WRB-2.0

Rick Clunn. We older folks have learned at 19 we knew it all and as we aged we realized we know a few things. WRB

GK, agree that lipless cranks can be heart breakers. 50% strike to catch ratio is low and practice, with the right technique, should improve it. WRB PS, the technique you use to hook those dart fish; reel & sweep.

Rear hooks can indicate you maybe hooking the bass as the bass ejects the lure, hooking the fish with the back treble. Give the reel set a try, several fast cranks to load up the rod. Pre set the drag with a scale, you may be surprised how much tension 3 lbs is! However it should be enough tension to control the bass and make a run at the boat without tearing out hooks. WRB PS; I use 10 to 12 lb green Big Game for cranking and rarely loose bass with crankbaits. Will go up to 20 lb at night or around weed cover. The lighter mono line during the day gives a little more line stretch and running depth, with crankbaits. At night the bass are very active, so line size and stretch isn't a as much of a factor as loosening lures.

Question; are the bass hooked by the front or back hook? You may be setting the hook too quickly. Lipless cranks are known for shin hooking bass. If the bass are lightly hooked with the rear treble hook, all you can do is reduce the drag tension to about 2 to 3 lbs. Another trick is to reel set, then rod sweep. The reel set ,when cranking using a slower action rod, like the you are using, allows the bass to turn with the lure, getting a better hook setting angle. Let the rod load up before sweeping it back, do not give it a second hook set. The other trick is going up one hook size on the center treble hook; size 4 to size 2 for example. The lure pivots around the center hook, so size increase doesn't change the action much. WRB

The Plano 3700 is 14" X 9 .12" X 2" and still available. Any brand the same size will work, don't understand your question? WRB

How bass relate to various prey opportunities is dependant of the activity level of each bass and the prey type they are feeding on. For example if bass are feeding on threadfin shad, the sun light factor becomes important because sun light affects the shads food source; phytoplankton. Threadfin shad seek cover during darkness, therefor are hiding in wood or weed cover. The shad schools move out in the water column at a level above the thermocline where good DO levels are comfortable and look for phytoplankton to raise and feed. Ambush sites that intersect the level that the shad schools are using is a good opportunity for bass to push up the school towards the surface and trap the shad. The size of the bass is dependant on the quality of the structure to hold larger bass. Shad are just one of many prey sources for bass in lakes that have a shad population. Crawdads offer a totally different opportunity and other baitfish are available that require a different tactic for bass to capture and eat. Rhythm isn't a common term used for bass activity, however it is a major factor in the basses daily life cycle. WRB

Bass, like all animals have a rhythm to their lives. The seasonal period, solar, lunar, weather, atmospheric pressures, wind and traffic all have an impact to this rhythm. Basic bass rhythm; 5 stages of activity: very active, active, in active or neutral, negative and very negative. During a 24 hour period; bass average, depending of the seasonal period/water temperature, 5% very active, 5% active, 80% inactive or neutral, 5% negative, 5% very negative. Rhythm cycles are generally 4 hours peak to peak. This works out to active feeding bass about 30 minutes each 4 hour period, 90 minutes of inactive or neutral activity and 30 minutes of negative activity. Active bass will chase down prey and lures, inactive or neutral bass need to be teased into striking with slower lure presentation or prey coming within easy strike distance and negative bass are nearly impossible to catch, they are resting/sleeping. Like anything that is generalized, there will be exceptions, however this formula of bass behavior has been my guideline for years. WRB

If the water is green, then use lures or soft plastics with purple or neon purple highlights. Yamamoto makes their Pro series green watermelon with purple flakes in kreatures and Hula grubs, both should do well on jigs or C-rigged. Black grape with blue or purple neon blood lines and red flakes also works good in green water. I would also try a double buzz, lots of surface noise works well along weedlines and near stumps. Frogs when the weeds get matted. Good luck and catch a big bass. Those big LMB know where the trout are holding! WRB

Two questions for you; 1. What type of tackle do you have, spinning, bait casting or spin cast. 2. Describe "structure"; rocks, trees or weeds? The Texas rigged worm is a good choice for ponds and fishing from shore. You can also use the Carolina rig or slip shot rig, for example. Top water lures like; frogs, buzz baits and poppers work. Floater diving lures like; jointed and original floating Rapala's, and small shallow diving crankbaits are good pond lures. WRB

Why restrict yourself to the Kern river? The Kern is a smallmouth fishery, few largemouths. Close to Bakersfield are several good bass lakes; Bass lake, Eastman, Hensley, Isabella, Haweah, Pine Flat, Success and Millerton to name a few within 1 hour or so drive. All these lakes rent boats and can be fished from shore. Isabella is up the Kern river and a very good bass lake, Kaweah is near Three rivers, both have giant FLMB population. Pine Flat is up the Kings river with current world record spotted bass. Suggest you get Western Outdoors News weekly paper and use Google for fish reports on the listed lakes. Also check out the numerous small lakes and pond near the rivers; Kern, King, Merced. Within 2 hours drive you have; to the south: Pyramid and Castaic, both very good bass lakes with rentals. North; you have Don Pedro, New Melones, etc. Welcome to California bass fishing, you don't need to fish rivers, unless you want to. River bass are like other river fish; current dictates where the bass will be. Largemouth; generally stay out of direct current areas and use the current to bring prey to them. Smallmouth will get into current areas and like LMB use the current to bring prey to them. You need to study the river and look for eddies, trees, boulders, back water areas that bass prefer. Jigs that represent crawdads, inline spinners, small buzz baits and spinnerbaits all work well in rivers. WRB PS; the CA Delta area is about a 3 hour drive north, then west. A vast area with over 1500 miles of rivers and sloughs full of bass. This is a tidal water area that requires a boat to fish effectively.

From your explanation the water must have current running down the creek channel to sustain a trout population during the summer period. The weed areas should be home to the perch, pickerel, bluegill. largemouth tend to roam the outside weed line, work into the weeds through tunnels and any structure break, unless larger predators dominate the weed line. The trout and smallmouth prefer the channels sandy, gravel and rocky areas. Rock bass are usually around the perch areas. Spawn; trout move up stream into moving water, crappie spawn similar areas to LMB and prefer wood, about 2 weeks earlier ( 58-60) and smallmouth about the same time as crappie, however on more rocky/gravel areas. The pickerel like mud/weeds flats to spawn. The larger LMB bass have a wide choice of prey to choose from and I would try 6" bluegill/crappie swimbaits and 6" trout color swimbait or wake bait, 6" lizards, bluegill color swim jigs, crawdad color jig, 8" worms and soft jerk baits. Night; buzzers and 10" worms. SMB; jigs in crawdad colors, tubes in crawdad & baitfish colors, 4/12 - 6" worms, hard jerk baits, underspins. Spinnerbaits may work, however the pickerel could be a problem. Small to medium size shallow crankbaits in the non-weedy areas will work for LMB & SMB. The isolated stumps or any larger rocks and the creek channel bends should be the location to find both the larger LMB & SMB. I would also down size the line to 8 to 12 lb premium mono if the water clarity is good and it should be if trout live there. WRB

This is a small lake and you shouldn't have any problem locating bass along the creek channel most of the year. Spawn; try the west coves near the 6" depression and the stump row at the south end of the same depression. The coves on the east shore should also be checked, as they are close to the creek channel. You need to learn to fish that channel and the outside stumps. WRB

Bass are bass as the saying goes. However up in the northern zones bass can smallmouths and largemouth or in some states spotted bass. Each spawn in very different locations and water temperatures, within the same lake. We tend to think of bass as largemouth and respond accordingly. We also tend to relate to the bass in our areas and in lakes, not rivers. Mother nature has a way to insure that animals, given a chance, will mate. Bass are no different. However bass, like nearly every fish, are cold blooded and water controls their body temperature. When everything is right or close to being right, the bass move to the areas that they instinctively know to be a good for spawning and spawn. If the proper conditions don't occur, bass can miss that years spawning cycle, the females absorb or abort the eggs. It's a rare occurance, but it happens. However the later gators that spawn a few months after the major spawn may be the only bass to spawn that year. Usually the late spawners have their eggs eaten by carp and bluegill that have swarmed the spawning sites. There is a reason for multiple spawns, it's called survival of the species or not putting all your eggs in one basket or nest. WRB

Agree with most of what has been posted on this subject. As Islandbass stated; make it a fun. I will add make it a short day and successful outing. The best first day is usually a pond with bluegill (bream) and bobber fishing. It's your time with your son or daughter, be attentive. I decided to make a rod out of a fly rod top section, about 40" long, added a cork handle, mounted a small trigger spin, Zebco Omega reel. My son started about 3 years old and used that rod & reel outfit until about 6 years and caught a lot of fish with that outfit. When he went with me in the boat, took along a few toys. I added a rod holder for him to put his rod in when playing or just tired of fishing. The best rig by far for bass with my son and other kids was the slip shot rig and 3" reaper or 4 1/2" curl tail finesse worm. I would rig a 1/8 oz mojo weight, stopper about 12" up from the hook and light wire size 1 worm hook. We had a lot of good days on the water catching bass with that rig, even while he was playing with toys and the rod in holder. "Dad, gotta another fish"! After about 6 years old they want to have a rod & reel like yours, then it's time to set them up with a spinning rod/reel and progress to a bait caster about 8 to 10 years old. Take the time to enjoy these moments, they will last you a life time. WRB

Water takes time to both warm and cool as it isn't very thermally conductive. The sun heats the air which in turn warms the surface water, then at night the cooler air tends to cool the surface water. If there isn't any wind to mix the surface water with water below it. The overall water column warming to the depth where bass spawn, between 1 to 8 feet deep or so, takes a few weeks to change, it not affected a great amount by passing fronts. Once the bass move and establish bed site, they will stay. Most lake will have about 3 waves of spawners, so mixed pre spawn, post spawn bass can be around. My guess is May 9 th (full moon) should see a major spawn in your area. WRB

Carp spawn in water between 68 to 75 degrees, after the bass have spawned. The carp are egg eaters and more than likely raiding bluegill beds or late spawning bass beds in the area and spawning. WRB

Once bass move up to spawn, made beds, the only weather condition that will affect them is extreme cold front that lowers the water temperatures, raising or dropping water levels or high winds that creates heavy mud lines that silts the bed site. Wind isn't a common problem because most bass bed in protected areas. Pre spawn bass are affected by water temperature changes caused by extreme weather and will pull back into deeper water or just hunker down next to a rock or other structure/cover. When bass are being driven by the need to spawn, barometric pressure changes alone should not affect them. WRB

Whatever falls, crawls or lives in the water they can eat; bream, crawdads, salamanders, dragon fly nymphs and adults, frogs, snakes, worms, small birds. There are a lot of creatures that make up a basses diet, plus they will eat smaller bass. WRB

I have a new Cabelas rubber net, too heavy for me. If interested PM me, the price is right...shipping costs. Stuck a 30+ channel under the front pectoral fin with a jig, that I knew was a new world record until I finally got it up and it had whiskers. Talk about slimming the boat up and rolling up in a net. WRB

I use a net when needed to land bass. If using a crank bait it can be dangerous to get hooks in your hand trying to lip a hot bass and I will not bounce fresh water fish. When light line fishing, you need net most of the time to land larger bass consistently. BASS not allowing there competitors the use of a good net, is damaging a lot of bass by contacting the boats carpets. The basses slime coat is like your skin, it keeps out bacteria. Slime loss from a good knotless net is a lot less then hitting the carpet. WRB

50 to 70 feet this early in the year is very questionable, at what depth is the thermocline layer? If you fish that deep, be prepared to fizz the bass and keep the livewell water temperature below 70 degrees. You can easily use a 1/2 oz drop shot weight with 6 lb fluorocarbon line. Line stretch, yes fluoro stretches, will be a factor at 50+ depths. You may want to take a look at Daiwa Samurai braid, 15 lb is .007 diameter, less than 6 lbs fluoro and will not twist using a spinning reel. WRB

Always under control. Bass only fight about 2 minutes maximum, regardless of size. The longer the bass are in the water, the higher the chance at escaping or over stressing. Put them in the boat and enjoy the fight, that's why you are out there. WRB

Like others I have been bass fishing days and night for about 50 years or so. Where I fish the lakes are highly pressured during the day and weekends, during the warmer summer period. Bass during the summer period tend to move away from the bank into deeper water about 35 feet or so and move up at night into 1 to 10 feet of water. If you fish the 1 to 10 foot zone around the shore line during the day light hours between 9A to 5P, you may catch a few small bass between 12" to 15", rarely any bass larger. However if you fish the deeper main lake structure 15' to 35', your catch rate will increase and so will the average size of the bass. At night the opposite is true, the bank in 1' to 10' of water produces far better than the main lake deeper structure. Also black colors work far better at night than the day light, you can use heaver line then during the day light hours, in clear deep western lakes. Whereas natural colors in crawdad and shad colors work far better during the day time and smaller diameter, low visibility line, works far better. You are better off to finesse fish during the day and power fish at night. The transition times or low light hours, bass are active and reaction type fast moving lures work well; dawn to 8A or 6P to dusk. You are fishing in Texas on big hill land reservoirs, so Liston to Catt, those are his lakes and he knows them well. WRB

Let us know what you find next time out. WRB

Marketing catch word in lieu of saying use natural colors or match the hatch, so to speak. The problem with that statement is it flies in the face of common sense, as you can't see the lake bottom most of the time. It would say brown would cover most lake bottoms; light cinnamon to dark chocolate, take your pick. I guess that leaves out all the warm colors, blues, purples, chartreuse, white, black, pearl, silver, if you see gold pick it up. WRB