Fishing bass during the spawn, in particular bedding bass - what a touchy subject! If you ask ten bass fishermen their thoughts,  the answers will vary from “never” to “situation” to “always”, and the discussions on the subject sound like presidential debates. Let us delve into the “situation”. Why? Because this is the one I adhere to, and I am going to go over the thought process, baits, and what to look for.   

The Gamakatsu Shaky head and Zoom Magnum Trick Worm did it again for me. The wind was absolutely brutal. Sustained 30 and gusting to 40 tough conditions for any kayak fisherman. I had to get creative to finding a spot that offered some protection. We've had a ton of rain this past week in my part of Oklahoma, so the river I normally fish was up and had a lot of current. It's been very low all year with our drought conditions, so I was glad to see it up and running. Seems like it needed a good "flushing out."

I often find myself heading to McNeely Lake for a quick trip especially when the creeks are blown out and I can’t chase the brown fish.  McNeely is a small lake inside the Louisville, Kentucky city limits.  It is often overlooked by bass fisherman because of its small size and motor restriction.  Only electric motors are allowed.  The lake also had a bad shad overpopulation problem back in the 80’s which made bass fishing and pan fishing poor at best.  

The prespawn period for Florida largemouth bass can produce some of the most exciting fishing of the year, and 2011 has certainly started out exciting. Since bass tune into environmental triggers such as day length, lunar cycle and especially, water temperature, timing of the actual spawn can vary. Generally, once water temperatures rise above 58 degrees, the bedding process begins and may continue until temperatures are in the mid- to upper-70s.

Living on Kentucky Lake as he does, where crankbaits probably catch more bass than any other lure, it's easy to understand why Yamaha pro Mark Menendez always has dozens of the diving plugs in his boat, even now as water temperatures are getting colder. In fact, early winter is one of his favorite crankbait seasons.

It's autumn throughout the Midwest. The leaves on trees are exploding in color, we're several games into the football season, some of the early migrating species of birds have left, and the fish want to get caught. Autumn is a great time to be on the water, it's a great time to catch numbers of fish, and, if you use bigger baits, it's a great opportunity to catch really big fish. Here's why the fish like bigger baits in the fall, and a couple of ideas for using bigger baits.

So anyone who watches the Bass Master, FLW, or any other bass programs see people drop shot fishing and catching fish.  It has been around for awhile now, molding and shaping like all techniques into a bass catching mainstay. It is one of my personal favorites, I always have one rig tied onto my line at all time, here is how I work and use the drop shot rig.

So I will start off with an experience I had recently. It was early in the morning, the air temps were warm, the water was cool to the touch and there was a misty fog in the air. I was sitting on an edge of early spring lily pads, there where frogs peeping in the reeds on the water line. I was tying on a senko, my go to bait, when I heard a splash in the water.  I looked up to see one of the frogs moving through the water. He was tiny, only about the size of a half dollar with lanky legs trailing behind.

While surfing the web last night I stumbed across some pretty sick fishing gear.  The guys at Bassaholics have taken modern day trends and merged it with  a passion for catching large bass, the results, some truly awesome clothing.

 

Ah, its mid march, the air is warming, the flowers are peeking through the ground and bass are getting ready to make some babies. But the water is still too cold to catch bass, right. WRONG. For many avid bass anglers this is the time of year to get big bass in big numbers. The reason for this is its time for the pre spawn. When waters start to reach 55 to 60 degrees bass start to become aggressive and territorial but they are still in there wintering schools.  So to find a pocket with 15 bass between 5 and 15 lbs. is not uncommon. Many of the fish will be moving towards there bedding locations also at this time, so look for flats with drop offs close by, I also cue on areas with cover near the drop offs this is a great ambush point for the bass to get an easy meal. I will also try to find creek beds and little creeks that feed the larger body of water, these areas will hold a lot of bass looking to feed on the migrating shad.