king fisher

Wow. What a picture. I'm in love already.

May is the best time for fishing but it is starting to get hot. The water is low, and the bass are concentrated. Weather is perfect Nov. thru April. October can still be a little hot weather wise, but the fishing can be even better than in May, ask AJ he has crushed them in October. The lodges all close for the rainy season, and the bass don't see any lures until they reopen in October. The biggest bass are usually pre spawn in January. Really any time is good. You can look at old reports on lodge websites, and see what time of year the fishing fits your style.

If a 7 inch Senko on a 3/8 oz jig can be considered a Ned, than lots of DD caught on Neds here.

If you truly want to get over your addiction, come bass fish in Mexico. Mexican bass lakes, are like Rehab for Ned fisherman.

The reports I have are the lake is still fishing well, not as many DD as in past years, but still the best lake in Mexico to consistently catch 5- 8 pound bass with a chance at one over 10.

I sure wish the bass fishing in Mexico was as good as it is in Maine. That is an incredible day anywhere, any time.

I have been fortunate enough to fish a variety of places, for many species of sport fish. Most of the places I have fished, have gotten tougher, but fortunately a few have improved. In Alaska, King salmon have steadily gone down hill for many years now and no where near the spectacular fishing I had 35 years ago, when I went there to experience the wilderness. I was lucky enough to fish the best rivers, during a time of record high runs for Kings, and I don't think those runs will be like that again in my life time. Silver salmon have improved in some places, and declined in others, but in general the populations and a persons ability to catch them has stayed the same. Sockeye salmon have had a significant increase in the past few years, which in turn has improved fishing for trout, and other freshwater species, as well as provided a living for many people in a thriving commercial fishing industry. Halibut are in decline, both in general population, as well as the ability for sport fisherman to catch them. The decline and improvement of many species in Alaska is complex, and many factors, including increased sportfishing are responsible. Big Game fishing off the west coast of Mexico, while still incredible is drastically worse than when I first started fishing there 18 years ago. Again many contributing factors, and unfortunately no foreseeable answers to the problem. I have not bass fished in Mexico long enough to provide an accurate assessment of weather or not the fishing is better or worse. My old favorite lake is not anywhere near as good as it was three years ago for DD. bass. The reason for the decline is partially my fault for not being good at keeping a secret. The bass may still be there, but if they are they have advanced from a first grade education level to a college degree in a few short years, and again like Alaska King fishing, I feel very fortunate to have been in right place at the right time. My new favorite lake is on fire, and once again I am having a hard time keeping my mouth shut. I guess I have always been a slow learner. The bright spot in my life as a fisherman has been the great improvement of the fisheries in Eastern WA where I grew up. The few lakes and rivers around my home town have improved 100 percent from when I was a kid. Because of heavy agricultural run off two of the rivers near my child hood home, didn't have anything but suckers, and carp when I was young. Now they both have great small mouth bass fishing, as well as rainbow and brown trout. A couple of the lakes that had some bass, are now incredible bass fisheries, as well as good trout fisheries. Fishing pressure is about the same as it was 45 years ago, so needless to say someday I want to move back. The reason for the increased number of fish is better farming practices partially credited to the federal CRP program. This combined with a decrease in population translating to less fisherman, has made right now the good old days of fishing and hunting in this small part of WA. After reading the comments here, I have to come to the conclusion, that in general fishing is still good, but on the decline in most parts of the US, with more angling pressure being one of the biggest contributing factors. I am grateful to have experienced fantastic fishing, at peak times in numerous fisheries. I also am grateful that I am able to fish in a place now where I can explore virtually untouched bass fishing. Most of all I appreciate the fact that there a few places that are actually have much better fishing than they did 50 years ago. The fact that some places are much better than they once were gives me hope that many more fisheries will not only thrive but actually become better in time. Even if fishing does get tougher, I have and will still fish. The challenge is what makes me pick up a rod every chance I get. If one year catching 20 bass is an incredible day, and a few years later catching five bass gives me bragging rights, I will still be out there working as hard as ever to catch the most and biggest bass in the lake, and I will still be looking for that magic lure, that will make it look easy.

I agree. The water inside the waders is not any heavier than the water outside the waders. You will not sink when you waders fill with water. Pulling yourself back in a boat can be difficult with waders full of water, but floating down the river they do not pull you down. I have filled my waders dozens of times while wading rivers, in both cold and semi warm water. The only time I almost drown, was the time I was duck hunting, and put a tight belt around my waste in order to keep water out if I fell in. After all that is what everyone recommends. I slipped on a rock in an Alberta river with ice all the way across the river below the riffle I had my decoys in. Air got trapped in the lower part of my waders causing my feet to float, making it impossible for me to get my feet back under me. The water was only a couple feet deep, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not stand up. I was able to dog paddle, and pull myself to shore before drifting into the frozen over deep pool below me. That was the last time I put a belt around my waste wearing waders.

Gold is a good color for any species of game fish, in any water that I have fished. It may not always be the best color, but it is never the worst, not to bright, not to subtle, never hurts to give it a try.

The fastest boat I ever saw was a canoe when I was 15 years old. My friend and I were fishing a remote local lake. He had me drop him off on the shore to fish a favorite spot of ours. I started paddling away, when he made his first cast. He hooked the biggest bass either of us had ever seen. He yelled, the fish jumped, I immediately changed directions, and headed directly for that shore. The bass jumped again, and the hook came out. We will never know how big that bass was, but I do know I set a world record for 20 yards travelled on water.

The lake I fished a couple weeks ago, is loaded with gill nets, and there is a guy who dives, and spears DD bass, but after reading how tough other anglers have it, I will never complain about nets, or spear guns. I am very luck to be able to fish where many of the bass live their whole life and the only spinnerbait they ever see is mine.

My worst backlash's usually occur the same way. I'm going down a bank, with a buzz bait. I have a light wind at my back, and lots of water to cover. I'm casting the bait a country mile with my new real, and feel like a pro. Of course I have to try and improve on my distance, so I start backing the break off. Now I am really zinging it. Every cast is on the very edge of disaster, but my confidence is going through the roof. I'm getting some big bites, and I am on top of the world. Then I hear a huge splash behind me. I'm sure it is the big bass I have been fishing for all day. As quick as a cat, I turn around, and fire the buzz bait straight in to the wind as hard as I possibly can. All of a sudden, the only resemblance to me and a pro is, I am a professional at picking out a backlash.

The Flatfish did not work well for bass, because it was made to fish slowly,( if you retrieve them normal crankbait speeds, they will simply roll on the surface) did not dive very deep, and were to light to cast with bait casting gear. Most people slowly troll Flat Fish, and most bass anglers don't troll very often. I caught many bass using one as a kid by putting split shot ahead of the lure, to aid in casting and to get the lure to run deeper. As far as other fish species, go, the Flatfish was and is one of the best lures ever made. It was even copied by a company called Quickfish, using the exact same size and color schemes with different names. Quickfish was then sold to Luhr Jensen, and Helen Flatfish was bought out by Wardens lures, now Yakima Bait the two have been fierce competitors for the Trout and Salmon market. Flatfish more popular trolling for trout, and Luhr Jensen Quickfish dominates the King Salmon market. They both have loyal followers, and many arguments over which is best, have gotten out of hand in Northwest bars. The Flatfish, has never been popular with bass fisherman, but neither has similar lures, like the original Lazy Ike, or Heddon Tadpolly. The Flatfish, is easily one of the top 10 lures of all time ,and they didn't sell that many because of an aggressive add campaign. They definitely will catch many species of sport fish, they simply don't work well chucking and winding with traditional bass tackle.

Back in the late 70's Fred Arbogast came out with a lure called the Bug-Eye. It was a medium diving crankbait with giant bug eyes, and a hula skirt. One of my favorite lures was an Arbogaster, which was a metal billed deep diving crankbait with a hula skirt. I was sure the Bug-Eye would be better because it had a modern plastic lip, and of course those giant eyes. Big add promotions in all the outdoor magazines. I removed the card that came in one of the adds, sent it in along with a couple dollars for my two Bugeyes, and a free sticker, or patch, can't remember which. My friend did the same and we waited a few weeks for the new great lure. One day I went to the post office to pick up the mail, and there was a slip in the box. I was sure it was my lure. The postmaster had the door locked to the room where people went to buy stamps and pick up packages. It was then I realized I was a few minuets late, and the post office was closed. It was a Friday, and I couldn't imagine waiting until Monday to get my new magic lure. I heard some noise in the back room of the post office and realized the post master was still there. I called out hoping she would hear me, and with a little luck give me my package. It worked, she came out of the back room with my package, and I asked her if she could also bring the one for my friend. She laughed and went back in and got his too. We couldn't talk either of our parents in to driving us to the lake, so we took our rods, and new lures to the little kids pool to give them a try and check out the action. The adult pool wasn't open for evening session until 7:00 PM, and I don't know if I could have lived down the ridicule from the older kids if I would have cast my lure in to the adult pool, The little kids pool was small only a foot or so deep, always open and most important ,no one was around. The action on the lures was horrible, basically zero wiggle. I still held out hope that the reason for the poor performance was the short cast and shallow water. When I went to the lake the next day I had to give up all hope. Both baits simply dove a couple feet, with zero side to side action. Because I had very few lures, and when I would loose one was forced to fish with what I had, I did continue to fish with the Bugeye from time to time. I did manage to catch a couple small bass on the lure , but I also caught a couple of bass on my Jitterbug with an egg sinker slid on the line ahead of the lure to make it run under the surface. Since that time I have bought many lures that didn't work out for me, but none have been as big of a disappointment as The Arbogast Bugeye. It is the only Arbogast lure I have ever owned that didn't become one of my favorite lures. I don't think my friend even took his second one out of the package. I wonder if he still has it.

I think in the case of large bass, the reason is simple, I start shaking enough for the both of us.

For the same reason, when flying, I always have a head wind, the big buck will stand out in the open just out of range, and when I was a kid, the walk to school was uphill both ways. No reason, it is just the way it is.

You are well prepared. My only suggestion is, bring your pass port, turn south, and don't stop when you get to the Mexico border.

WRB. To watch and learn jig fishing from the best.

If you bring the Bait Monkey, you can move in for as long as you like.

but can she catch fish with a spinnerbait? I have to wonder, if my wife started fishing, would the Bait Monkey be allowed back in the house?

I had lots of luck this past weekend with a Storm Arashi Cover Pop. Now the Bait Monkey wants me to fill a large box with poppers. I normally use other top water lures,( which I tried with zero success) and am very limited in my selection of poppers. I only had the storm popper because it was the only popper for sale at my local tackle shop. A big bass stole that popper and the shop doesn't have any fresh water poppers for sale anymore. My other poppers are a Pop R and a Hula Popper. Both work, but I was only having luck walking a popper, the Pop R was more difficult to walk, and the Hula popper will not walk for me at all. Casting distance is the other feature I am setting a premium on, with good hooks being a plus.

In the summer when I was a kid living in the country, I went down to the lake almost every day. I fished from a small dock at the boat launch. I would drool when a guy with a bass boat loaded with gear would launch their boat. Sometimes they would open one of their giant tackle boxes, and let me look at the lures inside. I always felt like I was looking at a box of diamonds. It wasn't long before I noticed they had all the gear I dreamed of, but didn't go fishing very often, and usually didn't catch as many fish as my friends and I did. We always referred to them as city anglers. I hate to admit it, but now I am a city angler. I have way more tackle than I need, and I have only been fishing 7 days this year. I wont be bass fishing more than a couple days this summer, and hope to get out for a weekend or two in the fall. I don't know why I let a little thing like work get in the way of my bass fishing, but I do. It's official, except for having a boat, I am exactly like the fishermen I dreamed to be.

It is the dry season here. The rain will start in a couple weeks. By July the lake will be full, and the shore line will be a tropical jungle. I am afraid if I dropped a big Mexico bass in a Maine lake, it would get deported. Thanks, how about a trade for Mexico bass fishing and Maine ice fishing.

I was able to go bass fishing again this weekend. Not the epic trip I had last weekend, but I did manage to get a couple nice bass. My first bass Friday was 25.5 inches, and the scale settled at 10 pounds even. I finished the day with 33 pounds for my best five. The big one was caught on a Storm Arashi Cover Pop, and the others were on a spinnerbait. The pattern had completely changed from last week even though the water temp. 75 degrees, water level, and weather were exactly the same and the same as every day the past couple months. Instead of being on the points and shelfs, they were back in the bays on wood. My big bass Saturday was 24.5 inches, and 8.2 pounds. I caught it on a Pop R. I lost my Storm popper on a giant that rapped me on a tree a few minuets before. I only had one of the lucky poppers, forcing me to switch to a Pop R. Nothing against the Pop R, but the bass wanted the popper walked. The Pop R is much more difficult to walk but was good enough for one eight, and a couple five pound bass. Saturday I couldn't buy a bite on anything other than a popper. I tried everything, but a popper was what they wanted. I was able to fish for half a day Sunday. Not a single bite on the popper, but landed a few around 5 pounds on a T rig, as well as lost a giant in a tree again. When I fish this lake, the difference from being a good day, and a once in a lifetime day can be one cast, and a tree limb. I had seen a big bass two days in a row, next to a lay down in a bay. I couldn't get her to bite both days, so I pulled the kayak on to the shore and climbed the bank, hoping to catch her from shore. I didn't see her, but threw a Mag, trick worm out past where I had spotted her the days before in 22 feet of water. She bit on the second cast, I set the hook, and now I was hooked to a 10 pound plus bass standing 30 feet up a steep bank, wondering what to do next. She jumped, then wrapped me on a tree that was in-between the bank, and the bass. I put the reel in free spool, and let her take line until I was almost out. I finally had to try and bring her back in. It only felt like one wrap on one limb, but I couldn't get to the Kayak, and I almost went swimming trying to get to the shore line. I was debating setting my rod on the ground with a big rock holding it, and getting my kayak, when the line snapped. I lost the bass and half a spool of line. I will think my plan through before I try a stunt like that again. All in all it was a great weekend. The picture of the 8 pound bass is blurred because I accidently splashed water on my phone while trying to take a picture.