WRB

Zellamnder; The reason I wanted to look at the lake you are fishing is to determine how to classify it. If you live in Kanas, the terrian is very flat and most reservoirs in your area are known as "flatland" impoundments. The fact that it has flooded trees still standing may indicate that it is a newer lake. Smaller flatland reservoirs may not have much in the way of classic structure features, you are looking for smaller breaks where the depth may only change a foot or so. The soil make up may also be consistant with few rocky areas. The fact that trees grew there indicate there is some fertile soil, trees can't grow on clay. Look at the surrouding area and visualize the same terrain underwater in the lake you fish. Try to forget about the trees when studing the contours; you can't see the forest from the trees, applies. Once you see the contour of the land underwater, then a tree located near structure becomes cover and a ambush site for bass. Deep water is also relatiive; in a flatland reservoir located in Kansas, 15 feet could be deep water during the summer period, due to a strong thermocline layer. Trust your fish finder, it is your underwater eyes and well worth the time to discover the original creek channel and any quick changes in depth. When everything looks the same, find something different and fish it. WRB

For starters I couldn't locate any lakes in or near Arma KS, the closest appears to be a strip pit towards the west, but that isn't anywhere close to 540 acres. Get your self a topo map and look at the lake bottom contour, less the trees to start with. You need to locate the original creek channel, then follow the channel and fish the outside bends that intersect high higher ground with the largest diameter trees. This would be a small hump or hill underwater, with a cut away bank that should have some rocky areas. The trees are usually near the base of the hill. Start at the dam area and work your way back toward the shallow end. The big girls will be in the lower 1/3rd of the lake, nearer the dam and deeper water. WRB

If you scretched out a few fish, that is your pattern, until you someone tells you what a wide open day they just had. There is always more than one pattern going on, somedays it's just a tough day on the water. If you are not getting bit, then rethink what you are doing and try something different until you determine what is going on, if anything. You can either force feed the bass what you want them to eat, or try to locate the bass and feed them what they are looking for. The first thing is; find the prey, the bass will be close by. WRB

So many factors to consider; type of lake, pond , river you are fishing plays a big role in where a big bass locates seasonally. The statement that big bass live in the same areas year after year is only true if the the environment supports the basses needs. Lake levels change as the seasons change, the prey change locations and the bass move. Some bass will be in the loactions for several years, if that is possible for them. Catching the same bass year after year is also possible, if the bass is extremely volunerable to a specific type of live bait, or during the spawning season, it is very rare to catch the same big bass agian on the same lure. Big bass don't get to live a long life if they continue to make the same mistakes. I have stated this before and it's worth repeating; it is very difficult to identify a bass by it's markings; unless the markings are a rare injury, deformation, a fin clip or tag. If you catch a 10+ more than once; count it each time, because the odds are it is more than likely a different bass. WRB

With the change to the pre fishing rule; you can pre fish up to the day before the tournament, makes it feasible to only take 1 week off work to travel and fish this tournament successfully. There are 50 spots open; 20 spots pre qualified, that leaves 30 spots open to local or other qualified trophy bassers. This is a put your skills to the test against the best type of event, one big bass wins it all. WRB PS; the new format makes this a 2 day event, the top 3 fish for the $50K the second day.

Knot pulled out or the line broke? Knots should never pull out, unless tied incorrectly, what knot do use use? If the bass was hooked in the mouth, not the throat or gills, the fish should be able to shake out the lure and be OK. WRB

During summer period when the surface water is usually very warm and could be above 80 degrees, the big bass tend to go deeper to find cooler water around 70 degrees. The smaller bass and pan fish tend to stay nearer to shore to find sancturary in the cover availble along the shallower shoreline areas. Big bass will move under the cover on occasions during the daytime to feed on the smaller baitfish that may be along the cover edges or go deeper into the cover at times to search out prey. The green weed beds produce DO during the day light and provide shade, however the big bass usually move back out into deeper water during the day light hours. As the sun goes down the big bass move up into the shallow water zones near deep water to feed on the baitfish and crawdads that use the cover for protection. Night fishing during the summer period is usually better then day time fishing for big bass. However the truely giant bass are rarely caught at night. One reason for this may be the larger prey fish are difficult for the giant bass to locate and catch during the darkness in open water. Big bass tend to avoid moving into large weed beds at night do to the low DO levels caused by the weeds comsumming DO during darkness. I have caught a lot of bass to 14 lbs at night on jigs and worms, no giants over 15 lbs at night. During the cold water periods the big bass stay out in deeper water to find the warmest water available and locate near prey sources. WRB

what you're saying is only half true - don't spread this due to misinformation. it's completely subjective to what someone considers a "large" bass. I've caught several 5-7 pounders on the same bed as bass that weigh 1 pound or less. sure, you're not likely to catch a 15 pounder back to back with 1 pounders, but I think we all understand why that is. what you're saying about survival of the fittest and bass cannibalizing is true, though. what we have to remember, though, is that it's completely situational. you can't rule out catching "big" bass next to smaller ones based on predator/prey logic alone. Bass stop feeding when they move up and spawn. During the spawn you will have smaller adult males spawning with big females. The balance of the year the larger bass tend to avoid small juvenile. bass. Big bass will move into an area with smaller bass and feed, the classic example is schooling bass working baitfish and the larger bass picking off the wounded below the school. This activity is a feeding opportunity that has come within the big basses location, usually an area of structure that creates a compression zone. WRB

The saying is to catch big bass you must fish for big bass is true. Anyone can catch a big bass by mistake by being at the right place at the right time using something the big bass wants to eat. To catch big bass consistantly, the adult bass about 5 years old or more, you need to learn where they live. Each lake and impoundment is different and the bass locate according to availability of food, sancturary, prefered water temperatures and spawning area, depending on the seasonal periods. Big bass like to locate near a deep water sancturary where food is abundant and easy to catch. Where I fish the lakes are high land reservoirs with very deep clear water and sparse cover with a lot of structure elements. The bass in the high land resevoir use main lake major points as primary locations and isolated structure elements in the main lake zone for winter, pre spawn, summer and fall periods. The big bass move into wind protected flat areas with cover to spawn, then recoup during pre spawn and move back out into the main lake areas. It is a misconception that big and small bass share the same areas. It is true that big bass occasionally can be using the same area to feed on prey that smaller bass also feed on. Keep in mind the animal kingdom is survival of the fittest and big bass will eat smaller bass, if the smaller bass are considered prey. The other factor to considered is big bass are adult fish and prefer high protein prey sources like; abundant schools of baitfish, larger soft ray baitfish, if available and young of the year pan fish, frogs, crawdads, small water birds; like ducklings or whatever they considered a meal. Small bass can only affectively eat smaller prey that they can catch or disable, avoiding adult prey that can do them harm, like adult crawdads. WRB

November 14th will be the date for the upcoming Heavyweight Bass Classic series tournament where the biggest bass wins all; $50K http://www.heavyweightbassclassic.com/ Check out the web site for details, the first tournament was held at lake Casitas, the second at Clear lake, the upcoming third event at Amistad. The observers for this tournament get a free ride and particpate on all the free lure hand outs by the sponsors. WRB *fixed the link, forgot the www

Find the thermocline layer and fish at that depth within a few feet. The thermocline is a cooler layer of water that is more dense than the warmer water above it. You can see the dense thermocline layer on a good sonar unit as a dark line or fuzzy zone by using the manual settings. You can also determine the life zone where the bass and baitfish prefer to use by metering the bait depth, if your lake has threadfin shad for example, as they tend to stay close to the thermocline layer. The thermocline layer will be about 70 to 75 degrees with the surface water in the 80's. If the lake is a power generation lake, there could be 2 thermocline layers, so check depth down to 35 feet or so for baitfish and bass. With surface water being in the 80's, avoid fishing areas near the surface during the day light period, unless the wind is creating wave action to aerate the surface water. Water at 80 degrees or more can't hold enough dissolved oxygen, DO, for bass to survive, so they go under the green weeds that produce DO and shade, or go deeper and just visit the upper hot water on short excursions. If your are in a tournament, be sure you have ice to cool the water to around 70 degrees. Do not recirculate the surface water, add C & R chemicals and h202, 3% over the counter hydrogen peroxide; 1/2 cup for 15 to 20 gallons, will aerate the live well water to proper DO levels. WRB

I don't know the vintage of the Jimmy Houston worm article posted above, it's at least 20 years old. To fish plastic worms successfully you need to have the correct rod and line, the reel is only needed to cast and retrieve and plays a minor role in worm fishing. The most import termnal tackle is the worm hook size and style you are using. The hook style depends on the presentation and the type of cover you plan to fish. The hook size is selected for the worm diameter and presentation method; drop shot, split shot, Carolina, Texas, straight or wacky rigged. Can you let us know what type of rod, line and hook you are currently using? and what type of lake you normally fish. WRB

Fishing agianst yourself is OK if win, it must be a bummer losing. I think the tournament influence of 5 fish limit becomes nearly everones goal when bass fishing, it's the yard stick so to speak. 5 keepers or 5 big bass for the heavest limit, what ever your personal goal may be. The problem is getting into a routine where you just try to catch 5 keepers first and then target a kicker. Why not take the advantage of having no clock, other than the basses time table for bitting and taget big bass when they are active. It is a mistake to target keepers when bigger bass are bitting. For example, first light fishing a top water lure tight to cover and catching a few school bass working the bait close to cover. Your chances for big bass may in fact be out over your shoulder in deeper water. Fishing a top water mid day with a light wind chop may in fact be more productive then Carolina fishing weed edges. To be a consistant tournament bass fisherman you need to learn to locate bass first and then target them. Running to spots you believe may have bass because it's your normal "milk run" routine rarely works consistantly, it is dependant on being at the right spot at the right time. If you take the pulse of the lake before you make your fisrt boat run, you may have the information to help you start at the right place at the right time. What you need to know; Seasonal period. Water temperature and clarity. Thermocline level. Depth the bait fish are at. Prey type the bass are targeting. Weather conditions expected during the outing. When you know the bass are targeting shad emerging for shoreline cover, then use the top water tight to cover presentation. However if the bass are on a crawdad bite, you may be better off targeting clay to rock transition areas where crawdads live, at the depth the bass are feeding, with crawdad mimicing lure like jigs, soft plastics and crankbaits bounced along the bottom at first light. Instead of catching a few keepers, you may catch a few big bass early and stay on a good bite all day. WRB PS; do the bass a favor and release them instead of keeping your best 5 in the livewell, it's only a mental excercise not a tournament.

14' is not necessarily deep in clear water, the 40 to 60 foot break is diffinately deep!. If you were sitting on top of the fish, they know you are up there and more than likely that shut them off. The fact that pan fish and game fish were milling around together also indicated the predators may not have been feeding at that time. Finding bass doesn't always equate to catching them, at that moment. Now that you know the spot well, you should be able to approach it quitely and stay 50 feet or so off the top of the structure and cover. If the lake has a threadfin shad population, suggest using shad colors; translucent smoke with purple/chartruese highlights and or silver/gold flakes in a soft plastic 4 1/2 to 6 in worm. Shad colored deep diving crank bait that runs 12 to 16 feet, spider type jig in the shad colors or a structure spoon in silver/gold. The combination of the above should trigger strikes in any clear water; 10 feet+ of depth of light. If the lake doesn't have shad, then go to the greens or purple with red/blue high lights to mimic batfish in general. WRB

This is how you resolve a debate, with factual data. Vessel displacement doesn't mean the vessel weighs any less when floating in or water. Few can comprehend formulas, almost everyone can understand a practical expirement that demstrates theory. The airbladder nuetralizes the 5 lb bass so it doesn't sink at rest when at a specific depth, the bass still weighs 5 lbs. WRB. If the fly landed it would add it's weight, does the fly weigh the same in flight?

This is a simple test you can do at home. Put one gallon of water in a bucket, water is 8 pounds plus the bucket weight. Next empty a 1 pint plastic drinking bottle to 1/2 full or 8 oz, replace and tighten the cap, equals 1/2 pound. Put the bucket with water onto a scale, add the 1/2 full bottle of water and read the weight change. Should go up by 1/2 pound, but will it? You added a 1/2 pound of mass, however it is bouyant mass and doesn't weigh a 1/2 pound suspended in water. WRB

There are some regulars that fish the shore at Casitas. The marina area, boat storage area, orchard point, model airplane area, fishtail cove and deep cat are all good. Most use big 10" to 12" Bonzai hand poured worms and wake type swimbaits for the big bass, or slip shot rigged 6" Roboworms for general bass fishing. Fish the lake regularly with a boat and the worm bite is fairly good now at 15 to 20 feet. WRB

The container will not equal the sum of the 2 weights. The reason is the bass is hollow, has a bladder filled with gas, making the bass bouyant, weighing less in the water than out of the water. WRB

I will stand by my statement that you can't rely on markings alone. In the case of giant bass, you have another factor to consider; a rare bass, such as Dottie/spottie. One black dot on the lower gill cover is unusual, not rare by itself, however combined with the basses size, a small lake and the fact was caught in the very same spawning cove 3 times over a 4 year period and not reportly caught anywhere else, is a combination of factors, not just markings to identify a specific bass. If the bass had unusual markings, was a big fish, plus a scar or injury, I would agree, markings alone is questionable, due to the fact several bass from the same brood could easily have the same unusual markings and be nearly identicle size. You missed my point totally and the reason for the response was to address the statement made about catching the same bass for 15 years, based on markings on the "pet" bass. You might catch the same bass from a small lake, however unlikely over a period of more than 4 years. The 15 year old "pet" bass would be a fingerling it's first year and grow until it reach whatever maximum weight it could achieve, then slowly lose weight unitl it died. The question in this post was will bass stay in the same arae; the answer is yes and they will return to the same area year after year, if the prey and conditions remain the same. WRB

The oldest largemouth bass known was 17 years old, smallmouth 23 years old, as I recall, both in northern waters where bass live longer. There is always exceptions, however it takes about 5 years for a bass in California,Texas and Florida to reach 5 to 7 lbs and the vast majority live less than 12 years. You really can't go by markings alone, tags or fin clips are more reliable to identify a specific bass. The Dixon lake "spottie" 25 lb? bass may have been the same bass caught at least 3 times, could also have been several bass from the same parents that managed to survive and grow to giant size. Haven't had any feed back to spotties age, length or girth to date. getting off topic. I agree that you can catch the same bass in the same location, year after year, as I have done that several times, with tagged bass. WRB

Bass location is based on availble prey (food) and proper water temperature/DO/PH levels. If there is food nearby and the water is comfortable, sancturary is availble, there isn't any reason for the bass to travel any great distance. The one excetption to all that is spawning, the bass will migrate to shallow protected water to spawn, food isn't a factor during the spawning period. Bass in a pond can't move too far, however still relocate seasonally. Bass in large reservoirs can and do migrate several miles during thier calendar year and return each year to the same or very similar location during the life cycle. Like everything in nature, bass are individuals and behavior isn't uniform, so you can only group them together as the majority tend to behave in a similar manner. WRB

Couple of basic facts about summer period bass. 1. The water is warmer, the weed growth is good, the available prey is abundant. 2. Bass are sight feeders, however also use thier lateral line and scent senses to help locate prey at night. 3. Summer period bass feed quickly and rest often because of the availabilty of easy meals. 4. Bass tend to locate out in deeper water cooler water during the hot day light periods and move into or up onto the shallower areas to feed at night. There is a daily migration from deeper to shallower and returning to deeper water as the intensity light changes. The basses feeding activity can be more active with the low light condiditions. It is very diffficult for bass catch prey in weeds at night, they can't see as well. This is why most baitfish hide in the weeds for sancturary at night. Bass roam the edges looking prey and stop at isolated ambush sites. At night it's usually a good tactic to work the enitre outside break line where isloted cover is available and shoreline brush, rock, sandy area's and boat docks. Use both reaction strike lures and slower bottom lures. Texas rigged plastic worms like 7" to 10" Berkely Back Power worms are very affective, Black/red DD15 crank baits and a buzzer should work nearly everywhere at night during the summer period. WRB

What area in Ontario, Lake of The Woods? Ontario has some largemouth bass, mostly smallmouth. You may want to talk to the local tackle shops in your area to locate some smaller lakes or river area to drive and walk to. Walleyes, pike, musky and trout are the primary fish in that area, very few bass fisherman. Let us know the general area and type of bass you are fishing for. Also what type of tackle you are using, so the proper presentations can be suggested that will help you. WRB

Out west in our clear deep reservoirs LMB commonly stablize their airbladder to be nuetral bouyant at 30 to 35 feet and spend a great deal of time suspended at that depth. I believe this gives them the opportunity to make quick runs toward the surface to capture baitfish above them, like threadfin shad or case deeper baitfish by running down into deeper and pushing the cold water baitfish, like trout, towards the surface. Yes, thier airbladder's expand and contract within the 35 foot depth range, but it doesn't seem to hampered them greatly in catching prey and returning back to the 35 foot level to swallow it. I have never witnessed bass suspending any deeper than 35 feet try to run up to the suface, unless they were being hooked and pulled upwards by an angler. IMO, barometric pressure has lttle affect on the basses airbladder, it's to minute a pressure change. It takes several days for a bass to adjust the gas pressure within it's airbladder, that is why they make gradual depth level changes during normal migration seasonal periods, however as noted above , the bass can make quick runs up and down, they can't easily neutralize their bouyancy to suspend at a specific detph. Having caught lake trout 150 feet deep and deeper, you see the trout release air bubbles during the fight, so they can and do adjust to depth changes quickly, however bass can't release the gases and fast pressure changes affect both their eyes and airbladder, so they have limits to the depth changes they can make without sever damage to critical organs. During the cold water period you may hook a bass in 30 feet of water, however that bass may have been suspended at 50 or more feet and move up to catch your lure, then you pulled it to the surface and that is a 50+ foot depth change, not 30 and the basses airbladder extends out it's mouth and eye bulge out from the pressure change. WRB

It is not my intent to get into applied physics too deeply. Objects under water are compressed equally on all surfaces. If you blow up a ballon and submerge it about 35 feet, the ballon will shrink about 50% of it's diameter as the internal air is compressed by the pressure of close to 1 atmosphere or approximately 15 pounds per square inch. The ballon submerged 17 feet would have about 7 psi compressing it and will be about 75% of it's diameter. At 8 feet down, about 3 psi, the ballon is about 90% of it diameter. Bass feel the same pressure compressing thier airblader. Bass living at 35 foot depth, with neutral buoyancy in the airbladder at that depth, will experience 1 atmospher, 15 psi, pressure change, if it swims up to the surface. The basses airbladder expands and compresses exactly like the ballon. 1 atmosphere or 35 foot depth raise is about the limit a bass can tolerate without it's airbladder doubling in size. How does 100 millibars (1 bar is about 1 atmosphere) or about 1.5 psi or 2 feet of water pressure, adversely affect a bass? 100 millibars is equal to a big low pressure depression the size of a hurricane. I agree they can feel it, don't agree that barometric pressure alone has much impact on bass. The changing light with increasing cloud cover, increased flying insects associated with a low pressure system does increase bass activity. The passing cold front and increasing high pressure with bright sun and high winds, also can adversly affect bass living in water less than 5 feet deep. All the bass needs to do to reestablish it's airbladder nuetral bouyancy is; make a 1 1/2 foot depth change to compensate for 100 millibars of atmospheric pressure change. The affects of cold water, more than 10 degrees can be fatal to a bass. If a big storm lowers the surface temperature by 10 degrees quickly, the water near the original thermocline will be about equal to its original tmeperature, so the deeper bass are not affect by fast surface water temperature changes. Target the deeper bass and barometric changes have little affect. WRB