mudcatwilly

Bass are not too smart, but you can spook 'em if you are too loud or make a lot of vibration along the waters edge. If they are hungry or defending a nest, they will strike. Other times, they will be real finicky. That's when being real still and quiet on the bank will make a difference. Getting finicky or spooked bass to bite goes into bait selection and that's too long of a topic to go into. Sometimes you can cast the same lure to the same spot 9 times and they will ignore it. Then on the 10th cast, fish on. If you annoy a bass enough, it will bite your lure just to make it go away.

I often fish from my canoe so I can get to some hard to reach spots. After paddling against a 20 mph wind last weekend, I've decided to put a transom-mount trolling motor on the canoe. I have a couple of questions. 1. Is a 30-lb thrust motor enough for a 14-foot canoe with one person. 2. Do I need a marine battery or will any battery do. 3. Typically, how many hours can you get out of a battery under normal use before it goes dead? Obviously, I will get a battery charger, but I just need to know if a fully charged battery will last all day. I don't want to get 5 miles out and then have to paddle my way back to the truck. 4. Can anyone recommned a good battery charger (non-on board charger)

Use a salt impregnated (floating) plastic worm and carolina rig it. Try to figure out how tall the weeds are on the bottom and make your leader about a foot longer than that. As you drag the weight through the weeds, the worm will float and wiggle just above the weeds. Don't forget to make your worm weedless

Go with a heavy enough jig to punch through the weeds and lily pads and use colors to resemble what the bass are eating. I would also throw a weightless senko and drag it on top of the lily pads and then let it fall through the clearings. Also, if spinners are working, then use spinners, duh!

I fish a small lake with a maximum depth of 30 feet that has gradually sloping banks. The bottom is sandy and silty with no real structure except for an occasional rock here and there. The water is ultra clear and about 82 degrees. What this lake does have are a lot of weeds (hydrilla and milfoil) and some very large bass (lake record is 18.1 lbs). The weeds are dense and tall. For example, at a water depth of 10 feet, the weeds come up to within 2 or three feet from the surface. From my graph, it looks like the weeds gradually get shorter and the edge of the weedline is at about 15 to 17 feet deep. With the warm water temps, I figure that the bass are hanging out in the deeper water inside these weeds. I have also seen them cruising in schools in open water at depths of 15 to 20 feet. Their main forage is cuttbow trout, which the lake is loaded with. How do I get the bass to go after my bait when they are buried in the weeds like that? I know dropshotting is an option, but the weeds are so thick and tall, I wonder if the bass will find my bait. Keep in mind that baits in trout patterns seem to produce best here. Thanks for any tips you guys may have.

Avid, because he has given me some very good tips and Roadwarrior, because he has also given me good tips and also mentioned that he and his fishing buddies are loud and drink beer.

I fish a very small lake, or a very large pond, depending on how you look at it. In this small lake, an 18.1 lb and a 17 lb bass were caught and released this year. That's only the fish that I know of. There may have been other hawgs caught there recently. Anyway, I know that there has got to be a 20 plus pounder in this lake, or the 18 pounder might get over 20 lbs in awhile. When I fish this lake, I'm looking for that fish, the 18.1 pounder that is hopefully 19 lbs by now.

I have a canoe and its great for fishing in tight spots that regular boats can't get to. Plus, you can launch it anywhere. Yesterday afternoon, I took the canoe out on the lake and the wind was blowing about 15 to 20 mph. Try paddling against the wind. That's when having a canoe stinks! I'd much rather fish from a bass boat, or any motorized boat because you can cover more water and you don't have to dislocate your shoulders trying to paddle back to shore against to wind.

I live in California and right now, it's hot, really hot. We're getting consecutive days of 100 plus degree temps and the lake I usually fish has a water temp of about 82 at the surface. This lake has some steep drop offs and gets deep (260 feet) and during the summer, a thermocline develops down to 30 to 40 feet. Does anyone fish in similar conditions, and if so, what tactics do you use to consistently catch bass?

I was fishing a plastic worm, felt a bite, and set the hook. When reeled the bass in, I noticed that the hook wasn't in its mouth. I had hooked him through the side of his head behind his eye. I have also hooked one in the tail before.

I did the same thing. I bought all these crank baits and spinners, but found that I have better results with plastics. The T-rigged worm is my go to bait. I'll still throw cranks and spinners early, just in case the fish want to chase something. I usually find myself putting those away after awhile though and going back to the good 'ol worm. At the moment, cranks baits for me are a last resort. Maybe it's because I don't have a lot of confidence using them yet.

I don't talk too much. Just a little about sports, fishing, etc. Most of the talking occurs right after somebody lands a fish. It'll be quiet for awhile and then you'll hear a loud grunt...the sound of a guy swinging for the fences. When the fish is on, the talking starts up and continues for awhile. Usually it's the guy describing how the fish bit or what he did to get it to bite. When I'm alone, I usually don't say anything except for the occasional expletive when I miss a fish, get chased by bees, drop my phone in the water, or something like that.

Get the best of both worlds! Throw a spinner with a worm trailer. You get the fast fishing of a spinner with the worminess of a worm. All kidding aside, I've heard that spinners, rattle traps, and C-rigged plastics are good search baits because you can fish from top to bottom and cover a lot of water. I'm a little slower. I like to search with a senko or curly tail type worm. I'll usually T-rig it and start out with light weight. If I know I've only got a couple of hours to fish and I don't know where they are or what they like, I go to the spinner with the curly tail worm trailer and I'll put some gel krill on it. I figure if I at least get some scent into the water, a bass might stick its head out and at least look at my bait.

I've had my baits ripped apart a couple of times. In the area I was fishing, the only fish it could have been are bass, trout, catfish, or crappie. Of those fish, the only one capable of sawing a plastic bait in half would have to be a bass. Each time I've had a bait sawed off, it was a big strike. If you have full tension on the line (ie, as you are setting the hook) I thinks it's possible for a bass to rip a soft plastic. Their teeth aren't real sharp, but they can cut you if there is enough pressure applied or if you were to run the tip of your finger over the teeth really fast.

When I don't know what the heck to throw, I go to the senko and start fan casting. It seems to work everywhere, you just have to adjust how you rig it. In a shallow pond like that, I would be fishing before the sun comes up and toss the senko weightless. It may be different where you are, but in California, we are well into the hot weather and the bass go deep as soon as the sun hits the water.

I was out fishing the other day and had a thought. I've fished for a long time, but bass fishing is fairly new to me. Now, it almost the only fishing that I do. At first, I was lucky to get a bite in 4 or 5 hours. Later, I considered catching one bass over one pound a successful day. In recent months, I've fished a lot more and am catching 5 to 10 bass in the same time span that I used to catch one or none. I think that as I have read article after article, talked to other bass fishermen, and tried to apply what they taught me at the lake, I developed little changes each time out and began to realize, "Hey wait a minute, I'm catching fish every time now!" This was a revelation for me. I certainly have a lot to learn, but at least now I feel like I can take a few plastic baits in a few colors and always catch something, anywhere there are bass. I think the confidence factor plays a big role in the way I approach fishing. The more I gain confidence in a certain technique or certain bait, the more I seem to have success. I was wondering if any of you guys realized the moment when you had bass fishing confidence.

In the places that I've fished in California, it can be feast or famine. In some places, you will get numbers (20-50 fish days), in other places you will only get a few, but they are better sized. There is one small lake that I fish that may produce the next state or world record (a 17 and an 18 pound bass were caught and released there this year and I have seen many more large fish come out of there). When I fish that lake, I am trying to catch those fish, so I can go the whole day without even a bite. At other places, I am content to catch anything, so the 1 and 2 pounders all day long are fine with me. I'd say the average fish size is about 2 pounds, but every once in awhile, there will be a biggun'. It's like: dink..dink..2 pounder..dink..12 pounder..dink..dink!

My favorite lake seems to always be the new lake that I do well at. My infatuation with the new lake always fades though over time. I get back to the familiarity of my home lake and then that is my favorite lake again (if I catch something). The problem with my home lake is that it's huge and hard to fish, not to mention the summertime knuckleheads (Lake Berryessa, Northern CA).

It's supposed to be a fish catcher, but I have no confidence in a rattle trap. I've never caught anything on them and they are supposed to be idiot proof. I'm just the idiot to disprove that.

Try flourocarbon line. It has less stretch than monofiliment. If you are using a baitcasting reel, hold your thumb on the spool when setting the hook. If you are using a spinning reel, pinch the line against the base of the rod when setting the hook.

I know that at my local bait shop, I can get good detailed topo maps of the local lakes for about $7. You can also get them online. Here's a little story. At my home lake, there's a guy who runs a marina. Last year, some boy scouts dropped 1000 christmas trees into the lake. I gave the guy at the marina $10 and he showed me on the map where they sunk those trees. Killed 'em that day. Get a good quality topo map of the lake you are fishing, but don't get suckered by dock talk (guys at the launch telling you where they are). Instead, ask the guys at the counters in the marinas. They see the guys come in to weigh the big fish and they know where those guys caught them.

How far you are actually able to cast depends on rod, reel, line, weight of lure, and strength/technique of the angler. This is irrelavent though because if you are trying to heave a lure 200 feet, you are not in the proper position to begin with. 50 to 75 feet is the most you should ever have to throw a lure. Most of the time, my casts are 30 feet or less. If the fish are spooky, I'll get out a little farther, but remember, the more line you have out, the less you are going to feel the bite. Just to be macho though, I can toss a 1/2 oz rattle trap about 150 feet on a stiff rod

Watch your line when the jig is falling. Any sudden movement of the line..swing away! Sometimes when you are retreiving the jig, you may feel a "mushiness". That's a bass sucking it in. Sometimes when retreiving, the line will go slack. The bass has picked it up and is swimming toward you. When fishing a jig, you have to be real attentive and be able to set the hook with catlike reflexes. When in doubt, set the hook. Swings are free!

If T-rigged senkos were working before and they are not working now, try throwing a jig with a Berkeley Gulp trailer. Find out what the bass are feeding on by opening the stomach of one that you catch. Match the jig and pig colors to what you see in the stomach. I practice catch and release, but sometimes I keep one to eat and always cut open the stomach to see what they are eating. The next time I go out, I fish colors of the forage that they are feeding on and that seems to work.

I don't know if anyone saw that show on ESPN a couple of months back, but a guy in California caught a 25 pounder. I saw the photo of the fish and a photo of the scale. I think it was 25.1 or something. Anyway, it was not recognized as the record because he foul hooked it. It is not legal to keep a foul hooked fish in California, and according to the IGFA, a fish must be caught legally to be considered for a record. The guy released the fish unharmed. Check out the photo.