Panamoka_Bassin

Just like you can see above, everybody will say something different, but at the same time they are all correct. Anything you can use from a boat I think you can pretty much use from the shore. Its just a matter of a little different techinique. I've found that the only real difference between a boat and shore fishing is that you can cover a lot more territory in a boat.

Unfortunately, I don't really have a fresh water big bass story, but I do have a salt water striper story... 2 years ago, my friend Katy and I were fishing Shinnecock Inlet for stripers, using live eels and bunkers. There were quite a few boats around us catching fish, but up till then we'd been skunked. With only 2 eels left and 3 pieces of bunker chunks, we were thinking we'd been beaten. "One or two more drifts", she says, so I toss out my bait and start the fish prayer ("Here fishy, fishy, fishy"). Just as I look over at the fish finder and see a HUGE pile of rocks, I feel my weight get hooked up on the bottom, or so I thought. For what seemed like minutes, but was probably only seconds, I thought I was out of luck and got ready to cut my line, when all a sudden the tension lets go, so I start reeling. Problem was, I wasn't reeling as fast as the line was moving at the boat. I dipped down and yanked back hard to set the hook, and the bass took off the other direction, litterally screaming line off my Finore reel. I cranked as hard as I could for a few more minutes, and started bringing up the biggest cow I have ever seen; even during my commercial fishing days I haven't seen a bass this big. Granted it was in the water, but this thing must have been 50 inches plus. I yelled for the net, "No not that one, THE BIG NET!!" and as Katy looked down at my fish, she gasped with surprise, missed the fish, and hit the end of my line, which promptly snapped and hit me in the face. The tears, however, were not from the pain of the line hitting my face. I still haven't forgiven her for that fish, but she hasn't missed a netting since, either.

I think that there's much to be said for getting a 6-pack license for all kinds of reasons. Personally, I didn't think the test was as tough as alot of people made it out to be, but I also took a Captain's Course, which basically is a 20 hour course that goes over absolutley everything on the test. I don't know where you're at, but I know you can find these courses in local fishing mags, as well as National Fisherman (a commercial fishing mag), and I"m pretty sure Ive seen ads in Saltwater Sportsman and other fishing ttypes. If they don't help you, contact the US Coast Guard...They really love to help people get to these courses as it makes their jobs much easier when they have educated captains out there. One other tip that I should have heeded...If it's possible, skip the 6-pack and just go for the 100 ton Master's license. Takes a little more time and studiing, but in the long run when you want to get bigger, you won't have to go through the rigamarole of taking another course and test.

SO I've started playing some of my old fishing games, and I gotta say, I like Trophy Bass ( from Sierra Sports) is probably the most realistic I've found. The thing of it is, when you cast your bait or whatever, you don't go to an underwater view of the bait. You're casting to shadows and movement in the water, but the only view you get is of the dude on the bow of the boat. For me this makes it a bit more true to life. At least, when I go out fishing for real, I don't see the bait under water like in most games...

Yeah, man, I'm with you. I'd really like to be able to fish all the major lakes I've seen on TV and read about like Rayburn, Castaic, Toho, Ozarks, and too many others to mention. After watching last years classic, though, I think I'll stay away from the Ohio river

I love it when someone resurects a thread that I haven't seen yet... What everyone said above is absolutely true. Whne it comes to worms, or pretty much any soft plastics, slower is better. I do like to mix up pattern to my jigging, though. Sometimes I'll do the hop-hop motion, especially when it's cold, or if the water's a little warmer, I'll do a bit of a yo-yo technique. If I know I'm on some bass, I'll more often than not give the bait a bunch of quick twitches to trigger a strike...Nothing extreme, mind you, I'll maybe move the worm 6-12 inches with 10-15 little twitches. I'm basically just shaking the rod tip to get the tail of the worm fluttering. Hope this helps!

Hoo boy, been a while, but I used to play with this wierd setup with a "rod and reel" that was actually pretty cool. Plugs right into the rca jacks on the tv, so no system is needed. You actually have to set the hook and play a fish like you would in real fishing. It was made by radica, don't know if it's still around. Otherwise, everything I have is for the PC, including Trophy Bass and Championship Bass. As for games for x-box and ps2, I don't own those, so I don't know if there are any, but I would assume there are. Try doing a search at Best Buy or another electronics store.

I too just got into using worms, myself, and have found a few variations that work. My rig is a simple texas with either 1/16 or 1/8 bullet on a neon black or olive green 3.5" tube with a 2/0 worm hook. I bring the off-set bend out near the top so that the point is just short of the "tentacles". I make a small 1/4" slit on one side of the tube and let the hook bend sit there and put the barb through the other side. As I always use spinning gear (I am not good with casting reels, danged backlashes), I find that flipping and pitching are great, but even with a full over-hand cast you can get some great action working any kind of structure you can find. I watched Aaron Martens (sp?) in a tourney on TV just barely moving the lure, and then twitching it for up to 4 or 5 feet along the bottom, and I have had some success with that. Generally, though, the best technique is just to let the tube sink, jig it up a bit and let it sit for a while. Be careful the next time I jig the tube, because many times a bass has taken a soft hit on the tube and is just holding it in his mouth. When I get a chance to sight fish, I'll throw the tube well past the fish, and "yo-yo" it until I get to the fish. Then I wait a few seconds, and maybe put a little twitch or two to trigger a strike. If that doesn't get the fish to bite, I try a little more of a movement, about 6-10 inches, to mimic a crawdad a bit. When I do get a hit, I like to let the bass run a bit before I give a strong hook-set...not a jerk like set, but just a good firm yank is all you need.

Geez, there's BPS going up all over the place except for anywhere near me. The closest one is about 6 hrs away...BAH

well, last week the pond was frozen over, but then thawed out. The fishing has been SLOW, so I think it might be all but over up here...ah well, time to break out the video games...I have one that's an actual "rod and reel" that shakes and vibrates when you catch fish...pretty cool, and it keeps me in shape all year long...lol

Well, since this has turned into "Quint and Hooper Showing Scars" (my favorite scene in JAWS), I'll add my own story... When I was much younger, I used to work at a marina that supported alot of offshore fishing. We had a guy come back to the dock and when he was ready, tried horking a mako shark onto the dock for weighing and cleaning. It was a fairly big mako, about 250 lbs as I remember, and the mate tried using a flying gaff to get the fish onto the gunwales and covering boards. Well, as his luck would have it, he missed with the gaff, and instead put the gaff through his thigh. It didn't go all the was through, but anyone that knows how big the hook on a gaff that can lift 250lbs is, it didn't really matter. He put about a 1 1/2 inch hole in his leg, and ended up cutting a ligament and some nerves. To this day he has to use a cane to walk. Ain't fishing fun?

Found a book at Wal-Mart that seems to be pretty good: The Freshwater Angler Advanced Bass Fishing. Full of all kinds of usefull info from spotting fish to rigging different lures, and each section written by a "tournament" pro, like Yelas, Zell Rowland,and Stacey King. Its a 10 year old book, but I think most of the principles still apply. Another nice feature is the pictures and directions for "customizing" certain baits.

Boy, like the others said, glad to have things back up and running! The only thing that sustained me through the last 2 weeks was more bass fishing!

Well, after the pond froze completly over last week, I thought the fishing would be done for the year. I decided to return my neighbor's canoe, but as I paddled across, I thought I should also give it one last try. Good choice! I caught 4 nice 2.5 lb fish on a neon black tube tejas rigged! Needless to say, I still have my neighbor's canoe for another trip today

That's the same way I "practice" fishing too...except mine tends to be in the 15lb class, so I use a belly gimble to land him...lol

Heh, and I thought I was the only one who did that...Thanks Avid for making me feel a little less like an idiot! I used to be a commercial fisherman, does that count as a pro?

Yet another great article, Chris. I really never thought of bass fishing that intensively, but all you said makes perfect sense. The nice thing for me, personally, is that I do know all that you said, but I know it from fishing for salt water species like Striped bass and fluke (summer flounder). I'll have to use that now for large mouth, and I'm sure I'll be a more productive fisherman for it!

And now I'll have to chime in here... Though I've only been here a few weeks, I can't believe how much information I've found. I thought I was a fairly decent fisherman before I joined, but now I know I am a better fisherman for all I've learned. Not only do you guys offer up great tips, tactics, and techniques, but any questions that arise are answered promptly and without prejudice. What a wonderful attitude to have. Myself, I spent the better part of the last 20 years salt water fishing, big fish and small, and let me tell you how tight lipped other salt fishermen can be. Not only do those guys not share any info, lots of times they'll give out misinformation to intentionally keep you away from any fish. Until I found this site, I thought it would be the same with fresh water. What a treat to find out that this is not the case! Thanks for all you guys do, not only Chris, LBH, RoadWarrior, and Glenn, but all the members here who are eager to help at any time. Let's keep up the great attitude here, and may the fish be with us!

Nice article, Chris, it says what I've known for a while now...Tubes are deadly. All this past summer, it was my "go-to" bait, either an olive green or neon black t-rigged or weightless. I think that they also look alot like tadpoles sometimes, and by skipping them from just off the shore into lillies or other vegetation made for some explosive hits. Also, I have had more fish come up out of the water to bite it just before it hits the water. The only negative I can say about tubes is that they can be tough to rig "weedless", as there's so much rubber the fish can't always push the hook through for a clean set. My advice for when this happens is to let the bass take the bait for a few moments (as long as 2 or 3 seconds) before setting the hook, kinda like using a weedless frog.

Okay, now that fall is here, the little pond next to my house is covered with leaves, but I can see the bass popping on the surface. I try to throw a topwater bait, but within a few turns of the reel, I'm hung up with leaves...any suggestions for "leaf-less" top-water fishing?

Someone who likes his bro-in-law?...what a concept...I thought all brothers-in-law were boobs...I know mine sure is, lol

Long Island, NY...where men are men and sometimes the women are men...ew

Lol, could this be a new, stronger version of THE BAIT MONKEY What would this world be with a corporate sponsored bait monkey...watch out boys and girls, next thing you know he'll be writing to Ranger boats and Mercury motors

Team BR. Bassassins

Well, seeing as I am almost always alone, I guess my cat would be my favorite. He sits next to me waiting for a fish, and then runs away scared when it flops on the ground...that is, WHEN I catch fish...