FIN-S-R

Even though this has been beat down a few times, repetition helps retention. Lets see, color...June bug/ Ozark Smoke/whitish purple/ anything green or brown, and of course black. All these "colors" reflect wavelengths that are easy for fish to see and resemble most naturally ocurring forage. Then again I have caught fish on every color of everything I own pretty much. I think you can get more of a color effect in shallower water than deep, but there is always gonna be that 1 color that does out perform the rest. Just how do you find it though...Oh yeah Rolands color selector. Color matters, but not as much as some other things. Color is more of an enhancement factor.

My go to for lock jaw cold weather bass is a 4 in. yum dinger rigged weedless on a 1/4 oz. rollin runner. Fish deep and slow and all that, but the key is to cover an area effectively, then move on. My last outing was 50 deg h2o and a very slow bite. I tried about 15 (literally 15) different techniques to effectively cover the entire water column from 12" to 40'. Caught 1 off an LVR in 9 ft, 1 on speed trap in 2 ft, 3 came off speed trap in 5-7 ft, and got 2 more in 18-22 ft on the aforementioned rollin runner rig. All were in areas with close shallow deep relationships, and in close proximity to bait. So the lure you throw isnt as important as the way you thoroughly cover water. There are and will always be fish in any spot with a good shallow deep relationship that has forage present. You just have to get your lure to swing close enough either fast or slow enough to merit a strike. And once you thoroughly cover an area, move on. Once you find em, then stay. I had a horrible early winter last year cause I stayed with my "confidence baits", it wasnt till I branched out and started fishing lures that covered certain sections of water that I became successful. Let the area and conditions dictate your technique choice, not the emotional attachment you have to a certain lure. Oh, and my partner blanked throwing the same two unproductive confidence baits all day long in the same spots i caught fish!! Dont get discouraged, document and learn...itll get better

Most folks dont consider oklahoma when they think trophy smallmouth, or smallies at all, but the okie state record has been broke multiple times over the past few years and is now up to around 8 something lbs out of eufaula. i have talked to some guys that have fished the tennesee smallie part of the world and they have said the eastern oklahoma smallie fishin' is not too different from that. Oklahoma is the only place Ive ever fish for the brownies, but I am really addicted to it, and I love catchin largemouth as much as the next guy. Its just the brown bass fishin up here is fast action and light line'in, and I cant get enough!!

CATT, I see your from Tx, If you want to hook up a smallie trip and not have to travel too far, Lake Murray is the spot (has had 20+ lb smallie stringers win tourneys). Lake Murray is just off I-35 30 or so miles into Oklahoma just S.E. of Ardmore. Its small enough to navigate easily w/o a guide or anything like that, and has a ton of 2-3-4lb smallies, not to mention many easy to catch smaller fish (to keep the wife intersted). A couple of years ago I started trying to figure these critters out in ernest, and I have managed to get on some pretty good real consistant stuff up here. Message me if you want more details, or we could even hook up sometime and I would be more than happy to show you. Also, Texoma is super for big smallies (5-7lbs), but they are quite a bit tougher to find and catch on artificials, but you can do real good loose lin'in live shad by the dam. Arbuckle up by sulpher, ok doesnt have the numbers, but the ones it does have are hawgs, also Lawtonka over by Lawton is real good for big fish, but it gets a pretty good pounding. Broken bow in S.E. Ok has a real healthy smallie pop, and it is probably the most scenic lake in the this region of the country, I'd give murray a #2 in this dept. As for other stuff to do in these areas, not much but hey Ft Worth/Dallas area is 1.5 hrs south and OKC (Bricktown) is 1.5 hrs north so there are options. The best time for catchin is probably middle may, you can catch probably 50-60 fish in a 6-8 hr trip on murray. The dead cold of winter seems to be prime for texoma and arbuckle, and the other lakes mentioned I dont have enough experience on to say. I hear Dan Barnett is the man on Texoma for smallie guided trips.

I cant resist this one... I am one of the young bucks mentioned earlier, and I think you will find most of us "younger" guys are much more considerate and reserved when dealing with tourney situations than some of the old "more experienced" fellows in the sport. I have never been run off my spot by a fellow "young buck", but the 50 somethings are real difficult to get along with at times. The same guys that will be hollaring obscenities across the water at you for being in "their spot" are the same guys that will fish up close enough to smell your...well you get the idea. I have encountered much more trouble with "pleasure" fisherman while "pleasure" fishing with my son, than from any tourney guy. Also the big boats cause quite a bit more disruption to the lake than do any of the bass boats, not to mention the water lice. An older guy I fished with showed me how a full unopened can of coke can very effectively disuade water lice from getting too close..hehe Ive never been in a situation whereas I was the instigater of a prob on the water, I have had stuff thrown at me from people on docks, things thrown at me from people on boats, the law called on me, and been boarded by some less than upstanding personalities, but I have never been at fault.....And I tourney fish like a mad man. So speaking for the tourney fishin young bucks, its not generally us, its generally them and there are generally more of them and they are generally louder!!

The chems are algae food (organic chems) which makes bait food which makes fish food.

Im not too thrilled w/ the bassmasters mag in general these days, I would be happy with "A day on the lake with a pro" in every issue, that would make up for all that isnt there

White absorbs no wavelengths black absorbs all...thats why a black car gets hotter in the sun than white

Google up some info on the nature of light penetration through water. You will find that purple/blue wavelengths penetrate h2o more effectively than any other wavelength (this is why really clean clear water looks blue-blue is the only "color" reaching the bottum). Google up OSU and BASS and you can read about the conditioning of bass as well as some info on the way a bass sees the world- Through a sort of yellowish green tint. Now consider this, if I see everything as more yellow green than say a regular human, those colors will be essentially "filtered out" making their movement stand out (ask anyone who is color blind), and if purple and blue colors are the most visible at depth, then yellow and blue make green and those colors filter and movements jump out. So you would assume in considering this, that blues, purples, greens and yellows (or brown) would be the most visible colors to a fish. Ask your self what colors are crawfish...blue gill...shad (on their back)...herring...you get the idea. Now flash is altogether different, ie. silver...its not really a color, but a light reflector, it reflects most wavelengths of light, so not really the same set of rules. The most visible and noticable lure would be a black spinnerbait/rattle trap type of combo (black contains every color)

Had a huge cigarette boat buzz me while fishing a bridge. From the moment you could begin to feel the vibration of that boat, the bait fish and predatory fish started going nuts. I managed to catch a few, but nothing spectatcular. To quote the article initially mentioned, "A Finger in a Fist". I am short a finger cause I dont have one of these YET!

Fish do turn off if you start catching and culling in the same spot, Ive read it and seen it. It usually only lasts for an hour or so, but it does happen. Sore lippin' is a technique used to an extreme in most of the tourneys I fish, I have to say I dont participate cause my pre-fishin has more to do with my finding quality catchable fish, not tryin' to catch "someone else's". If you have people pre-fishin the wrong way, it helps U not them. I have shot myself in the foot more than once by goin' out to pre-fish and really gettin into em' just to return the next day and find no catchable fish. This could be due to the fact that conditiones changed, or I sore lipped em'. Whatever the case most folks version of pre-fishin has more to do with catchin and attempting to replicate that catch the next day...this doesnt happen very often except in deep water scenarois that most guys dont attempt anyway. I say pre-fish away, I want to and occasionally it even helps!! I have blanked on a dead ringer of a pattern, and won on the first trip to the lake. Now bed fishin' is a little different, but in reality, not all the fish are on the bed at the same time, and multiple patterns will work on the same lake at the same time. I never hold back on the dock talk after I pre-fish, my partner gets pretty frustrated cause Ill tell who ever wants to hear what I caught, where and on what lure. I find this does more to screw folks up than help them anyway. PRE-FISH PRE-FISH Its also an excuse to take off work and get away from the old lady for an extra day

Bigger Bass are selectivley as agressive as smaller fish, and are of course more dominant due to size. :From My earlier post Think about it like this.... There is a finite amount of energy out there available to fish to consume in relation to individual size. This is not a linear scale: e.i. The total amount of available energy does not increase directly with the fish size...SO As a fish gets bigger it's "personal space" or territory gets bigger so as to be able to consume the needed energy to maintain an increased body size- thus more dominant over a given area. The size of this area of dominance depends on density of available energy in an area, and of course availability of acceptable spawning sites If a fish cannot establish "dominance" it will not be able to increase in size. Availablity of the aforementioned factors and competition dictate the amount of aggression needed in order to establish and maintain a fish's "personal space". So a fish needs to be more frequently aggressive to compete when it is small, and a bigger fish is more dominant so it does not have to expend the same amount of frequent energy on aggression, though the level of agression will be similar throughout sizes. The bigger fish is just more selective in the expendature of agression, and it can do this because of size. Its a never ending cycle, and by this logic, the biggest fish in the system will be the "laziest"

There is a fellow I fish a gainst regulary, and he is the king of the brush pile as a far as Ive seen. He uses cinder blocks to sink cedars and christmas trees. Now here is what sets him apart. He uses weed trimmer line to tie the blocks to the trees, you wont hang up on the twine like you can w/ rope, and its cheaper and more durable that using electrical wire. Also, he doesnt like cedar or juniperous type trees for brush piles in their natural state because they are too "thick" to fish effectively. So he trims circles around the trees such that you have an area of dense branches folowed by an open lane and then dense again and open again...well you get the idea. He has won lots of money doing this. Also, He emphasizes location, if there is brush around, he doesnt waste time putting "his own" brush out. He only puts brush in areas that are relatively free of brush, and only in these areas if they hold fish, and then not a bunch in 1 spot...LMB are territorial. You cant magically turn sterile water into a slug fest by dumping some wood in the h2o. The main point he harps on is that the brush must be closely relating to an edge, like a breakline or dock, or bridge, or steep bank. Im starting to get the hang of this, but its harder than you might think to get a brush pile to sit correctly on a ledge or under a dock. I dont mark my BPs anymore w/ bottles or anything, I just GPS em, and its usually good enough to get em' located w/i a few minutes using a DD22. Oh, and no-ski bouys are super spots for suspending BPs. Just tie up to the bottum of the bouy and put your block on the bottum of the tree. You will create a cover feature that almost no-one else will ever fish...just dont let the lake patrol catch you doing it. I generally go a more leagal route w/ suspending BPs, I will use a H2O bottle tied to the top and the block on bottum. These generally last only a few months though.

Bigger Bass are selectivley as agressive as smaller fish, and are of course more dominant due to size. Now in "pristine" water that has never been fished, these big fish have not been conditioned so they eat whatever they have a chance at due to their oppurtunistic nature. But in the real world the big fish are big because they have figured out how to make a living without losing to a hook. Their agression has been conditioned and thus they are selectively agressive toward those food sources that they recognize as that which sustains life. This theory really doenst apply during the spawn, but I have noticed greater reluctance from larger females to "kick" an intruder out of the nest than from smaller females. now a male bass...just plain stupid wether it s a 12incher or a 3 lber..those males just aint all that bright.

Hunting and fishing are pastimes that dont take into consideration age or personal differences. The only way i could spend time w/ my dad as a teenager without us trying to kill one another was when fishing or hunting. When I think of my late grandfather the memories are all centered around his taking me fishing or hunting, and in his later years, my taking him. I have recently purchased my son a .223 for deer hunting this year, and along with the rod and reel set ups Ive acquried for him these are all tools with which to build and strengthen our relationship (try selling that line to the old lady when dropping a ben franklin for a reel-haha). I have made sure to cultivate my son's adiction to outdoor sports very methodically so as to keep him interested and always wanting more. I have become a much more adept angler and hunter in attempting to orchestrate situations where as he will have the best possible oppurtunity to realize success. As we spend more time together in the feild or on the water, he has taught me a thing or two about catching fish and luring a deer or duck in for an easy shot. When all the distractions of life are quieted, and you begin to focus on those truly important things in this life you will find it all comes back to the people close to you. No other activity can bring you closer to your people than the time you share with them attempting to best mother nature. My office walls are covered with the times my son and I have succeded in that quest, and there will be many more as long as the lord sees fit to enable me to do so. And to AVID...as for the not fishing when with the kids, Ill just say this: Rarely do I ever actually reel in a fish that i hook. Once it is hung, it's all Jr.

He's 7, Ive had Him on the water all the time since he was about 3. he loves every minute of it and Its a way I can connect with him. Hope it stays that way. i know you guys have seen these pics before, but a proud dad cant bragg enough!!

After 7yr and two degrees from OSU (The Oklahoma OSU) 1yr as Ecologist for EPA 1yr as R&D and Pub writer for Medical Device Co. 2yr as Soil Scientist For USDA NRCS 4 mos into a data mgmt/coordinator contractor gig for Devon NRG (OIL/GAS Well Log Mumbo Jumbo) in OKC Will stay here till I find either a fishin' gig that will pay the bills, or pretty much anything that puts more $$$ in my pocket.

Im impressed!!! A real student of the shad. I try to learn as much as I can through observation of these little critters and I find the more I learn, the less I know. I have found this about the difference between threadfin and gizzard shad. Gizzards are much more fragile than threadfins. Also threadfins seem to have an affinity for "cleaner" areas of a lake than do gizzards. Additionally, bass seem to prefer threadfins, or the type of water threadfins inhabit as opposed to gizzards. There is a point on Texoma that the threadfins run across every morning that there is a south wind on their migration route, and with out fail, right behind the striper action, comes the BIG BIG bass action. It does though seem hard sometimes to replicate the movement by these little critters well enough to get the bite.

Sacred ground that fishing thing is..include the fairer sex, not good idea. learned this lesson the hard way after about ten years of marriage.

When establishing, or attemtpting to establish a pattern I keep in mind that there are many fish in many different locations willing to take a swipe at many different baits at any one time. I lean towrd attempting to clue in on the most productive pattern such that the catching part of fishing is maximized. To take what GW a step further, I break it down methodically as such: Initially starting out with seasonal pattern for location, and then location for potential species and bait type. In less than 15ft of water i break the H2O column into 2 parts; Bottum (cover) relating fish, and non-bottum (structure or suspended) relating fish. Pick the two most "prime" areas, and cover them thoroughly using high reaction type baits I am comfortable with, and then less reaction type baits I am comfortable with. If you dont pick up multiple fish by one or more of the 4 techniques in the two areas either you are off on your seasonal pattern, or an environmental factor has caused a very negative "bite response". Keep in mind, that if you catch a fish, there was a reason that fish was there. That fish has found a way to make a living due to some factor associated with that particular spot. Replicate the spot, and you will more than likely replicate the result. As for the time investment, when attempting to "establish" a pattern, I give each technique 30 min. per spot. This ends up taking 2 hrs per spot to cover 2 fast moving lures and two slower moving lures. During a tournament I generally reduce this to 15min, and reduce the techniques down to 1 technique slightly slower than mid and 1 slightly faster than mid. If I do pick up fish using the aforementioned set of guidelines, but they are not the quality or quantity I need in order to produce the desired results, I either explore deeper water, or check out the niche type possibilities you may encounter associated with certain seasonal movement patterns, ie find schoolers, or isolated deep structure fish realting to transient bait schools. Just my 2

Little kid holdin' big fish hard to judge

28/8 or 28.5, 6.0, and 4/4 or 4.25. So I think that makes BucketmouthAngler13 the closest.

He is quite the stick...he has learned me a thing or two. Ill post the weights in a couple of hours.

We as bass fisherman in the south could take a lesson from the catfisherman and striper guys that run big lakes containing both. These guys have been a great source of info. for me in learning to pattern shad, and patterning the differences among the different species of shad. You said it best...know your shad!!

Hows about Multi-Species Weight Estimation