WRB-2.0

The old saying that fish don't have hands applies. You can't set the hook too fast with a jig when fishing for largemouth bass. Smallmouth and spots you need to let them peck at the jig, if the jig trailer has claws. T-rigged worms depends on the size of the worm verse the size of the bass; large worm/small bass you might give it a pause. Keep in mind; swings are free, if you snooze you loose. WRB

Not that familiar with IL, but shad may not survive that far north. Bass should have spawned around May/June in your area, so the fry could be finger lings about now. All types of fish can feed near the surface, so until you start catching a few, it's hard to know what is going on. Could be a bug hatch. Buzz bait is easy to use and should get the attention of bass that maybe in the area feeding near the surface. WRB

Braid is yarn, low memory, no curl when it breaks. Super Braids have Teflon coating and a Palomar knot can slip if you don't double loop it; use the knots recommended by the line mfr. The larger the hook wire is, the easier the knot can slip and after awhile it can loosen. Pike and musky can misjudge the lure and sometimes the line get across the mouth and all those teeth. WRB

Superstitions may not be fact based or based on reason, however.... Catching a dink the first cast should tell you something; move. Being around water and fishing most of my life, catching a bass the first cast is good, having bananas on the boat...well that is another story among anglers. The only group of competitors more superstitious then anglers are racers; call it luck or karma, you want to be on the good side. WRB

That's exactly the point - that way the grass is up away from the lure and you can still attract a strike. You can also drop shot with the hook set at the depth of the grass tops. For me the Texas rig is better suited not to be dragged, it seems to work better when it is swimming to the bottom, then hopped and stopped. In grass (weeds) the Florida rig (T-rig with a pegged sinker) works good. Just give the bass chance to decide how they want their worms and you may catch more. Good advice not to get any lure covered with grass or moss, kills the action. WRB

You can drag a Carolina rig. WRB

Don Iovino book; finesse bass fishing and the sonar connection, is a hands on book that will help you understand your sonar unit, plus finesse bass fishing techniques. A kayak isn't all that stable on the water and the transducer will be moving with wave action, that also distorts the signals. Disable both the fish ID and demo settings. WRB

To quote Catt "location + timing + presentation = bass. The thermocline can affect 1 part of the equation "location". Bass need food and water with sufficient DO and survivable temperatures. The old saying; find the food and the bass will be close by, is good to remember. Using your sonar unit, look for baitfish or bass and note what depth level you see them. If you can meter the thermocline, then you will know the maximum depth the bass should be and what the life zone is; the depth where the baitfish are located. Bass prefer to hold near the thermocline, when a thermocline has developed. However suspended bass near the thermocline are not always the active feeding bass you want to catch. Active bass will be close by the prey they are feeding on. WRB

The gill racker can be damaged if the scale hook is directly in contact with the red parts. If you slightly damage the racker, the bass may bleed out without Catch & Release added directly to the wounded gill. Poking a small hole in the thin membrane jaw tissue next to the hard lip cartilage and tongue doesn't harm the bass. Putting the bass in a knotted nylon style net to thrash around can harm to the slime coat. I use a sharp stainless steel stringer clip, poke the sharp point through the thin membrane jaw tissue and slide the scale hook through the clip swivel. You need to let your TD know why the bass has a small hole, if tournament fishing so they don't think you are cheating. WRB

Get yourself a kayak or tube and go out to where the fish are active. Why stay shore bound? Your trout swimbait would be better if it's a baby bass color. Also try a Lunker Punker. A slip bobber rig and large live night crawler should get bit, you can add enough weight to cast it a long distance. WRB

You mean you can't run the big motor or fish at a BP gas station? Most tourneys out west are weekend club level events. Texas (most other states) has the advantage of fewer lawyers. We are not allowed to smoke within 50 yards of a gas pump!!

Define most lakes? In California and apparently Florida; Mike Iaconnelli was DQ'd at Toho (Tohopekaliga) in 2004, for example. Marina's are often off limits due to conflicts with the boating public and tournament bass fisherman. WRB

Most lakes don't allow tournament anglers to fish in marinas. If you are allowed to fish the marina area, go for it, you know the bass are there. WRB

It's hard to say you will never see a sanctioned head to head competition between the two orgs, but it's safe to say not anytime soon. Who knows, B.A.S.S. is up for sale and FLW has sponsor issues, it may fold back into one org. I believe B.A.S.S. created FLW by refusing to listen to their pros and scheduling conflicts with open events and locations. FLW listened and offered a venue that lets new upcoming stars a chance to make enough money regionally and fish big money events and several B.A.S.S. pros moved over to FLW. Western anglers that want to fish B.A.S.S. must move east due to scheduling locations, they don't need to relocate to fish FLW events and still make money. When you look at the opens, the top finishers are split between FLW and B.A.S.S. when the Elite series anglers get a rare chance to fish the same open events. WRB

Apparently Aaron thermal shocked his live well water by adding too much ice and his fish rolled over. Aaron is a phenomenal fisherman that does some bonehead things at times. WRB

Coloration can vary greatly; smallmouth bass don't have dark lateral line coloration regardless of the region. Also the dorsal fin is connected on smallmouth and separated on largemouths. Spotted bass can look like largemouth, have dark lateral line, connected dorsal fins and mouth to the center of the eye. The bass pictured could easily be a spotted bass without knowing where it was caught.

Mike Hart is a well known and was respected for his bass tournament successes in SoCal; fished approximately 100 team events, was in the money over 75% of the time and won over $190K and a few boats. Mikes team partners include Siemantel (Fishing Hall of Fame), "Zank" Vizanko and Chandler, all respected anglers. This is why the cheating by Mike during the US Open was such a shock to everyone who fishes SoCal tournaments. It's not fair to sweep Mikes partners under the bus because he made a bad decision, they should not be guilty by association. Hart is guilty of cheating and the bass fishing community will never forgive him or allow him to bass fish any tournaments, his career is over. WRB

You might try contacting Mike Giusti (DVL) and ask if he has Larry Bottroff's published papers on LMB mortality rates due to exposure warm water and low DO. Bass can not breath air directly, it must be dissolved in water. The Bottroff studies indirectly impacted California tournament regulations; limited the tournaments to 6 hours during summer period. Bottroff proved a high (up to 75%) post mortality rate can occur for bass held in livewell water the exceeded 75 degrees. WRB *Larry Bottroff is retired San Diego biologist. Mike Giusti manages the fishery at Diamond Valley lake.

Volunteer working a summer weigh in at a local bass tournament if you want first hand experience with tournament caught bass chauffeured around the lake all day in a live well. Bass unable to maintain upright equilibrium become floaters in the holding tank and a very high percentage of those floaters die. A surprising number a tournament anglers have little interest in learning how to handle the bass properly. Studies like those referenced go a long way to encourage poor handling, poor live well maintenance, not fizzing bass caught from deeper water and keeping over stressed large bass out of the water for photographs. Damaged slim coat from boat carpets and nets is a lot different than a bass injuring itself underwater. Not all bass with damaged slim coat will suffer diseases as a result, some do. The slim coat doesn't stick to wet surfaces like it will to dry surfaces. Use common sense and don't lay the bass on a dry surface or leave it out of the water for several minutes. WRB

Unless you have a good trolling motor to assist your oars, stay within a mile of where you launched so you will have some fishing time on the water. Looks fairly weedy in the shallower areas and I would focus on deeper breaks and any wood or rocks to can get to. The highway rip rap and points nearby look good at first glance. WRB PS; you might also consider taking an anchor and rope with you to allow you to position your rowboat in any wind.

You might want to try a slip bobber rig; Eagle Claw rubber bobber stoppers and a slip bobber that will float whatever weight jig or drop shot worm rig you use. Set the stopper at a depth (10 feet for example), cast a few feet beyond the ledge and let it drift parallel along the break line. Keep changing depths until you get a bite. Live night crawler in a 1/4 oz drop shot rig should get you started. Use a jig for the drop shot weight. WRB

It's more important at night to use common sense withn your own safety, then to worry about how to catch bass. Take some time and make a check list of the equipment needed at night and where you plan to fish. You can't see very well in the dark, so you will need a flash light and navigation lights if boating. You should have a cell phone and someone that knows where you are fishing. Bugs are a problem at night, so be prepared for them. You can fish the same way and same places at night as you do during daytime. Bass are usually active at dusk and react to faster moving lures like buzzers and crankbaits. As it gets darker the slower moving soft plastics work and are easier to keep out of snags unseen at night. Keep your deck area uncluttered, put away rods not being used. It's best to have 1 outfit out at a time, so you don't trip over it or step on it or knock it overboard. Bass can see at night, we can't. Practice knot tying in the dark using a hat or pen light; retying in the dark is a learned skilled that you will need. Good luck. WRB

Take a look at http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/handling-bass.html by Bob Lusk Gilliland and Schramm have polluted the pond with negative statements in regards to H2O2 hydrogen peroxide. 3% H2O2 mixed to 1/2 cup to 15 gallons or 3/4 cup to 20 gallons of water actually helps the bass, however Gilliland claims it's harmful based on studies made. It turns out the Gilliland study used 25% commerical grade H2O2 and that's is harmful;100% H2O2 is rocket fuel. Gilliland and Schramm also promoted the use of salt water and it works if deluded properly, however can be corrosive to livewell hardware. Lane and Tony Gergerly are good friends of Doug Hannon, who also supports the use of 3% H2O2, keeping the water near 70 degrees during the summer period and Sure-Life products. Lots of science available, both good and bad. WRB

Contact Amazon for Murphy's book. Stitching as Murphy did it requires you to position yourself where bass are know to be located or tend to use as feeding areas. High percentage small zones that can be saturated by slowly crawling a split shot rig worm through every inch of structure/cover. To do this properly, you need to be anchored or stationary and few anglers have the patients. The bottom line is; how long are you willing to sit in one spot to catch a big bass? Murphy moved around the lake and fished known high percentage spots and spent a lot of time finding those small areas, with different presentations. I stitch worms occasionally during the early to mid summer period and right now for example is a good time. I will try other presentations before I'm willing to sit still long enough to stitch a worm; it works for me when I'm willing to anchor. WRB PS; stitching a plastic worm was adapted from nose hooking a crawdad and stitching the live dad slowly back after casting it.

I haven't witnessed any real difference in length of pure northern LMB verses pure Florida largemouth bass and they are two different species of LMB. The pure FLMB has fine scales and more lateral line scales. The major difference in growth potential is in the girth verses length, both can reach about 29 inch length (mouth closed to center of V of the tail). The debate over F1 intergrades; off spring of to pure 2 sub species like female FLMB and male NLMB creates hybrid vigor and potentially giant bass, may have merit? In California FLMB and F1 intergrades haven't survived in lakes that freeze over. The bass in Virgina are more than likely northern strain LMB or a distant intergrade. Whatever they maybe, they are big bass. Learning to fish outside deeper water is the key to summer bass. Then Tommy Biffle shows up and wins a tourny on the bank....that is why bass fishing is so much fun! Those green fish can't read and do whatever they want. WRB