I live in mission viejo and every year I tell myself that I will focus on my Large mouth bass game, but I never do. I guess the call of the ocean has always been to great. But after hearing about Mike Long's big catch there I figure its time to give it a shot. But my problem is that I am not sure where to begin.

So my first question is what rod and reel to use. Ideally I'd like to use my saltwater gear for this if I can. Here is what I have for my saltwater bass gear.

7' Seeker react with a calcutta 200 (8# set up)
8' Terramar (10 - 20# Rating)with a cardiff 300 (12#)
8' Calico Special (12-30# Rating) with an Avet SX (20#)

Will any of these set up work?

Also, The only lure I have bought is the 3:16 mission fish. So what I like to do is utilize one of my existing setup and just take the one lure to the lake a few times a week until I starting getting the patterns down. Is this a good lure to start off with? And when is the best time to use this lure?

The last question is this. I'll be taking my 10 year old out with me most of the time. Is there a recommended go to lure for him to use that is relatively easy to fish?

Any tip or advice are appreciated.

Kevin

are you fishing LMV? If so that lure will work but I would use it at night if at all possible. The bigger fish move into the shallower areas to feed on blue gill. Drag the mission fish through the grass and pretend you're fishing a worm or a jig. I would use the 10-20 pound Teramar with the Cardiff and some 15-20 pound test flourocarbon. Good luck!

Yak, the bass bite has been good at LMV- I don't think you'd have any problems throwing plastics on the Seeker/Calcutta setup. If you want to turn your 10 yr. old onto some fun fishing, you can't go wrong setting him or her up with a night crawler- the bass will chew them like crazy and there are tons of really nice sized redear sunfish on nests, when you find them you can see dozens of nests in a pretty small area, they just stack up and are a lot of fun to catch. Hit it up and good luck!

The 3-5" swimbaits you probably throw for the calicos work pretty well too-

I guess Im confused with your question. Are you interested in just catching bass, or do you want to target primarilly large bass?

If you want to start learning how to throw swimbaits, I do not reccommend that you start with a mission fish. It can be very difficult to hook fish with that bait. But, if your chosen locations are completely weed choked, and youre hell bent on throwing big baits, then the mission fish might be your only option.

Personally, if you want to start down the road to swimbaiting success, I suggest you start with the slammer. Throw it out, wake it back slowly on the surface, and wait for a fish to slam it. Its that simple. And your son could use it as well, as long as he can cast it. Pick your choice of sizes. Plus, that bait really shines at night. Mix it up with the mission fish just for variety. Once you feel comfortable with those baits, then you can start exploring with other baits, and start fine tuning bait selection to conditions.

Same thing with your gear. Your gear, Im sure, will work for throwing the big baits. But once you start getting in to it you likely will want gear a little more geared towards swimbaiting for largemouth.

Good luck, and be patient with yourself when learning to swimbait.

Thanks for all the tips guys. I guess I didn't put enough detail in my post.

The Fish I primarily want to target at Lake mission viejo are bass over 10 pounds. And I plan to target these fish from my kayak. I have caught tons of smaller bass (under 10 lbs) over the years throwing finesse baits with light lines. So it sounds like the mission fish and a slammer would be good lures to bring with me to target these fish at the lake.

Also, my son is pretty good at catching bass and red ear sunfish with live night crawlers. I was hoping to switch him over to artificial baits and I wanted to know what would be the lure to do that with. I've always used finesse baits at the lake but I don't think that would be a very fun way for him to fish. My son would also be in a kayak while fishing.

Thanks again.

Kevin

Get your son some of these http://littleactionmac.com/about.html pre-rigged, weedless worms. You will need a high-quality, ball-bearing swivel to attach between the worms' 'harness' and the main line as that worm rotates on the retrieve. You can't hardly fish it 'wrong'. Just throw it(almost anywhere), let it fall to the depth you think the Bass are holding at, and then just reel it slowly in. It will catch many different species including L/M Bass.

Dan

"Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less"

Deo Vindice

Easiest way is set your kid up with a drop shot 4 or 6" worm. Something thats greean right now, like aarons magic or green weenie. That will catch him all the 1-3 pound bass you want.

For the mission fish I would try deeper points and docks in the early/ late hours. To help with hooking the fish I recommend you bend the hook to one side of the bait. Fish it slow like a jig through the grass. It's the best advice I can offer you. If you see me out there come up and say hi and I'll give up some dirt. I'm a big guy in a little boat with a Lowrance and a foot control motor. You won't miss me if I'm there }(