In Pursuit Of Giant Bass ~ One Man's Journey

[A-Jay]

Good Stuff right there guys Thanks you for your thoughts.  I do believe that I'm fishing for the smallest potion of the bass population.  And where ever they are spending the majority of their time, it's not someplace I have visited routinely in the past.  The super clear water and lack of shallow shoreline structure puts these fish deeper than some of the other lakes in this area.  I can see the bottom here in 20 ft almost every trip.  Except for low light conditions and when there is a wind, when fishing in 10 feet here you can see you bait throughout the entire cast.  So there is rarely a big fish bite there.   The depths I'm mining are just a product of this environment and we may all be thinking and saying the same thing.

There are a few docks, log jams and laydowns scatter around the lake and they hold fish when you'd expext them to but the big girls are like ghosts.  Also this is a multi-species habitat and lmb are not the biggest or baddest kids on the block which may play a role in who gets the prime habitat.

 

It looks like a killer morning - I'm heading out . . . . . . . .

[A-Jay]

**** Trip Log ****

Tuesday 11 June / Fished 6:30am – 3pm / Air temp low 70's / Water Temp 64 / Winds NW Light and Variable  / Barometer 1013 & steady.

 

 A typically gorgeous morning on the water in the north woods.  Sunrise was obscured by an Eden-like foggy mist without much wind to speak of.  I anchored up in the same area I left off with last trip.  After thinking about a couple of the recent discussions a few posts back regarding depth and still looking for the magic, I switched it up by anchoring shallow and fishing deep to shallow.  Additionally, I change my stitching weight from a 1/8 tungsten which I'd used most every trip so far, to a 1/16 lead weight.  Though it was very calm, it still took a good while for the rig to initially settle on the bottom.  To have any contact at all with the bait, I really had to just barely inch it along very slowly.  I went with a 6.5 inch Zoom trick worm and then a Berkley Powerbait 7" Power Shaky Worm in black and green pumpkin. No bites by 10am, so I moved to the other side of the drop off and reversed the whole deal to set up deep and worked shallow to deep.  No Biters again.   

  By noon the sun was beaming and it was time to make a move,  A move to what, I didn't exactly know.

 With the water temp now squarely in the "hey lets spawn" zone, I took a spin through areas that you'd expect to see beds.  Oh, there were beds all right and small bass every where I looked.  It was encouraging to see.  Most were little guys, a few were in the 2.5 - 3.5 lb class and I spied 2 or 3 little fat girls that could have gone 5lb.  It's hard to tell and so often those 5lb free swimmers end up shrinking down to 4's once they're hanging on a scale.  Either way, there was plenty of life in 10ft of water and most of it was around wood or weed cover.

 

Forecast is calling for some stability this week so we'll see how that plays out.

 

On a final note regarding the repeated lowering and hauling up of the double anchors over and over,

Ron Burgundy has got nothing on me; for I am The Anchor Man ~ Stay Classy BR ~

 

A-Jay

 

 

 

[CPBassFishing]

Mind if I join the party? I won't be stitching every time I go out, maybe once or twice a week for a few hours at a time. (Keep in mind that I am fishing small ponds and the larger bass don't have far to go.)

Setup:

7'6" MH Abu Garcia Veritas

Daiwa Takara

17lb XPS fluoro

1/4 oz tungsten bullet weight(too heavy I know but its all I have on hand.)

5/0 gama EWG

PTL 10" Ribbon Hinge Worm

[00 mod]

Hey cp, please do join the party but in your own thread. This was started by Andy to chronicle his journey so let him have this spotlight. But at the same time we will follow yours!

Jeff

[CPBassFishing]

Oh don't worry I wasn't going to post all my stuff here and steal his thunder, I don't roll like that. At the same time I don't really want to make a thread with the same topic. I'll just post reports in my blog if you guys want to add me as a friend. If I catch a big fish I'll post a thread in fishing reports.

[00 mod]

Sounds good and good luck.

Jeff

[A-Jay]

CP - I really do appreciate your support.

 

I have to say that your set as listed above doesn't really fit into the stitching category.

As you mentioned, it's a little on the heavy side; more like a light Carolina rig.

It will certainly get bit though - and I expect pictures for sure . . .

 

A-Jay

[CPBassFishing]

I changed to a 1/16 oz split shot 12" up from the worm, just enough to keep bottom contact. Anyways, back to your reports, sorry for the temporary hijack.

[greendragon]

Good luck A-Jay, You have my attention.

[pbrussell]

I am hoping the tone of this thread changes from this. Stitch? It's a b!tch: to stitchin' is b*tchin'! Just sayin

[A-Jay]

You're right and I apologize for the somewhat negative presentation.   That's not what this is about nor should it be placed in that light. 

Thank you for your post.  I needed that.

 

I did some supplemental reading in the chapter that covers the stitching technique.

It appears as though I have been using this in areas that it is not at it's best. Mr. Murphy indicated that smooth bottoms are not places where stitching routinely excels.  The bait does best in spots that have a bit of cover on the structure that allow for the bait to hang and drop and bump along.  I'm feeling a little bit like a knucklehead for not picking up on this detail initially as at least half of the deep area's I'd plan to fish on this lake have a smoother bottom.  A major oversight on my part and I'm glad I went back and looked.  I'll blame it on the long winter here numbing what's left of my brain.

 

 The author goes on to say that his experience showed that big bass do use these spots quite often but he was unable to get bit stitching a worm.  His solution, stitching a live crayfish.  Something about the bait struggling along that open bottom turned these fish into biters.  He passed on that it could be "devastating at times".  I like the sound of that. 

 Of course there is an entire chapter on the subject and like most of this reading, something I'm entering into right at the bottom floor.  I don't believe I have access to a local commercial supply of crayfish so I'd have to learn to catch and keep them myself.  Still haven't totally decided if this is something I want to get into. I have nothing against fishing live bait and a good majority of the bass I do catch here, cough up crayfish on the way to the net.  Perhaps this is the technique that could unlock some of the mystery that this journey has been so full of thus far. 

 Before I say that I am going to commit to it, some ground work and investigation will need to be conducted to see it it's even possible.  Immediate thoughts that come to mind are, where, when and how to I catch, and keep them.  If I can make this happen with in reason, I might actually entertain the idea. 

  The information in the book is fairly explicit and appears to cover what one would need to know to get started.  But like most everything we venture into, there always a bit more to it . . . . . . . . 

 

A-Jay

[Dwight Hottle]

Ahh!

[roadwarrior]

Talk with Fish Chris, he knows quite a bit about live bait in general and keeping craws in particular.

[Nice_Bass]

I know you know of it, but maybe the hudd bug could provide some middle ground while you consider the live bait option. I have used it with some success- weighted version with just a circle hook through the harness.  I don't have the patience, nor dedication as you to use it often enough- even with one rod rigged all the time with it. 

Seems like you could explore your options with it, especially if you can match your color to what you have up there. 

Good luck, and like others I do enjoy checking in on this thread often as well.

[shimmy]

I agree. Don't do live bait!!! Stay strong! Live bait will obviously work anywhere, i just was hoping that this thread kept that artificial flavor where all credit of the big bass goes to the fisherman, not some crawfish with dance moves of his own. You imagine trying to determine who caught the bass? The crawfish would never let it go and would insist that you were merely just a means to get him in the water, you can't split the glory, would it be his PB or yours, it could get messy. 

[A-Jay]

A good majority of the bass I do catch here, cough up crayfish on the way to the net.

 

Definitely not looking to spark the dreaded live bait debate. 

This all started after reading (and thoroughly enjoying) Bill Murphy's book.

My decision to take this journey In Pursuit of Giant Bass was not entered into lightly and will hopefully continue well past the post of any initial success. 

My path is largely uncharted.  By taking full advantage of the hard work and experience of a man who was willing to do so leaves me no choice but to utilize all the tools he found useful.  I am not in a position to randomly discard any technique that could point me in the right direction.

 

If it will make you feel any better shimmy I would be happy to include any courageous crawdad with moves like Jagger in the photo.

 

 

A-Jay

 

 

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I don't have any personal issue with using live bait, especially in the context mentioned above.

 

If that's how someone is able to catch the fish of a lifetime, awesome! Big fish are still big fish and I honestly don't believe live bait fishing for them is as easy as guys make it out to be. I recall fishchris stating that he would rather fish a Hudd instead of a crawler/dad, not for the personal satisfaction of it, but the fact that he has 100% control over what the artificial is doing. A Hudd doesn't see a big fish and scurry away. A crawfish has a mind (albeit a tiny one) of its own that is geared toward survival. If it makes a decision to scurry under a big rock in 20 FOW, you have no clue what it's doing down there in order to correct it.

 

I'm an artificial guy, for sure, but I have fished bait in the past. I didnt start catching really big fish (in my area) until I picked up artificials.

[shimmy]

Yeh, i agree with much of what you said, but again, there is a reason fishchris switches to the crawdad and big night crawlers for a reason to target the big bass on his finesse setup and it's not just because it is fun! Plus comparing your experience is slightly tainted since you have become a pretty sound swimbait fisherman the last few years and i highly doubt you have approached big bass at the dams and nicer spots where you are catching your 7's with the same vigor, patience, and determination as you did in the past with live bait. While i understand live bait will not always outfish artificial, there is NO debate whether or not live bait catches world record/state record size bass. End rant, sorry A-Jay, guilty for derailing. Whatever you do, we'll all be watching regardless. Go get em.

[slonezp]

Did Bill Murphy mention the use of a ham sandwich covered in Megastrike as a viable option? You'd have the ability to fish with meat and have 100% control over what the ham sandwich is doing. Knowing the ham sandwich has no instinctual need to survive, you would not have to worry about it crawling underneath a rock in 20fow.  

[A-Jay]

  No apology necessary shinny.  It's all on topic and a very stimulating discussion.

 

Thank you very much for helping make my decision. 

 

Mud Bugs it is . . . . .

 

A-Jay

[A-Jay]

A Ham Sandwich , really slone ?

 

I thought everybody knew that 95% of trophy bass surveyed prefer  B o l o g n a.

 

A-Jay

 

[J Francho]

Wacky rig a hot dog.

[00 mod]

Or just drink a beer and sit on the dock eating said sandwich while deadsticking your bait....

Jeff

[slonezp]

I think I'd need more than 1 beer to wash down the Megastrike

[slonezp]

Your showing our age..