Master_Hunter_1977

I just went through the same thing but I was up grading mine. With all the researh I did I found that the new humminbird 787C2 was the best buy for your buck. They aren't as well known but if you do research then you will find the awards they have won over lowrance and you know that they don't just give these awards away. So give them a look. Scott

IMO this is the best and only rig for sight fishing. Good luck fishing Scott

Ice out can be suprissingly productive with a little luck and knoledge of your water. First I would go to north facing shores they warm up quicker. Muddy water and wind blown banks warm up quicker. I would try and find the warmest warter. Then I would start shallow this is just so I can eleminate shallow first or find them there. I would go with a suspending jerkbait and make sure that you let it pause for long extrended time. Like 60 to 90 sec between your sweeps. After this I would go to structure deep like 20'+ I like to fish hair jigs and drop shots and just like CJBasswacker said fish it slow and when you think that your fishing it slow enough fish it slower I mean SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. This will be the key. All of this info is for smallies that is all I really fish. So if your after LM I'm not sure if this patern will hold true for them. Good luck fishing Scott

This may clear it up Paul Tormanen, a 39-year-old angler from Lee's Summit, Mo., was arrested at the recent Red River Bassmaster Central Open and charged with contest fraud. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) alleges that Tormanen tied fish to stumps prior to the competition days, then weighed at least one of those fish in the tournament. He was subsequently disqualified from the tournament and banned from BASS competition for life.

all I have to say about that fish is that it didn't look real. I know it was but it is just so huge that it blows my mind. I have been fishing for bass for nearly my whole life and can't imagine seeing one that big in real life. ITs just AMAZING. Scott

I primaraly fish for smallies it seems like every year I get a few 5.25 to 5.5 lbers but this year I would like to break that 6lber mark so that my goal. I will keep everyone posted. For large mouth there are a couple of lakes that I do fish for largies but never have caught one over 3.5lbs so for them I would like a 4.5lber. (crossing my fingers and knocking on wood)

I don't have and shad in my home lakes but the shad pattern seem to work well throughout the year. It may be the action of it or soming else but I don't just think if the bass aren't use to seeing it that it means they won't still hit it.

I gree with RW about not having to match the hatch. I think of it like this. For example when shad shad come into the river they are there by the hundreds to thousands. What will make your shad patern look special to those bass. Why would they hit your pattern instead of the thousands of other choises they have in the real thing. I have found that when I body of water is spwamed with a certain type of food its a good thing if you change it up. For some reason they like not to see the same thing over and over. On the contrary I do like to "fish the hatch" if in the body of water you just start to have a certain food source becoming present. For example In my lake the blue gill start getting more active at a certain time of the spring and at this time for a week or two that pattern is great but the it dies off even though they are still in the system by the hundreds. Good luck fishing scott

The look professional. They are something you sould be proud of. Great job.

"a softer tip loads better and cast further than a pool cue" This is dependent on #1 on gobbledog's list. If you have a pole that has a "soft tip" then a lighter bait will cast farther but if you have a hevier bait like something that is 1 1/2 oz or hevier then you can load up the stiffer pole better. Other factors are 7. Casting reel- dependent on spool tention and magnetic drag. 8. There are some spinning reel spools that are designed to cast farther by having a slightly tapered spool. 9. Also size of bait. Smaller bait will cast farther. And type of bait. They have certain baits like the X-Rap that is designed for casting and casts like a rocket.

I was hoping for some of your guys opinion. The body of water I fish on fluxuates water level 20' a lot of times in the spring. Usually it is down 10' to 12'. And the water temp this time of year is mid to high 40's. here comes my quetion. The water right now is 42' low and droppig. The water temp is high thirties and low 40's. This time of year the bass are starting to come up on the flats and you can be really productive on suspending Jerkbaits. I just don't know if they are still going to be coming up or if they will still be in there winter pattern. I know the temp says that its winter pattern, but I'm not sure that some won't be moving up. What do you think and whats the best aproach to try and target these fish. One more thing they are smallmouth. I would like some help on this one. Thanks. Some more info on the lake I fish. Its a river that is backed up by a dam down at the dam its over a 150' deap in places. Not many flats down there. There is more steep drop offs and main river points. The farther up you go you start getting into more flats. once you go about 35-40 miles up river you get back into the main flowing river. Where would you predict the fish to be at. thanks for the help.

I would give them a weightless aproach. With slow small "jiggles". Try a tube or a stick bait. should do the trick. Cast past them and bring it over their head then stop it and allow it to fall.

I like that I started this thead. I think it has sparked some great thoughts and made us all think a little more maybe. So here we go. This is what I think. Temp play a huge roll in a fishes life. They are cold blooded and only can "warm up" through metabolism from food or their local invironment. (the water they live in). I'm not sure if temp is the most important part of spawning. I think the photoperiod or length of day is rather a better judge in spawning. I feel and through my experiences that the bass still start some of their prespawn rituals at the same time of the year independed on the water temp. I have found that I just have to change my presentation to catch these bass in colder water. I live in oregon and primaraly fish smallies so this info is specific to them. I have caught smallies in the spring up on the flats in 42 degree water temps that are full of eggs and the same spots in a different year when the water temp is normally 48-52 and they seem to be about the same ratio of fish full of egg no mater the water temp this time of year. I think bigbassjim made a good point. I think that when bass spawn is primaraly depend on their egg macturity. This depends on their food consumption. So a bass that gets good food through out the winter and early spring will spawn earlier. I know I my home lake that not all the bass spawn at the same time. It is spread out for about a month. I think this has to do with what I mentioned before about egg maturity and not all bass have there eggs mature at the same time. Just another thought. Keep them coming it is good reading. Good luck fishing Scott

IMO I believe that rattles work well in a couple of situations. 1) in stained water 2) whenyou are fishing in an area that other people don't use rattles on their jigs. I believe that when you don't go long with the norm it is more productive. Same is true with the sounds of the rattle. Different sounds of rattles can produce more fish.

I have a question for everyone. I have a biologist. (not a bass one though.) There is lots of info out there that will give you the water temp of smallies and largies when the will start spawning. This has been kind of the staple or general rule of thumb. This was also a general idea of deer and elk when they would start the rut. It was thought the the out side temp played a big role on their time of rut. When in reality its the amount of light that hits the eye of the female. This will set her into cylce and the males respond from there. In warmer weather the ruting habits are not seen as much as in cooler weather. This is becasue a lot of the rutting goes on at night. The reason the researcher have speculated that it happens this way is becasue, what happens if we have an unussual streak of weather and set the female into cycle and the male bread her. If this was to early then the fawn or calf would be born to early and have a poor chance of survival. Same is true if she came into cycle to late the fawn would be born to late and not give adiquit time to put on body mass to help them survive the winter. Now knowing this it makes me think what about bass. Are they similar? There are record for the last 60 years on my lake for water temps. When looking over them you can see that the water temp increase at the same time, or just about, every year. So when the bass go to spawn is it due to the fact of water temp or is it the light that is transmitted into the water. The reason I ask. Is this year we have a cooler water temp than we have had in some time. Last weekend the water temp temp was 38 to 36 depending on where on the body of water I was. At this time of year the water temp is 44-46. So would the bass start up on the flats for their prespawn habits or are they still going to be deep.

I was wondering if anyone here has heard of this product or tried it out? I have read some good reviews on it. They claim that it is suppose to be weedless and give you more life to your battery. Check it out and let me know what you think. Is it worth the $50 tag. Thanks Scott

I am also looking to buy a new fish finder with a GPS system on it. I don't want to spent a fortune but want a good quallity product. I have looked at the Lawrances and the bottom lines also the Eagles. I right now am leaning toward the Hummin bird 787 c. The specs are as fallows. Add-on Accessory Capability: Wireless Sonar Link, WeatherSense Barometric Pressure, PC Connection Kit & SystemLink Depth Capability: 1500 ft Display Window Size: 5 Diagonal Display Matrix: 640V x 480H Display Type: Color TFT, Sunlight Viewable, Hemispherical Viewing Power Output: 500 Watts (RMS), 4000 Watts (Peak to Peak) Operating Frequency: 200kHz & 83 kHz Sonar Coverage: 20° & 60° @ -10db Target Separation: 2 ½ Inches Temperature: Included in transducer Speed: GPS speed included Transducer: Inside Hull or Transom Mount Power Input Range: 10-20 VDC Mounting: Gimbal or Optional In-Dash Unit Size: Installed on Gimbal: 6.9W x 7.7H x 4.5D (min) Installed In-dash: 6.9W x 5.4H x 1.25D; Required Minimum 3 behind dash clearance Communication: NMEA O183 Data Output, Advanced Accessory System Cartography: Built-in 4 nm UniMap; Optional Navionics Gold HotMap Premium on MMC or SD Cable GPS Features: WAAS, 2000 Waypoints, 50 Routes, 25 Tracks with 20000 Points Each For the $/unit. I feel this one is the best. I can find it around $630 if you search the internet. Give it a thought and let me know what you think. Good luck fishing Scott

my go to bait pre-spawn is suspending JB. husky jerk and lucky craft, with a few megabass. I love to site fish for smallies on their beds durning the spawn I will use a drop shot rig with a bright worm. I like this technique b/c you can keep the bait in the strike zone a ton. Good luck fishing.

I would have to look at the head closer to be sure but from what it looks like with out a close up of the mouth. I looks like a lamp ray eel. They are come to lots of bodies of water. they actually migrate down rivers and bodies of water then back up to where they were born and spawn. Similar to salmon or steelhead. Scott if you look at the mouth the mouth sould be round and have some really small teeth in there. if you feel it they may only fell like rough sand paper at that size

I saw that too. He use flex coat just like you would use on building a rod. how he got it to dry even was. On a slow turning rod drier he put a one inch wooden rod that had clips on it. He first painted the plug then put the flex coat on with a fine pait brush then cliped the bill to the rod and let it spin and dry.

Heres my opinion on this subject and one thing that I think that the average personn over looks. Water is a fluid source. I know that sounds stupid but what I mean is its is fluid so it will take on the properties of a fluid. Just because your water temps climbed up to the low 50's b/c of extended water days, then it for a week you had extremely cold weather and your water has droped to the 40's. This doesn't mean that 8 feet down has droped or changed much at all or even at all. B/c it takes a lot of energy to warm a fluid up. In the same breath it takes a lot of energy to cool a fluid down. So just b/c you had on week of realy cold weather doesn't mean that you had enough cold energy to change that water temp below just the surface. I would say if you start to have warm weather the water surface will start to warm up quick. I believe the fish will pull out to to depth that changes the least in water temp. As you go down in the water colum you ussually have the water warming up to a certain temp the it will start to cool down again. This happens after any cold front. The longer the cold front and the colder it is the deeper the change and the more dramatic the change. This is do to the fact that the cold energy is in direct contact with the surface and that is were it will be afected the least and the deeper you go the less effect the front has on the water. I'm not sure if this will answer you question directly but i hope with your knowledge of your body of water you may be able to put the facts how a fluid acts under the change of energy. Good luck fishing

That is one of the best ideas I have heard in a while. I know when I first got my finder I had a hard time determining exactly what I was looking at. I also know that there are short cuts on some lowrance finders and it would be great to tap into others knowledge. Good idea BD

I like fishing suspending jerkbaits in the spring in cool or cold water. The coolers depend on clarity. I like dark in mudy water and bright in clear. Remember slow....slow ............slow.........and oh ya slow........presentations. that I believe is key. I also like to drop shot a natural looking minnow. and just dead stick it after short bursts. Scott

I would say that there isn't anything much better than those monster bronzebacks. There is just something about the way that they don't ever get up. My favorite time of year is prespawn. The reason is at this time of your if you have a good solid technique it can be awesome. On the bodies of water that I fish the prespawn bite is the best on suspending baits. I like the larger baits for larger fish. I have also found that using suspending dots and making that bait suspend a little deeper (1-2 feet). Makes a big difference for larger fish. I would also say that maybe in the heat of the summer slow rolling rattle traps have produced several bass 5lbs + last summer, but only a few where as the spring I get a lot more in the larger size range. Good luck fishing and come on spring time.

I thought I would just start a plug on this site about your neat tricks. What do you do that is a little different than the average person that helps you catch bass throughout the year. Smallmouth and largemout. If you would specify what species your fishing for. For example I don't know how much of trick it is but a couple of things I do is. In the spring I use a 1/2 oz spinner bait head and large collorado blades. I know tipically that collorado blades when fished make the bait have lift. But when paired with a larger spinner bait head and fished really slow you are able to fish deeper water. And the colorado blades put off a ton of vibration. I believe this helps me with acracting the fish in the spring, because where I fish this time of year the warter is murky. This tacktic works well on smallmouth and largemouth. Other tricks that would be cool to read about would be how do you alter your baits to make them more productive? Good luck fishing Scott