WRB-2.0

Trout verses bass; Trout are cold water fish that using current to bring small size prey to them. Bass are warm water fish that hunts it's all sizes of prey, including trout. If you have spinning tackle, then finesse bass fishing would be my suggestion. Finesse bass fishing is using smaller lures on lighter line than standard bass tackle. Soft plastics like a plastic worm is a good choice. Smaller light weight floating diving lures like the original Rapala #13 is another good choice. Bass like to hide in shadows where they can ambush prey. Any object that creates a shadow is a good place to start. The simple split shot rig; #3 round split shot (no ears) pinched onto your 6 lbs mono line, then slide the shot up the line about 3 ' and cut off about 1'. Tie on a Gamakatsu weedless finesse wide gap hook, size 1. Nose hook the plastic worm and you are ready to bass fish. To start with try Roboworms 5" curl tail; Oxblood with red flake. You simply drag the split shot slowly along the bottom near shadow breaks. Bass engulf there prey, so you may not feel a strike, just pressure like a rubber band. Sweep the rod back hard and reel to set the hook. Good luck WRB

You can be the best at what you can do by practicing, on or off the water. You can never become more than your are capable of doing regardless how may yours you practice. Micheal Jordan could never create Microsoft or Bill Gates could never be a NBA star, regardless how many hours they practiced. Both reached the top in their individual skill sets. WRB

Natural talented person that practices becomes the best. Without inherited skills, no amount of practice will get you to the top. WRB

If the product or product support is substandard no amount of advertisement will get customers to line up at your door often. The difference between a pro bass fisherman and a weekend fisherman is sponsorship, the pro has learned to shell products, both know how to catch bass. The top 10 in any sport can demand more money for their time and endorsements because they have a proven record. Most of the top pros that I know stick with products the work and support that product. When a product changes due to a change in ownership, product support or quality, then the pro makes a change. If another product is better and offers more money, then a question of loyalty comes into play, some will change and some stay with who got them where they are today. Eagle Claw/Wright & McGill Co., is pushing to get back into bass fishing and regain prominence ounce again. How many pro's will leave the products that got them to the dance; Skeet Reese dropped Lamiglas for example. Lamiglas is a good product with exceptional support, but can't compete with Wright & McGill $$$$. Time will tell if Skeet and others made a good choice; if the product isn't good or supported well, no one will continue to but it. Tom

Good goal to have and will try to keep that in mind. WRB

Go back and reread reply #4. World record SMB is 11 lbs-15 oz., or 6 lb is about 1/2 the weight. Where you fish; lake Casitas for example the lake record is 21 lbs- 3oz., 1/2 is about 10 lbs-9 oz, a decent bass at that lake but not noteworthy. 11 lbs would be close to most of the state records north of the Mason-Dixon line. How would like to have 21 lbs-3 oz as your goal at lake Casitas? That is what it's like for all those folks up in the northern states to catch a 11 lb bass. Comparing apples and oranges is the same thing as NLMB vs FLMB.! WRB

The NY state record SMB is 8 lb-4 oz, lake Erie. 75% would be 6 lbs a good goal for a NY or PA smallie. WRB

I have lots of times. The IGFA response is it's too difficult for the average fishermen to be able to tell the difference. I guess we are too stupid to count lateral line pore scales; 59-65 NLMB, 69-73 FLMB. WRB PS;ntergrade is the cross between NLMB and FLMB. Every intergrade that I have scale counted was 69+ and should be considered FLMB, the purist can argue about the fly sht in the pepper.

Used the AL, Alabama state record for NLMB, no offical separate records are kept, all largemouth black bass are considered the same fish, I don't agree and believe NLMB and FLMB are two different bass and should have separate records and realize that may never happen in my lifetime. Agree; use 75% of the state record weight where you fish is a good goal. If the record is 11 lbs 4 oz (NY), then a 8 lb 8 oz bass would be the goal. A 10 lb bass for NY is very close to the state and a rare fish, too high for vast majority of bass fishermen who live there. WRB

Trying to compare apples to oranges is like comparing smallmouth and largemouth bass. When factoring in the difference between Florida and northern strain LMB you have another apple and orange comparison. Using record size bass; FLMB = 22-4oz. (22-5 pending). NLMB = 16-8 oz.(AL record). SMB = 11-15oz. Smallmouth is about 50% the weight of FLMB and 75% of NLMB. Using a 10 lb LMB as a goal makes since for NLMB and 75% of 10 lbs is 7-8 oz., for SMB seems realistic. However using 15 lbs for FLMB seems more realistic to me, then 10 lbs. My PB; 19.3 lbs FLMB 12.25 lbs NLMB 6 lbs SMB WRB

Smallmouth spawn in slighly colder water than largemouth and completely different locations and bottom make up. Generally the water temperature at the depth (1 1/2' to 8') needs to be around 58 to 62 degrees for smallies to spawn, following the cold water period. Largemouths 62 to 67 degrees is common in most lakes. Smallies prefer gravel clean bottom areas, Largemouth more wind protected back of coves, near some type of cover. Post spawn the female bass leave a few days after laying eggs and move to the first area with deeper water (first break line). Smallmouths prefer rocky areas, largemouth like wood and weed cover on or near the first break close to the spawning area. Each wave or group of spawning bass will be in post spawn for about a week, then transition to their summer locations. Lures that are slow moving or easy to catch within a small strike zone are good pre spawn choices WRB

Navionics Hot maps, paper maps are excellent. WRB

Try giving the bass slack line about half way back to the boat when hooked on a multiple treble hook lure. If the hook goes through the basses jaw passed the barb, the hook will usually stay embedded. The bass can easily shake loose most hooks that don't penetrate beyond the barb. I have found floating lures that bass have managed to free and had floated back up on the surface. Bottom line; some will die and most survive. WRB

The Roboworm swimbait has won several tournaments and works very well, if you fish it slowly. The keel weighted hooks in in size 5/0 or 6/0 depending on the brand work well. WRB

Just revisiting the thread and reading the replies when it dawned on, almost everyone has missed the main theme. The honey hole as some has claimed is simply 2 humps connected to a long point that drops off into a channel; outside structure. Catt has posted a picture of the type of structure he has been describing in several posts; humps. The fact that this is a low water condition photo that exposes the humps and wood cover, this is what lays underwater out away from the bank in nearly every bass lake. Out of sight out of mind and the bank fishermen pass this up everyday, missing the home of larger bass. WRB

There was a weight calculator on this site somewhere, however the formula; length X length X girth / 1200 = weight in lbs works OK. Length; bass with closed mouth to center of tail, girth around the widest area, dorsal fin down. WRB

The book by the late Bill Murphy "In Pursuit of Giant Bass" is a must read for any structure bass fishermen. Bill was the most detailed fishermen that I know of and explains boat positioning with detailed illustrations. Don't be confused with the title, Bill was a big bass fishermen, however adult size bass relate to structure using the same principles. Bill prefered to anchor and stitching plastic worms or live bait simply for maximum boat control. The positioning is the same; a comfortable long cast away from the center of the target area you plan to fish. Murphy anchored a lot of the time, most of us tend to fish with our trolling motor to position our boats. I preferred to fish jigs and position my boat with the trolling motor, stitching a worm is too slow for my taste most of the time. WRB

Get pure anise oil, not the extract with alcohol added. A few drops goes a long way with pure anise oil. We used glycerin mixed with anise oil before commercial scents were available, very slippery concoction. The Fliptail worms had glycerin and anise oil in the original 100 count package. WRB

What type of lures or bait are you using and what type of tackle; rod, reel & line? WRB

Edge Hot Sauce for soft plastic worms and creatures, Pro-Cure Bait Butter for soft swimbaits. Nothing on hard baits. Anise oil and fresh garlic on pork jig trailers. WRB

The bass are more than likely well fed and not responding to your lures. Try setting down in a place that you can see into the water, remain quite for about 1/2 hour and watch the water for bass. You can also try fishing at night, the bluegill and crappie will be hiding in the weeds and the bass will be cruising looking for prey. WRB

Agree with Raul. Not every bass in any lake is on the same time table and it's possible to have early birds and later gators. We have a minor spawn in SoCal every fall, those bass are on a different schedule. Female bass that can't spawn due to unseasonable weather at the time their eggs are ready will absorb the eggs and miss that spawning cycle, they can't carry the eggs beyond maturity. WRB

1. hair jig & pork trailer, big bass 2. plastic worm, slip shotted. WRB

What is perfect for my use is a poor choice for anyone who fishes heavy cover and that is most jig fishermen. Odds; 100%, I fish custom tied hair jigs with special cut pork trailers, both are not popular and perfect for my use. Muddy; did you receive the e mailed articles? . WRB

The first thing is to ignore the wood and look at the humps for entry and exit areas that bass and bait fish use. Can't see any smaller rock piles on the close hump, looks like there could be to left of the second hump. The saddle between the humps is usually another good place. It's hot and high sky, so the bass should be on the deeper break side. I would slowly meter the both humps to find bait or bass. More than likely position the boat in about 12' of water off the outside of the second hump and fan cast a slip shot 6" worm out into 35' and work it back. Work the saddle between the humps with the same rig, trying to determine at what depth the bass are active. WRB PS; didn't see the 6A time, was thinking mid day; early would work a buzzer and spinnerbait around the humps, then survey the area.