Paul Roberts

Many mature bass do move "away from shore" and relate to main lake/pond areas by summer. But, there are water bodies, and areas of many water bodies, that will hold shoreline related bass all summer. Find these. X2 Not all areas within a given water body are the same in holding fish. And some areas fit your own presentation strengths better than others. Learn to recognize good habitat. Talk with other anglers, read, and keep your eyes open as you fish. Don't be afraid to ask permission if you see a nice looking pond. Often, no one simply asks.

Interesting. And a good point (as usual). Seems (the intensity of) fall and a lot of spring fishing (prior to the spawn) is mostly a northern phenomenon. This isn't new knowledge in the angling lexicon; InFisherman describes this in their writings. I don't have the experience in the south to put it into real context. Raul, What does fall look like for you? MbBass, I guess the going thinking is that "bass go on feeding binges" (temps fall and vegetation dies back exposing prey) and prey is bigger (young fishes hatched in summer having grown up). So, more aggressive (faster) techniques can work and may put more bass in the boat. Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits shine.

Ahhhhhhh.......Just what I needed. Didn't get a 20, but I did get to hear a buzzbait go down! A mood shot Not from yesterday.

Howdy X3

Glad you had such a great outing. Be safe. Those bass will be waitin' for you.

Strike King Grass King -The best broken cover spinnerbait for big bass ever made (or that I ever tied on LOL). I even wrote them about re-issuing it, and they replied that they had no plans of doing so anytime soon. I have 4 left. I also have a couple Timber-Spins, but sorry CWB, I'm keepin' 'em.

Seems the north and south are really quite different places. I've never fished in the south. Up here our transition periods are rapid and intense. I wonder if a lot of the "fall fishing" we hear about is more a northern thing -or at least more intense.

I'm headed out tomorrow to a pond with both largemouths and 20" smallies. 2nd warm day following a cold front, with towering cumulus and thundershowers expected in the afternoon. Can't get much more excited. I can see that buzzbait going down now. Maybe a jumpbait too, just for fun. And pigs in the slop too. And...

X2 What I'm interested in here is that bass, being ectothermic ("cold-blooded"), must behaviorally thermoregulate -like all other ectotherms. But water is very different than air, buffering heat changes. Bass in large water bodies appear to appreciate stability, whereas in the small shallow waters I'm spending my fishing time, those bass cannot escape what the weather dishes out. How do they cope? Is there anything useful in there? I think there is. Does it allow for the moment by moment decisions anglers need to make. Sometimes, yes, I've found. But certainly not always. There is an entire food chain of critters involved, often capricious conditions, and on top of this, an indirect and generally inefficient method of figuring this stuff out -angling. But it sure is intriguing, and fishing is just plain fun.

X2 I fish shallow vegetated waters in the north (nCO and sNY), and see the first major change following the first really cold cold-fronts (40-50F nights). Because the sun is lower in the sky and days shorter, re-heating doesn't occur as easily. This kills off vegetation (in the shallows first), exposing prey fishes. A feeding binge results. I've seen years when summer hangs on into September. But most years we get hit by serious cold fronts by then. In some waters (the shallowest that really heat up in summer reaching inefficient temps for bass) I see daytime action increasing just from gradual erosion of temps. But it's not the spectacular feeding binges we associate with fall. Following chilling (down into lower 70s), good warming days that bring surface temps back up strongly, can bring on very aggressive fish and intense midday fishing -buzzbait time. Fall is a time of change and brings on really good fishing -truly a period when bass noticeably fatten up. The above is how it seems to pan out in the waters I fish.

If you can do it without making the Ms. mad, go for it. But, I'm betting that it was more in the presentation, than in the rod/line. Love to hear others thoughts on this.

There's very little science aimed directly at weather and fishing success, except some newer stuff coming out of the UK looking at barometric pressure (see last IF). I fish smaller shallow waters that don't offer the stability offered by larger water bodies. In general, I like pre-frontal or stable, in that order. More specifically, I like post-frontal (yes, you read that right) in early spring, pre-frontal and stable in late spring through late summer (although a warming post-frontal can be good through June here) (In some waters, night is best in mid-summer). I have less experience with the fall, but believe I am seeing post-frontals coming on again by mid-fall. I like any weather but snow in late fall. The first good snow tends to close the fall. X2 But, if I can pick my days, I choose the above.

I have the same roll-over problem with the ***. Worse, though, is that they sink like rocks. A friend uses the Ribbits and they seem to be pretty easy to operate.

There has to be more to this. The density difference in fluoro wouldn't make that much of a difference -if both were 8lb lines. The biggest difference would be caused by line diameter, and actual weight of the bait. The fluoro may be a bit thinner -that would help, a bit. The other things I can think of would be actual weight of baits. Not all 1/8oz heads actually weigh 1/8oz. Were they the same brand? The other, probably biggest thing, would be how much line was laying out and exposed to the wind. Was he fishing more vertically -taking his fish closer to the boat? Were you casting a little bit further? Just curious.

Yeah, it's big water that can get a little too big, regardless of the craft at times. What I always enjoyed, besides the varied fishing, was the happy vacation spirit of virtually everyone. Thanks for sharing yours.

The 1000 Islands is a wonderful place, especially for a family vacation; Easy to keep everyone happy. And the fishing opportunities are phenomenal. I do miss it.

Interesting post. Thanks Rooster. Probably a few things at work here: -Fluoro is denser so it can maintain a straighter connection to the bait. And it's density should be an advantage in wind too. Your experience is very interesting. -A longer rod can be more sensitive because of the leverage that longer lever offers. I have a 7ft Kistler LTA I use for plastics that "gets heavy" real quick when a bass takes. But the most important piece is the graphite quality. A well made high modulus graphite rod is another world in terms of sensitivity. Everyone should save their pennies (dollars) to get one, especially for jigs and plastics. Shimano does make great rods.

Ooops! I see you got it working again. Scratch my last post. It's always a good idea to check screws on all reels, every now and then, as they can loosen. Some reels have minor flaws too; Once you understand them, you can work with them.

You should be able to get it to work. All reels need tweaking/servicing -at least those most of us can afford, and I wouldn't be surprised this is true with the latest "extravagants". Take it apart and see what's amiss, before you send it to the parts bin, or write off the manufacturer.

Thanks RW. It's a small knot too. I think you'll all like it.

Yes! Keep in mind, as amusing as this "experiment" was, it could easily be due to luck of the draw. Don't try to draw any conclusions here. Another point worth adding to the equation: A while back Ralph Manns was feeding wild bass in a pond over the course of, I believe, two seasons. He used dead shad. It took a while to train them to recognize the dead shad as food. But once they learned, they were on them instantly. What is relevant here is that, while training these bass, he said that bass are primarily visual and they had to get within 2 inches of those dead shad that had settled to the bottom to realize they were edible. Apparently there were no "scent trails" for bass to "home in on"; They had to be right on top of the shad and within a couple inches to smell them. Also, scent feeders like catfish, and carp, have unique adaptations for scent feeding -barbels coated with taste receptors, and for cats, even external taste receptors on their skin. Bass lack these. Scent may, as Bobby mentions, be more a flavor than an attractant, for bass. Is that right Bobby, or is there more to it?

Wow. Very nice. Beautiful coloration too. Congratulations.

I used the back to back Uni-Knots initially for braid to mono/fluoro leaders for several years. Then someone introduced me to the J-Knot. I used it all this season and like it MUCH better than the Uni's. It's much simpler to tie, you only have to tie one knot (instead of two Uni's), is less apt to seat imperfectly (the bane of any knot), and it holds as well, or better -I didn't have a single failure with it this year.

I have a couple Chatillon's. Paid $35 for them new about 25 years ago. Not sure what they are now. I have the IN-10 (10lb) for bass. What's important is calibration, over the full range. I use exercise weights to test the range (1, 2.5, 5lb). Occasionally I have to tweak it. Even this high quality scale is off a bit over the range, so I make sure it's dead on at the upper end, and just know it's a bit low at the low end -3oz low at 2lbs.

Those are some beautiful bass, in great condition. You've got some nice waters there. This is a great board. Welcome!