I’m not quite sure how to comment on this story but in my opinion it sure does make me wonder just long he has been adding lead to the bass in his weigh bags and how many bass have died over time due to lead poisoning. The reason I dont believe this was a one time event for him is due to the configuration and complexity of his weight, it think it took some thought, planning, trial and error to perfect.

Below is a picture of one of the actual weights, as you can see, its not something that he just happened to throw together quickly. Click the picture for a full sized image.

I dont feel sorry for him but because he he willingly cheated and deserves anything he gets but I do feel for his former team partners Personally, I dont believe they were aware of Mike’s actions but because of his actions there will always be the Stigma of “Did they Know”.

I am glad that WON Bass is taking action on the matter and as I find out updates I will pass them on.

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!

The following was posted by Bill Egan WON Bass Director of Operations on a popular Western Bass Fishing Forum.

“Mike Hart was suspected of placing unnatural items in the bellies of fish presented to our scales at the third day of fishing of the US Open, at Lake Mead, Nevada.”

“Here is what happened and how it played out!”

“As I was leaving the Callville Bay Marina Bar and Restaurant and weigh in location. I wanted to run by and check on our anglers whom were having motor or boat issues. As I drove to where Mark Niccoletti and Jordan from Anglers Marine, were working on some angler boats, I was flagged down by the Nevada Fish and game. They were filleting the fish that were collected after the weigh ins, which came to the scales “DEAD”. I told them that I would return in a minute or two, as I wanted to check on a few of our anglers. When I was able to return to the area where the staff was cleaning the fish that are to be given to local area homeless families, I was pulled aside and told of two different issues. One was regarding a AAA, that dumped a whole bottle of Rejuv in a livewell, and ended up killing all of his fish due to over Rejuv. Then the Nevada fish and game agent seemed to have a lump in her throat and a plastic bag in her other hand. It was mentioned, that they happened to be talking about the fish that were being filleted, and what the fish happened to be eating. One of the staff, decided by random to open up the belly of a fish and instead of finding a crawdad, a lead weight, with a fixed drop shot hook was found in stead. There were a total of four 2 oz ( not confirmed ) weights in the bellies of three separate fish at day two weigh ins.”

“I was sick to my stomach when I saw what was in the bags, it was like someone hit me in the stomach with a hammer. I decided to make sure that nobody, other than the people that were at the fillet station, found out that we had discovered the weights. Headed to the hotel to check in with tour stat girls, so they could look up the number of anglers, who happened to weigh in 3 dead fish on day two. There were only three anglers that day that brought three dead fish to the scales that day. It was decided between Harvey and myself, that the best way to handle it, was to pretend that we never found out, so that whom ever was responsible, would feel as if they had gotten away with it. We placed some paper clips to the said anglers weigh cards, as we were confidant that the AAA’s in no way had anything to do with what had happened, based on our findings.”

“Day three started at the scales and things were under way for the final day of the 2010 US Open. As the anglers approached the stage, I would look at the weigh cards waiting for those that had been clipped. As I look over, I see the first weigh card come up with a paper clip attached and nothing was found in his fish. The second clipped card came up, and same deal. As the third weigh card that was clipped came up, I saw Mike Hart at the bottom of the stage. I got on the mic, and announced his name, and made comments regarding the Castaicanator. Signals were given, and Mike’s fish were placed in the holding tank. As the fish are tested to make sure they are dead, I was called over by my TD, John Cassidy. As I approached the area, to feel the belly of the first fish I grabbed, it was obvious that there was something hard, and unnatural in the belly of that fish. I asked Mike to step to the side, as there was something we needed to talk about. The five fish were immediately set aside in a separate bag. Mike was escorted to the side where we had officials waiting. All five fish that had been presented to our scales by Mr. Hart where then gutted, and as most of you have seen, the lead weights where in all five fish. As I continued to keep the scales going, it was said that Mike had run. I was not made aware of the fact the Mike Hart was still around, until an angler came to me and said, that Mike was still here, but was hiding in a friends truck. I was taken to the truck, as Mike had requested to talk with me. I opened the driver side door, as Mike Hart was in the passenger side with the air on. As I got in the car, all the signs were there…… He was slumped in the chair with his hands on his face. He confessed to adding weights to the fish and was completely demoralized regarding his pour and completely unacceptable decision he had made by cheating. I mentioned that he had made it to easy for us to figure out, and it was only due to the fact that the Nevada Fish and Game happened to fillet and donate the meat to the local homeless families. I asked him, if he wanted to take the stage and face his friends family and fellow anglers, and he said he could not face it. I explained that we as a tournament organization will go after him with everything we have, and that I was troubled that we would have to make an example of him.”

The following joke was sent to me by a friend and I thought I’d share it with you.

A Jack Daniels Fishing Story:

I went fishing this morning but after a short time I ran out of worms. Then I saw a snake with a frog in his mouth and I thought to myself, Frogs are good bass bait.

Knowing the snake couldn’t bite me with the frog in his mouth I grabbed him right behind the head, took the frog out of his mouth, and put it in my bait bucket.

Now the dilemma was how to release the snake without getting bit. So, I grabbed my bottle of Jack Daniels and poured a little whiskey in its mouth. His eyes rolled back, he went limp. I released him into the lake without incident and carried on fishing using the frog.

A little later, I felt a nudge on my foot. There was that same snake with two more frogs in his mouth.

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

Got a funny fishing story or joke that you’d like to share? Send it to me, mike AT bassnman.com and it might get published here.

Recently as I was going through some old tackle I got to thinking about lures I used to use back in the day that were very productive but for some reason I don’t use them anymore and wondered why. How many of you remember the days that we complained when we had to pay $2.00 for a lure? When names like Hula Popper,
Heddon Zara Spook and the Jelly worm were common. Back when one would never dream of spending $20.00 on a lure, $225.00 for a rod much less $50,00.00 for a boat. Yet we still seemed to be able to catch bass.

Could it be that the bass fishing has gotten that difficult? Or maybe the bass have got smarter? Where I might believe that the bass have become more conditioned over time because of the increased fishing pressure, or maybe there are just less of them to be caught, but in my opinion I feel that we as fishermen might have made it more difficult. Whatever happened to KISS, Keep it Simple Stupid? Hence the name of this post.

I remember while growing up, dad and I fished the clear deep canyon lakes of Arizona. I know that learning how to bass fish those clear waters prepared me for the lakes in California because they are basically the same. We rarely used any line over 6 pound test and the presentation was almost always slow. My favorite plastics were either the Manns Jelly worms in Grape or Mr. Twister Twin Tail grubs in black, either Texas rigged or Carolina rigged.

For crankbaits the
Rebel Wee-R and Deep Wee-R Crankers in the Ole Bass color was the hot ticket. I wish they still produced that color because I would load a tackle box with them. Top water was either the Hula Popper, Zara Spook, Jitter Bug or
Rebel Pop-R Plus.

While fishing with dad we never had a fancy bass boat, as a matter of fact we didnt have any boat but at times we would rent aluminum boats with 9 horse power motors or a canoe with a trolling motor but they never had a 
Fish Finder yet somehow we always managed to catch fish. While we couldnt see under water structure we learned to read the lay of the land by watching the slopes of the hills and of course that in turn reavealed long underwater points.

Of course if we saw birds diving this told us that there was bait close to the sufrace, usually chased there by fish. We also kept our eyes open for “nervous water”, when you see little ripples on the surface when there was no wind or current. With this knowledge we were able to figure out where the fish were or should be and we were usually right.

Anyhow, I was just wondering what caused all us to change tactics and make fishing more difficult than it really should be. Maybe the next time you go fishing try going back to basics and see if bass fishing is really as difficult as we have been lead to believe. I plan on giving it a try myself and I’ll be sure to post up my findings.

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!

The following post is going to sound like a bunch of bull but I give you my word that it is 100% true, NO BULL.

A few years back while shore fishing at one of my favorite lakes, Haiwee Reservoir, which has since been closed because according to LADWP it’s a Homeland Security issue which is a crock. Anyhow, on with the story.

I pulled up to the water at about 7:00am and proceeded to make my first cast of the day, got a bite, set the hook and reeled in a bass that weighed about 3 pounds, “What a great day this is going to be” I said out loud as I released her back into the water. As I was replacing my torn up plastic worm I noticed this rather large bull, were talking the big black burley, pointed horns, hump backed, Brahma type ones you see in the rodeos that buck cowboys off and stomp them into the ground after they are on the ground, just for the fun of it. So he comes down to the shoreline about 10 yards from me to get a drink and I think nothing of it because I’m fixing to have a great day, or so I thought.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, there were several people about 20 yards away between the bull and I. I’m standing there getting ready to make another cast when I hear the people yelling at me, I turn and see this bull with his head lowered scraping his hoof on the ground and giving me the evil eye. So I figured I’d seen cowboys on TV yell at bulls and they would back down and this tactic of course always worked, on TV. All this did was made him mad and here he comes at be, head lowered with steam coming out of his nostrils. Of course he was between me and my truck, where I always keep a 357 magnum when I go fishing just on case, and on the other side of me was a chain link fence with razor wire on top of it so I was forced to take the only route possible, yep you guessed it, into the water I go.

Mr. Bull then proceeded to go up the hill behind me, still between me and my truck, so I get out of the water and I’m standing there, wet up to my waist and a little cold. Remember those people that were standing about 20 yards away, well guess what? They were laughing. I guess if the role was reversed I’d be laughing as well. So, I’m standing there and I figure what the heck, as long as he is standing up the hill from me I might as well continue to fish. I make a cast, of course the bass are kind of wondering just what is going on, me running into the water then expecting them to bite. Anyhow, I continue to watch Toro and he is keeping a very close eye on me, a very close evil eye mind you.

Oh yeah, in case you are wondering I was wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt with a grey sweat shirt to help keep me warm. I look over my shoulder and there is Toro lowering his head and scrapping his hoof so I say to myself, “Self” just ignore him and he will leave you alone so I turn my back just in time to hear the people down the shore yelling to “Look out!”, I turn around and here he comes at me so once again into the water I go, this time up to my armpits. As a matter of fact Toro actually came into the water after me. He then turns smugly and slowly walks back up the hill. I’d almost swear I saw him smile and heard him snicker at me.

Once again I get back out of the water and Toro is still standing there giving me the evil eye. It was at this point I was starting to get very annoyed at the whole situation and apparently momentarily brain dead, so I say to him, “OK, Now you done gone and made me mad!” I reach down and pick up this big rock, about the size of a cantaloupe and I proceed to hurl it at this crazy bull. Let me tell you something now and please make note of it, under any circumstances “DO NOT THROW A ROCK AT A MAD BULL!”

Here comes Toro, full steam ahead, lowered head, smoke coming out of his nostrils with the “I’m going to take you out” look in his eyes, so once again into the water I go, this time I’m actually treading water because he came in after me. So there I am, treading water, with my fishing pole in one hand, people down the shore rolling on the ground laughing like crazy all the while wondering just what in the world did I do to this bull to make him want to come after me in the first place and hoping that bulls cant swim, can they?

Toro then makes his way back up the top of the hill so I get out of the water and realize that my fishing tackle has been flattened by this crazy beast, luckily I had only took a limited amount of tackle down to the water with me and only had the one pole, which came in the water with me. By now I figure the bass are long gone, either that or they were watching the whole fiasco and were laughing too hard to even consider biting.

Finally Toro grows tired of messing with me and wanders off. I’m picturing the whole thing in my head and it made me laugh, it sure would have been nice to catch it on video because I’m sure I could have won on Americas Funniest Home Videos. Because I’m in a good mood after getting back to my truck I decided not to hunt Toro down and fill my freezer with steaks, though I have to admit, the thought did cross my mind.

I’ve since talked to several friends who have cattle and bulls as well and the only conclusion I could come up with is that quite possibly this bull came down to the water in this same spot everyday to have a drink and hang out for a little while and I broke his “Pattern” so that made him mad, either that or he just didn’t like me. Either way, it was quite the experience for me, NO BULL!

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

Got a funny fishing story or joke that you’d like to share? Send it to me, mike AT bassnman.com and it might get published here.

With summer time here we tend to spend more time on the water. Today I want to take a moment to share some important tips in regard to boating safety.

First off, this one is more a courtesy issue instead of a safety one. Before backing your boat down the launch ramp pull into the parking area to prep your boat and be sure your boat is ready to be launched, especially if others are waiting. I like to remove the transom saver, disconnect the hold down straps, hook up the Lowrance, pull some rods out of the locker, place the boat bumpers in place, tie a rope to a cleat and load the boat with anything that might be in the truck. That way all I have to do is back down, disconnect the winch strap and I’m good to go.

Some things that are required while boating are as follows. A PFD, personal flotation device, for everyone on board and don’t forget to wear the PFD, especially when running across the water. If your thrown from the boat you could get knocked unconscious and with a PFD on it could save your life, especially if fishing alone. You will also need a throwable life cushion, which is required by federal law.

Next a fire extinguisher in the event of a fire you will be glad you have it. Some kind of emergency sounding device. A paddle incase something happens to your motor. A spare rope suitable for towing

While running the big motor always be sure to have a lanyard attached to your kill switch and life vest just incase you happen to get thrown overboard. Taking the time to do this will assure that in the event something happens and your accidentally thrown overboard the motor will shut off which could save your life as well as innocent people who might be in harms way. Not only that but it will stop your boat from slamming into shore.

With the warm weather people can be tempted to drink alcohol while on the water. Personally, I feel this is a very bad ideal, especially if your operating a high power bass boat. Besides being a bad ideal, I know here in California its against the law. If you want to have a cold one wait until your off the water but don’t drink and drive if your going to be on the road. If your camping, wait until you get to your camp site, if your going home, wait until you get there. It’s not worth loosing your license or your life over.

Be aware of your surroundings while on the water, especially when running across the water, watch for obstructions such as rock piles and trees just below the surface. Keep an eye on the other guy. Way to often I have seen people on other forms of other watercraft get “Tunnel Vision” and they seem blind to what’s going on around them. On one of my favorite lakes, every year, at least 1 person on a jet ski dies because they are not paying attention and get ran over by a full sized boat. I know that I would feel bad if I hit someone, even if it wasn’t my fault.

I know I didn’t cover everything and these are just a few safety tips. Be careful out there and at the same time enjoy yourself while on the water.

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!

Straight out of the box most of the hooks that come stock on crankbait’s leave something to be desired. I’ve tried sharpening my hooks in the past and I’ve just never been good at it. Maybe I need to have a sit down with a friend who is experienced with sharpening hooks and have him school me because I know there have been times that I’ve been on the water and dulled a hook on a rock or tree and didnt have a replacement hook with me and it would have been nice if I could have just touched up the hook a little. 

Several companies make quality replacement hook, from my personal experience, so this is just my opinion, while Gamakatsu hooks used to be one of the very best, I feel that over the years their quality control has gone down some. I have found that one pack will be great while the next pack, lets just say, leaves something to be desired.

In my opinion the Daiichi Death Trap Trebles are some of the finest made, yes they are a sponsor of but after using them I can honestly say that I would not hesitate to pay full price for them, in my opinion, they are that good! As to which size hook to use just match up the size of the hook that came originally on the lure. Some people like to go either smaller or bigger but I believe the lure companies used a specific size after tons of research to be sure the lure runs true and it achieves the best action and the hooks don’t get tangled with each other.

After replacing the hooks, and me being me, I can’t leave well enough alone and have to make what I consider are improvements. Years back I remember buying an Excalibur Fat Free Shad crankbait that had what was called a Rotating Treble Hook which according to the company featured a 6-degree counter rotating shaft in each hook bend. All this meant was that the points of the hooks shafts are slightly bent so the points are not lined up with the shaft. According to the company “This gives them a counter rotating angle in each hook bend, each of the 2 free points of the rotating treble hook travels counter clockwise once contact is made. This movement of the hook points results in at least one other point coming into contact with the fish! This unique treble hook can increase your hook ups by 30%!” From my personal experiences, this little modification has helped me hook and land more crankbait bass. The biggest down side that I have found to modifying the hooks in this manner is they seem to grab everything, sticks, trees, rocks, etc. To perform this modification is very simple. All I do is use a pair of pliers, grab the hook close to the bend and bend them slightly so the point is not in line with the shaft.

I have been intrigued by the new Basstar SpinTech Treble hooks with the built in “Swivel” but have yet to give them a try. In my opinion the ideal of a treble hook that spins freely should mean less bass lost because as the fish throws his head back and forth he will not be able to use the hook as leverage against the lure to shake the hook because the hook spins instead of holding still.

Try changing out or just sharpening and modifying your stock hooks and I can pretty much promise that you will land more fish.

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 the new knee was not quite stable enough to take the Champion out, recently  I decided to head up north to the Owens Valley to do some bass fishing at some of the ponds and slews off of the Owens River. One nice thing to fishing this area is you can pull up right next to the water, or at least very close to it, and not have to hike to the water. Of course with my knee still healing and not being able to stand or walk for for any lenght of time heading up north was a good choice for me.

So I pull up to my first spot and flip out a jig. Before it could hit the bottom I feel a tick and see my line running to towards the cat tails on the opposite side of the shore. Before I could tell myself to set the hook stupid, the fish was already in the reeds and digging in further. I tried horsing him out but when your only using 10 pound fluorocarbon you can only apply so much pressure. I also tried the old, “give him slack and he will come out trick” but of course he just went further into the weeds. After a few minutes I just pulled until the line broke. Time to re-rig. The next cast out the same thing happens but this time I’m ready for him, drill him and get a nice 2 pounder out of the water. The next 3 casts netted the same results, each bass was a carbon copy of the first one I got in. “Wow, that’s 5 casts and 5 bites, its gonna be a great day”. I continued to work the area but nothing more happening, onto the next spot.

I pull up to the next spot and am thinking that this spot wanted a jig just like the last one, nope. I threw the jig for about half an hour and couldn’t even get a sniffer. So I switch up to a Senko thinking they would eat it, nope they didn’t want that either. Half an hour later I changed to drop shotting a 4 inch worm. That was the ticket, 5 casts, 4 bites, 3 bass landed with the biggest only being maybe 2 ½ pounds but fun none the less. Then the wind started to pickup making it difficult to feel the weight so after 5 more casts with the drop shot I went back to the jig because it’s heavier and I could feel it. Too bad that the jig was all I could feel, HA!

By now the wind was really blowing and I figured it was time to switch to a spinnerbait, which turned out to be a wise decision. I caught 4 more bass on the blade before the wind was just making it to miserable to continue to try and fish at this spot so it’s onto spot 3, which didn’t produce, as well as spots 4 and 5. I then figured I’d go back to my first stop and see if I could get anymore jig fish so off I went.

First cast, BAM! I reel down and set the hook and get him coming towards me, he tried getting into the weeds but not this time buddy. He’s a nice 2 ½ pounder and as I’m swinging him up I notice that there is line hanging out of his mouth. I grab him by the lip and notice that he has my jig stuck in his lip and my other jig stuck inside his mouth. Yes, he was the one that broke me off a few hours earlier. I continued to work the area for about half an hour before deciding to call it a day.

Of course all bass were released to be caught another day and seeing how none of them were very big I didn’t bother taking any pictures. It was nice being able to get out and catch a bunch of bass even though non of them were Big Uns. I can hardly wait until the doctor thinks my knee is stable enough to take the Champion out.

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!

Recently I met a fellow bass fisherman named Evan Schaible. After a brief conversation with him I knew he was a very knowledgeable bass fisherman so I asked him if he would consider sharing some of his tips and be a guest writer on my site, which is something I have never done in the past. At first he seemed a bit reluctant but finally figured he would give it a try. After I read the draft he sent me I was happy he decided to give it a try.

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!

For those who might be on a limited budget, just starting out or just don’t want to carry a lot of tackle, today I’ll talk about a few basic items and how to use them that should make for a successful outing.

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!

After several weeks of intense physical therapy and a major case of cabin fever I finally got the blessing from my doctor as well as my physical therapist to go out and do some fishing. However, my doctor says that he does not think I would be steady enough to take the Champion out yet. You see, he’s been in bass boats before and knows that they are basically a hull with a deck therefore you don’t have anything to grab onto if the knee happens to buckle or get unsteady when a wave comes along, which makes sense to me. He did say that he thought a pontoon type boat would probably work well because it has side rails for support if needed as well as seats to sit and relax on and I know they rent them at my home lake of Isabella. I decided that seeing how its been awhile since I’d been fishing I was going to try and catch a toad so I rig up 2
G.Loomis Swimbait Rods, 1 Senko Rod, 1 Worm rod with a 16 inch worm, 1 Jig Rod, 1 Drop Shot Rod and a Crappie/Split Shot Rod.

Cindy and I had the truck loaded and ready to go bright and early, pulled out of the garage. Hit the Home Link button, a.k.a. the garage door opener, the door started to close then went back up. Hmm, a fluke possibly, so I hit it again and it did the same thing. OK, there’s gotta be something blocking the sensor, so I get out of the truck to check it out and indeed find a piece of paper in front of it so I remove it, hop back into the truck, press the button again and nothing, GRRRRR. After awhile I get it working and even though we didn’t get to leave as early as I wanted to, were finally on the road. Woo Hoo!

Now, anyone who knows Lake Isabella in the spring time they know that the wind always starts blowing hard at 1:00 and just gets worse from there. Due to time constraints I figure there is no need in even attempting to rent a pontoon boat because chances are I wouldn’t be able to take it to the areas I wanted to fish so I figure why spend all the money on something that I couldn’t really utilize so I figured I’ll just beat the bank in a few easy accessible areas. One thing that I love about Isabella is its one of the few lakes in CA that you can still back right down to the water.

We arrive at the lake and the wind is already starting to blow but that’s not going to stop me. First stop, Dean’s marina. I start casting an 8 inch Hudd along the calm side of the docks. On my 4^th cast I almost have my rod ripped out of my hands, OOOOOHHHH, YEAHHHHHHH! FISH ON! The bass comes out of the water and its at least a 10 pounder, there were people crappie fishing on the docks and they were amazed at the size of her. Anyhow, remember how I said I was casting along the docks of the marina? Well this bass decided that he was going to run under the marina, which of course was good for him but bad for me. I ended up loosing the bass as well as my Hudd. I tied on another Hudd and made countless more casts but nothing doing so I break out a Senko and end up catching one that weighed almost a pound and a half. I continued working the same general area by driving and parking in different area’s working a jig and drop shot but after about an hour more without any more bites its onto stop number 2.

We make our way out to Engineers point and I Start out throwing the Hudd for about an 30 minutes but nothing doing so I break out the 16 inch worm and slowly drag it along the bottom. I feel the tell tale tap and pressure so I reel down and drill him and the fight is on. I get him in and as it turned out he was actually shorter that the big ole worm I caught him on. He weighed maybe a pound and a half as well. I continued to work the area for about 30 minutes with the worm and then a jig and its time to make a move. So its off to Kissack cove

I start out throwing the Hudd looking to land that big bass. After about 45 minutes its big worm time, 15 casts and nothing doing so its Senko time. First cast with it, tap, feel the pressure, swing, fish on! Another carbon copy of the other 2, oh well, at least I’m catching a few fish. I continue to work the Senko for about 30 minutes without any bites so I figure its time to go after some Crappie.

Because the water is kind of dirty I start throwing a 1/32
Blakemore Slab Daddy’s Crappie Jigs in the parrot head color and I proceed to get into them. I ended up catching a total of 9 of them but most of them were only about hand sized, not the “Slabs” I was hoping for but it was still fun. I did get one that went about a pound but didn’t feel like cleaning just 1 crappie so I gave it to an elderly gentleman that was fishing next to me. Time to make a move to Jophin cove to see if I can get into some bigger crappie.

Driving towards the spot, as I round the corner I notice the shoreline is pretty packed with people but I figured I’d still check it out. I pulled up and parked, then sat in my truck for about 15 minutes to see what was happening. I saw a few crappie caught but the ones I saw were the same size hand sized ones I was catching earlier so I figured why bother with the crowds and went back to Kissack.

I backed down to the shore line and tried the 8 inch Hudd for awhile before so I figured I’d give the 6 inch model a try. On my second cast I get a viscous strike, as soon as I swung to set the hook I realized that I had not tightened my drag so I didn’t stick the fish. I then tighten up the drag and continued to throw it for about 30 minutes, no love. Next its jig time, nothing. Break out the Senko. 3 casts later as I’m reeling it in fast to make another cast a bass comes rushing up but at the last second he turns away. I think he saw my mug and it scared him, HA! After a few more casts with the Senko, I break out my split shot rig, which is a
Shimano Stradic FI Spinning Reels CI4 on a G.Loomis Greenwater Spinning Rods  and on the 2^nd cast he bit it. While he was only a little over 2 pounds it was still fun. I continued to fish for about another 15 minutes but by this time my knee is pretty sore from being on it so its time to call it a day. I didn’t bother taking any pictures because in my opinion I didn’t catch anything worth taking a picture of.

In my opinion the maiden voyage on my new knee was a success. Total fish count for the day, 4 bass and 9 crappie. While I didn’t get any bass worth taking pictures of it did me a lot of good mentally just to be able to get out and wet a line. Hopefully the next time I’ll be able to get to the lake early enough to rent a Pontoon boat and really wack em! I thought about heading back over today but I’m still a little sore and figure I should relax and not over due it but I will be getting back on the water very soon.

Now all I have to do is continue pushing myself at the physical therapy so I’ll soon be steady enough to take the Champion out and do some serious fishing.

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!