bass fishing

The Most Unique, Innovative and Strange New Tackle from ICAST 2010

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:41:30 -0400

Trip Report: Smallmouth on Pennsylvania's Upper Susquehanna River

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:36:35 -0400

Gear Test: New GPS Systems for Bass Fishing

fieldandstream-editor — Tue, 30 May 2006 16:00:00 -0400

Have you ever wondered if you're fishing in the wrong spot? Then you know why GPS maps are such hot items with today's pros. These electronic marvels use detailed contour lake maps to tell you exactly where you are in relation to the structure you're fishing-and even to the fish you're after.

Many GPS maps also function as LCG depthfinders. Using both, you can pinpoint biting fish or productive structure, mark that location as a waypoint, and come back to it anytime. Here's what to look for:

DISPLAY: Color is far superior to black-and-white because it clearly differentiates land, water, contour lines, and other features. Get color, even if it means buying a smaller unit.

SIZE: This is the single most influential factor in price. Though significantly more expensive, a bigger display is better because it's easier to read. Go as big as you can afford to.

RESOLUTION: Most makers list the number of vertical and horizontal pixels. But the true measure of sharpness is pixels per square inch. Good resolution is most critical on small units.

MAPS: Some models have built-in contour lake maps, but most need plug-in map cards or downloadable maps, sold separately. All of the units here will help you catch more fish.

TIP: Click on an image below to enlarge it

Navman Tracker 5380
(800-628-4487; navman.com)
DISPLAY SIZE: 3.8 inches
PIXELS: 320V x 240H (about 10,500 per square inch)
BUILT-IN DEPTHFINDER: No
COMPATIBLE MAP SOURCE: C-Map
PRICE: $400
COMMENTS: This full-featured unit needs little space and has a great price for color. The display is small but very sharp and functional. It's a good, affordable choice if you already have a depthfinder.

Humminbird 595C
(800-633-1468; humminbird.com)
DISPLAY SIZE: 5 inches
PIXELS: 320V x 240H (about 6,100 per square inch) BUILT-IN DEPTHFINDER: Yes
COMPATIBLE MAP SOURCE: Navionics
PRICE: $550
COMMENTS: This compact, combination GPS map and LCG depthfinder has a unique quick-mounting system that'll save you fishing time. The transducer comes with a temperature probe.

Eagle FishElite 642c IGPS
(800-324-1354; www.eaglegps.com)
DISPLAY SIZE: 5 inches
PIXELS: 640V x 480H (about 25,000 per square inch)
BUILT-IN DEPTHFINDER: Yes
COMPATIBLE MAP SOURCES: Lowrance FreedomMap, Fishing Hot Spots Elite, LakeMaster Pro Maps, NauticPat USA, Navionics
PRICE: $600
COMMENTS: Six color modes let you adapt to light conditions. A surface temperature gauge is included.

Raymarine RC435i GPS Chartplotter
(800-539-5539; raymarine.com)
DISPLAY SIZE: 6 inches
PIXELS: 320V x 240H (about 4,250 per square inch)
BUILT-IN DEPTHFINDER: No
COMPATIBLE MAP SOURCE: Navionics
PRICE: $1,055
COMMENTS: "Point and shoot" navigation lets you click on any waypoinnt, and the unit will direct you to it. A SmartRoute feature automatically builds routes and waypoints from previous tracks.

Lowrance LCX-26C HD
(800-324-1356; lowrance.com)
DISPLAY SIZE: 7 inches
PIXELS: 480V x 640H (about 15,000 per square inch)
BUILT-IN DEPTHFINDER: Yes
COMPATIBLE MAP SOURCE: Lowrance FreedomMap, Fishing Hot Spots Elite, LakeMaster Pro Maps, NauticPat USA, Navionics
PRICE: $1,650
COMMENTS: The 20GB hard drive is loaded with charts of U.S. coastal areas and over 2,100 inland waters.

Garmin GPSMAP 3210
(800-800-1020; garmin.com)
DISPLAY SIZE: 10.4 inches
PIXELS: 640V x 480H (about 5,900 per square inch)
BUILT-IN DEPTHFINDER: No
COMPATIBLE MAP SOURCE: Garmin Inland Lakes
PRICE: $2,667
COMMENTS: The large color display is easy to read, even in direct sunlight. The unit has extremely fast redraw and response rates and is available with numerous optional features.

An Expert Guide to the Latest Techniques in Bass Fishing

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 19 May 2006 13:00:00 -0400

New Photo Gallery: Giant bass from California's Dixon Lake

fieldandstream-editor — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 11:25:00 -0400

New Photo Gallery: 19 giant bass from California's Dixon Lake

fieldandstream-editor — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 05:20:00 -0400

Dixon Lake, California--There are lots of reasons why this relatively small water supply reservoir has produced 4 of the top 15 largest bass of all time, including Mac Weakley's recent 25-pound leviathan. According to rangers who work there:

1: The lake has an exploding population of bluegills.

2: The City of Escondido dumps monthly helpings of 3,600 snack-sized rainbow trout into it from November through May.

3: And each spring hatches of ducklings and cootlings provide a high-protein feast for big bucketmouths.

All this equals one hot bass fishery, as the following gallery of monster Dixon largemouth photographs proves. Thanks to the Lake Dixon ranger station (www.dixonlake.com) for the pics.

Click here to view the photos

Big Bass Tip: How to work a bald spot

fieldandstream-editor — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 04:15:00 -0500

Only a bass fisherman would welcome finding a bald spot. That's because it can lead to very good fishing on a reservoir in the spring.

Bald spots form when the grass on an underwater hump is exposed during the winter drawdown. That vegetation dies, and when the water rises again in spring, it submerges a bare-topped hump, usually about 5 to 10 feet deep and surrounded by thick grass. The resulting edge cover concentrates bass in a place that's fairly easy to find and even easier to fish. Here's how:

Find the Spot
Search for contour changes with a depthfinder or by dragging a Carolina-rigged lizard along the bottom. Submergent grass is generally a foot or two high in spring, and you can easily feel the difference between a grassy bottom and a hard bald spot with the lure.

Get the Edge
Bass relate to the grass edge that rims a bald spot and especially to any points, pockets, or other irregularities there, where they can ambush prey.

Merry-Go-Round
Cast a Carolina-rigged lizard or a shallow-running crankbait into the bald spot and work the lure over and along the edge of the grass. Fish all the way around the hump in a circle, and keep circling as long as the bass continue to bite.

Back Off
Don't crowd a bald spot, or the bass will ignore your lure. Instead, position the boat about 30 feet from the grassy edge.

Gear Review: The New Spin on Baits

fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 04:15:00 -0500

This month, four largemouth anglers fished spinnerbaits on their home waters. All were white with 3/8-ounce heads and Colorado-willow blade configurations. Panelists assessed the lures for hook sharpness, wire quality, balance, durability, and value.

Click an image to enlarge

Outdoor Innovations T-1 Terminator ($7)
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (Best of the Test)
The Lowdown: Tough titanium wire is at the core of this bait. The head is chrome colored, and the lower willow blade has a beveled edge. A Sampo swivel and a supersharp Mustad Ultra Point hook finish the bait, with an extra blue-and-black skirt for those days when you're looking for a change of dress.

Three of the testers agreed that the bait was nearly indestructible and ran true under most conditions. Some noted muted vibration, but only Mike Harris thought it was an issue.
Hits: "The bait always ran true at all speeds. It's very easy to fish," says Matt Newman.
Misses: "The chrome plating and head were just not durable," says Mike Harris.
Contact: 800-944-4766; terminatorlures.com

Strike King Premier Elite Bleeding Bait ($7.20)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The Lowdown: It's all about the blood trail with Strike King's red wire and hook visuals. The head is three-dimensionally sculpted and features a red-and-black eye. The skirt is springy and ribbed to excite largemouths.

There was unanimous agreement that the painted bleeding bait hook required sharpening out of the package. John Higgins was convinced that the extra paint reduced the lure's vibration. That said, there was strong support for Strike King's dependable design.
Hits: "After catching numerous fish, the bait always ran true and the wire never bent," says Matt Newman.
Misses: "The lower Colorado blade kept getting hung up on the line," says Bill Martin.
Contact: 901-853-1455; strikeking.com

McGuinness Fishing Leverage ($7.29)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
The Lowdown: The most innovative bait in our test was the Leverage spinnerbait. Its wire-wrapped flexible hook is designed to keep a bass tethered no matter how hard the fish runs and jumps. To keep it from rolling over when it hits rocks and logs, the head has a slightly exaggerated flat outside surface. The Leverage features sturdy hardware, nicely polished blades, and an extraordinarily sharp hook.

This spinnerbait scored well in the innovation category, though only Bill Martin scored it favorably overall. Most of the panel was uncomfortable with the wire hook system and the fragile paint job on the head.
Hits: "Good balance. Hangs on to fish like a vise," says Bill Martin.
Misses: "The flex wire hook had to be continually straightened when it banged off rocks," says John Higgins.
Contact: 706-227-2248; bassbait.com

Booyahh Bait Double Blade ($4.70)
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
The Lowdown: Designed with a light .035-gauge wire for stronger fish-attracting vibration, the Booyah has a wide head with a large red-and-black eye. The manufacturer says the blades are "jeweler's grade" (we think that means real shiny), and the hooks are Mustad's sharp Ultra Points. The thick skirt includes 55 strands, in case you were counting. Due to the light-gauge wire, the members of the panel agreed that durability was the primary issue with the Booyah. Higgins, Newman, and Harris all loved the way the bait vibrated in the water, yet everyone agreed that it needed tuning much more frequently than the others.
Hits: "The best vibration of the four. I caught my biggest bass on the Booyah," says Matt Newman.
Misses: "It has a very sharp Mustad hook, but it's a pretty vanilla bait," says Mike Harris.
Contact: 479-782-8971; www.booyahbaits.com

How To: Catch Bass on a Crankbait

fieldandstream-editor — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 04:15:00 -0500

When water temperatures range from about 40 to 55 degrees, bass will snatch a speeding shallow-running crankbait, yet ignore just about anything else retrieved at the same pace. These crankbaits let you quickly probe lots of water to locate largemouths that have moved from deep winter haunts to shallow prespawn staging cover, including submerged wood, rocky banks, and early-season grassbeds. This illustrated guide tells you how to choose the right shallow-running crankbait for each type of cover and how to make it irresistible to the spring lunkers lurking there. All you have to do is follow the instructions and keep the net handy.

Knock On Wood
Shallow wood cover, especially if it's close to the deeper water of a creek channel or other dropoff, is a prime place to find feasting prespawn bass. Tie a fat-bodied craw-colored crank to 17- to 20-pound-test line and cast it to logs, stumps, and cypress knees. Run the crankbait along the length of downed trees, bumping it into limbs, branches, and roots. Be ready for a strike when the lure ricochets off the cover. If your crank hangs up, lower your rod to put some slack in the line; the lure should float toward the surface. Bass may need a little extra coaxing at this time of year, so make repeated casts to a promising piece of cover, particularly on its sunny side.

Crank The Rocks
Prespawn bass commonly stack up along natural rock or riprap banks. To catch them, position your boat over 8 to 10 feet of water along a rocky shore and cast a shallow-running crank with a wide, rounded bill at a 45-degree angle toward shore so it lands within inches of the bank. Then retrieve the bait at a slow to medium clip. Be sure to bounce it off the rocks and work it all the way back to the boat. The bass may hit anywhere from 3 to 10 feet deep.

Rake The Grass
Concentrate on grass in the deeper ends of reservoirs where clearer, stabler water conditions tend to keep bass biting this month. Use a depthfinder to locate submerged vegetation in the lower reaches of creek arms. Work the edges of the weedbeds, as well as the stretches of thinner grass extending from them. The border between new green grass and dead grass can also be very productive; identify such spots by purposely snagging some growth with your bait so that you can inspect it. Target vegetation that tops out between 4 and 7 feet beneath the surface. Work a slim-bodied crank deep enough to tick the grass, ripping the lure through to spark strikes.

Exclusive Report: Why Clausen Won

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 04:05:00 -0500

Note: Make sure to keep an eye on Field & Stream magazine for an in-depth look at Clausen's Classic win

On February 15, nine days before the 2006 Citgo Bassmaster Classic (the self-described "Super Bowl of competitive fishing"), I waited at a remote boat ramp on the eastern bank of Florida's Lake Kissimmee. I had taken a red-eye flight from Denver the night before so I could rendezvous with the young bass pro now zooming his boat across the lake in my direction.

My story angle was straightforward: I would tag along during the second day of the Classic's open practice session, peek over his shoulder, ask a few questions, and maybe land a few printable insights as to how a pro from the other side of America scouts the "money spots" in bass water before a big tournament.

That angler was Luke Clausen.

I had no way of knowing at the time that I would spend the day floating through the very areas, and watching Clausen work the very same technique, that would win him the whole enchilada (including a $500,000 payday). I'm not sure he imagined that either.

But the signs were all there.

For starters, I was immediately struck by how loose and relaxed he seemed. While many competitive anglers are notoriously guarded with their information, and understandably nervous before the showcase event on the B.A.S.S. tour, Clausen was an open book from the onset. Maybe he didn't think he had a chance. Not many of the bass pundits did. He said he was glad to trade his insights for some magazine exposure. Then again, maybe he though he had the thing in the bag.

After all, chilly weather and finicky fish had many of the other 50 competitors collectively groaning about the first day of practice being a waste of time. But Luke was smiling, saying he had found a decent bite earlier that morning and that all the negative buzz wasn't affecting his outlook.

"I try to stay away from the dock talk," Clausen said. "Conditions change every day. You have to have tunnel vision, and develop your own instincts to adapt to what's happening."

The irony was that I had contacted Clausen on a hunch, knowing that the Spokane Valley, Washington, native came from the "western school" of bass angling, where sight fishing is a staple. Everyone had assumed that spawning bass would be up in the sunny shallows during the Classic. But the water was now windblown and dirty, hovering in the mid-50 degree range, and the sight fishing was poor. My hunch was apparently blown out of the water.

But Clausen was already on his Plan B.

He explained that the art of scouting a lake can be broken down logically:

First, you get a map, and get in tune with the water. For the Classic, the competitors would have four lakes comprising 107 square miles to choose from. History, Clausen said, had dictated to him it was worth focusing on Lake Kissimmee, which has a record of producing the most big fish in past tournaments
Second, you get in tune with the season. That will tell you where the bass might be. Clausen knew he was fishing around the spawning cycle, which means he was looking for bass in the shallows on their beds.
Third, you try to establish trends. At what depths do you catch the most fish? What types of cover do the fish like? Are they bunched in the hydrilla, the alligator grass, or maybe down around the pad roots?
Lastly, you chart the proximity of your "trend" places, and factor in what the wind might do. When you have several options close together, in a place that can produce no matter which direction the wind is blowing, you've found your "area."

By that second practice day, Clausen was already zoning in on his plan.

"I have a feeling that this Classic will be won on Lake Kissimmee," Clausen said, as he tied a bait to his line, "And I think something like this worm (a Junebug-colored Mann's HardNose Worm) will do well, especially if you fish pad roots and isolated weed patches, in, say, three to five feet of water. The worm is pretty much a do-all for fish on the bottom."

I watched Luke hook a few fish on that rig, nothing huge, but enough to set his mind at ease. We spent the rest of the day experimenting with a swim frog and flipping an Arkansas Beaver with a 1 1/2-ounce weight through the weed mats. He didn't have a hook in either bait, he was just looking for tugs. I watched his eyes go wide in one particular mat of alligator grass, when a huge fish played tug-o-war for about 10 seconds before letting go, earning a waypoint marker on Clausen's GPS.

Luke ultimately decided to stake his chances on an area in the southeastern region of Kissimmee. It was a wise choice for a young man, who, at 27, would become the youngest ever champion of the Classic.

Clausen would lead the tournament wire-to-wire. He gutted it out through deteriorating weather in the same general region all three days, using the same technique: slowly, deliberately working that dark worm in three to five feet of water, through isolated weed pads, focusing on pad roots. His total weight for the three days of competition, 56 lb.-2oz., was an event record.

I got a follow-up call from Luke two days after the Classic. He was on the same even keel. After all, Clausen has now fished in two $500,000 winner's purse events, including the 2004 FLW championship, and won them both.

"Apparently I'm not focusing hard enough on some of the smaller events," he joked.

According to Luke, scouting the water is a critical factor for casual anglers as well as the world's elite.

"The pre-fishing played a huge role in winning the Classic," he said. That big first day (29 lbs.-6oz., a one day Classic record) proved to be the margin I needed to stay ahead, and I was comfortable with my area enough Â¿Â¿Â¿ I had so many good bites there Â¿Â¿Â¿ it was worth going back to all three days."