Bass Lures

Ever wonder what a 8 pound smallmouth bass looks like, well I have footage, just check out the size of this monster. I can’t imagine trying to reel this big bass in, it’s just huge. The mouth is almost as big as a regular largemouth bass it’s so big. It’s hard to tell what lure the fisherman was using, but it looks like some type of soft plastic bait. Could be either a berkley powerbait worm or mister twister. I know one thing, he needs to get a bigger net. He said it’s the largest smallmouth bass he has ever caught, measuring in at 23 1/4 inches in length and 17 1/8 inches in girth. The official weigh in came in at 8 lbs, 5 oz. Now that’s monster, nice thumbs up! I would be doing more than just thumbs up, I would be jumping in the water, such a nice catch. Watch the video here, courtesy of youtube.

In this Reel Fishing episode with Andy Wilson, he takes us on a fishing expedition of fishing topwater with a XPS top water popper. He catches some pretty good size bass with the popper on this small pond, whereabouts unknown.

I like to use the Heddon Zara Spook on the inland lakes near me, it jerks really easily and makes a nice wake. Perfect enough to lure some big bass up near the top to hit it. You’ll know when you got a big one on, they make a huge splash. I once caught a nice pike on the Zara Spook also, it’s an awesome lure, got to try it out.

Throughout these three youtube videos you’ll learn more about Kevin VanDam and Bass fishing. He goes back to his roots and fishes Lake Charlevoix in a Bassmasters tournament back in 1992. Even though these videos are old, he gives some great tips on catching smallmouth bass. Smallmouth bass are by far my favorite fish to catch because of how much they fight. VanDam uses just a regular mister twister grub in four feet of water. Just watch his technique and how he reels in these monster bass. I never visited Lake Charlevoix before, but I would loved to, looks like the lake is loaded with smallmouth bass. It’s so much fun to wash him fish!

Checkout this small biography on the Bass Fishing God himself, Kevin Vandam. He’s actually was born and raised from my hometown state, Michigan. Guy is really amazing, you can learn a lot about Bass fishing from Kevin Vandam.

The Snowden family who run a restaurant in Ocala Flordia, thanked their local customers by throwing a fishing derby for the kids at the 2 acre pond adjacent to the restaurant. The local kids had such a fun time that the Snowdens want to turn this into a yearly tradition. Along with free fishing gear for the kids, there was a large slide and plenty of good food given away. “The kids got to keep the rods and reels, and choose their color,” Michele Snowden said. “Some of the kids thought they had to return them and were overjoyed when we said they could keep them.” It’s so great to hear young kids getting involved in hobbies such as fishing, it’s very provocative.

Well I finally did it, I had a successful night of trolling on Kent Lake. Some fisherman are probably not impressed, but I had a fun. I ended up reeling in 3 small bass when I was trolling. I only trolled for about an hour and the other hour I spent casting. During that hour of casting I caught about 4 bass I think, I don’t really keep track. So all together I got like 7 small bass, all under the limit, weird? I know there are some big bass in Kent Lake, I caught two of them previous fishing trips. So how come I caught all small bass. Well I was only out there for like two hours so I didn’t really have a chance, plus it was late in the day. It really doesn’t seem like there a whole lot of Pike in the lake either which is strange.

I’m gonna have to try some new spots out on the Lake. I did try fishing the Huron river for a bit, caught two bass over there. My brother said he caught a few Walleye in there last year, I didn’t have any luck. Then there’s the Wild Wing Lake, that looks like a good lake to try out. I haven’t fished the northern area of the lake either.

I might have to try out some big fat crankbaits, I know that you can catch some really big fish on larger lures. My Dad proved it last month when he caught that huge Pike on his Norman lure.

The two hot lures I used today were the beetle spin (of course) and a 3″ Berkley Gulp Alive minnow. I was jigging the Gulp Minnow right on the bottom, I had quite a few hits that I missed setting the hook.

I was a picture whore today. I only took one picture out of all the bass I took, I felt the others just weren’t worthy of a photo. I took some pictures of day and night out on Kent, it really is a beautiful lake.

All in all, I’m just glad I caught a few bass trolling. I changed the way I trolled, I slowed down my pace and used a jig trolling. I tied a hook on in the middle, then at the bottom I had a sinker. This way, I don’t pick up any muck or weeds when trolling. That’s how I rigged the Gulp Alive, seemed to work well. Plus I caught one bass trolling on the beetle spin. I tell you, trolling is a lot easier that casting all day. Easier on your back too, just sit back, relax and watch your rod tips. Give it a try when you get a chance.

Here’s some pictures of when I was on the Huron River. The shots came out alright, it was right before dark. Huron river is small, but it is a really beautiful waterway. Definitely worth fishing! I saw one huge bass jump out of the water in mid air.

In this video you’ll see how this fisherman uses the banjo minnow lure on Pike. He just gives a nice little twitch and the Pike hit at it with full force. I noticed he’s using the larger banjo minnow plastic bait, which is perfect for huge Pike. Now after seeing these big Pike hit at the lure, you know you’ll be able to get some really big bass with it too. I remember using the banjo minnow at my Grandpa’s pond up north, it worked really well on the bass up there.

I took some pictures of Kent lake from my last fishing trip. They came out ok, I still need work on my picture taking skills. My favorite picture out of this bunch is the first one, it’s a beautiful picture of the sunset hitting the lake. The glare came off pretty nice.



This is a picture of some neighbor fisherman that were fishing in that bass tournament out on kent lake. Couldn’t tell if they were catching anything.

Picture of the I-96 overpass bridge right over Kent Lake.

I have been fishing a lot of different inland lakes in Michigan. So far Lakeville Lake, Stony Creek, Kent Lake, and Twin Lakes. All of the lures I tried trolling on these lakes didn’t work at all, I didn’t catch one dam thing, not even a bite. It kind of confuses me, I did try trolling at different speeds also, nothing.

I remember when we had our old 20′ Starcraft on Lake St. Clair, we use to troll all the time and catch stuff. I think the fish on inland lakes just act totally different than on large lakes such as Lake St. Clair. It seems like I could cover more ground trolling, but that may not be the case. If anyone has any tips on trolling, let me know in the comments section. I think I might try worm harnesses when I get a chance.

Well I made it out to Kent Lake the other day, it was a really good day for fishing. Not too windy and not too hot, just right. Plus the sun wasn’t out, it was hidden back behind the clouds, what the bass really like. Bass don’t like a whole lot of sun, that’s why they are always roaming around under cover.

I didn’t make it out to Kent Lake till’ 5pm. So it wasn’t a really good time for fishing, but I made the best of it. I noticed when I got out on the water there sure was a lot of bass boats out there. Come to find out, Kent Lake was having a Bass Tournament. It was really cool to see all the bass fisherman out there. I didn’t get to see the weigh in, but I did see a few fisherman carrying bass to the the weigh in at the end of the day. Looks like they caught some good size lunkers, but it was really hard to see the size of them because of the clear bags tend to distort the size of bass.

I did ok, I caught 5 bass. Two of them were of good size, about 13″, but nothing really big. I wish I could of caught some bigger bass and some smallmouth bass. I ended up catching the 5 bass on one of my favorite lures, the beetle spin. I tried fishing the deeper waters and near the drop off, didn’t get anything. I tried trolling and that didn’t work out either. In fact I haven’t caught anything on trolling this year, kind of disappointed.

Seems as though most the bass I caught were hanging around the weed beds and shallow waters. I did try jigging around the deeper waters, thought I got a bite, pulled back, but nothing. I guess there’s always the next fishing trip. My Dad was suppose to come out on this fishing trip, but he didn’t want to come. He said he’ll be out on the next one.

Picture of the bass on the Pelican bass raider boat. Really was the best money I ever spent!