WRB-2.0

Started bass fishing in the late 40's and still going. If you want to relive the bass fishing prior to tournaments read; Black Bass Fishing; Theory and Practice by Robert Page Lincoln and Lucas on Bass by Jason Lucas. Lincoln and Lucas were the fishing editors of Sports Afield and Outdoor Life, their books are a snap shot of the late 40's to early 60's, a time before modern bass fishing boats and equipment. The thought that IF we only knew then what we know now or had the tackle then that we have now...we would have ________. I wouldn't change a anything; enjoy what you have and cherish your memories. Time waits for no man is as true today as it was back then. Tom

The original B.A.S.S. rules stated 200 feet as I recall. Common sense and good sportsmanship should be your guide. If you think someone is too close, politely say something or cast in that direction. Today too many anglers think they own the water and could care less if you are on a spot they want to fish. Most bass anglers will heed the warning, the ones that don't usually are running and gunning and they leave soon anyway. Life is too short to argue about fishing.

Government owned water ways can be restricted from entry to protect the public from injury or from contaminating the drinking water. You need to convince the city government that installing public restrooms, picnic and family use areas will generate revenue. If you can't make that argument, then the only other avenue you may have is to propose a fund raiser or charity event like a fishing contest that will get public support to allow fishing. Good luck!

What you added is temporary cover. If you want structure add something that is permanent until you remove it like; building blocks, rock piles, weighted plastic milk boxes, weighted tires, etc. The wood will float away unless held down securely. The structure should be located on or very near a sharp break or adjacent to a spawning flat. Tom

I used to think that crawdads hibernated in the winter cold water period, they don't. However they do burrow onto clay banks and slow way down during winter. When water warms to about 50+ degrees, craws come out of the burrows, migrate to warmer water and tend to molt in large numbers during that time of year. Bass feed on crawdads during the staging/pre-spawn; high protein and available in large numbers in a confined area. Tom

Spring craw sometimes refer to molts; crawdads that are shedding their shell. These are also known soft shells, whatever you call them bass love them. The new shells have less color until they harden and most are light green or blue brown. There are dozens of varieties of crawdads in every region and color very widely. Tom

Living on the west coast wind from the west is onshore and usually not strong, usually a approaching low pressure front. Wind blowing off shore is typically a Santana; very strong wind out the east or northeast is usually a high pressure front. The old saying wind from the west fishing is best and wind from the east fishing was least is right on target. You can fish in a light west wind a lot easier and should stay home for safety reasons if the wind is strong out of the east. Tom PS; bet those midwest circular winds can be interesting.

Catt is the name Rock as in Steven Rockweiler familiar or part of your tournament fishing days? He got a nice write up for the upcoming classic and seems he would have been fun to be around. Tom

There are lots of scientific studies regarding fish ability to see colors and they contradict each other. The facts that are known is fish that can see colors have 4 color cones; red, blue green and ultraviolet. The human eye has 3; red, blue and green. The wild card is ultraviolet and goes a long way to explain why bass for example prefer some colors and avoid others and have very low light vision. As bass anglers we want to avoid using colors that bass dislike for whatever reason. We tend to use what works for us and stop using what doesn't. Tom

It depends on the strength of the wind and size/shape of the waterway. A light chop or small waves help to break up the suns light rays creating lighter and darker bands within the water column and bass can use this to help camouflage them. Wind also creates a current and this helps to activate prey and bass take advantage of the water movement. High sustained winds can move water on large waterways like a tidal current, dropping or raising the water level. Wind can be both good and bad depending on it's velocity, temperature and where you fish. I hate fighting high wind and like fishing in light wind. Tom

A classic example of color importance was the Eppinger lure company changing paint suppliers several years ago. The red paint they used was discontinued due to the EPA . The new red that looked the same as the old used their spoons; red with white stripe and yellow with red diamonds was the best sellers. After changing paint suppliers the sales dropped off the next few years and anglers were complaining for the first time ever that something was wrong with the new spoons. Eppinger had a spectrum analysis under infra red and the new red was very different. They matched the old red and sales picked up. The fish could see the difference, the human eye could not. Some bass anglers hunt for certain lot numbers of plastic worms knowing a specific lot out fished other lots they use. Sometimes it's a slight shift like slightly amber smoke color verses a grey smoke that can make a big difference. Every bass angler who fishes with soft plastics has or will experienced a time when one bag of the same worms out fishes others, everything else being equal. Someday we may know how bass see colors and solve that mistery. Tom

Different type of natural lakes, rivers and man made reservoirs located in different regions dictate how you can present a lure effectively. If you fish primarily on the same type of water, you can make adjustments seasonally and fish a few presentations. For example show up on a deep clear canyon reservoir with your favorite flipping or pitching tackle, regardless of your skill, you will catch very few bass. You soon learn what works and adjust to the local successful presentations and tackle required. Same is true for a deep structure finesse angler, they need to learn how to flip or pitch or fish frogs in the heavy grass cover of the Delta or other low land waterways. Versatility is learned as needed to consistently catch bass wherever and how you fish. During most days on the water where I fish it's common to use; swim baits, crank baits, spinner baits, buzzers, top water, jigs, worms, structure spoons, finesse and power presentations to determine what is working that day. It's rare for me to flip or pitch unless I travel north to the delta, then long rods are needed. I prefer to cast jigs and worms and fish deep structure, sometimes the bass want something else so you adjust or have a long day. Tom

Let me toss out this tidbit; bass are color blind as we know it. Now before you start telling me I'm crazy and bass eyes are constructed to see colors (cones & rods), considered this; bass live under water with poor light and see very well. We don't know how fish see colors, we know they react to different colors. My belief is predator fish like bass see in a very different spectrum then animals that live above the water; ultra violet, infra red or whatever it maybe it's different then our eye sight. The one thing about colors that I believe is important is contrast. Almost everything that lives underwater has contrasting coloring; light undersides with darker top sides or light bellies and dark backs. Contrast helps creatures to blend into the background. Nearly every lure I use has contrasting colors to help the bass find it easily. Each lake has a slightly different color of preference the bass seem to prefer. I tend to stay with known colors that work for that lake and change size, depth, speed or cadence before changing to another color for a specific type of lure. Years ago I would trap crawdads and baitfish out of the lake being fished and use similar colors as the prey looked when in the water. After years it became obvious that size was just as important as color and lures with more contrast worked better than the more natural colors. At one point I would dye crawdads brighter colors with food coloring; purple crawdads worked better than the natural earth color. The light came on; the bass could find the unnatural color crawdad easier. Purple coloring in jigs combined with the natural colors became one my favorites and has worked very well the past 30 years. I haven't seen a natural purple crawdad where I fish, there could be a reason. Tom

Big difference between lures that move fast and slow; bright flashy colors with contrast work well moving fast, slow moving lures need to look like what the bass are feeding on and only the bass know for sure. Size/profile, movement , depth and speed are just as important as color....maybe more. Tom

Chris you are a lot like Bill Murphy, except Murph knew how to read a sonar. If you know how big bass relate to structure and bait fish it is easy to separate other big predators with large air bladders from giant bass. How you approach a spot is the difference between a good day and being blanked. Knowing where the big bass is located is golden. Good luck, it's pre spawn and time to find a few and play with them. Tom PS; Butch Brown is on top of his game now and wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't post a 20+ this year.

Never trust those icons! (turn them off) The guy who started this thread didn't know how to read his flasher, other than bottom depth and is not unusual. Most bass anglers don't know how to set up there sonar/GPS units or interpret what the see on the screen and that is whole new topic. Tom

I consider sonar units as a critical tool when fishing for trophy bass on deep structured California reservoirs. Even though I have photos of these lakes during construction and know the bottom contours very well, I can't know if big bass are in the area without fishing for them or seeing them by sight or using sonar. Camping out on a spot you know big bass are using doesn't require a sonar unit, if you can locate the spot. I meter more then 50% of the giant bass I catch. You may not catch the big bass on that outing, but you know a big fish is in nearby. I often meter the area I'm fishing when I leave to see if any big bass are suspended nearby and waiting for me to leave. Tom

Did you dumb arcoss that avatar smallie?

FC line is very difficult to get any knot over 80% line strength. However you are using 20-25 lb test line and shouldn't be breaking it on hook set unless you are setting on a short line with a hard slack line whip set. Check you line by running it between your fingers and looking /feeling for abrasions and retie whenever you feel or see a nick. The reel set and rod sweep will help to prevent hook set line failures. NLMB or FLMB bass don't have sharp edge teeth that can cut line, the teeth are round and pointed for gripping,not tearing. Bass teeth can abrade the line during a head shaking fight if the line get across the lips, not on the hook set. Tom

I fished with a flasher type fish finder in the front of my boat for 40 years because it gives you real time feed back what is under the transducer cone and you can see fish movements and your lure, if it is within the signal zone. The brightness of the colored lines indicate to strength of the signal and you can tell the bottom materials and size or depth of suspended fish. The disadvantage is there isn't a recorded history displayed on the screen, it's all real time information that you are missing. Tom PS; think of the sonar/flasher display as a narrow beam flash light illuminating a small area in the dark. The light beam is a few inches in diameter at the flashlight and get wider the further it is away from you. Sonar works the same; small diameter at the transducer and gets about 3' larger in diameter for ever 5' away or depth; 20 foot depth; your signal diameter is about 12' diameter. Everything displayed on the sonar screen has already happened, like looking at your side view mirror what you see is behind you. Sonar display is like a flasher; the real time signals are on the right edge of the display. The display doesn't show you a fish moving up to your lure, the fish has already done that.

Carl Lowrance made his 1st fish finder back in 1959 and changed bass fishing forever. I can remember my first trip to Lake of The Woods in Ontario Canada back in 1973. I shipped my tackle to my father in law so he could take it up from Minnesota, we were flying in from California. My father in law called when he opened the box and found my X15 paper graph and told me fish finders are illegal in Canada. Times change and most anglers accept the fact that fish finders, sonars units, are only an aid to locate under water objects like the bottom contour or structure, cover and fish. Catching bass and reading sonar takes a practiced set of skills, the combination is an advantage when fishing deep structured lakes. Tom

The question regarding uncatchable bass; consider how many big bass you see during the spawn verses how many big bass are caught between July to November during day light hours. Every lake, river or pond has a population of the biggest bass for that ecosystem that die of old age, that may never been caught. The least catchable bass are venerable during the spawn because they reproducing in shallow water and not feeding. Ounce the spawn is over a percentage of these big bass disappear and not seen again until the following spawn. The question is did these bass learn at an early age how to survive or is it a genetic trait? I believe it's a combination of being genetically wary and learning to avoid negative prey responses like lures and live baits with a hook. Keep in mind that bass in public waters get pounded with fishing pressure. The most aggressive bass get caught several times during it's life until it's killed by being over stressed or eaten. Very few bass that are reckless feeders live long enough to grow big. Tom

Read Tom Manns book "Think Like a Fish", you should enjoy it. Tom Mann would run his big engine through weed/grass beds to chop and mix the water, then go back and fish it, that should qualify as disturbed water. Just goes to prove that we don't know as much as we think we know. We are now way off topic, have a good day. Tom

On the contrary most bass anglers believe they can tease bass into striking, you are in the majority. Put the lure in the basses face long enough or often enough and it will react is the conventional thinking. Why bass can sit in one spot for hours in a trance, with bait around them, then suddenly turn on and start feeding is an interesting question for bass anglers to solve. All predators tend behave in a similar manner...they now when it's time to rest and eat.

That's if they are eating. What about the fish you catch that aren't eating? Outside of the spawning period, catching inactive bass that are not feeding is difficult. The cat & mouse theory that you can tease a bass into striking is questionable IMO. We think that 1 bass is in the area and by making several casts into 1 spot we teased that bass into striking. It's far more likely that several bass are in the area and the more active bass moved in and bit the lure. In the clear water where I fish, it's common to see inactive bass move off a spot or another more active bass may move in and strike the lure. Spawners are definitely territorial. Tom