Paul Roberts

The more I've bass fished the more I've come to realize that bass are catchable all year long. I have friends who have broken ice to get at bass and done well. I've noticed that fishing does slow as water temps drop below 50. There are lots of really good threads from previous years you can search as we've discussed this many times before.

I love to experiment, and add new tricks. And these tricks can be real additions. But lures are cheap and it's easy to end up with more than you really have time for. Rich IS one heck of an angler. But realize he's far from new to the game, dialed into some specific waters, and developed his preferences. Doesn't mean there aren't others that fish differently and do well, even have found patterns Rich doesn't hit. Rich developed his repertoire over many years and you can be sure he's done his share of testing. His KISS kit wasn't simple in the making. I specifically remember adding soft plastic jerks from Rich's writing -raving -about the Slug-Go. Can't offer definitive advice here except to say keep experimenting within your budget and develop your own KISS kit -you'll have to earn it though. You can definitely fish from a tiny box, and I do -but this tiny kit is what hits the water and it's contents vary locationally and seasonally.

Test it against a spring scale BEFORE you test against a PB.

Interesting. Good stuff, Roger. (Man, that hunting is hard to give up.)

Nice to see you've been able to keep busy (casting) during the winter, Dwight. Guess it beats digging through 4ft of snow and 2 ft of ice. ;D What were your water temps??

If it had a spiny dorsal I'd say white bass, but ... I can't see fins by the photo. Don't see an adipose fin either -which troutperch have. It's not a Clupeid though.

Nice J! I think that preyfish is a troutperch -Percopsis. I remember trawling up some in Oneida. Some years they were an important walleye food, esp when perch, or shad, #s were down.

Glad to see you hooked up with Tuckman. And congrats on #2.

Yup.

Nice report. Looks like fun. Interesting looking meanmouth. Jim have anything to say about the tough bite?

Awesome. Nice looking water, with fish in them too. And big ones to boot! Congrats on findin and catchin.

Excellent. LOTS in that post.

Ya got me. That's a new one. Did he fight 'til your arm was tired? ;D I'll file that one away and just keep watching.

There are LOTS of bass down there. Most of the time they could care less about your lure. The lure has to do something to intrigue the bass. Sitting motionless on bottom, does the trick. But it is slow going. Start horizontal, playing with speed and other triggers. If no go, start going vertical. Play with speed (rate of fall), down to dead-sticking. Sounds like a summer bite to me. Deeper water and slow going.

Seems the more we look, and the more we share, the more slammed doors get pried open. As is too often the case, we can be our own worst enemy.

http://www.bigindianabass.com/big_indiana_bass/2010/07/hot-weather-technique-guaranteed.html See: Hot Weather Technique - Guaranteed

Warped spinal columns are often the result of damage or disease when fish in the fry stage. As to the origin of John's brown: Hatchery trout, at least ones raised beyond fingerling size, end up with warped fins -the dorsal, pecs, and pelvics -in that order. It's blamed on crowding in the hatchery. Severity ranges from severe warping, to just a concave bend or kink in the leading edge of the dorsal and/or pectorals. I have pics of all of this, but not in digital format at this point. If the fish was stocked as a fingerling, as steelhead are in tribs, or various species in the lake itself, then it can be harder to tell. Seems a lot of browns I caught in LO had warped fins so they may have been stocked a bit older. In I Creek it was easier to tell: With so many yearling browns and domestic bows stocked for put-n-take, all of which had warped finds, the streambred fish stood out with their full fins. There are habits differences too (related to residency) that result in color differences, but I've gone sufficiently OT as it is.

Very nice. Sorry to hear about Roger.

None that I know of, but haven't looked. Not what you're after but some personal observations: Susceptibility to infection varies seasonally. Late in the spawn I begin to see small fungal infections developing on a lot of spawners. This is true of trout in many waters too. I once asked a fish pathologist at a major research university about handling fish and he said that "if a fish is healthy, it's slime layer will do it's job. No problem." I also asked whether stomach pumping by lavage would hurt fish, if I didn't introduce physical trauma. I was a bit surprised by his fervent response: "Absolutely not. Lavage won't hurt fish stomachs." I have never had any qualms about laying healthy fish down on the ground, unless the fish is notably unhealthy. And I do not let them dry out, or set them on something absorbant -like dry soil or dry grass. If it sticks to the fish, then it's potentially compromised the slime layer. Not that that fish is going to get an infection it can't handle, but I avoid that. Lastly, have you ever seen smallies that had been rooting crayfish out of rock? They get cuts and wear marks, that heal. Lotsa bass, and trout, get tail wear, that only very rarely develops a serious infection. At least I've never seen a serious one. Unhealthy water (temperature, O2, pollutants) or unheatlhy fish, and risks are different. As for holding bass out of water, I dunno. I rarely do it very long. The risks vary with temperature though -at least with trout and I assume most fish. With trout it's critical, >70F and browns are at risk of dying while you try to compose a photo. They turn pale and then can't be revived. Never seen that with bass though. LMs esp, are pretty tough cookies. Never caught one in 90F water though. If you find some good research out there, fill us in. Places to look are fish pathologists either with state fisheries agencies or veterinary research universities.

That makes me want to come up with a digestive friendly soft plastics line. There are a number of 'biodegradable' SPs out there. I just haven't bit yet. Not that they wouldn't work, I just have so many other ones. Lately I've been using the 3X type and they are darn tough for fish to get off a hook. The worst, wacky-rigged plastics, esp those super soft, crumbly (and darn effective) Senko's.

I've caught a number of malformed fish. Spinal deformities are not all that uncommon. Is that one also missing it's spiny dorsal fin? As to the ingested soft plastic; It's more common than we might realize: http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/skinny-fish.html I see, or suspect it, several times a season. A couple weeks ago I caught small but pot-bellied smallie that then spit up a plastic worm at boatside. When I lipped it, the belly skin was distended, but was now like an empty sack. I suspect the worm had been in there a while. It appeared healthy but wish I'd really checked it for muscle mass. Fish can go a while without eating.

Grass carp? Or regular carp?

Bill Plummer's Bass Frog! I LOVED those! Most realistic swimming frog bait I've seen. Wish they still made them. Every attempt at a re-make failed in comparison. I've seriously thought of making some myself.

You're in AZ! Keep that box outta the sun. If that doesn't work, and you have to keep those SK baits in a cooler, then it's time to buy some other brand CBs.

What you are seeing is phytoplankton -minute suspended algae that forms some fraction of the base of the food chains in your lake. There are different species that grow at different times of the year, but most grow in summer, esp after sunny periods. Such rapid growth after sunny periods is called a "bloom".