Paul Roberts

I'm still trying to get a grasp on this "channel" thing, I'm fairly new at this. Is there anyway you could explain this with what you previously wrote? Creek channels are where creeks/water drainages ran through through the landscape before it was flooded. As you drive around in your car you'll notice that creeks/streams often have larger trees along them bc of added moisture, richer soils, and he fact that farmer's don't need to cut trees to create fields where there is a creek. Now flood the area and you can see what meant by "creek channels" and larger treelines. Treelines may be old hedgerows too, or steep areas that were never cut or.... . Take a drive and imagine things flooded.

I do the same as Catt describes. I carry a voice recorder with me during the trip. I used to carry a little notebook, and still do for mapping. Nothing like visuals for mapping, and for quantifications (data). But there's nothing like voice recordings for all the details and epiphanies of the trip. After 30 years of journaling, I realize I start re-writing history the moment I'm off the water. Memory is a strange thing. It appears to be a tool we adapt to needs that can stretch beyond the facts. The facts are a requirement; Interpretations subject to change.

I've got the opposite going on. Unseasonably cool weather is still on us here in CO. This past week has seen nights as low as 48F! Water temps should be in the in the low 80s now (in the shallows), but it's now in the low 70s. I'm either fishing the dense cover in shallower ponds or hitting offshore structure in the deeper res's by this time. And usually by this time of year I've long adjusted to the error of not breaking out the heavy tackle early enough to wrestle bass out of dense milfoil. So yesterday I hit a good shallow pond (like one big flat for you big water fishers) armed with ALL heavy rigs, only to find very little vege development. Surface temp was 72F. The bass were VERY finicky. They liked a swum jig in bluegill hues around the remaining bluegill colonies. They were aggressive, and would rush it, throwing awesome wakes, but intercept the jig gingerly. Set and I'd feel weight, and then they gone! At first I thought I was just missing em. I double checked my hook -AOK. After over a dozen such hits I had to conclude that something was amiss with the lure. I believe they were taking the pork trailer only. I tried speed changes, then a color change, with the same response. One bass, holding in a sparse milfoil bed just beyond a bluegill colony, hit 5 times with strong wake-throwing rushes! But we never hooked up. Curiously, they were not interested in a swimming worm. Nor an active topwater. The sun disappeared before I could find something that would fit. I would have liked to down-size to a smaller jig n trailer, or go to a soft plastic jerk. But those were home in my "spring box". Go figure! Keeping good track of those fish is really a full time job, Unfortunately, I have couple other competing full time jobs LOL. WRB: You are right that we all tend to operate from our own experience -can't be any other way really. The danger is trying to extrapolate across too many waters and circumstances. In looking at the physiology and other such stuff about bass, I'm trying to focus on key limitations. Then see how these play out in the real world.

Excellent post.

That's what the physiology says, and my interpretations of it so far. The whole story is far from complete though. Aquatic systems are VERY complex. And each one you visit, every hour of each day, and each year throw up complications. That's why aquatic creatures, esp in the upper rungs of the food chain are so darn complex. Light, temperature, DO (dissolved oxygen), vegetation, forage (type and availability), lake topography, etc ... all play an ever changing role. What it comes down to at the practical level is that each day each hour we are having to reinvent the wheel -Mother nature appears to be unwilling to have it any other way. Get used to it. ;D It just ain't cookbook. slonezp brings that to the table in his post. Bass feeding well, and shallow in 83F water. That happens in many waters. I've seen it and shared some pretty interesting conversations with knowledgeable anglers on it. I could explain much of it, but not all to my satisfaction. I think it has to do with the interactions between the variables -some become more important as conditions/circumstances change. Change is what we can count on. It's the way of life. I for one want to know the variables, and peruse examples of how they play out in as many situations as possible. It's the main reason I'm on this board. I can't be everywhere and I want to be LOL. Love the conversation gents.

Yes. Add proximity to deep water to my weedline and stump scenario -at least in waters with depth. I fish ponds a lot and many aren't very deep. Access to deep water isn't so much the critical factor it can be in deeper waters, or is much less obvious, but breaklines and breaks--things that contain/influence bass movement--are still key.

Your scenario is being repeated all across the country. Welcome btw.

Yes, they are metabolically revved up, but at a certain temperature (approaching mid 80s), bass may not be able to find enough food for those revved up engines, and will decrease hunting activity. Apparently this is most common in the north bc (even though Florida bass have similar upper temp peaks) northern waters do not crank out the food that southern waters do. While you may see southern bass in some waters ripping into bait in 90deg water temps, in the north, and many other waters around the country, you'll likely be night fishing to get onto a good shallow bite. The alternative is to fish deeper -if that's available. This seeming paradox is something you can see -after really hot spells bass get thin in many waters. Watch for it. They simply cannot catch enough food to keep up with their racing metabolism. Bob Lusk has said that the major difference between northern and southern bass (northern strain) in terms of growth potential lies in food production of their respective waters. According to Bob, both N and S actually have a similar number of potential growth days -those between 60F and ~82F. Above 80+, (an imprecise number) bass growth suffers. The wild card is the sheer amount of readily available food. It has appeared to me from what I've seen that shallow bass daytime activity decreases during summer and so far, this has coincided with high water temps -approaching the mid 80s.

There just isn't a simple answer. I could blah blah blah about the physiology behind it but... all said and done each water and often, each day, is different. Don't assume anything -fish and see what comes, or you can make happen. In many waters, esp in the north, bass will reduce active activity when water temps break the lower 80s. If you are measuring surface temps though, they are not likely the whole story: It may be 77 say, at 10feet. I've found any speed may work. Sorry to say, but you have to sort that out each day. I have seen times during high temps when a very fast erratic retrieve will trigger some fish that wouldn't take on a normal retrieve. I always try this under those conditions, and it's a fast way to find out. I tend to start faster, and slow down if I need to. If I'm not catching on faster or moderate retrieves, then I'll slow down -often going to plastics to do this.

Actually, there are two basic bladder structure types in our freshwater fishes: physoclistus (closed off from the mouth) and physostomous (with a duct connected to the mouth). The latter can burp gas, and change depth quickly. Physoclists, such as bass and yellow perch, cannot do this. They must exchange gasses through the blood, via the rete mirabilis (a vascular structure), and this takes some time. Researchers have commented that it's a remarkably efficient system, but nothing like that of physostomes -like trout, stripers, and shad.

Interesting. As to the difference in pressure change as depth increases: I've actually seen numbers put to this, essentially showing the range of vertical movement for fish to be greater when deeper than when closer to the surface. Here's a cool vid I saw that, in my mind, shows negative, then neutral, buoyancy in a feeding bass: It opens with a bass that appears to be sinking, and finning to hold its position. I thought, "It's negatively buoyant. It's dropped below its acclimation level." After the bass captures the craw the diver releases, the bass swims straight up, toward its acclimation level. At 0.45 in the vid -the very last view of the bass -it appears to lay out horizontal and stop finning. Wish they cameraman followed the fish just a bit longer. Note how deep the feeding diver was in relation to the bass' final destination. I believe what this is what we're seeing in this vid. I think that's pretty cool to see, and may say something about the relatively narrow band of water bass tend to live in most of the time.

Thanks, Tommy. A breakline can be ANYTHING that contains bass in time and space. There! I actually wrote something LESS voluminous than Catt! LOL. How does he put it, "Wisdom lies in the consolidation of knowledge" -or something a long those lines. OK...so much for brevity... It's not (often) that mature bass hunt as a "school", moving together like starlings, or shad (the likelihood of this depends on forage type and water layout though). Instead, since bass most commonly operate in loose aggregations, a break or breakline can collect them. Fishing is tough, and comparatively boring, when we are left to catch one bass at a time. It's multiple catches we are after. Breaklines, and esp breaks on them, give us by far the best shot at "the motherload". Because of mature bass' loose associations with one another, they are not always piled up in motherloads. But, at times, conditions and circumstances can come together. That's what we are seeking. It's much more satisfying, and frequent, when you know what to look for. So-called "breaklines", and "breaks" on them, are where the game of bass fishing is played. An easy to "see" example is an isolated stump on a weed line. The weedline is the breakline, the stump is the break. That stump is NOT the "bass' "home". It is merely a stopping point, a hold, or in some (awesome) cases, a break in the cover that offers a hunting advantage to bass. They know a good spot when they see it. So does an astute angler. For the bass it's a matter of survival, for us it's almost as bad -boredom! ;D Ditto the reference points. Buoys, lining up objects on shore, GPS, and something Catt has penned about: visualizing the unseen structure below -like it were an easily visible shoreline.

I have caught fish bouncing huds on the bottom in 40-50ft of water and they don't float in the live well. When these fish are hooked they generally shoot to the surface in a matter of seconds like a torpedo. So my question is do smaller fish take more time to adjust than bigger fish? I have found that fish which voluntarily come up in many cases have adjusted. And if they can adjust in a matter of seconds could they comfortably adjust over the course of an hour? What depth change requires major adjustment? Can a fish move from 3' of water to say 15' without major a adjustment? Most fish I have caught in 15' of water do not need to be fizzed when brought up. A lot of the water I fish is pretty deep and clear. When they are up shallow fish are pretty easy to spot. There is very little cover for these fish to relate to. If they stay the same depth suspended as they do up shallow why don't I see more fish roaming over deeper water? Really good observations and questions. I'll offer my understanding at this point: It's not definitively known how rapidly bass can adjust to depth change. The best educated guesses so far (based on studies on other physoclistus -closed bladder- fishes) is that bladder adjustment is about a foot or two per hour -if they decide to make such a change. It may be energetically costly to do so, so it appears most bass do not do this often. From angler observations via sonar, bass may make moves of 15feet quickly, say to smack a bait, but must return to acclimation depth soon. Short term changes of less than 10 feet are known for feeding bouts, but this would not be comfortable or energy efficient for a prolonged period. I've watched shallow buoyant hunters (I can see them finning to maintain position) drop out of sight, making a roughly 4foot depth change into cover, or into the gloom of depth. These were LM. From studies and angler observations, SM and SP appear to have more leeway in depth change than LM. As to why you don't see suspended bass: Bass do not often like to be visible from the surface. When you see them they are either spawning, sunning (at times, but usually close to cover), or briefly exposed while feeding. When they were feeding up in the water column they were likely positively buoyant, afterwards dropping a bit deeper and becoming neutral again. It doesn't take much depth change to allow a bass to "disappear". They appear smaller with each inch of depth gain. And they are very well camouflaged. Amazes me how easily they can disappear when they want to. As to 50ft catches that come shallow that don't float in the live-well. From what I understand at this point, that shouldn't be possible. Maybe large bass are more capable in this regard than is known, and those in your water's regularly make good use of this. I read one study in which yellow perch (physoclists) made nightly changes of 20feet. If the payoff can counter the effort/energy deficit, maybe it's possible. But another explanation might be the way sonar depicts discrete objects like fish. They are recorded on screen in relation to the distance from the transducer not necessarily their depth. A big hook at 50 feet might be 50 feet from the TD, but only 20feet deep, or much less.

To add, what those "breaks" are are places that hold resting fish, or stop them for a period when moving. They commonly move from break to break as they hunt. Find and probe those breaks. They are the "sweet spots" on the structure. In general, the depths offer security, the flats food. The breaks offer orientation, security, and access to food. Graph time -mapping time -is critical. Be patient. You are on the right track. When you fish, be patient with expectations. Structure and breaks aren't magic. Fish your strengths (and add new ones as places require). Sounds like you are well on your way to becoming "lucky".

Blessed you are. Thanks for sharing. Love your narratives as well. Right along I'd been thinking you were fishing some private waters. But, it sounds like you have Lake Fork all to yourself LOL. In other words, sounds like you understand a few things. Parrallelium eh? Not sure I can actually say all that. ;D

IF the guides get grooved from use, it'll be the tip-top, and that is a flick-of-a-bic repair.

Thanks All. I carry a lot of lures, picked for the particular water I'm fishing, and I use them as conditions call. As it clouded I used the swimjig and shallow crank. When the sky darkened and surface churned I burned the SB. When the surface calmed again, still under deep clouds, I pulled out the waker. Could've used other things, but that's what I chose. I fished the same water yesterday with a bud under a variety of conditions, from brilliant sun with calm surface to dark sky and churning surface. We did damage with a finesse worm, jig-n-pork, a SB burned or yo-yo'd, and a spook. My buddy Josh used a slow buzzer during the tempests and a small SB when surface mellowed. Under the bright sky and calm surface though, we were both relegated to the finesse stuff. We didn't tally, but certainly caught 50 or more between us. My best guess is that lures look stupid much of the time -under high vis conditions. Darken the sky, ripple the surface, and you can get away with lots of things. Now factor in season, depth, forage, clarity, cover types, current, etc... and tackle boxes and rod racks can grow to ridiculous proportions. Josh and I joked about that too: When it gets dark and stormy start switching lures so you can tell your wife you really do use all those lures, and catch fish on em too.

Speed.

Get a short (~5") fine file from a hardware store. Most advice is to sharpen three sides: the two insides and the top. This is needed for very large hooks, but is overkill for "normal" hooks. I use the EZ-Lap too, but for very small hooks -trout flies. Great sharpener for that. I make one swipe along one of those three sides. All you need is a point that will stick, not slide, on your thumbnail. When that point dulls I swipe the next side ... . I like straight points as they are easy to sharpen. Beaked (curved in) points are tougher to get at and have shorter points so can't be sharpened as many times. I am sold on quality hooks, and want them serviceable for as long as possible. I've had hooks I've sharpened enough that their wasn't enough point left to make a sharp tip on. Then i chuck it.

Good post fourbizz. Makes me wish I HAD deep water lol. The deepest water body I fish is all of 22 feet -in spring. But, I think what you say is true almost anytime "you can't see what's down there".

June 9th, 2010 I think June is my favorite month for bass fishing. There is SO much going on, to look for and potentially capitalize on: spawn is over, bass are hungry and aggressive (water temps are rising into metabolic peak), plant and insect life explodes with life of all types around my ponds. Should I hunt for bluegill colonies and the bass that key on them? Hit the developing slop areas for bass on bluegills on the damselfly emergence? Target developing weed beds away from shore as bass stack up on them? It's all good. Today I opted for the latter developing milfoil in a favorite res for this scenario. But, you can't plan your fishing a year in advance, as the calendar is a pretty rough tracker of things in nature, and I found the milfoil much more expansive than I'd hoped. It's a small res (~25acres) and I planned to hit it on a front day (by weather watching), but the front actually blew in last night and by morning it was clearing, until afternoon thundershowers rolled in. Lightning even chased me off for about 20 minutes. The torrential downpours didn't phase me. It's been a cool dark spring, but this week finally felt summery with air temps in the 80s over the last few days. With the front, today's temps were in the 70s. Water temps looked like this: 77F ST 76F @ 8ft 68F @ 12ft You can see summer heat has penetrated, and the entire water column of this shallow res. was fair game. Milfoil is the predominant plant and it was already pretty developed. Gone already were the isolated clumps and strands that attract concentrations of bass. Today I found large gardens to ply bass would be almost everywhere. Normally this date would have less weed development, but conditions over the winter allowed good milfoil survival in this particular res (the small res a stone's throw away is still almost milfoil-less). The larger bass would most likely to be in around the larger beds, so I kicked around while it was sunny, looking for them. With the dark conditions I fished near surface baits, asking the fish to come up. I used a tandem SB (bulged), a super-shallow crank, a waker, a 1/4oz swim jig, and a 3/8oz "vege" jig-n-pork for deeper probing. I took maybe 25 or so with the majority being small -11 to 14, with a few bigger. Three broke 17inches two of those on the SB and one on a jig. Bass fry. The only other species these could be at this time would be yellow perch, but they should be bigger now. These fry were in pond center well away from the shoreline where they were hatched. Ralph Manns mentioned that bass fry commonly leave the shallows in many waters to graze the burgeoning zooplankton crops away from shore. He wonders if this behavior is one of the behaviors that sets up the away-from-shore movements many, if not most, bass make throughout their lives, even in non-shad based fisheries. SwimJig. Bulged SB Super shallow crank. This took fish well, but mostly smaller fish. One bass spit up this bluegill as it leapt at boatside. All bass jumped today it's a water temperature thing pure exuberance. I modified a #11 jointed Rap for my waker. Heat the lip with a lighter and bend it down, re-tune, and it wakes with a snaky wiggle. Bend it up and you get a super shallow runner about a foot or so. This was the largest fish of the day a porker. I shot a video clip of landing a bass in a tube, via the knee clamp. But I found I need two hands on heavier bass to get them in proper position. The resulting vid didn't make it look quite so easy lol.

I see. Interesting. My initial thought was cold water and something hormonal. Suski added the exertion possibility. Looks like it's time for some experiments. Wonder if Suski will pick it up.

Well...you can expect most pre-spawn bass to have red teeth bc they are in cold water. But the brilliant red of pre-pre-spawn is long gone. Early enough in the season all the bass have it, even little (immature) ones. It's not related to sexual maturity, or the spawn. Wayne has been following up on an interesting idea put forth by the biologist, Cory Suski -that it is related to the exertion from fighting, much more prominent cold water. I've caught a few with some red left, and at this point these have been the larger fish -maybe bc it takes longer to subdue them. I thought that if I fought one longer than normal it might turn up more red, so I put a couple back in to fight more, but they don't. They are already tuckered or subdued and swim lazy circles or just turn over and are done. Keep looking all.

No such thing. I suppose the best route, if you are prone to "panic", is to add finesse, even UL gear to get you into the largest population of bass in every water -the little ones. Sometimes doing that will bring your confidence back up enough to handle the down time.

Awesome read. I can feel the wind in my face, smell the water and the night air, and see that moon. And if I stretch it a little farther, I can smell bass on my hands.