I Want A New Pb! 2024
Topwater98 reply :
I have only been bass fishing for the past 3 years. I have gone from using 1 rod and just simply casting spinnerbaits anywhere and hoping for a fish, to owning 5 rods and using a wide variety of baits. Last year I started catching bass more consistently. I rarely get to go fishing for more than 2-3 hours at a time so I think It is pretty good to get 2-15 bass a day depending partly on how long I am out. Most of my fish last year were 15-16 inches long. This year I have started catching lots of fish in the 17-18 inch range. My personal best is a little over 19 inches. I caught it during a trip to Minnesota on live bluegill(about the only time I have used bluegills as bait). I am catching lots of good fish lately but I just can't get a giant! In Northern Wisconsin I think a 4# fish would be great. Right now I have by far the most confidence in frogs. Here is the picture of my personal best. I had a scale at the time but it was an old spring scale that was rusty. It only weighed it to 3.15 lbs. I have tested the scale since and realized that it always weighs things too light. Any guesses? Since then my biggest bass is 3.25 lbs. If you are wondering why my personal best says 4-5 lbs it is because I got a 4.8 lb smallmouth in Chequamegon Bay.
BassinLou reply :
Topwater98, keep fishing!! Keep learning and fine tuning techniques and you will break your PB sooner than you think.
Topwater98 reply :
The lake I usually fish is a 280 acre lake. It hardly has a single log or rock in the whole lake. There are a couple of medium sized beds of lily pads that I like to fish with frogs. There are also a couple areas of matted pondweed. There are quite a few boat docks in the lake. It has a max depth of 24 feet. Most of the lake is deep weed beds. Some spots have weeds growing up to the surface from 10-15 feet of water. I have tried to fish out there a few times but it is hard to get lures down. My favorite baits are mostly topwater lures. I have used wacky rigged stick-Os quite a bit as well. The lake is full of pike so there are some lures I don't like to use much because the get bit off.
Topwater98 reply :
Here is a link where you can find a map of the lake that I usually fish. I have hardly fished any other lakes.
http://dnr.wi.gov/lakes/LakePages/LakeDetail.aspx?wbic=2767100&page=more
Jon G reply :
Start using bigger sized baits. This does not mean necessarily mean go buy big giant swimbaits. Baits you can use are jigs, bigger worms, and 5+" paddle tail swimbaits such as Keitechs and Basstrix Hollowbodies
OroBass reply :
something simple some guys forget... time on the water. If I spend 30 hours a month fishing and you spend 15, I am twice as "lucky" as you. Fish early and fish late. Fish the spawn. Throw big baits.
Topwater98 reply :
I usually fish out of a canoe so positioning near the fish is often a problem. Last time I went to the lake I saw a fish in the water that I am pretty much sure would have been a new PB but the wind blew me right over it and scared it away.
WatterBoy reply :
I would keep at it with the frogs and other topwater lures. I have caught two 6s and three 5s (in MN/IA) and all but one of them were on topwater...both of the 6s on a black poppin' frog.On 6/19/2015 at 6:18 AM, Topwater98 said:I have only been bass fishing for the past 3 years. I have gone from using 1 rod and just simply casting spinnerbaits anywhere and hoping for a fish, to owning 5 rods and using a wide variety of baits. Last year I started catching bass more consistently. I rarely get to go fishing for more than 2-3 hours at a time so I think It is pretty good to get 2-15 bass a day depending partly on how long I am out. Most of my fish last year were 15-16 inches long. This year I have started catching lots of fish in the 17-18 inch range. My personal best is a little over 19 inches. I caught it during a trip to Minnesota on live bluegill(about the only time I have used bluegills as bait). I am catching lots of good fish lately but I just can't get a giant! In Northern Wisconsin I think a 4# fish would be great. Right now I have by far the most confidence in frogs. Here is the picture of my personal best. I had a scale at the time but it was an old spring scale that was rusty. It only weighed it to 3.15 lbs. I have tested the scale since and realized that it always weighs things too light. Any guesses? Since then my biggest bass is 3.25 lbs. If you are wondering why my personal best says 4-5 lbs it is because I got a 4.8 lb smallmouth in Chequamegon Bay.
P1000273.JPG
P1000273.JPGAnd as far as your MN fishing using sunfish as bait goes, I would suggest checking out the MN fishing regs. See the next-to-last bullet in this section.
Bait
Can I use bait in Minnesota waters?
• You can fish with a variety of live or dead bait including worms, night crawlers, in sects and larva. If you are fishing with minnows or leeches, a number of restrictions apply.
• If you chose to keep your bait when done fishing, you must exchange water in bait buckets with tap or bottled water prior to leaving any water body, except when you are fishing through the ice. The exception for ice fishing does not apply when fishing on VHS-infested waters.
• You cannot dispose of unwanted minnows and leeches in Minnesota waters. Un used bait, including night crawlers, should be put in the garbage. See pages 24-26.
• You cannot use whole or parts of game fish, goldfish or carp for bait.
• You may not take bait from infested waters, except bullhead, sucker, mooneye, goldeye and sheepshead may be taken by hook and line from infested rivers for personal use as bait for fishing on the same infested river where the bait was taken. This bait may not be transported live from or off the river.
Topwater98 reply :
Are bluegill considered gamefish? I think they would be in a different category. I guess I should have looked at the regulations a little. I do basically all of my fishing in Wisconsin.
WatterBoy reply :
On 6/19/2015 at 10:08 AM, Topwater98 said:Are bluegill considered gamefish? I think they would be in a different category. I guess I should have looked at the regulations a little. I do basically all of my fishing in Wisconsin.
Yes, they are considered game fish...at least in MN anyway. We have lots of "quirky" regs here.
*Hank reply :
You should get an anchor!?
Angry John reply :
Frogs are a great choice for big fish but the will also be a great time if that monster takes a while. I fish a lot of jigs and pitch plastics. Craws and hogs are great choices. If you are trophy hunting then swimbaits might be the ticket.
buzzed bait reply :
i'd be stoked about a 4.8lb smallmouth man......
rong56345 reply :
On 6/19/2015 at 6:18 AM, Topwater98 said:I have only been bass fishing for the past 3 years. I have gone from using 1 rod and just simply casting spinnerbaits anywhere and hoping for a fish, to owning 5 rods and using a wide variety of baits. Last year I started catching bass more consistently. I rarely get to go fishing for more than 2-3 hours at a time so I think It is pretty good to get 2-15 bass a day depending partly on how long I am out. Most of my fish last year were 15-16 inches long. This year I have started catching lots of fish in the 17-18 inch range. My personal best is a little over 19 inches. I caught it during a trip to Minnesota on live bluegill(about the only time I have used bluegills as bait). I am catching lots of good fish lately but I just can't get a giant! In Northern Wisconsin I think a 4# fish would be great. Right now I have by far the most confidence in frogs. Here is the picture of my personal best. I had a scale at the time but it was an old spring scale that was rusty. It only weighed it to 3.15 lbs. I have tested the scale since and realized that it always weighs things too light. Any guesses? Since then my biggest bass is 3.25 lbs. If you are wondering why my personal best says 4-5 lbs it is because I got a 4.8 lb smallmouth in Chequamegon Bay.
Don't use game fish for bait in Minnesota. It's against the law!
WatterBoy reply :
On 6/19/2015 at 9:13 PM, rong56345 said:Don't use game fish for bait in Minnesota. It's against the law!
Yep, we already went through that in posts 8-10 of this thread. 
lectricbassman reply :
On 6/19/2015 at 7:56 AM, OroBass said:something simple some guys forget... time on the water. If I spend 30 hours a month fishing and you spend 15, I am twice as "lucky" as you. Fish early and fish late. Fish the spawn. Throw big baits.
This. Spend as much time as you can on the water
PJBoudzy reply :
Get yourself an anchor man! Also use some bigger baits like other members have mentioned. I've caught some of my best fish on big soft plastics like 8 inch plastic lizards, and full size brush hogs. Put those big soft plastics in the pads!!!
Topwater98 reply :
On 6/19/2015 at 8:39 PM, buzzed bait said:i'd be stoked about a 4.8lb smallmouth man......
I was definitely excited when I caught it! Up here though that is not really rare. I haven't come close to it since but for the people who have boats and know where to go there are many of those fish available. I have probably caught 3-5 smallmouth bigger than my PB largemouth. I held it in the water so it could breath while someone got the camera ready but it shook free. 
Topwater98 reply :
I think I will be able to get out on a different lake than my usual one this evening. I have fished this lake a few times at it seems like it has almost no weeds other than lily pads. This lake also has a few brush piles and laydowns so I could try fishing them. I will try to force myself to use big jigs or plastics some(it is hard for me to get away from frogs!). Just to let you know I do own 3 swimbaits. I have a bbz1 6 inch perch, a river2sea S waver and a bbz1 shad 4 inch in bluegill colors. I know it probably hurts my chances of big bass but I usually use these baits with a wire leader to protect from pike bite-offs. I just can't afford to be replacing these expensive baits very often.
buzzed bait reply :
On 6/20/2015 at 3:22 AM, Topwater98 said:I was definitely excited when I caught it! Up here though that is not really rare. I haven't come close to it since but for the people who have boats and know where to go there are many of those fish available. I have probably caught 3-5 smallmouth bigger than my PB largemouth. I held it in the water so it could breath while someone got the camera ready but it shook free.
i can tell you that a 4.5lb smallie would get a lot of folks excited in Middle GA
deep reply :
Well, if you want a new PB, you need to be fishing for a new PB.
Big baits isn't the answer in itself.
David P reply :
No better time than summer to break that PB. Get acquainted with top water baits, depending on the area - buzzbaits, frogs, and spooks (my favorite). Almost impossible to not break your PB with one of those this summer! Jigs are also a great way to target numbers but also quality fish. I used to throw big swimbaits for new PBs, and ironically, once I stopped throwing big baits and went back to more average baits, I caught my two biggest fish ever.
Good luck
Topwater98 reply :
On 6/20/2015 at 4:09 AM, David P said:No better time than summer to break that PB. Get acquainted with top water baits, depending on the area - buzzbaits, frogs, and spooks (my favorite). Almost impossible to not break your PB with one of those this summer! Jigs are also a great way to target numbers but also quality fish. I used to throw big swimbaits for new PBs, and ironically, once I stopped throwing big baits and went back to more average baits, I caught my two biggest fish ever.
Good luck
It would be easier if I knew what my PB was! Any guesses of the size of my PB. I posted a picture in the original post. I have a good working scale now so I will know how big they are. My biggest one on that scale was 3 lbs 4 oz but I think that one was bigger. I know for sure that it was longer.
*Hank reply :
Some of my biggest bass have been caught on finesse type lures.
SirSnookalot reply :
On 6/20/2015 at 12:32 AM, lectricbassman said:This. Spend as much time as you can on the water
It's nothing but being there at the right time. If we could control the size of fish we caught, each one be a monster, it doesn't work that way. There may big one down there, doesn't mean it's first to the lure. Gotta have a little luck too.
Topwater98 reply :
Went out last night to a different lake than my usual. It is a much smaller lake. I caught 5 fish with the biggest just over 2 lbs. I used my frog, a stick-o, a small walk the dog surface lure, a buzzbait, a jig, my bbz1 shad 4 inch bluegill. I caught 2 fish on the stick-os, 2 fish on my frog and 1 on the walking lure. Most of the fish were small with only one fish over the size limit. The frog caught the biggest fish.
BassAddict'18 reply :
Learn to think outside of the box and dont be afraid to deviate from your normal lure choices. Pick something those big fish probably havent seen before. My personal best of 8 pounds came out of a shallow pond in a neighborhood with little to no cover on the bottom that a few people fish consistently with soft plastic baits exclusively and no one has ever caught any big bass out there and i was using a fat free guppy crankbait. That same night i caught 5 more fish that were all in the 5-6 pound range on the same lure. They absolutely would not touch a senko, a trick worm, texas rig, shakey head, spinnerbait, lipless crankbait, a topwater, a fluke, a jig, etc. pretty much tried everything in my tacklebox and was about to give up because i honestly didnt think there was anything in that pond. Boy was I wrong. Throw something at them that they haven't seen before. Fish get used to seeing the same old lures again and again and my theory is that big bass are harder to catch because throughout their life they have probably seen a texas rig or a senko or whatever other common bait more than a thousand times and have probably been caught and released quite a few times. Before you showed up at your fishing spot, probably 200 other anglers that week had thrown the same bait you plan on throwing. I've seen big fish go from biting certain baits to not even looking at them by the end of the week. In order to trick those big fish you have to give them something they havent seen before.
MrE1979 reply :
Try fishin at dusk into dark with a big split back jitterbug. I use the black one and when that isn't working I switch to the perch colored one. You have to find the best retrieval speed for that particular day but when you do
Angry John reply :
On 6/20/2015 at 10:17 PM, Topwater98 said:Went out last night to a different lake than my usual. It is a much smaller lake. I caught 5 fish with the biggest just over 2 lbs. I used my frog, a stick-o, a small walk the dog surface lure, a buzzbait, a jig, my bbz1 shad 4 inch bluegill. I caught 2 fish on the stick-os, 2 fish on my frog and 1 on the walking lure. Most of the fish were small with only one fish over the size limit. The frog caught the biggest fish.
I would not walk away from the frog as a big fish option. I have caught some great fish on a frog and seen some monsters caught on them. The reason I feel there so good is the amount of nasty cover you can get threw. Up size the frog if you are looking for a bigger bite. if you get nothing then downsize again. First find if there on the frog and go from there. Big is not always best and bill simatel has a great video on swim baits. He basically he says fish them for an hour or so and find if that bite is on, if not switch to something else. I am in an area where small baits work best and a 4" worm catches them all.
Jon G reply :
I read an article on *** where they said the biggest fish they hae ever caughten were caught fishing very slow or very fast. When I thought about it I realized the same thing applied to me.
What this meant was fish something very natural looking very slowly so the fish have a good look at it or fish it very fast so they won't know what it is so they want to grab it quickly to figure out what it is.
Just something else to think about when targeting your new PB.
BucketMouth15 reply :
Top water frog hits are the best, keep working that thang. Go pack!
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