A Message Of Hope For All Bass Fishermen

[DRBASSMAN]

IF YOU'RE A BASS FISHERMEN, YA GOTTA HANG IN THERE AND HAVE HEART. I've been a serious bass fisherman for more than 40 years and it's happened to me several times. You know exactly what I mean. . . . you have the biggest bass on the line you've ever hooked and then - OCRAP! - something happens and it gets away. Last year I was fishing a private lake and lost a real hog that I had pulled off a submerged tree, about 13 feet down. It cut my 8-pound test line on my trolling motor prop after one helluva fight. I saw it when it jumped several times and I estimated the fish to be easily over 10 pounds. Every time I've gone back to that lake I've fished that same damned submerged tree, hoping to meet up again with my "fish of a lifetime." I went back there on July 26th of this year...and landed a 12 pound 6 ounce bucketmouth off that same damned tree!! It was 28 1/4" long.....It had to be the same one that I lost last year in the identical spot ..... MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!! I caught it with one arm (my non-casting arm) strapped to my side due to rotator cuff surgery, and it was only 2 days after my surgeon said I could go fishin" again, after being laid up since May 15th. As of today, it is the biggest Largemouth caught in this state (Virginia) so far this year and I'm sittin' in 1st place to get the state's "Largemouth Bass Angler of the Year Award."
THEY DID AN ARTICLE ON ME IN THURSDAY'S EDITION OF OUR NEWSPAPER. IT'S KIND OF A NEAT STORY. HERE'S THE LINK TO THE ON-LINE EDITION OF THE NEWSPAPER.

GO TO:

http://www.goochlandgazette.com/index.php

WHEN YOU GET THERE, CLICK (UNDER THE NEWSPAPER'S BANNER) ON "SPORTS"

WHEN YOU GET TO "SPORTS" YOU'LL SEE MY PHOTO. THEN . . .

CLICK ON THE CAPTION UNDER MY PHOTO ("CATCH CAUSES BASS HYSTERIA") TO READ THE ARTICLE.

[Fendercaster]

Nice catch, that's a HUGE bass for that part of the country!

[Marty]

Congratulations!!

[bassfisher02]

Congratulations on the catch, thats a HAWG!!!

[Rebbasser]

Great story and fantastic fish-congrats!

[DRBASSMAN]

Thanks to all for the congrats. For those of you who couldn't get the link to the newspaper article to work, where you could read the full story, I thought I'd add some particulars here, and the followup story:

The hawg was caught on a Shimano 2000 reel, spooled with the new Trilene MAXX 8-pound test line that I was field-testing for a local hunting/fishing store. I used a Fenwick 6'6" medium action rod, and caught the fish on a 5" Senko (watermelon)l, rigged non-wacky style.

The p.s. to the story is that 8 days later, on my 2nd outing since the doc gave me his o.k. to fish, I boated another bucketmouth - that weighed in at slightly more than 7 1/2 pounds. This one was also caught on the Trilene MAXX 8-pound test line (it's great stuff!), using a large Rapala deep-diving Shad Rap. That was my 21st Virginia Trophy Citation Largemouth, and my 28th trophy fish overall, in 7 different species.

[Charlie Brown]

Hey doc. You seem like someone with alot of experirience. I have a question. What is the best bait to use this time of year where bass have quite a bit of pressure on them? Your reply would be greatly appreciated.

[DRBASSMAN]

Hey there, Charlie -

Everyone has their own ideas of what to use each particular season and develop their own techniques. A lot of it has to do with which techniques/lures you have the most confidence in. Where yo ulive also plays a big part in lure selection. Here in Virginia the bass haven't yet schooled up in a major way; they're still soewhat in a Summer pattern, since it's still 90 degrees and we havn't had enough cool nights (50's) to really get the water temperature down.


This time of year here in Virgnia I primarily fish as follows:
medium to deep water: I use big (Berkely 10") worms, medium and deep-diving crankbaits (usually Rapalas) and 5" weightless Senkos and Mann's Hard-heads (rigged regular or "wacky") and let them float down - giving a twitch every-so-often. If pressure has been extremely high on a body of water I'm fishing, I'll sometimes go to finesse-fishing a drop-shot - using the Zoom Centipede or Trick Worm.

shallower water: I concentrate on green weeds in the shallower water and toss Zoom Centipedes (weightless or 1/8 oz) to the edges, Mann's Baby Minus One over the tops of the weeds (or a Chatterbait), if they're partially submerged, and aToad/Rat of some type on the tops of the lily pads. I'll also throw Super Flukes up into shallow coves.

points:
This time of year I'm still looking for the larger bass in deeper water, over bottom structure and cover, and right off the drop-offs. I usually fish these this time of year with either Rapala Shad Raps (medium or deep-diving) or I'll pull a Carolina rig either up or down the point...from both sides and on the top.

Like I said, Charlie, - I think that most experienced fishermen, over time, develop their own techniques based on what's worked for them in the past and what they have confidence in. These are the things that have worked for me with the mst consistency over the past 40+ years. They are certainly not "THE BEST." Water color, weather and time of the day are all important factors in determining which lures to toss. The main thing is to get out there, try different techniques and develop confidence.

I hope this helps.

How about hearing from some others on what works for them this time of year??

DrB

[Charlie Brown]

Thanks Doc. I'll be sure to try this next time out. This body of water isn't but about 25-30 acres but they hold a bass tournament every 3rd Saturday. These fish get a lot of pressure put on them.

[DRBASSMAN]

Sometimes, on a small body of water during a tournament, the best things to throw are things that the others aren't. Give the bass a different look. Also - around here - most guys are "bank-bangers" and the fish move deeper to get away from the noise and the pressure. Get away from the bank......put on a
5" Senko or Mann's Hardhead (WEIGHTLESS). rigged with a 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook (rigged weedless, just barely 'skin-hooked'); cast it out over areas you know have structure or cover and let it leisurely float down....give it a couple of subtle twitches on the fall. Also - also offshore - try finesse fishing a drop-shot, rigged with either a Zoom Trick Worm, or a Zoom Centipede. Good luck to y in the tournaments, Charlie Brown.

DrB