Paul Roberts

Look like playground slides to me? Bass love slides. It's a little known fact of bass behavior.

Here's a wise old/senescent bass, clipped from some video I shot yesterday. He/she is not long for the world -no longer able to capture prey. It defeated amazing odds to reach this state. It's size? About 16" long, and about all that pond could afford her -not terribly fertile. Even the bluegills are small, and the two are certainly related. A given bass could be very wise, having figured out a prosperous lifestyle, but not necessarily the one with the most growth potential in that water. An Ecologist would call this a trophic "false peak". I photo and video many bass with hook-bruised or mangled jaws in my public waters that receive a parade of anglers almost every day of the week. But I also shoot many with clean undamaged jaws. "Smarter" in these cases could have to do with avoiding anglers, or predators, or finding the top trophic peak. But it's all for naught in terms of getting BIG, if the water can't support it. In many, but not all, waters there are individuals that by capabilities and no small amount of luck are able to break the normal trophic limits of a given water body. They then have access to larger prey items too large for the vast majority of bass. Those are your BIG bass. Smart? Maybe. But "smarts" is only part of the formula. And I wouldn't discount the sheer amount of luck involved.

I've always get xtra spools for my reels and use them. I buy a spinning reel and 2 or 3 spools. Braid with a leader has cut down on that need some, but not entirely. Within a single trip I'll often carry a range of line weights and sometimes types. I also fish from shore and float tube so I'm limited in what I can carry.

There is some evidence that larger eyes with more vision cells let in more light and offer better resolution. Larger individual fish see better than smaller ones. Also, fish do learn from experience. In fact, this is pretty much what most of vertebrate life is all about. Fish actually are good learners. But, being fish, they are focused on different things than, say, we are. However, the basic infrastructure for learning -sensory and cognitive systems- are in place. Again, bass are darn good at being bass. And many bass die of a wise old age at only 2 or 3 lbs. Big certainly requires more food; more-so than "smarts". As to bass learning about fishing. They do. Just too much evidence out there. They learn quickly and have memories too -basic infrastructure. And they learn from watching other fish -part of the social cognitive infrastructure. Why do we still catch them? Variability in: sensory and cognitive capacities, "personality" (yes fish have individual personalities, as well as recognized personality types), environmental conditions and circumstances. Call it chaos. Why do we sometimes crash into other cars, even after driving for decades? Lotsa reasons. I believe that edified fish -that's most of em nowadays- get hooked because they made a mistake. "Edified" in my mind means that those fish have become aware of "danger" brought about by the actions of angling. Some of the biggest decisions fish make revolve around just what they put into their mouths. Not everything passes muster all the time. Otherwise, we wouldn't be even talking about all this stuff.

In the Philippines it is likely that the bass spawning period could last for 6 months or more. So, you will have young bass of many sizes and ages. With your warm waters, three inch fingerlings are probably a month or a little more old. That's a guess figuring fertilization to hatching to swim-up to fingerling at water temps around 80F. What you may want to do is talk to guides and locals and fisherman -everyone- and start recording dates bass are seen on beds. What is the earliest date -and latest. However, don't be surprised if the spawn season is so long that you could essentially be fishing for pre-spawn, spawn, post-spawn, and non-spawning fish for a good half of the year or more. Then, spawning season may have less significance than it does is most other places. If you are looking to fish for spawners in particular, say to search for trophy fish, you'll be spending half your year searching out spawners. You'll need to spend time standing up high on the bow of a Banca with polarized glasses on sunny days looking. You'll want to talk to locals to see where spawning beds have been located. Pantabangan has a lot of pretty hard bottom, so they could spawn in lots of places. In Lumot there is more soft silt so you'll want to find firmer bottom areas. Either place bass will avoid areas that are wind swept so the backs of coves and other protected areas would make most sense to check for bedding fish. Not sure in the tropics when the larger females will spawn. Probably earlier in the spawn season, but many may spawn more than once so big spawners could appear any time. Im guessing the spawn season commences Dec or Jan -just after the coldest "ber" months. Hope this helps. Let us know what you find. I was asking the same questions when I was there.

Are big bass smarter... I'm not qualified to talk about what "smart" is. But I do kinda shake my head when fisherman so often call bass "pea brained". All I can say is... That's one heck of a pea. Fish are capable of much more than people realize. Bass are very good at... being bass. Just what all that is is what we fisherman are trying to understand. Not terrible easy to do. As to big bass vs small bass. There are waters that produce many big bass, then there are waters that produce very few. In both cases bass that get big have to eat an awful lot. In waters that produce very few, those few individuals have figured something out. It may not be smarts as much as a mix of aggression, and luck -the food has to be there to support that growth. Since most fishing is now C&R, avoiding fisherman plays less a role. Lots of shy, skittish, "smart", uncatchable bass die of old age at less than 4lbs.

Good.

It takes between 2-3 weeks for fry to reach swim up stage from date of fertilization. Where I'm at I not uncommonly see bass fingerlings of ~3" in early spring that had wintered over. Growth can be slow in many places. In many of my waters bass go into winter at ~3" and come out at ~3".

Not sure what the question is.

There are differences in N and S bass, as well as FL bass. Each are locally adapted and transplants from N to S, and S to N -even among northern strain bass- tend to fail. However, and this is an interesting fact: Northern and FL LM have been found to have pretty much the same threshold temps, with the prime growth range being between 50 and 85F. Without adequate food to keep those engines stoked, FL bass -like N bass- also get thin, and adjust activity or location if possible, in water temps >~85F. Here, females often stay with individ males for a couple days. I see the same thing. What I think is happening is that fish, being cold-blooded, operate better as temps inc -esp in spring. The energy to carry out activity increases with water temp. But -considering other seasons- only to a certain point. Bass like other creatures have a temperature range in which their physiology operates, and peaks and declines. There are real numbers there that have been pretty consistently replicated. I too have seen bass at beds in cooler water: 55F for females and as low as 48F for males. But these temps are not when those eggs were laid. Photoperiod is directly coupled with heating. It is involved in entraining the endogenous rhythm, and heat supports both the growth and maturation of tissues, as well as the necessary physical activity of feeding and spawning.

Agree entirely with the importance of temperature change. However, there's still more to it. Drops aren't necessarily bad. In many waters, a drop from say 83 to 77 can be a boon. Rate is very important too. A change from 70 to 65 in 24 hours is a lot different than such a change in say 8hrs. And, if there's a trump card, it's availability/vulnerability of food.

Been fishing. It stunk. First. Looks like population of large bass is up. The upward trend over consecutive years would suggest a strong year class, or supportive environment, for bass survival and growth. Lots more big bass in the Bend now? They gotta be there to catch them. Some thoughts as to why March was such a strong month: Are most big bass females caught off on beds? If so, then maybe the high catch rate is due to an extraordinary spawn movement event. Tropical bass (well S of their native range) do not receive temperature cues (to speak of) as water temps are always above what we more northerners know as "spawning initiation temps". Tropical bass scarcely receive photoperiod cues either, although they do at some level I've discovered from living in the tropics. What researchers found for LM in Puerto Rico (18N) though was that bass spawned on water level rises. In my waters (40N) I've seen that bass have spectacular fry survival during wet springs, when water levels flood shoreline terrestrial cover providing complex cover for fry. According to fisheries managers, the greatest population surges for bass result from strong hatch/survival years. It would make sense then that the Puerto Rican observations on rising water levels are not simply an anomaly but possibly due to natural selection. The idea is that the selective forces that support success become inherent. Water level rises may be a “hard-wired” trigger for all bass, because it increases the chances for successful spawning. Pure speculation, but a possible explanation.

I'd say the main diff is depth: 1/4 for <6ft, 1/2 for >5ft. Can burn the 1/2 a little better, and it plummets and rips weed walls a bit better. I use the 1/4's, and smaller, in early season bc bass seem to like smaller baits better then. All this said, I'm talking stillwater. I've never used a lipless in moving water.

Nifty.

Lipped baits are generally buoyant and have a specific diving depth making them easier to control depth and speed with. They are also much more snag resistant than lipless. Lipless baits sink like rocks. They require a bit more "visualization" to know where in the water column they are. They snag pretty easily, esp in wood. They glom up with weeds that lipped baits can walk through. Lipless are best in open water, and sparser weeds and weed edges. They have GREAT attraction and triggering, so are worth getting to know. Contact can be a major trigger with any bait and lipped cranks excel at this, mostly bc they are relatively snagless if fished deftly. Contact can be used with lipless baits, but is much safer on more solid objects and substrates. They are in danger around twigs and branches. They can be ripped from sparse vegetation though, which is essentially the same trigger as a crashed or ripped lipped CB. You should have both (and, no, I'm not just aiding the bait monkey). Cranks give you great control. Lipless simply have great triggering (bass eat them) even in open water, can be fished fast, and can cover a range of depths in one cast -the reasons they make great a "search baits".

I have a "demo" rod, given to me by the company rep, and that was back about 1985. Still using it regularly.

Search Daiwa Ardito here on BR. In depth descriptions there.

Yeah, me too. Then again, I'd also jump at the opportunity to learn something from the kid with cheap tackle.

Nice! That is a honey hole. Are those post-spawners? You must still be south?

Neat story. Reminds me of a guy I've met a few times recently on my local ponds. He's been drawing blanks mostly, but I watched him catch a decent bass on a little Beetle-Spin like set-up. Next time I saw him, he had it tied on and said that's just about all he's been catching on. Also... I often "speed test" smaller fish to see how willing to chase they are. And it often does translate to the larger fish too.

That glass boat and trailer look pretty worn. Might be a tri-hull too, which will knock your fillings loose. Sell, and then spend the time to shop around.

Great stories. I can relate... Been there a bunch of times myself.

I've been "out-fished" at least a few time over the years. One that stood out was a young neighbor kid who wanted to take me to a pond he fished. He had a cheap rig with precious little -and old- line on it. He had a Band-Aid box with some split shot, snelled hooks (some with dried-up worms still on), and a couple cheap lures. One lure, a cheap little crankbait, he tied on and proceeded to cast and reel back as fast as he could. It was so out of tune it spun wide circles, and the bass crashed it! He had 4 in before I could even decide what and where to cast! This was back in the early 90's and I had "the latest" in gear. I took it with the humility only someone whose been out in the outdoors a while understands. Or, more accurately, gets beaten into them. BTW, I proudly still use that old "latest" gear on a regular basis. So if you ever get outfished by some silver-haired gent with an old green/white Cardinal 4, or other such "vintage" stuff, you should take it with due humility. There are a lot of ways to catch bass. Technology weighs in heavy, but you have to make use of it. And that's darn hard to do everywhere and all the time. Ask KVD. He'll certainly agree. Ouch! Humility hurts sometimes.

I also like a swimming worm -fished high- and tubes.

My reply probably wasn't directly helpful. So, here's a table of "numbers" of physiological importance for bass. These are good (well backed-up) ballpark numbers. ("Ballpark" bc everything biological contains variability.) How each lake gets to these numbers varies quite a bit. Also, bass -as a species- are "thermally labile" and ecologically adaptable. Their behavior will be affected by, and they can respond to, lots of potential environmental variables/events. Again, these events could be as fleeting as.. passing clouds; Things get flaky as timing tightens. Luckily, bass want to eat and grow just as much as we want to catch them (it's a food chain thing ). But consistency in prediction is tough bc it's a capricious world out there. Don't forget your rain gear! Physiological Temperatures Important to Bass (bass body temps/water temp at bass level) 36-38F -normal winter low for N bass 39F -densest 48-50F -cusp of "winter" >50F -growth accelerates and with it hunger and performance capabilities 53-57F -spring/fall feeding “binge” -hunting 58F ("stabilized" and with appropriate photoperiod) -shift to spawn locations >60F -most spawning occurs >75F -most spawning completed; hunting becomes primary activity; energy to burn for activity (likely balanced with availability of prey in most bass waters). >80F -metabolic peak efficiency for growth (in laboratory), provided they are able to eat pretty constantly. >85F -better be a lot of cost effective food available, otherwise activity is relegated to most advantageous times: low light, after dark, coolest period of day (early a.m.). >90F -approaching lethality -susceptibility to heat stress resulting in starvation, burning out, susceptibility to disease. The work comes in keeping your finger on the pulse of your own waters. It helps if you can fish a lot and know the waters well (with the right kind of information). Jumping around in time and space can be frustrating, esp if this is new stuff to you. Then again, these “numbers” delineate the ballpark pretty well, providing touchstones to center your reading of weather and water conditions around. I look at weather trends not to see how comfortable I’ll feel, but where in the seasonal progression a given water body, or section of one, will likely be at. As to the fishing... you could attach certain presentations to such a list. However, I tend to ask a simpler question that incorporates depth and speed control: "How willing are they to move/chase?" And I go from there. Hope this helps.