Is anyone there?
I have a quick question. Is anyone there? Is anyone reading these posts and if so have any of my tips or stories helped or amused you? Is so please add a comment or email me and let me know. I really enjoy talking about fishing and its nice to know that people are at least reading it.
With that said, lets get back to fishing. The title also is a question we all ask ourselves when we are fishing, or at least I know I have from time to time.
At times while fishing we will make one or two casts to what we think is a prime spot only to get discouraged and figure nobody’s there and we move on. I say, if you believed that the spot was a prime spot in the first place based on the conditions and your knowledge of basic bass 101, you may have been right and missed out on some great fishing if you would have slowed down or fished the spot more thoroughly or even just changed your offering.
I think back to the days before I got my first bass boat and was forced to either fish from the shore or a float tube. Think about it for a minute. Shore fishing, you pull up to the lake, unpack your gear, haul it down to the water and proceed to fish, you walk slowly along the bank fishing as you go, making quite a few casts to the same spot. Maybe change out your lures, but you take the time to pick apart the water. You make a long cast, dragging your worm along and feel some kind of under water structure, “That’s a rock pile, I know there has to be a bass on that rock pile” so you force yourself to slow down because its not like being in a high powered bass boat where all you have to do is strap the rods down and off you go. You have to haul everything back up to the truck, load it up and drive around to find another spot.
How many times have you been fishing and the fish just don’t want to cooperate with you and someone will come along, ask you how your doing, to which you answer “Not real good”. They walk down the bank 10 yards to a spot that you just fished and then they proceed to whack them? Someone was there.
The same thing applies to float tubing. You paddle along, maybe flip a jig into the same tree 4 times from the same spot and then you start moving to the next stick up but look back and try one more time in that same bush from a slightly different angle and WHAM! Or you toss that 6 inch worm into a tree a couple times, then switch to an 8 inch worm and get bit. Pay attention to these things. The slightly different presentation or size is what triggered the fish to bite. Either that or Mr. Bass got in a bad mood seeing that jig in the same spot and when it came back in a different spot he just reacted. Either way, if you put the pieces of the “puzzle” together it can help you figure out a pattern, or how the fish are reacting at that present time. Look for similar structure and conditions because chances are you will catch more bass doing the same thing. I remember quite a few times catching bass just because I was stubborn and had to make one more cast.
The next time your fishing, either from shore, in a float tube or even in a boat and the bass just don’t want to seem to play, try slowing down, changing your offering to something slightly bigger or smaller or cast at that piece of structure from a slightly different angle, who knows, someone might be there.
Until next time, Good Luck And Tight Lines To Ya!
Fishing with Ryan Newman
On Saturday April 23, 2003 I had the honor of taking the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Raybesto’s Rookie of the Year, driver of the Number 12 All-Tel, Ford at the time, Ryan “Rocket Man” Newman out for a day of bass fishing on Lake Perris the day before his race at the California Speedway.
I also took his crew chief at the time Matt Borland out in my boat, Chrissy, his fiancé at the time and now his wife was supposed to attend but she couldn’t make it. Fellow members of the Fishing Kids.com Pro Team took the rest of his pit crew along with his dad out on the same day. Yes, that’s Ryan with me in some of the pictures in my above.
The way I met Ryan was while I watched NASCAR races they always said how much Ryan liked to go bass fishing and how he tried to get out at times during the race season. I then contacted his official fan club and after several months of sending e-mail’s to countless different people I finally managed to get in touch with his public relations person and started to setup the date.
I was asked not to go public with the information about the planned fishing trip so we could keep the crowd down and Ryan could enjoy fishing without being hounded by crowds. I then contacted my fellow Pro Team members and told them they needed to be available for the weekend of April 23/24 to take a celebrity out fishing. I didn’t tell them who it was or which lake we would be going to, just that it would be at a Southern California lake, on Saturday or Sunday so just be available and ready to go and that I would let them know all of the details on Thursday April 21.
So the stage was set, people in place and all systems go. Ryan had my cell phone number so Ryan could call me when they were on their way because they couldn’t show up until after they had Saturdays practice.
So we all show up bright and early to the lake to do some pre fishing to make sure we were on fish before Ryan and company showed up. We all were able to locate active fish so we were ready to go. We setup in the corner of one of the parking lots, shared information with each other and cleaned up our boats.
I got the call and Ryan and company showed up at the lake in the afternoon. Anyone that has been to Lake Perris on a Saturday during the spring knows what he lake was like, pleasure boaters everywhere, but hey, no problem.
We all launch our boats and off we go. The first spot I stop at is by the old road across the lake from the launch and we proceed to work the stretch from there towards rock climber’s cove. I explained to both Ryan and Matt that these California bass are very heavily pressured and offer to set them up with a finesse drop shot rig to which they said no. Ryan was throwing this funny looking, strange rigged, east coast looking, hard plastic purple worm, which I proceeded to tease him about.
Anyhow, after I catch 4 bass to their none, Matt comes up to me and asks me what I’m using again, so I rig him up and he proceeds to catch a bass. Again I tell Ryan to put down that stupid looking worm and use a west coast bait but he said he would stick with his funny looking worm. So, here Matt and I are catching bass and Ryan is not…………yet.
Yep, you guessed it, he ended up catching the largest bass of the day on that stupid looking worm and of course then it was his turn to be the ornery one. We continued to fish, catching them on Senko’s, drop shots and I even managed to get one on a jig. We had a great time, teased each other back and forth like we knew each other for years.
I’ve heard people say that Ryan is somewhat stuck up and a jerk when they have met him at the track but I personally know that he is far from stuck up or being a jerk. He is a down to earth great guy with a great sense of humor, he has to have one in order to put up with me in my boat for the day.
After we were done we stood around and took some pictures, got some autographs and talked about the day and how much fun we had. After packing things up Ryan asked me where the nearest In and Out Burger was so off we went to have Double Doubles with Grilled Onions.
About 2 weeks after we went fishing I get a package in the mail. Ryan sent me a bunch of autographed photos to hand out to my fellow Pro Team members, an autographed T-Shirt and can you guess what else was in the package? I’ll give ya a hint, remember what I mentioned I teased him the most about? Yep, 2 of them stupid looking purple worms.
We still to this day call each other and talk from time to time but since he became a NASCAR Super Star, with all of his sponsorship obligations he does not have much free time to break away and do much fishing during the race season but wishes he did.
That’s my story, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed remembering it.
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
Swim Baits
There are a variety of swim baits currently on the market, ranging from small shad imitations to trout baits. The trout baits generally imitate stocked trout, which at least in California are a big bass staple. These trout looking lures range in size from 5 to 18 inches and resemble a rainbow trout.
Believe it or not but out here in the land of Giant bass you can ALWAYS be sure that many of the largest bas in the lake will make their home somewhere close to the boat ramp. No, not to ambush sleepy bass fishermen launching their boats but they do stay in the area to ambush something.Speaking from my own personal observations I know for a fact that bass get “In Tune” to the sound of the trout stock truck. Hold on, I know what your thinking “Mike, you’ve spent way to much time in the sun and you’ve gone crazy” Hear me out.Over the years, back before I got my first bass boat, I can remember sitting on the dock fishing, have the stock truck pull up and as it sat preparing to dump its load the big bass start to appear out of nowhere, this is well before the first trout hits the water. Then as the trout were being dumped the carnage begins, DINNER IS SERVED!Here these poor trout are stunned from the ride, not knowing what is going on, dumped into the lake where they are considered Candy to the bass.I remember trying all kinds of different lures at these monster bass in an attempt to get them to bite to no avail. They were 100% focused on the trout.
During this same time frame I talked to several other fellow anglers who had witnessed the same phenomenon at other lakes so I knew it was not some kind of fluke.
I covered allot of the history of trout swim baits as well as rigging techniques in “My Personal Quest For Trophy Bass” post so I don’t think I need to do it again. One thing I didnt mention was if you see trout “porpising” on the surface, running scared cast your trout there. Chances are Mr. Trout is being chased by a big nass wanting to make a meal out of him.
Then we have a whole array of different swim baits. There are the Shad looking, Sunfish looking, Bass Looking models. Shallow diving, deep diving, suspending and sinking ones. We have the soft plastic, hard plastic ones, part hard part soft ones and wooden ones.
A person could easily spend their kids inheritance trying to buy everything out there but as a basic rule follow the K.I.S.S rule, (Keep It Simple Stupid). If you can afford one of each, do it. If not some soft shads, soft sunfish and soft bass in the 3-5 inch variety should be sufficient.
As a general rule of thumb these lures are not as big as the trout imitators so they don’t require the magnum tackle one would use with the trout lures. However depending on the size of the lures stout tackle will still be needed.
Some tips on how and when to use each swim bait are as follows. When? Anytime of the year, of course you need to factor in several variables when selecting which one.
During spring the sunfish would be a good choice. Bass will be protecting beds from sunfish so this would be a good search bait on flats around spawning grounds.
During summer the bass would be a good choice mainly because there will be allot of small bass swimming around from the spawn.
During late summer into fall the shad type lures will excel mainly because bass will be keying on them during this time of the year to fatten up for the winter when forage is not as readily available.
I’ve touched on the when, now I’ll touch on the how. What I do is keep a close eye on my electronics, looking for bait on structure, this is when good electronics come in handy. When I find the bait I’ll cast my lure out past the structure, let it sink to the desired depth and start my retrieve.
Remember to impart some erratic action, even if very subtle, to make your offering look like its injured, bass by instinct will always pick off the injured ones first, its in their genetic makeup.
Another tip is to watch for balls of shad suspending. These can also be seen on good electronics as a big gray ball. Watch the shore line for activity, “dimples” on the surface could be sunfish or shad feeding. This would be a good place to make a cast.
Try some of these tips on your next trip and you should have some success.
Until Next Time, Good Luck And Tight Lines To Ya!
Senko Tips
Not too long back Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits released their version of the do nothing worm and they called it a Senko. (They can be purchased by clicking the Bass Pro Shops Link to the Right)
The Spawn. Part 2
OK, in a previous post I covered some of the basics of the pre-spawn and spawning activities now let’s break it down a little.The male bass makes the bed, convinces the female why she should spawn with him, actually she will spawn with several others as well. Does that make her a floozy? Anyhow, she sticks around for a little while helping protect the fry from predators but after a couple days she takes off and leaves daddy to fend for himself. Read more
My Personal Quest For Trophy Bass
During my quest to learn how to catch big bass, and hopefully one day catching the world record largemouth bass I have read a lot of books and articles. I have also spent countless hours on the water, trying many different lures and techniques as well as studying topographic maps and attempting to locate the “Prime” spots with my depth finders that I found on the maps.
In my opinion one of the best topographical maps are still the ones available from the USGS, United States Geological Service. If you can get your hands on a Edison map, hmm, I guess that might be a California term so for those who don’t know, Read more
The Spawn. Part 1
This article will cover some aspects of the pre-spawn and spawning process. In Part 2 I’ll talk more about the spawn and post spawn as well as give tips on techniques I have had success with.
Spring is the time when bass start their journey to the shallow water for the yearly ritual of spawning. However out here in the gin clear waters of California, I personally have seen bass on beds as deep as 20 feet. But as a general rule most bass will move up to the shallow’s to spawn. It is at this time that bass become more vulnerable and easier to catch. During spawning time the bass basically come to the fisherman, instead of the fisherman having to go out and hunt for the sometimes elusive creature. Read more
Reaction Baits
Often called search baits. These lures are most best used when the bass are aggressively feeding or easily provoked. Some of the prime times to use reaction baits are in the late winter/early spring when the bass are aggressively feeding to fatten up for the upcoming spawn. Another prime time is fall because they see that the days are getting shorter and this triggers the instinct to fatten up for the upcoming winter when the food source is not as abundant. Yet another good time is early in the mornings or the evenings during the summer. Night fishing during the summer can be very productive as well.
Some of my favorites reaction baits are as follows, First off the crank baits, of which there are several different kinds, which we will go into a little later. Second would have to be spinner baits, also know as blades. Then we have the jerk baits also know as rip baits or twitch baits. Then my all time favorite, surface lures.
Crankbaits: As I mentioned there are several different types of crankbaits, all of which come in floating, slow sinking, fast sinking and suspending. There are many different ways of working this type of lure. One very effective way is to crank it down to the bottom and every time you hit something to stop and let it float back out. At times bass will crush them as they float back up.
Shallow Diving, these usually have a smaller lip on the front.
Deep diving, these have a bigger lip allowing them to dive deeper.
Flat Sided, these usually sink slowly and can be worked at various depths and speeds depending on the mood of the fish.
Spinnerbaits: Safety pin style, not the inline type that are usually associated with trout. These lures are pretty much weedless and can be worked very well through trees without hanging up. They can be worked in a variety of ways from waking the surface to slow rolling in deep water as well as fished like a jig. Another effective trick is to reel the spinnerbait very quickly up to a piece of structure and let it “die” by stopping to reel and letting the bait helicopter down and hang on because at times they will try to rip the pole out of your hands.
Recently there has been allot of attention drawn to the “Chatter Bait” which is basically a modified version of a spinnerbait but it is every bit as effective as its cousin the spinnerbait.
JerkBaits: Long skinny lures. You have your shallow divers with a small lip and deep divers with a bigger lip. These lures are generally worked in an eratic manner, jerk, jerk, pause. Increase the amount of jerks or let it pause longer, try faster or slower jerks, try all kinds of different retrives until you figure out just how the bass want it at the time. Then there are the soft plastic jerkbaits, Sluggo’s, Flukes, Shadows and such.
Surface: There is a whole plethora of surface lures. Basically any lure that floats on the surface and creates some kind of disturbance from walking the dog to chugging. Some examples of surface lures are, Sammy’s, Zara Spooks, Pop R’s, Frogs and buzz baits. Also some crankbaits can also be used as surface lures with good luck as well as a whole variety of soft plastics rigged weightless. Trust me, there is nothing like the adrenaline rush one gets when they witness a big ole bucket mouth exploding on their surface lure and it does not matter if it’s the first time or the millionth time, the rush is ALWAYS there..
As you can see, the list can be quite extensive. I’ll go into more details on each of these different types of reaction baits in future articles, giving some tips I’ve picked up over the years as well as sharing some secrets on modifying them that I personally feel improve your cast to strike ratio.
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines to Ya!
“Be The Bass” My Thoughts On Catch and Release
Let me take a moment of your time to explain the importance of catch and release, any resource can be severely damaged for years if we don’t practice catch and release with the large, genetically better bass. These “superior” bass are capable of producing more genetically better bass for years to come. If they are all removed, are your children ever going to be able to enjoy this sport we cherish so much?My question is, if you catch a Trophy bass, why kill it? This creature has withstood the test of time and nature. Do you realize that a 10 pound bass has survived some outlandishly high odds?When she was born, along with several thousand others, they had to avoid being eaten by nest robbing carp and sunfish as eggs and well as “Fry”. Then once her “Dad” got tired and hungry of guarding her she had to avoid being eaten by him. Many of her brothers and sisters didn’t make it.When she made it to the fingerling stage, she had to watch out for more predators, other bass, birds, and other species of fish. As well as disease’s and parasites. What a tough life huh? Finally she reaches “Adult” size, say 12 inches. According to scientific studies, out of the thousands of eggs laid only 10-20 will actually make it to this stage.Now she has to avoid being caught by fisher people or hope that is she does get caught, they practice catch and release. She also has to watch out for other bigger bass that attempt to eat her.One day while tournament fishing I came across this big bass, about 7 pounds, floundering around on the surface with something sticking out of its mouth. I scooped her up in my net and to my amazement this 7 pound bass was chocking on another bass, still alive mind you, that she attempted to eat that weighed at least 2 pounds and of course she couldn’t swallow it. I realized then that as far as bass are concerned, “If I can fit it in my mouth I can eat it”. I pulled the smaller bass out and even though I wanted to stick them both in the live well my ethics would not allow me to. BTW, that day good karma shined on me and I weighed in a 28.4 pound, 5 bass limit sack and won the tournament.
Anyhow, back to the subject. As time progressed and she grew, she learned that if something was pulling her in one direction, a line connected to a fishing pole, to run to their “Feel Safe” area’s, which is usually the nearest cover, trees, rocks, etc. run in circles and this would somehow enable her to swim freely once again, because she just broke your line. As you can see, she has gone through allot to become the trophy she is now today.
So, if you are lucky or skilled enough to catch one or more of these superior bass, take pictures, measurements and weigh her. There is nothing more satisfying and rewarding than seeing the beautiful creature swim back into the darkness after a great fight. Now days most taxidermists will use an already made fiberglass replica of a bass, which looks so good when their done that you could never tell that it is a glass reproduction, right down to the gills. If you take in the actual fish, most of the time they will end up throwing it away or eating it themselves.
One word of caution. Your mount will only be as good as the artist preparing it is. Be it a skin mount or a fiberglass reproduction, it still must be painted. Make sure you see some of the taxidermists work before you pay the money to have it done. See if they are good at matching real life colors, etc.
Until Next Time, Good luck and tight lines to ya!
My Big Bass
The day I caught my big bass …
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was back in the early 80’s, I don’t remember the exact day but I do remember it was in early spring. A friend and I decided to go over to Lake Isabella, basically my home lake, for a day of tubing, and what a memorable day it turned out to be.
Twas a bit nippy that morning as we loaded the truck so the little woman made me take along the waders. I promise her that I would use them, what a mistake that would turn out to be … keep reading to find out why.
Anyhow as we are driving to the lake, rounding a corner we both detect the very distinctive smell of a skunk within close proximity. All of the sudden there he was, directly in the path of the headlights … Thinking quickly I figured I would rather take the little fella out, may God rest his little soul, instead of a head on into oncoming traffic or over the mountain side. To this day I’m still not sure if that was a good idea or not. Everything that was in the bed of the truck had the skunk smell on it.
We arrived at the lake at 0 dark 30 and proceed to get ready to get out on the water. Oh yeah, my waders, float tube and fishing rods all had the wonderful smell of road kill skunk on them so that was real pleasant, ha! Because of the promise made, I pull on the ole waders, which by the way were the old fashioned thick vinyl, rubber coated, oversized 50 pound models.
Maybe I exaggerated the weight just a bit, but neoprene ones were not yet invented. Either that or they were still way too expensive. I then hook up the suspenders in order to keep them up so they didn’t fill with water.
Off we went, throwing a good old Texas rigged 6′ Mann’s Jelly worm. This was before the days of the hand poured plastics we all use now days. In black grape we proceed to kick some bass. I truthfully don’t remember just how many we caught that day but it was quite a few. Most of the bass were averaging about 1-2 pounds with a couple that were in the 5 pound range.
As the day progressed I figured what the heck and put on a 12 inch Jelly worm that I had originally bought as a joke. I believe it was a 12 incher, I remember they used to sell them in 2 packs.
Anyhow, on my first cast with this monster worm I feel the distinctive tap, tap of Mr. Bass inhaling the worm. I then reel down and proceed to drive the hook home. As soon as I set the hook I KNOW that the beast on the other end of the line was a lot bigger that the 5 I had caught earlier and the fight was on. I battled this giant for what seemed like hours, in truth it was probably more like 3 or 4 minutes before she came up to the surface and shook her head.
“Holy Sh*t!!” I yelled when I saw her. My buddy didn’t see her but knew by the way I was reacting that I did have a big un.
Then my worst nightmare came true, she had managed to get into a submerged tree. I looked at my buddy and said, “Hold my rod Cliff, I’m going in after her”.
As I said earlier, Cliff had not seen her jump so he didn’t know just how big she was so he thought I had gone completely nuts. “Just break her off” Cliff told me, to which I replied …
“NO WAY, this is the world record bass”. Mind you, at this point in my “Bass” career the largest I had caught was a 7 pounder.
I then proceeded to un-hook the crotch strap and drop down into the water. As Cliff was holding the rod I started to swim down with a knife in one hand to cut the line and using the line between my fingers with the other as a guide.
I figured I’d keep my eyes closed to avoid getting all the dirty water in them, big mistake. All of the sudden I found the tree with my forehead, yep that required 4 stitches.
It was then that I opened my eyes and saw the size of the fish. I grabbed her by the bottom lip, cut the line and proceeded to try and swim back to the surface.
Remember the waders? Yep, the once 50 pound waders were now completely full of water and weighed a TON. There was no way I was going to let go of what I was sure was a world record bass. So there I am, my life passing before my eyes, bass in one hand, knife in the other wondering just how the papers would report this one.
I then realize all I have to do is un-hook my suspenders and swim out of the anchor that my waders had become. Easier said then done. I ended up dropping my knife in order to use my free hand to help me disconnect the suspenders and wiggle free of the 2 ton anchor, ha!
So I finally get out of the waders as I kicked up to the surface. Gasping for air as I finally broke the surface. Cliff told me that he was starting to worry about me and asked if the fish was worth it. As I slowly pulled her out of the water he was shocked.
I took her to the local super market, after a quick stop at the E.R to stitch up my forehead, to weigh her as well as brag about the one that didn’t get away. She weighed in at a whopping 15.7, not quite the world record but a monster never the less.
Yes, this was back in the old days when we just didn’t know any better and everyone kept their catch. Hell, catch and release was a term used by fishermen who were just too lazy to clean their catch. Now days, I wouldn’t even dream of killing such a magnificent animal.
It was at this point in my life I had an epiphany. I wanted to learn everything there was to know about catching big bass. Yes, anyone can get lucky from time to time and catch a 10 pounder but in order to catch them consistently it takes a different mind set because they are a superior fish.
No, I don’t believe bass possess the ability to gain knowledge like humans do. But I do believe that they learn from past experiences and become conditioned to things that are not normal for them …
Like the sound of a boat motor, the dropping of something in a boat, especially an aluminum boat without a deck or even loud noises.
I also believe that they become conditioned to smells and lures that produced an unpleasant effect the last time they encountered it. Like being pulled in a direction they didn’t want to go by a fishing line. Their natural instinct is to attempt to go somewhere safe, brush, rock piles, or a structure. In general, Like I said, Conditioning, not knowledge.
During my quest to learn how to catch big bass, and hopefully one day catching the world record largemouth bass I have read a lot of books and articles.
In My Honest Opinion a MUST read for anyone who is serious about catching big bass consistently is the book by Bill Murphy titled “In Pursuit of Giant Bass
Another good read is “Big Bass Zone: Catch Monster Bass
I do hope you enjoyed my story. It sure brought back some great memories for me.
Until Next Time, Good Luck to ya and Tight Lines
[tags]big bass, largemouth, bass, fishing[/tags]
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