Bass and Me

As I sat today waiting for my Fraternal Order of Eagles district meeting to start I had time to contemplate my life, and I came to the following conclusion — Every man or woman, rich or poor, who has fished is a “millionaire.”

Now you might think to yourself, “What in the blue blazes is he talking about?” And normally you would be right, but think about it this way. It may not be reflected in the fishermen’s wallet or checkbook and you may have a poor credit rating, but even the modest fisherman is a millionaire — his wealth is in his heart and in his experience.

How can you count in dollars the beautiful sunrises you have seen. Or the peaceful sunsets when the receding sunlight is flickering off the water. Or the serenity of the delta that is broken when you know you’ve caught the big one.

“What kind is it?” “How big is it” “Will I land this fish or will it get away?” Then it comes tumbling across the water. You have won the match. You drop it in your lave well for the evening meal or gently release it to thrill another. It’s your moment of glory and you are happy.

You are also wealthy in friendship. Think of the times you said to your buddies, “Hey guys, lets get our gear together and go fishing.” It may have been a day or evening trip or a weekend camping and fishing. It’s time you spend with your buddies and swap stories and tips. You might discuss Joe’s new rod, Pete’s new reel, Charile’s new tackle box or Fred’s new boat. Work might come up in the conversation, but you don’t let it get you down.

You gain wealth when you introduce fishing to somebody who has never fished before. You might learn something from them just as they may learn something from you.

If it’s an overnight or a camping trip, the wealth also comes from the camaraderie. It comes from the dusk of evening and a little fire flickers under a blackened skillet. The sweet smell of frying fish floats close to the ground and perking coffee adds a little noise to the serenity.

You look at your invisible bank book. You can’t count the amount fingers. You have wealth beyond measurement.

So now you see that what I said at the beginning is true. Every man or woman, rich or poor, who has fished is a “millionaire.” The wealth is in the experience. How wealthy are you?

So until next time, keep your lines wet and your bait fresh.

A collection of Crank Baits.

I recently got a great purchase from eBay. It was a hardcover book called “The Best of BASSMaster”. It is a collection of articles from BASSMaster Magazine covering the years 1968 to 1980. For a beginning Bass Fisherman, the articles are great and this is one of the best that I’ve read so far. It’s from a larger article called “The ‘Crank Bait System’” written by Bill Phillips. I would tell you the year but that information is not available. Here is the article in it’s entirety.

Should the art of lure painting imitate life? Do naturlized baits help you catch fish?

the answer from one bassin’ biologist who dedicates about 200 days a year to uderstanding why bass bite, is an unequivocal…”probably not.”

Bill Phillips of Auburn university in Alabama, who is working toward a Ph.D in fisheries biology, is also the 36-year-old president of Angling Research Associates, an independent research firm for the tackle industry.

According to his tests:

“Under most conditions, the natural lures failed to compete favorably with really good, contrasty color patterns like bone/orange or yellow/black, especially in greenish-tinted, productive waters.

“The catch per hour rate for the baby bass and rainbow trout patterns on Rebel Deep Maxi-R lures, for example, were 0.4 and 0.3 fish, respectivley, while the bone/orange belly Deep Maxi-R produced 1.2 fish per hour.”

“There were, however, notable excetions to this rule. For example, in clear water lakes where a sizable portion of the bass population is made upof spotted or Kuntucky bass, naturals outproduced all other color patterns. Crawfish-like Deep Mini-Rs were especially effective, yeilding 1.25 fish per hour, as were shad-imitation Natural Ike, which caught 1.1 fish per hour.”

But Philips says it’s the paint, rather than the paint job, that’d the key.

“Quite often, the poorest imitations were among the best,” according to Angling Research Associates’ field testers. “For instance, Natural Ike’s crawfish pattern is not convincing at all — whoever heard of a crawfish shaped like a fish? But the pattern produced fish on numerous occasions for our field agents, apparently because it was basically a light patern of contrasty colorswhich stand out against the aquatic backgroound.” Philips reports.

And, he says, one of the best looking imitations — the bluegill — was the poorest performer.

“Two-and-a-half-inch long bluegillsaren’t dark blue, green and orange, the wai bait manufaturers usuallyt pait them,” Phillips explains. “They’re pale yellow and silvery, with light olive backs. But the worst fault of the natural bream baits is that they do not contrast with the background. Bass can’t see them.”

The problem with natural-finish luresis that they emphasize the one most important defense a prey fish posesses — protective coloration.

Baby bass, crappie, shad and crawfishare colored the way they are to keep preditors, such as big bassfrom seeing them, biologist Bill Phillips points out.

“So why copy the item least likely to be seen?” Philips asks. “To sell lures, for one thing. And because the lures are certainly beautiful to the human eye, if not the bass’ eye, most of us will buy them.”

After reading this article I have decided that as Bass Fishermen, we need to make the choice for ourselves as to what works. From what I can see Bass do like Crank Baits.

Welcome to the Bass and Me Blog. Here you will read about my experiences not only Bass Fishing but fishing in general. Bass fishing has become a new passion of mine so I’m just learning about it. My wife, Kelly, has gotten me into fishing but has said I don’t have the patience for bait-fishing. That is what she likes to do. She especially likes to fish for Catfish. She recommended I take up Bass Fishing.

Through Twitter I have met a few great guys that almost live and breathe Bass fishing and I count them amongst some of my best friends. going so far as to meet for lunch once in awhile and soon to go out and catch some of those monsters out there. Guys, you know who you are. Go Bass Brigade.

I will also be reviewing equipment as I use it and locations as I visit them. Along the side you will see links to websites that I like to visit and hope you visit them too. If you want to be linked to this Blog, just let me know.

I will be trying to update this site at least twice a week. Maybe more if I get the chance.with reviews