king fisher

I like a variety of bass fishing videos. Unfortunately so does the Bait Monkey. He never fails to remind me when there is a new Tactical Bass'n video.

My advice is to buy a plane ticket to Mexico, then use what ever lure your guide recommends. Of course I do believe the MA state record was over 15 pounds and caught through the ice, so what do I know? In Mexico a big plus is getting a margarita with ice instead of one while sitting on the ice.

I have never heard of hair and potato chips keeping a pickup from driving to a fishing hole. Maybe the wind will do the job of the leaf blower, besides they will just fall again, the same time next year. Remember your priorities. You have a new rod, that screams go fishing.

I went fishing and lost some tackle, that I will replace at full price later. I guess I am not exactly a financial genius.

I have done it and not had any suffered any lasting negative effects, but what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico. I'm not sure if I would be as brave north of the boarder.

You better stick with your soft plastics, if you think Shad Raps are an expensive crankbait. LoL.

I went to Trigomil for Thanksgiving weekend. The camping was good, but fishing was slow. Numbers were ok, but biggest was 5 pounds. Last time I was there in June I landed many over 5 and one over nine. I got there expecting high and stained water. Rainy season has been over for a month so I thought it would have cleared up some. I was surprised to see the visibility 8 to 10 feet. That was more vis than last June when it hadn't rained in 8 months. Of course I had left all my spinning gear, as well as any leader, or line under 15 pound test at home. I was geared for power fishing, and suck at finesse even when I bring my gear. I did manage to catch some bass in 18 feet of water with a Carolina rig. I saw some very big bass cruising along the shore in one 4 feet of water, while watching from high up the bank. I couldn't get them to bite anything because they would spook at even the line touching the water. I talked to a man there who told me about all the big bass over 5 kilos he has caught. I asked him how he catches the ones cruising the shore. He told me it was impossible to catch them with a lure. I asked how he did it, and he said it was easy. Then he showed me his snorkel mask, and spear gun. The local fisherman's new finesse tactic. I didn't have to ask if he practices catch and release. I have to assume he would never bring a knife to a gun fight. This may be what happened to some of the big bass in other Mexico lakes during the drought we had a couple years ago. I'm sure there is more than one angler with a spear gun and mask. The weekend wasn't a total loss. I did learn some new spots on the lake, and how to catch big bass if I ever really need a bass to eat.

Not any smallmouth, but a good fishing whole for largemouth. Presa Trigomil, in Jalisco Mexico. Best thing, is the solitude, plus big bass is good too.

I camped at one of my favorite bass lakes in Central Mexico this weekend. On the first day I managed to hit a rock, and bend one of the fin shafts on my Hobie peddle drive. The couple times before when this has happened, I simply used it the way it wa and fixed it when I get home. This time it was bent enough to interfere with the other fin, making the peddle drive system useless. I whish Hobie would sell the new kick up fins to fit on their old drive systems. I was one hour away from camp and my car, by peddle translating to many hours away by paddle with my bad shoulder. I decided to repair it there with what I had. I used a rag to protect the threads, but wish I would have found something else because although they didn't get damaged to much to screw the shaft in, I did damage them enough to make it difficult. The rock made a good hammer and a found a boulder with a crease that made due for a vice. The drive worked great for the next two days, I wish I could say the same about the fishing.

I'm not sure with bass, I have never fished clear water for them, or fished live bait much for bass. I catch most of my bass on 12 to 17 pound mono, 40 lbs. braid, and once in awhile 12 to 15 pound floro. I fish with 6 to 8 pound mono when using spinning gear but the reason for the smaller line size is for casting, not because I feel the bass are line shy. Some lures like floating Rapala's need lighter line in order for the lure to work properly. I am certain for saltwater fish, line diameter maters greatly because of bait movement, lure action, and visibility. In Salt water, when fishing fast moving lures the line size has zero effect, unless it significantly hampers the lures action. When fishing live bait it makes a huge difference. I have fished live bait for tuna, when going down a line size will make the difference between zero bites and getting bit by 200# fish as fast as I can get a new bait in the water. I have seen 80# floro carbon get bit, while a live bait fished on 80# mono not even get looked at. The same tuna will not hesitate to crush a lure trolled at 9 knots attached to a big spreader bar, or umbrella rig, tied to a 250# leader. It would be interesting to me to hear from anglers that regularly fish live bait for bass, and hear what their experiences with line size are.

Cant be you or your gear, has to be the moon phase.

Most of the time when I fish a topwater, I am casting to a specific target, grass clump, stickup, etc. I like to bomb cast past the target, wait to let the splash settle down, then retrieve to my target. When I get to the target, I pause, twitch, while trying to keep the lure in the strike zone of my target as long as possible, while still giving the lure some action. Poppers are easy to work in place, other baits not so much. I get most of my strikes as the lure enters the strike zone of a target, or on the first pause. Once the lure is past where I think the fish are I reel in quickly and make another bomber cast. Sometimes I get hit when I start to burn the lure back, usually causing me to jerk the bait out of the fishes mouth, then have a small heart attack, followed by profanity.

Next time leave your wife at home and take the Bait Monkey instead. Skip the salad and have a burger.

Maybe livescope sonar? Have you been good? I have been asking Santa for a bass boat for Christmas for the past 40 years and always get a new sweater instead. Better than a lump of coal, but I am starting to doubt the existence of Sant Clause.

This is the first year that my answer isn't some type of hard bait. I started the year off with a 10.3 pound bass caught on a weightless 7 inch Senko rigged weedless. ( T rig with no weight for those that are not offended by that terminology ). No more DD. but the 7 inch Senko caught most of my bigger fish. My best numbers bait was a 1/4 ounce T rig with a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm. Same bait fished on a C rig came in 3rd. I always start off with moving baits, but this was definitely the year of soft plastics for me. A few years ago, I didn't even catch a single decent size bass on any soft plastic, and this year both of my top baits were plastics. I am not sure if the bass have changed, or if it is me. If next year my top producer is a Ned rig, I may have to move out of Mexico.

All lakes have cycles. Baccarac is on a down cycle right now. In the spring and early summer of 2021 there was a sever draught that may have caused the start of the downward turn. A larger than normal rainy season in the fall of 2021 brought the lake back up, but the fishing suffered all of last winter. Even with higher than normal water level to start the winter, higher than normal irrigation, brought the water level down to almost the level of the 2021 drought again in the spring of 2022. Lots of rain in the fall of 2022 brought the water back up but so far this fall season has been slow, for big fish. The tilapia nets effectiveness in the low water may have been the cause of the decline, but there isn't a lodge owner in all of Mexico, that even mentions the word nets. Baccarac is still a phenomenal lake, and the fact that it has the largest abundance and variety of bait, of any lake in Mexico, and a healthy population of smaller bass with excellent genetics, It may return to it's number one status of big bass producing waters within a year or two. You can still have a great day catching large numbers of 2- 5 pound fish, with a possibility of a DD on any cast. The days of everyone catching a bass 10 pounds or over seem to be gone for awhile. El Salto while not as good as Baccarac is on the upswing. Auguamilpa bass size average while not huge is going up, and the catch rates of 1 to 4 pound fish are still phenomenal. Auguamilpa for years has struggled with extremely high catch rates, but small sized bass. If the size of the bass keeps improving, it may be an unbelievable lake when it hits its peak, only time will tell. Chapala, a lake I predicted 3 years ago, would be the best trophy lake in Mexico, is actually down from what it was when I was making my prediction. My poor ability to predict the future is why I don't bet on sports or invest in stocks. Presa Calles in Aguascalientes is probably your best shot at catching a 10 pound plus bass in Mexico this winter. There are no lodges at the lake, but there are many hotels and a few good guides. Unlike many lakes in Mexico, this lake has an abundance of aquatic vegetation, and bass can be caught all year in grass mats, as well as on deep water structure. Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to fish this lake myself, but the reports I have gotten are from highly reputable sources, and there are many videos' on the internet with people catching double digit bass. To answer your question, Baccarac trophy fishing is not what it was a couple years ago, but I wouldn't write it off yet. It is still one of the top bass destinations in the world, and will probably be back on the very top of the list in a couple years. It is still worth the money, so if you get a chance to fish there, don't pass up the opportunity, just go and have fun.

Yes it works. I have caught bass Carolina rigging floating Rapala's and square bills. If you have the patience you can use a flatfish, or Lazy Ike and reel as slow as you can stand it. Years ago this was my skunk buster technique. Once when I was a kid and my friend and I couldn't get the bass to bite our top water baits, my friend decided the bass were to deep for top water. He didn't own any other baits so he put an egg sinker a foot in front of a Jitterbug. Of course I told him that had zero possibility of working. He caught three bass on the crazy Jitterbug Carolina rig. It took me years of watching him use crazy junk that shouldn't work, before I quite telling him something can't possibly work.

I bought my 2021 Zillion SV from Japan for $230. The most money I have ever spent on a fresh water reel. Worth every penny, by far the best reel I have ever owned. The only way this reel could be better is if it found the fish for me.

I like black lures in all categories. I don't know if they are more visible or not, but they do catch bass. Especially fond of black spinnerbaits. I do wonder why if black is more visible, than why do people recommend coloring the last few feet of braided line black in order to make the line less visible? Black makes lures more visible, and line less visible, kind of like a thermos, keeps cold things cold, and hot things hot but how does it know.

I fished a small lake that got almost zero sport fishing pressure for 2 years. Every time I went I got a bass of 7 pounds or more. I landed many over 10 pounds, and I thought I had found paradise. Eventually the word got out, and I started seeing a few kayak anglers, as well as some people fishing from shore. I was still catching trophy bass, fishing offshore where the other anglers were not fishing. I had a fish finder and was able to find offshore structure and cover so I wasn't concerned about the shore line getting some more pressure. The other anglers were occasionally catching large bass, so life was good for everyone. Then the owner of a lodge at a nearby lake found the lake. He started taking clients there 3-5 days a week. Now the fishing for large bass is difficult at best. I still can catch many small fish, but getting the trophy's is no longer easy. I just got back from fishing there for two day's, and the biggest bass I got was 2 pounds. The water clarity was a little over 2 feet, which is perfect for this lake, and the surface temp. was 74 degrees. Conditions couldn't have been better, but I couldn't buy a bite from a bigger bass. At the time I was catching giant bass every trip, I started thinking of myself a great big bass fisherman. Sadly now I have been forced to realize the truth. I am not a great trophy bass guru, I was just fishing a lake that had lots of very stupid big bass. The bass are still there, I simply have to improve my angling skills to catch them. I will probably take the easy road, and fish another lake I found that is further away, but has many large stupid bass, that never see a lure. Should be a good ego boost to catch some big bass, even if they are dumb. I will try to improve my skills, and go back to the first lake, and hope to catch some more giants, but for now I am humbled. From my experience I am certain finding less pressured waters is the easiest way to catch large bass. I have great respect for those anglers who are able to catch larger than average bass regularly on pressured waters. They are truly great anglers. The Bait Monkey just informed me while I was typing, that I am a good big bass fisherman, I only need to quit being so cheap, and buy some expensive large swimbaits, and glide baits. I think I will go to the stupid bass lake, and catch some big bass on one of the thousands of lures I already own, before going down the swimbait road. I might even try fishing at night, before I let the Monkey drain my bank account.

The River Why is a Fantastic book, but I believe A River Runs Through It is better. The book A River Runs Through It, is about a fisherman, and his struggles in life. The movie was about a mans struggles, and he happens to fish a little. Both books are good and worth reading.

For the bass fisherman in the far north, who are already in winter mode, you may need one more to argue over. Palomar knot. I wont have time to chime in, because this is prime season, and I am going fishing for the next two days. By the time I get back I probably will have thought of another word to get the thread going again. You snow bound anglers have to have something to do.

Once everyone agrees on this pronunciation. You can start the discussion all over again with Rapala.

Not instructional, but a great book about fishing and life is A River Runs Through It. I know they made a movie, but read the book you will be glad you did.

When I was a teenager, I fished a jitterbug every time I went fishing, mainly because it was one of the few lures I owned. My friend had a Crazy Crawler, which had similar action and sound, we had many arguments over which one was best. I haven't fished a jitterbug in a few years, mainly because most of my topwater fishing is done with buzz baits, and spooks. I don't know if other topwaters are more effective in the evening, but I would recommend every angler get a chance to fish a Jitterbug on a hot summer day, as the sun starts to set, the wind stops, the only sound in the world is a few frogs, crickets, and the blurp blurp blurp of a Jitterbug. The sudden sound of a big bass crushing a Jitterbug in the silent evening, is as good as life can get.