WRB-2.0

+1 Good advice.Tom

Sure-Life's Please Release Me is formulated to stop bleeding without further harming the basses soft tissue or gills. Tom

I guess it depends on what you call a hump. If the humps you plan on fishing are isolated underwater islands not connected to any other structure feature like a major point or nearby island, then I wouldn't bother with it unless baitfish are there. However if the "hump" is a underwater island that is connected to the river channel, another island or point, fish this type of structure year around if you meter fish on it. Tom

You should use a knot that clinches tight against the lure line tie eye with walking surface lures because where the knot is on the eye affects how the lure works; higher up the knot on the eye the more side to side action the spook/Sammy lure will have. With split rings, snaps and loop knots you loose action and control of walking lures. This is the reason you also want to use line that floats and may want to considered adding fly line dressing to the last 3 feet of line to help it stay floating and reduce surface tension to further enhance lure action. Tom

If the OB has hydrolic tilt cylinders, the motor should be supported so the load is not on the cylinders. Tilt the motor, install the device and lower the cylinder rods. This saves the tilt system and your lower unit. Tom

Anyone who has fished with live crawdads will tell that soft shells are preferred by the bass. Bass also prefer crawdads with no or small claws and rarely eat a dead crawdad. Coloration is the key to the bass if the craw is soft shell or not, they can see the differences. The "claws" on man made soft plastic crawdads are not attractive to bass as claws, it's the movement the appeals to them, makes the critter look alive, like something swimming or moving. The texture only comes into play after the bass has committed to striking the critter, the colors are not natural enough to the keen vision the bass have to be the primary striking trigger. Tom

Every time someone bounces a bass on the boat carpet, the fish looses it's protective slim coat, then diseases can attack the skin. Slim coat damage can also happen from predators grabbing the fish like osprey, gulls or herons. Whatever the cause the bass Is sick. Bass swimming around like a zombie could also have brain damage from being caught in very water. Catch and release has it's limits and a small % of bass do not survive, you are a witness to a bass deing slowly. Reminder to handle the bass with care. Tom

Bullhead is across the river from Laughlin gaming resorts, not where you want to fish. Should be in the 100's, hot during the mid day, you need sun protection; wide rim hat and sunscreen and lots of water. You also need a boat! Try to buddy up or plan on hiring a guide. Lots of to tollies (bull rushes) flipping/ pitching your best best for LMB where you plan to fish, further down into lake Havasu is world class smallmouth fishing, open rocky deep water. The desert lakes are unforgiving with hot summer sun and occasional high winds. Good luck. Tom

I consider a 8" as a standard size worm, the Mannis 12" is the old String Ray worm. Both these worm have similar diameter heads, the 12" is slightly large. owner #5301 size 4/0 for the 8" and 5/0 for the 12" is what I use very effectively. Tom

The outboard motor should be your next investment to allow you to get where you need be. The trolling motor is used to control the boat when moving slowly. You sonar unit will suffice to help you know what the bottom is like, where breaks are, what the depth is and locating bait fish etc. My advice is fish the points to start with, points are visual structure and bass magnets. You might want to consider an anchor system, this will save your trolling motor power until you can afford a small OB. Get yourself a topo map of the lake and start learning to read your sonar in between fishing. Enjoy you new found freedom from the bank, be safe! Tom

The bass appears to be gravely wounded and is dieing from deases. The wounds look like a predator bird may have inflected the damage. Tom

You could search utube for Bill Dance fishing a Pork O. The Pork O was a eel or leach shaped pork fished on a weedless hook, no weight, like a soft jerk bait. You can T-rig any pork trailer the same way you would a soft plastic worm. However pork works very good as a jig trailer or weighted hook. Good pork rind should float. Old pork rind can become stiff or take a set in the jar. To soften pork you can tenderize it by using a meat tenderizing hammer nd pound it on a wooden board, little messy. This brings out the oils nd softens the rind. I use a lot pork trailers andnwouldmuse the 6" eel as a jig trailer. To make the old pork stay soft and float well you should rinse it in worm water. Replace the jar solution with heavy salt water; boil 2 cups of water and add 1 cup of sea salt, not table salt, until there is about 1 cup of solution. Put the rinsed pork trailers in the jar with heavy salt water. I put 1 or 2 drops of pure anise oil in each jar. Do not use attractants on pork, it can stiffen them. Good luck! Tom

Reading this post is confusing at best. It would nice if rod makers had some standard to rate rods with that anglers could relate to. Today's lighter weight rods are stiff in regards to loading up under lure weights and this creates problems with casting accuracy. At one point in time a medium heavy fast action rod was known as a bass rod! This defined a rod that has multiple lure uses. West coast rod makers dropped the terms medium, medium heavy and heavy, instead adopted a power ratings like 3, 4 and 5. Actions are used to define how the loads up under lure weight; fast indicating the top 1/4 of the rods bends before the lower section bends, moderate fast the top 1/3 and moderate the top 1/2 like a cranking cranking for example. The higher end rods use inbetween powers like 3 1/2 and combined actions like fast/moderate fast or FMF for finer running specific application rods for example. Casting a soft plastic Texas rigged worm with 3/16 to 1/4 bullet weight, heavy wire hook and big worms should be fairly easy with your 7' MHF rod if you slow down the casting motion to let the rod load up better. This is more exaggerated casting motion using more arm movement then wrist movement to compensate for the fast action rod. When you consider the worm and hook weighs nearly a 1/4 oz, you are in affect casting a 1/2 oz weight. My worm/jig rod is a 4 power Fast action 6'10" simply because it suites my casting technique and fish 6" to 12" worms with 3/16-1/4 weight with 10-14 lb FC line, works good for me. Tom

Big Hammer has a square ail verses most soft swimmers of this type. The Sassy Shad was the first poplar swimmer of this design, however Worm Kings calico bass salt water swimmer was the first of this design I know of. Back in the late 70's to early 80's the Worm King Dinosaur 12" and 16" hand poured soft plastic swimmer in rainbow trout was the hot ticket with fish head jigs. So this type of swimbait has a long and successful history. Ken Huddleston Dad made the first hard body trout swimbait that started the Huddleton swimbait business. The soft Huddleston was the first boot tail swimmer and this design allowed the lure to swim like a real trout, little body waggle and life like tail motion. The big Hammer is very popular up in NorCal delta area, it is more durable due to salt water plastisol and takes the beating needed for striped fishing and bass fishing and inexpensive. Huddleston swimbaits are expensive get best up fast by striped bass, excellent swimbait for trophy LMB. Tom

I know that the late Doug Hannon did a utube Vedio on fizzing bass and my friend Don Iovino sell fizzing kits, with all that said, I am not a fan of fizzing bass to relieve the air bladder, unless you must keep the bass for a tournament. There are alternatives like weights to lower the bass back down to the deeper depths, this method does not damage the air badder. The issues not discussed are brain damage caused by sudden pressure changes, the bass may temporally survive being released when caught deeper than 2 atmospheres of pressure change, however the long term affects doesn't look promising. Lane Gergerly of Sure-Life was conducting research into post mortality rates on deep caught bass and I haven't read the report yet. Out west we catch LMlB during the winter from depths that exceed 50' and those bass are severely stressed after being fizzed and held in livewells. The released bass are often seen swimming about 5' below the surface like a zombie, dark color and no interest in anything. It is obvious these bass have brain damage and not eating. The bass stomach is tough and doesn't protrude out the mouth, it does protrude up the throat and can be seen and the bladder fizzed through the stomach wall. 5 scales below the lateral line, about where the front dorsal fin ends, is the suggested place to needle the air bladder, if you must fizz the fish. Keep in mind it takes several days for the needle hole to heal and serveral more days for the digestive gasses to re inflate the air bladder. During the healing period, the must swim or sink to the bottom. Tom

You forgot the wine and cheese....

You should not fizz a bass unless the air bladder is extending the stomach out it's throat. Bass that roll over may be suffering from stress not associated to over inflated air bladder caused from deep water pressure change when brought to the surface for depths deeper than the bass can tolerate. Bass loose their equilibrium and roll over from severe stress caused by several factors; thermal shock, low dissolved oxygen level, loss of blood. Fizzing a over stress bass may kill it, fizzing a healthy bass with over inflated bladder can help the bass to swim back down into deeper water it came from. Tom

The Johnson 1/2 or 3/4 oz spoon was designed to be used with a thin 3" or 4" X 3/8" bass pork strip and works very well with that trailer. If you split the tail about 2" and use either white or chartreuse colors works good for bass and other predator fish.Tom

The Johnson weedless spoon is still popular in some regions of the country and Canada. Persuader American Tackle makes a upgraded weedless spoon with a good sharp hook and baitfish patterns better suited for bass fishing. Soft plastic spinnerbait type trailers work OK if pork rind trailers bother you. Tom

There has been a lot of changes to braid the past the year to reduce the abrasion resistance and cast easier and further without back lashing. Most bait casting reels can handle line diameters about 0.010 to 0.0012 much smaller you will have problems handling the line or casting with a bait caster.....look at the line diameter, smoothness not the pound test. Tom

Put the bearings in a small glass jar of acetone with a lid and let sit over night. Place the jar filled with acetone and the bearings in a larger cup with water so the jar floats, then use a ultra sonic tooth brush in the cup with water and run for 2 minutes. Empty out the acetone and repeat if needed until the acetone is clear. Place the bearings on a clean coth to dry out. Next lubricate the bears lightly with a spray of BreakFree or other speed oil. To check the bearing use a small diameter tapered wood dowel, Testors model paint brush works good, and spin the bearing. Should spin freely, no roughness. If the bearing still spins roughly change it or try spinning the bearing in the lubricant using a Dremal motor with the wood dowel about 10 to 30 seconds. If that doesn't work it's time for new grade 5 bearings. Tom

You can use the lead mojo tubular sinker designed specifically for split shotting rocky areas, just crimp the center with needle nose pliers. The old style round smooth split shot without the ears is difficult to find anymore. I use a slip shot rig; mojo style weight with pegged glass bead for a stopper and prefer that over the split shot for 2 reasons; better strike detection and does't flatten the line with the rubber peg. When you use the round split shot make sure you crimp on the shot, then pull line through the shot to create a smooth hole through the shot, then cut off the line that is flattened, lightly re crimp the shot. Tom

You must fish for big bass to consistently catch big bass. Never use a dull hook or weak knot. Learn about seasonal periods and bass behavior. Know all you can about bass prey in the waterways you fish. LMB/SMB are not true bass, they are sunfish. Tom

Fish what your buddy fishes, it's working for him! Bass have their own calendar, you can't go by what worked last year in May. Spend more time locating the bass, then figure out what they want, your buddy seems to know. Tom

Try catching the carp, if they are the common brown/gold color carp they fight good. Look up how to catch carp.Next thing to try is a buzz bait the first hour after sunset, should get some action if there are any bass. Carp are egg eaters and can do some real damage to bass spawn survival, plus they eat the fry, unless they are grass carp. Tom