WRB-2.0

Yamamoto 3" Senko's and hand poured knock off's have been popular for years for western tournament anglers in shad colors. Drop shot is a common presentation using the 3" Senko's. Tom

Agree with catt...it's a crap shot! If the hook gets snagged into the wood, your are done. Letting the bass swim it's way out can work sometimes. Pullimg hard makes the bass pull back harder and can get into more trouble. Positioning yourself so when the bass strikes and you put pressure on it swims itself out of trouble works. You are going to win some and lose some. Tom

Then try Marie island area, northest and Goose rock area west to the channel break towards McCormick island. Both of those areas should give you an idea if larger bass are using outside water deep structure zones. Tom

I see this natural lake is located in Ontario Canada and has musky, pike, largemouth and smallmouth bass. The map is also 1968 vintage, 5' elevation and Catt's link should help a lot. The problem isn't suggesting where to fish in regards to break line or structure elements on this small lake; it should be easy and has good traditional deep water breaks near shallow flats, bays and islands. The issue is other predators, both musky and pike will dominate those areas. The smallmouth will move outside on the rocky isolated areas, the largemouth may not and more than like stay close to cover and become isolated ambush feeders in places that don't suit the muskies and pike. In other words the LMB should stay in or near cover where baitfish can be ambushed; deep breaks with good weed beds and fish the inside edges and pockets or the outside edges if the muskies and pike are around. Tom

Carp jumping have fooled a lot of bass anglers. Carp can jump completely out of the water and make a loud slapping noise. The easiest way to tell if they are carp is try to see color; a flash of brown or gold indicates carp or fresh water mullet, unless smallmouth bass are in that area. If bass are active feeding and jumping, they will hit lures. Tom

Snagging underwater line can fool anyone into thinking they have a fish on for a second or two as the lure slides up or down the line. Every once in awhile you snag line that is attached to a rod/reel. I have had 2 lines that still had live fish that pulled the oputfit into the water; a lake trout in Canada and a big channel catfish near home. Tom

LMB prefer water the 70's, it's ideal for them. The reason LMB go deeper in the hot summer is to find cooler water with good DO levels; add a good prey source and the bass will be there! Tom

Consistantly catching large (female) adult bass is all about details, being at the right place at the right time. Unfortunitly tournament fishing doesn't always allow you to pick and choose when and where to fish. My advice is; fish for big bass when they are active, regardless of how many other bass you may or may not have in the livewell. You have about a 20 to 30 minute window every 3 to 4 hours each/night to target the bigger bass. Good luck! Tom

If you don't have well established weed beds, then look for anything that creates dark shaddow areas; boulders, sharp breaks with rocks, trees, etc. Crawdads are bass food, not pike food, so a 3/8 oz football head jig with 4" double tail Yamamoto Hula grub # 297 or 301 should work in clear water. Tom

When a small natural lake is shared with 2 top end predators, the biggest more aggressive predator owns the best feeding areas. Unfortunitly largemouth bass are not the number 1 predator in your lake, the pike are. The largemouth may not be on the outside deep breaks very often, they may be using the inside weedline breaks and living in the weed tunnels that lead in and out of the grass mats and any isolated rocks or deeper water surrounded by weeds. Try making longer casts along the inside weed line and any weed breaks that lead from outside to inside areas. Also try pitching into holes and pockets in the weed beds. 5 to 6" paddle tail swimbaits are quite and work well along inside weed edges and pegged Teaxs rigged 7" paddle or stright tail worms can be worked effectively along weed edges and in holes or pockets. Weedless frog and spoons; Johnson Silver Minnow spoons worked over mats and stopped to sink into small pockets and often work well in these conditions. Good luck. Tom

Why do you want to fish a jig uphill on a deep break with suspended bass? These bass are more than likely inactive or waiting for baitfish. If the bass were on the bottom of a sloping break, then maybe an uphill presentation may work. parallel is usually better during the summer. Flutter spoon, crankbait or swimbait cast parallel and worked at the depth the bass are holding may work. Dart head jig with curl tail worm slowly swam through them allows you to keep off them and saturate the area. I would also look around to see where these suspended bass move to feed; up on the break or a nearby point. Tom

The flash flood more than likely caused a thermoshock from the water temperatures changing quickly, combined with low DO levels. Catfish can breath air, unlike all the other fish must breath disolved oxygen and have a high tolerance to temperature changes. The lake should come back. Tom

Catt you posted a photo of an outside hump (exposed underwater island) during low water conditions last year(?), that looked ideal if it had more water on it now. That is the type of structure with wood to target. I'm too old to fish 100+ temps with no wind and would wait for better conditions, like night time. I don't own a Lowrance Structure Scan unit with both down/side scanning, however have fished using it and you can see individaul fish suspended on the side scanner in cover in 5' of water, which is shallow to me. The fish show up as dots, not the traditional arcs. Way off topic. Tom

Are you fishing a natural small lake that may have toothy predators like pike? Smallmouth or largemouth bass? Tom

Details help to answer questions; o-ring rigged wacky rigged Senko. Senko's look the same on both ends, however the head end is slightly thicker and the tail end slightly tapered. The tail end is designed to wiggle a little on the fall when the head end has a light added weight like a hook (you can turn it around and tail hook it). Just a reminder how Senko's work. When you wacky rig a Senko the bass tends to grabs 1 of the ends or sometimes the whole Senko. Hook up ratio depends on the bass getting the hook in the mouth and it's hit and miss with a wacky rigged Senko. The larger size hook (round bend Gammy or Owner Senko hooks), the higher % of hook sets. A Senko head (Texas) hooked slides through weeds better than wacky rigged, the bass tend to strike the end swimming down where the hook is. I don't fish heavy weed cover very often with Senko's and prefer the head weighted (nail weight) and weedless Gammy wide gap finesse hook, o-ring rigged in open water or #484 round bend head hook (Texas style) in weedy areas. 2 bass per Senko is about as good as is gets! Tom

If you mean what direction the lure is moving verses the direction the fish are facing; it's better for the lure to come towards the fishes head, so they can see it approaching. Tom

Change hook style from the 65113 to the #11 or 484 worm hook. Insert the hook point into the nose of the worm to the hook barb, rotate out (1/4"), rotate the hook so the point is towards the worm then pull the hook eye into the worm nose flush. Next place the hook bend next to the worm to determine where to place the worm hook point; is should go through the worm where the hook bend was. Push the hook point though and out the opposite side of the worm. Now sqeeze the worm and cover the hook point (skin hooked). You have a weedless worm, no weed guard. I am sure there is an illustration for this on the site somewhere. Tom

Brandon..continued Fishing soft plastic worms (I suggest you start with worms in lieu of other soft plastics), start with a technique and presentation that has a high percentage of strike to hook ratio; the c-rig or finesse C-rig (slip shot). Both these rigs require you to slow down and keep the weight on the bottom. This rig is s-l-o-w-l-y dragged along the bottom and stopped when you feel resistance. You will learn when a rock stops the weight vs a bass; rocks don't move. Weeds are far more difficult, they can feel like a bass pressure bite, so a rod sweep either clears the weeds or sets the hook; weeds don't pull back. Samllmouth tend to peck at plastic worms so let them move the line before sweeping the rod back. Largemouth just bite and swim off, don't wait too long to set the hook, they swallow plastic worms quickly. If you are fishing for smallies or largemouth in slighly off color or clear water; try oxblood with light red flake worm in 6" curl tail (looks like a nightcrawler). Use a size 1 or 1/0 Gamakatsu #11 worm hook (skin hooked), 10 lb mono or FC line. 3/16 oz Top Brass black Pro-Jo weight, red 8MM glass bead, clear Carolina stopper. The weight should be about 24" above the hook to start with. Tom

Brandon, welcome to bass fishing. I have been bass fishing for about 6 decades, a very long time. Soft plastics (rubber worms) started to be popular about the same time that I was learning to bass fish and became the most reliable and successful artifical lure made to date. Here are 10 of the techniques every bass angler should learn to rig. 1. Texas rig; bullet shape weight that is free to slide on the line above a plastic worm style hook. 2. Florida rig; same as the Texas rig, except the bullet weight is pegged agianst the hook. 3. Carolina rig; egg shape sinker that is free to slide on the line and stopped by a swivel above a length of leader line and hook. 4. Split shot rig; round split shot clamped on the line above the hook. 5. Slip shot or finesse C-rig; cylinder shaped weight free to slide on the line, stopped by a pegged glass bead above the hook. 6. Drop shot rig; bell shaped sinker tied to the end of the line, the hook tied directly on the line above the hook. 7. Shakey head jig; ball head jig with worm keeper. 8. Dart head jig; small bullet shape jig head. 9. Spider jigs; Hula grub with single or double tail. 10. Senko's; heavy salted fat bodied stick worm. You rig the above techniques on any type of bass rod/reel combo, however casting outfits are typically used with line size 10 lb or heavier, spinning reel/rod for 10 lbs or less. Line weight should be selected to match the worm & hook size and type of cover you plan to fish. T/F-rig,C-rig, spider jig and Senko's can be used with 10+ line and popular with bait casting outfits. Split, slip, drop shot rig, shakey head jig, dart head jig, are more popular with lighter line; 5 to 10 lb and spinning outfits. Search around this site for rigging and presentation details. Colors are trail and error for each lake and seasonal period. Natural green or brown tones with red, black or purple flakes are always good. Shad colors like translucent smoke with silver, red, black or purple flakes can be good if the lake has shad bait fish. Hooks and line are very important when fishing soft plastic worms; use premium worm hooks and line. If you are interested in any of the above techniques, ask questions regarding them and we can reply in detail. My advice; learn to fish plastic worms when the bass are more active, then you can fish them more effectively when the bass are less active. Tom

LMB prefer low light to feed, it gives them an advantage, so they are more active during dawn and dusk periods. It's alot easier to catch active bass, they respond to several different presentations and lure types. Bass are not active all the time, they tend to be inactive and not feeding for several hours each day. You need to change how and where you fish to catch bass that are not actively feeding. There are several schools of thought on this subject; slow down and saturate an area with precise presentations like flipping or pitching into heavy shaded cover. Go deeper and fish the breaks where bass maybe more actively feeding. Power fish by ponding the shoreline cover targets at a faster pace to cover water. I fish deep structured lakes and prefer to fish the outside deeper structure at the depth I can locate bass or bait fish with whatever works*. I would suggest picking areas close to where you catch active shoreline bass and move out into deeper water following a major point to start with. Get yourself a good 1' to 2' elevation map of the lake where you fish and look for underwater humps or other sharp breaks and fish those, if they are near the depth of bait fish or intersect a thermocline. Ohter wise pick one of the other choices; cover water, saturate heavy cover.....or fish at night as Catt mentioned. Good luck. Tom * lure types depends on the what the bass are feeding on; crawdads, start with a 3/8 to 1/2 oz football head jig with 4" Yamamoto twin tail hula grub in crawdad colors. Bait fish like shad; same lure in shad colors, or structure spoons, 1/4 to 3/8 oz drop shot rig, doddle (shake a T-rig) rig or split shot rig 5" to 7" worms in bait fish colors. Whatever you can effectly present to the bass at the depth they are holding.

Generally speaking bass tend to school by year class. Small bass and any other smaller size fish are part of the food chain for larger adult size bass. Bass between 10" to 12", 1/2 to 3/4 LB, are last years juvenal bass very aggressive and easier to catch than adult size bass. It sounds like you are fishing from shore; try fishing areas that have steeper banks, the dam areas or points that lead into deep water where larger size bass tend to be located. Fish at night when larger size bass are more active near shore. Tom

The key to your question is "pond". The bass don't have a lot of choices, to survive they must find cooler water during the next few months. There should be an abundance of prey available; young of the year bass, bluegill, sunfish, crawdads, frogs, worms, insects. In ponds bass tend to locate in shaded areas where thye can ambush prey easily. Fish the weed lines that create a break line. Stay away from the edge of the shoreline and keep a low profile like you are stalking the bass. Keep your shadow off the water where you plan to cast. If possible fish at night or low light periods. Weedless lures like worms, top water frogs and jointed lures that swim at slow speeds are good. A bass in 12' of water can quickly strike at a surface lure without any problem. Pond bass also tend to move around looking for prey, so fish as much of the pond as you can. Inlets and outlets where water is moving, dams and over hanging trees are always good areas. Tom

I'm sure this has been answered several times on this site. For an in depth answer Google "thermocline in lakes". The basics for bass fishing; warmer water is less dense than colder water, the zone where the warm and cold water come together is called the thermocline. The thermocline is usually a fast temperature change of 2 to 5 degrees within a few feet of depth. The summer thermocline occurrs as water warms, the winter thermocline occurs as water cools. Current or wind can desperse the thermocline, calm conditions can increase the thermocline. Bass during the summer period prefer to locate just above the thermocline depth. You can see the thermocline on good sonar units as a darker color zone or line due to the water density change. Tom

KVD was a speaker at a local SoCal bass event a few years ago discussing the importance of casting accuracy and reel retrieve ratio's. When KVD was done he went to a Q & A session, the first question was; do you ever use a spinning finesse rod/reel combo? Some chuckles could be heard and KVD responded; I didn't before fishing with Kyle yesterday! KVD fished with the son of the local dealer where he was speaking (Bass-A-Thon) and fished at DVL (Diamond Valley lake) a crystal clear deep structured lake. Kyle fishing with 5 lb FC line and DVL speacial 5" drop shot worm and caught 10 bass, KVD could not get bit, he begged Kyle for help. With the right tackle KVD learned quickly how to catch deep structured bass at DVL. Moral; every lake and region has specific colors and presentations that work better than others, there isn't a panacea that works everywhere. Tom

Bass can change coloration due to sereveral factors; stress, water chemistry: high alkaline creates a pale color, high acidic creates darker coloration. Depth of light; deeper then light penetration the lighter coloration, good light penetration darker coloration. Tom