CoBass

One of my most successful cold water reaction baits is a blade bait. Cast it to deeper water, let it hit the bottom then rip it up and let it flutter back to the bottom. Most hits will come on the fall. The Bass Pro XPS Lazer blade in chrome/black has produced a lot of fish for me in cold water conditions.

Total C&R can definitely have an adverse effect on bass size when it comes to smaller waters. There is a pond I fish that is owned by a local water company. They stocked it with bass, bluegill, and perch for insect control and don't want to spend any more money on fish so they made it strictly C&R. With no fish ever being removed, there is an abundance of twelve inch and smaller bass in the pond. The original bass stocked have reached about 15-16 inches so they aren't big enough to eat the 12 inchers and with all of the competition from the smaller bass, the perch and gill fry get eaten up as soon as they hatch. Removing a bunch of the smaller bass would reduce the competition for food and might actually allow some of the gills and perch to grow to a size where they would actually provide a decent meal for the bigger fish. This pond is only six years old and what the strict C&R has produced is one class of bass that are 15-16 inches long and growing very slowly, one class each of gills and perch that are too big to be eaten by the bigger bass, and tons of smaller bass that don't have enough food to push past that 12 inch range.

Cool vids. First one is actually a cheetah. What do you do when a cheetah jumps up on your truck? It's not like you can run away from the fastest land animal on the planet lol.

I watch what types of baits the pros are using and how they use them, as well as the situations they use them in. As far as specific brands, I won't buy those based on someone's word who isn't fishing the waters I fish and probably never will fish the waters I fish.

I hear they taste like a combination of spotted owl and California condor.

Sad news indeed. Condolences to the family. Ice can be fickle stuff. We've had a short warm spell here and a guy on our local fishing boards posted a picture of a hole he drilled that was in six inches of ice. Right behind that hole was a bigger hole that his daughter went through and you could see that it was less than two inches thick. She got out and was okay but still, scary stuff. Be careful out there guys, no fish is worth dying over.

Norcal..You're right that the majority of fatalities are among the elderly or those with other health issues, but I have worked in several hospitals and have seen plenty of otherwise healthy people admitted with influenza. Influenza can be deadly to anybody depending on the strain or mutation. In 1918, there was a major flu pandemic that killed between 20-50 million people worldwide (some estimates go as high as 100 million). The strange thing about that one was that the majority of deaths were in young adults. The elderly and very young had lower mortality rates. Hopefully we will never see another strain like that one but you never know.

Good points on the differences between the different strains of bass. I have fished both NLMB and FLMB and the northerns are definitely more aggressive and less prone to lockjaw when it comes to minor changes in weather patterns and water temps. I would love to see the F1 hybrids stocked in some of our lakes but unfortunately the Fish and Game guys here are all about trout, walleye, and kokanee salmon. Bass are way down on their list of priorities.

I agree that a lot of his shows are filmed on private waters. When you get to fish waters that are full of big fish that get very little pressure there's no need for divers. I always looked at his show as him featuring a particular presentation and teaching how to catch fish on that presentation. I'm sure he was paid well to feature certain baits but I really doubt there were divers hooking fish for him.

The vaccine in the article was never administered in the United States. When it comes to whether or not to get the flu shot, I play the odds. On average, 36,000 people die from the flu in the U.S. every year. Tens of thousands more get sick enough to require hospitalization. Those numbers are way higher than the number of people who have any serious reaction to the shot so I'd rather take my chances with the shot.

One factor I have noticed is length of days. Being in a colder climate I have seen years where the water temps don't reach the 60's until early June. The pre-spawn feeding frenzy seems to start when the days get noticeably longer in the late March to early April time frame and will last until the water warms up. Even if the water temps are only in the 40's the longer days seem to get them going.

He's already been there, done that. The tournament trail is a real grind with no guaranteed paychecks. He's making plenty of money on his shows and I'm sure the schedule is a lot easier on him than fishing tournies would be. Besides, if he stopped filming shows, we wouldn't have his awesome blooper tapes to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AeLUSxGf8M

I agree with papajoe. I've seen quite a few bass come through the ice this year, both largemouths and smallies. Live bait seems to be producing the most fish. They aren't chasing anything but if you leave a minnow down there they will take it. Went out with some friends today and we were catching smallies through the ice in 30 ft of water with live minnows fished less than a foot off the bottom.

Not actually on the water but one day we were at a buddies house hanging out in his garage cleaning and re-lining reels. I put my freshly cleaned, greased, and re-lined reel back on my rod and decided to take it for a quick test drive. I put a weight on and made a long cast towards the end of his driveway. I was reeling it back in and a falcon came swooping down and tried to grab the weight. I made a few more casts but he lost interest in the weight so we took the hooks off of a home carved mouse plug and tossed that. That really got his attention and for the next fifteen minutes we took turns casting the mouse and watching the falcon swoop down after it. He never actually grabbed it but he was getting really close to it before turning away at the last second. He seemed to know it wasn't real but I think he was having just as much fun chasing it as we were watching him do it.

Good advice on finding out about the trout stocking schedule. There is a lake around here that has big hybrids in it. Throwing anything rainbow trout colored after a trout stocking is deadly. As far as your weather report goes hmongkidBee, I'd kill for those temps right now. The highest temp I've seen in the past 3 days is 12 degrees. Right now it's zero. Man I hate Winter. Good luck on the bass, keep after them and you'll eventually hook up.

Your post reminded me of this video I saw a couple of years ago. It's a very simple device designed to get fish back to the depth they were caught at to relieve barotrauma

If you bring them up slowly from deep water swim bladder issues won't be a problem. In the summer, we routinely bring walleye up from 50 feet or more and if you bring them up slowly they are fine, horse them to the surface and their swim bladder will be sticking out of their mouth.

I'm going with the home teams in both games. I'm in the Denver area and it is cold right now (10 degrees), but the sun is shining and the wind is calm so it doesn't feel that cold. They are calling for snow today but it's supposed hold off until early evening.

I think a better format for a reality show would be to use non-pros with the grand prize being sponsorship for one year to give the winner a chance to make it on the pro circuit. A show like that obviously wouldn't appeal to the major tv networks but it would probably do well on one of the outdoor or sports related networks.

Live bait isn't an option. Pond is owned by a local water company and their rules are artificial only, C&R only.

Put me in the no need to weigh non-tournament or pb fish camp. A buddy of mine always gives me a hard time for guestimating my catches, but when he insists on weighing them I'm usually within a few ounces. I fish because I enjoy it, not to impress others with exactly how much my fish weigh. I do take a lot of pics but I can snap a quick pic and get them back in the water in a lot less time than it takes to get a weight.

Water is more stained than muddy. Visibility is about 3 feet. I've been hitting the area in front of the waterfall pretty heavily because it's at least 5 degrees warmer than the rest of the open water and probably 10 degrees warmer than the side that is capped. Suspending jerkbaits are another good idea. I threw a perch pattern jerkbait for a while last week but they aren't baits that I have a lot of confidence in so I probably didn't give it as much time as I should have. Funny thing is that our local fishing websites have had quite a few bass through the ice pics lately from people who aren't even targeting them and I can't buy a bite in open water that is warmer. Oh well, I really don't like staring down a hole in the ice waiting for a bite so I guess I'll just keep pounding away until I find the pattern that works.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I haven't tried the spinnerbait or chatterbait yet so I guess I'll give those a try. Unfortunately, there isn't much in the way of structure on this particular pond. There's a couple of rock piles, one that is currently under the ice and the other is in front of the waterfall, and literally nothing in the way of laydowns or stumps/timber. It is fairly weedy during the Summer and right now all of that vegetation is pretty much laying on the bottom. I have spent the majority of my time hitting the area by the waterfall because it has everything that should be attracting and holding fish. There is a constant inflow of warmer water, rocks, and a drop off about 30 feet from the shore. Looks like I'm just going to have to keep at it and search until I find where they are holding. I got spoiled last Winter because I found them early and they didn't move out until the water warmed up in the Spring. What a difference a year can make.

Here's the situation. Small pond (10-15 acres), that has a small waterfall feeding it with ground water that is 50 degrees. South end of the pond is ice capped, north end is open due to the inflow of warmer water. Deepest part of the pond is about 10 ft. Last year, the bass were stacked up in front of the waterfall all Winter long and I was able to catch them on a variety of presentations. This year, no such luck. Forage base is bluegill, perch, and baby bass. Boating is not allowed so it's shore fishing only but I can reach most of the deeper holes. I have not been able to figure out a pattern this Winter. I've thrown a variety of T-rigged plastics with and without weights, blade baits, dropshotted various plastics, jig n pigs, grubs, float n fly, and lipless cranks. So far, the few fish I've caught have been on the blades. I figured the bass would be hanging out in the warmest water which is in front of the water fall but they don't seem to be there this year. It's the only open water within about 100 miles and I'm not really into the ice fishing thing so I'm open to any suggestions on cold water bass tactics. Oh yeah, the pond is artificial flies and lures only so live bait isn't an option.

Here's a video that explains the bare minimum you should have for ice safety. I don't do a whole lot of ice fishing but when I do go, I go with folks who know what they are doing. If you have never been on the ice before, it can be pretty unnerving to hear the ice cracking and popping even when you know you're on ice that is thick enough to support a lot of weight