Big Indiana Bass

My Weekend Trip with Asshat

"So ... you going to get in the boat or talk on the phone?" 

'The Stick' pockets the cellphone & steps aboard. I'm surprised both couldn't be done simultaneously but ... nevermind. We're rigged & ready for what we are sure will be a full day of fast action - you know, just like on the teee-veee fish'n shows where every cast results in a slob of a fish being reeled in.

There's nothing quite like that first look at the water, be it completely familiar, or half way accross the country. The anticipation of what's to come is big medicine indeed. We start down a typical bank ,doing the typical things, using the typical baits. Blah squared.

"The water looks sooo good", comments 'The Stick', and indeed, the level and color are ideal. "Perfect", I reply. It doesn't take long to get a rhythm going, despite the constantly swirling & gusting wind; cast, retrieve, repeat. Hitting every nook & cranny, look at us - precise & efficient even when spinning downstream like an episode of Keystone Cops. Damn we're good. 'The Stick' doesn't even complain about me constantly swinging the boat around to reposition in the wind/current.

The thing is ... we're not getting bit. "But the water looks sooo good". Words that were to be repeated throughout the day. 'The Stick' picks up a spinning outfit with ... a tube rigged up. "A bit early to be reaching for a crutch, don't-cha think? Thought we were here to chuck some manly hardware", I snicker, doing my best to sound disgusted.

'The Stick' swills some Dr. Pepper and starts casting, saying nothing. We fish, and fish, and fish some more. Zip, zilch, nada, nosiree. "Time to change the scenery", I confidently proclaim while pulling up the trolling motor.

Downstream we go, another sexy looking bit of water and 'The Stick' manages to get a couple of swats on the tube, but thats it for another 1/4 mile or so.

We fish an incoming creek. Nothing.
We fish a deep rock bank. Nothing.
We fish every current break in the southern half of the county. Grim.

We stuff the boat up a small creek and get a couple of bites. Fine, but there's nowhere else to go but back out where we've been flailing for the past 3 hours. We press on.

The order of the day is being established, clarity of purpose is rendered, it's now clear just exactly what has gone wrong with our well laid plans ; we are victims.

Victims of wind ingestion, as in "sucking wind". Because ... we mostly suck, and wind is all there is. It's evident that all the fishes were removed the night before. By some cruel act of God.

Now I have no problem with this developing scenario, been there, done that. T-shirts galore. Matter of fact, I embrace the suckage, it's liberating, allows one to let go of the self imposed duty to try and catch something.

'The Stick' bears down, he's not giving up nearly as easily, convinced the day can be salvaged with just one big bite. This mindset is likely true, a really big fish would, in fact, be a 'day saver', so the premise does have merit. But there's other things to do as well; there's a beer to drink, a cigar to smoke & some tidying up to do in the boat. Messy house - sign of good character; Messy car - self confident individual with no hidden agenda; but a cluttered boat .... well that's just poor upbringing.

The fishing continued, and continued, 'The Stick' soldiered on, his herculean efforts were rewarded with ... a couple more smallish fish. A few more changes of scenery, some more angst ridden angling, then a moment of beautiful perfection that altered the tenor for the balance of the day. We suddenly came to realize that we were'nt having that bad a day after all.

This is what a really bad day looks like:

With brand spanking new perspectives in hand, we took to looking around at what we may have been missing along the way.

Like giant sycamores making their last stand against an unrelenting river:

Or the simple fact that it's finally spring!!

We round a bend and shoot down some fast water. Upon settling in the pool, we both look up, "holy crap, what's in that tree?"

"Big-assed birds nest of some sort, I guess".
This thing was the size of .. a Volkswagon, no kidding:

Even more impressive was the guardian of this vacation rental (apologies for the grainy images, best I could muster).

We watched as he flew around a bit, not happy about our presence in his turf.

8 PM - time to call it a day, we make the run downstream, the sun is low & filtering through trees getting their first leaves of the season, we run through alternating pockets of noticably cooler air, it's a nice boat ride.

'The Stick' makes one last cast as I'm tying up the boat.

-as told by Asshat

Another Nail In the Solunar Coffin

As long as bass fishermen are around and Internet fishing forums abound, there will always be debate about solunar tables and their influence on fishing. We've covered the topic quite well and with a fair eye on the site before:

• Moon Phase Mumbo Jumbo
• Additional reading material (moon stuff)

I make no qualms about being a non-believer when it comes to solunar tables and fishing, especially for bass. The debate has it's proponents on both sides as you'll see by reading the archived links above. I even go so far as to accept a certain amount of lunar influence relative to spawning waves and strengths, all things being equal, but that's as far as I'll go. I recently came across a new piece of research that I am proud to say supports the "kiss my lunar a.." side of the coin :)

Effects of lunar cycles on the activity patterns and depth use of a temperate sport fish, the largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides

This piece of research by Hanson et al. was published last fall (Oct. 2008) in the journal "Fisheries Management and Ecology". Dr. Cory Suski, Assistant Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was also involved in the study and has a link to the full paper on his lab site (Dr. Cory Suski).

As always the discussion won't end here, and if I come across any further research supporting either side, I'll certainly make a point of posting it on "Big Indiana Bass".

The First Wave Has Begun

Spawners that is. I've been getting reports all weekend of bass on beds from across central Indiana. With the largely stabilized water levels and probably more importantly the 80+ degree weather, surface temps have started to baseline near 60 degrees and the fish have responded. This is still just the initial wave, and I'd expect much better nesting in about 2 weeks as we approach the first full moon in May. That should be prime, but many of the larger fish will be going now with the current wave. BTW, these bedding reports have included smallmouth in many of our local rivers, so waders be careful when tromping around the backwater eddies.

On a more somber note, fishing for me out on the river Saturday was largely a bust. I've started hanging around asshat so much I was even seen debarbing a few tube hooks on Saturday. That was about the only bite we could get going and the numbers were small, which also matched the size. Another of asshat's thought processes that is starting to make things turn in my mind is his "sucker shot" mentality. Asshat wants biting fish, lots of them and preferably with some size as an added bonus. If it doesn't happen in the first hour or two, it probably isn't happening at all and he'd just as soon head back home and enjoy the rest of the day as opposed to staying the course, fighting and struggling trying to force something to happen. You can always come back the next day and perhaps the timing will be better. Life as an angler is so much easier when you find biting, cooperative fish.

As it was, being the gracious host he is and knowing I had made the sacrifice of a 2 hour round trip drive just to go fishing, he stuck it out...and we struggled to the point where I was even ready for it to end (sort of) after nearly 6 hours. I've come to the realization that having to fish when you can, as opposed to fishing when you want, really sucks. It is becoming a new found goal in life to be able to someday obtain the latter, the sooner the better. Material objects and responsibilities have taken a serious hit in my mind this past weekend.

This has also spurred me to create the "sucker shot meter". Now, without even reading a single word of a trip report I post, you'll be able to tell exactly how good the fishing was. I haven't figured out a way to make this a handy little carry along device yet, sort of like your tacklebox barometer. It also isn't predictive, though if it ever became such I might make a small fortune and be able to finally fish when I wanted. I'm still working on that part. But it is based on a simple mathematical calculation which can easily be defined, so it's not a subjective thing either. You'll be hearing more about it in the future, I'm sure.

Practice Makes Perfect: Thoughts on Prefishing

I've never fully understood the way most people prefish and practice for tourneys here in Indiana. I'm betting most guys are guilty of it, or have drawn someone who was. Hey, I started out doing it too, just because that was the way you did it. You know the routine by now. Head down a day or two before the tourney, running around the lake "checking" areas out. Then you tell me how you whacked them in practice when we draw out together, and if only your fish hold we're going to be in good shape. Problem is, your fish usually don't hold up. Many will tell me they "shook them off", leaving them right in the same spot, waiting for our return the next day. Give me a break. Might work for some, but I don't like it. I've seen this system fail way too many times.

Is there a better way? I don't know about that, but there is a different way. This is what I came up with over many years as the best system for me. My routine is always the same, barring some extended off-limits period. I go 4-7 days before the tourney, preferably on a Tuesday or Wednesday (3-5 days before), in part, because those days usually have the least amount of boating traffic and/or other practicing competitors on the lake. I stick anything and everything I want regardless of bait, believing that fish stuck that far in advance are recovered and wiling to bite again by the time I get back down to the lake for the tourney. I want to know numbers, size, etc., as well as how they're eating the bait, which color is producing the most or the largest, yada, yada. If I can whack them, I do. In practice I simply want to find as many areas as I can that are holding keeper bass.

Then, the day before the tourney I sleep in and get a good nights rest. No getting up at some ungodly hour to drive to the lake or any extra hotel costs for being down there early. I have a good breakfast, take my time loading everything up and then arrive and launch late morning. After getting there, I just run around for half a day looking over all the good areas identified in practice to see how much pressure they're getting by "day before" prefishers, how the water conditions have changed, as well as any other observations I might see, even in areas that looked good but where I caught nothing (things might have changed for the better water wise). Regardless, I never cast a bait that day.

That night I get as much detailed information about the weather for the next day and then combine that with my draw and everything else to set my game plan. I wake up in the morning, check the weather forecast and radar again and adjust if necessary. Otherwise, I run the game plan and adjust "on the fly" based on what the fish and current conditions at that moment are telling me. I "fish the moment" if you will.

Part of what makes this system effective for me is I'm not relegated to fishing 'spots' over and over. I may have killed them in practice on jigs flipped to particular laydowns because my practice day was sunny and post-frontal. If I show up on tourney day and have clouds and drizzle, I'm certainly not going to be pitching those same laydowns with jigs again, at least not initially. I'll be chunkin and winding a bait I may have practiced very little with (chatterbait, spinnerbait, buzzbait) because that's what the conditions call for. The fish see me and my baits once during practice days before the tourney and then never hear from me again until the actual day of the tournament. If I get more than one practice day in, I never duplicate water I have actually already checked, instead continuing to search new areas.

People frequently ask if I ever get concerned about whether my fish will still be there when I come back since I didn't actually check them (read "hook" or "shake") the day before. I really don't even worry about it, unless it was literally the only spot I could catch fish from on the lake in practice.   My experience with the waters around here is that bass in most cases don't leave the general area over the course of a few days or a week unless something drastically changes. I'll see that "drastic" when I check things out the day before if it has occurred. Otherwise, I've already established one or more confidence areas and have a darn good idea how many and what quality is in the area. I just then have to figure the bite out in those few areas the day of the tourney. During transition times for instance (prespawn/post-spawn) I know fish will either be heading shallower or deeper, so if they're not where I left them I can usually tell which way they are headed and make the adjustment. Same with current or water level changes, especially on rivers, knowing to move in or pull back.

As the pros I have interviewed keep pointing out, fish change daily, and in many cases hourly, so even getting a bite the day before is no guarantee that you'll get that same fish to bite in the same spot the next day. What if you checked him and got a bite you shook at 2PM? Do you still go to that spot in the morning or do you wait until later? What if it was sunny when he bit in practice and now it's cloudy? Is he still tight to that stump waiting on you to feed him that jig again? How do you know that someone else didn't come along 2 hours after you and stuck that fish while they were practicing? If you shake a bite or two off, how many more are still there and how long will you keep fishing that area trying to find out? How many times have you heard a pro mention that he didn't realize the potential of his spot until it was too late to make a winning charge at the leader?

I don't have to worry about any of these things with my approach. Like I said, it may not work for everyone, and it's not always possible due to off-limits periods, but it has served me very well over the years. At the very least it might get you thinking a little more about your practice routine and whether or not you are getting the most out of your pre-tourney time.

NOTE: I've turned this post into an article and added it to the 'Articles' sidebar menu (left) for future reference, along with another (Poor Bass Fishing? Don't Blame the DNR).

Big Indiana River Smallmouth

The one and only Asshat (a.k.a. Kevin Frank) with a brute of a smallie caught last year on his signature outfit, a big ass streamer and fly rod!

Interesting Fluorocarbon Observation

I might have mentioned this before, but I've never linked to the actual data that I can remember. My friend Rick Vogelbacher over at Rick's Ultimate Bass Fishing (RUBF) site did an interesting stretch test on monos and fluoros he had. He makes an observation that no other person or article has mentioned to my knowledge to date. You'll have to review the data to find out just what though :)

Rick's Fluorocarbon-Monofilament Line Test

Gizzard Shad Spawning Biology

An interesting paper about to be published gives us some cool insight into the spawning behavior of gizzard shad. This is one of those examples of "crossover" research/learning that I'm so fond of. The paper is entitled "Hatch Timing Variations among Reservoir Gizzard Shad Populations: Implications for Stocked Sander spp. Fingerlings" by Zweifel et al. Forget that it focuses on walleye stocking and glean the shad data to apply to your Indiana bass fishing. Since the research was carried out in our neighboring state of Ohio, the majority of the timing/dates/temps should be pretty accurate when applied to our waters. Keep in mind that nearly all the shad you find in our waters are the more cold tolerant gizzard shad. Many articles you read don't differentiate which specie they are referring to, but threadfin shad are a rare occurrence in Indiana.

Among the many findings:

• Larval gizzard shad average 3.4 mm at hatching (Carlander 1969; Shelton and Stevens 1980).
• Growth rates range from 0.66 to 0.94 mm/d (Bremigan and Stein 1990).
• The upper basin was chosen because a majority of gizzard shad spawning occurs in the shallow upper regions of reservoirs based on larval distributions within Ohio reservoirs and elsewhere (Storck et al. 1978; Michaletz and Gale 1999).
• Peaks in total gizzard shad density among our study reservoirs occurred over the course of 28, 24, and 32 d in 1998, 1999, and 2000, respectively. Peaks occurred between 15 May and 11 June in 1998, between 11 May and 3 June in 1999, and between 15 May and 22 June in 2000.
• The observed among-population differences in spawn timing are best explained by the latitudinal differences in water temperatures among reservoirs. Water temperatures in the northern reservoirs were generally 2–5°C cooler on any given day than those in southern reservoirs and reached the optimal temperature range for gizzard shad spawning later than in southern reservoirs, resulting in later peaks of spawning and larval density.
• Gizzard shad hatching and larval density peaked when reservoir water temperatures ranged from 17°C to 22°C and had been stable or rising over the previous 14 d. Spawning occurs most frequently when water temperatures are 18°C and rising (references in Wallus et al. 1990).

* Photo courtesy Ohio Department of Natural Resources

The Trailerless Jig Saga Continues

I love fishing with Asshat. I only get the chance a few times a year, but it's always entertaining and informative. If you've been a long time reader then you've seen some of the posts from previous trips.

When it comes to simplicity, nobody I've ever fished with tops Asshat...not even Josh ;) Asshat is still using the same Shimano Speedmaster rods and Bantam reels from his tourney days in the 80's. His old-style drawer tacklebox is half filled with classic baits like Big-O's and Mann's Classic spinnerbaits, but not many of them. An assorted Bomber or two, a handful or two of bass jigs he pulled out of the trash can after I threw them away (no lie). I think he has a couple buzzbaits along with a few Shad Raps. Might even still be carrying a bag of Producto worms with him along with a bag or two of tubes. That's mostly it, except for the one Lucky Craft Pointer he stole off Josh and refused to return (his only character flaw).

Life is simple in Asshat's world. The best color is pretty much whatever color of the bait he happens to have in his tacklebox at the time. In Asshat's world, if you've bought a Lucky Craft RC bait then you basically paid 5X too much for nothing more than a glorified Big-O. One of his guiding theories about bass behavior, which I admit I'm quickly taking a liking to, is "bass like to eat things that...move". As such, if your bait behaves like something that a fish should eat, then they probably will. And so leads up to the next chapter in the trailerless jig saga.

The smallies in yesterday's trip pics were from my weekend trip with Asshat. We've launched the boat and are sitting on the water tieing on baits. Asshat puts on a rubber-legged jig (see pic above) and then questions aloud whether he should add a trailer or not. I chime in with my .02 cents and say if he expects to catch any fish today then he better. That's all Asshat needs to hear to make his decision - trailerless it is.

If you've ever fished a traditional bass jig without some sort of pork or plastic trailer, just a skirt, then you know how sick and wrong it is. Yes I've fished marabou and bucktail trailerless and survived fine, but not a silicone ladened traditional bass jig. You might get one cast, maybe two before all confidence fades and hope of catching is lost, then the trailer must reappear. Hell, I can't even stand for a single pincher to be removed by a short-striking fish lest my bassin' world be terribly altered until the deformed craw is replaced by a nice happy craw with two pinchers again, and life as I know it returns to normal.

So you know what happened  without me even continuing on with the story, so I'll just show you the pic:

Asshat scores 3 bass on the trailerless jig include the brute above while I blank on my traditional jig-n-pig from the same boat in the same areas. This is the third trip from two different bodies of water where he has proven this is no fluke. There's a lesson in there somewhere if I can get myself to face reality and accept defeat.

Rainy Day Smallies from this W/E

Back to School - Science Fair Stuff

Remember science fair days back in school? Wish I was as into fishing then as I am now. I could have came up with neat projects like this one: Fishing Line Strain.

If you have kids that need a simple project for science class, you might consider something similar. For easy reference sake, the weight used was approx. 2.2 pounds. The monofilament line diameters translate to roughly 2, 4, 10, 17 and 25 pound test. This would explain why they got no data on the 2 pound test (.1mm) as the 2.2 lb. weight broke the line every time.

There is a lesson here though if you read through the entire project: All forces applied being equal, heavier monofilament line will stretch less than lighter line.

Jon Boat Transducer Installation

Just because you have an inexpensive piece of aluminum that you choose to fish from doesn't mean you have to skimp when it comes to electronics. One of the biggest mistakes most anglers make is not utilizing their depthfinders as much as they should or to their full capacity. That especially applies here in Indiana. Part of that utilization for an aluminum boat owner is proper installation of the transducer for the best possible readings.

Unlike our fiberglass brethren that can install inside the hull for protection while shooting through the glass, aluminum boat anglers pretty much have little choice but to mount externally. Here then the key becomes proper placement and location. The ideal situation for most of these setups is using a fiberglass or composite transducer mounting plate like in the picture. These can be obtained at many of the larger marine center outlets. The advantage is one of less drilling but increased flexibility.

Installation of the board first to the hull using just 2 screws and a very generous amount of silicone between the board and the hull is the first step. Once in place, you are then free to move the transducer around as needed, higher or lower, left or right until you find the optimal location for reading at speed. This is usually the spot with the least amount of water disturbance coming from beneath the hull. Since the shorter transducer screws only penetrate into the composite board and not the hull, drilling and redrilling without need to refill and plug holes becomes the norm.

The other option, and the one I chose by default because the mounting boards were out of stock once I was ready to install my transducer - and I have little patience :) is to directly mount to the aluminum hull. Here the issue becomes one of "getting it right" the first time, lest you end up putting multiple holes into your boat that will all have to be sealed to avoid taking on water. The photo above right is my installed transducer from the side. It's hard to make out in the picture and is shown much better in the installation diagrams in your manual, but the transducer puck rides just about halfway below the bottom of the hull. This will allow for possible collisions with stumps or such, but is necessary to ensure a smooth supply of water to the transducer face for proper readings. I actually bumped mine a smidge lower than recommended because readings are more important to me than collision risk.

Here is another shot of my installed transducer from the rear. You'll also see a good section of the hull underneath. Here what you want to pay attention to is placing that transducer where the least amount of disturbance coming from the hull occurs. Things like dents, rivets and "lips", anything that create or allow air pockets to form are all bad from an install point of view. Again, the smoothest possible flow of water over the transducers face is what you are after. Avoid the running guides and other such areas as much as possible, and pay attention to how close to the motor you are also. Anything that creates turbulent water that could reach the trasnducer is a no-no.

Beyond that, a little tinkering with proper height and angle to obtain maximum reading clarity is all that is usually needed. When installed correctly you shold be able to get really nice readings at all speeds, from idle up to wide open. Anything less suggests some type of possible error in the setup.

"Big Indiana Bass" Interviews...Josh McDermott

Quite possibly the most outspoken angler in Indiana, banned from more forums than I can count :) but a moving water smallie 'Whiz Kid' and a pretty potent green fish angler also. Want a no BS opinion on anything fishing? His years of practical observation and questioning has led to an uncanny simplicity that is also incredibly effective. If you're easily offended, read no further. But if you want an uncensored, 'no-holds-barred' view of bass tackle and bait approach to Indiana waters, and you can take a little PG-13 language, then sit back and enjoy an interview that could only occur on this site.

BIB - Let’s get right down to business. Bait prices keep escalating with the improvements in technology. How many of these “high dollar” baits do you own?

JM - Well this question actually made me think a little, uh oh. So, I went to the boat and decided to count my "expensive" lures and found out I have more than I thought I did including 8 still in the package. Between Lucky Craft, Splash-Its, Ricos and Sumo Frogs I found that I have 37 combined. I know of 3 that I have lost in the past 7 years, given away 4 and broken 2 in that time. That makes the total tally of $10+ lures 46 that I have bought.

But the question is do they make me a better fisherman? Hell no! The only thing that makes me better is time on the water and knowledge of my quarry. Those are priceless, and worth more than any lure out there.

BIB – What about high dollar tackle, rods and reels? You loaded down?

JM - I have been more than happy with St. Croixs cheap ass rods, the Triumphs. For 70 bucks I get a ton of bang for my buck and I don’t crap myself when I step on one or jam the tip in a stick pile getting my jig out. Big deal, they make them overseas, so are all the reels most people drool all over including myself. I’m pretty tuff on my crap, and have replaced more high end rods than most folks have owned in their lives.

Bottom line is those cheap St. Croixs are well worth the $$$$ and you can get two or three of them for the price of a decent Loomis. But then again, I’m sure I'd be more successful on the water if I dusted off the $200.00 rods sitting in my rack and used them again.

BIB – Don’t you worry about missing bites with your $70 sticks? They can’t be as light and sensitive as the fancy $200-$300 rods I was checking out at the Boat Show last month.

JM - Sensitivity is not slightly over rated, its waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over rated. People these days are far too concerned with what they have when they should be concerned with what they can do! I see it all the time, rows of 500 dollar outfits and the guy holding them can’t fish his pecker outta his pants.

I agree that it is nice to have good equipment, and trust me I own plenty of it from 200 dollar rods to 250 dollar reels, but it does NOT make you any better on the water. You might feel better, and you might have some pre-conceived notion that you will feel more bites and catch more fish, but the simple fact is that if you suck at fishing you are still gonna’ suck at fishing with a high priced outfit.

I’m a line watcher, always have been and too many beginning fisherman these days rely on feeling bites rather than seeing them. They miss fish, and a lot of them due to being strapped to this "touchy, feely" genre we have been overcome by.

I can guarantee that my cheap, 50 dollar sticks will catch just as many as a custom tuned, custom wrapped, hand picked rod that so many are fond of. Now for some insight.

I have had two split gripped handled rods, couldn’t stand either one of them and I fully understand the concept thank you very much. It’s fancy crapola to me. Sorry, that’s just the way I see it. One rod was built for me and it was a Rainshadow, I gave it away. The other was a spinning rod, same deal, built for me on a Shikari blank and it was a pile of crap too. I see no need to have so little handle, and no need to have no fore grip either. It all boils down to who is using the rod, not how well the rod performs, that’s a plain and simple fact.

BIB – Moving on, line options are getting more technologically advanced also. What are your thoughts there? Are you a braid or fluorocarbon user?

JM - As much as it pains me to say this, braid is good for topwater plugs as it floats and gives your bait good action compared to mono. I have recently used it for frog fishing and it has its place there.  There the "no stretch" does have an advantage over 20 pound mono. I still hate how it handles and hate how it sounds and hate how it casts, but I do like getting the fish to hand in that nasty cover, but that’s the only place for me for sure. For ANYTHING else pertaining to fishing, braid is as useless as tits on a boar hog.

As far as this casting thing goes, any swinging dick can toss a 3/8 ounce bait out there a country mile. I want to see the guy who can cast my favorite little crankbait 1/2 as far as me with casting gear. I’m guessing that 95 percent of you can’t, and that 75 percent of you can’t cast it as far with spinning gear. I'd rather be on target than long, but with the crank longer is sometimes better.

BIB - What about other terminal tackle?

JM - Only Gamakatsu hooks I use are the trebles. Only Owner hooks I use are the super braid hooks for frog fishing and super heavy cover fishing. I’m sold on the Hookerz right now, great price and a great hook. I used to use the XPS hooks from Bass Pro as they were quite cheap, but over time I have realized that I’m not sticking the fish well enough so those are done with me. I’m not a fan of G-Locks or any other hook that has that design; those are a hindrance when it comes to sinking a hook. I do like the Mustads, and they are a good price also.

BIB – Lets move on to baits, but not the real high dollar hardware stuff. I'll name a bait and you give me your thoughts. A little psychology test. Jigs...

JM - Jigs! Yup. Big, ugly ones. What do I fish them on? Easy, 7 foot rods and casting reels spooled with rope, errrrrrrrrr, 20 pound test. I fish for smallies with the same setup also, but back down to 15 pound line for jigs IF the water is fairly clear. Spinnerbaits are also a go to for me, same rods and reels and same line.

I throw a lot of different baits, but jigs and spinnerbaits get the nod most times. And I’m quite fond of high, discolored water which is common in Indiana as you know most of the year anymore. But these days the brown bombers take a backseat to their green kin, more of a challenge for me and I need that challenge in my fishing. Now come June I revert back to my flows and smallies, but for the rest of this month I’m all about green.

BIB - Senko’s...

JM - I drink cheap beer, and there’s always enough $$ around for a 12 pack of PBR. In fact, a 12 pack of PBR on sale is $4.99 and even at the regular price of $5.99 is a complete bargain compared to a bag of stinkos. But I digress.

I am the proud owner of 6 fresh bags of over priced Gary Scrotomoto’s stinkos. I have two sizes, big and small in solid black and green pumpkin. I plan on flipping grass at a local reservoir with them, and fishing big rock flats on the river with them. I feel like I have just been raped.

BIB – LOL, I think the only thing that falls apart about as fast as a Senko is a Paca Craw.

JM - Yes, the Paca Craws are pretty frigging fragile also, the bastards breathe on them and the pinchers fall off. But I'll tell you what, I can catch bigger fish on them than a stinko and they aren’t 7 bucks for 10 of them either. They are also a killer trailer for a Chatterbait.

BIB – Frogs...

JM - The best frog out there BY FAR is the Cane Toad by Gambler. A close second is the Ribbit frog by Stanley, fish eat them better than a Zoom type frog. Both are excellent frogs, and can accommodate a 5/0 Owner hook.

Another good frog no one talks about is the Sizmic Poppin' Toad, it’s a totally different technique as it is a cupped faced frog that will float with any hook in it. It’s a good bait to fish around grass as you can damn near pop it in place and it has a sexy little splash.

BIB – You’re not a huge fan of having more than a few colors in any particular bait either, are you?

JM - All bass fishermen are color freaks just because we beat ourselves to death trying to outsmart a pretty dumb creature who really doesn’t care if the crawdad has red flakes, or an orange top shell, he just cares what it tastes like. Well placed casts and knowledge of your water is the most important factor, and then you can concern yourself with color. Find them and they will eat.

Bass fishing doesn’t make a lick of sense because most anglers make it that way. There is way too much emphasis placed on color, size and looks when the emphasis should be placed on seasonal behavior and lure presentation. I have been just as guilty of this when purchasing new baits in the past, but those days are over.

Bass are stupid critters. Bass fisherman are even more so. Bait companies rely on our willingness to buy just about anything, and they market lures for us rather than for the fish. And they are getting rich by doing so, and I couldn’t be happier for them.

BIB – OK, a couple more. Buzzbaits...

JM - Ooohhhh, buzzzzzzzzbaits are killer! I make my own, and give them hideous names like "BIG BLACK" and "SQUEAKY SAM". Or my all time favorite, "THE PBR PROBE"! All are big with big ass blades, and I like black a lot in the fall.

BIB – Cranks...

JM - You can keep your Bandit cranks, and yes I have tried them over and over and over. The only one that has had a glimmer of hope is the 100 series in pearl w/ red eyes and it caught fish smaller than my other cranks in the same situation did. I have a couple of special baits that have been working for well over 12 years now and will outfish any bandit out there hands down. And the Lucky Craft cranks, especially the RC series, are friggen good baits for newer cranks, kind of similar to the old school Big-O’s as far as how they run and deflect off cover.

Some lucky kid got about $100.00 worth of Bandits from me last week; he was pretty stoked so they must work for some of you!

BIB – I’ve seen your boat and until just this past winter, you never even owned a depthfinder. I’m guessing you probably don’t have a water temp gauge either then? That’s usually considered a critical “tool” in the spring.

JM - I have dismissed water temperature as part of my fishing, and rarely if ever check the water temperature these days. I can tell what the fish are doing by simply observing the environment surrounding the water, how far along the trees are, what the under growth looks like, what kind of insects are active and so on.

I have seen fish on beds in 50 degree water, and I have seen fish on beds in 75 degree water. So that right there tells me that as long as the conditions are stable without prolonged periods of high and dirty water the fish are going to spawn no matter what the water temperature is.

And as for depthfinders, I’m primarily a shallow water fisherman. One foot, two foot, too deep!