WRB-2.0

19.3 lb FLMB, Lake Castaic 1993, 10 lb P-Line, Jig. Largest fresh water fish; 37 lb musky, Lake of the Woods, Ont Canada, fishing for smallmouth, 6 lb Trilene XT, jig. WRB

That is why I kept my LA Rams beer mug, perfect for relief. WRB

With the introduction of FLMB in 1959 and catching my first giant in 1969 at Lower Otay that was 14 lbs 5 oz, a lake record for 1 week, my goal was to catch the next world record bass. Every pre spawn I'm still very focused on that goal. Has time changed how I see the world? yes. Age tends to bring with it life experiences that make us face the reality we are mortal and live each day more fully. I was 45 over 20 years ago when giant bass fishing was at it's peak in SoCal and by then my intensity had already changed. Today it's hard to get up at O' dark 30 to hook up the rig and get going, however once on the water my energy returns, excitement builds with expectations and the gift of having another day on the water unfolds and a chance at that elusive 20+. Chris; good luck in your pursuit of giant bass and new found awareness. WRB PS; did you ever get the photos I sent you?

So .61 lbs would drop it 96 places???? :-? There is always confusion between weight in pounds and ounces verses weight in pounds and decimals; 18.11 pounds = 18 lbs, 1 3/4 ounce and 18.61 pounds = 18 lbs, 9 3/4 ounces . So a difference of; 1/2 lb, 8 ounces or .5 lbs depending on how you look at it. This bass is the 2nd largest bass ever weighed in an organized bass tournament, to the best of my knowledge. 96 places down from who's list? there are so may listings and none are complete or accurate. This bass was officially weighed and photographed. Congratulations Kyle. WRB

Get yourself a pair of anchors and learn to double anchor. The wind is often a problem and makes boat control difficult in a small aluminum boat. A plastic milk create makes a great container to hold the rope and anchors. Bill Murphy's book "In Pursuit of Giant Bass" has a few chapters on anchoring and making anchors, well worth reading. Until you get the book and read it, you can use 1 gallon paint can filled with cement, a large eye bolt for the rope tie and 2 (1/2") rebar pieces about 12" long. The rebar pieces go through the bottom of the can and stick out about 3", 4 places in an X pattern. Remove the handle from the paint can, poke the rebars through the can side at the bottom, fill the can with ready mix and put the eye bolt with a nut and large washer into the wet cement and let dry. Cheap anchor that works well for small aluminum boats. A pair of 15 lb navy style anchor works well. Put out the front anchor about 50 feet above where you want to end up, let out about 75' of rope as the wind blows you back and tie off. Then drop the rear anchor, go back to the front anchor and slowly pull the boat forward until the rope angle is about 30 to 45 degree angle (scope) and tie off. Now tighten the rear anchor and tie off. You can move the boat between the 2 anchors without re anchoring, depending on how deep it is and how much rope you have out. 100' of 1/2 anchor rope with an anchor on each end should work for your lake. This will give a good solid fishing platform to fish plastic worms from. The other option is troll deep diving crankbaits into the wind and keep the boat close to the same depth the lure dives; DD14 will run down about 10' to 12', DD22 about 15' with 75' of 12 lb line out at slow walking speed. Good luck. WRB

First I will say that I didn't take the time to read this long thread, just the original post. Bill Siemantel's system is to target the total water column and not just using big swimbaits. Bill Murphy's techniques are very similar, however Murphy was far more detailed in his approach. Murphy studied the basses behavior and learned everything he could about the prey the bass preferred during different seasonal periods and where the bass located during different seasonal periods. When you know where the bass are located and what they are targeting for prey, then you can select a presentation that works for your style of fishing. Copying either of the Bill's presentations without knowing about where or when to apply those techniques may not help you catch bass. There isn't any panaceas in big bass fishing. You must put in your time on the water and learning the habits of the bass where you fish. Read books and take away the information that works for you and leave behind what doesn't. Both Murphy and Siemantel are deep water structure lake fisherman and Doug Hannon is more of a natural lake and shallow water fisherman. It's been my experience that Hannon's presentations may have little application in deep water structured lakes, however Doug's knowledge of bass behavior is well worth reading. I can tell you how and what I prefer to use to catch giant bass; hair jigs with custom pork trailers, big plastic worms and swimbaits; proven big bass lures that have worked for me. WRB

Flipping is the ultimate in power fishing techniques, pitching requires a little less power. Just because a lure is fished on or near the bottom doesn't make it finesse fishing; big swim baits, jig & pig, T-rigged big plastic worms fished on or near the bottom slowly is still power fishing. KVD doesn't like to finesse fish, however his largest bass was caught using a finesse presentation. If you bass fish in highly pressured lakes, then slowing down to saturate a small area with finesse lures can sometimes be the only presentation that works. The more active the bass are, the less need to use finesse presentations. You can power fish all day and hope the bass turn on or finesse fish for inactive when the bass are not active, it's your choice to fish however you want. WRB

Nice lake located just north of the Mexican border, however at 5,138 ft alitiude. This means colder nights that slow down the water warming process. This lake should be in pre spawn. Small lake, do you have a boat to fish it? or walking the shoreline? A Little study indicates the lake has big water level draw downs, that affect the trout fishing. The lake should have an areation system near the dam. I would buy yourself a 6" Huddleston trout swimbait #5 weedless and fish the marina area early and late. Next; fish all the points and check out the back ends of the coves. Use plastic worms; T-rigged, slip shot and drop shot rigged. 6" curl tail Roboworms in Oxblood/red flake, MMIII and Aarons Magic/red flake should produce results for you. A spider jig in dark green/red flake twin tail Hula grub on a 3/8 oz football head will also work in the deeper rocky areas. After the spawn, then a spinnerbait, jerk bait, small punker and the worms should produce. If the lake is open at night, give 7" to 10" T-rigged worms a try. Good luck. WRB

Where in AZ are you still finding water in the lower 50's? Fish the major points near the spawning flats, there should be staging bass there. Also check out the spawning areas for early buck bass or any cruisers, the LMB can't be more than a month off, if that. WRB

Try your local library. WRB

If you are learning to fish jigs; start with a football head style with a Hula Grub for both the skirt and trailer. We call this jig type a spider jig. The football head works well for deep structured lakes like you have discribed. A good jig is the Yamamoto 1/2 oz black head with either Owner or Gamakasu 4/0 hook and Yamamoto's Twin tail Hula grub, 4" & 5". Colors depend on what the bass prefer in that particular lake; Dark green with red flake, Cinnamon with black flake and black with blue flake should get you bit. You can also C-rig the same grubs. Little George type tail spins can also be very good to cover the entire water column. At night a Texas or Florida rigged plastic worm is hard to beat. If the lake has some big bass you might want to give a 5" Bluegill swimbait a try. All the other lures mentioned should work. Largemouth bass in small steep walled pit lakes tend to be cruisers, patrolling the perimeters 1st deep break. The bass will hold on the outside structure, but tend to move towards the bank to feed because most of the prey is located there. WRB PS, just trying to keep this reply specific to your steep walled pit lake with rocky structure. Fishing parallel to the walls or structure is your highest percentage technique. Shadows become "soft stucture" in deep clear lakes.

Stress has a lot to do with coloration patterns; diamonds usually indicate a bass* is starting to over stress and then fade as the stress levels increase and the fsih dies. Water chemistry seems to play a part; high PH increased alkaline ,lighter coloration, lower PH increased acidity, darker coloration. I'm not sure about sunlight factors, as bass caught at night have similar coloration as bass caught from the same lake area during the day time. I have caught bass out of very deep water with very light coloration and very dark. Agree that bass can change coloration to some degree, as stress conditions indicate. Lakes with very little weed growth are generally high PH, clear water and the bass coloration is usually vivid lighter coloration verses water with heavy weed growth, low PH, the bass tend to be muted dark coloration. WRB * largemouth bass.

Ok it's time to tell how the bass weighs. WRB

It depends on the type of bass tackle you have and what you can try to fish from shore. When I fish from shore this time of year my typical tackle is bait casting a Texas rigged soft plastic worm or creature or Carolina (slip shot) rigging the same soft plastics. It's easy to carry a few weights and hooks, plus a few bags of worms or creatures and very effective. Good luck and enjoy your day. WRB

Bass Anglers Guide is an excellent bass fishing magazine. Bass West is good, when they publish it and has been a problem. In-Fisherman is a good all around fresh water fishing magazine and more up to date than Bassmaster with less promotion of touring pros and their products. If you are looking for a general outdoor magazine, then take your pick, both are OK. WRB

When I fished with live crawdads, over 30 years ago, the trick was to remove the claw arms and nose* hook the crawdad. Contrary to the popular advertised notion that bass like crawdads with big claws, the opposite is true. The fact is bass; LMB, SM and Spotted, prefer the crawdads without big claws, because the claws can harm the basses gills. To keep a crawdad from crawling under rocks and bushed, keep control of it, like a dog on a leash and don't let have a lot of slack line. To declaw a crawdad you use needle node pliers and pick up the crawdad by it's claw arm and it will usually drop the arm off to get away. Don't cut off the arms, the hole allows body fluids to leak out and the crawdads dies quickly. You want the crawdad as lively as often as possible, when it starts kicking, that means a bass is about to strike. WRB * The shell extends beyond the eyes like a ball cap bill and carefully work the hook point through the shell in front of the eyes. This doesn't harm the crawdad, they may pinch you however.

Without any other information, all anyone can do is estimate the weight based on whatever is available to make an educated guess. I used the boat seat on the aluminum boat the fish is laying on and guessed at that being 12" wide. The boat seat could be 10", however most aluminum boats used a standard 12" wide bench seat. Whatever; the bass is clearly about twice as long as the seat is wide, about 2" less, and the rod/reel confirms that. At the end of the day an accurate scale eliminates the guess work. it's still fun to try to estimate weights. WRB

If work didn't get in the way I would on Castias today and hope to be there tomorrow, it's that time of year. The wolf pack days on Casitas are gone for awhile, still possible to have 50 lb+ five bass limits however. Matt Newman's catch was documented. WRB PS: Google Matt Newman, his article is in TT with pics.

If the seat is a standard 12" wide, then your bass is about 22" long and should weigh near 6 to 61/2 lbs, very nice northern LMB. WRB

Sometimes the best plans come together and the bass are where you thought they should and other times they are not. Pre spawn bass are usually located where you think they should be . My top 5 bass, all pre pre spawn fish; 2 were caught where I thought they would be and 3 were caught just fishing similar locations, after giving up on my initial location where I thought they should be. Sometimes you just need to go fishing and give the bass a chance to find your lure. WRB

I think you first must separate bass into species; LMB, FLMB, smallmouth and spotted bass for the 4 most common. Next you to need to categorize what type of lake the bass live in; pond, river, shallow lake and deep structured lake. To generalize beyond and lump all into one category, then try to answer a complex question is nearly impossible. Tracking studies* are the most reliable source of bass movement or migration. All bass move seasonally; deep to shallow for the spawn. The balance of the year bass tend to move or migrate as individuals within whatever home range each bass has established. In ponds LMB tend to make daily cruises around the perimeter for example. Deep structured lakes, LMB tend to establish home range depending on year class; small bass staying together and larger bass staying together and occasionally moving away from the group as individuals. Some stay on deep outside structure for several weeks and move to another similar deep outside structure without moving towards shore. Others stay near shore cover and move very little, similar to pond, except back and forth along the shoreline breaks. Bill Murphy liked to say bass are like local folks, they show up at the local saloon, they all just don't show up at the same time. Do bass migrate; yes. WRB *Mike Lembeck tracking study, 1974 San Diego County reservoirs. 200 bass studied over a period of 3 years. The bass weighed between 1-1/4 lbs to 14 lbs.

Cajun stew, lots of spicy crawdads. WRB

Good find. Clay is finely ground rock, gravel is the next level of small rocks, both are important bottom materials because neither support weed growth without added mix of soil and organic material. Good places to check out to determine if a break line still exists. You have done about you can; learned about depth changes, deep water break lines and soil changes. Now study weed types; the less dense types like coon tail and cabbage that allow the bass to tunnel through passages or cruise along the weed edges and open pockets are better then junk weeds that form a tangled mess. Good luck and lets know how things develop for you. WRB

First let me qualify what I'm about to say. Bass are not line shy. With that said; bass can be turned off by how a lure or even live bait acts when fished on line diameters that can adversely affect how the lure performs. I fish gin clear, highly pressured SoCal lakes where finesse bass fishing was developed. You simple want to select a line that will perform best with the lure presentation you are using. The extremes; if you use a line that is too large in diameter; lets say equal to the hook eye diameter, the line may to too rigid and have too much drag in the water to allow the lure to perform well. A bass may still strike a lure with maximum size line. The other extreme; line so small in diameter that is about 10% the diameter of the hook wire; hook is .050, line is .005. The light line isn't strong enough to pull the heavy wire hook point into the basses hard mouth tissues. The issue is control after you hook the bass; can you effectively land the bass after hooking it? The right size line give your lure good action and you the ability to land the bass. During the 80's, finesse fishing was at a peak in SoCal. Tournament s were being won by anglers like Dick Trask who fished the split shot rig and dart jigs on 5 lb Maxima line, the hot set up. If you were not split shotting, you may not win a tournament. The worms were 3" screamers, up to 5" flutter craft or phenoms. During this same time period, on the same lakes, I was fishing 12 lb Big Game mono and 1/2 oz hair jigs with pork trailers, old school jigs and catching a lot of double digit bass. Same lake, same water and bigger bass. If I wanted to take my friends bass fishing and catch numbers of bass, then the split shot rig was my first choice, more bites per hour. Why? smaller lures look like the bait fish the 2 to 3 lb bass are feeding on. It's not the line alone. WRB

This is a signal that pre spawn bass are about 2 weeks or the next full moon away from bedding, weather permitting. There should be a lot of big bass located out on the first deeper water break, near where you are seeing the cruisers. Go back and Carolina or Texas rig a creature bait or big plastic worm out in the deeper water and work it back to shore and you may catch the bass you can't see. Good luck. WRB