WRB-2.0

Lake Casitas starts their outside boat inspection program today, 5 May 2008. The lake ranger set a priority list based on people that had dry storage first, the outsiders given a number based on the date they called. Basically you take your boat to the lake for inspection and if you pass the clean & dry routine, your boat is locked onto the trailer with a sealed lock. You return home, no fishing allowed until a 10 day period. After 10 days you can take your rig back to the and fish "if" the seal isn't broken. When you leave a new seal is attached. You can return whenver you want as long as the seal hasn't been broken. The lock and seal is $50 in addition to the standard entry fee. lake Cachuma is inspecting boats upon arrival, washing the hull and trailer in a hot pressure wash, then you can enter the lake. All the SoCal lakes are now on a inspection routine of some short, so be warned and call before you hual. The NorCal lakes are using your zip code for validation to enter some of those lakes. If you are from SoCal, it's a 14 day waiting period. WRB

Here are a few good bass books that I recommend; Book of the Black Bass, DR. Henshaw Lucas on Bass, Jason Lucas Black Bass, Robert Lincoln Buck Perry's Guide for Fishing, Buck Perry In pursuite of Giant Bass, Bill Murphy Sowbelly, Monte Burke Think Like a Bass, Tom Mann Big Bass Zone, Seimantel Finesse Bass Fishing & the Sonar Connection, Iovino Big Bass Magic, Doug Hannon You can go to Bassmaster and most of the active pro's write books. The above list are some of my favorites, you may need to go to Ebay to find some of those older books. WRB

The teeth that are unusual that spotted bass have is on the "tongue". The dorsal fin is connected like a smallmouth. Kentucky spotted bass are smaller and only grow to about 3 lbs., the Alabama spotted bass grows much larger; up to 9 lbs. Spotted bass get their name from the 3 or 4 rows of black dotted scales under the lateral line. WRB

First determine if the lakes you fish have northern ( Kentucy) spots or Alabama spots, big difference in the size potential. Aviod the Kentucy spots as they rarely grow over 3 lbs., and target the bigger Alabama spots. Spots are very similar to smallmouth bass and like the same type of water, deep with granite rock, slides with broken rock and ledges with rock piles and isolated stumps. Forget about the shoreline, you will be fishing main lake deep outside structure. In the spring the spots follow the baitfish into the river arms, so look for inflows of running water occurring that draw schools of baitfish. Spots also are crawdad eaters and love smaller size spider jig; 3/8 oz. football (green) head with plan green Yamamoto twintail hula grub is a good choice. Iovino 6" straight #111 smallmouth killer worm, split the tail about 1" and rig on a 1/4 ozshaky head jig is also a good choice. Good luck. WRB note; there are some newer "triple" fish type 4" & 5" shad swimbaits and Huddlestons 6" swimbait is ideal for big spots under the right conditions; light wind to break up the surafce and early or late in the day when the shad are moving toward cover.

Please remove your pesonal information from your post and ask to be contacted via PM personal message. Do you know which tournament circuit, B.A.S.S. , FLW or whomever? You ask to be a non-boater or co-angler and sing up with tournament cooridnator or director. WRB

Don't get too hung up with the water clarity if that is normal for the pond or lake. You are used to fishing in drinking water reserviors where the water clarity is 10 to 25 feet, so 2 to 3 feet seems dingy to you. How deep can you see a white spinner bait dropped straight down by your feet on the tube? Remember the bass are totally conditioned to live in the off color water. You are either catching spawners next to the tules or bass hunting crawdads, bluegills or other baitfish. Find out what the bass are targeting, then use those colors and profile lures. Spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and crankbaits are a good tule edge lures, when the bass are active. Go to 10" to 12" worms for a big profile and creature baits when the bass are tight or in the cover. Get yourself a musky size black Jitter bug for night fishing and change the hooks to size 2/0 premium black nickel trebles. Good luck. WRB

Pale color bass normally indicates they were or are from deep water. Bass in off color water or stained water are usually dark color, not pale. Bass can also loose coloration during post spawn recuperation. Bass, like other predators can change coloration, in time, to help blend into the back ground. WRB

Bill Murphy's* 72+lb, 5 LMB limit from San Vincente back in the late 70" is the heaviest 5 bass limit in Califronia to the best of my knowledge. My PB 5 LMB limit is 69 lbs, Castaic lake, March 3rd, 1991; 11.3, 12.0, 13.2, 15.1, 17.4, reported in WON. The top 5 bass limit for a WON (Western Outdoor News), team tournament is 62+ lbs, lake Casitas, Dana Rosenberg and ? partner. WRB * Bill's book; In Pursuit of Giant Bass, has a chapter on this catch as I recall.

* Gene Gilliland article; http://www.State.tn.us/twra/fish/Reservoir/blackbass/livebass2.pdf WRB

The misconception in regards to delayed motality and survivabilty was well stated by the club tournament TD. This was also a common statement in regards to the Falcon tournament when B.A.S.S. stated 158 big bass died. Dead bass defore they are released isn't delayed mortality, those bass died during the event, not later after they were released. Consider that during the average summer tournament 28%* of the bass thought to be healthy died of delayed mortality. The bass looked good and swam away, then died. Most of these bass don't float on the surface, some do and are usaully eaten by birds or turtles before they can be detected by other fisherman. Most large reseviors can handle the harvest rates of both weekend fisherman catching bass for the table and tournament bass fisherman lost through delayed mortality. However during the pre spawn, spawn and post spawn months when big bass are grouped together and catchable, overharvesting or high motality rates can be very detrimantal to the bass population. WRB *study by Gene Gilliland, biologist OK.

The old rule was no longer than you can hold your breath is about right. Warm air and water temperatures, over 75 degrees, then no longer than 40 seconds before putting back in the water to refresh them. Here is some good bass handling information, go to the bottom of the webb site page and click on "additional information". http://www.sure-life.com/pro_catch_and_release.html When measuring a bass, use a wet towell to lay the bass on a flat surface. The simple way to determine the basses weight, if you don't have a scale is to measure it quickly with your fishing line; mouth closed measure tip of lower jaw to center of tail and cut the line to length. Then mesaure around the bass with the dorsal fin flattened at the widest area and cut that length of line, tie a overhand knot in the middle to indicate the girth measurement line piece and save the line. When you get home use a calculater with the following formula; L X L X G /1200 = weight in pounds. Length times length times girth divided by 1200 equals weight in pounds. Example; 20" length and 16" girth: 20 X 20 X 16 = 6,400 divided 1,200 = 5.33 lb bass. Same bass with 15" girth; 20 X 20 X 15 = 6,000 divided by 1,200 = 5.0 lb bass. Measure carefully and the formula will be very accurate. WRB

The tournament TD's should be handing out simple easy to read livewell operating instructions that you have developed. I'm sure the tournaments that you are directly involved with, the contestants have the needed information. Your Catch & Release product has been around a long time and is the best IMO, however Please Release Me and others are also being used in weekend and club tournaments. BASS should print the instructions in Bassmaster magazine for those who don't know that their livewells need some special care for the bass to survive in them. A lot of weekend bass fisherman catch bass all day long and copy the tournament pro's by filling the livewells with warm surface water and keeping the best 5 bass, then release them at the marina after showing off their catch. The bass appear to be OK as they swim away and about 1/3 may not make it during the summer months. The more information available, the better it is for our sport. You are doing a great job, thank you. WRB

Lane, the real problem is in the education of the tournament anglers. Most will argue that they achieve 100% survival rates and that is nearly impossible if any number of bass are caught. Few tournament anglers are familiar with their livewells and don't understand the basics; how many gallons of water doest it hold? You can't proplerly maintain the livewell without knowing that basic fact. What is the top end temperature the water can be in the livewell and still keep the bass from being over stressed? Most tournament anglers don't own a digital livewell thermometer or even have a simple swimmng pool thermometer to check the livewell water temperatures. Gene Gilliland suggests to keep the live well water below 70 degrees, the mid 60's(65 to 68) being ideal. Your C & R formula requires knowledge of the livewell capacity to properly mix the chemical. Nearly every tournament fisherman loads the livewell with water at the marina and they shouldn't do that. Clean water is essential. Education is a big part of catch and release and handling the bass properly. Thank you for all you have done in this regard. WRB

When you are fishing your home lakes you should know the weather patterns and listen to weather reports to determine if severe or light rain is predicted. Somwtimes we all get caught out in bad weather. Falling barometer a low pressure sytem moving onto an area will nearly always increase predator activity and bass feed by ambushing prey, taking advantage of low light conditions. I have caught my PB bass during light rain, it's the best chance to catch a bass of a lifetime. However use caution, safety first. Fishing on unfamilar water you need to be extra carefull. I was fishing up in Ontario Canada for musky with my in laws on Lake of the Woods, nice day cloudy conditions, light wind, when my father in law said we go to head for shore and cover now! I couldn't tell what the problem was and asked, he pointed to the clouds and said heavy hail is coming, see those green streaks in the clouds. We ran the boat to shore, covered up with a tarp and golf ball hail came pounding down. It helps to know the local weather signs. WRB

If the beds were dinner plste size and within a yard of each other, they were blue gill beds. Blue gill spawn after the LMB, about a month, or when the water temperatures are around 67 to 75. LMB beds are usually bigger, about 18 to 30 inches or so and spread out several yards apart and close to some type of cover on one side. WRB

Light showers to moderate rain without wind is a good time to fish. Only fools fish in a severe stormy weather. Cold rain with high gale force winds are about a bad as it gets, unless accompanied with lightning and hail, then it's horrible. Always put safety first. When you get a little older, wiser and a lot stiffer, you realize that it's not worth the risk to fish in storms. If you are out on the water, watch for the weather to change. If the wind changes direction 180 degrees without warning, take heed and head for barn quickly. WRB

Bass deeper than 40 feet in most lakes can't run up and jump because of their airbladders expanding too fast. If they do come up, some will, they can't get back down with line pressure being applied and tend to wallow around on the surface with little or no fight left in them. This has only happened to me once at Castaic. I metered a few big marks and dropped a structure spoon down, was bit set hook and the bass run straight up and jumped next to boat and stayed there while frantically reel line to catch up with the bass and simply lead the bass easily to boat. The bass was about 12 lbs and looked like a deep water rock codd with it's airbladder pushing put the stomach. During the winter cold water period I keep a 12 oz torpedo sinker tied on an outfit to lower bass back down into the depth of water they were hooked and just pull the sinker placed in the basses throat back out by lifting up the rod and retreiving the sinker...works better than fizzing IMO. WRB

Lane, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to try and answer some of the questions profesionally, without bias. Matt, the fact that this fish kill occured in Texas isn't the issue, it could of happened anywhere large bass of this magnitude were caught and that is the issue. The current tournament set up is 2 holding tanks for the fisherman to wait at before going onto the stage where the bass are weighed, displayed and photographed, the taken to 2 similar holding tanks, then bagged and released directly inot the lake at the marina site. This set up works well form tournaments where a few large bass, like 1 kicker in a limit of average 3 lb bass. Lakes like Amistad, Falcon, Clear Lake and the California delta can easily produce several limit where the bass average over 7 lbs with a kicker over 10 lbs. For big bass, the tournament organizations need to recognize thay need to handle these bass differently. The anglers should not try to hold the big bass in their small livewells for several hours, then weighin with the 4 tank system with immediate release. The big bass become over stressed when handled in this manner and that leads to delayed high motality rates. As far as accurate predictions are concerned, all the tournament organization needs to know is the lake and seasonal period to predict in advance that big bass may be caught, the exact numbers are not the issue. If you prepare in advance to handle big bass correctly and the big bass don't show up at the weighin's, the smaller bass will be handled better as a result. WRB

Bass jumping after they are hooked depends on several factors; 1. The depth they are initially hooked; 25 feet or less they usually try to shake off by making at least one jump or surface head shake. 30 feet or deeper they rarely jump. 2. Size of the lure and how they are hooked; larger lures like swimbaits that the bass has managed to engulf deeply usually keeps the bass down and fighting less agressively. Hooked anywhere near the eye socket really fires them up and they usually jump to escape the lure. 3. Big old bass not fighting hard? All the bass I have caught between 17 to 19 lbs are big and old, they jumped completely out of the water at least once. WRB

The people who predicted that 30 to 40 pound daily sacks would be common were the pro's who pre fished the tournament and they knew, so did BASS. The Falcon tournament...Elite Series.. with 110 top pro's in the country would catch a lot of big bass during pre to post spawn. BASS was not prepared and should have been. This fish kill isn't the issue, Falcon lake allows gill netting for example on the Mexican side, the issue is BASS and how they handled this tournament. Now it's up to BASS to make the needed chsanges. WRB

There should be no issue fishing any artifical lure presentation. Gut hooking bass by professional fisherman is very rare. Yes, the statement was made, however ill stated IMO. The C-rigs used in the Falcon event had big over size soft plastic that even a big bass can't swallow down it's gullet that quickly. 1. You will never achieve 100% survival rates, the goal should be to keep the rate as low as possible. A bass can engulf any lure at any time and damage their gills and that can be fatal. 2. All professional bass tournaments, where money is awarded, should have oxygenator type DO generators with DO level monitors biult in the livewells. The livewells should also have water temperature controlled circulation systems, when the surface water exceeds 75 degrees. One large livewell with a removable partican should be used, not two smaller separate units. 3. Live boats with large 1,500 gallon holding tanks should be on site at every event. Anglers can call the live boat for a pick up, the pro's call if they determine they have a big bass to pick up. Tamper proof tag the bass with the pro's number for TV weighins. 4. Make the over stressed bass or dead bass penalty severe; 2 lbs or twice the weight of the dead or dieng bass. Kill a bass over 10 lbs and you loose the days total catch weight. If a live boat is available, it should be a no brainer to call for a pick. 5. Paper tournaments should not be determined by bass length, the girth also needs to be included. Use the formula; L X L X G /1200 = weight, is as accurate as the measurement validated. Just a note; I have caught hundreds of big bass over the years, several 50+ 5 bass limits. I do not use a livewell to hold my bass while fishing. I made up a 10 foot stringer from 300 lb marlin mono leader that has 2 stainlees steel safety lock clips, a stopper to keep the clips from sliding up the mono and a 1 pound sinker on the end. Where I fish we don't have gators to eat something hanging over the side of the boat, so that is not an issue. I simply clip on a big bass and lower over the side, then put it into the live well when moving. I have 2 stringers and can keep 4 big bass in the lake water while fishing for the 5th bass. Load them up into the livewell for short few minute ride back to the marina, if I want to have the weighed. Most of the time I release a big bass right away before leaving the area caught. If the pro's at Falcon had this type of stringer, it would have saved the day for them. WRB

The issues really isn't about the fish kill at lake Falcon, it's about the preception of B.A.S.S., the top organization in the bass tournament business mishandling tournament caught fish. B.A.S.S. has several professional biologist and a large support team that knows how to handle tournament caught bass correctly and they failed. We bass fisherman all suffer from that failure because we are a targeted group by the nut case PETA types out there, well organized with political power, that want sport fishing stopped. It is nearly impossible to have 100% survival rates, 2% to 3% delayed mortality is very good and would be about 20 to 30 dead bass, which is acceptable. 50% mortality rates will kill tournament fishing and hurts the sport of bass fishing for everyone and that is what is at stake here. B.A.S.S. can't afford to repeat the mistakes made at Falcon. In regards to a fishery being harmed by harvesting bass for food, big lakes with a good bass population can easily handle sport caught fish harvest. However Mexican lakes can legally be gill netted and commerical harvest of inland waters with gill nets will collaspe a healthy fishery quickly. The fish kill is a barometer of how well the tournament was run and that is the issue, it was run poorly. WRB

I don't want to down play the deep water stress issues in regads to this specific tournament, becuase it was a factor. Not becuase of a 30 foot depth change during pre spawn to post spawn on Falcon at the time this event was held. 35 feet of depth change is considered OK without airbladder expansion issues, if that is the total depth change. What can and does happen is the bass is down 50 feet and comes up to 30 to feed, then it get caught and brought up to the surface, a total of 50 feet and that is a major depth change. During pre spawn to post spawn most of the bass will be up in 30 feet or less of water, so not a big depth change issue. However it was reported that some of the bass were in 60 feet of water and those bass difinately needed to be handle with care, fizzed immediately and should have been held over night in holding tanks to be sure they were OK. Out west our big bass go down to the thermocline in most of our reservoirs, following the post spawn period. This average around 35 feet, so the bass are free to roam up towards the surface and return deeper. I believe the Texas bass are doing the same or very similar depth changes. During the cold water period our bass often go down 60 feet or more to find warmer water and we have problems with airbladder expansion during winter tournaments, with higher mortality rates. The big issue with the Falcon deep water bass was the water temperature change exceeded 10 degrees in the bass boats livewell circulating warm surface water verses the cooler deeper water the bass were acclaimated to. Thermoshock is another killer of bass due to the extreme stress it causes them. WRB

Contact; Lane or Tom Gergely; 800/846.6524 Sure-Life, makers of Catch & Release formula, supports the tournaments held on both Amistad, Falcon and work closely with BASS. Ray Scott, the retired BASS president is reportly extremely upset with ESPN's handling of the Falcon event, contact Ray or ask Bob Lusk on this board, he and Ray are supposed to be freinds. Most of the Pro's that pre fished Falcon predicted the high numbers of big bass that would be caught during this event. This was the first BASS event held on Falcon, to the best of my knowledge. The BASS report of the numbers of dead bass were the fish that died in the holding tanks, after the weighin, before they could be released. The number does not reflect delayed motality of the fish released from the holding tanks after the weighin or any culled bass released on the water during competition. The details will be known soon. WRB

The rule is bass move up with the water. The silt will kill the basses eggs and they should hold off spawning until the water clears up to about 2 to 3 feet of visibilty. I would fish the lower third to middle of he main lake major points with jigs and worms and move back into the creek arms and target secondary points and breaks. Try casting up on the bank and working down to 15 feet or so. Any clear running water comming into the creek arms would be good, like small ravines with running water. If the shad are working the shoreline, try a smaller spinnerbait or top water buzzer. Things change quickly, so don't worry about the off color water, it will settle down fast. You should be able to meter the pre spawners, if you don't see any marks around 15 feet or so on the points, then the bass are up tight in the newly flooded brush. WRB