OCdockskipper

Nah, thanks for the offer though...

I wonder if that was based on males, females or both. I have had a male bass make a bed in the same place (off the east side of my dock) for 4 years in a row. While I can't be positive it was the same fish all 4 years, I do know it was the same fish the past 2 years. I caught him last year and made a small clip on one of his fins and when I caught him this year, the scar from the docking was there.

If I threw the 22 or 26 ft diving models, they would end up digging a 10 ft deep trench and most likely cause my lake to drain...or it could end up creating man made creek channels!! I have been using the 10.5, a much different bait than the ones you want to use. I like it so far, however one thing I did notice is that it pulls on the rod less than than other baits that dive to similar depths (like the DT10). They are less work to retrieve, especially if you will be throwing it most of the day. Their shape reminds me of the Mann crankbaits.

To quote Bluebasser86 from a similar thread last year "Ned Rig, & it ain't even close!!".

One of the best ways to get some specific help is to fill out the bio information about where you live and the such. There is always a good chance that a more experienced angler lives close by and could answer questions or give suggestions that really will make a difference for the places you want to fish.

Love the Angels hat!! I wouldn't beat yourself up too much about the lost fish, the few times I have fished from a kayak, I found good hook sets to be tricky. It seems like there isn't a lot of leverage and the boat will pull back towards the fish, so lures like buzzbaits with large hooks are a bit tougher to get set. The area looks like there is alot of life there, with all of those heron hunting minnows on the shore & the shad breaking the surface in the shadows of the trees. Years ago, the bottom in that area was fairly hard with some scattered rock (like the shoreline looks) and the only brush was that which was exposed above the surface as well. This would let us run squarebills & various crankbaits (depending on the depth) through here with good results and few hangups. If it has changed, if there is more brush along the bottom now, that would probably not be as good an option (unless you owned stock in a lure company ). Great footage, it takes me back 35 years...

I gave up years ago trying to figure out what it was about this small stretch that keeps attracting fish, but it is exactly what you say. Some type of subtle structure that draws crawfish or bluegill (no shad or perch in this lake), which then draws the bass. The pocket that precede this one has an area that looks very much like this from the surface and on a depthfinder (including an isolated dock), but is not as much of a consistent producer. This lake was not part of a creek or river, it was just a portion of land that a developer bulldozed in a bowl shape in the 1970's to create a centerpiece (the lake) to help sell the surrounding real estate, so most all of the structure changes are subtle. It often seems that when the bass school on this lake, they are on the move like a wolf pack. The exception is the 3 weeks of winter we have or in the middle of summer, where schools will set up shop in the deeper parts of the lake around the aerators. That is why this school caught me off guard, they were at a spot where usually one or two set up or where they will swim through as they cruise the perimeter of the fairly featureless lake (as scaleface described). If I did stick a majority of the school, I am impressed with myself . My hunch was they moved on, pretty normal for this lake, but maybe I am selling myself short. I know that when stressed, many bass will retreat into cover & become difficult to catch. If the weed kill created stress in the fish, would schooling up at a feeding location also give them that same sense of calm & normalcy?

To me, what is most annoying about carp is that they won't jump when hooked. When swimming around, they think they are salmon, jumping & splashing. Hook one, he goes to the bottom like a manhole cover.

James, beautiful kayak, I hope it is yours. That photo is of the Ski Nautique area, the back portion of Canyon Lake, correct?

Why do you think that is? Is it a combination of natural factors & resources or is it something else? As an aside, these guys put Indiana ahead of at least 10 other states, but I don't know how credible or correct they are http://www.wideopenspaces.com/10-absolute-worst-states-fish-bass/

I had been out of state for 10 days, so I hadn't been around or fished my home lake in a couple of weeks. Since April, the lake has had weed growth in the 3-6 ft depth range, with some of the weedbeds coming within a foot of the surface. Most of these weedbeds are beyond the docks on the lake and the fish had been oriented around them for the past few months, cruising around the edges on cloudy days and using it for cover during sunny times. Apparently when I was gone, the HOA did another weed kill, a bit earlier in the summer than they had last year. As I cruised out in my boat prior to sunrise, I immediately noticed on my depthfinder not a single weedbed in locations they had been previously. I even made a couple of casts with a deep diving crankbait to make sure what I was seeing was true. It was, the deep diver came back after bouncing on the bottom completely weed free. The first thought in my head was that it was going to be a slow day, that the fish would be scattered & suspended, a bit out of sorts. I had seen this before following previous weed kills and it normally took a good few weeks before the fish went back to somewhat normal behavior. After all, if you came home and all of your furniture was suddenly gone, I think you would act a bit different too! Sure enough, the first 90 minutes were slow, just one keeper on a prop bait and not the action one would expect for an overcast summer morning with 80 degree surface temps. So part of me is considering making it a short outing as I come up to a 15 yard stretch that has consistently been a productive location. It is an eastern shore just inside a pocket, near the main lake with an isolated dock & deeper water on the northern side. At the seawall, it is about 2 feet deep and it slowly drops down to 8 feet (the main lake is 12 ft deep). The bottom composition in this area isn't overly unusual compared to the rest of the pocket or even the rest of the cove, but over the years, it has been an area that I would find a fish or two just about every trip. Sometimes I'll find a fish or two at the dock, sometimes further down the seawall, sometimes deeper. Even though it doesn't seem much different than many other spots on the lake, it is just one of those areas that consistently attracts fish. So my first cast to the southern side (into the pocket, away from the main lake) with a ZMan TRD results in a strike about a foot or two from the seawall, a nice 2 lb keeper. Next cast, another keeper, about the same size. 3rd cast, 3rd fish, a bit bigger, but still the same general size you would find of fish that have schooled together. 9 straight casts resulted in 9 fish, some striking close to the seawall, others as I bounced the Ned rig into deeper water. All of the fish were between 2 - 3 lbs, healthy & strong. A couple of casts then came up empty, so I ran that deep diving crankbait through the area & hooked up. Went back to the Ned rig and picked up 2 more fish. It ended up being a dozen fish in about 40 minutes before the school either moved on or got lockjaw. As the day proceeded, I never replicated the action of that time, but I did pick up a few more isolated fish off of points on the Ned rig and got another 8 bass later in the day as the sun popped out by skipping a senko under the docks. I even went back to the 15 yard stretch twice later in the day, but never picked up another strike from there. So obviously I ran into a large school that had settled into that location in the morning and then later moved on. What I don't understand is why. In the past, the weed kills would scatter the fish and make them sluggish for weeks - this is the first time following a weed kill that I found them schooled up and willing to eat (although not really willing to chase). Even the afternoon behavior was somewhat normal, as the day warmed up, the action under the docks picked up. Maybe after a few summers of coming home to find their furniture (weedbeds) missing, the bass here are getting used to it, coping somewhat & not shutting down completely. Any similar experiences or ideas?

If someone has a good livewell and the will to drive 15 hours north, I'll guess Texas.

Too cool...

On the other hand, you did get to spend 5 plus hours with your kids without the pesky distraction of fish interrupting your conversations...

Again, you are incorrect, this time by claiming that I tried to defend those acts. But you know that & are just embarrassed because you got called out for labeling someone a pedophile who has has never been charged with such a horrendous crime. I have no issues with publicly shaming someone for vile things they have chosen to do. However, there is no reason to make up additional false charges against Mr. Reubens when those that he has already plead guilty to are pretty bad.

Knowing this is a family website, I will keep this PG while I make a point. WRB was not right the first time & neither are you for insinuating that he was. The article specifically states that the police "found materials that appeared to depict children" and there is some dispute as to whether what was found was illegal or just some crappy art. In either case, that makes Mr. Reuben some vile things, but it does not make him a pedophile. You lessen the horrific crime of pedophilia when you group other lesser crimes or just bad taste in with it. Call Mr. Reuben what you want based on the things he has done, but be accurate. I don't mean to get on a soapbox about this, but one of the negative things about our society today is how often people misrepresented who other people are or what they have done in their past. I believe it is important that any non-adults on this website to be given the correct information about anything, be it fishing or other subjects. WRB is correct, it is indeed Fathers Day and as those of us with kids all know, it is important as a parent to set a good example.

Mine is a combination of my personality (close to being OCD), where I live (Orange County or OC) and a way I like to fish (dock skipping). Holy crap, you were born the year I got married and are only 2 years older than my sons. Now I feel REALLY old...

The story I read was it took place in Florida. A middle aged couple showed up at a marina & wanted to hire a guide, but they were all booked for the day. They rented a boat anyway, but didn't know what to do or where to go to catch fish. Someone in charge at the marina set them up with equipment, gave them a couple bags of plastic worms and gave them directions to a well known community hole. As the story goes, since the lake was shallow, the marina guy told them to fish the worms weightless, but never thought to mention how to rig them. The couple comes back to the marina at the end of the day with a limit bigger than any of the guides had fishing the same or similar areas using the same bait. Upon questioning, it was figured out that they were rigging the plastic worms in the middle instead of Texas rig because, like WRB's partner, that was how they used to hook nightcrawlers when fishing for other species. All of the guides took note of the "wacky" way the worms were rigged & incorporated it into their arsenals. I have no idea if the story is true, but it does make for a good legend.

Wow, those look really nice - you are talented!!

June of 1978 Canyon Lake California After a year or so of reading Bassmaster magazine, I decided I was good enough to fish a bass tournament. Problem was that I didn't know any other bass anglers, had a small boat that was docked in Canyon Lake (no trailer) and was 15 years old, so I couldn't drive anywhere else. So I sent in an application to BASS to set up a Canyon Lake Bassmasters chapter, with me as the president, my dad (who didn't fish) as VP and my younger sister as Secretary/Treasurer. With the approved application in hand, I typed up a "Canyon Lake Bassmasters Invitational" sign up sheet, had my VP make some copies of it and got the guy at the general store to let me put them on display near his cash register. In 2 weeks or so, I got 11 entries and we were in business. I didn't know much about structure fishing, so the tournament was set for Saturday evening (4 hrs) and Sunday morning (4 hrs) to take advantage of the low light conditions. With two half days, we ended up using a 5 fish limit both days (even though the regulations for the lake was a 10 fish limit). I met the participants for the first time on the 1st day of the event, all had a good laugh that some kid was the one setting up & running this tournament. Only 4 of the entries had halfway decent boats, so we ended up with 3 participants per boat. I can't remember the name of the guy who won, even though I was in his boat (a brand new Skeeter) the first day. He showed me how to flip and smiled knowingly when I caught a spotted bass on a crankbait (he had been the one who had brought them over from Lake Perris). I do remember the 2nd place finisher, a man named Bob Dashiel who was a member of a local club called the Ambassadors. On the 2nd day, in addition to his limit, he also brought in a pair of 15 lb catfish that had eaten his homemade jig, in case anyone wanted a catfish dinner that night. Bob took a liking to me after that, taking me out in his boat a few times, giving me some of his jigs and teaching me about bass fishing. As for me, I caught fish both days, but didn't limit either day and ended up somewhere in the lower third of the standings. I learned alot and made friends with some men who were all old enough to be my dad. I held a second tournament the next summer, which Bob ended up winning and I came in 4th. That was the last tournament I ever ran or entered, for later in the summer a started dating this cute brunette who I paid a lot more attention to than fishing or anything else. 38 years later (7 dating, 31 married), she still is my top priority