Dave Jakes

Ahhhh, another reason I love kayak fishing.

Small bass like to chase down the ones in the school. Big bass like to sit on the bottom below the school and will eat the dying ones that fall to the bottom. I'd try putting on a big cast master or some other spoon that matches the hatch. Get it down below the school and jig it, using big 3 foot rips up and letting it fall again.

If you're fishing a bigger, more popular lake, check out the Navionics webapp. That will give you a fairly detailed look of the bottom structure to give you a starting point. Then go toss around a Carolina rig or Dropshot to pinpoint all the minor details of the bottom. I just finished a write up on a blog I've been working on talking about everything I know on deep diving cranks. There's also a write up from a couple months ago on fishing a dropshot in deep water. Check it out if you're interested: http://davejakesfishin.blogspot.com/2015/07/details-of-drop-shot.html?m=1

More of a specific cadence than retrieve, but I'll often retrieve my poppers and jerk baits to the beat of "Jump On It". Something about The Sugarhill Gang really gets them going.

I know your pain. Two weeks ago I went 0 for 7 on fish that hit and immediately swam up, jumped, and spit the hook during a night tournament. All 7 were on Strike King cranks (with original hooks). That week I switched out all my hooks with Gamakatsu. This last Friday was the next night tourny, I won it using the same cranks with new hooks. Caught about 15 bass on the same cranks and only lost one little dink. Three of my buddies were also throwing KVD cranks (but they didn't change hooks), and they each lost every fish they hooked up. The original hooks on most hard baits are crap. However, they seem to only be a problem during these summer nights as I haven't had problems with the original hooks during the day. Not sure why, but it's been a bit stressful lately.

Here in AZ all bass are invasive, none of them are native fish. Do you suggest I kill every bass I catch?

He pulled fairly hard for a 2 lber. All of the the largemouth I caught today ran straight to the reeds. This guy swam out to deep water with a rocky bottom. Not sure if that's a characteristic or not?

I'm going back out to the same area later this week to try to catch him again. If I do, I'm going to document the hell out of him and submit for the state record. As it is now Arizona doesn't have a spotted bass record.

Thanks! I didn't pay very close attention at the time, but in remembering back, the mouth did seem to be rougher than any largemouth I've caught. Not sure if that roughness came from the tongue. My scale read 2 lbs 4 oz. good length, but pretty skinny.

Hi guys. Out here in AZ we don't have spotted bass (or so I've been told). I caught this guy today and every fish identifier I can find is telling me this is a spot. Many people from our local forums in AZ agree that it looks an aweful lot like a spot. Yet according to the AZ Game and Fish Department, we don't have spots here. For those of you that are more familiar with spotted bass, what do you think? Thanks!

A small in-line spinner might get the job done. There's a lake in town here with a wide range of species in it, one day I caught one of each (except a carp) on a little Panter Martin. So, toss it out there, if you catch it, you know what it is. If you don't catch it, it's a carp!

It looks like a good weight, but I don't think I'd use it for wacky rigging. Maybe an upside down texas rig kind of approach....

I've had quite a few fish come off and then bite again on the next cast. One fish I even hooked up four times before I finally got him in. Those were all bed fish though, quite a different senario. I don't think I've ever had a fish hit twice otherwise. Even following up a topwater miss with a Senko has never worked for me.

A little 4 inch curly tail finesse worm, made by a little local company here in Arizona, Cactus Wren Outdoors. They call it a "quail tail". So many ways to fish a little finesse worm!

Splashing or just cruising around, I've never had a great bass experience if there's carp around. If I see more than 20 carp swimming around I'll just move on. Not sure if there's any accurate reasoning to this experience or if it's just coincidence, but it's been consistent enough for me to just avoid them. I have buddies who believe the opposite, so who knows!

It depends on way to many factors to just throw out one simple ratio. The technique you're using is just one key factor. If I'm throwing a big 8 inch swimbait, it might be 1:250. A crankbait might be 1:30. A dropshot might be 1:5. An inline spinner thrown into a school of active bass might be 1:2. Way too many factors... My advice, worry less about the stats and just go out there and enjoy catching what you can!

Nice fish man! I've been fishing my whole life, never caught anything over 3 lbs. About a year ago I began to really start getting into the sport seriously. I started following this board and watching Glenn's videos. This past month I hauled in a new PB of 11lbs 2oz. Keep it up and keep learning! Without this community here I'm sure my 11 pounder never would have happened.

I live by the golden rule: Don't do to others what you don't want done to yourself. Now, I know the reproduction process is a bit different for fish, but I wouldn't want someone yanking me off my bed by the mouth while I'm "spawning".

New Dobyns rod with a Revo STX! Santa was very good to me this year! Also got a bunch of stuff to make some jigs. I've never made my own jigs before, so we'll see how this goes. My goal for next year is to catch a bass on a lure I made. Also, Santa brought my fiancé a kitchenaid mixer with the food processor attachment so she'll be busy while I'm out fishing!

I think wind and current will make the biggest difference. Bass will hanging out on the down wind/down current side of the structure waiting for bait fish and food to swim by with the current to ambush their pray. If you throw out with the wind, then retrieve against it you may get a nice long cast, but that presentation is going to look unnatural to the fish. Bait fish generally don't swim into current/wind. If you cast into the wind and retrieve or let it drift into the brush pile with the current you'll have much more success.

I use a 6ft med heavy fast action for texas rigs. But it's a great all around rod, will handle just about everything alright. 6ft is probably a bit small for most people, but I'm a pretty short guy, most of my rods are 6' or 6'6".

Now, pretty much. Not a whole lot of winter season here in the part of AZ I fish. Lakes don't get much below 50 degrees for a long period of time here. The bigger lakes tend to slow down a bit more than the smaller ones but I can always manage a fish or two. Just yesterday I caugh 8 bass in about two hours on a lipless with a fairly quick retrieve in 10 feet of water. The worst part about winter time fishing here is the sunburns!

Just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Dave, I've been searching through this forum for a couple months now and figured I might as well sign up and actually join some conversations. I've been bass fishing my whole life. Grandpa got me started when I was five. Stopped fishing in high school and college because I had no extra time, now that I've graduated and found myself a steady teaching job I spend most of my weekends and school vacations at the lake. We sold the family bass boat a few years ago since no one was using it, so for now I'm fishing from a kayak. Turns out fighting a 6 pound bass from a kayak is way more fun than from a bass boat! There's a good little group of kayak and motorless anglers here in the Phoenix area. I've been lucky enough to win 1st, as well as two second place finishes in the last three motorless tournaments that various groups here put on. I think my recent success is largely due to all the great information I learned from here, and the great videos posted from the bass resource staff. So thanks! Looking forward to getting to know some of you! - Dave