Fishing for Bass During the Spawn

The CatchFeed: 50 Top Photos from Catchbook, Field & Stream's New Social Fishing App

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:43:40 -0400

These 50 photos are our editors' picks for the best shots posted so far by users of our new Catchbook app!

About Catchbook Fishing Reports
Catchbook is a free social fishing app we built for the iPhone to help you share photos of your fish while recording the spots where you caught them. Check out more great fish photos from around the country (and start posting your own catches) by downloading the app from iTunes! Visit fieldandstream.com/catchbook for details on how the app works, and why it'll help you catch more fish.

Catchbook Photo Contest
We're giving away a Columbia PFG Blood and Guts™ Ball Cap, for the best photo posted each week (as chosen by our editors) from now until then end of July. At the end of each month we'll pick our favorite overall shot and run it in the magazine! Each monthly winner will also receive a Columbia Airgill Chill™ Long Sleeve (men) or Ultimate Chill™ Long Sleeve (women). Click here to learn how you can enter this contest. Click here for the official rules.

The Best F&S Online Record Fish Stories and Photos

Online Editors — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:57:23 -0400

Catchbook Contest: Photo of the Week!

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:41:44 -0400

Congratulations to Austin Bockwinkel, whose spring Iowa largemouth bass takes top prize in our weekly Catchbook Photo Contest! Austin gets a PFG Blood and Guts™ Ball Cap from Columbia, and also qualifies to win our monthly prize, a Columbia Airgill Chill™ Long Sleeve fishing shirt and his mug in the pages of our magazine. Click here to learn how you can enter this contest by. Click here for the official rules.

Catchbook is a new fishing app for the iPhone that automatically turns photos of fish you've caught into detailed fishing journal entries that show up on your map, then shares those entries exclusively with trusted friends. Our goal is to help you and your buddies learn more about the spots you fish. You can download the app from iTunes here.

Holy Mackerel: 2nd-Grader Hooks 68 lb. King Fish

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 02 May 2012 10:10:38 -0400

Andrew Quinn, a spirited Michigan second-grader who wrestles in the 77-pound weight class at his school, is no stranger to grappling with heavyweight foes.

But even Andrew almost met his match when he hooked this 5-foot king mackerel during a deep sea fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico in late March. At the end of a 30-minute fight, Andrew had just enough strength left to boat the giant king, which weighed 68 pounds, 3 ounces—a touch lighter than Andrew but 4 ounces heavier than the current Alabama state record.

The 50 Best Field & Stream Reader Photos from April 2012

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:25:49 -0400

Each month, Field & Stream editors review the hundreds of photos submitted by readers to our Trophy Room. If your photo is chosen to be printed in the Game Faces section of the magazine, you’ll win a Rapala Fish ‘N Fillet knife!

Submit your photos here!

Here are the other best reader photo collections from this year:

January 2012

February 2012

March 2012

Lean on Red for Wall-Worthy Largemouth Bass

Online Editors — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:05:34 -0400

Wall Size: Most anglers stricken with bass fever agree they can die happy having caught at least one fish weighing 10 pounds or more. For the most part, genetics and a good forage base play the most vital roles in growing bass this size. There are certainly many big lakes in North America that produce 10-plus-pounders frequently. Yet, what also makes this trophy so appealing is that, unlike any other of these six species, there is the possibility your 10-pounder is lurking in a small farm pond right up the street, having spent years outmuscling smaller fish to become top dog.

Special Case: A big late-night largemouth is a memorable trophy. One reliable tactic: Take a buzzbait to the lake in the middle of the night. Cast. Retrieve. Listen for the lure’s gurgle to be interrupted by a bass crushing it on the surface in the pitch dark. If that bass weighs 5 pounds or more, you’ve got one heck of a nighttime catch.

Trophy Towns:

✖ Guntersville, Ala. The largest man-made impoundment in Alabama, Lake Guntersville is rife with aquatic vegetation, shallow flats, and creeks that provide excellent spawning habitat for trophy bucketmouths.
✖ Oak View, Calif. Every year, California stocks Lake Casitas with thousands of pounds of trout. It is this high-protein, high-fat forage that lets Casitas bass reach epic weights.
✖ Mazatlan, Mexico Mazatlan is where you’d land before driving north to El Salto—a lake in the Mexican sierra loaded with double-digit largemouths that dine on jumbo tilapia.

The Guide: James Caldemeyer

Home Waters: When Caldemeyer isn’t on the road fishing the FLW tour, he’s on Lake Fork in Texas. A guide since 2004, Caldemeyer has led clients to more than 50 bass that hit or broke the 10-pound mark. It’s not surprising, considering Lake Fork has been well groomed to produce lunker largemouths. The Florida-strain bass introduced in the 1980s have a genetic makeup that allows them to get beefy, and the strict enforcement of a no-kill rule placed on bass 16 to 24 inches has helped them flourish. Lake Fork also supports multiple shad species and has a wide and expansive array of hawg-hiding hydrilla beds and standing timber.

Trophy Hunting: “I’ve always been a big fan of early spring for really big bass,” says Caldemeyer. “It also helps that the females will be at their peak weight during the prespawn.” In late February and into March, Caldemeyer goes on the hunt when the water temperature reaches the mid 50s. He’ll often find the big girls in water between 2 and 8 feet deep, nestled down in the hydrilla. The grass flats are a prespawn staging area, and a shallow, weedy spot close to a dropoff or deeper channel edge is ideal.

Top Lure: Before bass make beds, Caldemeyer is stuck on one lure color: red. “Females crave crawfish during the prespawn,” he says. “They need the iodine in their diet because it helps with egg development.” Caldemeyer relies on a 3⁄4-ounce red Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap to mimic the mineral-rich crustacean. “I’ll just work this bait over the top of the grass, and the bass will rise up to eat it. Ripping the Trap off the grass works well, too. When it gets hung, jerk hard. The bass will strike as it pulls free.”

Top Bait: Caldemeyer is strictly a user of artificials, but if you want to tempt a Lake Fork trophy on live bait, he says a water dog is the way to go. These 4- to 8-inch salamanders are available in bait shops around Lake Fork and should be hooked through the top jaw and out of one nostril. (Check your local regulations before using water dogs as bait.) Naturally, the bigger the dog, the more enticing it will be to big largemouths. The salamanders are most frequently fished weightless under a float, Caldemeyer notes. Toss one over the hydrilla during the prespawn—big females hate water dogs because they raid beds—and hang on.

From the April issue of Field and Stream magazine.

Lean on Red for Wall-Worthy Largemouth Bass

Online Editors — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:05:34 -0400

The Guide: James Caldemeyer

From the April issue of Field and Stream magazine.

Catchbook Contest: Photo of the Week!

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:21:10 -0400

Congratulations to Connor Brazell, who's early-season pike photo takes top prize in our weekly Catchbook Photo Contest! Connor gets a PFG Blood and Guts™ Ball Cap from Columbia, and also qualifies to win our monthly prize, a Columbia Airgill Chill™ Long Sleeve fishing shirt and his mug in the pages of our magazine. Click here to learn how you can enter this contest by. Click here for the official rules.

Tips from a Bass Pro: Work a Rattle Bait Fast for Coldwater Bass

Sarah Smith — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:08:20 -0400

The rule of thumb for prespawn, coldwater bass is to fish slow. But like every other rule, this one is made to be broken, and bass pro Kevin VanDam does so with a lipless rattling crankbait.

VanDam concentrates on points and submerged grassbeds, as well as 45-degree banks and flats adjacent to creek-channel bends. Early in the season, he’s a big fan of crayfish patterns, particularly those that are bright orange-and-red in stained water and green-and-brown in clear water. VanDam prefers to fish a lipless rattling crankbait in one of those color combinations at a fast clip.

According to VanDam, Strike King’s 1⁄2-ounce Diamond Shad runs deeper than other lipless rattlers, which is an advantage in cold water during the prespawn. With 8-pound monofilament, he’s able to run his unmodified lure down about 7 feet. Rather than using a deliberate stop-and-go retrieve, which many anglers employ now, VanDam keeps the nose of his bait quickly tap-dancing over the bottom.

The faster retrieve covers more water, he points out, increasing the odds of running the rattler through the strike zone of a bass. In the cold water, VanDam notes that the fish’s strike zone is going to be significantly smaller. “If you get the lure in its face, the bass just has to bite,” says VanDam. “It can’t help itself.”

From the April 2012 issue of Field & Stream

Tips from a Bass Pro: Work a Rattle Bait Fast for Coldwater Bass

Sarah Smith — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:08:20 -0400

The rule of thumb for prespawn, coldwater bass is to fish slow. But like every other rule, this one is made to be broken, and bass pro Kevin VanDam does so with a lipless rattling crankbait.

From the April 2012 issue of Field & Stream