CyBasser

Big is good. Bigger is better! : Biggest is BEST!!!

Very easy: Just attach a split ring to the lure. Both the Pop-R and the ChuckBug perform the walk-the-dog movement with a split-ring attached. Still, I personally prefer the Heddon Super Spook, the Zara Spook, the Super Spook Jr, and the Puppy - ie the whole "dog" family, all have worked very well for me. I tried the Rapala Skitter Walk without much success, but have not really given them a "honest" effort (ie just a few casts). A buddy here though has had much success with the Yo-Zuri Banana boats, though all the bass he caught were 2lbers or smaller, while the "dog" family has been producing bigger fish for me...

I recently started using baitcasting equipment, and after checking various models I opted for a Clarus rod myself. My needs are somewhat different than for the majority of the members of this forum - all my bass fishing is done from the banks, so I needed a longer rod. I got the Clarus Medium Heavy model (fast action) but at 8ft 6" and all I have to say up to now it's a wonderful rod. Yesterday I fished non-stop for two hours with it and I have to admit it was a pleasure holding it - much less tiring than my 9ft spinning rods I used up to now (I have a Daiwa Advantage Super Tuned reel on it). It can handle almost any situation, even lures lower in weight than the recommended 1/2oz minimum, and up to now it did not have any trouble battling 5lb+ bass caught in heavy cover. I am currently looking into a second baitcasting rod, and my first choice is yet another Clarus, a medium/fast 9ft (1/4-3/4oz lures) to use with some lighter lures.

Actually the reservoir was on the Rhone, if I remember well maybe 30Km or so to the west of Avignon, I believe it is called Beaucaire. I did see some big carp in it. The canals I saw were in the Le Sambuc area, near the Valat Biological station, they had lots of overhanging trees and bushes, and I actually did see some people spinning there as we passed by...

Hi Russ, Email sent....

Hi Blovac, Welcome to the forum! Nice French Bass!!! In which part of southern France do you live? I was recently (early September) in the Arles and Avignon area, and I saw some wonderful canals, as well as a nice reservoir on the Rhone. But unfortunately I did not have a chance to try for bass (or any other fish either...)

5lb 11oz on Yo-Zuri Hardcore lipless crankbait....

Also, how many of the natural prey items for bass have a smell / taste of anise or garlic? In a sense you can tell that crawfish or shad attractant could be expected to work yet perhaps the most popular attractant smell is probably garlic! At least, the number of bass we catch on garlic-scented soft plastic lures proves that they do have a liking for garlic....

I surely agree with Roger in these two points! That bass are not really dependend on smell is scientifically proven, no doubt, and as I mentioned in an earlier reply, their only usefulness would be to provide a "cover" for smells/taste that would be offensive to them (that they do recognize offensive smells is also proven). As for the huge variety of attractants now available, yes, the manufacturers are taking advantage of the craze of us bass fishermen to always want to have that extra confidence in whatever we try for bass. The confidence factor is a huge selling point in bass fishing lures, and practically everyone has confidence lures (and some of us scents!) that just by believing in them help us be more attentive to our techniques - and the manufacturers in selling more of their products!!! But then, this is part of the magic in bass fishing!

Muddy, I went through the same "agonizing" moments with you while trying to learn using baitcasting equipment. I wanted to try baitcasting since 2004, but fears of birdnests and completely different style of casting was "blocking" me until this past July. Then a friend borrowed me a Cabelas combo (6'6" e-glass rod and black label reel) to try it. His instructions were though not that helpful, I could not cast further than about 25ft without extreme backlashes. Another friend then gave me some more tuition, and the backlashes were reduced as casting distance improved. I had though to learn on my own the basics (along of course with the help of some advise I found at various places of BassResource.com). I did destroy quite a bit of line in the progress. When I felt a bit more confident, I made the big step and I got my own rod and reel. The reel I ended up getting was a Daiwa Super Tuned Advantage, but the Japanese model. This reel has much better settings and is far better in reducing backlashes. I still did a lot of practice, and now, five months later, I feel very confident - I actually felt confident enough to continuously use my baitcast set up on the third day of a three day tournament... My advise is that you take up the advise given by the experts on this thread (I now for sure I will be trying up a few of the hints given in the previous posts). And then, practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more. It will soon become second nature. You will subconciously alter the brake settings as you change different lures, you will stop worrying about backlashes, and then you will catch some decent fish and the whole experience will become far more exciting. I am now a huge baitcasting fan, and my only regret is that I did not tried it earlier... My hints: 1. Practice, practice, practice.... 2. Use a good limp line while on the learning curve. I tried to use everything - mono of various brands, braid, fluoro. I believe the best of what I used for learning was Trilene XL 12lb. With fluoro I realized that it works far better on the baitcaster than on spinning reels, but as someone said above, once you get a backlash (which no-one can ever completely avoid as somebody else mentioned) you will have more trouble untangling it. With braid, the cast feels far smoother, but a backlash is a complete nightmare. I made the mistake of using 20lb braid as I do on my spinning reels. Initially it worked wonders, then I had a tiny backlash which I sorted out (i thought). Next cast, it was about 80 yards of braid wasted! The problem as I discovered was that the thin braided line was catching itself in grooves - and as a few fellow BR members have pointed, with baitcast equipment it's better to use thicker braid (equal to 12lb or more of mono in diameter). So... Be patient and you will be rewarded! Good luck!

On a similar note, in 2003 I had an amazing experience with attractants in regards of a different species of fish - rainbow trout. With two friends we discovered a very small pool behind a small dam on a mountain stream. We initially used small spinners with no avail, then we decided to try some live worms just to see if there were any fish in the pool. The water was crystal clear, and we saw smallish trout, around 8-10" long coming up to the (very lively) worms, going around them in circles, and disappearing again in the grass of the bottom. One of the guys had a small bottle of Berkley powerbait trout attractant, so we decided to see if it worked. Well, the trout re-appeared around the three worms, but this time around they just snatched it. We did try again with attractants, another 3 trout caught. Out of curiosity we casted again worms without attractants, again trout circled them without getting them. A drop of attractant, the trout again bit the worms... Now, I think that trout may have a better sense of smell than bass. But still, that incident remains well written in the hard disk of my brain - it was such a strong indication of the power of the attractant (it was like watching a before-and-after commercial live!). So, I am sure that at least in some instances, with soft plastic lures, attractants could make the difference between success and failure.

No doubt about that - if you don't hit those two correctly, then all the scents in the world are useless. But once you find the right depth and speed (or presentation), the use of attractants can make a difference - especially on reluctant or highly pressured bass. In general I don't think it's a black / white situation. There is no doubt that you can catch bass without attractants - I seriously started fishing for bass in 2000, and did not use any attractants until late 2002 - and of course still managed to catch plenty of bass. But, especially with soft plastics, I did notice an improvement in my results after using them. I have to admit that until mid-2003 it was the "secret weapon" for me and another two guys here, then other anglers took some notice...and now it's a matter of "beating" the other guys with using a more attractive scent!

Hi everybody, My opinion is that the best use of the attractants is not so much to "attract" bass, but to cover the scents left on the lures by the manufacturing process and, of course, by the anglers hands. Although the sense of smell is not as well developed in bass as in othr fish (such as carp or catfish), their smell is still much better than ours. They can be readily turned off by certain smells that seem unnatural - even offensive - to them. Our skin is covered by aminoacids that go on the lures and although we can not tell the difference, bass surely can. This is not really a problem with fast moving hard lures such as crankbaits, but it can become most important on slow moving soft plastic lures which the bass usually have the time to examine before attacking them. Also, the addition of an attractant helps in the respect that once the bass has grubbed the lure, if it has an attractive smell (or taste), the bass may hold it one extra second or two, giving the angler an extra chance to hook it upon striking. For sure, I have noticed a huge difference in the catching rate with soft plastic lures with attractant vs soft plastics without... As for favorite brands... Try them and let the bass decide which one they prefer - their smell/taste preferences may be different. It might sound weird, but here in Cyprus, in a particular reservoir, Yum LPT (either garlic or crawfish) work exceedingly well, much better than any other scent. In all the other reservoirs Yum still works, but Kickin'Bass and Carolina Lunker Sauce work much better. One of the many reasons I consider bass fish with a real character....

Hi Avid, Great idea indeed! I just wish I had the money to make such an event a reality. Just imagine the fun factor involved! Maybe, just maybe, BassResource.com could find a nice big sponsor and indeed organize such an event (and of course K_Mac could then become the main judge!). In regards of bass fishing, we believe that Cyprus is not (as yet) having the position it deserves on the international bass fishing map, and to a large extend the fact that boats are not allowed is responsible for this. But surely, things are gradually changing. As you have realized, the Russian Bass League has been considering Cyprus as their base for a few years now (and they had the option of choosing Spain, Portugal, Italy, or Croatia instead). At a recent EU conference regarding freshwater angling and its importance in maintaining wetlands, Italian and Spanish representatives were awed by the potential of the bass fishing available here. American lure manufacturers (such as Berkley and Yamamoto) have made inroads into the Cyprus market. And now, thanks to BassResource.com, our American bass fishing friends have started to discover us! It's just a matter of time...

...and the final photo of the sequence, Dmitri proudly showing his 5lb 11oz bigmouth he just landed.... Catching these bass after tackling practically a pile of obstacles makes our every trip such a great experience!

...As I am about to descend the steep incline to meet them, Dmitri nails a good bass. I am now watching the action from above, and here you can see the co-operative effort with Vyron helping Dmitri to land the bass...

...and here is a photo of Dmitri and Vyron fishing the shoreline brush at the entrance of the cove...

Hello again Tommy, You really make us all feel proud now! Yes, we do have this burning desire - as you know bass fishing is not just a sport, it's a passion! In addition to having to walk, we have to adapt the traditional techniques so that they can work from the shore. This means longer rods (longer casting and better controllability of both our lures and of the bass we catch), and slight variations in the usual techniques so that we can cover structure correctly (for example, we always read about positioning the boat so that you can cast towards shoreline structure - but what if you are stuck on the shore?), and of course, learning all the structure that is available in deeper water just by feel - no depthfinders! And as for the walking (almost running in case of tournaments as Dmitri has so correctly put it) - even that is no piece of cake.. In the following few replies I will post a sequence of photos taken by me of Dmitri and Vyron fishing a small cove at Kourris, and you will see how tough both walking (or running!) and even landing a fish can be! Here is the first photo (all were taken on October 8th, at a small cove on the western shores of Kourris - I was fishing at a different cove and was going to join my friends when I took the photos). This photo shows the cove they were planning to cover...

... And a picture of Kourris I have taken from an airliner window about 5 weeks before the tournament. The eastern shore where the BR members fished on the tournament is not visible, but the western shore (where the winning lunkers were caught) is well visible. The water level now is about 30 meters (35 yards) below full pool (maximum depth 110 meters)....

I have just added a photo of Dhipotamos showing the general vicinity of the "Science Fiction Movie Canal" (red ellipse)....

Hi Dmitri! Glad you liked my report.. and thanks for sharing your thoughts on this great experience. As for the lessons you mention I TOTALLY AGREE! We all learned a lot for the next time around and we should all do even better (especially me :)

HELLO LBH! WE PROMISE WE WILL!!!

Ditto. X-rap would be my choice #2, and lipless rattling rapala #3, but as other people said, there are probably no rapalas that I don't have at least some affinity to...