WRB-2.0

Interesting report, thank you for sharing it. Didn't read anything that supports hibernation, a lot of detail about burrowing, I'm sure you will highlight it. Here is a link listing lots of interesting crayfish information; http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/index.htm WRB

One of the manny misconceptions we have as bass fishermen is based on junk science or someones misplaced belief as fact. Matt stated crawdads don't hibernate and that is true. I believed crawdads hibernated, until just a few years ago. Most bass fishermen read articles that stated crawdads start the hibernation process when the water cooled to 55 degrees or so. Observation seemed to confirm the hibernation as fact; you see the crusty red/black late season crawdads migrate in mass from the shallow clay banks to deeper water and burrow into the mud. The opposite occurs as the water warms following winter, giving the appearance of coming out of hibernation. Research proves that crawdads don't hibernate, they just move deeper to follow the food source and are active all winter. The fact jigs work all winter should have been a clue the bass were eating crawdads. You can net crawdads at night in most shallow streams or creeks. The crawdads eyes glow red, so wear a head lamp and wade up current with a long handle fine mesh net. To make a trap use 1/4 hardware cloth mesh wire about 3' long and roll into a cylinder about 8" diameter. Flatten one end and fold back. The opposite end fold into a funnel shape facing inward and leave about a 4" diameter opening. Bacon rind or fish heads make good bait. Tie a 6' cord to the funnel open end of the trap. Drop the bait into the open end and let it fall to the closed end. Place the trap in any water the has crawdads and let sit over night. Retrieve the trap with the cord. To remove the crawdads inside the trap; unfold the flat end and shake out the crawdads onto a bucket. WRB

Like every regional area, we get seminars from the current top ranked pros around the country. When a pro comes to CA they want to catch giant bass and seek help from local big bass experts. The visiting pro doesn't have the time, specialized tackle and local knowledge. The big advantage the top pro has is the ability to fish "closed areas" that are off limits to normal folks and private lakes that have a big bass population. Fishing with top local pro helps tremendously to learn presentations and locations it would take years to learn otherwise. The average fisherman expecting to catch bass on their first outing on a completely different lake classification, regardless of their skills, is naive. If I was going to fish TB for example, Catt would be on the list of contacts to determine several factors before going out. It's not the lack of fishing skills, it's the time involved to sort out what and where is working. If you have a week and fish everyday, you should be able to put patterns together. For example where I fish the bite is either on drop shot finesse worms with 4 to 6 lb FC or deep 8" trout swimbaits. If you are not fishing one of those, it's a long day, the lakes open at 6A, close at 7P, no night fishing. WRB

It's simple to catch bass, especially when you spend a lot on time on the same water. Bass fishing can also be extremely frustrating when you know nothing about the water you are trying to learn to fish. Applying what you have learned to unfamiliar water may work or may not. If George or Tom came out to SoCal and tried to apply their knowledge from Texas, Wisconsin or Florida they may do OK or get skunked for several outings until they adapted and gained knowledge specific to the new water. The same applies me or anyone else. It's really simple when you know what you are doing and dialed into the water you fish. WRB

We call them "dads", most folks call them crawdads, Cajuns call them good eating. Crawdads are good winter to late pre spawn and fall bait. LMB tend to target the baitfish more during summer and fall transition. Since I'm a jig fisherman first and everything else second, tend to fish jigs year around. It's not about being right or wrong, it's about sharing information. WRB

Bass are simple creatures, and they stick with a good situation until something turns them off of it. When feeding they normally pick a good area and come to that area all the time. A break line can be a weed line on a glacial lake in Wisconsin, a subtle hard-bottom on a shallow lake in Florida, the edge of a timber lined creek channel in Texas, or the base of a rock pile in a deep California lake. Whatever the bass use to move into a feeding area. Where the bass go when not feeding is anyone's guess. Bass are also individuals and may roam great distances and be spread out in some lakes or bunched together in other lakes, they are rarely far away from their food source. If you look at early pioneers like Perry who formulated a theory that bass move as a group from deep to shallow during periods called migrations, without the aid depth finders, or biologists like Mike Lembeck who conducted telemetry studies on California deep structured lakes proving bass were not affected by wind, bright sun light, cloud cover, rain caused no significant change to their position on structure. The bass would hold on structure for some time and transient bass would hold for less than less than a day. Lembeck was never able to identify groups of big bass moving together. When individual fish leave a popular holding area, they go in separate directions. It's the saloon theory, according to Bill Murphy; you have a local saloon you always go to, there's a bunch of people there, and once in a while the same people are there at the same time. WRB PS: Lembeck implanted 200 bass with transmitters, the bass ranged from 1.2 lbs to 14 lbs., a 3 year study with over 800 observations on San Diego county lakes.

One misconception with bass is they live at one location and the dinner bell rings when prey comes by. Feeding areas are almost always away from resting places. Bass become active and swim to where they know from experience prey will be available. Also from experience the bass uses safe routes to enter and exit feeding areas. These routes are almost always deeper water and deeper water in a shallow lake could be a 2 foot depression, creek bed, ditch/drain and in deeper lakes steep walls, river channels, points, etc. First you most know where the house is to locate the kitchen and know someone is home. Setting up between the kitchen and living room doesn't work if the family is down the street at the neighborhood banquet. The bass will come home, so it's good to keep checking, if you are in the right neighborhood. WRB

You need to learn what type of prey is in the lakes you fish. Study those baitfish or crayfish to learn there habits. Bass are cold blood animals and eat less in cold water and more in warm water. The baitfish and crawdads are also cold blooded and their behavior and location is key to where the bass will be located. In general terms; bass eat less often in cold water below 50 degrees and prefer small size prey or high protein. In warm water above 55 degrees bass look for whatever prey is an easy meal. Spawn; food isn't on their menu. Pre and post spawn, easy to catch prey; pre spawners are hungry, post spawners are not, but they share the same locations. During the warm water period any prey size the bass can swallow easily is OK and that depends on the size of the bass. All young sunfishes, minnows, shiners, small troutc, young carp and catfish, crappie, shad, herring, sculpin etc. are prey fish. Crayfish (crawdads), frogs, tadpoles, worms, salamanders, large insects, small birds and what ever falls into the water small enough for a bass to swallow are prey. WRB

The two words between catching bass and fishing for them is active and inactive behavior. Bass are like most predators and some people, the don't live where the eat. We go to the restaurant or market to find or buy food, we don't live in the parking lot waiting for the meal. Active bass are in the market or at the restaurant, not in the den. Inactive bass are in the den resting. The key to catching bass is offering them something to eat when they are hungry and active. Knowing the difference between inactive bass that are resting away from where they eat and active bass looking for something to eat will save you a lot of time. How bass are positioned on structure or cover and baitfish tells you if they are inactive or active. How they strike lures tells you if the are active or not. The location of the bass tells you if they are active or not. You could be fishing in the restaurant, but it's not open and no bass are there. You can be trying to get bass in the den to eat and they are not hungry. Trying several different lures isn't going to open the restaurant or interest the inactive bass. If you know where the restaurant is located, waiting for it to open is a better use of your time, then trying to catch bass that are resting. Spend some time on the water and learn where the markets and restaurants are located and whats on the menu. Active hungry bass are easier to catch then inactive bass. WRB

The opportunity to develop skills is a major factor. You may be the best at whatever and never have the opportunity to develop to your potential. Learning at an early age is far more productive. Some have it and never will; given the opportunity everyone can learn to reach their potential. WRB

Trial and error learning experiences. WRB

You build confidence with positive experiences and loose it from negative experience. Fishing with a positive attitude will put a lot of fish in your boat. You build up a bank on memories that can be used to fall back on when trying to figure out what lure and location worked best. The more time on the water the bigger the bank becomes, filled with both positive and negatives experiences. The Zoom widget that worked wonders today may fail tomorrow and be replaced with a new confident lure in a new location, expanding your experience of positive knowledge. Be aware of over load, to much too fast can be a negative experience, then it's time to go back to a comfort level with that positive attitude and fish that standby confident lure and location. WRB

It comes down to how you program your brain. If you learned to fish holding rod and cupping the bait casting reel line feedback came through the reel & rod. If you learned to hold a rod in front of the bait reel and ran the line over your index finger, line feedback was directly through your finger tip and rod if the middle finger rested on the rod blank. Spinning reels, it's a lot more difficult to feel the line unless the reel is stopped and the lure is moved with the rod while a finger rest on the line. The one exception with a spinning reel is the stitching retrieve and the reel isn't evolved, you retrieve the line by hand. When fishing jigs and soft plastics, I feel the line. Most other presentations like crankbaits, swimbaits, spinnerbaits, top water lures, I rely on visual clues and the rod to determine strikes. Everyone develops their own style and once programed stay with it. WRB

I believe this saying came from the great lakes area and is associated with storm fronts verse seasonal winds. Goes along with red sky at night sailors delight, red sky in the morning sailor take warning. Winds out of the west where I live are usually are light, where as easterly winds can be high winds, giving the old saying validity, as it's hard to fish in 50+ mph wind. WRB

Catt we are saying the same thing. Over time a specific lake will tend to have a lure preference. Most fisherman fish what is locally accepted as the preferred lure. You believe and statistics support that soft plastics; worms or all types, creatures and jig trailers, bottom lures are effective at TB ( and most bass lakes throughout the country) and I agree. Where we may disagree is local fisherman using same lures can impact stats. We (SoCal) had similar stats in most of our lakes, however the past 5 years swimbaits win more tournaments then soft plastics, because swimbaits catch larger bass overall and that fact has changed what top local fisherman use. WRB

List your tackle, maybe we can give you some specific techniques to try. Similar to what Catt listed. rod: reel: line: worm/hook: presentation: T-rig, C-rig. jig/trailer: other lure you like to use: Fatigue is a big factor when fishing some lures and presentations. Where on the lake you fish is far more important, bass are not evenly distributed throughout any lake, they prefer specific places. WRB

Going out and expecting to catch bass every trip may be your problem, KVD can't do that. Enjoy being outdoors and observe your surroundings; birds, animals, sunrise, sunsets and stop worrying about catching the biggest bass in Ohio and focus on sharing quality time with your partner. You will never be Tiger Woods or KVD, you are what you are and life is too short to waste quality time. You apparently like to tinker with making things, try making a few lures. Learn to use a top water lure early in the morning and late evening; 2 Splash-It's, 1 for you and tour partner should work in Ohio. Next learn to fish plastic worms, they can be fished from shore or a boat effectively. keep it simple and you will have some good days catching bass and some good days being outdoors with your best friend. WRB

Bass behavior changes within the same lake, sometimes within an hour. Each lake has different characteristics and preferred prey that bass react to seasonally. Every lake goes through good times and bad times over a ten year period. The bass are still bass and haven't morphed into carp or catfish. I agree and disagree with Catt's statement. If you believe a lake is a soft plastic lake you tend to fish soft plastics, however the fish may be on a swimbait bite and if you don't offer the bass a swimbait, you may never know. XYZ is a jig lake and ABC lake is a worm lake and over time that tends to be true. I also get locked into certain lures for each seasonal period for the same reason; I believe they are my best choice from experience. Sometimes we are right and other times wrong and someone catches a lot of bass on something we didn't believe would work. Bass are bass and we don't know what they want or where they are all the time, it's called fishing for good reasons. WRB

Like a skilled safe cracker learns to feel the lock tumblers move by sanding his finger tips; it;s a combination of skills. Some of the best worm fishermen sand thier index finger tips for better line feel when bass are neutral and softly picking up the worm. Active bass tend to be more aggressive, then it's more line watching then line feeling. Today's bass fisherman would be amazed to learn the highest priced, high modulus, light weight rod doesn't transmit line vibrations any better than the rods 40 years ago. Do you wonder how we ever caught bass with those old fiberglass rods? We felt and watched the line for movements in the same manner back then as we do today. The modern rods are fabulous technology and light weight, buts it's the line that is connected to the lure that we feel move. Line doesn't transmit vibrations well underwater, unless it has some tension applied to it. The line runs through very low friction rod guides that further reduce line drag. We can feel changes in line tension and line movement much better then the older rods and even better with tomorrow's technology. Sensitive hands are a gift that good surgeons have, all fishermen need is sensitive finger tips without a numb skull. WRB

A bass is a bass regardless of it's location. LMB, SMB, SB and the other black basses all adapt to water ecosystem they are in. Every strain of bass has a genetic history; for example smallmouth and spotted bass prefer crawdads as a primary prey, baitfish secondary. Largemouth, both NLMB and FLMB prefer baitfish and crawdads, depending on availability. All bass are opportunity feeders. I have never fished in Japan, Cuba or S. Africa, have bass fished most of the states and several MX lakes and can tell you from experience bass are bass and can be caught using the same lures and presentation techniques from coast to coast. WRB

I would park that canoe where you have the line knee deep to start. Then cast directly across the sand bar points out into deep Lake water with a wake bait or shallow running swimbait in both bluegill and golden shiner patterns. Then fan cast all around slowly moving around to the opposite side. Next I would split shot a 6 inch worm and work back to the other creek outflow. Although I like jigs, this doesn't look like good water to me, unless there are some rocks or stumps for crawdads to hide under. If there is a little chop on the water or very low light conditions, I would also try a buzzer, spinnerbait and a crankbait, if the bass are active. WRB

If you have the desire to bass fish for thousands of hours, then you have the desire to learn how to bass fish and become a better fisherman. Like Little league or soccer, starting to fish as a youngster helps tremendously to develop skills. However if the child doesn't have good and to eye coordination and the determination to learn, he or she may never become a top player or fishermen because they become disinterested and stop fishing or playing. KVD is a good example of early learning, desire to be a top fishermen and the physical and mental skills to make it happen. KVD falls into the more he practices the better he gets group. Aaron Martens started off at a much higher level of fishing talent then KVD and hasn't gained a lot of new fishing skills. Aaron has developed life skills and self confidence from thousands of hours of practice and interacting with others, where KVD was born with that talent. Would 10,000 hours of fishing practice make everyone a good bass fisherman? NO! Some have it and some never will. WRB

I'm surprised you could see the bass so clearly before it bolted. As Catt said try to catch it, the bass was active and looking for something to eat. WRB

Aaron, as a young boy, had autistic type behavior, stuttered speech, hyperactive, unorganized, extremely shy and color blind. Like Tiger Woods who could hit a golf ball at age 3, Aaron could cast and new where the fish should be, instinctively. Aaron to his credit has overcome a lot of his handicaps, he still can look at water and know where bass should be and what to use. If you ask Aaron why he choose whatever lure, he tell you honestly he just knew. WRB

You make the argument that opportunity to early hands on training can make a big difference when practicing. Denny Brauer training his son Chad to become a top pro bass fishermen. Chad has all the skills mentioned. The other side of the coin is Aaron Martens. Aaron is a natural fishermen. So good as a youngster that pro's wanted him as a partner in team tournaments. Aaron was too shy to fish with anyone except his mom, taught her how to bass fish and they became a top team. Who taught Aaron how to fish? the answer is he did, he was good the first time he picked up a rod and had few of skills mentioned. WRB