king fisher

All those expensive baits, and you end up catching the big one a spinnerbait. That's bass fishing. It is better to buy it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

When I first tried a bladed jig, I had zero success. I fished them like I do a square bill. They had great vibration, feeling like an excellent crankbait. I fish a square bill very fast, and erratic. The vibrating jig felt great through my rod, but never got bit. A couple years later after seeing all the success pros had with the bait, everywhere they went every tournament most of the top ten finishers used a bladed jig. I decided to give it another try. I slowed way down, and fished it like a spinnerbait slow rolled near the bottom. I only added occasional rod twitches, or bumps with the reel as opposed to constantly starting ,stopping and jerking, like I do with a square bill. This instantly changed my success with the bait. First bass a landed was 7 pounds, and I caught it off of a bank, where I had previously fished soft plastics, squarebills and a spinnerbait, while only landing a few dinks. I don't do well on numbers, with the bait, but my average size is well above what I catch with other baits. My confidence has grown and I fish it everywhere except around wood. I am too cheap to lose the more expensive baits to a tree. Others may do well with a faster retrieve, but on the lakes I fish, a slow steady thump, with occasional speed changes is the only retrieve that works for me. As far as depth goes, I like to keep it just off the bottom. Ticking the bottom occasionally but not dragging the bottom.

Never trust the advertised reel capacity, or braid diameter numbers. Saltwater reels are the worst. Usually the line capacity numbers for mono are close to accurate, but the braid estimates can be way off. I have reels that the manufacturer claims can hold 800 yards of 130 pound braid, and have filled them to the very top with only 600 yards of 130 pound braid. The braid is the same brand as the reel, and the one they reference, so difference in brand is not in question. I have found that most braid is only a little over twice as thin as mono, not 4 times which most brands claim. If a reel holds 100 yards of 50 pound mono, it will hold 110 yards of 100 pound braid. The actual diameter of braid is very difficult to measure and the line companies don't mind stretching the truth if it will sell more line.

Depends on where I'm fishing. If I pull in to a small secluded shallow bay, with no wind, I'm not going to start with a rattletrap. The opposite is true, if I'm fishing a wind blown rocky point, I'm going to start with a crankbait. A 20 foot deep hump, will get a deep diving crankbait first, then I will slow down with a C Rig. If the crankbait fishing has been slow that day, I may start with the C Rig. I often fish large standing trees in deep water. Early in the morning my first cast to a big tree will be a topwater. Later in the day my first cast will be a T rig. I always cast a crankbait into the tree before I leave. The only reason I don't start with the crankbait is I don't want to snag and ruin the tree. It doesn't do much good to fish a worm in a tree after I use a plug knocker to get a crankbait off a snag. I'm not sure I ever finesse fish. I do work a C rig with an Ole monster slow in deep water, and throw a 7 inch weightless Senko into trees, but I guess you would have to call that Mexican finesse.

My lake never freezes, but the ice in my cocktail glass has been responsible for more than one ice induced tackle purchase.

I live in Mexico, and fish a lake that has on average as many DD bass as any lake in Mexico. The lake is very small, and doesn't take a professional to figure it out. I have fished there for 5 years, and learn something new every time I go. The water level fluctuates from full pool to 25 feet down depending on the season. I prefer to fish in June when the water is at its's lowest, but a couple other anglers that fish this lake won't even go during low water because they prefer to fish topwater when flats are flooded. I have mapped the entire lake with my Garmin, and even though the lake is only 2 miles long, by 1/2 mile wide, I catch bass somewhere new every trip. Even with all this local knowledge I have, and the number of times I fish there, I still get skunked one or twice a year. Bass in Mexico are Florida strain bass, and they can be finicky wherever you find them. The bass in Mexico spawn every month of the year. It is very difficult to pattern them by season. I can catch post spawn fish in January, and land giant pre spawn fish in June. Not being able to predict their behaviour by time of year can make fishing for them even more difficult. Water temperature is irrelevant, and I mostly try to pattern the bass by water level and clarity. I wish I knew more about their main prey Tilapia but I have found very little information on their habits. A google search will get me many recipes, and basic life cycle but not much else. The advantage a guide has fishing for Mexican bass is they are on the water every day. I can only go a few days a year so every time I get to the lake I have to start from scratch. A bigger lake such as Baccarac, would be almost impossible to find bass with only a few days a year to fish there. A guide is an absolute necessity at a large lake here. I have guided anglers most of my life, and know the biggest complaint any guide has is an angler that doesn't listen to his guide. That said, I have also seen way to many times a guide who gets stubborn and sticks with his past success way to much. I have personally been guilty of this behaviour, and am constantly trying to avoid this common trap. If a client wants to fish a different way than I recommend, I will tell them I think my way would be best, but it is their trip and I will work as hard as I can to get them fish the way they want to fish. Most of the time this is when an angler will only fly fish, and many times the situation does not favor the fly rod. If the fishing is extremely slow and I am confident that my method is the only thing that will work, but we have to stick with it, I will tell the client what I think. If the client then says that they do not have the patience to stick with the method and grind it out, I understand, and will glady switch over to searching new areas and trying new techniques. This gives the client a break from the same routine, and also give me a chance to break away and explore. Most of the time a guide doesn't get the chance to try something new, because they are expected to produce every day. They get confidence in something that works and stick with it. Most of the time the only chance I would get to explore new places is when the fishing was so good, I would suggest we try something new. When the fishing was slow, grinding it out usually is the best option. The client is there to have fun. Usually that means catching the most or biggest fish, but if they don't want to fish a wacky worm all day, I better have a place I can try a crankbait. Being stubborn is not the answer. Communication is key. If you don't want to fish a certain way, make sure you don't you tell your guide that you don't doubt his decisions, you simply want to try something different. If they are too stubborn to understand this than they should not be guiding. Most of the time the best fisherman does not make the best guide, and the best fisherman usually does not make the best client. Great anglers trying to guide are used to fishing for themselves, and have a difficult time adjusting to helping less skilled anglers catch fish. The best anglers make bad clients because they do not want to listen to their guide, because they may have as much or more fishing skill than their guide and feel they know best. I have been at both ends of this problem. I will admit I'm a terrible client because of my experience, and from time to time have been way too stubborn of a guide. I realize my weaknesses and try and improve on both every time I guide or go on a guided trip. Bottom line is Bass are Bass, and Florida Strain Bass are the worst when it comes to not biting for no apparent reason. Bass fishing in Mexico can be unbelievable, but there is no place on earth where a skunk isn't lurking close by. FFS is taking over bass fishing in Mexico like it has other places. It was late getting here, but it is here to stay. Some of the lodges on major bass lakes are equipping their boats with the latest technology and some guides are quickly learning how to utilize it. Some guides refuse to change over to the new sonar, and will eventually get left behind. It is no different than the tournament anglers in the States. Either you learn to embrace the technology or fall behind. If I were going on a once in a lifetime trip to a lodge in Mexico I would insist on being in a boat that is equipped with FFS and have a guide that can not only use the equipment but is also good at teaching the client, therefore capitalizing on the technology. The scoppers are producing unbelievable numbers of big bass on all of the famous lakes in Mexico, the same as they are in Texas. I don't know how I feel about the technology myself, but I do know from experience, that any guide that doesn't learn the latest techniques' in any kind of fishing will soon fall way behind and eventually will be out of work. Bass fishing in Mexico can be tough, but if you stick with it, that DD bass is only one cast away.

I have no idea. I have always believed lawns are for people that don't fish. Roundup and rocks can make a long day of yard work turn in to a great day of fishing. However I would ask your neighbor if he has access to any good fishing holes, and if he has a boat, maybe a day or two of yard work wouldn't be so bad.

Cast to all of the places you wanted to fish from the bank, but couldn't get because of shore cover, or distance from shore. If for no other reason than to find out if that big bass really did live under that tree you couldn't reach from shore. If the bass is there, you will gain confidence, if she isn't then you will know you were not missing out. Either way it is a win win situation.

There is a purpose for every lure I own. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Two trips got cancelled due to clients not wanting to fly to Puerto Vallarta due to the Cartel Violence last week, but my boss decided to take some friends of his living in PV fishing. Weather was great, and the crew ready to go. The tuna were numerous, but they were feeding on very small bait, and extremely difficult to catch. We ended up trying our luck on snapper, and they were more cooperative.

I have a peddle kayak use on both freshwater lakes, and the ocean. I can launch it from the beach or at a remote lake with ease. I have a small SUV that will not tow a boat making my kayak the only real option. before I bought the kayak I looked for a small boat but there were none available in my area. If I had my choice I would get a boat. The main reason is I could take someone fishing with me. Many friends ask if they could go bass fishing with me, and I have to ask them if they have a access to a kayak. If I had a boat I could say meet at my house at 3:00 AM and we will go fishing. As far as catching bass, I don't feel there is any disadvantage fishing out of my kayak. I would never buy a kayak I had to paddle. I have tried fishing out of mine when my peddle drive broke, and I know it can be done, but not by me. I believe a small jon boat with a good electric motor, would be perfect for my fishing, but for now I will use my kayak without any complaints.

Work! I saw a kid that could outfish me every day of the week with a can and a line. It's not the gear, it's the fisherman that matters.

So many people have had a bass take a lure dangling over the side of a boat, that I'm starting to think this is not just an odd coincidence. This may be a new technique that even the Japanese have not thought of. Next time I go fishing, I'm going to dangle a bait in the water while appearing to leave my rod unattended. I will have a safety line tied to the rod, well hidden by a jacket and other items laid over the top of the line. When the bass grabs the bait and tries to pull the rod overboard, I will fake like I'm leaping to grab the rod but instead will let it get yanked into the water. The bass will then think he has won the battle set the hook and probably jump. Then I will grab the safety line and retrieve the rod, reel, lure and bass. Sometimes you have to think outside the box to catch the smart ones. This may be my best skunk beater technique ever. It may even be bigger and more controversial than FFS. Remember you first read about it here at Bass Resource, where no bass is to wiley, and every angler is willing to go to any extreme to out fox them.

This is not normal. You may consider professional help. I have a furry friend that would be more than happy to help for free.

Rods count, but it's to painful for me to talk about them. I have broken many, and lost two overboard.

What is the most tackle lost in one day? Was it replaced? Was more than what was lost purchased while replacing it? Value in Dollars? I will start. I flipped my kayak and lost all of my terminal tackle, about 30 spinnerbaits, and some jigs and other misc gear. Total value around $400. I replaced everything plus much more. I once lost 4 buzzbaits in one day. Value around $25. That should be impossible, but all were broke off on bass snags. When a 10 pound bass hits a buzz bait that has bumped a fence post with 5 strands of barbed wire on it, all bets are off. I also lost well over a dozen crankbaits in one day to abandoned gill nets. Value around $100 I kept throwing the crankbaits, because on every cast that didn't snagg I landed a big bass. I replaced the buzzbaits I lost with many twice what I lost in a variety of models and colors. For every crankbait I lost I bought 3 identical, and another 4 in different colors. Any other anglers suffer significant losses in one day?

Here is an update on Puerto Vallarta. I went downtown yesterday for a doctor's appointment. Everything seemed as if nothing happened over the weekend. There was no extra police presence, no military, and no signs of any problems in general. I didn't even see any burned buildings, or cars. Tourists were walking around all the streets, shopping in stores, riding bikes and all of the other activities that normally go on in not only the popular tourist area, but a everywhere I drove on my way to and from the doctor. There were no cruise ships in port which is not normal and I don't know if they are avoiding PV or were just in between trips. Tha airport was busy with planes going and coming, but the private jet parking which is usually full, only had a couple planes. I believe all is back to normal, but I'm afraid many potential tourists will be going elsewhere to spend their vacation dollars. Only time will tell how much of an impact last Sunday will have on this part of the country. There has been zero increase in criminal activity in the states north of here, so I predict normal operations at the popular bass fishing lodges around Mazatlan and further to the north. I'm am well and will be working, going out after tuna next week. I hope to get a chance to catch a DD bass by the end of March.

Many 6th Sense lures on TW have fewer colors offered recently. One lure had over 20 color at one time over 20 color options and now only has four. Luckily the options still available cover any situation I need them in, but the Monkey always wants more options.

1/2 oz chrome and blue original Bill Lewis Rattletrap. I bought an LV 500 to use for deeper water lift and fall retrieves, but am always scared I will lose it so I haven't fished it much yet. When I have fished it with a straight retrieve in shallow water the original Rattletrap gets hit 4 to one over the expensive LV 500. I didn't buy it for straight retrieves, and I hope to give it a fair chance when I fish ledges and humps this spring. The original Rattletrap always gets bit. If the fishing is slow I fish the bank with the trap and I know I will catch bass. They may not be big, but I will catch them. Many times while moving from one place to the next I will troll a Rattletrap in open water well off the bottom, with no structure around and get bit. The Original Rattletrap flat out catches bass.

I'm unable to bass fish for awhile so I am starting to get cabin fever. As many of my fellow bass anglers that live in the northern climates know, cabin fever can make a bass angler's mind wander off in many different directions. Today I was contemplating how much more I use the T Rig than I used to and if I rely on it to much. Most of my 50 years of bass fishing I didn't use T Rigs or even soft plastics in general. Of course I new that every good bass angler would say the T Rig worm is the overall best bait ever, but I had little success with it, and prefered hard baits. Most of my negativity toward the T Rig was based my failure as a young angler to catch even a single bass on one. I would buy worms weights, and hooks. I would go to my local lake and fish nothing but T Rigs, and never catch a bass. The sinkers would always snag in the basalt chunk rock, and I would go home and read yet another article on how great the T Rig plastic worm was. Every article would always talk about the almost mystical feel an angler had to have in order to detect the ever so subtle bites on a plastic worm. I was convinced I simply did not possess this magical ability and never would. I gave up and caught hundreds of bass on hard baits. A few years ago I went on a guided trip on a lake called Aguamilpa. My wife who is a complete beginner decided to go on the morning session with me. The guide rigged her up with a spinning rod and a T Rigged worm. I opted for a baitcaster and a crankbait. My wife hooked bass on almost every cast. I couldn't believe it, she was a natural. The guide kept wanting to change me over to a T Rig but I kept changing crankbaits until I found one that worked, and I didn't catch as many bass as my wife, but I did catch bigger bass. I did try a T Rig that day and was surprised at how easy it was to detect the bites. No magical powers needed. Feel the bite, reel down and set the hook. Not so difficult, but of course the bass were small aggressive Mexican bass, so I simply thought that for some reason these bass were not typical of all most T Rigged caught bass. A year later I discovered a lake where I could consistently catch giant bass. Most of my biggest bass came on spinnerbaits, but some were on topwater, and crankbaits. Some days it would take trying over a dozen different spinnerbaits while experimenting with retrieves, to find one that worked, or I may have to lose way to many crankbaits in the trees in order to land some big bass. I could get jigs to work through the cover better, but I rarely was able to get the bass to bite a jig and I lost more jigs to snags than I ever thought possible.( still amazed at how many people say jigs are so weedless, not on my lake) The right spinnerbait, or a crankbait worked through the cover at the right angle almost always rewarded me with a bass or two near or over the coveted 10 pound mark. During the slow times I would experiment with T Rigged worms and other baits. I would catch bass on the worms, but they were usually smaller. I did notice I had zero difficulty determining bumping into cover from actual bites.( I will never tell a beginner bass fisherman worm bites are hard to detect. I have fished dozens of other techniques for many species of fish that are far harder to detect strikes) I started fishing the T Rig more and more, and found I could catch large bass similar to the other lures with them when the bite was on. I loved the fact that I didn't loose expensive lures, and waste valuable fishing time dealing with snags. Now I'm finally going to get around to talking about the topic of my post. I currently have enough confidence with T Rigs that I get very lazy about fishing anything else, and I'm starting to wonder if this reliance on one technique could be costing me some trophy size bass. Where as in the past, I would make a few casts at different angles at a tree or other piece of cover with one lure, then return later and try another lure from different angles until by the end of the day I had tried and hopefully found the very best lure for the day. This would take time, and many days was very expensive. I would start with spinnerbaits, and topwater hoping to not disturb a good spot, but before I would leave the crankbaits came out. Many times I would hook a good bass on a crankbait thrown into cover no sane person would throw one, but I wrestled many DD bass out of those giant tree limbs making it worthwhile. After all crankbaits in the box look great, but they are meant to fish and if some get lost more can be purchased. Now I find myself simply throwing a T Rig into the same cover and if I don't get bit I simpl determine they are not there or are not biting and I will come back later. I come back later and instead of trying something else, I just throw a different color of worm in to the cover with the plan of following up with something else, but usually, I just keep throwing the worm. It works so well and is so easy to fish, I find it hard to grab a crankbait and finesse the treble hooked bait through all of the limbs. I simply get lazy and hope the bass will start biting my worm. When I move and fish a rock bank, with less snags, many times the worm rod is still in my hand and I keep casting it even though a suspect a crankbait would be a better lure for the structure. The worm will still get bit along the rocky bank, and if I come across a lay down or weeds i won't have to change rods again. Once again the T Rig is helping me to become a lazy angler. The last couple years my biggest bass have been caught on T Rigged worms, but that is because I find myself only fishing worms. I never dreamed I would be so reliant on a technique I had completely give up on. I have decided I'm going to be more versatile this year. Does anyone else have a technique that works so well for them, they feel it might actually keep them from maximizing their bass fishing potential? Like I said at the beginning, nothing but cabin fever ramblings, but what else I can I do when I have cabin fever. I have already gone through and organized all of my tackle a dozen times.

15" would be just the right size for bait on my lake.

Classic in the North West maybe at Coeur D'alene Idaho or the Columbia - Snake River would be awesome. Never going to happen, but it would be great.

This is very true, and I will add, that so far there have been no reports of any change in the Bacarac area. All is quite to the North of PV. Increased Cartel activity centered in the state of Jalisco many miles to the south.

Here is an update on the situation in Puerto Vallarta. Life is basically back to normal. Roads, stores, and restaurants are all open. People are busy going about life as usual. What is not back to normal, is what I was most concerned about. People are seeing the pictures on the News in other countries, and are starting to cancel vacations here. We were planning two black to back week long trips starting this Wednesday, and they have been cancelled. I doubt I will be doing much more than a couple short trips for the next few months. My boss is vacationing here for a few more weeks and willing to go, but his friends and business associates are all fearful of coming to Mexico. I will survive because I get paid to maintain the boat year around, and will only lose out on tip money and free tuna. My crew may experience difficult times. Not only will they miss out on the money they would have received from our my trips, but my deck hands also work on other charter boats, that may experience the same down turn in bookings. My chef may not only loose work on boats, but also work at hotels, that he depends on for him and his family. I believe the danger has at this point has been highly exaggerated, but what I believe makes zero difference. My family, friends, and people I work with are physically safe, but future economic safety remains a big question mark. The bright side is I may get more time to go bass fishing, but I'm not rigging my rods just yet.

Life is getting back to normal here. Roads are starting to open and it was a quite night. Most of the fires were cars parked at intersections set on fire to disrupt the ability of the military and police to respond to the situation. Costco was not burned only cars and trucks in the parking lot. Many photos were taken where it appeared the smoke was coming from the building itself, but looked at a different angle the building was not in danger. It is looking like things may get back to normal, but I can't and wont make any predictions at this point. My boss had customers coming down on Wednesday to go fishing for a week, and we are trying to find out if the airport will be open and if it will be wise for them to continue with their plans. I won't be able to get to my doctor today, but am hopeful I will be able to go tomorrow and get the drain tube in my side removed. I'm going to go to the marina this morning and check on the boat this morning. My deckhand has to drive an hour from a town north of hear, so I'm not sure if he is going to be able to make it to work today or not. My family and I are safe, and I am encouraged by the latest news. I hope this was a one off event and life here will be back to normal soon. Only time will tell if the tourist keep coming or not.