Topwater Largemouth Bass Tip: Changing Light Explained

 University research has shown that largemouths have a visual advantage over fish forage when light changes gradually. Why should I bother citing the source when it's obvious largemouths hit topwaters early and late? They like to look upward and ambush from below, and most of what they grab swims in mid-column or thereabouts, I suppose. But if largemouths use aquatic vegetation growing from upward from five foot flats to hide their presence in clear water, commotion on the surface above is a perfect target.

Only early and late?

Especially during summer, it often seems so. Sometimes I think it is so. But if you get gathering cloud cover in the afternoon, even early afternoon, light intensity is changing and bass move to feed because it's made easier for them so long as that light continues to darken, or begins to lighten again later. But the typical sun in, sun out, of passing cumulus is probably too rapid a change to make a difference. But who knows. I have seen excellent topwater action during summer, 1 p.m., when cloud cover advanced very slowly.

When you see bass move like this, appreciate it. Recognize these creatures are actually responding to objective facts. Otherwise, it's all the same, you just happened to catch a few in the afternoon, and you get no impression of why this is--which means you learn nothing.

I knew someone in my teens who supposedly became schizophrenic. I became intensely curious about what was really going on with him. He had been out of the hospital, on meds, but it was "understood" that he "is" schizophrenic for the rest of his life. I got to the heart of his problem. "Everything's the same," he said. And he described for me and indicated how nothing had reality, nothing had objectivity, factuality and meaning, yet he spoke as one human being to another, an act that defied his claim.

 

So I thought long and hard, not saying anything for how long I don't know, and came to an insight I knew I couldn't share witth him, because it would make no difference. He wasn't schizophrenic. He had given up. He had seen "enough" (no doubt, his mad episode had seen a lot), and decided to gloss everything over with the lie that it's all the same worthlessness. He was willing to speak to me, but I soon felt that he needed his own determination to come to any truth. We all require society for our verbal facility, but some of the very best moments are not shared, entirely private, vivid, uniquely distinct, and remembered all your life long. A change of inner light that provokes determination to strike out, and that seems to have been the only hope for him. Perhaps schizophrenia really is the awful disease psychiatrists claim it is, because for whatever reason, those who suffer it don't get such good ideas elemental to any sort of opportunity. I don't really believe that. And I've heard of so-called schizophrenics fully recovered.

 

Bass and the human brain, changing light...it's not all the same, but to draw analogies opens wide vistas.  

How easy must be for people who have given up. If it's all the same old, same old, you don't have to do anything. Oh, no, you just get done to and the lie won't protect.

Walleye Tip for Summer Success: Beat Fall Action!

Steve Slota caught his first walleye on the Delaware in mid-day, clear water sunshine. But walleyes are adapted by the tapetum lucidum retinal eye structure, which is their namesake, for sight advantage in darkness, stained water, and water turbulence.

Most summers flood rivers two or three times. When river levels recede and clarity begins to return, yet producing plenty of excited currents and eddies, the very best summer walleye fishing may be had.

One late June afternoon in full daylight as water level receded, my son and I fished from the bank and nailed them on Rat-L-Traps, the perfect lure, in my opinion, for this situation. Our walleyes staged behind boulders in six to eight feet of water with plenty of current power, and the lipless crankbaits rattled right into range.

Fast Action Pond Spinnerbait Largemouth Bass, Round Valley Reservoir

 Went to my walking distance bass pond without my son hoping to catch a dandy. Since it was nearly dark, I brought no camera, just rod and a quarter-ounce spinnerbait. I caught nine bass in under half an hour, two of them near two pounds, another over two, and one of them about three pounds, the rest around a pound-and-a-half--no real dandy, but the three-pounder pleased me, considerably larger than the bass my son photographed (above) a couple of months ago.

Wow has this four-acre pond become a nice bass breeding ground. But although they average between a pound-and-a-half and two since last year, I haven't caught Madam Five Pounder. My son did catch one this big about five years ago when the average size was 10 or 11 inches--amazing how size can mysteriously change in a pond. The pond has been there, full of bass, for 20 years or so.

With the rain and drainage influx, I knew I stood a chance, and nine bass in no time was fun.

Also fished Round Valley Reservoir and Pond this afternoon in pouring rain for almost a full hour, catching nothing. Sunfish took the eight-inch Chompers in the reservoir, but bass situated elsewhere or did not feed--no time to have fished that corner near the ramp which looks unappealing, but sometimes gets frequented. 

Near the end of my stay, I tied on a snag-wired jig with tube plastic and bounced it on rocks along the dike hoping a smallmouth would seize it. This is the second year that from shore both the reservoir and pond seem to shut down after Memorial Day. And I saw two 20-inch browns taken from shore on shiners May 22nd or so. I'm sure they have gone away, and the bass with them? Well, my brother Rick and I fished the reservoir from my boat June 10th, 1977 and nailed bass in 10 feet of water in the back.

Successful Fishing and Geographic Awareness

Just a handful of pictures I've taken recently to help convey geographic range in New Jersey, for example: ocean, inshore estaurine, reservoirs, glacial lakes, large rivers (Hudson--photographed Saturday, next shot below, from the Cloisters, Harlem, & also the Delaware) medium sized rivers (Passaic, Raritan, Hackensack), small rivers (Pequest, Musconetcong, Millstone, others) spring streams and other stream types of freestone and lowland varieties, Pinelands bogs and small lakes, varieties of ponds, all of these and other waterways besides the Atlantic associated with watersheds and the lay of the land.

For the last few years, I've become more aware of the relationship between land and water. I've had crystal clear memories of how poignantly aware of such I was as a boy, drawn to explore my home county of Mercer in New Jersey. I read a fair amount, and read much more in my 20's, but I've never spent hours laboring over geographical texts, although I did search for the likes online a few months ago, but this project never panned out.

All of us who fish are aware of mountains when we're up there; we feel the lift of mood and broadened view, and we're fascinated with the sea when we surf fish. There's nothing too special about this; everyone is influenced by the environment.

But what did pan out for me is significant. I bought J.B. Kasper's Delaware River Fishing & Structure Maps, which he produced himself for sale. (If you google the name, you can get a selection.) As a teen, I also made maps. A friend and I rowed out into ponds in inflatables, and instead of using portable flashers, we just marked off nylon cords, and I had actually step-measured a series of these four six-acre or so ponds. The result still amazes me. We took about 300 soundings for each pond by triangulation method, marking the depths within the boundaries I had measured and drafted by hand. The results? Topographic maps. I connected the dots, and think I still have these maps somewhere, clean and as convincing as if they were done by professional agency.

What moves someone to do the likes of that? According to Aristotle, all men by nature desire to know. However, I think very deep affinities with the metaphysically given world--the material world out there which we don't produce, which just is what it is--exist prior to what we come to know by our efforts, and keep us connected to what we eventually may find.

So this is significant for anglers, if true, and you know it's true if you find it in your experience. If you tap into this affinity with the land and water itself, it will necessarily help lead you to fish. Whether new waters to fish, spots within waters to fish, or individual fish--the maps we produce, whether on paper, online, or in our heads, are representations of what is already in order.

Bluefish on Topwater Plugs! Manasquan River & Other Shallow Spots

We caught over a hundred bluefish this morning. Single hook topwater plugs only! (We missed well over 500 hits, but this makes it fun, especially when you account for how quick release is.) My brother Rick's Mako LTS pulled away with he at the wheel, my nephew Kyle, my son, Matt, and myself seated amidst perfect calm, an American flag folded motionless on a pole in the distance, as if at reserve in an atmosphere fit for the vocal recitation of a psalm.

Earlier in May, blues gorged on the annual worm hatch. Today they stuffed themselves on grass shrimp. But they're eager for whatever fish forage, obviously. They'll hit a plug half a dozen times or more, often at boatside. For all the fury, you don't set the hook, which almost never works, and at worst flings the lure back at your face or would ding the boat. We did witness blues break up a school of some kind of fish, possibly spearing, half a dozen blues going airborne in the frolic. Later in the summer, these busts are more common and larger, although the best topwater action is May and June.

There are cocktail blues, mostly ounces over a pound to a few over two. I caught today's largest, close to 3 1/2 pounds, 23 inches. On light tackle it's a thrill every time one's on.

We each got a megadose of vitamin D on the Manasquan River today, but cocktail blues are in all the New Jersey inshore systems--other states too--doing the same thing during the spring migration: feeding on the worms and grass shrimp, and shifting to forage fish later. Look for flats associated with seven to 10 foot deep channels. Many of these blues hit in two feet of water. In Sandy Hook Bay near Shrewsbury River, for example, much larger blues are present with greater depths and bunker. But some anglers go after cocktails in kayaks where creek backwaters provide solitude and frantic action.

Delaware River Summer Smallmouths, Walleye, Striped Bass

I did manage to fish the Delaware and Raritan canal for half an hour this afternoon, and couldn't tell if I got a hit, or caught bottom for a second when I lifted the Senko. A few sunfish took it otherwise. Water was stained, but not so badly as to be unfishable with a worm.

It was nice to simply work a Senko, fully intending to connect, working it well, but having no desperate need to catch anything, although my intent increased as time ran out.

Enjoy a piece on the Delaware I wrote last year. Below:

Thanks to Interstate 78, the Delaware River in Warren County is little more than a half hour away from much of the Somerset and Hunterdon County region of New Jersey. Smallmouth bass, walleyes, muskies, and channel catfish are within reach from the bank and wading within city limits of Phillipsburg, and The Fisherman magazine occasionally reports striped bass over 20 pounds caught late at night on live eels, particularly after 3:00 a.m. If you try for stripers, don't weight the eels, let them swim with the current. If you hook a bass, turn off the lantern before the bass nears landing! I lost a bass that took off with such power when it caught lantern light in its eyes, that the hooks tore. If you want to get away to quieter stretches, River Road from Carpentersville south to the Hunterdon County line at the mouth of the Musconetcong River has many access points along its length.

          Smallmouth bass are the Delaware’s main attraction from the confluence of the East and West branches in Hancock, NY, to the tidal zone in Trenton. My family recently enjoyed an annual float trip from Sparrowbush, NY, to Matamoras, PA, and despite off-color water last year, we caught plenty of bass on Rat-L-Trap plugs. These lures prove effective if water is stained perhaps because of the rattle, although that seems unproven, but nevertheless, they are great for walleyes as well. I managed to get a typical walleye—about 18 inches—alongside our raft and was about to use the net when it threw the hooks of a chrome Rat-L-Trap. 


          The trick is to retrieve the plug near bottom without snagging. Rat-L-Traps sink at a rate of about a foot per second. Since you won’t always know how deep the water, let the lure sink as you count until line slackens when it reaches bottom. For subsequent casts into the same area, repeat the count minus two or three.

          Diving crankbaits are great for smallmouths and walleyes so long as you feel the diving lip trip on rocks every so often. Retrieve speed can be modified so the lure does not dig directly into bottom (you would feel it!) and get snagged, yet the plug strikes raised rocks. Crankbaits come in varieties that run three to six, six to 10, even 12 to 15 feet deep, but the deepest diving strain with resistance on the line and are meant to be retrieved on heavier baitcasting tackle.

          The best way to explore the depths—some holes in the Warren County stretches are as deep as 35 feet—is with jigs from an eighth to 3/8ths-ounce tipped with Berkeley Gulp! synthetic bait or live nightcrawlers. Jigs will get lost to snags, but buy them in quantity wherever you can get a good price, and you won’t feel the loss as you would when snapping line on an expensive plug. Soft plastic Mister Twisters, etc., work well on jigs and make less of a mess than synthetic leeches, but synthetic bait does put a powerful fish attracting odor in the water. In dark depths this may be an advantage.

          But smallmouths in particular like shallow water too. Pockets of calm water associated with fast moving currents, eddies behind boulders, edges of shoreline where calm and fast water meet, are structures with increased oxygen in warm late summer water. My personal favorite for such spots is the #9 Rapala floating minnow plug, but all sorts of minnow imitations work, as well as small spinnerbaits, in-line spinners like Mepps and C.P. Swings, and topwater plugs early and late in the day. Spinners work best by a straight, moderate, steady retrieve close to bottom if some depth is encountered. Minnow plugs come alive by erratic rod tip twitches but remain virtually lifeless without the wrist creating minor art with the lure.

          When the annual tail end of the summer river season nears, the food chain based on insect life breaks down. Until late September, fly fishermen catch plenty smallmouths on nymph imitations otherwise suited to trout; the bass feed on larval as well as hatched and terrestrial insects, small, molting crayfish, and a smorgasbord of immature fish species. Streamers, poppers, even dry flies sometimes work. Shad fry will soon descend downriver on their seasonal trek to the Atlantic, and smallmouths school and herd this Omega acid rich forage for their greatest health boost of the year. Walleyes gorge on them as well. They do not fatten for winter, but enjoy peak activity and growth with optimal or near optimal water temperatures and increased oxygen levels, especially if the river runs somewhat higher than normal.

          I’ve never seen it happen, but reputable writers have reported that sometimes the bass attack shad fry on the surface in sudden blitzes the way hybrid stripers go after alewives in Spruce Run Reservoir or Lake Hopatcong in June. A half-ounce chrome Rat-L-Trap casts forever with a medium power spinning rod and six-pound test line, and resembles a small shad very closely. If you spend a late September or October afternoon scouting the river scenes along River Road and catch sight of this action, don’t be without a few of these plugs!

          

Gallery of Fishing Wear: Clothes Say so Much and so Little

What does this gray-toned photo make you feel? Going through fish photos, it caught my eye to immediately comfort, just the opposite of a shiver of repulsion for the cold and seemingly lifeless light.

Evaluations come from perspectives. Late fall and low light have yielded us so many good fish that my unhesitant feeling felt enlivened in a very comfortable way by my glance at the picture. I see it from the point-of-view of our good times. The red jacket is like a splash of cheer Matt's facial expression hints at.

The next photo below fell into the pattern for this blog post (I just opened a hard copy photo album to see what it would present me). That's me fishing a trout stream--loaded with native brookies--below Mt. Washington in New Hampshire a few summers ago. I look like such a goof! Why would I bring that shirt to go fishing? I look exactly like a guy who would shiver with repulsion at the photo above.

Finally in our dress gallery, my son has no hat on and his hood off because it was mild. (I have some pictures that feature his face completely covered ice fishing at a degree or two above zero.)

Chips Ahoy! He's eating a cookie.