Last evening I decided to go out just for bass.  I took three bait casting outfits with me and my standby spinning rod and reel, the Cardinal, with the Blue Fox spinner.  I would not use the spinner until all else failed.  On my bait casters I tied on a Yum Craw in red speck brown, a Gary Yamamoto stick worm in green/white, and a Culprit 8” ribbon tail worm in red watermelon.  I stayed in one area the whole time, and area where I can usually count on catching something.  For two and one half hours I did not get a single hit.  I decided to go to the spinner.

I did not move the boat, I just got out the spinning rod and started casting in the exact same area.

On my second cast I caught a small bass, about 1  lb.  After a few more casts I caught three small crappie.  Then a second small bass of about the same size.  And one nice bluegill.

It was getting dark about this time so I decided to make a few more casts with the spinner on the way back.  I landed my spinner in a low hanging branch and that took me about five minutes to get it out of the branch and untwisted.  Another  reason why I don’t like night fishing especially when the fish are usually laying under low hanging branches near the shore.  And, the fish I did catch were no further than two or three feet from shore as was the seven pounder that I caught a few days before.

I got to where I keep my boat and tried one more cast.  I was just about to take my spinner out of the water when a big fish came up out of the water enough for me to see it was a large fish but I couldn’t be sure of what kind of fish it was as it was almost dark.

Well, just a few more casts…and Whammo!  it was the cat that you see here.  I estimate it to be about five pounds.  Of course I let him go right after taking the picture.

The moral of this story is don’t give up and use the lure that is paying off until it is no longer effective for whatever reason.

I like to experiment and sometimes it really pays dividends but if I’m not catching anything I will go back to my tried and true lures, i.e., the ones that are paying off at that particular time and place.

You’ll notice that I haven’t been using my fly rod lately.  That’s because the fly rod has just not been effective for me lately…but come fall and the fly rod will be out again.  I could be catching bluegill with it and maybe some cats but I really want to focus on big bass this time of year.  There are bass flies that work but it’s been too slow for me.

Tight lines.

Jim

I haven’t been fishing as much as I’d like this last couple of weeks due to the hot humid weather.  I do however, venture out on some evenings after supper.  Those evenings have also been limited due to thunderstorms that have also been prevalent during this period.

When I have gone out between the hours of 6:00 and 8:00 pm the fishing has been slow.  I know that I should stay out after dark but I don’t care for night fishing.  The fish at night will be close to the bank in the pond and I find more than my share of snags due to my limited visibility.  For example, I know where most snags are having fished the pond over a period of many years; I’ve even put many tree limbs and other brush into the pond to provide cover for the fish, but inevitability I’ll miss my mark and catch the snags that I’m trying to avoid.

Last evening I was making my last cast for the evening with Shaw’s paddle worm, I hooked onto a very large fish just as dark was settling in.  I cast right next to a bush that I had buried this spring and sure enough that fish went straight for it and got my line wrapped up in it.  My line broke.  That fish could have been a bass or another big cat, I’ll never know.  The point is that the fish was the only one of any size that I got bit by that evening from 5:00 until 8:00 pm.  I had only had six bites before my quitting time, three small crappie, a bluegill, and two small bass.  So, my quitting time should maybe be my starting my starting time if I want to be sure to catch fish. And, by the way, the River Bend  lake where I fish closes at 9:00 pm.

So, if you like night fishing, I have to concede that your chances of catching the “Big One” during the hot summer will be at night, close to the bank, and with lures that closely match the prey that they’re after.  Example, if crawdads are prevalent in the water that you’re fishing, use plastic or live crawdads.  I don’t use live bait so, I use Yum Craws, (but during daylight hours), and they’re probably more effective at night.  Or use whatever bait that is close to matching their regular diet and lures that move a lot of water and try to match the color of the prey that they are looking for, the fish are searching for what is normal to them.  Yes, I have fished at night when I was younger and have had success, but I still prefer the daylight hours.

Whenever you fish, I hope you have fun.

Tight LInes

Jim

PS:  To Wanda,

Thank you for your input about the older fishing equipment. 

The reason that I have so much older equipment in that because over the many years that I have owned these rods and reels, I have taken care of their maintenance.  I take my reels apart and clean them frequently and always before storing them.  I use a tip that I read in one of the fishing magazines,  “Using Pledge furniture polish helps keep the rod clean, the guides slipperier, and provides some waterproofing, helping to prevent rust or corrosion.”  This is true and I do it.

I was trying to tell my readers that using your old equipment, expensive or not, will only be as good as how well you take care of it.

I don’t buy expensive equipment even though many of the new rods, reels and etc., are far superior to my equipment.  It just doesn’t fit into my budget.  If you can afford expensive fishing gear, by all means buy it, but take care of it and it will last you perhaps a lifetime.  I  also read in an article from and article about fly fishing, “ When choosing a fly rod that is on sale due to closeouts or discontinued models, remember that that rod or reel was the “latest and best” a few years ago,”  I do buy these rods and reels when my budget allows.

New modern equipment is superior to the old rods and reels, lines and etc.  I wish that I could afford more.

I have accumulated some nice equipment over the years and when I pass I have asked my executor to give to the Boys and Girls Club whatever my grandkids don’t want.

Tight Lines

Jim

Fishing has been slow for the last two weeks.  My friend Ivan and I went to River end a week ago and fished all afternoon from about 2:00 pm until 7:30 pm and didn’t catch a single bass until about 6:30 pm.  We tried cranking, trolling, and fly casting using a variety of baits. 

I stuck with crank baits for the most part along with my tried and true stick worms and I tried the Blue Fox spinner.  I used the Blue Fox in the pond a couple of days before and caught 17 crappie and two bass and 4 bluegill with it but, I didn’t get a single tick with it on River Bend.  That shows that  what is good in one lake doesn’t mean it will be good everywhere, so be prepared to change your tactics.

Ivan stayed with the fly rod and caught a few nice bluegills.  I used my fly rod as well for a short time and only caught one bluegill.  Hmmm…Ivan’s out fishing me!  I really wanted to locate the bigger bass  at River Bend as I had tried and failed the week before but I did manage to catch some of the average 1/12  -  2lb bass.  But even that was not happening on this trip until we  saw fish breaking water…bass chasing fry and bait fish.  I cast my Yum pearl stick worm as far as I could to reach them and finally caught my first bass of the day.  We began chasing the fish that were surfacing and I managed to land 5 bass altogether in last hour of our fishing day.  They were all about 2 lbs.  Ivan tried a surface plug and couldn’t get one to hook up.

Last week I went out with Roy on the pond for a couple of hours from 6 to 8 pm.  Naturally I brought out my Blue Fox spinner; Roy was using his stick worm.  I had one bite that evening and landed a nice bluegill.  Roy caught a bass of about a pound.  And that was it!

I went out again last evening from 5:30 to 8:00 pm.  I started out using the Yum stick worm, the Zoom trick worm, a popper, spinning rod size and the Blue Fox spinner.  At first I used the popper in an area…no hits…switched to the Yum…no hits…the Zoom…no hits…the spinner…one small crappie.  And that’s the way it went from place to place until 7:30 pm.  That’s when I hung onto this really nice bass and on the Blue Fox spinner.

The fun began.  The fish made several 20 to 30 foot runs peeling line off my old Cardinal light action spinning reel, my old Shakespeare light action 6” spinning rod and 6lb test Stren mono line.  And the fish had only a single barb of the small treble hook hooked on his lip.  When the fish jumped my heart leaped thinking,”I’m going to lose him!”  This is only the second 7 lb bass I have ever caught in my entire fishing life of 67 years and I sure as …. didn’t want to lose him. 

After I got my picture I immediately let the fish go as I always do.  He was out of the water for less than two minutes.  When you let a fish of this size go you are helping the pond retain fish of a superior genetic species and by releasing him as fast as possible.  And I do want the offspring of this fish to continue in our pond for as long as possible.   Wouldn’t you?

About 15 minutes later I caught the cat again, on the Blue Fox spinner and, yes, I did re- tie my spinner as the line had been frayed when I was playing the bass.  Using two minutes of your time to re-tie might just save you from losing a big fish.  So, keep that in mind, “two minutes could save your seven pounder”.

Tight lines

Jim

I went to River Bend again on Thursday afternoon to try to get the big bass to bite in the deep water.  And, once again I struck out.  This time using the Money Minnow and the Yum Minnow.  I tried my time tested plugs, deep divers, and medium and shallow divers all to no avail.  The Money Minnow and the Yum Minnow really move well through the weed beds because of their unique design, with the hook groove along the back.  The Yum Stick Worm also has that feature and also works well through the deep weeds weightless or Texas rigged.  After three hours of striking out I decided to try for some of the bluegills that were nipping at my Yum worm.  I got out my fly rod with a 1/8oz Hula Popper in the frog color in shallow water along some reed/weed beds. 

The result was two nice 2 lb bass  that came out of nowhere and grabbed the popper.  So, I continued along the weed beds along the shallow (3-5 feet deep) to try for more.  But, there were no more bass takers.  So, I downsized to the 1/32oz Hula Popper in the same frog pattern,(Arbogast does not make that popper anymore and I wish that they did, it’s a real fish catcher), and I started catching some fairly nice 7-8” bluegills.  I continued that for a while until it was getting close to dark.

In my last outing you’ll recall, the bass were chasing schools of baitfish at the surface and that got me ten bass just before quitting, (the park closes at 9 pm).  I decided to try again using the pearl/black Yum stick worm that I used last time.

The fish did not come up as they did the last time.  There were a few rising but too far for me to cast to and they were very small bait fish schools.  I managed to get two fish on but didn’t get them to the boat.

I plan to go out again this week during the evening when it is cooler with a fishing buddy, maybe he can teach me something.  Apparently, I still need to learn and I am always learning.

Tight Lines

Jim