Big Indiana Bass

Magnetic Braking Info

If you love technical information and want to learn a TON about magnetic braking systems in baitcasting reels, check out this series of posts from the Tackletog website.

All Things Magnetic

Bass In the News

• Nanosilver Migrates from Treated Fabric During Washing - An interesting article that mentions a study of silver nanoparticle effects on juvenile largemouth bass toward its end.
• Bill Dance thrives on saltwater - For those who like the bass man from Tennessee.
• Cold snap possibly helped native fish - Lots of dead fish in Florida, but it might be a good thing for native largemouths.
• February kicks off big-bass time in East Texas - Good to know it's pre-spawn somewhere in the U.S.
• Bigger bait is the key to catching bigger fish - At least if you're shiner fishing in Florida this time of year.
• Choke Canyon Sends 15-Pounder to Toyota ShareLunker Program - Another Texas giant caught over the weekend.

Time For A Technology Update

After several years of good service, my Kodak digital camera is starting to near the end of it's useful service life. I'll probably be looking for something new to replace it over the next month or two, in time for the spring fishing season. Perhaps you're in the same boat. If so, you might find this little tech article that was posted a couple days ago in the NY Times helpful.

Best Cameras for $300 or Less

Happenings This Past Week

I've been chatting with David Swendseid, Product Specialist Manager at Jackall Lures this past week and we're looking into doing some concurrent line testing this year. Sounds like he'll be doing some out West with a bunch of fluoro lines and possibly some type of Instron tester. That will be cool and I'm hoping to get his results when completed to post on the site. Additionally, we're brainstorming on some specific testing on my end, done 'Big Indiana Bass' style. If everything works out I'll be posting results from that endeavor later this year also.

One other interesting topic of conversation we got on was some of the Japanese rod making technology, specifically rods designed for very light line finesse applications utilizing 2-3# line. David says they're really completely different from anything available here in the U.S. There is a possibility I'll be able to get my hands on one to play with for a period of time if everything falls into place. I've got my fingers crossed that if it occurs, it might happen in time for my fall fishing bonanza. Between my deep water crappie fishing and my finesse bass jigging, I think I could give the rod a pretty thorough workout and comparison to my custom built finesse sticks that I so dearly love and use.

One key component that he did mention is that they are actually built "heavy" on purpose, which immediately set off a light bulb in my head. It makes sense from the standpoint that while there are a ton of variables involved in hooksetting, at its core is Newton's 2nd Law which states that F=m*a, or force = mass times acceleration. Everybody and their brother on bass fishing message board forums these days are all about super lightweight rods and the resultant "speed" of hooksetting (acceleration rate of the rod) to help you stick a bass. What they're all overlooking is the other component of that equation, that a rod with more mass (built "heavier") can adeqautely compensate for it's slower acceleration. In other words, while I might forego some of the ergo advantages that today's rods offer, one area I won't be worrying about with my old sticks is their ability to set the hook and bring more bass to hand (or their cost $$$).

For some additional reading on David and his design thoughts on crankbaits, check out the following article:

Cranking Cover with the Jackall MC/60

Coming To Your TV This Summer

You'll be seeing more of Jacob Wheeler this summer on Joe Thomas' "Reel In the Outdoors" television show. Joe cancelled his scheduled Guntersville trip after hearing about what kind of bite Jacob has been on over at Newton L. in Illinois. Instead, he packed up the Tundra's and the Skeeter and met up with Jacob over in Champaign. They hit the lake yesterday and proceeded to whack the bass to the tune of nearly 70 winter time piggies. Their best 5 approached 27 pounds, capped by a pair of 5-1/2's, along with another half dozen right at or slightly above the 5 pound mark. Needless to say it will be a very impressive show when it airs later this year.

There's also an interesting twist to the story, but you'll just have to wait and watch the show to see if you can figure it out. In the mean time, here are a few pics from the day to peruse.

 

2010 Indiana Bass Tournament Schedules

Just a reminder since I'm getting a lot of traffic looking for tourney schedules for this year. On the right hand side bar, just under the weather graphic, I have links to most all the major tourney circuits in the state. Clicking on any of these links will take you to the tourney schedule pages for most of the organizations listed.

Most circuits are pretty well updated at the moment, but a few are still setting final schedules. There is one dead link that I'm waiting to see if it gets revived this year, so I'll leave it as is. You'll have to do some site maneuvering to get to the Anglers Choice 2010 schedules. I'll try and change that link to a more appropriate one when I have the time. You'll be directed to the 2007 schedule, but it's pretty easy to renavigate from that page. Midwest was bought out by NBAA but you should be redirected appropriately. I don't think Boggs has added their 2010 schedules to their site yet, and remember that all tourneys going on at Waveland this year will need to be permitted through their office, so call ahead early to get on their schedule.

If you run into any I've missed or would like added just contact the site and we'll see if we can get them addressed.

Reminder: It's Wednesday and LunkerCam is up and running. Feeding was at 1PM, but it's still pretty cool watching 8 pound bass swimming around right in front of you in "real time". I'll probably be doing that all day tomorrow after we get buried in 8 inches of snow as predicted. Look two posts down for the link.

MN Length Limit Studies

I've posted about maximum length limits a time or two on this site, and now we have some new data out of Minnesota that looked at them closer. Mandatory Catch and Release and Maximum Length Limits for Largemouth Bass in Minnesota: Is Exploitation Still a Relevant Concern? by Carlson, et al. and set to be published in the Feb. 2010 issue of the North American Journal of Fisheries Management compared results from 9 lakes against each other, six with a catch and release only policy and three with a 12" maximum length limit.

From the Abstract: "We evaluated the response of Minnesota populations of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides to implementation of 305-mm maximum total length (TL) limits (three lakes) and mandatory catch-and-release regulations (six lakes). Responses were compared with population trends observed in nine reference populations where largemouth bass harvest was regulated by prevailing statewide regulations. Increased harvest regulation generally improved largemouth bass size structure, but statistically significant improvements in size structure indices were detected in only a few individual lakes. Increased regulation of harvest did not appear to influence electrofishing catch per unit effort (CPUE; fish/h) of largemouth bass less than 381 mm TL. Electrofishing CPUE of fish greater than or equal to 381 mm TL (CPUE-381) generally improved after more stringent harvest regulations were in place, but improvements were only significant for two of the three lakes where a 305-mm maximum length limit was implemented. With the exception of one lake, increased harvest regulation did not appear to reduce largemouth bass growth rates. Improvements in size structure and CPUE-381 were rarely observed in reference lakes. Our results suggest that despite increases in voluntary catch and release of largemouth bass, angler exploitation is still an important factor regulating size structure in some Minnesota lakes, and more intensive harvest regulations can improve size structure in some populations."

LunkerCam

Most bassers have heard the name Glen Lau mentioned before. He was the creator of the infamous "Bigmouth" video. Apparently, he has a pretty sweet aquarium setup for his "pet" largemouth bass, to the tune of 10,000 gallons. Turns out he also has a deal set up through ESPN with streaming video of the tank. Looks rather boring at the moment, but supposedly feeding time which is Wednesday's at 1:00 pm is when the good stuff occurs. For more details see the following sites:

• Not Your Average Fish Tank
• LunkerCam (ESPN)

Wide Spool Spinning Reels

Perhaps you've noticed if you've been eyeing the fishing catalogs lately the trend toward these really wide spool spinning reels. I was chatting with Asshat last night and he asked what the deal was. One of their touted advantages is longer casting, yet as Asshat pointed out, we went through that phase 2 decades ago with the "long cast spool" technology like what Daiwa was known for, longer, tapered and slender spool design. What gives and is it fair to call BS on the new designs?

Here's a little background on the new design and what the supposed advantages are:

• U.S. Reels Supercaster Home Page
• Fred Kemp's Design Patent
• The Patent with Pictures (PDF)
• BPS Mag Spool Explanation

Cover, Turbidity and Smallmouth Bass

A new study out looks at the importance of these two items and how they affect food selection in smallmouth bass. Effects of Turbidity and Cover on Prey Selectivity of Adult Smallmouth Bass by Carter, et al. found:

1. In clear water without cover, smallmouth preferred gobies over golden shiners and avoided northern crayfish.
2. As turbidity increased, the three species were all neutrally selected.
3. When cover was present, smallmouth bass selected golden shiners preferrentially over both gobies and crayfish in both clear and turbid conditions. This is possibly due to the shiners being a more open water fish and hence easier to find or capture. Both gobies and crayfish attempted to hide when cover was present.
4. Turbidity decreased the hourly consumption rate of smallmouth, which appear to be more negatively affected by such conditions when compared to largemouth bass.
5. Their study suggested that smallmouth could have difficulty feeding for up to two days following a turbidity pulse.