WRB-2.0

Sounds like you are fishing deeper water areas near a dam (water tower). Divide the lake into 1/3 sections; lower 1/3 is the dam area, middle 1/3 is center main lake area and the upper 1/3 is where the river creek enters on a smaller lake or each creek arm on large lakes. Fish the upper 1/3 area unless the water colder, then fish the warmer middle 1/3 area. It is very difficult to feel or detect a spawner strike on a jig because the bass doesn't try to eat it, it bites it very quickly and spits it out. Soft plastic worms or Senko's the bass may hold onto longer and move with it before rejecting it, this lets you detect a strike easier. Spawners will slap at the reaction lures and you may see a swirl, not a strike. If this happens cast a Senko where the bass swirled. Tom

1. No, the bass should be in mid spawn with some post spawners and spawners. 2. Spawning areas are usaully wind protected with some brush and pea gravel in coves or bays. 3 & 4. A 3 hour tournament you better have them located before it starts! Being an afternoon event try a buzzer or spinnerbait in 1' to 5' of water near the bank. Then follow that up with a T-rigged dark (black) soft plastic 6" lizard or 7" to 10" power worm and cast it right on the bank and work out to the first break line or depth change; 5' to 7'.Use a rattle style weight, hop the worm and then shake it in place before moving it. Cast to any stick up you see. Parallel the shoreline about 30 feet out from the bank and work the entire cove or bay out to any point or channel break. If you know of any ditches running through the flat area, fish it. Another good lure is a deep diver like DD-15 in black/red retrieved slow enough to bottom bump slightly in 3' to 7' of water during sundown. Good luck. Tom

That is a great video clip of a tarpon off the stern jumping. Never caught a tarpon. Big bass running over a 100' is rare; they are tight turning fish and there strength is in turning directions and short bursts of speed and .....jumping with a head shake. Stripe bass can smoke you with long runs, but it's hard to beat a smallmouth bass, musky or silver salmon for fresh water jumping skills. A big LMB may jump once, maybe twice shortly after being hooked. We all have memories of the one that got away because we tend to replay it over and over. If we are blessed we get to land of few of these very special giant bass. Tom

Landing big bass is all about keeping the fish under control. How you set the hook depends on several factors; the distance away from you when the strike occurred, type of and lbs test of the line, type and size of the hook(s), power and action of the rod, tension on the reel drags are the major things that you can plan for advance of the strike. 1. Use high quality extremely sharp hooks. 2. Use line that is compatible with the size of the hooks wire diameter. 3. Use a rod with enough power to set the hook and control the bass. 4. Use a reel with a good drag and set if for 1/3rd the line strength. 5. Learn to use your thumb to aide the drag when necessary to control the bass. 6. Keep the bass in front of you, don't let it run around or under the boat by moving with the bass. 7. Keep the rod loaded with tension, don't let the line get slack and keep the rod tip up at a 45 degree angle from the bass. If a big bass wants to jump, it will, you must learn to keep the line tight and enjoy the fight. 8. Try to keep calm, it has taken you a long time, maybe years, to hook this big bass, so slow down and enjoy the next minute or two it takes to land your bass. 9. Most big bass are lost at the boat due to mistakes by the angler. Keep you thumb off the reel spool and trust your properly set drag. Bass nearly always make a final run at the boat, be ready for it. Setting the hook by snapping the rod back hard rarely works, unless the bass is close (less than 30' away) or the line is vertical. Reel fast to load up the line and sweeping the rod back with force works far better when the bass is 30' or more away from the boat. Practice your hooks sets...very important! Remember; sometimes the bass wins. Good luck. Tom

Sight fisherman catch big bass during mid day because spawners are easier to see with the sun over head. Ounce the bass go to feeding and not bed protection, low light hours are far more productive for lure for big bass. The reason is obvious, low light gives the angler an advantage. Don't over think this and slow down your presentations during the mid day. Tom

Go fish West lake or Sherwood for a few weeks, then try your pond. Soft plastic flukes in baby bass color rigged weedless and jerk very slowly along the weed edges should work all summer at the pond or a jointed J13 perch floating Rapala. Tom

Your question isn't that complex to answer. Bass are far more active in low light periods then bright over head sunlight, the majority of the time. It's a lot easier to catch active bass then bass that are not active. So lets consider the mid day bass are less active and may not chase down your lure to strike it. Deeper water and shady cover are places the bass go to for sancturary and to rest. You need to locate these areas and fish slowly with lures that stay in front of or near the bass for a longer time. Soft plastics are ideal. The drop shot, split shot, Carolina rig and Texas rigged soft plastics are good presentations to use during the mid day. Tom

Releasing a gill hooked bleeding bass as soon as possible helps the survival rate, however does not insure it will survive. Stress kills bass faster than bleeding alone, however bleeding adds stress. Bass that are over stressed from being caught, placed in a livewell that may also increase the stress levels due to different water temps and low DO levels. Lot of factors to consider. Paul Elias used Sure-Life Catch & Release in his livewells and added Please Release Me directly onto bleeding gills when some of his 132.8 lb record catch had gill damage from crank baits. Please Release Me formula stops bleeding without harming the bass and is a good choice. Tom

The drag surge maybe a result of a poorly maintained drag. I have fished the Pacific side of Baja for tuna and marlin 40 years using mono line without any issues with the line related drag surge. The smaller diameter super braids are used mostly for extra line capacity and reduced line drag in the water with big high speed fish and that is big advantage with braid. Must anglers fishing off shore use braid as a backing with mono or FC top shot of 100'. Bass anglers rarely have a 100' of line out in the water and bass are not fast swimmers or hard fighters for long time periods. Braid has it's advantages and disadvantages; select the right line for the type of fishing you do; braid, FC and mono all work under the right conditions and keep your tackle tuned up. Tom

LMB spawn; male makes the bed, guards the bed when eggs have been laid and fertilized...doesn't eat until the fry hatches. Female visit bed sites, chooses 1 or more beds to lay eggs into, may or may not sweep out the bed and leaves after she is finished. Some females may return to several bed sites over a few week period. Both male and female protect bed sites from egg eaters by biting or chasing off critters. Post spawn; males eat some bass fry, then leave the bed site to feed on other bass fry or whatever is available. Females rest after spawning to recuperate a few days or up to a week, then seek food. Pre spawn; both males and females are eating to gain extra energy for the fasting period of the spawn. Tom

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-forums/topic/85221-help-with-jig-fishing/ Take a look at this thread and feel free to add any questions you may have. Jigs are not the easiest lure to learn to fish, regardless of what has been posted. Bass bite a jig by engulfing it and the lead head is heavy and has a un-natural feel to the bass, so they reject it very quickly. Plastic worms by compression feel natural and the bass holds onto to the worm far longer than a jig. The bottom line; you must concentrate on strikes or you will miss them. The old saying swings are free was coined for jig fishing. Tom Look at topic 85221, second page if the link doesn't work

Think of a jig as a small compact lure than represents crawdads or smaller baitfish like sunfish/bluegill. Jigs come in many styles depending on how and where you fish them. Casting a jig is often over looked, most angler cast T or C rigged worms, however jigs are faster and often far more effective when cast and retrieved horizontally. Football heads, dart heads and shaky heads all are good casting jigs. The plain painted 3/8 to 1/2 oz football jig with a 4" double or single tail Hula grub is a good choice to start with. Fish this like you would a t-rigged worm, except set the hook instantly if not sooner. Flipping or pitching jigs is what most bass anglers think of when they say "jigs". This is the classic pig & jig presentation. A painted Arkie style head with a skirt and trailer added. The Arkie head is designed to have a weed guard and heavy short shank wide gap hook and fished vertically or on the "fall" in cover. The vertical jig is good when bass are in heavy cover. The horizontal jig is good when bass are active and hunting the edges or breaks. Strikes are all about line watching for the lure to stop on the fall and you must set the hook instantly before the jig is rejected. The pace you move the jig varies with what the bass want; try slow short hops and stop, small hop and shake, drag a foot or so and stop and hop, etc. Instant hook sets is what set a jig fishing part from nearly every other lure. Good luck. Tom

Lets assume you are a noivice crankbait angler as your initial question stated and you want to improve your success catching bass. There are shallow running, mid depth and deep diving crank baits. You can fish a deep diver in shallow water by slowing down the retrive speed, but you can't make a shallow runner run deeper without adding weight. Pick the lure by the depth you want to fish. Lipless cranks are a good all around choice because they can run at different depths and the tight wiggle is less prone to hang up without the diving bill. You burn a lipless shallow or let it sink and retrieve slowly deep. Jointed floating divers are another good shallow water choice as they tend to snake through weeds/grass and float when stopped. The small bill on a jointed Rapala is a good choice and often over looked. Change of pace/speed/direction is the key to getting bass to strike a crankbait. Keeping the hooks clean of debris is important so the lure runs properly and doesn't spook the bass. My suggestion is; go to the deeper areas of the lake with steeper sloping banks or the dam and practice your cranking where there is less weed/grass to foul your lures hooks. Try different cadences; 1, 2 cranks stop, 1, 2, 3 cranks and rod sweep and repeat until you start getting results. Try different depth runner and styles. You will learn that bass change their preference during the day. Use a rod you can cast a long distance with ease and line that toothy fish won't bite off, if that is a factor. I prefer using a 7' glass med/hvy ranking rod with 12-17 lb mono, but that isn't essentail to learn with.

You mentioned you have several crankbaits, how about listing a few that you are having problems using. No crankbait can run effectively through heavy weeds/grass regardless what line you are using. Cranking the edges and occasionally running into a clump weeds/grass is OK. Where you cast and what type of crankbait is important to being successful. Tom

30 mph wind is a high wind an generally unsafe on big flatland or hill-land lakes, unless you are fishing wind protected areas. It's more than likely the bass are pre-spawn or early spawn in your nick of the woods, so main lake areas may not be a good choice anyway. Wind creates current and adds DO, but cools the water temps and that isn't good during this seasonal period, stable warm weather is good. Really doesn't matter what you are casting as long as you are confident using it. Carolina or Texas rigged soft plastics and jigs are a good choice. Deep diving crank baits, chatterbait, jerk baits, swimbaits and spinnerbaits all work OK in the wind. Light wind or breeze with slight wind chop is OK for top water lures like buzzers and prop baits. Tom

Welcome to bass fishing. Solid white will catch bass on any type of lure, the problem is it doesn't sell very good. Solid black also works very well and doesn't sell for general use, except for night fishing. Popular colors come and go every year, white and black are basics. White; solid white, bone white, pearl white, translucent white are just a few of the variables for white. Good luck with your bass fishing. Tom

The map is based on the law of averages for generalized air temperatures based on longitude/latitude. The map doesn't take into account for severe weather conditions or altitude variances. Tom

Back in the dark ages (about 40 years ago) temperature probes on a 50' weighted cable with 5' markers (Dark Industries) were commonly used to measure water tempatures at various depths. We did this for a few reasons; determine the thermocline depth and to locate springs; warmer winter water or cooler summer water. Place the cylinder probe in the basses throat to determine the water temperature where the bass was located when caught; how deep was the bass holding. Today we have very accurate sonar units that can determine the thermocline depth without a temperature probe and return fish signals close to the bottom or in cover; we can see the bass and bait fish. The bass haven't changed, they are still cold blooded animals that have a preferred temperature range. Today very accurate digital temperature probes are available with weighted cables and I use them and measure bass body temps on occasion to determine preferred locations. Tom

The key to calculating accurate weights is accurate measurement. The bass should be laid on a wet towel, flat surface with held mouth closed. The length measurement is from the tip of the closed mouth to the center of the tail. The girth measurement is around the widest area with the dorsal fin down. I use the formula length times length times girth divided by 1200, L X L X G / 1200 = weight in lbs, for LMB up to 15 lbs, with a 10% error factor. The IGFA formula is based on round bodied fish like tuna, not accurate for LMB. The average girth for a LMB is 75% to 80% of the length. LMB can be heavy bodied with girths at 90% to 100%. I have weighed lots of giant bass, none over 30". Consider the new world record LMB from Japan was 29" long X 28.5 girth and weighed 22 lbs 5 oz. Tom

One reason that I consider water temperatures a key factor is based on observations, over 5 decades, bass spawning behavior on the lakes I fished. For example Big Bear lake location very near the same longitude (119)and latitude (34) as several SoCal lakes, the spawn doesn't start normally by calender month until late May, the other bass lakes start mid March. Same amount of sunlight, same weather conditions with 1 very big factor; elevation of Big Bear lake is about 7,000 feet, the other lakes around 600 to 1,000 feet. The water at Big bear isn't deep, average around 20', with 70' near the dam. Because of the altitude the lake can freeze over between Nov to Jan and doesn't warm up to 60 degrees until May. High alitude lakes loose heat faster due to the thin air and colder nights. The lower elevation lakes are deeper and average over 100' in the main lake basins and small bays or coves are less than 20' on average. The lowest elevation lake is Casitas at 600', Castiac at 1,000' several others are in between. All the mentioned have about the same water clarity; clear with depth of light 20'+. Casitas warms fastest and normally the spawn starts by late Feb, Castiac by mid March. This year has been unusually cold, we could get snow this week down to 4,000' and the low elevation lakes have not warmed to the low 60 degrees. Same amount of sunlight and wind as any other year, except we have had cold rain or snow instead of warmer rain this year, keeping the water colder. When this situation occurs we will have a massive first wave of spawners, as soon as the water warms, instead of 3 smaller waves over 2 to 3 mouths. Tom

Catt; it maybe that in a power generation lake, where the power plant heats the water around the outflow areas, the bass move from cooler water zones to take advantage of the constant warmer water and spawn. One factor I have noticed over the years is the same LMB tend to return to spawn in the same areas year after year. I know certain bass will show up on the same staging point and move to the same bed site area for years, until they die. This may not be true for all bass, but is for some of the biggest bass in the lake. Tom

I am one of those who believe that water temperature is a key factor for LMB move from pre-spawn or staging to bed sites. If the water temperatures drop dramatically, like they are this year in several locations, the LMB pull off the beds sites. Where I fish the water temperatures are not as cold in the winter as most states, maybe 50 degree's during the winter months. The pre spawn start about 55 degrees and transitions cruising the spawning areas about 58 to 60 degrees, every year for the past 50 years I have been bass fishing. This year the water temps where 64 in February and the spawn started, then water temps dropped to 58 and the spawn stopped until now when the temps slowly moved back up to the mid 60's. The bass were gone off the beds for nearly 2 months. So I would say water temperatures are a key factor, but not the only factor. Tom

Generally speaking you don't need to mark a bed site becuase you are fishing near the bank on most lakes and should be able to line up good visual references to where the bed is located. male bass make the bed and wait for females to come near, so you usually see a smaller male bass protecting the bed site. If you see 2 bass near the bed site, then eggs have been laid or about to laid. The female stays around anywhere from a few hours to a few days, no set rule. Bass are not eating during the spawn, they are protecting the nest from egg eaters; all other fish, crawdads, salamanders and frogs. You can use nearly anything, so use a single hook lure. Bright colors help you see the lure, the bass don't care. Keep in mind not all bass bed at the same time and the spawn can last several weeks at different locations around the lake. Beds look like a small 2' to 3' clean spot on the bottom in anywhere from 1' to 20' deep, depending on the water clarity.

When you spend the amount of time I have on the water your skin takes a lot of abuse from the sun. I don't leave my home to go outdoors without sunblock and refresh sunblock when fishing every few hours and it gets on my hands. Sun lotions or sun blocks have chemicals that may turn off bass when transfered onto lures. Washing my hands after applying sunblock, or get gasoline or oil on my hands, I wash it off. Does any of this the affect the bass? I know it affects me to have oily or gas smelling hands.

Changing the subject from how to clean your hands to fish attractants or scents are 2 different topics. You shouldn't use any substance that leaves oily residue after rinsing in lake water to clean your hands. The reason is you may end up casting your rod and reel over board or loose control of your boats steering. There are lots of companies making good fish attractants; Berkley/Pure Fishing, Yum and a host others offers good choices; none are used to clean your hands. There are stainless steel bars offered for a hand cleaner and some use deluted tincture of green soap or Simple Green. I prefer rinsing my hands in lake water or use a small dab of tooth paste and rinse in lake water if needed to remove oil, grease or fuel odors. Tom