I LOVE FISHING FOR LARGEMOUTH BASS

  My passion for fishing is no secret! I grew up from age 3, knowing that there wasn't anything that I wanted to do, that I enjoyed as much as fishing!
  Dad was my guiding force and I will forever be greatful to him for sharing this love with me!
  Even though Dad taught me how to catch Bluegill through Northern Pike, my interest soon solidified on Largemouth Bass fishing!
  I studied all the fishing techniques of the 60's and would practice these methods and learned how to modify them to fit my style!
  It diffently helped to have grown up on a 12 acre lake and to have the opportunity to fish every day, weather permitting! This lake was, at one time, the best Bass fishing waters in our area and regularly gave up #3-#5 Bass plus an occasional #6+ fish! this lake really spoiled me and a couple of friends. It was an extreme rarity that we couldn't catch fish on this lake! It was very disappointing to travel to other waters and fish our hearts out but end up getting skunked!
  As I got older, our family started traveling to Canada and upstate New York in search of both Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass as well as Walleye and Pike. We enjoyed some very good trips and a few that weren't so good! Our best year was in June 1971, at Black Lake New York. We had some fabulous fishing! Everyone caught Bass, Walleye and Pike. We limited out each day!
  A technique that worked so well that summer was to wind drift over weed beds and drop black hair jigs through the openings in the weeds. We only used a length of line around the length of our rods. We would drop the jigs and follow them down, bounce them a couple of time, then lift and start over. One old timer, we talked with, called this "DAPPING". This worked on bright sunshiny days where a slight breeze could move your boat across the weed beds. The fish were just piled in under those weeds and we caught Bass, Walleye, large Crappie, Perch and Pike and an occasional Needlenose Gar. This technique will work anywhere!
  Back in Ohio, I fished and caught Bass at a number of locations. Westville Lake in Northwestern Columbiana County is a favorite of mine. This lake is fished heavily on weekends but is very empty during the weekdays. This is an excellent Bass lake and is used by several area Bass Clubs for weekly and weekend tourneys.
  There are a couple of State waters in my area but they are fished hard. It has been several years since I've fished either one but I have heard they have become fairly good Bass Lakes! The State of Ohio doesn't do anything to promote Bass fishing. They seem to be more interested in annual stockings of Saugers, Catfish and Trout!
  I caught my first Bass over #6 in May of 1971 and since then I have been fortunate to have caught Bass up to #8. It is always a thrill to bring a beauty like that to the boat, lip it, unhook it, admire it then release it! The one thing I regret about my earlier fishing days is, I didn't release enough of the big Bass that I caught. These large fish are the brood fish of tomorrow, so with that said, enjoy every fish you catch and release the big ones!