Paul Roberts

Another great article by Russ. He really knows his fishing and his products.

Tin, could you elaborate? I'm not disagreeing -possibly the opposite. I'm intrigued. What have you seen? This might just need to be another thread. Not disagreeing with Catt's premise here either. Just that there are differences between the two species.

nothing sad about that! Congrats!

clarkvstewart wrote:

There's a jig for every occasion. In this case use a cone-head swim jig of proper weight -1/8 would probably work. Don't get down about some muck on your jig, unless it's too thick. Pick it off and cast again.

That's the right attitude. It's easy to read mags, about others fishing trips on -line, and watch videos, and compare your results against that. It looks like everyone ELSE is catching fish. I tend to make my catches in spurts; find 'em, fine tune presentation, and then make my catches. It's not just about catching, there's plenty of fishing involved each day to get into the catching. Be patient with yourself in the meantime.

No rules...but some guidelines that over a lot of scenarios: -clear water -reduced visibility -(sky and water surface conditions) -shallow water (unless very clear and bass are looking up for baitfish -usaully shad or bluegills) -Hmmmm...others I'm foregetting folks??

It's possible for larger bass to bite short. But, my guess is many were small fish. Keep fishing. Good bass, taking well, aren't all that difficult to hook on a T-rig. 2/0 is OK with a slim 6", 3/0 better, esp for bulkier bodied baits. Perseverance, sharp hooks, and a strong hook set should get you through this learning phase. Over time (not long after some success) you'll be able to identify small fish bites from larger ones.

Strategy is much more than baits. It's bass location, activity, and spookiness to name a few key factors. As to baits, you don't need to divine the "perfect" bait for a given scenario. Lots of baits can be put to good use. Instead of beating a location to death with various lures, move. Find willing bass for presentations you are comfortable with. Choose a T-rigged plastic (and/or a jig), a topwater, and a faster bait like tandem SB or swim jig. Stick to these and expand over time. If you aren't catching, move first, change baits on your next pass through. Changing locations may even mean finding another water body altogether. Some waters the shallows become almost devoid of bigger fish. Others may fish poorly certain times of year, or poorly for your presentation level and options. Pick a couple good baits and move until you find fish. Get a "beat" going that works; burn gas and boot tread. Then expand from there, both in locations, seasons and lure options.

If you look around this pond you can see that Mother Nature is not the only influence here by a long shot. Assuming a human-made pond on a heavily human influenced landscape does not need human management is not recognizing that nature isn't all about bass fishing quality or lots of other potential interests. At the same time, re-stocking a partial kill is not likely necessary. Knocking off some of the mouths that need to be fed can allow more food for the remainder. Problem here though is, if this happens every few years, this COULD represent a cap on age (and therefore size) of those fish. If this turned out to be an oxygen issue it could be affecting the larger fish first. If it's a localized (say leeward shore) problem (as in algae), then it's possible the pond can continue to produce quality fish. You didn't say where you are at though is OKC Oklahoma? Those appear to be good sized sunfish they should feed good sized bass. A good sign. Four to 5lb bass might represent old fish in the north a good sign. In OK, I'm wondering what the likely growth should reach for say 8 -10 year old bass -6lbs? 8lbs? I duuno. Maybe the top end sizes indicate that age is compromised in that pond (despite periodic partial reductions). Anyway, just some stuff to chew on. Here's some recent stuff on algae blloms and fish kills: http://www.bigindianabass.typepad.com/ Scroll down to: Algae and Its Aftermath

Catt wrote: My guess is it's more a northern phenomenon. In TX it would have to be a pretty deep lake not to heat through. That's a guess since I don't fish and take temps down there. The thermocline TC gradually gets pushed deeper as upper waters heat. In many (northern) waters you can look for a TC anywhere beyond 15feet and it gets deeper as the summer progresses. I've seen TCs as deep as 120 feet in August. Lakes that get heavily windswept may have the TC break up by mixing. I fish ponds that are mostly less than 15ft deep so my TCs are gone by the end of June. JuniorFisher wrote: You might just be fishing as "deep" as you need to at this point in the year.

I guess I actually COULD go just about anywhere. But I don't get enough time on my own local waters as it is. I'd love to knock off work today and hit one of my ponds.

CWB --that might be the head! I emailed the company bc it's a little confusing. I hope that's it! Thanks!

Good stuff here by all, esp Wayne P and WRB. I take temps religiously, but mostly to better understand how aquatic systems work. I really don't like the feeling of not understanding something. One thing I would add to what's been said is that, while temp is important to fish and you should get a bead on the real limitations that exist in your waters through the seasons (again WRB and Wayne hit these pretty well), on a short term basis --what we deal with when fishing --it's rare for water temps too change too drastically. Water both takes on and gives up heat slowly, buffering air (weather) effects. On top of this, bass seem not to respond adversely to temp changes less than say 6 to 8F in the short term -these are very large changes not commonly seen. You are most apt to see such drastic changes in spring and fall, and they affect the shallows mostly. As tnhiker44 said, a few degrees either way just doesn't stop bass from hunting, or at least their willingness to hunt. So...you could get by pretty well without taking temps. You decide how much you want to know. Just running down what Wayne and WRB introduced is more than most anglers do.

You definitely want to verify that. Stories have a way of becoming inflated. I've been there before. Definitely verify it before you go chasing phantoms. Your conserv dept will probably respond to your inquiry readily. Find them online and send an email or call the fisheries office covering the lake in question.

Very neat! Would love to hear more about what you've seen. How about another thread?

Well I tried an experiment -a foolish one. I mashed the barb completely barb flat on a jig. On the first two hook-ups two airborne bass spit 'em like greased butter. I went back to a barb. This was on the pelagic pond in my first post above -full of YOY bass and perch possibly making the fishing difficult with regular gear. So I went back with an UL, 4lb line and a box of little jigs. Before being driven off by wind and rain I lipped five 14-16" LM and brought some perch home. ULs are cool, you just suddenly feel weight, then you can't do anything with 'em for several minutes. Actually I was a bit too light in rod for these fish. Will move up a tad next time. I actually stayed too long -the rain just wouldn't let up. I was completely drenched despite waders and rain jacket. I have a hard time giving it up. But on the hike out I admonished myself for not waiting another day for this nasty front to blow through. I did want to take temps though -finding the water just holding heat (still 75F). I was able to warm my stiffened hands in the water. Here's one from yesterday on the 1/16oz grub with missing maxillary and premaxillary bones. This is how the one with the infection above will look next year.

Very nice! I fished Mendon as early as the early 1970s. I LOVED those ponds. Could make those my home water if I lived there again. There are some bigger ones out there! Get a MH (medium heavy) rod and fish T-rigged plastics and jigs w/trailer and you should find them.

Grass Carp Channel Cat Bluegill White Bass Drum Flathead Cat Red-Eared Slider (turtle) Bowfin Largemouth Bass Longnose Gar Dunno!

Daniel, I have a friend who is a really good CB fisher, and he catches 1000 bass a year. He gave barbless cranks a go (200 fish) and said he too couldn't see a difference. I believe he did finally decide on micro-barbs for his cranks. I lost a good bass last week that may have been the first casualty of going barbless for me. It struck on the initial descent a long ways out and made one of those mouth wide open head shaking leaps. I reacted, as I do on a jump, by pulling low and hard on the rod. But she was too far out and the plug actually came speeding back at me! Barbs might, or might not, have made a difference in that case. She was a big one though. Doesn't deter me, as again, I just didn't start losing more fish after going barbless. That one fish just got me to shorten my casts so I can better control those beasts. And the alternative is not OK with me. Oh yeah, the Slider head I used for those finesse fish was micro-barbed -I mashed down the barb 'til it was almost closed. I'm not apt to go fully barbless with jigs due to the compact weight. Several of those finesse fish jumped, including two full head shakers from that football in the photo.

John, you are right, at 1/16 the heads you suggest would probably work quite well. I went ahead and ordered some of the Bagley's heads, and some Do-It's too. Roger, thanks for looking into that for me. I ordered some of them too. They have a larger hook than I'd like -being a 3/0 wide-gap. I have some Slider heads (1/8) I bought at BP that have a heavy black nickle round bend. I'm pretty sure it's a Slider head but cannot find it on-line. Anyway, I'm a jig head freak -never too many styles in my jig boxes. Tom, Very cool observation. My guess is those plankton were not responding to the light but to a circadian (24hr) rhythm, entrained to sunrise. That kind of activity happens in freshwater environments too and explains some daily fish behavior patterns like that of whitefish, cisco, and lake trout in deep northern lakes. I assume there are patterns in bass waters we just don't notice. As I familiarize myself with my sonar I'm playing around a lot with sensitivity and colorline and finding such neat things as plankton, sediment clouds from foraging carp, and large schools of YOY fishes. I'm bringing an UL and tiny jigs on my next trip to catch some of those tiny guys -real curious as to what they are. Some see this kind of thing as esoterica. But I see it as a creeping toward a deeper more wholistic understanding of just what the hell is going on out there lol. Just fascinating. Thanks for sharing that.

So...Where did you find your fish? How did you catch 'em??

Well...You are all correct! So Shaddap now! ;D Defn: "Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate." This would describe crayfish just fine. But...hibernation is really meant to describe something special that occurs in some mammals -warm blooded animals. The info I had was that craws become active/inactive at the 50F mark. And indeed, as a trout fisher, by mid spring, about the time water temps broke 50F, the brown trout would be packed with craws like bellies full of gravel. There was a definite migration. I also sampled creeks with nets and seines while teaching aquatic ecology to fly-fishing groups, and found craws packed in leak packs (in slack eddies) in winter. But, I've read of some species that can be "active" at somewhat lower temps. In ponds and lakes, most crayfish seem to do the same thing I saw in streams. I dunno what craws do exactly in my bass waters, but they do disappear by winter, and reappear along shorelines in spring. This was really noticeable in one pond that is part of my LM spawning check beat. The craws appeared along shore in late April as water temps reached upper 50s just prior to the bass spawn. I started seeing their freshly dug burrows (under cobbles -not in mud 'chimneys' like the southern ones) then, and even watched some cleaning out burrows. Here's a cool report from IF this past winter; an article on ice fishing for catfish in Colorado reservoirs. The guys used UW video and found areas of deep water in which they described the bottom as carpeted with thousands of over-wintering crayfish. How cool is that!

Thanks guys. I know lots of people hate throwing cranks around cover. Weeds are the safest place to start. They sure are fun to fish. Roger, I don't see that as odd at all -Slider heads are great fish catchers. Maybe we're just old school. There are a lot of models now, but I'd still like another, for shallow vegetation -the weedless Pro model (with the heavier hook), in 1/16oz. Lightest is 1/8. And the is hook too small and light in the Spider. The above fish was caught on a 1/8 Spider. Great head where cover is light enough to use the light hook. I really cut my teeth bass fishing with UL jigworms in the late 70s. I became something of a local sensation too (lol) -which wasn't difficult mixed in amongst the Lucky 13s and Hula Poppers of the day. People were asking me to take them fishing, but I was too shy then. I still love the technique and was thrilled to pull it out again. Felt just like home. Instant confidence.