Insight to the W’s? about Bass fishing.

Found this article….Thought some of you guys would like it.

Bass Behavioral Science 101

Thanks for that article Slop, was very interesting!!

While I agree with his remarks on “Bass Basics” being about as basic as you can imagine I find that it is a poor attempt at regurgitating many of the past ideals and offering by much more qualified and competent individuals. His theories on your number one baits being a SphincterBait or Crankbait. Yep, I am betting you all are tossing cranks in your adventures as of late. I might be a little cranky but this guy should stick to writing for the daycare and not insult our intelligence. Oh, Nice plug for Lucky Craft.

Thanks for sharing though Slop Bass, I enjoyed some content and attempts at getting some good conversations going.
Jc

How do all you guys go about breaking down a lake system on the river? Weedbeds, humps, edges, current, MAN MADE ROCK ISLANDS.
jc

The article is called Bass 101… in most colleges “101” means that it is entry level giving only an overview of the topic. This is basic information, if you’ve been fishing for awhile, I am sure you’d already know this. Personally I’d rather fish a buzz bait then a spinnerbait, generally will out fish them 2:1. But plastic worms and cranks is where it’s at!

Rough day at the office there big guy?

The good news is the weekend is officially 2 hours and 11 minutes away for most of us.

I agree that the article is nothing special but I would guess that the majority of the folks that stumble across that article on ESPN are rookie anglers on-line checking out baseball scores and just getting their feet wet with their interest in bass fishing. On the walleye side of things there’s a reason you’ll see a non-stop barrage of “lindy rigging” and “vertical jigging for dummies” articles. That reason being that new anglers are recruited to the sport all the time and all that old info is quite new to some. And magazine editors will take all they can lay there hands on apparently.

This type of article appeals to those just getting started and we need to be careful not to ignore that group here on the site or as part of the sport fishing industry as a whole.

Quote:

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While I agree with his remarks on “Bass Basics” being about as basic as you can imagine I find that it is a poor attempt at regurgitating many of the past ideals and offering by much more qualified and competent individuals. His theories on your number one baits being a SphincterBait or Crankbait. Yep, I am betting you all are tossing cranks in your adventures as of late. I might be a little cranky but this guy should stick to writing for the daycare and not insult our intelligence. Oh, Nice plug for Lucky Craft.

Thanks for sharing though Slop Bass, I enjoyed some content and attempts at getting some good conversations going.
Jc

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Interesting duck. Do you find the buzzbait outfishes the spinnerbait for you in all seasons, or just now in the summer? And are you talking about the river, lakes, or both?

JC,

Its friday man…..give the dude a break. But yeah your right, I basically heard the same info from the 13 year old girl workin at the baitshop downtown but acted all intrested just to amuse her. Thats the beauty of this forum..we get to hear all the different opinions and then go out on the water and distinguish fact from fiction along with our personal experiences.

JHall

P.S. JC- go easy on the kids bro

Interesting comments.
Can you shed some light on the buzzbait to spinnerbait ratio you mentioned. Seems to me that your broad overwhelming and all encompassing statement should be common knowledge. Well, I will challenge both the merit and accuracy of this post. First take in to account that buzzbaits are typically considered a lowlight or indirect sun type of bait (which I by no means claim any responsibility for). Next is that it only fishes a small percentage of the water column. Ok, so we have just cut down much of the time and location you can fish them. A spinnerbait can be pulled in any depth and in any light condition and I would say in pure speculation that the 2:1 ratio is exactly wrong. Yep not accurate unless of course you don’t fish a spinnerbait properly. Ok,
What else can I challenge. Bass 101. In college I took many classes of which every one challenged my thinking in one way or another. This article while it might have challenged someone here reading I feel that in a 101 class you would get actual facts and accurate data. This is not a bait preference thing nor is it a personal preference thing. The speculations claimed in this article are mostly bunk especially in the water we all fish.
Next is that it is pervaded by a reputable company (ESPN) meaning that one would think the info contained would be of merit and value. Nope, Junk in, junk out.

Oh, I almost forgot.
“if you’ve been fishing for awhile, I am sure you’d already know this”

“Personally I’d rather fish a buzz bait then a spinnerbait, generally will out fish them 2:1. But plastic worms and cranks is where it’s a”

Spinnerbaits will generally out fish a buzzbait 2:1 but…. See your initial quite.

Jc

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Geez Crawford sounds like you need to get out fishing and take the edge off buddy

Sure do. I will be at blue’s house at 7:00 am to try and get my fix.
jc

Deep breaths. Long, slow, deep breaths… lol

If you were wound any tighter today buddy you’d implode.

7 am, sunrise is 5:24!!!!!

You’re gonna miss the buzzbait bite!!!!!!!

Sorry, could not resit. Maybe I’ll see you guys on the water. You fishing Sunday too?

HAHAHA! Man… I can’t go fishing this weekend… it sucks but I have to say I’ve been laughing my gill plates off at this discussion. Nothing like a long week, the … itch… to go fishing, and a forum to keep the blood flowing hahaha!

I took the article for what it was… a basics article but my view of the entire issue is different than most I guess. Patterns…. gotta love em… but… who gets in them most? The fish or the fisherman? How many guys can spout all kinds of knowledgable minutia but soon as the gas oil mix hits the nostril reach for the same bait go to the same places do the same things without a second thought or with the entire process of fishing the fish… patterning the fish… the entire principle fades into nothing but a faint echo hidden somewhere back in the far reaches of the cerebellum…

As basic as that article seems I have to tell ya a ton of folks I’ve observed and fished with forget the entire concept shortly after the ignition is switched on. The statement about the fish holding to the same depth in the water column regardless the depth of the water has been known by trolling folks for decades but very few bass fisherman actually employ the concept on the water because they are concentrating the majority of their efforts where their most vivid memories are… spring and late fall when the water column issue doesn’t seem quite as important dead in the middle of pre-spawn or dead in the middle of the false runs in the fall… the same guys can’t find the fish after the vivid post spawn mindless gulp finishes. I’m not free from what I’m talking about even though I have a much better grip on it than I used to have. I told JC three years ago that I had to change my entire view of what I’d learned about the fish because of what I had discovered about myself… fisherman pattern … fish have tendencies… in otherwords… I was more guilty of patterning than the fish were. Think about the routines and rutts we put ourselves in… one right after another… and we debate those rutts with knowledge so borrowed we can hardly sift through what is our experience versus what we read and tried. We are the worlds greatest duplicators yet one of the worlds poorest innovators… we can immitate someone else much faster than we can think for ourselves and the result is 98% of the fisherman duplicate what 2% have found to be successful then puff up and tell each other about it as if they were the one to discover it in the first place hahahaha! We’re a unique bunch we are hahaha! That said I need to add I’m laughing as much at my self as anyone else… the years I’ve lost because I just knew this pattern would work… the hours of going to the same place or near the same place to find the fish… my back up spots..”spots” … were places I caught fish not necessarily where the fish are or at least the better fish.

I would love to have the time on the water to really get in tune with it so I would much more instictively move toward the fish not guided purely by my memory of their location but by my sense of what they are doing that moment… not because of what I read or experienced catching in the past but because I’d opened my awareness totally to the fish…

I might actually get good if that would or could happen… I don’t have as many years left as many folks so I am hoping to touch that zone a few more times before I can’t fish the way I enjoy. I know it takes years ‘on the water’ to have it flow the same way as the fish. I’ve been in tune with them a few times… the memories still haunt and push me… they take me too a place no one can steal… I can feel the twitch, the pressure, the hook set… the adrenaline rush… the grin without knowing its there… that 30 minute burst of fish where you sit down and look at your partner and say… man… I think we’ve won this one ….

Basics… or advanced scholastic achievement… you are no better than what actually apply on the water regardless the depth or vastness you believe you possess… all that pretty talk after the fact and all that articulation before the fact is nothing but air compared to that small bit you manage to apply when you’re there and it clicks… we live for those times… those very precious times…

I hope, while I sit here writing and working this weekend, those of you that manage to hit the water catch a glimpse or spend a moment or two in the rythm with the fish… Nothing quit like it… its when the maker smiles and you notice it hehehe

Curt

hmmm… I’m trying to figure out what you’re saying exactly duckilr… when I read your statement I’m thinking you’re saying the buzzbait outfishes the spinnerbait 2:1… when I read the ‘then’as ‘than’… if I read the ‘then’ as ‘then’ I’m thinking you’re saying the spinnerbait out fishes the buzzbait 2:1.

In any case it seems to me to be a matter of choice, cover, and structure (considering light refraction as cover e.g. low light, winding conditions, heavy current, mud lines etc ). A buzzbait can out produce a spinnerbait 10:1 in some places hahaha and vice versa. Heck… I don’t even know if you’re talking an inline buzzer a double buzzer or all buzzers combined. Until you elaborate on what you’re fishing (body of water, cover, structure) its hard to agree or disagree. Its a conversation starter with no end in sight hahaha!

Curt

This thread has shown exactly why some people don’t offer more information and ask more questions on this site. For the most part, the members here are great people who are eager to get to know and converse with other people who love the sport of fishing. But then you have the egotistical head cases who feel the need to look down on everyone who asks questions or to bash everyone that may not be as experienced as them. These experienced people could be a huge asset to this site and most are. Kudos to everyone who makes this a great site. It is very appreciated.

Lizard

Thanks Lizard,

I would love to hear some of those questions and conversation. Yep, might be a head case but not egotistical.

I just don’t believe in misleading people or trying to push ideas and mindset into a direction that will take longer to get out of then is worth.

There is a reason I have less than 10 spinnerbaits in my boat. If there is any question on weather my assumptions are accurate I would love to discuss it at the weigh in.

Thanks for the imput. I will be the first to say that I have a lot to learn but alot to share as well. I hope you stick around and add fuel to this site because there is one thing we can all agree on. This is one special place.

jc

If I offended anyone I sure didn’t mean too. My apologies.

Curt

Hey curt..can i have what ur smoking