Lunker largemouth setup

[seadogg]

So I've been toying with the idea of tossing big lures for hog largemouths this spring and I'm hung up on choosing the right rod. I'm eyeballing the 7' Star "Stellar Lite" 12-20lb casting rod, which handles up to a 2-ounce lure. I own a few Star rods, including the 7'6" Stellar Lite spinning in 12-20 lb class and 3 of the "Seagis" rods of varying line classes. I have to say, for production rods they're very well made. Ideally I'd prefer a 7'6", but they don't make a casting rod of that size. Anybody have experience with this type of fishing? Suggestions are welcome.

[chefchris401]

Last two season I used a 7ft tsunami surf rod, rated to 2oz, I used it for throwing frogs and topwater swimbaits.

You need a stout rod to be able to set the hook thru the mats.

I'm sure the star rod will do what you need it too.

This year I'm getting more into sweet water swimbaits. They start at 3.5oz up to 20oz I've seen, it's a whole specialized range of fishing.

I use 50-65lb braid when I'm fishing the mats, you need to the braid to "saw" thru the mats once the fish hits.

A stout well built reel is key too .

I blew up a daiwa spinning reel, fish took the frog and when I set the hook it stripped the gears inside and bent the shaft.

Check out some videos from big bass dreams and you'll see the appeal of fishing heavy baits.

Good luck
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[baldwin]

Not sure if I'm posting these right, but they're pics of my son with a decent Connecticut bass caught on a 2 1/2 oz Tattoo swimmer.

[baldwin]

I love how the colors on the bass and the plug match on the second pic.

[Ian]

That is a HOG! What pond was that in? What month was it? How quickly did you retrieve the plug?

[baldwin]

He tossed it in and took about 3 cranks on the reel and BANG! He's also caught them on a 7" pink Mambo Minnow. It's in a private pond that is stocked with trout. Lots of guys tried to catch some big bass there with standard largemouth tackle, but they feed on the trout. The pic of him holding the fish was on Tattoo's Tackle homepage.

[Ian]

Originally Posted by baldwin

He tossed it in and took about 3 cranks on the reel and BANG! He's also caught them on a 7" pink Mambo Minnow. It's in a private pond that is stocked with trout. Lots of guys tried to catch some big bass there with standard largemouth tackle, but they feed on the trout. The pic of him holding the fish was on Tattoo's Tackle homepage.

Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[seadogg]

Nice!! That's just what I'm after. It's funny, I was thinking about tossing swimmers for 'em. Those pics are reinforcing the idea. Ugh I can't wait for the ice to melt!
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[FishermanTim]

Although I do love to ice fish, there's something to be said about cruising along in the yak, sliding up to what you think may be a good lunker spot, throw your favorite lure, and prove that you were right!

I fished a local pond and managed to catch the largest largemouth I had ever seen in the northeast. I mean, imagine one of those monster bass you see being caught down south, leap out of the water and scare the bajeezis out of you until you realize that it's YOUR fish, on YOUR line, and you have witnesses to see that it is indeed a monster bass?

I didn't have a scale and I wasn't going to kill it just to prove I caught it, soI had a couple that were fishing from shore take a picture on my cell.
It was probably no less than 10 lbs. (fat but) and went around 23-25" in length.

It was released to breed and fight another day!

That was in late May last year.

The same day prior to this fish I was in a deeper pocket of water and had a HUGE snapping turtle rise up from the bottom right next to my yak, look at me (as I said "Buddy, are YOU barking up the wrong tree!") and turn and swim back down to the bottom. Since the water was crystal clear, the turtle was showing its full color. Man, I wish I had had time to dig out the cell for a pic of that beast!

That's just one day on one pond from one year. I can only imagine how many stories I could tell from all my trips out on the yak.

Let's see, there's the time I was fishing in XXXX pond where the fish would jump out of the water as I paddles by, almost hitting me in the head, and where a spooked carp rammed the yak as it took off, but that's a story for another day.....