roadwarrior

I generally fish deeper regardless of the clarity of the water. I don't think the "white cup theory" makes any sense.

Cast to the bank like you would if you were stationary. Your boat generally drifts faster than your bait, so as it lingers up river, work it back to you until your bait is at a 45 degree angle UPSTREAM. Sometimes your bait will drift faster than your boat. When that happens, reel in and recast- NEVER fish your lure downstream or against the current.

Well Chris, My main water is a river and as Rosanna Dana Dana says, "If it's not one thing, it's another." The Tennessee River is a commercial river controlled by TVA. Water release defines current and is unpredictable on weekends (when I am able to fish). The best smallmouth fishing is during the winter and we all know how that can go. Then when you think everything is just about perfect, there's your enemy, the wind. The absolute worst wind blows upstream and makes boat control nearly impossible. I'm with you, I just hate wind. Thank goodness for cold beer!

Cast straight to the bank and let the drift take your bait to no more than a 45 degree angle UPSTREAM, but NEVER fish downstream.

Well, I only use an inserted jig head using a 3 1/2" tube for smallmouth. For largemouth I prefer the Micro Munch Tackle El Gordo or Mizmo 5 1/2" tube. I T-rig them with a 4/0 EWG Offset Worm Hook, 1/16 oz weight with a bead, unpegged. Push the barb in and out at the crown or top of the tube (you should have about 1/8" of plastic on the hook). Estimate a spot on the tube where the bend in the shank of the hook should enter the bait and push the barb through both walls. You should be able to skin-hook the barb and the bait will be weedless just like you rig the Fat Ika, but not backwards (skirt should be down with a tube).

I don't know anything about THAT river, but here are some basics for ANY river: If you are fishing for smallmouth, look for current breaks. Smallmouth will always favor a position in current outside the break and in front of islands. Humps, rock piles, boulders and pools away from the bank tend to hold bigger fish. Think STRUCTURE not cover. I have never caught a smallmouth in an eddy or in any slack water on a river. If the river is known for largemouth, think LAZY. Cover, tributaries and flats out of the main channel are your best bet. I find Kentucky bass and white bass everywhere. If it looks good, try it. Baits? If the current is slow or you are fishing slack water, Fat Ika. Otherwise, 3 1/2" Mizmo tube, GYCB Single Tail Hula Grub and Single Tail Grubs. Topwater and jerkbaits might work in low light, but I don't think they are the right choice this time of year. One more suggestion: I am a firm believer that line size matters on a river. I recommend #6, but nothing heavier than #8.

Catch and release vs. catch, eat or mount has been covered IN DETAIL over the past eleven days. We DO NOT need to go through this again this week. tejanoblackbass, go back through the threads posted since 8/4 and you can review a variety of opinions. One of the threads was started in "Tournament or outing". I am freezing this thread.

No

Welcome aboard!

I do the majority of my "sports" business with Cabela's and BPS. Both companys stand behind their products and have excellent customer service. I have had similar experiences with some of their staff, they are just worker bees that happen to work at a outdoors company.

I walk a different road, especially this time of year. The hottest days of the year are the very best days for soft plastics. I narrow the variables down to three: 1. Profile Sometimes bass prefer Fat Ika over Senkos or maybe today's preferance is a tube. If I'm on a small body of water, like a pond, I'll switch baits after thirty minutes because I know the fish are there. On a lake or river I might fish the same profile longer, but that varies depending on depth and structure. 2. Depth In water <12' I usually fish the Senko and Fat Ika. In deeper water a Gitzit, but I will fish a weighted tube in shallow water, too. 3. Structure I prefer deeper structure away from the bank rather than cover in shallow. I fish all soft plastics slow (or stopped) and basically the same. One cast can last take ten minutes if it is in the right spot.

Welcome aboard!

Well, In fact it is Dr. Raul or Professor Raul or Professor Dr. Raul... Thank you. So many of your posts are sooo... scientific, all are informative and a majority are just plain funny. Plus, you are the only guy I know that owns a pink reel!

George, I have often wondered, since you consistantly catch numbers of large bass, just how often you think your clients catch the same fish that were caught on a previous outing? I was also wondering if you gave your pet fish names? I know I would find a special place in my heart for the 12.5 you just described. I think that is incredible.

Get off the bank, fish deeper, fish slower, fish structure instead of cover. This is the very best time of year for soft plastics. My #1 suggested bait would be Micro Munch El Gordo or Mizmo 5 1/2" tube, T-rigged, weedless, 1/8 oz bullet or barrel weight, with a bead and unpegged. You pick the color, but I like dark. Cast it out and let it sit on the bottom for a minute, move it slowly with a 6-12" horizontal sweep then let it sit for thirty seconds or so before moving it again. Repeat until you feel you are "out of the zone". If the water is <12' deep, you might also try a 6" Senko and Fat Ika, weightless.

If you are taking kids that don't fish, you need to fish live bait on a split shot rig: worms and shiners. If you are fishing from a boat, simply drift over structure, lake points for example. Have them keep the bait near, but off the bottom. If you are bank fishing you need bobbers. The bait should probably be only two or three feet below the float so it is more easily cast. Live bait will catch both panfish and bass.

#1 Are you using quality hooks? Are they the right size? For most soft plastics I recommend 3/0, 4/0 or 5/0 EWG Offset Worm Hooks. #2 Are you maintaining a tight line? Pretty basic, but I see a lot of guys "pumping and winding". Sometimes that's required with big catchfish and most saltwater fishing, but never with bass. (Well, 30 lbs of moss wrapped around your fish might be an exception). That's all I can think of. We all lose a few fish, but even 5% coming unbuttoned would be a huge percentage on any lure, almost unimaginable on single hook baits.

Your posts were moved because you put them in the wrong forum or section. Several were put in "Tackle" where they belong. It may take a little while to understand where topics should be listed and this is why we move them as a courtesy. If we feel that a member is abusing this system, threads will simply be deleted. -roadwarrior

Species size has a lot to do with the region. 4 lb crappie are certainly a prize, but not uncommon in many of the reserviors in northern Mississippi, just south of Memphis. The same can be said about 10 lb largemouth, 5 lb smallmouth and 30 lb catfish. World Record possibilities in the lower Midwest and Midsouth include all catfish subspecies, sauger, walley, crappie (black & white), white bass, Kentucky bass, smallmouth, brown and rainbow trout, all subspecies of bream, gar, drum, buffalo and carp. PB: Largemouth: 12 lbs (estimated weight, 27 1/4"). Public pond. Smallmouth: Just over 8 lbs. Tennessee River Kentucky: 4 1/2 lbs Lake Quachita, Arkansas Striper: 38 lbs. Tennessee River Blue Catfish: 58 lbs. Mississippi River Brown trout: 10 lbs. White River, Arkansas Rainbow trout: 9 lbs. White River, Arkansas The biggest fish I have ever caught and weighed was a 85 lb. Amberjack in the Gulf of Mexico, but last summer I caught a gar on Bull Shoals fishing a Lucky Craft 128 late at night that was too big to get into the boat!

George, That is the most interesting post I have ever read. I had no idea that loners were the true "cannibal". I can't say, even in retrospect, that I have ever observed such behavior. I have caught bass after hooking up with another species (bluegill, skipjack, crappie,etc.), but never bass on bass. I thought big bass were loners because they just became grumpy, like a bull elephant or because their size simply intimidated smaller fish. I did not connect intimidation with an aggressive predisposition to eat their own kind. Very interesting.

Well, the answer is yes. The highest mortality is after the male bass has spent several weeks protecting his babies, then decides to eat them! Another "high mortality" event is when a year class experiences a high success rate (living for longer than a year). In their second year, new born are one of the two year olds easiest prey. As an example, due to record high lake levels, the 2002 smallmouth bass spawn at Bull Shoals Lake was estimated to have a 95% survival rate. The same conditions reoccured in 2004, but the '02 class ate all the newborn. Survival rates were nominal. As far as the "baby bass" color combination goes, this lure pattern is basically green and white with a little black accent. I find green to be my best overall color, regardless of what it is called. I'm not convinced big bass think they are eating a little bass, maybe just another green fish.

I think Chris Fish's comments apply to my most productive (for size) public pond. Lot's of little fish are removed, well actually, almost all that are caught! The few bass fisherman that visit this pond generally fish spinnerbaits either right next to the bank or thrown out in the middle with a perpendicular retrieve (cast it straight out, reel it straight in). I fish soft plastics, mostly, parallel to the shore, but five to fifteen yards off the bank. I fish a shelf that falls into deeper water adjacent to the deepest water in the pond. It's little things that make a difference in how successful you are.

fishingj, Where are you catching "mostly around 5 lb smallmouth"?

I try to fish soft plastics parallel to structure or cover or up/ down a slope. I work the bait as long as I feel that I am "in the zone". A single cast can take four or five minutes. I fish them slow and deliberate. I fish Senkos and Fat Ika, weightless only; tubes, worms and Kreatures with a weight. I never fish "wacky", traditional T-rig (with or without a weight) only.

When I read "on the fall", I relate the phrase to the initial cast. In this post and an earlier post about fishing Senkos, most guys reported catching their fish "on the fall" or lifting the bait well off the bottom for another long "fall". I don't fish that way at all. For me, bass caught "on the fall" are usually small bass or occasionally a better bass that I happen to hit on the head! The vast majority of my bigger bass caught on a Senko, Fat Ika or tube have been caught either dead sticking on the bottom or on the initial movement after the bait has set on the bottom for a minute or so. When I move the bait I do so with a short (6-12") horizantal sweep, letting the bait fall on slack line. The movement is slow and subtle with a significant pause between moves. In some situations I will use longer, vertical hops with a tube, but never with a Senko or Fat Ika.