RSM789

People forget that even though they may have been fishing the same lake for 20 years, the fish you caught then are no longer alive and the fish you are targeting now are (mostly) less than 4 years old. Every year, there are always brand new, young fish who haven't learned about your old lures.

"What’s that? Ah — Playoffs? Don’t talk about — playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game! Another game" Jim Mora

I am imagining this from the perspective of the baitfish you were trying to catch. There these baitfish are, swimming around, minding their own business, when all of a sudden this giant predator from above crashes into the water...

I made a similar rig by taking the front half of a jointed Jitterbug and tying a small crappie jig to the back (on about a 12" leader). I did it because that particular morning, the bass were swiping at the jitterbug, but not committing. In a couple hours, I caught 7 bass, all on the jig. It was a pain to cast (the lures tend to fly end over end), but I thought I had found the secret. The next week I didn't get a single strike on it...

I think Rick's version of your story would be even better - "So I was yelling at this Peeping Tom who was completely naked when all of a sudden, my fishing partner fell in the lake..."

In the A bucket of the B.A.S.S. fantasy fishing contest, I had Todd Faircloth. However, with the storm that hit the area and how cold it is going to be Friday & Saturday, I just changed it to Cliff Pace. It just seems to me to be shaping up like the 2013 tournament at Grand Lake. Pace has the knowledge & skill to win it and has basically spent the last 12 months focused on just this tournament, my only concern is how his lower body will hold up. Cold weather seems to really play a number on body parts that have healed from major injuries.

I'm fortunate because many of the bass in my home lake stay shallow in the summer all day long. My home lake is a man made "development" lake, the type of lake that was made specifically to build homes around in order to increase their value (like golf course communities). To keep the water manageable since it is very shallow, there is no incoming or outgoing streams and boat activity is electric only, the homeowners association added a bubbler system throughout the lake after it was built. At the entrance & back of each cove, there is an underwater bubbler that creates current & oxygen. What I have found is that during the summer mornings, the bass are cruising the shallows as you describe, but as the sun rises, rather than move deep, they stay shallow and just find shade in the form of docks or overhanging trees. The water temps are more moderate near the bubblers, they have structure, cover & food, they are happy as pigs in slop to stay shallow. In fact, during the hottest part of summer, those bubblers that are the strongest and are moving the most water have the highest concentration of fish nearby. In fact, the only time a majority of the bass are out deep is the 6 weeks or so of winter we have from December to February. I am assuming the main reason is food, for all of the sunfish disappear from the shallows and seem to be out deeper

I just bought 2 BPS worm binders and spent a few hours transferring all my soft plastics into them. So far so good, I like the way they allow you quick access to the worms without taking up too much room. I kind of wish the bags were a bit thicker so that I could put more bags of plastics in each binder page, but that might make the bags a bit too heavy to be manageable. It probably is best to keep them the way they are and then just buy another bag if you need more room.

Never from a boat or shore, but from a dock. Was fishing for catfish about a decade ago, had 4 lines out all with their spools open. Hooked a very active catfish who quickly crossed & tangled up in 2 of the other outfits. After I reel him in & release him, I started to reel in one of the other tangled rigs. When I realized I had to untangle the second rig first, I set down the first rig, forgetting to open the spool again. As I am focused on how to untangle rig 2 from the original, I hear a sliding sound on the dock. I look over and that first rod is being pulled toward the water by a fish. I take two steps & dive for the back of the rod, making a grab that would have made Mike Trout (pun intended) proud. Unfortunately, my momentum carried me off the dock into the water. I crash in head first, eventually standing up in 3 feet of water as my flip flops come floating to the surface. The fish that was pulling the rod was now gone, so I put the rod & my shoes back on the dock. I then hear a nearby fisherman in a boat yell out "Nice Save!!" as he laughed uncontrollably.

Yesterday, I made a cast with a 4" ringworm between 2 docks. There was a tap & when I set the hook, the bullet sinker & hook came flying out of the water sans the worm. I guessed it was a bluegill holding on to the tail of the worm. I grabbed a different rod with a wacky rigged, weightless senko and skipped it under one of the docks. Before it hit the bottom, I had a strike and this time stuck the hook set. As I get the 2 lb. bass next to the boat, he opens his mouth & spits out my ringworm. Greedy bass, willing to hit just about anything.

Continued warm weather here in southern California has warmed the water surface temps in my lake up to the upper 60's. My expectation of more active fish was correct with a good day of fishing yesterday, however all the fish caught were still caught on slower moving baits (Roboworms at cove entrances for the staging bass and wacky rigged senko's for those who have moved up shallow under or near docks). Didn't get a single bite on topwaters, crankbaits or other moving baits... Check that, I did have a hookup while using a lipless crankbait, as the picture below shows. Apparently the mollusks were on a faster moving bait pattern.

Trust me, doing what you can to avoid dropping an anchor on your foot is VERY useful information...

I dropped an anchor on my foot once & it hurt, so we should ban anchors. They are just way too dangerous. Who knows how many fish have been smashed against the bottom by an anchor coming down on them. You could really injure yourself if you swung an anchor around like a throwing hammer, there is no place in fishing for a dangerous item like that. All anchors should come with a complete list of warnings and possible injury's if used. The government should provide a caretaker for every anchor sold to make sure you don't get hurt trying to use the anchor. In fact, if the government worker is fat enough, we could use him as an anchor and save having to buy the heavy iron object. That is it, fat government workers should be on every boat, in the name of safety.

I remember reading (and am too lazy to try and find it again) an analysis of the odds of winning the Powerball lottery when buying 5 tickets (or some small amount like that). Statistically, there is no difference in the odds when you buy that number of tickets and when you buy no tickets. Bummer. We go to Vegas a couple of times a year, & often grab a bite to eat in the casino's café, where you can play keno as you eat. I know the odds of keno are horrible, but I enjoy messing with numbers, so I often will just play numbers to the side (not actually betting, just keeping track of what I would have won or lost). Something to do while waiting for the food. One of the things I like to track is how often the numbers split between the top 40 numbers & bottom 40 numbers. No matter how it begins, a majority of time the split will be 10/10 or 9/11, which in the payout is a loser. Well one time, I was pretending to play $5 a hand and betting the top/bottom. The first 3 drawings were true to form, losers. I was talking with my wife as the 4th drawing began and looked up at the board about 30 seconds or so after the numbers began to come out. The first 15 numbers had been drawn & all 15 were on the top. Number 16, on the top. 17 & 18 on top. I was totally flabbergasted, I wasn't sure if I was seeing what I was seeing. Number 19 was a bottom number and number 20 was a top number. 19 of the 20 numbers were in the 1-40 grouping, which has a payout of 5000 to 1. So I won a pretend $25,000. No one congratulated me. I don't do that stupid pretend gambling anymore...

All the bass in England died from problems relating to bad teeth...

I have a couple of different methods, depending on the size of the fish and where exactly he/she is hooked: Belly Lift - If you slide your hand under the belly of a bass & apply pressure on their belly with 1 finger, it often immobilizes them similar to a lip landing; Gill Lift - for small to medium fish, you can grab them by the top of the head, putting pressure on both gill plates; Lure Lift - I started doing this as a teenager when fishing deep diving crankbaits & it works if the bass is well hooked and much of the lure is outside of the fishes mouth. Just grab the lip of the crankbait & lift.

That drawdown has got to mess with the basses head. When it is cold & his metabolism slows down, all the food in the lake is now right in front of him, since the lake is only 5% of its normal pool. Then, when it warms up & he (she) starts to get hungry, all of the bait is now dispersed in an area 20 times the size that it was previously. I bet most of the bass in that lake commit suicide due to depression.

I avoid energy drinks, coffee, soda with caffeine. In addition to being diuretics and contributing to things like kidney stones, there is a withdrawal factor when you stop using them. No thanks. If I need something to jolt me up from being sleepy, I just turn on AC/DC's "Back In Black" or "Shook Me All Night Long".

Was visiting my sister in Texas & fishing a little river by their house. The bank is elevated about 12 feet up from the river & the water is clear, so you can see any fish swimming up the middle. A small (1 lb.) bass appears, so I cast a texas-rigged creature bait in front of it & watch as he picks it up. I set the hook (poorly) and have him hooked for about 5 seconds before he throws the hook. He swims quickly to the opposing bank, sits there for about 20 seconds and then begins swimming up the middle of the river again. Once more, I cast in front of him & he again hits the same bait that stuck him less than a minute earlier. When I released him, he gave up swimming up the river & went back from where he came.

"Cadillac, Cadillac" by Train https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCaxWE_Hitk

Don't listen to these naysayers, there are plenty of ways to guarantee a limit every time you go out: Fish the Bass Pro Shops aquarium. Loaded with fish, easy to find them and you always have access to any equipment or lure that you want; Use an electro shocker like the biologists do. When you catch a bass, don't unhook him. Bring him in the boat, release him, let him swim away & then reel him in again. Do this 5 times and you have your limit. Learn how to scuba dive & get proficient with a spear gun. Never leave the lake until you have caught your limit. If this means staying in your boat for 8 days in order to catch 5 fish, have at it - that is the price of success.

One question that I haven't heard answered on the subject - If you have had your kids vaccinated, why does it matter if the non vaccinated kids are in school with them? I realize the non-vaccinated kids can catch whatever disease is in question, but aren't the vaccinated kids safe from it? That was the whole reason for vaccinating them, to stop them from getting said diseases. In other words, if a non-vaccinated kid can catch a disease & pass it on to a vaccinated kid, exactly what are we vaccinating kids from? As an aside, the largest groups of people who don't vaccinate their kids are upper income who live on either coast. ironically, this is the same group who are the most vocal supporters of man caused global warming.

Yeah, had it happen to a friend of mine & myself. I felt a pickup on a jig, went to set the hook but nothing was there. At the same time, by buddy hooked up on a crankbait. I thought I snapped my line, I couldn't feel any weight no matter how much I reeled in. As my friend boated the bass, he says 'hey, there is a jig in there", talking about the bass's mouth. About that time, I finished reeling in, with my line leading to the same bass's mouth.

I believe the Arizona guys feel your pain. We were in Phoenix in August because apparently my wife believes Southern California isn't hot enough that time of the year. It is a different type of heat, less thick, but when you are in the 110's, being a dry heat doesn't really make much of a difference. When the low for the day is in the 90's, the sweat just pours off you even before sunrise.

Any chance the river is frozen over & the ice is stopping your lures from reaching the water...?