nwgabassmaster

Not unless you care to hear about the catching of a decent 1st sunburn of the year, or the release of a 1/2" splinter. The last two weeks have not been kind to me. Lots of cooler weather and a good bit of rain. Seems the bass have made their beds, but they certainly weren't sleeping on them. :-/

It's good to see you back, BigTex.

Super-imposition. Got to love it. Reminds me of the "goat song" that Adam Sandler had on one of his early cds, and they talked about super-imposing the goat into the pictures. PhotoSuite 4 is what I use for my picture editing. It's easy to use. I am trying to figure it out for banners, and the like. I especially love using it for lightening up pictures that are too dark.

I caught mine 02/25/2005 at 1:30 PM.

Women wear tube.................tops that is. Not recommended for manly wear. :-/ Sorry, couldn't resist.

Back in 2004, I believe, Lake Weiss had a major freeze occur. Millions upon millions of shad died due to the cold temps, and we had ice on the water. It extended about 20 ft. into the water. However, although the ice was there, anglers were pitching jigs and soft plastics to the edge of the ice, especially where it connected with a dock, a laydown, etc., and fish were being caught. These places were only 5-7" ft. deep. I remember some nice ones being pulled out that year. After the ice left, a lot of catfish were caught around the shorelines. They would stack up around the places where the dead shad were stacked up. If a wind came along that carried the shad into the open water, you could toss a top-water and fish it really slowly, and have largemouth, spots, and stripers inahle them. What is funny that so many shad died, that an estimate on the # of shad could not be agreed upon. It did not, however, make a dent in their population. You could still go out with a cast net, when the crappies and bass went to spawn, and catch several shad with the net. So, yea, I believe that some bass stay shallow all year long. If a major front rolls through and they are unable to deal with the changes, they might move location. It could be 1 ft. deeper, or it could be 30 ft. deeper. Just as humans are similiar in many ways, each individual is different.............I like to think that the same applies to fish, and that there will always be the one rogue fish that says he can stay shallow no matter what conditions occur. 8-)

That's a big'un. LOL Sheesh, what a bass. Gorgeous specimen.

We don't have a right to speculate on the reasoning of his departure. If he wanted us to know, he would have left word with all of us about it. All that we can hope is that he will be back soon, and sharing stories of his adventures with us. God Speed, BigTex. We will see you around the next bend in the river, bro. :'(

Well, in a BASS Mag., they had the same question, but it was a myth. It went that if the bass was looking up, they were feeding above themselves. If the eyes were looking down, they are feeding below themselves. They said it was a myth, so perhaps it's a conspiracy. Who knows? ;D

Also check out www.jannsnetcraft.com They have a lot of good things for spinnerbaits.

You aren't nearly as tall as I thought. I was thinking that Ike himself was around 6' tall. So, from looking at that pic, he's not much taller than I am, and stand at 5'8". I was under the impression that you were closer to 7 ft., and was beginning to question why you aren't playing basketball.

I just now realized that was Ike in the pic! LOL I think that Mr. Will is a tall lad, and in Army fatigues. 8-) Makes Ike look like a hobbit! ;D

I know that BASS does not disclose the specific names or locations of these bodies of water, but as I read an old BASSMaster magazine, in which Edwin Evers was fishing a dramatic cold-front situation on a lake in May, I looked at the pictures and wondering to myself, "Self..........I wonder if anyone has ever recognized any of the bodies of water that they choose to fish?" So, that's my question. Have any of you all ever recognized a body of water that the anglers fish? I know that I haven't yet.

The only problem is that they are a one-sided mold. While the Zoom Brush Hogs are a full round bait, the lures that those molds produce have a flat side. That might be alright with you. Not sure if any plans are going to be made for a full round Brush Hog mold, or not.

Check out http://www.del-mart.com/shop/home.php?cat=260 Is that what ya looking for bud?

After talking to you, and contemplating the things that you said, here is what I have come up with. If the temps are in the 40's, as you say that they are, the bass are still going to be in a winter-time pattern. That being that they will be in roughly the same areas that they are during the summer, except they will be more wide spread due to a better dissolved oxygen level. It all depends on how good the bite on the Senko is...........if it's good, stick with it. If it's not, then it's time to experiment. As I told you in our IM, I would try a suspending jerkbait, and trying to find the happy medium that will make it neutrally buoyant, which will cause the lure to sit dead still in the water. The bass will dictate the presentation. At times, they may want it to be fast, while other times you have to twitch it, with dreadfully long pauses between the twitches. Hope that this helps. If the deeper water has brush, I would fish a jig with that, as I know that's a very successful pattern for winter fish.

I have always been told that when the edges of the lips and when the crunchers are red, that it's a sign that they are actively feeding.

You do realize that Anise Oil is akin to Licorice, right? That stuff smells wonderful to me.

My first question would be what color was the Rapala that you were throwing to them? The bass that I have been catching on my Smithwicks have been doing the same thing, but I have been catching them using a clown color. I believe that they were hitting the jerk out of reaction. Although I believe the color had a part to the equation, all the bass hit it while it was sitting still. My next guess would be to do like Nick said, and to pop a Senko in their faces. If they aren't willing to hit that, then I would try whirling a spinnerbait by them. Finally, I would throw the top-water. With those combination of lures, either you will catch them, or annoy them enough that they will leave.

For the spinnerbait aspect, from the magazines that I have seen, www.jannsnetcraft.com is one of the better places for spinnerbaits.

If you are talking about the jigs like the Strike King Pro Model jigs and the Bitsy Bugs................then yes, I always use a trailer. For the Pro Model jigs, I match them with a Zoom Super Salty Chunk, and with the Bitsy Bugs/Flips, I have found the Arkie Craws and they look really good on there.

This is incorrect a catfish makes that noise by moving it's fins and is not part of the drum family. common name applied to members of the freshwater fish families constituting the suborder Nematognathi. The catfish is related to the sucker and the minnow, and like them has a complex set of bones forming a sensitive hearing apparatus. Catfish are named for the barbels ( "whiskers" ) around their mouths and have scaleless skins, fleshy, rayless posterior fins, and sharp defensive spines in the shoulder and dorsal fins. They are able to use the swim bladder to produce sounds. Some species, such as the stone and tadpole catfishes and the madtom, can inflict stings by means of poison glands in the pectoral spines. Catfish are usually dull-colored, though the madtoms of E North American streams are brightly patterned. Members of most madtom species are no more than 5 in. (12.7 cm) long; some are less than 2 in. (5 cm) long. Danube catfish called wels, or sheatfish, reach a length of 13 ft (4 m) and a weight of 400 lb (180 kg), while the Mekong giant catfish can reach 10 ft (3 m) and 550 lb (250 kg). Catfish are omnivorous feeders and are valuable scavengers.

1.What type of lure did he catch his fish on? One with hooks? If he caught them, certainly he had hooks! Oh, you actually want a lure. Hmmmm, with the bass seemingly being in a pre-spawn mood, if the temps of the water are as you say, I would guess that he used a suspending jerkbait. It's a great all around lure for pre-spawn bass..........it will get a reaction strike from inactive bass, while it will also garner strikes from bass that are actively feeding, and wanting an easy meal. 2.What type of presentation? Um, a good one? He CAUGHT fish! It apparently was a good presentation! Errrr, again, you want a real answer. Well, you said that there was a form of current moving some water, albeit small. Any current will position bass in an ambush point, if they are actively seeking food. And since my guess is that he was using a jerkbait, I will say that he was fishing them above brushpiles. Certainly if they are a pre-spawn mode, they would be moving up into the shallows, but they would transistion in deeper water, waiting for the water to warm. 3.What was the water depth?(within 2 ft) Can't give a smart remark to this one..................so, I would guess that the water he was fishing was a transistion area between the main channel and a shallow spawning area. With that being said, the brush that he was fishing should have been sitting 6-8 ft. of water. 4.What was the location of the fish?(example:main lake point,shallows,rocky banks) Um, in the water, I would hope! I would believe that they would be on the down-current side of the brush, so that they could scoop up a free meal as it flowed by. Although you say the current wasn't that much, any moving water would bring bait to that area, looking for protection. As for the location, I answered it above, by saying that it is a transistion area between the main lake channel and shallow spawning flats. 5.What cover or structure were the fish relating to? Sunken brush in 6-8 ft. of water.

Very good observation.

I don't buy into them either, bud. I know that there are certain things that will determine fish movement, most of which you stated............water level, etc. That's all that I really pay attention to, and I just use common sense.