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Week of 2/23/00 #121 You and two buddies are fishing pre spawn bass in a narrow creek channel. The water is very clear and cold. It’s late morning and the sun is up strong. As you head back into the creek arm you notice that there is some current, apparently from the feeder creek. You also notice that on one side of the creek the water is somewhat cloudy while the other side is clear. There is a very defined break line where the water changes from clear to cloudy. You think that it would be best to fish the cloudy side of the creek. Buddy “A” thinks that the water is too cold for fishing stained water and feels you should fish the clear side at the channel edge. Buddy “B” says that the best place is to fish the break line of cloudy to clear water. Whose advice is best and why? Winner Well, I think that Buddy B would be correct in this situation. I would fish the break line of the cloudy to clear water. The fish will sit just inside the break line where they will still have some visibility into the clear waters edge. As the approaching Possum Lure dips in and out of the break line it will be impossible for the bass to resist. Week of 3/1/00 #122 You are fishing at night in a small shallow lake. It’s a clear mid summer evening with a minimum amount of moonlight. Since all you have is a small mini flashlight which makes it a lot easier to tie your lures on, you can’t see the shoreline very well. You can hear bass breaking the glassy surface near the shore, apparently chasing baitfish. You have caught a few on surface plugs but you keep getting hung up in the overhanging trees which are just about impossible to see. What is your solution to getting to and catching those hungry bass? Winner Since I assume I forgot to bring my blacklight I will make do. First keep thing simple and orderly in the boat. Keep everything out of the way so it is not cluttered. I would rig up three rods. Since the bass are active I would usually go with these set ups. A short 5 foot 6 inch baitcaster with a Stan Sloan short armed (Single Colorado blade) spinnerbait with a purple and black skirt. Use a underhand roll cast, like Hank Parker and Jimmy Houston have mastered. This low trajectory will take the trees out of play. "Wake" the spinnerbait bake to the boat. A buzzbait can be substituted but I find it easier to cast the spinnerbait for distance in this case. Then depending on one's prowess with skipping a baitcaster, mine is adequate at best, so I would use a 6 foot 6 inch medium heavy spinning outfit and skip a 6 inch sluggo, black or red shad, with glass rattles inserted. This rig can easily be skipped far and under any low hanging limbs. If it skips onto shore or casted into the trees it easily is pulled free. Rig the sluggo so that it can be worked in a "walk the dog" motion. Finally, I like to have a flipping/pitching stick rigged with a Harville Lures big tail disc worm or a 10 inch Culprit, in black or junebug. Once again insert rattles. Pitch the bait towards the bank and work it with an exaggerated hopping motion or swimming motion. If fish activity decreases all these baits can still be used just fish them slower. Try to keep from using the flashlight so the eyes can get adjusted to the low light conditions. Also, work the bank in the direction, that best utilizes the reflection of the moon. You should be able to maneuver the boat in a manner that will be able to distinguish the bank. Week of 3/8/00 #123 It’s early in the morning on a medium size lake that has a number of beach areas scattered along a stretch of shoreline approximately three miles long. It is early summer and you have decided to fish a shallow point which extends out off the shoreline where these beaches are located. While fishing this point you notice another bass boat pull up to a beach area and move right up next to the roped off area. You can’t see exactly what they are doing accept that they are making long casts and they are definitely catching fish. After twenty minutes or so they head down to the next beach area and do the same. A half hour later they pick up and move to another beach area. What are these fisherman doing? What techniques are they using? Winner With the information given I would assume that the fisherman are keying in on spawning baitfish. Naturally bass will zero in on these congregations for easy meals. Many "minnows" spawn this time of the year and several prefer early mornings and sandy substrates. Also members of the sunfish family spawn at this time of year in small gravel/coarse sand. Since these beaches are scattered on a three mile stretch they may be pulling large concentrations of baitfish that prefer this type of spawning areas. Since the other fisherman are covering water quickly and being successful I would stick with it. I would try to fish the entire water column and eliminate unproductive depths. I would choose a 1/2 to 3/4 ounce double willow leaf spinnerbait (white or white/chart.). I like using Stanley Vibrashafts myself. I would vary between burning the bait back, killing it ever so often and slow rolling it along the bottom. On a second rod I would have a crankbait capable of covering a five to ten foot depth. Something in a chartruese with blue or green back. I like the older versions of Poe's and the newer Strike King crankbaits personally. If the baitfish are open water spawners (shad) I would have a tailspinner type bait (1/2 ounce Little George silver). I would burn this bait back and kill it also. Let it fall a several feet and rip it back to the surface and continue. Finally on a back up rod I would have a jig and pig. I would use this if fishing slowed and search the areas adjacent to the beach areas. Usually these beach areas are created so they often drag the bottom and discard stumps,branches and larger rock and sometimes small bolders on the outskirts of the sandy areas. These areas can be some honey holes. If and when people show up and use the swimming area it can stir things up a little a drive the baitfish out to these ambush sites. You can keep the milk run of beaches and just concentrate on these outskirt areas. A lot of times other fisherman will stay clear of these beaches when people show up, so you could quite possibly have these areas all to yourself. Week of 3/15/00 #124 You are fishing a long winding feeder creek. It’s post spawn and the water clarity is fair to good. The water temperature is in the high 70’s. You and your partner have been using hard minnow type jerk baits casting up close to the shoreline. It is slightly overcast and the air temp is in the high seventies. You have a few small fish but you have seen a number of larger fish following your jerkbaits in. In fact you are getting frustrated because of the number of large bass that seem to go right up to your lure, but don’t hit it. You try changing the action of your lure by speeding up, slowing down and changing the cadence of your stop and go action. What could be wrong and what would you do to catch some of those lunkers? Winner Change the color of the jerk bait.   Bass Fishing USA Home Page