Contest Question of the Week Archive

Sponsored by

Visit our sponsor's website today. They make it all possible.

Index to other archive questions.

Week of 1/19/00 #117 A local farmer has given you permission to fish his 30 acre farm pond. It has road access so you load up your 14 ft. Aluminum and head for the water. Upon arriving there you see that the pond is very murky. In fact there is less than six inches of visibility. The pond is oval shaped and you can only guess at the depth because you do not have a depth finder on board. It’s a partly sunny day and the water temperature is about 75 deg. You are sure all the bass have finished spawning in this pond based on the season and water temps. What is your initial primary pattern going to be to locate and catch fish under these conditions? Winner Tony Cosenza I would start with a Rattle Trap or med. running crank bait w/ loud rattles. Work the pond shallow to deep until I located the fish, when the bit slowed down I would go to a worm or swimming jig combo. On early or late bite you could catch them on a chart. ¼ oz buss bait. Week of 2/2/00 #118 After having some outboard motor problems that you and your buddy were finally able to solve, you head for your favorite bass cove. Before long your buddy is catching bass on a variety of plastic baits. For some reason you aren’t having much luck. You ask to borrow a couple of the same plastic lures he is using but still no luck. You start to watch him very carefully, trying to mimic his success. You are starting to get frustrated. You are using the same lures, the same weights, the same size and the same presentation as best as you can tell. At the end of the day your buddy has caught and released about a dozen nice bass. As for you, well, the only bass you have seen were at the end of his line! What did you do wrong? Winner Answer My response to question #118 is that while fixing the outboard some foreign substance (gas, oil, etc.) has gotten onto your hands. This scent is now being absorbed by the soft plastics every time you handle them. This is a turnoff to fish. Wash your hands after words. I usually carry an environmentally safe soap or some sort of cleanser with me in case of emergencies. In situations like this try masking the "bad" scent with a fish attractant, I like Bang garlic, but I guess any will do. If this does not work, maybe it is just your fishing presentation, you probably are frustrated like many of us would be. Relax. Try switching to one of your confidence baits and then go back to soft plastics after "cooling off". Week of 2/9/00 #119 You are fishing a large slow moving river for largemouth bass. It is mid summer and the water temperature is in the mid 70’s. The skies are partly cloudy with periods of strong sun. The area that you are fishing is a very large, cove like area, off of the main current. There are two known areas that you are considering to fish. One has isolated cover provided by weed beds and rock piles. It is in 6 to 8 feet of water. It lies adjacent to a deep drop off. The second area is a large flat that is in five feet of water and has weed growth to within two to three feet of the surface. Since you were only able to start your trip today by early afternoon, your fishing time is limited. Which of these two areas would you fish first and what would be your approach? Winner - Paul S. Evancoe I’d approach the isolated weed beds and rock piles from downstream. Since it is mid-summer the bass are generally a little deeper than usual. Id cast a carolina rig or some sort of Shad Rap parallel to the drop off and run it along the weed beds. Another lure that might work would be an excaliber crankbait. Id run that at a medium speed dragging the nose on the bottom. If i used a worm (carolina/texas) id cast towards the rock piles and make it swim off the drop off until it sinks. Week of 2/16/00 #120 It’s late spring. Most of the bass in this lake have already spawned. Since this is a very small, shallow lake your fishing choices are limited. The deepest spots are only about 8-10 ft deep and they are limited. You decide to give them a try even though the maximum depth of weed growth is only about six feet in this lake. You make a zig zag run with your trolling motor around the edges of these deep areas. You discover that one area (area A) has a very pronounced weed line as the water quickly drops from four to about ten feet. Another area (area B) has a very gentle slope from three feet to seven feet. It covers several hundred feet from a flat (3 ft of water) to the seven foot spot. Weed growth is abundant until you reach the six foot level. Which area would you fish first? Why? What would be your lure selection and initial pattern? Winner - Steve Hammil I would fish area A right at the weed line break in six to seven feet of water. I would cast parallel to the weedline edge. My lure would be a Rapala suspending Husky Jerk. I would crank it down along the weed edge and near the pockets. Then hold it in the area for some time giving it an occasional rattle and twitch. I think some of those big females who just spawned would be looking for an easy meal in this deeper water and the edge of the weedline would give them a perfect ambush point for this time in the season.   Bass Fishing USA Home Page