Bass Angler's Guide Print Magazine

4 • The 2006 Bass Angler’s Guide

PPUUBBLLIISSHHEERR // EEDDIITTOORRMark Lassagne • [email protected]

SSAALLEESS DDIIRREECCTTOORRMark Lassagne• [email protected]

AARRTT DDIIRREECCTTOORR Steve Adams [email protected]

CCOONNTTRRIIBBUUTTIINNGGWWRRIITTEERRSS

Aaron Coleman • Fred RoumbanisMark Tyler • Randy Pringle • Cliff Pirch

Doug Chesmore • Sean MindermanMark Lassagne • Ken Cook • George Roth

Kent Brown • John & Tammy MorrowBobby Barrack • Greg Gutierrez

Sieg Taylor • Dave Rush • Tony StoltzAndy Cuccia *Cooch* • Ted Nguyen

Jay Yelas • Tony Franceschi • Andre MooreRoss England • Jamie Cyphers

THANKS GUYS & GAL!

www.bassanglersguide.com

GONE FFISHING PPROMOTIONSBilling Address:

PO Box 2805 • San Ramon, CA 94583Phone: 925-362-3190• Fax: 925-362-303

The Bass Angler’s Guide in our 14thyear made some radical changes lastyear going from the old calendar for-mat to a magazine. The main reasonfor the change was we wanted toexpand and bring you more usefulinformation. There was just no moreroom in the old calendar format. Itseems most anglers were happy withthe format change, except for themissing calendar squares (date grid).We have this year reinstated thesesquares. In attempt to keep the cost

to you down, we are going back withone book for both regions. This mag-azine will cover New Mexico toNorthern California, including fish-ing information in Washington andOregon. We may perhaps never beable to include event dates for thegreat northwest due to their planningtimetable. However, we will contin-ue to expand our coverage as itbecomes available. Our goal is togive you the information you need inthe best and easiest format, we can.Your comments and suggestions arealways welcome.

Sincerely,Mark Lassagne

P.S. Thank You for your support!

BoatHomeAutoLifeCommercialWorkers Comp

Mark Lassagne(510) 724-2275

The 2006 Bass Angler’s Guide • 5

Inside The GuideInside The GuideInside The Guide

DDiirreecctt FFrroomm TThhee PPrrooss::

9 Aaron ColemanFinding’em As Fast As 1-2-3!

10 Jay YelasHow Instinct And Faith Play Into My Fishing ...

12 Fred RoumbanisHow To Prepare For A Big Tournament On A New Lake

15 Mark TylerCome From Behind

16 Randy PringleSeasonal Patterns

19 Cliff PirchLake Roosevelt, AZ

20 Doug ChesmoreFish Finder Interference

23 Sean MindermanPreparing For Success

24 Mark LassagneFishing Line

27 Ken CookReversal Of Fortune In Bass Fishing

28 George RothUltra Finesse Drop Shot Rods

31 Kent BrownCatching Bigger Spotted Bass

32 John & Tammy MorrowFishing As A Team From Pre-fish To Win

34 Bobby BarrackSpring Bass, Delta

36 Sieg TaylorGo From the Back “Young Man” to the Pointe End

38 Dave RushThe Moon Phases

39 Tony StoltzWesternbass.com – A Bass Fishing Community and Resource Haven

41 Andy Cuccia *Cooch*Jigs for all Seasons

42 Ted NguyenPreparation & Budgeting For Tournaments

45 Tony FranceschiClear Lake Year Round!

47 Andre MooreFinesse Flipping

49 Greg GutierrezFall at Lake Shasta

50 Ross EnglandSwimbaits

___________________

On Location:Lake Powell by Jamie Cyphers

56On Location:Columbia River by Bob Adkinson

58On Location:Brownlee Reservoir by George Roth

60

___________________Classifieds:Buy, Sell & Trade Some Stuff

62

Circuit Contact InformationCalifornia, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona and More!

53-54

2006 Western Edition

24

42

16

28

15

12

2006Grid CCalendar With EEvents!

2006Grid CCalendar With EEvents! 88-333388-3333


DDee-ffllaattiinngg DDeeeepp-CCaauugghhtt BBaassssDDee-ffllaattiinngg DDeeeepp-CCaauugghhtt BBaassssBass caught in water 35 feet or deeper may

have an over-inflated gas bladder (swim bladder).If released immediately, the fish can usually swimback down to the proper depth. However, if heldfor a period of time in a live well (for example ina bass tournament), the fish tires and its musclescan no longer compensate for the pressure. Oneindicator of this condition is that the bass appearsto be bloated with an extended belly; another, andprobably the best, is that the bass floats in thelivewell or on the surface of the lake withoutbeing able to swim down below the surface.

An over-inflatedswim bladder should be deflatedto assist in the healthy release of thebass. Remember to keep the bass inwater as much as possible during this pro-

cedure. Deflating a bass in a livewell or holdingtank is much easier than trying to do it while lean-ing out of a boat.

To deflate a swim bladder, you will need a 2-inch hypodermic needle. These needles are sharp,so use caution when using them. Use the abovepicture as a reference to the correct location toinsert the needle.

Imagine a line from the notch in the dorsal finto the anal opening.

The insertion point will be on that line at a pointabout 1 inch below where the imaginary linecrosses the lateral line.

When inserting the needle, lift a scale and gounder it rather than through the scale. Angle theneedle towards the front of the fish and carefullyinsert the needle until the point should be close tothe center of the fish. The distance that you haveto insert the needle will vary with the size andthickness of the bass. You should hold the bassunder water after getting the needle started. Whenyou hit the swim bladder, air bubbles should comeout of the back of the needle. Very gently squeez-ing the bass will assist the swim bladder in deflat-

ing. When the air bubbles slowdown and the bass no longerappears bloated, carefullywithdraw the needle. The bassshould now be deflated and

able to swim down below thesurface of the water.

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02 03 04 05 06Bartlett AllStar Couples TeamBerryessa Spanish Flat WON VR TeamDelta Russo's Anglers DRW TeamDiamond Valley Dual Federation DrawMcClure Barretts AC SemiPro ML TeamMillerton Fresno 100% BV TeamNacimiento WON CC Team San Vicente Main American Bass SD TeamSilverwood American Bass HD Team

07Delta Russo's American Bass DR TeamMc Clure PH Jigs 100% ML TeamPerris WON IE Team

Delta Ladd's Stockton Bass Team

08

09 10 11 12 13Berryessa Spanish Flat 100% WR TeamCachuma Anglers CC TeamDelta Tracy Oasis TeamFisher's Landing WON CR TeamFolsom Browns WON FH TeamMcClure Barrets NorCal ProAmMorgan Lake Anglers NM TeamNacimiento Main 100% CR TeamOroville Dam American Bass ORO TeamPerris Anglers P TeamSan Vicente WON SD TeamShasta Lake Anglers SCC Team

14Berryessa Markley Anglers FH TeamClear Lake KV Casino American Bass NC TmDelta Hook Team Diamond Valley National Bass DV TeamMillerton Fresno Federation DrawOroville BD Billards 100% NR Team

15

16 Martin Luther

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17 18 19 20Camanche WON ML TeamCastaic Anglers SC TeamDelta Ladd's Stockton Bass TeamDiamond Valley Anglers DV TeamFolsom Brown's American Bass F TeamLake Pleasant AllStar TeamMcClure American Bass ML TeamMead Callville WON NV TeamSan Vicente National Bass SD TeamShasta Jones WON SCR Team

21Berryessa Spanish Flat Angler NC TeamDelta Tracy Oasis TeamDiamond Valley WON DV TeamSan Vicente ABA SD DrawShasta Packers American Bass SCC Team

22

23 /30

24 /31

25 26 27Bartlett AllStar TeamCastaicWest Anglers C TeamDiamond Valley Federation DrawHavasu Windsor Anglers CR TeamMartinez, Fisher’s National Bass CR TeamNacimiento Anglers PC TeamPerris Ramp 5 or 6 American Bass IE TeamPine Flat American Bass BV TeamPyramid American Bass GE Team

28Perris National Bass IE TeamSuper Bowl Sunday

29

JJaannuuaarryy 22000066MMoonnddaayy TTuueessddaayy WWeeddnneessddaayy TThhuurrssddaayy FFrriiddaayy SSaattuurrddaayy SSuunnddaayy

EVENT COLOR LEGEND: DRAW TEAM PRO-AM

Fred Hall Fishing & Boat Show ~ San Francisco

ISE Fishing Show ~ San Mateo

ISE Fishing Show ~ Sacramento

ISE Fishing Show ~ Denver

FLW Tour ~ Lake Okeechobee - ProAm

WONBASS North ~ Shasta Bridge Bay - ProAm

LEGEND:Lake, Marina (if listed) Circuit, Region, Event Type

NEW YEAR’S DAY

In today’s fast paced world mostpeople want results yesterday. Inthe world of tournament bass fish-ing it’s no different. In fact withthe pressure, competition and everchanging conditions of your typi-cal tournament, you just mightwant to get today’s results lastweek. So let’s talk about where,when and how to find today’s limitas fast as possible.

POINTSEvery body of water has at least

one “point,” and that’s a great placeto start fishing. But why? Pointsgive both prey and predators hori-zontal or vertical routes betweenshallow and deep water. And withmultiple directions for shad, bluegill, trout and other fish to maneu-ver it’s easy to see why an apexpredator like bass would live there.Point’s present bass with so manyfeeding opportunities, it’s like liv-ing in a supermarket. So let’s goshopping!

HUMPSThis is one of my favorite places

to fish. There’s something about notbeing able to see my target that getsme excited. Humps are always shal-lower than the surrounding struc-ture, and are like a magnet for bass.Whenever you find a foot or moredepth change there’s a good chance“a dog” could be lurking nearby.

Humps usually are made of rock,clay, sand or some other firm struc-ture. The surrounding landscapecan give you a pretty good idea ofwhere they’re likely to be. Islands,rocky banks and landslide areas area tip-off you could be in the rightplace. When you find a humpalways make your first cast to theshallowest part and then workdeeper. The most active fish are onthe shallowest part of the hump andthe inactive bass hang on the edges.

ROCK, TULE & WEEDSThis combination usually is

found in river systems like theCalifornia Delta, or natural waters

like Clear Lake. I think it’s thecombination of structure and coverthat attracts the bass. A lot of timesthey have a tendency to look fordeeper spots near the bank wherethe rock-tule-weed combination ispresent. When I say “deeper”, Imean as little as 6 inches or more.Even on low-tide at the CaliforniaDelta those little holes are going tohold fish.

And on high tide this is one ofthe first places to turn-on becausethe bass are already there. Theydon’t have to migrate to the spot.So what makes this combination sogood? The rocks provide a verticalstructure that allows bass to puttheir tail or nose against. Rockstend to hold heat in the winter andbe cool in the summer. They alsoattract crawdads, insects and othercritters for bass to feed on.

Tules give bass great verticalcover to suspend in. I say thisbecause most of my bites in thetules come on the fall. Tules gen-erally grow on hard bottom, whichis an ideal place for bass to spawnand live.

Weeds are the equivalent of anapartment building full of prey andpredators. The weed stock acts likea wall, with the tips serving as theroof. Living weeds produce oxy-gen. Dead ones produce heat. Bassare attracted to green weeds inwarm weather and dead ones whenit’s cold.

I believe using this formulacould make finding the big ones aseasy as “1-2-3”!

Aaron Coleman is sponsored by:Yamaha Marine Group Co.,

Skeeter Boats, Adams Marine,SnagProof

Check out my website at: www.Stillfishin.com

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It is an interesting question. I amsure many an angler has pondered hisown answer during some quietmoments. Most of us are always try-ing to get better as fishermen, so wedo some deep introspection to gain anunderstanding what exactly it is thatmakes us tick.

First of all, I must say that instinctand faith are but two of many ingredi-ents that can make up a great angler.There is a lot more that goes intobeing a good fisherman. Certainlyhard work and practice are veryimportant. So, too, are the intangiblevariables in a person’s heart such asdesire, determination and the will tosucceed. There is certainly a lot thatgoes into a successful life in any pro-fession. I delve into these details ofsuccess quite extensively in my auto-biography “Jay Yelas, A ChampionsJourney of Faith, Family and Fishing”.

Instinct and faith have certainlybeen two important ingredients in myfishing career. I can see where itcould be quite easy to confuse the twofor some people. However, the twoare indeed quite different.

Many anglers have experiencedthose “hunches” or “gut feelings” onthe water that ultimately led to a greatcatch of fish. Guys want to find away to bottle those experiences up sothey can experience the thrill again. Iguess it would be a good deal if you could take a“good hunch pill” in the morning before a fishingtrip. Especially if you could bottle Kevin VanDams’ hunches. Wouldn’t that be something!

Unfortunately, there is no such pill. Instinct, tome, is a part of someone’s natural ability.Fishermen are all born with different amounts ofnatural ability. Many people don’t think that nat-ural ability correlates with fishing, but it does.Fishing is no different than music or art or busi-ness or another sport. Some people are just bornwith a God-given gift or talent for a certain activ-ity or endeavor. The top athletes in any sportwere blessed with a whole lot more natural abilityat birth than others. This certainly applies to bassfishing.

Instinct, then, is an extension of ones natural

ability. Some guys just have a better feel for thegame than others. Fishing comes so naturally tothem. It is easy. They have great hunches or gutfeelings on the water because God designed themthat way. These guys’ possess a God-given giftthat few have. Frequent, true hunches just comenaturally to these guys. Other fishermen getinstinctive hunches sometimes, still others getthem once in a while, and some of you readingthis have no idea what I am talking about!

Instinct is also affected by the sum of all ourexperiences on the water. Information collectedby our minds after years of on the water experi-ences somehow gets integrated into the core ofwho we are. It goes way deeper than just ourmind, these repetitions of days on the water some-how get ingrained in our hearts, our personalities.

Faith is somewhat different than instinct. A

spiritual person might beinclined to believe hisinstinctive hunches arefrom God speaking to himwhile he is fishing. Ibelieve the Holy Spiritdoes, at times, speak tosome on the water, butmost of the time ourinstinctive hunches comefrom our God-given natu-ral ability and the sum ofour experiences.

Interesting, isn’t it, thatyou can be a great fisher-men with or without faith,but you can’t be a greatfishermen withoutinstinct. Another way ofsaying the same thing, isthat all great fishermen aregreat because they wereblessed with a tremendousamount of natural God-given ability. It is justthat some of them don’trecognize where their giftscame from and thank Himfor it.

As a Christian, my faithcenters on Jesus Christ.My faith in His death pay-ing for my sins, and hisresurrection meaning I canhave a relationship with

Him everyday. That is what faith is all about. Itis not about a formula for catching more fish. Myfaith inspires me to give God the glory when I docatch fish, because he has given me the gifts andtalents to do so. When you really think about it,God gave us our natural ability from which ourinstinctive hunches flow. So when you have agreat hunch and it pays off with a nice sack offish, you should give God the Glory because he isultimately responsible for the hunch!

Jay YelasYou can find a copy of Jay’s book,

“A Champions Journey of Faith, Family, and Fishing” today at

barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com.

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It can be exciting albeit a little intimidating togo to a lake you’ve never been to before, fishingagainst locals that have spent most of their liveson the lake. Proper planning and preparation foryour venture to this new body of water is critical.Always utilize as many resources as possible,months in advance. This preparation shouldinclude the following:

Order topographical charts and study them,look for familiarities to the types of water youalready know and that fit your style of fishing.

Most of your research and practice can be doneweeks, even months, in advance. Try to locate anarea on the topographical map that has a multitudeof structures of all types in as condensed an areaas possible.

Use the intranet to research local fishing

reports, tackle dealers in the area, past tournamentresults, annual weather patterns that directly relateto the phase in which the bass are in; and the daily,weekly, and annual water fluctuations of the bodyof water you are about to fish.

On a new body of water an angler has a tenden-cy to limit his orher fishing to alocation withouttaking into consid-eration possibleweather changes.Due to unpre-dictable weatherchanges, an anglermust learn how toadjust to theseweather changes asfast as possible.Imagine strongwind changes fromevery direction;rain, fog, and anyother acts thatMother Nature maythrow at you. This will help you make quickadjustments during the course of the tournament.Visit the local tackle shops and question themregarding any possible man-made changes towater levels and flow (including lock opening andclosing schedules).

Learn geographical structures and what primarysource of bait lives in the water.

This will be a good starting area to test yourtechniques on this new body of water. You will beable to determine what type of baits the fish arebiting, how deep they are, and test your personalfishing techniques. This allows you to get themost out of your practice time. You won’t bewasting your time running around the entire lake.Once you locate a pattern that works for you andthe type of structure the fish are relating to, youcan start roaming the lake looking for more areas.

The key is to approach a new area with an ideaand a location of where you want to start fishing.

I tend to find an area as far away from the mainlaunch site and work that area until I pattern a wayto catch the fish. Then I begin to work my wayback towards the ramp looking for similarities andhopefully find five or six areas that I will be ableto utilize during the tournament. This way, in my

mind, I have not left a stone up-turned. Whenpracticing I always catch one or two fish in anarea before I stop swinging on hook-sets. Try notto catch more than a fish or two in a single area ifyou know the quality is there. If you catch morethan a couple of fish in an area during practice you

are potentially beating up the area and the fishwon’t be there during the tournament. Don’t for-get, you won’t be the only fisherman hitting theseareas. A common mistake for anglers is to over-fish an area during practice.

For best results, start your research early. Don’tgo to any new waters with any predetermined planof attack. Versatility along with confidence is thekey. You must have the skills and be willing tochange your techniques at a moment’s notice. Ifyou find an area with fish try to become intimatewith the area. Most importantly, trust yourinstincts.

See you on the water …. Fred Roumbanis

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0201 03Cachuma Main American Bass PC TeamCastaic Main American Bass SC TeamDelta Tracy Oasis TeamDiamond Valley Anglers DV TeamEl Capitan Main American Bass SD TeamOroville Dam American Bass ORO TeamPine Flat Doyle 100% BV TeamShasta Lake Anglers SCC TeamSilverwood American Bass HD Team

04Delta Russo's American Bass DR TeamDiamond Valley National Bass DV TeamOroville Spillway Anglers GC Team “DUAL”Oroville Spillway Anglers SemiPro NC TeamPerris WON IE TeamPine Flat Deer Ck Federation Draw

05

06 07 08 09 10Cachuma Anglers CC TeamCastaic West National Bass SW TeamDelta Russo's 100% DR TeamFolsom Browns WON FH TeamHavasu WON CR TeamLopez Marina 100% CR TeamMead Callville American Bass CR TeamMelones Glory Hole NorCal ProAmMillerton WON GV Team Morgan Lake Anglers NM TeamOroville CBAF TeamOtay National Bass SD TeamPerris Anglers P Team

11Delta Hook Team Delta Ladd's Federation DrawDon Pedro Anglers SemiPro ML TeamFolsom Brown's Anglers FH TeamMelones Glory Hole 100% ML TeamPerris National Bass IE TeamSan Vicente Federation DrawShasta Packers American Bass SCC Team

12

13 14 15 16 17Clear Lake KV Casino 100% WR TeamDelta Russo's National Bass DR TeamDon Pedro American Bass ML TeamMartinez, Fisher’s National Bass CR TeamLake Pleasant AllStar Couples TeamPleasant Harbor American Bass CA Team

18Berryessa Putah Ck American Bass NC TeamCachuma Anglers CC TeamDelta Tracy Oasis TeamMelones Federation DrawOtay ABA SD Draw

19

20 21 22 23 24Bartlett AllStar TeamCastaic WON SC TeamClear Lake KV Casino WON VR TeamDelta Ladd's Stockton Bass TeamDelta Russo's WON DR TeamDon Pedro Anglers ML TeamEl Capitan WON SD TeamElephant Butte, NM Anglers CNM TeamFisher's Landing AB Y TeamMead Callville American Bass NV TeamMillerton American Bass BV TeamNacimiento Anglers PC TeamOroville Bidwell WON SCR TeamPerris Ramp 5 or 6 American Bass IE TeamShasta Bridge Bay 100% ProAm

25Delta Russo's Anglers DRW TeamDiamond Valley WON DV TeamFolsom Brown's American Bass F TeamShasta Phils 100% NR TeamSonoma Engineers Ramp Anglers NC Team

26

27 28

FFeebbrruuaarryy 22000066MMoonnddaayy TTuueessddaayy WWeeddnneessddaayy TThhuurrssddaayy FFrriiddaayy SSaattuurrddaayy SSuunnddaayy



ISE Fishing Show ~ Los Angeles

FLW Stren Series ~ Lake Havasu - ProAm

FLW Tour ~ Lake Murray - ProAm

WONBASS South ~ Havasu - ProAm

Valentine'sDay

GroundhogDay


01 02 03Bartlett AllStar TeamDelta Russo's 100% DR TeamHavasu, Windsor National Bass CR TeamMillerton Fresno 100% BV TeamMohave Cottonwood WON NV TeamNew Melones Anglers ML TeamOroville Dam American Bass ORO TeamOtay Main American Bass SD TeamSanta Margarita American Bass PC Team

04Berryessa Spanish Flat Angler NC Team Berryessa Spanish Flat Anglers NC SemiPro Clear Lake Lake Port Federation Draw DualDelta Ladd's National Bass DR TeamDelta Russo's American Bass DR TeamDon Pedro PH Jigs 100% ML TeamFolsom Browns WON FH TeamMohave Cottonwood WON NV Team

05

06 07 08 09 10 11Clear Lake KV Casino Anglers FH TeamDelta Ladd's Federation DrawDiamond Valley American Bass DV TeamMelones Anglers SemiPro ML TeamOroville 100% FutureProPerris WON IE TeamSan Vicente AIM Marine TeamSonoma American Bass NC Team

12

13 14 15 16 17 St. Patrick’s

Day

18Casitas WON SC TeamDelta Tracy Oasis TeamDiamond Valley WON DV TeamDon Pedro Flemming Dual Federation DrawEl Capitan Federation DrawFolsom Brown's American Bass F TeamPerris National Bass IE TeamSan Vicente ABA SD DrawShasta Packers American Bass SCC Team

19

20 First Day of

Spring

21 22 23 24Delta Russo's Anglers DRW TeamDelta Russo's Anglers Dual TeamDelta Tracy Oasis TeamDon Pedro Flemming Future Pro TeamElephant Butte, NM Anglers CNM TeamFisher's Landing American Bass Y TeamHavasuWindsor American Bass CR TeamLopez Anglers PC TeamOroville 100% ProAmPerris Ramp 5 or 6 American Bass IE TeamShasta Lake Anglers SCC Team

25Delta Russo's WON DR TeamOroville BD Billards 100% NR Team

26

27 28 29 30 31

MMaarrcchh 22000066MMoonnddaayy TTuueessddaayy WWeeddnneessddaayy TThhuurrssddaayy FFrriiddaayy SSaattuurrddaayy

EVENT COLOR LEGEND: DRAW T E A M PRO-AM

SSuunnddaayy

FLW Stren Series ~ Clear Lake - ProAm

Mead Callville WONBASS South ProAm

Anglers Choice South ~ Mead Callville - ProAm 17th & 18th Anglers Choice North ~ Delta Russo's - ProAm 18th & 19th

Long Beach Fred Hall Fishing & Boat Show

Del Mar Fred Hall Fishing & Boat Show March15th to 19th /////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\ Salt Lake City ISE Fishing Show March 16th to 19th

FLW Stren Series Lake Shasta ProAm

ISE Show ~ Phoenix

Lake Amistad Sun Country Team

Arizona Bass Federation ~ Havasu - Draw

Utah Federation ~ Lake Powell Bullfrog - Draw

Hook Line & Sinker ~ Delta Team TOC

FLW Tour ~ Pickwick Lake - ProAm


Alamo WON CR TeamAnderson CBAF TeamBerryessa Spanish Flat 100% WR TeamCasitas Main American Bass SC TeamCastaic West National Bass SW TeamClear Lake KV Casino WON VR TeamDelta Ladds Anglers DRE TeamDiamond Valley Anglers DV TeamHavasu Windsor Anglers CR TeamHogan WON ML TeamMargarita WON CC Team Mead Callville American Bass NV TeamMorgan Lake Anglers NM TeamOroville Spillway Anglers GC TeamPine Flat American Bass BV TeamSan Vicente National Bass SD TeamSilverwood American Bass HD Team

Bartlett Main American Bass CA TeamBerryessa Spanish Furture Pro TeamCasitas Anglers SC TeamDelta Ladd's Stockton Bass TeamDiamond Valley National Bass DV TeamDon Pedro Flemming NorCal ProAmElephant Butte American Bass NM TeamLake Pleasant AllStar Couples TeamMargarita White Oak 100% CR TeamMcClure American Bass ML TeamNacimiento National Bass CC TeamOtay WON SD TeamPowell Bullfrog WON LP TeamPowell Wahweap American Bass LP TeamPyramid American Bass GE TeamShasta Jones WON SCR TeamSuccess WON GV Team

Tournament fishing can be an emotional rollercoaster. Many times our performance doesn’t liveup to our expectations. Usually a really good pre-fish before a tournament can lead to high expecta-tions in that event. Unfortunately, reality some-times strikes on tournament day, and we find our-selves pitifully down on the bottom of the leaderboard. Being on the bottom half of the leaderboard is a situation I’ve been faced with more thanI would like to admit. Thank goodness most tour-naments I fish are multiple day events, so there isalways a chance for that miraculous comeback onday two.

I have fished in many tournaments over mycareer and have come back from poor starts onnumerous occasions. Sometimes even comingback to win the event! Most of the time however,winning is just too far out of reach and we simplyhave to go into “damage control mode”. Catch thebest possible limit on day 2 of the event to helpsave points for the circuit, and of course savesome pride. One classic example of this ‘in mycareer’ was in 2003 when the Bassmaster Tourfinally came west to fish the Cal Delta and Clearlake. I was chomping at the bit; my expectations

were extremely high to do well on my “homewaters”. After the first day of the Clear lakeevent, I was almost in last place with one pound!What happened? How could this happen to me? Iwas borderline a mental shipwreck after this firstday of competition. I saw my whole season flush-ing down the toilet right before my eyes. I knewit was gut check time, and I needed to comeback,and comeback fast!

That second day of the event I tried somethingthat was new to me. Not a new bait or technique,but a new mental approach. I entered that daywith no expectations as to where or how I wouldcatch fish. I told myself to trust my instincts, havefaith in my own ability, and believe the fish wouldcome. I began to see the lake that day in a newlight and began fishing the current conditionsopposed to how I expected to catch them the daybefore. I milled around the lake and with a com-bination of sight fishing and flipping I caught a20lb limit that propelled me from the standingsheet cellars to the top half of the field! That limitsaved my tour season points, a little pride, andqualified me to move on to the last two remainingevents. I believe that first day crash and burn was

mostly in part to the high expectations I had on theday. Once things didn’t work the way I hadplanned, the whole day just unraveled. I havesince changed my mental approach in multi-daytournaments. Limiting the amount of expectationI put on one fishing spot or technique helps mefocus on the current conditions. This allows yourinstincts to really control the day, and be better atmoving with the ebb and flow of the fish activity.

Having bad tournament days is something thathappens to us all. What matters most is how yourebound from those poor starts. Keep a strongpositive attitude, and even if you don’t make thatmiraculous comeback, analyze what happenedand try to learn from it. If you learned something,even a bad tournament can be a positive for yourfuture success.

><))>Basscat Boats, Mercury Marine, Kistler Rods,

Luhr-Jensen, marktylerfishing.com


CCoommee FFrroomm BBeehhiinndd


Seasonal patterns have been haunting anglersfor years. You might have been casting top waterbait in December because it worked in Augustremember there are no written rules on when tothrow different baits. However there are betterpercentage baits to fish during different times ofthe year to add more fish to your day. That’s whatmakes bass fishing so unpredictable and challeng-ing. When pattering bass in different seasons Ilook for water temperature. This will tell me howfast or slow I need to fish and what food sourcesare most available. This will help me select colorsand water depth for the baits I need to throw.

Let’s start with winter. The water is extremelycold, low to high 40’s. The fish are going to bevery sluggish. Keeping the bait in their face isvery important. Bass primarily will not chase baitvery far for a meal. Fishing slow with plastic baitslike Berkley Gulp or Berkley Power Bait due totheir heavy concentrated scent, allows the bass tofind it. Strike King Wild Shiner suspending ripbaits, number three and four Strike King Crankbaits fished in a slow, stop and go technique canbe very effective. Persuader’s jigs accented withthe new jig craw trailer fished with a slow crawl-ing action, no hopping, completes my arsenal forthe winter. In all of these baits, crawdad color andshad colors are my favorite. Worms and jigs, I usered & black, black & blue, brown & orange andgreens. For the cranks and rip baits, chrome &blue, chrome & black, red & black, white, andchartreuse are some of the best. Keep them in the

strike zone as long as you can, fish sloooooow. Animportant fact; clarity of the water and colorselection is very crucial. If the fish cannot see it,you won’t “get bit”.

Spring time is big fish time. This is where thewater starts reaching temperatures from the mid50’s to the mid 60’s. You will be fishing pre-spawn, spawn and post spawn bass that will bepositioned in different areas such as breaks, flatsand tight to shoreline. You will need to decidewhich bass you are going to target to create yourpattern. In spring Mother Nature is very active inall walks of life. Lizards, Frogs, Turtles, babyDucks, small birds and we can’t forget the bass’spublic enemy #1, the blue gill. With all these dif-ferent food sources, just about any bait you throwwill work. Try different techniques. This is a greattime to try something new. Look outside the box,be creative and have fun.

Summertime, when the water reaches from thehigh 60’s to 70’s, just like spring any bait willwork. With the warmer waters you must look formoving or cooler water in your area. This is whereyou will find an abundance of food sources forbass. The bass’ metabolism is at its peak; theirintake of food is fast and furious. Large baits likePersuaders swim baits and Double Buzzer buzzbaits, Berkley Bat Wing Frogs and Power Hawgs,can help you put a “good ole’ biggin” or a “bigole’ goodin” in the boat. Remember a large basswould rather have one large meal then swimaround exerting a lot of energy chasing smaller

baits. When fall ends your season, the water temper-

ature starts to drop from the high 70’s. Patternschange rapidly. Just about all baits will work infall, but “hear me now” with dropping tempera-tures, versatility and adjustments are very impor-tant. Anytime you get weather stability bass areeasier to pattern. With a two degree temperatureswing it could change you from throwing buzzbaits to spinner baits. This time of year it could besunny in the morning then in the afternoon itcould be overcast, so color selection changes areextremely important. Don’t get stuck on “whathappened yesterday”. Remember, fishing yeararound, rely more on the temperature of the waterthen the actual season. Mother Nature can beahead or behind on her “seasons”.

Good luck and let’s get on those fish.Randy Pringle

Sponsors:Skeeter Boats, Yamaha Outboards, Adams

Marine, Stockton Nissan, Persuader Bass Baits,Assassinator, Berkley, Gulp, Power Worms,

Spider Wire, Trilene Line, Fenwick, Abu GarciaReels, Daiichi, Tru-Turn, X-Point Hooks,

Windjammer Eyewear, Strike King Crank Baits,Bottom Line Depth Finders

SSeeaassoonnaall PPaatttteerrnnssSSeeaassoonnaall PPaatttteerrnnss


Cachuma Anglers CC TeamCasitas Federation DrawCastaicWest Anglers C TeamDelta Ladds Anglers DRE TeamDon Pedro American Bass ML TeamFolsom Honorbound Team Havasu Windsor Anglers CR TeamPerris Anglers P TeamPine Flat Doyle 100% BV TeamPowell Wahweap American Bass LP TeamSan Vicente Main American Bass SD Team

01Don Pedro Anglers ML TeamFolsom Brown's Anglers FH TeamPerris WON IE TeamSan Vicente AIM Marine TeamShasta Packers American Bass SCC TeamSonoma Corp of Engineer Anglers NC TeamTrinity Federation Draw

02 Daylight Savings Time Begins

03 04 05 06 07Cachuma Main American Bass PC TeamCastaic Main American Bass SC TeamDelta 100% FutureProDelta Tracy Oasis Team TOCDon Pedro NorCal TeamLake Roosevelt AllStar Couples TeamMcClure Future Pro TeamMillerton American Bass BV TeamNacimiento WON CC Team Oroville Dam American Bass ORO TeamPowell Bullfrog WON LP TeamSan Vicente National Bass SD TeamSilverwood American Bass HD Team

08Delta Russo's Anglers DRW TeamDiamond Valley American Bass DV TeamDon Pedro Anglers SemiPro ML TeamKaweah Federation DrawMelones Glory Hole 100% ML TeamOroville Bidwell WON SCR TeamPowell Bullfrog WON LP TeamPowell Bullfrog WON LP TeamSonoma American Bass NC Team

09

10 11 12 13 14Casitas National Bass SW TeamCastaic Anglers SC TeamClear Lake KV Casino 100% WR TeamDelta Ladd's Stockton Bass TeamDelta Russo's 100% DR TeamDiamond Valley Anglers DV TeamElephant Butte American Bass NM TeamFolsom Browns WON FH TeamKaweah WON GV TeamMeadCallville Anglers CR TeamOroville Spillway Anglers GC & SemiPro TeamPerris Ramp 5 or 6 American Bass IE TeamPowell Wahweap American Bass LP TeamPyramid American Bass GE TeamSan Antonio N Shore 100% CR Team

15Powell Wahweap American Bass LP Team16 Easter Sunday

17 18 19 20Castaic FOCLEve Team

21Alan Henry, TX Anglers CNM TeamClear Lake Harbor Future Pro TeamFisher's Landing WON CR TeamFolsom Brown's American Bass F TeamLake Pleasant AllStar TeamLopez Anglers PC TeamMead Callville WON NV TeamMohave Cottonwood American Bass NV TeamPerris Anglers P Team

22Camanche Federation DrawClear Lake Red Bud Anglers NC TeamDiamond Valley National Bass DV TeamEl Capitan ABA SD DrawMead Callville WON NV TeamShasta Phils 100% NR Team

23

24 25 26 27 28Alamo Main American Bass CA TeamBerryessa Spanish Flat WON VR TeamCachuma WON SC TeamCastaicWest Anglers C TeamClear Lake KV Casino 100% ProAmDelta Russo's WON DR TeamDon Pedro WON ML TeamFisher's Landing American Bass Y TeamHavasu, Windsor National Bass CR TeamLake Roosevelt AllStar Couples TeamMohaveCotton Wood Angler CR TeamSan Vicente WON SD Team

29Clear Lake KV Casino American Bass NC TmDelta Ladd's Dual Federation DrawDiamond Valley WON DV Team

30

AApprriill 22000066MMoonnddaayy TTuueessddaayy WWeeddnneessddaayy TThhuurrssddaayy FFrriiddaayy SSaattuurrddaayy SSuunnddaayy


FLW Tour ~ Beaver Lake - ProAm

WONBASS South ~ Pleasant Pleasant Harbor - ProAm

Arizona Bass Federation ~ Pleasant - Draw

Utah BASS Federation Spring Qualifier ~ Bullfrog, Lake Powell - Draw

Anglers Choice South ~ Havasu - ProAm 21st & 22nd

Anglers Choice North ~ Oroville - ProAm

WONBASS North ~ Delta Russo's - ProAm 22nd & 23rd

Stratos Western Regional ~ Delta

National Bass CC ~ Santa Margarita - Team

Sun Country ~ Allen Henry - Team

LEGEND:Lake, Marina (if listed) CircuitRegion, Event Type

WW

W.B

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SA

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01 02 03 04 05 Cinco de Mayo

Cachuma Anglers CC TeamClear Lake KV Casino 100% WR TeamDelta Ladd's Anglers SemiPro DR TeamEl Capitan National Bass SD TeamHavasu Windsor Anglers CR TeamKaweah 100% BV TeamLake Pleasant AllStar TeamLopez Main American Bass PC TeamMead Temple Bar American Bass NV TeamNacimiento National Bass CC TeamPerris Ramp 5 or 6 American Bass IE TeamPine Flat Future Pro TeamPowell Bullfrog WON LP TeamPyramid American Bass GE TeamShasta Lake Anglers SCC TeamUte, NM Anglers CNM Team

06Clear Lake 100% FutureProDelta Russo's American Bass DR TeamDiamond Valley American Bass DV TeamDon Pedro Anglers SemiPro ML TeamEl Capitan AIM Marine TeamOroville Bidwell Anglers FH TeamPerris National Bass IE TeamPowell Bullfrog WON LP Team

07

08 09 10 11 12Camanche North Shore NorCal ProAmCasitas Eve Anglers SC TeamCastaic WON SC TeamDelta Ladds Anglers DRE TeamDelta Russo's WON DR TeamEl Capitan WON SD TeamElephant Butte American Bass NM TeamHavasu WON CR TeamLake Pleasant AllStar TeamLopez WON CC TeamMead Callville WON NV TeamNavajo Lake Anglers NM TeamOroville Spillway Anglers GC & SemiProTeamPerris Anglers P TeamPine Flat American Bass BV TeamPowell Wahweap American Bass LP TeamTulloch WON ML Team

13Mead Callville WON NV TeamNavajo Lake Anglers NM TeamPowell Wahweap American Bass LP Team

14 Mother’s Day

15 16 17 18 19Castaic West National Bass SW TeamDelta Ladd's Stockton Bass TeamDelta Russo's 100% DR TeamDon Pedro NorCal Mixed TeamEl Capitan Main American Bass SD TeamFisher's Landing American Bass Y TeamHavasu Windsor Anglers CR TeamLake Pleasant AllStar Couples TeamMargarita White Oak 100% CR TeamMcClure American Bass ML TeamMead Callville American Bass NV TeamOroville Dam Future Pro TeamRoosevelt Badger American Bass CA TeamSuccess WON GV Team

20Delta Russo's American Bass DR TeamHemet Federation DrawOroville BD Billards 100% NR TeamOtay ABA SD DrawPerris WON IE TeamPyramid Federation Draw

21

22 23 24 25 26Diamond Valley Anglers DV TeamSan Antonio Anglers PC Team

27Delta Ladd's National Bass DR Team28

29 30 31

MMaayy 22000066MMoonnddaayy TTuueessddaayy WWeeddnneessddaayy TThhuurrssddaayy FFrriiddaayy SSaattuurrddaayy SSuunnddaayy



FLW Stren Series ~ Delta - ProAm

FLW Tour ~ Kentucky Lake - ProAm

Anglers Choice North ~ Clear Lake CV Casino - ProAm

Sun Country ~ Ute - Team

Memorial Day

Located about an hour and a half northeast ofPhoenix, AZ, Roosevelt Lake is one of the mostversatile lakes in the West. Solid patterns can bebuilt around both shoreline cover and offshorestructure throughout much of the year. Fishermencan take their most productive techniques and findtheir own niche to catch bass on this lake.

Historically, Roosevelt has been known as agreat lake for catching good numbers of basswhile still having the potential for catching a 10-14 pound trophy. Add that to the recent runoffthat lifted the lake nearly 100 vertical feet flood-ing thousands of acres of prime fish holding coverand this could be the new lake of the West in acouple years. There was a great spawn this yearfor all species in the lake and the bass already looklike Clear lake footballs.

Largemouth bass are the most numerous inRoosevelt, but there is also a good population ofsmallmouth. The predominant forage here isthreadfin shad and crayfish. There is also a verylarge population of bluegill and crappie that pro-vide plenty of fuel for bigger bass.

Early spring bass can be caught on spinnerbaits,shallow cranks, drop shots and jigs. In the past afootball head jig was really popular, but withheavy brush covering nearly every shoreline nowa flipping’ style jig is much more efficient. I’vehad great success recently with a ½ oz. watermel-on/ watermelon rind colored wood jig from

Strikeworks. Late spring action can be had on a wide variety

of lures including topwaters, soft jerks and lots ofother shad imitating lures. You can target big fishwhile they are still shallow with swimbaits andoversize topwaters that shun smaller fish andselect for bigger bites. One of my favorite bigfish techniques is swimming a Castaic Bluegillaround the tops of submerged mesquites and saltcedars. These treetops are a prime location for bigbass ambushing bluegills, which seem to be theirpreferred food this time of year. I use a Rogue764 rod because you need lots of power and lever-age to control fish in these tight locations. Thisparticular bait requires this soft tipped rod toensure a hookup as it comes through holes in thetreetops.

Summertime fishing on Roosevelt almostalways revolves around some type of worm fish-ing. You can catch bass a dozen other ways attimes during the summer, but a worm is solid frombeginning to end. Most Arizonians opt for nightfishing during the heat of the summer as do almostall of the summertime tournaments. Fifty fishnights are more normal than uncommon.

Fall fishing once again revolves around theshad so consequently shad imitating baits becomevery effective. Both shallow and deep action canbe found. Lipless crankbaits, spoons, spinnerbaitsand topwaters are all productive depending on the

weather and water conditions. Off color water canbe located in the backs of coves and in both riverarms. Main lake areas are likely to still be fairlyclear with around 10 feet of visibility.

Winter fishing normally remains productiveand sometimes excellent for all but a coupleweeks. Water temperatures usually hover aroundthe low 50’s. Deep cranks, jigs and Carolina rigsproduce well when fish are relating to cover. Basssuspended near schools of shad can be caughtwith jigging spoons, spinnerbaits and jerkbaits.Winter is also the best time of year to specificallytarget smallmouths. One of the favorite localtechniques is fishing an inline spinner with 4-6 lb.line along rocky banks.

If you haven’t heard of Roosevelt Lake thenyou will soon as much Western attention is likelyto be directed there in the near future. To getlocal information and a current fishing report youcan contact The Tackle Box in Tonto Basin locat-ed about 10 minutes north of the lake at(928)479-2108.

Sponsors:Skeeter BoatsYamahaCastaic Soft BaitsRogue RodsAntich Development

Lake Roosevelt, AZLake Roosevelt, AZ


How frustrating is it to see all those fuzzy lineacross the face of your depth finder. Why can’t Ihave a clean clear picture?

Hopefully some of these tips will help!There can be several

different causes of inter-ference on fish finders.The most common ofthese is caused by tur-bulence or air bubblespassing across the faceof the transducer. Thisnot usually a problemwith bass boats becausein a bass boat the puck(transducer) is general-ly epoxied to the hullrather than mountedon the transom. But ifby chance your puckis mounted on thetransom and theinterference changeswith boat speed thenyou may only need toadjust the transducer asso no bubbles cross theface, see your installa-tion manual for the cor-rect placement. If yourmanual is lost or mis-placedwww.Lowrance.com hasdepth finder manuals you canview or print out online to help you with the cor-rect puck placement. Engine noise can also be aproblem. This can be isolated by shifting the boatinto neutral and revving the engine. This type ofinterference will show up on the screen consistentwith the speed of the engine. If this is the caseyour alternator could be the culprit. An additionaltype of interference might be the engine’s second-ary ignition system spark plugs, coils or wires.Make a note if the problem occurred after a repairthen back tract on just what repair was made.

The battery ground on numerous cases has beenthe perpetrator this would be the first item tocheck. Insure all of your battery cables are cleantight and in good condition. Start with the simplestthings first. Look around for loose or frayed wires,loose connections in the bilge area in conjunctionwith under the engine cowling. Some other items

that can cause interference: Bilge pumps,aerator/live well pumps, cell phones and trollingmotors. Each of these problems are relatively easyto isolate, note which item is on or running when

the interferenceoccurs. The hardest part ‘is’ when you find theproblem to actually fix it. Sometimes it can reme-died in as little as a few minutes or it may takemany hours. If your problem is a live well or bilgepump insure you transducer wire is routed awayfrom the pump, check your pumps operation, a badpump could also cause some interference. Inspectyour transducer wire for breaks in the shielding.The wire for your transducer is shielded with awoven ground wire inside to hopefully preventinterference if this is broken anywhere it mayallow a false signal to enter and thus cause interfer-ence. Some companies have kits to repair trans-ducer wires which will incorporate some solder-ing.

The trolling motor over the years has repeated-ly been the culprit and nearly always the most

difficult to repair. Different trolling motor / depthfinder combinations have different problems

along with different fixes. Like the radio in yourcar a depth finder operates on a frequency,

trolling motors emit afrequency and if

they are both on thesame frequency

there possibly willbe interference.Since there are

numerous combi-nations the inter-

ference problem isoften times

repaired by trialand error. With

that said here area few things wehave found that

helped the prob-lem: 1.Check all

of the batteryground cables, be

sure they are cleanand tight, check thepower wire for thedepth finder insurethey are clean and

tight too. 2. Assurethe depth finders

are powered fromthe main battery and

not the trolling motorbatteries. 3. Cut a piece of and old inner tube and

place it between the transducer puke and thetrolling motor to act as shield from trolling motor

electrical noise. 4. Install a ferrite filter on thetransducer line then one on the (red wire) power

line to the fish finder it self. 5. Ground thetrolling motor foot pedal (run a wire from the foot

pedal to the main battery ground) 6. Ground thetrolling motor (run a wire from the trolling motorhead to the main battery ground) If these attempts

are unsuccessful we will remove the puck fromthe trolling motor and install it in the front of the

hull usually by the front drain screen we hopethat this will cure your interference problem but

after all that it still fail we suggest “SightFishing”

Doug ChesmoreOcean Air Electronics

FFiisshh FFiinnddeerr IInntteerrffeerreennccee



01 02Berryessa 100% FuturePro TeamCAM Bassllo, NM Anglers CNM TeamCasitas WON SC TeamCastaicWest Anglers C TeamClear Lake KV Casino WON VR TeamDelta Russo's Anglers DRW TeamDon Pedro NorCal Eve TeamFisher's Landing WON CR TeamLake Roosevelt* AllStar TeamMillerton Future Pro TeamMohaveCottonWood American Bass CR TeamOroville Spillway Anglers GC & SemiPro TeamPerris Ramp 5 or 6 American Bass IE TeamPleasant Arizona Bass Federation Open

03Castaic West National Bass SW TeamClear Lake KV Casino Anglers FH TeamDelta Ladd's Dual Federation DrawDelta Russo's American Bass DR TeamDiamond Valley American Bass DV TeamNew Melones Anglers ML TeamShasta Lake Anglers SCC TeamOroville American Bass ORO Team

04

05 06 07 08 09Casitas Eve Anglers CC TeamDelta Ladd's Stockton Bass TeamDelta Russo's Future Pro TeamDon Pedro American Bass ML TeamElephant Butte American Bass NM TeamHavasu Windsor Anglers CR TeamLake Roosevelt AllStar Couples TeamMohave Cottonwood American Bass NV TeamPerris Anglers P TeamPleasant Eve Harbor American Bass P TeamSan Antonio Eve American Bass PC TeamSanta Margarita National Bass CC Team

10Diamond Valley WON DV TeamDon Pedro PH Jigs 100% ML TeamTrinity Trinity Alps American Bass SCC Team

11

12 13 14 15

Castaic FOCLEve Team

16Delta Ladds Anglers DRE TeamDelta Ladd's Anglers SemiPro DR TeamDiamond Valley Anglers DV TeamLake Roosevelt AllStar Couples TeamMelones WON ML TeamPowell Bullfrog WON LP TeamSanta Margarita Anglers PC Team

17Clear Lake Red Bud Anglers NC TeamClear Lake Red Bud Anglers SemiPro TeamDelta Ladd's National Bass DR TeamPowell Bullfrog WON LP Team

18 Father’s Day

19 20 21 Summer Begins

22 23Casitas Eve American Bass SC TeamCastaicWest Anglers C TeamDelta Russo's 100% DR TeamDon Pedro Eve Anglers SemiPro ML TeamMcPhee Lake Anglers NM TeamMeadCallville American Bass CR TeamPleasant Eve Harbor American Bass P Team

24Delta Russo's American Bass DR TeamEl Capitan ABA SD DrawMcPhee Lake Anglers NM TeamOroville Federation Draw

25

26 27 28 29 30

JJuunnee 22000066MMoonnddaayy TTuueessddaayy WWeeddnneessddaayy TThhuurrssddaayy FFrriiddaayy SSaattuurrddaayy SSuunnddaayy



FLW Tour ~ Lake Champlain - ProAm

Utah BASS Federation Summer Qualifier ~ Flaming Gorge Reservoir - Draw

Utah BASS Federation ~ Starvation Reservoir - Team

WONBASS North ~ Clear Lake Knocti Harbor - ProAm


01

03 04Independence Day

05 06 07Casitas Eve Anglers SC TeamDelta Russo's Anglers DRW TeamDon Pedro Eve Fleming Anglers ML TeamElephant Butte American Bass NM TeamPleasant eve Arizona Bass Federation Open

08Delta Russo's American Bass DR Team

09

10 11 12 13


14Delta Ladds Anglers DRE TeamDelta Russo's National Bass DR TeamPleasant Eve Harbor American Bass P TeamSanta Rosa, NM Anglers CNM TeamShasta Lake Anglers SCC Team

15Clear Lake Red Bud Anglers NC TeamDelta ProTeen EventOtay ABA SD Draw

16

17 18 19 20 21Cachuma Anglers CC TeamDelta Russo's Anglers SemiPro DRTeamSanta Margarita Anglers PC Team

22Clear Lake Federation Draw23

2431

25 26 27 28Castaic West Anglers C TeamDelta 100% FutureProPleasant Eve Harbor American Bass P Team

29Delta Russo's American Bass DR Team30

JJuullyy 22000066MMoonnddaayy TTuueessddaayy WWeeddnneessddaayy TThhuurrssddaayy FFrriiddaayy SSaattuurrddaayy SSuunnddaayy


ISE Fishing Tackle Show ~ Las Vegas, NV


02

In this fast growing ever changing sport ofTournament Bass Fishing one thing is for certain,from the legendary veteran to the rookie teenagerit can be anyone’s game. But unforgiving bodiesof water, fierce competition, and high costs cut thegame short for many. Preparing for a tournamentis not just about the check list, it is about yourmind set.

The Master List: This is a great way to avoidthe forgotten necessity. I have a list of everythingI like to have in my boat as well as a separate listfor my truck. You do not have to take everythingyou own to a tournament, laminate the lists so thatyou can check off what you want and don’t wantto take.

Clear You’re Conscience: Take care of theunfinished business. Insure that your equipment isin excellent working order. Plan out your stay atthe tournament site. Taking care of business aheadof time will allow you to concentrate on fishingonce you are there.

Pre-fish: This is one of the most importantaspects to tournament fishing. Consider that onany given body of water you will have a peak per-formance day based on your experience.Everyone is different as well as their experiencewith the body of water. I have found that on mostbodies of water that I fish once a year my peakperformance is between the 2nd and 5th day.However, 4 or 5 years ago it was on the 6th or 7thday. Paying attention to when you do well andhow long it takes you to figure out a lake or riveris to your advantage. Can pre-fishing hurt yourchances of a good finish? I have found that pre-fishing hurts my chances on a body of water that I

know very well, such as my home lake. If you findthat you always catch them (or find them) on acertain body of water on the first day you fish,consider no pre-fish.

Manage Yourself: Don’t over do it! Fishing toomany hours or days or even fishing a spot for toolong can create a burn –out effect. Get on thewater as early as possible. Stay out as long as youare comfortable. If you start feeling discouragedtake a break, go back to the truck, cool off and cre-ate a fresh start to the lake. Hitting the do overbutton in practice is a good idea but heading backto the truck in the tournament is not. Blocking outa missed opportunity or getting over the loss ofyour honey hole can be difficult when it counts.Keeping the negative thoughts out of your mind inthe tournament can be life saving. Managingyourself is about managing your mind.Discouraged, exhausted, uncomforted all eat awayat your positive focus.

Open Mind: This is how you find them. Avoidany pre-conceived notions like dock talk or yourbuddies’ fish. You will do best by using your ownabilities to find fish. Use your instincts and bealert. Just start driving down the lake and clearyour mind – you will find that you drive right tothem. It’s not always that easy but using yourinstincts will enable you to find fish more consis-tently. Always keep a high level of awareness; Ibelieve a honey hole always has a tip-off. Yourinstincts are dictated by your experiences, somespots that look good to you look good to many andsome only look good to you. Do not worry abouthow many guys are fishing the same areas youare, fish them all. You are doing more than trying

to find a spot to fish. Build the Pattern: This is how you find more

of them. One fish will tell you where another oneis. Take the time to look around and pay attentionto all the details. It is not just about what the fishis holding on like weeds or wood, look at all thefactors. Zero in on the depth and other factors thatyou think are key. Once you catch a second fishconsider all the common factors. This will helpyou find other areas holding fish. Some patternswork all over the lake and some just in one area.Develop a different pattern the next day and com-pare what you have found. I like to test my pat-terns in an under pressured area of the lake orriver, and go to an area of the lake or river that Idon’t think my patterns will work and see if I candevelop a variation. I have found that complacentin practice does not equal success. The more youlearn about the body of water the better chanceyou have of understanding the fish.

Understand the fish: Time of year, watertemp, weather and forage all play a role as to howa bass will react. Consider the key factors to yourpatterns, zero in on what the fish are doing and askyourself why they are there. Consider the factorsthat could alter your pattern. Cold front, highwinds, fishing pressure, a pattern does not last for-ever and some last only that day. It is highly like-ly and common for the fish to move or the bite tochange and when they do keep an open mind,manage yourself and build a new pattern one fishat a time.

PPrreeppaarriinngg FFoorr SSuucccceessssPPrreeppaarriinngg FFoorr SSuucccceessss



It’s the day before the tournament and you seemost all the fisherman frantically changing thereline. So you change your’s too right! Is there areason? Or do we just do it because everyone elseis the pros do it and it seems to just follow downthe line, doesn’t it. Do we really need to change itevery week or two?

Let’s look at the manufacturing process so wecan make our own educated decision. First of allI am not a scientist I’m a fisherman so we won’tget to exact here. Fishing line is made of nylon;co polymer is more than one type of nylon mixedtogether to provide a line to provide a better prod-uct than only one type of plastic. Today’s fishinglines are made from specific formulas engineeredto meet specific needs. Simply the manufacturingprocess of Fishing Line starts with plastic ornylon pellets that are melted down to an exacttemperature. Then the plastic is forced (extruded)through a hole of an exact size much larger thanthe finished diameter. These machines thatextrude and process the fishing line are almost100 yards long and very expensive. After extru-sion the line is sent to and through several bigrollers which stretch the line to an exact diameter.Specifications for the diameter vary widelyamong manufactures the higher the quality linethe more exact the tolerances. While theline is being stretched it is also beinghydrated which is very important forthe finished product, line absorbswater and if it’s too dry it will be brit-tle. Picture a machine 100 yards longwith 6 or so rollers a few feet thickwith fishing line woven thoughtthem. After going through thisextrusion, stretching and hydrat-ing process it is tested and rolledon big rolls, like 5kg spools.These rolls are stored in a specialroom for a predetermined periodof time. Note a lower quality linemay have shorter wait time from stor-age to consumer. After the storage timeis complete the line is tested to insuretensile strength, diameter and durability.If the line fails it is tossed away were nottalking a few hundred yards here it morelike 50,000 yards or however much linewas extruded in that batch. This inferiorline can be resold to another manu-

facture, re-branded to another line company or??? A few years back I acquired this knowledgefrom the general manger of Sufix Line Company.He went over the complete process start to finish.Sufix has a special proprietary process to hydratethe line during the stretching phase. There toler-ances are very stringent grab a micrometer andcheck it yourself, the diameter is very consistentstart to finish. Sufix line is wound on the rollsstored and retested, if the line fails any of the testsit is discarded or sold to another manufacture, notreused or re-melted by Sufix.

Fishing line is hydroscopic which means itabsorbs water and also water can evaporates fromit. When line looses it moisture is becomes weakbrittle and will break much below the ratedstrength. When your line has been out in the sunfor a while it dries out and you will need toreplace it. The next reason for change would bestretch; once line is stretched it looses itsstrength. If you had a snag a pulled the line towere it almost broke, that section of line is nolonger useable and needs to be replaced. Anotherreason is twist, you that tangledmess on your spinning rod afteryou used it all day. Line also gets

nicks and scrapeswhich could be abad deal with

a five pounder on one end and $1000 big fishpurse on the other. Fishing line can last manyyears if stored in a cool dry location.

So when do you change your line? For me onaverage I change it every three to six months forall of my rods. Certain condition call for morefrequent changes liked if you fish in the desertduring the summer your line will become brittleand need to be changed more often than if youreside in Oregon. You will start to notice thingslike casting, knot strength breaking easier on asnag, these are a sign you need to re-spool. If I’mfishing a tournament I will insure all of the rodsI’m using have fresh line on them, no sense tak-ing a chance. If during the day a get a snag I maypeel off the amount of line that was stretched toprevent a lossed fish. That has to be one of theworst feelings to break off on a fish. Can you feelthat empty feeling in your stomach and yourknees go weak?

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Westernbass.com ~ Clear Lake - Ralley

Utah BASS Federation Fall Qualifier ~ Flaming Gorge Reservoir - Draw

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Sun Country ~ Conchas West - Team


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ABA SD District Championship ~ Otay - Draw


01 02 03

04 LaborDay

05 06 07


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11 12 13 14 15Delta Ladd's Stockton Bass TeamDelta Russo's 100% ProAmFolsom Granite Future Pro TeamPleasant Combined Glendale PD Event

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23Delta Tracy Oasis Team

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25 26 27 28 29Delta Tracy Oasis Team30

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AllStar ~ Championship - Team

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Arizona Bass Federation ~ Martinez - Draw

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Anyone who has fished for any fish species verylong has had those days where the “wheels come off”.One day they’re tearing the paint off the lure, any lure,and the next day, you can’t buy a strike. It happens tothe best and worst of us. It really hurts your ego whenit happens in a big money event where points, money,and careers are all on the line. I can say from experi-ence, that ending on a high note is a whole lot betterthan crashing on the last day. It leaves a lot better tastein your mouth for the long drive home, than that offalling down the standings, like a rock, on the last day.

A recent BASS Northern Open at Lake Erie is agood example. I spent several days of practice lookingfor isolated spots on the many rocky humps near thefamous Bass Islands off Sandusky Bay. For each day,I would look at about 15 spots and find big smalliesusing 2 or 3 of them. These prime spots I programmedinto my Lowrance GPS and planned to return to eachof them at some time during the competition.Knowing smallmouth bass seldom stay on a givenspot, I knew I needed many of these key spots inhopes some of them would continue to produce.

I found that I could get strikes from the smalliesusing a 4” Berkley GULP Sinking Minnow on a ¼ oz.jig head when the wind was blowing, or when therewas cloud cover. I used mostly 10# Berkley Vanish

Transition Fluorocarbon line for all my fishing. Asusual, the zebra mussels were horrible on all of theseoffshore rock piles, and I believed the heavier line wasto my advantage. My fishing wife, Tammy, was hook-ing fish and losing many of them behind me using 6#test Vanish Transition and this fact finally registeredon me. She was getting more bites and bigger fishusing many of the same lures I was, only with thelighter line. DUH!

During the first day of competition I visited someof these prime spots I found in practice and manageda limit that weighed 15-14 using my 8# and 10# lines.I did not have the bites I thought I should have had,nor were they from the biggest bass I knew were hold-ing within some of these structures. Most of these fishwere caught during the first half of the day. I foundmyself about 5 pounds off the lead and knew I need-ed bigger fish for a move up the leader board.

I started the second day of competition on my bestspot and caught one big fish using 8# test, then pro-ceeded to lose two giant smallmouths over 4 poundseach in the first couple of hours. After trying a fewmore spots, suddenly it was noon and I still had onlyone fish. That’s when the light bulb went off over myhard head and I pulled a lighter Abu Cardinal spinningreel and Berkley Series One rod from the locker onmy Triton. It was rigged with 6# test Vanish and a Tru-Tungsten Drop Shot weight below the same 4”

Sinking Minnow, nose hooked. Using this rig, I managed to salvage the day with

three more good fish and ended up the day in 35thplace with about 28 pounds of bass. I was still about10 pounds off the lead, but with one more day to fishI had a chance to move up. Besides, I was fuming atall those brown fish.

On the third day I went to my first and best spot andafter my Co-angler had me down three fish to one, Ipulled out my 6# test rig and proceeded to cull up to atotal creel of 21# 03 oz. I think two things made thispossible; first the 6# test, second the drop shot rig, andthird, the GULP Sinking Minnow. Those big smalliesjust love that GULP. They literally would not let it gowhen they got a taste of it. This was the biggest weighton the third day by the entire field, and moved me upto 10th in the standings for a huge charge in the points.

Several lessons are available for learning from thisstory; lessons that too often have to be re-learned.When it is calm and clear water, use lighter line. Adrop shot rig works great in these conditions, especial-ly when everyone else is using a jighead.GULP! Islike Magic for lethargic bass. Stay on the best spot,when you can find it. Never, Ever quit learning!

Bass Wishes, Ken Cook><))>

Clouds hung in the mountain valleys; the coolmorning air was heavy with moisture. The rod tipdanced lightly above the calm surface, thenbecame still. As the rod was slowly raised, it beganto bow under the additional weight of a bass thathad just inhaled the bait. Before the fish coulddetect the presence of the angler, the reel began totake up line, causing the small, sharp hook to pen-etrate the fish’s upper lip. After a spirited fight, thefish was carefully placed into the livewell.

One of the hottest bass fishing techniques tostrike the U.S. in recent years has been the drop shotrig. In its simplest form, it consists of tying a hookto your line with a Palomar knot, then leaving thetag end to attach the weight. This results in the baitbeing suspended above the sinker where it is easierfor the fish to distinguish.

The drop shot technique is reputed to have origi-nated in Japan. If you talk to steelhead and catfishanglers, they’ve used this technique for years to sus-pend their baits off the bottom of lakes and riversacross the country. Since the late 90’s, anglers in theWestern U.S. have refined this technique for theclear, deep-water impoundments they fish. Sincethen, this presentation has migrated East where fish-ermen adapted it to their own fishing conditions. Asa result, drop shotting is no longer just a finessemethod, but can be used with heavy line to presentan 8” lizard along weed edges or worked over a

stump laden point. Because of this, rod selectionis dependent upon the type of cover or struc-

ture being targeted. The remainder of this article will

go into detail about the rod thatis best they are often the

most challenging.In order for

the angler topresent

a

plastic bait in an enticing manner, feel the bite andthen bring the fish to the boat, the rod has to havecertain fundamental characteristics. This includesa flexible tip and adequate power in the butt sec-tion, along with being the correct length for theconditions being fished. Other factors that affectrod performance are guide selection and the han-dle design. All of these variables must be consid-ered when constructing a comfortable, well bal-anced rod.

The tip section of a drop shot rod is one of themost important aspects of the rod. An ideal dropshot blank has a tip that flexes with the slightestamount of pressure. This is because the angler isfishing the rig on a slack line and almost always, thebite is never felt. Only a slight tightening of the lineis detected. With a rod that has a very limber tip, theangler detects the bite by “feeling” the line tightenup while the tip of the rod stops moving or “goesdead”. Heavier action rods don’t allow the angler to“feel” these slight differences in the weightlessnessof the presentation and can also signal a touchy fishto spit the bait before the angler even knows there isa bass on the other end. The soft tip action is alsoessential to maintain pressure on the hook whilefighting the fish. As the fish surges, the rod willmove easily with the fish, exerting constant pressureon the hook. This light rod will also require that youtake your time and not pressure the fish. A rod witha stiffer tip action would be less forgiving and like-ly tear the hook from the delicate tissue that lines thefish’s mouth. Remember, this is a light line tech-nique and you won’t be able to simply muscle adecent sized fish into the boat.

The length of a typical drop shot rod can varyfrom 6’3” to 7’0” but may range from as short as6’0” to as long as 7’6”. When using the finessemethod, the rods are typically shorter. The shorterlength makes it easier to fish vertically below theboat. Longer rods provide an advantage when cast-ing, as they produce longer distances with the light

Weights associated with this technique.Handle design is a matter of personal

choice. There are numerous styles tochoose from. Whichever you

choose, some of the mostimportant traits would be

overall length, com-fort and sensitiv-

ity. Reels e a t

placement should allow the blank to balance wellin the angler’s hand. By holding the reel seat loose-ly in the palm of the hand, the rod tip should bemoved with a slight increase of pressure placed onthe handle. I personally use my thumb and indexfinger to provide motion to the tip. A popularmethod in California is to tuck the handle underthe arm, then shake the rod tip.

When building an ultra finesse drop shot rod, orany rod for that matter, additional weight to theblank should be minimized as it will effect the rod’saction. For this reason, I have been using the light-est guides I have been able to find, which are theRECoil single-foot, Nickel / Titanium guides, pro-duced by REC. If you prefer a ceramic guide, thenthe Fuji New Concept, J-frame, guides are a greatchoice. They are available in either a stainless steelframe with alconite ceramic inserts or the titaniumframe and silicone carbide (SiC) inserts.

With these desirable traits in mind, my search ofnumerous blanks available from a variety of manu-facturers has resulted in the discovery of what I con-sider the ideal blank. The Shikari SHII P 7000 hasbeen designed with a flexible tip section, whichmakes it well suited for the ultra light drop shottechnique. This blank is rated for line in the 3-6#class and weights ranging from 1/32 to 5/16 of anounce. It has a hinged action, where the flexible tipbecomes stiffer, providing the power needed to fightquality fish. When fighting a large fish with such alight rod, the type of material the blank is construct-ed from is important. I elected to use the lower mod-ulus (less stiff) blank, as it is more flexible than ahigher modulus blank. This reduces the likelihoodof breaking the rod when battling an overzealousbass.

When the tournament clock is ticking and youneed to put more fish in the boat, reach for the ultralight drop shot rod. This rod will allow you to usethe lightest line possible, thus increasing yourchance of fooling even the wariest bass.

See you on the water!><))>

Georgewww.georgescustomrods.comhttp://phoenixblazerods.com

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01

02 03 04 05 06Delta Ladd's Stockton Bass TeamMeadAmerican Bass South Team Classic

07 08

09 10 11 12 13Delta Ladd's Stockton Bass TeamShasta Bridge Bay Future Pro Team

14Delta Hook Team

15

16 17 18 19 20Delta Russo's Future Pro Team21

Delta Tracy Oasis Team22

2330

2431Holloween

25 26 27Delta Tracy Oasis TeamLake Oroville American Bass North TeamClassic

28 29 Daylight Savings Ends

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Federation State Classic~ Clear Lake - Draw

WON Tri StateTOC South ~ Havasu - Team

Anglers Choice North ~ Shasta - Team TOC

100% ~ FP TOC - Team

National Bass~ Delta Russo's - Team TOC


01 02 03Delta Ladd's Stockton Bass Team04 05

06 07 Election Day

08 09 10Delta Tracy Oasis Team11 Veteran’s Day

Delta Hook Team12

13 14 15 16 17Delta Ladd's Stockton Bass Team18

Delta Tracy Oasis Team19

20 21 22 23Thanksgiving

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27 28 29 30

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FLW Stren Series ~ Championship - ProAm

100%Bass ~ TBA - Team TOC

Anglers Choice North ~ Oroville - ProAm

Sun Country ~ Team Championship

Future Pro ~ T.B.A. Classic - Team


It seems that when we are headed to a spottedbass fishery many times we are expecting to catchsmaller fish and often focus on numbers instead ofquality. Playing the numbers game when you arefun fishing or fishing with your kids is whatmakes Spotted Bass so much fun but on tourna-ment day you need to remember it’s quality overquantity.

Sometimes we have a hard time getting awayfrom the schools of 12-14 inch spots and find our-selves weighing in that dreaded 7 pound bag ofspots. Hopefully I can help you with some tech-niques and thoughts on how to catch larger spot-ted bass. The Spotted Bass is the nomad of thebass family and they spend a great deal of timesuspending over very deep water or just living inwater 50-90 feet deep. The reason that SpottedBass remain such a mystery to many bass anglersis we have very limited experience fishing thesedepths and many experienced bass anglers reluc-tantly admit they have never caught bass deeperthan 40 feet. The angler that spends considerabletime on our spotted bass lakes knows to stay withthese fish many times you will find yourself fish-ing in the late summer and fall from 40 to 80 feet.I have tried to break out some of my favorite baitsand techniques by time of year for you to use aguideline.

Winter:By far is my favorite time to chase big spots

and be prepared to catch them in 5 or 50 feet ofwater. I said the Spotted Bass is the nomad of thebass family and this is the time of year that youwill really see this theory come into play. So manytimes we try to get our limit in the live well andthen go chasing the larger bite. In the winter thisplan for me is reversed and the first couple hourson the water are the key to catching that kickerfish. When the water temp is in the low 50’s tohigh 40’s I like to start off my day with a crankbaitand cover as much shallow water as possible. Youmay only get a couple strikes during this time butthey may be the biggest of the day. After the firstcouple of hours I usually start fishing deeper andstay there the rest of the day. My favorite tech-nique for deep spotted bass is dragging a ¾ or 1ounce jig on 12-14 pound Berkley Vanish. I makevertical drops under my boat and drag the jig withmy trolling motor, keeping an eye on my frontdepth finder. I prefer a football head jig with noweed guard and a light wire 4/0 Gamakatsu hook.

I fish a lot of the hula grub type jigs in greenpumpkin and cinnamon purple however I am usu-ally not without my live rubber jigs and porkwhen the water gets really cold. My all timefavorite deepwater color in rubber and pork jigs ispurple. I think this color is more visible in deepwater than any other. Rod selection is very impor-tant and I prefer the Lamiglas 724 Senko Rod fordeep jigs. Keep the jig on the bottom in 40 to 60feet of water, fish the creek channel breaks andlong points and remember if your not losing jigsyou are not fishing them right.

Spring:We usually have rising water at this time of year

in our lakes and the big spots are on the prowl andlooking for an easy meal. The nastier the weatherthe better for early spring spotted bass this is thetime for a ripbait or spinnerbait on long pointsleading into major creeks, secondary points inmain creek channels and if you have runningwater in the backs of the creeks remember thatSpotted Bass have a tendency to think they areTrout and they will be in the shallow runningwater in the backs of the creeks. When the fishstart to make their first move shallow I like a rip-bait that will dive a little deeper down to 8-12 feetor a spinnerbait in ¾ or 1 ounce that I can getdown 8-20 feet. You can keep it pretty simple withcolors with Ghost Minnow, Chartreuse Shad orTable Rock Shad in the ripbaits and Chartreusewith Chartreuse Blades or Gold Blades on yourspinnerbaits. As the water warms and fish are get-ting closer to spawning I look for larger fish onisolated bushes or trees and I like to fish a weight-less bait like a Berkley Gulp Sinking Minnow orJerk Shad. Just prior to the spawn the spots willgroup up in large numbers near the areas they aregoing to spawn in.

Summer:One of the most overlooked times to catch large

spotted bass due to the heavy boat traffic on mostof our good Spotted Bass lakes. This is howeverthe time for topwater and don’t think it only worksfirst thing in the morning. Remember that Spotswill travel in large schools, suspend and often livefar from the shore. This is the time to start fishingyour topwater baits far off the bank on longpoints, island tops or anywhere they can move upshallow and feed and then move back into deeperwater. It is not uncommon for Spotted Bass to

come out of 20 feet of water to hit a topwater baitthis time of year. It is hard to beat a walking baitlike the Super Spook, Vixen or Rover for thesefish and I keep the colors pretty simple with TroutPatterns and Shad Patterns being my favorite. I dochange all my treble hooks on these baits to onesize larger Gamakatsu Round Bend treble hooks.You can experiment with colored hooks and feath-ered tails to help you build some confidence inthis type of bait. At this point I am experimentingas well with the red hooks. Two of my otherfavorites are a small popper like the Bubble Popor the Rico and big Spots will crush a buzzbait asfast as a big largemouth will.

Fall:The toughest time to target big spotted bass in

my opinion as the lakes are usually dropping, thebait is very deep and fish are likely to be any-where from 10 to 100 feet of water. Big Spots areno different than big Largemouth and when thetrout start roaming around chasing baitfish theystart roaming around chasing the Trout. This is thetime when you can catch some giant Spotted basson swimbaits but this is also the time when someof the best soft plastic fishing will also work verywell. Try dropshotting with ¼ or 3/8 tungstenweight around the baitfish you will see on yourmeter. The heavier weight this time of year willget you down to the deeper water and give youmore control of your dropshot rig. I also fish asmall 4” power worm on a ¼ ounce darthead on 6or 8 pound test Vanish line this time of year aswell. Fall can be one of the most frustrating timesof year for Spotted Bass and often it is when weare fishing TOC’s on deep, clear reservoirs after asummer of chasing shallow largemouth on theDelta or Clear Lake.

Hopefully this will give you a few places tostart when you are looking to catch bigger SpottedBass and if your going to fish deep you need tolearn how to properly deflate the swim bladder onthese fish. Good Luck on whatever Spotted Basslake you wind up on.

Kent Brown is sponsored by: Triton , Mercury, Motor Guide, Pinpoint,

Mercury Quicksilver Propellers and Lubricants,Lamiglas, Berkley, Gamakatsu, Plano, Trilene,River2Sea, Pflueger, Dual Pro, Galaxie Marine,

International Sportsmen’s Expositions,Northlake Ford.

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Fishermen often ask us what we do to be such aconsistent team. We wish we had a simple sure-fire answer for you, but the truth is, as you wellknow, tournament fishing is a lot of hard work anda little bit of luck. Since both of us work full-timeour pre-fish time is usually very limited. We haveto make the most of our time both off and on thewater. We know we must concentrate on ourstrengths and fish smart from pre-fish to tourna-ment. To help illustrate our tournament strategywe are going to take you through our 2004 Tri-States Championship win at Lake Mohave frompre-fish to win.

Tri-Sates Championship is always an excitingtournament to fish, but at Lake Mohave? LakeMohave is known for its good size bass, but shereally makes you work for them and she certainlyis not very generous with numbers. We knew wehad our work cut out for us to do well. About 3weeks before the tournament, John pulled out allof his records on Lake Mohave. (Tip # 1- Keeprecords of everyday fished. They are invaluable.)He reviewed what patterns and lures were work-ing and what areas had produced the best inOctober over the last 5 years. He also talked to afriend who had fished Mohave a few times overthe previous couple of months. This informationgave us a starting point for our actual pre-fishdays. What we found out was that a medium div-ing bluegill colored crankbait, a clear super spookand a 4 ½ “ People’s Choice FX ROBO Wormdrop-shot were working when fished aroundgrassy pockets near Cottonwood and the northernpower lines. It is now 2 weeks before the tourna-ment. We start paying close attention to weatherreports for the desert. We are ready to see if whatwe researched will work. It is Saturday morningwhen we launch. The first thing we do is checkwater level and temperature. We started out fish-ing around Cottonwood. Tammy’s job was todropshot and John would throw the crankbait andtopwater. (Tip # 2- Always mix it up in practice.Tammy will always fish a worm while John trieseverything else). We found the grass was greenand healthy with a lot of bluegill present.Topwater baits were not really working, but thecrankbait and dropshot were. On Sunday wedecided to pre-fish down south near Catherine’sLanding. We found a good dropshot bite alongsteep walls. John did not get any bites fishing hiscrankbait or topwater. We are narrowing downour techniques. At this point it looks like drop-shotting will be our primary technique. Also, weare very careful not to hook any fish (Tip # 3 Donot hook fish during pre-fish on the ColoradoRiver lakes, even a week before the tournament).

It is now one week before the tournament and weare on our 4 ½ hour drive to the lake.We use thistime to discuss our pre-fish strategy. We knowthere will be many teams pre-fishing and manyfishermen sticking fish. Lake Mohave does not dowell with this kind of pressure so we know thebite will get even tougher. We start thinking aboutwhat adjustments we’ll need to make. We decideto launch out of Cottonwood because this is wherewe think we will fish in the tournament. The fishare bigger and we know this area of the lake verywell. We continue to mix it up pre-fishing. Tammyis still getting bit with the dropshot, but John is nothaving any luck with the crankbait. It is very clearthe fishing pressure is affecting the north end ofthe lake. Many people we talk to tell us they willbe fishing the north end in the tournament, hopingto catch the better fish. We have a lot to thinkabout on the way home. Fishing has gotten verytough. We decide we will gamble that most teamswill run north so we decide we’ll fish south rightaround Catherine’s Landing, the tournamentlaunch site. It will be very important to get everyfish that bites in the boat, but first we will have toget the bites. The right tackle will be key. It hastaken us years to refine our tackle, especially forworm fishing. What we currently use is what wethink helps us catch and land more fish. The rodwe use is a custom dropshot rod made by MarkHigashi from Performance Tackle. It is a 70XFDSR. We use a Shimano Chronarch MG 50 reel,8lb. Sugoi grey fluorocarbon line, size #2 Ownerrigging hooks and 3/16 oz. Kanji Tungsten steeldropshot weights.

The tournament week has arrived. Because ofwork demands we are only able to pre-fish oneday prior to the tournament. We launch out ofCatherine’s and just fish a couple of spots to see ifthe dropshot is still working. Luckily it is. Again,we are careful not to hook any fish. To do this wecut off the bend of the hook, leaving the straightshank to insert into the worm. We go in early tomake sure our tackle and boat are ready to go. Wedon’t want to beat up our spots and we want tostay positive. We prepare our tackle, which is verysimple, two dropshot rods. One rigged with 8 lb.Sugoi fluorocarbon line and a second one with 6lb., just in case it gets very tough, which we knowit will. Thinking ahead and trying to anticipatefactors that may affect the bite is key. It is soimportant to watch for weather changes and antic-ipate how the fishing pressure will affect the biteand then make the appropriate adjustments. Forexample, we know that on day two it will get verytough so we will have to downsize our line,weight and worm. We also keep in mind that just

because a technique, retrieve or a certain wormcolor worked the day before does not mean that itwill work the day of the tournament. Subtlechanges can affect the fish. When things aren’tworking make adjustments. If we are confidentthe fish are still there then John may try a differ-ent worm size or color while I might change myretrieve from shaking the worm to dragging it.Another strategy we use when we are not gettingbit is to rotate spots. Sometimes it is just a matterof timing.

Finally, day one of the tournament has arrivedand we are ready and feeling positive. We stick toour plan and stay close. We notice that manyteams ran north as we had hoped. This takes thepressure off our areas. We rotate our spots, bothdropshotting a 4 1/2” ROBO People’s Choiceworm. Tammy catches two 4-pound bass in thesame spot a couple of hours apart. She hadswitched to an oxblood color ROBO wormbecause she thought the fish might have becomeconditioned to seeing the same worm. It worked.We are thinking that these fish just might win itfor us. We weigh in 15.5 pounds and are in firstplace. Day two arrives. We know it is going to bevery tough, we have to catch a limit. We downsizeour line to 6-pound test hoping to get more bites.Our plan is to stay close until 9:00am when thebite shuts down near Catherine’s. We will then runup north near Cottonwood to try and catch a bet-ter fish. The bite ended up getting very slow. Wewere only able to catch 2 fish by 9:00am. We stickwith our plan and run up to the Cottonwood area.At the third spot John catches a 3-pound bass.Whew! We run the rest of our spots without anybites. Time to run back south. We rotate our spotsagain and catch 4 more bass, culling twice. Weweigh in and have a total 26.26 pounds. We havewon our second Tri-States. What a great feeling.

Worm fishing may not be the most excitingtechnique to fish, but we truly feel it has made usa consistent and profitable team. Don’t be afraidto give it a try. Good luck and good fishing.

We’d like to thank our sponsors:Angler’s Marine, Ranger Boats, Mercury

Marine, ROBO Worm, Kanji International,Performance Tackle and Kaenon Sunglasses.

Fishing As A TeamFrom Pre-fish To WinFishing AAs AA TTeam

From PPre-ffish TTo WWin


01 02 03

04 05 06 07 08Delta Tracy Oasis Team

09Delta Hook Team Delta Tracy Oasis Team

10

11 12 13 14 15 16Millerton American Bass BV Team

17

18 19 20 21Winter Begins

22 23 24

25Christmas

26 27 28 29 30 31 New Years Eve

DDeecceemmbbeerr 22000066MMoonnddaayy TTuueessddaayy WWeeddnneessddaayy TThhuurrssddaayy FFrriiddaayy SSaattuurrddaayy SSuunnddaayy



Arizona Bass Federation ~ Roosevelt - Draw


If you are an angler that loves to throw reactionbaits, then pre-spawn on the California Delta canbe the absolute most glorious time of the year.Many of these largemouth bass have been in theirdeeper water haunts over the last few months andare now beginning to feel the “urge” to begin theirtrek to their shallower feeding grounds. Anangler doesn’t even have to be ableto see the fish before it can becaught ... a real, “throw- back”, peri-od of time. Areas that have beenvoid of bass over the last 3 to 4months are now beginning to showsome signs of life. Much of thisactivity will be short lived, so theangler must pay close attention tothe success he/she experienced onthis/these particular day(s). The wateris still extremely cold. However, thebass have an inner clock that makesthem aware that they are on a timeschedule and need to fatten up for therigorous spawning cycle ahead.Pre-spawn to me, today, impliesretrieving baits at the proper speedand at optimum depths. This was notalways the case. I was always underthe impression that while throwing a spinnerbait, the“flicker”, or visually seeing the flash of the bladewas essential to success. Jimmy Houston Outdoorson Saturday mornings was the only visual learningtool that I had, so that was the way I fished ablade. In the early ‘90’s Gary Dobyns and Iteamed up in Delta tournaments. It was during thisperiod of time when I realized the importance ofretrieving a spinnerbait at the proper tempo duringthe spring months. Gary would always tell me,“slow that thing down, you’re bringing it too fast,get some depth”, after his schooling my spinner-bait success increased dramatically. MichaelJones, an outdoor writer for Bass MasterMagazine, cemented the concept of depth andspeed from a different angle. Mike and I went outin March of ’95 when I was on an awesome spin-ner bait bite in the south end of the Delta. Many ofthese pre-spawn fish were in the 2 ½ to 4 poundclass with the occasional 5 pounder thrown in.We went up and down a couple of rock walls onthe outside of some spawning coves tossingwhite/chartreuse and blue spinnerbaits for a fewhours with minimal results. We continuously slow

rolled our blades through the different depthsdown to 12 feet. Mike had enough of this and said,“if you really think they’re here, then I’d bettershow you how to catch them”. Mike tied on asplit-shot rig and began to catch my “spinnerbait”fish with a little Mickey Mouse worm. He wouldthrow the worm rig out and let it sit for a few sec-

onds then move it two feet and let it sit again. Thisprocess would be repeated all the way back to theboat, covering the same zone(s) our blades hadbeen in for hours. Back then most of us “DeltaRats” wouldn’t be caught dead with a #5 split shotand a little bitty “bluegill” hook in our boats, butthat has changed quite a bit since then. I had along discussion with myself that evening, wonder-ing why my hot to trot spinnerbait fish wouldn’tmove 6 inches to eat my spinnerbait while theywould pummel a little Southern California handpoured worm. Once again, depth and speed werethe key ingredients. There are many days inFebruary and March on the Delta when the keydepths for the Largemouth are between 1 to 5 feetand the preferred speed is moderate to fast. Theseare usually the days that create a lot of phone con-versation with your fishing buddies when you gethome. All reaction baits are a play on these typesof days i.e. crankbaits(shallow runners/ crawdad,chartreuse-blue), spinnerbaits(white-chartreuse,white w/ gold blades, chartreuse-white-blue, andversions of the prior mentioned with orange high-lights) and don’t forget to throw a couple of frogs

and buzzbaits in the boat. The various swimbaitson the market could be utilized during this periodof time also. For swimbait fishing, choose thosethat will allow you to cover the different waterdepths from the surface to 12 feet. Rainbow Trout,baby bass, golden shiner and blue gill colors getthe nod here. Be sure not to leave the house with-

out your flipping’ stick and a few bagsof Reaction Innovation beavers inCalifornia #420, sprayed grass, coon-nasty and rhythm and blues in thestandard size as well as the doublew i d e .Trying to pattern pre-spawn fish canbe very easy some days and a realtough nut to crack the next. Try stay-ing in close proximity to dead endsloughs or spawning bays. When youfind a few fish milling around on aparticular stretch of bank, look forisolated structures within the bound-aries of that bank. Hard clumps oftulles, sparse tulles off the bank, iso-lated pieces of wood (no matter howsmall they are), indentations in therocks, rocks that come out a bit furtherthan the rest, docks that are closer to

the bank, docks with older/broken boats berthedthere, docks with lots or less vegetation, dockswith a plant growing off of one side etc. Once anarea is found with a population of bass, you’ve gotto become a fisherman/woman and figure outwhich lure to choose out of the hundreds ofpounds of tackle you’ve got crammed in everyspare compartment of your boat. If that sounds toodifficult, then just thread a watermelon/red orgreen/pumpkin Doc Waters Helix “Fat Stick”Texas or Wacky style on to a 4/0 hook with 15#monofilament and fish it weightless all day.Frogs into Toads, Bobby Barrack

My sponsors are, Wife(Stacey), SnagproofLures, Terminator Lures, Reaction Innovations,

Doc Waters, Minn Kota, Lamiglas, Humminbird,“The Gilly”(Reno), A.C. plugs, predator worms,

D.J.’s rod repair, J.D.’s reel service, Russo’sMarina, Kevin’s prop shop

www.bobbybarrack.com

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A TournamentAnglers story…

Sieg Taylor steppedfrom the back of theboat to the front.Becoming one ofBassmasters most suc-cessful non-boaters andmaking the transition tothe front as aProfessional. Sieg hasfour top tens and wontwo boats out of theback with Bassmaster*.In 2005, Sieg steppedto the point end of theboat and not only wonhis first ProfessionalEverstart Tournament,but broke records in theprocess.

I have to give creditto my dear wife Deedrian…for marrying a dream-er and to my good friend Pat “The Back DeckPro” Wilson. There is no finer non-boater in thetournament world today.

You to can do the same with a dream, a goal anda positive outlook. First the dream. Dreams arejust dreams…unless you put them into action.

I decided to put my dream into three parts:Fish less for a few years and then be able to

fish forever.The idea to fish out of the back would help me

save valuable time, When fishing large tournaments as BASS and

FLW. The thought of showing up with my equip-ment and fishing was delightful. Not having topre-fish for days and drag a boat all over the WestCoast was great. The time I saved was spent plan-ning and winding down my business and personalrelations in Fresno, California.

Learn as much fishing behind the best.Every Pro I drew, I learned something from. I

liked the non-shared format of fishing out of theback with Bassmaster. I always respected the Proin the front and realized he had much more atstake at the game than I did. I completely tuned

out the Pro and thought of him only as a persontaking me to the fish. I always watched theirmoves. What baits they threw, where they threwthem. I remember fishing with Bink Desaro fromIdaho. He was flipping and had missed a beautifulhole. As the back of the boat got closer to that hole… I tossed a Senko in…BAM…five plus cameinto the boat. I quickly learned to keep myeyes open and that my job was to catch onefish at a time, until I got a limit. I alwaysdownsized my baits, dropshoting a four-inchworm as my go-to bait.

Another case was fishing with Justin Kerr atLake Havasu. Justin was throwing a TD Minnow.Two Large Smallmouth came up and wanted toeat it, however the bait only went down two feet.I saw what was happening and put on a DeepDiver Pointer 78. It ran six to eight feet. Withinfive minutes, I had a three-pound largemouth inthe boat and a two plus smallie. I always respect-ed every Pro I drew and thanked them all eachtime with a mailed card of appreciation. I havebecome friends with a lot of the Pro’s I havedrawn. I believe if you take care of people, peoplewill take care of you.

Live on the finestbass fishing body ofwater in the West.

After four years ofplanning, the dreamwas now comingtogether. The movebecame official onNew Years Eve 2004,as we rolled the U-Haul Truck into ourdriveway for the lasttime. With the lake infront of us and a beau-tiful view of Mt.Konocti, we hadarrived at Clear lake.

It would be a littlemore than threemonths, when I putmy skills, learnedfrom the back of theboat to use. It was my

first Tournament from the point end of the boat.The Clear lake Everstart Series. The next fourdays would change my life forever. I had alwaysdreamed of such a tournament, but rememberdreams are just dreams…unless you put them intoaction. I went swinging for the bleachers. Afterthe dust settled, I walked away with 94 pounds –11 ounces for a 16 fish limit. The most weight anEverstart tournament had ever weighed. The firstEverstart Pro* to go wire to wire and the all timeaverage of 5.92 pounds per fish.

You to can live the dream…first you musthave the dream … then you must put it intoaction.

Sieg is married to his beautiful wife Deedrian.They have two children, Makenzee and Zackary.Sieg Taylor is sponsored by G3 Boats, Skeeter andYamaha

When not fishing Sieg is a MotivationalSpeaker, Real Estate Investor and owner of

www.nosweatmist.com. A fine line of detailing product.

Go From the Back “Young Man” to the Pointe End

Go From the Back “Young Man” to the Pointe End



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Moon phases play a big part in activitylevel in the water and the wild. For instancethrough out the year on a full moon you mayexperience a shorter then normal morningbite, then a big lull in mid morning, then thefishing picks back up in the afternoon. Butjust the opposite will happen with no moon.You’ll have a good morning bite which willgo into the mid morning. I do pay closeattention to the lunar charts for this reason.

As the phase of the moon changes, thefeeding time or activity levels change too.So when you’re in a tournament it can helpyou plan your day. So you will be in your

best areas at the peak time of activity. Theother time the moon phases play thebiggest roll for me is in the spring. Whenthe water starts to warm around a full moonthis will start a wave of fish heaping intothe shallows. Often in early spring yourbigger fish start to move during the fullmoon. This is probably your best chance tocatch a trophy bass.

So pay attention to the lunar charts andyou’ll catch a few more fish.

Good luck ... Dave Rush

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WesternBass.Com is the West’s largest onlinefishing community and the fastest growing fishingwebsite in the nation. Nearly 75,000 unique userseach month use the pages of WesternBass.Comsearching for current fishing reports, hot tips onthe latest techniques and on how to use the besttools to help you catch more fish each time out onthe water.

WesternBass.Com, established in 1998, is asuite of twelve state websites that serve elevenwestern states. The site was built anddesigned by fanatic bass anglers tryingto create an interactive web site thatwould emphasize fellowship within theentire bass fishing community. Witheach new article that is written andreport that is filed the goal of the site isto try to bring the bass fishermen outWest a bit closer together. Whetheryou’re a beginning angler or a seasonedveteran, WesternBass.Com has some-thing for you

The site is comprised of what we callInteractive and Resource areas. Thereare several interactive sections whereanglers can exchange information togain a fishing advantage. With literallyhundreds of report pages covering bigwater lakes to your local bass ponds, here’s aplace to find out how fish are being caught andreleased in your neighborhood lake or that lake acouple hundred miles away that you’ll be fishingin your next tournament. New reports are comingin every day and all anglers are encouraged to posta report each time they go fishing. Even when thebite is not all that great there is usually someinformation to be passed on via a report that willhelp others. Some lakes covered on the site haveover 6 years worth of reports already in place forusers to look at and analyze. This can also be agood place to brush up before a tournament

Fishing Forums are online bulletin boards thatallow you to post a message and get a variety ofresponses back from other anglers. Almost anyquestion is fair game in these forums and you’llfind a wide-ranging group of pro anglers andguides to weekend warriors ready to respondwith answers. Fishing Forums are utilized by agreat many industry ‘movers and shakers’ aswell and just about all the tournament organiza-tions out West.

More boats, baits, rods and reels are sold in thesite’s Classified Forum then any other fishingwebsite in the entire United States. Anglers fromaround the country have found the classified adforums to be the best place to sell, trade, buy andbarter a wide range of goods and services.

Other interactive pages on the site allow you toshare photos of your latest and best catches andthe original ‘Find A Partner’ page that allowsanglers to find team partners, get sign up partners

for tournaments or even just a back seat on some-one’s boat for a day. If you’re looking for a bassclub to join or trying to find a guide to hire, thereare specific pages to help you do just that. The sitealso features a page of fishing links to other web-sites that is second to none on the Internet.

Each state has featured and regional lake infor-mation that includes reports and tips. FishingNews gets updated each and every day withupdates from local fishing tournaments as well asnews from nationwide product manufacturers andtournament organizations such as FLW Outdoors,the CITGO Bassmaster Tournament Trail and USAnglers Choice.

Cal Tatum , Dan O’Sullivan and GeorgeKramer are but a few of the columnists contribut-ing to our article library that is also the officialonline archive for BASS WEST Magazine. MikeFolkestad, Jay Yelas, Dee Thomas and Mike Longall have wonderful writings for anglers to read andenjoy as well as musings from more regionalanglers such as Andy ‘Cooch’ Cuccia and RonCervenka.

The Video Rental Library has over 100 bassfishing videos available. All the brand newmovies from the best anglers across the nation,such as Skeet Reese, Aaron Martens and MarkKile are as well as a lot of ‘standby’ shows likeBill Dance, Jimmy Houston and Roland Martincan be rented.

Radio programs are archived on the site as well.Bass Weekly Radio shows are available and soonCalifornia Sportsmen with Sep Hendrickson will

be archived as well. More radioprogramming is coming toWesternBass.Com each weekand is easily downloaded orstreamed from the site.

New for 2004 isWesternBass.TV; streamingbass fishing video. A marriageof television and the Internet todeliver bass fishing program-ming via your computer 24hours days. Seminars with thebest pro anglers and guidessharing tips and techniquesfilmed on the water and in tack-le stores and club meetings.Produced strictly for broadcaston the World Wide Web. Gary

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WesternBass.TV allows anyone to check out aguide before they book the trip as well as to tapinto better information from some of the bestanglers in the West. You won’t have to wonderanymore if someone’s been misquoted becausewith video you get to see and hear it come direct-ly from the star of the video.

There’s a whole lot going on all over theInternet to help you catch more fish. Best partabout this is it’s all absolutely FREE. UseWesternBass.Com as your entry to the wide andsometimes wild world of bass fishing out West!

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For me, there is a jig for all seasons. It is the onebait I will have tied on and ready to go at all times,Winter, Summer, Spring and Fall. The jig’s versatil-ity in imitating forage that a bass feeds on is end-less. It is not limited to just imitating a crawdad.With the wide variety of plastic trailers today, wecan present a wide array of forage imitations toinclude baitfish, amphibiansand many other critters thathappen to fall into a bass’dining room.

Winter – The Jig-n-Pigcombination is king whenthe temps are low and abass’ metabolism is slug-gish. Keep it sim-ple, a brown orblack jig tippedwith a black/bluepork chunk will drawstrikes from bass during the cold-er months. Slow down your presenta-tions, and keep that bait on the bottom andmoving. Probe shallow in the morning, move deep-er through out the day, and then as it warms fromthe high sun, move back to the shallows. Key onrocky northern banks for best results.

Spring – The Jig-n-Craw excels at this time ofyear when bass are in their pre-spawn mode. Theyare aggressive and protective during this period andwill strike larger than average sized baits. A plasticcraw, with big floating claws, is a tempting targetbass can’t resist striking. Whether pitchin or flip-ping shallow, or casting deep to cover or stagingstructural changes, fish your jig erratically with avariety of hops and pops off the bottom and throughthe cover. Target the outer rims of a bass’ bed whenthey are on the nests. Don’t over look attaching a 6”lizard to your jig, at this time as well.

Summer – The Jig-n-grub is the ticket here. Post

spawn bass will begin to have an attitude changeduring this period. They are fending off blue gillsand other predators from their nests, as well asthrough the hot summer days, they cruise the shal-lows looking for an easy meal. Spawning gills andbream are their favorite target. Brown jigs tippedwith a 5” Single tail grub, imitate their forage ofchoice at this time. Select grubs with purples, blues

and orange color patterns. Spend moretime swimming the jig at thistime of year in the shallows, or

the drop and fall technique todeeper haunts on ledges androck piles.

Fall – The Jig-n-TwinTail, the best of bothworlds in the fall. Bass

are still eating baitfish forage, but as thetemps begin to drop,their attention turnsback to crawdads as

primary forage. Bigbass will gorge themselves with craws through outthe day in preparation of putting on as much bodyfat for the winter than at any time of year. Fall basscan be very aggressive, and will more often than notstrike a jig on the fall. The twirling double tail legsof this grub enhance the appeal of a big bulky jig.Look for drastic structural changes, where it’s easi-er for a bass to simply move up and down the watercolumn to feed.

Try these simple but effective seasonal baitchoices and tactics through out the year for your jigfishing adventures. No doubt, you will enjoygreater success catching bass on your local ponds.

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The thought of participating in a fishingtournament has crossed the minds of mostrecreational anglers. It is derived from ourinnate desire to compete and to test our skillsand measure how we would fare against otheranglers. Consequently, escalating numbers ofrecreational anglers are testing the tournamentscene, and the popularity of fishing tourna-ments is of the rise.

But without proper planning, tournamentfishing can be a very difficult and tryingendeavor. Tournaments are held everyweekend throughout the country. Some arebig events with national coverage, and oth-ers are local affairs with much less fanfareand publicity. But to succeed at any levelof competition, one must properly plan forsuch endeavors.

Here are some guidelines that will help be abetter tournament competitor to have manymore successful and enjoyable days afloat.

Equipment maintenance and expenses:The most common mistake any tournament

angler can make is to assume that their equip-ment is in working order prior to leaving for aderby. While your boat may be running finethe last time you fished, it is imperative thattime is taken to inspect your equipment prior toleaving for the tournament. Make sure that anyrepairs needed are taken care of prior to leav-ing home. This is basically nothing more thanpreventive maintenance, which must be doneregularly to avoid equipment breakdown dur-ing the tournament. Two examples of this areas simple as cleaning livewells of any sand ordebris to prevent pump failures and taking thetime to tighten loose nuts and bolts, which canloosen more during hard use at the tournament.

Furthermore, anglers must examine and testtheir trolling motors, combustion motors, trail-er bearings, batteries, rods and reels and otherequipment used during competition. It is notnecessary to have brand new equipment, but itis important to maintain your equipment on aregular basis. Most manufacturers have gener-al maintenance schedules that should be fol-lowed, and by following those tasks, yourequipment will last longer and fail less. Youmust consider your all equipment as essentialtools that you will utilize in your pursuit of asuccessful day of competition on the water.

Repairs done at the tournament will not onlyadversely affect your concentration as a com-petitor, but it will also hurt your pocket book.Moreover, repair services and parts are notalways readily available at some tournamentsites.

While emergencies never happen at a con-venient time, setting aside funds for such willlessen the stress in dealing with such situa-tions.

Entry Fees:Most tournaments are scheduled well in

advance and the entries fees are posted in con-junction with the schedule release. For exam-ple, if there are five tournaments scheduled forthe season at $100.00 each, the total entry feeis $500.00. You should set aside money eachweek or month prior to the start of the season.This will not only help ensure you will haveenough saved for the upcoming season, but itwill also help pay for some unexpected expens-es that could over-extend your pocket book andtake away your financial ability to compete.Competing is tough enough to begin with letalone on an empty pocket book, this can surelyimpair your judgment.

Lodging, Food and Gas:While many tournaments may be held close

to home, some will require extended travel andthis cost must be taken into consideration. Partof fishing any derby is pre-fishing time. Someare able to take the adequate time to practice,however many times work and family obliga-tions do not allow for such. Taking the time toresearch the amenities that are available at thewaters you are competing at will result in aconsiderable savings. With the availability ofthe Internet, one can shop rates for lodging tofind many discounted rates. Finding a traveland practice partner to share expenses will alsohelp in the quest to minimize these expenses.Other lodging options such as camping or stay-ing at “friends of fishermen” homes are defi-nite alternatives in saving money.

Many anglers overlook the expenses of driv-ing to and from the place of lodging as animportant factor in keeping the expenses incheck. In short, saving a few dollars at a hotelthirty miles away from the lake may not be asavings.

Considerable savings can be realized if the

angler is willing to pack some food and willingto cook instead of eating out at each tourna-ment. The savings is even greater if one canplan food-cooking expenses with other fellowanglers whether lodging together or not. Byplanning ahead and bringing supplies to thetournament will also save money on gasexpenses spent on unnecessary driving to buybasic necessities.

Practice time can also become a majorexpense if not planned properly. As a friend ofmine always preaches: “fun fish at the lakesyou are going to compete on”. This may seemodd to some anglers, but it does make sense asthe expenditures spent on the “fun fishing” willnot only help anglers learn the waters they willcompeting on, and the same time it allows anangler to enjoy the time on the water withfriends and family.

Fishing Licenses, launch fees and otherincidentals:

Purchasing your license prior to the eventwill not only ensure that you are abiding tostate and local regulations, but it will also savetime and gas in trying acquire one after youhave arrived at your destination.

At some tournament sites, marinas charge alaunch fees. Although this expense cannot becircumvented during competition days, takingthe time to locate other launch locations willsave money — especially if you plan on spend-ing considerable amount of time practicing.Trailering to different parts of the lake tolaunch each day may also save funds for otherexpenses. Many lakes sell a year-round permit,which can be another savings if you are goingto compete at this location again.

All the above suggestions are what I consid-er controlled variables. Careful budgetingplanning will not only allow for a safe andenjoyable experience but more importantly, itwill allow you to put your concentration whereit is most needed and that is competing. Besafe and considerate to others on the water andgreat fishing to you. Ted Nguyen

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Clear Lake has long been known as the “BassCapitol of the West”, and while it still is arguablythe best fishery in California, it has gone throughsome changes in the last few years. The bass arereacting differently now that shad have taken astrong hold in the lake here are some generalguidelines you can follow to make your tripsmore productive.

Winter:In the winter, shad will congregate into large

groups and the bass will do the same. They willbunch up in areas that hold their food source andthis can make them difficult to find. However,when you do find them it will belike hitting the Lottery!

Your electronics are extremelyimportant this time of year and Iwill not even drop the trollingmotor unless I can see bait on mymeter. Because the bait will be sobunched up, you may have to covera lot of the lake before you findthem so don’t get discouraged. Ilike the south end of the lake thistime of year and will concentratemy efforts from Redbud toBuckingham.

The best baits for me this time ofyear have been ripbaits, crankbaits,drop-shotting 6in plastics, and ifyou see fish on your meter under alarge school of bait, don’t forget totry a jigging spoon.

Spring:In the spring the bass will not only key on the

shad but will also start to follow the migration ofhitch into the shallows. As groups of shad beginto disperse and hitch head for the shallows tospawn, the bass will follow and spread out aswell. While bed-fishing can be productive in thespring I like to target pre-spawn fish becausethey can be caught from before the bass make itto the beds until just before summer when themajority of the fish have spawned.

This is the time when spinnerbaits, ripbaits,crankbaits and big swimbaits shine. For thelargest bass this time of year I like to target thefirst break just outside of shallow flats. This iswhere the biggest bass will stage before makingtheir charge to the banks to spawn. I prefer tosearch for these types of areas in the north end of

the lake at this time of year.Summer:If there is one body of water you want to be on

in the summer, it has to be Clear Lake. While theaverage size of the fish goes down this time ofyear, the pure numbers more than make up for it.This time of year the bass are back to keyingmostly on shad and the shad are spread out allover the lake. Docks, rock piles, flooded bushes,tules, whatever type of cover you like to fish,you will catch fish around it. In the morningsand well into the day, you can experience someof the best topwater action of the year. You can

throw Poppers, Zara Spooks or frogs and it’s apretty sure bet that you will catch quite a fewfish. Last year in July, I pulled up to a singledock that had some baitfish activity around it andcaught fifteen fish on a popper before they quitbiting!

If the topwater action slows down pick up acrankbait, like a River 2 Sea Twin Vibe or HighDeep Crank, and cover water. By concentratingon points or banks with some kind of sharp drop,you will find your share of fish, especially ifshad are present. If you like plastics, pitchSenkos around docks or drop shot your favoriteplastic bait underneath them and you won’t bedisappointed.

While many lakes are less than stellar in thesummer months, for the last few years you could

count on Clear Lake to produce, in my opinion,the best fishing in the state. Just about the entirelake is productive during the summer months butI prefer to spend my time in the mid-lake areas,from the Rattlesnake Arm to the Narrows anddown to Konocti.

Fall:As the fall transition takes place, shad will

begin to ball up again and you will find the bassin concentrations once more. It again becomes agame of covering lots of water until you find thebait and the bass. In the beginning of Fall topwater baits like Zara Spooks and buzzbaits are

good bets for covering lots of waterand catching quality fish.Crankbaits and spinnerbaits willalso help you cover water and theyimitate shad extremely well. Onceyou find some fish, if they stop bit-ing the topwater or the crankbaitsyou are throwing, go back throughthe area and try drop shotting a 6 in.worm. The slower presentationwill help you get a few more bitesbefore you decide to leave.

As fall progresses and gets cold-er, vibrating baits and ripbaitsbecome my baits of choice. Theshad will get a little deeper and tar-geting steeper banks and drop-offswill begin to produce your bestcatches, just make sure that there isbait present in the areas that you arefishing. I will begin to gravitate

back towards the south end of the lake this timeof year searching for just these kinds of areas.

The “Good Ol’ Days” of fishing are happen-ing right now at Clear Lake. All you have to doto take advantage of it, is trailer your boat there,have your favorite tackle rigged and look forthe shad. Once you do that, you will havestruck gold in one of the finest fisheries in theUnited States.

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Flipping has been a favorite west coast tech-nique since Dee Thomas invented it back in theearly seventies. More tournament wins on theCalifornia Delta could be attributed to this tech-nique than any other. Flipping has evolvedthroughout the years with the creation of betterequipment for anglers to use. Finesse flipping, theuse of smaller than average baits for flipping, isgrowing in popularity due to the high pressure sit-uations anglers face today.

Rods and reels have gotten so advanced overthe last twenty years that anglers can now flip andpitch baits that were once too small and light. Iuse Shimano Castaic super free reels exclusivelyfor flipping and pitching. The thumbar engage-ment and super free spool feature of the Castaic iscritical for serious flippers. I take all the brakingout of my reels when flipping and pitching. I sim-ply open the side plate and push in all the magnetsthen loosen the cast control knob until it almostfalls off. Now you’re ready to go pitching moreaccurately with a low trajectory. There are manygood rods available today for Finesse flipping. Itis important to choose a rod with a soft tip andplenty of backbone. I use a St CroixTBC76MHMF for flipping and pitching smallbaits. This rod has a great tip and is forgivingwhen setting the hook with lighter tackle. WhenI’m pitching extremely small weights, like 1/8ozor 1/16oz, long distances I will go to a LegendElite 70MHF by St Croix.

Choosing the right line for this technique is cru-cial. Sunline’s Shooter Fluorocarbon is the bestline for finesse flipping that I have used. Shooteris limp but, also very abrasion resistant. I havecaught redfish on Shooter underneath barnacle

covered docks and mangroves with this line whenI should have been busted off. It is absolutelyawesome. Typically I’ll use the sixteen or twentypound tests for Finesse Flipping. In heavy vege-tation I’ll use twenty or thirty pound SpiderwireStealth for its grass cutting abilities. Usingmonofilament and coated fluorocarbon lines isjust a waste of time and usually disappointing.

The Reaction Innovations Smalley Beaver ismy number one Finesse bait. I rig the Smallie on3/16 to 1/16 tungsten bullet weights pegged. Ihave been using Gamakatsu’s 2/0 EWG Superlinehook until recently. I’ve designed a new hook forReaction Innovations called the BMF flippinghook will be out soon and the 3/0 was designedfor the Smallie. BMF hooks are designed for flip-pers who set the hook hard and want a stout hook.I have also had great success using a prototypeFlirt 6.95 worm. Rigged the same as the SmallieBeaver the Flirt 6.95 was deadly in Florida deadsticking it in the grass. Other baits that work greatfor this technique are Baby Advantage jigs, smalltubes, reapers, and curl tail grubs. I use the samebasic colors with my larger baits that I use withthe smaller versions

One of the biggest things you have to remem-ber when finesse flipping is why you are doing it.When fishing pressure gets so bad that you haveto downsize there are other factors to considerbesides just bait selection. Be very quiet! Slowyour trolling motor speed way down to keep fromspooking the fish. Powerpole is making an eightfoot hydraulic anchor for bass boats that is goingto change the way we fish. This anchor allowsyou to sneak up on a spot, such as a tule point orhole in the grass and remotely anchor yourselfthere. This tool allows you to make multiple casts

on a key spot with no noise from your trollingmotor especially handy in windy conditions. Youcan check them out at www.powerpole.com.

Finesse FlippingFinesse Flipping


TheFisherman’sKnot

Shasta is loaded with Spotted, Small Mouth andLargemouth bass, and has something to offer bassanglers throughout the year. Like most any lake,Shasta can challenge even the most experiencedof professional anglers. But through out the fallunder most conditions even novice anglers canexperience the thrill of hooking hard fighting bassby the dozens and even up to a hundred a day.

One reason the fish population has done so wellin Shasta is the amount of available food for thefish. Shasta has a great crawdad population and atremendous amount of shad. There is also brim,bluegill and crappies. Then there’s Trout,Steelhead and Salmon feed the big dawg bass.Speaking of these silver sided devils, they comeup in schools during the fall and bust on the sur-face shad just like bass, so keep an eye out it’s ablast to get a big Trout or Salmon on top water.

Understanding the bass’s food source is animportant factor for locating and catching bass.Fall is the time to catch more and bigger bass onjigs. The bass are becoming more active gettingready for winter and they key on these craws asone of there main food sources. I keep my jigcolor selection simple varying the weight of thejig depending on where the fish are. As for colorsbrown and purple or brown and watermelon arethe most productive combinations. Depending onthe depth of the fish I will use ¼ oz. casting jigs to1 oz. football jigs to get the job done. Fishing in

the 10 foot range gets the 1/4oz jig and fish in the50 foot range will get the 1oz model, the rightweight insures I can keep the jig on the bottom atall times. The equipment I use is stout, I prefer aMedium Heavy Okuma IM-8 Rod with a 5:1Okuma Enduron reel, 15 pound test line couplesthe jig to my rod, and when I swing on a fish Iswing for the fence.

With all of the active schools of shad in thelake, fall is a great time for throwing spinner baits,rip baits and top water baits. There is a system Iuse to determine which bait to use. I’ll describemy methodology to locate and determine my firstactions to pattern and catch these bass.

As soon as I start to pull away from the boatramp I turn on both of my PinPiont finders andstart looking for the bait fish. I look to see if theshad are bunched up in small or large schools, Ilook for signs of active fish chasing bait or sus-pended. I will idle the boat over a couple of pointsand over a couple of cuts, again looking for thepositioning of the fish and bait. It is important tohave a quality fish finder; otherwise you don’tknow what you’re looking at.

If I see the bait or bass active in 30 foot of waterI will start to run points and targeting the 20 to 30foot ranges with jigs, plastic worms and an occa-sionally spinner bait. When the fish and bait are inthe 10-15 foot range I will whip out a rip bait ortop water of some sort and start running the points

to cover as much water as possible. The equipment I use to cover the water is tech-

nique specific depending on the bait I’m using andthe depth of the fish. Fishing small plastic wormsI will use a 6’6” medium action spinning rod witha large spooled Okuma Reel such as the 30 seriesVS or Inspira. I start with 8 pound test but willscale down to 6 pound test if I’m not getting thebites, I’ll experiment with both, sometimes theseguys are line shy and won’t bite with 8lb or heav-ier line. For reaction baits like spinner baits andtop water Vixons the rods and reel are the same a7’ Medium action Guide-Select rod with a lowprofile reel like the VSystem or Nemisis loadedwith either 30 pound braided line or 12 pound testmono. For rip baits I use a 7’ Medium LightOkuma GS rod with the same reel and 10 poundtest fluorocarbon line.

I hope this helps you have a productive day onShasta and remember, when fishing Shasta in thefall turn on your electronics to locate your fish andbe ready to change with the conditions. Take plen-ty of band aids for your thumbs because spottedbass have teeth and make sure you take some oneelse with you so you have a witness to your fishstory and to verify your 100 fish day.

Have fun Fishing,Greg Gutierrez<))><

Fall at Lake ShastaFall at Lake Shasta



“I have tried throwing swimbaits but havenever gotten a bite on one yet so I have kind ofgiven up on them.” Therefore, another conver-sation begins on one of the highest reward pre-sentations in bass fishing...and one of the mostfrustrating.

I typically share my experience with these over-sized creations, it was my third season of throw-ing a swimbait before I got my first bite and fish,a monstrous reward of a two pound, four ouncescrapper! The next day on the lake armed with mytwo swimbaits and the success of the previoustrip, I got my second bite and fish, nine pounds,twelve ounces, now that is what it is all about!Now I have the confidence to carry a selection ofthese unusual baits in my boat most of the year. Ifyou have been unsuccessful with these big baits‘but’ really want to add this presentation to yourbag of tricks, this article is for you.

Begin by tipping the scale in your favor. Youwill need a body of water you know well andwhere you know people catch swimbait fish.You will first need to choose a bait to start fish-ing. Along with an outfit that matches thesize/weight bait you have chosen. You will needdetermination, set days aside to work on thewater and get used to working your bait. Finally,you should seek out someone you know who hasenjoyed success with these baits and ask themfor some coaching.

Choosing the right body of water is a key placeto start. Some lakes have great reputations forproducing fish on swimbaits, every angler on theWest Coast knows of Clear Lake’s reputation, andit is well earned. Others require specialty

approaches that even test the patience of the mostexperienced angler. In my opinion, a beginner hasan excellent chance of catching a fish on a swim-bait on Clear Lake in March and April. Now youknow what lake and when!

The most productive and easy to learn swimbaiton Clear Lake during the spring is the 3:16 LureCompany’s Mission Fish. How do we know this,ask anyone who fishes this lake in spring and themajority of them will list the Mission Fish as oneof their first choices. The fish will be moving intothe tulles to stage and spawn and this bait is verysuccessful at coming through the vegetation andgetting bites. For the beginner, go with the five-inch size in the shad, hitch, or pearl color. A two-pound fish will smash this bait as hard as a sevenpound fish.

This particular bait runs on the light side forswimbaits so your equipment choices are simpler.Use a seven to seven foot six inch graphite rod ina medium heavy fast action. Good examples arethe Powell 704, Rogue SB796, or LoomisIMX844. If you have chosen a bigger bait to startyour hunt with, look to the Rogue SB807 orSB808, good rods at reasonable prices. Theserods all have soft enough tips with this weight baitto allow the fish to “load” the rod tip before youset the hook, a flipping stick does not. Use a qual-ity reel that can hold enough 20 to 25 pound testmonofilament to make some real long casts andhave some backing still on the spool. Keep thegear ratio of the real down in the 5.0 to 1 range, asyou will not be burning these baits.

Now that you have the equipment and themindset, dedicate the time to practice on thewater. Ask your coach for a little help in getting

you started in the right direction, “fish the tulesin four to six feet of water on the North end ofthe lake”. And the particular bait in this exam-ple...do not set the hook until the rod loads up,this isn’t jig fishing!

For the sake of the drill, I filled in the blanks formy lake; you fill in the blanks for your choice oflake. I have yet to coach someone through thebeginning phase of this process for my lake andhad them have an unsuccessful trip and I trulybelieve if you can catch your first swimbait fish,you can catch many, many more. Follow this tem-plate and it won’t take you three seasons of trialand error like it did for me.

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Lake Powell

Like a mythical creature, Lake Powell’snumerous fingers spanning over 180 miles andoffer over 1900 miles of fishable shoreline.Long considered one of the most beautifullakes in the world, Lake Powell is located onthe Utah Arizona border in the heart of famedColor Country. A visual treat to all visitors thescenery alone is worth the trip, add to that thefact that Powell is one of the finest fisheries inthe Western United States and you have theperfect recipe for a trip of a lifetime.Venturing up Lake Powell anglers will find awealth of opportunities to catch Largemouth,Stripers, Walleye, and even Pike. However, theincredible Smallmouth fishing really sets thislake apart. Anglers targeting these feistybronze backs can expect 40 to 80 fish days inboth the spring and fall with average sizes inthe pound and a half range. While fish in thisclass offer plenty of excitement it is the three tofour pounders that really gets my blood going,but to catch these guys you need to think out-side the box. Most anglers come to LakePowell with the perception that because of itscrystal clear waters and lack of visible coverthat it’s a finesse only lake, I can tell you noth-

ing could be further from the truth.Dismiss the Myth!If you are venturing to Lake Powell this

year and really want to tap into the true natureof the beast, then you want to attack it withpure power. Forget the finesse worms, 4lb line,and # 4 mosquito hooks. While these tech-niques will produce plenty of bites, they willnot consistently produce the larger fish thatinhabit about every square mile of this160,000-acre impoundment.

Starting in the spring anglers should targetany of the major creeks located on Powell. TheBass will be migrating from their main lakewinter haunts to the backs of these creekstoward spawning flats. Water temperatures inthe creeks will always warm first and thus offerthe best first of the year fishing. Look for pri-mary and secondary points adjacent to spawn-ing flats, and you will always find big schoolsof smallies in early spring. To target thesefish I like to hit them with 1oz Yamamoto jigs,3/4 to 1oz Pepper Hawg spinnerbaits, and larg-er wide wobble cranks that dive to 12 to 14feet of water. Color selections this time of yearwill vary with water clarity, but the two main

forages will be crayfish, and both Threadfinand Gizzard Shad, so brownish green on jigs,and white on the reaction baits seem to workbest. As spring gets into full swing and watertemperatures approach the sixty degrees mark Igo shallow with a barrage of jerk baits and lip-less cranks targeting any spawning flat I canfind. Spawning flats on Powell seem to besandier than most lakes because of the lack ofgravel, so don’t be afraid to hit these sandy nonothing looking banks, smallmouth will spawnin these areas, I have caught plenty tournamentwinning fish on these overlooked areas. Onceagain, it is the old rule of thumb, big baits catchbig fish, so do not down size. Instead, coverwater, and use a faster than normal retrieve asSmallmouth are highly aggressive and will justtry to kill anything stupid enough to come intheir path. As the spawn, hits full swing bedfishing is second to none Schools of bass liter-ally take over an area and the real key is just tolook for the larger fish. With it’s clear waterthis is real easy to do, basic bed baits likeTubes, Jigs, Lizards will all work great, theone thing to keep in mind is because of thewater clarity you may want to keep back and



make longer casts to the fish.Summertime fishing on Lake Powell can be

just incredible. The reaction bite is on, and uti-lizing baits that will cover all areas of the watercolumn is the trick. For me I like to start withbig noisy baits like Mega Strikes CavatronBuzz Bait, Rio Ricos, or Andre Moore’s Vixon,anything I can move fast and catch the atten-tion of a school of fish. I like to start on out-side points in the mouth of cuts, bays, coves,anything close to the main lake, this is where Ifind the majority of larger fish. Its kind like theline at the ice cream truck, where is the biggestfattest, meanest, kid? Not at the back of theline that is for sure! He is at the front; gettingfed first The same is true with Powell bass. Thebass will be waiting for the Stripers to movethe food to them, pushing the shad into a killzone, and you can bet the biggest bass will befirst in line. During the day, I like to target bigbroken rock on the side of canyon walls withwhite 1oz Yamamoto Hula Grubs. Like allclear water reservoirs shade is a huge key,whether it docks, and tire reefs, floating tum-bleweeds, tamerask, Cottonwoods, ledges orjust giant slick rock walls. Bass have a hugeadvantage over their prey in these low lightareas and will congregate there all day.Throwing crankbait’s, rip baits, jigs, senkos,flukes in these areas can trigger inactive bass atany given time as well. This is one of the fewtimes of year I Drop Shot on Lake Powell andwhen I do it’s still with a bait like a five or sixinch Senko, I once again am always throwingbaits that keep the pesky smaller fish awayand ensure that when I swing its on a goodquality LP Bass.

Fall fishing may be the best of the year! Thekey is to find the grass most of which are backin the creek areas of the lake, so were almostbacktracking to the same areas as spring. Themajor difference is finding the bait, which inrecent years seems to be everywhere.Following striper boils will usually key you offto good areas of bait, move to the closestshoreline from the boils for hungry mixes of

both Large and Smallmouth. Bass are justroaming this time of year gorging themselveson everything they can, and when your baitcrosses their path they won’t stop till they eatit. The big key again is to find the bait, so youjust wanna burn all the water you can ontrolling motor constantly fishing fresh water.Look to the back of sandy bays, flats, cutsanywhere there is grass and the bait shouldnot be far. This time of year everything goesout the window, structure, cover, depth, allbecome totally meaningless, it’s all about theshad. Moreover, when you find them, youwill find mind-blowing schools of bass, 50to a 100 fish in one area. You can target theseschools all day long, using about any tech-nique you like. Just remember to “dismissthe myth” If you want to catch big LP,bass give them a meal.

My top bait selections for Lake Powellinclude:

Lucky Craft LV 500, Pearl Ayu andChartreuse Shad. Reaction InnovationsVixon, Super Spooks, and Lucky CraftSammy’s and Gun Fish, shad colors. MegaStrikes Cavitron Buzz Bait in Bleeding Shad.2 series Yamamoto Grubs (6 inch) in colors221,176, 031. Pepper Jigs 3/8 ounce inBrown with 221 Yamamoto twin tail (97series) White 1oz with 031 single tail (18series)

Lucky Craft CB350 and Pro Tune DD inGhost Minnow, Chanteuse Shad, and PearlAyu. Pepper Hawg and YamamotoSpinnerbaits 3/8, 3/4, 1oz. Colorado, Willowin Shad Patterns. Yamamoto Senkos 5inch incolors 221, 327, 306. Reaction Innovation Flirt4.95 in / Spanish Fly, Spring Break, andSloppy Joe.

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As the Columbia River meanders through east-ern Washington from its headwaters in Canada, itfollows a river bed carved out of Basalt rock andwaste land. The river bed was formed by thewaters of the Missoula Floods that occurred sev-eral times over the past millennium. If one canimagine the water level in eastern Washington was800 to 900 feet deep and traveling at approximate-ly 65 to 70 miles per hour. Some of the most mag-nificent scenery seen in eastern Washington is evi-dence of these horrific floods that occurred duringthese times. The Hanford Reach Area below PriestRapids Dam is the last free flowing stretch of theColumbia River it is 46 miles long, quite shallowand has very fast current. This area is very popu-lar for sight seeing tours and has some excellentSmallmouth fishing. If you are not familiar withthis area it is extremely hazardous to navigate.There are three rivers that feed the ColumbiaRiver on Lake Wallulla the Yakima River, SnakeRiver, and the Walla Walla River. These threerivers all add color and increased temperature tothe Columbia which has very clear water.

The Columbia River has nine dams in

Washington which are used for flood control,power generation, and irrigation water for theColumbia Basin Project it also provides water andpower for the state of Oregon.

There are several species of fish in theColumbia such as Sturgeon, several types ofSalmon, Steelhead, Shad, Largemouth andSmallmouth Bass, Walleye and a host ofother species.

Smallmouth Bass fishing on the ColumbiaRiver is second to none. Two of my favorite poolsto fish are lakes Umatilla and Wallula.

Lake Umatilla lies between McNary Damand John Day Dam. This body of water isapproximately 70 miles long and has excellenthabitat for Smallmouth Bass. Both the Oregonand Washington shores provide a variety ofpoints, flats, drop offs, current breaks andexcellent spawning areas for the bass whichaccounts for the tremendous numbers ofSmallmouth in this pool.

This body of water is deep, wide, and has muchless current than the pool above McNary Dam,however current is important when fishing this

body of water because the fish are use to the cur-rent washing food downstream and when the cur-rent slows down the fishing becomes difficultbecause the fish scatter and no longer relate tocurrent breaks.

There is very little pressure on the fish in thisbody of water from Monday through Friday as itis unusual to see another bass boat. This is one ofthe reasons why the fishing is some of the best aperson can find. Anglers can expect to catch any-where from 30 to 50 Smallmouth per day duringthe peak season. My personal best was in August2002 when a friend and I caught and released135 Smallmouth in 11 hours! One of the condi-tions to watch for is the wind in this area as it canbecome hazardous.

The season is open all year however my guidebusiness runs generally April to mid October. Thebest times to catch trophy Smallmouth are eitherApril to mid May and again in late September tomid October. It is possible to catch Smallmouth inexcess of 6 pounds, check the 7 pound 2 ounceSmallmouth caught by one of my clients PaulLindberg on October 10, 2003. It can be seen on

Columbia River



my web-site, www.Adkinsonbass.com. The forage base on both lakes Umatilla and

Wallula consists of several different types of min-nows including Sculpin, Peamouth, Resided min-nows, Northern pike minnows, Shad, and others.They also will feed heavily on Crayfish.

I use a variety of baits for Smallmouth includ-ing Crankbaits, Kalin Grubs, Rattletraps, jerk-baits, flukes, Senkos, topwater, Terminator spin-nerbaits, Basstrix lures, and gitzits in Watermelongreen which is known locally as “Ol Ugly”, myonly claim to fame because it’s named after me.

In the spring I use a lot of plastics when thebass are spawning either Kalin grubs, gitzits orBasstrix lures can be utilized to entice theSmallmouth to bite at this time. Use anywherefrom 1/8 to 3/8 lead head jigs depending on thewater depth and current. Concentrate on flats thathave a hard bottom which attracts theSmallmouth to their spawning areas, cast theselures in these areas and you will experience someexplosive strikes when you get your lure in oneof their beds!

Summer time in late June through midSeptember can be very productive. One of myfavorite lures at this time is the ½ oz. Rattletrap byBill Lewis in Blue and Chrome. It is possible tocatch two bass at a time when using this lure. Thisis also a time when I fish drop offs and underwater humps in deeper water. The bass have a ten-dency to go a little deeper during the hotter sum-mer months.

In the fall mid September to late October, LakeWallula in the Richland area where the YakimaRiver enters the Columbia can be very productive

for big Smallmouth. Cast either Senkos or Flukesin Shad patterns on the Yakima Delta where thecurrent pushes bait fish up into the shallows. Bigfish are attracted by top water baits at this time ofyear such as the “Rico” by Lucky Craft or the“Pop R” fish the Pasco side of the river in 4’ to10’. As I mentioned earlier, I had a client catch a7lb 2oz Smallmouth on a “Pop R” using aLamiglas Titanium 703 Spinning rod with 8#McCoy Mean Green line. Another popularmethod at this time of year is the Carolina riggedZoom Lizard in Watermelon Red Flake. Look forweed lines with current and drag this lure aroundthese areas for quality Smallmouth.

The Columbia River in the Tri-Cities,Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland, has been thesite of four BassMaster Open Events since 1998and is scheduled for more in the future. TheColumbia River here in the Tri-City area hasworld class Smallmouth fishing. For more infor-mation on fishing this area contact Bob Adkinsonat www.adkinsonbass.com .

Good Luck and Safe Fishing.

Bob Adkinson

Sponsored by:Stratos Boats, Evinrude Motors, Lamiglas

Rods, McCoy fishing Line, Kalin Lures, Tri-StateMarine Nampa, ID, Northwest Marine & Sport,Pasco, WA, Ranch & Home Kennewick,WA,Finishcraft Auto & Boat repair, Pasco, WA and“Adkinson’s Guide Service”.

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WHERE THEPRO’S GO!


History of Brownlee ReservoirNestled between the boundaries of Idaho and

Oregon, lies Brownlee reservoir. It was construct-ed on the Snake River between 1955 and 1960 byIdaho Power for the purpose of hydroelectric gen-eration. Brownlee reservoir was named for Mr.Brown and Mr. Lee who operated a ferry acrossthe Snake River in the mid-1800’s. This body ofwater has since become a favorite destination foranglers in search for smallmouth bass, as well asother species of warm water fish.

Brownlee is a canyon reservoir located in whatis classified as high desert. The reservoir covers15,000 acres and is 41 miles long. Its maximumdepth is 290 feet with an average depth of 95 feet.The maximum width is 1.2 miles. The shores offera variety of fishing opportunities ranging fromgravel flats to vertical rocky bluffs.Species of FishThe angler hoping for a variety of fishing oppor-

tunities won’t be disappointed. Smallmouth bass isone of the favorite species sought after in thisreservoir. It supports a population of both small-mouth and largemouth bass, with the smallmouthbeing the dominate species. They will be foundthroughout the reservoir. The largemouth will typ-

ically be found in the upper section of the lake andthe Powder River arm.

Large numbers of crappie are harvested everyyear throughout the fishing season. The most pro-ductive time is in the spring and early summermonths. It is not uncommon to find a school pop-ulated with 10-13” slabs inhabiting the steep bluffsand points. Also encountered are bluegill and anoccasional pumpkinseed.

Yellow perch can be found in schools, movingalong the shorelines or suspended over submergedpoints and islands. The most effective bait will besmall jigs or live worms.

If whiskered fish are your choice, a healthy pop-ulation of channel cat, blue cat and flat heads areeasily found. They will often surprise an unsus-pecting angler by hitting moving baits such ascrankbaits, rattlebaits or soft plastics. Cut baits andworms will insure plenty of action with theseheavy, line stripping fish.

For fishermen with a desire to catch rainbowtrout, these fish can be found in the deep, coolersections of the lake near the dam. Fishing is best inthe winter months by trolling with rooster tails,spoons or Rapala’s. Bank fishing using worms orBerkley Power Bait can also be productive.

Prepare for the tripBrownlee reservoir acts as the dividing line

between the states of Idaho and Oregon. A licensefrom either state will allow you to use the facilitiesof either state to put in or take out boats, as long asyou do not fish from the shore, dock, or a dockedboat in the state which you do not hold a license.The current Idaho limit is 6 bass over 12”. Beforewetting a line, be sure to check the regulations forthe state you have a license.

When preparing to fish Brownlee in the earlyspring or late fall months, bring extra clothing, asdramatic weather changes are not uncommon. Oneof the more common factors encountered is wind.Certain sections of the reservoir have a tendency tohave more wind than others, so a move to anothersection may prove helpful. In the event it doesn’t,a drift sock or an anchor may salvage an otherwisefrustrating day on the water.Rainfall is most com-mon in the early spring and late fall months.Summers are typically dry, but intense thunder-storms can appear suddenly. Be aware of theweather conditions around you and tune in to alocal radio station for a current weather forecastwhen conditions are questionable. The lake can getrough when high winds blow, so be safe. In the

Idaho�sBrownlee Reservoir



summer, the days are long and hot. It is advisableto bring plenty of fluids to drink. Water is best, butsport drinks are fine, too. It is important to take thetime to actually consume the drinks, as they won’tkeep you hydrated if they are riding around in thebottle. If you consider consuming alcoholic bever-ages while fishing, I’d advise against it for tworeasons. 1.) Beer and water (lake) should never bemixed. Save that for later, when you are sittingaround the campfire, recounting your fish stories.2.) Beer acts as a diuretic, causing you to urinatemore, thus resulting in dehydration. Again, drinkwater during the day and celebrate later.Sun blockis another important item to have in the boat. I pre-fer to use Bull Frog as it is water proof and has aSPF of 30 to 45, depending on the product youselect. I’ve personally found the gel to be the eas-iest and least messy toapply. If you’ll apply it tothe sun exposed areas firstthing in the morning, youwon’t have to worry aboutit, even if you decide to gofor a swim in the heat of theafternoon. You’ll avoidpainful sunburns and futuretrips to your dermatologist.Seasonal Patterns

SpringAs the water begins to

warm in early spring, thefish will move from thedeep winter haunts to thechannels and ledges thatlead to the spawning flats.You should look for bankswith a 45 degree slope andin the back of coves. A variety of techniques can beused this time of year, depending on the stage ofthe spawn you wish to target. Smallmouth will typ-ically spawn once the water temperature reachesthe 55 degree range. This is a time where suspend-ing jerkbaits such as the Lucky Craft Staysee 90will work well. Bass will often respond best to abait that is retrieved using a jerk and pause motion.You will need to experiment with your presenta-tion as the mood of the fish can change dramatical-ly as the temperatures change. In clear water, usethe natural colors such as Ghost Minnow or AuroraPro Blue. In water that is more off colored,Chartreuse Shad or Table Rock Shad are excellentcolors.

Crankbaits that are retrieved along the bottom,bumping into rocky structure, will often triggersome of the larger bass to strike. It is best to imi-tate a crawfish in a natural green, brown or redcolor. In discolored water, a brighter color, such asa Citrus Fat Free Shad is a good choice.

Another method to target the fish holding on thespawning flats is a Carolina rigged lizard. Fishreact well to watermelon pepper or green pumpkinbaits. Hula grubs fished on a football head jig canalso be productive when using natural colors toimitate a crayfish. Don’t forget topwater baits asthe water continues to warm. Some of the mostaggressive strikes will come from fishing topwaterbaits such as the Storm Chug Bug in chrome /black back or firetiger.

SummerAfter the spawn and as the weather continues to

warm, the fish will move to the deep water pointsand ledges. They will move up shallow in the earlymorning and evenings to feed, so this is a goodtime to throw reaction baits. Crankbaits, rattlebaitsand spinnerbaits work well this time of year. Theearly morning and late evening hours are also agood time to throw topwater baits. Hunt for shadeamong the bluffs to extend the topwater bite. Oncethe sun hits the water surface, the fish will returnto the deeper water. You will need to move outwith the fish and search for structure that they willhold on. A great presentation is a drop shot whenfishing the clear water in the lower portion of thereservoir. Hand poured baits excel for this applica-tion and SnakeBite baits by Brian Quinnett are

some of the finest. My favorite styles are the 4”finesse worm and the 3” leech in green watermel-on / pepper, green pumpkin / pepper and black /red flake. Smallmouth aren’t typically very pickyand will often bite anything, but it is a good idea tostick to the natural appearing baits in the clearwater areas. Mike’s baitfish is my favorite whenattempting to imitate small crappie fry.

Other deep water techniques such as the c-rigwith a ¾-1 oz Lindy weight will work well whendrug over the structure at depths of 20-50 feet. Ahula grub rigged on a heavy football head jig willalso be effective. Don’t forget about downsizingyour rig and split shotting small baits such as atube or a minnow imitation. FallThis is one of the most productive times of the

year as the bass are aggressively feeding in prepa-ration for the winter. They will be found chasingschools of crappie fry and will regurgitate them asyou bring them to the boat. Reaction baits willwork well as the bass will move shallow to feed.The drop shot, c-rig and hula grubs continue towork well. Be alert to the fact that the fish maydemonstrate a preference to suspended baits overbottom baits in this situation and adjust yourmethod accordingly.

Water LevelsWater levels can vary dependingon the time of year and amount of mountain snowpack available as run off. The amount of variationhas decreased significantly in recent years, thanks

to the Friends of Brownlee. This group has workedclosely with Idaho Power and other regulatorycommissions to maintain a more consistent waterlevel. This has improved the spawning conditionsfor bass, crappie and other resident species. As aresult, the fish populations have rebounded fromprevious years where numbers were less than opti-mal.

During the winter months, the reservoir is usu-ally near full pool. In preparation for spring run offand to assist the salmon smolt in their down rivermigration by increasing flow, the water level islowered. The water levels during the summermonths will typically remain steady until thedemand for energy increases to the point that thewater is used to generate electricity. During thistime, algae blooms can be quite profound, espe-

cially in the upper portions of thereservoir. The fall will see the reser-voir refilling, once the need for addi-tional energy subsides.

You can obtain current water levelinformation by connecting to theIdaho Power website at

http://www.idahopower.com/riversrec/waterlevels/reservoir.asp or you can call their toll free number at1-800-422-3143.How to get thereThere are a number of boat ramps available to

access Brownlee reservoir. The main ramp on theIdaho side is Woodhead Park, which is owned andoperated by Idaho Power. It is located two milesabove the dam and offers modern camping facili-ties complete with heated bathrooms and showers.This campground can be found about 80 milesnorthwest of Boise, Idaho. Follow highway 95 toCambridge, Idaho then turn onto highway 71,which will then wander through the mountaincanyons to the dam. The road continues until itends at the Hells Canyon gorge.

If you are approaching Brownlee from theOregon side of the reservoir, Spring RecreationalFacility near Huntington, Oregon is a good placeto launch your boat. There are no camping facili-ties available. When the water level is about 26’below full pool, the main ramp is no longer usable.There is an old ramp to the side that will allowlaunching a boat when water conditions are lower.A huge rock is present between the ramps, so caremust be used when driving the boat to or from theramps, as it is not marked with a buoyContactsFor information regarding the current condi-

tions at Brownlee Reservoir, contact the followingbusinesses:




GuidesAmador, Pardee & CamancheGil's Guide Service Gilbert Camargo209-274-6996 specializing inNight trips at Amador andSmallmouth at Pardeewww.fishgil.net

Clear LakeClear Lake Guide ServiceRoss England707-349-1427www.clearlakeguideservice.com

Ca Delta, Don PedroFishing Instructor Guide ServiceRandy Pringle209-543-6260www.fishinginstructor.com

Ca DeltaBack to Class Guide ServiceBobby Barrack925-684-9904www.bobbybarrack.com/

Mother Load LakesCamanche Jack's Guide ServiceJack Billington209-296-6200www.camanchejacksworms.com

Ca Delta, Clear LakeAndy "Cooch" Cuccia925-625-5148www.coochsfishing.homestead.com

Ca DeltaGone Fishing Guide ServiceMark Lassagne925-676-3474www.ezbass.com

Guide Listings onwww.westernbass.com

Boat DealersAdam's MarineSkeeterSuisun, CA707-429-1111www.adams-marine.com

Anglers MarineRanger, Champion, TrackerAnaheim, CA714-666-2628www.anglersmarine.com

Boat Insurance1-800-BASSBOATStan & Ken VanderburgSpecializing in Bass Boats800-227-7262

Tackle ShopsBass World West2144 N Tustin AveSanta Ana, CA 92705714-667-6006www.basworldwest.com

Coyote Bait & TackleSouth San Jose8215 Montery HwyCoyote, CA 95013408-463-0711www.coyotebait.com

Dave Bass Shack651-C West Grant Line RdTracy, CA 95376209-835-6537www.davesbassshack.com

Escalon Bait & Tackle2235 Jackson Ave Hwy 120Escalon, CA 95320209- 838-6722

Extreme Angler1625 Main Street #4Oakley, CA 94561925-679-3115www.extremeangler.net

Fish Tales Bait & Tackle32235 Mission Trail # B11Lake Elsinore, CA 92530951-609-2277

Fisherman's WarehouseSacramento9035 Folsom BlvdSacramento, CA 95832916-362-1200

Fisherman's WarehouseManteca2201 E Yosemite BlvdManteca, CA 95336209-239-2248

Fisherman's WarehouseSan Jose1140 South De Avza BlvdSan Jose, CA 95129408-873-0113

Fisherman's WarehouseFresno4175 E Ashland AveFresno, CA 93726559-225-1838

Fisherman's WarehouseRocklin4430 Granite Dr. #BRocklin, CA 95677916-415-0800

Hi's Tackle Box3141 Clement StreetSan Francisco, CA 94121415-221-3825www.histacklebox.com

Hogan's Sports1500 Contra Costa Blvd.Pleasant Hill, CA 94523925-686-1985

Hook Line & Sinker3100 Main Street #260Oakley, CA 94561925-625-2441Hook 2 On the Water925-684-0668

J & T Tackle1750 #E Los Angeles AveSemi Valley, CA 93065888-968-3474

Limit Gift & Tackle12607 E Hwy. 20PO Box 704Clearlake Oaks, CA 95423707- 998-1006

Mel Cotton's1266 West San Carlos StreetSan Jose, Ca 95126408- 287-5994

www.melcottons.com

Nor-Cal Fishing1776 Arnold Industrial WayConcord, CA 94520925- 609-7100

Ocean Aire ElectronicsDepth finders / GPS125 Harbor Way #7Santa Barbra, CA 93109805-962-9385www.oceanaireelectronics.com

Phil's Propellers3037 Twin View BlvdShasta Lake, CA 96019800-462-3917www.philsprop.com

Tackle Warehouse3536 South Higuera StSan Luis Obispo, CA 93401805-784-0901www.tacklewarehouse.com

Tracy Oasis12450 West Grimes Rd.Tracy, Ca 95376209-835-3182www.tracyoasismarina.com

Troy's Outdoor Sports2907 West Capitol AvenueWest Sacramento, CA 95691916-373-1290

Walton's Pond14837 Washington AvenueSan Leandro, CA 94578510- 352-3932

MarinasCamanche Recreation Center2000 Camanche Rd.Ione, CA 95640209-763-5166Boat Rentals, Great Rates

Russo's Marina3995 Willow RdBethel Island, CA 94511925-684-2024



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