WRB

There are several formula's kicking around to estimate the weight of largemouth bass based on length and girth measurements. Back in the 70's the only formula was the IGFA; length X girth X girth divided by 800 = pounds. The IGFA formula works OK for marlin and tuna, not very accurate for bass. I was logging all my big bass during the late 60's to early 70's and noted the weight, length and girth of about 100 big bass. The measurements were made with the bass laying flat on a cooler that had a yard stick fastened to it and a piece of fishing line to wrap around the bass to measure the girth, then release the bass. I tried to using th IFGA formula and it was not close to actual weights. Modifing the formula to length X length X girth divided by 1200 = weight in pounds worked very well. Since that time I have used the L X L X G /1200 = lbs formula for over 30 years and it works out within 5%, depending on how the measurements are made. Measure the fish laying flat, mouth closed from the tip of the closed mouth to the center of the tail flattened. Girth is measured around the widest area with the dorsal fin flattened. To evaluate a photo; use the fingers holding the bass as 3/4" for each finger width or 4 fingers slightly separated as 3 1/2" to ball park the fish being held length. If the bass is a Florida LMB the girth is usually about 90% of the length, a pre spawn bass could be nearly 95%. For northern LMB use 75% of the length for girth, pre spawn being about 80%. Example; 24" FLMB; 24 X 24 X 21.5 / 1200 =10.32 lbs. 24" NLMB; 24" X 24" X 18 / 1200 = 8.64 lbs. WRB

It is difficult to cast a spinnerbait more than 30 yards, especially sitting in a canoe. Try a 1/2 oz Kastmaster in chrome with blue stripe or gold with green stripe. If any game fish is in the area working the bait school, you should be able to catch a few. WRB

Several presetations work for schooling bass feeding on bait fish; Surface chuggers like a Splash-It, Pop-R or Chugbug. Cast to the front edge of the bait school and work it back. Jerk baits like LC Pointers or Smtihwick Rogue, jerked through the bait fish. Crank baits, Bomber model 6A in silver & white or similar smaller diving crank bait like a lipless rattle Trap. Spoons like Kastmaster or Crippled herring csat over the bait fish schools, let sink below them and use a jerk bait type retrieve. Underspins like Sworming Hornet or tail spins like Little George worked with a slow retrieve under the bait schools. 1/8 oz Dart head jig with 4" curl tail smoke color worms, cast into the schools and let fall, then stop & go retrieve. All the above will catch schooling bass. WRB

Depends on the seasonal period; fall & winter stable weather, light breeze, avoid cold fronts. Pre-spawn though summer; low pressure with cloudy, light wind and rain is very good as it stimulates the entire ecosystem. Low pressure with approaching thunder storms and heavy rain can be good fishing for a short time period, very dangerous to be out on the water. High pressure following the low pressure system creates high winds and generally tough fishing conditions in shallow zones, move out to deeper water structure less affected by the conditions. Stable weather is generally the rule during the summer period and the bass become more nocturnal feeders. The low pressure brings in clouds and light rain that can turn on feeding activity during the summer day light periods. WRB

Your are wasting your time trying to fish large weed flats from shore, unless you know where a deeper channel or weedline edges are. Look for clear areas or pockets where the weeds don't cover the area completely. If you manage to hook a good bass, you may not be able to land it in the grass. My suggestion; go down near the dam or marina and fish the deeper water with soft plastics like Texas or slip shot rigged worms. Fish the open weed bed pockets with a trick worm or frog. WRB

16,000 to 1 are good odd's that your definations are correct. WRB

Catt, it's your story, tell it anyway you want. Try to keep in mind some folks live outside of the state of Texas. WRB

It takes no skill or experience to talk the talk, it's a different story altoghter the walk the walk. Big bass are relative to where you fish, in California a giant bass is considered anyhting over 15 lbs., a state record for the vast majority of states. What are the down sides to trophy bass fishing; family, friends and jobs and health become secondary. Catching bass is a sport to enjoy, catching big bass is every fishermans goal. Giving up everything to catch big bass is foolish and not needed. Take it from someone who has walked the walk, lost marriages, ticked off friends and has severe skin cancer; take the time to enjoy bass fishing. If you want help to catch a bass of a life time, just ask and I will be more than happy to help you reach that goal. WRB

CATT, your difinations differ from mine, but I agree that most bass fisherman spend too much time tied to the shoreline a casting distance way. Hump to me; underwater island, depending on the lake level. Humps become islands as the water pool lowers, regardless of ther size. Not all lakes have humps, some natural lakes are often feature less out in the basin, due to siltation filling in the bottom. Ridge to me is similar to ridges above the water, they just extend down under water; the crest of a point for example or a ridge line on any mountain or hill. I consider outside river bends that have erroded to be ledges. There isn't any standard terminolgy, it's very regional. Out west where I fish for example, the soil on both humps and ridges is mostly clay and rock, therefor little or no aquatic vegetaion grows on them. Isolated structure elements like rock piles, boulders, trees and brush are the primary targets located on or near the hump or ridges that tend to hold the bass. For that reason we tend to use jigs, drop shot. deep cranks and vertical structure spoons on the outside structure featrues. Carolina rigs used more on the flats where soil can support vegetation, near deeper breaks. WRB

The late Bill Murphy's book; In Pursuit of Giant Bass, is a must read for any avide bass fishermen and gives a good insight into the trophy bass fishermen mind set. I became a trophy bas fisherman with my fisrt double digit bass way back in 1959, that is a long time in pursuit of giant bass. In my opinion you must fish for big bass to consistanly catch big bass. A blind squirrel may occasionally find an acorn. If the squirrel lives in an oak tree, it's chances increase and are very good he will find the acorn. Same is true for bass fisherman, anyone can catch a bass of a lifetime, few can catch them consistantly. Like the squirrell in the oak tree, it helps your success if you fish where big bass live. My self imposed handy cap of not fishing with live bait has limited my success to some degree. I believe however fishing with lures has had a benefit in regards to learning big bass habits and honning my fishing skills to become consistanly successful at catching these truely special bass. There is no reason to lose a big bass from tackle failure. Big bass break your line because you allowed that to happen and made a critical error. We all make mistakes and mistakes are extremely costly in pursuit of giant bass. Your goal is to put the bass in the boat. There isn't any reason to break off big bass, or let them get into something and foul your line. You must keep focused and plan ahead, if you want to be a successful big bass fisherman. The thought of going out and not catching any bass during a trip doesn't enter my mind and it does bother me if I get skunked. I believe you can't use the excuse "I was fishing for big bass, so it doesn't matter if I catch anything", it should bother any bass fisherman to get blanked. If you can't catch a few average size bass you don't have a snow balls chance in H to catch big bass consistantly. WRB

With the popularity of kayaks, there are some really good clamp on accessories availble today. Humminbird 140C for example should work well for you. A hand held GPS will give you the way points you need to return to any specific outside spot you find. Before electronics we used triangulation; linning up 3 shore landmarks to remember where the spots were. Natural lakes are difficult to determine where there may be outside channels, humps, rock piles or whatever, however the lay of the land should give you some clues. Look around and keep you eyes and ears open; Grebes or other diving birds feeding out away from shore indicates bait fish, splashes or swirls out in the middle of know where should be checked out. Scale the C-rig down to a slip shot rig using 1/8 oz mojo type slip sinker and small round slit shot for a weight stopper, or a plastic Carolina keeper. Drop shot is another option for small plastics. In line spinners are very effective on smaller lakes. WRB

Without a sonar unit you are really just guessing what may be in deeper water. The thermocline will dictate at what depth the life zone will be in any lake during both the summer and winter periods. Without knowing where the thermocling is located, try to stay above 25 feet, that is deep enough in most lakes, unless the water clarity is allows you to see 25 feet, then go down below the depth of light. If you have a good sonar unit, look for the depth the bait fish are holding and try to meter the thermocline, then fish that depth zone within a few feet, during the mid day time period. Clear water lakes are usually excellent night or low light period lakes, so try night fishing, the bass tend tomove up into water less than 10 feet or so, during the summer nights. Smallmouth tend to stay deeper than largemouth so fish the deeper break lines for smallies. WRB

You need to provide all the fish in the pond a place to spawn, hide from larger predators, including birds. Build some rock piles, block piles, brush piles, gravel areas and deep water channels. If you don't have a few large trees along the shore, plant some. 5 acre pond; plant the bait fish at least 6 months to a year before planting fingerling bass. Pumpkin seed sun fish and some variety of minnow and crayfish are normally recommnded for ponds that size. I would take some of the bass to have them aged by the local DNR to determine what age they are. 2000 to 2008 is 8 years and the bass in a pound could live well beyond 10 years. The 6+ was more than likely the first year class you stocked, then you lost several year classes from preditation by the larger fish until the larger bass were removed. Crappie, if that was what you had, spawn before the bass and that isn't a good balance for a pond, becuase crappie are minnow eaters and prey on the bass fry. Bluegill and pumpkin seeds spawn after the bass, so thier fry become bass food. Bluegill are egg eaters and will eat some of the bass eggs, however should not off set the balance of the fishery. WRB

In regards to being on the water as the sun breaks dawn's early light, it is an important time to be in tune with nature in sprite. As far as bass fishing is concerned; the summer warm water period in lakes that have threadfin shad for example, dawns early light is the time the bait fish migrate out from thier night hidding places and the predator bass are active looking for an easy meal. The reverse happens at dusk, the shad or bait fish return to shoreline hidding places and the bass ambush them. Lakes that don't have shad migration usually have crawdads, sunfish and other young of the year bait fish moving near cover to take advantage of emerging insect life and the low light conditions offer the predator bass an advantage to capture prey. The suns rays penetration into water changes radically as it raises higher above the horizone. About 30 degrees angle above horizone (9 AM or so in the summer) the rays can almost penetrate to maximum depth and this signals a change to how predators like bass position to ambush prey; they move deper into cover to take advantage of shadows or out into deeper water to take advantage of shools of migrating bait fish. The active shoreline bass now require a change in presentation techniques to continue to catch them as the sun light becomes more intense. My preference is to fish the low light periods during the summer; the bass are generally more active and my toasted skin can no longer tolerate intense sun light, plus it good for my soul to keep in touch with nature. WRB

Ponds and small lakes are affected by the thermocline during the summer period. The deep water may not have enough DO, dissolved oxygen below the thermocline for the bass to survive. At night the weeds stop producing DO and consume it, so the levels drop during the night hours. Some ponds that have a lot of weed growth, also have poor water clarity, making it difficult for the bass to find anything near the bottom. Surface lures that bass can trap agianst the surface or near the surface work well under those conditions. The wooden Jitterbug is one of the most effective night lures ever made as it makes a lot of waves and sound with a steady retrieve that the bass can easily target. The best night fishing lakes usually have good water clarity and a mixture of rocky, sandy, clay, brush and weed areas for the bass to locate. WRB

My advice for night bass fishing is to " keep it simple". Everything you do at night is more difficult, especailly tying good knots. Your first trip; take a cell phone a let someone know you are out fishing. take a spare flash light and a small pen light. A cap with LED light is a good item. Bug spray before you start fishing and wash your hands. Bass roam the shallower water looking for prey at night, so there will always be some bass up tight to cover, unless you are fishing for smallmouth. Go up in line size; 15 lb mono minimum and increase the hook size to match larger worms. I would start with Texas rigged worms; 7 1/2" and 10" black with blue flake and Tequlia sunrise. Gamakatsu or Owner 5/0 G lock wide gap worm hooks, 3/16 oz bullet sinker with rattles. Bass strike hard at night and tend too move off with the worm, so be prepeared to drop the rod tip, reel in the slack line and set into slightly slack line when using the 10" worm. Good luck. WRB

The 640c isn't a big wide screen unit, it has a 5" screen. The transducer for the 320c may not be interchangeable with the 640c. I would use the 640c up front where you fish. You should be considering a good sonar/GPS unit for the consul. To get the most from your unit, learn to operate the unit manually in lieu of on auto. Remember the area of the signal return is only 1/3 of the depth of water you are metering, directly below the tranducer location. I would also set both units up on RAM ball mounts for easy viewing, removal and interchanging units, if the TD's are compatiable.. WRB

I second the 3rd Grip product pole holster; http://www.3rdgrip.com/ WRB

How do you catch a big fish if you loose it? The goal is to land it, everything else is is just fishing. WRB

The term pond has a different meaning depending where you live. The size of the small body of water should be the definning criteria, however like most terms in bass fishing, each region has there own interpretation. Where you live, Wisconsin, Minnesota ponds are called lakes as in the land of 10,000 lakes. Where I come from a pond is a small body of water less then a 1/8 mile long or 10 acres, about 2 football fields, anything larger is called a lake. WRB

2 acres is a tiny pond to be adding 50 bass into, unless the pond didn't have any bass to start with and the new bass are fingerlings. You stated the bass were spawning, indicates the pond has a stable bass population established. 200 lbs of minnows may seem like a lot, 4 lbs per each bass added, however it's like feeding 50 sharks, the minnows won't last very long. In a small pond there is a pecking order, the bigger bass dominate the smaller fish and locate in areas around the pond that fits there needs; easy access to prey. The smaller bass must roam to find prey and tend to cruise the insdie weedline, the adult bass the outside weedline zones and best ambush sites. WRB

The lake should be full of several year classes of bass, unless it's new and the bass you see are the first year class. The adult bass you want to slay are there now. During the summer period the adult size bass are out in deeper water and only come near the bank a short time during day light periods and return during low light hours and after dark. Califronia Florida strain largemouth bass can grow to 12" in less than year, over 10 lbs is about 7 years in reservoirs. Bass in ponds are dependant on availble forage and the bass population per acre. WRB

The big difference between any mount is how well the artist paints the fish and how long the mount looks good without deteriorating. Fiberglass molded replicas only require one bass of a specific size to make up a mold. For example a 12 lb bass with a girth 75% length and another 12 lb bass with a girth 90% of it's length represents 99% of the 12 lb bass caught; northern and Florida strain is all the taxidermist needs to inventory. A good photo of the bass gives the artist who paints the fish an idea of what color scheme to use. A fish shin used to make the mount is gray color before painting, the fiberglass is white. Options like mouth open, straight body or acrhed body are different molds or forms. I have a few skin mounts that date prior to fiberglass replica's and they have aged a lot, changing color, a few cracks etc. The replica mounts look like new after 20 years; the paint is still life like, as if the bass just came out if the water. WRB

Your bass would be about 25 1/2" long X 22 1/2 girth to be 12 lbs., in CA. Roberts Fish Mounts, Robert Munoz, 626/222.1366 is the bst in the business, IMO. WRB

Deep is a relative statement; how deep; 30 feet or 15 feet? It's early summer so my best guess deep is somewhere around the 20 foot depth in most high-land or hill-land reserevoirs or 8 feet in most low-land reservoirs. Short term air temperature changes are related to weather fronts, cooling means low pressure fronts, clouds with light wind generally improve the fishing. Storm fronts are more radical events, higher winds and greater temperature/pressure changes, which in turn affect the water conditions more. The bass that are up shallow will tend to more tighter to cover, the deeper bass are affected less, however can be more difficult to fish due to the wind. The core water temperature should not change too much; 2 to 3 degrees, unless a lot of rain and run off occurrs, then the water clarity and temperatures can change more. Bass will move to stay in the warmer water about 70 to 75 degrees, if available during the summer period. WRB