Okay, one quick story.....my buddy and I were fishing a quarry right outside of Bowling Green when we saw a big bass.....we worked that fish for almost 30 minutes.....finally, it grabbed my buddy's live bluegill and headed straight for deap water (this quarry was 50 feet deap).....after about 3-4 minutes, my buddy got it up to the surface when a HUUUUGE bass that was DOUBLE the size of this one came up out of the dark deap water right behind it......why it followed this fish up was a mystery to both of us.....anyways, we landed the fish and weighed it on a berkley digital scale and it was 5 lbs 6 oz......that eans that the other fish was EASILY 10 lbs!!!!!
EXACT same thing happenned to me at a quarry in Barberton. I know its not a public lake, but quarry gets my vote for next record.
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My experience is that large quarries hold the biggest Ohio largemouth. I have either caught, seen caught, heard caught, or seen swimming the biggest bass in quarries. Larger quarries are usually deep, clear, provide minimal spawning areas for bass, have limited structure, and are loaded with pan fish. The "minimal spawning" is a good thing because the #s aren't as high, but the size is exceptional. The clear water and limited structure make them spookier so they are harder to catch allowing them to grow BIG. I saw a mount along with pics of bass that went 8, 8.5, and 9 lbs all out of the same quarry. Personally, I've caught numerous 5-7 lbers (more 5s than 7s) out of 3 different quarries while seeing fish that were definately bigger.
Okay, one quick story.....my buddy and I were fishing a quarry right outside of Bowling Green when we saw a big bass.....we worked that fish for almost 30 minutes.....finally, it grabbed my buddy's live bluegill and headed straight for deap water (this quarry was 50 feet deap).....after about 3-4 minutes, my buddy got it up to the surface when a HUUUUGE bass that was DOUBLE the size of this one came up out of the dark deap water right behind it......why it followed this fish up was a mystery to both of us.....anyways, we landed the fish and weighed it on a berkley digital scale and it was 5 lbs 6 oz......that eans that the other fish was EASILY 10 lbs!!!!!
Quarry in North Baltimore? I know there is a 10+ pounder in there, it's possible that it's 20lbs. Seen it myself.
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"Only an extraordinary person would purposely risk being outsmarted by a creature often less than twelve inches long, over and over again."
R.I.P Grandpa Carles <3 Thanks for teaching me how to fish!
wow these are a bunch of lakes I haven't fished before! Only lakes mentioned that I have fished are aep lands (obviously not all the ponds) and erie. What is Rose lake like? I also never knew about the norwalk resevoirs. Shreve lake is new to me too.
Rose lake is small lake behind the campground at old mans cave in hocking hills in south east ohio. Its no bigger than your average quarry. Its about the same size, but not to be confused with, ROSS lake which I beleive is mentioned in fishingredhawks blog as another good big bass lake.
yeah just a small public lake. Its a good little hike down a hill from the campground or its a good hike from a nearby road on the other side. Not a big lake at all but Very beautiful and alot of fun to fish when they stock the trout. It gets fishing pressure like any lake but not alot of guys who are targeting trophy bass and know what they are doing from what ive seen.
see, all of the quarries I fish are just way too overfished. Coe Lake and Wallace Lake in Berea are both quarries but I never catch/see huge fish in them.
How many of you are aware of Sites Lake? May not have the record bass but it sure has some big ones and it's possible by the available forage, that it could hold the record??
It doesn't get fished at all and most people aren't even aware it exists or at least that it's public.
see, all of the quarries I fish are just way too overfished. Coe Lake and Wallace Lake in Berea are both quarries but I never catch/see huge fish in them.
I don't really consider Coe and Wallace quarries anymore - they have really filled in with silt over the years. The productive quarries are those that are private or somewhat public and don't allow boat fishing. I used to fish some east of Cincinnati (public access with a permit) and caught some big bass. The only true (scaled) 10lb+ bass I have witnessed in Ohio came from that pond -not caught by me - was there to weigh someone else's bass before release.
I believe that a state record could come from a lake that is consistently stocked with trout by someone who puts the time in to fish for them with the right types of baits - big trout-looking softbaits. We fish for big smallies/largemouths in a U.P. lake that is heavily stocked with rainbows. Throwing muskie-sized baits that look like a stocked trout (10") produce the biggest bass and pike.
definetly aep ponds, theres a 10-11 pounder verified caught every year. myself ive saw numbers of 7-9lbers caught and released there. if the record doesnt come from a private farm pond it will be aep grounds...
If state LMB is ever broken my guess will be AEP, or electric only lake and maybe 10hp max lake. all the other lakes just get hammered!!
I'm gonna disagree with a 10hp lake. Piedmont, leesville and clendening get hammered all year.... piedmont produces good numbers, but the size is lacking... (these are the only 3 10hp lakes I fish with any regularity, so others may not fall into this category) guilford is a sleeper with big fish though, but i'm not sure if they'll ever be record worthy.
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2012 fishing totals:
Largemouth: 145
Smallmouth: 1
Bluegill: 21
Crappie:3
White Bass:1
Rock Bass: 46
Channel cats:2
Best Giant Bass Lake in Ohio?
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