Fishing Challenging at Presa Pocho yesterday.

[king fisher]

      I went bass fishing for the first time in a month, at my favorite big bass lake near Tepic.  I ended the day with 8 small bass and one 4.5 pounds.  I didn't catch any big bass due to poor angling skill.

      The rainy season started early this year, and when I got to the lake the visibility was less than a foot.  The water was still low, making it tough to decide where to go.  In the past when the lake is high and dirty, the bass move in to the flooded pasture flats.  Meaning bomber casts with buzz baits and frogs to cover lots of flooded grass. When the water is low, with better vis. I find them on humps drop offs, and suspended in off shore trees.

      After trying a variety of locations and techniques I found the bass tight to the many barbed wire fence lines that are submerged, or partially submerged depending on water depth.  I have found this pattern before at this water level, but always with clearer water with larger strike zones further from the fence. I dread fishing the fence lines for many reasons, including barb wire shreds any kind of line. ( Bait Monkey loves fences), When I do fish the fences, I usually am able to catch bass with buzz baits, spinnerbaits, or square bills fished parallel to the fence line passing close by many posts with one cast.  With the moving baits, I have more of a chance keeping the bass out of the fence once hooked, and if they do get tangled it is usually in the top wire giving me a fighting chance.

      Yesterday the bass wanted nothing to do with moving baits.   I found they would bite a weightless 7 inch Senko on the fall or immediately after hitting the bottom, tight to fence posts in 4 to 5 feet of water.  I was proud of myself for finding this specific pattern for getting big bites, but I failed to land the bigger bass.  If I fished parallel to the fence line I got less bites, and the bass quickly tangled me in the bottom wire.  Casting perpendicular to the fence at each individual post worked best, but I still lost all my big bass in the wire.  The problem was they wouldn't hit the Senko, unless it fell straight down within a couple inches of the post.  I would cast well past a post and reel the bait on the surface until it was on my side of the wire, and give it slack to fall straight down next to the post watching the line to detect any strikes.  I tried faster sinking T rigs, witch would have allowed for a vertical presentation with a tight line, but only got bites with a slow weightless fall.

     The problem was the strikes were quick and aggressive.  The bass instantly would grab the bait and move to the other side of the fence wrapping the line on their way.  By the time I set the hook and felt the bass I was tangled in the wire.  I lost 3 big bass that I didn't even fight long enough to see.  If I didn't give the bait slack and kept the line tight in order to instantly move the bass away from the fence, I didn't get bit.  Finally I got a bite from a bass that was easily over 10 pounds and could have been in the teens.  The giant grabbed the Senko the second it hit bottom, ran away from the fence to open water, and jumped.  My rod was almost jerked out of my hands do to my lack of concentration.  After it jumped it slammed my rod tip down to the water and was gone.  When I reeled in the worm, I saw the hook was still skin hooked.  It hadn't even penetrated the worm.  It was then realized I hadn't even attempted to set the hook.  I was so surprised, I just held on for the ride.  I let the bass of a lifetime play me instead of me playing the bass.

     After crying and throwing a temper tantrum I switched to wacky rigging my bait, and I landed a 4.5 pounder, plus a couple smaller bass but still lost a couple more in the wire.  This is the second giant bass I have lost this year due to not paying attention.   When the strikes are few and far between, I have the tendency to day dream.  I need to learn to concentrate 100% of the time if I am going to fish for trophy bass.  Like my little league coach used to always say.  If you are going to play the game, you need to always pay attention, even if you are in right field.  I should have listened to my coach he was a wise man.

     

[A-Jay]

Nice write up ~

Sorry about losing a giant.

We never really know if & when we'll get another shot.

If it does for you,

hope it turns out better.

A-Jay

[gim]

2 hours ago, king fisher said:

When the strikes are few and far between, I have the tendency to day dream.  I need to learn to concentrate 100% of the time if I am going to fish for trophy bass.  Like my little league coach used to always say.  If you are going to play the game, you need to always pay attention, even if you are in right field.  I should have listened to my coach he was a wise man.

This kinda reminds me of muskie fishing. The strikes are rare, and it’s easy to get into a robotic lull, just repeatedly casting over and over without the expectation of catching anything. Then there’s a follow as I’m daydreaming and I screw up the figure 8 because I was on another planet. Mental focus is arguably just as important as physical focus in these situations.

 

Right field was where we stuck the kids in little league who lacked attention span lol. The problem is that when someone hit a fly ball out there, we were screwed.