The Capn

Definitely the hook set! And the best hook set happens when pitching a big jig on heavy tackle and you reel down and crack him...the rod loads up and for that split second the fish doesn't budge. Man, I can't wait for the ice to melt around here!

Hi Bill, and welcome! I'll be looking forward to hearing about Lake St.Clair. I've haven't been there yet, but it's definitely one I'm considering.

Hey, me too! I'm from IL (living in WI now), fishing my whole life, beautiful wife, daughter, tournaments, everything but military service - and for that I say thank you for your service and welcome to the forum!

It looks like several responses ahead of me have covered this, but it can't be emphasized enough. Learning a specific lure or technique is fairly low priority compared to understanding bass behavior, seasonal patterns, and the ever-changing environmental influences. It's easy to see how finding the perfect lure is the first thing that most people (myself included) focus on when they start bass fishing. But if all it took to consistently catch fish was knowing which lure to buy, then it really wouldn't be much of a sport. Don't get me wrong, I love to buy lures, and I have my own personal strengths and fishing style, but you can save yourself a lot of time, money and frustration by studying and understanding bass first. Personally, I have found no greater resource than the book, Knowing Bass by Keith A Jones, Ph.D. While it's true that Dr. Jones did most of his research for this book while employed by Pure Fishing, I have no doubt that he provides accurate, scientific, non-biased information. This book opened my eyes to how much misinformation is floating around out there, and improved my bass fishing success ratio forever. I have no affiliation to this book or Pure Fishing, but I would strongly recommend that you check it out. I know it's available at Amazon.com. I know this kind of plan is way less exciting than having me tell you that a green-pumpkin senko always works, but I promise you that you'll catch more fish, more consistently, by focusing on the fish.

If you're in western WI, then it's going to be hard to beat the Mississippi River. Almost any pool from Redwing down to pool 13 can be excellent. It seems like the further north you are, the better the smallies, and as you head south the LMBs take over. The sweet stretch from the Onalaska pool down to Prairie DuChein has about an equal chance for LMBs and SMBs. The diversity of habitat on the river (from wingdams in current to massive, shallow, backwater pad fields) means you can just about always figure out something that's working that day. And the average size is as good or better than anything else in WI. Most tournaments take 5 fish in the high-teens to win, and bags over 20 lbs are not uncommon. I know that I'll be on the river a good percent of my weekends this summer.

The hardest part for me has been (and will always be) understanding how bass react to the million-and-one possible combinations of conditions. The good news is that this is also what makes this pursuit so enjoyable. Every day is a new challenge.

While there are more that haunt me than I care to remember, the one that comes to mind first is a 4-5 lb. smallmouth. I've caught bigger smallies, but this was during a 2-day BFL tourney on the Mississippi River out of LaCrosse, WI. Practice hadn't gone especially well, but a couple hours into the first morning of the tournament I discovered a channel ledge that had a school of smallies on it. Throwing a Rat-L-Trap, I quickly boated a couple short fish and a couple nice keepers when the 4-pounder hit. The fish fought hard and jumped a couple times, but it was a pretty typical fight for a big SMB. My partner was ready with the net, but the fish made one more charge under the boat. He shook his head hard, and the hook popped free. I can't say I was happy, but I wasn't devastated because the action was pretty steady, so I figured I'd get plenty more chances. Of course, at this point the school disappeared. I worked the ledge with a variety of presentations with no more bites. I tried to find similar conditions elsewhere, but never got on the smallies again. So with 2 nice keepers in the boat, I changed gears and went looking for LMBs. With about an hour to go I discovered a thick, matted weed bed near deep water, loaded with good sized largemouth. I managed to get 2 of them into the boat before I ran out of time. While I had been able to put that lost smallmouth out of my mind for the day, on the ride to weigh-in I was sure wishing I had my 5-fish limit. At weigh-in I found that I had missed the day 2 cut by a little over a pound (with only 4 fish). With that fish, and the patterns I had figured out that day, I probably had a legitimate shot at that tournament. Yep...that one haunts me.

While my favorite bass lakes have 2 feet of ice on them, I thought I'd take the opportunity to get involved in this online community. I'm looking forward to learning from everyone and sharing what I know. I've been chasing bass (LMB and SMB) for all of my adult life. For the past several years I've spent the majority of my time on the natural lakes of northern WI, northern MN, and the "mighty" Mississippi river. I've belonged to several bass clubs, and love to fish every open and/or team tournament I can (fortunately, I have a very understanding wife!). Let's talk bass!