Joshua Vandamm

@Paul Roberts Just 1 other question if you have the time... I’m unclear on what the females are doing during the spawn (when they’re not courting and laying eggs). If they continue to spawn with new partners, are they still circling back to guard all their broods? Is there a specific brood they guard more than others in your observations or during a certain developmental stage perhaps? Do they seem to even know which fry are theirs or just guard the ‘zone’ as a kind of team effort? And are they feeding while males guard? I don’t know if anyone has the answers to all of that, but any insights you have are much appreciated!! thanks a ton! -Josh

The temp gauge by great falls is what I go by just to get a feeling for how it is. There’s real time data on the USGS waterdata website. Even plots the trends over days week or months. Flow and turbity data there too. Great resource. I’ve only gone to 4 mile on Pmac so that’s no indicator for anywhere else. LOL clocked some farm ponds at almost 65f for a couple days but their back down to upper 40s now. Im not the tournament expert at all but I’d advoid traffic and pressure as a general rule. Find spots others don’t use. Low boat traffic etc. that’s where the biggest ones will be. Yes. Yes it does. Lol tournament or not the popular spots are always pretty crowded. Not 40 boats level usually but maybe 20

Where at? Water temp in the Potomac have been higher than that lately.

I’m a subscriber. I get a lot out of your videos! Some guys just put a lot into them. Like underwater videos. Fish perspective. Seeing how the fish react to different lures is really interesting. Your vids are more instructive than most imo. Techniques wise it’s probably the best channel. Keep doing what you do!

Thanks Paul! Very insightful, null hypothesis or otherwise...still useful. ? Nesting ground advantage makes a lot of sense. The pheromone angle is test worthy if ID’d and isolated... natural attractant? Tho application might produce strange results. ? cheers!

I think it could be very. With a lot of tables and graphs etc it’s function as a more thorough app. The My Fishing advisor app is actually great at suggesting lures and colors and even where to fish...for beginners it’s valuable but it’s outlived it’s usefulness. Too bare bones. Im probably asking for too much. Lol Just good books are all I need. Carry the contents in the noggin. Thanks for the suggestions!

True. It’s the old all important why + what = where formula ? Paul, Certainly true. As a researcher, I’m a why/how guy. As a fisherman it’s what where and when all the way! LOL Anywhoo the question above, re: mate selection and size I’d be very interested to hear about, since what we see from the bank are typically males during the spawn and fry guarding cycles. If you ID a large male it’d be useful to know if there’s a good chance there’s also a large female close by. Thanks again ?

Why is just natural history. It’s the what I think it critical. No Better way to find and catch em than knowing what they’re probably up to any given time/season Paul, The nerdier the better for me! LOL (BSc focus on fish biology). It was very enlightening and well shot! ...question re: mate selection. Did you observe any correlation based on size? i.e. do larger females tend to pair with larger males? thanks!

Like if you had to choose one book to Carry with you for fast reference to weather condition and seasonal patterning, lure selection, tips techniques. I just got a scanned copy of knowing bass. Haven’t read it yet tho. Is it one you’d carry with you or read alone for overall info, or both? Thanks! What about the “secrets” edition? Have you read it?

LOL Nice. He’s a bass resource admin/employee?..Or member

Just saw a documentary, The Nature of Fishing: the spawn. it blew my mind. Check it out.

I’ve been doing serious bassin’ for about 2.5 yrs now. I’m looking for a good all around reference book. I’m thinking Kevin VanDams latest revised one, or maybe high percentage fishing. Any suggestions? Thanks!!

How’s the 6lb? Anyone tried it on a med-light spinning setup? I have a spool already and Im considering it to replace the 8lb invizx for dropshoting and weightless plastics

Late to this conversation? Lol when I was studying sea bass we used microcosms a good amount of the time. It’s true lab environs often do not correlate with nature. It’s highly dependent on the kind of study. It probably does not matter when it comes to what toad species they prefer when offered a choice. Regardless, Black bass DO eat bullfrog tadpoles. I’ve seen bass schools pin tadpole groups to the water surface and go to town.

Sounds like every prespawn ever for me. ?

What kind of flies or grubs/jig(weight?) do people recommend for float and fly? And also for popper trailer? Ive got some standard el cheapo eagle claw 1/8 and 1/16 oz ball head flies (marabou, white). Wondering if I should try something like a wolley bugger or maybe a small split tail grub, or gulp! Minnow even? Also What jig weight works best? thanks all!

Awesome. I’m not totally surprised. I clocked 61F at a farm pond last week. Kinda crazy

Yea. Most people use yaks if by boat. Perfect for Shore wading tho. Google. I’m probably ticking off 1000 people talking about it. Directions I can’t do with a clear conscious. Lol

?Don’t tell anyone. Lol jk yes it’s a popular spot

True. Thanks all. Ziploc’s take up some space and planos obviously a lot more in a sling backpack. I keep one Plano fot my hard Baits one for my terminal tackle and that’s it. Snack bags for the win.

Sad but true. I was born here but I’ve lived in FL and SC (coastal) until recently. Had to move back. It SUCKS. LOL really tho. Like NY city without the upkeep. It’s dc metro “swamp” People here. That one was no lie. Reason is the overcrowding. Makes ppl cold to one another.

Wish it was! ? Im in MoCo MD. Everywhere is over pressured. Overcrowded to insane degrees. And not nearly enough good fishing waters to start with. Theres a saying “if u can catch in Maryland u can catch anywhere.” Roland Martin is proof of that (and he was around before it got swamped with certain types of people keeping Bass to eat?. This is my only real issue with sanctuary cities. Or sanctuary counties such as it is.).

I like blue label a lot. I use YoZuri HD at the moment, but seaguar is better. Rio powerflex double nylon really isn’t that expensive for a leader. Like $6 for 30ft at Dicks I think. So thats 20Cents per foot. Not cheap certainly. But how often do we want a light mono leader? Only for small poppers really. As a specialty item it’s totally worth it for the diameter imo. It’s significantly thiner than Flourocarbon.

True. I think he meant real jigs tho. I use spinning gear on micro jigs all the time. Anyways yea. Its frays on anything solid. Guess is all about the structure you fish. It does cast a good bit farther than 832. Even 10lb 832 looses to 24 lb gliss on that front. By 10 yds or so.

Primarily a bank guy, I’m big on downsizing my gear. This winter I started to actually individually roll my worms and other softies in a small strip of clear glad wrap. This way, while still being able to see and ID them I can mix different colors in a bag (2-3 of each typically) and not have any of that color bleeding through and mingling (reds and pumpkin seed colors are horrible with that). So the question, any reason why I might not want to continue doing so? I know Saran Wrap does contain estrogen disrupters which are very bad for fish but I don’t plan on tossing them in the water etc. thanks!