roadwarrior

fivebasslimit, Man, that is really a tough story. I've had outings where all the fish were caught in a very short period of time, too. I guess you need to carry some swim baits in case that ever happens again. Then you can spend all day fishing for one bite, one monster. The worst day I have ever had was on Bull Shoals a couple of years ago. I was with my dad and a friend of his. The weather was terrible and the guide gave us the option of staying in or going down on the White River to trout fish. The old guys wanted to fish the lake that day, so out we went. The first placed we stopped, a little before 8:00, I caught a two pound smallmouth on my first cast and got pretty jazzed. We didn't head in until around 4:00 and I never had another bite.

Midday has been the best for me, but I will fish when I can and all day if possible.

Smallmouth: 8 lbs, 1/15/05, Tennessee River Largemouth: 12 lbs, 9/05/05, Public Pond, Germantown, TN Kentucky: 4 1/2 lbs, Quachita Lake, AR

PLINK v. v. tr. To cause to make a soft, sharp, metallic sound; clink. v. intr. To shoot causually at random targets.

Ben, Your level of skill might have something to do with it, too. I fish light lures and all soft plastics, except C-rigs, with spinning gear. For larger lures and fast retrieve lures I prefer baitcasting equipment, but there are many exceptions to the rule. Even when I am having a good day with my baitcaster, I still have minor adjustments, a small over-run or a loop here and there. Those small things, and God forbid the BIG ONE, are just a pain for me to deal with in the dark, even with some lighting. If you always fish a baitcaster or never have a problem, then I see your point. But for most of us (I think), spinning tackle might be a better option at night. One more suggestion: If you use a net and are fishing treble hooks, you know what a mess they can be. Get a rubber net, you will like it at lot and especially at night. I do a little walleye fishing and lipping those guys is not a good practice. The rubber net really comes in handy when that fish is still trying to throw my Lucky Craft Pointer!

Well, I fish the Tennessee River and the current is determined by water release from the dams on the river. Release schedules are a function of power needs and are determined by the TVA. The water flow varies considerably from week to week. If you are fishing a "free flowing" river, you always have current. What you consider slow water will still produce smallmouth. The water does not have to be fast moving, it just needs to be moving. Although I fish both sides of the river and from just below the dam to several miles downstream, the vast majority of our catch is associated with some type of structure or transition. In the spring this includes the middle of the river along the channel break or drop. Rock piles, boulders, gravel flats, rip-rap, ledges, ridges, humps and holes all have the potential to hold smallmouth. Look for "structure" broadly defined. For me, that means fishing long sections of the river not just particular spots. The places I don't fish are mud bottoms and coves or creek tributaries. Smallmouth may stage at transition and at the mouth of a creek, but will not be up in it. I fish around eddies, but not in the slack water. We're looking for moving water and hard bottoms scattered with places for smallies to hide and ambush their prey.

Smallmouth relate to structure and current. I drift live shiners on a split shot rig from five to fifteen yards off the river bank, in five to thirty feet of water. The key is staying on or very near the bottom. We position the boat so that we can cast to or very near the bank. Cast straight out from the boat and fish at no more than a forty-five degree angle upstream, never down stream. Your goal is to drift the minnow and the boat at the same speed so that your bait looks as natural as possible. We buy the biggest minnows we can find and fish them on spinning tackle, #4 or #6 Yo-Zuri Hybrid Ultra Soft , #6 Gamakatsu Octopus Circle Hooks and #4 or #5 split shot. Big smallmouth are generally caught were you find large rocks, transition, drop-offs, holes and ledges. We always catch them in current, sometimes near eddies, but never in slack water. Current is required on the river to stimulate baitfish and the predators. If you don't have current you might as well stay home.

Although I fish both baitcasting and spinning tackle, I highly recommend spinning gear for night fishing. Small problems are exaggerated at night and can take some of the fun out of the trip. Jerkbaits are at the top of my list at night although this time of year you may want a deeper presentation.

Well, I happen to have EXACTLY the same kayak! It doesn't work very well for me. The biggest problem is that you simply cannot move in the boat. You have to fish "forward" and the boat is extremely affected by wind, even the slightest breeze. Additionally, when you catch a fish, it's almost impossible to actually boat it. I can't move at all. I bought the kayak to "transport" gear at a duck camp. It worked well for moving from point A to point B. The Ocean Kayak is not a fishing boat. If you like yours and have a friend that wants to buy mine, send me a PM, I'm sure we can work a deal.

Oh! Tournaments? No, I don't fish them either. I don't think there should be any tournaments during the spawn. It may sound like I'm preaching, but really I'm not. As long as it's legal, everyone is entitled to fish wherever they choose and keep fish if they like. But for me, YES! I will ignore big bass on their nest and avoid spawning areas during that time. I like to fish near the flats and catch giant sows staging in prespawn, release them and hope they will have a very successful season. I don't bother them when they are spawning. Okay, well here is a little preaching: As Chris noted, it takes a long time for a bass to get big, depending on where it lives, genetics and food supply. Northern smallmouth may take up to fifteen years to reach 5 lbs. Smallies in the south will reach 5lbs in four or five years, but they only live to be about ten years old. I really don't care as much as most bass fisherman about largemouth and Kentucky bass, both are native, tend to overpopulate and eat my pet smallmouth when they are little. Smallmouth do not actually have a niche in nature, every other fish lives in their territory and bothers them. So, I would like to see more largemouth and especially Kentucky bass caught and kept, but I don't want any smallmouth kept unless they weigh 12 lbs or more. How's that for a slot limit?

A study I read recently (In-Fisherman, I think) documented the mortality rate of eggs and new born when the male was removed from the nest. Removing the male for a very short time resulted in the loss of 20-40% of the hatch. When removed for several minutes, the male did not return resulting in a 100% loss. Perhaps more surprising, after all that time building and guarding the nest, the male ends up eating most of his babies! Nature is cruel. I don't fish beds and I don't think anyone else should. That said, so what...If it's legal, you as a fisherman and a conservationist, make your own decision. I generally feel the same about keeping fish, except of course MY PET SMALLMOUTH. There is no evidence that bed fishing has any impact on the overall bass population.

Fishie, That might have been a gar.

1) OXYMORON n. A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in [a deafening silence] and [a mornful optimist] Color is not important unless it is and then it's critical. I tend to stay with natural colors all of the time unless I'm advised otherwise or if one of my buddies has found the magic color. My best example is fishing at night for walleye, but I think this applies to bass, too. I was fishing jerkbaits (Rogues) at night with two other guys. In years past Frog has been hot, one year it was Clown, last summer it was Black & Silver with a Orange belly. Well, I had Black & Silver, same action, same diameter line, same everything EXCEPT an Orange belly. Believe me color mattered. After an hour or so, I borrowed the same lure I was using but with an ORANGE belly and WooHoo! Yep, sometimes color is everything.

1. Baby Diaper Yellow: As Chris said, killer color for some reason. #1 smallmouth producer is a 3" Gitzit in baby diaper yellow. 2. Black Neon: Black with red flakes. The Micro Munch Tackle El Gordo tube in black neon was a hit with big largemouth this year. 3. Clear with gold, silver & black: This is the color a friend of mine used to catch the largest bass I have ever seen in person, alive or mounted. The bass was caught on a 5" Senko, #326 at the Secret Pond, the first time I ever fished there in June 2005.

Welcome aboard! I hope you enjoy the forum, jump right in!

I'm fishing similar structure and have had good results with tubes, T-rigged with a bead, unpegged. I'm staying with a big presentation, specifically the Micro Munch Tackle El Gordo, black neon.

Welcome aboard! The replys you have already received cover it all. There's a lot to learn and it's all here at BassResource.com.

Welcome aboard!

Rebbasser, Yep, that is how I was trying to describe "slow" in my post. In addition to a short, horizontal sweeping motion, I also suggest that you let the bait sit for a while between movements. Bass will sometimes pick it up, but more often strike on the next movement after you have paused your lure. I agree that any lure you use from a boat will catch fish from the bank, but under a lot of conditions you will lose lures from the bank that would be recovered in a boat. For example, I don't recommend fishing crankbaits through deep structure or cover from the bank, but that is exactly where I like to fish them from a boat. My specific lure suggestions will catch bass consistantly everywhere and if you lose a few, well that's just part of the program. It doesn't cost an arm or a leg.

The smallmouth in my avatar were caught on the Tennessee River below Pickwick Dam 1/15/05. The fat one weighed just over 7 lbs, the long one is my Personal Best and although it was nearly 4" longer, it was only 1 lb heavier. The bass were caught an hour and a half apart drifting live shiners on a split shot rig in about 15' of water. Skies were partly cloudy, air temperature was around 40 degrees throughout the day, water temperature was 47.9 degrees, river current strong with water release about 60,000 cfs. The prior week we had caught 15 smallmouth, my largest that day (1/08/05) was just under 7 lbs and was my PB at the time. So, in an 8 day period I caught three PBs. My biggest smallmouth caught on an artificial lure was caught last summer at Bull Shoals Lake on a Lucky Craft Pointer 128. That bronzeback came in at just under 6 1/2 lbs, but it was really special. The strike was voracious and she went airborne immediately. The sun was going down just on the horizon, the coloration of the fish was enhanced by the sunset and the bass looked at least twice as big as it really was. The fight was intense and she jumped three times before I got her to the boat, the first time. She surged at the boat and peeled off about 25 yards of line and screaming drag, then jumped again. What a fish! One key to catching smallmouth in general and monsters in particular is line size. Largemouth bass apparently are not line shy, lots of trophy bass are caught on heavy equipment, big diameter line or braid. It has been my experience that smallmouth are more particular. That's not to say that reaction strikes, deep water presentations or that fishing heavier line in stained water will not produce bites, but you may not get as many. All my big smallmouth have been caught on Yo-Zuri Hybrid #4 & #6, my three largest on #4. I'm now fishing #4 Ultra Soft and I probably won't be using anything else any time soon. Eqipment is important. The reel and its drag system are far more important than any particular rod. Every big smallmouth I have ever caught has surged at the boat. If you try to horse a big girl the chances of pulling the hook out of her mouth is high. When using a circle hook the vast majority are securely hooked with the barb deeply embedded in the jaw. However, my three top fish were barely skin hooked on the outer lip when they were landed. I fish spinning equipment exclusively with live bait. Specifically, G.Loomis GLX PR844S/ Shimano Stella 2500FB. Lastly, let's look at the hook: Gamakatsu, strong and sharp. The devil is in the details, don't skimp on your terminal tackle. You won't necessarily get more bites with high end hooks, but I guarantee you'll have better hook-ups and land more fish.

The vast majority of my largemouth fishing is at small, local ponds. Here are a couple of baits that will catch you some fish: 1. 5" Senko, weightless and weedless on light line. Cast parallel to the bank, out 5-10 yards. Cast into or close to any cover or structure you come across. Fish SLOW. Let the bait fall on slack line. When it settles to the bottom let it sit for a minute then move it with a slow, horizontal sweep about 6-12". Then let it sit and repeat until you feel you are out of the zone. 2. Fat Ika, weightless and weedless fished just like I described fishing the Senko. This lure was my #1 producer in 2005, it will work for you.

The Do Nothing Approach It seems like I nearly always get bit when I put my rod in the rod holder to take a leak, get a beer or help someone land a fish. It's uncanny. This is really the main reason I fish soft plastics so slow, I have seen the "do nothing" approach work too many times.

My partner and I take guests a lot and we often have guys that haven't really "fished". So here are my suggestions: 1. We carry a couple of 6' medium power/ fast action rods with Zebco 33 reels. That eliminates about half the problem. 2. We usually bait fish with circle hooks. That doesn't keep them from hanging up, but the fish "hook" themselves eliminating some of their troubles. 3. You have to "show them" how to cast with their forearms and wrists, don't assume they have a clue. This part is fairly easy to pick up and will alleviate much of your frustration, as well as their's. 4. If you are fishing artificials try crankbaits or spinnerbaits that hook themselves and allows the rookies to "practice" casting while they are fishing. A Rat-L-Trap is the perfect lure. Also, either keep the boat out far enough where they can't quite reach the bank or even better, fish them parallel to cover or structure where they have a chance of catching a fish while randomly casting to what appears to be open water. 5. Stay away from finesse presentations, they need to learn fundamentals before they can move to advanced or subtle techniques. 6. We fish the Tennessee River where anyone with a hook in the water will always catch a few fish. They might not be exactly what you are looking for, but a 5 or 10lb drum for a newbie is fun!

Ditto, KU_Bassmaster although I try to be a little quicker with jigs than soft plastics.

Well, it kinda works like this: You were going to budget $200 for the shopping trip, which is really about $185 plus tax. But since you now know how to go online you can save sales tax and shipping, plus the gas you were going to use to get back and forth. So, here's how the math works: $200 you were going to spend anyway 15 you saved on tax 15 you saved on shipping 20 for that 10% coupon 10 for your 5% bonus points 20 for the gas you saved 50 you saved because a couple of things were on sale $330 Total spent, but you "saved" $130 or 39% Now, that's a deal and that is exactly how the Bait Monkey works. And remember, the more you spend, the more you save! Merry Christmas!