WRB-2.0

SI dates back to the 70's and is common on tuna and marlin tournament and long range fishing "salt water" boats. Humminbird came out with affordable SI sonar units for bass boats and Lowrance is offering HDS scanning Elite units at affordable pricing. Agree side and down scanning units are a developing innovation during the last 5 years that will change bass fishing. The fact you need to use scanning sonar with traditional sonar currently makes it costly for the average angler. WRB

SI dates back to the 70's and is common on tuna and marlin tournament and long range fishing "salt water" boats. Humminbird came out with affordable SI sonar units for bass boats and Lowrance is offering HDS scanning Elite units at affordable pricing. Agree side and down scanning units are a developing innovation during the last 5 years that will change bass fishing. The fact you need to use scanning sonar with traditional sonar currently makes it costly for the average angler. WRB

SI dates back to the 70's and is common on tuna and marlin tournament and long range fishing "salt water" boats. Humminbird came out with affordable SI sonar units for bass boats and Lowrance is offering HDS scanning Elite units at affordable pricing. Agree side and down scanning units are a developing innovation during the last 5 years that will change bass fishing. The fact you need to use scanning sonar with traditional sonar currently makes it costly for the average angler. WRB

I caught a 7 lb male largemouth from San Vincente lake in San Diego area, CA, back in 1971. Larry Bothroff, SD biologist, was at the lake and examined the fish, took a scale to study. Larry told me at the time the bass was the largest male* he had examined at that time period. The bass was about 24" long, big head and thin body. I will look at some old photos and believe there is one of this bass. WRB * the fish was leaking milt.

Genetics = female Florida strain largemouth black bass Environment= very low fishing pressure with excellent water quality, deep water sanctuary, good cover areas for recruitment or survival the first year. Food = abundance of easy to eat high protein bait fish and crayfish. The primary factor is Florida strain, without that factor the growth potential is limited to 16 lbs or less, with everything else being equal. WRB

Bass roll over for 2 reasons; stress when they are about to die and over inflated air bladders. Fizzing or needling the air bladder is needed if you plan to keep the bass in your livewell for a few hours. If you plan on releasing a bass with over inflated air bladder; slip a 8 oz torpedo sinker into the basses mouth/throat and lower the bass back down into deep water, then retrieve the weight, the bass will swim away. I use a swimbait rod and clip on the torpedo sinker, works very good. Over inflated air bladders occur when a bass is brought to the surface that has been living in water deeper than 35 feet. This condition usually occurs in deep clear lakes without a thermocline. Bass that roll over from stress need first aid, not fizzed. Check your livewell temperature is within 5-10 degrees of the water temperature the bass came out of, dissolved oxygen levels are good and the bass isn't bleeding. WRB

Procreation, the rut or the spawn is a major factor in both hunting and fishing. Hunters seem to understand the importance of protecting females, some anglers don't. To know the location and feeding habits of a predator, you must study the prey/food source. Shade lines are a key factor with deer and bass movement. Good topic. WRB

Myths; all bass caught and released live. When you catch a bass the odds of it serviving the event are about 1 out of 10 die as a direct result. Bass; largemouth black bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass make up the vast majority of "bass" caught by recreational anglers. The above bass are good eating, depending on the quality of the the water and prey they are eating. If a small lake, 10 acres or so, has a balanced ecosystems, prey to predator ratio, they lake should stay within a margin of balance depending of several factors; water level, good recruitment/nursery areas to support spawning and survival, adequate prey for the predators. The wild card is man; what we do impacts everything and tends to upset the balance of nature. Selective harvest is the right thing to do and that means harvesting prey and predators to maintain balance within high & low cycles, good years and bad years. WRB

+1 This logic may at first seem illogical, Roger is right on target. Consider this; would you like to fish a unmanaged lake with a good bass population that has never been fished before? WRB

The Center for Biological Diversity, the American Bird Conservancy, the Association of Avian Veteranarians, Project Gutpile and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility The lead ban started back in 1992 and has been successful banning lead shot and bullets in some states. Our continued vigilance is needed, these people are far from stopping their efforts to ban lead. WRB

Lead is banned in California in shotgun pellets and rifle/hand gun bullets in several regional areas. Restriction of hazardous substances known as RoHS is a factor we will be living with and lead is near the top of the list. Lead used in steel and brass is disappearing and the cost of lead is going up. The deep cycle battery industry relies on the lead to make our batteries. The environmental impact of mining and foundry operations to make lead alternatives like tungsten products is another issue to consider; tungsten melt temperature is over 6,000 degrees F. Lead is a common element and found nearly everywhere on the planet, however harmful when it gets into our blood stream. This fight is far from over, it was good to see common sense prevail this time; big thanks to everyone who responded. WRB

If you are using a sharp hook on the jig a reel set; keeping rod down, cranking the reel fast, loading up the hook point and rod, then sweep setting the rod, you will rarely miss a deep water jig fish or a drop shot fish. You can also use a weedless drop shot hook like Gamakatsu offers or skin hook the worm on a Owner down shot off-set hook. California allows 2 hooks or lures on 1 line for fresh water fishing, otherwise you could stack more than 2. WRB

The shaky head jig is simply a jig & worm on a round head jig and is a good combination for stacking. The trick is the knot used on the drop shot hook and learning to reel set. The Palomar knot tends to weaken the tag end of the line and doesn't work good for the double rig. The SD jam or nail knots both work good. Sometimes it's better to use a dart head for a swimming the worm and fish the drop shot separately. The stacking rig is a good search tool and makes it faster to determine what is the preferred color. WRB

Stacking was a presentation out west as back as the early 80's; using a bell sinker with swivel and 2 ganion octopus or sealy hooks with worms, exactly the same as today's drop shot rig. Using a jig for the weight was another adaption, except with one dropper worm. Nothing new and lots of tournament were won using this "secret rig". WRB

You may want to look at a video of "walking the dog" and practice the retrieve anywhere along a break line. WRB

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/plastic_worm_fishing.html Bill Hutcheson article worth reading. WRB

If you are fishing a deep structured reservoir used for power generation, common in your area, the primary forage fish should be threadfin shad or crayfish (crawdads). Use lures that mimic shad and crawdads. Air temperature doesn't affect bass quickly, water temperature changes will. Fall affects the bass due in part to lowering water temperature and shorter day light time. Cooling water temperatures signal all the aquatic life in the reservoir winter is coming. It's time to relocate to deeper water due to vegetation dieing off. Bass follow their food source; find the shad schools or fish clay banks with rocks where the crawdads locate. Points are good places to bass fish because the shad will pass by and usually have soil with rocks that crawdads prefer. Fall draw downs are common and the bass prey simply move with the water column. Good luck. WRB

Contact Byron Velvick at Amistad lake resort, Del Rio, TX. Byron can set your group up at his resort at a fare price and Amistad is excellent fishing during march. California's Clear lake also has good weather and fishing during march but the prices are higher. WRB

Murphy's book "In Pursuit of Giant Bass" is one of the best books on bass behavior in deep structured lakes written. Bill passed away from skin cancer before the Internet bass forums developed. It would be interesting if Murph would have posted on these forums. The one thing to keep in mind is we have beliefs based on our own experiences, observations and over time and some of our conclusions can change. Another factor to remember is bass are fish and evolved to live underwater, we can't relate how we see and feel above water to life below water. I was blessed to know and fish with Bill Murphy back in the early 70's. Bill was very secretive back then and didn't share information easily, that is why his book is so important for bass anglers to read. Tom

Murphy's book "In Pursuit of Giant Bass" is one of the best books on bass behavior in deep structured lakes written. Bill passed away from skin cancer before the Internet bass forums developed. It would be interesting if Murph would have posted on these forums. The one thing to keep in mind is we have beliefs based on our own experiences, observations and over time and some of our conclusions can change. Another factor to remember is bass are fish and evolved to live underwater, we can't relate how we see and feel above water to life below water. I was blessed to know and fish with Bill Murphy back in the early 70's. Bill was very secretive back then and didn't share information easily, that is why his book is so important for bass anglers to read. Tom

Murphy's book "In Pursuit of Giant Bass" is one of the best books on bass behavior in deep structured lakes written. Bill passed away from skin cancer before the Internet bass forums developed. It would be interesting if Murph would have posted on these forums. The one thing to keep in mind is we have beliefs based on our own experiences, observations and over time and some of our conclusions can change. Another factor to remember is bass are fish and evolved to live underwater, we can't relate how we see and feel above water to life below water. I was blessed to know and fish with Bill Murphy back in the early 70's. Bill was very secretive back then and didn't share information easily, that is why his book is so important for bass anglers to read. Tom

http://www.tennis-elbow-treatments.com/ Once tendons are inflamed, they don't heal on their own. When you get older arthritis sets in and the pain gets a lot worse. Treat it now while you can. WRB

This site has a good spell check on the right side if the page, when posting a reply. The vast majority of bass anglers tend to fish within a casting distance from the bank and use the Texas rigged high production injection molded worms. Sometimes that works, most of the time it doesn't. What makes bass fishing a great sport is the bass are willing to bite a wide variety of lures. You need to determine what lures and presentation the bass prefer at the time and place. Learn to fish soft plastic worms using a few techniques like drop shot, Carolina rig, shaky head jig along with the Texas rig. You will never know what color the bass prefer until you try a few different colors, same for the length and style. Adult size bass are more experienced then smaller Juvenal bass that are very aggressive. You need to slow down and fish where the larger bass are located. WRB

Ethical or not your fishing location WP are public domain. Martens and Velvick had a debate on who's WP spot belonged to whom during the Falcon tournament a few years back. The spot belongs to who is there first, unless it's a written rule for the tournament, and I don't know of any such rule, other than good sportsmanship and that is long gone today. It must be nice to fish lakes large enough that other boats can't find you and WP that location. At the end of the day it's not the spot, it's how you fish it that counts. Back seater that WP your spots is just another factor to deal with. If you don't want them to do it, say so before the tournament starts and get an agreement with the TD. WRB

The C&R mind set for bass fisherman is promoted by tournament bass anglers and has become almost a religion. The general public doesn't share the C & R belief that all bass must be released, they believe legal size and quantity of fish species should be kept and eaten. If a lake has an imbalance of bass sizes, the biologist will recommend a slot limit. If the lake is large enough and the bass population is healthy (no LMBV or other malady), slot limits may not be required. The 1lb to 2lb size bass are a good eating size and keeping a few bass that are not going to survive being caught will not harm the fishery. The selective harvest logic is better for the bass population than the 100% C & R logic. The idea that all bass survive C & R is false, some will die as a result of being caught. The C & R anglers are killing bass, they don't see it. WRB PS; 30 years ago I was an avid C & R bass angler and still promote releasing trophy size bass.