WRB-2.0

As I recall this small lake has been discussed before on this site. I pointed out where the bass should spawn when the water temps are between 62-67 degrees. Your bass are in late winter cold water period and as the water column warms they will move out of the deeper water towards to shallower end, my guess is around the end of April or early May. Until then use jerk baits and lipless cranks, jig& craw, split shot rigs. Work the perimeter of the lake by fan casting a few different lures until you find what is working, it's called fishing for a reason....trail and error is a good teacher. Tom

Tatula $150 vs Curado $250 the $100 should get you something. Try swapping rods and give it another try. Tom

All I can say is I must be inexperienced and somehow dumbed my way through the past 50 years or so bass fishing. The 300+ DD bass must have been retarded bass to let me catch them. You wonder how any elite tournament angler fishing his home water could lose because they fished memories in lieu fishing the moment. I will tuck my tail and call it a day. Tom

HitchHicker or Owner CPS attached the the jig head hook eye and add a 1 1/2-2" long worm section to cover the exposed hook point, weedless and added color without a weedguards. Tom

Tournament legal A-rig. Tom

Pre spawn covers a lot locations if you use 50D water as the start, better off thinking winter presentations until the water reaches 55D at the depth the bass are located, not surface water temps.* Basic understanding of what pre spawn is for the bass is important when trying to locate big femal bass. Pre spawn for big bass means it's time to put on extra fat by eating high protein prey without chasing down fast moving prey. Spinnerbaits and crankbaits may not be your best choice until the water warms up more. Think about where the bass spawn, then look at a map and determine the locations that would have a lot of prey nearby. Crawdads are high protein and larger size baitfish. This means lures like crawdads (jigs & big worms) and slower moving baitfish (swimbaits) are good choices. Tom * get yourself a digital instant read probe that can be easily inserted down the basses throat right after catching it, read the body temp or a probe with 10' of wire and read the water temps.

I really don't know why the word memories became erase your fishing knowledge or leave your experience at home. The point I was trying to get across was not to preconceived what going to happen by rigging up the night before, fish the moment. What is even more ironic are statements regarding seasonal periods and bass behavior. Consider this fact; I was a pioneer writing about seasonal periods and bass behavior 40 years ago, before some of my critics were born. Reference: Google " Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar" and look at the first page with the Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar and instructions. I made this chart up in 1974 for Bass Pro Shop seminar in Burbank CA., yes there was a BP in Burbank back then owned by Bruce Noll. Don't leave your knowledge at home, if that was what came out of this thread, it's the wrong message. Tom

Off topicBig O is in the tackle business and promoting product, Chris Fish was promoting his web site and he is a pro photographer. I am not promoting anything, just sharing a little experience and knowledge. I believe there are some photos on this site somewhere. You need to appreciate the fact our local lakes are small, posting pictures to satisfy my ego only increases fishing pressure. Read what I posted and take from it what works for or leave it. Whomever interpretation it was fishing memories was forgetting what you know was misinterpreting what was written. Tom

What prompted me to post this thread was my most recent trip to Casitas and a post A BR member had made. Roadwarrier made a statement that he and his partner had a recent tournament event wired, they had done the homework and knew what the big bass were on. Tournament day, they could only catch small bass and didn't do as good as they hoped, even though he was in the zone. My outing was similar, having fished Casitas since '58 and caught a lot giant bass* at this lake during pre spawn within 5 days around the full moon, I knew where to start and what to use from past experience. I was so confident that I didn't do my marina routine, why bother. 3 hours later with nothing going on, I decided to stop fishing and start looking around to what was really going on. No baitfish in the area, bass suspended at 8' in 15' of water, surface temps at 64. Moved into a few protected spawning areas, no cruisers or beds yet! Why had the bass pulled back and inactive? Ran into a boater who was catching a few small on Megabass Jerk bait, but that bite was tough. There was no wind, visibility about 10' and could see a few bass. Put away the jigs, worms and swimbaits, got out crank baits, dart jig and A-rig, found some off colored water and fished nothing banks along the 10' break. This is a classic post spawnafternoon presentation and it worked. I am not sure why the bass had pulled back, but they did. Next outing it may be full on pre spawn to spawn transition. You can bet that I will check the conditions in the marina before fishing what should have worked based on past experience. Fish the moment, not the past is exactly what this thread is all about. Tom * my bench mark for giant bass is 15 lbs at Casitas & Castaic.

Feed them what they don't want and It's a long day on the water. You are better off being very good with a few lures and versitle enough with other lures to be competitive. Tom

Off topic:I didn't put the picture of my bass mount in the avatar, another member did that. I aviod posting pictures because someone will be jealous and question it's validity. The avatar bass is my PB and was caught at lake Castaic on March 3, 1994 on my hair jig with pork rind trailer (not a crawdad) 17' of water and weighs 19.3 lbs. best Casitas bass was 18.6 lbs caught Feb 9, 1981 on the same style hair jig and pork rind trailer. The reason I always fish the jig is because of the memories, sometime it works, sometime it's a mistake. Tom

Catt, I have a lot of respect for your knowledge, you and I fish in a similar manner and we both tend to fish memories, we are set in our way of doing things. Fishing memories isn't forgetting what you know where the fish should be located, it's using the wrong lure at the right time because we had success at a prior time, under similar conditions and refused to make a change.Swimbaits date back to the early 30's with the Creek Chub Wiggle Fish, drop shot was also a dropper rig or stacking rig or ganion rig in salt water, the Japanese introduced today's drop shot rig using light tackle, give them credit where it's due. The west coast swimbaits started with Worm King, then Ken Huddleston's dad with the wooden Trout, Basstrix with the hollow body swimbait, that bass anglers use today The first boot tail may have been the Sassy Shad as a bass lure. Being a salt water angler I have trolled spreader rigs for tuna over 30 years, you could've cast a spreader or umbrella rig until the A-rig was designed by a fresh water Alabama striper angler. The point is fishing memories eliminates using new lures until someone kicks arsh winning tournaments while you and I are jig fishing because that is what we comfortable with. Tom

Fishing memories doesn't mean loosing your memory or forgetting what you know about bass behavior. Fishing memories is tying on that black/blue jig and pounding the bank when the bass are on a A-rig bite or a swimbait bite, lures few anglers try, until the lures become well known. It took over 20 years before lures like swimbaits and presentations like drop shot found there way east, the A-rig was an adaption of salt water spreader rigs that went from east to west. The anglers that innovated the "new" presentations didn't fish memories, they tried something new. If you always tie on the same lures and fish the same structure or cover you are missing a lot bass, I know becuase my old forgotton hair jigs with pork trailers are my go to lure. When I said all bass anglers make this mistake, it's true. Be honest with yourself, learning is a intellectual process. I also fish the same lakes for over 50 years and still manage to keep up to date and still catch giant bass each year. Tom

Asking anyone's opinion on what is best will get you their opinion and we all have different ideas of what is "best"! Berkley offers XL (extra limp) and XT ( extra tuff) for a reason, XL is low memory, low abrasion resistant line engineered for spinning reels. XT is better suited for bait casting and general fishing. Sun light breaks down both XL & XT, low UV resistance and weaken in cold temperatures due to being high water absorbing. Both these anomalies are common with Nylon monofilament lines. Not knocking XL or XT, both are good mono lines and have a long tract record of success. The most expensive mono's maybe Sunline Shooter Defier and Blackwater Toray mono line that claims to resolve the mono anomalies mentioned. Tom

Doesn't matter how long you have been bass fishing or what your skill levels is, we all make the same mistake. We start of the day or night by fishing memories, using lures, presentations and locations that worked the last time we caught bass. If nothing on the lake has changed, this may work, however lakes tend to change by the hour and expecting the bass to be where they were and eat what you offered the last time you fished, you are making a mistake......if you continue to fish memories without success. I am no different and pre plan my next fishing outing, tie on lures that I believe will work. What I have learned over decades of bass fishing is; don't fire up the engine and run to where I fished the previous outing. My routine to prevent fishing memories is check the lakes conditions at the moment as the boat is launched. Look at the water color, clarity, temperature, meter around the marina for sights of baitfish and bass. Put a starting plan together based on what you know at that moment and make changes based on your instinctive feelings from what you learn during the day or night. Make new memories each outing and put the past behind you. Good fishing. Tom

Dream on! The local bass derbies are the farm system of pro bass fishing. Pay your entry fee and test your tournament skills for a year. If you can earn a check in each event, maybe you have the skills to move up to the next level. This is a tough sport, lots of road time, fast food, cold rooms and bad weather. Sponsors don't give away boats and motors to beginners, you must earn them. If you think you can do it...go for it! Tom

I rarely blindly use any lure looking for bass. The best search tool in the boat is your sonar unit and the stuff between your ears. During the winter or cold water period bass should be deep water near baitfish or tight to structure, perfect for sonar. Bass being cold blooded in cold water aren't going to be active or willing to chase down fast moving lures often. As the water warms above 50 degrees they become more active and willing to move up in the water column and may chase slower moving lures a few feet, but not very often. If you are casting and cranking hoping to find a few active bass, plan on hauling a lot of empty water. As the water warms above 55 degrees everything changes, it's pre spawn time, the bass are up in the water column and looking for food, crawdads are moving and bass are feeding on them. Lakes that have shad the bass may target them, now crank baits, spinning baits can work....your sonar unit is still your best search tool. During the colder water periods vertical lures like structure spoons, jigs, drop shot soft plastics out perform horizontal reaction type faster moving lures. Pre spawn lipless cranks, deep divers and jerk baits out perform spinnerbaits. Swimbaits can be excellent during winter to pre spawn transition and continue to work through the spawn. Spinnerbaits and top water come into play as the water approaches 70 degrees, post spawn to summer, now you can put the trolling on high and beat the bank with that spinnerbait. Keep in mind that the lakes population of bass are not on the same activity level, they are individual fish with individual activity levels ranging from inactive to very active, the active level is about 10% of the time during a 24 hour period, less in cold water, more in warmer water. Bass will group up or school to feed on schools of baitfish, otherwise they hunt in small groups. Tom

Fluorocarbon line is a polymer and all polymers creep and distort under constant pressure. What this means is the outer layers of line on your spool put constant pressure on the underplaying line deforming it. Your best bet is use filler like braid or some other type of line and fill the spool with about 60 yards of FC. Tom

Shake a T-rigged worm by adding a glass faced bead and painted brass bullet weight. The shaky head jig with screw lock is designed to stand up and be worked with little forward movement, it's not a cover type presentation. T-rig is far more universal. Clutter, try a boat load of tackle that needs a computer to keep track of! Tom

What a lot of bass anglers don't do is plan ahead and position themselves when a big bass strikes and you set the hook the bass needs an escape rout out of harms way. Lets say the bass is in heavy cover at the base of a tree, looking out toward deeper water to ambush passing prey. If you position yourself in deeper water in front of this bass and present a lure in front of it, the bass strikes, you set the hook.....where is the bass going? The bass will pull and fight against you line/rod pressure that is trying to pull it out, the bass turns and runs the opposite direction into heavy cover. Bass always fight against line pressure, the harder you pull the harder the bass fights back, going deeper into cover...you lose. If you positioned yourself behind the bass or to one side and bring the lure towards it, the bass strikes, you set the hook and the bass fights out into deeper water, away from harm and heavier cover....you win. Try tp plan ahead when targeting big bass. Hook them and control them, that's what it's all about...catching, not losing. Tom

I consider a 5 lb LMB to be an adult bass wherever it's caught. Tom

I let the fish determine how long it going fight and keep it under control at all times knowing the longer it's in the water the more likely it will get away. No bass can fight longer than 2 minutes, usually less than 1 minute. Control the fish and you determine the fight time regardless of the tackle being used. If you can't control the fish, the tackle is too light! Tom

NRX are high quality rods, so are Megabass that are higher priced. The question is and always has been what you get for your money. When I looked at the NRX worm/jig rods and had an opportunity to fish with them, I was impressed, excellent rods. The reason I choose not to purchase the NRX series was two fold; price and warranty, it cost $100 to replace the rod 2 1/2 years ago. What I did was have custom rods made by ALX with a rod blank and construction equal to the NRX, except the length and guides I wanted. The rods are better than expected, fully life time warranted, no extra cost, 1/2 the price of the NRX. One of my fishing partners has 15 NRX rods before I got my ALX customs and he can't see any difference in performance comparison. Check with DVT or ALX (DVT wasn't a site sponsor 2 1/2 years ago) if interested in a custom rod. Tom

My favorite jig color skirt is black/purple/brown combination and I use black, brown, barn red and purple trailers, changing until the bass react to whatever combination they want at that time. The 1 jig gives me 4 diffierent looks. If that doesn't work then I will try brown/green/barn red skirt with the above trailers , except green replacing black. with 2 jigs I have 8 different combinations. Tom PS, hair jigs with pork trailers.

it sounds like you are fishing a man made deep structured large reservior. You can learn a lot about the points by studing a good 1 foot elevation topo map. Understanding the shape of the point underwater will give you a heads up on how to approach the structure and where the bass maybe located before making your first cast. The key to success usually is knowing what depth the bass are active at and that can change hourly. Boat control is also important and fishing from a small boat or kayak can be a challenge in moderate wing, high wind you should forget being out on the windy water. If the bass are in deeper water, 15 to 30 feet, common during early pre spawn, I like to approach a point as if walking the bank and casting out into the deeper water retrieving up hill or parellel along the sides of the point. Then I work all around the point covering the area throughly from as many angles as possible to determine where the bass are located. When I have determined the depth and location, repeat this knowledge on other similar points or structures having similar depth and breaks. The isolated structure elements are important; rock piles, rocks, gravel, clay, stumps, gullies, small flats, saddles, etc. The wind positions the bass to face into the moving water and can create a mud line that provides cover, be aware how the bass strike your lure regarding all of the above factors. Tom