Catt

Thank you avid Big bass are controlled by certain environmental (must do) factors 1. Reproduce effectively 2. Feed efficiently (maximize food intake and minimize energy output) 3. Prosper during extreme seasonal changes Big bass are not controlled by 1. Your bait 2. Your boat 3. Your rod & reel It takes a rare breed of fisherman using simple techniques to perfection to consistently catch big bass.

Extreme Close-up Angling It's the middle of the spring spawn and the hawgs are on the bank, problem you can't see the bank. The banks on the south end of Toledo Bend are covered with buck brush, button brush, willow trees, cypress trees, & numerous other types' vegetation. In fall the lake level is 7 ft. below normal pool, which is allowing more vegetation to grow. From late January through April, the spring rains will bring the water level back to and above normal. Now all that under growth is in 7 to 10 ft of water and the bank is some 30 yards from the outside edge of the brush. Question how does one take these extreme amounts of cover and turn it into a productive pattern. First, you gotta park that big ole bass rig in exchange for an all welded aluminum rig. The aluminum rig is lighter, narrower in both bottom width & beam width. The approach is simple but methodical, start by selecting an area of brush that is thinner or where you can see openings/trails. At pitching distance from the outside edge, work any isolated brush. Work a 20-ft path on both sides of the selected point of entry, and then slowly work to within flipping distance. Once you worked the outside edge thoroughly, you can start flipping the first 10-ft into the cover. Target the outer branches first, then all the way to the trunk. The next part is where the extreme fishing begins, use your trolling motor to pull you as far into the as it can. With you and a partner standing on the bow deck grab the branches and pull your boat forward. Look for openings in the brush and maneuver the boat in that direction but stopping every 10 yd. to flip the area. Next let's look at rod-n-reels, a 6' or 6'6" is all you'll have room to maneuver. A medium heavy rod with a lot of backbone to move large fish off the bottom but with enough tip to feel light bites. A quality reel with a solid drag spooled with 20 to 25 lb. test line. Lastly the bait, a 6" plastic lizard, ¼ oz. pegged bullet weight, with a 4/0 hook or a 3/8 oz jig-n-craw. This is extreme close-up angling so be ready to set hook on any line movement, tap, light feeling, or heavy feeling. Set hook hard, straight up, & move the fish fast out of the cover. If the fish is too big to move on the hook set, your first concern is a solid hook, give no slack, and then go to the fish. Yea it's a lot of work but this pattern has produced numerous stringers of 25 lb. plus with kicker fish in the double the digits.

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always got How many understand the above statement? If you're catching big bass with out using swim baits why change & if you're catching big bass with swim baits why change? I agree it is all about mind set but the answer is not swim baits, it about the human element in fishing far big bass. There are three major human element pitfalls you must overcome. 1. Lack of knowledge about big bass 2. Basic misconceptions about big bass and fishing techniques for big bass 3. The human tendency to respond to failure and frustration by over-complication rather than simplification of technique and theory. Take these simple elements of knowledge, and nurture them with your own blend of hard work and fishing experience.

There are three major human element pitfalls you must overcome. 1. Lack of knowledge about big bass 2. Basic misconceptions about big bass and fishing techniques for big bass 3. The human tendency to respond to failure and frustration by over-complication rather than simplification of technique and theory. It takes a rare breed of fisherman using simple techniques to perfection to consistently catch big bass.

Larger Man-Made >200,000 surface acres, 65 miles long, 2 miles wide, 1,200 miles of shore line & average depths of over 45'. Toledo Bend Reservoir

Ok Keithscatch ;D

Very interesting : Crank baits irritate me to no end > I can do exactly what you say but when the bait comes any where near cover HUNG-UP is the result. How does one resolve the problem?

Bassmaster magazine has a section called the Lunker Club it's free and open to any BASS member. In this club anyone catching a largemouth bass over 10 lbs submits a photo of the fish along with where and on what the fish was caught. This information was put into an Excel spread sheet and sorted by lure. The results showed that the plastic worm caught more large bass by an 12 to 1 margin over the jig with this margin dramatically widening over all other lures. Now most people respond by saying that the worm is fished by more anglers than any other lure accounting of these results. So another study was done concerning why the worm is the # 1 Bass Bait of all Time. Here is the official answer: Plastic Worm (Texas rigged) It's a long, thin shape resembles the profile of a wide variety of forage in the world of the bass, including earthworms, snakes, eels, and baitfish. Its action is almost entirely dependent on the contours of the bottom; and the rod movements of the fisherman, making it very random. It moves with little noise; the noise that it does make comes mostly from the random clicking of the sinker as it hits bottom. Bright colors and larger size can be used to increase its attracting qualities. Because of its basic resemblance to a wide array of living forage, this lure presents very few negative cues, and is hard for big bass to learn not to hit. The plastic worm is the only lure made that a BASS CANNOT REMEMBER! That is, a bass will continue to strike a worm even after repeated catches, whereas a bass will "turn off" to other lures, spinner baits and crank baits etc. after wearing them out on them. That's why you cannot continue to catch them on your honey hole with the same lure over and over. Bass will stop eating that which will eradicate them. Not true with the plastic worm, however. Although we all know bass will prefer a different bait at different times (i.e. "the pattern") you can always go back to the worm to catch them.

There are two types for a lack of a better word of bass. Those bass that are shore line (shallow) related and those bass that live on the main lake (deep). Buck Perry simply put a spot light on a portion of the lake few people understand and made the likes of a Tommy Martin, Larry Nixon, Paul Elias, David Fritts & many others correct his theories. Now we know that deep water fish are not that difficult or impossible to catch, you will however need to understand a few things electronics and contour maps Ect.

#1 Texas Rigged Gene Larew 7 ½ Salty Ring Worm Cinnamon Pepper Neon/June Bug Laminated (Camouflage). #2 Bill Lewis ½ oz Rat-L-Trap Gold/Black Back/Orange Belly #3 Oldham's Lures Trailer Hitch Jig, 3/8 oz Black/Blue, Gene Larew Salty Hawg Craws in 6 with 1 ½ cut off the tail #4 Gene Larew Salty Hawg Craws in 6, 5, & 4 in the following colors. Junebug/Blue Tail, Black/Blue, & Black Neon

There's a really cool web site that has a great articles on this subject, I think the name is The Ultimate Bass Fishing Resource Guide.

GMAN, Your answer is in your last post I too spent many years fishing in marshes where only small boats are allowed. For years everyone used a 12 to 14' boats that had 32 to 36 bottoms, if you stood up this is very unstable. To cure this problem we now use 14 to 16' boats with 40 to 48 bottoms, a lot more stable. You are subconsciously not setting hook with enough force because of a fear of falling over. The answer would be don't fish out of that boat any more 8-)

Thank you roadwarrior ;D I've been reading the articles on the main page for years but just realized there is a forum. The only time I fish a bank is during the spawn.

What I've learned from Buck Perry Structure is a portion of the bottom that is different from the surrounding area, like bars, humps, creek-channels, riprap, and submerged points of land. Breakline is a line or lines along the structure's bottom where there is a defined increase or decrease in depth, either sudden or gradual like the edge of a channel, hole or gully. There are other breaklines, too, like a weedline wall, a brush line. It must be remembered that deep water is where bass spend the greater part of their time because it is a sanctuary from changing weather and water conditions. Thus, in order for a structure, break or breakline to be consistently productive for mature bass, it must be very close to deep water, or at least, the deepest water in the area being fished. You cannot have schools of large bass if the structure, breaks and breaklines are not connected in some manner to deep water. In deep water, Buck is insistent that lures must come in contact with the bottom to be most deadly. His famed "Spoonplug" lure is designed to dive to exacting depths and bump bottom no matter how fast it's retrieved. But any crankbait, spoon, jig or plastic worm that touches bottom can be equally as effective. Take nothing for granted," Buck states flatly. "Never assume bass are shallow, because they may be deep. Never believe they will hit a fast-moving lure, not a slow one. You've got to work an entire structure from shallow to deep You gotta catch 'em while they're there because you sure can't catch 'em where they ain't. What Buck did was move us off the bank and opened up the world of main lake fishing

Wintertime Jig Fishing Believe it or not, winter provides some of the better months for jig fishing. The reason is that the water temperature is cold, the bass don't normally bite well, and they aren't aggressive. So slower, more precise presentations are usually the best ways to catch them. Jigging spoons or the jig-n-pig (pork frog) are probably the two most popular methods. If you want to get into the finesse end of things, fishing a small grub can also be good. But my favorite, naturally, is the jig-n-pig (or craw). Vertical Fishing On most bodies of water in winter we're looking at a vertical situation as far as cover types go. To explain: Bass usually move deeper during the winter months. On some lakes that may mean they pull into creek channel foe the winter. On other lakes, where everything is pretty well shoreline-related, they might move to steeper banks, 45-degree banks or bluffs, which are the areas where they're probably going to spend the winter. One thing you can just about bet on is that wintertime bass are going to be close to deep water. I'm not saying you can't catch them shallow because if you get a few nice days during the winter some of the fish will move up. They may also get on shallow targets next to deep water. Keep deep water and a slow retrieve in mind, and you'll be a little better off during winter months. Fish on the Bottom When I'm fishing during the wintertime, I usually relate to the bottom. That's where I'm trying to find the bass I'm not looking for suspended winter fish. I'm looking primarily for fish that are relating to some type of structure, whether it is a brush pile or a treetop that has been put on the bottom. For some reason, rock cover is very attractive to bass in the colder water situations. Some of my best winter fishing has been on steep rocky banks. Remember that deep is relative to the part of the country you're fishing. Five feet may be deep on some Florida lakes while in the Midwest you could be looking at a 25- to 30- foot zone. The weight of the jig you fish should change with depth. If I'm looking at the 5-foot zone, a heavy jig could be 3/8 ounce. If I', looking at 25 feet, I'm probably going to be looking at a ½ to ¾ ounce bait. Fish Slowly I want to get that bait down to the fish. I want to maintain contact with the bottom. Try to crawl the bait along the bottom in short spurts, basically dragging it. You don't want to sweep it off the bottom like you would during the summer. To repeat: winter jig fishing means a slow, tedious retrieve with pauses between movements of the bait. Often that's what it takes to get some of the sluggish wintertime bass to bite. Keep in mind that the bass are well grouped this of year. It can be a long time between bites, but when you get a fish to hit, there are probably a bunch of them down there. So stick with it.

Feeling you bait is the hardest part of fishing a plastic worm. You need to be able to see you bait so practice in a pond or lake where there is a sand bottom with clear water. You want to learn to weigh your bait or what a worm, hook, & weight feels like when moved across the bottom. Once you know what your bait feels like and you feel anything different while fishing set the hook. You will feel the classic tap tap or thump but some time it's just a slight pressure like something stopped you worm from moving. When to set the hook? This is the way Shaw Grimsby put it to me, its call the three tap theory. The first tap the bass has inhaled your bait The second tap the bass has exhaled your bait The third tap I'm tapping you on the shoulder asking you why you didn't set hook! Drop the rod, reel the slack, & set the hook