WRB-2.0

Google Huddleston Deluxe and watch Butch Brown catch a few giants, his 19.3 was a hot fish and jumped, fastest net in the west. WRB

Northern strain largemouth bass over 10 lbs are about as rare as Florida strian over 15 lbs and smallmouth or spotted bass over 7 lbs. I haven't caught either smallmouth or spotted bass over 7 and have been blessed to catch several NLMB and FLMB that meet the 10 or 15 lb goal. My PB NLMB is 12 1/4 lbs caught on a hair jig from Lake Casitas in 1971, major point in 17 feet of water. Good fish, fought hard and jumped once. Ironically I caught a 18 lb 11 oz FLMB from the exact same point, on a similar jig in 1981. The giant FLMB was unusual for a big bass, jumped twice and was a hot fighter. My PB FLMB was 19.3 lbs from lake Castiac, March 3, 1993. This bass fought about the same as most 10 lb FLMB and stayed down, pulled hard. Tom

The number of years you have been fishing east Texas your on the water experience is valuable. The few times I have had the opportunity the fish your area, I'm always surprised how fast weather can change. Out west we have advanced warning most of the time and rarely get caught out on the water in severe wind. Sun downers afternoon or santana winds are predictable. Tom

there is a big difference between wind gusts and sustained wind. A 21' bass boat with 250 hp is no match sustained wing over 25 mph in open water on a big lake. wind at 20 mph with gust up 50 mph is fishable on some waters, dangerous but possible to fish. Lake Mead isn't the Great lakes, but this desert lake can be mean with sustained wind over 25 mph; 6 to 8 waves are common. If the Coast Guard is responsible for navigable waterways and you violate wind warnings like small craft flags, you are at your own risk and no insurance will cover your accident. Use common sense. We fish in waves over 2' as common place and it's difficult to maintain boat control or stand up front on the trolling. 3' to 4' waves are common with sustain 25 mph wind on most lakes and not fishable, you can't stand up in any bass boat under those conditions. WRB

Clear cold rocky lake + wind + jerkbait = Lots of smallies (North of the Mason Dixon any way) This thread started out with a ? about how to fish in 30 mph wind. Anyone who has ever been on the water in high winds like 30 mph knows it's nearly impossible to maintain boat control with white caps crashing over the bow, let alone cast lures and fish. A light to moderate breeze up to 20 mph is about as strong of wind you can control a bass and fish. 25 mph wind or higher is considered dangerous. A light breeze is a fisherman's friend and high wind isn't. WRB

+1 If you have the option to get off the high wind main lake zones and move to large bays and long creek arms, wind isn't too much of a problem other than the ride back to the launch ramp. Bowl shaped lakes with few bays and no creek arms can be very dangerous in high winds and difficult to fish. All you can do is fish areas with less wind and waves problems. Better yet, go home. Cold fronts with high sky and high wind are tough conditions for everyone and common during the spring transition period. WRB PS; big swimbaits are extremely difficult to cast and fish slow enough in high winds. Light wind up to 15 mph is good for swimbaits as the wave action helps to break up the light rays and the swimbait appear more realistic.

Have checked Navionics for a premium paper map Hotmap of the lakes you fish? Some are navigation maps, not detailed enough and some are 1' & 2' elevation maps. The maps cost about $15 and you can mail order them by lake name. WRB

Try; Warren Parsons, LIDAR laser generated topographic maps. http://www.csc.noaa.gov/products/sccoast/html/tutid.htm Your local government geological department should have topographic maps for the lake you are interested in. WRB

My 2c on novice night bass fishing; learn to cast well during the day light before attempting to go night fishing. It's true your sense of feel is better at night, but your depth perception is horrible. Tying knots, untangling line and bugs can make for a long night. Once the casting and knot tying skills are good, night bass fishing , during a warm summer night, can be a lot of fun. WRB

I didn't read all the threads that Glenn posted and I'm sure they are informative. Most public waterways that are subject to high winds will have a flag warning system. 1 red triangle flag, small craft warning = 21-38 mph sustained wind. 2 red triangle flags, Gale warning = 39-54 mph sustained wind. Tournaments can't launch in small craft warning conditions and no fishing boats should be out in Gale waring conditions. 30 mph wind is small craft warning conditions and you should head back to the marina and get off the water. We have the Colorado river system lakes and a lot of reservoirs in high wind areas, so wind is not uncommon out west. Today for example we are having sustained wind from 30 to 50 mph and most lakes will be closed. Lets assume you are fishing in 15-20 mph wind; Main lake areas like major points are good spots in the wind, unless it's spawning season. Deep diving crankbaits. Carolina rigged soft plastics, heavier sliding weight than normal. Jigs; 3/4 to 1 oz. Fish the upwind side of the points and any mud lines created by wave action. WRB

Crappie are a basic adult bass food source, so you will find bass around crappie. Crappies prime prey are small minnows, like bass fry. Crappie will spawn about a mouth before bass in brushy areas similar to bass spawning areas. Bluegill will spawn after the bass, again in very similar areas. Bluegill are egg eaters, so the bass will attack any bluegill near it's nesting area. Bass target crappie during pre spawn when the crappie are spawning. Crappie feed on the bass fry and bluegill eat both crappie and bass eggs. They are all interacting as part of the food chain. WRB

I know everyone wants to be helpful, however too much detailed information can over load a new angler. The Texas rig plastic worm and jigs maybe too difficult to learn as a new bass angler. Keep it simple. I have taught dozens of young anglers to bass fish using the slip shot rig; basically a split shot rig with a sliding sinker. It's important to use small finesse worms; 5" to 6" curl tails and size 1 worm hooks with 1/8 ot 3/16 oz mojo type sinkers. Start with the weight about 14" above the hook, use a small round BB shot to stop the mojo weight or a pegged glass bead. Bass will hook themselves with this rig if the angler doesn't do anything and start pulling against the line to let the angler know they have a fish. If she wants to be more active casting, then use a Rapala Husky jerk lure, almost impossible to fish wrong and easy to cast. Stick with the two techniques until she builds up confidence and develops her own style, it's all part of learning. Let her decide which presentation she likes and you both will enjoy your days on the water. WRB

Take her lakes that have a good bass bite going, size isn't important. Use lures and presentations that she can see the bass strike, like a late afternoon top water or high % strike to hook up ratio rig like drop shot and split shot techniques. Another option is trolling a crankbait to get to know what a strike feels like. Your goal is to keep her interested in fishing, if she already is, then let her learn at her own pace. WRB

The Guadalupe bass is a separate bass species only found in Texas and is becoming endangered due to integrating with non native smallmouth. Smallmouth will integrate with Spotted bass, the natural range doesn't normally overlap. WRB

The formula I use is; L X L X G /1200 = weight in lbs. Any formula is only as good as the measurements. The length for this formula is the bass laying on a flat surface, mouth closed and measured from the tip of the closed mouth to the end of the tail center, down the lateral line. The girth is measured around the bass at the widest area with the dorsal fin down. I often use a length of my line to measure a big bass, if I don't have a scale; one piece for the length and another for the girth and tie an over hand knot in the girth piece. Your bass weighs 8.88 lbs +/- 5% based on the measurements you posted. A good digital scale is more accurate. The Jennings UltraSport 30 is very accurate within 0.2% and can be certified. Most "fish" digital scales are only accurate within 2% and dependant on battery strength. WRB

Native bass is an interesting concept; just what is a native bass? The world record Spotted Bass is 10.27 lbs caught by Brian Shishodo from Lake Pine Flat ,CA. The bass was caught during a ABA tournament in April, 2001. In California we have zero native bass; the NLMB was introduced about 1890, the FLMB in 1959, the Spotted Bass in 1939, the Smallmouth about 1910. To the best of my knowledge the native range for NLMB was Minnesota and the Mississippi and Ohio river drainage. Smallmouth bass the Canadian shield Great lakes region. Everywhere else the NLMB is a non native species. A similar rumored record Spotted Bass showed up last year and turned out to be an 8 lb spot. Wait and see. WRB

Think of lions laying under a shade tree and all the prey animals ignoring them as long as the lions are lazy or sleeping. When a lion gets up and looks around, the prey animals start to distance themselves for survival. A big bass could be close, just not in an active mood and the prey fish can sense the change in activity or they don't survive. WRB

If the smaller prey fish, both the small bass and bluegill are prey fish to adult size bass, are swimming around in a relaxed manner, the local big bass are more than likely resting or inactive. When the prey fish disappear suddenly, then you know a big predator is active nearby. WRB

Bass tend to bed in the same areas year after year. The best places to look are wind protected bays that have some wood and rock or some other form of protection on one or more sides. The picture of a dish shaped light colored depression next to some reeds is typical of bass beds. Bass don't bed tightly grouped together, those would be bluegill and beds are about the size of a dinner plate. Bass beds are usually at least 8' apart and 2X the size of a dinner plate or larger. The easiest way to see a bed is when the bass moves, then look closely with the sun at your back, wide brim hat to shade your eyes and a good pair of polarized sunglasses. WRB

Fish the reaction lure during low light periods and look for beds, your bass should be spawning or very close this full moon period. Make long casts parallel to the bank and work a T-rigged worm or creature about 3' to 5' or slowly work a Senko and look bedding bass, during mid day. WRB

Blue Stone kills the algae and the direct result is very DO levels as the algae decomposes, using DO in the process. Ponds usually have aeration systems to help replenish DO and wind/wave action also can help. The bass can move to areas with better DO levels, except the bedding bass, eggs and fry. Basically the Bluestone knocks the snoot out of the fishing for a few days until the ecosystems can adjust to the shock and replenish the DO levels and plankton, small aquatic insects, etc. Water quality people don't seem to care much about the fish, unless there is a big die off as a result. Tom

Another misunderstood bass behavior is rhythm; the pace they live their daily life. Bass, like other predators, have several levels of activity; inactive, neutral, active and very active. When a predator is resting or sleeping, they are inactive and it doesn't matter what you cast near them, they simply ignore it. When bass are inactive the bait fish will ignore the bass and swim very close. However when the bass shows signs of becoming active, the prey recognizes the change and leave or school tightly for protection. Very active bass are hunting for prey and will react to lures that resemble what they are looking for. To put this in context; bass are active or very active for short time periods during the day or night and are neutral or inactive for much longer time periods. You can be fishing the right place at the wrong time and the odds are that will happen more often. The bass don't leave a good location and go to another area, they just stop feeding and become inactive for several hours. If the bass are not biting, then come back and try it again in an hour or so. If it's a good spot that holds prey, has good cover and structure, it's worth giving the area several tries or camp out on it until the bass become more active. WRB

2 problems associated with algae blooms; drinking water reservoirs can be treated with blue stone (copper sulfate) that is harmful to the spawn and you may have golden algae which is also harmful to the spawn. Common green algae is normal and doesn't bother the bass, unless it completely covers the surface and consumes too much DO. Your lake is windy, so that isn't an issue. WRB

California's DFG regulations prevent transporting live bass away from the lake to be weighed and very few lakes have certified scales. Bob Crupi's 22.01 lb bass wasn't recognized and Dixon's Dottie was not officially weighed and examined, it's a difficult process. Ca's record LMB is 21.75 lbs, Mike Arujo, Lake Castaic. To catch a state record in California it will need to be the next world record and I have been seriously chasing that fish for over 45 years. WRB

why isn't that 19.3 in the top 25 biggest bass caught :-? Fair question; just sent off a reminder to Ken Duke @ B.A.S.S. They never recognized my 18.6 (18 Lb 11 oz) back in '81 and didn't add my 19.3. Butch Brown's 19.3, caught from Castaic Lagoon last year (on video) is also missing. Butch may not have to sent his catch to BASS, I didn't send my info until last year, when several people questioned my catch on sites like this. It's frustrating, just need to wait and see how Ken (BASS) responds. WRB