WolfyBrandon

March 27, 2015 I used 4 different baits, which one do you think caught my 3rd bass of 2015? Conditions – 52F Water, 3ft Clarity, 6'' Below Normal Level, Mostly Sunny, Slight Current. 1) Spinnerbait - while the sun was up, and the wind was high. 2) Chatterbait - when the sun was still high, and the wind stopped. 3) Squarebill - when the sun was going down and a boat wake passed. 4) Grub - when the sun was down, and both the wind and lake were calm. (Spoilers Below) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - WolfyBrandon

Today I caught my 3rd bass of the year, and I have to tell you it's been a grind. I fish from 3:30pm - ~8:00pm and I have seriously only gotten 1 bite per day which resulted in 1 fish per day. My advice for you is to have a game plan before you head out fishing that day so that you are prepared, make sure you fish every cast at 100% like your expecting one to bite it no matter what, don't be afraid to try different baits if the ones you are currently using aren't working, and most importantly keep a PMA! Every day that I've been out I've had snags, loop knots, and other things that could have prevented me from getting that one bite that kept me from getting a 0 that day. WolfyBrandon

Congrats Weld's Largemouth!

Well, it's been raining hard non stop since Monday, and I've been waiting for another chance to fish again after catching my first fish of 2015 on March 20th. Today was the first nice day after all the rain, and I was debating if I should go today or wait till tomorrow which is forecasted to be more clear with a high of 72F. When I got off work It felt like a nice warm day (high in the 60's), but I wasn't sure if I should go so soon after the front. Luckly I did... 2nd Bass of 2015. Seriously, today was just one of those days... I can't even put into words, perfect doesn't quite cut it. WolfyBrandon

Fishing Trip Friday Morning... When I got off work I still wasn't feeling 100%, but I noticed it was warm and the sky had become overcast so with everything leading up to this day, and not fishing for a week I pushed myself to go instead of putting it off until sometime next week. I was a bit surprised to see how far the lake level actually came up, it was now only a foot or two below normal summer level, and the clarity only changed from ~4ft to ~3ft which was pretty good. I was then very curious to know what the water temperature was at... I caught my first fish of 2014 when the water temp was 46F, and I now have a temperature of 48F, so with that temp and the lake level up - I'm thinking it's game time! I started fishing with the #5 Rapala Jointed-Shad Rap and was using a slow roll with stop and twitch technique, and since the lure suspends I figured it might work good for cold lethargic fish looking for an easy meal. With hardly any wind to speak of, overcast sky, the lake level up to the shoreline cover as well as the temperature right, - I had high hopes when I started fishing. Seems like I'm not the only one who thinks today is a good day for fishing... After fishing with the Jointed-Shad Rap for almost 3 hours making multiple casts to targets with different retrieves and not getting a single bite, my hopes for catching something really began to fade, and I was starting to think it would be yet another week, but that just didn't sit well with me. I did my homework, I have the correct conditions, I see bugs around, hear geese, ducks, turkeys everything is there, but with not feeling 100%... I came so close to just calling it a day and just head home and start my weekend early, that was until I thought of the results of my 2014 fishing log. I remembered that I started fishing that year with a jig & grub trailer and was so confident I would catch my first fish on it that it was the only thing I fished. I later switched the trailer to a Rage Chunk giving it even more action which increased my confidence with it further. Then after fishing with it for over a week with no results, I was just getting sick of nothing happening and pretty much just changed baits for the sake of changing and switched to a lipless crankbait but thought (yeah right, they won't hit a stationary jig in cold water but will hit a moving lipless?) Rocked my world as I caught both my first bass & pike of 2014 instantly after the bait change on the same day that I had just fished the entire area thoroughly with a jig. So with that experience, I wasn't about to head home without changing baits and what better than something proven that worked last year... Shortly after I began to re-fish the entire marina with the Lipless, further down the bank from the spot I was fishing I heard what sounded like a surface strike and could see rings in the water, a bit hard to see as I was caught off guard and late to taking a picture of it. I was really questioning if I should go tie on a Popper and give it a try, but I wanted to continue to fish with the lipless... So I finally came to the last of my most productive spots and tossed the lipless near the cover. I was using a pull just fast enough to feel the vibration of the bait then reel up the slack and pull again technique. When I started to pull again it almost felt like pulling a bait through a bunch of sticks you could feel the weight and it would give sometimes, and it wasn't until I stopped pulling and felt the “tug, tug” that I knew it was FISH ON! (Hooked by the front treble in the right corner of the mouth.) First fish of 2015, Smallmouth Bass - 2lb 0oz, 16''. Also completely shatters my record for earliest bass as my previous record was April 18, 2014. The mild winter and warm weather has put this year and the conditions what seems like almost a month ahead of the previous year. With March 20th, 2015 being my new record I will probably be hard pressed to beat it again, as the lake was iced over on March 05, 2014. Anyway, I know this was a long post with a lot of pictures and information (there is more I left out), but I hope you all still enjoyed it. WolfyBrandon

Prelude Last year (2014) was the year I became more serious about making fishing logs, and documenting everything I could. I had set a goal to fish twice a week, for the entire year from ice-out to ice-up. It was designed differently as I would fish on both Tuesdays & Thursdays providing the weather wasn't terrible. The idea was centered more around fishing pressure, I wanted to fish two days almost back-to-back (to get good data for my log), then have a cool down period of about four days off before I fish again. After reviewing my log for last year, and researching more information over this past winter, I have now decided to focus more on weather for the 2015 season versus pre-set days even if for no other reason than to just compare & contrast. Pre-Planning My pre-planning for the 2015 season started back in January when I used data from my 2014 log and moon phases to paint a map of when things are likely to happen (example: Spawn) for the 2015 season. Then it was just a process of watching the weather & conditions and adjust if need be. My local area had a mild winter and we didn't see much snow, and early this year we have had some very warm weather, I believe there was a record high somewhere. I put together a comparison of the weather forecast I took screen captures of for both 2014 & 2015 and it shows. Sadly I don't have an earlier date for 2014, because I didn't think to start logging the weather until March 23 2014, but never the less it proves the point further as it was colder later last year, and now it's warmer earlier. You can also see the difference in conditions when comparing the same picture taken on almost the same day but different year... Since I don't have access to a boat early in the year, my options are pretty limited. I can't change location and "pursue" the fish by locating them on electronics or moving to more productive areas, I literally have to wait for the fish to come to me and the area that I can fish - which happens to be a marina that sits on the main body of the lake. I have fished it for over 10+ years and have the upper hand as I know what specific areas hold bass and also the most productive spots, my only questions are - when they will be there, and if I can catch them. I thought there might be an early window of opportunity when looking at the forecast picture above for 2015. There was an early warming trend with air temperatures around the mid 60's for about four or five straight days. The water temperature was in the low 40's and climbing with around 4ft of clarity to it. There was a recent full moon on the 5th, and I could see a lot of signs in nature from birds to bugs and even the first signs of baitfish in the shallows. I fished on the 9th, 10th, and 11th, and then again on the 13th. I used a variety of baits, fished them with various presentations in different depths of water, but came up empty handed. [XCalibur XR50 Lipless Crankbait (Oxbow), Rapala Shadow Rap Shallow Jerkbait (Moss Back Shiner), Texas Rigged Zoom Trick Worm (Red Black Core), Rapala #5 Jointed-Shad Rap (Perch), Kalin's Lunker Grub (White)] What I learned from fishing those days was even though the lake level was 4ft+ below normal summer level... it was still falling. It was so low that any of the substantial cover/structure that usually holds fish was now exposed. Being a natural lake, once you get a ways off the bank things tend to get pretty barren and featureless, and it's fish holding capabilities start to plummet unless your in a prime area. As I was fishing, it really felt similar to just fishing open water with no targets to cast to. Even if fish were in less than 25ft of water, there wasn't much to hold them in the area I was fishing. Sure there are docks and pilings around the marina but most are in over 30ft of water, and the vertical pilings don't provide much for the bass. There are a few exceptions which I did spend some time fishing, but again had no luck. When I was done fishing on the 13th, I felt like I needed to wait for a good rain to help raise the lake level and potentially move fish into my area and hold them. I figured I needed at least a few days of rain and a good week of time to see any sizable change in the lake level, so I began breaking down the 10 day forecast... As luck would have it, a good front was moving in this coming weekend and the first half of next week looked “Meh” for fishing. I want to try and maximize my chances by fishing pre-frontal conditions, and also fish on the warmest days to follow any potential warming trends that could lead to fish activity. This also matched up with the work I did back in January as I already knew that this coming Friday (20th) was going to be a new moon, and if InformativeFisherman is correct about moon phases (his video made sense to me), then the fish would likely be feeding more during the day which is when I will be fishing. So I had multiple things pointing at the fact that Thursday / Friday was looking like a good day to try fishing... That is, if everything goes as planned... and I think we all know how accurate weather predictions tend to be lol, and looking 10 days into the future... there is a lot of room for error. That's why it's good to check up on things, so 5 days later (Tuesday) I checked it again and also looked at the Doppler Radar and things looked pretty good. Throughout the week I was keeping an eye on a few creeks and I could see they were high and fast flowing from all the rain but they were also very muddy. I was really wondering how much the lake level would rise, what the temperature is, and what the clarity would be like. Those specific creeks don't flow into the lake I fish, but I assumed the ones that did would be similar. A co-worker told me that he had fished on Monday and the lake was up a few feet which was encouraging. Then when Thursday came around the weather was nice and I intended to fish... but had to put it off until Friday because I wasn't feeling too well. Probably for the best as the high on Thursday was only 59F and Friday's high was predicted to be 65F. Continued...

First Fish of 2015 Full story / information coming soon... (tomorrow). WolfyBrandon

I don't have access to a boat quite yet to fish other locations, so I'm currently stuck fishing the main lake. I'm up for the challenge though as I know my area well and should be catching fish fairly soon. I was out again today, and found the first signs of baitfish in less than an inch of water (spooked them when walking along the shoreline). I was tipped off by a Coot that was sitting on the waters edge for over 5 min, turns out it was feeding on one of them. I also made a few other observations while I was out. A front is moving in with possible rain over the next few days, It might be sometime next week before I head out again. WolfyBrandon

March 09, 2015 - Lake Coeur D'Alene, ID Evening Twilight Hour Atmosphere Video As the season progresses, I'm getting more serious about trying to catch my first bass of 2015. I've done a lot of homework through the winter in both research and referencing data from my 2014 fishing log, which is so huge it's still a WIP (9gb+). I seriously don't know where to begin, but I will say one piece of information that stood out to me was during the spring it's a good idea to look for "warming trends" which are 3-5 days of solid warm weather. We've been experiencing 59F-61F as a high in air temperature with bluebird sky's since last Friday (4 Days). I've seen the water temperature increase from 38F (4th) to 42F (9th Today), and that's even with the lake being fed snow melt runoff from the mountains. Using moon phases, and data from my 2014 log, I have already painted a picture of what's likely to happen for the 2015 season, and it's been a confirming things I already know as they happen process. I have already confirmed the date of when the lake was going to be free of ice before it happened, and I have predicted when the spawn is likely to be, so using that and the information of when I caught my first fish of 2014, I know that it's likely I should be catching something by the Full Moon of (April 04, 2015) provided weather & conditions are what I believe they should be around that time. The dates might not be exact, it's more of a generalization type of thing, I will of course fine tune my predictions as time goes on and things happen. Anyway, what I am getting at is I have a goal to try to catch a bass as early as I can (by targeting not by accident) and my current record is (April 18, 2014). The next full moon is quite a few days before that and with the previous mild winter & early start to the season I believe there is a good chance. So what I'm trying to do is find "windows of opportunity" like this current warming trend to potentially catch a bass that has moved shallow. Today was one of those days, and so is tomorrow. To speed things up, the water is warming to a fair temp, & the clarity is good ~4ft, and I have good weather... the problem is, it is still very early for my area and more importantly I haven't seen any signs of baitfish in the shallows yet. Last year I caught my first bass exactly 7 days after I confirmed the first signs of baitfish in shallow water. I saw the baitfish when the water hit 48F, and I caught the bass 7 days later when it had dropped to 46F. All of that doesn't really mean anything other than fish activity started happening when the water temp hit the mid 40's and every day it's getting closer and closer. If you watch my video, view my pictures, and were to know what I know, then you would know that I've already seen activity from pretty much every other aspect of wildlife - except fish! I might be wrong, but I think I could be on the very edge of when the first phase of fish begin to move up. So I've been trying to fish some of what I believe are my best baits for the conditions, and fishing until dark. Don't take any of this the wrong way as I am still having a lot of fun fishing the early season. I have lots of other "projects" to do while I'm out there besides fishing, and as mentioned in other posts - It's definitely not just about catching fish, I find the learning experience and aiming to become a better angler just as fun. Comments are welcome... WolfyBrandon

[Hint: It suspends] & [Hint: "_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ distress"] WolfyBrandon

Picked up a secret weapon. [Hint: It suspends] WolfyBrandon

I think I found the problem... Looks like the end piece of part #29 broke off, and has part #34 & #35 stuck in the other side... Yup... ^-- That's not in the part manual... lol WolfyBrandon

I'm having an issue with my Abu Garcia Revo STX Baitcaster. I've had it for over a year and while fishing with it recently, I clicked the button to make a cast but when I started reeling the button would not pop up, it was just loose. I took the entire thing apart and put it back together correctly and it is working fine now, however I found the problem which will cause it to happen again... For some reason if I pull out on the handle it will move a slight bit. If this happens, and I press the cast button it will get out of alignment inside to where the button will no longer work, I have to take the entire thing apart to fix it. I was wondering if anyone has any idea how to take the "slack" out of it. It's hard to explain so I took some pictures. I have disassembled the handle down to the star drag and everything is tight. When I opened it up before - I could see the entire handle and gear assembly moving in and out, and I'm not exactly sure how to resolve that. I know it's assembled correctly as I have spent a lot of time with it and it functions perfectly provided it's lined up correctly. Large Image: http://s2.postimg.org/oq9x5691z/Parts.jpg Thanks, WolfyBrandon

March 05, 2014 Last year the lake had a thin layer of ice that was gone by the 15th. Edit: I just noticed an issue with my temperature readings... I just made an edit to the first post to say the water temperature was in the mid to high 30's possibly 40 degrees. Looking at the weather forecast, there is going to be three straight days of bright sun with the air temperature in the 60's with a high of 66 on Monday leading up to a front. Things might get interesting in the coming week(s). WolfyBrandon

March 06, 2015 - Lake Coeur D'Alene, ID - - - Today was a perfect day to be out at the lake. Having little to no wind, the lake looked like glass. The ducks, gulls, and geese were active, and the atmosphere could not have been better. It's still a bit early in the year for fishing, the water temperature is in the mid to high 30's. The lake level is 4 ft below normal summer level, and the water clarity is around 3 ft max. I don't have access to the boat as of yet, so I am stuck fishing the marina which sits on the main lake body. It would probably be more productive if I fished points or coves, but sadly I just don't have access to them yet. I fished the marina anyway with a XCalibur XR50 (Oxbow) Lipless Crankbait in both shallow and deep water, fast and slow speed, all with different techniques - but had no results. I later switched to a Rapala Shadow Rap (Moss Back Shiner) and also had no results. Even though I didn't catch anything, it was still a great day to get some casts in... Spring Is Finally Here... WolfyBrandon

Take a picture of the picture with a digital camera, problem solved. WolfyBrandon

Agreed. WolfyBrandon

My "Biggest Skinniest" was caught on May 14, 2010, and the lure is in the first picture (Blue Fox). This was long before I started to kept track of my fishing information (unknown weight/length etc), but looking at the date my guess would be it was skinny because it probably just finished spawning. WolfyBrandon

It was love at first sight. WolfyBrandon

WolfyBrandon

This is one of the reasons I decided on the Thin size, if you have more than 14, you can get another box and then be able to store 28, and so on. Two boxes stacked are almost the same height as a standard sized box. The numbers are of course if you are picky like me and only want 1 bait per slot... you could easily fit 2 per slot if you really wanted. If you don't care about them getting tangled or hook rash you could buy a standard size or large size and put a bunch in each slot, and use hook bonnets to help prevent them becoming a tangled mess. WolfyBrandon

I've been putting all of my new tackle inside... Plano 3771 (Thin) CDS StowAways. With the straight and angled dividers you can design it how you like. I've been able to fit 14 of the 300 sized jerkbaits (3 hook model) into them, and even the Thin size can still fit 14 larger sized baits like Strike King 6XD's. They are very lightweight and trim to save on space and are also that standard 3700 size. WolfyBrandon