Paul Roberts

I'm an ambidextrous angler now. A few years ago I tore a ligament in my right elbow -my Doc's first case of 'bass elbow' he said. I had to go lefty, and it was tough going for a while >. But I am now dangerous with both hands with spinning as well as casting tackle. 8-)

Eventually you'll have enough control to get your line where you want it to go. Next is getting your tippet/fly there. Your leader configuration is VERY important. I'd suggest you make your own bc purchased tapers, esp lower line one's may not be helpful. The basic formula: 60% butt, 20% transition, 20% tippet. Then there's more... later.

LOL, yeah it's just one of those "I wonder" things. LoudounFisher, THAT is the red I'm talking about. I've seen it only close to ice-out, and on some fish it's on the throat and pelvic girdle too -just under the skin. Something is up with that -dunno what that is or what it means.

Thanks Wayne. By the looks of that last pic, the teeth on your bass must be bigger than most lol!

Easy choice for me too, just go fishing LOL. I have no interest in chasing a needle in a haystack -esp when I know that needle is not even there. I have all the fishing intrigue I need in my ponds. And no, there is nothing even close to the state record in them.

"There is only as much beauty available in nature as we are prepared to appreciate, and not a grain more." -HD Thoreau A favorite quote of mine, which in fishing means, the more knowledge you carry onto the water with you, the more you'll see when are out there. Read! Lotsa good articles on this site. And I suggesct you pick up the In-Fisherman Handbook of Strategies" -esp the LM bass one.

Good luck with it. Let us know what you find.

Nice! So.... where were they? And how did you fish?

You can tie direct -use a Uni-knot, a clinch may slip on a big one. Any earth tone will work. If it's low visib conditions I like black. If it's high vis I go paler and more tranclucent -I have liked green pumpkin or a dark watermelonish sorta thing in my bluegill-rich waters. W&M did make some high end rods back when -I had a Blue Diamond for a long while. And they apparently have just re-entered that space. If the rod is graphite it'll be a good jig rod. But be aware some early graphites had breakage issues -notably the Blue Diamond series. If it's glass it may still make a decent jig rod, you just have to play closer attention for anything funny, and watch your line. Hope the bass are aggressive and will whomp that jig -that always helps . Jigging triggers: splashdown (under low vis conditions), the fall (be ready to adjust speed), accelerations on the swim, and bumping stuff -bottom (and other hard stuff) in particular.

Now that's interesting! And another one that's testable. Who wants to do it?? Problem solved: It's from their teeth chattering!! ;D

Congrats! You're gonna be a papa! And nice pics too. She can fish, and take pix too.

Mine from last week were about like that. I guess I'm talking about that brilliant scarlet -I've ONLY seen that very close to ice-out. I believe I missed it this year. Will try to remember to keep looking though.

Yes, I guess in the bigger waters that could be the case here too.

My guess is the red teeth thing is over, except in the far north now. From what I've seen, it's most intense (brilliant scarlet) right around ice-out.

X2 Man, that is a big one! The things that make a difference, or trigger fish, can be subtle. Being asleep at the switch is a deathknell -relegating you to the "hoping the fish find YOU" syndrome.

WOW! I cant believe you've never seen that! Every year I catch countless bass from early March to almost May that have very bloody tails, even anal fins. I fish in southern indiana, so I dont think its a southern thing. It's a spawning thing. I just started finding the red tooth patches yesterday, only on the bass from deeper water! :-? No, I haven't -at least that I've noticed. Certainly not the very bloody tails I see in photos of big southern bass. I see tail wear, usually on the lower part, but not the bright blood red I see in photos, and in tooth patches. I don't think the bloody tails is a spawning thing either as it's seen pre-spawn, and females don't do the bed preparation -at least I've never seen that in my waters. I think the bloody tails are not due to (physical) spawning activity, nor do red tooth pads involve crayfish eating -although many bass do eat craws in spring. It appears that both are related by timing only.

I guess my idea about exploring new waters is, right now the way you're feeling, not to try and solve something you don't understand. If you've been hitting the same water 8 times (or even 4) and blanked, I'd suggest going elsewhere, where conditions are different, as not all water's are the same -even small ponds right next to each other! The other options are to tough it out, waiting for conditions to change that fit your strengths, or try to expand your horizons and figure it out. But it sounds like you're just wanting to get back to swinging -you can play later. I know the feeling! Shimmy is very right though, in that things WILL change there; You'll hit it eventually. Maybe, if you are fishing a large and very diverse lake, maybe a location change is needed, as Shimmy suggests. But if this is not the case, there are likely other waters you can walk up to and catch a few. I fish a lot of small waters, some right next to each other. No two are acting the same at any one time. When I want to experiment, I pick a pond offering the conditions I'm interested in. Or, I may pick a pond and figure something out. But if I just want to CATCH (like after not getting out for awhile >), I'll move through quickly and check different waters for something that gives me a the best "set up", with the tackle and know-how I have at my disposal. I bring several rigs bc I can't always call the shots as seasons roll by pretty fast -esp when I'm working more than fishing . I guess another way to look at it is: If you were fishing a tournament (limited time) you would not go to one spot and try to figure em out. You'd sample as much water as possible to find the best odds for your strengths.

Wrist -this is probably the biggest habit to break, bc we use our wrists when we throw just about anythng else human's have thrown, since prehistory -rocks, mangos, spears, balls lol. With a fly-rod the flexing tip becomes the wrist. So your own wrist is out of the equation -which doesn't make sense to our brain when we try to "throw" a fly line. Most of the motion, in short to medium casting, is in the fore arm. (Longer casting will involve the upper arm, but back off on that for now. It'll likely cause sloppiness you cannot afford. Fly-casting is about control, not power -at least for now. Know that an accomplished caster, that understands what needs to be done, can cast 75feet with the forearm only.) Here's one way to look at it: The line goes where the tip goes. What you do NOT want, is a circular (from side view) "arc" of that rod tip. You want that tip to travel in a straight vector. I've heard it described: If your rod tip was a paint brush, you'd want to paint a long straight line on the ceiling, not a short one. All the throwing vector (the power loaded in the rod) should go into throwing the line straight out (forward and back) and not into the water in front of you, or the ground behind you. You accomplish this by NOT breaking your wrist. You NEVER point the rod tip at the ground, either in front or behind you. The vector is straight behind and ahead. Also, VERY little power is needed to cast, even for distance -the rod does the work. The wait ("for the line to straighten") is really more about loading the rod so it can do it's work. Once the rod is loaded, like a spring, you smoothly accelerate forward, then come to an abrupt stop. This is NOT a jerking motion to get the stop, VERY little power is needed -it's a smooth acceleration and stop, to direct that stored power, then crisply unleash it. It looks like a short stroke "punch". The stop has been described as "like hammering a nail", but with very little power from you -the rod has all the power needed to throw all 90feet of that line. Your job is to simply control what the direction of that power wave. Later, you'll be able to do A LOT of different things with that line, leader, tippet, and fly. Another difficult part of this is the back-cast is the same as the fore-cast. Problem is, we are used to "punching" forward, but we never punch, or hammer nails, backwards! This takes practice for the coordination involved. But remember, little power comes from you, it's all in the rod. Fly casting is often about your staying out of the way, instead of trying to muster distance, when all that's really needed is a little coordination. And that takes practice. Hang in there. You'll get it. What your wrist does do is keep the line from running into itself on longer casts. You don't want the rod to travel in the exact same plane on the fore and back casts. The further you cast (more line in the air) the more important this is. (When you get there, you'll run into "tailing loops", and I'll jump the gun by saying this problem lies in your wrist too). What you do is cant the rod (with your wrist and arm like your hitch-hiking) slightly out on the back cast. The rod tip cuts a tight oval in the air above you. One a very long cast, this is more pronounced. A good book about casting in general is Lefty Kreh's Longer Fly-Casting. Actually anything by Lefty is GREAT. He's really got casting and instruction down. And he's a really accomplished angler too. One more thing: I used to make yarn rods for the people I instructed. A rod tip, or I'd go out and pick goldenrod stems, with a piece of yarn on the tip -about twice the length of the "rod". Heavy ("ponytail") yarn is needed, but I got by with regular knitting yarns by wetting them a bit to add the needed mass. They work GREAT. They slow the cast down a bit so you have time to see what's happening. I taught em how to keep a tight loop (the straight vector thing) and had them practice in their homes. Fish taught them the rest. My students were catching within a week or two. From there the fish, and water, take over as instructors. It's a challenging and VERY satisfying path -esp on moving water. Fascinating game.

The ones I haven't learned the ins and outs of yet.

I guess there are enough potential "mistakes" to be made on any one outing, that I wouldn't even call them that. But, some things we can control, before we even make a cast, and a top one is sharpening hooks. They matter SO much. The GoTo/fishing history thing is a necessary evil I think. You gotta start somewhere. Versatility, like confidence, takes knowledge and experience. Maybe "bad habits" is a better word than "mistakes"?

brushhoggin, you (or your biologist) could be onto something. What I don't see is this happening in the warm temps (that I can remember) -even hard fighters, and I do see it in really small (cold water) bass -one's that don't fight too much before I yank em in. On some days, really early in the season, all the bass, regardless of size have the brilliant blood red tooth pads. But...I like the idea of watching them to see if they might lose the color after catching them. Would be worth trying. Interesting, and testable, idea.

I would expect they'd be away from current -that would be primary. Telemetry in some tidal waters have shown bass winter in sloughs away from the main river -sometimes very shallow. Seems avoiding current is primary. So...tell us...what kind of habitat were those fish during your T found in?

That's a great tip. You know, the first time I ever threw an entire fly-line was at night on grass -with a 7ft 4wt. Shutting out vision puts me in "touch" with the world.

OK, guess I should bring this back up for whoever is interested. I caught a dozen bass last week, first day out and within a week of complete ice-out. I wasn't thinking about the red teeth thing, and tend to hit smaller faster warming waters early: Water temps were already in the 48-51F range, and the red was already on it's way out -looking red-orange. When I've seen the bright blood-red it's been real close to ice out in very cold water.

I've not seen the "bloody tails" thing, making me wonder if it's mostly a southern thing. Anyway, check this out, see if it possibly jives: http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1258140749/0