Anyhow, on Christmas afternoon I got a text from my friend Zoli that lives down in the Antelope Valley asking me if I wanted to hit the California Aqueduct to see about catching some striped bass. One nice thing about duct fishing is it has easy access to good fishing spots. I then texted another friend who lives down there as well and asked if he was available to join us, which he did so we discussed what time and where we would meet.

I woke up bright and early and headed down to the AV duct. We met up at Zoli’s house, loaded up their stuff into the Silverado and proceeded to head out and see if we could beat the duct skunk. We worked over the first few spots we stopped at but nobody got a bite so we proceeded on. The rule of thumb when duct fishing is to work an area for 15-20 minutes tops and if nothing happens pack up and move on.

After hitting several more spots for nothing we moved onto another spot. I cast out, feel the tell tale thump so I reel down to catch up with the fish that was swimming towards me, feel the weight and swing, FISH ON, WOOOO HOOOO! While it wasn’t a double digit it was a good solid 6 pounder, into the ice chest he goes to become fillets. We continued on and hit I dont remember how many more spots but nothing doing. We called it a day at 2:30ish and I headed home after dropping the guys off.

All in all it was a good day, could have been nicer if we caught more but such is life when fishing the aqueduct.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Anyhow, we met up at the duct and started tossing lures. Across the duct there was a blue heron sitting on the opposite shore and he’s catching little fish, then a striper busts the surface. We make several casts and nothing as we are talking, BAM, Fish On! Yolo hooks up, as he is fighting the fish, which was a good solid 8 pounder, we see another one the same size trying to take the Rattle Trap out of his mouth. Yolo hesitates in pulling his fish up because he’s waiting for me to cast out and see about catching the other one, which didn’t happen. Finally he starts to pulls him up the side but the fish flipped again, got off the hook, slid back into the duct and promptly swam away. We tried for a few more minutes then take off to another spot.

Yolo let me make the first cast so I tossed my LC Pointer out, gave it 2 jerks and BAM, Fish On! As I’m fighting the fish Yolo looks down and there are 4 more of them, the same size, chasing the one with the lure stuck in his face. I get him to the side and do the duct slide, he’s mine! Not a DD but he went 8, not a bad fish so into the ice chest he goes. We continue to work the area but nothing doing so its time to make a move.

Next spot nothing so its onto another spot. Met up with another duct fisherman who was not having any luck but I figured seeing how I was there I might as well make a few casts but nothing doing. Time for Yolo to take off but I figured I’d fish on. At his advice I went back and hit the spots where we had caught our fish as well as another that we skipped.

I get back to the spot where I caught mine at and tossed out my 128 Pointer, jerk, jerk, BAM, Fish On! As I’m fighting this fish it suddenly gets very strong and started peeling drag, remember how I mentioned there were 4 others with the one I caught earlier, yep, double hookup. I fought them for what seemed like forever, then one of them gets off. I get the one that didn’t get off to the side and do the duct slide, he’s mine! This one only weighed a little over 6 pounds so I didn’t bother taking a picture but he went into the ice chest to become fillets.

Onto another spot, 3^rd cast with a Zoom Fluke BAM, Fish On! Damn this is a great day. This one took off, peeling drag, it then turns around and takes off in the other direction again peeling drag, he’s heading for the buoy line and bridge so I figure I have to turn him so I apply my thumb to the spool, the rod bends then BINK, he comes unbuttoned.

Welp, time to head home. Striper count in ice chest, the 1 Yolo gave me, thanks again buddy and the 2 I caught for a total of 3 so not a bad day at all. Too bad not all ducts days are as productive.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

First, a little more history. Lake Isabella was initially stocked with Florida Strain Largemouth bass in 1972 then in 1983, only 9 years later, the first giants began to show up when a gentleman named Joe Weaver caught the new Lake Isabella record bass that was 28 inches long and weighed in at 18 pounds 13 ounces. It’s the prime conditions at Isabella, as well as other California lakes, that caused these original Florida strain bass to become giants.

As I’ve stated time and time again, Isabella is by far my favorite bass lake. Partly due to the fact that it’s the closest body of water but mostly because I’ve caught well over 100 bass that have weighed over 10 pounds from her waters. While its true that catching giant bass is very rewarding it can also be very boring because your targeting specific structure and usually fishing very slowly. Bottom line, your fishing for just a few bites a day. I talked about big bass fishing in a previous article so this time I’ll give more information on quantity vs. quality. By the way, to help you understand more about catching big bass I highly recommend reading Bill Murphy’s book, In Pursuit Of Giant Bass, available from Amazon on the lower right side of my site, and apply what you learn at Isabella.

Just in case you didn’t know, the bag limit at Isabella is 2 bass per day and they must be at least 15 inches. While I personally practice catch and release I see nothing wrong with a person keeping a bass or 2 for dinner but please remember that the bigger bass should be released. I tell everyone that I take fishing that all bass 5 pounds and over must be released because they are the genetically better fish that produce better off spring and besides that the best tasting bass are going to be the 1-3 pound ones. OK, time to climb off the soap box and proceed with this article.

Whenever I take the Champion over to Isabella, anytime of the year, there are a handful of lures that I always have tied on and ready to go. These are my confidence lures that I know will catch Isabella bass. A Custom Yamamoto Spider Grub, I purchase the twin tail grubs and mini skirts separately to create my own colors and place them on a Revenge Football head, a 128 Lucky Craft Pointer, a Lucky Craft Sammy or a Spro Frog, a Yamamoto Senko, a big trout swimbait, I like the Huddleston Deluxe myself, a Norman DD22 Crankbait, a Texas rigged worm in 6-15 inch, yes I said 15 inch worm, a 4 inch worm on a drop shot and of course a 3 inch worm or reaper on a split shot rig.

As to colors for plastics, I prefer something that looks more natural, cinnamon blue, different shades of purple, watermelon, shad colors and of course browns and blacks. For crankbaits I’ll throw either Shad or crawdad colors and I like to throw trout colored Huddleston Deluxe trout baits all year round. Other effective baits are Spinnerbaits, Fluke Style lures, Zoom Brush Hogs and Tail Spins.

Isabella bass seem to have an attitude and they are known for their strong fighting ability and with all the structure available, trees and rock piles, for them to run to you cant horse them in on light line so you have to wear them out. Now of course if your throwing a big swimbait on heavy line you want to get them in as quickly as possible so they don’t have a chance of throwing the hook.

As to which line I would suggest, for the Sammy, or any surface lure, I like to use a braided line because it floats, my choice is 50 pound Daiwa Samurai Braid. For all other applications I like to use various sizes of fluorocarbon line because it sinks and has nearly the same light refraction rate as water, which would explain why it disappears once beneath the surface, so you can get away with using heavier line. I prefer the Seaguar AbrazX and Sunline. Of course everything has a down side and fluorocarbon tends not to be as abrasion resistant as monofilament or copolymer lines so be sure to check your line for nicks or abrasions often and retie.

Spots to give a try are Rocky Point, Piney Point, Boulder Gulch, French Gulch, Camp 9 and Free Air Point. When the water level is up like it is this year, be sure to give the following spots in the south fork a try, Lime Dyke, Browns Cove, Jophin and of course the trees in both the south and north forks.

Well, I hope I’ve helped you unlock some secrets of my favorite lake. Please remember to practice catch and release of the bigger bass, especially any over 10 pounds.  First off, they wont taste good and if you want to mount a trophy bass now days most taxidermists don’t even do skin mounts, they use a fiberglass mold so weigh the beast, take pictures and measure the length and girth and give all of the information to your taxidermist.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon.

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Since mid 1979 I’ve been living in the middle of the Mojave Desert in a town called Ridgecrest. We are located about 90 miles south, as the crow flies, from Death Valley CA, 90 miles north of Palmdale and 90 miles east of Bakersfield, yes in the middle of no where. I remember thinking WTH, when my dad moved us out here from Tucson AZ but I soon discovered the best kept secret in CA, Lake Isabella, which is located about 60 miles to the west of us. Coming from Tucson, where we had to drive at least 2 hours to do any quality bass fishing, this gem of a lake was just what the doctor ordered.

Located in the low mountains of the southern end of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Kern County, California. With an approximate elevation of only 2,500 feet the summer temps can exceed 100 degrees and well below freezing during the winter. While the lake does not get a lot of snow during the winter, I know there has been more than once that I’ve been fishing in the snow.

There are plenty of areas to camp around the lake. You can camp in improved camp grounds like Tilley Creek and Boulder Gulch with hookups or you can rough it in Stein Cove or Rabbit Island. Then there are always all of the hotels and lodges located in the town of Isabella, Kernville and Wofford Heights. If you want a nice place to stay I suggest The River View Lodge located on the river in Kernville. Give John a call at 760-376-6019 and be sure to tell him that BassnMan Mike sent ya!

There are plenty of places around the lake that you can pickup a bite to eat. I would have to say that my 2 favorite places for breakfast are The Dam Corner and Neldas diner, both located in Isabella. There is also a Vons grocery store in the town of Isabella if you want to pickup steaks to cook while camping.

When full, Lake Isabella is one of California’s largest man made reservoir at 11,000 acres. Formed in 1953 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the earthen dam and flooded the former towns of Isabella and Kernville. The lake has 2 dams, the Main Dam and the Auxiliary dam.

Be warned, especially when boating, there are a lot of unmarked underwater hazards, such as submerged fencing, predominately in the South Fork, old tree orchard and rock outcroppings and islands that can appear and disappear with the lake’s constant fluctuating level, the western shore line has a lot of them so beware because on my opinion nothing will spoil your day worse than hitting your lower end or hull of your boat on a rock pile.

Then there is the Borel Canal, which is an eight foot deep concrete channel that supplies water to the power plant downstream of the Auxiliary Dam. The canal cuts right through the western part of Lake Isabella where the water may be deceptively shallow. The canal offers great fishing all through out the year because it has turns, rock piles and because of its depth it allows fish an “escape” do deep water. In addition, because it supplies water to the power plant, there is always a flow of moving water running through it.

One of the biggest hazards at Isabella has to be the wind. Because the lake is located in a canyon the winds can pickup very quickly making it very dangerous, especially when attempting to cross open water. Over the years I’ve personally experienced days when there has been 4 foot swells so be careful. Historically the wind seems to be worse during the change of the seasons, with spring and fall being the worse. There have been plenty of times during the heat of summer that I have wished for some wind, HA!

My best safety tip would be to keep an eye on the sky above the dams. When you see the white haze starting to build above them start to get close to shore because like I stated above, the wind can pickup very quickly. I remember year’s back they had towers located in the south and north forks that had green, yellow and red lights that would warn you about the lake conditions. Of course green meant everything was fine, yellow meant the wind was getting bad and get close to shore and red meant to get off the lake NOW. I’m not sure why they stopped using the warning lights, possibly budget cuts but I really wish they would bring them back because more that 1 boat has been lost over the years due to the wind.

The law limits boating to the daytime use only, one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. I know on the 4^th of July they will allow you to put your boat on the lake after dark to view the yearly fireworks show but to the best of my knowledge that is the only time they allow you to be on the water after dark.

Of course, just like other lakes in CA, the speed limit is 5 mph within 200 feet of shore, within 100 feet of swimmers, near docks, marinas or within South Fork Wildlife Area. Alcohol or drug use is illegal while operating a boat and is a felony if such use causes death or serious injury. Conviction of intoxication while operating a boat may bring a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. Boat operators must be at least 16 years old. A US Coast Guard approved Personal Flotation Device must be on board for each person on the boat as well as a throw cushion, sounding device and some kind of signaling device.

Isabella is also one of the best boating deals in CA, yearly boat permits are only $45.00 for the calendar year, I believe 2 day permits are also available. For more permit information, call 760-379-2806. Permits are available at any marina and at several convenience stores in the Lake Isabella area including the mini mart located at Lake Isabella Boulevard and Highway 155 and at James Store in Kernville.

OK, that ends part one. Be sure to check back soon for parts 2 and 3 where I’ll be sharing some specific information on fishing my favorite lake.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon.

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

First off let me be straight up with you, California Aqueduct Fishing can flat out be a pain in the butt to catch fish out of. When I first started fishing the duct I thought the stripers there would be the ones in some of our lakes, Pyramid by Gorman, Castaic, Silverwood or Diamond Valley but trust me, they are not the same. The only thing predictable about the duct stripers is they are very unpredictable.

I’ve fished the Antelope Valley area, Lancaster and Palmdale quite a few times over the past couple years and I’ve hit the Bakersfield area duct maybe 5 times. To this day I have only hooked into 2 stripers and 1 catfish. Of the 2 stripers I hooked, both in the AV area, one came unbuttoned as I was fighting it and the other one I fought until it was wore out, started to drag it up the side and about ¾ of the was up it came unbuttoned, slid back into the water and swam away. My fishing buddies say that it counts as a duct striper skunk killer because I fought him until he wore out but I have always felt that if I don’t actually touch the fish with my hands it don’t count.

On my last 6 or 7 duct trips I’ve been fishing with a friend that has been fishing the duct for over 25 years and he has caught a ton of fish out of it. Then again he lives about 7 minutes from it and we all know that the more time you spend fishing the more fish your going to catch. He has shared spots, lures and techniques with me so I know I’m doing the right things, I just haven’t been in the right spots at the right time. Bottom line, the duct has become my albatross so I keep going back because I’ve seen some very nice fish come out of it and my friends have gave me fresh striper fillets and I must say that they are some of the tastiest fish I have ever had.

As to duct fishing locations, there are many fishing locations, to get a better ideal of where they are and how to get to them try using Google Maps, Google Earth or Bing Maps, formerly known as Microsoft Maps to view them. First I’ll start off talking about the Antelope Valley area. Because I’m coming from up north I personally like to start at the west end of the Antelope Valley and work my way east. I head south down the 14 past Mojave and go to Ave D, which is the 138, and take it west towards Gorman. About 30 miles down the 138 you’ll see Quail lake which is part of the duct system. After there turn around and head east on the 138 to 280th West, then to Three Points Road. Continue east on the 138 and just before you cross the duct make a right turn on 245th West which turns into Lancaster road. A little ways down the road you cross the duct, stop and fish there. Follow the road to 195th West, Muntz Ranch Road, 110th West, 70th West, 60th West, Ave S, Tierra Subida, Sierra Hwy, Pearblossom, Barrel Springs, 42nd East, 47th East, Cheseboro and 72nd east. There are more spots further east but that’s all the further I have fished. By the way, most areas will have no trespassing signs, but will have a entrance and sign stating walk in fishing only.

Next you have the Bakersfield area From I-5 by Gorman go over the hill towards Bakersfield. From there one can hit up SR166 and all the dirt farm roads, SR166, Old River Rd., Basic School Rd., 33 to Cadet Rd., Gardener Field, Golf Course Rd., Ironbark, SR119, Tupman, Freeborn, Buttonwillow, SR58, Lokern, 7th standard, Lerdo Hwy, Lost Hills Rd., SR46. There are a ton more spots to fish and just like the AV spots I mentioned they cal all be found by using Google Maps, Google Earth or Bing Maps, formerly known as Microsoft Maps.

As to tackle, just about everything you’ll need is available at Tackle Warehouse or Bass Tackle Depot. Both places offer free shipping for orders over $50.00 as well as some of the lowest prices anywhere.

I suggest you carry 2 or 3 setups with different kinds of lures attached. Pound test line is what you feel comfortable with. I use anywhere from 8 to 15 depending on the application as do my buddies I fish with that live in the AV but there are plenty of people that use heavier line with success. Monofilament, copolymer, fluorocarbon or braid, the choice is yours. Just be sure to use a quality line because since the bites can be few you don’t want to break off due to bad line. Quality Fishing Lines

For lures some of the most popular/effective ones are as follows.

Lately my buddy Yolo, that’s his online name, has been using what he calls the Yolo Tickler with great success. I suggest the pearl, pearl with silver flake and Blue Back Herring in 6 inch. Don’t be afraid to give the 8 inch version a try as well. Rig this with an internal weight.

Next is the good old Zoom Salty Super Fluke in 5 inch and magnum. The best color’s are Smokin Shad, Bait fish and White Pearl. I like to rig the fluke on Fluke Heads

Next are 1/2 to 1 1/2 oz Rat-L-Trap style lures.
I don’t know if you’ve heard of the KPN shad but its one effective striper lure.

Then of course you cant go wrong with a Lucky Craft VR D in American Shad

And of course your basic Rattle Trap

Next the Lucky Craft Pointer, a popular color is once again the American Shad

On swimbaits, I have not heard of a lot of people using the bigger ones but I know of people that have had luck on Small Swimbaits and Bass Swimbaits, not to say that a big perch looking swimbait or even Trout ones wont work. Could be that the people using them successfully are being tight lipped.

I also suggest a Long Handled Net or lip gripper so you can reach down the slick side of the duct and net or grab your fish, especially if its a big one.

Of course match the weight of the lure with the conditions, faster flow equals more weight needed to get into the target zone. You can cast up-flow and retrieve the lure with the current, cast directly across and retrieve through the current, or cast down flow and work it back against the current or anywhere in between. Try fishing the different water columns, deep, mid and shallow until you get bit.

When fishing a spot I like to start out working the back side of the gates where the water is rushing out because the stripers usually like to feed in turbulent water, if they are not there then work your way down to bends in the duct. Also don’t forget to give the front side of the gates a try.

For catfish, some people prefer to do the bait and wait technique but the most effective technique is to use a spinning reel with 8-10 pound test. Tie on a 1/0 circle hook and get yourself some chicken liver. Using little to no weight, cast upstream and walk along the shore line letting it drift along.

The best tip I can give you for fishing the duct is to work an area for 20-30 minutes and if you don’t get any biters or followers move on to the next spot. It’s a matter of finding them and if they are there at that time, they will bite.

The most important thing to remember is to be safe. The sides of the duct can be slick and you don’t want to slip and fall in. In the event you do end up in the drink, DON’T PANICK. While the sides are slick and next to impossible to climb up, along the sides of it you will see yellow paint. The paint signifies that there is a metal ladder there. Trust me, it does not matter how good of a swimmer you are, its next to impossible to swim up stream so let yourself drift down stream to the ladder and climb out.

There you go, all my secrets exposed but like I said earlier the biggest trick is finding them. The aqueduct is a 715 mile long cement river that stretches from way up north to way down south so there are lots of places for them to roam. As Yolo has told me more than once, persistence will pay off.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon.

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

With that being said I give you Fishing for a Predator by Evan Schaible.

“It  is no mystery that largemouth bass love to hide and ambush prey. This is because bass are predators by nature. It will drastically help our fishing when we thoroughly digest this fact, and fish accordingly. Many people who are new to the bass fishing arena tend to ease their way in by passively fishing as if the bass will help them get a limit. This is the reason why many people are discouraged at the sport.”

“When you approach this type of fishing you can’t just rig up a night crawler, drop it in the water and wait. You have to be just as aggressive as the bass in order to be successful. But this aggression must be accompanied by the proper knowledge, or you will end up just as frustrated as the guy who rigs worms and sits back with a soda waiting for the bobber to bounce. Float fishing is good, don’t get me wrong; but if you are serious about catching a few more bass each time you go out, than you have to fish for the predator.”

“What does it mean to fish for a predator?  Bass fishing is a bit like hunting in that most of your time will be spent stalking the bass. But in elk hunting for example, you are acting as a predator stalking a prey animal. So often times fisherman can mistake what they are looking for on the water for being something that is prey (for us it is prey, that’s true). But in the freshwater food chain bass are among the top few hunters in the water, therefore making the methodologies we must employ drastically different than if we were hunting a prey animal. So in the remainder of this article I want to focus on a few techniques and tips that can help you catch the predator.”

“One key thing to remember is that you are not the hunter when you are bass fishing. You are in fact acting as the prey. This is integral, and cannot be stressed enough. We can talk about pitching into cover, and jigging a crawdad, but what we have to keep in mind is the fact that we are trying to impersonate something that the bass are in fact hunting already. So we can either have this working against us, or use it to our advantage. It can work against us if we fish in a way that makes the bass look elsewhere for food. Like any other predator the bass are not going to be as interested in prey that is large and perfectly healthy, and here is a prime area where many anglers fail. If you are fishing a crank bait for example, what you don’t want to do is pull it on a steady retrieve through the cover, missing everything that’s around you. This sends the signal of a healthy, mature prey animal that the bass will likely not be interested in.”

“The key to triggering strikes when fishing baits that are meant to resemble prey animals (shad, blue gill, crayfish, worms, etc.) is to make the bait look injured. This may seem fundamental, but it is often overlooked and taken for granted by many fishermen. This is the reason for bait patterns like the bleeding shad, as the bass, like any other predator, is attracted first to the wounded animal. Wounded animals are just easier meals, and in order to heighten our success as anglers we have to take advantage of this predatory nature inherent in bass. So when fishing cover keep this in mind. If you are throwing a spinner bait, bounce it off a log or stump and make the bass think that the shad you are impersonating is wounded.

The same applies for crank baits and jigs. Another useful method is stop and go retrieves with a little jerk in the middle. If you have a good crank bait you can even make it look like the little thing is injured by winding extremely fast for a couple of turns and the bait will almost roll over, signaling a weakness to the bass. There are innumerable ways to make your baits look injured, so take some time in shallow water and work on your presentations, it will pay off in the end I guarantee.”

“Another good thing to keep in mind is that bass are clever hunters, and love to ambush their prey. This again can be to our advantage or detriment. A lot of times anglers misjudge their target and fish open water, when there are great underwater structures, reed beds, grass lines, and other types of cover for the bass to hide in while waiting to ambush an unsuspecting shad.

But you can’t just throw your bait at the cover and expect to get strikes, and here is another area where many fisherman fall short. There are a few key things to always keep in mind when fishing cover, and again, to understand why, we have to remember that bass are predatory fish.”

“Most of the time the bass will be on the edges of reed beds, just within the grass on a grass line, or waiting on the edge of stump or fallen tree. This is often as shelter for them as well, but the dual purpose of this is as ambush points. Again, you can’t just throw your bait at the cover and expect to succeed, you have to plan your presentation.

Take some time to practice laying your bait into the water as quietly as you can. While pitching a good way to achieve a quiet entry into the water is to slightly lift your rod tip just before the bait hits, and often this will just slide it into the water without hardly a ripple.

But again, the difference between success and failure is where you place the bait. Most anglers will cast just on the outside of the cover, and begin their retrieve. This leaves the lure in the strike zone for much less time, lessening your chances of getting a hit. If you are fishing grass lines, reed beds or other cover of this sort, cast into it as far as you think is safe, because your weed guards were made for just this occasion.

Also if you are fishing solitary bank cover such as a stump or fallen tree, cast just beyond your target and begin your retrieve. This will allow your bait to present its full action to the fish, and won’t just be getting started when it’s in the strike zone. This area of cover is extremely important, and bass are almost always using this method of hunting.”

“Lions will often stalk water holes and wait for an animal to bend down and drink before attacking. This takes the animal off guard and gives the lion a brief window to get very close in order to strike. The same holds true for bass. This is the reason for the calculated action of many crank baits. This is, I think, the most overlooked way to fish a crank bait. What I mean is letting it bounce on the bottom so as to imitate a bait fish rooting and hunting for prey itself. As the little minnow shuffles by the ambush point of the waiting bass, the bass will almost strike on impulse as it passes.

These are what we call “reaction strikes”, and can be triggered in a plethora of ways. But the reason they are so crucial is because the bass will hit your bait without even thinking about it, because as a rule, when the specific scenario is played out, that means dinner. This rooting minnow scenario is one of those guaranteed meals for a bass. So when the little bait comes by and bumps that ambush point that bass strikes, and you have him. So don’t just fish your crank baits so they look like they are swimming or darting around, try this method and see how it works.”

“You can also fish weedless rigged creatures baits, jigs, and spinner baits in this same fashion. And don’t mistake these techniques as only for searching the bass out, because you will drastically improve your cast/strike ratio if you consistently fish these styles, even if you think you have a good spot where the bass are biting your bait.

Presentation is literally everything in this sport, and the best actor will get the prize every time. So next time you are on the water, remember what you read here, and keep in mind that you are not hunting, you are baiting a predator into thinking he has a free , injured meal.”

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

First off we have the Gary Yamamoto Senko If your only going to carry 1 color make it Watermelon/Black Flake. This is lure that I have no ideal what its supposed to look like. It kind of looks like a green cigar to me but for some reason the bass love them. Senko’s are designed as a “Do Nothing” lure, meaning you don’t need to impart any action, no twitching or jerking, you actually do nothing. They can be rigged a variety of ways but I’m only going to mention 2 of them.

First is the basic Texas style rigged with an X-Point 3/0 Off Set Wide Gap Hook. Then we have the wacky rig, which is basically just placing a hook through the middle of the Senko. I go more in depth on these rigs as well as others in other articles here on my site. I like to fish both of these rigs weightless. Throw it out and let in sink on slack line because it will fall away from you. Watch your line, if it jumps, twitch’s, moves off in a different direction, or seems to be taking to long to hit the bottom this means that a bass has picked it up. Take up the slack, if you feel something on the other end of the line, set the hook hard.

Next we have a Yamamoto Ika. This is another weird looking lure that kind of looks like a pineapple to me. Yes, they look strange but they do catch bass. Again, if I only carried 1 color it would be Watermelon/Black. Rig it Texas style with a size 5/0 X-Point 3/0 Off Set Wide Gap Hook. Yes the hook is quite large but you need a big hook because there is a lot of plastic you have to penetrate when setting the hook. Fish it the same way you fish the Senko.

The next lure would be a jig. My favorite would be a jig Green flake placed on a Bass Pro Shops football head jig. To fish this, toss it out and let it sink to the bottom. Sometimes the bass want it quickly hopping along, sometimes they want it slowly dragged and occasionally shake it in place and at times they want it swimming along so let the bass tell you how they want it by trying different retrieves. When the bass hits you might feel a tick or thump, sometimes all you’ll feel is pressure or something just does not feel right, set the hook hard.

OK, that’s 3, number 4 would have to be a Scrounger Head or Road Runner Head with a
Zoom Super Fluke both in Smokey shad. This setup is a staple for tournament bass fishermen out west when the bass are keying on shad

In my opinion the final lure you need is actually more than one. Get yourself a few bags of soft plastic worms in 3 inch, 4 inch and 6 inch. Robo Worm makes some great hand poured, by a robot, plastics in a wide verity of colors. If I had to pick only 2 its hard to go wrong with their Black Grape/Blue Neon or Oxblood/Red Flake. I like to use a Size 2, X-Point, Off Set Worm hook and rigged either split shot or drop shot

While there is tons of tackle out there and a person could spend a fortune buying everything and then break their backs carrying it down to the water, in my opinion if you get these 5 basic lures and fish them as I mentioned you will up your odds of catching bass.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Every year at my house we have a pair of dove that return to nest on a pillar right outside my front door. They both have a few very distinguishable markings on them so we know they are the same pair. Cindy has affectionately named them Fred and Ethyl. Anyhow, I have seen them lately and Fred has started gathering sticks and twigs and placing them on top of the pillar starting to build their nest.

While it is true we had a cold spell for a little while it seems more like spring or fall and at least where I live, the fish also don’t seem to realize it’s the middle of January either. Don’t get me wrong, there is no Fall Frenzy bite going on but its definitely far from your typical winter bite. When I think about it,  it does make sense because the days are warm, the nights are not all that cold so the water temperature is not all that cold. I know that  I have been taking advantage of the conditions and feel that you should be as well.

Normally this time of the year I’m using spoons, ice jigs, darter heads and hair jigs while  fishing them very, very slowly. While yes, any fishing is good fishing I personally feel that its much funner fishing a quicker more active way. Besides just being more enjoyable I stay warmer because I’m moving more.

I have been having good luck lately slow rolling spinnerbaits in a shad pattern and letting them stop and flutter to the bottom attempting to imitate the erratic action of a shad dieing. I have found that if you configure your spinnerbait with big round Colorado blades instead of your typical willow leaf ones they seem to work better for this style of fishing.

I have also been having luck slowly bottom bouncing with craw pattern crankbaits. Here I am attempting to resemble a crawdad scampering along the bottom in an attempt to escape the hungry mouth of Mr. Largemouth while at the same time trying to find a soft spot to allow him to root into the mud for his winter nap.

So, the next time you have a chance to get out and its a nice sunny, warm day don’t do the normal slow and mundane winter style of fishing, try speeding up your presentation a little, you just might be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Lets see, where did I leave off last time? I talked about the drop shot and the split shot rigs, OK, I remember where my thoughts were. Now I’ll go into some not so well known styles of finesse fishing.

Now lets talk about Flipping reapers. First off a reaper is a CA finesse bait. If I had to discribe what a repers looks like I would have to say it kinda looks like a leech. With that said I’ll continue on with the subject. Flipping reapers is yet another technique for convincing lock jawed bass into biting. To rig this technique up all you do is rig it Texas rigged just like you would a plastic worm except with a smaller hook and weight. As to how to fish it, just as the name implies, you flip it gently and quietly into spots where you thing the bass is at. There have been many times when I have flipped a jig into a hole and got nothing, then turn around and flip a reaper and WAM, instant bite.

Skipping reapers. This is technique is not widely used but it can be deadly. To rig this one you would use a small hook rigged weedless and then once again I like to use the small round split shot weight, without the little “Ears” placed right up against the knot. In this situation the earless ones help it skip easier because it does not have the extra pieces hanging off of it. Cast this rig side arm and make it skip across the surface, just like when you used to skip rocks across water. What your doing is resembling a shad skittering across the surface, like he is running scared. I’ve had times where as the reaper skipped along I’ve seen bass chasing it and blasting it as soon as they caught up to it.

With this style you will need to use spinning gear and light line to achieve the best skipping. You can use this technique just about anywhere and trust me, it does work. Shhhhh, here is a secret I’ve had fantastic success using this technique under boat docks. Just make sure you either skip under a dock in an area where there is not much structure for the bass to get tangled up in or use heavier line, this in turn would mean to use a little heavier weight.

Doodeling. I don’t know for sure who actually invented this technique but I do know that legendary western angler Don Iovion was very instrumental in making it a popular style of fishing. What is doodeling you may ask. Its basically a smaller, 3-6 inch’s, Texas rigged worm with a glass bead between the worm and the weight. Here you would cast out and shake the worm in place causing the weight to bounce against the bead, basically ringing the dinner bell. In stained dirty water I like to use a brass weight, it produces more noise. Whereas in clear water I use a lead weight so it helps deaden the sound a little.

Slider Heads, Dart Heads and Shakey Heads. All of these techniques are similar yet different. They all consist of a lead head and a hook. To the best of my knowledge the slider head has been around the longest. It was invented by a gentleman named Charlie Brewer quite a few years back and still today catches bass. The original Slider head has on odd shaped lead head but there is a reason for this. With its flat bottom the head displaces water as it sinks so it sinks slower. When casted out and slowly retrieved it kind of slides through the water, hence the name. There are several ways of rigging it depending on if your fishing around structure or not. If you are then rig it weedless, if fishing in open water then leave the hook exposed.

Dart Heads, also referred to as darter heads. The lead head of this rig comes to a point. This style of fishing was developed to target suspended bass. You first would locate the suspended bass on your sonar, then cast out beyond where they were and engage your spool so on more line played out. What this would do is cause your bait to pendulum back to the boat and swim right through the suspended bass. Here again, you can either rig your plastic weedless or with an exposed hook.

Shakey Heads. This is a technique that has come seen allot of exposure lately in the tournament circuits. Several manufactures have created different styles of the shakey head but they once again are basically a lead head with a hook. They kind of look like the little crappie jig heads except bigger of course. Not so much in weight but in hook size. Same rigging techniques apply as with the others but most of the time these are rigged weedless. As far as what to put on them, basically anything from a small plastic sculpin to a big ole snake worm. These can be fished several different ways, on structure, on suspended fish, or even swimming. The biggest trick here is to shake them, hence the name. when fishing these on structure try and shake them in place without actually moving them off of the structure.

Lastly I’ll talk about the Un-Weighted Worm. This has to be one of my favorite finesse techniques when the bass are shallow and very spooky because it out right catches fish. The way this is rigged is you make yourself a leader, I like to use 2-3 foot myself, tie on a small black barrel swivel, one that does not have a snap, attach your leader then tie on your hook then rig your plastic weedless. The reason I use a swivel is to avoid getting line twist, which I’ll go into detail just a little later. By the way, user NO weight.

When attaching the plastic, sometimes you want your worm to be perfectly straight, other times you want a little crook in the head of the work. When rigged with the slight bend in the worm the thing will kind of spin when twitched. This is where the swivel comes in. Without it you would get really bad line twist after just a few casts and we all know how much of a pain that can be. When the worm is rigged straight it pretty much floats and falls at a very slow rate, which is a very subtle presentation and at times that is the only way you can convince the bass to bite. Cast it out, try letting it sink slowly, maybe a slight twitch every now and then. When you do get bit remember exactly what you were doing when the bite happened and repeat that to get more bites.

True, I just scratched the surface of finesse fishing, this is a subject that could go on forever. Even though I addressed small baits allot in these posts you can finesse fish anything as long as it’s a slow and methodical presentation.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon!

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

There are many different ways of finesse fishing so this will be a 2 part post with part 2 to show up in the near future.

What exactly is finesse fishing?

For the most part finesse fishing is basically down sizing your offering and slowing the presentation down. Some techniques that come to mind are Split shot, drop shot , Doodeling, Shakey Heads, Slider Heads and darter heads. As you can see the list is endless.

On the other hand you can also use big lures for finesse fishing, just as long as your presentation is slow. That’s would be the real key to this style of fishing. Slow and methodical is the trick. What your looking to do is get the inactive bass to react to your lure.

So anyhow, lets dig a little into some of these techniques and I’ll give up some of my tips that work for me. I already talked about rigging several of these techniques in Bass Fishing 101 so I’ll try and remember just what I shared and try not to bore you too much. I will however go into a little detail on how to fish them.

The drop shot. This was originally used as a deep water style of fishing with light line and small baits. You would cruise around and watch your graph, find the fish on some kind of structure or suspended, position yourself above them and drop the lure in front of their faces and shake it until you made them mad enough to eat it.

It evolved into much more over time. Now it is used to make long casts to underwater structure and slowly shook back to the boat. This techniques can also be used effectively while fishing from shore. Cast out to what appears to be open water, let it sink and shake it while not moving the sinker. If you don’t get bit then try shaking it while moving the sinker. If you come in contact with structure try and shake it in place

Another way of finesse fishing it is to use a bigger weight with a bigger lure and actually flip it into cover. I have heard people call this variation of the drop shot rig, a flop shot rig. Whatever you want to call it the principal is the same as I describe below.

Most of the times the bite will be very suttle, maybe you might see your line jump or twitch and then have a heavy sensation on the other end of the line. Other times you’ll just see the line do something you didn’t make it do, like move or continue to seem to sink when the water is not all that deep.

When these things happen, reel up the slack, feel the pressure and set the hook. Most of the time it does not require a bone jarring hookset like with a jig, just a quick little jerk will do, especially when you have your lure nose hooked with the tip exposed.

On to the split shot rig. Once again, this rig is basically a down sized version of the Carolina rig with a round split shot weight attached to the line.

As to how to fish it goes you cast out and basically drag the bait along slowly. Often referred to as long lining because you can cast the line out, let it sink and basically control the speed of it by slowly tapping your trolling motor.

I have seen allot of tournaments won this way. During team tournaments the person in the front of the boat will be casting out a jig or drop shot while the partner in the back will dragging a split shot. With this way of fishing between the 2 of you, your able to cover the water pretty thoroughly.

However if your fishing a draw or Pro-Am tournament it can really be a disadvantage to being in the back of the boat if the person up front wants to long line because it makes it very difficult to cast out towards shoreline structure and if you try to long line the 2 lines can get tangled up and it can cause tension between the 2 people in the boat.

Yes, I am speaking from personal experience here. I have had more than one bad experience while fishing draw tournaments prior to getting my own boat and lets just say that by the end of the day no one in the boat was happy.

Anyhow, back to the subject. I like to use the round split shot weights without the little “ears” on them because they go through structure much smoother than the other ones. Yes, they can be a pain in the back side to remove from the line and still be able to reuse them but to me the trade off is well worth the price.

As far as to what the bite feels like, refer to the above description of the drop shot bite. Split shotting is the technique that I will rig up for people who are just learning to fish for bass because its easy to do as well as effective. You can split shot anything from a 3 inch reaper to a 12 inch worm.

As you can see, there is a lot to the technique called finesse fishing and I only dove into 2 different style’s of it. Stay tuned for Finesse Fishing Part 2 where I’ll get into a few more techniques that I know will help you catch more bass.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

[tags]finesse fishing, bass fishing, drop shot, split shot[/tags]