OPPORTUNITY?
In the last 30 years or so, bass fishing or more precisely tournament bass fishing, has become a market industry all it's own. Tournaments have spread to other species and this has helped the recreational fishing market continue to grow. As fishermen, from the casual day off on the lake to a local team tournament to a multi-day tournament sponsored by a national organization there are opportunities for us all.
Think about all that "stuff" we have to choose from in the fishing marketplace. Someone thought up all those baits and techniques for example and acted on those thoughts turning them into products for the rest of us and building a small business opportunity for themselves. We are only limited by our imagination and ambition in this market.
Think about all that "stuff" we have to choose from in the fishing marketplace. Someone thought up all those baits and techniques for example and acted on those thoughts turning them into products for the rest of us and building a small business opportunity for themselves. We are only limited by our imagination and ambition in this market.
LOWRANCE ELECTRONICS
Practice with your electronics so you utilize them to their fullest while spending the most time fishing. When it comes to all the "stuff" we fishermen buy, a fishermen's electronics are probably the least understood tools he has on his boat. Lowrance has the easiest to use units on the market. At first just turn the unit on and watch it alot. As you get used to what you are seeing then start experimenting with the settings and see what works best for you. One of the first things to customize would be the overlay data. This is the digital information that you can see on each screen, whether it is the sonar, chart or any combo screen. Each screen will need to be set up but the customized looks can be what suits you best. For example, I like to put everything in the same place on every screen I use. This way I'm not looking for information on each screen. I set my overlay data up like this; the speed always in the upper left corner, the depth in the upper right corner, the water temp in the middle of the top of the screen and the local time in the middle of the bottom of every screen. You can experiment with different palettes or colors in sonar and structure scan for example. Search through the menus and learn your electronics. It's worth the time in fishing situations. You will learn to catch more fish.
SWIMBAITS
Catching big bass is always a thrill and as your fishing prowess increases and just catching any bass doesn't do it for you and you want to concentrate on the big ones, then it's time to tie on a swimbait. This is usually a presentation where you are not looking for large numbers of bites. The bites on a swimbait are fewer but the ones you get will be larger than average most of the time. Those big bass, those over 5 pounds eat bigger meals and will chomp a swimbait when the conditions are right. Experiment with these big baits on your local lake in many different conditions and this experience will lead you to what is "right" for success on your water and fishing style.
Osprey's Tournament Series Top Hook Talon with an internal weight and an exposed single hook on the top of the body. This is a great bait for probing the deeper depths without hanging up as much as those baits with the traditional treble hook on the belly. Throw these baits over long main lake points and rocky areas. Use different retrieve speeds until the fish tell you what they want although normally the slower the better. Another technique to try is to keep your boat shallow and throw into deeper water and bring the swimbait uphill bumping the bottom. The fish don't see this as much and absolutely crush it at times.
I really like to use the YUM Money Minnow for times when the swimbait bite is not "wide open". The is more of a subtle approach that can really get um. I like to throw mine on a 1/2 ounce football head. Rig them a couple days early and super glue the bait to the back of the football head. This will save you time on the water after you catch a fish the bait won't pull down a easily and be ready for the next cast quicker. Be patient and these baits will bring new personal best records your way.
TUNING A CRANKBAIT
For a crankbait to work correctly it must be tuned to run straight while being retrieved through the water after a cast. One way to see the tuning of a crankbait, is to retrieve it in a swimming pool and then watch carefully how it runs. If the crankbait runs to one side or the other during the retrieve it is not in tune.
If the lure is not running straight, bend the eye slightly in the direction you want the lure to run. Example, if you have a Bomber Model A and during a retrieve the bait veers to the left then take a pair of needle nose pliers and with the bait facing you very slightly bend the eye or the bait to the left. Continue to do this until the lure runs absolutely straight. A lure only achieves it's maximum depth when it runs straight and true in the water.
At the end of each day of fishing you should play back the tapes of your performance in your mind. The results should either applaud you or prod you to make necessary changes to increase future success. Part of success is "preparation on purpose".
Running the Tides of the San Joaquin Delta
Modified and Rewritten by Ken
Each and every day there is at least one time when the bite will be “ON”. Delta bass mainly live in the 2-4 foot range most of the time and at different times of the day and different times of the year they relate to different structure. In general, I have found that at the higher tides bass relate to the shallow flats, rocks and weeds. Then when the tide runs out they relate more to edges and ledges, off shore weeds and structures. “Now” when you find the bite good on a certain type of structure it can in many cases last for several hours over different parts of the Delta.
Say for example you find a good bite around Big Break on the high tide, rocks and weeds. But the bite seems to go away after the tide switches, “which is usually the case”. From Big Break run up river toward Stockton say 10 miles, now you catch the same tide where you were catching fish. Just find similar structure and fish until the bite stops then run south or north again. From Antioch to the Southern Delta there is about 4-5 hours difference so you can follow the tide for over half a day.
Now to go backwards, if you are down south or north and the bite is poor, you can run toward the west and change your tide. The one thing you don’t want to do is follow a bad tide. If they are not biting, don’t follow that same tide down south, either wait for the bite to come on or go west to change the tide you are fishing. The whole key to running the tide is to get on the bite and try to keep it going throughout the day. One thing I do when starting out is to use reaction baits until I find the bite starting to pick up. I may start out with a Cordell Spot and after catching a few fish I’ll switch to a Spinnerbait “Booyah of course” then to a YUM Dinger weightless worm or either a YUM Mega tube or Crawbug to entice a few bigger bites. And maybe top water if the water is clear and warm. Milk the bite for as long as you can then run a few miles and start over.
Before you start running the tides you first need to understand the tides and what they are. I use the Hal Schell’s Stockton tide chart for the simple reason that I have most of the area times memorized. I would recommend no matter which book you use stay with the same one year after year. Tides are water movement created by the sun and moon. Each day the water comes from the ocean and travels inland then back again, “twice”. In some areas of the Delta the water goes up and down and other areas have current. The water level moves 1 to 6 ft per tide and advances forward about 70 minutes each day. Tides are similar every other week. This means if you catch fish this week it will not be the same next week. Also the water level is important. There are 6 different tides to be concerned with: Incoming, Outgoing, High Tide, Low Tide and each of the switches. A key thing to remember is to fish your best spots on the switches. Plan your day around the tides. Pay attention to what tide you caught fish on.
A Simple Tidal Model
To illustrate the basic idea with a simple model of a planet completely covered by an ocean of uniform depth, with very little friction between the ocean and the ocean floor. The gravitational attraction of the Moon produces two tidal bulges on opposite sides of the Earth.
Competition between the Sun and Moon in producing tides
Without getting too much into the technical details, there are two bulges because of the differential gravitational forces. The liquid at point A is closer to the Moon and experiences a larger gravitational force than the Earth at point B or the ocean at point C. Because it experiences a larger attraction, it is pulled away from the Earth, toward the Moon, thus producing the bulge on the right side. Loosely, we may think of the bulge on the left side as arising because the Earth is pulled away from the water on that side because the gravitational force exerted by the Moon at point B is larger than that exerted at point C. Then, as our idealized Earth rotates under these bulges, a given point on the surface will experience two high and two low tides for each rotation of the planet.
Spring Tides and Neap Tides
Another complication of a realistic model is that not only the Moon, but other objects in the Solar System, influences the Earth's tides. For most their tidal forces are negligible on Earth, but the differential gravitational force of the Sun does influence our tides to some degree (the effect of the Sun on Earth tides is less than half that of the Moon).
For example, particularly large tides are experienced in the Earth's oceans when the Sun and the Moon are lined up with the Earth at new and full phases of the Moon. These are called spring tides (the name is not associated with the season of Spring). The amount of enhancement in Earth's tides is about the same whether the Sun and Moon are lined up on opposite sides of the Earth (full Lunar phase) or on the same side (new Lunar phase). Conversely, when the Moon is at first quarter or last quarter phase (meaning that it is located at right angles to the Earth-Sun line), the Sun and Moon interfere with each other in producing tidal bulges and tides are generally weaker; these are called neap tides.
Some of this information may be a little "deep" for us fishermen but the expand our visualization of what is going on in the body of water we are fishing may just help us understand a little more how to figure out these little green fish we so desperately are trying to catch. Good fishing.
Modified and Rewritten by Ken
Each and every day there is at least one time when the bite will be “ON”. Delta bass mainly live in the 2-4 foot range most of the time and at different times of the day and different times of the year they relate to different structure. In general, I have found that at the higher tides bass relate to the shallow flats, rocks and weeds. Then when the tide runs out they relate more to edges and ledges, off shore weeds and structures. “Now” when you find the bite good on a certain type of structure it can in many cases last for several hours over different parts of the Delta.
Say for example you find a good bite around Big Break on the high tide, rocks and weeds. But the bite seems to go away after the tide switches, “which is usually the case”. From Big Break run up river toward Stockton say 10 miles, now you catch the same tide where you were catching fish. Just find similar structure and fish until the bite stops then run south or north again. From Antioch to the Southern Delta there is about 4-5 hours difference so you can follow the tide for over half a day.
Now to go backwards, if you are down south or north and the bite is poor, you can run toward the west and change your tide. The one thing you don’t want to do is follow a bad tide. If they are not biting, don’t follow that same tide down south, either wait for the bite to come on or go west to change the tide you are fishing. The whole key to running the tide is to get on the bite and try to keep it going throughout the day. One thing I do when starting out is to use reaction baits until I find the bite starting to pick up. I may start out with a Cordell Spot and after catching a few fish I’ll switch to a Spinnerbait “Booyah of course” then to a YUM Dinger weightless worm or either a YUM Mega tube or Crawbug to entice a few bigger bites. And maybe top water if the water is clear and warm. Milk the bite for as long as you can then run a few miles and start over.
Before you start running the tides you first need to understand the tides and what they are. I use the Hal Schell’s Stockton tide chart for the simple reason that I have most of the area times memorized. I would recommend no matter which book you use stay with the same one year after year. Tides are water movement created by the sun and moon. Each day the water comes from the ocean and travels inland then back again, “twice”. In some areas of the Delta the water goes up and down and other areas have current. The water level moves 1 to 6 ft per tide and advances forward about 70 minutes each day. Tides are similar every other week. This means if you catch fish this week it will not be the same next week. Also the water level is important. There are 6 different tides to be concerned with: Incoming, Outgoing, High Tide, Low Tide and each of the switches. A key thing to remember is to fish your best spots on the switches. Plan your day around the tides. Pay attention to what tide you caught fish on.
A Simple Tidal Model
To illustrate the basic idea with a simple model of a planet completely covered by an ocean of uniform depth, with very little friction between the ocean and the ocean floor. The gravitational attraction of the Moon produces two tidal bulges on opposite sides of the Earth.
Competition between the Sun and Moon in producing tides
Without getting too much into the technical details, there are two bulges because of the differential gravitational forces. The liquid at point A is closer to the Moon and experiences a larger gravitational force than the Earth at point B or the ocean at point C. Because it experiences a larger attraction, it is pulled away from the Earth, toward the Moon, thus producing the bulge on the right side. Loosely, we may think of the bulge on the left side as arising because the Earth is pulled away from the water on that side because the gravitational force exerted by the Moon at point B is larger than that exerted at point C. Then, as our idealized Earth rotates under these bulges, a given point on the surface will experience two high and two low tides for each rotation of the planet.
Spring Tides and Neap Tides
Another complication of a realistic model is that not only the Moon, but other objects in the Solar System, influences the Earth's tides. For most their tidal forces are negligible on Earth, but the differential gravitational force of the Sun does influence our tides to some degree (the effect of the Sun on Earth tides is less than half that of the Moon).
For example, particularly large tides are experienced in the Earth's oceans when the Sun and the Moon are lined up with the Earth at new and full phases of the Moon. These are called spring tides (the name is not associated with the season of Spring). The amount of enhancement in Earth's tides is about the same whether the Sun and Moon are lined up on opposite sides of the Earth (full Lunar phase) or on the same side (new Lunar phase). Conversely, when the Moon is at first quarter or last quarter phase (meaning that it is located at right angles to the Earth-Sun line), the Sun and Moon interfere with each other in producing tidal bulges and tides are generally weaker; these are called neap tides.
Some of this information may be a little "deep" for us fishermen but the expand our visualization of what is going on in the body of water we are fishing may just help us understand a little more how to figure out these little green fish we so desperately are trying to catch. Good fishing.