Clint C.

It's so weird you brought this up because I've been going back and forth about this in my head recently. John Hope who wrote "Trackin' Trophies" says there are 3 types of bass. Shallow water, Mid Depth and Deep water fish. According to his studies, I believe it was 16 years or more of tracking fish he said when a fish picks the depth range they are going to live at they don't leave it, except for the spawn each year. According to him this is the only time Largemouth will venture out of their normal range. For example, mid depth 8-12 feet. Also according to John when there are extreme changes in temperature, unlike what most anglers think, the bass don't move from shallow to deep or deep to shallow. They simply stay closer to cover and become harder to catch because their strike zone can shrink down from 10ft to 10 inches. I hear a lot now that spring is coming, and the ice is just starting to melt, that fish will come into shallow flats that are blocked by the wind and get sunshine all day. If we follow what John says this must be only the shallow range fish (who are most affected by weather changes), unless the bass are "fooled" into spawning conditions. The Mid and Deep water fish follow their same depth all year and feed along their horizontal "routes". It's an interesting subject and I feel John is one of the most trusted researchers. I see no reason not to agree with what he's found.

My favorite setup right now is with the Patriarch 9530 spinning. You will not be disappointed. Casts a mile, durable, SUPER light. I love it. Side note: I almost fish exclusively weightless lures with it. Not sure how it would handle heavy stuff, but don't see why it wouldn't be just as great.

I was happy for Reed. The Canard wreck was terrifying! It is definitely going to be interesting.

So who's taking it tomorrow night? I'm going to guess Stewart.

So true! The thing scares me about Villopoto is when he goes down, it's usually pretty bad.

Just think of it this way. Bass will always take an easy meal over one they have to chase. Get a bait that will act injured and let it sink or "swim" outside the group of bait. Hopefully it gets a hit!

Water temp and location of course. Remember certain parts of a lake can be a lot warmer than other parts and fish in those areas will spawn first. Look for sunny shallow flats protected by the wind, black-bottom coves etc for the earliest spawning fish in the lake. If there is nothing there yet they might be in pre-spawn so start spanning out a little deeper to staging areas. They start in the low to mid 60 degree range.

Like NC said, watch the water temps. If you want to get some earlier fishing in hit the parts of the lake that heat up fast. Fish will spawn at different times in different parts of the lake. The best for early spawns in your area can be small ponds that warm up more quickly than main lakes. Personally out here it's May-June for the spawn time.

RC was rock solid! Villopoto is close but still can't match what RC had.

Nice! Were they shallow with all the sunshine we were having?

Yup! So far he's 2 for 2. KTM has had a long road to that spot.

Yeah he definitely has the speed to win! It's frustrating not seeing him get up to that speed in the races. Hopefully less focus from the media will help him out.

!!! Looks like you got a pack of Senkos out of me! You'll have to private message me where to send 'em. That was a hell of a race, I really wanted Windham to hold on to third!

On sunny days it's good to wait until later in the day towards the evening. Let the water warm up, get to the sunny, wind blocked side of the lake and you should be able to find some fish!

I had a facepalm momment when I saw that!

Haha, the track actually looks like it will make for good racing tonight. Very fast! That sand section is going to eat up a lot of people by the end of the night I think.

Race is on live on Speed Channel right now =0) Long time until the main even though. Channel 607 on Directv

I agree the whole yelling at the fish is a bit much when he does that. This is just like any other sport and emotions can get the best of you. Unfortunately it got Ike.

Hahaha well good luck! Who do you want to see win?

Hahaha I all of the sudden got nervous! I'm going to have to tweet Reed and make sure to let him know I got some magic lures on this race!

Just to be clear I'm only betting one pack of any color of these =p http://www.cabelas.com/product/Gary-Yamamoto-Original-Senko174/1167572.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dyamamoto%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts&Ntt=yamamoto&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products

Yup =)

Yes! The better racing makes it more enjoyable to watch for sure. I'm going to bet a pack of Senkos that Reed wins this weekend though!

Ahhh the good ol' 2 stroke days =0) You want Kevin Windham, Chad Reed or Justin Brayton! There was nothin better than ripping around on a cr125 when I raced! Working at Service Honda was great!

I like how Ricky was saying even at his "on the edge" pace Villopoto is still in control. The guy is incredible.