Recommend intermediate-level books?

[Joshua Vandamm]

I’ve been doing serious bassin’ for about 2.5 yrs now. I’m looking for a good all around reference book. I’m thinking Kevin VanDams latest revised one, or maybe high percentage fishing. 

 

Any suggestions? Thanks!!

[Deleted account]

It pains me to say this, but Roland Martin's book is really good. Not too technical, and not too basic. 

[MassYak85]

I've heard KVD's book is good but I haven't read it. I honestly wasn't a huge fan of high percentage fishing. It was a good read and there was interesting data but I felt he drew conclusions that could just as easily be telling of fisherman as it could the fish. 

[Dens228]

I have both KVD's revised edition and the High Percentage...........KVD's all the way.

[Logan S]

The In-Fisherman Largemouth Bass book is great.  I first bought and read it when I was about 13 or so and have re-read it several times over the years.  Some stuff is a little dated, but the fundamentals are solid gold.  Get the Smallmouth book too if you can.  I keep both at/on/around my tackle bench for occasional or spontaneous references.  I think it's a great book for beginners all the way thru to seasoned anglers...A solid foundation never goes out of style, which is why I keep them handy and not buried in storage .

 

[WRB]

18 hours ago, Joshua Vandamm said:

I’ve been doing serious bassin’ for about 2.5 yrs now. I’m looking for a good all around reference book. I’m thinking Kevin VanDams latest revised one, or maybe high percentage fishing. 

 

Any suggestions? Thanks!!

Define all around reference book? How too use your tackle, tie knots, various presentations like flipping, finesse, jerk baits, cranking and on bass behavior, bass location on reserviors, natural lakes, ponds etc.

I don't know of one book that covers all around bass fishing. 

Glenn has taken time to make a wide range of vedio's that covers  detailed instruction for most of the basics. There are several good bass fishing books that have outstanding information on specific fishing techniques and bass behavior. 

Tom

[68camaro]

2nd vote for Roland Maetins 101 Bass Secrets, its all about how, where and with what to catch bass. Find used in ebay.

 

Also, try In Pursuit of Giant Bass, author based out of CA but great info on differences between bass and HUGE bass. Intersting read but limited in my shallow lakes.

 

Also Knowing Bass was really good, wish I didn't sell mine after reading it.

[All Day Fishing]

3RD vote for Roland Martin's book! Great read for anyone into fishing!

[MIbassyaker]

18 hours ago, Logan S said:

The In-Fisherman Largemouth Bass book is great.  I first bought and read it when I was about 13 or so and have re-read it several times over the years.  Some stuff is a little dated, but the fundamentals are solid gold.  Get the Smallmouth book too if you can.  I keep both at/on/around my tackle bench for occasional or spontaneous references.  I think it's a great book for beginners all the way thru to seasoned anglers...A solid foundation never goes out of style, which is why I keep them handy and not buried in storage .

 

 

I second the In-fisherman books. There is also the In-Fisherman Critical Concepts series, which is sort of a more recent update on the same material, although it only covers Largemouth.

 

19 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I've heard KVD's book is good but I haven't read it. I honestly wasn't a huge fan of high percentage fishing. It was a good read and there was interesting data but I felt he drew conclusions that could just as easily be telling of fisherman as it could the fish. 

 

I have heard more than one person here say this, but I confess, after reading the book my opinion is exactly the opposite -- he comes right out and says what his preferred conclusions would have been, and reports that the analysis just didn't support it. It is one of very few sources I have read where the author actually admits his intuitions and preferences are proven wrong by the data. I understand why anglers would be unhappy with his conclusions, but, well, his results were what they were.

 

54 minutes ago, 68camaro said:

Also Knowing Bass was really good, wish I didn't sell mine after reading it.

 

I second this recommendation too -- Knowing Bass is the definitive scientific treatment of the Largemouth bass as a species, with lots of details on physiology, sensory capabilities, and experimental data on behavior in response to lures. Not a how-to fishing book, though.

 

[MassYak85]

15 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

I have heard more than one person here say this, but I confess, after reading the book my opinion is exactly the opposite -- he comes right out and says what his preferred conclusions would have been, and reports that the analysis just didn't support it. It is one of very few sources I have read where the author actually admits his intuitions and preferences are proven wrong by the data. I understand why anglers would be unhappy with his conclusions, but, well, his results were what they were.

I'm not saying he's bias, or even that he was wrong, but my issue is all his data was reported by anglers. So it is going to inherently be telling of both the fish and the anglers themselves and there is no way to necessarily separate them in all cases.

 

Just an example, if I was to say that of a sampling of 1000 anglers under X conditions, 75% of the fish were caught in less than 10 feet of water. Does that mean that X conditions cause 75% of the catchable bass to move shallow, or does it simply highlight the fact that most fisherman are bank beaters? 

 

I didn't pull that from his book but I remember a couple similar things in there. 

[MIbassyaker]

1 hour ago, MassYak85 said:

I'm not saying he's bias, or even that he was wrong, but my issue is all his data was reported by anglers. So it is going to inherently be telling of both the fish and the anglers themselves and there is no way to necessarily separate them in all cases.

 

Just an example, if I was to say that of a sampling of 1000 anglers under X conditions, 75% of the fish were caught in less than 10 feet of water. Does that mean that X conditions cause 75% of the catchable bass to move shallow, or does it simply highlight the fact that most fisherman are bank beaters? 

 

I didn't pull that from his book but I remember a couple similar things in there. 

Everything you say here is correct -- however, he does acknowledge this in the book.  And the thing that struck me was how inconsistent his results were with typical anglers' beliefs about the variables that most affect their catch rates....it seems to me that, to the extent that the data ware distorted by sampling biases and inaccurate reporting, it should have been the other way around.

[Joshua Vandamm]

On 3/6/2018 at 3:56 PM, WRB said:

Define all around reference book? How too use your tackle, tie knots, various presentations like flipping, finesse, jerk baits, cranking and on bass behavior, bass location on reserviors, natural lakes, ponds etc.

I don't know of one book that covers all around bass fishing. 

Glenn has taken time to make a wide range of vedio's that covers  detailed instruction for most of the basics. There are several good bass fishing books that have outstanding information on specific fishing techniques and bass behavior. 

Tom

Like if you had to choose one book to Carry with you for fast reference to weather condition and seasonal patterning, lure selection, tips techniques. 

 

I just got a scanned copy of knowing bass. Haven’t read it yet tho. Is it one you’d carry with you or read alone for overall info, or both?

On 3/5/2018 at 10:01 PM, Logan S said:

The In-Fisherman Largemouth Bass book is great.  I first bought and read it when I was about 13 or so and have re-read it several times over the years.  Some stuff is a little dated, but the fundamentals are solid gold.  Get the Smallmouth book too if you can.  I keep both at/on/around my tackle bench for occasional or spontaneous references.  I think it's a great book for beginners all the way thru to seasoned anglers...A solid foundation never goes out of style, which is why I keep them handy and not buried in storage .

 

Thanks! What about the “secrets” edition? Have you read it?

[WRB]

Seasonal periods and basic bass behavior start with my Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar, google search.

Lures are lake specific depending on preferred prey and depth the bass are active feeding, too many variable to predict.

If I knew of a good all around pocket reference book would have suggested it.

Tom

[MIbassyaker]

1 hour ago, Joshua Vandamm said:

I just got a scanned copy of knowing bass. Haven’t read it yet tho. Is it one you’d carry with you or read alone for overall info, or both?

Thanks! What about the “secrets” edition? Have you read it?

 

I would not carry my copy of knowing bass anywhere other than between my bookshelf and maybe an armchair! It's just one to read at home for reference. Same with the in-fisherman books --worth reading and re-reading, but probably off the water.

 

The In-Fisherman books have been reprinted a number of times with minor changes in the title, but I think there are only a couple different editions. Check the copyright date -- The "secrets" version may be an earlier edition from the 80s. The version I have is called "largemouth bass in the 1990s", but appears to be the same book as the one in Logan's picture, and I can't tell any difference between it and the most recent printings which I usually see at Dick's. The copyright is like 1992. You can often find used copies for a buck or three on Amazon.

 

I can't think of anything I've seen that would be practical as a literal pocket guide; I'm not even sure how useful such a thing could be given the variables, as WRB says.

 

 

 

 

[Joshua Vandamm]

1 hour ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

I would not carry my copy of knowing bass anywhere other than between my bookshelf and maybe an armchair! It's just one to read at home for reference. Same with the in-fisherman books --worth reading and re-reading, but probably off the water.

 

The In-Fisherman books have been reprinted a number of times with minor changes in the title, but I think there are only a couple different editions. Check the copyright date -- The "secrets" version may be an earlier edition from the 80s. The version I have is called "largemouth bass in the 1990s", but appears to be the same book as the one in Logan's picture, and I can't tell any difference between it and the most recent printings which I usually see at Dick's. The copyright is like 1992. You can often find used copies for a buck or three on Amazon.

 

I can't think of anything I've seen that would be practical as a literal pocket guide; I'm not even sure how useful such a thing could be given the variables, as WRB says.

 

 

 

 

I think it could be very. With a lot of tables and graphs etc it’s function as a more thorough app. 

 

The My Fishing advisor app is actually great at suggesting lures and colors and even where to fish...for beginners it’s valuable but it’s outlived it’s usefulness. Too bare bones. 

 

Im probably asking for too much. Lol

Just good books are all I need. Carry the contents in the noggin. 

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Team9nine]

My favorite pocketguide booklet on fishing (about 4.5" x 5.75" and 32 pages)  Easy to carry with you or store in a boat's compartment - lol

 

[MIbassyaker]

Heh, I did find this:

 

The Pocket Guide to Seasonal Largemouth Bass Patterns: An Angler's Quick Reference Book (2016)

Monte Burch

136 pages

4.4" x .5" x 6.3"

ISBN 13: 9781634508100

 

[Glenn]

On 3/6/2018 at 12:56 PM, WRB said:

Glenn has taken time to make a wide range of vedio's that covers  detailed instruction for most of the basics.

Dude!  Thanks for the shoutout!  That means a lot to me.  I appreciate it.

 

I have all the books mentioned above.  All have their merits.  I also have Rick Clunn's and Mike Iaconelli's books, and a few others I can't remember right now.  Which reminds me, it's probably a good time to go back and read them again.

 

Yes, I've poured 20+ years of my life into this site and videos to provide the best free resource of bass fishing info, but the books are where I got a ton of terrific, reliable, authentic info that's hard to beat even in the Internet age. Definitely worth the investment.

 

 

[WRB]

I believe a new bass angler today has too many choices of information that can conflict and be confusing.

1. Learn what you want about bass behavior and seasonal periods.

2. Learn how to use your tackle, good casting mechanics will last you a lifetime.

3. Understand that individual bass are not always catchable, they rest and become inactive. Active bass are easier to catch, location and timing are the keys to catching bass.

4. Lure selection; top water, midwater and bottom. Lures need to be able to be fished effectively throughout he water column and no way to predict the conditions, cover type or structure depth the bass are using any particular day or night.

Tom