Fish-Hawk.Net

Thanks Spence,

I currently use a Dobyns Champion 735 and it is much better than my previous rod and I have caught enough fish on it to know I am pleased. I use a curado 200e7 and agree a 200 size reel is warranted.

Thanks for the invaluable info.

Adam.

It's an age old question really and like Brian said check out any local tournament result and you'll see the same pattern you are in. 12-13 maybe 14 lbs. Look at the weights from MSBassin this year. Not great really. Guys that bump into one or two good fish on the day win every time.

To me it comes down to a few things. Are you fishing effectively? More onto Spence's point that's great info. There is no magic elixir other than one thing. TIME ON THE WATER.

Case in point. I just got back from a weeks holiday cottaging on a lake nearby. Has no tournaments on it and VERY little fishing pressure. You'd think it would be BIG fish heaven. Not quite, My pops and I fished fairly hard for 6 days covering every technique, type of structure etc. Did we catch fish? YES. We ballparked over 400 Bass in the 6 days. Serious. It didn't matter where we went, what we did, we caught em. It got to the point of being stupid. Size? Of that crazy number of fish 4 were over 3 lbs, 1 over 4 and 1 over 5.

To be learned from that is to catch BIG fish you need to be on BIG fish water to start with, sure the Rideau still has some decent fish but certainly not like it was a one time.

Still having fun with it out there I hope, that's what it all about anyways!

RJ

Thanks RJ,

The key here is time on the water is key. I am now starting to see the type of fish I am used to and bigger. I was just getting frustrated getting clones in tiny fish.

At least some size is finally showing up and I am sure the fall bite will be amazing.

This won't help


Missisippi largie approx 5 lbs on a froggie



Rideau small 5lbs + drop shot x-zone #204 slammer



Mississippi 3.5 lb largie on a froggie



Rideau small approx albs drop shot

That's some great advice Spence, my biggest largie (6 pounds) was caught in less than 2 feet of water on the Rideau. I've seen bigguns caught in 30 feet of water in the fall.