mudcatwilly

That bass looks like it could eat that kid!

Yeah, the naked phone diving story is the one everyone keeps bringing up. For a brief moment, while I was standing there on the bank, naked and wet, holding my cell phone, I felt a weird sense of victory (and shrinkage!)

While fishing, I have destroyed 4 cell phones. I offer these tales of my embarrasment for your amusement. 1. While fishing from a rocky bank in December, my cell phone fell off my belt clip, bounced on the rocks and fell into the water. The water was clear and I could see that it landed on a rocky shelf about 6 feet underwater. At the time, I didn't consider that a fully submersed cell phone would no longer work, so I decided to go in after it. I had just started fishing and it was early morning and I planned to fish the rest of the day and didn't want to fish in wet clothes. I took a quick look around for other people, saw no one, so I stripped down naked and jumped into the freezing water, retreiving my no longer working cell phone. I dried off with my sweatshirt and kept fishing. Yes, I know. I should have left the cell phone in the lake! 2. While at work, I had an hour in between appointments (I am an engineer and was going to inspect someone's foundation later that afternoon). Since I had a little time to kill, I decided to wet a line because I always keep my fishing gear in my truck in case the need arises. Well, it had rained the previous night and the bank was muddy. Fully clothed, I slipped and fell in, again with my new cell phone on me. I had no change of clothes and didn't have time to go home, so I did the appointment in wet clothes and bare feet (real professional). The client didn't seem to mind though. 3. I got a new canoe this year and the first time I took it to the lake, I made a cast and got hung up in some submerged branches. I paddled over in an attempt to retreive my lure. I leaned over slightly to pull the lure from the water and flipped the canoe, again with my cell phone in my pocket. The water was 54 degrees and the air temp was 40. I fished the rest of the day wet and freezing and didn't catch anything but a cold. 4. A few weeks ago, I was trout fishing (I know, what's a trout?) and I was wearing my hip waders in a stream. I was doing fine walking along in the stream, enjoying my waders, even catching fish. I got out of the water and walked upstream a ways, tripped over a large tree root and fell in the stream (which was about 5 feet deep) head first. Again, my cell phone was in my pocket. The water was a balmy 55 degrees. To top it off, as I climbed out of the water, I saw an old fly fisherman standing there grinning from ear to ear. He said, "Well at least you didn't fall in when the water was 40 degrees. I fished the rest of the morning soaked to the bone with my destroyed cell phone in my pocket. This has been a running joke with my friends. I'm the guy who alway falls in the water. Don't be that guy! Oh yeah, if you are prone to falling in the water, keep your cell phone in a sealed ziplock bag like I do. Better yet, leave it in the truck. Better still, don't fall in the water. I'm a flippin idiot.

1. Pay to go with a guide for a full day. It will be worth it. 2. Go fishing with an experienced bass angler, preferably one who has a boat. 3. Pick a couple of different lures types in a few colors of each and learn how to fish those. I recommend plastic worms (Gary Yamamoto Senkos or Yum worms, which is similar to the Senko) and spinner baits. Worms and spinners can catch fish in almost all situations and they are not to difficult to learn how to fish. 4. With the worms, experiment with Texas rigging and Carolina rigging using different weights. Or you can fish a worm with no weight at all. 5. Learn how to rig a worm on the hook so it's weedless and also try wacky style. Make sure you get worm hooks. They make it easier to rig the worm weedless. 6. With the spinners, experiment with different plastic trailers. That is where you place a plastic bait on the spinner bait hook. I like to use single or twin curly tail worms for this. 7. Read, read, read and ask a lot of questions. Anglers love to give advice.

Out here in California, I think something like 23 of the 25 largest bass on record have been caught here. 6 pounds and up is a big fish anywhere, but usually only fish greater than 12 pounds or so get mentioned in the California Bass magazines.

I would cast a spinner at low trajectory (skip it lightly). Be careful if you are going to use a snap swivel on a spinnerbait though. Sometimes the snap swivel slides down the wire and fouls the lure. This can cause you to get snagged because when you reel it in, the hook is no longer protected by the wire. Try to match the color of the spinner with the color of bait fish that you are seeing. I like to burn it, pause, burn it, pause and then swing for the fences.

Use a spinnerbait with the biggest colorado blades you can get. In muddy water, the bass tend to feed on sound and vibration. T-rigging a big worm also works with brass and glass. I would also add some scent to the baits.

Lately, I've been fishing on various lake with semi-clear water. I can see lunker females just leisurely swimming around the same spot, so I assumed that they are on beds. I can pick off the males in the area, but I can't get that dang female to bite anything. She just looks at my bait and lets it go by. How do you catch that female?

Try a bait with really bright colors. You may also want to add a rattle.

Slow roll a spinnerbait. If that doesn't work, make a few casts with a crankbait with a slow retreive. Right after that, throw the same crank and burn it. The first few casts get the bass' attention and the burning crankbait makes him mad enough to bite it.

Senko, light colors for clear water and dark colors for murky. If the water is dark, as some brass and glass. Craw colored jigs have worked well for me in small lakes and ponds

Where you find weeds you find bass. Burn a crank through them on heavy line. Also, try a weedless senko with a stop and reteive

Catch those crawdads, hook them through the back and toss them out with no weight. They will often get bit on the way down. Let them hit bottom and reel in slowly. You will run out of crawdads!

For deeper clear water, try a drop shot with a 4 inch worm

Read, read, read and then go with a friend who bass fishes. Find cover and pitch right into it. Sooner or later, you will get bit. Hone your technique for slow fishing with plastics. That will help you to better understand have to work spinners and jigs. Every once is awhile, mix in a crank bait. Practice in a swimming pool to see how different baits behave in the water. After some practice on the water, you will beginto to anticipate strikes and it will take off from there.

Early morning, buzzbait or top water. Then its the spinner then it's the senko. If all else fails, drop shot witha berkeley gulp worm

The other day, I was bank fishing a small lake. The lake had some great structure, rocks, weeds, timber and brush. The water was clear down to about 4 feet. I was walking along the bank and noticed a flash just below the surface. I looked down and saw a largemouth that had to be 7 plus pounds just sitting there in two feet of water about three feet from the edge of the bank. I tossed my senko out past her and worked it slowly back toward her. She ignored it. I tried it again, but hooked a smaller bass in the same area. I then switched bait after bait trying to catch this lunker. Spinners, jigs, swimbaits, topwater, jerkbaits, you name it. I put it right in front of her face several times and all she would do was turn toward the bait and then slowly swim 5 to 10 feet away. In a few minutes, she came back to the same spot. She never really got spooked, she just moved around slowly, always coming back to the same spot literally 3 feet from the bank. Meanwhile, I kept landing smaller bass all around her with the same baits that she ignored. Once, I even bounced a rattle trap right off of her head. Can anyone explain why this hawg would not take the bait while the others were more than willing to bite?

I have been fishing for bass for three seasons now, fall, winter, and spring. It took me awhile before I could figure out how to catch them. I read article after article, tried all different types of baits, and finally in the last month, I started catching bass somewhat regurlarly. I fished a small laked three weeks ago and did OK. The lake was gin clear and the water temp was 65. I went there again today and the lake was again clear, but the water temp was 77. My fishfinder picked up several schools of bass passing by and they were suspended at 10 to 15 feet. I got a little closer to the banks and I could see large bass swimming around at about 4 to 8 feet. This lake has a maximum depth of 30 feet with no hard structure, only weeds and a very gradually sloping bottom. It is always gin clear. I threw everything I had at them and could not get a bite. Does anyone have any tips for fishing a warm, gin clear, gradually sloping lake that only has weeds for cover?

I recently told my wife that I was going to be home at 7:00 PM, but got home at 9:30 PM. I had good intentions and was getting ready to leave at 6:00, but the bite turned on. I started catching fish and next thing I know, it was dark. Well, I got home and caught an earfull. I find that if you get in trouble for fishing too much or stay too late, skip fishing for a couple of weeks and do some stuff for or with her. She usually forgets about my past fishing transgressions after that.

I am looking to buy my first bass boat. I am going to start off with a used boat. I'm thinking 19 or 20 feet should do it. What boats out there seem to stand the test of time? I need something that is dependable and holds its value. Of the research that I have done, Ranger, Triton, and Nitro seem to be popular among fisherman. If you had to buy a 10-year old boat, what would it be?

I am planning on buying a canoe so I can do some fishing on some small lakes that don't allow gas motors. Does anyone have any recommedations on what canoe to buy for solo fishing?

I fish as many lakes as possible. I have my home lake (Berryessa) in CA, but I like to try all kinds of different lakes. I find that learning where bass habitate in different lakes during different times of the year helps my overall fishing success. Plus going onto a new lake makes the hunt even more exciting.

Get a couple hundred feet out from the warm discharge and burn cranks and spinners.

Toss a line. Lord knows that when I've gone in perfect fishing conditions, I struck out. And when I went during sideways rain and chocolate milk water, I boated bass on a weird bait. It's the thrill of the hunt brother!

I'm with Fishie, except I use a 1/2 ounce weight because most of the lakes I fish are deep and also, the CA delta has a slight curent/tide, so I want to keep the weight on the bottom. I use 10 pound flourocarbon with a 1/0 offset hook and a worm with a tail or even a brush-hog and that seems to work well. Shake it slow, drag it slow, and then dead stick it. Repeat 8,000 times and you'll fill your bag. It's just that easy