WRB-2.0

WOW! seriously he was shot at? try Google Gary Klein 2003 Classic takes shot across the bow. Wes Miller ESPN cameraman. The Jay Yelas incident was tapped and on TV a few times because he caught one of his largest tourny bass nearly in the boats wake.

Remember where the sun is relative to you and the bass. Back lighting and shadows are always a problems in bright sun. The automatic outdoor setting works good and if back lighting or shadows are a problem, try forcing the flash. WRB PS; your avatar picture looks good, nice bass!

Use common sense when dealing with anyone who is upset with your fishing or just upset for whatever reason. Boats have numbers; write the information down, take photo's and talk to the local authority. I remember several confrontations on the water and it's best to let the law deal with the problem. Remember the BASS 2002 and 2003 Classics; Jay Yelas was nearly ran over by a pontoon boat running the bank during the 2002 event and Gary Klein was shot at by some idiot land owner during the 2003 Classic. WRB

If you are walking the bank and bass fishing, then a cell phone maybe the only electronics needed. Fishing from a boat opens up the entire water column to view; what is under the water that you can't see with your eyes (sonar), where you are (GPS) and what the surface water temperature is. If none of those factors are of any interest, then you don't need any electronics to fish. However if you want to locate bass away from the bank or return to locations where you caught bass, then both sonar and GPS are extremely important. WRB

You are just starting to learn to bass fish and my guess is you want to catch a few keeper size bass. Trying everyone's suggestions will over load you with too much information that is all good and well intended. I suggested the split shot rig for a few reasons; this is what I use when teaching new anglers to bass fish because it works everywhere and you would be surprised how much money has been won with this rig. The drop shot rig good, if you know where the bass are located, it isn't a good search bait. I would start where your girlfriend caught her bass, then look for similar areas. This isn't rocket science, but you can make it as easy or as hard as you want. My suggestion is save up and buy a decent sonar unit and a front mounted trolling motor. This will help you locate fish, bottom structure and control your boat effectively. If you already read everything, go back and reread some of it. I have been bass fishing for decades and still learn something each trip out on the water and this is why bass fishing is so much fun. Enjoy your time on the water and good luck. WRB PS; if you get a sonar unit, buy Don Iovino's book finesse fishing and the sonar connection".

Try reel setting in lieu of the typical rod set, you can't move enough line if the lure is more than 30' out away from the boat. Your reel moves over 2' of line with each crank, so crank fast, lowering the rod tip until you feel the weight load up, then sweep set with the rod. I fish in gin clear water 25' to 40' nearly everyday and miss very few fish. With the C-rig you don't feel the bass until it pulls the slack out of the line and moves the weight. I prefer to use a Pro-Jo style brass cylinder weight (black) held up the line with a pegged glass bead, no swivel. With this setup you feel the bass when it picks up the worm; a rubber band type of pressure or a tick. Good luck. WRB

You learned the bass eat night crawlers. One of the best "night crawlers" colors for bass is oxblood with light red flake, 6" curl tail Roboworm. Keep it simple and try the split shot rig. Spinning tackle, 6 to 8 lb mono and a #1 Gamakatsu light wire worm hook. Texas rig the hook; skin hook the side of the worm instead of running the point thru the thicker body. The round (3/32oz) split shot weight should be about 14" above the hook. Keep the weight on the bottom and drag it along slowly, just like your girlfriend did with the live night crawler. WRB

Bass are neutral buoyant and their shape helps to prevent tail dragging when swimming normally. The spawning ritual is a different activity than any other during the yearly cycle; nest building and egg laying activities can cause the tail to contact the bottom and damage the slim coat. The slim coat is the basses outer defense system to protect it from diseases. It's a hazardous life for bass and they get damage as a result of living. Tail damage is factor in the basses life cycle, some have severe damage and other no damage. Trying to sex a bass based on tail damage alone is a coin toss; the odds favor the female having tail damage because they lay eggs several times during each spawning cycle. WRB

A 5 lb LMB is a good size bass anywhere, it's a big bass for NY. I know bass anglers who have never caught a bass as large as 5 lbs. WRB

Have you been practicing afternoons to after dark? As mentioned before; fish your strengths! If you are not confident with a presentation during a tournament, leave it in the rod locker. The bass should be active as the sun sets this time of year. The shad move into cover as the sun goes down and bass are feeding on shad where you fish. If you like top water, try a Splash-It (Pop-R), Lunker Punker or Spook and a faster buzzer around the weed breaks. I like to crank, but you don't, so leave that alone. Soft plastics win more night tournaments then all other lures combined. Hard to beat a T-rigged worm or craw critter after dark. I like to up size plastics at night, larger profile and easier for the bass to find it. Good luck. WRB

You can't tell the sex of LMB by looking at them without dissection or extracting eggs or milt. The male bass selects and builds the nest and rarely damages it tail as a result. The fact the male stays around the nest for weeks and the females for only hours to lay eggs indicates tail damage isn't caused by nest building. Tail damage is a result of slim coat being removed when the female is laying eggs. The female rolls on it's side and makes hard contractions to release the eggs. The tail can get bacteria infection or parasite damage that can last a life time. WRB

Trying to learn new presentation during a tournament is difficult. You can fish the T-rigged worm deep and slow down by shaking it for several seconds when it's on the bottom before moving it. A simple modification to the T-rig is adding a 8mm faceted glass bead, the same color as the worm, between the weight and worm hook. You can also use a Carolina Keeper to change the T-rig to a C-rig without having another outfit. You simply slide the keeper up the line to hold the weight and bead about 14" away from the worm. Relax and enjoy you day on the water. Stay focused on your fishing and good luck with your first tournament. WRB PS; I see I'm a day late on this, hope you enjoyed the tournament.

It's important to identify lake classifications and bass species together when discussing details about bass behavior. We all tend to think of the type of lake we fish and the bass we catch when replying to a question. I think of low land reservoirs, natural lakes and rivers with largemouth bass for example when someone is from a region with predominately that type of water and bass. Where I fish the lakes are highland deep structured with 4 types of bass; northern largemouth, Florida largemouth, northern spotted bass and smallmouth, with FLMB being predominate. Each of the different bas species behave differently in the same lake. Bass in clear water lakes in the Colorado river system, lake Mead for example are subjected to extremely hot surface water and tend to locate near the thermocline in 30 to 40 depths. The northern strain largemouth bass in mead will strike a surface lure, during mid day, in 120 degree air temperatures, or a 4" finesse worm drop shot at 40'! The first thing most bass anglers want to know is "depth", the 2nd is what "color". WRB

The one thing you learn with experience is not everything is absolute. We tend to believe what we know and as time passes we realize how little we actually know. Apply this to bass fishing and keep an open mind. Structure is something that can be measured with sonar, physical features under water. Breaks come in a lot of different forms; temperature changes, water color changes, current, shadows, water surface, physical structure features, edges, cover or weed lines, etc, etc. When you are trying to determine if bass might use a particular structure or break, remember bass are predators looking for an advantage to catch prey. It's a lot easier if the prey is approaching the bass. WRB

Bass prefer 70 to 75 degree water, holds DO far better than 80 to 85 water. If you have ever swam in a lake, you know the surface water down to about 5 feet is warmer than the deeper water. Surface water temps measured before the sun gets on it is a better indicator of the first 3 feet of water. The bass move into warm shallow water to feed on critters hiding there, then try to find cooler water during the hot summer period. 85 degrees is about the warmest the water can be and hold enough dissolved oxygen to sustain bass. It's like holding your breath for bass to be in low DO level zones, they can't stay there very long. Green weeds give off DO during the day time and provide shade to cool the water, reasons bass like them. WRB

Bill Murphy, In Pursuit of Giant Bass Bill Siemantel, Big Bass Zone Monte Burke, Sowbelly These should keep you busy for awhile WRB

What is your defination of finesse fishing? Finesse fishing to me is precission presentation of smaller lures on light tackle. If you are fishing a 6" Senko on 12 to 15 lbs line, is that finesse fishing or simply bass fishing? Matching the lure to the profile of the prey the bass are looking for is standard practice. Down sizing the lure to entice a strike from an inactive bass by getting the lure within a small strike zone is finesse fishing. Low light period bass should be active bass and react to a wide verity of lure presentations, finding the best lure is called fishing. Sometimes it's a frog, a soft plastic creature or worm, a crank bait, spinnerbait, top water splasher or whatever. I prefer to cover water at night in lieu of saturating a small area with finesse presentations. During the day, when the bass appear to be inative, I will finesse fish. Try the Owner circle hook (#5114) wacky hook/ o-ring rig for the Senko rig, no gut hooking. WRB

You live in Texas where several generations of very good bass anglers live and bass fish. Learning to structure fish is a good plan, the bank fish get a lot fishing pressure. It sounds to me that you have located good classic structure areas that should hold bass. The next thing is to learn where the smaller isolated structure elements are located within the same area. Surveying or "metering" with your sonar unit is a good way to learn how to use your unit, but don't rely on the feed back totally. The sonar zone the transducer is sending targets back is small compared to the structure area you are looking at and bass tend to move away from boat noise. You need to mark interesting targets with the GPS and a marker buoy, and fish the spot with a bottom contact lure to learn what is down there. Also keep in mind the most obvious looking structure is obvious to all the other good Texas anglers. Continue doing what have done; survey small high percentage areas and fish them. Learn to find the life zone; the depth the baitfish are using, the depth the thermocline is at and you will also find the depth the bass are holding. You don't want to fish too deep or under the bass, when structure fishing. How do you fish 100+ degrees? early in the morning, the evening and at night. Good luck. WRB

Thread fin shad move into cover as the sun goes down and move out when the sun raises. Cover is anything that the shad can hide in; underwater brushes like flooded willows, small trees that hang over the water edge, Christmas trees planted by fisherman any weed beds, moored boats and boat docks. Follow the shad and the bass will be close. The small lake will or may have an aeration system near the dam, any structure or cover nearby will hold big bass. Big bass tend to target the most available prey and don't waste a lot of energy chasing prey; they locate at the prime locations where the prey comes to them. You may want to invest in an aerated live bait bucket and long handle shad net. Fish with live shad during the post spawn to summer transition (now) to learn where the big bass are located. Underspins with a baby fluke in shad colors, little Georges, structure spoons and drop shot soft plastics are good lures as an alternate to live shad. I'm not promoting live bait, however if the bass are targeting thread fin shad, "candy" for bass, then lures will take a lot of skill and patients to catch big bass with. The only way bass can grow big is to get a good start on growth when they are small. Too many small bass will stunt the growth of all the bass in a small lake or pond. Harvest some of the 12 to 14 inch bass, it will help in the long run. WRB

If you have a problem with weeds fouling the jig/line tie , try Paycheck Baits punch skirts, rubber bobber stopper, 3/4 to 1 oz tungsten bullet weight rig; Google paycheck baits. This is a popular CA delta technique for heavy weed mats. WRB

Floating docks have gangways that are attached to the ground and connect to the floating platform. The platform is usually anchored by posts that are driven into the ground. The gangway and posts are like structure elements, the floating platform is like cover for prey and predators like bass. For example; dragon fly darner nymphs hatch using the floating dock frame and sides of the floats. Bass love to eat darner nymphs and baitfish like bluegill and crappie like the cover during the day and shad like the cover at night. Docks near or over deeper water are excellent places to bass fish. Marina's have large floating docks for example and are good places to fish, especially at night. WRB

+1; or 5" Matt's bluegill. How big in acres is this pond? WRB

To locate the springs; look for early morning dawn fog patches on the water surface; indicates surface water temperature change before the sun hits the water. Spring water is usually 60 degrees year round, when it comes out of the ground; cooling or warming the water around it depending on the time of year. It's also unusual for a small lake or large 50 acre pond with a healthy bass population to sustain a thread fin shad population. Thread fin are pelagic fish the need open water with phytoplankton to eat during the day light period. Lets think about other bait fish, frogs, crawdads, plus the shad as the food chain. You are already catching adult size bass, 3-5 lbs, that can target everything in the food chain. You caught a 10 lb bass, stay with whatever you used for that bass. Fish at night or under ideal low light conditions. I would also try a 6" Lunker Punker in baby bass colors. WRB

See reply #12 above. WRB

Fishing outside structure is far more complicated than working along a shoreline; more water to explore. If you don't have a basic understanding why bass locate at specific areas near the bank, then you will be lost trying to find them in deeper water, even with the best sonar/GPS on the market. This is a very deep subject, do some reading and we can start to answer more specific questions regarding "open water". WRB