Randall

Being disapointed by the lack of the number of affordable hard swimbaits with good action that had the profile, size and action that resembled large shad. There weren't any I could find. I set out a couple months ago to make and design my own hard swimbait. Here is a video of the swimbait showing its swiming action that I made a couple of days ago. I really just made it in the begining for my own use but may decide to do something as far as selling the bait at a later time. http://media.putfile.com/swimbait-1

I like the Booyah Boogie other than the fact the blade tangles on one of every five casts. That just a lot of wasted time and casts for me. So I would go with a chatterbait or another knockoff.

Let me also add that the shallow water will warm first and bring more fish into the shallow water since the water is warmer. I think the final determining factor of where a bed will be is a combination of things like the fish feeling secure, the water being the right temp, the right type of bottom, the right amount of light etc. It just can't be one factor like heat or light that determines where the bed will be located.

I personally think the amount of light has more to do with it than heat. The water will need to be warm enough for the fish to spawn but some fish spawn in places with real clear water at depths that sunlight does little to warm that depth of water. I read somewhere in someones research that after just a few feet of water sunlight does very little to warm water or objects on the bottom since the rays that warm things are mostly already absorbed in the top layers of the water. So, with this in mind I have to say its not because of the warming powers of the sun.

If you saw one of these things they don't really provide any cover for the bass. They just give the bass something to relate to on the spot. Its more like a landmark for the fish. They work real well IMO because they provide something for the bass to relate to and because crankbaits deflect real well off of the pipes and cause reaction strikes from the bass holding there. But it sits on big fish structure already which is why the fish are there to begin with.

If you are going less than $20 that is hard to do with most of the better swimbaits. But, I throw the lower priced baits some and even have started to make my own hard swimbaits when I thought others were overpriced or not easy to get. The best baits out there for the money are the ABT Titan/Strike King Kong, Reaction Strike Bass Harasser, any Mattlures bait and the Storm Kickin Minnow. A couple of these are in the $25-$30 dollar range but well worth it. I was real impressed with the Kickin Minnow at $3 for the six inch model. They also make a ten inch model for around $5-$6. I really wished they made an eight inch model since it would be the perfect size for me. I also got the new Lake Fork Tackle swimbait a couple of days ago and was impressed with it. Its going to sell for $3 in the small size at Walmart.

Chris, there is a Tracker for sale on Lil'water Bassin (www.lilwaterbassin.com. ) site already rigged. It may be a better deal than either B&B or Bass Pro.

I haven't had a Side Winder but some baits like them with no bill often have one speed that seems to get them moving best. Try speeding it up and slowing it down. After it gets moving side to side then its easier to speed it up and slow it down since it keeps the action better.

Largemouth

Here is even a better example of what I am talking about. I saw this fish in person and it looked huge when I weighed it at 11lbs 14oz. Took the photo and it don't look like the same fish.

The problem with photos is that you cant judge a fish by a photo. I will believe the guy because it can't be proven otherwise. I caught this 13lb fish with two witnesses present when I weighed it. It was close to shape and size of that fish. It was long and solid but not much of a belly that most fish would have to have to get to 13lbs. Most people have never seen a young fish that is around 30 inches long that gets to that weight so most are going to say its a fake or he is lying about the weight. Fish come in all shapes and sizes even 13lb fish.

I think its a little of both. I think big bass occupy the best structure but not always the best cover if it pulls them off the best structure. The reason I think this is that the attractor these fish are in is small and not the heavy type of cover that would offer the best cover. If you were underwater you could easily see the fish in it. There is a brush pile actually a few trees(not far away) from where these fish are always caught that is huge but I always catch smaller fish there in the brush pile. This attractor is on an edge where it drops around eight feet straight down.

Anyone? Yes, no, maybe? Anyone at all? The tail wouldnt mean anything. Alot of tail damage this time of year is from parasitesaccording to a biologist i talked to about it. I caught a six pound male last year at Varner and was told that it would be the equilivent of a world record female. So a male getting that size would be a prety big stretch.

The PVC attractors are shaped like a sea urchin but with fewer spines.LOL. I dont have a photo but I saw Bill Dance marketing something like it one time. Its about three or four feet tall and maybe has ten 2inch pipes running together in the center. I am not sure what t weights it down but it has to be something in the pipes. Theres a guy who lives on the lake who put them out and told me where they were and I can tell when I hit them with a crankbait because they have a unique feel when compared to other things on the bottom of the lake like rocks and brush. They are great to run a crankbait through since you almost never hang in one.

Here she is again from yesterday. Doghouse took her back home and released her after taking a photo.

For those of you who havent seen the post yet my fishing buddy and tournament partner Doghouse caught a huge sack of fish yesterday that weighed 41lbs. Two tens, a couple eights and some more big ones. He called me and let me know he caught the three biggest right after he caught them. I asked where and he told me and it came as no surprise to me where since it was a big bass spot I first showed him around a year ago when I first met him as a client of my guide service. We soon became friends after that day and have been fishing together and sharing info on Varner for about a year now. The thing is he never would have had to tell me where he caught his biggest bass because I know that bass and can identify it by its markings. That bass has been caught by my friends, my clients, and myself multiple times and always in exactly the same place at the same time of year when its caught. Its also always been caught on the same bait. Even though its a huge fish over ten pounds its always been released to provide the thrill of catching it for the next person. Its been part of a twenty-eight pound sack, two thirty five pound sacks, a thirty eight pound sack, and now a forty one pound sack. It lives on one of the best spots in the lake. It has been taken two miles away and has found its way back home to a small PVC fish attractor sitting on the bottom. It lives with other big fish in the same spot. Up until now I never had two photos of the fish to match up to show others that catch and release of big fish works, and how big fish are predictable in where they live and what they do. The first photo is two of my friends with her the last time I saw her. They won a tournament with her last Feburary and released her two miles away from her home after the weigh in. I hadn't seen her again until yesterday when Doghouse posted the other photo. I thought I recognized the fish and got the photo out to compare. No doubt its the same fish. Just compare the lateral line markings.

Buzzbaitfool12 that fish will be back on the same spot and has already been caught a number of times by my friends and myself. Doghouse, I have identified your big fish as my pet fish that has made for a lot of good days for me and others in the past. I even have a photo that helps me identify her when I catch her. I am going to post two photos of her in a seperate post under General Bass Fishing. Thanks for turning her lose to catch another day.

Here's our buddys Dave and Chris last winter with your (My pet) fish. If you look real close at the lateral line markings etc. you can see its the same fish. I saw them catch it on exactly the same spot I took the photo at the ramp and it came back to the spot two miles away for you to catch it.

Here is your 10lb fish from yesterday.

Not only that but I have caught the same bass (your biggest one) multiple times on that spot. That same bass was caught and released last winter by two buddies after I had caught it multiple times and swam back across the lake around two miles to its home. I believe your other big fish has been caught by my clients and myself three other times but was hard to tell from my photos but I am 99% sure its the same fish. One other time I have caught both fish at the same time on that spot. I will post photos in another post proving this. You can tell by the markings and the fact that I know exactly where you caught it that its the same fish. Big bass are predictable!

You both now what you can do!!!! Great fish Adam. Just trying to keep you motavated.

Man I can't believe you went out to Varner in that cold just to catch a couple 10s for Fluke like that. ;DThat's what I call a good friend.

IMHO the Cavitron is the best buzzbait that can be bought off the shelf in a store. It has a lot of nice modifications already built in and is the only buzzbait I fish straight out of the pack. There is one buzzbait that is better though but not available at this time to the general public. ;D

I would personally call it aggression if the ten pounder were to start after the little fish forcing it from the area not the little fish trying to push the ten pounder off the spot. But if thats what you call it fine with me. As to what a big fish needs to sustain growth it would probably surprise you to know that out of one meal on average 15% goes to movement of the fish, 14% goes to digestion, 20% goes to waste, and 7% goes to metabolic process and the rest goes to growth. I got this info from a Ralph Manns article somewhere. More of a meal goes to growth than anything else. So all a fish has to do is eat to grow. Also, a big portion of fish have empty stomachs. Fish just don't have to eat as often or as much as most people think to grow. It can take as long as one week for a fish in 50 degree water to digest one meal. In fifty degree water they can eat one time and not eat for a week.

Doesn't sound contradictory to me. Think about how many times smaller bass were caught during this same time frame and how many were taken out of the lake while this one stayed living right off the end of a dock for years. Where it was tells me alot about that fish.