WRB

Thanks, corrected the error, it should be Casitas. Castiac was on my mind because of Butch Browns 19.5 caught on Mar 4th. Yesterday, Mar 6th, it was announced that the Cachuma board will close the lake to recreational boaters, Mar 11th, following the Casitas boards move and the rumor is lake Piru may follow also. WRB

The 1 year closure allows the community and public time to accept the fact the lake may remain closed indefinitely without the termoil of stating that fact up front. This is a policical issue, water is big business out west and recreational fishing is a side beneifit, that appearently is expendable. WRB

For those of you who havn't followed the Caifornia Quagga mussel issue, lake Casitas*, a world class bass fishery, closed recreational boating for 1 year, effective march 4th, 2008. Lake Cachuma, near Santa Barbara where Jay Yelas learned to bass fish, plans to close March 11th. This is bad new for bass fisherman, as other lakes will follow. WRB * corrected the error, thank you.

Lake Cachuma, following the Castias closure, plans to close March 11th. Both lakes Casitas and Cachuma are excellent bass fisheries. Jay Yelas learned to bass fish at Cachuma. Casitas has world record class bass that are just starting to move up and the spawn is about 3 weeks away. Butch Brown caught a 19.5 lb. bass at the lower lagoon at Castiac March 4th. Castaic and Diamond valley lakes havn't decided yet what their plans are, but they can't be far behind in closing and fishing is good and news is bad. WRB

The March 4th meeting was held and the lake Castias will be closed to recreational fishing for 1 year. Rental boats, resident stored boats and shore fishing will be allowed. This bad news for bass fisherman in CA, as several other lakes may follow. WRB

http://www.State.tn.us/twra/fish/Reservoir/blackbass/livebass2.pdf The above article is a good reference, Gene Gilliland is well know biologist. Basically bass start to stress about 1 minute out of water. Air temperature has an excellerated affect. The problem is bass can't breath air, the breath dissolved oxygen within the water. If you put them in a bucket without a DO generator, the bass will use up the DO very fast because they are stressed and the water may be a different temperature. WRB PS; try holding your breath for 1 minute on the clock, it's a long time and takes pratice to hold your breath longer.

You are intitled to your opinion, with the exception of the PETA statement and that is unacceptable. I wrote to Bassmaster, Ken Duke, regarding the article using weighted treble hook lures for spawners as a unsportsmen like techinque, when the article was first published. Shaw Grigsby is known as one of the best sight bass fisherman and Shaw agrees that treble hooks should not be used for bed fishing. It's a personal choice how anyone chooses to fish, however the choices are the responsibilty of the individual. BASS has a rule that any fish hooked outside the mouth, when bed fishing, is not a legal catch. California has a law that snagged bass are illegally caught and that cost the potential 25 lb world record bass to be disqualified. Treble hooks are unsporting when bed fishing IMO and the IGFA, you have your opinion. Don't ever use PETA as an example regarding sport fishing because you don't agree with another opinion, you have crossed the line. WRB

The problem with passing frontal conditions is the big change in sunlight, wind and temperature change. The low pressure brings in the weather front with clouds creating low light conditions and that turns on the bass, folloed by high pressure that clears out the clouds with wind and bright sunlight that turns off the bass. Shallow water bass are affected by both conditions more than deeper water bass, due to the reduces light pentration into deeper water and the wind affects the deep water less. Take advantage of the appeoaching cloudy conditions and move out to deep water during the clear bright post frontal conditions. The other option is to fish the heavy cover and try to tease the bass into striking. Good luck. WRB

Deadly; so is a stick of dynamite. Bed fishing is marginally sporting, using lures with treble hooks is very questionable behavior as the bass snags itself trying to move the lure out of the bed. If your goal is to catch bass any way possible why bother with a lure, just snag them with a gang of treble hooks or use a live bluegill. Most states have outlawed snagging bass, so you need to look over your shoulder for the law. WRB

The larger bass are the females and they don't stay around a nest more than a few hours after depositing their eggs. The smaller male bass protect the nest until the eggs hatch. The female can be caught before they lay their eggs and when visiting several nest sites to lay eggs before leaving the bedding area and resting as post spawn bass. Pre-spawn bass are the most aggressive, post spawn bass are the least aggressive. Spawners are protecting the nest sites and can be very aggressive, however are not eating, they are removing the threat to the nest site. WRB

See http://aqua.ucdavis.edu/dbweb/outreach/aqua/200FS.pdf You can go on the internet and find lots of good studies regarding bass habits that are fact based. Bass are bass or are they smallmouth, spotted, northern LMB or Florida strain LMB? The 4 basic bass have different seasonal habits due to where they live. You are up north where nortern LMB and smallmouth bass reside. It's been my experience that smallmouth bass spawn in water between 58 to 62 degrees and LMB between 62 to 67 degrees. Nothing in nature is absolute so bass, like everthing else, bass tend to adapt to thier habitate. The full moon phase definately affects the major spawn and females tend to start to move up to the bedding areas about 2 days before the full moon cycle and continue for about 2 days after. Large lakes will have different water temperaures depending on the depth of the lake, wind conditions and weather, so there may be 2 to 3 spawning cycles going on at different locations. If bass spawn and the water column cools down rapidly due to extreme weather, the eggs take longer to hatch, up to 14 days. The problem with a long hatch period is survival of both the eggs and fry, due to egg eating predators. Water temperatue at 62 to 65 degrees at the depth the bass are using to spawn is ideal, the eggs hatch within 4 to 5 days with better chances of survival. Above 67 degrees the bass must share the area with bedding bluegill and carp, both are egg eaters that rob the bass nest, so the warmer the water gets, the faster the eggs will hatch, but there is more pressure on egg survival from predators. Mother nature can be tough and it's survival of the fittest. The early birds must protect the nest longer and the later gators must protect the eggs from hordes of bluegill and carp. The majority of the survivers are the bass that spawn during ideal conditions. WRB

GPS with WAAS gives you altitude, otherwise elevation doesn't affect the way points radically. If you are standing on a stump 100 feet below the water max pool and take a way point; lat/long numbers, and return with your boat when the lake is full, you will be over the same stump, just 100 feet above it. A good GPS should put you within 6', depending where the antenna is located. You should be close enough to find structure with your sonar, once you are near it's location. Sometimes it can be frustrating as bass boats moving using the big engine are covering ground fast, even idling. If you are using a trolling motor and moving slowly, it's a lot easier to get on top of your way points. WRB

Suggest anyone that has the opportunity to survey their lakes when drawn down or just low water conditions, take the time to photogragh the areas of interest and areas where you caught bass. I number my maps and the photos and today add way points data to be able to return to those spots after the lake fills. Knowing what is down under water is valuable in several ways; understanding your sonar signals and feeling the lures contact structure or cover is very important. Catching bass off isolated areas not visable to everyone is priceless. WRB

The most important factors when trying to locate bass are; 1. Seasonal period. 2. Prey.. 3. Water temperature. 4. DO levels. 5. Water clarity. After you have determine what calendar period the bass are in, then you need to locate prey the bass are feeding on. Water temperature determine the location during the seasoanl period. Dissolved oxygen levels must be within the basses range of confort. Water clarity will determine how deep the bass may go during the seasonal period. Structure elements are the phsyical feature under the water the bass relate to and cover provides a sancturary for both bass and prey. A combination of structure with cover is important. Bass are never far away from their prefered prey and locate in water they are confortable in and provides both food and sanctuary. The perfect ledge located in an area that is void of prey or DO is a poor structure under those condiitons. A boat dock located in shallow 85 degree water may be a poor choice. A tree standaing near a channel break, providing cover for both bass and prey, located in 75 degree water, 40 feet deep, standing 30 feet tall, with a thermocline at 25 feet, would be a good location, for example. A rock pile located in the same area as the tree, during the same conditions , would be a poor choice, due to low DO levels that may exist with the thermocline at 25'. However if you mark fish near the bottom, that would indicate the bass are confortable at 40' and the rock pile becomes a good choice. WRB

Urban, I don't disagree with the 1874 Napa river NLMB planting. ASU has a plaque near some ponds honoring Dr. Henshall on the University where he transplanted NLMB from Minn to stock both AZ and CA. When I wrote a article for In-Fisherman "Rare chance for a world record", published Jan '86, my research on FLMB including talking to Jim Brown, Orval Ball and Larry Bothroff, the people who brought the bass from Florida to San Diego and managed the program. The bass in question came from Crpress Gardens Fl in 1959 and were initially planted into holding ponds near where lake Miramar is located. The pure FLMB were then transplanted into upper Otay and lake Hodges, both closed to the public at the time. I don't know where the information came from with the source you noted, there certainly could have been more than on transplant, however the people involved didn't mention that to me at the time. If interseted email me and I can send you a copy of the In-Fisherman article. Larry Bothroff was the San Diego fishery biologists who monitoured the FLMB program for over 30 years, until he retired a few years ago. Jim Brown was the city lakes manager, Orval Ball was city manager who came up with the original plan. From a biologist point of view the transplant was considered a failure. The FLMB grow faster and bigger as planned, but the catch rate for angler hours went down, fewer bass being caught by the average angler and the transplants discontinued by San Diego city lakes. The fact that the FLMB started growing to giant size was not part of the initail plan. WRB

Texas dos a wonderful job of managing their bass population. California doesn't manage our bass, they are on their own, other than to establish slot limits in a few lakes that are pressured beyond belief. Check with your Share A Lunker Program managers, they are working with a local university with DNA gene program. You are right on with how the program started and continues, however they added the gene splicing program, not to make bigger bass but more resiliant to temperature changes to improve their health. No distinction between LMB as far as the IGFA is concerned. If you can't see the difference without knowing there is a difference; like brown color and teeth on the tongue, to the IGFA and most fisherman a bass is a bass. The facts say they are seperate species; Florida grow over 30" long, NLMB less than 28" ( mouth closed to tip of tail). The Perry bass was reported to be 32" long,so it had to be a Florida strain LMB. The perry bass was caught near the Georgia / Florida border, well within it's natural range. Don't confuse me with facts, my mind is made up, as bass is a bass, or is it a sunfish? My vote, 2 records. WRB

GW, shape has a lot to do with the avalble food source. Football shape bass, both FLMB and NLMB occur where high protein food is abundant. However it has been my experience that FLMB outgrow NLMB in the same lake, with the same food source. Agree that NLMB are more elongated, thinner bodied bass, than FLMB and can not achieve the same weight. That is why I believe 2 record classes should be established. Prior to the FLMB being planted into Ca lakes, the CA record was 14 lb 8 oz. My PB NLMB is 12 lbs 4 oz caught in lake Casitas in 1971, my best FLMB from lake Casitas is 18 lbs 11 oz, caught in 1981, PB FLMB is 19.3 lbs caught at lake Castaic in 1995. There is no doubt that FLMB outgrow NLMB in the same lakes with the same food source. WRB

There are only the 2 strains of LMB, northern and Florida. The northern strian originally planted in California came from Minnesota back in the 1890's by Dr Henshall. California doesn't have any native bass. The Florida strain was introduced by in 1959 by Orval Ball, who planted the Florida's in San Diego city lakes. Intregrades or mixtures of NLMB and FLMB occur naturally where both strains share the same water. The intergrades are still FLMB, just not pure FLMB. Texas originally planted Florida strain, like California. Then Texas started an selective harvest where big bass were used for brood fish via the Share a Lunker program, to use natural genetic process to produce bigger bass, however they were still natural Floridia strian LMB. About 10 years ago Texas started to gene splice giant bass DNA into Florida/NLMB to create a strain more tolerant to cold temperatures and be a little more agressive to increase catch rates. They still would be classified as Florida strain bass and only time will tell if they out grow the natural FLMB. WRB

Thats what happens when you get old, memory... should be above 65 not 59 lateral line scales, 59 is the published data in most reference books. Stand corrected. What is your stand in 2 separate records? The Perry bass is very questionable, not valid picture or weight witness. I have always accepted the Perry bass simply because it is the establised record. When you considered the second largest bass ever recorded in Georgia is less than 18 lbs..you tend to have second thoughts. WRB

Based on your logic we should have Western bass, more national championships in football and the biggest bass on the board are all from the west. WRB

There should be a record for each type of bass; Smallmouth, Spotted, nothern strain largemouth and Florida strain largemouth. The differences between each bass is easy to identify. Spots have teeth on thier tongue, smallmouth have connected dorsal fins, northern strain LMB have 8 front dorsal spines and 58 pore lateral line scales, Florida strian have 9 front dorsal spines and 69 pore lateral line scales. The only issue becomes the Florida/nothern LMB intergrades. However all LMB with 59 lateral line scales or more should be classed as Florida strian, regardless if it's F1 to F3 generation or a Texas genetic engineered LMB. The length and girth difference between FLMB and NLMB are substantial. NLMB rarely have a girth that exceeds 80% of the length and FLMB usually have a girth exceeding 90%. This means that a FLMB of the same length usually out weighs the NLMB. Example; using the Length X length X girth / 1200 formula: 28" length, 80% = 22 1/2" girth (max), 28" with 90% (avg) 25 1/4" The 28L X 22.5G = 14.7 lbs., max for NLMB The 28L X 25.25 = 16.5 lbs., average for FLMB however if you use 95% girth, 28L X 26.6G = 17.4 lbs The maximum a NLMB could weigh is 16 lbs for a 29 inch long bass. The maximum a FLMB could weigh is 20 lbs for a 29 inch long bass. FLMB have been known to grow to a length of 32 inches (WR), nothern is around 29 inches. Two very different bass and they should have their own record status. WRB

I think the moon phase is a critical factor in the basses feeding and spawning periods. Professional skippers for example use the full moon as an excuse for poor fishing during the day light hours because the fish feed heavily during the full moon nights. Can't have it both ways. First, the moon must be over head to have any real impact on shallow water bass in clear reservoirs. Use the shadow of the moon light when fishing shallow water targets. Like any other time, bass at night feed in cycles, they don't bite all night long, just the bugs do that. Clear water IMO is the best for night fishing because the bass can use the sense of sight better and the full moon helps a predator find prey. The full moon phase isn't the one day of the full moon, it's the 5 day period; 2 before, the full moon and 2 days after, that activate bass. It's really a good time to night fish, the bass should be active when the water warms above 60 degrees until it cools back down in the fall. WRB

I have advocated for years that northern strain LMB should have a seperate record status from Florida strian LMB. They may look similar, but they are not the same bass; different number of lateral line scales for example. My PB northen LMB was caught from lake Casitas back in 1971; 12lbs 4 oz, also on a jig. The world record northen should be around 15 lbs., so any 10+ NLMB is a trophy bass, where a 15+ should be the bench mark for FLMB, since they can grow more than 5 lbs. heavier. Size is realtive to where you live, the climate and type of bass. WRB

We experienced a similar fish kill at lake Piru in southern CA., last month, as result of massive storm producing cold water run off. Piru was very low due to last years drought, the storm was out of Canada with snow and hail, the lake came up about 30 feet in 24 hours. A few days after the storm, thousands of fish were floating dead and more you don't see that sank. Thermal shock is a primary killer of bass, although it doesn't happen often from natural events, it takes severe conditions to change the core water temperature more than 10 degrees quickly. WRB

Fish kills happen. This event didn't happen because of any man made chemical intrusion of lack of management. If the fishery is healthy, the eccosystem is healthy the fish population should be very resilant to fluctuations. You should be more concerned with fish mortality that you can control. A high percentage of (big) bass die from stress after being released; poorly handled, photographed, weighed, shown off, placed in a livewell for hours with low DO and water over 70 degrees. Tournament mortality is about 25% for average size bass, big bass higher. Put your efforts where they can help; install DO generators and temperature controls in your livewells, so you are not adding to fish kills. WRB