Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Being a new guy on the forum, just wondering if any of you guys are avid Bass fisherman.
My wife and I fish for Spotted Bass at Lake Shasta, CA.
In March, April, May, and a little into June.

Right now the toon is still in winter storage, sitting all covered up beside my garage.

I will be uncovering her in about 2 or 3 weeks and checking everything out.

The lake is up real good this year, and the fishing should be fantastic again..

In the mean time I am getting all my fishing stuff dusted off.

Good fishing to all.

HARRY

Nice stringer Harry and welcome aboard!

caught a 16" largemouth sunday.

Welcome aboard Harry! Nice looking fish there. Yes I am a Bass Fisherman. We catch Lg and Small Mouths here in northern Michigan. We also have white bass and a few Calico's. I've never caught a Calico though and only a few white Bass.

I almost skipped this thread thinking, oh here we go, another basshole, BUT NO, you are a man after my own heart! When I chase bass, I eat them. They are really good table fare, especially the spots. We are covered up with spots, we have a great population of LM, SM, white, yellow and striped bass.
Thats a nice string for sure, keep up the great work!

I'm not a very good fisherman, although I love it. Last year when we bought our toon, me and the wife spent weekend after weekend out on the toon fishing, usually for crappie, cat... Once when I got bored with that, I threw a bass lure up in the shallows and BAM.... I hooked a little 2 pounder that fought and splashed all the way in... It was the most fun I can remember having catching a fish...not sure who got hooked, the fish or me! So what's a couple of good bass lures to try out this spring / summer?

ROLAND wrote:I'm not a very good fisherman, although I love it.

So what's a couple of good bass lures to try out this spring / summer?

It's ok to fib a little when discussing one's ability to catch fish

I'm not a hard-core bass person,but I grew up with Mann's Jelly worms. Cheap and effective. I keep a bag of black-6 inch in my tackle bag. Hard to find,but you can call the company direct.

Rapala's minnow's and spinnerbaits (limegreen)are good to have. My nephew swears by the soft-body frogs.

Although not what one considers largemouth bait, I keep some rooster-tail spinners in the bag for casting in creeks and rivers, have caught a lot of different species on them.

I could not see spending a ton of money on artifical lures and prefer to keep just some of the old standby's. If I'm in a "bassy" looking place and want to cast, Mann's Jelly Worm is first, then I'll try a spinnerbait.

You didn't ask about live bait, but Walmart's nightcrawlers and some local brought shiners have caught most of my fish lately as its been too crowded to cast on the boat.

Fred

I've got an amusing bass fisherman story.

I've been renting my lake house to Bassmaster Elite fishermen for the past couple of years when the tournament hits town. I'm not going to mention fishermen names, but these guys are famous.

One of them was at Ranger Boats in Flippen, AR last year because his 21' Ranger with a 250 hp Optimax wouldn't run but the high 50's. Mercury had already checked out the engine, and it wasn't the problem. They went to the lake, and it stumped the Factory Man.

Finally, they got the idea to clean out the boat. The boat ran 74 mph as soon as they removed the 450 lbs. of jelly worms he had accumulated in the nose. It's a wonder they don't have a kitchen sink installed in their boats, but they're carrying about everything else.

I too don't spend a lot of money on new baits either. I prefer the old standby's. I like the small and medium to small Green frog colored Jitterbugs for bass fishing at night. I also use the smaller Silver colored Rapala's 3 and 4 inch I think, early morning or late evening. I have both the floating and the shallow runner's that go down to about four feet deep. I do have spinner baits but don't usually use them unless I'm somewhere know for having pike. I also use artificial Crawlers either Texas rigged or Carolina rigged. I mostly Pan fish though for Bluegills, Perch and Crappie.

Live Bait is Wax Worms for Gills and Minnows for Perch, Crawlers and Crawler Harnesses work good too. I plan on getting some Soft baits this year and trying the Berkley Gulp baits too. I've made all my own crawler harnesses.

I accidentally caught a 22 inch Rainbow trout a couple years ago fishing for Crappie and the same year I caught about a 26 inch Pike that ate a Bluegill I was bringing into the boat. The Pike really got my Adrenalin boiling.

I gave up golf for bass fishing about 15 years ago. I wasn't any good at golf and that tradition continues with bass fishing. However, as I like to say when asked: The fishing is always good, it's the catching that sometimes leaves a little to be desired.. But any time I can get on the water and throw a lure I'm pretty happy. My two favorite types of lures are top water (buzz bait and Zara Spooks) and worms (10 inch Berkely Power Worms in Junebug). I guess they are the most successful lures for me as well, so I guess that's why their my favorite.
I do catch and release, mainly because I don't like the large mouth bass in Lake of the Ozarks. They get wormy, and although the worms get killed by the heat of cooking, it's just the idea. I also like to think that one I catch and put back may grow to be a real hawg some day!
Another good thing about bass fishing for me is that I have the full support of my wife. She even picked out my last boat for me! She liked the color, didn't know anything else about what was on it, and didn't care. As long as it wasn't pink, I didn't care either. It's a 2006 Charger 296 (19.5 feet) with a 200 Optimax on the back (hard to believe it's 5 years old already!). I didn't need a motor that big because I seldom fish more than 5-10 miles from my house, but it was a good deal.
To all the other Bass fishermen out there: be sure to take a youngster out, whether it's kids, grandkids, neighbor kids or as part of a Bass Club outing. The look on their faces just being in the boat is something to see, and if they happen to catch something it's even better.

I fish for all types of fish from my pontoon.

I've actually entered a few local bass tournaments using my toon.
I like all the room and the livewells work great on the boat.

We're into bass fishing on the Tennessee River, and more 5 lb. smallmouth have been caught within 15 miles of our house than anywhere else in the country.

My neighbor leaves every morning of the year @ 5:30 a.m. in a 19' Triton bassboat with a 150 hp Optimax--heading upriver to fish for largemouth. He has a second aluminum bass boat with 70 hp that he uses for April's crappie season--and he winterizes it in May.

Almost every boat house has a pontoon boat sitting in it, however I seldom see anyone seriously fishing from them. They're people haulers.

I'm fortunate to have 3 of the top Bassmaster Elite fishermen staying with me when the tournaments are in town. Two use 21' bass boats and 250 hp Optimax's. One runs a 250 hp ETEC--all sponsored by the boat manufacturers and engine makers. They wouldn't think of fishing from a pontoon boat--time is money to them.

Here are a few smally's from our spring trip

Buddy of mine I was with got this one it pushed 5 pounds