WRB-2.0

Different opinions on when pre-spawn starts; I use 55 degree water temperature to define the start of pre-spawn. Water temps 45 to 50 degrees is winter cold water period for western highland reserviors. Pre-spawn is, without a doubt, the best time period to catch big bass when they are eating to fatten up for the spawn period. Spend a lot of time searching for consentrations of prey on deep breaks locating near entrances to spawing areas. March is magic if the water temps are 55 to 60 degrees, especially in light rain. Tom

http://www.wd40.com/about-us/myths-legends-fun-facts/ "What a fish story".

But I wonder, do older bass get wiser with age (and maybe more experience) or just more selective with lowered average aggressiveness. I can understand sensitization to specific lures, even those that resemble its common forage, but then that would disprove lure details as important even if those lures exactly looked and acted close to the real thing. Lure category according to realism advocates I think is important. I can get away with using jigs and soft plastics year after year than some hard baits that may match size, shape and action. As you say, time and place is always important. The soft baits or bottom bumping lures tend to appeal more to the bass that are less active. The fact adult size bass are less active most of the time, you are targeting bass for a longer time period, with slower moving lures. Bass often strike a soft plastic or bottom bumping lure while it's falling down through the water coloumn. Was that strike from an active bass? If you cast back into the same spot and catch another one, those bass are more than likely active or feeding on something that acts/looks like your lure. The question now is; do you change to a reaction strike lure or stay with what got you bit? I always follow up with what got me bit first, then try a reaction type lure before moving on, the opposite of using a search lure first. Realism in color is tough to answer. I rarely use lures that don't have some natural look and contrasting coloration to make it stand out. I guess it's the right profile, sort of the right coloration with highlights, thinking the bass can find it easier. Example; jig color: black/purple /brown, good color combination for me over the years and never have seen a live crawdad with all 3 colors. The crawdads where I fish are basically brown/red/tan, a marginal color combination in jigs for me. In soft plastic worms substituting the black with green; green/purple/brown with red flakes is a good color combination and size (length) isn't as critical; 4" to 12" all work at times. Jigs I get bit often on the fall, plastics worms rarely on the fall, both moving along the bottom. It maybe more of selective harvest; bass that are aggressive often are more than likely to be caught often and simply don't survive to become older adults. Some bass are never caught on artifical lures and certainly weren't hatched with the knowledge to aviod lures. I believe some bass are extremely wary or aware of what is harmfull to them and difficult to catch. I know finding big stupid bass is getting more and more difficult to find.

Trying to categorize what prey and how bass feed on is difficult when basing assumptions on stomach content only. For example this article suggested bass eat aggressively during dawn and dusk and made the assumption the bass eat during this time period even when they had stomachs. The factors that are important to bass anglers should be; what size are the bass under the study? and during what seasonal and time period. LMB feeding during low light periods maybe more aggressive due to the competion from other bass. Juvenal and young adult bass are extremely aggressive during pack feeding periods and don't have the experience of larger adult bass. Most anglers catch these inexperienced bass because of their aggressiveness and lack of experience. Your lure selection can be broader and presentations less skilled and catch young adult size bass, espescially when they are actively feeding. Every bass must eat to survive and develope hunting skills based on success or they don't survive to grow larger. If you are trying to catch larger adult size (4 lbs+) bass, you need to know what they prefer to eat during each seasonal period or time period. Matching the hatch is important to adult size bass. The lure size; length, width, shape (profile) and coloration should be selected to get the bass to strike at the time of day or night during the seasonal period you are fishing. If you know the bass are eating shad, crawdads, worms, frogs, or whatever, it's to your advantage to use similar lures in the locations and depth the bass are feeding.

Stripers are normally school feeders or group feeders for those who don't believe predators like LMB or stripers school up to feed. If the stripers are large adults they have prey preferences and target that specific prey type. If your MS Slammer is the right color/profile and the stripers are active and competing to catch prey fish, you should be able to have some action on the artifical. Uncle Josh still makes the 9" black widow pork rind and works OK for stripers (better LMB) on a 3/4 oz hair jig, if large worms or eels are in the area you are fishing. Good luck. Tom

Plain white Colgate tooth paste works great, cleans off nearly anything, rinses easy, is water soluble and safe for the environment. I have been using tooth paste for decades to clean my hands while fishing. Tom

I have always had a problem with the big bait = big bass equation. The reason is my personal experience does not support that theory. Big bass eat whatever is abundantly available and have size preferences and it's not always the biggest prey available. When I fished with live bait over 40 years ago big bass preferred crawdads with a body length of 3" excluding the claw arms, you rarely got bit using a 4" or larger crawdad. For whatever reasons big bass in SoCals trophy bass lakes prefer 3" crawdads and a high percentage of California's giant bass were caught using this size crawdad. I keep my jigs to a 3" length, excluding the trailer length, and have 5 bass over 17 lbs using 3" jigs. About 2 years ago lake Casitas was subjected to the new DFG regulations that stopped planting hatchary raised rainbow trout that were 6" to 8" long. The following years the 6" to 8" swimbait bite dissappeared at Casitas. The bass are now targeting 3" to 5" shad, redear sunfish and crappie, if you are casting big trout swimbaits your success rate is very low today, far better if you change to smaller 3" to 5" shad, bluegill or crappie swimbait. Lakes that plant hatchery size trout, the trout swimbait bite works good. It should not surprise bass anglers that low light conditions give a predator like bass an advantage over it's prey or that bass are active during these time periods. I have also caught a lot of mid day bass with a prey fish half down it's throat. Bass eat any time they are active; morning, noon or night. Should you match the hatch? yes! you should match the size of the prey bass are eating. Unlike trout that have excellent close up vision to see details of very small prey, bass are sight feeders with a wide range of vision and know what they are looking for. Tom

The best line is the one you have confidence in. Tom

10 books every bass angler should have in their collection. legacy books; Dr Henshall "Book of the Black Bass" Robert Linclon " Black Bass" Jason Lucas "Lucas on Bass" E.L. "Buck" Perry " Spoon Plugging-Your Giude to Lunker Catches" Contemperay books; Tom Mann "Think Like a Fish" Denny Brauer "Jig Fishing Secrets" KVD " Bass Strategies" Trophy bass books; Bill Murphy "In Pursuit of Giant Bass" Monte Burke "Sowbelly" Bill Siemantel " Big Bass Zone" The early In-Fisherman magazines with study reports on bass fishing, when the Linder's were involved, are classics issues and well worth reading.

Bass like most fish can make color changes within their natural color range. Water chemistry and depth of sun light both affect coloration; hard water (high ph-alkaline) is usaully clearer water with little weeds cover and coloration is vivid, soft water (low ph-acidic) is usually off color water with lots of weeds and coloration is muted to camoflage themselves. Bass from deeper clear water and tend to be lighter in color and bass living under shady weed mates tend to be darker colors. You can tell the bass are making a transition from deeper water to shallow water when you see color variations in the same area on a specific lake. Tom

Matts U2 Gill is only about 4" and weight less than an 1 oz; your 17 lb mono should be OK. Are you fishing 6" Huddleston Delux or 8"; you are OK with 6" and 17 lb, the 8" use 25 lb mono and a heavy swimbait rod. I don't see any reason to use a big swimbait for northern LMB, they will eat a 6" or 7" faster than a 8"+ swimbait and easier to fish. There is all kinds of bottom structure that can cut any type of line easily; sharp rocks, fences with wire, mussels or even a set line can feel like several ticks as the line skips over the objects. A big fish usually creates a swirl in the water when you set the hook, unless fishing deep. Lots of cridders eat blue gills. It sounds like you need a good lure retriever! Also go over the spot you broke off on and check what is down there. If you can't meter any rocks or other snags, then it was a something trying to eat your lure. Bumps are very common with bass striking a swimbait; reel fast and sweep set just like you did. Bass slamming a swimbait doesn't happen very often and you will know it when it does!

2 factors to consider; thermal conductivity verses thermal resistivity. The density of the rock affects both; porous lava rock heats and cools quickly, dense granite heats and cools slowly. However submerged rocks are insulated by the water and absorb heat from the water. If the rocks are above the water, then air and sunlight will heat or cool them much faster than water. The attraction for bass with rocks is the rocks are great hiding places for prey like crawdads.

Rocks do not warm up any faster than other lake bottom elements. Water depth is a far more important; shallow water warms faster regardless of the bottom materials. Fishing from shore reduces the lures you can fish effectively because you are fishing up hill. I would stay with soft plastics like worms, creatures or soft jerk baits and fan cast the area. Also try a buzzer to see if any very active bass are feeding. Tom

Depth of water the bass are in controls their body temperature, they are cold blooded animals. The colder the water the longer it takes eggs to hatch. General rule for LMB; 62 degrees = 10 days, 68 degrees about 5 days, if the weather is stable. Bass don't live on the water surface, they are usually at least 2' or deeper.

Success builds confidence. The definition of optimism is having hopefulness and confidence about the future of successful outcomes. What I believe you are saying is you are optimistic and have a positive outlook and not easily discouraged when fishing. Tom

The weight of eggs in bass has been extremely exaggerated over the years. Eggs are high % of liquid small % of tissue mass, slightly heavier than water. 16 oz or 1 cup of water weighs 1 pound. 10 lb bass may hold 1/2 cup of eggs or 1/2 lb of eggs. The 10% of body weight estimate would be on the heavy side for eggs, a good guideline for total added body weight gain just before spawning. Tom

The deeper the bass spawn the less the cold fronts affect them, however it takes longer for the eggs to hatch. Some years the recruitment of young bass is very low due to severe weather, other years are far better. The male bass doesn't abandon it's nest solely because of cold weather if fertilized eggs are in the nest.

Northern strain LMB are not wired to eat large bait fish like FLMB are. You need to down size to a 6" rainbow trout Huddleston for example. Google Huddleston Delux and look at the Butch Brown video's for rigging and presentations. You may get lucky and catch a big bass during this upcoming pre spawn; if you spend several days on the water, sun up to sun down and work deep break line. Tom PS; check your regs before trying live trout for bait, it's illegal in most states.

Robert Munoz owner of Roberts Fish Mounts is no longer in California and his business status is unknown at this time. Roberts father passed away and he returned to Arkansas to take care of his family last summer. Robert does phenomenal work and was restoring my 19.3 from slight earthquake damage when his father died and It was nearly a year before I could get the mount back without being restored. If you have a mount at Trophy Fish Mounts PM me and I will get the contact information to you. Tom

Ask the owner where he caught his big bass and what he used. Does the pond have running water into and out? If it does, concentrate on those areas and any deep water. I would try a buzzer at night and 10" T-rigged Power worm. Keep about 10' back from the bank, pond bass often cruise the shoreline looking for prey and are very wary of movement.

The male determines where the bed site is located, the female chooses the beds it drops it's eggs. Shallow warm water beds are subject to more egg eating predators than deeper beds. Warmer shallower beds hatch eggs faster, deeper cooler water beds have much slower hatch times. Lakes that have swings in water level during the spawning season, the deeper beds tend have higher success rates. Out west bed sites vary from 1 to 25 feet with about 3 cycles lasting 2 months on average.

Hair jigs are good year around IF you tie them on and fish with them. The type rod should be match to the weight of the jig and your preference between spinning and bait casting. 1/8 and less a spinning rod/reel is a good choice, 3/16 or heavier you can easily cast with a bait caster. Any rod you fish a Texas rigged worm will work for jigs under 1/2 oz depending on the cover you are fishing. Hair jigs are not any different than living rubber or silicone skirted jigs; match the line to conditions you are fishing. Deep rocky structured lakes with sparse cover you can use lighter line; 6-8 lb for 1/8 or less and 10-14 for 3/16 to 1/2. Do not use oily or greasy attractants with hair jigs; they will prevent the hair from breathing or moving properly. Use trailers with impregnated scent or pork. Most hair jigs are home made, commercial hair jigs are usually tied tight to the hook shank with little flare. Good luck. Tom

Fish at night. If you like to cast a lot use a buzzer. If the buzzer bite doesn't work, try a T-rigged or C-rigged Berkley Power worm. Day time; use a finesse C-rig (C-Keeper/mojo weight, 6-8 lb mono) and 3" reaper or 5" Roboworm with size 1 Rebarb hook. Senko nose weighted, wacky rigged. If that doesn't work try a soft jerk bait. The bass have been conditioned to most of the common lures and tend to stop eating when the sun is on the water. Good luck.

When you say grass are you asking about fishing the weed line or fishing open pockets? Docks; fishing the edges or under them? It takes different lures and presentations to fish in cover or under it then fishing the edges. If the bass are specifically targeting bluegill, green sunfish or crappie then the profile of the lure is important along with erratic swimming motion. Edges; parallel swimming shallow running lipless or square bill crank baits and spinner baits are good choices. Soft plastic bluegill swim baits works great if toothy fish like pike and pickerel don't destroy them. In or under cover; soft plastics like bluegill color beavers/creatures, grubs fished on jigs or pegged T-rigged work well. Tom

Location, location, location; fish for bass where bass are located. The type of lure and color depends on where you fish and what the bass are eating. Find the bass, then determine what to use. Tom