Doug its great to see kids involved with the outdoors. I can look at these pics all day long, well part of the day because I will be fishing. lol
SENKOS!!!!! These are absolutely money when it comes to catching bass. Throw them on a wacky rig and SLOW it down. While I usually fish them weightless, there are times when I am fishing a little deeper where I will put a small nail weight in the end of the senko. The only drawback to falling in love with senkos is that there are times where I am using them almost as a crutch. I know I can usually get the skunk out of the boat if I throw a senko out, but I usually try to find a better pattern to start each day out other than a senko. If you have never fished a Swimming Senko either, you are missing out. If the bass are schooling and chasing baitfish, then match the color of whatever the bait is and swim/jerk the plastic back until you find a retrieve the fish like. I have caught some of my biggest bass the past 2 years with this. While senkos are a great way to catch fish on, I have to give my vote to 2 other methods as my favorite. 1) Topwater Frogs-When the grass is thick and matted I love to throw the Spro Bronzeye frogs, and when it is a little more spread out, or there is moss on the lake, the popper version is usually the ticket. When you get a big bass to blow up on a topwater you will be hooked forever. 2) Flippin- RI Sweet Beavers/SK Rodents are usually my pick here, but choices really are endless depending on conditions. If the sky is clear I like to use Watermelon Red, and if there is overcast, or the water is murky I will often use a Junebug or Black/Blue color.
Had a couple to add.... This little feller was pulled from a spawn best, mostly finished now as his belly is pretty thin, he was about 18.5" long, and had a mouth big enough I could put my fist, minus my thumb inside of!!! And a TRUE Monster.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . I never said the FISH was a MONSTER!!!! :D And "Yes!!!," the little bass was caught using my daughters little Barbie poll, and a jig head. She also caught her little bass in my previous post with the little Barbie pole, after I respooled it with some half decent line..... My nephew caught a nice 21" 5# 2oz. bass yesterday in the farm pond at my in-laws, he said it was SKINNY, post spawn, but still had a little HEFT to it. I'll see if I can get a pic of that....
Nice pics, Doug... my oldest boy and I caught a largemouth around that size a few years ago. We put it in his 10-gallon aquarium in his room and kept it for 2 1/2 years... best pet he ever had so far. It was cool to go outside and catch bugs and other critters and watch him wallop them when we dropped them in his tank. We let him go in the creek behind the house when it looked like he was turning a bit of a tarnished color... sort of "jaundiced"... it was my boy's idea to let him go, and really made me proud that he'd do it after having him so long. He went from about the size of the one you're holding to about 10 or 11" long in that time frame.
Here are the 3 best I've caught this year on plastic worms. All on Zoom Magnum Finesse worms. The last two pics I caught this evening, and they aren't the same fish. The first one had a sore on one of its gill plates, the second fish did not. Only a couple casts apart so that was pretty cool.
