Paul Roberts

Wait and see. This pond may be fine. I certainly wouldn't write off a pond because of otters. They may end up specializing in certain size fish -likely the most abundant of a certain size. This would be a great question for DNR people working on their otter reintroduction project. You know, you can expect ponds to vary over the years in bass populations anyway. Otters or not, your pond may end up with some poor hatch years, and poorer fishing down the road. It's pretty common to have waters become hot fisheries, then poor, then hot again. This is more than norm than otherwise. I'd definitely report your otter sighting to the DNR. They will probably want to know about them, if they don't already. If anything, one of the cool things about being anglers is the cool things we get to see that so many others don't.

Hester, I never knew muskrats would eat fish. Neat! I'll adjust my record LOL Regardless, fish certainly isn't a their usual food. I certainly wouldn't be too concerned about them, or beavers. I have seen where 'rats can affect pond levels slightly by burrowing into the dam causing leaks. I worked at a private duck preserve that maintained several ponds and the beavers would sometimes dam up the overflow. Man what a job to clear that out! Several ponds I fish have beavers (all have muskrats), and the DOW has erected a chicken wire fence at the outlet, and around some of the trees around the pond. They've also fenced the area around the beaver dam so no one will disturb them. I enjoy seeing them. Man, I'd LOVE to see otters.

For the record: Beavers and muskrats both are rodents and both are herbivores. They do not eat fish. Beavers eat the cambium layer of certain trees and shrubs. 'Rats especially love cattail roots. Both make mound nests where material is available. Otherwise they dig burrows at waterline. Otters are carnivores that specialize on fish. They are threatened or endangered over most of their range. It would be a serious legal offense to disturb them in any way. In fact, I highly doubt there are otters in VA, but I'd check that out. Bass are ubiquitous, otters threatened to endangered everywhere. Beavers and 'rats won't bother the bass.

I have such a bait too. It was a cheap knock-off topwater that never worked right. It was a slim shape that came with fore and aft propellers. I took them off and it's slim nose would allow it to dive like a torpedo and then bob back up nose first, appearing to nearly leap out of the water. Man bass would crush it at times. I still use it. The Subwalk is essentially the same thing, but not so buoyant.

Kevin, Are these tough days you are describing always sunny bluebird days? Curious. Paul

Nice review, thanks ghost. I bought a couple too. If the lure has good action then there will be times when we can make it work. In ghost's particular case my guess is the shad in the area, many likely winter weakened, had a lot to do with the fast action. Nice to know the Subwalk shined there. Like your color choices too -a natural for clear water and the pearl for murkier water. I'm also assuming this early spring water had suspended material in it and that pearl Subwalk did a good job of looking and acting like a loopy shad! Again, very nice review.

I'd noticed that some of the best small bass waters I've fished for larger bass, had pike, or in one case pickeral, in them. And I'd assumed it had to do with pike keeping bluegills and small bass in check, allowing surviving bass better growth. I currently live in Colorado and there is a lake here with largemouths WAY above the norm in size. It has produced many bass over 7lbs, and even a 13-1/2lb that surpassed the state record by 2 lbs and was released. This lake too has pike, and some big ones. I'd always wondered whether pike could be a good management tool for large bass fisheries in some circumstances. Many managers argue, though, that most anglers would not be happy with large bass management because such waters often result in fewer smaller bass that would offer "numbers" fishing -the type most anglers like.

RoLo, Excellent!

It concentric: Pick the right lake/pond Pick the best area of the lake/pond for the season Find out the best structure for the season and conditions Find the best cover/breaks on the structure for that time Divine the best tackle, lures and presentation Fine tune the presentation Adjust as things change All the pieces mentioned in the original post are important. You just have to rule out the wrongs and narrow down the rights...

Hey Marty, I'm originally from the Rochester area. The rest of my clan are all there. I cut my teeth so to speak, for bass anyway, at Mendon Ponds.

If you are curious about the bass' world, and how bass perceive their world, it's a great book. It about the science, and written by a scientist; albeit one who works for a large tackle manufacturer. He appears to take the spirit of science appropriately, not dismissing the industry but not distorting information either. His writing is not entertaining. I'm not convinced this book will help anglers add fish to their livewells directly, but may help us make better decisions on the water; at least in helping dispel some misunderstandings about how bass operate, what their limitations are, and some things might influence a bass' decision to take. A good example is the section on scent: There are a whole lot of things out there touted as attractants that fish simply can't smell -they lack the receptors for these substances. We probably catch a lot of bass in spite of ourselves. Always dissappointing is the fact that science moves at a tedious snails' pace -just chipping away at the world making us realize we'll be long dead before they really figure it all out. So, the experiments described offer a bit of insight each, and beg for whole lot more.

This is my rig. The motor is off it right now. I was using a 20hp but it scared me a little.

Hmmmm...I'm not so big on football...and I do love walleyes and perch caught through the ice...And another thing, I like my tomatoes red! End of subject! LOL

Powerman, LOL a record per zip code! That's good. I might just have mine LOL! My point isn't about world records, although admittedly that's what the original post mentioned. It's about the appropriate perception and recognition of big bass. A glaring example is the BassMaster "Lunker Club" that only recognizes 10lb and up largemouths. In more than half the country, that's not even possible! What's up BassMaster?? You have readers all over the country, and some pretty proud anglers with their 6 or 7lb northern largemouths! (Is that akin to a 10lb florida?? I dunno what the number might be.) Correct me if I'm wrong Johnnydel, but I think that was the gist of the thread?

Johnnydel, your NOT a "loser", and that's the real point here. The magazines that tout only floridanus subspecies bass, and those that get sucked into the myth, are the real losers. And by "losers" I don't mean the derogatory sense of the word here. It's a lost perception of what a 3, 4, or 6lb bass means in most waters.

Excellent question -holy moly! Excellent responses too. I agree, without expensive genetic testing, maintaining meaningful "official" records would be impossible. But, this does not mean that magazines, and angler webpages couldn't offer meaningful recognition of angler catches, for boasting (not my thing) and better, for the information. This might be done on a regional (like IF does it), or better, a state by state basis. I think states with a known history of Florida strain bass stocking could be highlighted in red, as well. The largest northern subspecies largemouth ever caught was a 15+ freak taken in MA. Otherwise all others seem to peak out in the 11lb range. An accurately weighed 6lb northern largemouth is a rare fish in the majority of lakes and ponds throughout the country. Maybe an 8 in the south, although again I think floridanus states should be noted. BassMaster magazine's Lunker Club only recognizes bass over 10lbs! This entirely precludes entry for the majority of anglers across the country. I also think it sets an unreachable bar and set of expectations for anglers around the country. I have to say I'm tired of hearing about 10lb bass here in the north. Every kid has a story of such mythical beasts seen, lost, or caught by a buddy. I don't mind the sharing of the dream; It's the unrealistic proportions of that dream that bothers me. Not that there aren't 8 and even 10lb bass in the north, but not in the frequency I hear of them. I think a lot of this has to do with the unreal expectations set up by the media (magazines and TV bassin'). Excellent topic.

Ditto the Sternberg book(s). Oooops! Somewhere you'd talked about wind. Guess it was another post.

Iced in! Excellent! I thought you were in the south where this kind of thing might not set up so strongly. You are a lucky man, or very soon will be.

Oh yes, Another wind tip for you... In the early spring and again in the fall (but less consistent) wind direction is a major factor for me in locating active bass. This may or may not set up the same where you are -in Texas I believe? But here (farther north) teh temperature difference between cold winter water and sun warmed water is big. Bluegills and bass will pile into warmed areas thick -and it can be pure carnage. The wind can play a big role: The heat from sunlight doesn't penetrate very far and warm water floats so the wind will blow that warm water around. I take surface temps downwind looking for places where warm water has pile onto a shoreline or better a cove. Bait and bass can pile in heavy if the difference is enough. I look for good heating days with consistent wind -it's worth taking the day off work on those days. Last spring I tore a ligament in my elbow catching big bass over two days in such an area the size of my living room. I'm still fishing left-handed because of it. The spot I'm hitting today is pretty much the same deal -bass are smaller though. I'll be chasing heated water for a while, and watching the weather and wind to concentrate it.

I still have that one: "IF Secret System" its titled. Some of the same stuff pertaining to calendar periods and lake types is in the LM handbook though, except the Fish, Location Presentation stuff -but this last you probably already have imbedded. You can get the handbooks through IF, or Amazon.com. They are about $12 new I think. Maybe the Secret System booklet is still available. Well...I'm headed to one of my ponds right now -first day out with a fishing rod ;D . The pond is half free of ice. It has a big year class from 2001 that followed a drought -growth has been exceptional. Last spring they'd reached carbon-copy 16"-17" footballs. Some may break 18 this year. We'll see. Today I'm hoping to find a few. Water's still below 50 though, so I'm rigged for extremely slow speed. They should be piled on the north shore with the heat -some of the bluegills are there already. If anything it'll be nice to be casting again, and finally have a chance to fine-tune all the lures I doctored this winter: :-/ >

Hey Muddy, The In-Fisherman "Handbook of Strategies" for Largemouth Bass has a good chapter that covers natural lakes: Locating Bass in Natural Lakes; When, Where, Why. It covers natural lake structure, weeds and weedlines, depth, bass activity, competition, and the like. The book is worth having in general.

Re-posted. Pics of some of my larger bass last year from 7 different small public Northern Colorado waters. Six of these particular fish broke 19". They were caught on a variety of lures. All taken from shore or float tube.

Well I don't know Florida, but I'll take a stab at it. Two thoughts: Florida bass are more temperature sensitive than northern LMB, so even though it hasn't felt cold, it is winter there and the bass may have gone to deeper more temperature stable water. You should be approaching spawning time -Yes? Maybe the bass are now spawning oriented and looking for spawning sites. Your inlet may not have the hard bottom they prefer. But, since you say fishing was good in this area until October, and the other sub-tropical species have left too, only leaving the bluegills, I'd venture that what your seeing is a response to "winter" conditions. I'll bet they'll be back. In the meantime you should start hoofing and re-find your fish. Interesting. Let us know what happens.

Well, I'm not sure if China would make your criteria -from what I saw. Farm raised bass wouldn't count. And if anyone saw you with expensive gear catching fish, and then LETTING THEM GO, they'd think you were nuts.

I bought mine thru Amazon. Wasn't expensive.