jaymc

White reflects all wave lengths of color equally. It is bright under almost any condition, offering good contrast, but almost never too bright. A clear lure creates sound and disturbance which tells the bass there is something there in trouble. But since it doesn't reflect any light the bass doesn't see anything that would alarm it. Black contrasts well against a night sky. Generally, during the day it offers too much contrast and looks unnatural. Most of the light from the sun during the day is green/yellow. Grass reflects green yellow light. Anything green will tend to be bathed in that light and somewhat brighter. Therefore the subtle green of watermelon contrasts against the grass but subtely.

A fish's brain is like a little computer. It basically has two functions. One is to to consume more calories than it expends in capturing its food, and the other is to keep its host from becoming food. The tiny bass computer stores prey images. Each prey item has certain salient features which identify it as prey. A bass probably doesn't see its entire prey item until the last second before he engulfs it. By that time the bass is committed to the attack. However the bass is constantly receiving these messages from real prey. A good lure tends to exaggerate one or more features of the prey item. The trick is not to exaggerate to the point that it triggers a fear response more than a feeding response. Lets look at a jig. Bass probably find crayfish as much by sound as sight. A jig moving through the water creates sound the bass picks up. When the bass makes visual contact it sees the movement of the skirt and trailer. When it sees a real crayfish it sees mostly the movement of the crayfish's wiggly appendages. The skirt and trailer are actually an exaggeration of those wiggly appendages. Now the bass brainmakes a very quick calculation. Is the distance to the prey item right, and is the angle of attack correct. The bass can't waste its energy chasing something it cannot catch. The more agressive a fish is the more it is likely to respond to the exaggerations of an artificial bait.

In fifty years of fishing, mostly in upstate NY I've taken one 7 and one 7.2. The funny thing is they came on consecutive days. The 7.0 was on a crankbait I bought for 99cents out of a bargain bin, at a bait store, two days before. That fish came from the Oneida River in the old canal lock at Caughdenoy. The next day I got the 7.2 on a Moss Boss at Sandy Pond.

You don't even want to get me started on color in trout fishing. Color definitely makes a difference for trout. I've seen times when it makes all the difference for bass, also. But the post was about crankbaits. When you get a lure deep it is a whole different ball game.

In the latter part of summer smallies on L Ontario move onto the shoals and into bays to gorge on crayfish. If you drag a heavy weight over a rocky shoal or hump, (an elevator weight works real well) it stirs up the crayfish and the bass go nuts. In weedy lakes saavy flyfishermen us a variation of the carolina rig. They use a thiry foot section of fly line with a lead core called a shooting head. You throw that bad boy into the weeds and it crashes right through and takes your weedless fly along with it. Then you strip the wholle shebang back to you and repeat. That weighted line really disturbs the weeds and shakes out small critters hiding in them. That in turn stirs up the bass.

In physics there is truth. Light penetration in water is always problematic in that it varies widely with the depth at which you are fishing, the choppiness of the surface, the angle of the sun, and the amount of particles in suspension in the water. Beyond that, a bass' ability to see color is controversial.

Life is short. Watching other people fish on TV is a pathetic waste of time in my view. Was puttering around this morning and the TV was on for background noise. First time I ever saw this Moore charcter. My thought was I'd rather have root canal than spend a day in a boat with that clown.

Oh yeah, that's the deal. Thanks.

Here's the deal IMHO. The heavier the line the heavier the jig you are going to need. You'll need this to stay in touch with the jig. Ditto, the more the jig is dressed and the deeper it is fished. Also there is a huge advantage top lines that don't stretch much.

I've been fly fishing a little over fifty years so I do have a little knowledge. Don't try to find an "all around" rod. I would recommend a 9' rod for any float tubing. If you are not going to throw a bug bigger than a #4 Dahlberg or Whitlock popper I would still say a six weight is the smallest I would go. The TFO's and the Reddington Red starts are both great lines for the money. Actually the very top end rods are only justified if you are always fishing on the edge of distance. Orvis makes a 7'9' 5wt rod that has been around for years. The sell it in their Clearwater line for 159. But you can probably pick one up on E-Bay for less. It is a great stream rod. But the Reddington and TFO have 4wts that are very good also. For a reel, Cabelas has a graphite bomb for $19. It works fine for holding line. You can get an extra spool and use it for another line. Cortland 333 is a low end line. It works real well for throwing bass bugs.

For a couple that you won't find in every tackle box, try a Lewis Slapstick and a Heddon Moss Boss.

I belive that if you can find fish in an area where a crankbait can be presented it is by far the best bass lure ever. In natural northern lakes bass spend most of the year and most of their time buried in heavy vegetation or under brush, and you can't generally fish a crankbait there. If you can catch find fish on the edges you can clean up with a crankbait. The good news is when bass move to the weed edges they are usually agressive which maybe the reason the crank is so good.

I've always done that and never really thought about why I did it. I flipm the bail closed with my left hand and at the same time pull the line into pick up slot with my right. then I take a couple of turns until I feel the weight of the lure.

For the past 15 years I've been fishing almost exclusively with a fly rod, but age is catching up with me. I've got a bad disc in my neck and it really takes the fun out of fly casting. Anyways, I haven't bought a new spinning reel in at least 15 years. I note that all the manufacturers say they have anti-line twist gizmos. Do any of them work?

My experience with bass is almost entirely in natural northern lakes and rivers with LM and SM. Smallies in northern lakes move a lot. Interestingly, they tend to school by year class. They may feed on the same structure but it will be at different times of the day. I don't think northern LMB move much at all. They maybe on the bank when conditions are right like in low light periods but won't move very far when the sun comes up. And if the bank provides enough overhead cover, they won't move at all. They just bury in the heavy cover.

Sandy Pond on Lk Ontario is my favorite place on the planet the first two weeks of July.