me, it looked too small - I didn't know how you clean them, even. You wouldn't keep an 8" pike or bass, so I'm just trying to get a good idea without trial and error. Thanks to you and others who posted, I've got a better grasp for the most part. One species I didn't ask about is whitefish. The limit here is 12/6, seems excessive to me, but is that because they're generally a smaller fish (for example, perch limit is 50 and they're fairly small), or is it just because there are so many and/or not targeted? Also, can you eat mooneye? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MFpfb4eThM

I came for the pics. There are none. I AM DISAPPOINT.

Very nice fish! I am still surprised at how beautiful these are, especially brookies.

I don't use any Apple or Microsoft products at all, but if I had to choose between Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer for a fishing partner, I'd leave the ape on shore and see what the iLures Jobs brought along could catch. Sad news for his friends and family, and his followers. 56 is very young.

Agreed, but the government ought to have already stopped the mega quarry and that didn't happen yet, so it's not a shock. I've yet to see a single CO out, and I've been fishing quite a lot this summer. Maybe it's just my area, but I'd like to see them.