BadChad1983

Isaac if you want to pay the shipping for my personal copy of trackin trophies by John Hope that I received a week ago I'd be happy to loan it to ya. After reading that I'm even more confident you'll get her. One thing that stuck out from his tracking studies was that if she gets too pressured when on a bed she will leave and then come back at night. I don't think any of the bass he tracked every abandoned their traditional spawning areas, but need to take another look. Have you tried fishing her at night? I'm in no position to give advice btw, my little pb Iowa bass is only 5.48 I also have a real prey baby bass which is like my most prized swimbait, it needs a fresh butch brown rigging, but it's a relatively rare swimbait and I'd be happy to loan that out to ya as well just as long as ya know I get it back. I remember reading pike are highly cannibalistic around the spawn so maybe a baby bass swimbait would be worth a shot? I hope you get her man, really looking forward to pics!

I like this floating gill idea An Rof 0 hudd gill with the weights they sell for it to modify the rof and make it anywhere from like an rof 1/2-3 or so would be a look she may not have seen as well. I would also go completely off the wall and throw like a 10 inch pike bait, a mackerel, something with an exotic profile that is likely to be a new stimulus just on the hope that because trout baits in non trout lakes work for other folks then why not? TBH I would swallow my pride, abandon my personal life, and throw live craws and anything else I could find like Billy Murphy used to do for a bass like that if it wasn't responding to my best swimbait presentations.

I think so too, if she gets pressured too hard she will likely have enough and move out. The guy you're thinking of @MaineBassin is John Hope. It seems like I have heard a lot of people doing well between noon and two which if I had to guess would be when a lot of people were taking a break. It's not realistic to think they only feed at night, I can't remember the exact details but it was significant enough. My copy of his book should show up Tuesday. One thing I learned from chasing trophy whitetails was never to underestimate their ability to track you. I am still bitter over not changing up my entry and exit times/routes while chasing one particular buck who had me patterned so much better than I could ever hope to have him patterned. The worst part was I never even got to see him in the flesh. Was always on trail cameras, I knew he was there but I never got eyes on him in person. Was literally like chasing a ghost. When big bucks get too much pressure and relocate to a different area it is often so random and out of the way most people wouldn't consider it. This is especially true with big non typical bucks which are rare to begin with but even more so than typical racked bucks. I remember reading one guy breaking down the top 25-50 non typicals ever taken. He started seeing a pattern of beginner hunters who were setting up in just plain random locations. Turns out that isolated fence row, or random 3 acre patch of timber on an island by itself, would often be where these guys would "get lucky". I don't know how many of you are familiar with the state record from Alabama but thought some of you would find this interesting. The biologist is quoted in Larry Larsen's book as saying this northern strain bass full of eggs would have broke 20. If Mike Long's post is right I think only 12 bass over 20 have ever been caught. I know, I don't believe it either. So far it's the only state record I can find a verified account of that kicked a Florida strain bass out of the top spot. http://www.aonmag.com/article.php?id=3433 Man I can't wait for the ice to melt... Isaac any updates man? Hope you get her dude. I'm pulling for ya out here in Iowa brother...

Isaac this is awesome man. Reminds me of when I was chasing a 200 inch whitetail for three seasons. I didn't get him but very very few people are lucky enough to be able to chase a world class specimen in the wild. I might not be Butch Brown, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express last night... I have read Lunker Lore, Bill Murphy's book, one of Larry Larsen's books, and ordered tracking trophies by John Hope a few days ago but for some reason it hasn't shipped yet. John Hope's interviews in Lunker Lore which is available on amazon kindle should make you feel about 8000x more confident. I mean I think you're going to do it after reading that book. Mike Long was chasing Dottie around for like 4 days before he got her. She ain't going anywhere man. As long as you stay stealthy and don't run her off she won't go nowhere. The more you read these books and first hand accounts of catching these all time greats a bunch of common themes emerge regardless of which book it is. The important ones are game planning for this fish specifically. Name her, she has her own personality, you already had quite the run in with her already and hopefully between the info you learned from that and what you can learn from those books you should be in good shape. She probably didn't get that big by being stupid ya known? I have read a fair amount of John Hope interviews and in all the big fish he tracked over that long time frame only two were ever caught outside the spawn by someone other than him. One was a young local fishing guide who followed Hope's boat around to figure out where she was hiding, so he cheated, and the other was caught randomly by some guy trolling for striped bass. You will have to decide for yourself if you think she is a night feeder, or day feeder based off what you observe. If there is heavy pressure on the lake she probably is a night feeder, but each fish is different. When whitetail bucks get to be 4 years old they have a similar behavioral change if they are pressured even lightly and go full nocturnal to avoid hunters. The ones that don't go primarily nocturnal aren't around no more because they got shot. A big girl like her has probably become pretty good at ducking your average Joe Fisherman on the water. Hope can explain it better than me, but in general if she is a night feeder for 10 months out of the year, she will only go out looking to eat if she didn't get enough the night before. That is just best guess based on a whole lot of statistics he has and despite sampling a large number of magnum size bass over a very long period of time he can't even tell you because he isn't buddies with your bass. The reason so many are caught during the spawn is it is the one time a year they are feeding during the day in addition to being up shallow. Here is a link to Mike Long's account about the events leading up to him catching Dottie. I now want to read the account of her being caught on the Mission Fish. Full disclaimer I am a total noob and this will be my first spring targeting big girls ever. I am just paraphrasing what those books said. If I was you I'd put a post up and offer to pay whatever it costs to get a copy of Trackin Trophies asap. And while you wait to get that read Lunker Lore, it's a start. Honestly just going off books I've read I think you're more likely to get her than not. I'm pulling for ya brother. http://www.mikelongoutdoors.com/what-is-it-like-to-catch-a-20lb-bass/

Honestly Joe is the man. I can't say enough good things about him. Quality couldn't be better. Like literally. It really impressed me that he builds each one individually to your specs after you order. That kind of craftsmanship at that price is a wayyy wayyy under market value. Dude is a real straight shooter and really fun to talk with. If there is someone who stands behind their baits more than him I have yet to discover who they are.

@MaineBassin what I was referring to was getting a 5 inch real prey perch bait but in the light shiner pattern that Joe does. In general a 5 inch perch is nothing for a bass to eat and actually preferable due to it's fusiform (torpedo) shape vs whatever shape a bluegill is that is hard to swallow. That 5 inch perch is small enough that dinks can eat it too and give you confidence in getting bit. It's easier for you to get hooked up on the 5 inch perch than it is even his gill. The great thing about that 5 inch perch is that it fits the shape of things like perch obviously but also shad, a 5 inch shiner, and especially gizzard shad. I don't know exactly what forage species you have in Maine but I would be willing to bet that you have some kind of baitfish in that shape. Joe will paint it whatever you want. To put it in perspective I can fish that perch in any body of water here in Iowa and get bit even if there isn't a bass over 1.25. It has got me fish on up to 4 (my second best ever and a very large fish for my area). I had a savage glide in baby bass and it was about enough to turn me off hard baits in general. Frankly savage almost ruined swimbait fishing for me, thank god for livetarget to keep me going before I tried my first over twenty dollar bait haha. As someone who recently made the mistake of buying to much savage stuff as a novice I highly encourage you to go with an alternate. Instead of a shine glide get an s-waver. Instead of their line through whatever the heck get a smash-tech line thru shiner. It's a VERY real looking shiner bait. It is also available in a weedless that you can rig on a beast hook. The little creeper trash fish in a golden shiner I'd also highly recommend, although you may want to be a little more advanced as that was frustrating for me trying to get a hook into fish. Honestly you can't go wrong with a 6 inch hudd in baby bass, that's about as universal as it gets and yielded me my #1 and #3 fish at 5.48 and 3.94 this summer. If I could only pick one swimbait for you to get your confidence up and want to keep swimbaiting, which is important, I'd say get yourself at least one of the real prey perch in whatever color you choose. I 100% stand behind Joe and his products and I'm sure with the right marketing campaign they'd be VERY popular, but it's cool that you can still get them and not everybody around will be throwing them. Unless you're in New England obviously. Good luck to you brother and be sure to keep us posted. I'm chasing probably similar size fish to you here in Iowa and can tell you that if a company markets alot and seems like they have a ton of hype it's usually just that. Hype. I sincerely hope that if you did get a savage product it treats you well. Best of luck!

I was in the same boat less than a year ago and made the mistake of buying into savage gears marketing hype which is where all their money goes into vs actually developing something worth a darn that won't break or fail. Live target is also a similar company but their baits actually catch fish and don't fall apart. I recently gathered up all the savage gear junk I bought and sold it on a facebook page for the cost of shipping to get rid of it so I wouldn't have to look at it anymore. Even then it wasn't exactly a hot ticket item. Because most wise people know savage gear stuff sucks. On the other end of that spectrum I have a real prey bass that I wouldn't trade for hardly anything. All the real prey baits are awesome. I've fished the bluegill on up to the 9 inch baby bass and the quality and consistency is unmatched. Not to mention Joe makes each one individually for you! The value is just unreal... I highly recommend the real prey shiner. I would also encourage you to get a real prey perch in the shiner color to help build confidence in the real prey line as the shiner won't get bit every time you go obviously. Golden shiner hudd is also an option but for the love of everything decent don't get robbed by savage gear like I did. I know some people catch fish on them but they really are all hype and no bite.

Hands down the real prey and it ain't even close with the savage gear. Smash-Tech also makes a great looking shiner but I have no experience with it.