king fisher

That is the standard size Rage Bug on the right. What made me fish this craw, is I always tie on found lures as soon as I find them. Kind of a strange superstition. I have caught a couple 8 lbs. bass with the one on the left since finding it on a snag. It wont last for many more fish. Would be nice to if I could find a buy some more.

I found the craw on the left on a snag. It works great. Would like to find more like it. Any one have any idea who makes it? The other craw I use on the right is a rage bug.

This happens every year at a lake I fish. The rainy season comes and the lake level comes up 20 feet over night. Water turns to mud, and the fish head for the shallow ( 2 feet or less) flooded hay field. The first couple days of the flood the fishing is slow. My theory is they gorge themselves on drowning mice and such and it takes a couple days for the bass to get hungry again. The water stays muddy because the rains continue for 3 months. I catch most of my bass on buzz baits bumped against bushes in the flooded hay flat. If that doesn't work I toss 7 inch Senkos into the exact spots I have caught them on the buzz baits in the past. It is hard for me to slow down and fish the Senko, but it has caught me some large bass. The other two people that fish the lake, only throw frogs, because that is all they have. They catch big bass. Once the water starts to drop, it clears some and the bass instantly move to the grass edges, and actively chase bait. Buzz baits still work, but so do spinnerbaits, jigs, square bills, lipless cranks, and A rigs. The lake I fish has zero aquatic vegetation, so the bass only get to be around grass when it floods. When that happens it is like a kid in a candy store. After a few weeks the hay dies, and the bass leave even though the water is still high. Other than I think they will follow the rising water on any lake. The bass on your lake may act completely different. As others have said current is always good.

Go to a pet store. The tubing is used in aquariums.

Like my wife is always telling me I should listen before I talk. I see now that the question was about fishing at Big Bear, not hunting bears. I have never fished Big Bear, so the only sure fire lure I know of is Dynamite.

I know big rats work, and people catch monster bass with them, but they haven't worked for me. I bought a Spro Rat last year thinking it would be killer in the morning on the big bass I sometimes catch with top water. I have fished it every time I went out, and haven't caught a bass bigger than the rat. I have caught some nice fish waking a Manns 1 minus that cost $5. If I were you, I would try some less expensive wake baits on your water to see if that presentation is what the bass want, before buying an expensive rat, but if the Monkey is on your back, you don't have a choice, just go buy one, don't let him make you buy two.

Go to a local butcher and get cows heads to start, because the smell will bring them in. Once you have a few coming to the bait, go to local bakeries and get the old bread and pasties they throw away. Once bears are attracted to your bait pile, they will eat an enormous amount of bait. Old bread is free, and plentiful. Apples, peaches, and berries are great if you have access to fruit trees. Dog food works great if you don't want to take the time to find, and don't mind paying for bait. Burning honey can also work to bring them in from a distance. If legal a 50 gallon oil drum makes a perfect place to place bait. If you are bow hunting out of a tree stand put some tin around the base of the tree. That will make sure you don't have a bear spook and climb up the tree you are in. Make sure you read all regulations in your state regarding baiting bears. Some states have very strict regulations on dates, and what you can use for bait.

Because we had to fly to the states to get the shot, my wife an I opted to get the single dose J. and J. as soon as we could in May. I'm glad we did. Since getting the shot I have known 3 people that have died from Covid that were younger and in better health than me and many more who were older. Almost all of the Mexican workers and their families at the local marina where I work got Covid, one died, and many were very sick. One was a very fit man in his early forties that I hire as a deck hand once in awhile. He was on oxygen for 6 weeks and almost died. Three months later I hired him for a three day trip. I had to take him in to port after a day because he still couldn't handle the physicality of the job. My wife and I had zero side effects and have been Covid free. It is depressing to see families here wanting to get a shot, but not having them available even this late in the Pandemic.

Work takes up a large portion of your life. If you don't enjoy your work, than you don't enjoy most of your life. Find something you enjoy doing for work and do it. Money can't make you happy but being happy with your job can. Nothing like waking up in the morning and you can't wait to get to work. What ever you do for work, make sure you have plenty of time to fish, because as you age the time spent fishing doesn't count against you.

Hate to make you northern fisherman jealous, but late fall for me means buzz baits.

One of the best crankbaits ever made. As others have said the only negative is the hooks tangle. Get new hooks and throw them in rocks. You will catch bass, trout, crappie and anything else in the lake or river.

If the baits came from the factory with single hooks then I would fish them that way. Switching to single hooks on lures designed for trebles can ruin the action, or make them impossible to tune. I have fished places where single hooks are required and I have to leave many of my favorite cranks at home because they will not work with single hooks. Many times I prefer single hooks, but only if the lure will run correctly.

A bait new to me this year that I had great success with, was the 6th. Sense Cloud Nine mini mag Square bill. Bigger than most square bills, but not giant like the magnums. Was just the right size for my lake. I had never tried a crankbait this size and am glad I did. Best colors were Chart. Black and shad scales. This square bill quickly became my favorite crankbait, and I have almost every crankbait ever made that costs under $10.

They don't have to have a high IQ to know when something gives them pain, is hard to catch, or doesn't taste good. Fishing for bass with live crawdads taught me that they like the ones I pulled the claws off of. Does that mean they are smart? I doubt it only means they are not complete idiots and have instincts that allow them to determine what they can eat, how to catch it, and where it lives in order to survive.

The Bait Monkey and I were best friends for years. When I got married I assumed he would live with us just as he had lived with me most of my life. I have never been so wrong in my life. My wife kicked is butt out of the house within a weak. I couldn't believe it. I had tried to get him out for years and had completely given up. It only took my wife a couple days and he was packed and gone. Even my wife can't keep him away completely. He is not allowed in the house, but he does get to hang out in the garage once in awhile, and she lets him join us for Christmas Eve, and my birthday. He is bringing me a new reel for Christmas.

My fall fishing spot I go big and on top because there is nothing like watching a giant bass crush a surface bait and the bigger baits cast further.

My favorite lake had a high of 82 degrees, and a low of 56 today. It will be within a few degrees of that same temp from now until next July. Buzz baits and frogs all winter. Down side is I miss out on the good ice fishing bite.

I tried to get my girl friend now wife into paragliding. Just when she was getting to be a good pilot she crashed in to a tree and never wanted to fly again. It worked out in the end, because her not wanting to fly and me not wanting to travel to flying sites with out her, is what got me back in to bass fishing. She tried bass fishing, but like gliding, can't seem to stay out of the trees. Now bass fishing has become my only hobby. Another plus is she lets me use the rod and reel I bought her.

They charge over $20 for a bait the angler imparts most of the action to, and you have to change out the hooks?

Fred Young the inventor of the Big-O Because that is as close to finesse as I like to get.

I agree you have to be careful. I just got a Medium heavy spinning rod when what I ordered was a Medium heavy casting rod off Ebay. I am in Mexico and the cost and hassle of sending it back isn't worth the bother. The price was very good, and now I know why.

I did an experiment with line in a swimming pool. My observations were. Floro is less visible than mono and braid. Mono is very close to floro in visibility, but is more visible. Braid is very visible compared to both Mono and floro. Dark braid is more visible than light colors, with white being the least visible. I'm not saying this is a scientific study, and I only looked at lines in a clear swimming pool with snorkel and mask. Results in dirty water could be way different. Especially with the visibility of dark braid compared to light braid. As far as bass fishing goes, I don't think visibility would be a factor most of the time. Only my observations in a pool, in no way am I saying anything about visibility in real fishing situations, or if bass even care.

Identify which make model and color of lures are on the line. If a bass jumps out of the water and eats one, buy all of that lure you can find, and tell the Bait Monkey to go away for life.

When I was a kid we plucked all our ducks and geese. My Dad thought filleting the breasts off was a big waste of meat. We didn't shoot many so it wasn't too big of a chore. My Mother would roast them and they tasted great. For about ten years I would finish the big game season in Alaska and go goose hunting in Alberta for 5 weeks. It was a great break from shooting and packing very heavy animals and some of the best times of my life. Problem was what to do with all the goose meet. I found a sausage maker that had a good recipe for goose, and I would take all my geese to him. He would mix in pork and it was delicious. I would give all the land owners where I hunted goose sausage and smoked salmon as thanks for letting me hunt. I never was told I couldn't hunt on any property all the years I hunted there. There is lots of ways to make goose taste good.

Magnum willow blades also called Oklahoma, wide willow, and other names. are the preferred blades for salmon fishing in the northwest, and Alaska. There are many mail order shops in the Northwest that sell any size and color you could possibly want. Two I like are Fisherman's Shack Don is the owner and will be the one who answers the phone. He will give you a deal on shipping and almost always throws something new in for free. He has way more inventory than his web site shows. It is best to call him and tell him what you want. Spinner Dave's has a more modern web site and catalogue. Google Salmon spinners and parts and you will find many more. Barlow's, Jann's Net craft and Lure parts online, are more well known national mail order stores that carry Mag Willow blades.