This story was initially printed within the June 1966 difficulty of Out of doors Life. Through the Fifties and 60s, the creator, Anthony A. Ciuffa completely hammered big largemouth bass in small farm ponds throughout the Midwest. From April to November he fished no less than twice a day, on daily basis —— for 10 years. He’d sometimes catch greater than 125 “large bass” (fish weighing greater than 7 kilos) yearly. Right here’s how he did it and what he discovered.
The bass fishing yr will be divided into three seasons, and every requires its personal lures and methods. Always, nevertheless, water temperature and light-weight depth significantly have an effect on the willingness of bass to strike.
Spring is the perfect season of all. Fall, although not fairly pretty much as good, remains to be higher than the recent weeks of midsummer time. A lot of the bass I’ve caught of 4 kilos or over have been taken between mid-April and mid-June, the final two weeks in September, October, and the primary half of November if situations are proper.
The majority of my bass fishing the previous 10 years has been finished within the small waters of St. Louis County, Missouri, and April is the perfect month of the yr to take tackle-busters there. As water temperatures rise in early spring, the metabolism or life processes of bass additionally perk up. They want meals to maintain tempo with their growing actions, and since they haven’t but shaken off their winter stupor utterly they’re much more simply fooled then than in a while.
When early spring winds begin transferring a lake floor, a piling up of floor water takes place on the aspect towards which the wind is blowing. This forces deeper water to stream towards the aspect from which the wind is coming, and on this manner the denser and colder backside water is progressively circulated to the floor, the place the wind warms and aerates it.
As this course of continues, all the lake, except it is rather deep, reaches some extent the place the temperature on the floor and backside is identical. Because the solar becomes hotter, in periods when the wind doesn’t blow sufficient to take care of circulation the floor temperature climbs and the water there turns into extra buoyant. At this level, circulation continues solely within the hotter layer, and stratification takes place.
With the primary signal of the warming undercurrents, bass, which congregate within the deeper waters of a lake in winter, transfer towards shore. Through the chilly months their life processes have slowed down, they’ve become very sluggish and, in northern waters, near dormant. Although they stir out with the return of spring, they’ve little curiosity in prowling all the lake. As a substitute, they transfer to the closest shoreline, usually a steep financial institution or dam with deep water simply offshore, the place heat currents can hike their metabolic fee.
Within the hotter water, egg growth quickly begins within the females they usually should take meals abundantly, although they’re nonetheless in a foggy state. An identical course of quickly follows within the males, and there’s no higher time in all the yr to make the most of each. That’s the interval for catching trophy fish, earlier than they scatter to spawn.
Essentially the most favorable water temperature for tempting a lunker (most of them can be females) that’s going via this early buildup is between 55 and 60 levels. So while you discover your favourite lake virtually utterly turned over, with deep water near shore that reads no less than 55 levels on the floor and the identical 10 ft down, begin looking blockbusters. And when the water edges as much as 58 levels at those self same ranges, fish as typically as you possibly can.
Even when a chilly spell follows heat climate, if the temperature has already been stabilized at 58 to 60 levels those self same steep banks and dams on the downwind shore are spots to guess on.
In early April of 1965, I went fishing on a small lake close to Hannibal, Missouri. The water was 58 levels on the high and the identical 10 or 15 ft down, however the day was oversolid and chilly, and a tough wind was blowing out of the northwest. I selected a twin lure, a spinner above a leadhead, the latter trailed with a yellow-and-black rubber skirt. I added a white pork-rind eel, first reducing off about one inch to care for brief strikes, that are widespread at the moment of yr.
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It took half an hour to get my first strike, casting parallel to shore and dealing the lure near backside about 10 to fifteen ft out. The fish was a seven-pound feminine, heavy with eggs, that took the lure 5 ft down. I didn’t need to alert some other bass within the neighborhood, and I had 20-pound-test line, which I take advantage of once I’m anticipating fish of that measurement, so I horsed her in. About 45 minutes later, regardless of palms stiff with chilly, I hooked one other solely 40 ft from the identical spot. It was additionally a feminine, 5½ kilos. Fifteen minutes later I landed a two-pounder, which I launched instantly.
At 4:30 p.m., two hours after I began fishing, I hung a 3rd feminine that scaled 6½ kilos. I photographed the three lunkers, put two of them again, and began residence with the seven-pounder. In my pond-bass fishing I make it a rule to maintain nothing smaller than that.
Per week later, Ken Rauth, a St. Louis building superintendent who fishes with me typically, and I made a decision to present that very same lake a whirl. The wind was heat from the southwest, the solar was out, and it was a lovely spring day. However we agreed that the good enhance in gentle depth would minimize down our possibilities, and we had been proper.
We fished till virtually darkish, utilizing varied spinner, eel, and pork-frog mixtures, dragging them via snags, fishing vertical banks, utilizing every trick we may consider. Our whole catch was two bass, one 10 inches, the opposite 12.
“You need to by no means have let these two large ones go final week,” Ken grumbled. “I can see them, down there on the bottom, conducting courses in tips on how to keep away from rubber skirts, pork eels, and silver spinners, telling the little ones, ‘That’s the way in which to stay to a ripe outdated age.’ You must know higher.”
However simply at darkish Ken bought a walloping strike and landed an eight-pounder, and an hour later I got here up with a six-pound bass. The decreased gentle intensity that got here with dusk had set them to feeding.
I fee lure coloration to be essential. Early spring bass like white or yellow, and spinners assist significantly to get the eye of fish in early morning, night, and on cloudy days. If the solar is shining and the water clear, my favourite spring lures are a pork frog on both a weighted weedless hook or a leadhead. Of the 2, the weedless hook is less complicated to work and fewer more likely to snag. I typically use a leadhead with a light-weight weed guard to maintain the tails of the pork frog hanging on the hooks.
When the springtime water is dingy, or in cloudy climate and morning and night fishing, I discover spinner lures finest, utilized in mixture with a yellow or white pork-rind eel, yellow plastic eel, or pork frog.
All of those needs to be allowed to settle virtually to the underside earlier than the retrieve is begun. I retrieve spinner baits at a medium tempo. Utilizing a leadhead and pork frog, I make it hop in brief pulls or use a gentle medium-speed retrieve that may make the frog’s tail wiggle, stopping often to let the lure sink, then beginning it once more. The pork frog on a weighted weedless hook needs to be retrieved at gradual to medium velocity, parallel to a steep financial institution and three to 6 ft out. That’s the place a stay frog could be, particularly simply before daybreak or from sunset to darkish.
One other efficient trick is to let such a lure choose the underside in 5 to 10 ft of water, then crawl it slowly over submerged brush, stumps, and different cowl. All of those strategies are terrific with pork eels in addition to frogs, too.
By the way, it’s vital to maintain pork-rind baits in recent brine. Differentclever they grow to be rancid, and bass might not maintain on lengthy sufficient so that you can set the hook. Better of all, I wish to soak them in brine laced with 10 % Italian anisette. Bass discover that taste arduous to withstand.
The meals wants of a bass are virtually actually as nice in summer time as in spring, however by that point he has settled down the place groceries are plentiful ( he does that shortly after spawning) and your bait is more likely to get to him when he’s full of pure meals.
When water temperatures attain 70 to 75 levels on the underside at 5 to eight ft, bass will be discovered throughout a lake, however the perfect locations are in water about eight ft deep if the day is sunny, and alongside shorelines close to that depth in cloudy climate or earlier than and after solarrise and sundown.
Although light-colored lures are lethal in spring, black, blue, and pink are guesster in summer time, in all probability for causes linked each with gentle depth and the elevated wariness of the fish. When water temperature 10 ft down is above 70 levels, my favourite mixtures are a black plastic eel or blue or black pork eel, on a red-and-brown hair jig with a ¼-ounce leadhead. Though black eels and worms are good any time the water reaches 65 levels, they’re better of all when it’s above 70 levels.
With this hotter water, nevertheless, regulate readability. If the water is murky, I strive a spinner bait and pink pork eel on one rod, and a pink eel on an orange hair jig or plain leadhead on a second rod.
If the water within reason clear and has reached 65 to 75 levels 10 ft down, I like a black plastic eel on a leadhead on one rod, and a pink pork eel on a bucktail jig with black-and-orange hair on one other. The aim of utilizing two rods is to change each jiffy till you resolve which lure they pref er. At such instances, I additionally check a spinner and leadhead trailed with a black rubber skirt. In very clear water, particularly on vivid days in early spring, I take advantage of this with the spinner painted black.
I make my very own black spinners by sandpapering the blades and portray them with a nonhardening car gasket compound that gained’t chip off. I discover these black blades very efficient at night time all via the summer time, too.
One other nice summer time rig is a black plastic eel or worm on a plain leadhead. Apply rod varnish to the hook and shank earlier than threading the gentle lure on and permit it to dry in a single day, to cement the eel or worm in place. Within the case of the plastic eel, trim the tail to a slim taper. When a bass picks it up and feels little to carry onto, he’ll chew forward and provide the alerts it is advisable to inform you when to set the hook. Plastic worms are slim sufficient in order that no tailoring is important.
All my expertise signifies that bass by no means appear to get clever to a black eel on a leadhead, bounced rhythmically off the underside or retrieved near backside with an up and down swimming movement.
A black worm is about pretty much as good. I recall a visit my two boys and I made one July a number of years in the past to a closely fished public lake 30 miles west of St. Louis. The solar was burning in a cloudless morning sky and it appeared as if we had picked the worst doable time, however we had a trick up our sleeves within the type of black plastic worms on home-made ¼-ounce leadheads.
I had came upon that making up these leadheads, melting the lead and pouring it into molds across the hooks, was a positive father-and-son mission. We regularly made as many as 60 or 70 in an evening, sealing the worms on with rod varnish, to care for a fantastically excessive fee of snagging.
We had loads alongside that sizzling summer morning and we labored them near backside, alongside sunken timber and thru brush. We hung up typically, however in that sort of fishing in the event you don’t catch snags you don’t catch fish. Within three hours we had taken 9 bass, none over 5 kilos however none below two.
In daylight, a black worm or eel appears to have an edge over blue. At night time the 2 are about equal, and pink can also be superb. However as soon as summer time comes, the white and yellow eels that caught large ones earlier are more likely to get you solely small fish. The one and two-pounders can see what they’re putting, however they don’t have the caution of granddad.
On vivid sunny days in summer time, search for a shady place the place gentle depth is lowered. Strive casting below a ship dock, however provided that the water is no less than eight ft deep and the dock freed from visitors. Additionally fish close to timber or on the shady aspect of a deep cove. Going into deeper water is one other good technique to take lunkers at such instances.
And, after all, night time fishing comes into its personal when summer time arrives. Most fishermen like nights with some moonlight, however I believe the moon is extra vital to them than to the bass. I’ve taken s01ne good lunkers on moonless nights, and except I can discover water deeper than 20 ft I depend 1 / 4 moon higher than a full one.
An excellent nighttime lure which has taken some positive bass for me, when the water is above 65 levels 10 ft down, is a blue pork-rind eel on a 3/0 weighted weedless hook crawled very, very gradually on the underside parallel to a dam and 10 to fifteen ft down. Give the reel handle a gradual flip, pause, then one other gradual flip, so the eel crawls with a pure movement.
When water temperatures climb above 78 levels, large bass are often discovered close to dams or within the deeper elements of ponds and small lakes. Within the nightfall of night, they might transfer in near shore to feed, even proper up in opposition to shore, however solely the place the financial institution is steep they usually could make a rush for deeper water if hazard threatens.
Quiet and cautious fishing turns into all-important in the event you hope to take lunkers from small waters in summer time. Don’t get too near the locations the place you assume large ones could also be hanging out, no nearer than is completely essential, and transfer very quietly.
I’ve stated nothing thus far about highwater lures, possibly as a result of most of my fishing is completed with eels, pork frogs, spinners, and different lures that go deep. Floor plugs will get you nowhere when the lake is simply too chilly for top-water exercise or when bass are deep within the warmth of summer time. However there’s a interval, roughly Might and June the place I fish, when they’re lethal if used proper. They appear to get of their finest licks throughout spawning season, and after spawning till the surf ace water exceeds 80 levels. At such instances, a top-water lure might take extra fish than some other.
Considered one of my fishing companions, Chuck Novak, and I went out earlier than daylight one morning final Might and began fishing with pork-rind frogs and black eels on black-and-orang_e jigs, that being what water temperature and different conditions indicated. In two hours, we had seven or eight strikes from heavy bass however didn’t hook a fish. They had been putting brief.
“They want one thing that may make ’em sore sufficient to take a very good chew,” Chuck stated lastly, “and with a hook on the tail finish, too.”
He modified to a top-water plug with a weighted tail and started the thrashing retrieve that we depend on with that lure. On the third solid, a four-pound bass adopted the bait virtually to the boat, slapped at it two or 3 times, then grabbed the tail hook and bit down. I adopted Chuck’s instance, and when the bass give up putting at 10:30 that morning we had netted 9 that ran from two to 4 ½ kilos, and we had so many extra good strikes that we misplaced depend.
Although Might and June are the prime months for top-water plugs the place I fish, they usually lose their effectiveness because the water warms, there’s a interval once more in July after they make a very good exhibiting on pond bass, however solely in very early morning or when the solar has dropped over the horizon, and for some time after darkish. At any time they’re extra more likely to take two-pounders than lunkers. Huge bass want to rustle their grub on the underside, whether or not in three or 25 ft of water.
When fall arrives and water moodatures start to drop, bass feed with larger abandon once more, although with much more warning than in early spring, I believe partly as a result of they’ve discovered from their summer time experiences and from seeing different fish caught round them. However October is nearly all the time an ace lunker month for me.
The most important pond bass I ever caught, an eight-pound 10-ounce fish (my record was a 9½-pounder landed in Lake Ouachita, Arkansas, in 1960), was taken on a moonless night time in October, 1964, from a seven-acre lake within the western outskirts of St. Louis.
I used to be utilizing a blue pork-rind eel on a weighted weedless hook. That’s my favourite mixture for fall fishing, as soon as the water has dropped under 65 levels. One other good guess is the spinner baits talked about for spring fishing. The eel requires the slowest doable retrieve, dragging the hook at snail’s tempo via brush, over submerged timber, and into all types of locations the place large bass forage.
That night time the blue eel appeared irresistible. I bought strikes from bass of all sizes. Lastly, fishing close to a dam in 10 ft of water, I felt two gentle tugs. I lifted the rod tip gently and will really feel one thing hanging on. An instantaneous later, there got here three or 4 extra tugs. They weren’t the sunshine tappings of a small bass, however good stable pulls. I took in all of the slack and let him have it. He fought arduous and I spotted I had hooked an actual sort out smasher.
My favourite all-around line is 15-pound-test, however when I’ve brush to deal with and know I could have to show an enormous one in a rush, I want 20- pound, which was what I used to be utilizing that night time. Even so, I let Mr. Huge work off steam for a very long time earlier than I introduced him to the online. There’s energy in a bass of that measurement.
Winter brings pond-bass fishing to a standstill. Falling water temperatures pressure the fish into deep water, and as soon as it drops under 48 levels they grow to be virtually dormant, feeding solely occasionally. The identical factor is true of bass in large lakes, however since they congregate in deep locations in nice numbers the appropriate lure has a greater probability of encountering one which is able to feed.
At any season, climate exerts a powerful affect on bass habits. From spring to fall, probably the greatest instances to take them is simply earlier than a storm, when wind and lightning are bearing down. There appears to be one thing about gentle depth at such instances that places them to feeding.
I recall one such night when my sons, Robert and Richard, and I had been on a lake within the August Busch Wildlife Space close to Weldon Spring. We fished for hours with out taking a bass. Then a violent thunderstorm got here up, and in 10 minutes, earlier than rain started to pelt down, Bob took two five-pounders and Wealthy landed considered one of 3 ½.
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Subsequent to a day when a storm entrance is approaching, the second finest time to go bass fishing, assuming water temperatures are favorable, is when the sky is totally overcast to chop down gentle depth and sufficient wind is blowing to ripple the water, particularly if it’s blowing towards a steep shoreline of a pond.
Lastly, the perfect day of all is any time you possibly can exit. The extra typically you fish and the extra time you spend at it, the higher your possibilities. And don’t overlook that the bass you come back to the water can be there subsequent time, largeger and higher. Leaving a inhabitants of catchable bass in small lakes and ponds is the important thing to many hours of future enjoyment.
