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Today’s Top 5 QUESTIONS
Said it before, will do it again: Bass will bite anything…though there have been times the bass have not cooperated….
Props to the dude for either being convinced that bait would work or forgetting every other bait he ever bought and not heading in. Caught one on it! Must have what the rod says.
Had a back and forth with Josh Alwine, writer of the new book High Percentage Fishing:
> “I spent several years collecting tens of thousands of data points on freshwater predator fish catches from a variety of sources. Much of the data was tied to bass fishing [including all 500+ TX ShareLunker catches]. I combined the data with detailed location-specific weather information then ran statistics on it to determine which variables had the biggest impact on catch rates.”
Dude is an engineer/state expert. Check a few examples of what he found:
- All but the most extreme barometric changes have little to no impact on catch rates.
- Statistically speaking, Wednesdays out produce Saturdays 3 to 1 on a per hour basis.
- Moon phases have no statistically significant impact on catch rates.
- Statistically speaking, the best time to catch a 10-lb fish in TX is on a Wednesday between the 2nd and 3rd week of March throwing a dark-colored plastic worm.
I’m so getting the book — here on amazon:
News
1. AL: Bass boat crash on Lake Tuscaloosa.
Dang! Happened in the dark, dude apparently okay.
Worries about winning after that.
3. FLWer J-Wheels still likes the Waking Minnow.
Used it a bunch last year, and latest at the Smith Open:
> I would throw the Rapala BX Waking Minnow in the mornings when the spots were less active. The big key to that bait was it stayed in the strike zone longer to convince those fish to commit when the water was cooler in the mornings.
> As the day started to warm up I would start to throw the #11 Skitter Walk to finish of a good limit of spots.
> The last 2 hours of the day was the most important time because that’s when the biggest fish became more active, especially the largemouth. I would rotate between the Accent Game Changer Buzzbait with a Gene Larew Three Legged Frog on it, and a Spro frog depending how much debris was in the water.
Very smart to post this stuff after tourneys. The BX Waking Minnow and the Original Floater are like the Senkos of hard baits — you can’t really fish ’em wrong.
4. Erie smallies fair, largies good this year.
Never heard of it but makes sense…but you risk being labeled a wuss! Tip from FieldandStream.com, the website that force-feeds you about a zillion ads: #spam
> At the terminal end of each spool of 25-pound fluorocarbon was a big, oval-shaped foam float that suspended a 5/0 Lazer TroKar Kahle hook rigged to a 5-inch golden shiner. Coogan and I had traveled here, to Florida’s famed Lake Okeechobee, for one reason: to catch giant spring bass.
Could work with small jigs or plastics?
6. TX: Reel ‘Em In derby on Fork this weekend.
Benefits K9s4Cops. Love benefit derbies.
7. TX: Palestine fishing great?
> “I have been running FOM tournaments for 11 years and we’ve never come close to this weight.”
8. TX: New Bass Champs show starts this weekend.
9. Women-only Mexico bassin’ trip.
Next Jan.
10. Johnson Outdoors buys Northport…
…for “digital cartography,” which I’m pretty sure is the art of taking pictures of carts like this one:
Tip of the Day
Getting fascinated with this technique:
> “I fish water only about 8 feet deep or less,” explains Lane, who used this presentation for three top 10 finishes in Bassmaster Elite competition during the 2013 season. I believe it works because it’s just something a little different that bass don’t see very often….”
> “The real key is using a lure that floats above the bottom. I prefer a soft-plastic creature bait that glides through the water like a small salamander. It’s a fairly large bait bass can’t resist, and I can rig it weedless….”
> “I use sinkers weighing only 1/4- or 3/8-oz, and my standard leader length is only about 18″…if the fish are active, I’ll use an even shorter leader.
Quote of the Day
When you start with zero, you know you have an uphill battle.
– Brandon Palaniuk talkin‘ on Bassin’Fan.
Shot of the Day
Jay Kumar is the guy who created BassFan.com, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a whole lot more in bassin’. Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best in bassin’, and is the #2 daily read on any given day in the wide world o’ bass. Get the Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster app:
