The difference between finding a pattern, and zeroing in on perfection.

Bass fisherman are creatures of habit. We like to throw certain baits because we consistently catch fish on them, but how often do we think about throwing something different just to give the fish a different look.  In 10 Days in June, I caught over  80 pounds of bass. Most of them were small but my 5 fish bag consisted of a 3.5 pound fish, a 5 pound fish, two 8 pound fish and a 10 pound kicker. This post is going to cover how I found a small pattern and then built upon that pattern to zero in an afternoon of fishing that resulted in two 8 pound fish and 20 fish total.

 

1.) Finding the building blocks of the pattern

I knew there would be a topwater bite in June, so I started with the most basic topwater lure in existence. The Booyah Boss Pop in a translucent white produced fish, including a 3.5 pound fish. But the bite wasn’t incredibly aggressive and it was mostly fish that were within 5-10 feet of the initial cast. So after that I threw a 90 series Whooper Plopper in the Loon (black) color with a few good fish but nothing over 3 lbs until I smashed it against a bridge and broke my only Whooper Plopper. The next evening I was fishing when  a heavy rainstorm moved in and I switched to a buzzbait because I felt like the Boss Pop wasn’t making enough commotion to stand out from the surface clutter made by the falling rain. This switch only produced 2 fish, but one was a 24.00″ 10lb monster bass. So I made a note that the bigger fish wanted a faster moving bait than the popper style lure.

2.) Observe every detail of the water, bait, and fish strikes.

During the buzzbait phase of the pattern I noticed fish following the bait, I mostly observed this because the fish push water behind the bait. It almost looks like your bait is throwing a larger “Wake” than normal and then it will disappear. After about 5 “followers” into the next day I decided to switch to a Stanley Ribbit. This bait is similar to a buzzbait in that it creates a lot of surface commotion, however there is no flash and no metal. This bait looks very natural and can be retrieved much slower than a buzz bait.  For 3 Days this lure produced 20 strikes per trip and landed roughly 5 fish a day including a 5 pound bass. One huge takeaway from this was that the strikes were coming in lay downs and next to stumps. So the fish were shallow but holding within a foot of hard wood/cypress objects. I also noticed that there was a lot of small bait fish near these holding points and the bass were chasing after them extremely aggressively.

3.) Understand that fish are far more aware of lures than you think.

I normally will find a bait to produce huge numbers and then after the 2nd or 3rd trip the bite will die off. This is because I fish a lot of the same water, the fish see this lure and eventually the larger, more intelligent fish won’t even move themselves to look at it. Now take a second to think about this. In heavily pressured water these fish see a lot of baits, but most importantly they see a lot of generic baits. For example, in Eastern North Carolina, almost every fisherman has three baits he/she is fishing. They normally consist of a 1.5 Square bill, a Carolina rigged trick worm in bubblegum pink, and a white/chartrueese double willow spinner bait. They throw these lures because they consistently catch fish. But more importantly for you to pay attention to, is they consistently catch 1-3 pound fish with an occasional 5 pound kicker. Whooper Ploppers have also  begun to make a huge impact in topwater fishing, but it’s very important to notice where people fish the majority of their casts which brings us to our next point.

4.) Never assume water doesn’t hold fish.

You will always hear people say, “I never caught a fish over there”, That’s to shallow for a bass to be in”, or my favorite, “you’ll never catch a fish fishing over there”. I can honestly say that every single fish over 8 pounds that I have caught was in less than 4 feet of water and all of them were in structure so tight that they wrapped me around limbs and logs, with my biggest a 10.5 pounder being in water so shallow that when the wind blows from the NE it’s dry ground. Big fish are big because they have avoided capture from fisherman and natural predators, bass spend most of their lives in a survival mode mixed in with feeding frenzies. So pay attention to water that is overlooked or considered a waste of time, Because that’s generally where you will catch a lunker.

5.) Putting it all together.

So here is the information I had. I caught a few fish on a light colored popper, a monster on a white buzz bait, a few good fish on a black whopper plopper and a really good bite on a Stanley ribbit. I made my way to the tackle store because I was out of Ribbits and I was going on my last afternoon fishing trip while living in North Carolina. I just so happened to glance over at the Whopper Plopper’s and noticed he had gotten a Bone 90 Series in stock that day. And I started putting together the puzzle pieces. The whiteish popper produced decent, a white buzbait got the bigger fish active, and the ribbit was a great bite but only with the watermelon color that had a pearl belly. They didn’t touch the orange or reddish white bellied Ribbits. I took a chance and got the bone Whopper Plopper. It had the best features of every lure that was successful over the last 2 week. The white/pearl color, the medium to slow speed retrieve with the surface disturbance very similar to a ribbit and most importantly it had the profile of a bait fish. I took a chance and bought it, and headed out for my last evening of fishing in the state after 6 years of active duty service there.

The results,

By selecting a bait that had the best features of everything I was observing happen to my lures, and focusing on the shallow wood that every other angler was discarding as trash water i put my plan together. I set out at 4pm on a Thursday and within the first 30 minutes I had over 10 strikes and landed a 8 pound bass that was so close to wood that I heard the lure impact the stump and then saw the strike. I continued down the creek extremely excited that I had zeroed in the fish and found a section of water that was a natural point with a large cypress tree surrounded by limbs and cypress knees. The problem was it was 1 foot or less of water and surrounded by heavy swamp moss. I casted well beyond the tree and retrieved the lure straight through the structure and witnessed what looked like grenade going off. One of the worst feelings is knowing you have a lunker on the line and seeing the fish jump in a direction away from where your rod is pointing. This means you are wrapped around something and the fish has a 90% chance of breaking your line and crushing your soul. I fought the fish around the limb and was able to work it free and eventually land it. A 8.3lb lunker!  I ended up finishing the evening with 20 bass and an easy 30 strikes. I had the best afternoon of fishing in my life because I observed the fish and their reactions to my lures for 2 weeks. I broke down the information I observed into specific details and adjusted my approaches based of off those findings.  I enjoyed the results of zeroing in a bite to a pin point and catching a 36 lb bag over a 10 day period becuase i did what most anglers would call over analyzing everything. But any experienced angler or tournament fisherman will agree that there isn’t such a thing as over anlayzing when it produces fish.

In conclusion You need to find the basic building blocks of the current pattern, what they are eating, what they are responding too, and how you can change your presentation to mimic that specific reaction. Then slowly build upon that and observe how the fish change accordingly. Finally take everything you have learned and build a puzzle of your information and seek out waters that are often overlooked or discarded as waters that don’t produce big numbers. I hope this post helps shed light on the aspects of finding a specific aspect of a pattern and catching lunkers based on it. Good Luck out there and stay safe! Enjoy the video below of the 5 fish bag and 3 lunkers!

 

 

 

 

My 2017 KBF National Championship experience

 

 

The 2017 Kayak Bass Fishing National Championship was an event I had been chasing for two years. Qualifying for this event was especially challenging for me due to a number of deployments throughout the summer and fall of 2016. The KayakTournaments.com online trail awards one qualifying spot for the state of North Carolina for its Angler of The Year program. I finished 9^th out of 31, but the anglers above me consisted of names such as Cory Dreyer, Jamie Denison, Jimmy Houser and Larry Anderson. The North Carolina AOY program was stacked with legitimate powerhouse fisherman, all of whom had qualified previously through other KBF sanctioned events. So, through some miracle, the qualifying spot rolled down to me sitting in 9^th place. Needless to say, I was out of my league and felt slightly intimidated by the fact that I shouldn’t have really qualified for that event if it had not been for the roll downs.

 

Regardless of the daunting task of competing against over 360 of the top kayak anglers in the country, I based my preparation on analyzing the lakes depth charts, using Navionics software, and reading into over five years’ worth of fishing reports for the historical periods of three weeks before the tournament dates and three weeks after to get an idea of consistent patterns. This tactic proved absolutely invaluable as it really helped me pick a spot I knew could produce good five-fish limits on consecutive days and not burn out after day one.

 

I pre-fished for four days leading up to the National Championship, and I started off at the Ken-Lake Marina. There were a couple of different lake features I wanted to target, and that launch had access to all of them. Day one ended with about twenty bass caught all in the 9 to 13 inch range, but more importantly it gave me confidence in my lure selection, and I noted where in the coves I was catching fish. (Marking those fish led to a major breakthrough after day three).

 

On day two, I launched from a ramp a few coves south of the 68 bridge. I landed a 22-inch beast at first light on a tandem willow Strike King spinner bait, the fish crushed it as it came over the drop off about twenty feet from the bank. (Another note for day 3) I worked my way south into a few coves and old creek beds and ended up again with about fifteen fish averaging 9 to 13 inches, I gained more confidence in my first two days fishing -this huge lake has produced over two dozen bass, but more importantly, I marked the fish I caught and noted their positions for my analysis before the two competition days.

 

For day three, I changed up my launch location and set out in Sugar Bay, on the east side of Kentucky Lake. Sugar Bay is a very popular spot and within an hour of sunlight I counted six kayakers and over twelve bass boats in that bay. I fished it for about three hours, but quickly realized that this spot would be ineffective during competition days and on the weekend due to a huge number of kayaks and boat traffic. I packed up and moved north to a much harder-to-access launch. I piddled around and caught about four fish averaging 13 inches and marked their positions. Then around 3pm, I stumbled across a spot that looked very promising. It had everything – sharp drop offs, a ton of deep water and a spawning area in the back of the cove, but more importantly it has a ton of jetty material, or rip-rap that has a consistent sloping drop off. (Remember that for later).

 

Day four was the last pre-fishing day, and was forecasted as severe thunderstorms throughout the day. I launched from my Day two spot as it was very close to my cabin I was staying at with a group of friends, and I had caught a large fish a day before the Heroes On The Water Big Bass Brawl had started. My only intention was to target big fish in that area. The weather ended up holding off until about 2:00 PM and I didn’t have any luck catching fish big enough to enter into the big bass competition. I stayed away from my day three spot to save it for competition as I knew there was more there than what I saw.

 

The night before the competition was a funny night at the cabin; we rented two cabins and had about twelve guys total. All of us were digging through our charts and pre-fishing information to determine where we would fish. I was very torn because day one and day two produced great numbers of fish on the southern shorelines in coves running east to west, but day three had larger fish in an area that ran north to south but had similar bottom features and lake structure. I took a chance and committed to my day three spot. I knew there had to be bigger fish active in the morning that were less active when I pre-fished it at 3pm. This decision, or at least a commitment to that tactic, paid off in a huge way. All week I had been throwing finesse baits hoping that the weather system that hit the night before competition would produce fish on those two competition days.

 

 

For the first day of the KBF National Championship, I launched from the ramp at 4:55 AM, and paddled through the darkness to my fishing area I had picked, it was a gamble as I had only fished about 20% of that area before stopping early during pre-fishing to not over fish it. The alarm for 6:30 AM went off and I started fishing, the morning started out incredibly slow, the first 45 minutes netted 2 fish at 10 inches, not exactly what I was looking for. But between the hours of 7-8:30 AM I landed five fish from 13.5 inches to a whopping 21.5 inch 7lb beast! I knew I had a chance as at 9AM I was sitting in the Top 10 with a lot of fishing left in the day. The bite slowed considerably for the rest of the day and I caught decent fish but was unable to cull a 13.25 and 13.50 inch fish, and lost two quality 18 inch fish, which would come back to haunt me in the Final Standings. I finished day one of the tournament with 83.50 inches and in 62^nd Place. The margin of length from me at 62^nd and 5^th place was 10 inches, in other words 2 inches a fish (Not Much).

 

I knew day two would be the difference maker in terms of whose spots could produce quality stringers on consecutive fishing days. I knew I couldn’t win, but my goal was to finish in the top 100 and I knew my spot still had quality fish ready to catch for day two. It started off great. I changed my presentation slightly and caught a fish on the second cast of the day at 6:31AM. By 6:45 I had a fish five limit with the biggest at 13.5 and smallest 8.5 inches, nothing crazy but I was ecstatic that the fish were so active. For the next hour, I struggled to catch a fish big enough to cull the 8.75-inch dink on my TourneyX board, I was one heartbeat away from panic mode as the bite slowed down and fish became less active just like the previous day. I made a game time change and switched back to my finesse approach from the day before and on the second cast landed a 15-inch bass. I knew I had found something in that approach and continued to work the cove over again using the new approach and within an hour had a 78 inch total that had me in the Top 5 for Event Total at 9am. I wanted to break 80 inches on consecutive days and I knew I had 4 hours to cull 2 fish. My culls were a 14.25” and a 14.50”. I worked into a new area of the bay/cove that I hadn’t worked the previous day, and over the next four hours I caught six fish, none of which were smaller than 15 inches. I was able to cull my two fish and bring my smallest to 15.50” and total to 84.75” The final day of competition I finished in 40^th place with 84.25 inches. The big factor in my placement was consistency. Many anglers who were in the Top 25 after day one, struggled day two and fell considerably in the final standings.

 

Waiting on the announcements for final standings and prize winning placement was brutal. There was confusion with some aspects of the scoring system and the process of re-submitting fish and comparing scores across two tournaments ran until about 3AM the next morning, I did end up finishing in the Prize places in the Heroes On the Water Big Bass Brawl, I finished 19^th of 294 anglers and won a brand new NRS Chinook PFD in a new color that had just been released – valued at $100.00. I also won two raffles, which is crazy considering I haven’t won a raffle in my life. I will be donating the one of the raffle items as well as some new gear that I never used to the Heroes On The Water program. If you aren’t familiar with them please check them out, they are a great organization that focuses on taking veterans and wounded veterans fishing to help them get through certain situations they are battling in life.

 

When the final announcements on placements came out I had been awake for 24 hours, and had done everything from fishing the one of the best bass lakes in the country, to hearing Gene Jenson sing wedding songs to Chad and Kristie Hoover, to seeing Mike McKinstry run around with a life size sasquatch. They called out 36^th place, the bottom payout slot, at 168.50 inches, I knew I finished with 168.25 total and knew I had missed a paycheck by a quarter of an inch, a margin that one of those 18 inch bass I lost on day 1 would have catapulted me into the top 25. I was heartbroken in one aspect, but on another note I was incredible proud. I wasn’t even supposed to be there, I finished 9^th in the North Carolina AOY program and somehow I came out and finished 39^th out of over 360 of the best anglers in the country. I had hopes and goals of finishing in the top 50 but hopes and reality normally never cross paths. My persistence, analysis of marked fish positions, and translating those positions into patterns and new locations is what enabled me to finish this high.

 

In conclusion, this story is not over; my top 40 finish gave me an automatic qualifying spot for the 2018 KBF National Championship, which has a guaranteed payout of $100,000.00 for first place. I have already started studying what produced this year and translating that into a strategy for next year, and I am hopeful I can finish in the top 25 next year if I better target those structure points and lake features. Thanks for sharing in my memory of this event. It was quite a journey, and proves we should never count ourselves out—dreams are worth chasing!

Pre Spawn Curveballs and how they will catch you more fish.

In baseball after a few fastballs thrown at a batter, a curve-ball can throw everything off and lead to a mistake, this post is about throwing a curve-ball at Pre-spawn bass and how it can help you catch more fish.

With the spring weather starting to warm the waters, and cold fronts becoming less frequent,  the Pre-Spawn stages are here. The Pre-Spawn stages and patterns are generally initiated when water temperatures average 50 degrees to 55-ish degrees Fahrenheit. The bass will start to move from the deeper winter staging areas to the transitional zones between the winter areas and their spawning areas.

One thing to keep in mind is every body of water is different, a lake with a maximum depth of 50-100 feet is going to be a completely different strategy to target this water temperature than the rivers and creeks I fish, that max out around 15 feet.  Transitional areas are generally 8-25 feet deep depending on the depth of your water body. Bass will spawn in anywhere from 2 feet to 12 feet deep depending on the water level fluctuation of your area and the water temperature swings of the current season. The reason for that is the water at deeper spawning flats stays more consistent than the faster temperature swings from the surface down to 2 feet.

Targeting Pre-Spawn bass is one if the highlights of bass fishing, the bass are extremely aggressive and at their heaviest weight when they are fully stocked from a spring of feeding to get them through their spawning cycle.  Its not uncommon for the same bass to weigh 3 lbs more in the Spawning season than if you caught that same bass in the summer. Most people will target Pre-Spawn bass with crankbaits, spinner baits and Alabama rigs. This tactic of imitating a fast-moving baitfish produces some great numbers of fish and will be consistent until the bigger fish start bedding down. However, everybody and their mother is going to be throwing those three bait styles. The fish this time of year will be heavily pressured because it is one of the best times to get out and catch a trophy fish and quite possibly the fish of a lifetime. And here enters my strategy.

During this phase I will use some crankbaits and spinner baits, and even a jig occasionally, but my main tactic is a finesse approach. I almost always throw a wacky rig, weightless senko and fish it between 6-18 feet deep. To say this bait sinks slowly is an understatement, a weightless senko falls at a very slow rate through the water column and provides a wacky rig action that when fished correctly can be absolutely the most productive bait in your tackle box. In the last two weeks, I have made 3 trips that are about 3-4 hours a piece. I have averaged 10-12 fish per day and so far, landed a 6.5lb and 5lb bass this week alone. Everyone else in this river is throwing fast moving lures targeting big aggressive fish but they forget that the fish see so many crankbaits and so many patterns that they are very skittish of a fast-moving rattling bait.  The river I fish doesn’t have huge schools of shad, it doesn’t have large schools of minnows that are balled up like other reservoirs, these fish attack a slow moving senko much more aggressively than crankbaits and most people don’t even associate fishing a finesse rig this time of year.

 

In conclusion, you will do more for your bass fishing statistics and personal best marks to pay attention to what the fish are being pressured with and vary your approach accordingly, presenting a different style of bait in a different manner with lead to more fish and bigger fish than anyone else out there on the water. This doesn’t mean don’t use what is producing fish for everyone, but when the bite starts shutting down over time, or you realize a size decrease in your fish landed that is the time to change your tactics and land the monsters. Stay safe and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook for more bass tactics and strategy as well as preparation or the KBF National Championship on Kentucky Lake in March/April

Why are we losing so many kayak fisherman?

 

 

Kayak safety is no longer a topic I can address once a year.  Every week I read numerous articles about kayak fisherman dying while pursuing this sport we all love. before I dig too deep into this topic let me tell you who I am and what I do for a living to give this article better context. BE WARNED- beyond this point I am very straight and to the point, I don’t want to sound insensitive but we need to address this issue at its root cause, the “it won’t happen to me ” attitude.

 

My Name is Holton Walker, I have been serving in the US Coast Guard for almost 8 years now, and over half of that has been on C-130J Long range search and rescue aircraft. I am stationed in Elizabeth City, NC. I’ve conducted operations from Reykivik, Iceland to the Pacific Ocean. On numerous occasions, I get launched on Missions searching for Missing kayak fisherman all over the east coast and Great Lakes regions. It breaks my heart every time I get the details for our search plan and they paint a picture of a kayaker who wasn’t even prepared for the weather conditions, let alone a survival situation in those conditions. With that out of the way let’s get into the issues that are killing our friends.

 

The biggest killer in survival situations is hypothermia

 

The cooling of the body below 95 degrees Fahrenheit.  a common misconception is that it only occurs in cold water. If the water is below 95 degrees you can expect hypothermia like symptoms even though it may take longer to affect you. Here are some hypothermia survival statistics with no protective water gear.

 

Water temperature

 

40-50 degrees you lose dexterity in 5 minutes, are unconscious in less than an hour and maximum survival time before death is 3 hours.

 

50-60 degrees you are unconscious in 1 to 2 hours with maximum survival at 6 hours before death.

 

60-70 degrees you lose consciousness in 2-7 hours and death around 2-40 hours depending on age.

 

The second biggest danger is not having a clear float plan.

 

A US Coast Guard float plan is form you leave with a family member or friend that includes where your launching from and where you intend to fish and when you expect to be back. it has section on what survival equipment you have on board and gear etc. This information is crucial to authorities estimating your survival time. A proper form can extend a search if we think you could survive past the normal expectations. There is a link on the menu bar of my site with a blank Float plan available for download for free.

 

Safety and survival equipment-

 

Here’s the average rundown of a search and rescue case for a missing kayaker. A friend or family members usually reports the fisherman missing by dusk depending on the time they were supposed to be back. The time it takes authorities to contact the US Coast Guard, then we are airborne within 20-30 minutes of the alarm going off.  The initial search is normally started after dark by the time we get on scene. The most important piece of gear is a PFD to keep you afloat until a search starts, at that point the most important device is something to signal the aircraft or boats searching for you. One of the best and cheapest devices is a chem-light or glow stick. You take the glow-stick and tie a 12-inch line to it and spin it in a circle. On night vision goggles and the naked eye alone it’s a very effective signal at night. My best signal device is more expensive, it would be an aerial flare or strobe light.  If a US Coast guard aircraft is searching for you at night, the pilots are wearing NVG’s and any light source waving will be very visible to them.

 

Radios and or GPS devices-

 

A handheld VHF radio is a critical tool to be rescued, every US Coast Guard aircraft that is flying is monitoring VHF Ch 16, 156.8 MHZ at all times. There are also many different GPS based devices like the Spot GPS device where you can send distress signals. E-Pirbs are more expensive but are the top of the line satellite distress beacons.

 

Protective clothing-

 

Staying warm is a huge deal when the air temps start falling. Hypothermia can set in quickly and you can start losing your decision-making abilities and start making bad judgement calls due to it. Always have the gear to not only fish when you plan but to survive the night if you get stuck or stranded.  However, when you go in the drink the only things that will dramatically affect your survival time is immersion suits or wet suits.  Dry suits are the most effective of anything on the market but are costly, the lesser effective mustang suits will keep you alive but you will be in contact with the colder water.

 

Conclusion-

 

At the end of the day, the most important tool is your brain, if the weather is bad or foretasted to get bad and you absolutely must fish, do what I do and instead of open water fish a backwater creek that is protected from wind and waves. I personally wear a life jacket not just for survival gear but so if god forbid I have a heart attack, get bit by a snake a go into shock, or hit my head on something they search can find my body for my family. It’s a morbid thought but it’s an honest one. There is nothing worse than closing a search and rescue case without recovering a body for the family.  I hope this article helps shines some light on some of the lesser discussed topics in the kayak community. Stay Safe and come back next week for some Fall bass fishing tips and techniques to catch some monsters with the falling temperatures.

 

Mid-summer Topwater Bass Fishing

When you think about top water bass fishing, most of us think about the aggressive fast moving baits with explosive strikes that make every other type of fishing feel less exciting. But I was doing something wrong for a long time without even realizing it, most of us are guilty of neglecting the slow side of top water fishing. The river’s I fish get a lot of surface debris called duck weed. It makes almost every top water lure ineffective expect for weedless frogs. I was experimenting with some spook style lures and decided to try my single hook spooks in the duck weed. To my amazement it has been the most productive approach and style of fishing I have ever found.

 

Did you say fish a top water lure slow?

Yes, I have been trying every retrieve I can think of and the most productive involves me giving 4-6 walking motions and then a 5-10 second pause in between the bursts of motion. 90% of my strikes have been coming on the pauses and the biggest fish caught in the last 2 months was when my dad was adjusting something in his kayak, his zara spook had been motionless for 30 seconds before the 6lb bass decided to strike it.

Why does a slow method produce better than a fast retrieve?

This time of year when the water gets hot and holds less oxygen the fish get somewhat lazy, a fish would much rather attack a slow moving dying fish than a fast moving energetic fish that would take much more energy to eat. The long pauses in the retrieves simulate a wounded fish getting exhausted and having to rest in between swimming bursts.

Where do I target my fish with top waters?

80% of the fish I am catching right now are within 5 feet or less of the shoreline or structure I am targeting, however the larger fish I have been catching have been in more open water in the ledges 15-20 feet from the bank. The larger fish will stage on the ledges because once again they are all about conserving energy this time of year and it gives them quick access to shallow feeding flats, and the cooler deeper water.

What lures have been the most productive this month?

Top water walk-the-dog baits have been my number one lure right now. I am actually only fishing for about 2 hours a trip either at first light or leading up to dusk.

Shallow running crankbaits such as the shallow rap, and 1.0 square bills have been productive but not as much as the top water bite.

Fineness plastics such as drop shot worms and Carolina rigged trick worms will be the big transition after the top water bite, look for structure and primary points and ledges near the flats to target the big fish.

As always i hope this posts helps you guys catch a few more fish and remember to always be safe, wear a lifejacket at all times and fill out a US Coast Guard float plan with a friend or family member. a link on the menu bar of this site gives you access to a blank form .

 

 

Hot to target the big Pre-Spawning Females

A common theme when fishing pre spawning bass is going out, catching 20 bass, but having them all range from 12-15 inches. The majority of these bass are the males who venture into the shallows ahead of the females. This year where I live the temperatures have been changing so drastically i feel like the males have been going back and forth from drop offs to the shallows for 2 weeks now.  But the near future forecast should have the bass completely on the beds within the week or two.

Targeting the bigger females should consist of the first and second drop offs just behind the spawning areas. Primary and secondary points will still be good targets as well but in this river the first drop off is where the majority of the larger females are hanging around.

The lures i throw in the river I fish , for the larger  bass, are baitfish colored crank baits, spinner baits, and occasionally a chatter bait depending on the water clarity/ structure I am fishing. For lakes a carolina rig magnum worm or lizard can be deadly this time of year. especially when the bass are actively spawning and defending their beds from intruders.

Now remember once the bass get on the beds your tactics should change from targeting feeding bass to triggering aggression strikes form the defensive minded bass. Hope these quick tips help you out over the next two weeks fishing for pre spawning bass. Here is a video from this weekends action using the techniques listed above.

 

Fishing update

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of material, its been bad weather slow fishing and long days at work. I managed to sneak in a quick trip yesterday and unfortunately the fishing was depressingly slow. I had one good hook up on the fly rod that ended up breaking me off. The highlight of the day came with my only landed fish of the day, I was flipping a roadrunner style rig along a bridge and ended up dragging in a very nice crappie. It’s the biggest crappie for me in this river system so far. I didn’t get it on video but I got some photos of it before it went in the cooler. I avidly practice throwback fishing with bass and most freshwater fish, but catfish and crappie I put straight onto the ice. Right after that fish I turned on my GOPRO and caught on video a hard strike right as I reeled in my lure to move to another spot. Sadly, I didn’t land the fish but it still was fun to get it on video.

I’m  going for a good fishing trip tomorrow and will have plenty of new video and photos monday. My first tackle selection video is coming up tomorrow and will be represented in my trip tomorrow morning.

Sometimes the best soft plastics can’t beat a bucket full of minnows.

My love for bass fishing is rooted deeply in my ability to fish soft plastics and consistently catch bass using them. It’s been unbearably hot here the last two weeks and my production with plastics has dropped dramatically, some days they don’t even hit a beetle spin which is very very bad.

So for this trip I decided to go old school, I threw on a red and white bobber, bought two dozen minnows and set off in my kayak. The heat index was still over 100 so I settled in the shade of a bridge and threw my first cast, I had my first fish on the line before I could even turn my camera on to start the trip. My First fish was a keeper largemouth measuring 15 1/2 inches. I was still skeptical as maybe I caught the one bass that was eating but sure enough my next four casts all yielded fish within 5 seconds of that bobber hitting the water. i ended up catching a few bass fishing my plastics while my minnows worked the drop offs and structure but the minnows stole the show yesterday. I ended up catching over 15 bass, 2 catfish, a small rock bass (I think), and four gar including on monster at the end of the video who broke my line.

One piece of advice for this blog is when fishing around or under bridges in my kayak i prefer to use my light tackle rod, due to its shorter length and compact reel I can maneuver easier in tight spaces and have a less chance of losing the fish due to improper rod placement. As always be safe, have fun outside and don’t forget to take someone with you on your next trip, it just might be the highlight of their summer.

WARNING! – NOTICE 3/4 THROUGH THE VIDEO A 5 FOOT PLUS SNAKE DECIDES TO CHECK ME OUT. I GOT THE HEEBIE GEEBIES WATCHING IT SWIM BY

Some photos and video of a beautiful fly session at sunset

Hey guys, went out for a quick fly session to test out some of my hand tied pencil poppers and ended up catching a 2-3lber on it. If you notice in the video as I cast a school busts up some baitfish and my fly lands 5 feet behind them, I quickly drug my fly into the school and BAM!

This weeks fishing report 05-29-15

Hey everyone sorry for the lack of material lately i was out of town for two weeks for work and i was able to get a quick trip in last night to get some video to you guys.

Where to fish-

The report for this week is consisting of the bass hanging around major drop-offs and loosely scattered around structure from 5-10 feet deep.

What I’m using-

The main baits have been soft plastics in the watermelon red flake color pattern, On the fly rod I have caught good fish on both the my versions of the gertrude gurlger topwater flying blakc and yellow as well as some homemade clouseres in dark olive patterns and chartreuse feathers for the tail.

Air temperature has consistently been inn the 80’s and water temperatures are rising every day.

Here is a video of some action from last night’s quick trip. If the weather cooperates I will be making a early morning river trip tuesday and will have the report and video posted by tuesday afternoon. Thanks for swinging by Apto Outdoors and swing by later this week for some more summertime bass action.