senile1

Welcome to Bass Resource!

This is a pic from the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park.

That's a beast! Congratulations to your brother and welcome to BR.

Roger's is an awesome store . . . . probably the best brick and mortar fishing and hunting store I have ever been in. I can spend hours in their lure aisles.

@Joshua Vandamm, I should add that just because I am able to make a prediction on what the bass might be doing based on normal bass behavior under certain conditions doesn't mean that prediction will always be right. That is where it is important to pay attention to the what when you get to the lake as you stated, because the why that we are aware of might mislead us on occasion and cause us to miss some other variable that is affecting the fish. The why and the what are kind of hand in glove, so to speak.

I agree the what is important and goes hand in hand with the why. But knowing the why allows us to predict the what and is why we study environment and structure. For example if I know the bass in my waters begin to migrate to deeper water basins (the what) at a certain cold temperature range (the why), then when those cold temperatures are experienced (the why), I can predict the what before I even go to the lake. Knowing the why allows me to eliminate unproductive water.

Wow! That's a nice fish and so close to a DD you can taste it.

Now that would ruin your day.

Like you, I appreciate having the lake to myself. I'm glad you caught a few. Nice pics.

Close-up at RMNP.

Very nice bass. It is nice when a plan comes together!

Great write-up and nice work on getting the championship birth! You definitely earned it.

Congratulations! Nice fish.

The view at the end of Avalanche Lake Trail in Glacier National Park.

Are we talking new to fishing, or just knew to bass fishing? If someone is new to fishing, I agree with starting simple as the posts below indicate and not overwhelming someone with too much information. Not only would I keep it simple but I would recommend a small body of water that has a lot of smaller bass so the new angler gets a feel for casting, working the lure, and the joy of catching/fighting the fish. Once he or she gets a feel for that, then they can start digging deeper and try more complicated waters. If new to bass fishing only, then the answer depends. If he or she is a very experienced angler for another species I don't think it is too much for them to jump into deeper information about bass behavior along with learning to use the appropriate tackle.

Yes. Paul's channel, The Nature of Fishing, is top notch and very informative. If you want to know the "why" of bass behavior this one covers it in great detail.

Thanks for posting that, John. The section on "How the Sonar Shows Fish" is excellent.

I learned that it is nice to use the Navionics app on my phone to follow lake contours so I can have bigger concurrent windows for my ClearVu and Side Imaging on my EchoMap 93sv. Though there are only specific circumstances when I run all three together, my eyes are getting too old to look down at my feet at the bow and see as much as I would like with the map, side imaging, and down imaging all going at the same time.

This is another pic from Rocky Mountain National Park. We were standing at a little over 12,000 feet.

Nice fish! Keep 'em coming.

I know what you mean. See my last post above about my "white whale." There are bass there and some big ones. In some tournaments they will occassionally break 20 lbs for the win. Many times though, it is tough to fish and I have seen some poor tournament weights more often than not. Maybe the lake has too many gizzard shad as the main entree and the bass just don't find our lures appealing. I have caught enough big ones there to not give up though.

I glance at this thread occasionally but I never post in it. My wife and I occasionally take hiking trips in the Rockies, and the Appalachians as well, so I thought this might be a good place to post some nature scenes we have captured along the way. The pic below was one that was taken as we traveled to and from our lodging to Rocky Mountain National Park in 2015. This moose was one of many we captured hanging out in the Colorado River valley on the west side of the park.

Check surface water temperature via depth finder Check water clarity (though I usually know what to expect in this regard based on weather review beforehand) Check wind direction and magnitude Check activity on the water (shad schools, birds) Scan every location chosen with depth finder and eyes (to setup casts, look for bait balls, and possibly find fish)

Agreed. I said that in jest anyway. Pics are always deceiving, especially with the long arm technique.

That's a nice fish! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I went out to Smithville Lake Sunday mainly to scan some structure with my depth finders. Water temperature ranged between 39.5 and 41.5 degrees. I caught this 5 lb 14 oz female in 40 degree water on a finesse jig. I have a more detailed write-up in the Fishing Reports forum.