Best/Favorite Book?

[afree]

Hi All, 

 

I was wondering if you all had any favorite books on bass fishing? More specifically, books on tactics and expanding my arsenal of fishing techniques.  I spend a lot of time on airplanes (190,000 miles/year) and am looking to do some learning on my long haul international flights. 

 

I do apologize if there have been numerous threads on this topic, I am new and this is my first post but I did do a quick search and found one semi-related thread about collections. 

 

Thanks in advance. 

[WRB]

My 1st book on bass fishing is Lucas on Bass by Jason Lucas in 1960 signed copy with written note to me is my most cherished book.

In Pursuit of Giant Bass by Bill Murphy is my favorite bass book, I knew Bill we were in the same Pisces bass club.

Josh Alwine is a BR member and his book Lunker Lore is good*.

Tom

* self-aggrandizing

[2tall79]

101 Bass Catching secrets    Roland Martin

Old but still very much on point.

[bowhunter63]

Billy Westmorland them old brown fish if I still had a copy.

[MIbassyaker]

Put the In-Fisherman Largemouth and Smallmouth guides on your list for an in-depth survey of fish, location, and presentation fundamentals. They're old, but information is rock-solid, and they have something of a Northern perspective which you might appreciate given your location. They're still in print, but you can often find used copies for dirt cheap.

 

For techniques, have a look at Kevin Van Dam's books, Secrets of a Champion and Bass Strategies.

 

 

[Harold Scoggins]

3 hours ago, WRB said:

In Pursuit of Giant Bass by Bill Murphy

X2

[Tizi]

Doug Hannon's Big Bass Magic.  Read it as a kid and continue to reference that book.

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard!

 

Most of my reading was from mags and such, did read an old

fishing book from my Dad. Wasn't specific to bass, but more

to finding fish in streams, rivers, lakes. Wish I could remember

the title....

[Sam]

KVD's paperbacks are great: Secrets of a Champion and Bass Strategies

 

Just Google Kevin Van Dam's books and you will see them.

 

Excellent reads.

[Crestliner2008]

If you haven't read it, you need to: "Spoonplugging" by Elwood Buck Perry. You will learn what structure is and how bass (and many other species) relate to it.

[galyonj]

5 hours ago, WRB said:

Josh Alwine is a BR member and his book Lunker Lore is good.

I quite liked High Percentage Fishing.

[scbassin]

Crestliner 2008 has recommended A very good book. If you read & follow what Buck Perry had to say you will become a much better fisherman.

[frogflogger]

Have an extensive library but Lucas on bass fishing still has (for me) some good points on behavior of anglers. bill Murphys book very helpful, Buck Perry's, usually glean something from them - the most interesting has been Knowing Bass which is based on science and shows why the Ned Rig is so successful.

 

[Jaderose]

*Sigh*  I hate threads like this.  Not because it's a bad subject or anything (it isn't), but because it means that winter doldrums are setting in.

[Fishes in trees]

I think that the spoon plugging book is required reading, it gives you an extensive knowledge about what structure meant to Buck Perry.  Over the years, structure has come to mean different things to different folks at different times, but that book gives you a place to start.

Every so often I go back and re-read Charlie Brewers book on Slider Fishing, more or less to reinforce the notion that finesse fishing is as much an attitude as it is any particular bait.

[BassNJake]

5 hours ago, frogflogger said:

Have an extensive library but Lucas on bass fishing still has (for me) some good points on behavior of anglers. bill Murphys book very helpful, Buck Perry's, usually glean something from them - the most interesting has been Knowing Bass which is based on science and shows why the Ned Rig is so successful.

 

The Knowing Bass book has been recommended many times.

I believe it is written in gold.

Prices are cray cray

 

[ryanerb]

You have already got a lot of responses. 

 

There are also a few other threads that have some suggestions from days past:

 

[Bigassbass]

Don't spend a hundred dollars on a book take the money and go somewhere warm and go fishing!

[frogflogger]

17 hours ago, BassNJake said:

The Knowing Bass book has been recommended many times.

I believe it is written in gold.

Prices are cray cray

 

Wow - I paid $16.95 for mine. It's a good informative book but over $100 they need to come out with a reissue or something. The knowledge in is around in pieces in magazine articles but the shape of lures that bass prefer confirmed what we had learned from fishing the beetle and then the ned rig.

Excuse the disjointed entry above - the over $100 had me choking on my coffee.

[Dirtyeggroll]

1 hour ago, frogflogger said:

Wow - I paid $16.95 for mine. It's a good informative book but over $100 they need to come out with a reissue or something. The knowledge in is around in pieces in magazine articles but the shape of lures that bass prefer confirmed what we had learned from fishing the beetle and then the ned rig.

Excuse the disjointed entry above - the over $100 had me choking on my coffee.

 

19 hours ago, BassNJake said:

The Knowing Bass book has been recommended many times.

I believe it is written in gold.

Prices are cray cray

 

It was ~$400 less than a year ago. Must be a digital copy floating around bringing the price down.

[MIbassyaker]

Knowing Bass is an exceptional book, well worth reading and owning as a reference. It's the definitive source for information bass physiology, perceptual abilities, learning, and strike response to lure characteristics based on experiments at the Berkley Fish Research Lab.  In fact, many times when you see some factoid about a lure experiment cited in a magazine, the original source is this book.

 

Is the book worth $100, though?   I don't know about that.  But ask yourself this: how many times that amount over the last few years have you spent on lures and gear you didn't get much use out of? Or haven't gotten around to using at all??

[Columbia Craw]

Catch More Bass by Stan Fagerstrom.  Stan left us early this year.  He was a great fisherman and an even better person. The book might be out dated but it shares so many basics and fundamentals well it's still relevant.

[OkobojiEagle]

On 11/14/2019 at 12:06 PM, WRB said:

My 1st book on bass fishing is Lucas on Bass by Jason Lucas in 1960 signed copy with written note to me is my most cherished book.

 

Tom

... a 1st edition copy printed by Johann Gutenberg.  (just poking you with a stick)

 

oe

 

[WRB]

1 hour ago, OkobojiEagle said:

... a 1st edition copy printed by Johann Gutenberg.  (just poking you with a stick)

 

oe

 

Hope it's a Trigger Stick.

I started writing Jay asking questions when he was Sports Afield editor in '54 and would always find the time to answer a 11 year old kid.

Tom 

PS, I will add Finesse Bass Fishing and the Sonar Connection paper back book by Don Iovino to the list.

[afree]

Thank you all very much for your suggestions and the warm welcome! 

 

There will be a bunch more Amazon boxes at the door this week, that's for sure. Will make my 24 hours of travel next week much more bearable!